NGCOBO J whether it was appropriate for this Court to investigate whether the procedures set out for the enactment of a constitutional amendment were complied with. We held that “where, on the papers before it, there is doubt as to whether a particular law or conduct is consistent with the Constitution, this Court may be obliged to investigate the matter.”147 And we added that “[t]his would be particularly so where . . . an important constitutional issue is involved.”148 O’Regan J, concurring, emphasised that “[i]t is this Court’s constitutional task to ensure that the Constitution is upheld.”149 We concluded that it was in the interests of justice to investigate the issue.150 [200] The constitutional issues at stake here concern children who are complainants of sexual offences. They are some of the most vulnerable members of society. They are not parties to the proceedings, but they have constitutional rights: the right to have their best interests to be considered is of paramount importance in matters concerning them. Their status as non-parties severely limits, if not eliminates, their ability to vindicate their rights in those proceedings where they are called upon to testify. This makes them doubly vulnerable. They have to depend, for the vindication of their rights, on others including courts before whom they testify. The constitutional issues at stake here are therefore important, and affect the administration of justice. Their resolution may not have an impact on the child who testified without the aid of an intermediary in the Phaswane matter, but it will have an impact on many others whose 147 Matatiele 1 above n 25 at para 68. 148 Id. 149 Id at para 90. 150 Id at para 68. 100