The people of Khutsong, which had been transferred from Gauteng to the North West, resorted to marches, protests (in some cases violent) and boycotts and stayaways. <]>> Parliament consists of two houses, the National Assembly (the lower house), which is directly elected by the people, and the National Council of Provinces (the upper house), which is elected by the provincial legislatures. (2) An Acting President has the responsibilities, powers and functions of the President. The Constitution Twelfth Amendment Act came into force on 1 March 2006; it altered the boundaries of seven of the provinces. Each chapter deals with a particular topic; the schedules contain ancillary information referred to in the main text. ACT To introduce a new Constitution for the Republic of South Africa and to provide for matters incidental thereto. If the text complied with the principles, it would become the new constitution; if it did not, it would be referred back to the Constitutional Assembly. It allows for the creation of provincial houses of traditional leaders and a national council of traditional leaders. 0000018276 00000 n IN HUMBLE SUBMISSION to Almighty God, Who controls the destinies of peoples and nations, The Constitution Sixth Amendment Act (formerly the Constitution of the Republic of South Africa Amendment Act, 2001) came into force on 21 November 2001. 0000004303 00000 n Some dealt with the court's reasons for non-certification, while others tightened up the text. 0000003220 00000 n The Constitutional Assembly consisted of both houses sitting together, and was responsible for drawing up a final constitution within two years. PDF generated: 31 Mar 2021, 16:18 This complete constitution has been generated from excerpts of texts from the repository of the Comparative Constitutions Project, and distributed on constituteproject.org. Chapter 7 sets out a framework for local government. It provides for the continuation of existing laws and the assignment of their administration to the provincial governments where appropriate. 0000008864 00000 n Constitutional Law in Context D. Brand, C. Gevers. If the amendment affects provincial powers or boundaries, or if it amends the Bill of Rights, at least six of the nine provinces in the National Council of Provinces must also vote for it. 0000016902 00000 n 1432 0 obj <> endobj The Constitution Fourteenth and Fifteenth Amendment Acts came into force on 17 April 2009; they repealed the floor crossing provisions introduced by the Eighth, Ninth, and Tenth Amendments. Floor crossing therefore means that the composition of the elected bodies no longer represents the preferences of voters. PDF format. Mudzimu fhatutshedza Afurika. [3] On 8 May 1996, a new text was adopted with the support of 86 per cent of the members of the assembly,[4] but in the First Certification judgment, delivered on 6 September 1996, the Constitutional Court refused to certify this text. 0000004161 00000 n The Interim Constitution provided for a Parliament made up of two houses: a 400-members National Assembly, directly elected by party-list proportional representation, and a ninety-member Senate, in which each of the nine provinces was represented by ten Senators, elected by the provincial legislature. 0000005018 00000 n The Constitution informs every area of our law and of its application and interpretation. 0000013117 00000 n 0000005726 00000 n In a referendum, the first national election with a solely white electorate, the Act was narrowly approved, with a substantial minority in the Cape province and a strong majority in Natal opposing it. The Bill of Rights, now in Chapter Two of the Constitution of South Africa, was largely written by Kader Asmal and Albie Sachs. 210 Powers and functions The current constitution, the country's fifth, was drawn up by the Parliament elected in 1994 in the South African general election, 1994. The Constitution Eleventh Amendment Act (formerly the Constitution of the Republic of South Africa Second Amendment Act, 2003) came into force on 11 July 2003. The community of Matatiele, which had been transferred from KwaZulu-Natal to the Eastern Cape, challenged the amendment before the Constitutional Court, which ruled on 18 August 2006 that the KwaZulu-Natal Legislature had not allowed for the necessary public participation before approving the amendment. Reflects the Law as at 31 July 2011. It allowed for municipalities to be established across provincial boundaries by the agreement of the national and the relevant provincial governments. (2) The Commission shall in respect of the exercise and performance of its powers and functions be accountable to Parliament. Since 1996, the Constitution has been amended by seventeen amendment acts. African Unity (OAU) to adopt the now famous Harare Declaration that set out the basis for the transition of South Africa to democracy. It provides an overview of the sources and factors that have contributed directly or indirectly to the development of the South African legal system against the backdrop of the Constitution of the Republic of South Africa, 1996. (c) Supremacy of the constitution … The Interim Constitution was written by people who had not yet been democratically elected into government. The court's order was suspended for eighteen months, and during that time Parliament re-enacted the Matatiele boundary change as the Thirteenth Amendment, which came into force on 14 December 2007. Historical Foundations of South African Law (HFL1501) deals with the external and internal history of South African law. to extend certain deadlines in the process of transition to the post-apartheid system of local government. When the new constitutional order came into existence in 1994, the concept of a supreme constitution was introduced and brought an end to the notion of parliamentary supremacy. 