Question NW776 to the Minister of Agriculture, Land Reform and Rural Development
05 April 2023 - NW776
Masipa, Mr NP to ask the Minister of Agriculture, Land Reform and Rural Development
With reference to her reply to question 2356 on 11 January 2022, what are the reasons that the drafting of the bill (a) has not been completed and (b) is contemplated to be put out to tender after a period of one year has lapsed?
Reply:
a) It has come to the Department’s observation that there is a significant amount of research that needs to be conducted to ensure that the ultimate legislation is modern and is not misleading. With limited capacity within the Department and dependency on the Animal Welfare working group, comprising of veterinarians from the national and provincial departments, this has led to delays in finalising the bill.
b) The Animal Welfare working group has drafted the first version of the Bill, which is now being studied carefully for the purpose of benchmarking the draft against international best practices and the latest research publications on animal welfare. With such investigations being necessary the Department is considering placing the project on tender especially because time has elapsed since the completion of the draft.