Repeal of the Transkeian Penal Code Bill: consideration and adoption
Justice and Constitutional Development
10 February 2023
Chairperson: Mr G Magwanishe (ANC)
Meeting Summary
The Portfolio Committee on Justice and Correctional Services convened a short meeting on the virtual platform to deliberate on the Repeal of the Transkeian Penal Code Bill.
The Department informed the Committee that in the former Transkei region, the penal codes were still being used in 99 percent of the common law offences, with the exceptions of sexual offences, sections related to prescribing minimum sentences for assault and Gender Based Violence (GBV) and the sections which required an accused to outline the nature of the defence before a trial. The Department was unable to provide statistics related to the number of investigations and prosecutions in which those codes had been used in the past five years. The purpose of the Bill is to repeal the code and do away with the codification of criminal law to replace it with legislation in line with the rest of the country.
After a reading of the Bill, the Committee welcomed the repeal process and indicated that it was long overdue.
Meeting report
The Chairperson greeted Members on the platform and departmental officials.
He indicated that the meeting may commence. The meeting agenda was deliberation on the Repeal of the Transkeian Penal Code Bill.
The Committee noted the apology of Mr S Swart (ACDP).
The Chairperson noted that since the Committee had not received any public comments on the Bill, it would move straight into deliberation on the Bill.
Adv Tsietsi Sebelemetja, from the Department of Justice, led the delegation.
Introduction to the Bill
Ms Ina Botha, State Law Advisor, informed the Committee that the Department had approached the National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) in the Eastern Cape, enquiring about the statistics of the number of cases in which the Transkei penal code that had been used in the previous five years following the Department’s last engagement with the Committee. Adv Barry Madolo, Director of the NPA in the Eastern Cape, responded that the penal code had been used in almost 99 percent of all cases in the former Transkei area. However, sections related to sexual offences had been repealed and were in line with the national legislation. Sections that prescribed minimum sentences for assault and Gender Based Violence (GBV) were repealed as well as the sections which required an accused person to outline the nature of a person’s defence before the commencement of a trial were repealed. Adv Madolo was unable to provide statistics for the number of investigations or prosecutions, however, it was confirmed that the code had been used in 99 percent of all common law offences.
Ms N Maseko-Jele (ANC) sought clarity on the implications in terms of the 99 percent of cases.
Ms Botha responded that Ms Maseko-Jele’s question was what the Department had tried to understand from the NPA in the Eastern Cape. The Department established that the code was still in force. Hence, the purpose of this process before Members is to repeal the code and do away with the codification of criminal law to replace it with legislation in line with the rest of the country.
Ms Kalay Pillay, Deputy Director-General: Legislative Development and Law Reform, added that the implication, which had also been raised by the NPA office in the Eastern Cape, was that they would have to read charge sheets etc. It was one of the complications which the Department had been alerted to. However, she affirmed that the intention of the Bill is to bring the former area of Transkei into the same legal system that operates in the rest of the country. She commented that the repeal process should have happened and was long overdue.
Adv Sebelemetja said the Bill also contained a transitional clause which Ms Botha would elaborate in her reading.
Deliberations on the Repeal of the Transkeian Penal Code Bill
Ms Botha took the Committee through the Bill.
Ms Maseko-Jele said she welcomed the reading and agreed that the Bill was long overdue. She expressed her appreciation for the Bill.
Ms W Newhoudt-Druchen (ANC) also expressed approval of the Bill.
That concluded the deliberation on the Bill.
The Chairperson then asked the Committee Secretariat to indicate when its next meeting would convene.
The Secretariat indicated that the Committee would be meeting next week Friday, 17 February.
The Chairperson said the Committee would adopt the Bill and the report in that meeting. Then the Bill will be debated in the House.
He indicated that given the huge number of bills the Committee had to deal with this year, this Bill is one of those easy ones that must be dealt with quickly before the Committee moved on to much heavier work dealing with more technical and time-consuming bills.
The Chairperson adjourned the meeting.
Documents
No related documents
Present
-
Magwanishe, Mr GB Chairperson
ANC -
Engelbrecht, Mr J
DA -
Horn, Mr W
DA -
Maseko-Jele, Ms NH
ANC -
Newhoudt-Druchen, Ms WS
ANC -
Yako, Ms Y
EFF
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