Journal of the African National Congress - Volume 6 No. 3 - July 1995
If the NP ever needed to develop a strategy for the new South Africa, it was last month. South Africa's constitutional court - the instrument designed specifically to uphold democracy and protect the constitution the NP helped to write - last month unanimously ruled that capital punishment was unconstitutional. It was an historic ruling, which brought to an end a barbaric practice which should have been outlawed long ago. It was hailed from several quarters, including by number of international observers, as a judgement which heralded the start of a new culture of respect for human rights and dignity. After the euphoria of the first democratic election, South Africans had demonstrated their commitment to building a new, better society.
The judgement also provided an opportunity for political parties to assert their support for the new South Africa, and its new-found respect for basic human rights. It was an opportunity for parties like the NP to shed some of the vestiges of their repressive past. It was an opportunity to entrench their 'new' NP image.
However, the party which for many years had been setting and breaking world records for hanging people was not quite ready to quit one of its dirtiest habits. The NP slammed the court's decision and called for a referendum to be held on the issue. While this move confirmed that the NP still has a long way to go before it manages to fathom out what a basic human right is, more disturbing is what the NP is saying about the legitimacy of the constitutional court and the supremacy of the constitution.
Whether the NP would be able to win a referendum on this issue is questionable. If the ANC and the democratic movement were to mobilise their resources around the abolition of the death penalty, it would most likely be able to convince the majority of South Africans that the death penalty is both inhuman and a wholly ineffective deterrent to crime. That, however, is not the point.
The point is that the Bill of Human Rights contained in the interim constitution is an expression of those fundamental rights which all people should be afforded irrespective of where they live; what their situation is in society; or in what age they live. Just because a majority of people at one point in history feel that it is right to murder someone for specific crimes, does not mean that one can automatically disregard that person's right to life and dignity. A nation's constitution should establish certain rights as inalienable, which the constitutional court must be bound to uphold no matter who challenges it.
Given the NP's slight on the legitimacy of the constitutional court - and by extension the basis of our democratic state - does not bode well for the future. Are they, for example, going to question the court's capacity to rule on the whether the final constitution satisfies the constitutional principles outlines in the interim constitution? Are they going to ask parliament to overturn all constitutional court decisions which they aren't happy with? The NP might not have got the hang of democracy, but there's no reason why they should impose their old-worldliness on the rest of the country.
Save Jamal
While South Africa is embracing a future of non-racialism and human dignity, the United States is grappling with a situation which highlights the twin evils of racism and capital punishment. One could pontificate for ages about the backwardness of the world's 'foremost' democracies, were it not that the subject of this case is due to be executed in just over a month's time.
Even if Mumia Abu-Jamal was guilty of the crime for which he is accused, he shouldn't be put to death. But from the evidence at hand, he shouldn't even be in jail. The Jamal case is a classic example of the racism, prejudice and barbarism which still lurks in the US judicial and law enforcement system. The trial of Mumia Abu-Jamal is a symbol of much which is wrong in contemporary American society. If the Governor of Pennsylvania goes ahead with the execution of Jamal, he will not only be responsible for the death of an innocent person, he will be responsible for rolling back some of the greatest gains for social justice made in the last few decades.
The Truth and Reconciliation Bill was passed by the National Assembly on the 28 June, following a several months long debate which saw over 300 amendments being made to the bill. For the bill to then becomes law required President Mandela's signature. The Remuneration of Traditional Leaders Bill which provided for the payment of traditional leaders by the central government was also passed, amid vociferous opposition from the Inkatha Freedom Party.
Worker Mass Action
Workers took to the streets to press home their demand for a worker-friendly Labour Relations Act. Negotiations between business and labour in the National Economic Development and Labour Council (Nedlac) had by the end of June not yet found a resolution to their differences.
About 70,000 workers marched through Johannesburg's city centre on 7 June as part of a united labour campaign of Cosatu, SACP and ANC alliance partners to protest against employers' refusal to include the right to strike and centralised bargaining in the draft LRA. The marchers were addressed by President Mandela who pledged his and ANC's full hearted support for the worker demands and actions. Almost half a million workers turned out on 19 June in marches across the country to support their demands.
World Cup Victory for South Africa
The South African rugby team won the Rugby World Cup final on Saturday 24 June when they beat the New Zealand All Blacks 15-12 after twenty minutes of extra time. The South African team managed to contain the All Blacks, including the star of the competition, Jonah Lomu. South African flyhalf Joel Stransky kicked the home team to victory.
The team was cheered on by a large and enthusiastic crowd, who greeted President Mandela's appearance at the game with cries of "Nelson, Nelson". Mandela wore the number six jersey of the South African captain Francois Pienaar.
For their pains the New Zealand team were treated at a post-match banquet to a coarse, gloating 'victory' speech by South African rugby chief Louis Luyt. The South African team, by contrast, were treated to a Johannesburg ticker-tape parade.
Health Insurance Scheme Unveiled
Minister of health Nkosazana Zuma released on 19 June plans for a national health insurance system (NHIS). The NHIS is intended to provide universal non-discriminatory access to primary health services for all South Africans regardless of race, gender, income and place of residence. The scheme is expected to cost R36 billion over the next five years.
Inkatha Man Arrested
The deputy secretary general of the Inkatha Freedom Party, Zakhele Khumalo, was arrested on 8 June on 13 counts of murder. Khumalo is the most senior politician to be arrested since the government ordered a crackdown on alleged hit squad operations in KwaZulu/Natal. Khumalo is a close associate and former private secretary of Mangosuthu Buthelezi. Khumalo was implicated in the 'Inkathagate' scandal, in which he took the rap for accepting SAP funds for the IFP.
Sam Ramsamy Elected
Sam Ramsamy was elected International Olympic Committee (IOC) member for South Africa on 18 June. Ramsamy, a 57-year-old former physical education teacher who returned to South Africa after the unbanning of the ANC, led the South African team at the Barcelona Olympics in 1992. South Africa had not had an IOC member since Reg Honey died in 1982.
National Soccer League Crisis
President Nelson Mandela called for a meeting with members of the National Soccer League and the SA Football Association executive committees upon his return from a state visit to South Korea. The president indicated his "grave concerns" at the allegations and counter allegations about the NSL management and expressed his wish that the matter be resolved amicably "in the interest of the sport". Commenting on the issue ANC secretary general Cyril Ramaphosa said sport, particularly soccer, had the potential to bring about reconciliation, nation building and unity among South Africans. "Even at this late hour we appeal to all parties to subordinate their own interests to the best interests of the country as a whole and all its people," he said.
Savimbi Offered GNU Post
The Angolan government invited Unita rebel leader Jonas Savimbi to become vice-president in a government of national unity, state radio in Angola reported on 21 June. At the time of gong to press Savimbi had not yet indicated whether he would accept the post.
More Dirty Tricks Revealed
Details emerged last month of a dirty tricks campaign created by De Klerk's State Security Council to undermine the ANC and its allies in the build-up to the 1994 elections.
Former Stratcom operative Paul Erasmus revealed in the Mail and Guardian how Stratcom - the State Security Council arm which specialised in intelligence gathering and dirty tricks - had used propaganda, front companies, surrogate organisations, assassination, theft, blackmail, subversion and a "host of other activities" - to strengthen the NP in negotiations and diminish the ANC's capacity to win a non-racial election. Among their tactics were concerted campaigns to undermine prominent democratic leaders, including Women's League president Winnie Mandela.
The revelations confirm claims made by the ANC since its unbanning, and point to the direct involvement of senior NP members.
Teacher, people's tribune, man of steel
ANC and SACP stalwart Harry Gwala died on 20 June at the Midlands Medical Centre after suffering a heart attack. He was buried in Pietermaritzburg on 1 July.
Harry Themba Gwala was born in 1920 in New Hanover in the Natal Midlands. The son of a Lutheran lay preacher, he graduated with a teacher's diploma from Adams College. He taught at Slangspruit and one of his students was Moses Mabhida, who later went on to become General Secretary of the SACP in exile.
In 1942 Harry Gwala joined the Communist Party of South Africa, and two years later he joined the ANC. Around this time he left teaching for trade union work. He organised workers in the chemical and building industry and formed the Rubber and Cable Workers Union in Howick.
In 1950 he was one of the organisers of the national stay-away, and was listed as a communist and then banned. He worked at Edendale hospital, but was fired for organising hospital workers into SACTU.
After the banning of the ANC in 1960, comrade Gwala was active in the underground until his arrest in 1964. He was sent to Robben Island for sabotage and recruitment of cadres into MK. Released in 1972, Gwala was restricted to Pietermaritzburg, making it impossible for him to earn a living as a teacher or in trade unions. He ran a laundry business, but used his work as a cover for ongoing underground activity. He was in the forefront of attempts to revive SACTU.
In 1976 he was arrested again, badly tortured, and charged under the Terrorism Act. He was subsequently sentenced to life imprisonment.
In prison comrade Gwala was known for his tireless political educational work. In particular, dozens of young political prisoners benefited from his clear and effective teaching skills. While in prison, his wife Elda died and he was not allowed to attend her funeral.
In the 1980s comrade Gwala suffered from a rare motor neuron disease. It paralysed his arms, and led to his release in November 1988.
Despite the terrible, debilitating effects of the disease, Gwala's spirit and commitment was absolutely unbroken. An electrifying speaker, he inspired millions of our people. In recognition of his outstanding role in the struggle, he was awarded the ANC's highest honour, the Isitwalandwe-Seaparankoe Award on 8 January 1992.
He was elected as the first Chairperson of the ANC in the Natal Midlands after the unbanning of the movement in 1990. In 1991, Gwala was elected to the ANC National Executive Committee and to the Central Committee of the SACP.
After the April 1994 elections, Gwala became a Member of the KwaZulu-Natal provincial legislature, serving also as the ANC's Chief Whip.
He is survived by his three daughters and grandchildren.
Workers marched last month to demand that the new LRA reflect the rights and priorities set out in the Reconstruction and Development Programme, writes Steyn Speed.
If agreement was not reached between business and labour representatives on the new Labour Relations Act by the first week of July, then the government should fulfil its mandate to implement the RDP, Cosatu assistant general secretary Zwelinzima Vavi said.
In an interview with Mayibuye shortly before the last round of negotiations, Vavi said Cosatu's LRA demands were reflected in the Reconstruction and Development Programme adopted by the tripartite alliance. Closed shops, strengthening of trade unions, centralised bargaining and the outlawing of offensive lock-outs were all contained in the RDP, he said.
Business and labour representatives in the National Economic Development and Labour Council (Nedlac) had by late June failed to reach agreement on key issues of the labour relations bill. The gap between their respective positions had narrowed on paid time-off for shopstewards, agency and closed shops and "slightly" on centralised bargaining. However, there were still "substantial gaps" on particularly the right to strike and disclosure of company information.
