Hon members, I would like to make a ruling on a point of order raised in regard to the notice of motion of the hon De Villiers during our plenary on 4 June 2010. I want to remind hon members that, whilst giving notice of a motion, Mr de Villiers referred to Mr Theuns Botha as the hon "Minister". The Chief Whip then offered an amendment to the notice by proposing that the word "Minister" be replaced by the words "Minister of the Executive Council", MEC. The Chief Whip stated that according to the Constitution of the country, there are only national Ministers, and that the national Constitution is above any provincial constitution.
I would like to refer the House to the national Constitution. Section 142 of the national Constitution authorises a provincial legislature to pass a constitution for that province.
Section 143(1) requires that a provincial constitution be consistent with the national Constitution. Further, a provincial constitution may provide for, among others, provincial legislative and executive structures that differ from those provided for in the national Constitution.
Section 144 requires the Constitutional Court to certify that a provincial constitution was passed in accordance with section 142 and that its text complies with section 143 of the national Constitution.
The Western Cape provincial legislature passed a provincial constitution. The Constitutional Court accordingly certified the provincial constitution as being consistent with the national Constitution. Section 42 of the provincial constitution provides that the provincial Cabinet should consist of the premier and provincial Ministers appointed by the premier. It is common cause that in other provinces the executive structure consists of the premier and members of the provincial executive as provided for in section 125 of the national Constitution.
The province of the Western Cape has chosen to depart from this common practice and, therefore, refers to its members of the provincial executive council as provincial Ministers. In my view, this is the executive structure as authorised by the national Constitution.
Therefore, I would like to conclude that Mr De Villiers was correct in referring to Mr Theuns Botha as Minister Theuns Botha. However, I would like to advise that in future, when members are referring to the members of the provincial Cabinet in the Western Cape, the word "provincial" should precede the word "Minister". Thank you.