South Africa 1987-1991
Part of the continuous heritage of Concordis International is the work of our predecessor organisation, the Newick Park Initiative( NPI), helping to establish informal and confidential dialogue between leading members of the ANC and the white establishment. The first consultation was held in Britain in March 1987, while there was a state of emergency in South Africa under President P W Botha and almost no contact between the ANC and the Government. Overall, NPI held 10 consultations over a four year period, with a gradual increase in the seniority and influence of those attending. A total of 91 research papers were made available to participants on a wide range of economic, social and political issues. Several of these papers are said to have helped resolve some of the major stumbling blocks in the negotiations between the ANC and the Government.
NPI started work with South Africans at a time when there was a state of emergency in South Africa under President P W Botha, and almost no contact between the ANC and the Government.
NPI held its first meeting in Britain in March 1987. In total, 10 conferences were held over a four year period, involving senior people from both constituencies. Subjects covered included:
• Federal and unitary systems of government
• Constitutional safeguards for individuals and cultural minorities
• Land Reform and agricultural development
• Bank and Industry Nationalisation: Implications and the Alternatives
• African participation in public administration and public sector activity
Each of the conferences was underpinned by top-level research and expertise from leading South African and international specialists. In total, 91 research papers were made available to the ANC and the Government.
Most of this strategic work was carried out behind the scenes, out of the public eye. NPI's achievements are therefore not on public record. They are nevertheless undeniable. In addition to the general (and intangible) confidence-building process, and the creating of networks through which those attending could contact each other informally between meetings to discuss issues, the most tangible achievements were:
- To help create the platform from which Professor Washington Okumu, Executive Director of NPI 1989-1991, was able, at the eve of the first democratic elections in South Africa in April 1994, to mediate successfully between President de Klerk and Chief Buthelezi to secure the participation of Inkatha and thus avert civil war.
- To play a part in persuading the ANC to change its long-held policies on land nationalisation and bank nationalisation, based on research into international experience, and thus make it easier for President F W de Klerk to release Nelson Mandela and start a formal negotiation process.
In 1991, one of the participants at the consultation on nationalisation, Nathaniel Masemola (Chairman of the ANC Land and Economy Constitutional Sub-Committee) said afterwards that "Nelson Mandela recently invited the business community to put forward alternatives to nationalisation for consideration by the ANC. The Newick Park Initiative is bringing forward credible strategies based on international experience. These alternatives will be given careful consideration".
In the same year, Professor Gavin Maarsdop of the Economic Research Unit at the University of Natal claimed that "The Newick Park Initiative Land Conference has taken important steps forward towards an agreed market-based approach to the land issue… If, as we hope, these ideas are taken up by those negotiating the future constitution, this conference will have been a crucial step towards securing long term economic stability."
Particularly in these two areas of land ownership and banking, the consultations led to ANC policy changes that were a significant factor in establishing the trust needed to establish negotiations. Moreover, a number of participants in the consultation went on to senior ministerial and other posts in the new South African government, including Mr T T Mboweni (now Governor of the South African Reserve Bank) and Dr Zole Skweyiya (now Minister of Social Development).
“I would like to affirm the immense importance I attach to the work of the NPI in bringing to the attention of the ANC a wide range of policy options which will enable the African people to redress past economic and social injustices wrought by the system of apartheid against our people.”
