/ 16 September 2008

The problem at hand

The proposed Second-Hand Goods Bill could prove to be a bureaucratic nightmare, writes Lloyd Gedye.

While the Department of Safety and Security is lauding the new Second-Hand Goods Bill as the latest weapon in the fight against stolen goods trading, dealers claim that the police can’t even implement the current legislation.

The Bill might be before Parliament, but on the ground confusion reigns and many second-hand dealers that the Mail & Guardian spoke to are completely unaware of its existence.

The Bill has been subject to some heavy criticism for the administrative burden that it will place on second-hand dealers and the unintended consequences that it could have on charitable organisations.

The South African Police Service’s (SAPS) Bert van der Walt, who is driving the Bill for the Department of Safety and Security, says the department has a policy of not commenting on legislation when it is before Parliament.

But a source close to the drafting process insists that a lot of the criticism is misdirected and that the implementation of the Bill will depend on the regulations that will follow its promulgation.

The source says that the regulations will be specific to each sector and there will be exemptions from certain criteria in the Act if they are unworkable for a specific sector or that the sector’s industry body can self regulate.

The Bill has been passed by the national assembly and is set to go before the national council of provinces for consideration next.

It is aimed at tightening the regulation of the scrap-metal and second-hand vehicle sectors in an attempt to combat serious crime problems such as copper cable theft and chop shops.

But there is concern that a one-size-fits-all legislation approach will have many unintended consequences for people that eke out a living in South Africa trading in second-hand goods and will have a green-unfriendly impact on industries that are key to the recycling of used goods.

The main sticking point has been the fact that the legislation requires all second-hand dealers to keep detailed records of all goods passing through their stores for five years, which includes full contact details of the seller as well as a photocopy of their identity document and full details of the end consumer.

Tom Fuhri, chief executive of the second-hand dealers and pawn board, says the Bill is going to have a huge impact and that the administrative burden will be severe.

The Bill initially stipulated that dealers had to print daily records of all transactions so that they would be available for inspection by police, but thankfully common sense has prevailed and this requirement, which is clearly out of step with environmental best practice, has been removed from the Bill.

Terry Wilkinson, who runs a second-hand furniture dealership in Johannesburg called Fab Furniture, told the M&G that he keeps a register of all goods that pass through his store so that the police can inspect it for stolen goods, but in the six years he has owned the business his register had never been inspected.

Wilkinson, who was unaware of the Bill’s existence, says the administrative burden would not be excessive for him as he has kept full records of all transactions and the only requirement of the new Bill he is not meeting is obtaining copies of the sellers’ identity documents.

The argument from dealers who deal in items such as clothing, books and other less valuable items is that these administrative responsibilities are too onerous and could cause them to go out of business.

But the source close to the drafting of the Bill says that all goods less than R100 would be exempt and the M&G has been informed that following a presentation by the South African book dealers association to the parliamentary portfolio committee for safety and security, books will be removed from the second-hand goods schedule in the Bill.

Concern has also been expressed that charitable organisations or churches that hold fetes or bazaars to raise money would fall foul of the law. But the source says that the new Bill would not affect organisations such as those that hold one-off events to sell second-hand goods. He says that these organisations do not qualify as dealers under the definitions of the Act and therefore would not be affected.

There are, however, a number of organisations that run shops on a daily basis that would qualify as dealers under the Bill, yet all the money they raise is given to charitable organisations.

Bounty Hunters, a second-hand dealer in Melville that raises money for almost 30 charity organisations, is an example of a store that would fall through the cracks. Gail Millard, who runs the store, says that all the goods they deal with are donations.

“This is a recycling project,” says Millard. “We move things from one cupboard to another. If you’re not harming anyone, why can’t you play a positive role in the community?”

When the M&G spoke to her she was outside her store sorting through stacks of second-hand goods that had been dropped off that morning. It is quite clear that keeping an inventory and details of all sellers and consumers from Bounty Hunters would be impossible for Millard and her employees.

“Nobody goes and steals in Sandton to come and give stuff to us,” says Millard. “There are no Robin Hoods.”

She says she can understand the police’s need to clamp down on the trading of stolen goods, but she says the legislation should be targeted at those who are doing wrong.

“All legislation has to be policed,” says Millard. “Let them come.”