GOVERNMENT GAZETTE PUBLICATION PROBLEMS

• The composite National Government and National Regulations eGazettes routinely issued on Fridays have not been published on time for two weeks.
• Editions that should have been issued on 19 July 2024 were eventually published six days later, backdated and slotted in underneath more recently gazetted notices, making them difficult to spot as new arrivals.
• Individual notices in these composite editions have since been added to the documents page of the National Government website using the same approach and therefore difficult to identify as new arrivals.
• These notices deal with routine regulatory matters not normally covered in this blog.
• At 17:00 on Sunday 28 July 2024, editions of these composite eGazettes that should have been issued on 26 July 2024 had not yet been published.

 

NEW LEGISLATION

• The Presidency issued separate media statements announcing that five more Bills have been signed into law:
  • media statement on the Public Procurement Bill’s enactment
  • media statement on the National Small Enterprise Amendment Bill
  • media statement on the Climate Change Bill
  • media statement on the Companies Amendment Bill and Companies Second Amendment Bill
• Unfortunately, at the time of writing the Companies Amendment Act and Companies Second Amendment Act had not yet been published.
• The following new statutes are available:
  • the Public Procurement Act (not yet in force, and intended to create a single framework for all organs of state, ‘with the necessary efficiency, cost-effectiveness and integrity’ and underpinned by government’s commitment to broad-based black economic empowerment through preferential procurement)
  • the National Small Enterprise Amendment Act (not yet in force, and intended to streamline government support services  for small and medium businesses, underpinned by a commitment to ‘broadening participation in the economy’ – especially by entrepreneurs from historically disadvantaged communities)
  • the Climate Change Act (not yet in force, and setting out a ‘national climate change response, including mitigation and adaptation actions’, as South Africa’s ‘fair contribution’ to the global response to climate change)
  • the Companies Amendment Act
  • the Companies Second Amendment Act

 

NATIONAL HEALTH INSURANCE

• The Department of Health issued a media statement on Minister Aaron Motsoaledi’s response to a recent Gauteng High Court (Pretoria) ruling declaring sections 36-40 of the National Health Act unconstitutional.

 

REVIVED BILLS

• The minutes of a National Assembly plenary session on 25 July 2024 confirmed that 13 Bills allowed to lapse at the end of the previous Parliament have now been revived. The can be found here.
• The Order Paper for the NCOP’s 29 July 2024 plenary session includes a draft resolution on the revival of five more Bills.

Prepared by Pam Saxby