Penuell Maduna, who was a minister under both Nelson Mandela and Thabo Mbeki presidencies, said: “We couldn’t have had any better deal unfortunately. A lot a compromise had to be indulged in, it was unavoidable… something had to be done to ensure the ANC will still remain the fulcrum of the polity.
“Once all the participating parties understood that, the next thing was: how do you go about it?
“The answer is not going to be easy, because you don’t want any of us to leave our political baggage at the doorstep and walk in as if we don’t have a history”.
On the differences between each party’s agenda, Maduna said several issues will need to be “confronted”.
One of these issues is land ownership – despite being a minority, white people own the vast majority of farmland held by individuals.
“This goes back deep into our history, and we all have a collective responsibility to deal with it. You have masses of people not living in houses, but living in squalor,” Maduna said.