Home Affairs Committee adopts Refugee Amendment Bill
The Portfolio Committee on Home Affairs yesterday unanimously adopted the Refugee Amendment Bill 2015 and will recommend that the Bill be adopted and passed by the National Assembly (NA).
This technical amendment was initiated by the Committee following its request to the National Assembly to initiate legislation as guided by Rule 238(1) of the National Assembly Rules. The Bill was necessitated by a Constitutional Court judgement that found Section 21 (5) of the Refugee Act unconstitutional in that it did not allow members of the media or public to attend the hearings of the Refugees Appeal Authority under certain circumstances.
On its ruling, the Constitutional Court had provided a read-in provision and suspended the invalidity for two years pending the correction of the defect. The Bill was therefore initiated to prevent a gap in law as the deadline for the correction given by the Constitutional Court is on 26 September 2015.
The Committee is satisfied that it has managed to correct the mistake and hopes that the respective public members will have access to the hearings on successful applications once the two Houses have agreed to the Bill.
The report and the Bill will now be sent to the NA for consideration and adoption.
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Malatswa Evans Molepo (Mr)
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Email: mmolepo@parliament.gov.za
