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We can’t pay R5bn sin taxes, says alcohol industry

By CAIPHUS KGOSANA and GRAEME HOSKEN – TimesLive

As the war over the ban on booze sales heats up, the alcohol industry has asked the government to suspend R5bn in sin-tax obligations until it is allowed to trade again.

DearSA-alcohol-ban

In a separate development, a scientist on the ministerial advisory committee (MAC) — which advises the minister of health, Zweli Mkhize, on Covid-19 issues — criticised the science used to justify reimposing the sales ban.

And professor Charles Parry, a director at the Medical Research Council (MRC), said he was surprised by the outright ban because the council had recommended only tighter restrictions on sales.

The National Liquor Traders Council, the South African Liquor Brandowners Association, the Beer Association of SA and Vinpro — a non-profit company representing 2,500 wine producers, cellars and industry stakeholders — have written to finance minister Tito Mboweni and the South African Revenue Service (Sars) saying the renewed ban on alcohol sales had left them no choice but to apply for deferment of duties payable for July and August. The organisations represent such companies as South African Breweries, Distell and Diageo.

Liquor industry spokesperson Sibani Mngadi said alcohol excise tax was imposed at the point of production, meaning the industry was liable for excise duties worth R2.5bn in July and another R2.5bn in August on products that are in warehouses and cannot be sold.

“The industry and its entire value chain are facing an enormous financial crisis, and its capacity to make these payments is severely constrained. The sustainability of the sector, now and in the post-Covid era, is dependent on this deferment if job losses are to be avoided,” Mngadi said.

President Cyril Ramaphosa announced the immediate reinstatement of the ban on alcohol sales last Sunday, citing a sharp increase in trauma unit admissions since the ban was lifted on June 1. This had put extra pressure on facilities that were struggling to cope with the coronavirus pandemic.

The government is already facing a cash crunch due to plunging tax revenues caused by the struggling economy. Tabling his supplementary budget last month, Mboweni said SA would miss its original revenue target by more than R300bn this year.

Mboweni’s spokesperson, Mashudu Masutha, had not responded to questions about the liquor industry’s appeal by the time of going to press.
Estimates show the industry contributed R51bn in indirect taxes in 2019, with just over R33bn in excise duties and R17bn in value added tax (VAT).

The fiscus is also not collecting excise duties on tobacco, since a ban on the sale of these products was imposed when the lockdown was first introduced at the end of March. It is estimated that R4bn in tobacco excise duties has already been lost.

Bernard Mofokeng, tax partner at CMS RM Partners, said Sars was generally reluctant to allow postponement of excise duty and VAT payments because these taxes were susceptible to fraud.

“There is so much fraud in liquor and tobacco products, government is losing billions. It is already undercollecting,” he said.

Mngadi said the liquor industry was aggrieved about not having been consulted over the renewed ban. “We reiterate our commitment to partner with the government to create a social compact that drives behavioural change regarding the use and consumption of alcohol,” he said.

Professor Francois Venter of the Wits University Reproductive Health & HIV Institute, who is a member of the MAC, but not speaking as a MAC member, said traffic accidents were also to blame for trauma admissions.

“Look at admissions to hospitals when lockdown level 4 was in place and alcohol was banned. There were increasing trauma admissions related to vehicle accidents.

“People argue hospital beds are being protected, which is fair, but the unintended consequences need to be taken into account.”

Another member of the MAC, who asked not to be named, said there were major disagreements within the advisory body over the science relied upon to impose the ban.

“The slides we and the rest of the country were shown was half-baked science presented by known prohibitionists,” this person said. “If South Africans knew they would be furious, especially the alcohol industry.”

This council member said politicians were using the MAC to pass legislation based on dubious science. “The ban was definitely political. It points to the police and other law enforcement agencies being unable to police properly, especially around shebeens and drunk driving.”

Parry said the MRC had recommended tighter curbs on hours of sale for alcohol but not an outright ban.

“Our findings called for government to go the lighter route and tighten up on sale days rather than an outright ban because of the pushback that would come from people and the liquor industry,” he said. “It looks like government ran out of time. Honestly speaking, I was surprised by the ban.”

