The Government of National Unity was inaugurated on 10 May 1994 – just a week less than 30 years ago.
I was a bit surprised when the following ANC leaflet - attributed to former President Thabo Mbeki – was brought to my attention - no doubt part of the campaign for the 29 May elections:
“When the ANC government took over in 1994, it found nothing in office. The National Party had shredded everything. When I came in as Deputy President of South Africa in 1994, I found an empty office with small old chairs and desks. Not a single paper in the office. No documents being handed over. Nothing. It meant that there was no president. We (ANC) built this country from scratch. We set up all these institutions you see in the country. We set precedent as we built. This story is not being properly told. The only story told is that the ANC failed since 1994.”
Lest we forget. 👇🏽 pic.twitter.com/pL9XnJeRnN
— ANC SECRETARY GENERAL | Fikile Mbalula (@MbalulaFikile) May 2, 2024
I agree that the story, in this instance, is not being properly told. As then Director-General in the Office of President de Klerk. I held meetings in March and April 1994 with ANC delegations led by Barbara Masakela and Zola Skweyiya on exactly how the Presidency and Executive-Deputy Presidencies would operate after the inauguration of the Government of National Unity on 10 May 1990.
We prepared comprehensive proposals on how the new presidency might function within the framework of the 1993 constitution which came into effect on 27 April 1994.
The document made provision for the structure of the three offices and for the manner in which ministers, deputy ministers and staff would be appointed. It proposed that the existing cabinet system should be continued. This would involve three specialised cabinet committees: the Cabinet Committee for Security Affairs; the Cabinet Committee on Social and Administrative Affairs and the Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs.
It suggested that cabinet memoranda, agendas and minutes should continue to be prepared in line with the existing criteria. Naturally, the new government had access to any documentation that it might require. The 56 staff members in the Presidency remained in place and were able to provide President Mandela with all the services they had provided to President De Klerk. However, most of the personnel of Deputy President Mbeki’s office had still to be appointed and there was no documentation that could be handed to him because his post had not existed in the old dispensation.
The document also made provision for the office accommodation of the President and the two Executive Deputy Presidents, for their security, for their staffing, for their budgets and for their use of state aircraft. The proposed budget for Deputy President Mbeki would be R4,69 million with a staff of 39 officials.
Naturally, the new government could choose whichever official residences and offices in the Union Buildings that it wanted for the President and the two Executive Deputy Presidents. As far as I can recall, Deputy President Mbeki chose one of the Union Buildings’ four magnificent, fully-furnished 80 sq/m executive offices . The offices opened onto colonnaded balconies with magnificent views over Pretoria. (Deputy President FW de Klerk was allocated a lesser office).
The ANC accepted most of our recommendations and the presidency continued to function relatively seamlessly on 11 May.
On that day – after I had taken up my position as head of Executive Deputy President FW de Klerk’s office – I had meetings with my successor Jakes Gerwel and Barbara Masakela in President Mandela’s office and with Essop Pahad of Deputy President Mbeki’s office. The following day, according to my diary “I had meetings with Jakes Gerwel, Essop Pahad and Thabo Mbeki. We discussed transitional arrangements in a cordial manner.” The following day I had another meeting with Tebogo Mofololo (the head of Deputy-President Mbeki’s office), Essop Pahad and again with Deputy President Mbeki. During these meetings I provided as much assistance and advice as I could because of our deep commitment to the success of the new GNU.
The fact is that the GNU took over a fully functioning presidential office; a fully functioning public service and fully functioning security forces. ESKOM was regarded as one of the best utilities in the world; our national airline, the railways, ports, road systems were all running effectively.
This was the inheritance of the new ANC-led GNU when it assumed power on 11 May 1994 – just a little less than 30 years ago.
By Dave Steward, Director-General in the Office of President FW de Klerk
