The Constitution of the Republican of South Africa

The South African Republican follows a parliamentary form of government. The South African government has a three-tier system, along with an independent judicial body. The South African Republican is widely known as a republican, which is transversal. The republic of South Africa was an independent country until it was annexed by the British. The constitution of South Africa came into being after several modifications. We will deal with the earlier constitutions of the South African Republic in the article, briefly. 

The Constitution of South Africa plays the role of the supreme law of the country. It lays down the foundation of the republicans existence- pointing and setting out duties and rights of the citizens defining the primary structure of the constitution and the government. The current constitution of the country is the fifth modified constitution. The Interim Constitution was replaced by the Constitution of South Africa of 1996, coming in effect from 1997. Since 1996, the constitution of South Africa has been amended seventeen times. 

Let us look at the several earlier constitutions of South Africa. 

Prior Constitutions and related acts

The constitution of South Africa came into being after several modifications.

• South Africa Act, 1909: The South Africa Act, 1909, was an act passed by the United Kingdom’s Parliament. This act transformed the South African Union into a Dominion of South Africa.
• Republican of South African Constitutional Act, 1961: The Republican of South African Constitutional Act, 1961, helped in converting the South African Dominion into Republican. 
• Republican of South African Constitutional Act, 1983: The Republican of South African Constitutional Act, 1983, helped in the creation of a parliament- which had three houses, that is, tricameral. However, the blacks were not represented in this tricameral housing of the parliament. 
• Republican of South African Constitutional Act, 1993: The Republican of South African Constitutional Act, 1993, was also known as the Interim Constitution. This constitution was brought in with the end of apartheid in the country. 

Let us discuss the Interim Constitution, briefly. 

Constitution of 1996

The Interim Constitution was replaced by the Constitution of South Africa of 1996, coming in effect from 1997. This Interim Constitution of South Africa converted the Parliament of South Africa bicameral in nature. These houses are the National Assembly and the Senate. The National Assembly is the house of the parliament which constitutes 400 members. These members are elected directly by the people with the help of political party-list representation- that is, proportional. And, the second house of the parliament was the Senate. In the Senate, the provinces were represented and these representatives were elected with the help of the provincial legislature. 

This interim constitution had a total of thirty-four principles through which the new constitution of South Africa was made. This included the usage of universal adult suffrage and multi-party democracy. In addition to this, this constitution tried to lay the foundation of the new constitution as a quasi-federal system in place of the centralised government. 

Final Words of power

In 1996, new texts were adopted through the support of more than 50 percent of the total members of the assembly. This proportion was counted and found to be as 86 percent. However, this text was not accepted later as the court of the constitution refused to certify it. Many provisions were removed from these final texts, as they violated the principles of the constitutions. 

The assembly was conveyed again in the month of October. Several members of the assembly tried to deal with the non-certification of the text produced in the month of September, which was rejected by the constitutional court of South Africa. After several deliberations, the constitution of South Africa was signed and accepted by President Nelson Mandela. It was later published in the Gazette of the Government on December 18th of 1996. The constitution of South Africa was brought into operation in the year 1998- including several financial provisions. The South African legislation in the Constitution threw away several provisions and policies for the functioning of the South African Government, shortly. 

conclusion

The South African Republican follows the parliamentary form of government. The South African government has a three-tier system. The South African Republican is widely known as a republican, which is transversal. The constitution of South Africa came into being after several modifications. The constitution of South Africa came into being after several modifications. The Interim Constitution was replaced by the Constitution of South Africa of 1996, coming in effect from 1997. This Interim Constitution of South Africa converted the Parliament of South Africa bicameral in nature. The constitution of South Africa was brought into operation in the year 1998- including several financial provisions.