Constitution provides framework for the new South Africa.

While the world's media shine their spotlight on the continuing incidences of violence in some of Africa's townships, we at AB would like to take this opportunity to outline for our readers the salient features of the newly ratified South African Constitution. This document performs a function of the utmost importance: it points the way forward for all 41m of South Africa's people, the vast majority of whom never participate in the destructive interfactional and intertribal violence which flashes across the world's television screens. Our thanks go to the South African Embassy in London, which has kindly provided this analysis and has been most helpful as a source of information about the rapidly unfolding events in South Africa today.

South Africa's newly adopted Transitional Constitution provides for a Government of National Unity, three tiers of government and a chapter of fundamental human rights. A schedule in the Bill that was tabled in Parliament sets out binding and justiciable constitutional principles to which the final Constitution must adhere.

In the first democratic elections, due to take place on 27 April 1994, all eligible South Africans will vote for a new National Government, based on a system of proportional representation.

South Africa's Constitution for the transitional period is to be implemented by proclamation in the Government Gazette on the day of the election, 27 April. "Homelands" abolished

The Constitution also provides for the repeal of South African legislation which recognises the "independence" of Transkei, Bophuthatswana, Venda and Ciskei. It also is to repeal the Self-Governing Territories Act, effectively ending the existence of the "national states" of Kwa-Zulu, Qwa-Qwa, Lebowa, Gazankulu, KwaNdebele and KaNgwane.

South Africa will be demarcated into the following nine provinces for election purposes:

1 the Eastern Transvaal;

2 the Northern Transvaal;

3 the Pretoria-Witwatersrand-Vereniging area;

4 the North West;

5 the Orange Free State;

6 Natal;

7 the Northern Cape;

8 the Western Cape; and

9 the Eastern Cape.

Parliament

Under the framework of the Constitution, Parliament is to consist of a 400-person National Assembly and a 90-person Senate. Ordinary laws are to be passed by a simple majority in each house, and if a Bill is rejected in one house, it must be passed by a majority of the total number of members in both houses.

Bills affecting provincial boundaries or the exercise of powers and function allocated to provincial governments must be approved both by the National Assembly and by the Senate.

The Head of State is to be an Executive President. The first President will be elected by the National Assembly at its first sitting.

Provision has also been made for Executive Deputy Presidents from parties that obtain 80 or more seats in the National Assembly. Should no party achieve 80 seats out of the 400, then the two parties that hold the largest and second-largest number of seats shall each be entitled to designate one Executive Deputy President.

The multiparty Cabinet is to be composed, according to proportional representation, of those parties that obtain 5% or more of the vote in the election.

The debate about the relative advantages and disadvantages of proportional representation is an old and heated one, but by and large, proportional representation means that a larger number of parties will have seats in the legislature.

In Denmark, for example, where proportional representation is practised, seats in the Folketing (Parliament) are spread across half a dozen major parties, and it is rare for a single party to win a majority of the seats and be able to form a government outright. The party that wins the largest number of seats therefore has to co-operate with other parties to reach a consensus that will enable it to form a coalition government.

Proportional representation

In the UK, on the other hand, proportional representation is not practised, and the largest two parties hold almost all the seats in the House of Commons. The third-largest party, the Liberal Democrats, has only a small number of seats - only those for constituencies in which their candidate had the highest number of votes in the first-past-the-post contest. However, the Lib Dems tend to come second in a much larger number of constituencies - but second is no better than last, and all the votes cast for the Lib Dems in those constituencies count for nothing. The percentage of Britons who vote for the Lib Dems is always very much larger than the party's share of the seats in the House of Commons. Under the South African Constitution, the President will have the power to designate portfolios in his Cabinet. Decisions within the Cabinet are to be taken by consensus, in a manner which gives consideration to the spirit underlying the concept of a Government of National Unity as well as the need for effective government.

Those dispossessed of land

The Constitution also provides that any person or any community that had been dispossessed of a right to land in a racially discriminatory manner, dating from after 19 June 1913, shall be entitled to claim restitution from the state. A Commission, to be established by legislation, is to investigate the merits of any claims and is to draw up reports on unsettled claims for submission as evidence to a court of law.

The Constitution Court will have final jurisdiction on matters relating to the interpretation, protection and enforcement of the Constitution at all levels of government. Any disputes which may arise between the various levels of government are, therefore, to be settled by the Constitutional Court.

The Constitutional Court must also protect the fundamental rights and freedoms contained in the Constitution. These rights can be suspended only under a state of emergency.

The elected Constitutional Assembly - i. e., the National Assembly and the Senate sitting in joint session - must draft a final Constitution for South Africa.

The final Constitution will be bound by the justiciable Constitutional Principles adopted by the Plenary Session of the Multiparty Negotiating Process on 17 and 18 November 1993. These principles provide for multiparty democracy, three tiers of government and the recognition of civil liberties.

Final Constitution

A final Constitution, to be drafted by representatives duly elected by all the people of South Africa, is to be adopted by a two-thirds majority of the members of the Constitutional Assembly within two years of its first session. If the necessary two-thirds majority is not obtained in the Constitutional Assembly, then certain deadlock-breaking mechanisms are to come into play, culminating in the adoption of the final Constitution by a 60% majority in a referendum. Second elections by 1999

Once the final Constitution has been adopted, it will be implemented. The multiparty Cabinet and the Government of National Unity are to continue to function until 27 April 1999, when the next democratic elections are scheduled to be held in South Africa.

However, should the multiparty Cabinet at any time lose the confidence of Parliament, an election could be held at an earlier date.

The 19-member Transitional Executive Council (TEC), meanwhile, is to remain in existence until July 1994. The TEC's Executive Director is Peace Secretariat and Justice Department official Deon Rudmann. He is assisted by two Deputy Executive Directors: Theuns Eloff, the key official at the multiparty negotiations, and Janet Love, who was formerly a Codesa administrator.