TRANSKEIAN PENAL CODE BILL LEAVES PARLIAMENT

TRANSKEIAN PENAL CODE BILL LEAVES PARLIAMENT

• 17 May 2023
• Parliament
• SA Legal Academy

According to a recently issued parliamentary media statement, the NCOP passed the Repeal of the Transkeian Penal Code Bill on 16 May 2023. It is now waiting to be signed into law.

Among other things, a memorandum on the Bill’s objects notes that ‘the continued application of the code … created an untenable situation and resulted in legal uncertainty as to whether the code superseded the common law’. In South African law, offences such as ‘murder, assault and theft … are not statutorily defined and their requirements are still found in the common law’.

Against that backdrop, having reviewed the code, the South African Law Reform Commission recommended that it be repealed in its entirety.

The media statement also refers to the Constitution 18^th Amendment Bill, which the NCOP passed at the same sitting. Once signed into law, this Bill will make South African Sign Language the country’s twelfth official language.

To avoid any confusion about the precise date on which the Constitution 18^th Amendment Bill left Parliament, you are referred to the SA Legal Academy article below, to which a link is provided.

• Repeal of the Transkeian Penal Code Bill  
• media statement
• SA Legal Academy article on SA Sign Language Bill

Published by SA Legal Academy Policy Watch

0 COMMENTS

LEAVE A COMMENT