Mandela and Buthelezi improved. The ANC-IFP
conflicts decreased in
KwaZulu-Natal
and Gauteng (the province that includes Johannesburg
and Pretoria), and Mandela gratified Buthelezi by naming him acting pres-
ident when both he and Mbeki were out of the country.I"
To its immense credit, the Mandela government transmitted to its succes-
sor a stable, democratic political system. It had respected the constitution
and the rule of law. For example, in 1996, the Constitutional Court rejected
the first draft of the permanent constitution on the ground that several
clauses did not comply with the thirty-four principles laid down by the in-
terim constitution. The Constituent Assemblythen submitted a revised doc-
ument, and the court certified it as valid. In 1998, furthermore, the Pretoria
High Court ordered the president to justify his appointment of a committee
of inquiry into alleged racism and corruption in the South African Rugby
Union. Mandela complied. He was subjected to a severecross-examination,
and the judge, a white man, ruled against him; but Mandela's action was
eventually upheld on appeal by the Constitutional Court.F
South Africa, however, was a one-party democracy. The ANC'S closest
rival in the 1999 election (see below), the Democratic party, won less than