SUBMISSION IN RESPONSE TO THE NOTICE OF INTENTION TO INTRODUCE THE DRAFT DISASTER MANAGEMENT AMENDMENT BILL, 2021
HELEN SUZMAN FOUNDATION | MAR 19, 2021
THE HELEN SUZMAN FOUNDATION HAS SUBMITTED ITS COMMENTS TO PARLIAMENT IN RESPECT OF THE NOTICE OF INTENTION TO INTRODUCE THE DRAFT DISASTER MANAGEMENT AMENDMENT BILL, 2021.
The intended draft Bill proposes to place constraints on the wide-ranging powers conferred on the Minister of Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs under the Disaster Management Act (“DMA”), and to provide for parliamentary oversight over the exercise of the Minister’s powers to declare, and extend, a state of disaster and to make subordinate legislation.
In July 2020, the HSF approached the Pretoria High Court seeking an order declaring that the Executive and Parliament have failed in their constitutional obligation to initiate, prepare and pass legislation governing the state’s response to COVID-19 and directing them to enact such legislation. On 7 October 2020, the Full Court in the Pretoria High Court handed down a judgment and order dismissing the HSF’s application. The HSF has taken the judgment and order of the Full Court on appeal before the Supreme Court of Appeal.
The HSF contends that properly interpreted, the DMA is a short-term, stop-gap mechanism empowering the state’s response to a national disaster only until such time that more concrete and fit-for-purpose legislation is initiated, prepared and passed.