South Africa's revolution has flown on the two wings of negotiation and equality. With the adoption of the permanent constitution yesterday it is possible to say that the first great phase of negotiated change has been completed in an exemplary, even a miraculous, fashion. Well might President Mandela greet the event by saying that "this is our national soul, our compact together as citizens".
His government now has to face the contentious and divisive issues of race and class which hinge on equality rather than negotiation. It will be a greater challenge and a more searching test of the cohesive values entrenched in the constitution than any of the episodes that marked the transition from apartheid to democracy. Compromises on property holding, trade union rights and languages in schools enabled the Constitutional Assembly to reach final agreement. This prevented a divisive referendum, but nervousness on the South African stock exchange - amid rumours that the National Party might pull out of the multi party government - together with fears of violence in Natal amid uncertainty over elections there, revealed other divisions.
President Mandela's indispensable negotiating partner, Mr De Klerk, described the document as flawed because it rules out entrenched power sharing in favour of majority rule. But he has had a long time to prepare for this outcome, if he has been paying proper attention to opinion within the African National Congress. He is probably playing to a divided party, which is still not fully reconciled to its loss of power. In fact its elected representatives, and the people they represent, should be eternally grateful to him for the advantageous deal he has negotiated, on grounds of race as well as class, values as well as interests.
It is, for example, far more widely accepted that South Africa will have to generate rapid economic growth if it is to earn the means to distribute wealth more equitably. The record so far is not encouraging, as a reluctance to invest is matched by a continuation of strong trade unionism. Growth at some 3.3 per cent and job creation of some 20,000 per annum compared to a flow of ten times that number on to the labour market do not augur well for coming years. It will take all Mr Mandela's powers of persuasion and moral authority to ride out these contradictory social realities. Democracy and human rights need a modicum of equality to express themselves constructively and cohesively. . .
It would be a mistake to underestimate the merits of the new constitution, however. Combined with the rich experience of negotiation and democracy the values entrenched in it, including the rule of law, a more equitable set of arrangements between central and provincial government and the categorical recognition of human rights, all have much to offer a developing society. It is an extraordinary achievement to have reached the point of adopting a constitution by negotiation and consensus in such a deeply divided society. Now it must be built upon it is to be hoped with a continuation of the multi party coalition government that has so far worked so well until the 1999 elections.