The Second 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 ...

extended the terms of municipal councils and made various changes relating to certain independent commissions. 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 ...

, and signed by

President President most commonly refers to: *President (corporate title) *President (education), a leader of a college or university *President (government title) President may also refer to: Automobiles * Nissan President, a 1966–2010 Japanese ful ...

Mandela Nelson Rolihlahla Mandela (; ; 18 July 1918 – 5 December 2013) was a South African anti-apartheid activist who served as the first president of South Africa from 1994 to 1999. He was the country's first black head of state and the ...

on 28 September 1998. It came into force on 7 October of the same year.

Provisions

The Act made various changes to the Constitution: * to extend the

term of office A term of office, electoral term, or parliamentary term is the length of time a person serves in a particular elected office. In many jurisdictions there is a defined limit on how long terms of office may be before the officeholder must be subject ...

municipal council A municipal council is the legislative body of a municipality or local government area. Depending on the location and classification of the municipality it may be known as a city council, town council, town board, community council, rural counci ...

s from four years to five years, and modify the schedule for the process of transition to the post-apartheid municipal system. * to allow for the designation of alternates to replace members of the Judicial Service Commission in the event of the members' unavailability. * to give Parliament the ability to assign additional powers or functions to the Public Service Commission. * to rename the Human Rights Commission to the

South African Human Rights Commission The South African Human Rights Commission (SAHRC) was inaugurated in October 1995 as an independent chapter nine institution. It draws its mandate from the South African Constitution by way of the Human Rights Commission Act of 1994. Commissioner ...

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 Second Amendment Act of 1998". It was originally titled "Constitution of the Republic of South Africa Amendment Act, 1998" and numbered as Act No. 65 of 1998, 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 1998 in South African law