PARLIAMENT REVIVES SEVERAL CONTROVERSIAL BILLS

Please note: The Older Persons Amendment Bill is among five expected to be revived by the NCOP on 29 July 2024, according to an order paper for the day's plenary session. More detals are available in this SA Legal Academy report

According to the minutes of a National Assembly plenary session on 25 July 2024, 13 Bills allowed to lapse at the end of the previous Parliament have now been revived. They include:

  • the controversial 2010 Protection of State Information Bill’s ‘H’ version (seeking to create a legislative framework for the state to respond to espionage and other associated hostile activities by introducing a coherent approach to the protection of valuable information and the classification/declassification of state information)
  • the equally controversial 2018 South African Reserve Bank Bill (tabled by the EFF, and seeking to make the state the sole holder of shares in the bank and empower the Minister to appoint board members)
  • the widely criticised 2024 National State Enterprises Bill (providing for the development of a national strategy for commercial state-owned enterprise ownership)
  • the 2022 Tobacco Products & Electronic Delivery Systems Control Bill (seeking to strengthen public health protection measures in line with World Health Organisation Framework Convention requirements), and
  • the 2018 National Gambling Amendment Bill’s ‘B’ version (seeking to address challenges hampering the Act’s effectiveness, and awaiting consideration by Parliament’s mediation committee after amendments proposed by the NCOP were rejected by the National Assembly committee concerned).

The 2022 Older Persons Amendment Bill does not feature in the list – despite a reference to the Bill’s imminent revival in newly appointed Social Development Minister Nokuzola Tolashe’s recent budget vote speech.

Published by SA Legal Academy Policy Watch

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