Commissions Act, 1947

Act 8 of 1947

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South Africa

Commissions Act, 1947

Act 8 of 1947

(Afrikaans Text signed by the Governor-General.)ACTTo make provision for conferring certain powers on commissions appointed by the Governor-General for the purpose of investigating matters of public concern, and to provide for matters incidental thereto.
BE IT ENACTED by the King’s Most Excellent Majesty, the Senate and the House of Assembly of the Union of South Africa, as follows:—

1. Application of this Act with reference to commissions appointed by the Governor-General

Whenever the Governor-General has, before or after the commencement of this Act, appointed a commission (hereinafter referred to as a "commission") for the purpose of investigating a matter of public concern, he may by proclamation in the Gazette declare the provisions of this Act to be applicable with reference to that commission.

2. Commission’s sittings

A commission may sit at any place in the Union or the mandated territory of South-West Africa for the purpose of hearing evidence or addresses or of deliberating.

3. Commission’s powers as to witnesses

(1)For the purpose of ascertaining any matter relating to the subject of its investigations, a commission shall in the Union have the powers which a Provincial Division of the Supreme Court of South Africa has within its province, and in the mandated territory of South-West Africa have the powers which the High Court of that territory has, to summon witnesses, to cause an oath or affirmation to be administered to them, to examine them, and to call for the production of books, documents and objects.
(2)A summons for the attendance of a witness or for the production of any book, document or object before a commission shall be signed and issued by the secretary of the commission in a form prescribed by the chairman of the commission and shall be served in the same manner as a summons for the attendance of a witness at a criminal trial, in a superior court at the place where the attendance or production is to take place.
(3)If required to do so by the chairman of a commission a witness shall, before giving evidence, take an oath or make an affirmation, which oath or affirmation shall be administered by the chairman of the commission or such official of the commission as the chairman may designate.
(4)Any person who has been summoned to attend any sitting of a commission as a witness or who has given evidence before a commission shall be entitled to the same witness fees from public funds, as if he had been summoned to attend or had given evidence at a criminal trial in a superior court held at the place of such sitting, and in connection with the giving of any evidence or the production of any book or document before a commission, the law relating to privilege as applicable to a witness giving evidence or summoned to produce a book or document in such a court, shall apply.

4. Sittings to be public

All the evidence and addresses heard by a commission shall be heard in public: Provided that the chairman of the commission may, in his discretion, exclude from the place where such evidence is to be given or such address is to be delivered any class of persons or all persons whose presence at the hearing of such evidence or address is, in his opinion, not necessary or desirable.

5. Hindering or obstructing a commission

Any person who wilfully interrupts the proceedings of a commission or who wilfully hinders or obstructs a commission in the performance of its functions shall be guilty of an offence and liable on conviction to a fine not exceeding fifty pounds or to imprisonment for a period not exceeding six months or to both such fine and imprisonment.

6. Offences by witnesses

(1)Any person summoned to attend and give evidence or to produce any book, document or object before a commission who, without sufficient cause (the onus of proof whereof shall rest upon him) fails to attend at the time and place specified in the summons, or to remain in attendance until the conclusion of the enquiry or until he is excused by the chairman of the commission from further attendance, or having attended, refuses to be sworn or to make affirmation as a witness after he has been required by the chairman of the commission to do so or, having been sworn or having made affirmation, fails to answer fully and satisfactorily any question lawfully put to him, or fails to produce any book, document or object in his possession or custody or under his control, which he has been summoned to produce, shall be guilty of an offence and liable on conviction to a fine not exceeding fifty pounds or to imprisonment for a period not exceeding six months, or to both such fine and imprisonment.
(2)Any person who after having been sworn or having made affirmation, gives false evidence before a commission on any matter, knowing such evidence to be false or not knowing or believing it to be true, shall be guilty of an offence and liable on conviction to a fine not exceeding one hundred pounds or to imprisonment for a period not exceeding twelve months, or to both such fine and imprisonment.

