The Sixteenth 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 ...

(formally the Constitution Sixteenth Amendment Act of 2009) transferred

Merafong City Local Municipality Merafong City Local Municipality is a local municipality in West Rand District Municipality, Gauteng, South Africa. Its boundaries encloses some of the richest gold mines in the world. It is situated about 65 km from Johannesburg and is ser ...

from

North West The points of the compass are a set of horizontal, radially arrayed compass directions (or azimuths) used in navigation and cartography. A compass rose is primarily composed of four cardinal directions—north, east, south, and west—each sepa ...

Gauteng Gauteng ( ) is one of the nine provinces of South Africa. The name in Sotho-Tswana languages means 'place of gold'. Situated on the Highveld, Gauteng is the smallest province by land area in South Africa. Although Gauteng accounts for only ...

, altering the boundary between the two provinces. It alters the sections of Schedule 1A to the Constitution that define the geographical areas of the two provinces. The amendment came about in response to the ongoing, and sometimes violent, protests by the people of

Khutsong Khutsong is a township on the West Rand of South Africa, and scene of widespread unrest starting in February 2006. It is situated close to the town of Carletonville, in the Merafong City Local Municipality of the Gauteng province. With a terrible ...

, which had previously been transferred from Gauteng to the North West by the Twelfth Amendment. The bill for the amendment was introduced in 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 ...

and published on 15 January 2009. It was passed by the National Assembly on 18 February with 286 votes in favour, 2 against and 13 abstentions. It was 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 ...

on 19 March with all nine provinces voting in favour. The amendment was 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 ...

Kgalema Motlanthe on 25 March and came into force on 3 April, weeks before the 2009 general election.

References

External links

Official text
(PDF) {{Constitution of South Africa Amendments of the Constitution of South Africa 2007 in South African law