"The media has created the impression that centralised bargaining is the only issue in dispute," Vavi said, "but in my view, some other issues are more fundamental." He said a settlement on centralised bargaining didn't mean an overall settlement.
Vavi said there was still a possibility of a settlement being reached in time, but that Cosatu would not agree merely to meet the deadline. "We are not prepared to allow employers to roll back the gains already made. Some of the [business] formulations want to set us back to the '80s," he said. At the time of going to press, labour representatives were considering the compromise proposals made by labour minister Tito Mboweni.
While Cosatu's rolling mass action campaign strengthened labour's position, business remained intransigent on a number of issues. "The [mass action] campaign did help," Vavi said, "employers woke up to find that the National Party was no longer in power, but that there was a democratic government which wouldn't automatically take their side."
Cosatu estimates suggest that close to 500,000 workers took part in the 27 marches held around country on 19 June. Workers brought the Johannesburg city centre to a standstill on 7 June during a march to outside the Johannesburg Stock Exchange. President Mandela and other alliance leaders joined the 70,000 marchers. He said the right to "demonstrate and strike was used throughout the history of the ANC".
Contrary to business, NP and DP claims, the mass action campaign had strengthened the Nedlac process, Vavi said. He said through Cosatu's campaign, Nedlac had achieved a far greater public profile. It had also involved workers in negotiations. "If employers thought we could work out elite deals in boardrooms, they were wrong," he said.
Summarised below are labour's core demands for the new Labour Relations Act.
Strong, Stable Unions
The labour relations act needs to promote strong, stable trade unions through adopting a 'majoritarian' approach, establishing levels of representation which do not encourage fragmentation and proliferation of small unions. Labour is generally happy with the approach in the bill on these rights.
Cosatu wants 'closed shops' agreed to between representative trade unions and employers to be permitted, but that the institution be democratised through the holding of secret ballots, provision for political and conscientious objection and multi-union closed shops.
It believes, however, that the bill is not strong enough on paid time off for shopstewards, particularly for training.
Labour also maintains the penalties proposed by business for disclosing sensitive company information to competitors is so high as to negate the effectiveness of information being made available to unions. Although mechanisms should exist to ensure that sensitive information remains confidential, employers are Using this as an excuse not to disclose information to workers.
Centralised Bargaining
Labour demands that national bargaining councils be established in each sector of the economy, in which employers are compelled by law to participate. The content of these negotiations should be left to the parties to decide.
Right to Strike
Labour has criticised the provision in the bill which allows employers to dismiss striking workers on grounds of fear of "irreparable economic harm". Cosatu maintains that this renders the strike strategy ineffective, since strikes, by their nature, are supposed to place economic pressure on employers.
The bill does not say anything on scab labour, which Cosatu believes should not be permitted during legal strikes, since they it reduces the effectiveness of a strike and has a history of causing violence.
Cosatu also wants that the rights to industrial action on socio-economic matters not be "unduly restricted".
Employers should not be able to use the lock-out mechanism "offensively" as a way of forcing changes in conditions of employment on workers.
Workplace Forums
Labour wants the proposed workplace forums to be composed of democratically-elected shopstewards, as opposed to general worker representatives. Cosatu argues that workplace forums should not recognise non-union workers, as they have chosen not to be part of a collective. The agenda of the workplace forums should exclude matters covered by collective bargaining.
Duty To Bargain
Employers should be legally bound by the act to bargain with trade union representatives on all matters of mutual interest. The law should not, however, attempt to prescribe the agenda or outcome of these negotiations.
The story of the secret underground communications network of Operation Vula by Tim Jenkin
In the early months of 1988 Mac Maharaj and 'Ghebuza' (Siphiwe Nyanda) were readying themselves to be infiltrated into the country as the first group of Vula operatives. To most people, however, Mac was a very sick man, suffering from a serious kidney ailment. He hobbled around on a stick and failed to turn up for a string of important meetings. It was said that he was about to go to a sanatorium in the Soviet Union to wait for a kidney transplant. Ghebuza was also withdrawing from his regular activities because he was about to go on a long 'officer training course' in the Soviet Union. No one, other than president Oliver Tambo and a few others involved in the preparations for Vula, knew the truth. So tight was the security around the preparations that no one doubted what they were told about Mac and Ghebuza.
The two had been well prepared with a range of professional disguises and false documents. An extremely contorted route had been worked out for the pair to reach South Africa from Zambia. They would depart for the Soviet Union where their appearances and identities would be radically altered. From Moscow they would fly to a few European cities to fuzz the trail, from where they would move on to east Africa and ultimately to Swaziland, where they would be assisted to hop the border into South Africa. Everything along the way was well prepared and well rehearsed.
Back in London the communications equipment stood idle waiting for Vula to start. Although we had thoroughly tested our equipment, messages had been sent successfully from South Africa only from the 'ideal' conditions of a comfortable hotel room. A public telephone was different. Would not the sounds of the street, the dropping of the coins and other factors not distort the delicate computer messages and render the system worthless?
As Mac and company would not have the computers on arrival in South Africa - these were due to be smuggled in later - we had set up a voice-mail system linked to a tone pager at the London end for initial communications. This allowed the comrades in South Africa to deposit voice messages in an electronic 'voice bank', and when they did so we in London would get bleeped. We could listen to the message from any phone - though we only used public phones for security - by punching in a special code on the dial buttons. We could also leave messages, but there was no way the comrades would know there were messages waiting for them except by dialling in periodically to check.
I started carrying the pager from the beginning of August 1988, for I knew that from around that time the comrades would be in the country. A date in the second week of August had been set for Mac to meet Antoinette, our KLM courier, who was going to hand over the radio telephone she had earlier acquired.
Suddenly, in the first week of August, the pager began to bleep. Could this be the start of Vula, or just a wrong number? Sure enough, the familiar voice of Mac played out of the voice 'mailbox'. He wanted to clarify some final details about the planned meeting with Antoinette, but more than that it was a message to tell us that they were safely in the country. I quickly informed Lusaka of the good news.
The meeting with Antoinette went successfully and Mac got his telephone. After that there were a string of 'voice bank' messages but very little real information could be transferred with the limited set of code words that had been established beforehand. It was clear that Mac was getting frustrated by the non-arrival of the communications equipment. As Antoinette was due in Johannesburg again in two weeks we decided to buy another laptop and send it in with her, complete with all the other bits and pieces needed to communicate.
I expected Mac to begin communicating immediately but the receiving equipment in the London 'communications centre' remained silent for another week. I grew increasingly sceptical that it would ever be used: "It's too complicated. Give them a few more weeks and they'll throw the whole lot out and start speaking in whispers over phones again. I know these guys."
Then suddenly on the last day of August, the 'receive' phone started ringing. The answering machine played its usual outgoing message and then the yellow 'receive' light came on, followed by the familiar high pitched tone of a computer message. It was music to my ears. I tried to picture Mac cowering inside the acoustic hood of some grubby public telephone in Durban. I could see him nervously holding the little speaker against the mouthpiece of the phone while looking worriedly over his shoulder. His heart must have been racing like mine. It was hard to believe that the sound I was hearing so clearly was coming from a small tape recorder ten thousand kilometres away.
I quickly played back the message into my computer and proceeded to decipher it. As the text message appeared on the screen I leapt for joy. There it was - Vula's first message - as clear as daylight.
As I was reading the printout the phone rang again. Another message. After that there followed another three. Five messages in the first go and all of them deciphered okay.
There were a few corruptions in the messages but the error-handler had coped well. In all cases it was possible to guess the lost words from the context. I joined all Mac's messages into one and sent the file down to Lusaka. "That's the quickest any serious message has ever reached our leaders," I realised as I was sending it.
The messages were typically Mac: not a sign of emotion, just straight down to business. It was clear that he had already been extremely busy. There were details of how he was spending the money; details of the setting up of a propaganda project; a list of publications he wanted from London; proposals for setting up bookstores in Durban and Johannesburg; progress in setting up a reception committee for Nelson Mandela in case he was released from prison; details of meetings with key MDM leaders; and so forth. He also said he had found an untraceable way of registering vehicles - a skill which I hope, as the Minister of Transport, he has now forgotten.
The next day I prepared a response for Mac and placed it on the 'out' answering machine. That same day he picked it up and the next day came a reply. This time the message contained some emotion. Mac was excited at the prospects of being able to communicate with the leadership in such a short time. However, there had been some problems. He had not been able to pick up my message using a public telephone as the sound of the coin-drops had corrupted it too badly. He'd had to use a private phone to retrieve the message - and that wasn't good for security.
If the comrades had been in Johannesburg they could have used the radio telephone, but it did not work in Durban, where they were based. As I was pondering this problem another message arrived from Mac. He had discovered in the city a number of public telephones that used phone cards. Apparently Telkom had implemented a pilot project to test the viability of introducing card-operated public telephones. From then on we never looked back.
The link begins to pay
Within a couple of weeks of setting up the computerised communication link with South Africa, the value of good communications began to show. For the first time in the history of the underground struggle you had a group of operatives inside South Africa in dynamic contact with the leadership outside. What this meant was that there could be true dialogue between the soldiers and the generals. No longer did you have a situation where blind commands were issued which the soldiers obediently had to carry out. The leaders were now properly informed of the situation inside the country and any suggestions they made could be corrected by those 'in the field'. Mac and Ghebuza could air their ideas with the leadership and the latter in turn could ask for more information before any decisions were taken. In short, there could be true political leadership instead of one-sided military orders.
The link not only served as a channel for dialogue and information transfer but also for a number of other purposes such as making requests, issuing criticism and arranging meetings.
Most requests were for money, documents, additional equipment for communications and the like. When the first request for weapons appeared on my screen my eyes stood out on stalks. I had seen the comrades packing some light weaponry when I was in Lusaka in June but now they were asking for an arsenal: AKM automatic rifles, TNT, detonating cord, hand grenades, RPG rocket launchers and rifle silencers, among other things.
Over the years the main factor holding back our revolution had been the logistical problems associated with the long lines of supply. Now suddenly these problems melted away. The comrades could during the week demand a supply of weapons or other equipment and have it 'delivered' by the weekend. Details of meetings could be arranged more or less instantaneously, complete with legends and passwords. If anything went wrong at the last moment both sides could be informed timeously.
The ability to communicate almost instantaneously began to have a profound affect on the nature of the project itself, and the personnel at both ends - and in the middle - had to adapt to a new style of working.
At first the comrades at home were patient in waiting for responses from a leadership who were not accustomed to responding rapidly to events. This quickly turned to impatience as they became aware that speed of response was an organisational problem and not one that could be blamed on inefficient modes of communication.
