The Constitution of 1961 (formally the Republic of South Africa Constitution Act, 1961) was the fundamental law of

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the Southern Africa, southernmost country in Africa. Its Provinces of South Africa, nine provinces are bounded to the south by of coastline that stretches along the Atlantic O ...

for two decades. Under the terms of the constitution South Africa ceased to be a

Commonwealth realm A Commonwealth realm is a sovereign state in the Commonwealth of Nations that has the same constitutional monarch and head of state as the other realms. The current monarch is King Charles III. Except for the United Kingdom, in each of the re ...

and became a

republic A republic, based on the Latin phrase ''res publica'' ('public affair' or 'people's affair'), is a State (polity), state in which Power (social and political), political power rests with the public (people), typically through their Representat ...

, albeit, temporarily, outside the

Commonwealth of Nations The Commonwealth of Nations, often referred to as the British Commonwealth or simply the Commonwealth, is an International organization, international association of member states of the Commonwealth of Nations, 56 member states, the vast majo ...

from 1961 to 1994. Legally, the

Union of South Africa The Union of South Africa (; , ) was the historical predecessor to the present-day South Africa, Republic of South Africa. It came into existence on 31 May 1910 with the unification of the British Cape Colony, Cape, Colony of Natal, Natal, Tra ...

, which had existed since 1910, came to an end and was re-established as the "Republic of South Africa".

Background

Republicanism Republicanism is a political ideology that encompasses a range of ideas from civic virtue, political participation, harms of corruption, positives of mixed constitution, rule of law, and others. Historically, it emphasizes the idea of self ...

was always a major tenet of Afrikaner nationalism. Even when nationalists controlled the government, however, political realities prevented this goal from being attained prior to the 1960s. On 3 August 1960, the National Party government announced a

referendum A referendum, plebiscite, or ballot measure is a Direct democracy, direct vote by the Constituency, electorate (rather than their Representative democracy, representatives) on a proposal, law, or political issue. A referendum may be either bin ...

would be held in October of that year so that voters might weigh in on the question of whether the Union of South Africa should become a republic. The vote was restricted to white South Africans. More than 90% of eligible voters participated in the referendum, and 52.3% of votes were in favour of "a Republic for the Union." The Republic of South Africa Constitution Bill was introduced in January 1961. It came into force on 31 May 1961; 31 May was a significant day in South African history, being both the day in 1902 on which the

Treaty of Vereeniging The Treaty of Vereeniging was a peace treaty, signed on 31 May 1902, that ended the Second Boer War between the South African Republic and the Orange Free State on the one side, and the United Kingdom on the other. This settlement provided ...

was signed, ending the Second Anglo-Boer War, and the day in 1910 on which the Union of South Africa came into being.

The structure of the government of the Republic under the 1961 constitution was a

Westminster system The Westminster system, or Westminster model, is a type of parliamentary system, parliamentary government that incorporates a series of Parliamentary procedure, procedures for operating a legislature, first developed in England. Key aspects of ...

very similar to that of the Union under the

South Africa Act 1909 The South Africa Act 1909 (9 Edw. 7. c. 9) was an Act of Parliament (UK), act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom that created the Union of South Africa out of the former Cape Colony, Cape, Colony of Natal, Natal, Orange River Colony, Orange ...

, except that the

Queen Queen most commonly refers to: * Queen regnant, a female monarch of a kingdom * Queen consort, the wife of a reigning king * Queen (band), a British rock band Queen or QUEEN may also refer to: Monarchy * Queen dowager, the widow of a king * Q ...

and the appointed

Governor-General Governor-general (plural governors-general), or governor general (plural governors general), is the title of an official, most prominently associated with the British Empire. In the context of the governors-general and former British colonies, ...

were replaced by a State President elected by

Parliament In modern politics and history, a parliament is a legislative body of government. Generally, a modern parliament has three functions: Representation (politics), representing the Election#Suffrage, electorate, making laws, and overseeing ...

. C. R. Swart, the last Governor-General became the first State President on 31 May 1961.

