BUDGET 2024/25

• In his Budget speech, Finance Minister Enoch Godongwana announced policy proposals for:
  • Gold and Foreign Exchange Contingency Reserve Account settlement framework reforms intended to ‘reduce government borrowing and improve the Reserve Bank’s equity position’, and
  • ‘an increase in the limit for renewable energy projects that …. qualify for the carbon offsets regime, from 15 megawatts to 30 megawatts’.
• the Minister also:
  • committed government to continuing to ‘protect core services’ by directing 60% of non-interest spending to the social wage, and ‘preserving capital spending’, and
  • proposed adding R57.6 bn to Medium Term Budget Policy public sector wage bill projections (‘to pay for the salaries of teachers, nurses and doctors, among many other critical services’).

 

GOLD AND FOREIGN EXCHANGE CONTINGENCY RESERVE ACCOUNT

• National Treasury published a document answering ‘frequently asked questions’ about the gold and foreign exchange contingency reserve account settlement framework.

 

COMPENSATION FOR OCCUPATIONAL INJURIES AND DISEASES

• The Department of Employment and Labour issued a media statement asserting that ‘the Compensation Fund can no longer recover damages paid to claimants as a result of road accidents’. In fact this provision is included in the Compensation for Occupational Injuries and Diseases Amendment Act, 2022, which has yet to come into force.

 

PUBLIC-PRIVATE PARTNERSHIPS

• National Treasury issued a media statement explaining draft regulations recently gazetted for public comment:
  • draft amendments to regulations under the Public Finance Management Act, 1999
  • draft amendments to regulations under the Local Government: Municipal Finance Management Act, 2003.

 

FILMS AND GAMES

• The Film and Publications Board gazetted a notice prescribing registration and material classification requirements to be met by film and game distributors and exhibitors before 17 March 2024. The notice was backdated to 16 February 2024 but only published three days later.
• Anyone providing child-oriented services and therefore under no obligation to submit material for classification is nevertheless required to:
  • moderate such services, and
  • ‘take such reasonable steps as are necessary to ensure that such services are not being used by any person for the purpose of the commission of any offence against the public, including children’.

 

ROAD ACCIDENT FUND

• The Road Accident Fund gazetted a notice adjusting the statutory limit for loss of support or income claims to R357 565.00, with effect from 31 January 2024.

 

ENVIRONMENTAL MANAGEMENT

The Department of Forestry, Fisheries and the Environment gazetted a notice calling for public comments on proposals for exempting the South African National Parks from environmental authorisation requirements under the National Environmental Management Act, 1998. The notice was backdated to 16 February 2024 but was only published three days later.

• The exemption would:
  • be specific to the Kruger National Park and subject to compliance with requirements outlined in the park’s generic environmental management programme and code of conduct
  • apply to activities associated with infrastructure projects, maintenance, conservation and rehabilitation, and
  • would not apply to activities requiring atmospheric emission or waste management licences.

 

Prepared by Pam Saxby