ABSTRACT
Both South Africa’s system of federalism and its constitutional court have their genesis in the 1993 Interim Constitution and later in the current Constitution of 1996. This chapter focuses on the structure of the court system, judicial appointments and the impact of the constitutional court on South African provincial powers. Although there have been few federalism cases involving provincial governments, the constitutional court has had an impressive record in dealing with the small number of important cases about provincial powers that have come before it. Using a legalistic or technocratic approach to interpret the Constitution, the early constitutional court managed to support provinces in a political climate that was hostile to provincial powers. Although a recent case involving the province of Limpopo displays an inappropriate centralizing impulse, it is not possible to say that it is the start of a trend.
