The series Applications contains correspondence from parties and organisations agreeing to participate, and requesting representation in the Multi-Party Negotiating Forum and  Multi-Party Negotiating Process. Additionally, a body of correspondence containing complaints, submissions, and requests for further information on the process from the parties, organisations and the general public can be found here.  

This series contains the audio recordings of the Negotiating Council. Documents of the Negotiating Council can be found in the series Negotiating Council.

The Negotiating Council, originally the Facilitating Committee, was the representative negotiating body of the Multi-Party Negotiation Process (MPNP) and established the Transitional Executive Council (TEC) to serve as its successor. It was ultimately responsible for the negotiating, drafting, finalising and implementation of the Interim Constitution as endorsed by the MPNP Plenary. 

The series Commission on National Symbols contains a small digitised subset of public submissions made to the Commission on National Symbols. Further material is available from the National Archives and Record Service of South Africa.

The Technical Committee on Constitutional Issues on 27 July 1993 recommended to the Negotiations Council that the selection of national symbols be removed from its tasks due the deeply political rather than technical nature. The Negotiating Council agreed and appointed a Commission on National Symbols on 7 September 1993. Commission on National Symbols ran a public submission campaign from which National Symbols were selected.

The series Communications Committee contains the minutes, planning for the attendance of media, and draft codes of conduct for media attending meetings of the Multi-Party Negotiating Process (MPNP) and its bodies. Media statements of committees can be found in the units of description named for that committee.

The Communications Committee was formed on 30 March 1993 by the Negotiations Council and was composed of one representative of each party and organisation sending delegations to the Multi-party Negotiation Forum.

In the lead up to and during the Negotiating Forum on 1 and 2 April 1993, the Communication Committee led interactions with the media on behalf of parties and organisations within the Negotiating Forum. After the Forum, the Communication Committee drafted a code of conduct and was advised to meet on an ad hoc basis as required by the Planning Committee to which it reported.

This series contains a variety of materials and media related to a multi-phase investigation conducted by the Commission of the Demarcation of State, Provinces and Regions. It includes the working documents and reports of the Commissions, the Technical Support Team, Task Force, Coordinating Committee and other sub-structures. Additionally the Commission’s research materials, public submissions and recordings of public hearings are also available.

On 28 May 1993 the Negotiating Council on the recommendation of the Planning Committee, formed the Commission of the Demarcation of State, Provinces and Regions (SPRs). The Negotiating Council, having realised that the regional boundaries would be relevant to the electoral process and the resulting structures of the Constitution, required the Commission to make recommendations on the demarcation of SPRs in South Africa.

The question of structures, powers and function of SPRs was not included in the Commission’s functions and was assigned to the Technical Committee on Constitutional Issues.

The Commission embarked on an investigation which included multiple rounds of public submissions and hearings. Due to the scale of the undertaking, the Commission formed several task groups and ad hoc committees. The Planning Committee’s "extended Coordinating Committee on the Commission of the Demarcation of State, Provinces and Regions" provided logistic support to the Commission and its sub-structures while reporting on the Commissions' investigations to the Planning Committee. 

The Commission was instructed to take into account the following criteria in its assessments:

• Historical boundaries, including provincial magisterial and district boundaries and infrastructure.
• Administrative considerations including the availability or non-availability of infrastructure and nodal points of service.
• The need or otherwise to rationalise existing structures, including TBVC (Transkei, Bophuthatswana, Venda and Ciskei) states, self-governing and regional governments.
• The necessity of limiting financial and other costs as much as is reasonably possible.
• The need to minimise inconvenience to the people.
• The need to minimise the dislocation of services.
• Demographic considerations.
• Economic viability.
• Development potential.
• Cultural and language realities.
  <
  The Commission, in a report to the Negotiating Council, identified eight “sensitive areas” which received further investigation by the Task Force composed of members from the Commission and Technical Support Team.

The “sensitive areas” identified by the Negotiating Council were:

• Eastern Transvaal
• Pretoria/Witwatersrand/Vereeniging
• Orange Free State
• Eastern Cape/Transkei/Ciskei
• Western Cape
• Northern Transvaal
• Northern Cape
• Kwazulu/Natal
  <

Invitations for written and verbal submissions were issued in mid-August 1993 to political parties and organisations represented in the Negotiating Council, media agencies and others. The hearings were arranged from 21 September to 2 October 1993 and were held in Welkom, Kokstad, East London, Vredendal, Calvinia, Hartswater, Klerksdorp, Kwandebele, Pretoria and the World Trade Centre.

