Page:Constitution of the Republic of South Africa 1993 from Government Gazette.djvu/42

82   No. 15466

CHAPTER 9

Provincial Government

Establishment of provinces

124. (1) The following provinces are hereby established, which for the purposes of this Constitution, but subject to subsection (2), shall be recognised as the provinces of the Republic:

Eastern Cape; Eastern Transvaal; Natal; Northern Cape; Northern Transvaal; North-West; Orange Free State; Pretoria-Witwatersrand-Vereeniging; and Western Cape:

Provided that Parliament shall at the request of a provincial legislature alter the name of a province in accordance with the request of such legislature.

(2) The areas of the respective provinces shall be as defined in Part 1 of Schedule 1  : Provided that the establishment of the Northern Cape as a separate province, the establishment in the area of the Eastern Cape of one province, and the inclusion of the areas specified in paragraphs (a) to (f) and (i) to (n) of  Part 2 of Schedule 1  within the provinces as defined in Part 1 of Schedule 1, shall be subject to alteration in accordance with this section.

(3) (a) A referendum may be held in terms of this section in each of the areas specified in paragraphs (a) to (n) of Part 2 of Schedule 1 (hereinafter referred to as an affected area) to determine the views of the voters ordinarily resident in such area regarding an issue referred to in subsection (5) or (6).

(b) A referendum referred to in paragraph (a) shall be held in an affected area within three months of the lodging with the Secretary to Parliament of a petition signed by persons entitled to vote and ordinarily resident in such area.

(c) The number of signatures on such a petition shall be at least equal in number to such percentage of the votes recorded in terms of subsection (4) in respect of the affected area in question, as may be determined by the Independent Electoral Commission.

(d) The Independent Electoral Commission shall not be dissolved in terms of the Independent Electoral Commission Act, 1993 (Act No. 150 of 1993), after the first election held under this Constitution until it has made a determination in terms of paragraph (c) in respect of all the affected areas.

(e) Such a petition shall be lodged with the Secretary to Parliament within a period of six months of the commencement of this Constitution or a period referred to in subsection (10), whichever period expires first.

(4) In the first election of the National Assembly and the provincial legislatures held under this Constitution, votes cast in each of the affected areas shall be counted separately and recorded for use for the purposes of this section.

(5) Subject to subsection (7), the object of a referendum in respect of an area referred to in paragraph (e), (f), (g) or (h) of Part 2 of Schedule 1, shall be the determination of the views of voters ordinarily resident in such an area, concerning, as the case may be—

the continued inclusion of the area referred to in the said paragraph (e) in the provincial territory of the Eastern Cape, or its inclusion in the provincial territory of Natal; the continued inclusion of the area referred to in the said paragraph (f) in the provincial territory of Pretoria-Witwatersrand-Vereeniging, or its inclusion in the provincial territory of the Eastern Transvaal;