Constitution Eighteenth Amendment Bill in the pipeline
16 Nov 2022
The Draft Constitution Eighteenth Amendment Bill is in the pipeline.
Parliament published the draft private member’s bill in Government Gazette 47478 for comment.
The proposed legislation was drawn up by Adv Glynnis Breytenbach, a Democratic Alliance member of parliament.
According to the draft bill’s explanatory summary, personal information of individuals in state departments is not sufficiently protected against cyber-attacks.
“These attacks place private and public information at risk, which results in state-owned entities and the economy losing billions of rands to cyber-crime.”
The explanatory summary adds that “state-owned entities currently tasked with addressing cyber-crime are chronically underfunded or lack proper expertise to perform their function adequately”.
“It is further vital that an entity that is directly accountable to Parliament and not to the national executive be tasked with safeguarding such fundamental rights.”
The draft bill will seek to amend Chapter 9 of the Constitution to provide for the setting up of the office of the Cyber Commissioner.
“The Cyber Commissioner will be tasked with supporting and strengthening constitutional democracy in South Africa by advising, monitoring and establishing cyber security capabilities in the public sector and will work with tertiary institutions and the private sector to establish minimum good standards, build capacity and create awareness.”
Comment on the proposed content of the draft bill is invited within 30 days of the date of publication.
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