Here’s how Government should accommodate public participation on regulations

26 May 2020

The Democratic Alliance (DA) strongly believes that Level 3 regulations must be open to public comment and submission.

As with the instatement of Level 4 lockdown regulations, public participation is crucial and must under no circumstances be abandoned in the move to Level 3.

The DA suggests the following to allow maximum public participation:

Publish the draft regulations on the Government website;

Each regulation should have a feature that allows for comment from the public;

Create a special email address dedicated to public comment on the proposed regulations; and

Invite South Africans on social media to respond to the proposed regulations.

Comments on the regulations from the public should be transparent and visible to anyone interested.

As it stands, the Government has lost a lot of good will and trust from the public due to the blunders from its Ministers, and its unwillingness to share the data that its models are based on.

The normal legislative process in South Africa is detailed and thorough: For a law to be passed, a bill must be drawn up by government departments or introduced by committees or individual members of Parliament. It is then opened to the public for comment and must be passed by both the National Assembly and the National Council of Provinces before the President signs it into effect.

It is bizarre that Level 3 lockdown regulations will be gazetted, implemented and enforced without any opportunity for public participation whatsoever.

There is no excuse for Government not to open them up for comment and participation. The DA strongly believes that Government's reason for not doing so, is that it will expose the extend of public disgruntlement and frustration with Government's current unsubstantiated and thumb-suck "legislative" process.

Issued by Dean Macpherson, DA Shadow Minister of Trade and Industry, 26 May 2020