HIGHER EDUCATION AND TRAINING

• Higher Education, Science and Innovation Minister Blade Nzimande issued a media statement announcing the implementation of the first phase of a comprehensive student funding model intended to enable access by missing middle students to government loans.
• This is the culmination of an eight-year process among other things informed by:
  • the November 2016 ministerial task team report on developing a support and funding model for poor and missing middle students (as well as lessons learned from the ensuing pilot and related feasibility study), and
  • the November 2017 Heher Commission report on higher education and training.

SECURITY OF TENURE

• The Extension of Security of Tenure Amendment Act, 2018, will come into force on 1 April 2024, in keeping with a presidential proclamation in the Government Gazette.
• Among other things, this will formally establish and operationalise:
  • a Land Rights Management Board, and
  • land rights management committees tasked with identifying, monitoring and settling land rights disputes.

PUBLIC BUILDING MANAGEMENT

• The Department of Public Works and Infrastructure gazetted three sets of regulations on the efficient management of public buildings and withdrew one.
  • The first set (published on 12 January 2024) is identical to the other two except that it does not include a reference to ‘draft 3 – 6 April 2023’ in the top right-hand corner of each page. It has not been withdrawn.
  • The 17 January 2024 version has been withdrawn. This is according to the covering notice of replacement regulations gazetted the following day.
• The purpose of the new regulations is to:
  • enable energy and water use efficiency in public buildings
  • reduce waste production by their occupants
  • reduce the carbon footprint of government’s immovable assets
  • reduce expenditure on utilities and waste management, and
  • facilitate the good governance of government assets.

FOREIGN FISHING VESSELS

• The Department of Forestry, Fisheries and the Environment called for public comments on draft regulations under the Marine living Resources Act, 1998, with the intention of:
  • creating ‘a discreet notification and permitting procedure’ applicable to foreign fishing vessels wishing to traverse South African waters or enter one of the country’s ports
  • providing these vessels with ‘certainty on the process and procedures’ to be followed before entering South African waters
  • ensuring that South Africa is always ‘aware of the presence of foreign fishing vessels in its waters’
  • ensuring the proper stowing of any fishing gear on board
  • minimising illegal, unreported and unregulated fishing, and
  • domesticating relevant aspects of the UN Food and Agricultural Organisation’s Agreement on Port State Measures, to which South Africa is party.

Prepared by Pam Saxby