Verbatim text
into effect as soon as possible on a date set by the President by proclamation, which
may not be a date later than 1 July 1997.
(2) The President may set different dates before the date mentioned in subsection (1) in
respect of different provisions of the Constitution.
(3) Unless the context otherwise indicates, a reference in a provision of the Constitution
to a time when the Constitution took effect must be construed as a reference to the
time when that provision took effect.
(4) If a different date is set for any particular provision of the Constitution in terms of
subsection (2), any corresponding provision of the Constitution of the Republic of
South Africa, 1993 (Act 200 of 1993), mentioned in the proclamation, is repealed
with effect from the same date.
(5) Sections 213, 214, 215, 216, 218, 226, 227, 228, 229 and 230 come into effect on 1
January 1998, but this does not preclude the enactment in terms of this Constitution
of legislation envisaged in any of these provisions before that date. Until that date
any corresponding and incidental provisions of the Constitution of the Republic of
South Africa, 1993, remain in force. Chapter 14: General Provisions
124SCHEDULE 1
National Flag
(1) The national flag is rectangular; it is one and a half times longer than it is wide.
(2) It is black, gold, green, white, chilli red and blue.
(3) It has a green Y-shaped band that is one fifth as wide as the flag. The centre lines of the
band start in the top and bottom corners next to the flag post, converge in the centre of
the flag, and continue horizontally to the middle of the free edge.
(4) The green band is edged, above and below in white, and towards the flag post end, in
gold. Each edging is one fifteenth as wide as the flag.
(5) The triangle next to the flag post is black.
(6) The upper horizontal band is chilli red and the lower horizontal band is blue. These bands
are each one third as wide as the flag.
What this means
- The index files this text under article 243 of the Constitution of South Africa.
- The index files it under the chapter heading “CHAPTER 12 — TRADITIONAL LEADERS”.
- The passage runs to about 349 words.
The row’s stored title is a body fragment, not a heading (“(1) This Act is called the Constitution of the Republic of South Africa, 1996, and comes”), 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.
No rights vocabulary from our fixed word list appears in this passage, so no plain-language reading is offered for it.
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 243, Portable Lawyer, https://www.portablelawyer.app/provision/fec75cea-05ac-423b-a63e-7390b2197350 (accessed 25 October 2026).
Canonical URL: https://www.portablelawyer.app/provision/fec75cea-05ac-423b-a63e-7390b2197350
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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