The Fourth Amendment of the

Constitution of South Africa 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 Govern ...

made two technical changes relating to the calling of provincial elections and the choice of delegates to the

National Council of Provinces The National Council of Provinces (NCOP) is the upper house of the Parliament of South Africa under the (post-apartheid) constitution which came into full effect in 1997. It replaced the former Senate, but is very similar to that body, and to ma ...

. It was enacted by the

Parliament of South Africa The Parliament of the Republic of South Africa is South Africa's legislature; under the present Constitution of South Africa, the bicameral Parliament comprises a National Assembly and a National Council of Provinces. The current twenty-seve ...

, signed by Acting

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Thabo Mbeki Thabo Mvuyelwa Mbeki KStJ (; born 18 June 1942) is a South African politician who was the second president of South Africa from 14 June 1999 to 24 September 2008, when he resigned at the request of his party, the African National Congress (ANC ...

on 17 March 1999, and came into force two days later. It was signed and came into force simultaneously with the Fifth Amendment; the two amendments were separated because the Fourth involved provincial matters and had to be passed by the

while the Fifth did not.

Provisions

The Act made two technical modifications to the Constitution. The first was to clarify that, when the term of a provincial legislature is due to expire, the

Premier Premier is a title for the head of government in central governments, state governments and local governments of some countries. A second in command to a premier is designated as a deputy premier. A premier will normally be a head of governm ...

may issue the proclamation calling an election either before or after the term actually expires. The Fifth Amendment made the same change for elections to the

National Assembly In politics, a national assembly is either a unicameral legislature, the lower house of a bicameral legislature, or both houses of a bicameral legislature together. In the English language it generally means "an assembly composed of the repre ...

. The second was to modify the formula for the allocation of delegates' seats in the National Council of Provinces to parties.

Formal title

The official

short title In certain jurisdictions, including the United Kingdom and other Westminster-influenced jurisdictions (such as Canada or Australia), as well as the United States and the Philippines, primary legislation has both a short title and a long title. Th ...

of the amendment is "Constitution Fourth Amendment Act of 1999". It was originally titled "Constitution of the Republic of South Africa Amendment Act, 1999" and numbered as Act No. 3 of 1999, but the

Citation of Constitutional Laws Act, 2005 The Citation of Constitutional Laws Act, 2005 (Act No. 5 of 2005) is an act of the Parliament of South Africa which altered the way in which the Constitution and its amendments are numbered and referred to. An ordinary act of Parliament is refe ...

renamed it and abolished the practice of giving Act numbers to constitutional amendments.

External links

Official text
(PDF) {{Constitution of South Africa Amendments of the Constitution of South Africa 1999 in South African law