On the part of the leadership in Lusaka the inertia of the old ways was soon swept aside by the enthusiasm of those at home. The number of questions and requests coming down the line made them pull their fingers out. The messages also for the first time gave them a window onto what was going on, making them feel part of something live. This added spirit to their former languid manner of responding to events.
For our part in London, we at first felt like passive spectators watching the messages shuttle back and forth. Soon we realised that we could play the role of facilitators by prodding Lusaka for responses and reminding them of what they had to do. Printouts and disk files of the traffic provided a convenient record of what was demanded and what needed to happen. We could often short-circuit things by responding on behalf of the other side when we got a better feel of what was happening at both ends.
The system expands
From the start we were never completely certain how secure our encryption programme was. According to the experts there was only one theoretically unbreakable cipher - the one-time pad. Our system was based on the one-time pad, though instead of having paper pads the random numbers were on a disk. Each time the computer enciphered a message it read the correct number of characters from the disk, used them to perform the encryption and then wiped them from the disk so that they could never be recovered. While this provided the maximum security it had the disadvantage that the numbers got used up and more 'key' disks had to be sent into the country. Fortunately Antoinette was able to take these in.
The only way this system could be cracked was if the enemy somehow got hold of the 'key' disks and made copies of them. But after a while it was clear that nothing of the sort was happening. If the enemy were reading the messages then they would surely have acted on the information they contained.
The amount of traffic increased by the day and in order to streamline operations Mac acquired a message pager. Using a special set of code words, we in London could now let him know when there were messages waiting to be collected. It also allowed us to inform him if his messages had deciphered successfully or if he had to resend them. He could do the same with us using the voice mail system linked to our pager. As all this phoning had to be done from public telephones I decided that it would be a lot easier if I bought a cell phone. This I did using a false identity I had set up for myself. The cell phone turned out to be a most valuable addition to our communications set-up. In combination with the 'voice bank' and pagers we could now talk to each other in almost real time without our voices ever coming together. New code words could easily be added through a computer message. Often a question posed in a computer message could instantaneously be answered with this voice mail/pager system.
The answering machines clicked and whirred all day long with messages to and from Lusaka and South Africa. Mac's messages would often come through in the middle of the night as well. Not only did the frequency of messages increase but also their length. As the phone cards being used by the comrades in South Africa lasted a mere minute and a half, messages often had to be split up into chunks. Sometimes a single message would consist of up to ten parts.
The demands on the system increased rapidly over the months forcing us to extend it to Conny Braam in Holland; to some comrades in Yorkshire who were assisting with documentation; and to Canada where a Vula operative was involved in recruiting activists to be sent in to assist Vula. There was no need to use the complicated acoustic modem/tape recorder system with these 'nodes' as the security demands were not of the same nature. Ordinary e-mail links were set up using commercial providers. The same encryption program was used, however, to maintain the same level of security as with South Africa and Zambia.
Inside South Africa Mac spent much of his time travelling between Durban and Johannesburg to attend meetings and set up structures. When he was 'out-of-town' Ghebuza would take over the communications. Often Mac's trips to Johannesburg were timed to coincide with Antoinette's flights to South Africa. And each time she flew to South Africa I had to go Holland twice: once to take her things for Mac and once to pick up whatever she brought back. On the out trips she would usually take great wads of 50 notes, new 'key' disks, upgrades of the encryption programmes, disks containing (encrypted) documents and longer analytical messages from Lusaka, micro-photographs or heavily concealed copies of ANC and SACP publications, new tape recorders and so on. On the return trips should would usually bring back disks of encrypted messages giving fuller details of the ongoing projects and the political situation in general.
Whenever I was out of the country Ronnie Press would take over control. He was by this stage also living in London and had in his flat an identical set of equipment. All that had to be done to switch the traffic to him was to inform the comrades at both ends to use his numbers instead of mine. Between our two flats we set up a number of links and backup systems using commercial e-mail, our own private bulletin board system and even a radio link which could transfer the messages using radio modems. We could also use the answering machine/acoustic modem system as a last resort.
At the Lusaka end one of Conny's soldiers, Lucia, was put in charge of communications. From that point on the efficiency of that station increased markedly. A matchbox house in one of Lusaka's squalid townships was rigged out to serve as the comms centre.
By early 1989 Vula was ready for big things, and it was clear that what had been achieved in such a short time could not have been done without the ability of all concerned to talk to each other so easily and so securely.
Next month: Vula reaches all the way to Nelson Mandela's prison 'cell'.
Inkatha looks set to use its old strategy of destabilisation to win local government elections in KwaZulu/Natal, writes a correspondent.
The strategy the IFP will use in contesting local government elections in KwaZulu/Natal is beginning to take form, amid insecurities about the stability of its support in the province.
If the IFP loses local government elections in KwaZulu/Natal, it could fundamentally change the balance of forces in the province. The IFP fear being stuck between what they perceive to be a hostile national government and potentially hostile local governments.
"It looks like the IFP wants to control as many rural areas as possible by not allowing free political activity in those areas," says ANC MP Blade Nzimande.
He says the IFP is not sure whether they can rely on the support of rural people in the elections. The IFP has maintained its base in KwaZulu/Natal through a combination of genuine support, intimidation and patronage, in the form of their control of the chiefs.
It is therefore continuing its strategy of last year - and of the preceding decade - of destabilising the province. This is borne out in several developments over the past month. Its insistence on international mediation and its allegations of 'bad faith' against the ANC laid the basis for a call to "rise up and resist" the national government. The call coincided with an increase in the levels of political violence in the province.
At the same time the IFP sought to further control the chiefs in the province through the House of Traditional Leaders, in spite of calls by the Zulu monarch Goodwill Zwelithini for traditional leaders to remain outside of party politics. It has also resisted legislation to enable the salaries of traditional leaders to be paid by national government - wanting to maintain its capacity to financially manipulate traditional leaders in the province.
The most recent component of the IFP strategy, outlined in its 20 point plan, is to seize control of crucial areas of governance and return the province to a bantustan-like situation. The IFP wants, through this plan, to pursue the same strategies of repression and patronage as it did in the former KwaZulu bantustan.
"The IFP thrives best through chaos," says Nzimande, "it demobilises other forces." He adds that the IFP's destabilisation of the province last year enabled it to cheat in the April 1994 election.
Nzimande says a lot of the responsibility for ensuring that conditions for free and fair political activity are established lies with the government at the national level. But, says Nzimande, the government mustn't clamp down on the IFP, but on violence. The IFP is so resistant to measures to end the violence only because it is an organisation which thrives on violence, he says.
Although its focus is on rural areas, the IFP intends to contest the metropolitan areas around Durban and Pietermaritzburg, where the ANC is relatively strong. There are however some contradictions in the IFPs approach to metro areas, particularly in the way local government MEC Peter Miller has approached the demarcation of the boundaries of the Durban Metropolitan Council. On the one hand, the IFP would like to strengthen their electoral position, which would require the inclusion of surrounding rural areas into the Durban metro. On they hand they fear the chiefs in these rural areas exercising control over the city.
Nzimande says the ANC in the province needs to consolidate its organisation in areas where it has a strong presence. "The level of registration is not that bad. Our priority must be to get each and every person to the polls," he says.
The NP's challenge to the constitutional court's death penalty ruling, undermines the constitution of South Africa and the independence of the courts, writes Duncan Harford.
Calls by the National Party for a referendum on the death penalty, after the constitutional court found it to be unconstitutional, was an attempt to gain political ground for itself and undermine the legitimacy of the constitutional court.
The decision was an affirmation of the right to life, as contained in the bill of rights in the interim constitution. Constitutional court president Arthur Chaskalson said: "everyone, even the most abominable of human beings, has the right to life and capital punishment is therefore unconstitutional."
In a move described by justice minister Dullah Omar as "highly irresponsible", the NP however called for a referendum to test public opinion on the question of capital punishment. In a parliamentary snap debate, Omar said the NP was "exploiting the anger and concern of the public with regard to crime and is doing so for cheap party political gain". He said it was whipping up emotions, fears and prejudices because it was the only way it could win votes.
ANC MP Johnny de Lange said the NP's call was an attack on the independence of the judiciary. The NP wanted through parliament to reverse a decision which only the constitutional court was obliged to make.
The NP move sought undermine the legitimacy of the constitution which they helped to write in multi-party negotiations. "The problem with the NP is that to them a Constitutional State and a Bill of Rights is not something that has been internalised and for which they are even prepared to die, but it is just something you see as curbing the powers of the majority party and therefore and instrument you use and manipulate as political expediency dictates," De Lange said.
Chaskalson said that "the very reason for establishing the new legal order and for vesting the power of judicial review of all legislation in the courts was to protect the rights of minorities who cannot protect their rights adequately through the democratic process". The constitutional court, he said, "cannot allow itself to be diverted from its duty to act as an independent arbiter of the constitution by making choices on the basis that they will find favour with the public".
Omar said the core values of the constitution should be beyond the reach of temporary majorities, although he doubted whether a majority of South Africans would support the death penalty if the democratic movement campaigned and mobilised against the death penalty.
The judgement handed down by the Constitutional Court has brought South Africa in line with contemporary civilised norms, it will re-establish the sanctity of human life, based on the notion that it absurd to expect citizens of a state to have any moral qualms about murder if the state itself is free to kill its citizens.
"The judgements represent a breath of fresh air over an apartheid polluted, violence ridden South Africa. The various judgements seek to lay the foundations for a new rights based approach and a human rights culture," Omar said.
Death Penalty No Deterrent
While the National Party was arguing that capital punishment was the only answer to South Africa's crime problem, the eleven constitutional court judges were unanimous in their view that there was no proof whatsoever that the death penalty was an effective deterrent.
In its judgement, the court said the high incidence of violent crime could not simply be attributed to the failure to carry out the death sentences imposed by the courts. It said the upsurge in violent crime came at a time of great social change associated with political turmoil and conflict. The court said there was nothing to show that a decision to carry out the death sentence would have any impact on the behaviour of criminals.
Constitutional court president Arthur Chaskalson said the capital punishment debate was often dealt with as if there was a choice to be made between the death sentence and the murder going unpunished. This, he said, was not so. "The choice to be made is between putting the criminal to death and subjecting the criminal to the severe punishment of a long term of imprisonment which, in an appropriate case, would be a sentence of life imprisonment," he said.
Justice minister Dullah Omar said the NP, through its approach to the death penalty, was diverting the attention of many people from the real issue of what steps could be taken to prevent crime: "The death penalty has become a substitute for discussing concrete steps to fight crime."
