THE ANC AND THE BILL OF RIGHTS

1923 TO 1993

A Seventy Year Survey

Contents

Chapter 1

Document I

The naming of the African National Congress

Document II

We are not political children

Document III

The African Bill of Rights, 1923

Chapter 2

Document IV

The 1943 Bill of Rights, (The African Claims)

Chapter 3

Document V

The Freedom Charter, June 1955

Chapter 4

CHAPTER 1

It is with great pride that we present these Bill of Rights documents to the South African public.

In 1923 our organisation was the first to call for the adoption of a Bill of Rights in South Africa. Its main themes were that human rights should be universal, that all South Africans had a god-given right to ownership of land, that there should be equality before the law and equal political rights and finally that all should be able to have an equal share in government. These fundamental principles were rooted in contemporary democratic thinking and applied to the South African situation.

The ANC leadership saw that the salvation of the South African people depended upon embracing rather than rejecting democratic notions of the time. These were not abstract propositions. They responded to the acute oppression felt by the majority of South Africans and became the basis for campaigns in the decades to come.

The three texts that follow give us an idea of the intellectual and political context in which the first South African Bill of Rights emerged.

The first document indicates how the African National Congress adopted the name which has now become a household name throughout the country and known throughout the world.

The second document is a characteristic speech by the then President of the ANC, the Rev Z.R. Mahabane in which he challenges the colonial status of the African people in terms of which they were treated not as adult citizens with full rights but as children to be spoken for and controlled. He ends his speech predicting that unless the just claims of the African people were not met, years of struggle would follow. His prophecy proved to be correct, and now after decades of struggle in which thousands gave their lives, we are at last moving towards the phase where we can realise his closing words, "All's well that ends well".

The third document is the actual text of the Bill of Rights as drafted by the ANC in 1923. It is couched in the respectful language that political discourse took at that time, but its meaning is clear - the African people were a full, integral and central part of South African society entitled to all the rights and freedoms of citizens anywhere in the world.

Document I

1. The naming of the African National Congress

"That, whereas it is desirable and expedient that all peoples of African descent domiciled within the borders of the Union of South Africa and in other parts of the Continent of Africa,

"And whereas it is in the best interest of the African people that all existing Bantu organisations, such as inter-denominational Native Ministers' Association, Native Teachers' Association, Native Farmers' Association, Workers' Union, Bantu Women's Leagues, Vigilance Committees, and so forth, shall be affiliated with this Native National Association.

"It is resolved that the South African Native National Congress shall henceforth be known and described for all intents and purposes as 'The African National Congress'."

Document II

(Extract from an address by the Rev Z R Mahabane, President of the ANC, to the National Congress held in 1921)

2. We are not political children

"For reasons of self-preservation, self-protection and self-aggrandisement, the white man elected to treat the Bantu peoples of Africa as an 'inferior race', or as Earl Buxton, in his Presidential address at the annual meeting of the African Society in London on the 15th of March last, described our people as the 'child races' of the Empire. They have carried this to a logical conclusion by denying us the rights, privileges and responsibilities of manhood.

"And thus as children, we have no voice in the affairs of the country. Our self-constituted 'fathers' or our 'stepfathers' for that matter, the white men, must think for us, legislate for us and determine our destiny and decide our fate. I refuse to submit to the unreasonable humiliation of a great historic people. I emphatically refuse to submit or subscribe to this policy of treating men of maturer years as children or youths.

"According to the custom of the Bantu, only males who have not undergone the rights of circumcision are treated as youths or 'Amakwenkwe' or 'Maqai' and, no matter how old they may be or how bearded they may be, or what number of children they may have; as a matter of fact they were not even allowed to marry wives until they have undergone this rite of formal initiation into manhood. While in this stage they have no say in affairs, domestic or national.

"The black man in South Africa is treated in exactly the same manner. He is a 'political child', a political 'Nkwenkwe' or 'Maqai' or as the Sesuto saying is 'Moshemanmpshaselanloa leboea' ('What is a boy, a mere dog to be cast away, hairs and all.') The poor black man is consequently reduced to a position of utter voicelessness and votelessness, hopelessness, powerlessness, helplessness, defencelessness, homelessness, landlessness, a condition of deepest humiliation and absolute dependency. God forbid that we, as human beings, made in the image of and after the likeness of Himself, should permit other human beings, made in like manner, to abrogate to themselves a position of superiority over us.

