President Thabo Mbeki addresses the nation at the opening of Parliament in Cape Town
Constitutional Assembly
After the elections in 1994 the new Parliament - working as the Constitutional Assembly (CA) - began writing the final Constitution.
After two years, on 8 May 1996, the CA adopted the final Constitution. But this Constitution still had to be certified by the Constitutional Court. This meant that the Constitutional Court had to make sure that the final Constitution followed and included all the 34 Constitutional Principles that the Multi-party Negotiating Process (MPNP) had agreed on. list of people that made up the Constitutional Assembly
CODESA (MPNP) Negotiators
In March 1993 full negotiations began at the World Trade Centre. The parties present decided to use the name MPNP - - instead of CODESA. There were twenty-six parties taking part in the MPNP. The MPNP had to write and adopt an interim Constitution to say how the government would govern after the elections on 27 April 1994. The MPNP drew up the Interim Constitution, which was to last for two years. The MPNP also drew up and adopted the 34 Constitutional Principles. These principles would guide the Constitutional Assembly (CA), which had to draw up the final Constitution. list of the negotiators