FOUR bills aimed at legally burying South Africa’s apartheid history and cementing its young democracy have been signed into law by President Thabo Mbeki. The Promotion of Equality and Prevention of Unfair Discrimination Bill, the Promotion of Access to Information Bill, the Promotion of Administrative Justice Bill and the Preferential Procurement Policy Framework Bill completed their parliamentary passage last week. The discrimination law outlaws discrimination on 17 grounds, including race, gender and religion; the information bill gives the state and private citizens unprecedented access to information; the justice bill forces government to create mechanisms to explain its decisions; and the procurement bill forces the state to favour black empowerment companies for government contracts. Under a constitutional provision, the bills had to be signed into law before February 4.