Parliament's Constitutional Review Committee receives more than 250 proposals to change the Constitution

CAPE TOWN - Parliament’s Constitutional Review Committee has received more than 250 proposals to amend the Constitution.

But it could take up to a year to decide how many of them are worthy of the attention of the committee which is currently still dealing with legal opinions on submissions made during the previous administration.

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Co-chairperson of the committee, Glynnis Breytenbach says it’s an arduous and painstaking process the committee will now embark upon after the deadline for submissions closed at the end of last May.

The Constitution was last amended in 2023 to include sign language as an official language.

Prior to that, the Constitution had not been amended since 2012 after an attempt to amend Section 25 to allow for land expropriation without compensation in 2021 flopped without the two thirds majority required by the National Assembly.

Breytenbach says some submissions exceed 100 pages, and Parliament’s administrative and legal staff will have to categorise the submissions depending on their substance.

"It’s not a must that the committee must find matters that must be brought to the National Assembly. If none of them are of any significant import, then we will again call for submissions."

Breytenbach says it could take up to a year to grapple with these serious submissions. 

"Even that takes a long time because then you have to find the space for those people to come and present. You have to hear all the presentations. The pros and the cons."

Among submissions received by the committee deal with the consequences for impeached individuals which Breytenbach says warrants Parliament's urgent attention.