# Republic of South Africa Constitution Second Amendment Act, 1981

* related portals: Constitutional documents of South Africa, Acts of the Parliament of South Africa.
* sister projects: Wikidata item.
Act No. 101 of 1981. First published on 6 November 1981 in Government Gazette No. 7881, and came into force upon publication. Except for sections 7–9, repealed on 3 September 1984 by the Republic of South Africa Constitution Act, 1983; section 7 repealed on 1 July 1986 by the Provincial Government Act, 1986; sections 8 and 9 repealed on 27 April 1994 by the Constitution of the Republic of South Africa, 1993.
Note that [words in bold type in square brackets] indicate omissions from existing enactments, while words underlined with a solid line indicate insertions in existing enactments.
Act
To amend the Republic of South Africa Constitution Act, 1961, to provide that certain acts in respect of the National Flag of the Republic shall be punishable as offences; to increase the maximum fine for a contravention of section 13; to provide for the assignment of powers, duties and functions entrusted to a Minister by any law; to provide that a member of the President’s Council shall vacate his seat if he is nominated as a candidate for election at certain elections; to determine the circumstances in which the remuneration and allowances of the members of the President’s Council shall be reviewed; to further regulate the reference of any matter to a committee of the President’s Council; and to adjust the provisions relating to the alteration of provincial boundaries; to amend the provisions of the Interpretation Act, 1957, relating to the assignment of powers, duties and functions entrusted to a Minister by any law; to amend the Admission of Persons to the Republic Regulation Act, 1972, to authorize removal from the Republic on the ground of a contravention of section 5A or 13 of the Republic of South Africa Constitution Act, 1961; and to provide for matters connected therewith.
(Afrikaans text signed by the State President.) (Assented to 15 October 1981.)
Be it enacted by the State President and the House of Assembly of the Republic of South Africa, as follows:―
1. The following section is hereby inserted in the Republic of South Africa Constitution Act, 1961 (hereinafter referred to as the principal Act), after section 5:
| “Offences in respect of National Flag. | 5A. (1) Any person who― (a)   maliciously destroys or spoils the National Flag of the Republic as described in section 5; or (b)   commits any other act which is calculated to hold the National Flag of the Republic in contempt; or (c)   without being authorized thereto (the burden of proof of which shall be upon him) removes the National Flag of the Republic as so described from any place where it is displayed in terms of instructions or directions issued by any State authority, shall be guilty of an offence and liable on conviction to a fine not exceeding ten thousand rand or imprisonment for a period not exceeding five years. (2) If in any prosecution for an offence referred to in subsection (1) it is alleged that the flag in respect ​of which the offence is alleged to have been committed is or was the National Flag of the Republic as described in section 5, it shall be presumed unless the contrary is proved that the flag in question complies or, as the case may be, complied with the description of the National Flag in that section.”. |
2. The following section is hereby substituted for section 13 of the principal Act:
| “Protection of dignity and reputation of State President, Vice State President and Acting State President. | 13. Any person who commits any act which is calculated to violate the dignity or injure the reputation of the State President, the Vice State President or an Acting State President, shall be guilty of an offence and liable on conviction to a fine not exceeding [two] ten thousand rand or imprisonment for a period not exceeding five years.”. |
3. The following section is hereby inserted in the principal Act after section 20:
| “Assignment of certain powers, duties and functions of a Minister. | 20A. (1) The State President may assign the administration of any provision in any law which entrusts to a Minister any power, duty or function, to any other Minister, either specifically or by way of a general assignment of the administration of any law or of all laws entrusting powers, duties or functions to such first-mentioned Minister. (2) The Prime Minister may assign any power, duty or function entrusted to him by any law, to any other Minister to be exercised or performed on his behalf by such other Minister.”. |
4. Section 54 of the principal Act is hereby amended by the substitution for subsection (1) of the following subsection:
“(1) Any member of the President’s Council who―
| (a) | is nominated in terms of section 41 of the Electoral Act, 1979 (Act No. 45 of 1979), as a candidate for election for an electoral division of the House of Assembly or a provincial council, shall vacate his seat as a member of the President’s Council with effect from the relevant nomination day fixed in terms of section 34 of that Act; |
| (b) | is nominated or elected in terms of section 40 (1) (b) or (c) of this Act as a member of the House of Assembly, shall vacate his seat as a member of the President’s Council with effect from the day on which he is so nominated or elected.”. |
5. Section 102 of the principal Act is hereby amended by the addition to subsection (4) of the following paragraph:
| “(c) | Such remuneration and allowances shall be reviewed whenever any general revision or adjustment of salaries and allowances of public servants is made under the laws relating to the Public Service, regard being had to the considerations, principles and criteria applied at such revision or adjustment.”. |
6. Section 106 of the principal Act is hereby amended by the substitution for subsection (2) of the following subsection:
“(2) Whenever a matter is referred to the President’s Council for its advice or when it is of the opinion that a matter is of public interest, it may refer such matter to a committee contemplated in section 104 (2) for its advice, and if the President’s Council is not in session, reference of ​such matter to such a committee for its advice may be effected in accordance with rules and orders made by the President’s Council.”.
7. (1) Section 114 of the principal Act is hereby amended by the substitution for paragraph (a) of the following paragraph:
| “(a) | alter the boundaries of any province by declaring any area forming part thereof to be part of any other province, divide a province into two or more provinces, or form a new province out of provinces within the Republic, except on the petition of the provincial council of every province whose boundaries are affected thereby;”. |
(2) Subsection (1) shall be deemed to have come into operation on 31 May 1961.
8. Section 10 of the Interpretation Act, 1957, is hereby amended―
| (a) | by the deletion of subsection (4); |
| (b) | by the substitution in subsection (5) for the words preceding paragraph (a) of the following words: “Whenever the administration of any law or any provision of any law which confers a power or imposes a duty upon or entrusts a function to any Minister of State, has [in terms of subsection (4)] under section 20A (1) of the Republic of South Africa Constitution Act, 1961 (Act No. 32 of 1961), been assigned by the State President to any other Minister, that power may be exercised by such other Minister and that duty shall and that function may be performed by him, and―”; and |
| (c) | by the insertion after subsection (5) of the following subsection: “(5A) Any assignment made by the State President under subsection (4) of this section before the repeal of that subsection, shall for the purposes of subsection (5) of this section and of any other law be deemed to be an assignment under section 2OA (1) of the Republic of South Africa Constitution Act, 1961.”. |
9. Schedule 1A to the Admission of Persons to the Republic Regulation Act, 1972, is hereby amended by the insertion after the expression “Contravention of any provision of the Immorality Act, 1957 (Act No. 23 of 1957), which constitutes an offence under that Act” of the following expression:
“Contravention of section 5A (1) or 13 of the Republic of South Africa Constitution Act, 1961 (Act No. 32 of 1961.”.
10. This Act shall be called the Republic of South Africa Constitution Second Amendment Act, 1981.
This work is in the public domain because it was created and first published in South Africa and it is an official text of a legislative, administrative or legal nature, or an official translation of such a text.
According to the Copyright Act, 1978, § 12 (8) (a), "No copyright shall subsist in official texts of a legislative, administrative or legal nature, or in official translations of such texts."
Public domainPublic domainfalsefalse