Archives of the CODESA

584 Pages·2015·5.08 MB·English

INVENTORY: NA 61

NATIONAL ARCHIVES OF SOUTH AFRICA

ARCHIVES OF THE CODESA (CONVENTION FOR A DEMOCRATIC
SOUTH AFRICA)
(1991 - 1992)

(SOURCE CODE: COD)

S. HATANG
I. BRINK

AUGUST 2000

PRETORIA

ISBN

CONTENTS

Page

PREFACE

1. ADMINISTRATIVE OUTLINE

2. ARRANGEMENT AND CONTENT
2.1 Composition of the group
2.2 Access requirements
2.3 Extent
2.4 Suggested citation
2.5 Related primary material
2.6 General

3. SYNOPSIS

4. INVENTORY

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PREFACE

Part of the mandate of the National Archives of South Africa includes the
preservation of public and non-public records with enduring value for use by the
public and governmental bodies. Public records are preserved as “archival groups”.
The term refers to a body of archival records accumulated by a particular
governmental body or part thereof in the execution of its functions and activities.
Such records, which are assessed as having archival value, are transferred to the
National Archives Repository for preservation, usually when they are twenty years
old. Collections of non-public records are built up mainly through the donation of
records of private individuals and organizations. An important task of the archivist is
to arrange archival groups and collections and to describe them in finding aids.

Various finding aids are prepared to easy access to specific records or archival
groups. Information on the archival holdings is being automated on an ongoing basis
and placed in databases for on-line retrieval in a national automated archival
information retrieval system (NAAIRS). NAAIRS generally provides access to
specific individual records by means of keyword retrieval. The automated system is
supplemented by different types of manual finding aids. The List of Archivalia
provides a synoptic overview of the total holdings of the repository. The Guide to
Accessions provides information on each of the collections of non-public records.
The most basic and indispensable descriptive tool is the inventory, which contains
an item description of each individual record within a specific archival group. This
allows users to identify records that may be relevant to their research. The inventory
also contains contextual information regarding the archival group, such as an
administrative outline of the government body concerned, an overview of its contents
and information on accessibility. A separate inventory is prepared for each archival
group.

This inventory forms part of an ongoing series of improved inventories, which is
being published by the National Archives of South Africa to assist users of archives.
Details of published inventories are given in the List of Publications For Sale, which
is available free of charge on request from the Publication Division of the National
Archives, Private Bag X236, Pretoria, 0001. Tel. [phone]. Fax (012) 323
5287. E-mail [email protected]. I trust that the series will serve to enhance
the accessibility and convenient use of archives.

NATIONAL ARCHIVIST

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ARCHIVES OF CODESA (CONVENTION FOR A DEMOCRATIC SOUTH AFRICA),
1991 - 1992

1. Administrative Outline

1.1 Introduction

The “Convention for a Democratic South Africa” or CODESA, in short formed
part of a political negotiating process. CODESA, as a whole can be viewed in
the following broad categories. Two major Plenary Sessions were held. The
first was held on 20-21 December 1991 and the second on 15-16 May 1992.
During the First Plenary Session, 5 initial Work Groups were established,
each with their own Terms of Reference. At a later stage 2 new sub-
committees were also established. These Work Groups met and negotiated
frequently in the period prior to the Second Plenary Session, where they
eventually delivered their reports on their agreements and recommendations.

1.2 Preparatory meetings

From 29 – 30 November 1991 Preparatory meetings were held at the Jan
Smuts Holiday Inn, Johannesburg. 20 different parties attended these
meetings. It was decided that the all-party process would be convened under
the title “Convention for a Democratic South Africa” (CODESA). It was also
agreed that the first meeting of CODESA would take place on the 20-21
December 1991 at the World Trade Centre in Kempton Park, Johannesburg.
Issues on the first agenda were:

 the creation of the climate for free political participation
 general Constitutional principles
 constitution making body/process
 transitional arrangements/Interim Government/Transitional Authority
 the future of the TBVC states
 the role of the international community
 time frames with regard to all these processes
 implementation of decisions of CODESA
 other items to be identified by the Steering Committee and decided upon
by CODESA

During the Preparatory meetings it was also decided that the original invitees
would be invited to the first meeting of CODESA and that each participating
organization would be entitled to a maximum of 12 delegates.

A Steering Committee comprising of one person from each of the participating
organizations was established. Their tasks were to convene the first plenary
meeting of CODESA, attend to outstanding items which featured on the
agenda of the Preparatory meeting, the funding of CODESA, administration,
standing rules, agenda for the first meeting, press and media and other items.
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Mr Zac de Beer of the Democratic Party was elected to chair the Steering
Committee.

It was further agreed that 5 international organizations would be invited to
attend the first meeting of CODESA as observers.

