Article 117 of the Constitution of South Africa

Verbatim text

(a) have freedom of speech in the legislature and in its committees, subject to its rules and orders; and (b) are not liable to civil or criminal proceedings, arrest, imprisonment or damages for— (i) anything that they have said in, produced before or submitted to the legislature or any of its committees; or (ii) anything revealed as a result of anything that they have said in, produced before or submitted to the legislature or any of its committees. (2) Other privileges and immunities of a provincial legislature and its members may be prescribed by national legislation. (3) Salaries, allowances and benefits payable to members of a provincial legislature are a direct charge against the Provincial Revenue Fund. Public access to and involvement in provincial legislatures

What this means

The index files this text under article 117 of the Constitution of South Africa.
The index files it under the chapter heading “CHAPTER 6 — PROVINCES”.
The passage runs to about 125 words.
Read plainly, it mentions arrest and detention — it deals with arrest or detention, and the conditions attached to holding a person (the words used: “arrest”); it mentions freedom of expression — it protects speaking, writing, publishing or holding an opinion (the words used: “freedom of speech”); it mentions pay and pensions — it sets pay, salary, allowance or pension terms (the words used: “Salaries”).

The row’s stored title is a body fragment, not a heading (“(1) Members of a provincial legislature and the province’s permanent delegates to the National Council of Provinces—”), so it is not used as the provision’s title here.

The index gives this passage an article number but stores a body fragment where a heading would be, so the number could not be cross-checked against the text. Check it against the official Constitution before relying on it in a citation.

This is a mechanical reading aid generated from the text above by matching words in it. It is not legal advice, not a lawyer’s interpretation, and not a substitute for the provision itself.

How to cite this

Constitution of South Africa, article 117, Portable Lawyer, https://www.portablelawyer.app/provision/2d3fbf0b-4874-4cff-9287-d59556cf9fa5 (accessed 25 October 2026).

Canonical URL: https://www.portablelawyer.app/provision/2d3fbf0b-4874-4cff-9287-d59556cf9fa5

Accessed 25 October 2026.

Link to the canonical URL above, not to a #section-… fragment on the jurisdiction page — the fragment is a scroll position, this URL is the provision.

Machine-readable versions

Markdown of this provision (sent as text/markdown)
llms.txt (curated index for AI agents)
llms-full.txt (corpus digest: counts and every provision URL)