Fluxmans Watch
04 Mar 2022
Strict driving laws starting July 2022
The new Administrative Adjudication of Road Traffic Offences (Aarto) Act is expected to come into force in July 2022. Aarto is a demerit point system that will penalise drivers found guilty of traffic offences and infringements. Demerit points could lead to prosecution or the cancellations of licences.
Phase 1 of the Aarto, ran from July to September 2021, Phase 2 from October and December 2021, and Phase 3, which officially started this month, is set to last 6 months after which the official launch will be on 1 July 2022.
Fine and demerit amounts have not yet been confirmed, however, these are expected to appear on Aarto’s new website.
Employment Equity
Parliament’s National Assembly passed the Employment Equity Amendment Bill in November 2021 and the draft law has been submitted to the National Council of Provinces for concurrence.
The Bill is set to reduce to the regulatory burden on small businesses, add rules of doing business with government, and enable employment equity targets to be set for different business sectors, occupational levels, sub-sectors or regions.
With current employment equity plans falling away on 22 September 2022, the Bill will see new rules being aligned with five-year targets.
New DNA laws from February
As a result of the promulgation of parts of the Criminal Law (Forensic Procedures) Amendment Act, additional tools will be available for DNA collection and usage in capturing and prosecuting criminals. This means that from 31 January, a suspect arrested and charged with a schedule 8 offence such as murder or rape, will be required to provide a DNA sample which will be uploaded onto the National Forensics DNA database.
Cannabis
The Cannabis for Private Purposes Bill was introduced in September 2020 and is currently being dealt with in parliament. Its purpose is to outline the rules for cannabis home use and cultivation of the plant. It also includes news offences and provisions for those with a prior criminal record for possession.
Property Law changes expected
The Property Practitioners Act (PPA), which will protect consumers, came into effect on 1 February 2022 and introduced significant changes for the property sector.
The Act applies to all Property Practitioners – which includes everyone selling, purchasing, letting, renting, financing, managing and marketing property.
These include a disclosure form which must be attached to all sale/lease documents and which must be signed by sellers, lessors, lessees and purchasers before any transaction can be concluded. A property practitioner may therefore not accept any mandate after 1 February 2022 without a completed and signed disclosure form.
In addition, the PPA also requires that property practitioners may not render any services without a Fidelity Fund Certificate, the display of which is mandatory. All property transactions must now include a prescribed clause guaranteeing the validity of the certificate.
Parliament is expected to consider the Land Court Bill and the Housing Consumer Protection Bill in 2022.
The Land Court Bill, which will allow for the establishment of a specialist Land Court as well as a Land Court of Appeal, is specifically aimed at accelerating the country’s land reform programme as well as resolving backlogs and disputes around land claims.
The Bill gives effect to ensure our approach to land reform is based on three elements – increased security of tenure, land restitution and land redistribution.
The Housing Consumer Protection Bill was previously tabled in May 2021. The Bill seeks to ensure adequate protection of housing consumers and effective regulation of the home building industry, introduce contractual provisions to protect new entrants into the home building industry, and address provisions such as a warranty fund surplus.
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(This article is provided for informational purposes only and not for the purpose of providing legal advice. For more information on the topic, please contact the author/s or the relevant provider.)