LEGISLATION

• The Presidency issued a media statement announcing that the Plant Health (Phytosanitary) Bill has been signed into law. Not yet gazetted, once in force the new Act will:

• align domestic legislation on plant health with the 1998 World Trade Organisation agreement on the application of plant sanitary and phytosanitary measures (as well as the 1951 UN International Plant Protection Convention)
• pave the way for the introduction of measures to ‘combat plant pests … of concern to domestic agriculture’ and with negative implications for:
  • food security
  • biosecurity, and
  • access to export markets
• provide for the control of regulated pests
• affect the movement of plants, plant products and related articles into, within and out of South Africa, and
• repeal the 1983 Agricultural Pests Act.

 

MICRO, SMALL AND MEDIUM ENTERPRISES

• The Department of Small Business Development gazetted a policy for funding micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs). According to the Minister’s foreword, the new policy:

• sets out an ‘holistic, co-ordinated and pragmatic framework for strengthening the provision of development finance’ for MSMEs and the co-operative sector

• is expected to:

• create an enabling environment to support the formation of new initiatives, as well as the expansion and maintenance of existing MSMEs

• ‘reduce the level of concentration or monopolies in certain sectors of the economy’
• ‘transform … ownership patterns’ across the economy
• promote financial education among ‘small enterprises operating in unserved and underserved areas such as townships and rural areas’
• improve the co-ordination of MSME funding support programmes, and
• reduce ‘double dipping and ecosystem fragmentation’, and

• includes an implementation plan outlining practical steps to be taken by private and public sector financiers.

 

PUBLIC-PRIVATE PARTNERSHIPS

• National Treasury issued a media statement drawing attention to 1999 Public Finance Management Act Regulation 16, an amendment to which was gazetted on 7 February 2025. This is noting the importance of public-private partnerships (PPPs) in leveraging infrastructure delivery by easing pressure on ‘stretched government finances’. According to the statement, the purpose of the amendment is to:

• rationalise the smaller project approval process by introducing a threshold exempting them from certain procedural requirements
• clarify the role and responsibilities of PPP advisory units in order to support institutions in the planning and procurement process and to fast track the conclusion and financial closure of PPP projects
• clearly delineate institutional roles and responsibilities in the context of PPP advisory unit and regulatory functions
• ‘empower’ national departments to ‘establish dedicated units tasked with adopting a programmatic approach to support PPPs on behalf of other organs of state within the strategic sectors under their jurisdiction’ (this is expected to facilitate closer collaboration and the ‘effective coordination and execution of PPP initiatives’)
• ‘report, track and manage fiscal commitments and contingent liabilities’ at specific stages in the approval process
• facilitate ‘good governance’ in the context of:
  • granting exemptions to Regulation 16
  • applications for the approval of amendments to PPP agreements, and to

• provide a ‘clear framework’ for:
  • receiving and processing unsolicited PPP proposals, and
  • incentives to ‘ease’ private sector participation.

 

COMPETITION ACT

• The Department of Trade, Industry and Competition gazetted proposals for a block exemption from certain sections of the 1998 Competition Act for the healthcare sector, calling for public comments. It is expected that, once in force, the exemption will facilitate access to ‘affordable, quality healthcare services’ across schemes with prescribed and non-prescribed minimum benefits. This by reducing costs and discouraging the ‘overutilisation of healthcare services’. To that end, the proposed exemption allows the collective determination of:

• healthcare service tariffs
• standardised diagnosis, procedure, medical device and treatment codes
• quality measurements/metrics
• medicine ‘formularies’, and
• treatment protocols/guidelines.

 

WILD ABALONE

• The Department of Forestry, Fisheries and the Environment gazetted two sets of draft regulations affecting wild abalone, calling for public comments. Once finalised:

• one set of proposed new regulations will apply only to the Eastern Cape, allocating abalone to the small-scale fishing sector, while
• the other will affect scuba diving operations in certain areas of the Suiderstrand.

 

FINANCIAL INTELLIGENCE

• The Financial Intelligence Centre (FIC) published a guidance note intended to further assist accountable institutions in their efforts to comply with risk management and compliance programme requirements under section 42 of the 2001 Financial Intelligence Centre Act. The note replaces Chapter 4 of Guidance Note 7, 2017, and is unpacked in an accompanying overview of the changes made.

 

Prepared by Pam Saxby