But Parry said it was irrefutable that banning or restricting alcohol sales led to declines in hospital admissions.

“[Research] showed the increase in admissions when the ban was lifted. Some hospitals in KwaZulu-Natal recorded 100% increases. Some Gauteng hospitals had 500% increases. Some Western Cape hospitals experienced a 60% admissions increase.”

He said that before the lockdown there were on average 42,700 trauma admissions a week in SA, across nearly 400 public tertiary hospitals.

“Of the alcohol-related admissions, 38% are violence related, 13% are accidents such as falls, 6% vehicle accidents and 2% self-harm,” Parry said.
“Each of these injuries has a burden on the health-care system. The cost of treating a stab injury in a state hospital is R5,352. To treat a vehicle-accident victim costs over R25,400, where a person spends one day in ICU and five days in a general ward.”

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South Africa could introduce these new drinking laws to combat alcohol abuse

Parliament’s Portfolio Committee on Health has agreed to formulate an ‘action plan’ around the issue of alcohol abuse in South Africa.

BusinessTech

DearSA-alcohol-law

This follows a briefing from the South African Medical Research Council (SAMRC) which found that the reintroduction of the sale of alcohol has led to a significant increase in trauma cases at the country’s hospitals.

Committee chairperson Dr Sibongiseni Dhlomo said that while relatively few South Africans consume alcohol, many of those who do, consume alcohol excessively.

He said that the committee is of the view that South Africa cannot continue to debate the gross domestic product (GDP) benefits of alcohol sales and not talk about ‘the costs of cleaning up’ after alcohol has been abused.

Hospital admissions, intensive care usage, gender-based violence and death all escalate as a result of excessive alcohol consumption, he said.

“The committee has agreed to meet next week to formulate an action plan on the basis of the report.

“This is in line with a letter sent to the Speaker of the National Assembly by a group of academics, researchers and policy specialists offering advice on steps to curb the abuse of alcohol in South Africa. The letter has since been referred to the committee for consideration.”

Policy changes 

While the SAMRC’s presentation primarily focused on the impact of the coronavirus, an accompanying question paper developed by parliament’s internal research unit outlined some of the draft regulations which lawmakers should consider.

“South Africa needs to control alcohol in order to save lives, improve health, and strengthen the economy. This is possible given the listed three draft Bills that require deliberation in order to increase regulation,” the researchers said.

The three draft bills which have previously been mooted include:

  • The Draft Control of Marketing of Alcoholic Beverages Bill of 2013;
  • The Draft Traffic Amendment Bill of 2015;
  • The  Draft Liquor Amendment Bill of 2017.

The Draft Control of Marketing of Alcoholic Beverages Bill primarily deals with advertising, including where alcohol may be sold, what times alcohol advertisements may be shown on TV, and who alcohol may be sold to.

The Draft Liquor Amendment Bill proposes much more wide-reaching changes including:

  • Increasing the drinking age to 21 years;
  • The introduction of a 100-metre radius limitation of trade around educational and religious institutions;
  • Banning of any alcohol sales and advertising on social and small media;
  • The introduction of new liability clause for alcohol-sellers.

Drunk-driving

The Traffic Amendment Bill has already been approved by President Cyril Ramaphosa and is set to be introduced before the end of 2020.

Alongside a number of other traffic-related offences, it will create a zero-tolerance approach to drunk driving.

It introduces a total prohibition for the use and consumption of alcohol by all motor vehicle operators on South Africa’s public roads.

The National Road Traffic Act (NRA) currently enables those who have consumed alcohol to get behind the wheel provided they are under the blood alcohol limit.

These laws differentiate between normal drivers and professional drivers (those drivers who hold professional driving permits).

For normal drivers, the concentration of alcohol in any blood specimen must be less than 0.05 gram per 100 millilitres, and in the case of a professional driver, less than 0.02 gram per 100 millilitres.

The new laws would make this limit zero in both cases.

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It pays to keep a beady eye on municipalities – as Joburg City backtracks on tariff increases.

