Abolition of Internal Security Act

The multiparty negotiating forum agreed to repeal section 29 of the Internal Security Act (ISA), which allowed for detention without trial. This measure had been one of the most hated pieces of apartheid legislation and had been used against tens of thousands of anti-apartheid protesters. The decision to repeal it and the corresponding legislation in the four nominally independent Bantustans, Transkei, Bopthuthatswana, Venda and Ciskei was just one of a series of security related decisions taken by the forum prior to endorsing the Interim Constitution. It was also agreed upon that the new structure of the police and the South African Defence Force (SADF) was to be put in place. The South African Police (SAP) was to be replaced by the South African Police Service (SAPS), whereas the National Defence Force, that would also include the defence forces of former independent homelands, would replace the South African Defence Force (SADF) under the control of a political organisation that would be in power.