Report on Citizenship Law: South Africa workings of a bill of rights’ (Davis 2003: 187).8 As such, it has been widely argued that the technical experts drew heavily upon comparative constitutional law, most notably from the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms (ibid: 186). Other influences include constitutional law of the United States of America, Germany, Malaysia and the European Convention of Human rights (ibid: 186-8). Significantly, the interim Constitution also explicitly allows for the interpretation to ‘have regard to comparable foreign case law’ (Ch 3, §35(1)). Judgments from the early cases in the Constitutional Court frequently included analysis of foreign case law.9 While judges were ‘in no way bound to follow [public international law and foreign case law]’, there is no doubt that the extent to which it was used to derive assistance in interpreting constitutional law shaped early and foundational precedent in the new South Africa’s legal system.10 In addition, we should note that post-Apartheid legislation stayed within the mixed legal tradition of Roman-Dutch law and thus remained inspired by the external influence of their colonisers. Large parts of the wording of the SACA remained very similar to the 1949 South African Citizenship Act, while of course radically different in application. As such, it is clear that from a legal perspective, influences from British law and Apartheid-era law remain. 2.3.2 Gender One other exception to this domestic focus may be the central place that issues of gender had in the creation of new citizenship law. Throughout the struggle against Apartheid oppression, the issue of racial inequality, perhaps understandably, trumped gender inequality concerns. It was imperative to remain unified in challenging the Apartheid regime and as such gender issues were often dismissed as divisive (Seidman 1999). Once negotiations for the transition to democracy began, however, gender inequality gradually grew in prominence. Upon the campaigning of women leaders in the ANC, initial negotiations were accompanied by a “gender advisory committee” but by 1993 this committee was replaced by a 50% quota for women in all committees. While there was not a unitary women’s voice (as many were chiefly loyal to their party’s line) it had significant impact that the negotiators who agreed to the final settlement were 50% female. Most significant, for our interest, was the insertion of the principle of gender equality over that of respect for customary law in the new constitution – a principle that enabled a substantive equal citizenship between men and women (Seidman 1999: 294). Without such a clause, it is possible that the patriarchal structures of much of customary law would have undermined women’s citizenship rights in real terms. This gender consciousness is largely attributed to the external influence of feminist debates internationally, that ‘altered their understanding of politics and gender inequalities’ (ibid: 295). 8 See also, Spitz & Chaskalson, (2000). The Politics of Transition: A Hidden History of South Africa’s Negotiated Seettlement. Wits Univ. Press. 9 See Davies (2003) for a discussion of such comparisons in S v Makwanyane 1995 (3) SALR 391 (CC); Ferreira v Levin 1996(1) SALR 984 (CC); Bernstein v Bester, 1996 (2) SALR 751 (CC). 10 Chaskalson, Arthur. Sv Makwanyane 1995 (3) SALR 391 (CC) RSCAS/GLOBALCIT-CR 2018/1 - © 2018 Author(s) 5