Making the Final Constitution in South Africa

Extract

Previous issues of the JAL have chronicled the protracted negotiating process that led to the making of the Interim Constitution in South Africa and the holding of the 1994 elections. The Interim Constitution was expressly intended to provide an “historic bridge” between the past and the future and facilitate the continued governance of South Africa while an elected Constitutional Assembly drew up a final Constitution. This was because the negotiating parties had not felt it proper to make the final document without public endorsement through the electoral system. Thus the national legislature elected by universal adult suffrage in 1994 doubled as the constitution-making body entrusted with die task of drafting a new constitution.