The Fifth 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 Gover ...

made two technical changes, one relating to national election procedures and the other to the membership of the

Financial and Fiscal Commission Finance is the study and discipline of money, currency and capital assets. It is related to, but not synonymous with economics, the study of production, distribution, and consumption of money, assets, goods and services (the discipline of fin ...

. It was enacted by the Parliament of South Africa, signed by Acting

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 ...

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 Fourth Amendment; the two amendments were separated because the Fourth involved provincial matters and had to be passed by 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 ...

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 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 rep ...

is due to expire, the

may issue the proclamation calling an election either before or after the term actually expires. The Fourth Amendment made the same change for elections to provincial legislatures. The second was to allow that the chairperson and deputy chairperson of the

need not necessarily be permanent members of the commission.

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. T ...

of the amendment is "Constitution Fifth Amendment Act of 1999". It was originally titled "Constitution of the Republic of South Africa Fifth Amendment Act, 1999" and numbered as Act No. 2 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 Parliament, act of the Parliament of South Africa which altered the way in which the Constitution of South Africa, Constitution and its amendments are numbered and 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