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Periodical article Periodical article Leiden University catalogue Leiden University catalogue WorldCat catalogue WorldCat
Title:Towards a democratic constitution for South Africa: the issues and the process
Author:Erasmus, G.ISNI
Year:1992
Periodical:Annual conference - African Society of International and Comparative Law
Volume:4
Pages:141-152
Language:English
Geographic term:South Africa
Subjects:democracy
constitutions
Abstract:Constitutional change in South Africa is about replacing a minority regime with democracy and about creating, for the first time, political rights for the majority. The primary needs of black and white South Africans and their expectations of what a new constitution has to contain are different. The former want a State powerful enough to address the material imbalances in society and to bring about a redistribution of wealth; the latter want protection of their present position. Between these extreme positions a constitutional compromise has to be worked out. This is the implication of the route to constitutional change adopted in South Africa - that is, a negotiated settlement. The country's political leaders have to agree on the nature of the problem, the interim strategy, the transitional machinery and the constitutional philosophies and compromises to underpin a peaceful transition and a democratic outcome. That is what they have been trying to achieve through the Convention for a Democratic South Africa (Codesa). Notes, ref.
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