Witness Protection Bill, SAPS Amendment Bill, Defence Special Tribunal Bill, Criminal Procedure Amd Bill

Meeting report

SECURITY AND JUSTICE SELECT COMMITTEE
1 October 1998
WITNESS PROTECTION BILL, SOUTH AFRICAN POLICE SERVICE AMENDMENT BILL, DEFENCE SPECIAL TRIBUNAL BILL, CRIMINAL PROCEDURE AMENDMENT BILL

SUMMARY
The Committee reviewed and approved the Witness Protection Bill (with amendments), the South African Police Service Amendment Bill (without amendments), the Defence Special Tribunal Bill (without amendments), and the Criminal Procedure Amendment Bill (with amendments). Chairman Moosa moved the vote on the Public Protector Bill to Monday at 2pm because there was not a quorum. The Committee discussed the Debt Collectors Bill, but did not make any amendments. The Committee nevertheless agreed that the Bill needed to be amended and will discuss it at a later time.

MINUTES
The Committee made a few grammatical changes to clause 17 of the Witness Protection Bill. They simply added a few commas to subsection 9 for clarity.

The committee members found the Debt Collectors Bill unclear. Chairman Moosa said that the Debt Collector’s Bill contained too many loopholes to have any effect on debt collectors. Enver Surty of the ANC added that "overdue" as defined in the Bill is too vague. He wondered if a bill became overdue when unpaid upon request by a creditor or did it become overdue when the bill was left unpaid past the previously agreed upon date. The representative from the Department said that the purpose of the Bill was to regulate debtors and to allow debt collectors to charge debtors the cost of collecting overdue debts.

A Committee member made a motion of desirability and another member seconded the motion before each Bill was approved. Next to each Bill listed below is the person that made the motion and the person that seconded the motion:
Witness Protection Bill, James Selfe (DP); Enver Surty (ANC);
South African Police Service Amendment Bill, Raymond Radue (DP); James Selfe (DP)
Defence Special Tribunal Bill, James Selfe (DP); MP Tyobeka (ANC)
Criminal Procedure Amendment Bill, Raymond Radue (DP); MP Tyobeka (ANC)