"Chiefs, councillors, ladies and gentlemen, a new thing has just happened in the political life of South Africa. A Bill is engaging the attention of the Union Parliament purporting to extend franchise and citizen rights to the women folk of the European community of this land. The omens are overwhelmingly favourable to the measure, and in all probability it will find its way to the Statute Book of the Union, and in the event of that becoming an accomplished fact (I don't begrudge the ladies the right) then all persons of 'European descent', irrespective of sex, will have been included in the political economy of the land and all male persons of African or non-European descent excluded, save only to a limited extent in one of the four Provinces constituting the Dominion of South Africa- and then the ideal of a 'White South Africa' will have been fully realised.

"The African will then be relegated to a position of an alien or political slave in his own country. In Egypt the position under the Pharaohs was quite the reverse. Only aliens or foreigners - the Israelites - were treated as slaves, not the natives of Egypt.

"Even if the position be viewed from an ethnological point the South African position is strangely anomalous as well as it is untenable. A race of people cannot be held in a sort of 'political slavery' only because the race happens to be primitive, untutored or uncivilized. Yet the Bantu of South Africa can no longer be said to be in a state of barbarism or savagery.

"Chiefs, ladies and gentlemen, I want to declare, in conclusion, that South Africa will never attain her noble ideal of peacefulness, happiness, prosperity, greatness and national unity, of which the Prime Minister and all lovers of Africa have been rightly dreaming, without the full and free co-operation of all the white and black races of the land and of all classes and conditions of men.

"Industrially, agriculturally and commercially we have been working together for the development of our common country. Let this policy of full co-operation be extended to our political system; let no race or class or creed be driven to such a condition of despair as it might be compelled to adopt the Gandhian policy of 'non-cooperation' - taxation without representation leads to this.

"And then when our common task in this county has been completed and the end of all this has fully come, we can look back and exclaim: 'All's well that ends well'."

Document III

3. The African Bill of Rights, 1923.

"The South African Native National Congress in annual convention assembled at Bloemfontein on the 24th day of May, 1923, and being representative of the Bantu population of the four Provinces of the Union of South Africa, hereby solemnly resolves to place on record the following declaration, statement or Bill of Rights, viz:

1. "That the Bantu inhabitants of the Union have, as human beings, the indisputable right to a place of abode in this land of their fathers.
2. "That all Africans have, as the sons of this soil, the God-given right to unrestricted ownership of land in this, the land of their birth.
3. "That the Bantu, as well as their coloured brethren, have, as British subjects, the inalienable right to the enjoyment of those British principles of the "liberty of the subject, justice and equality of all classes in the eyes of the law" that have made Great Britain one of the greatest world powers.
4. "'That the Bantu have, as subjects of His Majesty King George, the legal and moral right to claim the application or extension to them of Cecil Rhodes' famous formula of 'equal rights for all civilized men south of the Zambezi', as well as the democratic principles of equality of treatment and equality of citizenship in the land, irrespective of race, class, creed or origin.
5. "That the peoples of African descent have, as an integral and inseparable element in the population of the great Dominion of South Africa, and as undisputed contributors to the growth and development of the country, the constitutional right of an equal share in the management and direction of the affairs of this the land of their permanent abode, and to direct representation by members of their own race in all the legislative bodies of the land, otherwise, there can be 'no taxation without representation'.

"Congress therefore, respectfully urges members of the great European races of the Union to take the whole question into their serious consideration, and calls upon Parliament to take steps in the direction of so amending the South Africa Act of 1909 as to make provision for some adequate representation of the non- European races domiciled within the borders of the Union of South Africa in the Parliament of the Union and in the Provincial Councils thereof.

(From Resolutions of the Annual Conference of the African National Congress, May 28-29, 1923)

CHAPTER 2

In 1943, at the height of the war against Nazism and Fascism, the ANC leadership adopted a full and detailed Bill of Rights. It claimed for the people of South Africa all the rights and freedoms referred to in the Atlantic Charter signed by Roosevelt and Churchill. The document is notable for the following:

Its language is non-racial and nonsexist. It envisages full citizenship rights for all men and women of all races in South Africa.

