Chapter 3A – CCTSA

CODESA 1

FORMAL NEGOTIATIONS BEGIN

CODESA meeting

Formal negotiations began at the Convention for a Democratic South Africa (CODESA) on 21 December 1991.

CODESA

was open to all parties with significant support – although it was boycotted by some parties, including the Pan Africanist Congress and excluded others that were not deemed by the organisers to have sufficient support;
was chaired by Chief Justice Michael Corbett and judges Ismail Mahomed and Piet Schabort; and
would take decisions by ‘sufficient consensus’ i.e. agreement between the African National Congress (ANC) and the National Party, and sometimes the Inkatha Freedom Party (IFP).

CODESA adopted ‘a DECLARATION OF INTENT’ that set out the commitment of all participants to the establishment of a constitutional democracy with full human and political rights and recognition of cultural and language diversity.

CODESA established five working groups:

Working Group 1 dealt with the creation of a climate for free political participation and the neutrality of state media.
Working Group 2 dealt with constitutional principles, including the contentious question of federalism and the manner in which the new Constitution would be adopted.
Working Group 3 dealt with transitional arrangements.
Working Group 4 was charged with the reincorporation of the independent homelands.
Working Group 5 was tasked with the speedy implementation of decisions made by the other working groups.

CODESA Steering Committee diagram