TOURISM

• The Department of Tourism called for public comments on a Green Paper focusing on the sector’s development and promotion. Proposals include:
  • ‘a research-based tourism safety response programme’
  •  ‘a specialised police unit with capacity for focused preventative measures and the swift resolution of incidents involving tourists’
  • regulating the short-term rental market
  • addressing immigration and transport-related challenges
  • cutting edge skills development in keeping with technological advancements, and
  • more effective support for small and medium enterprises operating in the sector.

 

WATER RESOURCES

• The Department of Water & Sanitation gazetted a revised national water resources strategy, which includes chapters dedicated to:
  • ‘managing effective water and sanitation services’
  • ‘protecting aquatic ecosystems and maintaining and restoring ecological infrastructure’
  • ‘creating effective water sector institutions’
  • managing water and sanitation under changing climatic conditions
  • ‘building capacity for action’, and
  • ‘ensuring financial stability’.

 

LEGAL PRACTICE COUNCIL

• The Legal Practice Council called for comments on proposed amendments to six rules and gazetted finalised amendments to three. All nine documents can be found here.

 

ENVIRONMENTAL REHABILITATION

• The Department of Forestry, Fisheries and the Environment extended the pre-mine closure financial provisioning compliance deadline for certain rights and permit holders.

 

NATIONAL PORTS

• The Department of Transport called for comments from ‘maritime stakeholders’ on a first draft National Ports Amendment Bill intended to:
  • address implementation challenges experienced since the Act’s commencement
  • align existing legislation with:
    • ‘international and domestic policy developments and performance trends’
    • the 2017 policy on maritime transport, and
    • ports regulator provisions to the 2020 Economic Regulation of Transport Bill now being processed in the NCOP, and to
    • give effect to ‘recent pronouncements’ on ‘the future reporting and governance arrangements’ of state-owned transport entities.

 

Prepared by Pam Saxby