METAL THEFT

• The Civilian Secretariat for the Police Service gazetted revised draft amendments to regulations under the Second-hand Goods Act, 2009, for public comment. Among other things, they propose:
  • making ‘satisfactory tax compliance status’ a prerequisite for registration as a scrap and waste metal buyer or seller
  • making registration a requirement for the buyers and sellers of semi-finished metal products, and
  • requiring scrap and waste buyers and sellers to submit monthly electronic reports to the International Trade Administration Commission ‘showing all purchases and sales of metal products (scrap, waste, semi-finished and finished) by volume and value’.
• While it is envisaged that waste pickers dealing in these items would be exempt from certain of the requirements proposed, purchasers of the scrap they offer for sale would be expected to keep detailed records of any such transactions.
• Government is also considering making the registered sellers of copper scrap and waste – as well as finished and semi-finished copper products – the only legitimate source of such items for registered buyers.

 

TRADITIONAL HEALTH PRACTITIONERS

• The Government Communications and Information System’s SAnews drew attention to draft regulations on the registration of traditional health practitioners. Gazetted on 21 June 2024 for public comment, at the time the deadline for input was three months from that date. According to SAnews, the proposed new regulations:
  • follow a review of draft regulations released in November 2015 for public comment, and
  • once in force are expected to usher in ‘a new dawn for the recognition and professionalisation of … traditional health practice’.

 

LABOUR COURT AND LABOUR APPEAL COURT RULES

• The Office of the Chief Justice gazetted minutes of a recent meeting of the Labour Court and Labour Appeal Court Rules Board, the final paragraph of which confirms that:
  • new Labour Court rules gazetted in May 2024 will come into effect on 17 July 2024, along with
  • new Labour Appeal Court rules (published with minutes of the meeting at which the rules were approved).

 

MAGISTRATES’ COURTS RULES

• The Rules Board for Courts of Law called for public comments on draft amendments to Magistrates’ Courts Rule 64 (procedure for securing witnesses’ attendance in criminal cases). The proposed amendments seek to address a ‘potential problem’ in implementing ‘certain provisions’ in an earlier amendment to the rule, which was gazetted with other amendments in May 2023 and came into force the following month.

 

LOWER COURTS AND MAGISTRATES BILLS UPDATE

• In his 2024/25 budget vote speech, Justice and Constitutional Development Deputy Minister, Andries Nel, confirmed that work is underway on revising the draft Lower Courts and Magistrates Bills released in 2022 for public comment. According to the Deputy Minister, ‘more in-depth discussions’ on input received from key stakeholders will follow their meetings with former Deputy Minister John Jeffery.
• When it was gazetted, the draft Magistrates Bill’s overarching objective was to establish a ‘magistrates commission’ to assume responsibility for regulating ‘the appointment, conditions of service, remuneration, retirement, suspension and removal of magistrates’.
• At the time of its publication, the draft Lower Courts Bill sought to:
  • provide for the establishment, composition and functioning of lower courts comprising regional courts, district courts and municipal courts, and
  • the administration of the judicial functions of those courts.

 

SECTOR-INDUSTRY MASTER PLANS

• The Department of Trade, Industry and Competition issued a media statement on seventh administration priorities, which will be to ‘accelerate’:
  • industrial policy implementation, ‘starting with the sector master plans’, and
  • economic transformation.

 

MINERAL AND PETROLEUM RESOURCES

• In his 2024/25 budget vote speech, Mineral and Petroleum Resources Minister Gwede Mantashe referred to the following proposed new pieces of legislation at various stages of drafting:
  • amendments to the Mineral & Petroleum Resources Development Act (MPRDA), 2002 (among other things intended to reduce red tape and improve the business environment for investors)
  • a General Laws Amendment Bill (intended to synchronise provisions in the MPRDA, Diamonds Act, 1986, and Criminal Procedure Act, 1977, in order to ‘define illegal mining as a criminal act, thus empowering police to enter and arrest illegal miners for their criminal deeds’)
  • a Petroleum Products Amendment Bill (ready to be released for public comment), and
  • a South African National Petroleum Company Bill (also ready to be released for public comment and intended to create ‘a state-owned national champion for active participation in oil and gas projects’).
• According to the speech, a revised draft Gas Amendment Bill is expected to be submitted to the National Economic Development and Labour Council in August 2024 (in anticipation of being finalised for tabling in Parliament, subject to Cabinet approval).

 

Prepared by Pam Saxby