STATE OF DISASTER

• In response to the severe weather conditions experienced recently in certain provinces, on 18 April a notice was gazetted:
  • reclassifying to ‘national’ the provincial disaster declared on 13 April, and
  • formalising President Cyril Ramaphosa’s earlier announcement.

 

SOCIAL RELIEF OF DISTRESS GRANT

• New regulations gazetted on 22 April and immediately in force:
  • extend the grant’s availability for 12 months
  • include information-sharing consent provisions, and prescribe:
    • the eligibility criteria to be met
    • the application procedures to be followed
    • the amount and period of payment, and
    • the appeal process.

 

INDEPENDENT COMMUNICATIONS AUTHORITY OF SOUTH AFRICA (ICASA)

• As the next step in Icasa’s market inquiry into signal distribution services, a discussion document has been gazetted for public comment with the aim of:
  • assessing ‘the state of competition’, and
  • ‘determining whether or not there are markets or market segments within the signal distribution services value chain which may warrant regulation in the context of a market review’.

 

CRITICAL INFRASTRUCTURE

• Draft interim regulations have been gazetted for public comment, focusing on:
  • the ‘functioning of the Critical Infrastructure Council’ established by the 2019 Act, some sections of which are scheduled to come into force on 30 April
  • the establishment of a ‘critical infrastructure protection regulator’, and
  • the regulator’s functions.

 

ZA REGISTRY

• Draft licensing regulations and procedures have been gazetted for public comment.

 

INTERNATIONAL TRAVEL

• The Department of Home Affairs has gazetted a notice confirming that:
  • all ports of entry for aircraft except Pilansberg International are now open, and that
  • entry to or exit from South Africa is subject to screening procedures prescribed in the prevailing disaster management regulations.

 

Prepared by Pam Saxby