Deputy President Paul Mashatile says ministers wishing to change a passed law must come and make a presentation to the Cabinet.
Image: Kopano Tlape / GCIS
Deputy President Paul Mashatile said on Thursday that there are no laws previously passed by Parliament that will be changed willy-nilly.
Responding during a question-and-answer session in the National Council of Provinces (NCOP), Mashatile confirmed there was a concern that there are those who sought to undermine some of the transformative legislation that has been passed, particularly by the previous administration.
“But the government is resolute that those laws passed by the previous administration must be implemented as they were enacted by Parliament. So we are quite resolute on that,” he said.
Mashatile also said that if a minister wanted to make some changes to any of the laws, he or she should take the particular legislation to Cabinet and then back to Parliament.
“There will be no shortcut because laws are made and passed by Parliament, and it is this Parliament, both the National Assembly and the NCOP, that are safeguarding our laws.
“And therefore, we have made it clear to all the ministers, should you come across something you want to change, something that you have observed that needs to be changed, you have to follow that process back to Cabinet and back to Parliament, but laws that were passed will not be changed willy-nilly.”
He was responding to ANC MP Kenny Mmoiemang, who observed that there seemed to be a semblance of opposition to the government’s efforts that was beginning to emerge to undermine the effort to address the historical inequalities and promote the economic transformation agenda.
Mmoiemang had referred to issues linked to black economic empowerment, preferential procurement, and the expropriation of land, saying there was beginning to be a message that there was a semblance of undermining the agenda of transformation by certain members of the Cabinet to undermine the agenda of transformation.
“What mechanism is the Cabinet putting in place, or measures that the Cabinet is putting in place to defend this agenda of transformation,” he said.
Mashatile said there were a number of programmes that were in place to advance transformation in the country.
“You have correctly quoted the triple BEE Act that is in place to ensure that we empower those previously disadvantaged. That Act is currently being implemented by government departments, and also efforts have been made at the moment to ensure that we also ensure proper reforms for our procurement policies to advance triple BEE, which is really what is focusing on those previously disadvantaged to come into the mainstream of the economy,” he said.
However, MK Party MP Mmabatho Mokoena-Zondi asked Mashatile what he had done as the leader of Government Business to ensure that Communications and Digital Technology Minister Solly Malatsi was held accountable for seeking to undermine the transformation agenda by gazetting policy directives to relax black economic empowerment in the ICT sector codes.
In response, Mashatile said there was no problem if a minister felt something they identified needed to be changed, but there were processes to be followed.
“You need to come to Cabinet and say, ‘Cabinet, I found out that this piece of legislation is not enhancing transformation, it is inhibiting it, and I think we should change it in this manner’.
“Once Cabinet agrees, then those changes can be factored in and then, of course, if it's legislation, it requires coming back to Parliament, to the National Assembly and the NCOP.”
He said Malatsi has already appeared before the portfolio committee, and it was raised that he needed to follow a particular process to deal with the matter, as it could happen that the Cabinet may not agree with his determination.
“We are waiting for the minister to come because that issue, if you recall, it's in the law, and that was a point that was made that… No minister has the power to change any law through regulations. So the minister, if he insists that there's something that needs to be changed, will come to Cabinet, because it is now tinkering with the law, so that is where we are. Nothing will be changed unless the Cabinet decides it should be so.”
mayibongwe.maqhina@inl.co.za