He said steps taken by the government, such as the community safety plan, had already produced positive results. He said these efforts needed to be linked with efforts to improve the ability off the courts to bring criminals to justice.
Affirmative action is frequently misrepresented, sometimes deliberately, by people resistant to positive change. Mziwakhe Hlangani samples some of the views on the subject.
Albie Sachs, a former ANC NEC member and now constitutional court judge, describes the affirmative action 'contradiction' in his paper 'Affirmative action and the new constitution' thus: "There's an old saying: one person's meat is another person's poison. So it is with affirmative action. For millions of South Africans affirmative action means advance to a better life, a long overdue chance to come into their own and start enjoying the good things the country has to offer. For others, particularly those leading comfortable lives today, it signifies a new form of discrimination and injustice, a vengeful form of juggling around with race quotas so as to threaten their livelihoods and security."
Sachs says that is what apartheid was all about. The real approach is that what is good for the majority can and should be good for the minority as well. The rich and poor, black and white all want peace, prosperity, progress and justice, which mean the country can give not meat for some, poison for others, but fair nourishment for all, he says.
The ANC position on affirmative action points out that real victory for the people meant being able to deliver - not just promises and abstractions - but houses, jobs, electricity, water, schools and clinics, real freedom and real choices in the fullest sense.
The SA Communist Party (SACP) rejects the notion that affirmative action means the promotion of individuals - blacks, more specifically Africans - into managerial posts and into share holding. Affirmative action, it says, is about extending roads and electricity to marginalised rural communities. It is about developing an extensive, state-run primary health network, and introducing a free, compulsory ten years of education to all children., giving all old people an equal and living pension.
Affirmative action should be seen primarily as the empowerment of social groups, sectors and classes which have been historically oppressed. It is about collective empowerment, not the promotion of individuals. It is a massive programme of job creation for the millions of unemployed and empowering women through adult education and the provision of creches: giving workers increasing powers over decision making on the shop floor.
SACP deputy general secretary Jeremy Cronin says once you speak of affirmative action in this way, you are on the right track. "Notice that you are then underlining not just racial oppression, but also class oppression and massive inequalities between rural and urban areas."
Affirmative action in this sense, understands that overcoming decades of racial, class and gender oppression will not be ended simply by formal rights, by constitutional equality for all. Nor will these things be ended simply by creating a new middle class of blacks. The active and purposeful engagement of a democratic state and of progressive formations in civil society is essential and not just formal change or cosmetic promotions is required to overcome the legacy of oppression, the SACP says.
The Black Management Forum (BMF) has proposed in its affirmative action blueprint a policy in favour of blacks designed to ensure the "reversal of discrimination" as opposed to "reverse discrimination".
"Affirmative action targets should be made enforceable by law and monitored by an Equal Opportunities Commission with quasi-legislative powers within the parameters of an Affirmative Action Bill and an Affirmative Action Statute," it says.
The forum also suggest that "coercive laws" as opposed to voluntary programmes are required to eradicate social and economic inequalities. The negative and emotive reaction to quotas could be avoided through consultation with all affected parties and the careful prior evaluation of all relevant human resource data and techniques. It also points out that quotas should only be implemented if negotiated targets are not met without justification.
The BMF also contends that prescribed standards for job entry are sometimes used to retain the status quo and block the employment of specific cultural groups. It proposes that international benchmarks should be examined to redefine job entry criteria and performance measurement.
ANC NEC member Frene Ginwala, in her discussion paper, 'Possibilities for women in the future South Africa', argues that the country's Bill of Rights must go beyond political and civil rights and provide for second generation rights.
Particular attention needs to be paid to the ability of women to claim effective equality with men and to claim human rights on an equal basis with men, she maintains. The attainment of substantive equality requires a clear understanding of how society is hierarchically structured on the basis of different combinations of race gender and class. To be effective, the concept of equality must be rooted in the conditions and experiences of the oppressed.
"It is important that the principle of equality in our new constitution must be such as will provide effective and not token equality for women. To do this, we have to address both the material disadvantages and the full complexity of women's oppression. This means that a concept of formal equality or equal treatment before the law which allows the law to treat persons in the same way will not deliver equality because it does not recognize that we do not all start from the same place in society," she says.
Having established solid foundations, the housing ministry has begun implementing the plan to build a million houses. Steyn Speed reports.
After months of planning and policy development, the government's housing plan is finally being implemented. Although the housing ministry was quick to announce its plans after last year's election, it is only recently that houses have begun to be built.
"There is no use rushing to put up housing which won't last for even 40 years," says housing minister Sankie Mthembi Nkondo. "I usually tell people: 'We don't want to construct our houses on sand, we want to build them on rock'."
The ministry's approach is a deliberate one. Interviewed by Mayibuye shortly after his appointment last year, housing director general Billy Cobbett said the government had resisted announcing a 'quick-fix' solution in their first weeks of office. He said they had chosen to spend their first months in office developing measures to address the housing problem in the long term, even if it made them unpopular.
Those months were spent developing consensus as much as they were spent developing policy. The core of their strategy was to bring together the private sector, government and communities to reach agreement around the government's housing policy and secure a commitment from each of the sectors on their individual responsibilities.
The National Housing Summit held in Botshabelo in October 1994 was the culmination of this consultation process. It laid the basis for more detailed planning of the housing policy. Representatives of the nine sectors at the summit publicly pledged themselves to the accord, and undertook to fulfil certain obligations as a sector.
The result of this work has been that the ministry has been able to make significant progress in getting its white paper approved by cabinet, and establishing structures, like the national and provincial housing boards, to implement the policy.
Although the implementation phase has started, there is room for the policy to be adjusted according to its success. "The policy is not supposed to be rigid, it has to be flexible. There will be need to make sure that its realistic and accessible," says Mthembi Nkondo. She says that much of her task involves "doing the rounds" to see the effectiveness of the policy on the ground.
The government approved around 200,000 subsidies, which were made available from 1 June to households earning less than R3,500 a month. The subsidy amount ranges from R5,000 to R15,000 depending on income. In addition to individual subsidies, the government is making available project-linked and cooperative subsidies.
The ministry is seeing these subsidies as an "incentive" to kickstart the question of home ownership. The subsidies are being administered through the provincial housing boards, who have to process the applications and liaise with the applicant and the developer. The subsidies are not being given directly to the individual applicant, but to the builder, as a way of protecting the funds.
The subsidies form part of the government's plan to make housing affordable to greater numbers of people, as the majority of people who need housing can't afford it. Linked therefore to the subsidy scheme are strategies to bring the private sector increasingly into the low income market. Through a Record of Understanding signed with most banks, the government hopes to make bank loans available to lower income earners. According to the ministry's information tabloid, Home Truths, there will be 50,000 new loans in the next year for people who can afford credit.
Mthembi Nkondo says the government will be waiting "very keenly" to see whether the banks are meeting their obligations, and will be waiting for feedbacks from communities: "We've agreed with the banks that we'll have a regular review of how the whole process works, because it is the first time that we are dealing with this kind of package."
Banks will be also be watching to see whether communities previously 'redlined' by banks will be 'normalised', and more specifically whether loan repayments are forthcoming.
The ministry says that to attract investment and loans, communities need to ensure that functioning non-racial, representative local authorities need to exist and provide services. It says there needs to be an "acceptable and rising level" of payments for housing and services; community opposition to crime and violence; respect for the law and court orders; and a freely operating housing market.
To protect the consumer, and to save the government, banks and home-owner much money, the Builders' Defects Warranty Scheme has been introduced. Builders who join the scheme promise to build properly, and take responsibility for their work. This will provide consumers with a higher level of security, and will ensure that houses built are able to last. It will alleviate one of the problems which contributed in the past to non-payment of services, rent and bonds, says Mthembi Nkondo.
The government is not satisfied that existing measures will ensure that enough South Africans have access to affordable housing. It is therefore in the process of finalising details for the establishment of a national housing finance corporation, which will make financing available to the non-traditional retail lenders. In this way, people who earn very little income - who normally wouldn't get loans through a bank - will have access to credit. This money will only be available to limited segments of the market - those who most need it. It will provide an avenue for international investors to invest in South African housing directly.
The housing finance corporation is also intended to support emerging contractors, especially those from disadvantaged communities. Because they don't have the capital to compete with the bigger, established companies, methods are being developed which will make available to emerging contractors loans at negotiable interest rates.
To ensure that unemployed and very low income earners are able to have housing, the government is planning the establishment of housing support centres across the country, which will provide people with all the expertise related to housing, including how to build their own. The ministry plans to have "one or two" centres established before the end of the year.
Mthembi Nkondo says the people staffing these centres will not be able to dictate to communities. "They will be getting into communities to give assistance where needed. And if communities feel they can get on with the job without these professionals, they are free to do so. As long as the resources they have been given by the government will not be misused, or will not be wasted because people didn't have the correct knowledge to utilise the funds," she says.
Even with all these mechanisms in place, the task facing the housing ministry - and the people as a whole - is an enormous one. There are between seven and eight million homeless people in South Africa. It is estimated that South Africa has a shortage of 1.3 million houses, and each year an additional 130,000 houses will have to be built to match population growth. Nevertheless, Sankie Mthembi Nkondo is confident about what can be achieved. "There is a lot we can do together, as a people and as a nation," she says.
In an attempt to normalise the re-payment of home loans, a company has been established to help people who are finding it difficult to pay their loans regularly.
The company, Servcon Housing Solutions, will deal with individual cases of people who have been unable to pay "because perhaps," says housing minister Sankie Mthembi Nkondo, "they are unemployed. Some didn't pay because they were on boycott, some are unable to pay because they are confronted by emergencies they had not budgeted for."
There are several options available to non-paying occupants. According to the ministry's Home Truths, if occupants can afford to pay for the house they are in, every effort will be made to avoid repossession. The lenders will also help people who can afford to pay in finding ways of paying for their loans on a regular monthly basis. If people can afford to, they will be able to buy the houses back which were repossessed earlier.
If someone can't afford the loan payments on a house, they will be offered help to find an affordable home. People who refuse offers of help and do not cooperate will be removed from the house with the support of the law. This follows an agreement between government and lenders that people can't stay in houses they're not paying for.
The ministry has hailed the initiative as a major step forward: "For the first time there's a link between the private sector and the communities, which we hope to maintain because we are going to need it. There is a lot of reconstruction which needs to be tackled by both government and the private sector."
The housing ministry is planning to hold a rural housing summit early in 1996 to develop mechanisms for delivery of rural housing. Housing minister Sankie Mthembi Nkondo says she had hoped to hold the summit this year to "tie together the research, the investigations, the experience of the people on the ground to look towards methods and mechanisms of delivery in the rural areas."
