BASIC EDUCATION LAWS AMENDMENT ACT

• The Presidency issued two media statements on the process of finding a way forward with contentious provisions in the Basic Education Laws Amendment Act. Both statements were prompted by media reports on the announcement of an agreement reached in the National Economic Development and Labour Council (NEDLAC).
  • Among other things, the first statement:
    • noted that the Act’s contentious provisions are still under consideration by Government of National Unity (GNU) party representatives in a sub-committee expressly established by the GNU clearing house mechanism to find a compromise, and
    • distanced the GNU from the NEDLAC process.
  • According to the second statement, the NEDLAC agreement:
    • ‘has no bearing – in law or practical effect – on the inclusive multiparty discussions ... under way on sections 4 and 5 of the Act’, and
    • ‘bears no influence on the President’s powers to ultimately take a decision regarding the commencement of the Act’.
• The sub-committee is expected to table its recommendations at the next meeting of the GNU clearing house mechanism, a date for which has yet to be announced.

 

EMPLOYMENT EQUITY AMENDMENT ACT

• According to a presidential proclamation published in the Government Gazette, the 2022 Employment Equity Amendment Act will come into force on 1 January 2025 in its entirety. Among other things, the Act:

• makes employment equity compliance a precondition for conducting business with the state
• empowers the Minister to:
  • regulate the compliance criteria to be met when tendering for state contracts, and
  • set employment equity targets per economic sector and region, taking account of regionally specific racial demographics, and
• exempts entities with less than 50 employees from complying with the burdensome employment equity administrative processes of:
  • conducting workplace equity analyses
  • preparing employment equity plans, and
  • submitting employment equity reports.

 

ELECTRONIC DEEDS REGISTRATION ACT

• The Presidency gazetted a proclamation announcing that sections 3 and 4 of the 2019 Electronic Deeds Registration Act will come into force on 2 December 2024. This is noting that:
  • among other things these sections affect the status and validity of certain documents, and that
  • the Act’s section 2 (development, establishment and maintenance of the electronic deeds registration system) came into effect in November 2019.
• In addition, draft regulations were gazetted for public comment.

 

BIODIVERSITY MANAGEMENT

• The Department of Forestry, Fisheries and the Environment called for public comments on a draft biodiversity management plan for the African geranium. This is noting the medicinal value of its tuberous roots, which are used in the manufacture of phytomedicines. The roots are harvested in the wild not only for local and international pharmaceutical companies, but also for traditional medicinal purposes. Against that backdrop, the draft plan seeks to ensure that:

• collection and management-related activities:
  • are conducted ‘in respect of and under legitimate tenure arrangements’
  • comply with relevant laws, regulations and agreements, and
  • meet ‘the best practice requirements of being adaptive, practical, participatory, and transparent’, and that
• equitable benefits accrue to the ‘rightful beneficiaries’.

 

Prepared by Pam Saxby