Parliament says it is on track to review and possibly repeal more than 1,800 apartheid-era laws.
In 2016, the programming committee of the National Assembly mandated Parliament’s legal services with identifying all apartheid-era laws or sections in legislation, that could be inconsistent with the Constitution.
Parliament’s legal advisers submitted their report to the committee on Thursday. It identifies 1,850 pieces of legislation passed between 1910 and 1993.
Parliament’s legal services will now begin identifying the departments under which each of the laws falls for input and processing.
The report highlights that in the light of changes in the structure of the executive, some of these laws either no longer have applicable ministries or their functions have since shifted from one ministry to another.
The office of the ANC chief whip in Parliament said in a statement on Thursday that the process of working through each piece of the 1,850 pieces of legislation was critical, as it would determine which legislation should be repealed or amended if found to be inconsistent with the Constitution.
"As a custodian of the South African Constitution, the ANC is pleased with the progress made thus far and looks forward to the finalisation of this important process," the ANC chief whip’s office said.
"Since 1994, the ANC government has made great strides in repealing over 2,000 apartheid laws, which were found to be inconsistent with the values of our democracy and the Constitution," it said.
"We are confident that the outcome of the ongoing process by the legal services department, including that of the high-level panel on the assessment of key legislation and acceleration of fundamental change, will democratically transform SA’s legislative landscape and accelerate service delivery."
In 2016, another apartheid-era law, the Riotous Assemblies Act, came into sharp focus after EFF leader Julius Malema was charged for contravening its provisions.
Allegations were that during the party’s elective conference in 2014, Malema incited party members to commit a crime by occupying any vacant land they came across. He has also been charged a second time for a similar transgression, for making the same call in Newcastle in 2016.
The charges against Malema were laid by lobby group Afriforum.
The EFF indicated that it would file an application with the high court asking that the act be declared unconstitutional.
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