Occasional Paper

The Security Agencies and the South African Constitution

“The purpose of this paper is to provide a basic yardstick with which the final Constitution can be measured, specifically regarding those clauses affecting the security agencies. As such, it discusses in turn the content of the draft Bill of Rights, particularly those clauses regarding a state of emergency, the relationship between the President, the Minister of Defence and the defence force, the inclusion of the defence, police and intelligence agencies within a single chapter (Chapter 13), municipal, metropolitan and provincial policing powers and some general aspects. The chapter on the security services as contained in the working draft of the new Constitution, dated 22 November 1995 (Chapter 13), is appended to this paper.”