Opposing them were a group of parliamentarians representing mainly white, British constituencies in the Eastern Cape near the frontier.
Those are the political symbols needed for the white constituency.
The Government knows it, is embarrassed by it and does not know how to face it without alarming its white constituency.
Unless he could achieve this, he said, fundamental changes would have to be referred back to his white constituency in another referendum.
Moreover, almost all of them have been white, and until recently they have generally served white constituencies.
He found an issue, support for abortion rights, that attracted a white constituency.
That the party has different constituencies - urban and suburban, black and white, poor and middle class - is a given, he said.
Finding new audience markets beyond the orchestra's typical "rich, white and half-dead" constituency has become a life-and-death matter.
Similarly, some largely white constituencies have elected black representatives.
I don't think the white constituency in Brooklyn is prepared to support black leadership.