7. Short title

This Act shall be called the Commissions Act, 1947.
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History of this document

04 October 1996 amendment not yet applied
21 June 1967 amendment not yet applied
24 June 1964 amendment not yet applied
18 April 1947 this version
01 April 1947
Assented to

Cited documents 0

Documents citing this one 303

Gazette 262
1. Eastern Cape Provincial Gazette dated 1996-02-26 number 146
2. Eastern Cape Provincial Gazette dated 2014-08-04 number 3236
3. Eastern Cape Provincial Gazette dated 2017-05-01 number 3835
4. Eastern Cape Provincial Gazette dated 2020-09-14 number 4445
5. Free State Provincial Gazette dated 1998-09-11 number 80
6. Gauteng Provincial Gazette dated 1997-11-07 number 408
7. Gauteng Provincial Gazette dated 1998-04-22 number 482
8. Gauteng Provincial Gazette dated 1998-04-22 number 483
9. Gauteng Provincial Gazette dated 2001-10-03 number 186
10. KwaZulu-Natal Provincial Gazette dated 2012-06-28 number 767
Judgment 25
1. President of Republic of South Africa and Others v South African Rugby Football Union and Others [1999] ZACC 11 (10 September 1999) 96 citations
2. Democratic Alliance v President of South Africa and Others [2012] ZACC 24 (5 October 2012) 86 citations
3. De Lange v Smuts NO and Others [1998] ZACC 6 (28 May 1998) 35 citations
4. President of the Republic of South Africa and Others v South African Rugby Football Union and Others - Judgment on recusal application [1999] ZACC 9 (4 June 1999) 26 citations
5. Legal-Aid South Africa v Magidiwana and Others (1055/2013) [2014] ZASCA 141 (26 September 2014) 16 citations
6. President of the Republic of South Africa and Others v South African Rugby Football Union and Others [1998] ZACC 21 (2 December 1998) 12 citations
7. Bapedi Marota Mamone v Commission on Traditional Leadership Disputes and Claims and Others [2014] ZACC 36 (15 December 2014) 8 citations
8. Nichol and Another v Registrar of Pension Funds and Others (467/2004) [2005] ZASCA 97 (29 September 2005) 7 citations
9. Secretary of Judicial Commission of Inquiry into Allegations of State Capture, Corruption and Fraud in Public Sector including Organs of State v Zuma [2021] ZACC 2 (28 January 2021) 7 citations
10. Sonke Gender Justice NPC v President of the Republic of South Africa and Others [2020] ZACC 26 (4 December 2020) 5 citations
Act 11
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2. Pension Funds Act, 1956 1545 citations
3. Prevention and Combating of Corrupt Activities Act, 2004 377 citations
4. Financial Advisory and Intermediary Services Act, 2002 298 citations
5. Protection of Personal Information Act, 2013 194 citations
6. Copyright Act, 1978 167 citations
7. Collective Investment Schemes Control Act, 2002 144 citations
8. Promotion of Local Government Affairs Act, 1983 128 citations
9. Judges Remuneration and Conditions of Employment Act, 2001 76 citations
10. South African Law Commission Act, 1973 16 citations
Government Notice 5
1. Directions to Address, Prevent and Combat the Spread of COVID-19 in All Courts, Court Precincts and Justice Service Points in the Republic of South Africa (Adjusted Alert Level 3)
2. Directions to Address, Prevent and Combat the Spread of COVID-19 in All Courts, Court Precincts and Justice Service Points in the Republic of South Africa (Alert Level 3)
3. Directions to Address, Prevent and Combat the Spread of COVID-19 in All Courts, Court Precincts and Justice Service Points in the Republic of South Africa (Alert Level 4)
4. Directions to Address, Prevent and Combat the Spread of COVID-19 in all Courts, Court Houses and Justice Service Points in the Republic of South Africa
5. Legal Aid of South Africa Regulations, 2017