Topic 5 pt 1 Negotiated Settlement & National Unity PDF

Topic 5 pt 1 Negotiated settlement and the government of national unity Offer to release and secret talks 1985 1985 Botha made speech to offer the release of Mandela if he would reject violence and call off the armed struggle Mandela rejected Botha’s offer Members of the apar...

Topic 5 pt 1 Negotiated settlement and the government of national unity Offer to release and secret talks 1985 1985 Botha made speech to offer the release of Mandela if he would reject violence and call off the armed struggle Mandela rejected Botha’s offer Members of the apart regime realised opening up a dialogue with the ANC had become necessary Mandela and other important ANC leaders had been transferred to the Pollsmore prison in 1982 as a response to international pressure November 1985 Mandela transferred to Volks Hospital in Cape Town November 1985 the minister for justice, police and prisons Hendrik Coetsee met with Mandela Mandela expressed desire to set up a meeting with Botha Mandela separated from other ANC leaders upon return to Pollsmore prison this was in hopes of separating him from other leaders and they might be able to get Mandela to co-opt into supporting the regime or this way it was easier to have secret talks Mandela sent his lawyer George Bezos to the ANC base in Lusaka George Bezos Mandela’s lawyer convinced Oliver Tambo that Mandela had no intention of making any deals without the approval of the ANC The nature of the secret talks would later cause problems as members of the ANC and UDF began to suspect that Mandela had been turned by the government Secret meetings between Mandela and Coetsee continued at Coetsee’s house in Cape Town or the guesthouse in Pollsmore Throughout talks Mandela pushed for release of other political prisoners and for meetings with Botha, over the years neither happened Botha was adamant that if he met Mandela it must be in secret for fear of losing the support of conservative members of his government 1988 Coetsee set up a committee to continue to talk to Mandela They began taking him on excursions through Cape Town to familiarise with South Africa since he had been cut off from 1963 Mandela was moved to Victor Verster prison where he was kept in a furnished and staffed house easier and more comfortable to continue the secret negotiations Botha and Mandela meet 1989 January 1989 Botha suffered from stroke Mandela Sent Botha memorandum which outlined his political position and asked for a meeting between the government and the ANC to begin negotiations about the countries future Botha disagreed with many of the points but agreed to meet with Mandela  Meeting scheduled 5th of July 1989 at Tuynhuis Botha’s Cape Town residence (MEETING WAS KEPT SECRET) An important president had been set and a channel open for further talks Crisis emerged when the UDF found out about the memorandum and Mandela and Botha’s secret meeting They were worried Mandela was not acting with an explicit mandate from the people they believed he sold out to the government It was known that Botha envisioned is South Africa wear moderate black coloured and Indian leaders would support the divided state, UDF worried that Mandela might have been co-opted to this end Operation Vulindlela 1987 1985 ANC in exile talked about infiltrating leaders into South Africa to coordinate and intensify the armed struggle 1987 operation Vulindlela (Vula) was launched It was : A secret domestic program that sought to establish an underground network to link activists within SA with the ANC leaders who were in Exile Senior ANC member Mac Maharaj was in charge of the operation and he was secretly smuggled back into SA Established complex secret communications network which allowed ANC in Exile to be in constant contact with UDF and other organisations Was later expanded in order to include Nelson Mandela First time since 1961 Leaders of the anti-apartheid movement within and outside South Africa could co-ordinate their actions Operation was disbanded in 1990 after its existence was revealed publicly Eight of its leaders were charged under the internal security act with terrorism and plotting and armed uprising De Klerk replaces Botha 1989 1980s the national party and Afrikanerdom was far from a cohesive group (disagreed with the NP’s actions) NP was Beginning to be increasingly under the influence of younger more reformist leaders these reforms for the most part still did not want to end the systems of white power in South Africa they did however see the apartheid system was not working and needed to be changed Afrikaner Broederbond (white capitalists ) a shadowy group of intellectuals and politicians also began to shift away from the earlier ideas although they were also not aiming for the dismantling of apartheid , their increasing push for reform had an important impact on thinking within the NP further strengthening the reformist arm Botha was unwilling to drive reform and unwilling to change for fear of appearing week Botha resigned