Statement at the meeting of the Special Committee in observance of the International Day for the Elimination of Racial Discrimination (Sharpeville Day)

22 March 1993

We are again gathered here to observe one of the most important days in the calendar of our people`s struggle against racial discrimination, namely, Sharpeville Day, a day declared by the United Nations General Assembly as the International Day for the Elimination of Racial Discrimination. It was on this day 33 years ago that the South African security forces killed 69 innocent anti-pass-law demonstrators in Sharpeville and Langa. We in the African National Congress rededicate ourselves to the noble idea for which the Sharpeville Day victims made the supreme sacrifice.

Let me through you, Sir, extend our profound gratitude to the Special Committee against Apartheid for the support, soli1arity and important and invaluable services rendered to our cause against the system of apartheid. I should also like to extend our appreciation to the Chairman of the Special Committee, Mr. Ibrahim Gambari, for the recently completed fact-finding mission to South Africa. We hope that the mission`s findings will strengthen the work of the Committee within the United Nations. Let me, in the same vein, convey our gratitude to the staff of the United Nations Centre against Apartheid and its director, Mr. Johan Nordenfelt, for their support to the African National Congress and the people of South Africa as a whole. We are also indebted to those who spoke earlier for their messages of solidarity and support for the cause of our people.

The Multi-Party Negotiations Planning Conference aimed at securing consensus on the resumption of full-scale multi-party constitutional negotiations held at the World Trade Centre in Johannesburg recently was a culmination of a series of bilateral talks between the African National Congress and the Pretoria Government, as well as with all other interlocutors on the South African political scene. We hope that the spirit of goodwill which characterized the Negotiations Planning Conference will continue to prevail throughout the constitutional negotiations, for it is this spirit that is needed in the resolution of the South African problem.

Please permit me to take a few minutes to inform this meeting about a few important agreements reached by the Negotiations Planning Conference. It is a pleasure and an honour for me to inform members that the Negotiations Planning Conference resolved that the Multi-Party Forum for Negotiations shall be reconvened as a matter of national urgency not later than 5 April 1993. The first meeting of the Forum has since been scheduled to take place on 1 and 2 April. This meeting will determine, among other things, mechanisms and procedures, including chairpersonship; how to accommodate the views of those participants who were not in the Convention for a Democratic South Africa (CODESA) in relation to the agreements reached in CODESA; how these agreements can serve as a constructive foundation for the resumed or commenced negotiations process to build on; and how the Forum shall be structured and named. All participants are required to make an unqualified commitment to the process of negotiations as a prerequisite for their participation.

The most important resolution of the Conference which we did not have during the CODESA process was the deadlock-breaking mechanism. In this regard, the Planning Conference resolved that all decisions are to be taken by general consensus. If this cannot be achieved, the Conference will use the

method of sufficient consensus. This means that, first, there is a lack of general consensus; secondly, there is, however, sufficient agreement from enough participants to enable the process to move forward; thirdly, the parties that disagree can record their objections or rejections formally but will, in the spirit of cooperation, not hinder the process; fourthly, the ruling that there is consensus or sufficient consensus, as the case may be, should be taken by the chairperson at his or her discretion. This can, however, be challenged by any party which disagrees. The meeting will then deal with the disagreement as appropriate. The Facilitating Committee will comprise one representative from each of the 26 participants that met at the Multi-Party Planning Conference held on 18 March to prepare for the first meeting of the Forum.

The African National Congress has, over the past few months, held a number of bilateral meetings with various parties in an attempt to have the multi-party negotiations resumed. Having successfully achieved this objective, it is important that this process continue in an uninterrupted manner. Our objective is the holding of free and fair elections that should give us a representative constitution-making body, a constituent assembly that will draft and adopt a new constitution. The African National Congress will put the following proposals before the Multi-Party Negotiations Forum. First, the immediate result of the process of multi-party negotiation must be the installation of a transitional executive council, an independent electoral commission and an independent media commission. Secondly, the tasks of these structures will be to ensure that, in the period leading up to the elections, the playing field is levelled and that a climate conducive to free and fair

political activity is created. Thirdly, the elections should lead to the installation of a constituent assembly and an interim government of national unity.

This perspective, broadly speaking, is already agreed amongst the majority of participants in the negotiations process, including the Pretoria Government. However, there is a second school of thought that has emerged with regard to the process of constitution-making. A loose grouping calling itself Concerned South Africans Group, which is led by Chief Mangosuthu Buthelezi of the Inkatha Freedom Party and Dr.

