NATIONAL QUALIFICATIONS FRAMEWORK AMENDMENT ACT

• A presidential proclamation retrospectively commenced most sections of the National Qualifications Framework Amendment Act, 2019, from 12 September 2023. Among other things, the Act:
  • provides for the referral of fraudulent qualifications to a relevant professional body, and
  • introduces offences for qualification fraud.
• Provisions not yet operationalised include:
  • registration and accreditation requirements affecting ‘every private education institution or skills development provider offering education and training programmes or any component thereof towards a qualification or part-qualification’, and
  • a requirement that every qualification or part qualification should be evaluated and verified by the South African Qualifications Authority before being introduced.

 

WORK VISA POLICY REFORM

• The Department of Home Affairs gazetted a notice inviting businesses, investors and corporate employers to submit expressions of interest in a ‘trusted employer scheme’ pilot intended to facilitate the process of:
  • attracting skilled personnel from other countries, and
  • managing their immigration.
• Fewer requirements and supporting documents will be necessary when qualifying employers submit work visas and residence permit applications.
• Eligibility criteria include being able to demonstrate:
  • the ‘financial strength to employ a foreign national’, and that
  • in-house skills transfer and training programmes are already in place for South African citizens.

 

DRUG-FREE SPORT AMENDMENT BILL

• Sport, Arts and Culture Minister Zizi Kodwa issued a media statement confirming that a South African Institute for Drug-Free Sport Amendment Bill has been approved by Cabinet and is expected to be tabled in Parliament soon. The Bill is now awaiting certification by the Office of the Chief State Law Adviser.

 

TOURISM

• The Tourism Sector Master Plan approved by Cabinet on 27 September 2023 was gazetted. According to a post-Cabinet meeting media statement issued at the time, the plan:
  • includes a road map for the tourism sector’s ‘full recovery’ from the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic, and
  • takes the work of the April 2021 recovery plan to ‘another level’ by facilitating ‘new opportunities in the sector’.

 

WATER INFRASTRUCTURE

• The Department of Water & Sanitation issued a media statement withdrawing its April 2023 draft regulations on restricting access to water infrastructure and surrounding land for recreational purposes. This is noting that:
  • the decision was informed by comments received during the public consultation process and that
  • revised regulatory proposals will be released in due course.

 

NATIONAL PORTS

• The Department of Transport gazetted a notice withdrawing a first draft National Ports Amendment Bill released on 1 September 2023 for public comment. Once certain ‘technical errors’ have been corrected, the document will be reissued and reopened for stakeholder input. This is noting that the draft Bill’s purpose is to:
  • address implementation challenges experienced since the Act’s commencement, and
  • align it with:
    • international and domestic policy developments and performance trends
    • the 2017 comprehensive policy on maritime transport
    • ports regulator provisions to the 2020 Economic Regulation of Transport Bill now being processed in the NCOP, and
    • recent pronouncements on the future reporting and governance arrangements of state-owned transport entities.

 

WASTE TYRE MANAGEMENT

• The Department of Forestry, Fisheries and the Environment called for public comments on two more sets of proposals:
  • draft amendments to the 2017 waste tyre management regulations (similar to proposals gazetted in January 2023), and
  • a draft waste tyre management plan (following proposals published in March 2022, prepared by the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research).

 

THREATENED AND PROTECTED SPECIES

• The Department of Forestry, Fisheries and the Environment republished and called for further comment on draft amendments to regulations pertaining to listed threatened or protected terrestrial and freshwater species.
• Originally released in February 2023 and withdrawn the following month, the purpose of the amendments is to address ‘shortcomings’ in the 2007 regulations on threatened or protected species.
• Once in force, among other things, the amended regulations will introduce:
  • a prohibition on domestic trade in imported species
  • restrictions on activities pertaining to certain species of freshwater fish
  • additional grounds for declining registration and permit applications
  • compulsory reporting requirements affecting both permit holders and issuing authorities
  • a duty of care towards listed species for which certain types of permits are issued, and
  • requirements in terms of which animal well-being will be factored into administrative decision-making.

 

Prepared by Pam Saxby