Marion Edmunds
ANC secretary general Cyril Ramaphosa is pulling out all the stops to win National Party support for the African National Congress’s stand on the KwaZulu-Natal provincial constitution.
Ramaphosa met Constitutional Development Minister Roelf Meyer, for secret bilateral talks in Cape Town on Thursday, in a bid to unblock progress towards the provincial
ANC sources say that if the NP co-operates with them on a provincial level, rather than with the IFP, it will be easier for the ANC to make concessions to the NP when negotiating ANC-NP disputes in the final national
Meanwhile, the pressure is on the provincial negotiators to get consensus from all parties on difficult issues — particularly on the role of the monarchy — so that the KwaZulu- Natal constitution, when passed, is as inclusive as possible.
It is widely believed in ANC and NP circles that the IFP might return to the national constitution-making process if a provincial constitution is adopted in KwaZulu-Natal.
And as constitutional negotiations intensify, the IFP is under pressure to cooperate with the ANC and the government to resolve the violence in KwaZulu-Natal.
Senior negotiators suspect that discussions in anticipation of the muchpublicised imbizo will spill over to discussions on international mediation and the powers of the provinces.
When asked about the connection between the constitution-making process and the imbizo, Constitutional Assembly chair Cyril Ramaphosa
“I don’t share the police’s view that there is not a third force … I think that recent revelations show that violence (is) caused by people exploiting the difference between the ANC and the IFP and making it impossible for the IFP to come back into the process.”
Ramphosa said that “a third force” could be at work within the heart of the IFP .