KwaZulu-Natal Amakhosi and Iziphakanyiswa Amendment Bill of 1995; Payment of Salaries, Allowances and other Privileges to the Ingonyama Bill of 1995

Two amendment Bills were introduced in the KwaZulu-Natal provincial legislature in 1995 to re-enact and amend pre-1994 KwaZulu legislation regulating traditional leaders (amakhosi and iziphakanyiswa) and the Ingonyama (Zulu King). The Bills sought, inter alia, to prohibit the Ingonyama and traditional leaders from accepting remuneration or benefits from any source other than that provided for under provincial law, requiring any other payments to be paid into the Provincial Revenue Fund. Members of the ANC in the provincial legislature objected to the constitutionality of these provisions, arguing that they exceeded provincial legislative competence and conflicted with national legislation, particularly the Remuneration of Traditional Leaders Act 29 of 1995. The Speaker referred the disputes to the Constitutional Court under section 98(9) of the 1993 Constitution.

The objections to the constitutionality of the disputed provisions were dismissed; the Bills were held to be within the legislative competence of the KwaZulu-Natal provincial legislature.

This was one of the Constitutional Court’s earliest decisions clarifying the scope of provincial legislative competence under the 1993 Constitution, particularly in relation to traditional leadership and customary law. It confirmed that provinces may regulate and remunerate traditional leaders and that purpose and effect are relevant in determining legislative competence.