11 April 2022 – In this submission to the National Treasury on the draft Preferential Procurement Regulations, the IRR argues that ratcheting up black economic empowerment and other ‘transformation’ policies will not help to overcome the poverty and joblessness that is the lot of truly disadvantaged South Africans.
Submissions on proposed legislation
1 April 2022 – In this submission to the Department of Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs on the Proposed Disaster Management Act Regulations, the IRR argues that there should be no further delay in ending the State of Disaster; that there can be no legal authority for extending disaster regulations once the state of disaster has ended; and that many of the Regulations proposed are irrational and hence unconstitutional.
29 March 2022 – In this oral presentation to the Portfolio Committee on Justice and Correctional Services on the Combating and Prevention of Hate Crimes and Hate Speech Bill of 2018, the IRR argues that the flaws in the Bill include hate speech provisions that are unconstitutional, and hate crime provisions that are unnecessary.
23 March 2022 – In this submission on the the Social Relief of Distress Procedure Manual under the Social Assistance Act of 2004, the IRR argues that oth the Manual and the Regulations (see the IRR’s 11 March 2022 submission on the Amended Regulations to the Social Assistance Act) should be abandoned until such time as a proper socio-economic impact assessment has been carried out and its results made available to the public.
11 March 2022 – In this submission on the Amended Regulations of 2022 to the Social Assistance Act of 2004, the IRR warns that if the Regulations are adopted in their current form, the fiscal cliff will draw closer, growth will wither further, public debt and interest payments will expand, unemployment will worsen, and the jobless poor are likely to become ever more dependent on shrinking social grants that cannot be maintained.
1 March 2022 – This an edited version of the oral presentation by the South African Institute of Race Relations NPC (IRR) to the Portfolio Committee on Justice and Correctional Services on the Land Court Bill of 2021
23 February 2022 - In this submission the IRR argues against the new proposed electoral system put forward in the Bill, arguing that it will be confusing and does not meet the spirit of the Constitutional Court ruling which made the new legislation necessary. It argues that some form of a mixed-member proportional representation system should be adopted and the Bill as it stands be withdrawn.
31 October 2021 – In this submission to the Department of Trade, Industry, and Competition, the IRR recommends jettisoning all provisions in the Draft Companies Amendment Bill of 2021, including the wage-gap ones, that are calculated to deter investment, curtail growth, add to unemployment, and which will inevitably worsen the inequality problem that the measure is (supposedly) intended to help cure.
29 October 2021 – In this submission to the Department of Social Development on the Draft Non-Profit Organisations Amendment Bill of 2021, the IRR outlines various necessary or desirable amendments.
1 October 2021 – This submission by the Institute of Race Relations to the Portfolio Committee on Justice and Correctional Services argues that the Prevention and Combating of Hate Crimes and Hate Speech Bill of 2018 is both unconstitutional and unnecessary and should be abandoned rather than pursued. The submission recommends that the government should instead focus on bringing the hate speech provisions in Pepuda into line with the Constitution.
13 August 2021 – The IRR’s submission on the Draft Constitution Eighteenth Amendment Bill of 2021 argues that the best way forward for South Africa and all its people is to jettison both the EWC idea and any attempt to introduce state custodianship for land – and to leave Section 25 of the Constitution unchanged. It warns that the long-term economic consequences of the amendment bill are likely to be severe.
2 August 2021 – The IRR’s submission on the Draft Firearms Control Amendment Bill argues that the draft legislation is poorly conceptualised and will not likely achieve the goals that it claims to be pursuing.