Executive

The executive power was formally vested in the

State President of South Africa The State President of the Republic of South Africa () was the head of state of South Africa from 1961 to 1994. The office was established when the country 1960 South African republic referendum, became a republic on 31 May 1961, outside the ...

, who as

head of state A head of state is the public persona of a sovereign state.#Foakes, Foakes, pp. 110–11 " he head of statebeing an embodiment of the State itself or representative of its international persona." The name given to the office of head of sta ...

had all powers previously belonging to the monarch or the

Governor-General of South Africa The governor-general of the Union of South Africa (; ) was the highest state official in the Union of South Africa between 1910 and 1961. The Union of South Africa was founded as a self-governing Dominion of the British Empire in 1910 and the o ...

. The role of the State President was largely ceremonial, as he was required to act on the advice of the Cabinet. Actual executive power rested with the

Prime Minister A prime minister or chief of cabinet is the head of the cabinet and the leader of the ministers in the executive branch of government, often in a parliamentary or semi-presidential system. A prime minister is not the head of state, but r ...

, who was

head of government In the Executive (government), executive branch, the head of government is the highest or the second-highest official of a sovereign state, a federated state, or a self-governing colony, autonomous region, or other government who often presid ...

. The State President was elected, for a non-renewable seven-year term, by a joint sitting of Parliament in which each

Senator A senate is a deliberative assembly, often the upper house or Legislative chamber, chamber of a bicameral legislature. The name comes from the Ancient Rome, ancient Roman Senate (Latin: ''Senatus''), so-called as an assembly of the senior ...

or member of the

House of Assembly House of Assembly is a name given to the legislature or lower house of a bicameral parliament. In some countries this may be at a subnational level. Historically, in British Crown colonies as the colony gained more internal responsible g ...

had one vote. He could be removed for misconduct or incapacity by resolutions passed by both houses of Parliament after an investigation by joint committee. When the office of State President was vacant, the President of the Senate of South Africa would serve as Acting State President under the terms of a dormant commission. The State President would appoint a cabinet (formally the Executive Council) consisting of members of the Senate and the House of Assembly. The Westminster constitutional conventions that had applied under the Union were preserved by the 1961 constitution, so in effect the State President was required to appoint a Prime Minister and Cabinet that commanded the support of the House of Assembly; commonly the Prime Minister would be the leader of the majority party.

Parliament

The legislative power was vested in

, which consisted of the

(the

lower house A lower house is the lower chamber of a bicameral legislature, where the other chamber is the upper house. Although styled as "below" the upper house, in many legislatures worldwide, the lower house has come to wield more power or otherwise e ...

) and the

Senate A senate is a deliberative assembly, often the upper house or chamber of a bicameral legislature. The name comes from the ancient Roman Senate (Latin: ''Senatus''), so-called as an assembly of the senior (Latin: ''senex'' meaning "the el ...

(the

upper house An upper house is one of two Legislative chamber, chambers of a bicameralism, bicameral legislature, the other chamber being the lower house. The house formally designated as the upper house is usually smaller and often has more restricted p ...

). Parliament sat in

Cape Town Cape Town is the legislature, legislative capital city, capital of South Africa. It is the country's oldest city and the seat of the Parliament of South Africa. Cape Town is the country's List of municipalities in South Africa, second-largest ...

and was required to meet at least once a year. The last parliament of the Union elected in 1958 would continue as the first parliament of the new Republic. The House of Assembly consisted of 150 members elected by

white White is the lightest color and is achromatic (having no chroma). It is the color of objects such as snow, chalk, and milk, and is the opposite of black. White objects fully (or almost fully) reflect and scatter all the visible wa ...

voters from single-member electoral divisions using

first-past-the-post voting First-past-the-post (FPTP)—also called choose-one, first-preference plurality (FPP), or simply plurality—is a single-winner voting rule. Voters mark one candidate as their favorite, or first-preference, and the candidate with more first- ...