0000009177 00000 n South Africa and KwaZulu-Natal, and the outcomes and shortcomings of available census data on language use. The remainder of the chapter contains a miscellaneous collection of provisions. [7] The Constitution was signed by President Mandela on 10 December and officially published in the Government Gazette on 18 December. These are the Public Protector (an ombudsman), the South African Human Rights Commission, the Commission for the Promotion and Protection of the Rights of Cultural, Religious and Linguistic Communities, the Commission for Gender Equality, the Auditor-General, the Independent Electoral Commission and the Independent Communications Authority. 0000016278 00000 n (b) Non-racialism and non-sexism. The Republic of South Africa is one, sovereign, democratic state founded on the following values: (a) Human dignity, the achievement of equality and the advancement of human rights and freedoms. Chapter 2 is a bill of rights which enumerates the civil, political, economic, social and cultural human rights of the people of South Africa. It had five provisions: The Constitution Third Amendment Act (formerly the Constitution of the Republic of South Africa Second Amendment Act, 1998) came into force on 30 October 1998. 0000000016 00000 n The amendment: Supreme and fundamental law of South Africa, Chapter 5: The President and National Executive, Chapter 8: Courts and Administration of Justice, Chapter 9: State Institutions Supporting Constitutional Democracy. There have been seventeen amendments since 1996. The final Constitution was passed by parliament and became law on 18 December 1996. Constitution Seventeenth Amendment Act of 2012 In terms of Proclamation No. Section 37 allows certain rights to be limited during a state of emergency but places strict procedural limits on the declaration of states of emergency and provides for the rights of people detained as a result. allowed the term of office of a Constitutional Court judge – usually twelve years or until the judge reaches the age of seventy, whichever is shorter – to be extended by an Act of Parliament. It was agreed that the Interim The Eighth Amendment allowed members of municipal councils to cross the floor. The chapter establishes the Financial and Fiscal Commission, to advise government on financial matters, and the Reserve Bank, to oversee the currency. Schedule 3 describes the procedure for the election of the President by the National Assembly and the election of presiding officers by legislative bodies, as well as the formula whereby seats in the National Council of Provinces are to be allocated to political parties. All South Africans were invited to contribute to the process, which led to what is known as the “birth certificate” of the new South Africa and one of the most progressive constitutions in the world. (English text signed by the State President.) Chapter 12 recognises the status and authority of traditional leaders and customary law, subject to the Constitution. One of the major points of dispute was the size of the supermajority that would be required for the assembly to adopt the constitution: The NP wanted a 75 per cent requirement,[4] which would effectively have given it a veto.[3]. It renamed the Northern Province to Limpopo, altered the procedure for intervention by the national government in a failing provincial government and intervention by a provincial government in a failing municipality, and expanded the powers of the provincial executive when it intervenes in a municipality. Republic of South Africa 1. It lays down a set of principles requiring them to co-operate in good faith and to act in the best interests of the people. As the deadline for the adoption of a constitutional text approached, however, many issues were hashed out in private meetings between the parties' representatives. Constitution-making in Southern Africa Despite tremendous and costly effort on the part of citizens, parliamentarians, commissioners, technical experts, and international partners, two out of the three constitutional processes in Tanzania, Zambia and Zimbabwe have failed at the last hurdle, leaving that effort unfulfilled. These included multi-party democracy with regular elections and universal adult suffrage, supremacy of the constitution over all other law, a quasi-federal system in place of centralised government, non-racism and non-sexism, the protection of "all universally accepted fundamental rights, freedoms and civil liberties," equality before the law, the separation of powers with an impartial judiciary, provincial and local levels of government with democratic representation, and protection of the diversity of languages and cultures. Preamble We, the people of South Africa, Recognise the injustices of our past; Honour those who suffered for justice and freedom in our land; Respect those who … The Constitutional Assembly reconvened and, on 11 October, adopted an amended constitutional text containing many changes relative to the previous text. The Eighth and Ninth Amendments came into force on 20 June 2002, as did an ordinary act of Parliament called the Loss or Retention of Membership of National and Provincial Legislatures Act, 2002. Before democratic elections could be held in April 1994, a new Constitution had to be written. 