MADLANGA J
reasonably required in order to exercise the powers expressly conferred, or because they are
ancillary or incidental to those expressly conferred.”101
[69]
Coming to an implied primary power, an antecedent question is: what do I mean
by a primary power? A primary power is a power to do something required to be done
in terms of an Act and which does not owe its existence to, or whose existence is not
pegged on, some other power; it exists all on its own. That is what makes it primary,
and not ancillary. If it owed its existence to another primary power, then it would be an
ancillary power.
[70]
A primary power may be express or implied. It is express if it is specifically
provided for. Examples of express primary powers are the President’s power to appoint
the head of the intelligence agency,102 which featured in Masetlha, and the power to
determine or alter provincial boundaries, which featured in Matatiele Municipality.103
The primary power is implied if it is not expressly provided for. It is implied from a
reading of the Act and a consideration of all that must be factored in the interpretative
exercise. It owes its existence to provisions of the Act and everything that is relevant
to the interpretative exercise.104 The fact that provisions of the Act, including provisions
conferring other primary powers, may shed light on whether an implied primary power
exists does not mean the implied primary power derives its existence from these
provisions. These provisions and all that must be factored in determining whether a
101
Baxter Administrative Law (Juta, Cape Town 1984) at 404-5.
102
Section 209(2) of the Constitution.
103
Section 155(3)(b) of the Constitution.
104
What De Ville says on what to consider in the interpretative exercise, albeit in the context of implied ancillary
powers, is useful. Here it is:
“[I]mplied powers cannot simply be determined with reference to the language of the
empowering provision; the rest of the provisions of the enactment, the purpose of the provision
and that of the Act, other requirements for valid administrative action, the Constitution, . . . and
the broader social and economic context, also have to be taken account of in determining the
scope of the powers of public authority.” (De Ville above n 100 at 108-9).
41