Discussion

Bill with Draft Amendments (B41 - 99) as of 19/8/99 - not available

Copies of the Bill with draft amendments were distributed and the chairperson asked that committee members go over it.

Section 1
All members were satisfied with Section 1 of the Bill.

There were a few minor changes to the four options for the wording of Section 2 which is an amendment of section 26 of Act 121 of 1998, as amended by section 20 of Act 24 of 1999.

Concerning the insertion of Section 29A the chairperson advised the committee members that the ANC was in favor of Section 29A as it presently stood in the Bill. He said that Dr Luyt (FA) was in favor of Section 29A as reflected by option 1 and that the DP was in favor of Section 29A as reflected by option 2.

On the Section dealing with Innocent Owner Defenses, the chairperson announced that there were no definite options for any party. He congratulated Mr Smit of the Drafting Team for the brilliant drafting of this part of the Bill.

The chairperson announced that the word "activities" had been replaced with the word "conduct".

Ms Camerer (NNP) suggested that the Preamble should insert the words "where appropriate" in the phrase "forfeiture [where appropriate] of property". [see discussion in meeting of 18/8/99 on this point]. Mr. Smit of the drafting team asserted that Ms Camerer's point of view was the correct one and explained the reasons for this. The chairperson agreed that the suggestion be implemented.

On the amendments to the Preamble Mr. de Lange said that there were still some adjustments to be made.

No party had any problems with these sections.

The chairperson suggested that there should be a break of 45 minutes to allow the drafters to fix up the remaining problems with the Bill. Ms Camerer disagreed and said that such a step would put undue pressure on the drafting team. The members then decided that the meeting should go on and the drafting team will draft the amendments and circulate them the following day.

A committee member complained about the strict manner in which Section 29A was being drafted. The chairperson believed that Section 29A should be left as it is as it shows the intention of the legislature. He went on to say that since the judges have already made it clear that they do not like this legislation, Parliament should make its intention clear on exactly what it wants to achieve. Ms Chohan-Khota (ANC) stated that she understood the concerns of the committee member on the issue of Section 29A but she advised that those concerns apply only in instances of criminal forfeiture and not to those of civil forfeiture.

The chairperson thanked Mr. Hofmeyr and his team for their assistance and asked him to pass the members' best wishes to the National Director of Public Prosecutions, Mr Ngcuka. He reminded the members that the Committee would meet again on Monday 23 August at 10:30. The chairperson adjourned the meeting until then.