E/CN.4/1999/15/Add.1 page 3 Introduction 1. In pursuance of the mandate conferred on him by Commission on Human Rights resolutions 1993/20 and 1996/21, the Special Rapporteur carried out a mission to South Africa from 24 February to 5 March 1998 in response to allegations concerning a rise in xenophobia and mistreatment of migrants in that country 1/. He also used his stay to examine the progress of the post-apartheid reforms and the obstacles confronting the rapid transformation of South African society into one that is democratic and non racist. 2. The Special Rapporteur visited Pretoria, Cape Town, Johannesburg and Durban where he met representatives of government, the Constitutional Court, the Human Rights Commission, municipal councils, academic institutions and various non-governmental organizations. Among those he consulted were Mr Dullah Omar, Minister of Justice, Ms Manto Tshabalala-Msimang, Deputy Minister of Justice, Mr F. S Mufamadi, Minister of Safety and Security, Mr Abdul S. Minty, Deputy Director General for Multilateral Affairs at the Department of Foreign Affairs, and Mr. A. Chaskalson, President of the Constitutional Court. The Special Rapporteur also had a working meeting with representatives of various UN organizations based in Pretoria (UNHCR, UNDP, IMO, UNIC). A complete list of those consulted by the Special Rapporteur is in the detailed mission programme attached to this report. I. THE SOCIO-ECONOMIC AND POLITICAL SITUATION IN SOUTH AFRICA A. Historical survey 3. After more than forty-five years of apartheid, in 1994 the oppressed peoples of South Africa achieved internal sovereignty. As an aid to clearer understanding of the scale of the reforms being tackled by the government and the problems confronting it, there follows a brief reminder of the nature of the racist and discriminatory apartheid regime and its effects on South African society. 4. Apartheid was introduced in 1948 by the National Party as a system of racial segregation designed to maintain a situation of inequality between the Whites and the other ethnic and racial groups living in South Africa, in the economic, social, political and cultural spheres. A battery of laws was adopted in order to separate these groups from each other and to establish a structure enabling economic and human resources to be exploited to the advantage of the Whites : 1/ A/51/301, para. 36; Hennie Kotze and Lloyd Hill, “Emergent Migration Policy in a Democratic South Africa”, International Migration, Quarterly Review, Vol. 35, No 1, 1997, pp 5-36; Human Rights Watch/Africa, “The Human Rights of Undocumented Migrants, Asylum Seekers and Refugees in South Africa”, submission to the Green Paper Task Group, 11 April 1997 (www.polity.org.za:80/govdocs); Steven Friedman, “Migration Policy, Human Rights and the Constitution”, Centre for Policy Studies (www.polity.org.za:80/govdocs).