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PROMOTION OF EQUALITY, PREVENTION OF UNFAIR DISCRIMINATION ACT: AMENDMENT BILL UPDATE
- 08 January 2024
- Justice & Constitutional Development
- SA Legal Academy
There have been no official announcements on progress with finalising the draft Promotion of Equality & Prevention of Unfair Discrimination Amendment Bill since July 2021, when the Department of Justice & Constitutional Development issued a media statement on the many submissions apparently received. This followed the draft Bill’s release in March 2021 for public comment.
The statement was issued before the 31 July 2021 Constitutional Court ruling on what became popularly known as the ‘Qwelane case’. As a result, it made no reference to the judgment. Neither did the draft amendment Bill propose any changes to sub-section 10(1) of the principal statute, which the Constitutional Court ruling remedies.
On 18 August 2021 – when the National Assembly’s Justice & Correctional Services Committee was briefed on the Prevention & Combating of Hate Crimes & Hate Speech Bill – Justice & Constitutional Development Deputy Minister John Jeffrey made it clear that correcting sub-section 10(1) of the Promotion of Equality & Prevention of Unfair Discrimination Act (Pepuda) will require separate legislation.
This was noting that, tabled in April 2018, the Prevention & Combating of Hate Crimes & Hate Speech Bill had been put on hold pending the outcome of two Constitutional Court challenges, one being the Qwelane case (Parliamentary Monitoring Group report).
Parliament passed a ‘D’ version of the Prevention & Combating of Hate Crimes & Hate Speech Bill on 5 December 2023, as SA Legal Academy has already reported. It is now waiting to be signed into law.
Once finalised for pre-tabling Cabinet approval, the Promotion of Equality & Prevention of Unfair Discrimination Amendment Bill will doubtless include an amended sub-section 10(1). However, the two years allowed by the Constitutional Court to remedy the defect lapsed in July 2023. Perhaps a deadline extension has already been sought. Whatever the case, the Bill is unlikely to be tabled until after this year’s elections.
- media statement
- Constitutional Court judgment
- draft Pepuda Amendment Bill 2021
- Hate Speech Bill’s ‘D’ version
Published by SA Legal Academy Policy Watch