Last apartheid, colonial laws may soon be repealed

Minister Khumbudzo Ntshavheni during Friday’s media conference. (Photo: Tania Heyns/Maroela Media)

Pres. Cyril Ramaphosa’s cabinet has agreed that the bill on the repeal of certain justice laws from the era before 1994 be submitted to parliament for further consideration.

This bill is an initiative of the Department of Justice and Constitutional Development to delete outdated, contradictory or remaining apartheid and colonial laws.

Once parliament approves the bill, the 149 specific apartheid-era laws that are still officially in force will be repealed in their entirety.

“The bill seeks to review and repeal outdated colonial and apartheid-era legislation that is no longer in line with the values ​​of the democratic constitutional order and no longer serves a practical purpose,” said Khumbudzo Ntshavheni, the minister in the presidency, at a media conference in Pretoria on Friday morning.

The minister did not provide much more detail about this when she gave feedback at this week’s cabinet meeting.

Ntshavheni did say that the Department of Justice and Constitutional Development has already started working on additional apartheid-era laws for their repeal.