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Concept
Constitution of South Africa
Summary
The Constitution of South Africa is the supreme law of the Republic of South Africa. It provides the legal foundation for the existence of the republic, it sets out the rights and duties of its citizens, and defines the structure of the Government. The current constitution, the country's fifth, was drawn up by the Parliament elected in 1994 in the South African general election, 1994. 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. The first constitution was enacted by the South Africa Act 1909, the longest-lasting to date. Since 1961, the constitutions have promulgated a republican form of government.
Since 1996, the Constitution has been amended by seventeen amendment acts. The Constitution is formally entitled the "Constitution of the Republic of South Africa, 1996." It was previously also numbered as if it were an Act of Parliament - Act No. 108 of 1996 - but, since the passage of the Citation of Constitutional Laws Act, neither it nor the acts amending it are allocated act numbers.
The South Africa Act 1909, an act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom, unified four British colonies - Cape Colony, Transvaal Colony, Orange River Colony and Natal Colony - into the Union of South Africa, a self-governing dominion.
The Republic of South Africa Constitution Act, 1961 transformed the union into a republic, replacing the Queen with a State President, but otherwise leaving the system of government largely unchanged. By removing the last Commonwealth legal vestiges, however, the act made the then-apartheid government completely sovereign. 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 Republic of South Africa Constitution Act, 1983, again approved by a whites-only referendum, created the Tricameral Parliament, with separate houses representing Whites, Coloureds and Indians but without representation for Blacks.
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