Discussions on the finer points of the Constitution are stretching negotiations to the very last minute. Marion Edmunds reports
ATTEMPTS by political parties and public groups to bring new issues into the Constitution-amending process, or to stretch old ones out, is partly responsible for holding up agreement on matters referred back to the Constitutional Assembly.
On Thursday morning, the Constitution-makers were still in the woods, and were unable to report breakthroughs on most of the amendments they need to make before next week to satisfy the Constitutional Court’s demands.
Early deadlines came and went this week, with parties spending most of the time behind closed doors, engaged in a complicated web of bilateral and multilateral meetings. Constitutional Assembly chairman Cyril Ramaphosa said with a frown after a report-back on Thursday morning: ”It does not look very encouraging. Actually, it looks quite gloomy. It seems as if we are tying ourselves into knots unable to grasp the nettle and find agreement.”
And although Ramaphosa’s mood improved as the optimists among the Constitution-makers attempted to paint a brighter picture, it became clear negotiations would stretch right to the very last minute. A meeting of the Constitutional Committee has been scheduled for Monday, when all issues must be resolved.
The outstanding matters are being dealt with by two subcommittees. One has been able to finalise only one of the issues it is grappling with – the text on states of emergency – and is still battling to find resolution on the Labour Relations clause, the Truth and Reconciliation clause, collective bargaining, the independence of the Public Service Commission, and the appointment and removal of the public protector and auditor general.
The second subcommittee, chaired by African National Congress MP Pravin Gordhan, seemed to make more progress, particularly in refining the local government chapter, although arguments persisted through Wednesday night on municipal taxes.
But, in the style of the Kempton Park negotiations,the parties were sunk deep in bilateral meetings on the thorny matter of provincial powers. The National Party’s request to bring policing powers back under provincial jurisdiction were a particular sticking point.
The Inkatha Freedom Party’s demands include that the monarchy of Kwazulu-Natal be entrenched in the Constitution, and that greater authority be given to traditional leaders in local government.
The IFP’s re-entry into the process has been puzzling. At the beginning of the week the IFP sent only two delegates to the negotiations and tabled incomplete proposals – key words and phrases had been left out – creating the impression that the party members were there half-heartedly.
However, IFP MP Peter Smith said: ”We are very serious about what we are doing here. Our return is not motivated by the chance of reopening new issues, but there are some issues where there is an automatic necessity to go beyond the Constitutional Court judgment, and we need some fluidity.”
The IFP is trying to stretch out the opportunity as much as it can without finally snapping the patience of an extremely tense ANC.