Developing a rural housing programme is more difficult than in urban areas, for a number of reasons. The dispersed location of the rural population is chief among these. It means that distances are far greater than in urban areas, and resources far more difficult to access. The construction time on a house in a rural area is therefore far greater than one in an urban area.
It is very expensive also to put up the infrastructure, which includes piping for clean water, for sewage and sanitation; electrification; roads; and other services. The unique problems of rural areas demand that the housing ministry develop an integrated approach together with the other ministries.
Part of the delay to date has been that housing for the rural population, particularly farmworkers, has been administered under the ministry of agriculture. After a decision was taken last year to transfer that responsibility to the housing ministry, mechanisms have been sought to transfer the allocated money from the agriculture to the housing ministry.
The lack of clarity on local authorities in rural areas is likely also to pose a problem for the delivery of housing there. The lack of any appropriate structures means that there is no one to relate directly to the people on the ground, particularly around the issues of subsidies.
The ministry believes a summit would be the best way of addressing these problems in consultation with the rural population. Mthembi Nkondo says the delivery of rural housing is urgent, "but at least the processes are on".
South Africa joins the battle against time to save the life of America's 'political' death row prisoner, writes Steyn Speed.
The ANC, Cosatu, SACP and other South African organisations have thrown their weight behind the international campaign to save the life of black American journalist Mumia Abu-Jamal, who is due to be executed on 17 August.
The warrant for his death was issued by Pennsylvania Governor Tom Ridge on 2 June, three days before Jamal's attorneys were to file legal papers seeking a re-trial and the setting aside of the death penalty. Jamal's lawyers and supporters have gained widespread international support in a race against time to have the sentence commuted.
ANC secretary general Cyril Ramaphosa sent a letter to the governor on the day the warrant was issued urging him to remove Jamal from death row and allow him to appeal his sentence.
Cosatu international relations officer Bangumzi Sifingo said it was clear from reports that "the trial procedure was fraught with bias and prejudice", and added Cosatu's support to the campaign.
The SACP said there was "a strong aura of racism surrounding the trial and the subsequent handling of Abu-Jamal".
Several aspects of Jamal's trial, in which he was found guilty of murdering a Philadelphia police officer in 1981, and the police investigations suggest that Jamal was framed. In his application for a new trial, Jamal argues that the court withheld from the jury evidence favourable to the defence; that there was evidence of intimidation, coercion and special deals by the police; and that the medical and ballistics reports were flawed.
Jamal was denied the right to represent himself or have the attorney of his choice, and was allocated a mere $150 for pretrial investigation. Jamal was removed from the courtroom and missed most of the prosecution's case. His court-appointed attorney was unprepared for trial, and was later disbarred.
Jamal's struggle has received support from all over the world. In addition to support from several South African unions, Jamal has received support from prominent American actors, trade unions and public figures. The European Parliament passed a resolution calling for a stay of execution and that the case be retried. Journalist organisations from Japan, Germany and Ireland, as well as members of the British House of Commons, have added their voices to the call.
The Partisan Defence Committee (PDC), which is behind the campaign, said the struggle to save Jamal had particular resonance in South Africa, "where the hand of the executioner has been stayed as a result of years of anti-apartheid struggle".
PDC representative Gene Herson, who was in South Africa to build support for the campaign, said the authorities in the US were trying to silence Jamal, an outspoken fighter for social justice, who, until the death warrant was signed, was still writing political commentaries for many newspapers. "They are trying to do to him (Jamal) what was done to Chris Hani - only they're using the law," Herson said.
He said the authorities were determined to execute Jamal. This followed a campaign against him which stretched back to his teens, when he was a member of the Black Panther Party and a target of the FBI 'counter-intelligence' operation Cointelpro. The operation, intended to crush black organisations in the late 60s and early 70s, saw the 15-year-old Jamal being put under intense surveillance by the FBI and the Philadelphia police. A 700-page FBI file on Jamal revealed that in addition to the surveillance, Jamal's name was put on the FBI's Security Index, being branded thereby a "threat" to "national security", and on the Administrative Index, a list of people who would be put into concentration camps in the event of a "national emergency". The file indicates that attempts were made previously to set Jamal up for crimes he hadn't committed. Both the FBI and the Philadelphia police had a long-standing vendetta against Jamal.
In his application for a new trial Mumia Abu-Jamal contended that he was sentenced to death based on his political views, and not for the crime he was alleged to have committed.
On the night that Philadelphia Police Officer Daniel Faulkner was killed, Jamal was found at the scene critically wounded by a gunshot. He was arrested and taken to hospital for extensive surgery. The prosecution maintained Jamal's guilt on the basis of three eyewitnesses who claimed to identify Jamal as the person who shot the officer; a purported "confession"; and the presence of the Jamal's gun at the scene. However, Jamal's legal team in their recent application found fault with each of these aspects.
The testimony of each of the prosecution witnesses was shown to be riddled with contradictions, with evidence that the police intimidated, coerced and made special deals with the witnesses. Other witnesses to the shooting - no less than four of them - reported seeing another man shooting the police officer and running away. Doctors who were present when Jamal supposedly made his confession on admission to the hospital, said that they didn't hear the claimed confession. An officer who wrote in a police report that Jamal made no statements from the time he was driven from the scene to the time he arrived at the hospital, was sent "on vacation" so that he couldn't testify in the trial.
Tests conducted on Jamal's gun didn't prove that his gun had been used, and were described by a ballistics expert as incomplete. He said further testing could have excluded Jamal's gun as the possible murder weapon. In addition, the fatal bullet was a .44 caliber, while Jamal's gun was a .38 pistol.
Jamal's supporters have threatened strike action, if the legal application and protests fail to stop the first political execution in America in 40 years.
"We are doing everything in our power to save his life," said Gene Herson, "it's not only him - its what he symbolises."
The Irish peace process, given much impetus by the IRA ceasefire last year, has slowed in recent months - largely because of preconditions set by the British government. Steyn Speed spoke to Sinn Fein president Gerry Adams at the start of his recent visit to South Africa.
MAYIBUYE: At what point is the peace process in Ireland?
Gerry Adams: The peace process is the best opportunity that there has been for a democratic settlement in my lifetime, and some people have said in fact its the best opportunity for peace in 75 years. The most significant element of that was the IRA's initiative of August 31, when, undefeated and from a position of strength, what it did was to sue for peace. What the IRA (Irish Republican Army) said was that they wished to enhance the peace process, and to assist the climate to bring about a negotiated peace settlement.
And that was almost 10 months ago, and if one looks at how far we've come in that time, it is a reality that the British government are resisting the need to move towards all-party talks, and all-party talks are crucial to building a peace settlement.
We have argued - and I think its a democratic position - for inclusive dialogue, led by London and Dublin, involving all the parties and without preconditions. So in terms of taking the steps necessary, the British have been very slow. In terms of creating the conditions for peace there has been a great expectation and a hope created by the developments of the last couple of years.
MAYIBUYE: What prompted the initiative by the IRA?
GA: The situation here in South Africa enabled people in many ways - uplifted people. We saw a struggle here which was depicted by the reactionaries as intractable, a conflict which was impossible to resolve. And then low and behold, you have a democratic resolution.
The Sinn Fein peace strategy which led to the IRA cessation started almost 8 years ago. There was a military stalemate in our country, it was a political problem. It had been militarised by the British, and what we in Sinn Fein said was that we needed a political solution. So how do we get it? And we asked, what is peace? Can you have peace without justice? Can you have peace without democracy? Can you have peace without equality?
We engaged politically with our opponents. John Hume, who is the leader of the Social Democrat and Labour Party, and myself engaged in lengthy discussion. We agreed on what was called the Hume-Adams initiative. We got the Dublin government interested in that and we therefore had a jigsaw of these three pieces. And then we got Irish-America and the Clinton administration. So you had four pieces of the jigsaw.
We went to the IRA and we said: "Here is the opportunity, the international climate is ripe [for a cessation of hostilities]. We have an alternative dynamic built up through Mr Hume, through myself, through the Irish government, through Irish-America." And those factors persuaded the IRA to sue for peace.
I myself think that the decision of the IRA leadership was a very courageous decision. And we have to build upon that, we have to seize the opportunity. We have to ensure that it isn't squandered.
MAYIBUYE: Can the British stall indefinitely?
GA: There have been a number of crises in the process. At each of them we have been able to summon the support and the factors necessary to move the situation on. We have to move it on this time. It must be moved along. The British government are trying to manage the process. They're trying to own the process, and the process has to belong to the Irish people. It has to belong to everyone. So while the British government will seek to continue to stall the process, we have to ensure that they're not permitted to do that.
MAYIBUYE: What role is the Dublin government playing?
GA: The people in the part of Ireland under Dublin jurisdiction have an aspiration and a deep- seated wish to see the country united, and the British move out.
And it could be said for some long time, as a result of partition, that the Dublin government policy was to pay lip service to these matters. I think that the former Prime Minister, Mr Reynolds, has showed great decisiveness and brought the government to a point where it has not been at for maybe 60 years. Mr Bruiton who took over and is now the current prime minister has moved on issues like the prisoners, while the British have not; has made the point that there needs to be all-party talks; has argued against making any precondition out of de-commissioning of IRA weapons. So relative to the performance of the governments of Ireland of the past, the Dublin government today is playing a much more progressive role.
MAYIBUYE: What similarities are there between the South African and Irish situation?
GA: Both struggles have a common cause. They arise out of conquest, out of colonialism, out of discrimination and division. And both countries both share long, long efforts to end all that injustice. In this country of South Africa, sections of your people refused to acquiesce - to surrender - to the injustice. And the same thing is true of Ireland.
You also engaged in a peace process successfully and it was a process which brought an end to conflict through negotiation and dialogue. And we wish to do the same.
The dissimilarities are of course that you had mobilised huge international support. The government here was under massive pressure because of its repressive regime. The British government have been able to cloud the issue in Ireland and to erect a paper wall around our country. Another disadvantage which we suffer from is that you were able to engage in mass mobilisations, to substitute armed struggle with mass actions and other tactics. We find this a great difficulty in our situation, not least because of the partition of the country.
So we want to learn in a very general sense about all of that, and we want to learn in a specific sense about the modalities of making peace, of negotiations. The transitional point that we are now at, you have already experienced. Where it is impractical or doesn't suit, then fair enough. But where it is practical, then we can take those lessons and apply them to our own situation.
MAYIBUYE: Is the republican movement united around the current process?
GA: Undoubtedly, and the proof of that lies in the fact that the cessation has lasted for ten months - with great provocation, but without any breaches. And I think republicans share a common struggle. We have all come through this together. And there would be concern, which I would share. There isn't a grassroots sense and a leadership sense. There is a commonality of concern. We know it is a high risk strategy, but we know also that its one which has to work.
