Negotiations on ending minority white rule in South Africa took a symbolic leap forward on June 3, 1993 with the provisional decision to set April 27, 1994 as the date for the country's first all-race elections. That action by the 26-member Multi-Party Negotiating Forum (MPNF), established to guide South Africa from apartheid to democracy, cleared the way for further negotiations on transitional arrangements through which blacks would participate in governing the country for the first time since the arrival of Europeans some 350 years ago. Setting an election date and giving a voice in government to the 75 percent black population were crucial steps toward lifting UN sanctions imposed on South Africa in the 1970s. (The Washington Post 6/4/93)
With the support of Nelson Mandela's African National Congress (ANC) and the National party of President F. W. de Klerk, the MPNF made the election date final on July 2. Seven other MPNF members strongly opposed the move, including the Zulu-based Inkatha Freedom Party, representing the nominally independent black "homeland" of KwaZulu and the white reactionary Conservative party. Both walked out of the talks in protest. Inkatha and the Conservatives were seeking assurances that the country's new constitution would grant considerable powers to regions over what was expected to be an ANC-dominated central government. Political and ethnic violence between the ANC, led by members of the Xhosa tribe, and Inkatha had already claimed the lives of some 15,000 South Africans since 1984, when major disagreements emerged between the parties on the appropriate strategy for opposing apartheid. The dramatic increase in violence in recent years-some 10,000 have died since Mandela's release from prison in February 1990-was behind the UN's decision to deploy the 60-member UN Observer Mission in South Africa (UNOMSA) in September 1992. (ibid., 7/3/94)
After finalizing the election date, MPNF members reached agreement on the creation of a Transitional Executive Council (TEC) on September 7, 1993 which was officially approved by the South African Parliament on September 23. The country's first multiracial governing body, the TEC, would provide predominantly black political parties with a limited veto over government decisions affecting the elections, including the maintenance of law and order and the activities of the security forces, through voting day. (ibid., 9/8.75/91) Although the new body would not actually begin functioning until agreement was reached on an interim constitution, its establishment meant that the process of democratic change had become irreversible. Accordingly, ANC President Nelson Mandela went before the UN Special Committee against Apartheid on September 24 to ask the General Assembly to lift international economic sanctions against South Africa.
In an interview with UN Radio, Mandela called sanctions "one of the most powerful weapons" of the anti-apartheid struggle and admitted that the ANC was abandoning its long-standing pledge to delay their repeal until white rule had been of officially ended. He explained the switch with reference to the "destruction" that apartheid had wrought on the economy and hoped that lifting the sanctions while South Africa was still democratizing might remind "democratic forces throughout the world of their duty to help our economy to become strong, to grow, to offer job opportunities, to generate wealth." (World Chronicle, 9/24/93) On October 8, the General Assembly rescinded all its prohibitions or restrictions against economic relations with South Africa in the areas of trade, investment, finance, travel and transportation. It requested member states to repeal all laws they had adopted to give effect to those sanctions but decided to leave the 1979 UN oil embargo in effect until the TEC became operational. The decision would not affect the Security Council's 1977 embargo on arms and nuclear weapons-related material.
The move was expected to do little in the short term to attract foreign investment or lower the country's 40 percent unemployment rate. The United States had already repealed its 1985 ban against new investment in 1991, and the European Community, the Organization of African Unity and the Commonwealth had taken similar action. But the repeal resolution would allow Congress to rescind its prohibitions against loans to Pretoria from the World Bank and the international Monetary Fund and permit the 179 state and local governments that had barred investment in South Africa to reverse these rulings. (The Washington Post, 9/25/93, 1O/9/93)
In his September 24 address and subsequent interview, Mandela had also called on the United Nations to assist in monitoring the upcoming elections. Saying that UNOMSA had done "remarkable work" and was "putting pressure on all of us to account for our actions," the ANC leader argued that "an increase in the number of observers╔would go a long way in ensuring that these elections are fair and free." In light of the "progress in the multi-party talks" to date, Secretary-General Boutros Boutros-Ghali petitioned the Security Council on September 29 for authorization to deploy 40 additional UNOMSA observers, bringing the mission up to its full complement of 100. The enlarged mission was to "serve as a nucleus for the anticipated United Nations role in the electoral process." The Council approved the request on October 9. In further recognition of the great strides blacks and whites had made together in eradicating racism and introducing democracy, the Nobel Committee awarded both Mandela and de Klerk its 1993 Peace Prize on October 15.
The leaders reached another milestone in their joint efforts on November 18, when the MPNF approved the interim constitution. Two years in the making, the constitution would enter into force on election day and serve as the supreme law of the land until a permanent constitution could be drafted by the legislature elected in April. In deference to the rights of political minorities, the constitution provided significant powers to the regions, which could set their own policies in the areas of agriculture, education, health, housing, language, police and welfare. It would also grant each of South Africa's nine new provinces limited powers of taxation and the right to draft and approve its own constitutional document. In addition, the interim constitution called for the establishment of the country's first constitutional court to adjudicate disputes between the regions and the central government.
The need to protect minority rights also extended to the constitutionally mandated structure of the new government. In the five-year transition period commencing with elections, the executive branch would consist of a president and two deputy presidents, at least one of whom would represent a minority party. Like the 400-member National Assembly and the 90-member Senate, the cabinet would be chosen on the basis of proportional representation. All parties receiving at least 5 percent of the vote would be included in the cabinet and the legislature. (The Washington Post, 11/18/93) Moreover, the MPNF also approved on November 18 the Electoral Acts, which enshrined universal suffrage in law, and established three multiracial bodies to administer the elections and certify the results: the Independent Electoral Commission (IEC), the Independent Media Commission (IMC), and the Independent Broadcasting Commission (IBC).
From A Global Agenda: Issues Before the 49th General Assembly of the United Nations, (excerpt from Making and Keeping the Peace, by Edmund T. Piasecki). Copyright 1994 by the United Nations Association of the United States of America. Published by University Press of America, Inc.
