Legislation: Important lapsed Bills still in limbo

Two weeks have passed since MPs returned from their constituencies to attend to parliamentary matters – yet three months into SA’s sixth post-1994 administration and two into its sixth democratic Parliament, ordinary citizens are none the wiser about the fate of approximately 30 Bills at various stages of being processed when the last Parliament rose for May’s elections, reports Pam Saxby for Legalbrief Policy Watch. They have since lapsed, with only two having been revived: the 2019 Appropriation Bill and Public Investment Corporation Amendment Bill. Both were passed and sent to President Cyril Ramaphosa for signature.

According to this week’s schedule, members of the NCOP Committee on Land Reform, the Environment, and Mineral Resources & Energy were expected on Tuesday to consider ‘how to proceed’ with legislation not finalised by their predecessors – the first time this matter has featured as an agenda item for any committee in the sixth Parliament. Some committees are busy with oversight visits, annual performance plans and related responsibilities. Many appear not to be meeting at all. Last week, the schedule was dominated by orientation, induction and training sessions. The next constituency break is due to begin on 23 September.

On 16 July, when the NCOP Committee on Trade & Industry, Economic Development, Small Business Development, Tourism and Employment & Labour was to have been briefed on two Bills left in limbo by the fifth Parliament, it became embarrassingly clear (at least according to Parliamentary Monitoring Group records) that the procedures to be followed when reviving a lapsed Bill had either been overlooked or misunderstood and that neither Bill should be taken forward ‘at that stage’, as Legalbrief Today reported at the time. Order papers and other documents circulated by Parliament tend to suggest that nothing has changed – and not only for that committee, but for all others affected by this worryingly moribund situation.

Lapsed Bills of special interest include the 2016 Border Management Authority Bill, 2017 Road Accident Benefit Scheme Bill, 2017 International Crimes Bill, 2017 Cybercrimes Bill, 2017 Traditional Courts Bill, 2018 Prevention and Combating of Hate Crimes and Hate Speech Bill, 2018 Customary Initiation Bill, 2018 National Gambling Amendment Bill, 2018 Independent Police Investigative Directorate Amendment Bill, 2018 State Liability Amendment Bill, 2019 National Minimum Wage Amendment Bill and the 2019 Local Government: Municipal Structures Amendment Bill. There have been mixed messages about some of these Bills from the Ministers concerned.

Follow Pam Saxby on Twitter (@SaxbyPam)