A people's constitution

IN MAY 1994, less that two weeks after South Africa's first democratic election, a constitutional assembly was formed to draft a final constitution. The CA understood that in order for the constitution to have legitimacy, the people of South Africa had to be involved in creating it. After intense planning and conceptualisation, an innovative public participation programme emerged. In the course of this programme, CA members and staff travelled the length and breadth of the country, to remote rural areas and urban townships, to present and attend constitutional public meetings. Hearings were organised for national sectors of civil society, giving them an opportunity to take ownership of the process, and constitutional education workshops were conducted in order to empower people to participate in the process. This book is aimed both at placing this remarkable process on record, and providing a useful toolbox for other countries, whether developed or developing, which are either writing a new constitution or reviewing an existing one.