South Africans make more than 250 submissions to amend Constitution
Parliament’s Constitutional Review Committee is receiving hundreds of proposals to amend the Constitution, Glynnis Breytenbach tells Clement Manyathela.
The Constitutional Court in Braamfontein, Johannesburg. Picture: Ashraf Hendricks/GroundUp
702’s Clement Manyathela speaks with Glynnis Breytenbach, Co-Chairperson of Parliament’s Joint Constitutional Review Committee.
Listen below:
Hundreds of proposals have been received calling for changes to the Constitution.
It could reportedly take a year for Parliament’s Joint Constitutional Review Committee to review all of these submissions and determine which are worthwhile.
“It is a long and drawn-out process. It does not happen overnight.”
- Glynnis Breytenbach, Co-Chairperson - Parliament’s Joint Constitutional Review Committee
Some of the submissions are over 100 pages long, according to Breytenbach.
She says worthwhile changes could affect and improve the lives of the majority of South Africans.
“A Constitutional amendment can never be limited to a small issue for a small group.”
- Glynnis Breytenbach, Co-Chairperson - Parliament’s Joint Constitutional Review Committee
She adds that the proposals will have to be ones they can reasonably enact.
Of these 250 submissions, four or five will likely be taken forward.
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The Constitution was last amended in 2023 when sign language was included as an official language.
Breytenbach says they sometimes get strange proposals, such as a previous one to regulate the positions of aliens from outer space.
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