How a law is made
Arrange learners to work into groups to do the following.
Prepare a card or pieces of paper for each step in the flowchart which describes the lawmaking process. Each card or paper has the name of one step written on it.
Arrange the cards into the sequence that is illustrated in the flow chart for a Section 74 bill and then for a Section 75 bill, paying attention to the differences.
List the differences between the two types of bill and compare the influence of the National Assembly and the NCOP in passing Section 74 and Section 75 bills.
Although many bills pass smoothly through Parliament before being signed into law, every bill is different. Some examples of what could happen are:
– a house of Parliament could send a bill back to a committee more than once if it is not satisfied
– the President could have reservations about a signing a bill and send it back to Parliament for reconsideration
– if the President has directed Parliament to reconsider a bill and he or she is still not satisfied, the President could send it to the Constitutional Court for a decision on whether it is constitutional or not
– a bill could be withdrawn
– a bill could lapse.
Learners make additional cards with the five steps listed above written on them. They use all their cards use the cards to work out how many possible routes a bill could take to become a law.
Research and discussion
Ask learners to research the path of an actual bill which became a law, starting from how the bill was drafted, how many times it was amended in each house, whether it had to go to the Mediation Committee, and whether it has come into operation yet. This task could be performed on a provincial bill which has passed through the provincial legislature of your province.
Using information about the parties in the National Assembly (Spotlight 4) and the NCOP (Spotlight 5), discuss what the ruling party needs to do to pass
a) an ordinary law
b) a constitutional amendment which needs a 75% majority.
Learners could compile a dossier of information on a contentious bill currently before Parliament or a provincial legislature. This dossier could include writing to the legislature, asking for copies of the bill in its various amended forms; collecting newspaper articles on the subject; reading through Hansard to find out about the debates which were held on the subject; writing to the committees where the bill has been discussed to ask for minutes of discussions; writing to the various groups which made submissions to the committees, asking for copies of their submissions; and obtaining committee minutes and submissions from the Parliamentary Monitoring Group website http://www.pmg.org.za. This information could be used for various written work, or as a basis for classroom debates.
– The Teacher/M & G Media, Johannesburg, August 1999.