The Traditional Leadership and Governance Framework Amendment Bill seeks to amend Section 28 of the Traditional Leadership and Governance Framework Act of 2003 (Framework Act), to extend the timeframes within which traditional councils are to transform.
The Bill removes the current consequence of legal invalidity for those traditional councils that have failed to include women and elected members. The Bill also seeks to align the term of office of the National House of Traditional Leaders with that of reconstituted traditional councils. The Bill was passed by the National Assembly on 22 August 2017 and referred to the National Council of Provinces. While the NCOP received written submissions until 10 November 2017, it is still expected to make a call for oral submissions. At the same time the different provincial legislatures have started engaging in their own public participation processes. Of the nine provinces only Eastern Cape, Western Cape, Northern Cape and KwaZulu-Natal are still expected to facilitate public participation. Furthermore, only Mpumalanga and Free State have submitted negotiating mandates to the NCOP.
