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 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. 

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 Technical Committees is divided into eight units of description. The first seven correspond to the themes of the technical committees and are titled as such, they are:

• Technical Committee on Violence
• Technical Committee on Constitutional Issues
• Technical Committee on Fundamental Rights during the Transition
• Technical Committee on Independent Election Commission
• Technical Committee on Independent Media Commission and the Independent Telecommunications Authority
• Technical Committee on Repeal and Free Political Activity
• Technical Committee on Transitional Executive Council
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  The eighth unit of description Technical Committees: General contains documents related to the management of technical committees.

The Negotiating Council established the seven technical committees. Technical committees were instruments of the Negotiating Council for the production of systematic documentation to facilitate discussions and negotiations in the Negotiating Council. They were not negotiating bodies. They largely functioned to advise and formulate specific texts, which were then submitted to the Negotiating Council for review.

Depending on the outcome of the review, formulations were either passed on to the Negotiating Forum or returned to the technical committees for refinement. The Planning Committee was tasked with managing and coordinating the work of the technical committees.

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.

Within this series can be found the final versions of bills drafted by all bodies of the Multi-Party Negotiating Process (MPNP) as well as resolutions and adoptions of those bills. 

The Multi-Party Negotiation Process Plenary was a widely representative body of South African leaders and political parties who confirmed and amended agreements reached by all other negotiating bodies of the MPNP. It was the highest body of the MPNP. The Multi-Party Negotiating Process had one Plenary on 17 November 1993.

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.

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.

The series Women Representatives contains material from the Meeting of the Women Representatives of Participating Parties in the Multi-party Negotiation Forum on the 26 and 31 March 1993. These meetings framed the terms on which women were included in the Multi-Party Negotiation Process (MPNP). 

On the 18 March 1993 Constitutional Committee, during discussions on the structure and composition of the negotiation process, determined that all parties and organisations participating in the negotiation process should submit “a female representative” to attend a meeting. There was a noted lack of women participating in the MPNP; the meeting was to establish the views of women on the form of their participation in the negotiating process going forward. 

The resulting meeting of Women Representatives recognised that during the Convention for a Democratic South Africa (CODESA) the representation of women in the negotiating process had been lacking.

During CODESA, the Gender Advisory Committee (GAC) was established. GAC was to be primarily composed of women and was intended to provide for greater gender equality and representation at CODESA. GAC was able to comment and recommend alterations to text from negotiation processes occurring in CODESA however GAC did not participate directly in the negotiations themselves. GAC’s recommendations and submissions received no feedback from the CODESA 2 Plenary. 

Recommendations made by the Meeting of Women Representatives included that all delegations to the Multi-Party Negotiation Forum and future plenaries should be required to include women rather than continue with an auxiliary structure such as GAC. This recommendation and others were accepted by the Negotiating Council to ensure that women would be active participants in the negotiation process going forward.

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.