On 25 October 2011 the Minister of Finance, Pravin Gordhan, tabled the Medium Term Budget Policy Statement (MTBPS) at a sitting of the National Assembly. The MTBPS broadly outlines Government’s proposed spending plans for the next three years. It also provides an opportunity for Government to make adjustments to this year’s budget to cater for changes in expenditure and provide for unanticipated expenses.
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Submissions
The Judicial Services Commission (JSC) made a call for submissions ahead of their interview of Justice Mogoeng Mogoeng on 3 September 2011. SECTION27, Sonke Gender Justice, the Lesbian and Gay Equality Project and the Treatment Action Campaign have responded to this call. 
The proposed Methodology for International Benchmarking of Prices of Medicines and Scheduled Substances in South Africa seeks to introduce an addition to the state’s regulatory tools used to ensure that medicines are appropriately priced in South Africa. As a public interest law centre that seeks to influence, develop and use the law to protect, promote and advance human rights, SECTION27 welcomes the publication of the proposed methodology and this opportunity to make further submissions to the Department of Health (DoH). 
SECTION27 recently made a written submission to Parliament on the State Liability Amendment Bill [B 2--2001]. In short, SECTION27 supports how the Bill seeks to regulate the manner in which a final court order sounding in money against the state must be satisfied – it sees the Bill as being squarely in line with the decisions of the Constitutional Court in Nyathi v MEC for Department of Health, Gauteng and Another [2008] ZACC 8 (“Nyathi 1”) and Minister for Justice and Constitutional Development v Nyathi [2009] ZACC 29 (“Nyathi 2”) dealing with the unconstitutionality of section 3 of the State Liability Act 20 of 1957 and how it is to be remedied. 
On 14 February 2011, SECTION27 made a written submission on the Department of Social Development’s Draft Regulations under the Social Assistance Act, 2004 (“Draft Regulations”). The Draft Regulations deal with the appeal procedure for aggrieved applicants for social assistance, first to the South African Social Security Agency (“SASSA”) and then to the Independent Tribunal for Appeals (“Tribunal”). SECTION27 recommended certain procedural and substantive changes to the Draft Regulations that are important for the realisation of the right to social assistance guaranteed by section 27 of the Constitution. 
India’s Department of Industrial Policy and Promotion (DIPP) recently published a discussion paper on compulsory licensing and made a call for interested parties to make submissions. On 7 October 2010, SECTION27 made a submission. 
On 15 July 2010, SECTION27, incorporating the AIDS Law Project and the Legal Resources Centre (LRC) made a joint submission on the draft Constitution Nineteenth Amendment Bill and the Superior Courts Bill to the Department of Justice and Constitutional Development. The Bills propose establishing a single judiciary with the Constitutional Court as the apex court for all legal matters. The submission focuses primarily on the jurisdiction of the Constitutional Court; the regulation of the terms of office of judges of the Constitutional Court; and the expansion of the mandate of the Judicial Service Commission. 
On 20 April 2010, the ALP presented its submission on the Social Assistance Amendment Bill, to the National Assembly Portfolio Committee on Social Development. We focused on two issues, namely, the vagueness of the proposed definition of disability and problems in the current and proposed Appeal Processes. ALP was requested to recommend a definition of disability that addresses the concerns raised in our oral and written submissions and a supplementary submission was made. 
The AIDS Law Project (ALP) welcomes the opportunity to make this submission on the Division of Revenue Bill, 2010 (DORB)1 to the Select Committee on Appropriations (“the Committee”). Importantly, this is being done for the first time in terms of the Money Bills Amendment Procedure and Related Matters Act, 2009 (“the Money Bills Act”), which came into force on 16 April 2009. This submission is endorsed by the Public Service Accountability Monitor, the Treatment Action Campaign and the Rural Health Advocacy Project. In response to a call for input on the Green Paper: National Strategic Planning, the ALP recently made a submission to the Presidency and Parliament’s Ad Hoc Committee on the Green Paper on National Strategic Planning. The ALP’s interest in making this submission stems from its commitment to defend and enforce human rights and to ensure that the state discharges its constitutional obligations in accordance with its democratic mandate and the rule of law. |
 
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Legal advice
Understanding NHI