COMPENSATION FOR OCCUPATIONAL INJURIES AND DISEASES ACT

• The Department of Employment and Labour has called for public comments on draft regulations to enable rehabilitation, reintegration and return-to-work provisions in the Compensation for Occupational Injuries and Diseases Amendment Act, 2022. Among other things, they seek to:
  • make it mandatory for all employers to develop a reintegration and return-to-work policy that should:
    • include reskilling for alternative work, and
    • where applicable, ensure that ‘reasonable accommodation and assistive devices’ are available to those requiring them.

SMALL, MEDIUM AND MICRO ENTERPRISES

• An explanatory summary of the National Small Enterprise Amendment Bill has been gazetted in anticipation of its imminent introduction in Parliament. Among other things, the Bill seeks to:
  • establish an ‘Office of Small Enterprise Ombud Service’, to be tasked with:
    • considering and disposing of business-to-business disputes in a cost-effective, efficient manner (mitigating the need for lengthy, expensive court proceedings)
    • making recommendations to the Minister on protecting the rights of small enterprises by issuing guidelines on and regulating unfair trading practices, some of which may be prohibited
  • establish a Small Enterprise Development Finance Agency with the aim of integrating financial and non-financial government support for small enterprises, including co-operatives (disbanding the Small Enterprise Financing Agency, Co-operative Banks Development Agency and Small Enterprise Development Agency).

CITIZENSHIP REGULATIONS

• The Department of Home Affairs has gazetted amendments to regulations in place since December 2012 under the South African Citizenship Act, 1995. Now in force, among other things they:
  • reduce from ten to five years the period of ordinary residence required of a naturalisation applicant, but
  • insert a long list of other requirements to be met.

CAPTIVE LION INDUSTRY

• The Department of Forestry, Fisheries and the Environment has gazetted a notice extending to 31 December 2023 the timeframe within which a task team should be established to ‘identify and recommend voluntary exit options and pathways for … captive lion industry (participants)’.

BIODIVERSITY CONSERVATION

• The Department of Forestry, Fisheries and the Environment has gazetted a White Paper on the conservation and sustainable use of South Africa’s biodiversity.
• In April 2023, following Cabinet’s decision to approve the White Paper for implementation, the department issued a media statement among other things noting that the development of a White Paper was one of several recommendations made by a high-level panel appointed in 2019 to advise former Minister Nomvula Mokonyane on matters related to elephant, lion, leopard and rhinoceros management, handling, breeding, hunting and trade. The panel’s report was published in 2021.

SCRAP METAL EXPORT AND PREFERENTIAL PRICING

• Trade, Industry and Competition Minister Ebrahim Patel has issued a policy directive:
  • extending a ban on exporting certain types of ferrous and non-ferrous scrap and waste metal until mid-December 2023, and
  • suspending for a further six months the preferential pricing system originally introduced in 2013 with the aim of supporting local beneficiation industries.
• The move responds to evidence that stronger measures are needed to significantly reduce the high incidence of copper and metal theft, as well as related damage to essential infrastructure.

WATER USE LICENSING

• The Department of Water and Sanitation has issued a media statement intended to further clarify proposals in draft amendments to the water use licensing regulations, which were released in May for public comment.
• According to the latest statement, it is envisaged that the licensing-related transformation requirements now being proposed will not apply to:
  • the renewal of existing water use licenses, or
  • the compulsory re-licensing of water use allocations granted before the National Water Act, 1998, came into force.

LOCAL GOVERNMENT

• The Department of Co-operative Governance and Traditional Affairs has gazetted a code of conduct for municipal councillors. Now in force, the code:
  • sets general performance and behaviour-related standards, and
  • prescribes:
    • the requirements to be met in respect of attendance and voting at meetings
    • the procedures to be followed when declaring any gift received over R1000 in value
    • the action to be taken by a municipal manager when a councillor is more than two months in arrears with payments for municipal rates and services, and
    • the reporting obligations of a municipal council speaker regarding councillors’ compliance with the code.

Prepared by Pam Saxby