as leader of the national party in February 1989 although he remained state president FW de Clark was elected as the new leader of the NP  The next general election was scheduled for September 1989 August 1989 NP sent a delegation to Botha to request his resignation the clerk was appointed as acting state president De klerk was one of the conservatives and did not envisage the dismantling of white power within the country He Promoted a complex system of power sharing which would entrench white power and avoid black majority rule 2nd February 1991 Botha’s opening address to Parliament First reformist move, De Klerk released several political prisoners including Walter Sisulu on the 15th of October 1989 From meetings the NP proposed a system of power sharing and coalition which would ensure that they maintain at least a measure of control over the government they were against majority rule De Klerks meetings with Mandela eventually led to the constitutional negotiations 2 February 1990 De Klerk unbanned ANC SACP and other political parties, vowed to release Nelson Mandela and committed the NP to a process of negotiation with these groups He believed that ANC to be in a weak position due to the collapse of the Russian allies and felt that at this point he could negotiate from a position of strength His actions were in the interest of sweetening International opinion of SA whilst still ensuring NP maintain some power Nelson Mandela released 11 February 1990 Now negotiations could begin but CODESA the negotiation process itself began in 1992 The Groote Schuur Minute Official meeting between government and ANC representatives took place at Groote schuur in Cape Town between 2 and 4 May 1990 Atmosphere of tension leading up to the meeting with rumours of right wing plans to disrupt and fear of left wing rallies Meeting went smoothly and ended in an agreement (Groove Schuur minute) which agreed to the release of political prisoners, the return of exiles and changes to security legislation Incidents of political violence: Sebokeng 22 July 1990 Violence erupted between ANC and IFP supporters Rural IFP supporters were bussed into Sebokeng where they took over migrant worker hostels. Witwatersrand (Gauteng) September 1990  Attacks in trains , passengers being stabbed, shot and thrown off carriages by armed men No arrests followed the attacks, increasing suspicion of government involvement in the attacks The Pretoria minute: 6 August 1990 Second meeting took place 6 August 1990 in Pretoria A new agreement was reached - Mandela agreed to suspend the armed struggle This worried some anti apartheid activists who believed this would give the government the upper hand in future negotiations National peace accord: 14 September 1991 During the slow negotiations there was still much violence taking place This included extremes left and right wingers in an attempt to stop negotiations The worst violence was in Natal where IFP and ANC supporters were essentially engaged in a civil war A government third force was suspected to and later proven to be supporting the IFP attacks to stall the negotiation process and weaken the ANC From 1985-1991 political violence was bad with a 307% increase in political fatalities In response to this a peace summit was held on the 14 September 1991 27 political parties and the leaders of the homelands made a pact to tolerate each other and work towards ending violence (National Peace Accord) Regional and local committees would work towards a lessening of political violence in the areas CODESA 1: 21 December 1991 Many setbacks stalled the negotiation process 21 Dec 1991- convention for a democratic South Africa met at the world trade centre All interested parties and other organisations were invited to join CODESA Negotiations were between NP and ANC smaller groups had to accept agreements CODESA 1 was meant to be a ceremonial meeting, leaders of all involved parties made speeches and expressed hopes that negotiations would go well In De Klerks speech he attacked ANC for not honouring an agreement to disband Umkonto We Sizwe (ANC and NP had made a secret agreement (DF Malan accord) that they didn’t have to until after the negotiations were completed Led to argument between De Klerk and Mandela Problems in the process included main parties having differing ideas about how the negotiation process should run and what form of democracy should run SA ANC wanted a short process that made few binding decisions and wanted CODESA to set up an elected constituent assembly that would draft a new constitution  NP wanted to drag out the process to weaken ANC they also wanted binding constitutional decisions to be made at CODESA as they knew an elected constituent assembly would be composed of mainly ANC politicians ANC was adamant on one person one vote and majority rule NP was adamant there would have to be enforced power sharing These differences caused conflict through the whole process CODESA ll: May 1992 (failure) CODESA reconvened in May 1992 in order to do the bulk