LOCAL GOVERNMENT COALITIONS

• Speaking at the Chartered Institute of Governance Finance, Audit and Risk Officers’ annual conference, Co-operative Governance and Traditional Affairs Minister Thembi Nkadimeng announced that interventions intended to address ‘the challenges faced by councils with coalitions that hinder their effective functioning’ include the development of:
  • a ‘coalition framework’, and
  • a draft Bill amending the Local Government: Municipal Structures Act, 1998, that, among other things will:
    • require political parties contesting an election in a municipal council to obtain ‘a minimum of 1% of … valid votes cast … to qualify for … a seat on the council – thus minimising the number of parties in a municipal council’
    • impose restrictions on motions of no confidence in a speaker or mayor, which will require:
      • two years to pass since the council’s election, and
      • a supporting vote from at least two-thirds of the councillors
  • regulate the conclusion of a coalition agreement, making it ‘legally enforceable’, and
  • regulate ‘arrangements in municipalities where coalitions are in place’, including those with independent candidates.

 

SUBSTANCE ABUSE

• Addressing an international conference on alcohol policy, Social Development Minister Lindiwe Zulu announced:
  • that Cabinet has approved the publication of a draft policy on preventing and treating substance use disorders for stakeholder input, and
  • plans for establishing ‘a special committee of Cabinet Ministers to ensure co-ordination, strategic alignment and decision making in harm prevention and reduction strategies across government’.

 

STATE LEGAL WORK

• Addressing this year’s National Association of Democratic Lawyers annual general meeting, Justice and Correctional Services Minister Ronald Lamola said:
• Government policy on briefing and outsourcing state legal work:
  • ‘is in full effect and continues to guide the allocation of state legal services’
  • ‘underscores’ government’s ‘commitment to addressing historical imbalances’, and
  • seeks to ensure transparency, as well as control legal costs.
• Strict compliance with National Treasury regulations on procuring legal services using ‘the three-quotation system’:
  • has placed the Department of Justice and Constitutional Development ‘in a difficult position’, and
  • is behind the decision to ‘create an open and transparent panel of advocates and attorneys’ so it is no longer necessary to ‘file documents every time there is a brief’.
• ‘A set of draft guidelines’ on ‘granting of Silk status’:
  • is being developed for the President’s consideration, and
  • is expected to provide ‘certainty’ about the process of conferring ‘senior status’ to eligible legal practitioners, including attorneys.

 

HAZARDOUS CHEMICALS AND PESTICIDES

• The Department of Forestry, Fisheries and the Environment called for public comments on another set of draft regulations prepared with the intention of domesticating the 1998 Rotterdam Convention – a multilateral treaty promoting shared responsibilities in hazardous chemical trading.
• The latest draft appears to replace one
  • released during 2020 for public comment
  • finalised and published the following year
  • suspended shortly afterwards pending further attention to outstanding administrative requirements
  • revised and released in 2022 for comment
  • gazetted in February 2023 for commencement in December 2023, and
  • Put on hold in June 2023,

 

PENSION FUNDS AMENDMENT BILL

• National Treasury gazetted a brief explanatory summary of the Bill, which is expected to be tabled soon. Its purpose is to ‘provide for the implementation of the first phase of the “two pot” retirement system’.

 

Prepared by Pam Saxby