The Contest between Culture and Gender Equality under South Africa's Interim Constitution

On 25 January 1994 South Africa's State President signed the new Constitution of the Republic of South Africa proclaiming a new order founded on the principle of equality.1 As is well known, this historic event was the culmination of four years of extraordinarily difficult negotiations. The text of the Constitution itself is the product of eight months of hard work and, at times, heated debate.2 Because it represents an accommodation between parties whose support had never been tested in a democratic election, it was designed to be temporary and, most importantly, it sets in place a procedure by which a democratically-elected legislature will draft a new constitution after two years. This will have to be accomplished within the framework of thirty-four 'constitutional principles'3 which not only form part of the interim Constitution but also establish the basic principles that must be incorporated in the next one. The very existence of the constitutional principles evidences both the lack of trust between the parties at the negotiating table and the fact that the interim Constitution embodies uneasy compromises. These constitutional principles reflect the baseline: parties would not proceed unless the values listed there were secured. However, both the major parties, the African National Congress and the Nationalist government, made important concessions and, to achieve as inclusive a result as possible, also took cognisance of the interests of numerous other groups. The text of the interim Constitution attests to many detailed pacts concluded in order to resolve contentious issues.