MAYIBUYE: What is the atmosphere in north like at the moment?
GA: There is, and its quite understandable, a sense of relief. There is a very high expectation. But people from the West Bank and SA townships have been surprised [at the level of militarisation in the occupied counties].
There is a population of 1.5 million people, and there are 30,000 heavily-armed British troops and mostly in nationalist areas.
Its still under military rule, but obviously the fact that they're not in as many of the urban areas, they're not as visible, has eased the tension pretty much.
MAYIBUYE: What is the organisational capacity of the Sinn Fein like at the moment?
GA: We have an open political party structure. We are organised nationally throughout the island. We have a national executive. A conference every year. All our office bearers and leaders are elected at all levels of the organisation. One in every three nationalists in the north votes for Sinn Fein. We are very retarded electorally in the 26 counties in the south. We have about 2.5 percent of the vote. And we are seeking to develop our ability to engage both in campaigning on social issues, economic issues on the national question - on the need to remove the British - and our actions, and street activity and mobilisations.
Compiled by Khensani Makhubela
After the ANC restructured itself into provinces at the December 1994 National Conference, provinces were given the task of dividing their areas into regions and establishing regional structures. In this Mayibuye we assess progress in some of the provinces.
The North West province has restructured its regions. It is now divided into twelve regions, namely Atamelang, Mankwe, Madikwe, Mafikeng, Klerksdorp, Kuruman, Odi/Moretele, Rustenburg, Schweizer-Reneke, Taung, Vryburg and Zeerust/Lehurutshe. The personnel in each region consists of the administrator and the organiser.
There is a programme to launch and elect Regional Executive Committees (RECs) by the end of July. There will be regional conferences on the 1-2 July.
The province has launched 300 branches throughout the province and there are about 290 unlaunched branches. There is a programme to launch all of these by the end of October 1995.
In each region members of the PEC, members of the provincial government and members of the national assembly are deployed to assist with the launching of branches, elections campaigning, political education and general organisational work.
Through the recommendations of the inter-regional summit held in July 1994, the three former regions of Natal - led by their secretaries - met and agreed to come together and form one province. In the beginning of this year, the PEC met and decided that KwaZulu/Natal province be divided into ten regions, namely Greater Mkuze, Greater Empangeni, Greater Newcastle, Durban North, Durban West, Greater Pietermaritzburg, Klipriver, Durban South and Griqualand.
The regions have deployed PEC members, MPs, MPLs, TLC councillors and other activists from local branches. The regional offices of the ten regions are at Mkuze, Empangeni, Newcastle, Verulam, Pinetown, Pietermaritzburg, Estcourt, Isipingo, Port Shepstone and Ixopo.
The deadline for launching the ten regions is August 1995. Branches would also have to have been launched by then.
The Orange Free state province consists of ten regions: Qwaqwa, Thaba-Nchu, Botshabelo, Bethlehem, Ficksburg, Harrismith, Sasolburg, Smithburg, Goldfield and Bloemfontein. Out of the ten regions only three have held regional conferences.
The regional organisers are ex-officio in their different regions. The seven regions that haven't launched are expected to do so before the end of July.
At the December 1994 national conference the Eastern Cape motivated for 13 regions as opposed to the 10 which had been originally proposed. The motivation was based on the vastness and rural nature of the province.
The regions are Albany, East London/King William's Town, Alice, Engcobo, Aliwal North, Kokstad, Butterworth, Lukisiki, Midlands-Karoo, Tsitsikamma, Port Elizabeth, Queenstown and Umtata.
The 13 regions are now in full operation, each with an office which employs a full time organiser and administrator. MPs and MPLs have been given ex-officio status in the RECs where they are deployed. Regional chairpersons and secretaries are ex-officio members of the PEC. PEC members are also deployed to the 13 regions. Regional elections teams have been established in all regions.
The Gauteng province is divided into eight regions. The regions are Soweto, Pretoria, Vaal, Johannesburg, Johannesburg/Lenz/Ennerdale, East Rand, West Rand and North East Rand.
Each region has an administrator and an organiser. The regions have deployed the PEC members, MPs, MPLs and TLCs.
The province is in the middle of launching its branches. There is a programme to have all the unlaunched branches launched by the end of August.
The ANC organising department had to undergo a thorough transformation after last year's election. But, reports a correspondent in the department, it is now back on track.
After the election, the organising department had to be set up afresh, with new personnel and a new mission which took account of the new situation. We first had to define together with the political leadership of the movement questions like: how was the ANC going to operate as a majority party in government of national unity as well as a liberation movement.
As the organising department we defined our role as continuing to build the ANC so that it remained the main force for change in the country. As part of this we had to develop and run campaign at all levels, consolidate the unity within the alliance and other democratic forces and win the local government elections.
Within the organisation itself, the organising department has been at the fore front of the restructuring process. We were charged with the task of ensuring that provincial, regional and branch structures of the ANC were up and running. After the election our structures were at a stage of near collapse after the absorption of experienced leadership into government structures. Before the election the ANC was structured according to 14 regions. With the creation of the nine provinces, the ANC had to establish structures along provincial lines.
Some branches and sub-regions which had formerly been in one ANC region, now fell geographically into another province. This caused problems in some cases, where comrades on the ground were resisting such moves. Our organisers had to do a lot of 'fire-fighting' in resolve such problems. In most instances the problems have been resolved. There are however areas that are still problematic.
Progress
We have now finished restructuring the department and have set up regional and provincial offices which all have staff and offices. We have nine provincial offices and 91 regional offices throughout the country. We are able to reach even the remotest parts of the country. We are constantly training national, provincial and regional organisers, administrators and membership officers
We have also set up constitutional structures - Provincial Executive Committees - in all the nine provinces. At regional level the process is still under way. We expect this to be completed by the end of July.
At the beginning of the year we had set ourselves the task of reviving branches and ensuring that all our branches hold their annual general meetings to elect new leadership. Although this is an enormous task, a great deal of progress has been achieved already.
Together with the ANC National Elections Team (NET), our organisers were centrally involved in the local elections registration campaign. They also helped the NET set up election structures at provincial and local level. We are involved in organising list conferences in all local areas where we will put up candidates.
In the same way, we are assisting provincial RDP Coordinators to establish RDP councils through out the country.
Problems
A feeling of general apathy within our communities after the election has weakened branches. In addition, opportunistic formations and individuals are currently inciting people against the ANC, claiming that it is not delivering.
Although our membership continues to grow, some active members of the ANC are not conscious of the need to renew their membership yearly. The assumption is that once they have paid joining fees they remain life members and do not need to renew their membership.
Unless we address the problem of dormant structures, an RDP which is people-driven will remain a pipedream.
The Gauteng Province has taken the first step towards the formulation of a manifesto to guide the ANC in the local government elections.
A Community Charter Summit, attended by the provincial leadership of the alliance, community leadership and other organisations, was held on 25 June in Johannesburg - a day before the 40th anniversary of the Freedom Charter.
The Community Charter is not an attempt to revisit the Freedom Charter. Its objective is to give people the chance to rebuild communities, influence local government and to attend to their needs and concerns.
The Community Charter outlines the needs and aspirations of local communities, through defining the role of local government; defining the needs and aspiration of the people; and explaining the rights and responsibilities of communities with regards to local government.
The Community Charter will form the basis of the ANC provincial local government election manifesto.
The community charter is be a vehicle through which the ANC can draw up its own developmental plan to address people's problems. It also serves as a tool to inform RDP and Masakhane programmes at local level.
The community charter also outlines how communities will keep their representatives accountable.
The draft charter, which was adopted by the summit, will be taken to each home, school, factory and university in Gauteng for ratification by the people. The final document will be made available by 23 July.
While all ANC provinces have been experiencing organisational problems, the violence in KwaZulu/Natal has proved an extra burden for the ANC there. Mziwakhe Hlangani examines organisation in this war-ravaged province.
Violence is the critical and destructive problem for organisation in KwaZulu/Natal. Because of the fratricidal feuding the ANC has not been able to achieved key objectives - free political activity; peoples' fundamental right to vote; and the reconstruction and development of the province. However, the ANC leadership is confident that problems related to the fighting will soon be a thing of the past because of the national governments decisive action to end the violence.
Although violence was widespread throughout the country before last year's election, it assumed a particularly vicious form in KwaZulu/Natal. Founded on a strategy by the former regime to intimidate ANC activists and obliterate democratic organisation, and fuelled by the struggle for power of Inkatha, the violence has claimed the lives of over 20,000 people since 1984.
ANC provincial chairperson Jacob Zuma says violence found fertile ground in Kwazulu/Natal, given its history of homeland politics and the use by the apartheid government of the traditional amakhosi system. The approach of the ANC to tackling the violence has not always been uniform: "Because of the brutal killings of thousands of innocent people, there have been differences among the ANC alliance leadership in terms of devising strategies to counter violence."
While the ANC enjoyed substantial support in the province, the level of intimidation has increased. "When we talk of intimidation here we mean the actual killing of our supporters," Zuma says.
"There are areas where we decided that setting up ANC branches would be counter- productive. It was obvious people would be killed in their numbers. Now the effects have manifested in many ways and culminated in vast problems for the ANC during elections when other parties campaigned freely in the province. One example is when an ANC branch was formed in Empangeni in the Northern region - physical attacks on ANC supporters by the Inkatha Freedom Party ensued," he says.
As a result the ANC leadership is still reluctant to hold ANC meetings in places like Eshowe and surrounding areas in Northern Natal, "where IFP supporters had embarked on a trail of violent attacks against our members". Communities are wary of attending rallies in such areas because they know they fear that more people will die.
"It is not just that IFP supporters on the ground feel like killing every ANC member they come across, but it's a kind of violence that has found viable ground because of illiteracy, poverty and high unemployment. KwaZulu-Natal has the highest unemployment rate in the country.
"In many instances people are even scared to be seen greeting ANC leaders or holding their hands because they fear they would be killed. That denotes the unacceptable high level of intimidation occurring in the area. Without violence the ANC Kwazulu/Natal province would be the strongest and the largest organisation," Zuma says.
He believes that there is no reason why the ANC-led government should be unable to stop the violence in the province: "It is the duty of the government to deploy its forces into the province and stop it. The violence has fed perceptions that if the province did not normalise the situation there will be violence in the whole country."
Despite this the ANC continues, given its history and tradition, to be a leading voice for the vast majority. It is the only organisation that fought tirelessly for the democratic system of governance and no one can take away that heritage, he says.
The movement is the only one with the policies that can give answers to the misery and difficulties of the people, he says. This is the hope of everybody, even people who have allegiances to other organisations. It has a leadership and membership at all levels that is committed to implementing its principles.
