The Constitutional Court has given President Kgalema Motlanthe a 30-day period of grace to re-do a messy set of regulations on the Road Accident Fund.

The regulations were issued by his predecessor, Thabo Mbeki, in July 2006 in an attempt to bring sections of the 2005 Road Accident Fund Amendment Act into force.

A first set, in what the court said was a genuine mistake, brought the incorrect sections of the act into operation.

A second set, published 12 days later, tried to correct the initial error, but, the court found, only compounded the confusion.

In a majority judgment handed down on Thursday, Judge Thembile Skweyiya said the president did not have the power to amend a proclamation that had been void from the start.

Instead he should have withdrawn the first proclamation, then issued a correct one.

Proclamations had to be couched in clear and unambiguous language, Skweyiya said.

He said it would be "just and equitable" to allow the fund to operate for the next 30 days as if the regulations had been properly issued, and as if the sections of the act were indeed in force.

The challenge was launched in the Pretoria High Court by personal injury lawyer Marius Kruger.

That court ruled that the initial proclamation was null and void, and referred the ruling to the Constitutional Court for confirmation.

Sapa