the call for a Constituent Assembly

Fighting for

democracy!

the call for a Constituent Assembly

Tds abOut IBlks are

going

on bBMeen the ANC

Md fhie

gcJVfHTIf1lfrt The ANCisbuilding the r06Id IowaIds MgOtiating •

new

constitIJtion lor

• new

SouthAfrica. It is not

an

^N5)'road

to build. MPedttly

with

the _

thBtis going on "

our c::oc.mry .

^But South

AAica

badly

nseds. new

and demoaatic r::onstiUion so ItIal

we

^{can bury}

thtI ~constitution

once

IIDdlor III. It is impOrtant IIIstaI5outtI.M'icanslire

part

of building ttWs newSouthAfriClI. The new

constitution must have i'tit

the

id6as, hopes and

wishes of the South AfricanptIOpIfI.

What Is • constitution?

A constitution is a

very

importantdocument.

Most Ol'98nlsations have a constitution. A

constitution

says

what

the

organisationbelieves in and how

the

organisation will

run.

^{It is usually}

writleo down.

The

c:onsliluOon of a

c:oootry

woriIsin

the

same

way.

It is

about

how

the govenvnent

must

work

Of run. For example,

the

c:onstiMion wiI say what km of

economy

the countrywill

have,

what the duties of

government

officials will

be

,

and the limits

on

the

pow ers

of

goverrvnent

officials. Up until

now, the

whites of this country

have

decided

how

the

country ahouId be ^IUf\. It is time tochalge this. Writing a new, just

constitution is a sl ep towards change.

I t

is from a constitution that many countries'

IIIW1I

are made.

The

constitution ofa country is about

the

rights ofcitizens in that country.

SPEAK

,

The South African Co nstitution

AI

presern

South

AfriCa has a

Tricarn8f81

Pariamet'1.. IIis called this because it

has

three houses of parliameflt, one each

tor

^whites,

'c:ob

n ds

'

and I ndians. TNs system was

started i'l

1984 with • new constiMion.

TNs PIIfiament, as _ aI know, is racist and aJts

out the

great majority of the

cotnry'.

people.

ANC h. . ldeas about. new constitutl on

The ANC

has ideas about what the future

South

African constitution should have in it.

The

ANC has putthese ideas down In a documeotcalled the ANC's Draft Constitutional Guidelines. It is a

document for aU South Africans to study and discuss.This document says things like:

• Aliltle peopleof the country will electwho

governs them

.

•

South

Africa will belong to all its people.

• TIlere

wi. be one

^{parliament wtVch}

wi.

^make

U. laws of the countJy.

• The courts, the army

,

and the

police will

serve

all the people. Their job wi!

be to

prOlect the people a-Jd

the

COllStitlAion.

• Womenwill

have the

saone rights as men al

home,

al wor1l

and

in the

c omnurity.

These

are just a few things that the ANC's Draft

ConstiMional

Guidelines say.

Peoplemust think about what they want in a new constitution. A& ANC leader, Penuell Maduna said: 'Our people must tell leaders what type ofconstitution they

want.·

How to go about getting a new constituti o n?

'rhere.ere different ways of getting a new constitution. One of the problems right now is that not all of the political parties agree on how it should be done. The ANC, PAC and Azapo agree that the best and most democratic way to draw up a new constitution is to hold a

Constituent Assembly. But the Nationalist Party, and othe rs, like Inkatha, would rather have a National Convention.

What Is a National Convention?

At a National Convention, leaders of aUthe political parties in a country meet to wOfk out a new constitution, After they have done this, they ask the people of the country to vote for Of

against it. But the problem with this way is who decides who should meet at a National

Convention, You could get people who have no real support from the people. We know of many puppet leaders in South Africa.We also hear many people claiming great support, but never being able to prove it. Those who believe in real democracy believe that we should have a

Constituent Assembly · so that we have only real leaders who have grassroots support at the negotiating table.

A Constituent Assembly

The ANC, PAC, and Azapo believe that the best way of finding out which political parties have

support, is by having free, non-racial elections for a Constituent Assembly, These elected

parties then meet to negotiate and draw up a constitution. All political organisations will be allowed to take part in this election, You could have ANC,Azapo, PAC, Nationalist Party, Conservative Party all fighting towin in the

same area! All citizens over the age of 18 years will have the right to vote. It will be one person, one vote.

How wtll the Constituent Assembly be elected ?

It is not clear how the Constituent Assembly will be elected. There are two ways this can be done. The one way is to elect by constituency.

The other is by national vote,

ElectIon by constit uency

Election by constituency means that leaders of different political parties will stand for elections

in the area in which they live. This area is called a consliluency. Everybody in that area will vote for the leader they like, The leader who wins the

most voles will go to the Constituent Assembly to represent the people 01that area.

Election by national vote

Election by national vote means different

political parties will fight for votes inthewhole country. Everybody in the country will vote for

Mwc hlng forward to PlKlpl e'.

Power. But h I.time now to pYt

••rloue thought Into what

governing for and by tIM people reelly mean.. _ ,..."'"

