Democratic Alliance (DA) MP Wendy Alexander has tabled a Performing Animals Protection Amendment Bill in Parliament with the aim of providing ‘a regulatory framework in which assistance animals can be formally licensed’.
According to a memorandum on the Bill’s objects, ‘people with disabilities who use assistance animals remain marginalised and are often turned away from public and private spaces as well as from accessing public transport’. Seeking to remedy this, the Bill refers to a 2018 Equality Court judgment on an incident in which a disabled person and her assistance animal were denied entry to a government building.
The Bill’s pre-tabling explanatory summary was gazetted in June 2023, with a call for public comments. It is not clear why nearly two years have been allowed to lapse before finalising the Bill and tabling it.
Published by SA Legal Academy Policy Watch
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