ELECTORAL AMENDMENT BILL UPDATE

ELECTORAL AMENDMENT BILL UPDATE

• 04 December 2022
• Parliament
• SA Legal Academy

The National Assembly’s Home Affairs Committee has agreed to recommend to the House that the Constitutional Court be approached as soon as possible for an extension to the deadline by which Parliament is required to pass the Bill. Once enacted and commenced, the Bill will give effect to the Constitutional Court’s 2020 ruling that independent candidates standing for election to the National Assembly and the provincial legislatures should not be required to belong to a political party.

If granted, the extension will allow time for members of the public to comment on new clauses added to the Bill by the NCOP. These are reflected in the Bill’s ‘B’ version.

Informed by an opinion sought from Advocate Steven Budlender by the Department of Home Affairs, the committee’s recommendations will be tabled in the House in the form of an interim report seeking permission to request an extension to the Constitutional Court deadline; and, if granted, to issue notices calling for written submissions on the Bill’s new clauses.

Should members of the public be given an opportunity for further comment, they will be confined to making submissions on the new clauses only. No further public hearings are deemed necessary.

If authorised by the House, the call for submissions on the new clauses is expected to be published after the festive season – with the deadline for input set on a date no later than the 31 January 2023.

Click the links below to access:

• changes to the Bill made by the NCOP (page 7 of these papers)
• Constitutional Court judgment 

Published by SA Legal Academy Policy Watch

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