RICA AMENDMENT BILL RETURNED TO PARLIAMENT

RICA AMENDMENT BILL RETURNED TO PARLIAMENT

• 21 November 2024
• Justice & Constitutional Development
• SA Legal Academy

President Cyril Ramaphosa has returned the Regulation & Interception of Communication & Provision of Communication-related Information Amendment Bill to the National Assembly. This is according to a Presidency media statement noting that, in the President’s view, the Bill is unconstitutional because of certain provisions in clause 4 – which inserts a new section 25A into the principal statute dealing with post-surveillance notification. Referring expressly to the proposed new sub-section 25(2)(b), the President is concerned that:

• a decision to ‘indefinitely suspend post-surveillance notification’ might mean that the subject of surveillance is never notified, and that
• no provision is made for such a decision to be reviewed.

‘The President also wishes to see the ... (Bill) provide adequate safeguards to address the fact that interception directions and notification suspension applications are sought and obtained ex parte (in the interests of one side or party only)’.

These concerns were apparently informed by careful consideration of the Constitutional Court’s 2021 Amabhungane Centre for Investigative Journalism judgment.

Tabled in August 2023, the Bill was passed by both Houses four months later.

• Presidency media statement 
• Bill’s ‘B’ version

Published by SA Legal Academy Policy Watch

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