Annual Review of the Constitution

The Joint Constitutional Review Committee has been mandated by both Houses of Parliament to seek written public submissions on the annual review of the Constitution of the country in accordance with section 45(1)(c) of the Constitution.

In addition to the written submissions, submitters should also indicate if they are interested in making oral presentations to the Committee.

This process is separate from the section 25 constitutional review process currently under consideration, so submissions should focus on other sections of the constitution.

Submissions should be sent to [email protected] by no later than Wednesday, 30 June 2021.
 
Enquiries can be addressed to Adv P Gwebu at [email protected] or cell 083 709 8395. 

View: 2020 Submissions

The Committee categorises submissions received into three groups, namely:

Category 1: Submissions which fall outside of the Committee’s mandate

Category 2: Submissions which may require a parliamentary legal opinion, relevant stakeholder consultation and public hearings

Category 3: Submissions which are ready for consideration by the Committee

The review process of the Committee is aimed at assessing whether a submission possess a favourable desirability which may ultimately necessitate the amendment of the constitution as per the proposal(s) contained in the submissions. The Committee reviews the Constitution in order to make a pronouncement and recommendation to Parliament on the desirability of a submission in possibly amending the Constitution in accordance with public will.

Following a favourable review process, the Parliamentary Table of the respective Houses makes provision for allocation and referral of submission to: an appropriate Committee, the Portfolio Committee on Justice and Constitutional Development or an Ad Hoc Committee is established and empowered to process a prospective draft Constitutional Amendment Bill in terms of the applicable parliamentary rules

The Committee recommended that the 6th Parliament should consider the following:

-House resolution adopting the recommendation for the amendment of Section 6(1) of the Constitution to include South African Sign Language as one of the listed official languages in this section.

-Consideration of 2017 Submissions. Consideration and finality of legacy submissions proposing a review of section 6 of the Constitution to reflect Sesotho sa Leboa as an official language as opposed to Sepedi.

-Consideration of submission 16 of 2016 by Equal Education proposing a review of section 100 supported by legal advice to effect clarification for emphasis which allows for effective carrying out of the objectives of the section.

How to write a submission