It also introduced an entrenched bill of rights against which legislation and government action could be tested, and created the Constitutional Court with broad powers of judicial review.

An integral part of the negotiations to end apartheid in South Africa was the creation of a new, non-discriminatory constitution for the country.

The African National Congress (ANC) insisted that it should be drawn up by a democratically elected constituent assembly, while the governing National Party (NP) feared that the rights of minorities would not be protected in such a process, and proposed instead that the constitution be negotiated by consensus between the parties and then put to a referendum.

[1][2] Formal negotiations began in December 1991 at the Convention for a Democratic South Africa (CODESA).

[2] Adopting this idea, the parties to the MPNP drew up the Interim Constitution, which was formally enacted by the apartheid-era Tricameral Parliament and came into force on 27 April 1994.