South African Constitution of 1983

Republic of South Africa Constitution Act, 1983
Act to introduce a new constitution for the Republic of South Africa and to provide for matters incidental thereto.
Citation	Act No. 110 of 1983
Enacted by	Parliament of South Africa
Date assented to	22 September 1983
Date commenced	3 September 1984
Repeals
Repealed by the Constitution of the Republic of South Africa, 1993

The Constitution of 1983 (formally the Republic of South Africa Constitution Act, 1983) was South Africa's third constitution. It replaced the republican constitution that had been adopted when South Africa became a republic in 1961 and was in force for ten years before it was superseded by the Interim Constitution on 27 April 1994, which in turn led to the current Constitution of South Africa, which has been in force since 1997.

Background

The creation of the 1983 constitution was spearheaded by then-Prime Minister P.W. Botha.

Provisions

Among the 1983 constitution's most controversial provisions was its establishment of the Tricameral Parliament, a legislative arrangement that would permit the Coloured and Asian race groups to be represented in parliament on a segregated basis.

See also

• P.W. Botha

External links

• Text of the 1983 Constitution at info.gov.za