Smith 1

Nick Smith

Dr. Lammer-Heindel

DMOC

20 January 2016

South Africa Paper #2

After sitting through some of the all-party talks, the people of South Africa have

completed a rough draft of the new constitution. The majority of the rough draft benefits all

parties of South Africa, some more than others, but thats a part of trying to compromise between

so many parties. Especially trying to compromise after the events (assassinations,

massacresetc) and the apartheid that was recently ended. As an Executive member of the ANC

I was pretty pleased with the rough draft. However, I believe that the MPNP should pass the

constitution after making some changes to what we already have.

Like stated before we do want some changes to the constitution but overall we, the ANC,

are relatively pleased with what is written up already. The ANC is happy with the Bill of Rights

that has been put into place. The Bill of Rights is based off of the Freedom Charter and is there

to make sure that no citizen whether they be white, black, Indianetc will lose their rights or be

exploited of their rights. Under apartheid, black people did not have equal rights with white

people. They were not allowed to use the same facilities as white people, intermarry, or mix with

white people as equals.1 Under the Apartheid, blacks were stripped of their natural rights and

were not equal to the white people of South Africa. The Bill of Rights is put into place to ensure

1
"Apartheid". 2015. In The Hutchinson Unabridged Encyclopedia with Atlas and Weather Guide. Abington: Helicon.
 Smith 2

the rights and equality of all people. We are also support that under the core curriculum, schools

are required to teach in English. Requiring that all schools are taught in English will help with

the democratic state. With each individual being able to speak English it will give everybody an

equal opportunity at governmental positions. It is nearly impossible to be a part of the

government if you cannot speak English.

One of the biggest problems that I have with the constitution that we drafted is the

reservation of political seats for women. Not only because having reserved seats hurts the overall

score of the ANC in the end, but thats against the ideals of a democracy. Part B of the

constitution calls for 25% of the parliament to be women. It later goes on to say that it requires

30% of all the members of the Cabinet must be women. No true democracy should have reserved

seats in their government. The whole point of a democracy is that everybody is equally

represented and with some exceptions (citizenship, arrest record, ageetc) have the same ability

or chance at being elected. For democracy to be truly representative and inclusive all citizens

must have equal opportunities to participate within democratic processes. If these conditions are

not present the benefits of democracy for social and economic development will be severely

limited, as such genuine democracies cannot allow for inequality or discrimination.2 Reserving

seats for women in South Africa would be the same as reserving seats for blacks or whites or any

other race / ethnic group. Reserving seats for women would violate the true meaning of a

democracy and wouldnt be a true representation of the peoples voice.

2
"Patriarchal Politics: The Struggle for Genuine Democracy in Contemporary India". 2014. Ranjana Kumari.
Heinrich Boell Foundation.
This article was not found on the scholarly websites (CREDO or JSTOR) however, I felt that it had a very
good definition/meaning describing a democratic society that South Africa should follow.
 Smith 3

Reserving seats for women would go against the motto of the ANC. In the crucial

negotiations between the apartheid-era political parties and the anti-apartheid groups at the

Convention for a Democratic South Africa (CODESA), the vision that the ANC had for the new

South Africa was summed up in the slogan, A unified, non-racial, non-sexist and democratic

South Africa.3 Reserving seats for women would be both discriminatory and sexist towards

men. If a womens ideas are truly better than a males then they will be elected. The ANC is all

about equality for all and women should have the same opportunity to be elected as men, but

there shouldnt be a guarantee of seats for women. People will be elected to be in a political

position based off of merit and support from the people, not by reserving seats for certain people

or groups.

Another area of concern that I myself as well as the rest of the ANC has is the part of the

constitution from group As that states that provincial boundaries will be drawn by cultures and

that homelands will be taken into consideration as the provinces are established. With Apartheid

just ending, grouping the provinces by the homelands will just be a way to continue the

segregation that the homelands created. Even though citizens of South Africa are free to move

wherever they want to it is going to be hard for a black person to go and live in what was an all-

white community. They will still face discrimination from the whites and will have to adapt to

their cultures and possibly even a different language. Redistricting and drawing provinces based

off of minerals or population rather than culture or homelands will ensure diversity and an equal

amount of resources (quality land, farming, cities that will create jobs) and opportunities for all

provinces in South Africa.

3
"Introduction". 2005. In South Africa's Diverse Peoples: A Reference Sourcebook, Sally Frankental and Owen
Sichone. Santa Barbara: ABC-CLIO.
 Smith 4

Keeping the people in or districting them by what used to be homelands will just ensure

that the blacks and other minorities continue to live on barren land with little to no resources.

Along with the barren land, the homelands have very little money and some have turn into run

down slums. The homelands were to contain all blacks, about 70 percent of South Africa's total

population, but they would officially comprise only about 15 percent of the lands, which within

the homelands' borders produced under 2 percent of the combined homelands and South Africa's

wealth.4 If provinces are formed around the homelands than these poverty filled areas will not

get any better and will enable the whites to keep the blacks segregated out of their lives.

The ANC would also like to see there be national government regulation over what

cultural teachings can be taught in schools. We believe that every school should teach a core

curriculum that is to be set by the national government in English. We are willing to allow

provinces to teach additional cultural lessons in school but we are proposing that they must be

optional to students and the government must oversee and allow the classes to be taught. This is

just to ensure that there are not classes being taught that are promoting violence or cultural

superiority of any sort.

In addition as an ANC executive I would like to see, from part A, the free market

economy changed to a socialist economy. However, I understand that we are not going to get

everything that we want and we have to be willing to negotiate. I will be willing to have a free

market economy on all other industries as long as the government gets to have full control over

mining and natural resources (coal, minerals, oiletc). The government must get eminent

4
South African Homelands, nationalism in. (2000). In A. Motyl (Ed.), Encyclopedia of nationalism: Leaders,
movements, and concepts. Oxford, United Kingdom: Elsevier Science & Technology.
Although homelands are abolished this shows that the living conditions in the homelands were poor and
the homelands had no resources. Simply making provinces around homelands will enable the whites to live
separately of the blacks and continue to have the blacks live in an area of poverty and barren land.
 Smith 5

domain over all mines and minerals that are found or already existing. The landowner will be

compensated for what is on the land and will be paid fairly. This is only fair in that the natural

resources do not belong to an individual, but rather the country as a whole. The money made

from mining and natural resources is to be divided equally among all provinces.

I didnt see really anything too extreme or anything that I really disagree with from

section C of the constitution, as long as the MK and the police force already existing are merged

together and prosecuted fairly and equally with no bias. The one thing that kind of disturbs me is

people being able to pay a lump sum to lessen their sentences. Only the white police officers

have enough money to give up, as the majority of blacks are living in poverty and have very little

money.

The ANC is largely in favor of the constitution that has been drafted. However, we feel

that the constitution should not be passed until there are some changes that take place. A few

minor changes to the constitution and we would sign this constitution into place for the people of

South Africa. We are in favor of tweaking the education system that will be put into place, taking

out the reserved seats in government for women, redrawing the provincial boundaries, and

making sure there is fair treatment when prosecuting all members of the police force and the

MK. We recognize that we may not be able to get everything in our favor however with close to

70% of the populations support and after being exploited for decades we feel that we are entitled

to a big say in the new constitution. By saying this we do not want to exploit or put anybody at a

disadvantage from this constitution. We the ANC want what is best for the country of South

Africa and all people, it doesnt matter what race or sex. We want to sign this democratic

constitution into being for the good of the country of South Africa.
 Smith 6

Bibliography

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