38 DAYS AWAY
Between 1 and 3 April 1996, members of political parties, together with their advisers, technical advisers to the Assembly and the Independent Panel of Constitutional Experts, decamped from parliament to Arniston, a small, secluded seaside village in the Western Cape. The press was kept out of the closed-door sessions held at Die Herberg, a former missile testing station. For the first time in the two-year process, privacy was the order of the day. Reports were later gleaned from participants that the atmosphere was no longer as convivial as it had once been. Ramaphosa tried to inject a jovial spirit when he opened the proceedings:
This looks like the United Nations … You all look so serious. There are people here wearing jacket and ties. I’m making a ruling that there are to be no ties and jackets.
CYRIL RAMAPHOSA
Chair of the Constitutional Assembly
Tapes of the debates stacked up as politicians waded through the outstanding issues day and night. The progress recorded at this multilateral was significant. A more positive Chairperson stated at the end of the proceedings:
It defies logic; all parties are really happy with their scores. It’s a win-win situation for everyone.
Cyril Ramaphosa
then Chair of the Constitutional Assembly
Roelf Meyer concurred:
The outstanding items have been reduced to only a few.
ROELF MEYER
then National Party member of the Constitutional Assembly
Negotiators thought that they could now see light at the end of the long negotiating tunnel. They clearly did not anticipate how the four ‘outstanding items’ that were still unresolved – education, property, the right to life and the lock-out – could potentially jeopardise the entire process. Looking back, Roelf Meyer explains how this situation came about:
From the beginning, the ANC and the NP were of the impression that the real stumbling block would be the division of power between the Central Government and the provinces. Often, this issue was referred to as ‘the heart of the Constitution’. We were afraid that we would deadlock on that. At Arniston, we mainly resolved that issue and got it out of the way. And then of course other issues that had not been very high up in the mind suddenly came to the fore …
ROELF MEYER
then National Party member of the Constitutional Assembly
Willie Hofmeyr had an inkling of what lay ahead:
I think a lot of things will be decided at the last moment.
Willie Hofmeyr
then ANC member of the Constitutional Assembly
In the meantime, on 4 April, a report was tabled at the Constitutional Committee instructing the Technical Refinement Team to produce the fifth and penultimate version of the Working Draft. While the technical team incorporated the new decisions from Arniston, it was time for the negotiators to take an Easter holiday and catch their breath before the final weeks of negotiation began.
Nelson Mandela paying a visit to the drafters at the Arniston bosberaad (meeting). He was there simply to encourage the participants to do everything in their power to find solutions but he did not take part in any of the deliberations. Subash Jeram / Constitutional Assembly
Cyril Ramaphosa, Hassen Ebrahim, Nelson Mandela and Leon Wessels with the administrative team at Arniston. Subash Jeram / Constitutional Assembly
