Browsing by Author "Hugo, Willem Francois"
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- Item‘n Geskiedenis van die samestelling en funksionering van die Suid-Afrikaanse Parlementêre stelsel, 1910-1999(Stellenbosch : Stellenbosch University, 2020-12) Hugo, Willem Francois; Visser, Wessel P.; Stellenbosch University. Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences. Dept. of History.ENGLISH ABSTRACT: This study examines the structure and functioning of the South African parliamentary system from 1910 to 1999. The thesis specifically focuses on the First South African Parliament (1910 to 1915), the First Parliament of the Republic of South Africa (1961 to 1966), the Seventh Parliament of the Republic of South Africa (1984 to 1987) and the First Democratic Parliament of the Republic of South Africa (1994 to 1999). These parliaments were established after the adoption of new constitutions that created new parliamentary systems. The study entails a historical overview of the development of the South African parliament since the establishment of the two British colonies and the two Boer republics in South Africa until the end of the first democratic parliament in 1999. It also refers to institutions that impacted on and to some extent formed part of the parliamentary system, such as the Transitional Executive Council that existed between December 1993 and April 1994. The legislative authority, or parliament, is the government institution that passes or amends legislation for a country and consists of one or two chambers. In South Africa the parliament consisted of two chambers between 1910 and 1980. In 1981 the Senate was abolished and the South African parliament consisted of only one chamber until the tricameral parliament was established in 1984. After the implementation of the interim constitution in 1994, the tricameral parliament was abolished and the Senate was reestablished. South Africa therefore had two chambers again. The background to the South African Act of 1909 and the 1993 constitution, that were both the product of extensive negotiations, as well as the 1961 and 1984 consitutions that were both preceded by referendums, are discussed. These four constitutions changed the South African parliamentary system drastically and form the basis of this study. The biggest change to the South African parliamentary system between 1910 en 1994 was that the parliament underwent an evolutionary change from an institution with absolute power to one that is subordinate to the constitution as sovereign supremacy.