DearSA municipal increases

DearSA takes notes of the fact that the City of Joburg has decided to reduce the proposed increases in property, water and electricity tariffs after considerable public outrage from Joburg City residents.

Here’s what the City eventually agreed, after a vigorous campaign by DearSA and other civic groups:

  • Property tariffs will go up 4% instead of the proposed 4.9%
  • Water tariffs will go up 6.6% instead of 8.6%
  • Electricity tariffs will go up 6.23% instead of 8.10%.

This will not satisfy many city residents who believe the City should have dropped tariffs – rather than offer a slightly lower increase – in light of the Covid economic crash, which has resulted in an estimated eight out of 10 South Africans experiencing a reduction in income.

The fact that Joburg City backtracked (somewhat) on its proposed tariff increases is due in no small measure to the public campaign run by DearSA, which brought this to the public’s attention.

Around 14,000 DearSA municipal campaign participants demonstrated the power of participative democracy, and what can be done when citizens are mobilised. But we cannot let it rest there.

view the participation campaigns here

There are 257 municipalities in South Africa, and very few of them garner the attention that Joburg City did. Only 18 of the 257 received clean audits from the Auditor General (AG), compared with 33 in the previous year. Irregular expenditure across all municipalities came to a staggering R32 billion. Some 91% of municipalities did not comply with legislation.

Municipalities are back-sliding at an alarming rate.

Some of the worst-managed municipalities are in far-flung dorpies where few people pay much attention to their dismal financial management or the quality of the services they deliver. We recently learned that Steve Tshwete Municipality in Mpumalanga gave its municipal manager a 48% annual increase in the midst of a lockdown. The six senior managers of Steve Tshwete Municipality voted themselves an average 16.8% increase.

It’s time to change that. We need to pay far greater attention to the budgets of the 257 municipalities around the country. Councillors are awarding themselves inflation-plus increases in complete disregard for the ability of residents to pay. They must be held to account.

Some municipalities – such as Ekurhuleni – are showing some sensitivity to the plight of their residents by holding rates and taxes increases to 0%, and freezing electricity tariff increases for the poor. That said, the 4% salary increase for councillors is concerning given that between 150,000 and 200,000 residents in the municipal area are reckoned to have lost their jobs.

Ekurhukeni, however, is better managed than most. To get a sense of how awful municipal management is we need look no further than the AG’s 2019 municipal audit report, which suggests 60% of revenue reflected on the books of municipalities will never be paid. There has been a growing trend of individuals and established businesses showing signs of a diminishing ability to pay for services, or simply refusing to pay.

The AG report tells a disturbing story of most municipalities “crippled by debt and being unable to pay for water and electricity; inaccurate and lacklustre revenue collection; expenditure that is unauthorised, irregular, fruitless and wasteful; and a high dependence on grants and assistance from national government”.

While the AG has now received enhanced powers to investigate material irregularities in all public entities and refer complaints to law enforcement bodies, greater citizen engagement at local government level is essential to combat the rot that has gripped municipalities.

This will also assist the AG in doing its job. Once material irregularities have been reported to law enforcement and no action is taken by the stipulated date, the AG must take action itself and instruct the accounting officer at the public entity to quantify and recover the loss.

If that fails, the AG must issue a certificate of debt to the accounting officer or the relevant accounting authority. It then falls to the minister or other executive authority to recover the loss.

It’s time for citizens to stand up and make their voices heard. Especially, though not only, at local government level.

DearSA will be keeping a beady eye on this sector of our governance and will alert you to key developments around the country. This is where some of the worst and most toxic corruption is taking place. It has to be stopped if we are to have a proper and functioning democracy.

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Govt promises to consider input as it seeks comment on lockdown regulations

This comes after President Cyril Ramaphosa announced an immediate ban of the sale of alcohol and a curfew, forcing South Africans to stay home between 9pm and 4am.

Ramaphosa

Theto Mahlakoana EWN

The public has been invited to make comments on the recently amended regulations to level three of the lockdown, with government promising to consider their input.

This comes after President Cyril Ramaphosa announced an immediate ban of the sale of alcohol and a curfew, forcing South Africans to stay home between 9pm and 4am.

