KZN Public Sector Lawyers' Forum

2009 Calendar of Meetings

On 3 June 2008, in Pietermaritzburg, a group of Public Sector Lawyers adopted the Constitution of the KwaZulu-Natal Association of Public Sector Lawyers.

KWAZULU-NATAL ASSOCIATION OF PUBLIC SECTOR LAWYERS

UMthetho ungaphezu kwakho konke

For the first time, since the establishment of the new democratic order in South Africa, lawyers attached to, and serving the executive and legislative branches of government in the Province of KwaZulu-Natal, have felt the need to voluntarily organise themselves into an association which attempts to set high standards for the provision of legal support services in the public sector in accordance with a strict and laudable Code of Ethics which is justiciable for purposes of disciplinary action against members of the Association.

Click on the Logo for more information.

NEWSFLASH 2!

At a Stakeholder's Meeting held in Cape Town on 2 - 3 April 2008, it was confirmed that the Office of the Chief State Law Advisor (National) offers Translation Consultancy Services also to Provincial Governments who request such services! They are also prepared to assist municipalities with translations ...

Languages catered for are: Afrikaans, isiZulu and isiXhosa

Please make contact with the Translation Unit in the Office of the Chief State Law Advisor (National).

Ms Carin Booyse (Deputy Chief State Law Advisor)

Tel.: (021) 441-4939

Ms Skhulile Sifunda (PA, Secretary for the Office)

Tel.: (021) 441-4900

e-mail: ssifunda@justice.gov.za

Physical and Postal Address:

The Translation Unit

Office of the Chief State Law Adviser

12th Floor, FNB Building

9 Riebeeck Street

8001

Tel.: (021) 441-4900

Fax.: (021) 421-7923

NEWSFLASH 3!

The Project Close-out Report was released on 8 May 2007.

The ultimate production of a rationalised Statute Book for the Province is subject to settled policy formulated in Departments by line functionaries to underpin the legislation to be drafted; subject to approval of that legislation by the relevant HoD and MEC; subject to approval of the draft legislation by the Executive Council (Cabinet); and subject to the legislative processes in the Portfolio Committees of the Provincial Legislature and in the Provincial Legislature itself over which the Public Sector Lawyers have no direct control or influence.

The Project has, however, facilitated the required skills transfer to Public Sector Lawyers – it has been a worthwhile learning process in respect of the process and methodology of the rationalisation exercise which will assist the Public Sector Lawyers in the continued processes rationalisation and harmonisation of provincial legislation to be undertaken by Provincial Departments on a sustained and continuous basis to be co-ordinated by the KZN Public Sector Lawyers' Forum even after the end of the formal Project.

NEWSFLASH 4!

The national Cabinet has instructed the South African Law Reform Commission (SALRC) to embark on a national Rationalisation of Laws Project encompassing all national legislation and to co-ordinate the rationalisation process in respect of provincial legislation in the respective Provinces.

A delegation from the SALRC (the Acting Head: Adv Michael Palumbo and colleagues Adv Fanyana Mdumbe and Adv Pierre van Wyk) attended the Workshop of the KZN Rationalisation of Laws Project held from 21 - 23 November 2006 at Didima to share experiences. The SALRC noted the progress made in KZN with the rationalisation of laws and confirmed that no other province had yet undertaken the rationalisation process on the scale, magnitude and intensity displayed by KZN. The SALRC were considering using a similar methodology to KZN and were impressed at the level, substance and content of the open and frank discussion by KZN Public Sector Lawyers attending the Workshop.

The KZN Public Sector Lawyers' Forum and individual Public Sector Lawyers attached to Provincial Departments in KZN will in future co-operate more closely with the SALRC in relation to the Rationalisation of Laws as an ongoing exercise even after the formal close-out of the KZN Rationalisation of Laws Project at the end of the 2006/ 2007 financial year.

  South African Law Reform Commission

The KZN Public Sector Lawyers' Forum has been included on ALRAESA's mailing list and will be invited to future Law Reform workshops and conferences.

NEWSFLASH 5!

As of 1 November 2006, PERSPECTIVES, the publication of the Political Law Development INITIATIVE is going online!

Since the introduction of PERSPECTIVES on 29 January 2005, by Gregory Tardi (Senior Legal Counsel, Legal Services, House of Commons, Parliament of Canada and President of the Political Law Development INITIATIVE ), each occasional issue has been circulated by means of e-mail distribution.  From now on, the excellent articles (which every public sector lawyer should read) will be carried on the website of Eleven International Publisher.  The entire compendium of PERSPECTIVES, as well as a number of teaching and research tools in the field of political law will be permanently available as part of the Eleven web-site.

You may access this material at:   http://www.elevenpub.com/Online/PLDI.aspx  

Future issues of PERSPECTIVES and other related documents in political law will continue to be circulated first by e-mail. In due course, each of these texts will be added to the website. 

Authors of articles or other texts on matters of political law are encouraged to have their writings distributed through this new, expanded, system.  Copyright in each text remains with its author.  All educational and informational uses of these texts is not only authorised but encouraged, provided that copyright is respected.  Acknowledgment of the website as a source would be greatly appreciated.

NEWSFLASH 6!

Click on the link to access the document "An Argument for the Codification of Provincial Legislation and the Establishment of an Independent Legislative Services Agency for KwaZulu-Natal".

It must be emphasised that this is just a proposal at this stage.  

Let's get the debate going!

Please e-mail your comments and input to: wolmaraj@premier.kzntl.gov.za.

NEWSFLASH 7!

Does the State not have a responsibility to make its Provincial Gazettes and Legislation available to its citizens in updated form at no cost?

The State produces the information (Provincial Gazettes and Legislation).

Why, then, should companies in the private sector (eg. Butterworths and Jutas) be given free reign to distribute this information back to the State and its citizens at substantial cost to the State and its citizens?

The Chief Directorate: State Law Advisory Services (CD: SLAS) in the Office of the Premier has, in the interest of improving service delivery to the citizens of KwaZulu-Natal, formed a strategic partnership with the KwaZulu-Natal Law Society to make the Provincial Gazettes and Legislation of the KwaZulu-Natal Provincial Government available to the public ONLINE and free of charge in the 3 official languages of the Province (isiZulu, English and Afrikaans). The pilot site is currently up and running! Click on the link.

The CD: SLAS hereby demonstrates its commitment to -

• the mainstreaming and institutionalising of Batho Pele (improved service delivery in a people-centric public service culture) and the KZN Citizens' Charter;

• the concept of multilingualism espoused in section 6 of the Constitution, 1996; and

• the concept of e-Government.

This will also effect savings for the Provincial Government -

• by reducing the number of hard copies of Provincial Gazettes and Legislation which will have to be printed and distributed; and

• by reducing postage costs attendant to the mailing of hard copies to subscribers. 

We as Public Sector Lawyers in KZN must show that: "We Belong, We Care, We Serve" (the Batho Pele "belief set").