Selected Official Documents of the South African Republic and Great Britain Part 2

OF THE VOLKSRAAD, THE HIGHEST AUTHORITY, OR THE LEGISLATIVE POWER.

ARTICLE 26.--The Volksraad shall be the highest authority of the country, and the legislative power.

ARTICLE 27.--No civil servants are to be representatives of the people.

ARTICLE 28.--The Volksraad shall consist of at least twelve members, who must possess the following qualifications:--

They must have attained the age of thirty years, and be born in the Republic, or have for fifteen consecutive years been burghers ent.i.tled to vote, be members of a Protestant Church, reside, and possess immovable property, in the Republic. No persons of notoriously bad character, or who have had a dishonouring sentence p.r.o.nounced against them, and no uncertified or unrehabilitated insolvents shall be eligible. They may not be related to each other in the relations.h.i.+p of father and son or stepson. No coloured persons or b.a.s.t.a.r.ds shall be admitted into our a.s.semblies. In like manner no military officer or official of the State, who draws a fixed annual or monthly salary, shall be eligible as member of the Volksraad.

ARTICLE 29.--The members of the Volksraad are elected by a majority of votes from among the electors of each district. No one shall be considered as elected who has not obtained at least sixty votes.

Every one who is born in the country and has attained the age of twenty-one years, or has become naturalized, shall be a burgher qualified to vote. The members of the Volksraad are elected for the period of four years.

ARTICLE 30.--No one shall be eligible who has not received a requisition signed by at least twenty-five voters. The voters in one district are at liberty to vote for a candidate living in another district. (That is to say, they may be represented by a candidate who resides in a district other than that in which the voters reside.)

ARTICLE 31.--Every enfranchised burgher is allowed, if he wishes, to bring accusations against the President or members of the Executive Council for contravention of their duties or official crimes, and send those accusations to the President of the Volksraad, under the address; "To the Hon. President of the Volksraad," who then shall act according to his judgment of the affair.

ARTICLE 32.--The election of members for the Volksraad shall take place in the month of January or February, or in exceptional cases upon such times as shall be fixed. For each district two members shall be chosen, except the districts Pretoria, Potchefstrom, Rustenberg, Lydenburg and Vryheid, for which three members shall be elected.

Elective districts on the Gold-fields shall each elect one member. At the expiration of the second year it shall be decided by lot which half of the members shall go out; the other half shall vacate their seats at the end of the fourth year, and so on. New members of the Volksraad shall be chosen from the districts whose members fall out. Retiring members are re-eligible.

ARTICLE 33.--The Volksraad appoints, outside its members, a Secretary, to be proposed by the Executive Council.

ARTICLE 34.--A Volksraad member who absents himself, and does not comply with the notice to attend, incurs a penalty of Rds. 75.

ARTICLE 35.--The reasons for a Volksraad member's non-appearance are:--

(1) Indisposition and bodily infirmity, to be proved by the member chosen or summoned, by a signed declaration of the Landrost, Commandant, or Field-Cornet of his division.

(2) Such unforeseen circ.u.mstances, being actually proved, as make it impossible for him to be present, or to remain there.

ARTICLE 36.--All objections, excuses, and notices mentioned in Articles 34 and 35 shall be sent into the President and be decided upon by the Executive Council. Provision shall be made as soon as possible to fill in the places open in consequence.

ARTICLE 37.--The members of the Volksraad shall, before taking up their official duties, be sworn by the members of the Volksraad who are present on the day of the session; their oath shall be of the nature of the following:--

"As elected member of the Volksraad of this Republic, I declare, believe, and swear solemnly, that I have neither made nor promised gifts to anyone to reach this office; that I shall be faithful in this office to the people; that I shall act in accordance with the Const.i.tution and other laws of this country, according to the best of my knowledge and conscience, and consider only the furtherance of the happiness and welfare of the public at large."

ARTICLE 38.--The members of the Volksraad present choose their Chairman after the opening of the session, and before the annual business.

ARTICLE 39.--All deliberations shall be settled by a bare majority of the votes of the members voting.

ARTICLE 40.--The Volksraad does not separate before all matters of business which must be treated of are finished, and the session is closed by the President of the Volksraad. A member can obtain leave of absence from the Volksraad, if he is in such case as mentioned in No. 2, Article 35.

ARTICLE 41.--The members of the Volksraad doing service as such shall be free from military service, without being free from the costs which the military authorities may exact from them: they shall enjoy remuneration for the period of their stay during the cessation of their private business.

ARTICLE 42.--The meetings are held with open doors, unless the Volksraad decide that the discussions upon some proposition be taken in secret. The persons present who have no seat in the Volksraad may only speak when they answer a question of the President.

ARTICLE 43.--The President shall bring forward for discussion the proposals for laws which have come in before the Volksraad, whether the latter have been made known to the public three months before the commencement of the session, or whether the same have come in during the session of the Volksraad.

ARTICLE 44.--When the notices of laws and Government notices to the public have not been given in time, the President shall examine with whom the blame of that delay lies. A Landrost found guilty hereof shall have a fine of Rds. 50 inflicted, and a Field-Cornet or lesser official of Rds. 25.

ARTICLE 45.--A copy of every law which has been adopted shall be sent in by the Chairman to the President for execution.

ARTICLE 46.--When a new President is appointed, the Volksraad shall depute four of its members and the Secretary to invite him to come and take his official oath in the meeting of the Volksraad.