It is not an abstract statement of rights but deals concretely with all the forms of oppression felt by the majority in South Africa. In particular it calls for the repeal of all discriminatory and restrictive laws.

It demonstrates clearly the interconnection between political and economic oppression in this country, particularly in so far as disenfranchisement, lack of freedom and dispossession from the land are intertwined. The restoration of political rights from the general freedoms and land rights are seen as integrally related.

The centrality of the right to education and the right to health as fundamental human rights is underlined. The 1943 Bill of Rights laid the foundation of the struggles for the next decade. Its broad approach coincided with a broadening of the base of the ANC, the establishment of an alliance with the Natal and Indian Congresses and the beginning of mass campaign-

ing. We print the full text of the Bill of Rights as well as the list of persons who drafted what can truly be called an historic document. The names demonstrate that intellectual leaders such as Dr A.B. Xuma, Z.K. Mathews and Govan Mbeki came together with religious leaders such as Rev James Calata and Rev Abner Mtimkulu and working class leaders like Moses Kotane and Edwin Mofutsanyane to produce a common approach based on universally accepted values.

Document IV

1. The 1943 Bill of Rights. (The African Claims)

Full Citizenship Rights and Demands

"We, the African people in the Union of South Africa, urgently demand the granting of full citizenship rights such as are enjoyed by all Europeans in South Africa. We demand:

1. "Abolition of political discrimination based on race, such as the Cape 'Native' franchise and the Native Representative Council under Representation of Natives Act, and the extension to all adults, regardless of race, of the right to vote and be elected to parliament, provincial councils and other representative institutions.
2. The right to equal justice in courts of law, including nomination to juries and appointment as judges, magistrates, and other court officials.
3. Freedom of residence and the repeal of laws such as the Natives (Urban Areas) Act, Native Land Act and the Natives Law Amendment Act that restrict this freedom.
4. Freedom of movement, and the repeal of the pass laws, Natives Urban Areas Act, Natives Laws Amendment Act and similar legislation.
5. The Right of freedom of the press.
6. Recognition of the sanctity or inviolability of the home as a right of every family, and the prohibition of police raids on citizens in their homes for tax or liquor or other purposes.
7. The right to own, buy, hire or lease and occupy land and all other forms of immovable as well as movable property and repeal of restriction on this right in the Native land Act, the Native Trust and Land Act, the Natives (Urban Areas) Act and the Natives Laws and Amendment Act.
8. The right to engage in all forms of lawful occupations, trades and professions, on the same terms and conditions as members of other sections of the population.
9. The right to be appointed to and hold office in the civil service and in all branches of public employment on the same terms and conditions as Europeans.
10. The right of every child to free and compulsory education and of admission to technical schools, universities, and other institutions of higher education.
11. Equality of treatment with any other section of the population in the state social services, and the inclusion on an equal basis with Europeans in any scheme of social security.

Land

"We demand the right to an equal share in all the material resources of the country, and we urge:

1. "That the present allocation of 12.5 per cent of the surface area to 7,000,000 Africans as against 87.25 per cent to about 2,000,000 Europeans is unjust and contrary to the interest of South Africa, and therefore demand a fair redistribution of the land as a prerequisite for a just settlement of the land problem.
2. That the right to own, buy, hire or lease and occupy land individually or collectively, both in rural and in urban areas is a fundamental right of citizenship, and therefore demand the repeal of the Native Land Act, the Natives Laws Amendment Act, and the Natives (Urban Areas) Act in so far as these laws abrogate that right.
3. That African farmers require no less assistance from the State than that which is provided to European farmers, and therefore demand the same land bank facilities, state subsidies, and other privileges as are enjoyed by Europeans. Industry and Labour

"We demand for Africans -

1. "Equal opportunity to engage in any occupation, trade or industry. In order that this objective might be realised to the fullest extent, facilities must be provided for technical and university education of Africans so as to enable them to enter skilled, semi-skilled occupations, professions, government service and other spheres of employment;
2. Equal pay for equal work, as well as equal opportunity for all work and for unskilled workers in both rural and urban areas such minimum wage as shall enable the workers to live in health, happiness, decency and comfort;
3. The removal of the colour bar in industry, and other occupations;
4. The statutory recognition of the right of the African worker to collective bargaining under the Industrial Conciliation Act.
5. That the African worker shall be insured against sickness, unemployment, accidents, old age and for all other physical disabilities arising from the nature of their work; the contributions to such insurance should be borne entirely by the government and the employers;
6. The extension of all industrial welfare legislation to Africans engaged in agriculture, domestic service and in public institution or bodies.

