General Provisions and Implementation of Act
CHAPTER 6
GENERAL PROVISIONS AND IMPLEMENTATION OF ACT
30. Regulations
(1) The Minister may, and where required in the circumstances, must, make regulations relating to—
(a) the procedures to be followed at or in connection with an inquiry in terms of or under this Act, including the manner in which proceedings must be instituted, the referral of matters contemplated in section 20 and the hearing of urgent matters;
(b) the form of any application, authority, certificate, consent, notice, order, process, register or subpoena to be made, given, issued or kept in terms of or under this Act, and any other form required in carrying out the provisions of this Act;
(c) the granting of legal aid at State expense in appropriate cases in consultation with the Legal Aid South Africa;
[S 30(1)(c) am by s 25 (Sch) of Act 39 of 2014.]
(d) the appearance of persons on behalf of the parties to the proceedings in court, which may include suitable persons other than attorneys or advocates;
(e) the appointment, powers, duties and functions of a clerk of an equality court;
(f) the attendance of witnesses in cases arising from the application of this Act and the payment of witness fees;
(g) the confirmation of court orders emanating from magistrates’ courts sitting as equality courts as contemplated in section 19(3)(a);
(h) the procedure to be followed at, and criteria to be applied for, the designation and registration of persons from the community who are suitable and available to serve as assessors in each equality court;
(i) the method to be followed in respect of the allocation of assessors in respect of proceedings in terms of or under this Act;
(j) the factors to be taken into account by an equality court when deciding whether to summon assessors in the administration of justice;
(k) the taking of the oath or making an affirmation by assessors;
(l) the role of presiding officers and the procedure to be followed in cases where an equality court is assisted by assessors;
(m) the recusal of assessors and the procedure to be followed in the case of such recusal;
(n) a code of conduct for such assessors, and mechanisms for the enforcement of the code of conduct, including the liability of an assessor if any provision of the code of conduct is contravened by him or her;
(o) the establishment of a mechanism to deal with any grievance or complaint by or against an assessor;
(p) the training of assessors;
(q) the payment of allowances to assessors;
(r) any other matter which is necessary to prescribe in order to regulate the service of assessors in the equality courts;
(s) the procedures to be followed at or in connection with appeals or reviews as contemplated in section 23;
(t) the reports contemplated in sections 25(3)(c) and 26(c) and the equality plans contemplated in section 25(4)(b) and (5)(a) and section 27(2);
(u) the translation of this Act into the official languages and the distribution thereof as contemplated in section 31(2)(b);
(v) the powers and functions of the Equality Review Committee contemplated in section 33;
(w) any matter required or permitted to be prescribed by regulation under this Act;
(x) any other matter which is necessary to prescribe in order to achieve the objects of this Act.
(2) Any regulation made under this section which may result in expenditure for the State must be made in consultation with the Minister of Finance.
(3) A regulation made under this section may provide that any person who contravenes a provision thereof or fails to comply therewith is guilty of an offence and on conviction is liable to a fine or to imprisonment for a period not exceeding 12 months.
(4)
(a) Any regulation made under this section must be tabled in Parliament 30 days before publication thereof in the Gazette, if Parliament is then in session.
(b) If Parliament is not in session as contemplated in paragraph (a), the regulations must be submitted to the Speaker of Parliament, 30 days before publication thereof in the Gazette.
(5) The regulations made in terms of this section, and particularly subsection (1)(a) relating to the procedure at an inquiry, must, as far as possible, ensure that the application of the Act is simple, fair and affordable.
[Commencement of s 30: 16 June 2003 (Proc. 49, G. 25065).]
31. Implementation of Act
(1) Despite section 16(1) no proceedings may be instituted in any court unless a presiding officer and one or more clerks are available.
(2) For purposes of giving full effect to this Act and making the Act as accessible as possible—
(a) and in giving effect to subsection (1), judges, magistrates, additional magistrates or magistrates of regional divisions established for the purposes of adjudicating civil disputes, as the case may be, and the clerks referred to in subsection (1) may be—
(i) designated as presiding officers; and
(ii) appointed or designated as clerks,
respectively, for one or more equality courts;
[S 31(2)(a) subs by s 11(a) of Act 24 of 2015.]
(b) the Minister must make the Act available in all official languages in the prescribed manner within a period of two years after the commencement of this Act.
(3) The Director-General of the Department must take all reasonable steps within the available resources of the Department to ensure that a clerk is available for each court in the Republic.
(4) The South African Judicial Education Institute established in terms of section 3 of the South African Judicial Education Institute Act, 2008 (Act 14 of 2008), must develop and implement training courses for presiding officers with a view to building a dedicated and experienced pool of trained and specialised presiding officers, for purposes of presiding in court proceedings as contemplated in this Act, by providing—
[Words preceding s 31(4)(a) subs by s 11(b) of Act 24 of 2015.]
(a) social context training for presiding officers; and
(b) uniform norms, standards and procedures to be observed by presiding officers in the performance of their functions and duties and in the exercise of their powers.
(5) …
[S 31(5) rep by s 11(c) of Act 24 of 2015.]
(6) The Director-General of the Department must develop and implement a training course for clerks of equality courts with the view to building a dedicated and experienced pool of trained and specialised clerks, for purposes of performing their functions and duties as contemplated in this Act, by providing—
(a) social context training for clerks; and
(b) uniform norms, standards and procedures to be observed by clerks in the performance of their functions and duties.
(7) …
[s 31(7) rep by s 11(c) of Act 24 of 2015.]
[S 31 subs by s 3 of Act 52 of 2002; Date of commencement of s 31: 16 June 2003 (Proc. 49, G. 25065)
Refer to the rectification notice in G. 25143, No. 944.