of the negotiations De Klerk thought he was in a position of power due to the whites only referendum in March of 1992 which showed overwhelming support for his continuance of the negotiation process and effectively silenced right-wing extremists who challenged him This led to him being even more insistent and stubborn at CODESA ll CODESA ll was divided into 5 working groups to negotiate different aspects of the transition Working group 2 was not able to make much headway as they had to decide when and how the decision between majority rule and power sharing would happen ANC and NP agreed to an elected constituent assembly to draft the new constitution Certain “basic” principles would have to be adhered to by this body These basic principles were what was stalling working group 2 with the NP trying to ensure its power sharing model Final dates for reports from group 2 was set for 15 May 1992 but it was clear by then they weren’t close to a settlement 15 May 1992 chief negotiator of ANC, Cyril Ramaphosa announced the withdrawal of the ANC from group w as the NP was unwilling to compromise CODESA ll reported its failure and then adjourned Incidents of political violence The Boipatong Massacre 17 June 1992 17 June 1992 a group of IFP supporters left their hostel in Boipatong and killed 38 people including woman and children (people convinced of third force) De Klerk tried to visit the next day, was driven out by angry mob Police opened fire, killed 20 people Anger increased against NP and ANC for doing little to stop the violence ANC formally withdrew from negotiations with the government to answer the people call for militarism 14 demands sent by ANC to the government and only if these were met negotiations could continue, government rejected them The Bisho Massacre: 7 September 1992  The position of the independent homelands caused trouble in the negotiations ANC saw them as part of South Africa NP (the government) saw them as independent states Leaders of the homelands were unwilling to give up their power Specific concern was the Ciskei and their leader Oupa Gqozo who ruled as a military dictator He refused to allow the ANC to campaign in Ciskei or to allow any form of free political activity 7 September 1992 ANC marched into Bisho Ciskei’s capital The goal was to occupy the capital until Gqozo agreed to resign March was planned by more militant members of the ANC who were discredited when the Ciskei defence force opened fire and killed 28 and wounded many more This violence showed the necessity of a negotiated settlement in order to end the violence In response to this event Mandela decided it was time to resume negotiations and cut his demands down to 3 1. 200 political prisoners who were under dispute would be released 2. Government would secure migrant worker hostels 3. Government would ban the carrying of traditional weapons Since June 1992 there had been secret meetings between Cyril Ramaphosa and Roelf Meyer the chief negotiators of the ANC and NP Dealing with the crisis - record of understanding: 26 September 1992 Ramaphosa and Meyer’s secret meetings built respect for each other and lay the groundwork for a resumption of negotiations Eventually as a result Mandela and De Klerk’s renewed communications and the negotiations between Ramaphosa and Meyer, a record of understanding was signed (26 September 1992) This record committed the ANC and NP to further multiparty negotiations and it committed both parties to the creation of a democratically elected constituent assembly to draft a new constitution It broke the deadlock that stalled working group 2 The most important concession was that there would be a form of power sharing ( a government of national unity-GNU) This was the suggestion of Joe Slovo ( general secretary of SACP) It was called a sunset clause - the clause would place a limited time frame on the power sharing deal , both NP and ANC accepted Multi-party negotiation process (MPNP) 1993 Negotiations formally resumed: 2 April 1993 with the start of the MPNP MPNP was structured differently to CODESA to avoid deadlock ANC and government agreed on most points, smaller parties fell inline  Ramaphosa and Meyer continued secret negotiations when disagreements arose Due to NP and ANC reaching an agreement IFP lost lost their strongest ally To maintain power IFP formed an unlikely alliance with the Conservative Party and leaders of the homelands; Ciskei and Bophuthatswana The Conservative Party = right wing splinter group that split from the NP This alience was called “ the Concerned South Africans Group” (COSAG) They wanted a system of federalism in SA that bordered on secession of the homelands and KwaZulu-Natal IFP walked out of negotiations and again political violence began to rise The assassination of Chris Hani 1993 10 April 1993, general secretary of the communist party and an important leader in the MK Chris Hani was shot while pulling out of his driveway Neighbour called the police, Janusz Waluz was arrested for the murder and it was discovered he was