The day the Volkstaatraad died

The Volkstaat bill got the green light, even from the FF+. Hindsight teaches that nothing came of the recommendations made by the Volkstaatraad.

19/10/2001 12:33 - (SA)

Parliament - A bill abolishing the Volkstaat Council was unanimously agreed to by the National Council of Province's select committee on local government and administration on Friday.

The measure was passed last week by the National Assembly, and its passage through a plenary of the NCOP is now seen as a formality.

The Freedom Front - which since 1993 has been campaigning for self-determination for Afrikaners - last week welcomed the move in a statement, saying the council's task had been completed.

FF constitutional affairs spokesperson Corne Mulder pointed out that the council was an instrument that originated during the negotiation process between his party and the African National Congress at the end of 1993.

The council's task had been to advise the Constitutional Assembly during the process of writing the final Constitution, which it had done effectively.

Section 235 of the Constitution, which provided for the notion of self-determination for communities that shared a common language and cultural heritage, originated from this process, and was today part of the South African constitutional dispensation, Mulder said.

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