ARTICLE 47.--On the appointment of the members of the Executive Council and the Commandant-General, the Volksraad shall give them written notice thereof, in order to enable them to take the official oath before the Volksraad at a time to be fixed.

ARTICLE 48.--The President shall annually submit a list of all officials appointed during the year for the approval or disapproval of the Volksraad.

ARTICLE 49.--In the event of the Court, contemplated by Article 8 of the Amendment of the Grondwet of 1877, declaring the State President, or the Supreme Court, contemplated by Article 115 of the Grondwet, declaring the Commandant-General or other members of the Executive unfit to occupy his or their office, the Chairman of the Volksraad, upon the receipt of the decision of such Court, shall convene the members of the Volksraad, who shall be bound to attend, in order to dismiss the official or officials found guilty; and to provide for the filling up of the vacancy or vacancies so caused.

ARTICLE 50.--The members of the Volksraad a.s.semble in the Council Hall annually on the first Monday in May, or such other time as may be indicated in their summons, whenever the President judges it necessary that the Volksraad should come together; and daily from that time onwards at nine o'clock in the morning, so as to be at work not less than four to five hours a day. The a.s.sembly of the Volksraad shall be opened and closed with a suitable prayer.

ARTICLE 51.--The President of the Volksraad is responsible that the meetings are held according to regulations in Article 50, on neglect of which the Volksraad can fine him in 5 to 50 Rds.

ARTICLE 52.--The maintenance of order among the persons present, as mentioned in Article 42, must be entrusted to the Field-Cornet appointed to that purpose by the Landrost of the district where the session is held.

ARTICLE 53.--The Landrost shall also appoint a messenger to be at the service of the Volksraad during the meeting.

ARTICLE 54.--The Volksraad judges all contraventions of regulations fixed by the Volksraad, and committed in the hall of the Volksraad, and punishes the infringers without further appeal.

ARTICLE 55.--Notice is given by the Secretary of all fines inflicted by the Volksraad, to the Landrost under whom the persons fined reside, and the latter sees to its execution.

OF THE STATE PRESIDENT AND MEMBERS OF THE EXECUTIVE COUNCIL.--THE PROPOSERS OF LAWS.

ARTICLE 56.--The executive power resides in the State President, who is responsible to the Volksraad. He is chosen by a majority of the burghers ent.i.tled to vote, and for the term of five years. He is eligible for re-election. He must have attained the age of thirty years, and need not be a burgher of the State at the time of his nomination, and must be a member of a Protestant Church, and have no dishonouring sentence p.r.o.nounced against him. (By a subsequent law the President must be chosen from _among_ the burghers; he _must_ be a burgher. Outsiders are excluded.)

ARTICLE 57.--The President is the first or highest official of the State. All civil servants are subordinate to him; such, however, as are charged with exercise of the judicial power are left altogether free and independent in its exercise.

ARTICLE 58.--As long as the President holds his position as such he shall fill no other, nor shall he discharge any ecclesiastical office, nor carry on any business. The President cannot go outside the boundaries of the State without consent of the Volksraad. However, the Executive Council shall have the power to grant him leave to go outside the boundaries of the State upon private affairs in cases of necessity.

ARTICLE 59.--The Vice-President a.s.sumes authority in case the President is dismissed or incapable of acting, or is absent from seat of government.

ARTICLE 60.--The President shall be discharged from his post by the Volksraad after conviction of misconduct, embezzlement of public property, treachery, or other serious crimes, and be treated further according to the laws.

ARTICLE 61.--If in consequence of transgression of the Const.i.tution or other public misdemeanors the Volksraad resolve that the President shall be brought to trial, he shall be tried before a special court composed of the members of the High Court, the President and another member of the Volksraad, while the State Attorney acts as Public Prosecutor. The accused shall be allowed to secure a.s.sistance of a lawyer at his choice.

ARTICLE 62.--The President is charged with the proposing of laws to the Volksraad, whether his own proposals or others which have come in to him from the people; he must make these proposals known to the public by means of the _Staats Courant_ three months before presenting them to the Volksraad, together with all such other doc.u.ments as are judged useful and necessary by him.

ARTICLE 63.--All proposals for a law sent in to the President shall, before they are published, be judged by the President and Executive Council as to whether publication is necessary or not.

ARTICLE 64.--The President submits the proposals for laws to the Volksraad, and charges the official to whose department they belong first and foremost, with their explanation and defence.

ARTICLE 65.--As soon as the President has received the notice of the Volksraad that the proposed law is adopted, he shall have that law published within two months, and after the lapse of a month, to be reckoned from the publication, he shall take measures for the execution of the same.

ARTICLE 66.--Proclamation of martial law, as intended in Article 23, shall only be made by the President with the a.s.sent of the members of the Executive Council. This proclamation must, however, take place in case of pressing danger, and the law shall then at once be put into execution; the decision with regard to the danger is left to the President and the members of the Executive Council, and is on their responsibility. The Commandant-General must be present at the consideration and decision of military affairs in the Executive Council in virtue of his office, and shall have a vote as such therein.

ARTICLE 67.--The President, with advice of the Executive Council, declares war and peace, with reference to Article 66 of the Const.i.tution; the Government having first, if possible, summoned the Volksraad before the declaration of war. Treaties of peace require the ratification of the Volksraad, which is summoned as soon as possible for that purpose.