By Norm Dixon
The African National Congress has described President F.W. de Klerk's proposed constitutional arrangements as a "recipe for disaster" and a ruse to "retain the accumulated privileges of apartheid". During the referendum campaign de Klerk called the proposals the National Party's "bottom line" in the constitutional negotiations that will follow the election of a constituent assembly.
De Klerk unveiled the proposals in Bloemfontein on September 4. They would give the white minority a veto over government decisions. Minority parties, with which the National Party hopes to cobble together a multiracial conservative alliance, would have great scope to prevent changes.
De Klerk proposes two houses of parliament. The lower house would be elected by proportional representation by all South Africans. An upper house, with veto power over legislation, would be elected from nine regional areas, each with an equal number of representatives. Each region's delegation would be split equally between all parties able to win 10% or more of the vote.
Constitutional changes and laws that affect "minorities" and regions would require an as yet undefined "weighted majority" to pass.
The president would be replaced by a presidium of the leaders of at least the three highest-polling parties. The presidium would appoint a cabinet drawn from all parties with "sufficient support".
De Klerk also proposed that local governments have two voter rolls — one for property owners and one for the propertyless. A property owner's vote would be worth twice as much as that of a propertyless voter. Almost all property owners are white and almost all the propertyless are black.
The ANC said that "the NP proposals are designed to deny a future ... government the power to truly liberate the country from the misery that apartheid has wrought. The proposals attempt to create a weak parliament and executive, hamstrung by arrangements requiring broad consensus amongst small interest groups."
The ANC has acknowledged the desirability of constitutional "checks and balances" and affirmed the need to protect the fundamental rights of all South Africans in a bill of rights. It points out that the NP is proposing something different: mechanisms to ensure the retention of white supremacy.
Democratic government would be paralysed by the multiparty presidency and cabinet. "Coalition governments are formed voluntarily. Yet the [NP] wants to make coalition government a constitutional principle, together with measures to paralyse any attempts of the party with the most votes to use its strength for social reconstruction."
The proposal for regions with equal representation "is obviously ere Africans are the overwhelming majority. Furthermore ... if, for instance, the ANC received 70% of the votes in [a region], all parties that obtained 10% would have equal representation. Thus minor parties have as much power as the majority party."
The ANC added that the changes to local government, as well as the proposal of neighbourhood committees empowered to make regulations on "norms and standards", mean "the maintenance of group area arrangements [apartheid] under another name".