This week was the anniversary of the first working draft of the new Constitution of South Africa to be published.
This followed a lengthy process which included public participation on what should be included in the draft.
The 63-page document was the result of 18 months of work by the Constitutional Assembly with Cyril Ramaphosa, secretary-general of the African National Congress (ANC), as chairperson.
Ramaphosa called for constructive public comment on the draft constitution so that another round of negotiations could start to deal with the unresolved issues and changes. The final draft constitution was expected before 9 May 1996, but by February 1996 there were 68 outstanding issues that needed to be settled.
According to SA History, among the issues to be settled was the question of regional autonomy.
This had been an issue between the Inkatha Freedom Party (IFP) and the ANC since April 1994. In 1995, the IFP withdrew its members from the Constitutional Assembly in protest against the ANC’s refusal for international mediation to resolve their differences before the finalisation of the draft constitution.
Another issue was whether the existing power-sharing arrangements giving minority parties a share of cabinet portfolios should still continue following the 1999 elections. Most parties and civic organisations welcomed the draft constitution despite the IFP’s protest and demand for international mediation.
The final text was adopted and the Constitutional Court’s certification hearing began at the beginning of July 1996. But by September, the court had found that the text did not comply with the constitutional principles and they refused to certify it.
The text was amended and in October it was adopted by the Constitutional Assembly and sent to the Constitutional Court again. On 18 November, the court’s second hearing began, and on 4 December it certified the final text.
Nelson Mandela signed the Constitution into law in Sharpeville Vereeniging, on 10 December 1996, which is international Human Rights Day.
The Constitution came into effect on 4 February 1997. The week of 17 to 21 March was named national Constitution Week and over seven million copies of the Constitution were distributed in all 11 languages.
ALSO READ: South Africans can travel to more than 90 countries without a visa
