While Parliament has been successful in repealing oppressive apartheid laws and passing progressive new legislation since 1994, the National Legislature has never really made much effort to test the effectiveness of all these good laws on the people.
As a result, the Speakers’ Forum (an organisation of the Presiding Officers of Parliament and the Speakers of Provincial Legislatures) appointed a high level panel to conduct a far-reaching public consultation process to find out if citizens are benefiting maximally from all these laws that have been enacted since 1994.
The High Level Panel (HLP) on the Assessment of Key Legislation and the Acceleration of Fundamental Change was established by the Speakers’ Forum in January 2016 after a strategic plan of the fourth democratic Parliament identified the need for assessing the impact of legislation passed since 1994, through nationwide public consultations and information gathering.
The panel, chaired by former President Kgalema Motlanthe, criss-crossed the country gathering views from civil society organisations, professionals as well as ordinary citizens on the impact of legislation passed since 1994, on the lives of the people.
Now, after more than a year of extensive public engagements and consultations with academics and experts on the effectiveness of laws passed by the democratic Parliament since 1994, the High Level Panel is ready to submit its report with recommendations to the Speakers’ Forum.
The report will be tabled before the Speakers’ Forum on Tuesday, November 21, at the Sandton Convention Centre in Gauteng.
When the panel started its work, former President Motlanthe said he hoped the exercise will result in more strengthened relations between Parliament and the citizens and ensure that all legislation impacts positively on the lives of the people.
Mr Motlanthe said the need to assess the impact of legislation was identified by the fourth democratic Parliament and in this term the Speakers’ Forum established the panel to conduct the investigation.
“Our mandate is to look into the impact of legislation passed since 1994, which will include the extent of implementation of the laws, the quality of legislation and whether intentions of such laws are being met,” he said in outlining the work of the panel.
To focus is on legislation that speaks to poverty, unemployment and inequality; equitable distribution of wealth and the land question as well as nation-building and social cohesion
“The interest of the panel is to hear from the public on how your lives have been impacted upon by legislation passed since 1994, how has legislation enhanced or complicated your lives,” said the former President in his remarks in one of the public hearings.
While we may have produced good laws, our people are not benefiting maximally from these laws due to challenges in implementation.
“This exercise had never been tried before, we only passed and repealed laws but the impact has never been assessed.
“Do these laws impact positively on the lives of South Africans, do they serve as enablers or impediments in efforts to better their lives,” said the former President.
The panel identified three categories of legislation that they want the public to comment on, and these are laws on social cohesion and nation-building, equitable distribution of wealth as well as laws that speak to the land question.
The HLP conducted public consultations all over the country, gathering inputs from different stakeholders and communities on the impact of legislation passed since the dawn of democracy.
It also conducted a series of roundtable discussions, commissioned in depth research, and collected reams of evidence and written submissions made by stakeholders and citizens from across the spectrum.
Speaking during a meeting of the Speakers’ Forum, the Deputy Speaker of National Assembly Mr Lechesa Tsenoli said the report of the panel is expected to provide objective evidence on the net impact of laws passed since 1994, and make clear recommendations on how best to accelerate transformation of the society for people to enjoy a great quality of life.
He said the Speakers’ Forum that had established and mandated the HLP, is working on a plan for effective handling of the findings and recommendations of the HLP.
Mr Tsenoli said the HLP report and effective implementation of its recommendations could become part of the legacy of the 5th Parliament (2014 – 2019).
“The panel is playing a diagnosis role, we hope they are going to say this is how to heal the disease affecting the nation on land, education and all other sectors in our society,” said Mr Uhuru Moiloa, the Deputy Speaker of the Gauteng Provincial Legislature.
By Sakhile Mokoena
16 November 2017
Arrange a tour