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The Constitution of the Western Cape is, subject to 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 Gove ...
, the highest law regulating the structure and powers of the
government A government is the system or group of people governing an organized community, generally a state. In the case of its broad associative definition, government normally consists of legislature, executive, and judiciary. Government i ...
of the
Western Cape The Western Cape is a province of South Africa, situated on the south-western coast of the country. It is the fourth largest of the nine provinces with an area of , and the third most populous, with an estimated 7 million inhabitants in 202 ...
province of South Africa. It was enacted by the Western Cape Provincial Legislature in terms of Chapter 6 of the national constitution, and came into force on 16 January 1998. The Western Cape is the only South African province to have adopted a constitution.


History

The current nine
provinces of South Africa South Africa is divided into nine provinces. On the eve of the 1994 South African general election, 1994 general election, South Africa's former homelands, also known as Bantustans, were reintegrated, and the four existing provinces were divided ...
were created by the Interim Constitution, which was drawn up during the negotiations to end apartheid. The Interim Constitution included provisions for a provincial legislature to adopt a provincial constitution by a two-thirds vote, but none was successfully adopted under its terms. (A proposed constitution for
KwaZulu-Natal KwaZulu-Natal (, also referred to as KZN and known as "the garden province") is a province of South Africa that was created in 1994 when the Zulu bantustan of KwaZulu ("Place of the Zulu" in Zulu) and Natal Province were merged. It is locat ...
was rejected by the
Constitutional Court A constitutional court is a high court that deals primarily with constitutional law. Its main authority is to rule on whether laws that are challenged are in fact unconstitutional, i.e. whether they conflict with constitutionally established ...
in 1996.) The final (and current) national constitution includes similar provisions, which allow a provincial legislature to adopt a provincial constitution by the vote of two thirds of its members. The process of drawing up a provincial constitution for the Western Cape was initiated in July 1996 by
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 gov ...
Hernus Kriel, and the final national constitution was still under negotiation. The bill to enact the new constitution was passed by the Provincial Legislature on 21 February 1997 and referred to the
Constitutional Court A constitutional court is a high court that deals primarily with constitutional law. Its main authority is to rule on whether laws that are challenged are in fact unconstitutional, i.e. whether they conflict with constitutionally established ...
, which determined whether it was consistent with the national constitution, which had come into effect on 4 February. The Constitutional Court rejected a number of clauses, but the main objection was a provision that provided for members of the provincial parliament to be elected from multiple-member geographical
constituencies An electoral district, also known as an election district, legislative district, voting district, constituency, riding, ward, division, or (election) precinct is a subdivision of a larger state (a country, administrative region, or other polity ...
, as opposed to the
party-list proportional representation Party-list proportional representation (list-PR) is a subset of proportional representation electoral systems in which multiple candidates are elected (e.g., elections to parliament) through their position on an electoral list. They can also be us ...
prescribed by the national constitution. The national constitution allows provincial constitutions to contain different "legislative or executive structures and procedures", but the court ruled that an electoral system was not a "legislative structure" and that the province did not have the power to vary the electoral system. The court also objected to provisions Thar placed the responsibility for administering provincial oaths of office on the Judge President of the Western Cape High Court, rather than the President of the Constitutional Court. As judges are national officials, the provincial legislature did not have the power to alter their responsibilities. The constitution was referred to the provincial legislature to correct the impermissible sections. An amended bill was passed on 11 September 1997, certified by the Constitutional Court on 18 November 1997, signed by the premier on 15 January 1998 and came into effect on the following day.


Contents

The Constitution of the Western Cape consists of a preamble, 11 chapters containing a total of 84 sections, and three schedules. Many of the provisions of the Western Cape constitution restate the corresponding provisions of the national constitution (in particular chapter six, which deals with provincial government), and therefore this section describes primarily those cases where the provincial constitution differs from or adds to the national constitution. The provincial constitution declares
Afrikaans Afrikaans (, ) is a West Germanic language that evolved in the Dutch Cape Colony from the Dutch vernacular of Holland proper (i.e., the Hollandic dialect) used by Dutch, French, and German settlers and their enslaved people. Afrikaans gra ...
,
English English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England ** English national ide ...
and
isiXhosa Xhosa (, ) also isiXhosa as an endonym, is a Nguni language and one of the official languages of South Africa and Zimbabwe. Xhosa is spoken as a first language by approximately 8.2 million people and by another 11 million as a secon ...
to be the official languages of the province; the 2011 census found that 95% of the province's population speaks one of these as a first language. The Western Cape constitution names the legislature the " provincial parliament", while in other provinces it is known as the " provincial legislature". The number of members of the parliament is also fixed at 42, whereas the size of other provincial legislatures is determined by the Independent Electoral Commission by a formula based on provincial population. Where in other provinces the provincial executive power is vested in a
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 gov ...
and an Executive Council consisting of MECs appointed by the Premier, in the Western Cape the Premier appoints a Provincial Cabinet whose members are referred to as Provincial Ministers. The provincial constitution provides for the creation of "cultural councils" to represent cultural and linguistic communities within the province. It also requires the appointment of a Commissioner for the Environment to oversee environmental conservation, and a Commissioner for Children to guard the interests of children. It lists a number of "directive principles" which are intended to guide the policy of the provincial government, but are not legally enforceable.


References


External links

{{wikisource, Constitution of the Western Cape, 1997
Official Afrikaans text

Official English text

Official Xhosa text
Government of the Western Cape
Western Cape The Western Cape is a province of South Africa, situated on the south-western coast of the country. It is the fourth largest of the nine provinces with an area of , and the third most populous, with an estimated 7 million inhabitants in 202 ...