Zuma says the absorption of experienced leadership into parliament, the provincial legislature and local government structures is not the major issue for the province. Violence has been the greatest single factor which has affected the development of ANC cadres. Leadership structures from branch to provincial level has had to deal with issues pertaining to violence more than anything else.
"The reconstruction and development that we are only now trying to deliver could have been far by now. The economic growth and investor confidence that we are struggling to get it going could have excelled if the violence had stopped long time ago," he says.
Zuma says there is good cooperation between ANC representatives in the legislature and the organisation - the democratic movement is not separate in the province. An arrangement has been made for an extended caucus which includes officials of the ANC, the Youth League, Women's League, Cosatu and the SACP outside parliament. This improves the capacity of the leadership for communicating with the grassroots. The entire alliance leadership must know of all actions taken by the ANC in the legislature.
Although, the ANC within the provincial legislature is not a governing body, it is working very well with other parties in the legislature. If it was not for the ANC contributions and efforts to make the province governable, there could have been a lot of difficulties in running the affairs of the province. The ANC is guided by the principle that if the province was not governable the blame would be put on the ANC-led national government. Therefore the ANC contributes a great deal in governing the province and ANC MECs are working very hard, believing that the people who voted for the ANC are themselves the people who must benefit.
On ANC membership reported to be low, Zuma says this is a general scenario nationally, since after elections the ANC was caught up with various issues which needed the movement to adjust to new situations. This has led to the general tendency of not paying attention to new membership.
However, a process had begun to set up sub-regions, where new membership and general members were re-checked. A new approach has been embarked upon to redress the issue of new membership campaign.
"We are looking forward to establishing branches throughout the province to ensure that plans and strategies for implementation of reconstruction and development programmes are discussed at the grassroots levels. We want to ensure that the RDP is people driven, and that our people are empowered in terms of getting clarity and help in planning RDP projects. From the ANC point of view it is a critical point of local government, where more clarity on RDP would be possible.
On local government elections the efforts of the ANC in the province has been satisfactory in getting people to register. Still the lingering question is what will happen in places where there are 'no-go' areas.
ANC Kwazulu/Natal secretary Senzo Mchunu says there are 10 regional offices and 460 branches in the province, which he describes as a healthy sign for vibrancy in the province. These are located only in areas where there is not much violence. At a recent strategy meeting it was decided that problems around fighting in the province should be separated from the general problems in the area and that the leadership concentrate on local government elections campaigns.
A monitoring unit to create a climate for political tolerance has been established, while a rural unit will be responsible for campaigning and mobilising ANC support in the rural areas and among traditional leaders. Mchunu says the ANC has been approached by most chiefs in the rural areas who asked the organisation in the province to pressurise the national government to take over payment of their salaries from the KwaZulu-Natal province.
ANC MP Willie Mchunu says a proper climate for elections must be created by disarming people in Kwazulu/Natal and creating effective peace structures. Violence, intimidation and interference with the electoral process must be stamped out: "If anybody tries to interfere with the constitutional right of others to vote, they must be locked up," he says.
The process of writing the final constitution for South Africa is gaining speed in the Constitutional Assembly (CA), with some drafting already taking place. Negotiations on substantive constitutional issues have begun in earnest in the CA's Constitutional Committee (CC). The 46-member CC has a mandate to coordinate the work of the CA and to engage in some level of negotiations and decision-making.
Until now the main constitution-making work has been taking place in the six theme committees, which have been processing the 1.8-million written submissions; holding sectoral hearings; and attending public meetings on the constitution. As the theme committees wrap up their work, the Constitutional Committee is beginning to deliberate on the issues outlined by the theme committees.
Some discussion has already taken place on the Bill of Rights and the public service. Draft text is being prepared on the judiciary and the public protector, and should be discussed in the CC shortly.
Progress is also being made with the ANC's constitutional proposals. The most up-to-date proposals - reflecting the discussions which took place at the April national constitutional policy conference - have been published. They are provided in a summarised form on this page.
An ANC constitutional workshop will be held on 29-30 July 1995 to address issues which were not resolved by the national conference. The workshop will broaden consultation on these issues and, where possible, develop policy guidelines.
Among the issues to be discussed is the electoral system - whether there should be single or multi-member constituencies; how many MPs and senators there should be; and what the balance should be between proportional and constituency representatives.
Other unresolved issues relate to:
Among the approximately 200 people who will be attending the workshop will be representatives from ANC provincial structures, the Constitutional Assembly, the national constitutional commission, Youth League, Women's League, Cosatu, SACP and Sanco.
Provincial workshops or consultations would need to happen in preparation for the national workshop. Working groups at the level of the NEC have been formed to develop papers which can form the basis of discussion at the workshop.
A summary of the ANC's constitutional proposals adopted by the ANC Constitutional Conference, 31 March-2 April 1995. The proposals, which will continue to be developed through discussion within the structures of the organisation, will be the basis of ANC input into the Constitutional Assembly.
The constitution's preamble would express a commitment to:
The eleven official languages which are recognised in the Interim Constitution would be equally recognised in the final constitution. There would be room for national or provincial governments to choose certain languages as the official languages or for use in particular instances. Every person would have the right to communicate in the courts, in parliament and with the government in their own language.
All South Africans would be entitled to equal and full citizenship, which may be acquired by birth, decent, marriage or naturalisation. Citizenship could only be lost in circumstances set out by legislation.
The Bill of Rights will create a basis of guarantees which will ensure the elimination of oppression, discrimination, inequality and division. Not all rights can be properly set out in the constitution, and may need to be elaborated on through legislation.
The Bill of Human Rights needs to establish a balance between equality and liberty, protecting the dignity of individuals rather than their economic privileges. It needs also to maintain a balance between democratic government and the protection of individual liberty. In guaranteeing certain socio-economic rights the Bill should not give courts the power to set government priorities. It should establish, however, a floor of basic economic rights, which can be expanded through legislation or other parts of the constitution.
The Bill would include the right:
The right to free speech would not include the right to "hate speech", which would be regulated by legislation. Similarly, details regarding the right to free publication and the circulation of pornography should be regulated by legislation.
The right to life and dignity would not preclude the legislature from making laws providing for and regulating the right to an abortion. Discussion continues in the ANC on how abortion relates to reproductive and other human rights.
The right of employers to lock-out workers, which is contained in the Interim Constitution, would be removed from the final constitution.
The Bill would establish a system of just and secure property rights, which would include provision for access to land and for the redress of inequities. The Bill of Rights would also support the provision of homes, employment and services like electricity and water; affirm the right of all people to have access to basic education, health and welfare services; and direct that the environment be protected from desecration.
These rights can be limited or deviated from only in accordance with democratic tradition and international law and standards.
Parliament would consist of the National Assembly and Senate. For the National Assembly there would be a mixed system of representation, which allows for a combination of constituency-based representation and proportional representation. The national assembly would consist of between 300 and 400 members, however the ANC is still discussing how many representatives there should be. Also under discussion is whether there should be single or multi-member constituencies, and what the relative percentages should be of constituency and proportional representation.
Parliament should be elected at least every five years from a common voters roll, and on the basis of universal adult suffrage. The elections would be administered and supervised by an independent Electoral Commission. The commission would consist of 6 people elected by a 75% majority of the National Assembly.
The Parliamentary Committee system would be used to ensure executive accountability to an informed parliament. The committees would have the right to consider proposed legislation, to initiate new legislation and to conduct public inquiries within their area of jurisdiction.
Senate
Although the Senate would be a functioning component of the national legislature, it is dealt with in the ANC proposals in the section on provincial government. This is because of its central role in empowering provinces and in defining the relationship between national and provincial levels of government.
National Executive
Coalition cabinets (as in the Government of National Unity) will be based on voluntary political pacts only, and will not be required by the constitution. The President would be the head of state with both ceremonial and executive powers. They would be elected by the National Assembly, would have the same term of office as the assembly and would only be available for re-election once. They would appoint and dismiss Ministers and Deputy Ministers at their discretion.
The Deputy President would also be elected by the National Assembly, and would be the parliamentary leader of the majority party. Cabinet members would be accountable to Parliament and the President.
The President or Deputy President could be impeached on a resolution by a 2/3 majority of both houses on the grounds of a serious violation of the Constitution or other laws or inability to perform the functions of their office.
Parliament could pass a motion of no-confidence in the President and their Cabinet, in which event the President may either resign or call a general election.
The final constitution would create a balanced and co-operative provincial system through, on the one hand, provinces collaborating at a national level through the Senate, and on the other hand through the division of competencies between national and provincial levels. Provinces would in the main retain their present law-making competencies, while they would have a more substantial responsibility for exercising executive power and making supplementary laws.
Senate
The role and structure of the Senate would change from what it is presently to give provinces a more direct say in developing national legislation.
The functions of the Senate would be:
The Senate would have between 50 and 100 members, appointed by the provincial executives or legislatures. The possibility of including local government representation in the Senate was favourably considered by the ANC Constitutional Conference.
The Senate would be able to block, approve or initiate laws dealing with provincial matters; and would have the right to review other laws. Through the Senate, provinces would participate in the drafting of the national budget, though it would have no powers to block financial bills.
Discussion is continuing on exactly how provinces would be represented in the Senate; the size, administration and functioning of the Senate; and the relationship between the Senate, the National Assembly and the Executive.
This proposal would have the twin effect of imposing national considerations upon provinces, while imposing provincial considerations on the national law-making process.
Provincial Government
Given the role of provinces in national law-making through the Senate, the provinces' law-making competencies remain very much the same as present (with the exclusion of policing, which was never properly part of provincial competencies as outlined in Schedule 6 of the Interim Constitution).
In the event of inconsistency between national and provincial legislation, the national legislation will prevail only if national uniformity is desirable; it is necessary for the country to speak with a single voice; it deals with national economic policies; or if it provides for equality of opportunity. Where a provincial law doesn't deal with any of these matters, but deals with specific socio-economic or cultural needs of a province, it will prevail over a national law.
Provinces would also be responsible for developing the details of the framework legislation of the national government.
The executive powers of provinces - the essence of political governance - would be significantly expanded. The guiding criteria for the allocation of executive powers for national and provincial government would be accountability, effectivity and efficiency: the level at which the best results with the least government expenses can be obtained, would be the level of the allocation of the relevant power.
Local Government
Comprehensive framework legislation - including its powers, functions and structures - would be enacted at a national level. The implementation and supervision of the legislation would be delegated to provinces. The national legislation would:
Elections to local government shall take place on either a proportional or ward basis, or both.