Commerce

1. "We protest very strongly against all practices that impede the obtaining of trading licenses by Africans in urban and rural areas, and we equally condemn the confinement of African economic enterprise to segregated areas and localities.
2. We demand the recognition of the right of the Africans to freedom of trading.

Education

1. "The education of the African is a matter of national importance requiring state effort for its proper realisation. The magnitude of the task places it beyond the limits of the resources of the missionary or private endeavour. The right of the African child to education, like children of other sections must be recognised as a state duty and responsibility.

"We, therefore, demand that

1. the state must provide full facilities for all types of education for African children
2. Education of the African must be financed from general revenue on a per capita basis.
3. The state must provide enough properly built and equipped schools for all African children of school-going age and institute free compulsory primary education.
4. The state must proved adequate facilities for secondary, professional, technical and university education.

2. We reject the conception that there is any need of a special type of education for Africans as such, and therefore we demand that the African must be given the type of education which will enable him to meet on equal terms with other peoples the conditions of the modern world.
3. We demand equal pay for equal educational qualifications and equal grade of work for all teachers irrespective of their race or colour. We also urge that pensions, conditions of service, and other privileges which are enjoyed by European teachers should be extended to African teachers on equal terms.
4. We claim that the direction of the educational system of the African must fall more and more largely into the hands of the Africans themselves, and therefore we demand increased and direct representation in all bodies such as Education Advisory Boards, School Committees, Governing Councils, etc., which are responsible for the management and the shaping of policy in African schools, institutions and colleges and/or adequate representation in all bodies moulding and directing the country's educational policy.

Public Health and Medical services

1. "We regard it as the duty of the state to provide adequate medical and health facilities for the entire population of the country. We deplore and deprecate the fact that the state has not carried out its duty to the African in this regard, and has left this important duty to philanthropic and voluntary agencies. As a result of this gross neglect the general health of the entire African population has deteriorated to an alarming extent. We consider that the factors which contribute to this state of affairs are these:

1. the low economic position of the African which is responsible for the present gross malnutrition, general overcrowding, higher mortality and morbidity rates;
2. the shortage of land resulting in the congestion in the reserves and in consequence the bad state of the African's health and the deterioration of his physique;
3. the slum conditions in the urban areas;
4. neglect of the health and the general education of the Africans;
5. neglect of the provision of water supplies, proper sanitary and other conveniences in areas occupied by Africans both in urban and rural areas.

2. To remedy this state of affairs we urge and demand -

1. a substantial and immediate improvement in the economic position of the African;
2. a drastic overhauling and reorganisation of the health services of the country with due emphasis on preventive medicine with all that implies in the modern public health sense.

3. We strongly urge the adoption of the following measures to meet the health needs of the African population
4. the establishment of free medical and health services for all sections of the population;
5. the establishment of a system of School Medical Service with a full staff of medical practitioners, nurses and other health visitors;
6. increased hospital and clinic facilities both in the rural and in urban areas;
7. increased facilities for the training of African doctors, dentists, nurses, sanitary inspectors, health visitors, etc.;
8. a co-ordinated control finance of health services for the whole Union;
9. the creation of a proper system of vital statistics for the whole population including Africans;
10. the appointment of district surgeons in rural areas with a large African population.

Discriminatory Legislation

1. "We, the African people, regard as fundamental to the establishment of a new order in South Africa the abolition of all enactments which discriminate against the African on grounds of race and colour. We condemn and reject the policy of segregation in all aspects of our national life in as much as this policy is designed to keep the African in a state of perpetual tutelage and militates against his normal development.
2. We protest strongly against discourteous, harsh and inconsiderate treatment meted out to Africans by officials in all state and other public offices and institutions. Such obnoxious practices are irreconcilable with Christian, democratic and civilized standards and are contrary to human decency.