The government said that the decision to enforce stricter regulations followed the spike in new COVID-19 infections and related deaths.

With many of the existing regulations, including the prohibition of the sale of tobacco products and the non-visitation of family members, are under review in courts across the country. The government has chosen to tread carefully by consulting the public.

Although the comments will only be considered with the laws already enforced, Cooperative Governance Minister Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma said that the decisions were made in the best interests of South Africans.

Government has also defended its decision to criminalise the non-wearing of masks.

On the decision to ban visits among family members, the national COVID-19 command council has explained that this was due to the loophole this created for people to host parties and other platforms that had led to the surge in COVID-19 positive cases in some parts of the country.

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Curbs don’t limit freedom, they limit Covid-19: Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma

NDZ-DearSA

BY ERNEST MABUZA – TimesLIVE

Stringent lockdown measures announced by President Cyril Ramaphosa on Sunday, including the suspension of liquor sales and the return of a night curfew were being imposed to limit the spread of Covid-19.

Co-operative governance & traditional affairs minister Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma said this in a follow-up briefing on Monday.

She said though SA was number 25 in terms of population size in the world, it is now ranked 10th highest in the number of Covid-19 cases.

She said SA ranked higher in terms of the number of new cases per day. “We must do everything to protect this beautiful nation of ours.”

Dlamini-Zuma said the announcement by Ramaphosa on Sunday was to combat the spread of the virus.

She said it was now a criminal offence not to wear a mask in a public place.

“When you wear a mask, you are not protecting only yourself but people about you,” she said.

She said if one did not have a formal mask, one could use a cloth or any material to cover the mouth and nose.

“Now it is mandatory. It is mandatory to wear a face mask because it is one of the measures at our disposal to protect ourselves and to protect people about us.

“The provision in the regulations now says the mandatory wearing of the face mask or any face mask, cloth mask or anything that you can use to cover your mouth and nose while you are in public.”

She said the regulation also says one cannot enter any form of public transport without wearing a mask. She said social distancing still remained important and people should avoid activities that disregarded those responsibilities.

“That is why social activities are still not allowed. So one of the things that we know becomes difficult when people are sitting together and continue to wear masks is also alcohol.”

She said when people are drinking in groups, they let their guard down.

“Their masks will go and social distancing will go. The spread will happen and we have seen it in many instances.”

She said drinking of alcohol socially brought people together and discouraged them from using masks, from social distancing and sanitising.

“More importantly when people have taken liquor, they get drunk, they engage in irresponsible behaviour, some of them become violent, they start fighting, killing each other.

“Even at home they become violent. When they get into their cars, they start driving recklessly, creating accidents.”

She said those people had to be rushed to hospitals, which means they were taking space that should be used to look after people who are ill and people who have Covid.

“Some of them need theatre, ICU beds and ventilators and taking away from those who are ill and who need it from Covid-19.”

Alcohol-related emergency cases diverted the services of medical personnel who should be in ICU looking after people with Covid-19.

“What happens then is the ICU gets full, beds in hospital get full and people who need those beds will not have access to them. It is for that reason that the cabinet has decided we need to suspend the sale of alcohol transportation and dispensing of alcohol,” Dlamini-Zuma said.

Dlamini-Zuma said the government was not limiting people’s rights.

“The government is trying to limit the spread of the virus because the spread happens through the movement of people. The virus is moved by people. It is spread by people. It is me who moves it. It is you who will move it. Part of limiting the movement is part of limiting the spread of virus,” Dlamini-Zuma said.

She said it was for that reason that the curfew was brought back from 9pm to 4am. Interprovincial travel is not allowed, except for funerals, work and business travel.

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Mkhize does a U-turn on Eastern Cape medical scooters

Mk-pram DearSA
  • Medical scooters procured by the Eastern Cape Health Department do not meet criteria to transport patients.
  • Health Minister Zweli Mkhize said his department was not consulted on the specifications of the scooters.
  • The Eastern Cape Health Department spent R10 million to procure 100 scooters.

