15 MONTHS AWAY
Ramaphosa and others insisted that the IFP walkout would not delay the process.
The IFP lost a golden, historic opportunity to drive home their demands to the ANC and only history will judge them.
CYRIL RAMAPHOSA
reflecting on the end of the process
The IFP’s departure altered the balance of power in the Assembly. The new Constitution had to be passed by 327 votes and the ANC was just 15 votes short of this number. The National Party became a critical negotiating partner.
Without the NP, it was unlikely that the Constitution would be adopted, because if the NP did not vote in favour of the Constitution, chances were that all the other smaller opposition parties would then also vote against the Constitution.
Valli Moosa
MEMBER OF THE ANC
Behind the scenes, a technical refinement team (TRT) was established to take charge of writing the legal text. This was inspired by the work that Arthur Chaskalson and Zim Titus had carried out in drafting the Interim Constitution. Technical experts and legal academics began working on the text. They played an important role in the constitution making-process but it was a narrowly defined one. They weren’t employed as consultants to advise the drafters on policy choices. The policy issues were determined solely by the political representatives in the CA. The role of the legal scholars was to convert their decisions into appropriate legal constitutional language.
The TRT was important because it gave us an opportunity to make sure that there were no inconsistencies, contradictions or gaps and that the constitutional text read in the best manner possible. I had the good fortune to Chair this meeting. Each party gave us their full cooperation, undertaking this task as a collective responsibility, all driven by a sense of history.
HASSEN EBRAHIM
then Executive Director of the Constitutional Assembly
