South African Federalism: Constitution-Making Process and the Decline of the Federalism Debate

The 1990s heralded the beginning of a historical period in South African politics with the signing of the National Peace Accord, the unbanning of black opposition movements, the release of political prisoners and, most importantly, the end of the apartheid regime. Negotiations between major political groups of the country produced the Interim Constitution of 1993 approved by the Multi-Party Negotiating Council, which resulted in the country’s first democratic and multi-racial elections in 1994. The current 1996 constitution was prepared during the transition period in line with the Constitutional Principles of the Interim Constitution. This article argues that federal principles entrenched both in the Interim Constitution and Final Constitution played a key role in the transition to democracy and contributed to the success of negotiations. However, South Africa’s (quasi) federal system is now highly centralized with decreasing autonomy of its constituent units. This article will first provide an analysis on how federal principles became the major bargaining tool of the constitutional negotiations before proceeding with an examination of the very reasons behind the demise of the federalism debate in South African politics