respected by the courts. See Zondi v Member of the Executive Council for Traditional and Local Government Affairs and Others, an as yet unreported decision of the Constitutional Court, delivered on 15 October 2004, in which Ngcobo J, discussing what the appropriate remedy would be in a case where certain provisions in the Pound Ordinance (KwaZulu-Natal), 1947, were found to be inconsistent with the Constitution, pointed out (at para 122) that, in deciding whether words should be severed from a provision or read into one, ‘there are two primary considerations to be kept in mind: The need to afford appropriate relief to successful litigants, on the one hand, and the need to respect separation of powers and, in particular, the role of the legislature as the institution that is entrusted with the task of enacting legislation, on the other.’ Later (in para 123) he said that ‘when curing a defect in [a] provision would require policy decisions to be made, reading-in or severance may not be appropriate. So too where there are a range of options open to the legislature to cure a defect. This Court should be slow to make choices that are primarily to be made by the legislature.’ In the present case Parliament may decide, after a full consideration of all the relevant factors, that one of the other options suggested by the Law Reform Commission should be adopted and if that decision survives such constitutional scrutiny
