With just a few days to go before a government has to be formed after elections, speculation is rife that the new Cabinet could include two deputy presidents as a gesture of political goodwill to the opposition.

But is this legally possible? News24 reported that the current coalition talks could see IFP leader Velenkosini Hlabisa take his place as a second deputy president alongside the ANC's Paul Mashatile.

It has also been pointed out that for South Africa to have two deputy presidents would not be unprecedented, since in the 1994 government of national unity, President Nelson Mandela appointed both Thabo Mbeki and FW de Klerk as deputies.

The same News24 article quoted an ANC source close to the negotiations as saying that whoever is elected as president could appoint "one, two or three deputy presidents" in the interests of inclusivity.

But as law professor Pierre de Vos has pointed out on Twitter, there does not appear to be a provision in the Constitution for more than one deputy president.

Section 91 (1) of the Constitution specifies that the Cabinet consists of "the President, a Deputy President and Ministers".

It goes on to say that there may be "any number of Ministers" and "any number of deputy Ministers", so the singular phrasing of "a Deputy President" is clearly legally intentional.

In other words, it would probably require a Constitutional amendment for an additional...