NGCOBO J second is where it is otherwise necessary in the interests of justice to do so. It will be necessary for a court to raise a constitutional issue where the case cannot be disposed of without the constitutional issue being decided. And it will ordinarily be in the interests of justice for a court to raise, of its own accord, a constitutional issue where there are compelling reasons that this should be done. The first of these instances does not give rise to any problem. It is the second that requires some attention. [41] It is neither necessary nor desirable to catalogue circumstances in which it would be in the interests of justice for a court to raise, of its own accord, a constitutional issue. This is so because this depends upon the facts and circumstances of a case. An example that comes to mind is where the issue has become moot between the parties but its immediate resolution will be in the public interest and the matter has been fully and fairly aired before the court.37 There are others, but they need not be set out here. [42] In Matatiele 1, this Court raised, on its own, the constitutional validity of the legislative process followed by a province in approving a constitutional amendment that had the effect of altering its boundary. On the papers before the Court, there were 37 In Independent Electoral Commission v Langeberg Municipality [2001] ZACC 23; 2001 (3) SA 925 (CC); 2001 (9) BCLR 883 (CC) at para 11, this Court held that: “This Court has a discretion to decide issues on appeal even if they no longer present existing or live controversies. That discretion must be exercised according to what the interests of justice require. A prerequisite for the exercise of the discretion is that any order which this Court may make will have some practical effect either on the parties or on others. Other factors that may be relevant will include the nature and extent of the practical effect that any possible order might have, the importance of the issue, its complexity, and the fullness or otherwise of the argument advanced. This does not mean, however, that once this Court has determined one moot issue arising in an appeal it is obliged to determine all other moot issues.” 22