Page:Constitution Seventeenth Amendment Act of 2012.pdf/2

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General explanatory note:

[                      ]	Words in bold type in square brackets indicate omissions from existing enactments.
	Words underlined with a solid line indicate insertions in existing enactments.

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(English text signed by the President.)
(Assented to 1 February 2013.)

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Act

To amend the Constitution of the Republic of South Africa, 1996, so as to further define the role of the Chief Justice as the head of the judiciary; to provide for a single High Court of South Africa; to provide that the Constitutional Court is the highest court in all matters; to further regulate the jurisdiction of the Constitutional Court and the Supreme Court of Appeal; to provide for the appointment of an Acting Deputy Chief Justice; and to provide for matters connected therewith.

Parliament of the Republic of South Africa enacts as follows:—

Amendment of section 165 of Constitution

1. Section 165 of the Constitution of the Republic of South Africa, 1996 (hereinafter referred to as the Constitution), is hereby amended by the addition of the following subsection:

“(6) The Chief Justice is the head of the judiciary and exercises responsibility over the establishment and monitoring of norms and standards for the exercise of the judicial functions of all courts.”.

Amendment of section 166 of Constitution

2. Section 166 of the Constitution is hereby amended—

(a)

by the substitution for paragraph (c) of the following paragraph:

“(c)

the [High Courts, including] High Court of South Africa, and any high court of appeal that may be established by an Act of Parliament to hear appeals from [High Courts] any court of a status similar to the High Court of South Africa;”; and

(b)

by the substitution for paragraph (e) of the following paragraph:

“(e)

any other court established or recognised in terms of an Act of Parliament, including any court of a status similar to either the [High Courts] High Court of South Africa or the Magistrates’ Courts.”.