Page:Constitution of the Republic of South Africa 1996 from Government Gazette.djvu/32



Chapter 4—Parliament

Composition of National Council

The National Council of Provinces is composed of a single delegation from each province consisting of ten delegates.

The ten delegates are —

four special delegates consisting of —

the Premier of the province or, if the Premier is not available, any member of the provincial legislature designated by the Premier either generally or for any specific business before the National Council of Provinces; and three other special delegates; and

six permanent delegates appointed in terms of section 61  (2).

The Premier of a province, or if the Premier is not available, a member of the province’s delegation designated by the Premier, heads the delegation.

Allocation of delegates

Parties represented in a provincial legislature are entitled to delegates in the province’s delegation in accordance with the formula set out in Part B of Schedule 3.

Within 30 days after the result of an election of a provincial legislature is declared, the legislature must —

determine, in accordance with national legislation, how many of each party’s delegates are to be permanent delegates and how many are to be special delegates; and appoint the permanent delegates in accordance with the nominations of the parties.

The national legislation envisaged in subsection (2)(a) must ensure the participation of minority parties in both the permanent and special delegates’ components of the delegation in a manner consistent with democracy.

The legislature, with the concurrence of the Premier and the leaders of the parties entitled to special delegates in the province’s delegation, must designate special delegates, as required from time to time, from among the members of the legislature.

Permanent delegates

A person nominated as a permanent delegate must be eligible to be a member of the provincial legislature.

If a person who is a member of a provincial legislature is appointed as a permanent delegate, that person ceases to be a member of the legislature.

Permanent delegates are appointed for a term that expires