THE POTENTIAL FOR CONSTITUTIONAL DEVOLUTION IN SOUTH AFRICA

The African National Congress (ANC) today rules South Africa, formally a federation, as though it were a unitary state. There has been increasing agitation in recent years for the secession of the Western Cape province, which since South Africa ended apartheid in 1994 has never returned a majority vote in favor of the ANC.Room exists in South Africa's Constitution, adopted in 1996, for substantive political devolution, which, it is argued, must be attempted before blood is spilled in the name of national independence. However, calls for more autonomy-whether secession or devolution-are routinely derided as merely attempts to entrench the interests of right-wing whites. Yet the facts reveal that such calls are increasingly supported by representatives of all racial groups, united around disillusionment with the central government in Pretoria.The ANC, which controls the central government and eight of the nine provinces of South Africa, does not allow the various governments it controls to pursue policies incompatible with the party's political program. This, among other factors, has led to calls for secession, particularly of the Western Cape province, which has never returned a majority vote for the party ruling nationally.