Negotiations

The apartheid government was forced to enter into negotiations with the African National Congress
(ANC) because of the increasing social unrest sweeping through South Africa. The National Party
started secret talks with Mandela was still in prison. The administration led by then President P W
Botha considered releasing Mandela from prison on the condition that he renounced the armed
struggle caused by his party, which offer Mandela rejected reasoning that what he is offered is not
true freedom as it was full of conditions.

For almost three years, the idea of negotiations between the NP led government and the ANC
transpired. Mandela agreed that there was a need to negotiate but refused to accede to the
government’s conditions for negotiations. Klerk, the subsequent president of the NP moved to
implement the reforms enabling the negotiated settlement to take place. Political organizations were
unbanned and imprisoned political leaders were released including Mandela. Such events marked the
beginning of negotiations between the ANC and the NP.

1. Groote Schurr Minute on May 1990 (Cape Town)

The Groote Schurr meeting was a three day summit between the government and ANC leaders
and discussion regarding the security situation of the country. The meeting was deemed to be a
very positive meeting and resulted in government lifting the state of emergency with ANC
suspending its “armed struggle”.

2. The National Peace Accord on September 1991

The apartheid government and 18 other organizations composed of trade unions, political
organizations and churches signed the National Peace Accord. The parties to the agreement
committed to peaceful process of negotiations until the democratic elections take place. The
NPA was drawn up to monitor violence and nurture active peace movement giving way to an
open dialogue. This staged the birth of the Convention for a Democratic South Africa (CODESA),
which served as a negotiating forum.

CODESA I

The Convention marked the commencement of formal negotiations and played a significant role in
laying the foundation for multi-lateral discussions. It appointed working groups made up of
representatives and advisors from each negotiating party assigned specific issues such as the
establishment of a new constitution, setting up of an interim agreement, the electoral systems, the
future of the homelands, and the period for the implementation of the changes.

It was in this Convention that Klerk conducted a white-only referendum to test white opinion on the
reforms and negotiations being done. With a majority vote of “yes”, the Whites had indicated their
willingness to give up their monopoly on political power. The referendum strongly endorsed
transition to a democratic order and the international community responded by beginning to lift
sanctions imposed on the government.

However, not all were cooperative; there were many oppositions to the change and violence
persisted with the aim of derailing the negotiations. Speculations that the government was involved
with such plans, the convention was halted and the ANC and unions launched mass actions of strike
and marches demanding that the majority-rule be respected.

Transition from CODESA I to CODESA II

Amidst the breakdown of CODESA I and the violence surrounding the halted negotiation, informal
talks continued between the ANC and NP. Mandela strived to restrain and calm the anger in the
townships; negotiations began to proceed more quickly and an alliance was formed between ANC and
NP and established power-sharing. Militant groups resorted to extreme measures but the NP and
ANCE continued to work through bilateral meetings and used their combined influence to progress
with the negotiations and achieve the desired result.

CODESA II

The CODESA II was aimed at continuing the negotiations and resolving the issues that the working
groups in CODESA I could not resolve. The main issues were the creation of an interim government
and the constitution. However, parties still were unable to reach a consensus on these issues; the
parties could not conceptualize the form that the interim government and constitution should take.
This forced the Management Committee to declare a deadlock. With such deadlock, the CODESA II
was deemed to have failed.

Dismay resulted from within and without South Africa on the failed negotiations. Outside forces
pleaded for the parties to resume talks to which they acceded. Subsequently, a Multi-Party
Negotiation Process was made and pursued the issues that CODESA had failed to resolve.