Andries Treurnicht of the whites-only Conservative Party, advocates that the new constitution be drafted by a body of constitutional experts under the auspices of the Multi-Party Forum and be presented to a referendum for adoption. Needless to say, this grouping and its perspective derive from a deep-seated fear of the consequences of non-racial democratic elections implied in the constituent assembly route. They fear that an election will cost them the disproportional influence they have in the Multi-Party Forum. It is our belief that an elected constitution-making body, with all its imperfections, will accord to the process the sorely missing element of legitimacy which a body of experts mandated by the Multi-Party Forum will not. We hope to be able to persuade all these parties that our people`s right to participate in a transparent constitution-making process will be accorded greater respect in and through an elected constituent assembly.

Let me seize this opportunity to dispel a myth which has been disseminated by certain political organizations and individuals, namely that the ANC is making secret deals with the Pretoria Government and that we are prematurely calling for the lifting of sanctions. To deal with the former matter, it is true that` we have been having bilateral discussions with many political parties, including the ruling National Party, about the resumption of the constitutional negotiations. It is also true that many other parties have had bilateral discussions with the ruling National Party and with us, with the same Objective in mind. It is in the interest of our country that these bilateral and multilateral discussions should continue.

On the question of sanctions, the National Executive Committee of the African National Congress, at a meeting held at Johannesburg from 16 to 18 February 1993, reaffirmed the pivotal role played by the international community and resolved to ask for the lifting of sanctions only once there is an announced and agreed date for the elections, and once the transitional executive council and the independent electoral and media commissions have been established. It is at that stage that diplomatic, gold-coin, trade and trade-credits, new investment, loan and other financial sanctions should be lifted.

The National Executive Committee also brought it to the attention of the international community that the multi-party transitional executive council will be the appropriate institution through which to enter into any official agreements. The National Executive Committee further called upon the international community to ensure strict observance of the arms and oil and petroleum products embargoes until a democratic Government has been installed.

Continued minority rule, corruption in high places in Government and the maladministration of the South African economy will continue to affect mostly the poor and disenfranchised indigenous population. Nine million people are without jobs and 7 million are living in squatter camps, yet the Government continues to spend $1.33 billion a year on covert operations by the South African Defence Force. This year`s budget too is going to bring more suffering to our people: there are no job-creation efforts to improve the lives of the more than 18 million people living below the poverty line. The Government has allocated only $507.9 million for housing; this means nothing given the fact that 300,000 houses need to be built every year in order to start addressing the problem of housing.

The education situation is equally critical; only $7.206 million will go into education, when there are 14 million people who do not know how to read or write. There is no suggestion in the budget that the education allocation should no longer be based on race as has been the case hitherto; from the look of things, the various race-based education departments will still get allocations based, as usual, on race. The 14 per cent increase in value added tax and the l6 per cent increment in the fuel levy is going to increase inflation by 2.9 per cent; according to the Central Statistical Service, inflation rose from 9.6 per cent to 9.7 per cent from December 1992 to January 1993 while prices rose by 1.1 per cent on average. If anything, this emphasizes the urgent need to end the tyranny of minority rule and to establish a Government which will be more representative of and accountable to the entire people of our country. Only such a

Government will ensure that the taxes levied upon the public will be utilized to address the basic needs of the entire populace.

There is a strong feeling already emerging among the democratic forces in South Africa that the international community, and the United Nations in particular, should start looking into the feasibility of rendering assistance in confining the South African Defence Force to barracks, particularly during the period leading to the elections. Confinement to barracks will ensure free and fair elections. This is an issue worth noting, given the potential of the South African Defence Force for subversion.

Let me conclude my remarks by reiterating the solidarity of the African National Congress with the people of Angola in their endeavour to find a peaceful solution to their problem and by pledging the ANC`s commitment to putting pressure on the South African Government to observe in particular paragraph 9 of Security Council resolution 804 (1993) and other relevant paragraphs of the Council`s resolution on Angola.

We also call on the South African Government immediately to stop the supply of war materiel to the Government of Rwanda and to observe paragraph 9 of Security Council resolution 812 (1993).

Finally, we would like to convey our message of support and solidarity to struggling peoples the world over in their struggle for justice and peace.