0000018166 00000 n The Constitution of South Africa adopted on: 8 May 1996 PREAMBLE We, the people of South Africa, Recognise the injustices of our past; Honour those who suffered for justice and freedom in our land; Respect those who have worked to build and develop our country; and Believe that South Africa belongs to all who live in it, united in our diversity. 0000017422 00000 n Chapter 11 establishes structures for civilian control of the Defence Force, the Police Service and the intelligence services. The current constitution, the country's fifth, was drawn up by the Parliament elected in 1994 in the South African general election, 1994. In some respects, the chapter is a template which a province may modify to a limited extent by adopting its own provincial constitution. However, on 4 October 2002, in the case of United Democratic Movement v President of the Republic of South Africa and Others, the Constitutional Court found the Loss or Retention of Membership Act to be unconstitutional, so floor crossing remained prohibited in the National Assembly and provincial legislatures. It vests in him or her the powers of the head of state and head of government; it provides for the appointment of a Cabinet by the President; and it provides for the accountability to Parliament of the President and Cabinet. In dealing with comparative law, we must bear in mind that we are required to construe the South African Constitution, and not an international instrument or the constitution of some foreign country, ... , when he wrote (at 287 and 288) that: Chapter 3 deals with the relationships between organs of government in the three "spheres" – national, provincial and local. If a two-thirds majority could not be obtained, a constitutional text could be adopted by a simple majority and then put to a national referendum in which sixty per cent support would be required for it to pass.[5]. requiring that Division of Revenue Bills (bills dividing revenue between national, provincial and local government) can only be introduced to Parliament by the. Section 35: the rights of arrested, detained and accused people, including the. In 1928 the South African Communist Party sows the seeds of the concept of black majority rule with the rallying call of a "native republic". 1493 0 obj <>stream (7)ThePresidentmaysuspendacommissionerfromofficeinaccordancewithsection It also provides for certain sections of the old constitution to continue in force despite its repeal, and subject to amendments listed in the schedule. This was not originally allowed because South African elections are based on party-list proportional representation in which voters choose a political party rather than an individual candidate. CONSTITUTION OF THE REPUBLIC OF SOUTH AFRICA NO. reducing the size of the Financial and Fiscal Commission from 22 members to nine members, by reducing the number of members chosen by the president from nine to two, and by replacing the nine members chosen by the nine provinces individually with three members chosen by the provinces collectively. It was promulgated by President Nelson Mandela on 18 December 1996 and came into effect on 4 February 1997, replacing the Interim Constitution of 1993. Since its adoption, the Constitution has been amended seventeen times; these amendments are described in a separate section below. 0000018060 00000 n It introduced, for the first time, the framework of a liberal democracy, universal adult suffrage, constitutional supremacy and a bill of rights. The last section is numbered 243, but a section 230A was inserted after section 230 by the Sixth Amendment. 0000008632 00000 n 0000004875 00000 n Consequentially many provisions of the Constitution had to be amended where they made reference to the President of the Constitutional Court. The adoption of a new constitutional text required a two-thirds supermajority in the Constitutional Assembly, as well as the support of two-thirds of senators on matters relating to provincial government. 0000017528 00000 n This fundamental change also … 0 40 of 2013 South African Human Rights Commission Act, 2013 (bb) subparagraph (ii), for the period that was less than the prescribed period referred to in paragraph (a). To introduce a new Constitution for the Republic of South Africa and to provide for matters incidental thereto. 0000017848 00000 n 0000017006 00000 n The Republic of South Africa is one, sovereign, democratic state founded on the following values: (a) Human dignity, the achievement of equality and the advancement of human rights and freedoms. God bless South Africa. Kotze. 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