Certification of the Constitution of the Republic of South Africa, 1996

Following South Africa’s negotiated transition from apartheid, the Interim Constitution of 1993 required that the final Constitution adopted by the elected Constitutional Assembly comply with 34 binding Constitutional Principles. After the Constitutional Assembly adopted the text of the Constitution of the Republic of South Africa, 1996, it was submitted to the Constitutional Court for certification. Numerous political parties, organisations and members of the public lodged objections alleging non-compliance with the Constitutional Principles. The Constitutional Court was required to examine the entire constitutional text, provision by provision and as a whole, to determine whether it complied with those Principles.

The Constitution of the Republic of South Africa, 1996 was not certified in its initial form; the Court identified specific respects in which it failed to comply with the Constitutional Principles and required the Constitutional Assembly to remedy those defects before certification could be granted.

This was the first and only instance of judicial certification of a national constitution in South African history. The case established the Constitutional Court as the final guardian of the constitutional settlement and ensured continuity between the Interim and final Constitutions. It laid foundational principles for constitutional interpretation, separation of powers, cooperative government, and the protection of fundamental rights, shaping all subsequent South African constitutional jurisprudence.