SIX of South Africa's nine provinces have 18 months to make their financial management legislation constitutional, after the Constitutional Court ruled they don't have the constitutional right to write their own financial management legislation.

This comes after Limpopo Premier Cassel Mathale approached the Constitutional Court to decide whether or not his province had the right to draft legislation on the management of the province's finances.

Five other provinces - including Gauteng, Eastern Cape, Free State, Mpumalanga and the North West - joined in the court bid.

Yesterday the court upheld a ruling by former chief justice Sandile Ngcobo, which declared the Act unconstitutional and ruled that Limpopo did not have the authority to pass legislation with respect to their own financial management, and has ordered that the problem be fixed by September 2013.

The case resulted from Limpopo Premier Cassel Mathale refusing to sign the Financial Management of the province's Legislature Act and deciding to get clarity from the courts.