SPEAK

N_lbl.... tilting 10 ¥Ol.ln N. mlblan ...~In Nowmblr tll89. _ " " ' -

the

political party they like. Those partieS with

the

most votes wil

go

10 !he

Constitueot

Assembly. The

more VOlesa

political

party

gets,

the more seats Ihey

win

win

00

the Constituent

Assembly.

The Constituent Assembly shows who the most popular political parties are in the count/y.

What doe s the govem ment want?

The government

says

'no' to a Constituenl

Assembly. They

say this way Ihe majoritywill

have

more

say

than

the

minority. That means blacks will

have

more

power

than whiles.

They

want

to

meet behind

dosed dooB

and draw up a MW constitution.

Then

^they want 10take

the

.

constrtutioo

to a white referendum. This

means

whites wil VOle to

say

if they like the new

constilutioo

or

not. The goverrvnent says

it is

WOlTied about the rights of minority groups, like whites.

But

the government is really worried that in

a

free and lair election it will not get enough

votes

and

willose some 01

its power.

The

government is also aware that

in

!he

elections, its

'friends

' ·

some

homeland

leaders,

lor example - may

noc

get many VOCes and their power will also

be

reduced.

The

government would rather wrtle out a constitution befora

any

election. It also wants an parties to have equal representation· whether there is prool 01

any

support lor them 01 net - when the constitution is debated. This Is

not

dem ocracy.

But

it is important that a wide range of political parties tak e part in the

Conslitueflt

Assembly.

SPEN<

rc

As Jeremy Cron in of the South Alrica

Con-munist Party said: "11 is important 10 make

slle

^{thai smaner}

parties

^{take part in}

a

Constituert

Assembly. This is because

we

^want

the

constitution 10

have the

support 01aI

the people."

Why • Constituent Assembly?

Zola Skweyiya is the Director of !he ANC's Department of l egal and Conslilutional Affa irs and also the chairperson

01

the ANC's

Constitutional Committee. He explained why his OIganisation is cal ling fOl a Constil uent

Assembly.

Skweyiya said:'For

a change,

!he constitution must

come from the

people

themselves. 0...

people must elect 1tlose people they

trust

and have faith in to sit on

the Constitueot

Asoembly,"

Skweyiya believes that educatin g !he people about making a constitution is important

so

that lhey can have a say In how the country will be run.

He

sai d: "The ANC has set up a

Constitutional Committee which will organise seminars, debates and educational workshops arOU'ld !he conslitulion.

Many people

in this country

have never been

nvotved in

any

constitutiorHnaking. Therefore, we musl

eoucate

them in orderto improve Iheir

knowledge and understanding

of

a constitution.'

Who shoul d supervl. .the elections fOfthis Constituent Assembly?

It is important that it Is decided who should supervis e the elections lor a Constituent

Assembly. This is another hot issue for political parties. But the ANC is clear

on

^{this. Said}

Skweyiya: ' 0...

position is

that

an interim

goyerrvnenl

accepted

by all

the

parties

shoUd be set up

to

run the

^{country during !tie}

Iransitional period

of

constitution making.'

An interim government is

a

govemmentlhat will rule the country unlil 8

new

constiM ion is drawn up,

~e C8lY1Ot be expected to simply believe that the National Party will

be

neutral during the transitional period while it still runs

the

country,

controls the army

and

!he police,

and the South

African Broadcasting Corpo ration (SABC):

Skweyiya said.

Problems along the way

It may soon be the first lime that Ihe majority of South Africans have ever had the chance to vote for the political party that they want 10 have rule the country. Before it has only been Ihe whites, and more recently, a few 'coloured' and Indian people who have voted in th e Tricam eral Parliament. It is exciting, but things will not be easy.

first of all, with the terrib le war going on in our country at the moment, it is hard to imagine

having free and fair electi ons. It is Impcrtaat mat elections happen when people are really free to vote without fear of intimidation.

It is important to remember that 12 million people in our counl ry cannot read and write, and that millions of South Africans have never voted before. It is important lhat people are not tricked or looled in any way because of this.

It is also important that

au

South Africans are kepi informed about what is going on with the lalks about talks, and every

ste p

that is laken along the road. Very otlen some 01the

documents telting us abouttalk s and

negotiations are written in a very high language that only lawyers can really understand. It is important th at these documents are written in a way that ordinary people can underst and •this may mean thallhey will need to be translated into many languages.We do not want only lhose who have been to universi ty to be the ones who can decide on Ihe constitution of the country. It is our country and we have a right to have a say in how it is run.

A challenge for women

for women, the time ahead is a challenge.

Women musl stand up and be part 01making a constijution. A constitution that gives hope for wom en. Women must mak e sure that they know what is going on. They must make th eir voices heard by saying this new South Afric a belongs to them as well. They must not leave all the politicat discussions to Ihe men. Wom en must be part of politics. And it is also up to the

leaders Of democratic organis ations and political parties, who are mostly men, to take up the

challenge 10 make sure that women are taken as seriou sly politically as men.

Thanh10 ActiveVolce and Lea-n and Teach for some 01 the lnfotmation\/Sed inthis article.

Women muallake up Ihe chellen ge 10 be a reel pert of makinge new non-r eciel, non·ae~isl. democ relic SOulh

Alrlc...conalilulion. _ ,Afr"",.

"

^SPEAK