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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 1997, the Constitution has been amended by eighteen amendments. The Constitution is formally entitled the "Constitution of the Republic of South Africa, 1996."
The apartheid system in South Africa was ended through a series of bilateral and multi-party negotiations between 1990 and 1993. The negotiations culminated in the passage of a new interim Constitution in 1993, a precursor to the Constitution of 1996; and in South Africa's first non-racial elections in 1994, won by the African National Congress (ANC) liberation movement.
South African constitutional law is the area of South African law relating to the interpretation and application of the Constitution of the Republic of South Africa by the country's courts. All laws of South Africa must conform with the Constitution; any laws inconsistent with the Constitution have no force or effect.
Chapter Two of the Constitution of South Africa contains the Bill of Rights, a human rights charter that protects the civil, political and socio-economic rights of all people in South Africa. The rights in the Bill apply to all law, including the common law , and bind all branches of the government, including the national executive, Parliament ...
The Republic of South Africa Constitution Bill was introduced in January 1961. It came into force on 31 May 1961; 31 May was a significant day in South African history, being both the day in 1902 on which the Treaty of Vereeniging was signed, ending the Second Anglo-Boer War, and the day in 1910 on which the Union of South Africa came into being.
A referendum on ending apartheid was held in South Africa on 17 March 1992. The referendum was limited to white South African voters, [1] [2] who were asked whether or not they supported the negotiated reforms begun by State President F. W. de Klerk two years earlier, in which he proposed to end the apartheid system that had been implemented since 1948.
The Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC) was a court-like restorative justice [1] body assembled in South Africa in 1996 after the end of apartheid. [a] Authorised by Nelson Mandela and chaired by Desmond Tutu, the commission invited witnesses who were identified as victims of gross human rights violations to give statements about their experiences, and selected some for public hearings.
The 34 constitutional principles are the basis of any South African constitution, and before a new constitution or amendments of the constitution can take effect these texts must be reviewed according to the 34 constitutional principles by the Constitutional Court of South Africa. [9] Constitutional Principle XXXIV read: 1.