Third Amendment of the Constitution of South Africa

The Third Amendment of the Constitution of South Africa made changes to allow the creation of municipalities that cross provincial boundaries. It was enacted by the Parliament of South Africa, signed by President Mandela on 20 October 1998, and came into force on the 30th of the same month. The changes it made were reversed in 2005 by the Twelfth Amendment.

Constitution Third Amendment Act of 1998
Parliament of South Africa
  • Act to amend the Constitution of the Republic of South Africa, 1996, so as to provide that, where a municipal boundary is determined across a provincial boundary, national legislation must make provision for establishing a municipality of a type agreed to by the provincial governments concerned and for the exercising of executive authority over that municipality; and to provide for matters connected therewith.
Enacted byParliament of South Africa
Assented to20 October 1998
Commenced30 October 1998
Legislative history
Bill titleConstitution of the Republic of South Africa Second Amendment Bill
Bill citationB85—1998
Introduced byValli Moosa, Minister of Provincial Affairs and Constitutional Development
Amends
Constitution of the Republic of South Africa, 1996
Amended by
Citation of Constitutional Laws Act, 2005 (amended short title)
Repealed by
Constitution Twelfth Amendment Act of 2005 (effectively)

Provisions

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The amendment added two clauses to the Constitution. The first allowed municipal boundaries to be established across provincial boundaries by the agreement of the national and the relevant provincial governments, and provided for national legislation to regulate the process. The second provided that in such municipalities, the ward boundaries were not allowed to cross provincial boundaries. Both of these clauses were removed by the Twelfth Amendment, at the same time as many provincial boundaries were altered.

Formal title

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The official short title of the amendment is "Constitution Third Amendment Act of 1998". It was originally titled "Constitution of the Republic of South Africa Second Amendment Act, 1998" and numbered as Act No. 87 of 1997, but the Citation of Constitutional Laws Act, 2005 renamed it and abolished the practice of giving Act numbers to constitutional amendments.

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