Marion Edmunds reports on the outstanding issues
The Constitutional Assembly is to release the fourth working draft of the Constitution next week. It will chart almost three months of progress since the last draft was published in December. But in anticipation of this draft, here is a summary of where we stand now.
Unresolved issues that are going to make the political parties sweat:
* The seat of Parliament * The status of South Africa’s 11 official languages, including Afrikaans * The national flag and anthem * The Bill of Rights: * The property clause * The right to life clause and the impact it will have on
abortion and the death sentence * The right to strike versus the right to lock-out * How national elections are to be organised and when * The relationship of provincial governments to national government, and how it is to be structured * The extent to which minority parties are to have a say in executive decisions * The right to Afrikaner self-determination ( volkstaat!) and protection of cutural minorities * Cultural councils
Issues that could explode at the last minute and hold the whole thing up:
* Traditional leadership and its constitutional position * Local Government: this has not really been explored in depth and might pose problems * A late entry by the Inkatha Freedom Party could upset negotiated positions on provincial powers * Gender issues, including constitutional provisions to make abortion a legal option
Key dates (these can change at the drop of a hat):
March 14: Senior negotiators will decide whether enough progress has been made to meet the deadline of midnight on May 8 1996. If not, the negotiators might propose extending the time for negotiations by changing the interim Constitution.
March 25: A scheduled meeting of the Constitutional Assembly (all the MPs and Senators) to start debating the draft Constitution in its final form.
May 8: Adoption, if all goes to plan …
All through June: Constitutional Court reviews the final draft to see whether it complies with the constitutional principles, and on the day of certification the Constitutional Assembly will throw a humdinger of a party with street celebrations and an all-night jol.
In the event of it not going according to plan:
* Expert opinions — the panel of experts can look at the disputes and try to come up with formulations that placate all parties. Failing that …
* A referendum. Should there be irreconcilable disagreement about the Constitution between political parties, it is possible that it could be settled by a referendum in which South African citizens will be asked to accept or reject a draft. Insiders think this is unlikely, but there is more of a possiblity of …
* An Election. This is the most dangerous option. Should there be irreconcilable differences between the politicial parties, the ANC could force an election, within three months of taking the decision. ANC insiders say that the party is still discussing this option as a possibility becuase the party is strong, and their main opposition party, the National Party, is at a low ebb. (Yet Constitutional Principle 33 says that South Africa’s next election can only be on April 30 1999, so it is not certain that this is legal.)
Current mysteries:
* Will Inkatha return to the CA and if so, when?
* The National Party has promised an alternative to executive power-sharing – —nothing has yet been put on the table.
* What will constitutional chairman Cyril Ramaphosa do once the Constitution is finished?