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.
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  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
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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.

The Constitutional Committee Sub-committee was created by and reported directly to the Constitutional Committee. The Sub-committee was created to deal with substantive issues that the Constitutional Committee was unable to process because of time constraints. These issues largely relate to specific formulations - of principle previously agreed to - into the constitutional text. Its tasks included facilitating drafting, negotiating and the formation of further sub-committees as required.

The series Constitutional Committee Sub-committee contains the working documents of the committee, draft formulations and audio recordings of their meetings.

The Constitutional Committee was responsible for creating refined working drafts of the constitution and incorporating amendments adopted by the Constitutional Assembly. The Constitutional Committee acted as both a negotiating forum and a driving body of the Constitutional Assembly.

The series Constitutional Committee contains the working documents of the Constitutional Committee, audio recordings of Constitutional Committee meetings and reports submitted to it from all other structures of the Constitutional Assembly. Drafts bills, amendments, and reports on contentious issues and debates can be found in this series.

As a negotiating body the Constitutional Committee created sub-committees and ad hoc committees to assist in negotiating and drafting. Primary among these was the Constitutional Committee Sub-committee which dealt with substantive issues that the Constitutional Committee was unable to process because of time constraints.

As the driving body of the constitution-making process, it supervised the establishment of the theme committees and related structures such as technical committees, formed the Management Committee, and outlined the work plan for the Constitutional Assembly and its structures.

The series Constitutional Assembly contains materials produced by departments and units of the Constitutional Assembly of the Republic of South Africa between 1994 and 1996. While this series does contain some general documents from the Constitutional Assembly, the majority cover public participation in the constitution writing process.

The material was collected by Edward Shalala during his time as the head of the Constitutional Assembly Community Liaison Department (CLD) with some later additions.