"We, therefore, demand -

1. the repeal of all colour-bar and/or discriminatory clauses in the Union's Constitution, that is the South Africa 1909 Act.
2. the repeal of the Representation of Natives Act 1936;
3. the repeal of the Native Land Act 1913 and the Natives Land Amendment and Trust Act 1936;
4. the repeal of the pass laws, Natives Urban Areas Acts as amended, the natives Administration Act 1927;
5. Repeal of the "Colour Bar" Act or Mines and Works Act 1926, Natives Service Contract Act, Masters and Servants Act, the Natives Labour Regulation Act and the amendment of all discriminatory and disabling clauses against African workers contained in the Industrial Conciliation Act.

In short, we demand the repeal of any and all laws as well as the abandonment of any policy and all practices that discriminate against the African in any way whatsoever on the basis of race, creed or colour in the Union of South Africa.

2. List of Members of the Committee

1. Mr R.G. Baloyi, Treasurer General, African Nation Congress.
2. Dr R.T. Bokwe MBChB, Medical Practitioner, Executive Member ANC, Additional District Surgeon, Middledrift.
3. Rev James Calata, Priest, Secretary-General, ANC.
4. Mr R.H. Godlo, Member of Native Representative Council, President Location Advisory Board, Executive Member ANC.
5. Mr M.L. Kabane, B.A. Teacher, President O.F.S. African Teachers' Association.
6. Mr Moses Kotane, General Secretary, Communist Party of South Africa, Member of ANC
7. Mr S. Mac. Leolisa, Trader, Organiser O.F.S. ANC, Deputy Speaker ANC.
8. Rev Z. Mahabane, Minister, Chaplain, ANC.
9. Mr G. Makabeni, Trade Unionist, President Council of non- European Trade Unions, Johannesburg.
10. Mr T.M. Mapikela, Honorary Life Speaker, ANC, Executive Member ANC.
11. Mr Z.K. Matthews, MA LL B, Lecturer, Fort Hare College, Member of the Representative Council, Executive Member ANC.
12. Mr C. Mbata, BA, Teacher, Chairman African Study Circle, Johannesburg.
13. Mr G.A. Mbeki, BA, BCom, Trade Secretary, Federation of Organised Bodies, Transkei.
14. Mr M.T. Moerane, BA, Secretary, Natal Bantu Teachers' Association.
15. Mr E.T. Mofutsanyane, Member National Executive ANC.
16. Dr S.M. Molema, MBCh, Medical Practitioner, Executive Member ANC.
17. Dr J.S. Moroka, MBCh, Member of the Native Representative Council, Treasurer All African Convention.
18. Rev Mpitso, Mendi Memorial Fund, Secretary-Organiser African Ministers Association, Executive Member ANC.
19. Rev Abner Mtimkulu, Minister, Acting-President, Natal ANC.
20. Mr Don Mtimkulu, MA, President, African Teachers' Federation.
21. Mr Leo Mtimkulu, Attorney.
22. Mr J.M. Nhlapo, BA, Wilberforce Institution, Executive Member ANC.
23. Mr Selby Ngcobo, BA, BEcon, Principal Loram Secondary School.
24. Dr I.P. Ka Seme, BA, LL D, Attorney at Law, Congress National Executive.
25. Dr R. Setlogelo, MBChB, Medical Practitioner.
26. Mr R.V. Selope-Thema, Editor, Bantu World, Member Native Representative Council, Speaker ANC.
27. Mr B.B. Xiniwe, Member Native Representative Council.
28. Dr A.B. Xuma, MD, BSc (USA), LRCP, LRCS, (Edin), LRFP & S (Glas), DPH (Lond), Medical Practitioner, Medical Officer of Health Alexandra Health Committee, Physician-in-Charge Cragman Community, Clinic, Evaton.

CHAPTER 3

In 1955 the ANC produced its third major Bill of Rights document, the Freedom Charter. Adopted by the Congress of the People at Kliptown in 1955, this document became the beacon for millions of South Africans uniting in a common struggle for dignity, equality and social justice.