Health Minister Zweli Mkhize has admitted medical scooters in the Eastern Cape – at a cost of R10 million – do not meet the basic criteria for “patient transport as an ambulance”.

Mkhize announced this in response to a written Parliamentary question from DA MP Siviwe Gwarube who wanted details on whether the scooters were suitable for patient transport.

Mkhize’s response read: “No, the Scooter Project that was launched by the Eastern Cape Department of Health (ECDOH) does not meet the basic criteria for patient transport as an ambulance. The purpose of this project by ECDOH is mainly for widening access to primary health care and delivering of chronic medicine for the most remote areas of the Eastern Cape province.”

Mkhize said the national Department of Health was not consulted on specifications before the procurement of the scooters.

“The province, (however), has been advised that none of these scooters will be used as ambulances because they do not meet the specific requirements as provided for in the EMS Regulations, such as, minimum patient compartment space and equipment requirements,” Mkhize said.

Tender

News24 reported last month that a R10 million tender awarded to a King William’s Town company to supply 100 ambulance scooters to the Eastern Cape Department of Health, was now also under investigation.

The department confirmed that the Bid Adjudication Committee (BAC) was reviewing the processes followed in the awarding of the contract.

On 12 June, Mkhize and Eastern Cape Health MEC Sindiswa Gomba unveiled six scooters fitted with a bed on one side, overhead gazebo with a first aid kit and oxygen on board.

Gomba told News24 at the time it was meant to ferry patients from far-flung, remote rural areas to clinics and hospitals.

In a statement, the DA’s Gwarube said this “scooter scandal” was yet another indication of the ineptitude of the Eastern Cape Department of Health leadership.

“The MEC has recently argued that the department is bankrupt, yet R10 million can be wasted on scooters which will gather dust in some warehouse. All the while, the province is failing to mount a decent response to the Covid-19 crisis. There is a critical shortage of staff, insufficient bed capacity, ambulances in some areas, underscored by the rising number of infections and deaths,” she said.

Gwarube said the DA would submit Mkhize’s response to the SAHRC as supplementary evidence in the investigation they have committed to.

“If the national Department of Health now backtracks from the initial purported function of the scooters which Minister Mkhize personally endorsed, it begs the question: why R10 million is being spent on a chronic medication distribution system? What is the point of the first aid equipment, drip stands and the stretcher attached to the scooter?” she asked.

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Gordhan: You are paying 4 times more for electricity because of stealing at Medupi and Kusile

gordhan-DearSA

fin24 Pieter du Toit

South Africans are paying up to four times more for electricity than a decade ago – and that’s to finance stealing and cost overruns at the Medupi and Kusile power stations.

Public Enterprises Minister Pravin Gordhan called numbers and statistics comparing Eskom of a decade ago with present-day Eskom “atrocious”, saying tariff increases over that period mean ordinary South Africans are paying four times more than they used to.

“The numbers are atrocious. The amount of electricity Eskom produces is marginally higher. The demand is falling by about 1% per year. The cost of electricity has gone up more than four times. How could you sell the same amount (of electricity) but you’re earning four times more than ten years ago?

“It’s because of tariff increases, and that’s to pay for Medupi and Kusile overruns, all the stealing that happened. It’s for all the extra you’re paying for coal and maintenance and to original equipment manufacturers, et cetera. And it’s the ordinary citizen and the economy that’s paying the cost,” Gordhan told Fin24 in an interview.

Medupi and Kusile, projects conceived in 2007, were supposed to be completed by 2015 at a cost of R163bn, but are still not finished. They are now expected to only go fully online after 2021 and 2023 respectively, with costs ballooning to more than R450bn.

‘Huge’ damage

It was expected that the projects would have boosted the country’s electricity output by a considerable amount. Performance has, however, been erratic and unreliable, with only a limited number of units being operational.

And it doesn’t seem as if the pain for South African consumers and business will come to an end soon. Gordhan says the extent of the damage done to Eskom’s power stations over the years will take time to fix.

“The damage is huge. You have the age of the plants to take into consideration, of course, but if for example you have a car that’s 10, 11 or 12 years old, you can still get good mileage out of it if you service it properly.

