Barry Streek
The new session of Parliament opens next week. It promises to be a hectic session, particularly because of President Thabo Mbeki’s commitment to delivery of services.
Not only are some major pieces of legislation due for debate – including the Open Democracy Bill, the Administrative Justice Bill, the Promotion of Equality Bill and the amendment of gun-licensing laws – but the government has also outlined various measures it plans to introduce.
Many of these steps were broadly outlined on June 25 when Mbeki made his first policy speech in Parliament as president. Ministers will have to give them substance over the next four months – and at the same time face opposition analysis and criticisms.
Mbeki said in June the challenge of reconstruction and development is “a national task that calls for the mobilisation of the whole nation into united people’s action, into a partnership with government for progressive change and a better life for all, for a common effort to build a winning nation”.
Minister of Labour Membathisi Mdladlana said this week the government is ready to start using money from the R1-billion pledged at last year’s Jobs Summit for poverty-relief projects. These funds will go to job-creation schemes, not to consultants.
Mbeki said in June the Umsobomvu Fund for youth development and training would become operational as soon as Old Mutual had completed its demutualisation process. The board of trustees of the National Development Agency would also be constituted soon.
He added that the government is in the position to implement a programme for the integrated development of the rural areas to “ensure that when a clinic is built, there must be a road to access it. It must be electrified and supplied with water.”
These commitments to development and job creation are linked to the new laws the government wants passed by Parliament. Included in the legislative pipeline this year are:
l The Criminal Procedure Amendment Bill, which will extend the provisions to allow the detention of unconvicted children in police cells and adult prisons.
l The Open Democracy Bill which, in terms of the Constitution, has to be passed by February 3 2000, to provide a right of access to information held by the government.
l The Amendment of Customary Law of Succession Bill, to extend the law of intestate succession to all.
l The Housing Rental Bill, to make provision for rental housing.
l The Probation Services Amendment Bill, to help transform the child and youth care system.
l The Administrative Justice Bill, to give effect to the constitutional right to administrative action that is “lawful, reasonable and procedurally fair”. It must be passed by February 3.
l The Promotion of Equality Bill, to prohibit unfair discrimination.
l The Child Justice Bill, which will transform the criminal justice system for children in trouble with the law.
l The Sexual Offences Amendment Bill, aimed at reviewing existing provisions on sexual offences. It will abolish the common law “cautionary rule”.
l The Prevention of Organised Crime Amendment Bill, to remove the legal loophole that offences committed before 1999 do not fall within its ambit.
l The Arms and Ammunition Amendment Bill, aimed at curbing the proliferation of firearms.
l The Defence Bill. A complete re-write of the 1957 Defence Act, it provides for trade union representation in the defence force.
l The Developmental Welfare Governance Bill, providing for the establishment of the South African Development Welfare Council to promote civil society participation in public policy formation.
l The Superior Courts Bill, to rationalise the jurisdiction of the high courts to promote greater access.
l The Interception and Monitoring Prohibition Amendment Bill, to provide for the regulation of the monitoring and interception of communications in the fight against crime.
More legislation is pending, but what has been released so far indicates a heavy schedule for the newly elected MPs for the rest of the year.