It was the foundation of the prosecutions's case in the notorious treason trail 1956-1961. It circulated in the underground and in exile. Although some anti-apartheid activists agreed with one formulation or another, without doubt the Freedom Charter became the foundation of the nonracial vision which is now finding expression in the transitional constitution for South Africa.

The Freedom Charter developed the 1943 Bill of Rights document in a context in which the ANC emerged as the leading force of a broadly-based anti-apartheid movement which included men and women of all races, beliefs, backgrounds and cultures. It anticipated by a decade the two great international conventions on human rights adopted by the United Nations, viz, the International Convention on Civil and Political Rights and the International Convention on Social, Economic and Cultural Rights. In keeping with the nature of oppression in South Africa and the actual yearnings for freedom of the people denied their human rights, the Freedom Charter stresses the indivisibility of political, social and economic rights. All are important - none is subordinate to the other.

Document V

The Freedom Charter, June 1955.

PREAMBLE

"We, the people of South Africa, declare for our country and the world to know:

That South Africa belongs to all who live in it, black and white, and that no government can justly claim authority unless it is based on the will of the people;

That our people have been robbed of their birthright to land, liberty and peace by a form of government founded on injustice and inequality;

That our country will never be prosperous or free until all our people live in brotherhood, enjoying equal rights and opportunities;

That only a democratic state, based on the will of the people, can secure to all their birthright without distinction of colour, race, sex or belief;

And, therefore, we, the people of South Africa, black and white, together - equals, countrymen and brothers adopt this FREEDOM CHARTER.

And we pledge ourselves to strive together, sparing nothing of our strength and courage, until the democratic changes here set out have been won.

The people shall govern

"Every man and woman shall have the right to vote for and stand as a candidate for all bodies which make laws.

All the people shall be entitled to take part in the administration of the country. The rights of the people shall be the same regardless of race, colour or sex. All bodies of minority rule, advisory boards, councils and authorities shall be replaced by democratic organs of self-government.

All national groups shall have equal rights

"There shall be equal status in the bodies of state, in the courts and in the schools for all national groups and races;

All national groups shall be protected by law against insult to their race and national pride;

All people shall have equal rights to use their own language and to develop their own folk culture and customs;

All apartheid laws and practices shall be set aside.

The people shall share in the country's wealth

"The national wealth of our country, the heritage of all South Africans, shall be restored to the people;

The mineral wealth beneath the soil, the banks and monopoly industry shall be transferred to the ownership of the people as a whole;

All other industries and trade shall be controlled to assist the well-being of the people;

All people shall have equal rights to trade where they choose, to manufacture and to enter all trades, crafts and professions.

The land shall be shared amongst those who work it

"Restriction of land ownership on a racial basis shall be ended, and all the land divided amongst those who work it, to banish famine and land hunger;

The state shall help the peasants with implements, seed, tractors and dams to save the soil and assist the tillers;

Freedom of movement shall be guaranteed to all who work on the land;

All shall have the right to occupy land wherever they choose; People shall not be robbed of their cattle;

Forced labour and farm prisons shall he abolished.

All people shall be equal before the law

"No one shall be imprisoned, deported or restricted without a fair trial;

No one shall be condemned by the order of any Government official;

The courts shall be only for serious crimes against the people and shall aim at re-education, not vengeance;

The police force and army shall be open to all on an equal basis and shall be the helpers and protectors of the people;

All laws which discriminate on grounds of race, colour or belief shall be repealed.

The preaching and practice of national, race or colour discrimination and contempt shall be a punishable crime.

All shall enjoy equal human rights

"The law shall guarantee to all their right to speak, to organise, to meet together, to publish, to preach, to worship and to educate their children;

The privacy of the house from police raids shall be protected by law;

All shall be free to travel without restriction from countryside to town, from province to province, and from South Africa abroad;

Pass laws, permits and all other laws restricting these freedoms shall be abolished.

There shall be work and security

"All who work shall be free to form trade unions to elect their officers and to make wage agreements with their employers;

The state shall recognise the right and duty of all to work, and to draw full unemployment benefits;

Men and women of all races shall receive equal pay for equal work;

There shall be a forty-hour working week, a national minimum wage, paid annual leave and sick leave for all workers and maternity leave on full pay for all working mothers;

Miners, domestic workers, farm workers and civil servants shall have the same rights as all others who work;

Child labour, compound labour, the tot system and contract labour shall be abolished.

