Paper short abstract:

The KwaZulu Natal Indaba was initiated by Inkatha and the New Republic Party to find a constitutional solution to South Africa's political crisis. Moderate politicians and business representatives gathered and negotiated until they had found a compromise that was never implemented.

Paper long abstract:

In 1986, more than 30 delegates from politics and business met in Durban to start negotiations about a constitutional dispensation for KwaZulu and Natal exchanging segregation for cooperation to the benefit of all people. Almost eight months later, after numerous weekly meetings and discussions in sub-committees, a constitutional proposal was accepted by 82% of the delegates. If implemented by the South African government, the regional constitution would have abolished most of the apartheid laws in KZN and devolved a lot of power to the province. Legislation would have been done in a system combining majority voting and voting according to 'background groups' to protect their interests. Extensive veto rights would have preserved the power imbalance and made radical change impossible.

This result was a compromise. Initiated by the KwaZulu government (led by Inkatha) and the Natal Provincial Council (led by the New Republic Party), the KwaZulu Natal Indaba gathered moderate reformers but no organisations from the political left and only few from the political right. While especially the black organisations made more drastic demands, white business and some white politicians were not willing to give so much. It is hardly surprising that the resulting compromise did not include radical demands; this meant that it did not demand enough change for the political left but too much for the political right. The Indaba's proposals were never implemented by the South African government but, ironically, the South African government's proposal for CODESA was in many aspects a copy of the Indaba proposal.