# Constitution Twelfth Amendment Act of 2005

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The Constitution Twelfth Amendment Act of 2005 is an Act of the Parliament of South Africa amending the Constitution of the Republic of South Africa, 1996. Most of the act was brought into force on 1 March 2006 by a presidential proclamation, except for the insertion of section 103 (3) which took effect when the act was published on 23 December 2005. It reversed the provisions inserted by the Constitution Third Amendment Act of 1998 allowing municipalities to cross provincial boundaries. It also changed the definition of the provincial boundaries; originally they were defined in terms of magisterial districts, but this act redefined them in terms of municipal districts. It also adjusted various provincial boundaries; apart those affected by the abolition of cross-border municipalities, the Eastern Cape/KwaZulu-Natal boundary was adjusted to eliminate the Umzimkulu exclave.
Some of the boundary changes met with significant opposition, particularly the transfer of Khutsong from Gauteng to North West and the transfer of Matatiele from KwaZulu-Natal to Eastern Cape. In the case of Matatiele, the Constitutional Court ruled that the boundary changes were unconstitutional because the KwaZulu-Natal provincial legislature had not allowed for proper public consultation. The changes were later re-enacted, following proper procedure, as the Constitution Thirteenth Amendment Act of 2007. In the case of Khutsong, the Merafong City Local Municipality (within which it is located) was eventually transferred back to Gauteng by the Constitution Sixteenth Amendment Act of 2009.
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. See Notice 1998 of 2005 for the maps referred to in the Schedule inserted by this Act.
(English text signed by the President.) (Assented to 22 December 2005.)
Act
To amend the Constitution of the Republic of South Africa, 1996, so as to effect a technical change; to re-determine the geographical areas of the nine provinces of the Republic of South Africa; and to provide for matters connected therewith.
Be it enacted by the Parliament of the Republic of South Africa, as follows:—
Substitution of section 103 of the Constitution of the Republic of South Africa, 1996, as amended by section 3 of the Constitution Eleventh Amendment Act of 2003
1. The following section is substituted for section 103 of the Constitution of the Republic of South Africa, 1996 (hereinafter referred to as the Constitution):
“Provinces
103. (1) The Republic has the following provinces:
(a)
(b)
(c)
(d)
(e)
[(e)](f) Mpumalanga;
[(f)](g) Northern Cape;
[(g)
(h)
(i)
(2) The [boundaries] geographical areas of the respective provinces [are those that existed when the Constitution took effect] comprise the sum of the indicated geographical areas reflected in the various maps referred to in the Notice listed in Schedule 1A.
(3) (a) Whenever the geographical area of a province is re-determined by an amendment to the Constitution, an Act of Parliament may provide for measures to regulate, within a reasonable time, the legal, practical and any other consequences of the re-determination.
​(b) An Act of Parliament envisaged in paragraph (a) may be enacted and implemented before such amendment to the Constitution takes effect, but any provincial functions, assets, rights, obligations, duties or liabilities may only be transferred in terms of that Act after that amendment to the Constitution takes effect.”.
Amendment of section 155 of the Constitution of the Republic of South Africa, 1996, as amended by section 1 of the Constitution Third Amendment Act of 1998
2. Section 155 of the Constitution is hereby amended by the deletion of subsection (6A).
Amendment of section 157 of the Constitution of the Republic of South Africa, 1996, as amended by section 2 of the Constitution Third Amendment Act of 1998
3. Section 157 of the Constitution is hereby amended by the deletion of paragraph (b) of subsection (4).
Insertion of Schedule 1A in the Constitution of the Republic of South Africa, 1996
4. The following Schedule is hereby inserted in the Constitution after Schedule 1:
Map No. 3 of Schedule 1 to Notice 1998 of 2005 Map No. 6 of Schedule 2 to Notice 1998 of 2005 Map No. 7 of Schedule 2 to Notice 1998 of 2005 Map No. 8 of Schedule 2 to Notice 1998 of 2005 Map No. 9 of Schedule 2 to Notice 1998 of 2005 Map No. 10 of Schedule 2 to Notice 1998 of 2005 Map No. 11 of Schedule 2 to Notice 1998 of 2005
Map No. 12 of Schedule 2 to Notice 1998 of 2005 Map No. 13 of Schedule 2 to Notice 1998 of 2005 Map No. 14 of Schedule 2 to Notice 1998 of 2005 Map No. 15 of Schedule 2 to Notice 1998 of 2005 Map No. 16 of Schedule 2 to Notice 1998 of 2005
Map No. 4 of Schedule 1 to Notice 1998 of 2005 Map No. 17 of Schedule 2 to Notice 1998 of 2005 Map No. 18 of Schedule 2 to Notice 1998 of 2005 Map No. 19 of Schedule 2 to Notice 1998 of 2005 Map No. 20 of Schedule 2 to Notice 1998 of 2005 Map No. 21 of Schedule 2 to Notice 1998 of 2005
Map No. 22 of Schedule 2 to Notice 1998 of 2005 Map No. 23 of Schedule 2 to Notice 1998 of 2005 Map No. 24 of Schedule 2 to Notice 1998 of 2005 Map No. 25 of Schedule 2 to Notice 1998 of 2005 Map No. 26 of Schedule 2 to Notice 1998 of 2005 Map No. 27 of Schedule 2 to Notice 1998 of 2005 Map No. 28 of Schedule 2 to Notice 1998 of 2005 Map No. 29 of Schedule 2 to Notice 1998 of 2005 ​Map No. 30 of Schedule 2 to Notice 1998 of 2005 Map No. 31 of Schedule 2 to Notice 1998 of 2005 Map No. 32 of Schedule 2 to Notice 1998 of 2005
Map No. 33 of Schedule 2 to Notice 1998 of 2005 Map No. 34 of Schedule 2 to Notice 1998 of 2005 Map No. 35 of Schedule 2 to Notice 1998 of 2005 Map No. 36 of Schedule 2 to Notice 1998 of 2005 Map No. 37 of Schedule 2 to Notice 1998 of 2005
Map No. 38 of Schedule 2 to Notice 1998 of 2005 Map No. 39 of Schedule 2 to Notice 1998 of 2005 Map No. 40 of Schedule 2 to Notice 1998 of 2005
Map No. 41 of Schedule 2 to Notice 1998 of 2005 Map No. 42 of Schedule 2 to Notice 1998 of 2005 Map No. 43 of Schedule 2 to Notice 1998 of 2005 Map No. 44 of Schedule 2 to Notice 1998 of 2005 Map No. 45 of Schedule 2 to Notice 1998 of 2005
Map No. 5 of Schedule 1 to Notice 1998 of 2005 Map No. 46 of Schedule 2 to Notice 1998 of 2005 Map No. 47 of Schedule 2 to Notice 1998 of 2005 Map No. 48 of Schedule 2 to Notice 1998 of 2005
Map No. 49 of Schedule 2 to Notice 1998 of 2005 Map No. 50 of Schedule 2 to Notice 1998 of 2005 Map No. 51 of Schedule 2 to Notice 1998 of 2005 Map No. 52 of Schedule 2 to Notice 1998 of 2005 Map No. 53 of Schedule 2 to Notice 1998 of 2005 Map No. 54 of Schedule 2 to Notice 1998 of 2005”.
Short title and commencement
5. (1) This Act is called the Constitution Twelfth Amendment Act of 2005, and takes effect on a date determined by the President by proclamation in the Gazette.
(2) Despite subsection (1), section 103 (3) of the Constitution, as inserted by section 1, takes effect on the date of publication of this Act.
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."
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