ABSTRACT
This chapter explores the salient features of the Ciskei Constitution and something of its background. Several features of the present Ciskei constitution may be traced back to this new policy regarding the government of the black population of the Republic, taken in 1951. ‘Citizenship’ of the territory is provided for by the Bantu Homelands Citizenship Act 1970. The legislature of the territory is termed the Ciskeian Legislative Assembly and consists of 57 members; 35 official and 22 elected. The legislative powers of the assemblies of self-governing territories are laid down by section 30 of the Bantu Homelands Constitution Act 1971. The executive government of the Ciskei is vested in a Cabinet, consisting of a chief minister and six other ministers. More important, even though the power to assent to legislation was to vest in the head of the executive of the territory, the South African Cabinet still retained its former control.
