Zantsi v Council of State and Others

The applicant, Zanomzi Peter Zantsi, was dismissed from the Ciskei Defence Force in April 1991. He intended to sue for wrongful dismissal but was barred by section 71 of the Ciskei Defence Act 17 of 1986, which required proceedings to be instituted within six months. He applied to the Ciskei Provincial Division for a declaration that section 71 was unconstitutional for violating the equality clause in the Ciskei Bill of Rights. The provincial division declared the provision unconstitutional and, after disposing of the matter, referred to the Constitutional Court under section 102(8) of the Interim Constitution the broader issue whether provincial and local divisions of the Supreme Court had jurisdiction to inquire into the constitutionality of Acts passed before the commencement of the 1993 Constitution.

The Constitutional Court ruled that provincial and local divisions of the Supreme Court do not have jurisdiction to inquire into the constitutionality of Acts of Parliament passed before the commencement of the 1993 Constitution; such jurisdiction vests exclusively in the Constitutional Court.

This was an early and foundational Constitutional Court decision clarifying the exclusive jurisdiction of the Constitutional Court over constitutional review of Acts of Parliament under the Interim Constitution. It reinforced judicial restraint, rejected abstract constitutional adjudication, and established principles governing referrals, mootness, and incremental constitutional development.