The doors of learning and culture shall be opened

"The government shall discover, develop and encourage national talent for the enhancement of our cultural life;

All the cultural treasures of mankind shall be open to all, by free exchange of books, ideas and contacts with other lands;

The aim of education shall be to teach the youth to love their people and their culture, to honour human brotherhood, liberty and peace;

Education shall be free, compulsory, universal and equal for all children;

Higher education and technical training shall be opened to all by means of state allowances and scholarships awarded on the basis of merit;

Adult illiteracy shall be ended by a mass state education plan; Teachers shall have all the rights of other citizens;

The colour bar in cultural life, in sport and in education shall be abolished.

There shall be houses, security and comfort

"All people shall have the right to live where they choose, to be decently housed, and to bring up their families in comfort and security;

Unused housing space to be available to the people;

Rent and prices shall be lowered, food plentiful and no one shall go hungry;

A preventive health scheme shall be run by the state;

Free medical care and hospitalisation shall be provided for all, with special care for mothers and young children;

Slums shall be demolished and new suburbs built where all have transport, roads, lighting, playing fields, creches and social centres;

The aged, the orphans, the disabled and the sick shall be cared for by the state;

Rest, leisure and recreation shall be the right of all;

Fenced locations and ghettoes shall be abolished, and laws which break up families shall be repealed.

There shall be peace and friendship

"South Africa shall be a fully independent state, which respects the rights and sovereignty of all nations;

South Africa shall strive to maintain world peace and settlement of all international disputes by negotiation not war;

Peace and friendship amongst all our people shall be secured by upholding the equal rights, opportunities and status of all;

The people of the protectorates Basutoland, Bechuanaland and Swaziland - shall be free to decide for themselves their own future;

The right of all the peoples of Africa to independence and self-government shall be recognised, and shall be the basis of close co-operation.

"Let all who love their people and their country now say, as we say here:

'These freedoms we will fight for, side by side, throughout our lives, until we have won our liberty'."

CHAPTER 4

Although lawyers such as Donald Molteno and John Dugard played an important role in the sixties and later in establishing the need for a Bill of Rights in South Africa, the main agency for finally creating a rights consciousness was popular struggle around the Freedom Charter. In 1987, the National Executive Committee of the ANC formally accepted the need for South Africa to have a justiciable Bill of Rights enshrining universally accepted fundamental rights and freedoms.

This was our answer to those who were insisting on racial group rights as the foundation of constitutional development. The ANC was able to draw on half a century of campaigning for human rights as the foundation for its claim for equal citizenship in a united country. More recently, the constitutional committee of the ANC pioneered debate in this country on the role and functioning of a constitutional court. In a landmark conference held early in 1991, personalities from the legal profession and constitutional court judges from Africa, Europe and North-America passed on their experiences to South Africans. It was at this conference that the first serious proposals were made in connection with the composition, role and functioning of a constitutional court in South Africa.

The ANC has also pioneered the call for the establishment of a human rights commission to work in liaison with the courts and the legislature in defending and promoting human rights. We have also given our full support to the creation of the office of Ombud.

The interim constitution draws heavily on seventy years of campaigning for freedom and justice in our land. As in 1923, international values and standards link up with the claims of all in South Africa to live dignified and free lives. We still have a long way to go.

After the elections on April 27, 1994, the new parliament will have as one of its principal tasks the drafting of a new constitution. This will include drafting a full and comprehensive Bill of Rights in line with the general principles agreed upon in negotiations and inserted in the transitional constitution.

At this stage. the general public will have to be brought as directly as possible into the debate over the new constitution. This will be especially important in relation to the Bill of Rights. This will be the document that enshrines the deepest longings and expectations of the South African people. Rights are not the product of lawyers but the expression of what people expect and claim for themselves. They articulate the essence of what it means to be a human being and a citizen in South Africa. They establish a broad social compact based on agreed common values in terms of which all our people in all their variety can live together in the same country. Rights can never be conferred. They belong to the people and not to the state or any political party. This has been the position of the ANC for seventy years. We are looking forward to the whole nation participating in an active way in determining what the fundamental rights and freedoms of our people will be for our generation and the generation to come.