modified by South African experience. The entire constitution was rigid:
amendments required a two-thirds majority in a joint sitting of both
houses of parliament. A Constitutional Court was to judge the constitu-
tionality of laws and executive actions. South Africa was divided into nine
provinces, which incorporated the former Homelands as well as the four
former provinces (map 10). Although the powers of the provinces were
considerable, they stopped short of federalism as it exists in the United
States.
The document contained several peculiar features. First, there was an
elaborate Bill of Rights, including economic rights as well as the classic
civil and political rights; but many of the economic rights could not possi-
bly be enforced at law, as in a clause that gave children the right to secu-
rity, rudimentary nutrition, and basic health services. Second, as a result of
Slovo's initiative, civil servants, judges, police, and military personnel
could hold their jobs until they reached retirement age, and there was a
form of compulsory power-sharing until 1999, when the election was to
be held under the final constitution. A minority party that won 20 percent
of the vote could designate a deputy president, and parties that won 5 per-