Lifestyle

6 new laws coming to South Africa – what you need to know

Parliament is processing a host of bills which are currently open for public comment – with a few more to be introduced in the coming months.

While some bills being processed relate to administrative or procedural changes for departments, a few will have a significant impact on all South Africans or their lifestyles in some way.

New regulations open for comment range from changing the way food products on store shelves are labelled to significant reforms in various job sectors that may impact employability.

Meanwhile, various departments are aiming to submit new laws to Parliament to make changes to the police force or how public service operates.

Draft Employment Equity Regulations, 2023

  • Open for public comment until 12 June 2023

Most South Africans – and all businesses – would have heard of these regulations by now. The Draft Employment Equity Regulations 2023 were published in mid-May and opened for public comment for 30 days.

Web Search Engine

The regulations give detailed sectoral racial and gender targets for every major job sector in the country, which companies will have to reach within five years.

The targets aim to make job sectors in South Africa demographically representative of the racial and gender make up of a sector on either a provincial or national level. The targets push businesses that employ 50 people or more to adjust the racial and gender profile of their employees over time, with a particular focus on top and senior management positions.

The regulations have already drawn heavy criticism and will undoubtedly face many legal challenges, as critics have argued the specific targets amount to racial quotas.

The draft regulations were published in terms of the recently assented to Employment Equity Amendment Act, which empowers the Minister of employment and labour to set the targets. The Act has not yet been promulgated, however.

These are all the new BEE targets for businesses in South Africa

Independent Police Investigative Directorate Amendment Bill, 2023

The Minister of Police has gazetted his intention to submit the Independent Police Investigative Directorate (IPID) Amendment Bill to Parliament, along with an explanatory note.

The bill is expected to give effect to the judgment of the Constitutional Court in the case of McBride v Minister of Police and Another from 2016, which found that the suspension of IPID head Robert McBride by former Police Minister Nathi Nhleko was unconstitutional on the grounds that it constituted undue influence and encroached on the independence of the directorate.

The new bill is a big step for independent policing in South Africa in that it will codify that IPID is institutionally and operationally independent, and allowing it to exercise its powers and functions without fear, favour, prejudice, or undue influence.

The bill will also allow for the determination of conditions of service of investigators of the IPID, including their salary and allowances, by the Minister in consultation with the Minister of Finance, and extend its mandate to include investigation of allegations of rape and deaths that have been committed while off duty.

Public Service Bills

The Portfolio Committee on Public Service and Administration will be briefed on the first introduction of the Public Service Amendment Bill and Public Administration Management Amendment Bill.

The Public Service Amendment Bill seeks to amend the Public Service Act of 1994 to, among other things, provide for the devolution of administrative powers from executive authorities to heads of department; to augment the role of the Director-General in the Presidency to support the President; and to provide for a mechanism to deal with the recovery of overpayments of remuneration and benefits; to clarify the role of the Public Service Commission in respect of grievances.

Meanwhile, the Public Administration Management Amendment Bill is aimed at amending the Public Administration Management Act of 2014, so as to, among other things, further provide for the transfer and secondment of employees; and to provide clarification regarding the prohibition against employees conducting business with organs of state.

The government has been on a drive to professionalize the public service and to clamp down on the irregularities, fraud and corruption that have rooted themselves in local governments and the public service at large.

These two bills are part of the move to accomplish this.

Independent Municipal Demarcation Authority Bill

  • Open for comment until 20 June 2023

The Department of Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs opened the Independent Municipal Demarcation Authority Bill for public comment in late May.

The bill makes room for the establishment of an independent authority that would make determinations on municipal boundaries, their categorisation and rationalisation.

Broadly, it provides for the criteria and procurement for the determination and redetermination of municipal boundaries, the delimitation of wards, and an appeals and assessment process for this.

Notably, it also includes restrictions on making these kinds of changes. The board of the authority may only determine or redetermine a municipal boundary regarding the categorisation, amalgamation or any boundary change which affect the movement of more than one whole ward in a municipality every ten years.

Municipal boundaries and demarcation heavily impact service delivery in the country, as well as election outcomes – particularly in local government elections. Limits on adjusting boundaries should also help to prevent gerrymandering.

National Identification and Registration Bill

  • Open for comment until 30 June

The government is pushing through laws to establish a “one-stop” national identity database in the country, which has implications for foreign nationals, as well as opening up for allowing citizens to get their IDs at the age of 10.

The main push behind the laws is to provide for a biometric national identity system (NIS) that will enable a single view of a person by providing for particulars to be included in the population register and the identification database.

The NIS is intended to interface with other government and private sector identity systems, which should speed up all kinds of processes – like driving licence, ID and passport applications – while also helping with policing and crime detection.

The bill will also apply to permanent residents and foreigners who sojourn temporarily within the republic.

The bill also makes provisions for the compilation and maintenance of a population register and identification database; the assignment of national identity numbers and reference numbers; and for the issuance of national identity cards and temporary identity, deaths, births and marriage certificates and other connected matters.

Regulations relating to the Labelling and Advertising of Foodstuffs

  • Open for comment until 20 June

The Department of Health has taken a step towards making sweeping changes to food labelling in South Africa, including warnings signs on unhealthy foods.

The department has gazetted proposed changes to the Foodstuffs, Cosmetics and Disinfectants Act, opening the Regulations Relating to the Labelling and Advertising of Foodstuffs for public comment.

The proposed changes reinforce many rules already in place for product packaging in South Africa, such as ingredient lists and sell-by dates, but also introduce a host of changes for more modern changes in food advertising.

Most notably, as part of the changes, the department wants food items that are high in sugar and fat content to come with large warning labels attached – and to block these foods from being marketed to children.

The department wants mandatory front-of-package labelling (FOPL) to be present on any pre-packaged foodstuffs that contain added saturated fat, added sugar, added sodium and which exceed the nutrient cut-off values for total sugar, total sodium or total saturated fatty acids.

The regulations also clamp down on claims like ‘super foods’ and other unregulated marketing terms.

Big changes for chips, cereals, sodas and other popular snack foods in South Africa

Read: New laws decriminalising sex work in South Africa hit a major roadblock

Artmotion S.Africa

Related Articles

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Back to top button