“But if you don’t, and you’ve driven it too hard, with too many people driving it and they’ve driven irresponsibly, then the car will break down.

“What the previous management teams did – in the short period they got close to 75% energy availability – was to drive the plants too hard,” Gordhan says.

During the period in question, only minor maintenance was done, with big maintenance projects, like mid-life refurbishment (which entails a complete overhaul and servicing of a power station) neglected in favour of electricity production.

“There were hundreds of maintenance contracts, and not all had the necessary technical capabilities, which resulted in patch-ups only being done,” Gordhan says.

Midlife refurbishments at power stations were in many instances not carried out for eight years, whereas Gordhan says inspection should happen at least every two years.

Plants weren’t only damaged by poor and irregular maintenance: the company’s people management system also caused damage to power stations, due to a loss of skills and the creation of patronage networks.

“Many good people have left, and many top power station managers are working in the Philippines and elsewhere. And what I heard is that the then-management replaced power station managers so that they could control procurement, and could manage them, and therefore manage what happened at a power station. When Jabu Mabuza’s board came in, it took them a while to figure out what was going on, but by the end of 2018 they started to rotate power station managers.”

The crisis with load shedding has forced Eskom to ensure that power stations are more closely monitored by suitably qualified people, and the reorganisation of power station managers has been fast-tracked.

“The new chief executive and management must ensure that we use all the available skills and experience available in the country to assist Eskom to recover. It will take time. But it can be done with the help of all stakeholders.”

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FITA heads to Supreme Court of Appeal over tobacco ban

DearSA - NDZ

Cape Town – The Fair-Trade Independent Tobacco Association has asked for urgent leave to appeal the high court’s dismissal of its challenge of the ban on cigarette sales in the Supreme Court of Appeal.

Fita, in its application, said the North Gauteng High Court erred in interpretation of the threshold for concept of necessity in the Disaster Management Act in terms of which the government declared a state of disaster in response to the Covid-19 pandemic.

It should, Fita said in its papers, have found that the test was whether something was “absolutely necessary”.

The court also erred in its application of the rationality test, which goes towards whether imposing a ban on cigarette sales was rationally linked to the purpose for which the government promulgated regulations in terms of section 27 of the act.

A full bench of the high court in Pretoria held that rationality was not a particularly stringent test and it had been satisfied by Cooperative Governance Minister Nkosazana Dlamini Zuma in her reasoning for prohibiting the sale of tobacco products.

“The question before the Court is rather, having regard to the evidence considered and relied on by the minister, could it be said that there is enough to conclude that the prohibition placed on the sale of tobacco products is justified?” the judges held.

“In our view the answer is clearly in the affirmative.”

Lawyers for the minister argued that, based on the available scientific research, the government imposed the ban to prevent hospitals being overrun with smokers who presented with severe Covid-19 symptoms.

Fita disputed the scientific evidence and has done so again in its application for leave to appeal, but argued that to a large extent it was irrelevant because the rational foundation for the minister’s actions fell away unless it was proven that people had stopped smoking en masse as a result of the prohibition on cigarettes.

“The Court erred in not finding that the ban in the regulations is based on the fundamental false premise that if a certain number of people are prevented from gaining access to cigarettes and tobacco products for a limited period of time they will cease to be ‘smokers’,” the association said.

It is challenging the judgment in its entirety, including the cost order imposed by the court.

Fita said it was challenging the decision to award costs against it because the State expressly did not seek a cost order on the basis that the case was in the public interest.

African News Agency/ANA 

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Five suspects nabbed for R5.7m UIF fraud in predawn raid by Hawks

By Jeff Wicks, Times LIVE

Hawks investigators descended on several properties in Pretoria in an early morning raid on Saturday to round up five suspects linked to a R5.7m UIF fraud and money-laundering scam.

The suspects cannot be named until they have appeared before a court.

Hawks spokesperson Col Katlego Mogale said that three men and two women — aged between 25 and 68 — were taken into custody in the predawn raid.

