SIGNING OF SOUTH AFRICA'S NEW CONSTITUTION IS ANOTHER CHAPTER IN TRANSITION FROM APARTHEID TO DEMOCRACY, SAYS SECRETARY-GENERAL
Press Release
SG/SM/6127
SIGNING OF SOUTH AFRICA'S NEW CONSTITUTION IS ANOTHER CHAPTER IN TRANSITION FROM APARTHEID TO DEMOCRACY, SAYS SECRETARY-GENERAL
19961210 The following statement was issued today by the Spokesman for Secretary- General Boutros Boutros-Ghali:I am very pleased that the new Constitution of South Africa was signed into law today at Sharpeville by President Nelson Mandela. It is fitting that such an important document was signed at a location where, in March 1960, 69 unarmed demonstrators were killed by the police of the apartheid regime. It is equally fitting that the signing took place on Human Rights Day.
With the signing today, one of the last chapters in South Africa's transition from the abhorrent system of apartheid to a democratic system of government has been written. The Constitution contains a Bill of Rights and other important clauses safeguarding human rights and fundamental freedoms. The country's basic law will help foster the process of forgiveness and healing from the traumas and serious injustices of the past and provide the people of South Africa with a document containing the necessary checks and balances which ensure that the rule of law will prevail in the country. It also restructures Parliament by replacing the Senate with a new body called the Council of Provinces and paves the way for South Africa's second general election scheduled for 1999.
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