South AfricaZA

Article 118 of the Constitution of South Africa

Article
118
Chapter
CHAPTER 6 — PROVINCES
Index row title
(1) A provincial legislature must—
Source document
The South Africa Constitution
Provision ID
e4b9674b-4396-4108-8c79-875c68fc9d63

118 words

Verbatim text

(a) facilitate public involvement in the legislative and other processes of the legislature and its committees; and (b) conduct its business in an open manner, and hold its sittings, and those of its committees, in public, but reasonable measures may be taken— (i) to regulate public access, including access of the media, to the legislature and its committees; and (ii) to provide for the searching of any person and, where appropriate, the refusal of entry to, or the removal of, any person. (2) A provincial legislature may not exclude the public, including the media, from a sitting of a committee unless it is reasonable and justifiable to do so in an open and democratic society. Introduction of Bills

What this means

  • The index files this text under article 118 of the Constitution of South Africa.
  • The index files it under the chapter heading “CHAPTER 6 — PROVINCES”.
  • The passage runs to about 118 words.
  • Read plainly, it mentions privacy, search and seizure — it protects privacy or limits searching a person, their home or their communications (the words used: “searching”).

The row’s stored title is a body fragment, not a heading (“(1) A provincial legislature must—”), 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 118, Portable Lawyer, https://www.portablelawyer.app/provision/e4b9674b-4396-4108-8c79-875c68fc9d63 (accessed 25 October 2026).

Canonical URL: https://www.portablelawyer.app/provision/e4b9674b-4396-4108-8c79-875c68fc9d63

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.

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