Former President Nelson Mandela signing the New Constitution in Sharpeville on 10 December 1996, with Mr. Cyril Ramaphosa and former Mayor Yunus Chamda

The Signing of South Africa’s New Constitution

When former President Nelson Mandela officially signed the New Constitution of South Africa on 10 December 1996, Sharpeville was chosen as the venue for this momentous occasion.

Mr. Cyril Ramaphosa, Chairperson of the Constitutional Assembly, best explained the reason the Vaal was chosen to play host to this historic event. He said,  “At Vereeniging in 1902, a treaty between the British and the Boers effectively disenfranchised the black majority. And here at Sharpeville, tragic events revealed starkly how far removed we were from human rights culture.
Here at Sharpeville, in Vereeniging, both powerful symbols of past relationships between South Africans, we are making a break with the past. A break with the pain, a break with betrayal. We are starting a new chapter.”

The historical importance of the negotiation process that took place in Vereeniging in 1902 to end the Anglo-Boer War and the tragedy of the Sharpeville Massacre in 1960 played as the backdrop to the signing of Constitution. The survivors of the Sharpeville Massacre were invited as the honourary guests.

After the signing, Nelson Mandela proceeded to where the shootings took place in Sharpeville and laid a wreath on a memorial stone to honour the victims of the Sharpeville Massacre. He then proceeded to Vereeniging and opened Constitution Square at the Vereeniging Civic Centre.

In his speech on 10 December 1996, he said, “We will redeem the faith which fired those whose blood drenched the soil of Sharpeville and elsewhere in our country and beyond.
Today we humbly pay tribute to them in a special way. This is a monument to their heroism.
Today, together as South Africans from all walks of life and from virtually every school of political thought, we reclaim the unity that the Vereeniging of nine decades ago sought to deny.”

The Constitution became law on 18 December 1996 and for the first time all South Africans of every race, creed, religion and sex have the right to human dignity, equality and freedom.