CHAPTER XIV
GENERAL DEFENCES AND MITIGATING FACTORS
Division B: Defences and Mitigating Factors Relating to the Mental State
PART IX
PROVOCATION
238 Provocation in relation to crimes other than murder
Except as provided in section two hundred and thirty-nine and subject to any other enactment, provocation shall not be a defence to a crime but the court may regard it as mitigatory when assessing the sentence to be imposed for the crime.
239 When provocation a partial defence to murder
(1) If, after being provoked, a person does or omits to do anything resulting in the death of a person which would be an essential element of the crime of murder if done or omitted, as the case may be, with the intention or realisation referred to in section forty-seven, the person shall be guilty of culpable homicide if, as a result of the provocation
(a) he or she does not have the intention or realisation referred to in section forty-seven; or
(b) he or she has the intention or realisation referred to in section forty-seven but has completely lost his or her self-control, the provocation being sufficient to make a reasonable person in his or her position and circumstances lose his or her self-control.
[Subsection amended by section 31 of Act 9 of 2006.]
(2) For the avoidance of doubt it is declared that if a court finds that a person accused of murder was provoked but that
(a) he or she did have the intention or realisation referred to in section forty-seven; or
(b) the provocation was not sufficient to make a reasonable person in the accused’s position and circumstances lose his or her self-control;
the accused shall not be entitled to a partial defence in terms of subsection (1) but the court may regard the provocation as mitigatory as provided in section two hundred and thirty-eight.
Other defences - national proceedings
EDIT.