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The current and official Constitution of the Republic of South Africa was adopted on 8 May 1996. It is the supreme law of South Africa.
History
The South African Constitutional Court played an important role in the adoption of the 1996 Constitution. In terms of the interim constitution, the Parliament sitting as the Constitutional Assembly was required to produce a new constitution. In turn, the court was required to certify that the new constitution complied with the 34 constitutional principles agreed upon in advance by the negotiators of the Interim Constitution. The court ruled that the constitutional text adopted by the Constitutional Assembly in May 1996 could not be certified. The court identified the features of the new text that did not in its view comply with the Constitutional Principles and gave its reasons for that view. The Constitutional Assembly then had to reconsider the text, taking the court’s reasons for non-certification into account.
The Constitutional Assembly reconvened and on 11 October 1996, it adopted an amended constitutional text, containing many changes from the previous text, some dealing with the court’s reasons for non-certification and others tightening up the text. The amended text was then sent to the Constitutional Court for certification. In its judgement in the Certification of the Amended Text of the Constitution of the Republic of South Africa, 1996 (4 December 1996) the court held that all of the grounds for non-certification of the earlier text had been eliminated in the new draft and accordingly certified that the text complied with the requirements of the Constitutional Principles. The text duly became the Constitution of the Republic of South Africa in 1996 and came into effect in February 1997. It has been amended twelve times since its adoption. On 8 May 2006 the tenth anniversary of the adoption of the constitution was celebrated in parliament.
Features
The constitution consists of a preamble, fourteen chapters followed by seven schedules. Each chapter and schedule focus on a specific topic. The following is a list of chapters and schedules and the focus of each.
Chapters
Chapter 1 of the Constitution is entitled "Founding Provisions." It enshrines in the constitution key national principles, identifies the flag of South Africa and lists the official languages. By virtue of section 2 of chapter 1, all statutes that conflict with the Constitution are of no force or effect.South Africa is defined in this chapter as being a democratic, independent republic based upon the principles of protecting dignity, human rights and the rule of law. Values of dignity and human rights are repeated in Bill of Rights.
The official languages are identified by section 6 as being Sepedi, Sesotho, Setswana, siSwati, Tshivenda, Xitsonga, Afrikaans, English, isiNdebele, isiXhosa and isiZulu. The government of South Africa is also required to promote usage of native languages. Choice of language by national or municipal government should take into consideration the most relevant language to the area affected. Section 6 also requires that a Pan South African Language Board must advance the use of all official languages, and to respect the citizens' use of other languages such as German or Urdu.
Other chapters are,
- Bill of Rights
- Chapter 3 - Co-operative Government
- Chapter 4 - Parliament
- Chapter 5 - The President and National Executive
- Chapter 6 - Provinces
- Chapter 7 - Local Government
- Chapter 8 - Courts and Administration of Justice
- Chapter 9 - State Institutions Supporting Constitutional Democracy
- Chapter 10 - Public Administration
- Chapter 11 - Security Services
- Chapter 12 - Traditional Leaders
- Chapter 13 - Finance
- Chapter 14 - General Provisions
Schedules
- Schedule 1 - National Flag
- Schedule 2 - Oaths and Solemn Affirmations
- Schedule 3 - Election Procedures
- Schedule 4 - Functional Areas of Concurrent National and Provincial Legislative Competence
- Schedule 5 - Functional Areas of Exclusive Provincial Legislative Competence
- Schedule 6 - Transitional Arrangements
- Schedule 7 - Laws Repealed
Previous constitutions of South Africa
- 1909 The Union of South Africa
- 1961 The Republic of South Africa
- 1983 Establishment of the tri-cameral system
- 1991 National Peace Accord
- 1996 The Republic of South Africa
Amendments to the current constitution
There have been welve amendments since 1996, and amendments No 13 and 14 currently being considered.
External link
Government of South Africa | South African law | 1996 in law | Constitutions | Apartheid in South Africa
"Constitution of South Africa"