THEPOLITICALTRANSITION
Eastern Cape
10. South Afrlcas postapartheldprovinces
ment resigned from their party or were dismissed by it, they lost their
seats, which were automatically filled by the next persons on the party list.
Fourth, "traditional authorities" (chiefs) were empowered to apply cus-
tomary African law in their communities, even though customary law
was often in conflict with the Bill of Rights; for example, it subordinated
women to male control, whereas the Bill of Rights guaranteed women
equality with men. Fifth, in a provision not equaled anywhere else in
the world, there were no fewer than eleven official languages: English,
Afrikaans, and nine African languages, including isiZulu, isiXhosa, and
Sesotho. In practice, English was already becoming the principal language
of business and administration.
Finally, several sections of the interim
constitution, including those dealing with human rights, land restitution,
customary law, and the powers of the provinces, were ambiguous and
would need to be fleshed out by political action or resolved by the Consti-
tutional Court.
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