‘Guardian of the Solemn Pact’ – The Role of the Constitutional Court in South Africa’s Constitutional Transition

Abstract

The Constitutional Court of South Africa has played a unique role in the country’s constitutional transition. This paper starts by detailing the historical and political context of the Interim Constitution which created the Constitutional Court and the constitutional principles. The article describes the approach of the Court in the First Certification Judgment (1996), analysing the impact of the Constitutional Court’s decision on the drafting of the final Constitution and the public more generally, before briefly outlining the role that the Court continues to play in protecting constitutional democracy as a ‘Guardian of the Solemn Pact’.