Legislative Developments
Minister of Rural Development and Land Reform, Gugile Nkwinti, is still consulting stakeholders on the Regulation of Agricultural Land Holdings Bill.
The Public Procurement Bill will be tabled in Parliament in 2018. Amongst others, the Bill sets aside in the allocation of contracts for the protection or advancement designated groups, including township and rural enterprises, black people, women and youth-owned enterprises, cooperatives and people with disabilities. Further, it proposes tools for optimizing efficiency and effectiveness and value for money.
Cabinet has approved the release of the Carbon Tax Bill to Parliament for formal consideration and adoption.
The Portfolio Committee on Police invites interested people and stakeholders to submit written comments on the Critical Infrastructure Protection Bill [B 22-2017]. Submissions can be sent to Ms Babalwa Mbengo at [email protected] by no later than Friday, 17 November 2017.
The Portfolio Committee on Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs passed the Traditional and Khoi-San Leadership Bill. Public hearings will take place on the Traditional Leadership Governance Framework Amendment Bill and the Traditional and Khoi-San Leadership Bill in all nine provinces between November 2017 and March 2018. Check the programme
The Municipal Structures Amendment (MSA) Bill and the Municipal Demarcation Amendment (MDA) Bill were presented to Cabinet for approval and are expected to be tabled in Parliament in 2018. In relation to the MSA, most of the amendments related to proposals received from the IEC based on challenges the Commission faced during the elections. The proposed amendments were on electoral matters such as the allocation of excessive seats, timeframes of party lists, the 14-day period to inform of a vacancy and the definition of “declared elected”. Secondly, it covered government matters such as the abolition of plenary type municipalities, the use of geographical size to determine the number of councillors, the function of speakers, the office of the whip, MPACs, quorums and decisions. In respect of the latter Bill, the amendments were based on proposals submitted to the MDB which were informed by inputs from previous boards, the demarcation process review task team report, litigation, legislative gaps, stakeholder inputs and a local government legislative review workshop, amongst others. The large number of proposed amendments would necessitate that the Act be repealed entirely and replaced by a new act.
Cabinet has approved the National Minimum Wage Bill, Basic Conditions of Employment Amendment Bill and Labour Relations Amendment Bill. These Bills will be submitted to the National Assembly and the National Council of Provinces for concurrence and enactment.
The Ad Hoc Committee developing laws on political party funding will continue its work despite a court order that Parliament should amend the Promotion of Access to Information Act (PAIA) to allow for the disclosure of private political party funding information. The court gave Parliament 18 months to correct inconsistencies in the Act. The Committee agreed that this should not stop its process as the work was complementary to PAIA.
The National Assembly passed the International Arbitration Bill and transmitted it to the NCOP for concurrence.
The process of amending the Gas Act of 2004 has commenced, to the stage that this year a draft Gas Amendment Bill will be tabled before Cabinet. The amendments largely relate to a licensing framework for gas infrastructure and mandating the Minister of Energy to make determinations regarding the required infrastructure.
The National Assembly passed the Liquor Products Amendment Bill and transmitted it to the NCOP for concurrence.
The Department of Justice and Constitutional Development is working on a Lower Courts Bill, which will bring the management of lower courts in line with the Constitution Seventeenth Amendment Act.
The Democratic Alliance is proposing draft legislation that will strengthen transparency and accountability at the Public Investment Corporation (PIC), which is responsible for managing government employees’ pension funds. The DA intends to introduce the Public Investment Corporation Amendment Bill, 2017 in Parliament during the fourth quarter of 2017/2018. Amongst others, the Bill seeks to amend the PIC Act to provide for parliamentary oversight in respect of the appointment of the chairperson of the PIC board, regulate other aspects of the Board’s composition and to provide for greater transparency in operations of the PIC.
The Minister of Transport withdrew the Road Accident Fund Amendment Bill [B 3 - 2017] from Parliament
The Draft National Health Insurance (NHI) Bill will be placed before Cabinet for approval in November 2017. The Health Department revealed this during a briefing in Parliament on its 2016/17 Annual Report.
The Department of Health is seeking Cabinet approval and hopes to publish the Control of Tobacco Products and Electronic Delivery System Bill 2017 for comment by the end of November 2017. The public will be given 3 months to comment and the Department is aiming to introduce the Bill around April next year. The socio-economic impact assessment on the Bill is complete and will be submitted to Parliament as part of the Cabinet Memo.
The Department of Environmental Affairs informed the Portfolio Committee on Environmental Affairs that climate change legislation will be introduced in Parliament by 2018.
Cabinet approved the publication of the Land Survey Amendment Bill for public comment. The Bill amends the Land Survey Act, 1997 (Act 8 of 1997). The Bill seeks to regulate the survey of land in South Africa by empowering the Chief Surveyor-General to exercise national oversight and management over the geodetic, topographic and cadastral surveys, geospatial and land information services.
Comment is sought on the Department of Science and Technology’s draft Science and Technology Laws Amendment Bill and the Department of Transport’s Transport Appeal Tribunal Amendment Bill.
The Department of Planning, Monitoring and Evaluation (DPME) is forging ahead and a draft Bill is on its way to Parliament in an effort to institutionalise planning.
The Employment Equity Act is currently a subject of discussion at Nedlac ahead of amendments to give teeth to legislation to ensure compliance.