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SA INSTITUTE OF DRUG-FREE SPORT ACT: CABINET CONFIRMS APPROVAL OF AMENDMENTS
- 19 October 2023
- Sport, Arts & Culture
- SA Legal Academy
‘Cabinet considered and approved the processing of amendments to the South African Institute for Drug-Free Sport (SAIDS) Act, 2006’ at a special meeting held on 4 October 2023. This is according to a media statement issued on the outcomes of another Cabinet meeting held two weeks later – and nearly three weeks after the World Anti-Doping Agency’s (WADA’s) press release announcing the 14 October 2023 deadline for updating the Act to align it with the WADA code.
Meanwhile, as has been widely reported, the WADA sanctions have been suspended in the light of several developments.
On 10 October 2023, the Department of Sport, Arts & Culture issued a statement announcing that:
- the SAIDS had ‘filed a notice to challenge WADA’s non-compliance declaration against South Africa through the Court of Arbitration in Sport’, and that
- the WADA had since confirmed receipt of ‘the formal notification’.
Three days later, during a meeting of the National Assembly’s Sport, Arts & Culture Committee, SAIDS CEO Khalid Galant gave members some insight into the nature of the amendments required, describing the piece of legislation concerned as ‘extremely technical’. This is according to a Parliamentary Monitoring Group (PMG) record of discussions at the time. The amendments focus on definitions apparently pre-dating the WADA code and have no implications for ‘mandates and jurisdictions’.
During the same meeting, Galant revealed that the appeal is being handled by Level Law – a firm in London that has ‘assisted SAIDS before’. No further details were provided.
At the time of writing, the amendment Bill approved by Cabinet on 4 October had yet to be tabled in Parliament. PMG records refer to April 2024 as the WADA deadline by which the Bill should be passed, enacted and in force.
- Cabinet media statement [paragraph (e)2]
- departmental media statement
- WADA media statement confirming receipt of appeal notice
- PMG report
Published by SA Legal Academy Policy Watch