“This is following an intensive investigation into a case registered at Brooklyn SAPS relating to the Unemployment Insurance Fund Covid-19 relief. The suspects were traced to various residences in Soshanguve, Atteridgeville and Mamelodi,” she said.

“Five vehicles, including a Range Rover Evoque, were recovered from the scenes as well as other items suspected to have been bought with the monies which weren’t meant for the suspects,” she added.

Two weeks ago, the graft-busting Asset Forfeiture Unit secured a preservation order in the Pretoria high court, freezing R3.2m in cash in 28 bank accounts.

R2.4m remains in the ether.

Hawks investigators and operatives from the Financial Intelligence Centre had followed the money from the UIF into the bank account of a factory worker.

His bank account details had been inexplicably swapped with those of his employer, and the misstep saw Covid-19 relief funds meant for 1,400 paid into his account.

Detectives, on being alerted to the scam, unravelled a web of payments, which saw funds hastily moved between the man’s family members and his girlfriend, according to documents before court.

The Sunday Times and TimesLIVE reported that the family had splurged on cars, tombstones and catering equipment.

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NCOP PASSED THE CYBERCRIMES BILL, CIVIL UNION AND THE SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY LAWS AMENDMENT BILLS

The National Council of Provinces (NCOP) at its sitting on Wednesday morning passed three Bills, the Cybercrimes Bill, The Civil Union Amendment Bill and the Science and Technology Laws Amendment Bill.

DearSA-cybercrime

The Cybercrimes Bill was initially introduced as the Cybercrimes and Cybersecurity Bill in 2017. It was referred to the fifth democratic Parliament’s Select Committee on Security and Justice from the National Assembly on 27 November 2018. The Bill was thoroughly advertised for public participation in 2019, where substantive inputs were provided by various stakeholders and individuals. However, it lapsed at the end of the fifth Parliament and it is among the Bills that were revived by the NCOP through a resolution on 17 October 2019.

The objectives of the Bill are, among others, to create offences and impose penalties which have a bearing on cybercrime, to criminalise the distribution of data messages which are harmful and to provide for interim protection orders, and to further regulate jurisdiction in respect of cybercrimes.

The Bill further aims to regulate the powers to investigate cybercrimes, to further regulate aspects relating to mutual assistance in respect of the investigation of cybercrimes and to provide for the establishment of a 24/7 Point of Contact. The Bill also impose obligations on electronic communications service providers and financial institutions to assist in the investigation of cybercrimes. It also provides that that the executive may enter into agreements with foreign states to promote cybersecurity.

The NCOP also passed the Civil Union Bill, which was referred to the Select Committee on Security after its revival in 2019. The purpose of the Civil Union Bill is to repeal section 6 of the Civil Union Act of 2006 which allows a marriage officer to inform the Minister that he or she objects on the ground of conscience, religion, and belief to solemnising a civil union between persons of the same sex.

During the vigorous processing of the Bill, the Select Committee received extensive submissions – a total of 325 submissions from organisations and individuals either in favour or against the amendment Bill. The Committee also considered Section 195 (1) of the Constitution which provides that public administration must be governed by the democratic values and principles enshrined in the Constitution, including in subsection (d) that services must be provided impartially, fairly, equitably and without bias.

The Committee noted further that Section 197(3) of the Constitution provides that no employee of the public service may be favoured or prejudiced only because that person supports a particular political party or cause. The Committee agreed that the repeal of Section 6 of the Civil Union Act, 2006 was important in advancing equality and upholding the Constitutional rights afforded to persons entering into same sex unions.

The Science and Technology Laws Amendment Bill was also passed by the sitting of the House. The Bill seeks to amend the Scientific Research Council Act of 1988, the Academy of Science of South Africa Act of 2001, the Human Sciences Research Council Act of 2008, the Technology Innovation Agency Act of 2008, and the South African National Space Agency Act of 2008, so as to harmonise the processes for the termination of the membership of Boards or Councils of the entities established by these Acts.

The Bills will be sent to the President for assent.

ISSUED BY PARLIAMENT OF THE REPUBLIC OF SOUTH AFRICA