27 January 2025

From the Government Gazette and Media Statements (27 January 2025)

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LABOUR RELATIONS ACT

  • The Department of Employment and Labour gazetted a draft code of good practice for dismissals, calling for public comments. Its purpose is to guide employers, employees and trade unions on the application of their legal obligations under the 1995 Labour Relations Act regarding dismissal for misconduct, incapacity or operational requirements. According to an introduction to the draft code, this is noting the importance of:
  • mutual respect between employers and employees
  • employment justice
  • the efficient operation of an employer’s business
  • the expeditious resolution of disputes
  • the special circumstances in which small businesses operate, and
  • rights and obligations under a collective agreement.

 

EXPROPRIATION ACT

  • The Expropriation Bill was signed into law and the Act gazetted. It is not yet in force. According to a Presidency media statement announcing this, the new piece of legislation provides a common, guiding framework for the expropriation of property by organs of state, along with related processes and procedures. This is noting that, in keeping with constitutional imperatives:
  • ‘an expropriating authority may not expropriate property arbitrarily or for a purpose other than a public purpose or in the public interest’
  • under the new legislation, expropriation is ‘subject to just and equitable compensation being paid’
  • ‘expropriation may not be exercised unless the expropriating authority has without success attempted to reach an agreement with the owner or holder of a right in property for the acquisition thereof on reasonable terms’, and that
  • ‘an expropriating authority is therefore obliged to enter into negotiations with the owner of a property required for such purposes’.

 

MARINE LIVING RESOURCES ACT

  • The Department of Forestry, Fisheries and the Environment gazetted and called for public comments on revised draft regulations among other things intended to ‘minimise illegal, unreported and unregulated fishing’ by foreign vessels in South African waters. First released in January 2024 for comment, the proposed new regulations now reflect some of the input received. Developed under the 1998 Marine Living Resources Act, once in force they are also expected to:
  • provide foreign fishing vessels ‘certainty’ regarding the processes and procedures entailed when entering South African waters
  • ‘ensure that South Africa is aware of the presence of foreign fishing vessels in its waters at any given time’
  • ‘ensure that if fishing gear is carried on board, it is properly stowed’, and to
  • ‘regulate trans-shipment at sea’.

 

COMPETITION ACT

  • The Competition Commission gazetted draft guidelines on internal restructuring for public comment. Once finalised, the proposed new guidelines are expected to clarify which transactions under the 1998 Competition Act are:
  • likely to ‘constitute an internal restructuring’, and
  • the circumstances in which a merger notification may nevertheless be required.

 

Prepared by Pam Saxby

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