Traditional authorities and cultural bodies
Provision would be made for an appropriate structure consisting of traditional leaders to be created by law, to advise parliament and provincial legislatures on matters relevant to customary law and the powers and functions of chiefs. The powers of traditional leaders would be exercised subject to the provisions of the constitution and other laws. The ANC continues to discuss detailed proposals on the form and function of such structures.
This chapter of the constitution would deal only with the structure of the courts, their respective jurisdictions and the appointment of the staff who administer them. Most of the matters relating to the functioning of the courts would be left to legislation. Proposals for the constitution include the following:
Constitutional and Supreme Court judges would be appointed by a representative and transparent Judicial Service Commission. The commission would also play a role in the functioning of the courts, judicial training, law reform and complaints against judges.
Justice should be a national function, as opposed to the present 'federal' structure of the Attorney's General. The highest judicial executive officer should be the Attorney General - who may be a member of the Cabinet - and would be responsible for prosecuting offences in the name of the People of South Africa.
Public protector, Human Rights Commission, Commission on Gender Equality, Restitution of Land Rights
This section deals with institutions which need to be established to safeguard the rights enshrined in the Constitution. The Bill of Rights would outline the principles and procedures which will guide the restoration of land rights to those deprived of them by apartheid. A Land Claims Court Tribunal would be established to restore such rights.
There would be a Human Rights Commission to ensure the protection of human rights. A Public Protector would be charged with ensuring that government is free of corruption, rudeness and maladministration. These institutions would be appointed by parliament with a 2/3 majority.
There would be a commission to advance gender equality, which would consult women and conduct research on the situation of women.
The details of the functioning of each of these institutions would have to be dealt with in national legislation.
The final constitution would contain only a framework for the regulation of the public service. The public service would be:
The rights of public sector workers at all levels of government, as well as the terms and conditions of service of its members, would be regulated by national labour law.
There would be an independent and impartial Public Service Commission which would perform a 'watchdog' role with regard to legislated standards and norms, compatible with democratic governance and accountability. The commission would be established by, and function according to, a national law.
The constitution would insist that no public official should be able to enrich themselves or anyone else through their position in a manner which is not fit and proper.
Security services
The constitution would establish certain fundamental principles which would bind all security services. Security institutions would not be able to act under their own authority, but on the instruction of parliament and the executive. The executive, however, would not be able to use the security services in violation of the constitution.
Security services would:
Although the structure of the intelligence services would be set out in legislation, the constitution would prescribe that the president would be ultimately responsible for the intelligence services, and that a multi-party parliamentary oversight committee would be established.
National intelligence would be a function of the national government. Each intelligence service would be subject to independent civilian oversight by way of an inspectorate. There would be no private intelligence services.
National Defence Force
The national defence force would be primarily defensive in its structure and functions; members of the National Defence Force would not hold office in a political party; and the SANDF would comply with international customary law and treaties regarding armed conflict.
The defence force would uphold the constitution and would not be allowed to bypass parliament or the executive. The president would have the power to declare a state of national defence or war, subject to parliamentary confirmation.
The constitution would also provide for a military ombud person to deal with complaints of defence force members or from the public against the defence force.
SA Police Service
The South African Police Service would have national jurisdiction to prevent crime, investigate offences, maintain law and order and preserve the safety and security of the country. There would be one national police service, loyal to the national constitution, with structures devolved to the provinces. The president would appoint a National Commissioner of police who would exercise command of the service.
The national commissioner would appoint provincial commissioners after consultation with the relevant MECs. The MECs, together with the provincial commissioners, would be responsible for monitoring effective policing in provinces.
The establishment of municipal, metropolitan and tribal police would be left to legislation, but would not be precluded by the constitution.
The constitution should only outline the broad principles on independent institutions like the Financial and Fiscal Commission, the Reserve Bank and the Auditor-General. The details should be left to legislation.
The guiding principles on provincial financial and fiscal affairs would be that:
The Constitution would provide that the bulk of revenue would be collected and apportioned at national level after participation by provincial and local levels of government.
Provinces would be entitled to an equitable share of national revenue, taking into account regional imbalances, and national obligations in respect of debt servicing. The Financial and Fiscal Commission (FFC) would be established to advise the government on the distribution of revenue to the provinces, and would have representation from the provinces. Provinces would be able to raise and collect taxes if authorised to do so by national legislation, after consideration by the FFC.
I write this letter to voice my feelings about the abuse at work that is still continuing in the new South Africa. It seems as if people from small towns are still ignored by the government. I write this letter on behalf of security guards who are misused by employers at work. I was dismissed from work for organising a union.
Other forms of abuse at my working place include:
I want to know what the Security Board is doing in controlling security companies. It seems as if the Security Board ignores the former homeland security companies because security guards still can't voice their disputes.
SM Newanya, Hammanskraal
DRUNKEN SUPERVISORS
I am writing this letter on behalf of my fellow students at Mount Currie Hostel. The hostel supervision is very harsh on us. Our supervisors are drunkards and there is a lot of misunderstanding between them and the scholars.
If life continues like this at our hostels children might loss their tempers since everybody is a drunkard and they fail to understand the children's problems. The misuse of alcohol results in children being badly beaten and expelled.
The situation is so bad that we cannot reason with our supervisors; we are not allowed to go home or to town. We felt that a meeting we had with our parents and supervisors was undemocratic, the supervisors were not introduced to our parents. I think the reason for this is that the supervisors are ill-mannered and the school authorities fear complaints from our parents. In our meeting the rules were read out and our parents had no say in them. The choice for them was either to keep us under the school rules or take us away from the hostel. Do you think we should trust policemen supervisors who come back drunk and still carry their weapons while they are on duty?
'Concerned Scholar', Kokstad
YOUTH AND THE RDP
While the whole country welcomes the objectives of the RDP, I strongly believe that it is a programme which is a challenge to youth as well.
As we youth are tomorrow's leaders, we have to make a drastic move towards the success of RDP for the benefit of ourselves and of our beautiful country at large. Much is expected from us as youth, both abstract and concrete, and it is up to us to use whatever opportunity awaits.
To facilitate the RDP success, we youth can form structures like youth clubs, youth forums, cultural groups, etc; where ideas and opinions can be shared towards achieving these objectives.
I am therefore making an earnest appeal to all South African youth, irrespective of race and gender, to contact me so that we can start doing what we can now: P.O. Box 267, Vandyksdrift, 2245
Maxwell Zakhe Ndoba, Witbank
OPEN LETTER TO ROELF MEYER
I would like to thank NP leader Roelf Meyer for acknowledging during his address at Kanyamazane Stadium on 15 June 1995 that the National Party will do as we say.
We are not surprised though because the ANC is the only organisation that has a plan and a vision for the future of this country. As the only liberation movement which has brought change in this country we are not surprised by those who brutally used discrimination to drag our country into crisis. Today half the population, mainly africans, are living in poverty and without jobs. It is a good decision Mr Meyer to acknowledge that you were ignorant.
I thank you solely because if you honestly compare the ANC policy, the RDP, and the National Party policy, swart gevaar, you see the difference yourself. If the honourable minister means what he is saying, there is no need for the National Party to continue as a political party.
How can you say things yourself and dispute them within seconds and yet claim you can master what others plan. It will be wise also not to contradict what you say while you do what others say. Just to remind the NP that while you were shivering for the dawning of a new dispensation, you cried for a constitutional court. Today the same confused National Party is undermining the Constitutional Court. The Constitutional Court ruled against hanging. You go back and want that decision to be reversed.
You have no plan to offer. I believe the ANC's Reconstruction and Development Programme is an excellent plan for all South Africans and may you do as we say.
And I can assure you that although you had us so busy protesting against the National Party's illegitimate government, we will never be bored with its disbandment. At least we will use that time we spend waking you in your nightmares to think and implement what will make a better life for all.
Sipho Shonge, Nelspruit
After years of harassment and repressive censorship, community media in South Africa is facing its toughest challenge yet - to survive in an open, democratic society. Steyn Speed reports on some of the latest efforts.
The fight to save South Africa's community media has been given fresh impetus through the formation of the National Community Media Forum (NCMF) which was formed at a community media conference in May. Only the struggle is no longer against censorship, detention and harassment; its a struggle for money.
South Africa's community and independent media sectors have always suffered from a shortage of resources. With the country's transition to democracy, this shortage has become acute. Together with the entire progressive non-governmental sector, community media initiatives have felt the effects of drastically reduced foreign funding - the primary source of support in the past for many media organisations.
The NCMF has no illusions that its immediate - and primary - objective is to establish sources of funding for community media. "We've come to a conclusion that there is no way that the community media can succeed without funding," says NCMF president and chief executive office Tshepo Rantho.
They are approaching the problem in two ways. Firstly, they are trying to raise "emergency relief funds" to ensure that what community media initiatives do exist are able to survive over the next couple of months, and are able to carry on with their work until a more permanent funding arrangement can be found.
Secondly, they are looking at a long-term solution involving the establishment of a statutory body which would be responsible for channelling government and other funds to community media. The NCMF is calling on the government to play a direct financial role in making community media sustainable.
"We are taking our cue from the RDP itself, where it talks about democratic organisation of information," Rantho says.
The RDP adopted by the ANC, SACP, Cosatu and Sanco says the democratic government must set aside funds for the training of journalists and community-based media. It calls for "institutional mechanisms independent of the democratic government and representative of society as a whole". Such a mechanism proposed in the document is an 'Information Development Trust' made up of "civil society, media role players, especially community-based ones, the democratic government and political interests, to work out detailed criteria and mechanisms for assisting relevant media enterprises.
The NCMF has established a task team to develop a process for formulating legislative proposals for how such a statutory body would function. As a starting point, a discussion papers is being written for circulation to relevant government departments - such as the deputy president's office, RDP and telecommunications and broadcasting - and interested groupings and individuals. A particular aspect which the paper will have to address is whether provision for the body can be included into present laws, or whether special legislation needs to be developed. On receipt of responses to the discussion paper, a research team will be established, possibly a joint project of government and the NCMF. The brief of the research team will focus specifically on how community media can best be supported, and will be expected to draw on the experiences of other countries.
The NCMF hopes to be able to review the whole report by October. A consultative workshop is planned to bring all stakeholders together to consider the developed proposal. "We are going to lobby for it be lobbied at least early next year," says NCMF advocacy officer Lumko Mtimde. "It is an ambitious process, but we think it can be practical," says Mtimde.
Despite the primacy of the question of funding, the NCMF has other important contributions to make to the survival of community media. The forum brings together for the first time in a structured way the three sectors of organised community media: radio, print and audio visual. Although each sector has a level of internal coordination and programmes specific to that sector, the NCMF was formed to build a community media sector in South Africa which is strong and unified. NCMF fundraising officer Karen Thorne says the