Constitution of the Republic of South Africa Amendment Act, 1997

First Amendment of the Constitution of South Africa

The First Amendment of the Constitution of South Africa made changes related to the oath of office of the Acting President and to the jurisdiction of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission. It was enacted by the Parliament of South Africa, and signed by President Mandela on 28 August 1997. However it was deemed to come into effect retroactively, from 4 February 1997, the date when the constitution itself came into force.

Provisions

The Act made three technical modifications to the Constitution:

This last change allowed the TRC to deal with various violent events, particularly the Bophuthatswana coup d'état and its aftermath, that had occurred in the run-up to the 1994 general elections.

Formal title

The official short title of the amendment is "Constitution First Amendment Act of 1997". When first enacted its short title was "Constitution of the Republic of South Africa Amendment Act, 1997" and it was numbered as Act No. 35 of 1997. However in 2005 the renamed the law to its current title, and abolished the practice of giving Act numbers to constitutional amendments. Its long title is:

External links

• Official text (PDF)

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