EMPLOYMENT EQUITY

• A parliamentary news report quoted Employment and Labour Minister Thulas Nxesi as having confirmed that a revised set of draft regulations is being prepared to give effect to the Employment Equity Amendment Act, 2022.
• The revised draft regulations will reflect some of the comments received on a version released in May 2023, which proposed five-year sector-specific employment equity targets.

 

LOCAL GOVERNMENT

• During a media briefing, Co-operative Governance & Traditional Affairs Minister Thembisile Nkadimeng referred to work underway on drafting a ‘General Laws Amendment Bill’ to:
  • ‘streamline and fortify the legal framework governing municipalities’
  • promote ‘more effective and transparent governance’
  • ‘solidify good practices’
  • address any ‘regulatory vacuums’, and
  • ‘eradicate or mitigate detrimental practices’.
• This is in addition to:
  • a Local Government: Municipal Structures Amendment Bill, to which the Minister referred during a speech to delegates at a conference in October, and
  • the draft Intergovernmental, Monitoring, Support and Interventions Bill already released for public comment.

 

MERCHANT SHIPPING ACT

• The Department of Transport gazetted draft amendments to regulations on training, certification, and ‘safe manning’ for public comment. The changes envisaged have significant implications for fishing vessels and their crew.

 

SUBSCRIPTION TELEVISION

• The Independent Communications Authority of South Africa gazetted a notice announcing its intention to consult further on matters relating to a subscription television broadcasting market inquiry begun in 2016. Stakeholder input should be made using the following questionnaires:
  • traditional broadcasters and over-the-top providers
  • Internet service providers, and
  • content holders.

 

SCRAP METAL TRADING

• The Civilian Secretariat for Police gazetted a notice calling for public comments on draft amendments to regulations under the Second-hand Goods Act, 2009. They form part of a broader programme of action intended to curb damage to South Africa’s infrastructure and the broader economy by regulating trade in certain categories of metal waste, scrap metal and semi-finished metal products.
• The purpose of the draft amendments is to:
  • address gaps in the enforcement of scrap metal seller registration requirements
  • extend the registration requirements to include the buyers and sellers of semi-finished metal products
  • introduce more comprehensive reporting obligations, and to
  • restrict trade in scrap copper and semi-finished copper products to registered buyers and sellers.
• It is envisaged that waste pickers would be exempt from these requirements unless foraging and selling copper scrap.

 

Prepared by Pam Saxby