Prescription in Civil and Criminal Matters (Sexual Offences) Amendment Bill; Judicial Matters A/B & Recognition of Customary Marriages A/B: adoption

Meeting report

The Chairperson read a correspondence from the Speaker’s office on Parliament criminalising corporeal punishment in accordance with the Constitutional Court.

The Chairperson said that the Committee would come back to the topic once they received further clarity on what it is they needed to do.

Finalisation of the Recognition of Customary Marriages Amendment Bill

The Committee went through the Recognition of Customary Marriages Amendment Bill page by page.

Mr X Nqola (ANC) moved to adopt the Bill.

Ms N Maseko-Jele (ANC) seconded the adoption of the Bill.

Mr W Horn (DA) said that the DA reserved its position on the Bill.

The Recognition of Customary Marriages Amendment Bill was adopted.

Draft Committee Report on the Bill

The Committee went through the Draft Committee Report on the Customary Marriages Amendment Bill.

Ms Maseko-Jele asked why in one section the report referred to wife and in another section it referred to wives.

 It was clarified that that part of the report was taken directly from a Constitutional Court judgement.

Adv H Mohamed (ANC) moved to adopt the report.

Ms Maseko-Jele seconded the adoption of the report.

Mr Horn said that DA reserved its position on the report.

The report was adopted.

Finalisation of the Judicial Matters Amendment Bill

The Committee went through the Judicial Matters Amendment Bill and the Chairperson read through the proposed amendment. On page 3 from line 19 to omit paragraph C and to substitute with the following: ‘entered into in terms of any law applicable in a former Homeland without entering into an antenuptial contract or agreement in terms of such law’.

Ms Theresa Ross, Principal State Law Advisor, Department of Justice and Constitutional Development, said that yesterday a proposal was made that the wording be changed to say ‘applicable in the former Homeland as defined in the Constitution’. The draft before the Committee has omitted those words. The Parliamentary legal advisors, the Department of Justice and the Office of the Chief State Law Advisor had a lengthy discussion yesterday. They all came to an agreement that it was not necessary to include in the draft ‘Homeland as defined in the Constitution’ because the Constitution already defines what a Homeland is. That amendment would have been superfluous to put in the proposal. The group also decided after lengthy debate to delimit the reading to closest to what the Court judgement had ordered.

Ms Sueanne Isaac, Legal Advisor, Parliament’s Constitutional and Legal Services Office, said that they agreed to stick as closely to what the Court had ordered.

The Committee agreed on the amendment.

Ms Maseko-Jele moved to adopt the Bill.

Mr Nqola seconded the adoption of the Bill.

Adv G Breytenbach (DA) said the DA reserved its position on the Bill.

The Bill was adopted.

Draft Committee Report on the Bill

The Chairperson went through the Draft Committee Report on the Judicial Matters Amendment Bill.

Mr Nqola noted a grammatical error on paragraph 5 of the report.

Mr Nqola moved to adopt the report.

Ms Maseko-Jele seconded the adoption of the report.

The report was adopted with the amendment.

Finalisation of the Prescription in Civil and Criminal Matters (Sexual Offences) Amendment Bill

The Chairperson went through the Prescription in Civil and Criminal Matters (Sexual Offences) Amendment Bill. There were amendments proposed the previous day.

Mr Henk du Preez, State Legal Advisor, Department of Justice and Constitutional Development, said there were amendments to the A-list document. There would be technical amendments to clause 1 of the Bill. At the end of subsection 4 there will be additions after the word incapacity: ‘or because of any other that the board deems appropriate’. The reference to the date 27 April 1994 will be removed in terms of subsection 5 under clause 1. He then moved to clause 2 the proposed amendment to section 13. Following the word incapacity ‘or is affected by any other factor that the court deems appropriate with regards to any offense referred to in section 12.4. He then moved to the proposed amendment of clause 3 of section 18. The Department recommended that reference to 27 April 1994 should be removed and replaced with the following subclause ‘the right to institute a prosecution that, in respect of any offence referred in subsection 1ea and if, has lapsed before the commencement of the Prescription in Civil and Criminal Matters (Sexual Offences) Amendment Act of 2019 is hereby revived. There was also a small amendment to clause 1 subsection 4.

Ms Isaac said that the A-list is as the Committee had agreed to it.

Ms Maseko-Jele moved to adopt the Bill.

Mr Nqola seconded the adoption of the Bill.

Mr Horn said the DA reserved its position on the Bill.

The Bill was adopted.

Draft Committee Report on the Bill

The Chairperson went through the Draft Committee Report on the Prescription in Civil Matters (Sexual Offences) Amendment Bill.

Mr Nqola moved to adopt the Bill.

Ms Maseko-Jele seconded the adoption of the Bill.

Ms Breytenbach said the DA reserved its position on the Bill.

The Chairperson said that the Bill was unlikely to meet the deadline. The Committee did not take kindly to Departments sitting with the Bill and then introducing it at the last minute. The National Assembly and the National Council of Provinces both needed time to deliberate on Bills. Bill timelines needed to include public participation.

Mr Horn asked if the Committee agreed that the Bill needed only declarations and not full debates.

The Chairperson agreed that the Committee only do declarations. The programme was full next week and there was broad agreement on the Bill.

The meeting was adjourned.