NEW LEGISLATION

• The General Intelligence Laws Amendment Bill was signed into law but is not yet in force. According to a Presidency media statement announcing this, once operationalised the new Act is expected to facilitate ‘significant reforms ... (across) South Africa’s intelligence services that will be accompanied by improved oversight and accountability’. To that end, the new statute provides for:
• the implementation of recommendations emerging from:
  • the findings of the 2018 presidential high-level review panel on state security, and
  • certain recommendations emerging from the Zondo Commission state capture inquiry
• measures to address concerns about bulk interception by intelligence services of internet traffic entering or leaving South Africa
• the disestablishment of the State Security Agency as a national government department
• the agency’s replacement with two separate departments:
  • a ‘Foreign Intelligence Service’ [responsible for foreign intelligence gathering and identifying ‘opportunities (for strengthening) and threats to national security’], and
  • a ‘Domestic Intelligence Agency’ (responsible for counterintelligence, gathering domestic intelligence and identifying threats to national security)
• parliamentary oversight of the administration, financial management and expenditure of all intelligence service entities, and
• ‘greater autonomy for the Inspector-General of Intelligence and the National Intelligence Co-ordinating Committee … in making administrative and functional decisions’.

 

SOCIAL RELIEF OF DISTRESS GRANT

• The Department of Social Development gazetted a notice calling for public comments on proposals for continuing the availability of a social relief of distress grant, which was introduced during the Covid-19 pandemic. Announced in Finance Minister Enoch Godongwana’s 2025/26 Budget speech, the grant’s proposed continuation does not include an increase in the monthly amount. Accordingly, the notice concerned simply amends dates specified a similar notice issued during March 2024.

 

AIR QUALITY MANAGEMENT

• The Department of Forestry, Fisheries and the Environment gazetted a ‘second generation’ air quality management plan for implementation across the Highveld priority area (HPA). Released in draft form in July 2024 for public comment, the revised plan follows a review of its 2012 iteration and associated studies on the negative health impact of poor ambient air quality in the HPA. This is noting that, according to the new plan’s executive summary, air quality in the area:

• ‘has consistently exceeded national ambient air quality standards’, and that
• the HPA is one of the world’s ‘major’ nitrogen oxides ‘hotspots’.

 

DIGITAL MIGRATION

• Following a review of the 2012 digital migration regulations, the Independent Communications Authority of South Africa (ICASA) published a findings document pointing to the need for a digital terrestrial television (DTT) regulatory framework. Begun in March 2024, at the time the inquiry explored a range of issues including:

• efficient spectrum allocation
• licensing frameworks, and
• consumer accessibility to broadcasting services.

 

SPECTRUM ACCESS AND MANAGEMENT

• ICASA gazetted draft regulations on dynamic spectrum access and opportunistic spectrum management in the innovation spectrum frequency ranges 3800-4200 MHz and 5925-6425 MHz, calling for public comments. This follows the March 2024 publication of a findings document and position paper on the implementation of dynamic spectrum access and opportunistic spectrum management.

 

FINANCIAL EDUCATION

• The Financial Sector Conduct Authority published a conduct standard prescribing the requirements to be met by institutions providing financial education. This follows the release of a discussion paper in 2020, comments on which are summarised in a consultation report issued with the new conduct standard. According to an accompanying statement of need:
• ongoing low levels of financial literacy point to a need for more appropriate financial education initiatives
• these could play a ‘significant role … in advancing transformation and inclusion’
• ‘initiatives and activities remain fragmented and unco-ordinated’ (possibly because regulatory compliance and consumer education are ‘overseen by different entities’)
• the ‘various methods of design and development’ used by the institutions concerned may be driven more by marketing objectives than financial education, and
• monitoring and evaluation measures are needed to:

• • identify gaps in the topics covered, and
  • ensure that financial education initiatives reach those most in need of them.

 

COMPETITION ACT

• The Competition Commission gazetted a notice announcing the publication of final guidelines on its approach when undertaking calculations for the price-cost test ‘where it is used’. According to the document’s preface, this is noting that:

• since ‘the price-cost test may not always be relevant’, it is used at the Commission’s discretion
• the guidelines focus on price-cost computation and not on:
  • ‘the reasonableness of any excess’ or
  • other factors possibly impacting on the reasonableness assessment
• section 8(1)(a) of the 1998 Act prohibits a dominant firm from charging excessive prices to the detriment of consumers or customers, and that
• when a competitive price is exceeded, in determining its reasonableness the Commission is required to consider all relevant factors, which may include:
  • the respondent’s price-cost margin
  • the internal rate of return
  • return on capital invested, and
  • profit history.

Prepared by Pam Saxby