SOCIAL RELIEF OF DISTRESS GRANT

The Department of Social Development has gazetted a notice calling for public comments on an amendment to the regulations that, once in force, will prolong the availability of the R350 monthly grant to qualifying people for another year, ending on 31 March 2024.

 

SMALL, MEDIUM AND MICRO ENTERPRISES

• The Department of Small Business Development has published a ten-year masterplan:
  • as a strategic framework for strengthening and implementing ‘the vision of the ‘White Paper’ and its framework legislation, the National Small Business Act, and
  • to ‘enable various public and private actors to operate in a targeted, collaborative and co-ordinated manner’.

 

FRESH PRODUCE MARKET INQUIRY

• The Department of Trade, Industry and Competition has gazetted the terms of reference for a Competition Commission inquiry into the fresh produce market, which among other things will investigate:
  • the impact on food prices of a ‘sharp decline in the number of commercial farms’
  • ‘the difficulties smaller farmers face in reaching the necessary economies of scale to decrease costs and maintain profitability’, and
  • the potential for abusive conduct where market circumstances change suddenly, as they did during the Covid-19 pandemic.

 

PROTECTION OF PERSONAL INFORMATION

• The Information Regulator has called for input on draft rules of procedure for its enforcement committee:
  • setting out ‘the manner in which a complaint or any matter … may be referred to (the committee) and considered for a finding and recommendation under the Protection of Personal Information Act, in order to
  • ‘promote and enhance access to the Information Regulator … by complainants who are alleging interference with the protection of their personal information’.

 

ONLINE INTERMEDIATION PLATFORM MARKET INQUIRY

• The Department of Trade, Industry and Competition has gazetted a notice giving the Competition Commission until 18 April 2023 to complete its inquiry into the market behaviour of digital platforms intermediating online transactions between businesses and consumers.

 

BROAD-BASED BLACK ECONOMIC EMPOWERMENT

• Minister in the Presidency, Mondli Gungubele, has issued a media statement drawing attention to a Government Gazette notice published in December 2022, the heading of which called for comments on a revised broad-based black economic empowerment code for the marketing, advertising and communications sector. However:
  • the revised code was never made available, and
  • no deadline was set for stakeholder input.

 

RATIONALISING THE COURT SYSTEM

The Department of Justice and Constitutional Development has gazetted a notice giving stakeholders until 28 February to comment on a draft report released in November 2022. It was prepared by a committee established to resolve the challenges associated with aligning the judicial system with the requirements of the Constitution.

 

RULES BOARD FOR COURTS OF LAW

• Government Gazette notices have been published affecting rules for conducting proceedings:
  • in the Supreme Court of Appeal (one amendment has been made), and
  • the Small Claims Courts (according to the notice, new rules will come into force on 1 April 2023).

 

Prepared by Pam Saxby