Page:NCGLE v Minister of Home Affairs.djvu/23

Rh There is a clear distinction between interpreting legislation in a way which “promote[s] the spirit, purport and objects of the Bill of Rights” as required by section 39(2) of the Constitution and the process of reading words into or severing them from a statutory provision which is a remedial measure under section 172(1)(b), following upon a declaration of constitutional invalidity under section 172(1)(a). I deal later with the constitutional permissibility of reading words into a statutory provision. What is now being emphasised is the fundamentally different nature of the two processes. The first process, being an interpretative one, is limited to what the text is reasonably capable of meaning. The latter can only take place after the statutory provision in question, notwithstanding the application of all legitimate interpretative aids, is found to be constitutionally invalid. Rh