working with a leader of the Conservative Party Clive Derby-Lewis People believed this crisis would start a civil war but the nation was calmed by Nelson Mandelas tv call for calm The crisis further alienated people from extremist views and strengthened the moderates, showing the need for negotiation to stop the violence Cyril called for the negotiation process to be sped up rather than stalled due to the crisis Other attempts to stall the negotiation process Extreme right and left wings continued to attempt to stall the negotiation process, in addition to this there were random acts of violence 25 June 1993: AWB storm World Trade Center, breaking in with a tank and rioting through the building 25 July 1993: St James Massacre – Members of the armed wing of the PAC, APLA stormed the church, opened fire and hurled grenades – 12 people killed, many others injured 26 August 1993: PAC youths murdered young American exchange student – Amy Biehl was giving friends a lift home outside of Cape Town, car was attacked and Biehl killed 28 March 1994: Shell House Massacre – ANC security guards opened fire and killed 19 IFP marchers who were demonstrating outside ANC headquarters Varies bombs were exploded around the country in the week before the election The end of COSAG  Comprises had been reached between the major parties but COSAG were not a part of the process as Buthelezi had withdrawn the IFP from the MPNP Buthelezi outside land in the negotiation process and the far right field losing political power as did Mangope and Gqozo, the far right was also beginning to talk of the creation of an Afrikaner Volkstad Bophuthatswana - Mangope In March 1994 Mangope announced he would not let his people participate in the election so civil servants in Bophuthatswana went on strike, throwing the homeland into chaos Mangope asked his COSAG alliance members for help Right wingers had grouped themselves into the Afrikana Volksfront and it was this militant group that he appealed They sent armed men to help regain control although mango pear had requested that no AWB members be part of this force AWB members sent their own separate force which caused disaster as men rushed into the capital and shouted racial abuse at bystanders they also began to shoot at people randomly this caused so much anger that Bophuthatswana army immediately mutinied and joined the striking civil servants and attacked the AWB men, the operation collapsed – Despite this failure and he is obvious and popularity Mangope refused to resign from office – The transitional executive council deposed him and sent temporary administrators to govern the territory until it was re-incorporated into South Africa after the April elections Ciskei - Gqozo Civil servants took example from Bophuthatswana and went on strike on 22 March 1994 Seeing that chaos would result Oupa Gqozo resigned and the TEC appointed temporary administrators for the Ciskei The Conservative Party and the IFP Having seen the failure of two their alliance members to boycott the elections, Volksfront leaders created a new party: the Freedom Front and agreed to participate in the election The only COSAG members still boycotting the elections were the IFP and the Conservative Party This was a danger as the IFP had been using violence in Natal and now they didn’t have substantial support Negotiations between the IFP and the TEC occurred in an attempt to bring the IFP into  the elections Supporters of the IFP worried if they did not participate the IFP would be completely sidelined from politics A week before the April election Buthelezi agreed to participate in their election Members of the Conservative party defected to the freedom front making the conservative party defunct and it did not participate in the election COSAG had collapsed and the election would go ahead The 1994 Elections First democratic elections took place between the 27th and 29th of April 1994 The election was administered by the independence electoral commission 19 political parties stood for election and 22 million South Africans voted The ANCSACP Kosoto alliance won the election by a wide margin just short of 2/3 majority National party 120% of the vote in IFP 10% The Government of National unity was set up with Nelson Mandela as president and Thabo Mbeki and FW De Klerk as his deputies the new cabinet included ANC, NP and IFP members GNU began to draft a final constitution for South Africa which was adopted on the 8th of May 1996 June 1996 the National Party withdrew from the GNU as they still supported their original model of continued power sharing and this was not included in the new constitution The Constitution said South Africa would be ruled by a simple majority They became the main opposition party Portfolios of MP ministers within the cabinet were handed over and the clerk retired from politics the following year Nelson Mandela let the government until 1999 and was succeeded by Thabo Mbeki between the 1994 and 1999 elections Various parties dissolved or fused to create new parties