Ndumiso Ntshinga, the ANC chief representative for the Australasian and Pacific region, interviewed on Sydney public radio on March 16, explained that CODESA is on the verge of agreeing to a far-reaching plan that would lay the basis for genuine progress on constitutional change.
“CODESA's working group on transitional arrangements has agreed, broadly speaking, on a formula which is going to be put to CODESA's plenary session, which I expect is going to be in April. If that plenary session accepts the proposals, it will then be given legal effect by the parliamentary parties which are participating in CODESA” through an act of parliament.
An Interim Governing Council, appointed by CODESA from among its 19 participating organisations, would then “supervise the running of the government on a day-to-day basis. This will not last more than a six-month period”. The IGC would organise elections for a constituent assembly.
“This would be phase one. We view that six months as very important ... The ANC is on record as saying that we don't trust the de Klerk government to [organise elections]. All the major parties should be involved ... It should not be left to the Nationalist Party government.”
In the second phase, the constituent assembly, elected by proportional representation, would draft a democratic constitution and elect an executive which would become an interim government.
“If things go according to how we would like, probably before the end of the year, we may have elections in South Africa for the constituent assembly”, Ntshinga said.
He rejected the suggestion that a landslide “yes” should result in the early lifting of remaining economic sanctions. “The ANC holds identical views to those of the Commonwealth, the Organisation of African Unity and the United Nations on the phased lifting of sanctions ...
“We are saying that the next phase of sanctions should be lifted only when there is an interim government in place and that government requests the lifting of sanctions.”
