legislation

IN THE SPOTLIGHT: BILLS RECENTLY APPROVED BY CABINET FOR TABLING IN PARLIAMENT BUT YET TO MATERIALISE

30 June 2025
In the Spotlight
SA Legal Academy

During June 2025, parliamentary committee work continued to move at a snail’s pace regarding the 36 Bills either still waiting to be processed or already being considered. This could be because of parliamentary programme delays resulting from the withdrawal of several Budget-related Bills and their eventual replacement for re-tabling.

Whatever the case, according to media statements on Cabinet meetings that took place during May and June 2025, several more Bills have been approved for tabling but have yet to materialise.

A General (Family) Laws Amendment Bill approved on 14 May 2025 will seek to:
- ‘strengthen the constitutionality of family laws’
- propose amendments to the:
  - 1979 Divorce Act
  - 1984 Matrimonial Property Act, and
  - 1987 Mediation in Certain Divorce Matters Act, and
- ‘protect the constitutional rights of parties to marriages out of community of property’ (especially in the context of ‘women’s rights, equality, access to courts and the rights of children’, according to the media statement concerned).

The Bill’s procedurally required pre-tabling explanatory summary was gazetted on 6 June 2025, as SA Legal Academy reported at the time.

An Extradition Bill also approved on 14 May 2025 will seek to:
- amend the 1962 Extradition Act in line with:
  - constitutional imperatives, and
  - ‘modern, (international) extradition practices procedures
- strengthen the legal framework accordingly
- clarify the role of magistrates in extradition proceedings, and
- provide for the ‘provisional arrest (and/or) surrender of a person sought by an international entity in respect of international crimes such as genocide, war crimes and crimes against humanity’.

Related to this, an International Cooperation in Criminal Matters Amendment Bill approved on 14 May 2025 has been submitted to Parliament in draft form for information and planning purposes, pending certification by the Office of the State law Adviser. For more detail, please refer to the SA Legal Academy report on this Bill.

An Employment Services Amendment Bill approved on 28 May 2025 will seek to:
- provide ‘a policy framework and the legal basis to regulate the employment of foreign nationals in businesses while promoting national security and national interests’
- provide for ‘the regulation of labour brokers to prevent worker exploitation, such as the provision of cheap labour through undocumented foreign nationals’
- ensure ‘consistency’ between relevant provisions in the 2002 Immigration Act and 1998 Refugees Act, and
- introduce a ‘framework’ enabling the Minister of Employment & Labour to set quotas for the employment of foreign nationals per economic sector, occupational category and/or geographical area.

A South African Police Service Amendment Bill approved by Cabinet on 25 June 2025 will seek to:
- ‘establish a legal framework for policing which contributes to the effective and efficient combating of crime’ in line with:
  - constitutional imperatives
  - the 2030 National Development Plan
  - the 2016 White Paper on Policing
  - the 2016 White Paper on Safety & Security
  - a ‘community policing policy’ (which, as far as can be ascertained, is not publicly available), and
  - a ‘policy on a single policing service’ (which, as far as can be ascertained, is also not publicly available).

Links to a media statement on each Cabinet meetng at which these Bills were approved are provided below:

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IN THE SPOTLIGHT: BILLS RECENTLY APPROVED BY CABINET FOR TABLING IN PARLIAMENT BUT YET TO MATERIALISE

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