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PORTFOLIO COMMITTEE REPORT

BRIEFING ON THE DRAFT TRADITIONAL AFFAIRS BILL

23 APRIL 2013

		
PROGRESS TO DATE

The Traditional Affairs Bill was developed and consulted on with various stakeholders. The initial extensive consultation process on the Bill has been concluded and it included the following:
•	The Bill was discussed in detail with the National Khoi-San Council during a meeting held from 30 June 2011 to 2 July 2011.
•	On 27 June 2011, the Bill was referred to 29 national government departments for comment (closing date of 29 July 2011).
•	On 27 June 2011, the Bill was referred to 14 institutions such as the Human Rights Commission, the Commission on Gender Equality and the CRL Rights Commission for comment (closing date of 29 July 2011).
•	The Bill was presented to officials from the provincial governments and the secretaries of the provincial houses of traditional leaders on 13 July 2011 and subsequently, on 15 July 2011, referred to all nine provincial governments (closing date of 22 August 2011).
•	The Bill was also referred to the National House of Traditional Leaders and the House received a briefing on the Bill on 24 June 2011. The National House also provided the Department with written comments.
•	The Bill was referred to all provincial houses of traditional leaders on 6 July 2011. Prior to the referral of the Bill, the chairpersons of the provincial houses were briefed on 24 June 2011.
•	All provincial houses on traditional leaders received briefings on the Bill during the period 25 July 2011 to 25 January 2012. 
•	Two consultation teams of the Department conducted 29 Khoi-San community consultation sessions on the Bill from 20 August 2011 to 16 September 2011.
•	The Bill was presented to CONTRALESA on 29 July 2011 and again on 20 September 2011 (the last session was a joint session with the National House).
In order to ensure that the Ministry’s engagement on the Bill is with legitimate people and structures of the Khoi and San communities, the consultations on the Bill were arranged and conducted in collaboration with the National Khoi-San Council (NKC). The NKC was established in 1997 to serve as a single body with which government could liaise in respect of all matters relating to the Khoi and San people. The NKC consists of a total number of 30 members, representing the five main groupings of the Khoi and San namely the Cape Khoi, the Griqua, the Koranna, the Nama and the San.
The consultation sessions were in general well attended and participants provided the Department with useful comments. A number of written inputs were also received with suggestions on how certain provisions of the Bill could be improved. The Department thoroughly analysed all these comments and where justified and necessary, the Bill was refined in accordance with the comments.
Following the refinement of the Bill, the Department referred it to the State Law Advisers for purposes of their preliminary screening of the Bill. The Department worked closely with the State Law Advisers and effected a few more improvements to the Bill. The State Law Advisers subsequently informed the Department that they found the Bill to be in order. The Bill is therefore to be considered by the Cabinet and if approved, it will be published in the Government Gazette for public comments. After the publication period, all comments will have to be analysed and if necessary, the Bill will be further refined before resubmission to the Cabinet.
The Bill will again be discussed with CONTRALESA and KhoiSan Council on 22 April 2010 as per agreement between COGTA Ministry and these structures.