It was also decided that decisions of CODESA would be taken by consensus
and that where consensus does not exist, the principle of “sufficient
consensus” shall be invoked. Another decision that was made was that all
plenary sessions of CODESA would be open to the media.1

The Steering Committee, as established by the Preparatory meeting, held its
first meeting on 4 December 1991. During this meeting decisions such as the
allocation of tasks to subordinate groups (or Task groups) under the
supervision of the Steering Committee and how to resolve deadlocks were
discussed. The Steering Committee decided to form three Task groups that
would be involved in the Organisation and Planning of CODESA 1 (20-21
December 1991). The portfolios allocated to the three Task groups were:
Task group 1: Organisation and Planning; Task group 2: Drafting and Task
group 3: Process.

 Task group 1‟s responsibilities were w.r.t the arrangements of the venue,
finances and invitations; it also had the responsibility of Security, Media
and Communication and Protocol (that subsequently led to the
establishment of s 3 sub-committees for these portfolios)
 Task group 2‟s responsibilities were w.r.t. the Declaration of Intent
(Purpose, goals and broad principles), the commitment of the Parties and
the Government, standing rules and decision making.
 Task group 3‟s responsibilities were w.r.t. the Agenda for CODESA 1,
input on the identifying, assignments and functioning of possible Working
Groups and additional items to be handled by the Steering Committee,
mediation and facilitation.

During the first meeting the convenors of the Task Groups were chosen from
members of the Steering Committee delegates. A proposal was adopted that
each party participating in the Steering Committee, would have the
opportunity to appoint one delegate each of the three Task groups.

________________

1. National Archives Repository, Archives of CODESA, Source code: COD vol.
no. 1, Folder 1, Summary of decisions taken at the Preparatory Meeting of
CODESA, 1991.11.29-30.

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A five-person secretariat was also appointed to oversee the provision of
administrative services for the Task groups, the Steering Committee and the
first plenary meeting of CODESA2.

1.3 CODESA 1: First Plenary Session

The First Plenary Session was held on 20-21 December 1991, at the World
Trade Centre, near the Jan Smuts Airport in Johannesburg. Two judges, Piet
Schabort and Ismail Mohamed were chosen to the chair of the Convention.

In the period prior to the First Plenary Session, Mr M Buthelezi and the IFP
insisted that their delegation was not enough. They also requested two other
delegations, one headed by the King of the Zulus and the other representing
the KwaZulu administration, to be seated. No agreement was reached on this
issue and the IFP and Mr Buthelezi chose to stay away. This resulted that the
IFP did not sign the “Declaration of Intent”. After certain amendments were
made to the “Declaration of Intent”, the IFP eventually did sign the declaration
at the Second Plenary Session.

Friedman called the first day of the First Plenary Session, “a bland gathering”,
which consisted of a procession of speakers that read prepared speeches.
According to Friedman the “centerpiece of CODESA 1 was the signing of a
Declaration of Intent, consisting largely of vague statements of goodwill and
designed primarily to avoid possibilities for disagreement...”.

During the second day of CODESA 1, comments were delivered on the
“Declaration of Intent. On the Agenda was also the formation of Working
Groups and the decisions on what important items the Working Groups
should negotiate.

________________

2. NAR, Source code: COD, vol. no. 2, ref. no. folder 1, Minutes of Steering
Committee meeting for CODESA, 1991.12.4.

3. NAR, COD 106: CODESA First Plenary Session, Volume II, 1991.12.21, p.
223.
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During the session a Secretariat was elected for CODESA 2 and their task
was allocated as to “attend to the day-to-day supervision and the creation of
the necessary administrative capacity...”.3 A management Committee
replaced the old Steering Committee. Its mandate was to supervise the
administration of CODESA, implement the decisions or agreements, create
necessary sub-structures and supervise the work of the Working Groups. Its
first meeting was held on 13 January 1992. On this occasion the Management
Committee established the Daily Management Committee, which replaced the
outgoing Secretariat.4

CODESA 1 appointed five working groups, whose tasks were to prepare for a
second plenary and according to Friedman it was in these groups that the real
bargaining was expected to occur.5

1.4 Working Groups

CODESA 1 and 2‟s work was delegated to five working groups in which each
participant or organization was represented by two delegates and two
advisers. Their tasks were to reach agreement on key issues assigned to
them and to compile a report, reflecting consensus to the next plenary. In
response to complaints pertaining to the poor representivity of women during
the convention, the CODESA also established a Gender Advisory Committee,
whose structure was similar to the five working groups, to advise it on the
gender implications of the Working Groups. The issues allocated to the five
working groups were:

Working Group 1‟s first assignment was for the: Creation of a climate for free
political participation. Working Group 1‟s second assignment was the Role of
the International Community. Working Group 1 compiled a report to a
CODESA 2 on its activities and sub-groups.6

Working Group 2‟s assignment was “General Constitutional Principles”.
Working Group 2 was unable to deliver a report to the Second Plenary
Session, because no agreement on certain outstanding issues was reached.

________________

4. Ibid., p. 225.

5. Friedman, S (ed): The long journey: South Africa‟s Quest for a negotiated
settlement, p. 25.

6. NAR, COD 106, Working documents for CODESA 2, 15 and 16 May 1992,
Volume 1.

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