The composite National Government Gazette and National Regulation Gazette traditionally published on Fridays did not materialise until Monday 29 and Tuesday 30 January 2024 respectively. They were backdated to 26 January 2024.

BASIC INCOME GRANT

• During an opening address at the ANC’s 26-29 January 2024 national executive committee lekgotla, President Cyril Ramaphosa said, ‘There is … a strong case for a permanent form of targeted income support grant for the unemployed within our fiscal constraints.’ This was noting that:
  • ‘it has been estimated that the social relief of distress grant in its current form has reduced the number of people living in true poverty by at least two million’, and that
  • on this basis, ‘discussions should continue … about … the basic income grant’.
• In a written reply last November to a question from the ANC’s Dikgang Stock, Social Development Minister Lindiwe Zulu outlined the advantages and disadvantages of various funding models for the grant. At the time, her thinking appeared to be that a form of ‘progressive’ personal income tax – taking ‘a greater contribution from … high-income earners than … lower income earners’ – would ensure ‘a more sustainable revenue source’.

NUCLEAR ENERGY

• Electricity Minister Kgosientso Ramokgopa gazetted a notice announcing the imminent commencement of the 2019 Integrated Resource Plan’s new nuclear energy generation capacity procurement process. Among other things, the notice confirms that:
  • the procurement of 2 500 MW of new nuclear energy capacity ‘will be established through a tendering procedure … (that) is fair, equitable, transparent, competitive and cost-effective’, and that
  • the electricity generated will be purchased by Eskom or ‘any entity’ determined through its unbundling.

ESSENTIAL SERVICES

• As part of investigations into the possibility of new designations and changes in the status of others, the Department of Employment and Labour’s Essential Services Committee gazetted a notice calling for public comments on:
  • services rendered by the State Information Technology Agency
  • ‘bulk material services for the generation of power’, and
  • a raft of services supplied to the South African National Defence Force by civilian personnel.

Prepared by Pam Saxby