Committee to Assess Feasibility of Introducing a Bill to Amend National Council on Gender-Based Violence and Femicide Act

The Portfolio Committee on Women, Youth and Persons with Disabilities asked Parliament’s Legal Services about the existence of a possibility to make amendments through a committee Bill to the National Council on Gender Based Violence Act.

The committee received a briefing yesterday from Parliament’s Legal Services on the establishment of the National Council on Gender-Based Violence and Femicide (NCGBVF). During the engagement, the Chairperson of the committee, Ms Liezl van der Merwe, said the committee didn't want to just tick a box and proceed with the processes while there are no resources available for the establishment of the NCGBVF.

The Chairperson also pointed out that the committee wanted to get more clarity regarding, among other things, the mandate of the body, which was why it requested Parliament's legal services to appear before it for engagement on the NCGBVF.

The Chairperson highlighted a concern of the committee over the civil society that will be part of the Council and be remunerated. She also expressed the feeling of the committee about the proposed 24-member secretariat to serve in the Council, that it might be bloated.

The scope of the request that the committee gave legal services, was to assess the feasibility of introducing a committee Bill that would amend the NCGBVF Act, to determine what provisions within the act require amendments to ensure greater clarity regarding the council's scope, mandate, and functions.

Parliament’s Legal Services was of the view that the amendments that the committee is seeking to do, are technical in nature, and where there are substantive amendments, those would be non-contentious.

Adv Charmaine van der Merwe of Parliament’s Legal Services said, she understands that the department has a different view and that was not in the agenda of the committee. She said contentious matters are Bills such as the National Health Insurance.

The Bill that the committee envisages might be a difference of opinion on what it should say, but it's not contentious in the sense that it is likely to be faced with the public outcries. So said, Adv van der Merwe: “I think that the proposed amendments are probably a solution that can be executed by way of a committee Bill,” said Adv van der Merwe.

The Parliamentary Legal Services will undertake an evaluation of the NCGBVF Act which aims to focus on the following objectives:
• To assess the feasibility of introducing a committee Bill that would amend the act
• Determine what provisions within the act require amendments to ensure greater clarity regarding the council's scope, mandate and functions.
• To provide competitive examples of existing structures within government established to perform an advisory function, for instance, the South African National AIDS Council.
• To explore the feasibility of remuneration of council members from civil society, notwithstanding government's fiscal constraints, ensuring minimal impact on the public purse.
• Proposal for limiting the size of the secretariat, its composition and structure.
• Provide a time-frame in the event a committee bill is to be introduced.