GENDER-BASED VIOLENCE

• The Criminal Law (Sexual Offences and Related Matters) Amendment Act Amendment Act, 2021 is now in force, according to a recent presidential proclamation. The Act is one of three new statutes expected to go some way towards curbing gender-based violence and femicide. The others are:
  • the Criminal and Related Matters Amendment Act, 2021 (which is not yet in effect), and
  • the Domestic Violence Amendment Act, 2021 (of which section 19A is in force, with draft regulations having been released on 22 June for public comment).

 

WATER RESOURCES

• The Department of Water and Sanitation has called for public comment on a draft strategy intended to:
  • provide a framework for the protection, use, development, conservation, management and control of South Africa’s water resources at regional and catchment levels, and to
  • become ‘the primary mechanism and legal instrument for implementing the National Water Act’.

 

BIODIVERSITY MANAGEMENT

• The Department of Forestry, Fisheries and the Environment has issued a media statement calling for public comment on a draft biodiversity management plan for the African penguin.

 

ENVIRONMENTAL AUTHORISATION

• The Department of Forestry, Fisheries and the Environment has gazetted a notice confirming its adoption of a revised standard released in draft form in April this year for public comment. In the context of power line and sub-station expansion and development, certain specified and/or listed activities are now exempt from environmental authorisation requirements.

 

ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACT ASSESSMENTS

• Substantive amendments have been made to the registration authority regulations, with implications for:
  • environmental assessment practitioners, and
  • their competency requirements and qualifications.

 

WASTE MANAGEMENT

• The deadline for submitting interim expanded producer responsibility scheme performance reports has been extended to 31 August 2022 by notice in the Government Gazette. The extension applies to extended producer responsibility schemes in place since November 2020 for the following sectors:
  • electrical and electronic equipment
  • lighting, and
  • paper, packaging and some single-use products.

 

FUEL PRICES

• The Department of Mineral Resources and Energy as issued a media statement on proposals for a cap on the price of 93 octane fuel. In the department’s view, once in force the cap envisaged “will allow ... fuel suppliers who can pass the benefit to the consumer to do so”. Given 93 octane’s “small portion of the market”, “no disruptions are expected” although market reaction to the cap will be monitored.

 

Prepared by Pam Saxby