{"id":839323,"date":"2025-10-07T16:32:50","date_gmt":"2025-10-07T14:32:50","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/?p=839323"},"modified":"2025-10-07T16:32:55","modified_gmt":"2025-10-07T14:32:55","slug":"ramaphosa-puts-new-law-into-effect-in-south-africa","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/government\/839323\/ramaphosa-puts-new-law-into-effect-in-south-africa\/","title":{"rendered":"Ramaphosa puts new law into effect in South Africa"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

President Cyril Ramaphosa has proclaimed the Statistics Amendment Act into effect, which makes significant changes to data collection nationwide.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The law was initially introduced to parliament in October 2023 and was signed into law by Ramaphosa in December 2024. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

After ten months on his desk, the Act has now commenced following a Presidential Proclamation.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The new law aims to enable the development and implementation of a national strategy and national statistics system. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

It also aims to facilitate more effective coordination and collaboration among data producers and data users in the production and consumption of quality statistics<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A significant change in the law is the change in the nation\u2019s census, which will now take place every 10 years, instead of the previously legislated five-year period. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Although the previous laws stated that the census needed to occur every five years, Stats SA only did the census every 10 years, with the previous three censuses occurring in 2001, 2011 and 2022. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

A census is a valuable government tool essential for completing the country\u2019s population, demographics, living conditions and economic situations. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

It is fundamental in decision-making at all levels of government as well as business. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Despite its importance, serious concerns were raised over the 2022 census. This included massive perceived undercounts of populations, underfunding, and disruptions caused by Covid-19 and social unrest. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The 2022 Census is estimated to undercount 31% of people and 30% of households. This included what appears to be a 16% undercount in Johannesburg. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

This may have severe problems for the nation\u2019s funding activities, as government entities rely on this data to make informed decisions, with some municipalities possibly short-changed as their populations are actually higher than stated. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Despite the 2022 census costing R4 billion, University of Cape Town demographer Professor Tom Moultrie<\/a> noted that the 31% undercount was the highest ever recorded by the UN Population Division.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Other legislative changes <\/h2>\n\n\n
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On top of highlighting the proclamation of the Statistics Amendment Act, the Parliamentary Monitoring Group highlighted the latest update for the highly contentious Basic Education Laws Amendment Act (BELA). <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The department is now in the process of translating the law into Afrikaans draft regulations on school admissions and capacity.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The public comment period for the regulations has also been extended to 5 December 2025.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The government gazette notice said that the Afrikaans versions of each set of draft regulations will be published in due course, while the English documents are already available. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The regulations were gazetted for public comment Basic Education Minister Siviwe Gwarube in August 2025, which would give effect to BELA. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

However, the regulations drew the ire of the chairperson of the portfolio committee, the ANC\u2019s Joy Maimela, who accused the minister of deviating from the wording of the Act. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

With the ANC spearheading the law in parliament prior to the new administration, Maimela accused Gwarube, a member of the DA, of trying to change the rules and deviate from their intended purpose.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This is primarily in reference to the admissions policies in the laws, which are a highly controversial aspect of the entire BELA process.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In the current regulations, the department refers to taking into account the demographics and education needs of the \u2018surrounding community\u2019 when setting admission policies.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

However, Maimela notedthat BELA states that\u00a0the responsibility for admission policy lies with the head of department (HOD) and is based on \u2018broader Education Districts\u2019.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Statistics Amendment Act <\/h2>\n\n\n\n