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each province, consisting of 10 delegates. Proportional representation ensures that anumber of parties may compete for seats in the legislature, and results in a fracturedand populous party-system, in contrast to first-past-the-post electoral systems. InSouth Africa, this situation is over-compensated for by the dominance of the rulingAfrican National Congress, which, by virtue of its overwhelming election victoriesand the weakness of the opposition, dominates Parliament. 220The nature of South Africa’s multiparty transition from apartheid rule meant that amultiplicity of voices, especially those of the ANC and its alliance partners, weighedin on the initial foreign policy-making process. After 1994, the Government ofNational Unity went as far as initiating a consultation process engaging civil society“through a series of public meetings and the circulation of a discussiondocument”. 221 These inputs did not contribute to the publication of a White Paperon Foreign Policy as expected, but they helped to highlight new potential foreignpolicy directions (e.g. the human security paradigm), and also to legitimise the newforeign policymaking institutions. 222In practice, parliament retains a largely reactive role in foreign policy, although theextent to which this is true depends on the issue. 223 Parliament’s role was amplifiedsomewhat in the past by the oversight function of the Parliamentary Committee onForeign Affairs. As widely noted, for a brief period in the immediate aftermath ofthe first all-race elections, this committee under chair and ANC member RaymondSuttner was active in questioning the premises of South African foreign policy, aswell as the pace of transformation of the Department of Foreign Affairs. For onething, the Committee took a dim view of the small budget set aside for the220 There is some controversy over the ascription of the label ‘dominant party’ to theANC. Those in favour express misgivings over levels of internal democracy within theANC, the appointment of party members to key state positions and its broader moves tostifle debate in society and the media. Those against the label, meanwhile, consider ithostile and racist, asserting the ANC’s popularity as the reason for its overwhelmingvictories in elections. See Roger Southall, “The ‘Dominant Party Debate’ in SouthAfrica”, afrika spectrum, 40, No.1 (2005).221 Alden and le Pere, “South Africa’s Post-Apartheid Foreign Policy”, 13.222 Ibid., 13.223 A distinction should be drawn at this point between parliament’s role in foreign policymaking, and its own international activities. Examples of the latter include discussionswith regional and international counterparts. These relations and activities are beyondthe scope of this thesis, and will therefore not be covered.112