While it was recommended by the Commission that referendums should be held in February 1994 to determine boundaries in sensitive areas, the Coordinating Committee was of the opinion that multiple bilateral meetings was unfortunately the necessary route due to the extreme time constants for the defining boundaries before the election on 27 April 1994. 

Ultimately the Coordinating Committee recommended the adjustments to the boundaries as suggested by the Commission for the purposes of the Interim Constitution during the transition. This was accepted by the Planning Committee and was ultimately adopted.

This series primarily contains reference materials from the Convention for a Democratic South Africa (CODESA) used during discussions by various organs of the Multi-Party Negotiating Process and other categorised materials.

This series contains the working documents of the Negotiating Council and the Facilitating Committee (as it was briefly known). It includes the minutes, delegation packs, reports and resolutions of the Negotiating Council. Additional proposals and submissions from other bodies of the Multi-Party Negotiation Process (MPNP) and resolutions from the Planning Conference can be found here.

The Negotiating Council was the core negotiating body of the MPNP and established the Transitional Executive Council (TEC) to serve as its successor. It was ultimately responsible for the negotiating, drafting, finalising and implementation of the Interim Constitution as endorsed by the MPNP Plenary. The Council reported to the Multi-Party Negotiating Forum.

Each participating party was represented in the Negotiating Council by two delegates, one of which was required to be a woman, plus two advisers. The Negotiating Council’s primary function was the day to day negotiations of the MPNP and processing reports from all other committees and sub-committees for review by the Negotiating Forum ahead of submission to the MPNP Plenary for approval.

The Negotiating Council established seven technical committees, commissions, task groups and various ad hoc and sub-committees to assist in its work. While these bodies reported to the Negotiating Council, the Planning Committee was responsible for their co-ordination and terms of reference.

This series contains the working documents of the Multi-Party Negotiating Forum. The Forum had two sessions, the first from 1 to 2 April 1993, and the second on 2 July 1993. The series includes the minutes, delegation packs, reports, and resolutions that define the operating procedure and decision making process of the MPNP. 

The result of the Multi-Party Planning Conference in March 1993 was to arrange the Multi-Party Negotiating Forum. Its first meeting was held at the World Trade Centre Johannesburg 1 and 2 April 1993. This meeting was the formal re-entry into the negotiation process to establish a transitional government and constitution to end apartheid after the breakdown of the Convention for a Democratic South Africa (CODESA) in 1992.

The Negotiating Forum became the highest body under the direction of the MPNP Plenary. It instructed and supervised the negotiating process occurring within the Negotiating Council. The resulting drafts for the Interim Constitution were presented to MPNP Plenary as the wider representative body for ratification and amendment. 

The Negotiating Forum functioned to instruct and supervise the negotiating process occurring within the Negotiating Council and its committees. It confirmed reports and proposals (with or without amendments) from the Negotiating Council. 

The series Planning Committee contains the working documents of the Planning Committee and the Sub-committee of the Facilitating Committee (as it was briefly known). In addition to its own minutes and delegation packs; reports and proposals from other bodies of the Multi-Party Negotiating Process (MPNP) and the Planning Committee Sub-committee can be found here. 

The Planning Committee was made up of ten members of the Negotiating Council and worked under the directives and supervision of it. The Planning Committee formed the Planning Committee Sub-committee to assist in logistic and co-ordinating processes of the MPNP. The Planning Committee submitted recommendations on procedural and substantive issues for negotiation to the Negotiating Council but was not itself mandated to take any final decisions. 

The Planning Committee formulated the terms of reference for the negotiating bodies such as the Negotiating Council, Negotiating Forum and commissions. It also proposed duties for the technical committees, received reports from technical committees, and had the mandate to request further investigation into areas that it deemed required it.

The series Planning Conference contains the materials produced for the meeting of the Multi-party Planning Conference on 5 and 6 March 1993. While draft resolutions of the Planning Conference can be found here, the final resolutions are in the series Negotiating Council. 

This short lived conference focused on planning for a meeting of the Multi-Party Negotiating Forum to be held at the World Trade Centre 1 and 2 April 1993. The conference resolved general terms for consensus, negotiating procedure and that “CODESA” was no longer to be the name of the negotiation process. Twenty six parties and organisations were represented. After the Planning Conference its members dissolved into the then yet to be named Multi-Party Negotiating Process. 

Further planning for the Negotiating Forum meeting continued during March under the direction of the Facilitating Committee and the Sub-committee of the Facilitating Committee. These committees were renamed the Negotiating Council and the Planning Committee.