, six members elected by white voters in

South West Africa South West Africa was a territory under Union of South Africa, South African administration from 1915 to 1990. Renamed ''Namibia'' by the United Nations in 1968, Independence of Namibia, it became independent under this name on 21 March 1990. ...

, and four members elected by Cape Coloured voters in the

Cape Province The Province of the Cape of Good Hope (), commonly referred to as the Cape Province () and colloquially as The Cape (), was a province in the Union of South Africa and subsequently the Republic of South Africa. It encompassed the old Cape Co ...

. (The number of ordinary members was increased to 160 in 1966 and to 165 in 1974; the coloured representative members were removed in 1970, and the members representing South West Africa in 1977.) The House of Assembly was elected for a five-year term, but could be dissolved early by the State President (acting on the advice of the cabinet). The Senate consisted of: # Eight Senators, two from each province, nominated by the State President. # For each province, one senator for every ten electoral divisions in the province, but at least eight senators per province. These senators were elected jointly by the members of the House of Assembly elected from the province and the members of the provincial council, using a

single transferable vote The single transferable vote (STV) or proportional-ranked choice voting (P-RCV) is a multi-winner electoral system in which each voter casts a single vote in the form of a ranked ballot. Voters have the option to rank candidates, and their vot ...

system of proportional representation. # One Senator nominated by the State President to represent the coloured people in the

. (This Senator was removed in 1970). # Four Senators to represent

(SWA). Two were nominated by the State President and two were elected jointly by the Legislative Assembly of South West Africa and the six members of the House of Assembly elected from SWA. (These Senators were removed in 1977.) Elected Senators held office for a term of five years, while nominated Senators held office until a change of government in which a new Prime Minister was appointed. The whole Senate could also be dissolved within 120 days after the dissolution of the House of Assembly. The Senate was permanently abolished in 1981 and replaced by the President's Council. Bills passed by both Houses of Parliament would become law when assented to by the State President (on the advice of the cabinet), and if he refused assent he could return the bill to Parliament with proposed amendments. Once assented to, no court had the power to

review A review is an evaluation of a publication, product, service, or company or a critical take on current affairs in literature, politics or culture. In addition to a critical evaluation, the review's author may assign the work a content rating, ...

the validity of an Act of Parliament unless it affected one of the entrenched clauses of the constitution.

Provinces

The provincial governments were continued essentially unchanged. The Administrator of each province was appointed for a five-year term by the State President. The provincial council was elected by

voters from single-member electoral divisions using

. In the

Cape A cape is a clothing accessory or a sleeveless outer garment of any length that hangs loosely and connects either at the neck or shoulders. They usually cover the back, shoulders, and arms. They come in a variety of styles and have been used th ...

and Transvaal, the provincial councils consisted of the same number of members as the number of members of the House of Assembly elected from the province, elected from the same electoral divisions. In Natal and the

Orange Free State The Orange Free State ( ; ) was an independent Boer-ruled sovereign republic under British suzerainty in Southern Africa during the second half of the 19th century, which ceased to exist after it was defeated and surrendered to the British Em ...

, which each elected less than twenty-five members of the House of Assembly, the provincial councils consisted of twenty-five members. The provincial council elected four members who, with the Administrator, formed an Executive Council for the province.

Other provisions

While the South Africa Act had made English and Dutch the official languages of South Africa, with Dutch defined to include Afrikaans under the Official Languages of the Union Act, 1925, the 1961 Constitution made English and Afrikaans the official languages and defined Afrikaans to include Dutch.''Mixed Jurisdictions Worldwide: The Third Legal Family''
Vernon V. Palmer, Cambridge University Press, 2001, page 141 This clause was entrenched by the requirement that it could only be amended by an absolute majority of two-thirds of Senators and members of the House of Assembly sitting together in joint session.

Footnotes

External links

* {{Apartheid legislation navbox 1961 documents 1961 in South Africa 1961 in South African law Historical constitutions of South Africa Repealed South African legislation Republicanism in South Africa South Africa and the Commonwealth of Nations