GBV Bills: adoption

Meeting report

The Chairperson welcomed the Department of Justice and Constitutional Development (DoJ&CD) as well as the Parliamentary Legal Advisors in attendance. The DoJ&CD delegation included Ms Kalay Pillay (Deputy Director-General: Legislative Development), Mr Makubela Mokulubete (State Law Advisor), Ms Ntombi Mnyikiso (State Law Advisor), Mr Henk du Preez (State Law Advisor) and Mr Mfuzo Zenzile (Parliamentary Liaison Officer). Ms Barbara Loots (Parliamentary Legal Advisor) and Ms Patricia Whittle (Committee Researcher) were also in attendance.

The Chairperson reminded the Committee that it was briefed on the proposed amendments by DoJ&CD on 6 August 2021 on two of the three GBV Amendment Bills – Criminal Law (Sexual Offences and Related Matters) Amendment Act Amendment Bill and Domestic Violence Amendment Bill. There were no proposed amendments to the Criminal and Related Matters Amendment Bill. Members had seemed satisfied with the proposed amendments although it was agreed that some areas required further consultation and contextualisation with Parliament's Constitutional and Legal Services Office (CLSO) prior to adoption.

Sexual Offences Amendment Bill proposed amendments
Ms Barbara Loots, Parliamentary Legal Advisor, spoke about inclusive drafting that included sensitivity and flexibility. A substantive proposed amendment was the correction of “person who is mentally disabled” with “person with a mental disability” throughout the Amendment Bill. In the amendment to Section 41 of the Act the reference to “child” was replaced with “person who is vulnerable”, and the contextual reference to “where children are present or congregate” was deleted as it was too wide and could have unintended consequences. Consequential amendments were implemented to align provisions with the proposed amendment. There were also technical amendments such as the renumbering of clauses and technical reference corrections to the principal Act.

Domestic Violence Amendment Bill proposed amendments

The main amendment to this Amendment Bill was the use of gender-neutral vocabulary and the use of the singular ‘they’. This was to ensure non-binary inclusivity, gender-neutrality, equality, dignity and identity. This meant ‘he or she’, ‘him or her’, ‘he, she or it’ or similar were replaced with the singular ‘they’, ‘them’, ‘their’, ‘theirs’ and ‘themselves’. In addition, the readability of the Amendment Bill was improved to delete superfluous phrases and references. Technical corrections were made in the renumbering of the clauses in the Amendment Bill.

In Clause 2, the definition of ‘close relationship’ was inserted as being a relationship between the complainant and another person which the court, with regard to certain criteria, may consider as a close relationship of a person and the complainant. The criteria include degree of trust between the persons, level of each person’s dependence on the other, length of time the relationship had been in existence, frequency of contact between the persons, and degree of intimacy between the persons. This definition was in response to the many submissions on the Amendment Bill requesting it to be more gender-neutral and to provide more clarity.

The definition of ‘functionary’ was amended to provide more clarity by stating "a medical practitioner, healthcare personnel, a social worker, an official in the employ of a public health establishment, an educator, or a caregiver, or any other person designated in terms of section 2A(3)".  The subclause was inserted empowering the Minister to deem certain categories of persons as a functionary for the purposes of the Domestic Violence Act.

The majority of amendments to the Amendment Bill were to improve the readability of the provisions, to ensure that gender-neutral terms were used, and to ensure correct grammar.

The Chairperson thanked the Parliamentary Legal Advisor and the DoJ&CD for this information.

GBV Bills: adoption
The Committee adopted the Criminal and Related Matters Amendment Bill without amendment, the Criminal Law (Sexual Offences and Related Matters) Amendment Act Amendment Bill with amendments, and the Domestic Violence Amendment Bill with amendments.

Committee Reports on GBV Bills: adoption
The Chairperson noted that Members had received the Committee Reports prior to the current meeting and had the time to consider its contents.

The Committee Report on the Criminal and Related Matters Amendment Bill [B17B-2020] was adopted by the Committee.

The Committee Report on the Domestic Violence Amendment Bill [B20B-2020] was adopted by the Committee.

The Committee Report on the Criminal Law (Sexual Offences and Related Matters) Amendment Act Amendment Bill [B16B-2020] was adopted by the Committee.

The Chairperson thanked Members, stakeholders, interested parties and DoJ&CD for the work that has gone into the finalisation of the GBV Amendment Bills. The urgency of the Amendment Bills was premised on the Presidential Summit of 2018 against Gender-Based Violence and Femicide which resulted in the declaration of fast-tracking the review of existing GBV laws and policies on  with a focus on the victims of such crimes. She emphasised the importance of adopting these Amendment Bills during Women’s Month.

The meeting was adjourned.