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THE PRESIDENCY: REPUBLIC OF SOUTH AFRICA
Private Bag X1000, Pretoria, 0001
NATIONAL ASSEMBLY
QUESTION FOR WRITTEN REPLY
244. Mr M G P Lekota (Cope) to ask the President of the Republic:
(1) Whether he had commissioned any study, inside or outside of the
Government, to help him to determine to what extent red tape,
bureaucratic tardiness, including paper pushing and rent seeking
by officials across all departments were frustrating investors,
stifling growth and hampering job creation; if so, (a) who had
undertaken the study, (b) to what did the study leaders
attribute the negative experiences of entrepreneurs with
officials and (c) what recommendations did they make to remedy
the situation;
(2) whether, considering the singular importance of creating an
investor friendly environment in South Africa, the study
benchmarked South Africaâs regulatory requirements and processes
with best practices in the world; if not, why not; if so, what
are the relevant details? NW295E
REPLY:
My Administration undertook a new approach to governance â one that depends
on continuous monitoring and evaluation of outcomes and activities in order
to ensure on-going improvement in the work of the state. This process has
taken a number of forms, which go far beyond a single study of the
regulatory impact on the economy. The main elements include:
1. The requirement that new legal proposals be accompanied by an impact
assessment. We are now initiating measures to ensure that this kind of
impact assessment specifically reflects the effects on priorities of
government around employment and decent work, equality, inclusive growth
and sustainability. Impact assessments have been conducted amongst others
for the labour law amendments tabled in the past year; the amendments to
the National Environmental Management Act; the Minerals and Petroleum
Development Act; the National Environmental Management: Waste Act; the
National Environmental Management: Air Quality Management Act; the
National Water Act; and the Infrastructure Development Bill.
2. The second element is the development of a three-year rolling evaluation
plan by the Department of Performance Monitoring and Evaluation. In
2012/13, the plan included a number of issues that are relevant to the
economy, specifically on the Comprehensive Rural Development Programme,
the Land Reform Recapitalisation and Development Programme and the
Business Processes Services Programme. For 2013/14, it includes the
Export Marketing Investment Assistance Programme, the Support Programme
for Industrial Innovation, the Technology and Human Resources for
Industry Programme, the National Advanced Manufacturing Technology
Strategy, an evaluation of the cost of tax compliance for small
businesses, the Comprehensive Agricultural Support Programme, and the
impact of state-subsidised housing on asset poverty for households and
municipalities.
3. The Presidential Infrastructure Coordinating Commission (PICC) has
established an extensive programme of monitoring and evaluation of
strategic infrastructure projects included in the national infrastructure
plan. This programme encompasses both regular reports from each SIP,
which are consolidated for review by the PICC, and site visits. These
identify reasons for delays in projects where these are applicable.
4. Individual departments regularly undertake initiatives to reduce
unnecessary regulatory burdens on enterprises. Most recently,
a. The Departments of Trade and Industry and Cooperative Governance
have developed guidelines to reduce red-tape at municipal level.
These norms will be piloted initially in two metros from April
2014, targeting red-tape issues that hinder catalytic investments.
b. The Departments of Environmental Affairs, Mineral Resources and
Water Affairs have aligned their regulatory requirements so as to
reduce application times to 300 days, or 390 days if there is an
appeal.
c. The Department of Economic Development has taken up a number of
requests for assistance by the private sector where regulatory
delays impacted on investment decisions.
⢠The Infrastructure Development Bill includes mechanisms to
ensure simultaneous regulatory processing and avoid unnecessary
delays around Strategic Integrated Projects.
5. The outcomes-based approach that we instituted has ensured that the
departments responsible for outcome 4, job creation and inclusive growth
provide a regular overview of factors that affect economic development,
including unnecessary regulatory burdens. These departments are the
Department of Economic Development, the National Treasury and the
Department of Trade and Industry. The process has assisted departments in
identifying and reducing unintended results of their regulatory
endeavours. In addition, Cabinet receives reports on progress with the
number of environmental impact assessments that are concluded each
quarter.
The aim of all these monitoring and evaluation programmes is to provide an
on-going assessment of challenges as they arise and on that basis ensure
appropriate and prompt action to address them.
All societies need a strong regulatory framework to help shape an
increasingly safe, sustainable, competitive and equitable economy. This is
particularly true in South Africa, where structural changes are required as
the basis for inclusive development.
Still, my Administration recognises that regulations often has unintended
consequences, especially for small and medium size businesses. Both the
National Development Plan and our Medium Term Strategic Framework
acknowledge that regulations must not impose unnecessary compliance burdens
and costs that exceed the hoped-for benefits.
Where appropriate, South African regulations have been evaluated against
the experience of other countries similar laws. This approach has been
followed, amongst others, for telecommunications, the labour laws (in
collaboration with the International Labour Organisation) and the new
Employment Tax Incentive.