IN THE SPOTLIGHT: PARLIAMENT SLOWS DOWN UNDER THE GNU

IN THE SPOTLIGHT: PARLIAMENT SLOWS DOWN UNDER THE GNU

• 28 February 2025
• In the Spotlight
• SA Legal Academy

South Africa’s seventh democratic Parliament has been conspicuously inactive on the legislative front, especially since reconvening after the traditionally long festive season recess. Although three new Bills have been submitted in draft form with the aim of enabling affected committees to plan their work programmes for 2025, only two have since been formally tabled. They are the:

• Constitution Nineteenth Amendment Bill (prepared on behalf of the DA’s George Michalakis, submitted in draft form on 11 February 2025, and tabled on 26 February 2025), and the
• Local Government: Municipal Structures Amendment Bill (also prepared on behalf of the DA’s George Michalakis, submitted in draft form on 11 February 2025, and tabled on 26 February 2025).

A draft Judicial Matters Amendment Bill was submitted on 6 February 2025, according to parliamentary papers but has not yet been formally introduced.

As SA Legal Academy has already reported:

• the Local Government: Municipal Structures Amendment Bill seeks to close gaps in the principal statute perceived to facilitate the destabilising practices now rife in coalition government at local level (SA Legal Academy report with a link to the draft Bill )
• the Constitution Nineteenth Amendment Bill seeks to limit the number of motions of no confidence brought against a President or Premier during the course of one year, and
• the Judicial Matters Amendment Bill seeks to amend ‘numerous Acts’, focusing on ‘practical and technical issues of a non-contentious nature, including compliance with a Constitutional Court judgment’ (SA Legal Academy report with a link to the draft Bill).

As SA Legal Academy has also reported, both pieces of legislation tabled by Michalakis were, in fact, introduced before the May 2024 elections by now Basic Education Minister Siviwe Gwarube. Having been allowed to lapse, they were not revived and may since have been revised.

Turning to the status of Bills inherited from the previous Parliament, the latest developments can be found in this document and are recorded in emboldened red text.

Published by SA Legal Academy Policy Watch

Follow us on X @SALegalAcademy (you can also join us on LinkedIn and Facebook)

0 COMMENTS

LEAVE A COMMENT