1. PRESENTATION TO THE PORTFOLIO COMMITTEE ON TRANSPORT
Department of Transport
TRANSPORT LAWS REPEAL BILL, 2010
10 AUGUST 2010

2. BACKGROUND
Department of Transport
 The South African Law Commission (SALC) was mandated with the task of revising the South African Statute book with a view to identify and recommend for repeal or amendment of legislations or provisions that are inconsistent with the equality clause in the Constitution or redundant and obsolete.
 SALC in collaboration with the Department conducted a research and established that there are 2800 Acts in the statutes book and 218 were identified as Acts administered by the Department of Transport. 1

3. Department of Transport
BACKGROUND CONT…
 The outcome of the research was that, there are statutes administered by the Department of Transport that need to be repealed wholly and others partially.
 Legislation identified for repeal are selected on the basis that they are no longer of practical utility, no longer have any legal effect, are spent, unnecessary and obsolete.
 In the context of this investigation, the Statutory Law Revision also targets statutory provisions that are at odds with the Constitution. 2

4. Department of Transport
DISCUSSION
 The Transport Laws Repeal Bill, 2010 (“the Bill”) has two Schedules . Schedule 1 lists Acts that may be repealed in their entirety. e.g. the schedule seek to repeal some 20 Railway Construction Acts dating back from These Acts authorized the construction and equipment of railway lines at certain places in the country. The purpose for which these Act were enacted was achieved and these Acts have no further practical utility. 3

5. Department of Transport
DISCUSSION CONT...
 The Schedule also seek to repeal Acts that no longer serve any purpose, e.g. The Railway and Harbour Strike and Service Amendment Act, (Act No. 7 of 1914), granted employees who did not take part in the 1914 strike special leave, a bonus, a reward or a special promotion. Since this Act no longer serve any purpose, it may be repealed. 4

6. DISCUSSION CONT…
Department of Transport
 Some Acts have become obsolete and require to be repealed, e.g. Section 15 is the only section remaining in the Railway Expropriation Act, 1955( Act No. 37 of 1955) the other provisions have been repealed over the years. Section 15 can no longer be applied. The other Acts in Schedule 1 are of the same nature as examples given above. 5

7. Department of Transport
DISCUSSION CONT...
 Schedule 2 seeks to repeal certain provisions of the Laws listed there in. The provisions that stand to be repealed have either become obsolete or will become obsolete since the legislations they refer to stand to be repealed by virtue of Schedule 1. e.g. the application of section 1 of Railway and Harbour Services and Superannuation Fund Acts has already been repealed , thus the said section serves no purpose.
 Another example is the proposed repeal of sections 1, 2 and 6 of the Railway Harbours Amendment Act, 1969 ( Act No. 32 of 1969). This legislation stands to be repealed by virtue of Schedule 1. 6

8. Department of Transport
DISCUSSION CONT...
 The provisions of other Acts listed in Schedule 2 are the same as the provisions mentioned in the previous slide
 We are of the view that there is a rational connection between the proposed repeal of laws and a legitimate government purpose of cleaning up the Statute Book. 7

9. CONSULTATION
Department of Transport
 The Bill was published for comments in Gazette No of 13 February 2009.
 Comments were received from Transnet, PRASSA, Department of Justice and Constitutional Development and the office of the State Law Adviser.
 Comments were taken into account and were incorporated into the Bill. The Bill was presented to the Infrastructure Development Cluster (FOSAD) and the Committee recommended that the Bill be referred to Cabinet for approval for introduction in Parliament 8

10. Department of Transport
REQUEST
 We therefore request the Portfolio committee to approve the Transport Laws Repeal Bill 2010.
THANK YOU
DANKIE
ENKOSI 9