Dispute Concerning the Constitutionality of Certain Provisions of the National Education Policy Bill, No 83 of 1995

The Speaker of the National Assembly referred a dispute to the Constitutional Court under sections 98(2)(d) and 98(9) of the Constitution concerning the constitutionality of certain provisions of the National Education Policy Bill 83 of 1995. The Bill empowered the national Minister of Education to determine national education policy, provided for consultation with provinces, and established mechanisms for monitoring and evaluation of education. Various political parties challenged clauses of the Bill on the basis that they allegedly authorised the Minister to compel provinces to implement national education policy or amend provincial laws, thereby infringing provincial legislative and executive autonomy in respect of education, a concurrent Schedule 6 competence.

The constitutional challenges to the National Education Policy Bill were dismissed. The Bill was held to be constitutional.

This judgment clarified the nature of concurrent legislative powers between Parliament and provincial legislatures under the interim Constitution. It affirmed that national policy-making and consultative mechanisms do not in themselves infringe provincial autonomy, and distinguished inconsistency between national and provincial laws from constitutional invalidity. The case is an early and important exposition of cooperative governance and constitutional interpretation in South Africa.