Another Constitution
From Roach Busters
Revision as of 04:45, 10 February 2009
Section 1. (1) The head of the Republic shall be the State President.
(2) The command-in-chief of the armed forces is vested in the State President.
(3) He shall, subject to the provisions of this Act, have power-
(a) with due regard to the provisions of this Act to dissolve the Senate or the House of Assembly or the Senate and the House of Assembly simultaneously;
(b) in accordance with the provisions of sections twenty and twenty-one to appoint Ministers and deputies to Ministers;
(c) to confer honors;
(d) to appoint and to accredit, to receive and to recognize ambassadors, plenipotentiaries, diplomatic representatives, and other diplomatic officers, consuls, and consular officers;
(e) with due regard to the provisions of this Act to appoint the times for the holding of sessions of Parliament and to prorogue Parliament;
(f) to pardon or reprieve offenders, either unconditionally or subject to such conditions as he may deem fit, and to remit any fines, penalties, or forfeitures;
(g) to enter into and ratify international conventions, treaties, and agreements;
(h) to proclaim and terminate martial law;
(i) to declare war and make peace;
(j) to make such appointments as he may deem fit under powers conferred upon him by any law, and to exercise such powers and perform such functions as may be conferred or assigned to him under this Act or any other law.
Section 2. (1) The State President shall be elected by an electoral college consisting of the members of the Senate and the House of Assembly, at a meeting to be called in accordance with the provisions of this section and presided over by the Chief Justice of South Africa or a judge of appeal designated by him.
(2) The election of a State President shall be held at a time and place to be fixed by the Speaker or (in his absence) the Secretary to the House of Assembly and made known by notice in the Gazette not less than fourteen days before such election.
(3) The date so fixed shall in respect of the first such election be a date before the thirty-first day of May, 1961, and in the case of any subsequent such election a date not less than one month and not more than three months before the termination of the period of office of the State President then holding office: Provided that if the State President dies or for any other reason vacates his office a date within three months after the office became vacant shall be so fixed.
(4) No person may be elected or serve as State President unless he is qualified to be nominated or elected and to take his seat as a member of the Senate.
(5) Any person holding any public office in respect of which he receives any renumeration or allowance out of public funds, who is elected as State President, shall vacate such office with effect from the date on which he is elected.
Section 3. (1) Nominations of candidates for election as State President shall be called for at the meeting at which the election is to take place, by the person presiding thereat.
(2) Every nomination shall be submitted in the form prescribed and shall be signed by two members of the electoral college and also by the person nominated, unless he has in writing or by telegram signified his willingness to accept nomination: Provided that in the case of the person for the time holding office as State President, nomination shall be by way of a decision such as is provided for in paragraph (a) of sub-section (1) of section ten.
