CODESA: Convention for a Democratic South Africa

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Browsing CODESA: Convention for a Democratic South Africa by Type "Technical Report"

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    Draft Electoral Bill
    (CODESA, 1993) South Africa. Negotiating Council of the Multi-Party Negotiating Process. Technical Committee on an Independent Electoral Commission.
    The purpose of the draft Electoral Bill was to regulate elections for the National Assembly and all provincial legislatures to be elected in terms of the Constitution of the Republic of South Africa Act, 1993. This document contains versions 2-7 of the draft Bill. The second version includes an explanatory memorandum by the Technical Committee on the Electoral Bill, explaining substantive changes that needed to be made due to comments , suggestions and criticisms made against the first version by members of the Negotiating Council. The second version attempts to address these comments, suggestions and criticisms. Certain changes were made with regards to entitlement to vote, procedures for registering parties, foreign votes and special votes. The third version of the Bill contains the CSIR’s second interim report on the ink and sensors to be used in the April 1994 election. Versions 5 and 6 contain clauses printed in italics. These do not represent final formulations, but reflect the outline proposals adopted by the Task Group. Some clauses are also in italics to indicate that they had not yet been settled by the Technical Committee.
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    Reports of the Technical Committee on the Repeal or Amendment of Legislation Impeding Free Political Activity and Discriminatory Legislation
    (CODESA, 1993) South Africa. Negotiating Council of the Multi-Party Negotiating Process. Technical Committee on the Repeal or Amendment of Legislation Impeding Free Political Activity and Discriminatory Legislation
    The Technical Committee on the Repeal of Discriminatory Legislation was tasked with investigating discriminatory legislation which impeded free political activity. This included discriminatory laws which constituted the foundations of political apartheid, laws which were inherently discriminatory, and laws which impeded free and fair elections. The Committee was asked to prepare a report which would include a schedule dealing with laws to be repealed and laws to be amended. The Committee was also tasked with preparing a “Higher Code”. The purpose of the Code was to serve as a “higher law” to be used for judging all Acts that could impede free and fair elections. This document contains 3 reports of the Committee. The first report dated 13th May, 1993, contains the Committee’s proposals for accomplishing its tasks, as well as the principles and powers to be contained in the “Higher Code”. The final report of 1st June, 1993, contains a list of discriminatory laws, as well as the “Higher Code”. Annexure B contains Government Gazette no. 14591 of 19th February 1993, which consists of draft Bills. Annexure C contains submissions from various political parties on the repeal of discriminatory legislation. The third report of 15th July, 1993, to the Negotiating Council, contains the outcome of the Committee’s meetings with the Transitional Executive Council, the Independent Electoral Commission, and the Committee for Fundamental Rights during Transition.
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    Reports of the Technical Committee onViolence.
    (CODESA, 1993) South Africa. Negotiating Council of the Multi-Party Negotiating Process. Technical Committee on Violence.
    Consists of reports 1-5 of the Technical Committee on Violence, which were compiled between May and July 1993. The Committee received over 90 submissions, and the common thread running through all of these submissions was the conviction that political negotiations could not succeed unless there was a reduction in violence. Among the submissions was a recommendation that all parties involved in the Multi-Party negotiating process should sign the Peace Accord, and that the Peace Accord should be strengthened. The Committee made a number of recommendations with regards to acceptable forms of political rivalry, in an effort to reduce politically motivated violence. The Committee submitted 13 proposals to the Negotiating Council and recommended that the Council adopt the proposals, in order to eliminate violence. The final report contains issues raised by the Negotiating Council at its meeting on 22nd June 1993, and the Committee’s responses to these issues.
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    Reports.
    (CODESA, 1993) South Africa. Negotiating Council of the Multi-Party Negotiating Process. Commission on National Symbols.
    The Commission on National Symbols was appointed by the Negotiating Council on 7th September 1993. It was impressed upon members of the Commission that they would be addressing an extremely emotional issue that would have to be dealt with with the utmost sensitivity. Proposals for a national flag, a coat of arms, a seal and an anthem for the transitional period were to be requested from all interested parties. Letters were sent to universities, technicons and 24, 000 schools, with the aim of achieving maximum participation. The Commission was given only six weeks to achieve its goals. Artists had barely a month to prepare submissions. Despite this, 81 designs for a national coat of arms and seal were received, and there were 7 000 submissions for the national flag. There were 120 submissions on the national anthem. The Commission recommended that the anthem should express and promote national unity. It was therefore proposed that the music of Nkosi Sikelel’I Africa and Die Stem van Suid Afrika be considered as dual anthems for the transitional period. The Commission submitted its report to the Negotiating Council on 19th October, 1993. The Negotiating Council decided not to make a decision regarding the flag, due to the sensitivity of the matter. The Council recommended that the Heraldry Council should be consulted regarding this issue. It was decided that the existing coat of arms should remain for the transitional period. The issue of the national anthem, being a highly emotive one, was to be referred to bilateral meetings.
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    South Africa. Negotiating Council of the Multi-Party Negotiating Process. Techncial Committee on Fundamental Rights During The Transition.
    (CODESA, 1993)
    The Technical Committee on Fundamental Rights During the Transition concerned itself only with those rights and freedoms regarded as essential for the transition to democracy in South Africa. The Committee was not tasked with compiling a Bill of Rights for South Africa. The Committee considered the criteria necessary for regarding rights and freedoms as fundamental. Three categories were initially identified, but these were later reduced to two, namely those rights necessary to ensure democracy during the transition, and those aimed at the overall security and well-being of all citizens during the transition. The Committee looked at the means and mechanisms for the entrenchment of fundamental rights and freedoms, as well as the criteria for the limitation and suspension of those rights and freedoms.
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    Special reports on confederalism
    (CODESA, 1993) South Africa. Negotiating Council of the Multi-Party Negotiating Process. Technical Committee on Constitutional Issues.
    The Technical Committee on Constitutional Issues drafted two reports, in which it dealt with the submissions received from the Conservative Party and the Government of Bophuthatswana concerning the issue of confederalism. The Conservative Party requested an Afrikaner state, separate from the rest of South Africa. The Party provided details of the governance and legal system of the state it envisaged. However, the Committee was of the view that no state could exist in vacuo. While the Committee did not contest the right of the Afrikaner people to self determination, it was of the opinion that as a minority group they could be protected in the South African state within the ambit of the constitutional principles, which were being debated in the Negotiating Council. The issue of citizenship was also problematic, because all non-Afrikaners residing in the state would be disenfranchised. They would be regarded as aliens. This was not acceptable to the Committee. The government of Bophutatswana requested a confederation of states, i.e. a voluntary association of separate independent TBVC states. The Committee pointed out that the TBVC states were not recognized as independent states by the international community. Another problem was that the TBVC states were interspersed between existing regions and provinces of South Africa. They were to all intents and purposes part of South Africa. Furthermore, the inhabitants of the TBVC states were South African by birth, before these states became independent. There were strong indications that they and their descendants wished to regain this status. Finally, the demographics, economic systems, financial viability and the politics of the TBVC states were intrinsically linked to those of South Africa. Thus a semi-confederal or hegemonic state system for South Africa and the TBVC states was not possible.