Delegates at the multiparty Convention for a Democratic South Africa (CODESA) negotiation endorsed the Interim Constitution according to which SA would have a Government of National Unity (GNU) for 5 years after its first democratic elections on 27 April 1994. This document was the final product of the amended draft issued in July 1993. The final draft included concessions to demands for a federal government by the Freedom Alliance, the Inkatha Freedom Party (IFP), the right wing Afrikaner Weerstandsbeweging (AWB) and the now defunct Conservative Party (CP). They demanded that provinces should be given powers to draft their own constitutions. Although the majority of the negotiators endorsed the constitution the Freedom Alliance rejected it.
Event record
Multi-party delegates endorses the Interim constitution
- Date
- 18 Nov 1993
- Updated
- 18 Nov 2025
CODESA, L-R--Joe Nhlanla, Allan Boesak, Gill Marcus, Nelson Mandela, Jacob Zuma, Terror Lekota, and Valli Moosa. The first talks between ANC and Apartheid government towards the first free democratic elections. Convention for a Democratic South Africa (CODESA). Source: https://african.pictures/asset/222976/
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How we know this
- 01Fraser, R. (1993) Keesing's Record of World Events, Longman: London, p. 39722
- 02Country Studies Toward Democracy[online] Available at: https://countrystudies.us[Accessed on 3 October 2013]
- 03South African Government Information Constitution of the Republic of South Africa Act 200 of 1993[online] Available at: www.info.gov.za[Accessed on 3 October 2013]
Last updated · 18 Nov 2025
South African History Online. (2011, March 16). Multi-party delegates endorses the Interim constitution. South African History Online. https://sahistory.org.za/ref/E-0013113
South African History Online (2011) 'Multi-party delegates endorses the Interim constitution', South African History Online, 16 March. Available at: https://sahistory.org.za/ref/E-0013113 (Accessed: 30 July 2026).
South African History Online, Multi-party delegates endorses the Interim constitution [website], https://sahistory.org.za/ref/E-0013113, (accessed 30 July 2026).
"Multi-party delegates endorses the Interim constitution." South African History Online, 16 Mar. 2011, https://sahistory.org.za/ref/E-0013113. Accessed 30 July 2026.
South African History Online. "Multi-party delegates endorses the Interim constitution." South African History Online. March 16, 2011. https://sahistory.org.za/ref/E-0013113.
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Place
Cape St Francis, Western Cape Peninsula
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