In his State of the Nation Address in February 2022, President Cyril Ramaphosa spoke of ‘extraordinary times’, warning that ‘old certainties are [being] unsettled [as] new possibilities emerge’. For South African business owners and business leaders, the coming months and years will certainly be disruptive and unsettling, as a slew of new laws, regulations and amendments are proposed and enacted.
Some will change the way companies do business, others will create the need for employers to think and act differently in their operating environment. Here are four such laws, and the changes that business leaders need to keep in mind in 2022.1. Business Act
The State of the Nation Address described ‘extraordinary measures to enable businesses to grow and create jobs’. According to the President, Government is reviewing the Business Act, alongside ‘a broader review of legislation that affects SMMEs’, to reduce the regulatory burden on informal businesses.
This will be welcome news for private businesses of all sizes, which – as President Ramaphosa pointed out – collectively employ about 80% of all the people with jobs in South Africa. ‘There are too many regulations in this country that are unduly complicated, costly and difficult to comply with,’ he said, vowing that the changes to the Business Act would ‘reduce red tape’ and enable businesses to grow.
2. Pension Funds Act
In November 2021 National Treasury published its proposed amendments to Regulation 28, which deal with primarily pension funds investing in infrastructure. The new amendments also included restrictions around investing in cryptocurrencies.
Regulation 28 and its implications for pension funds has long been on Old Mutual Corporate’s radar. In March 2021, Malusi Ndlovu, Director of Large Enterprises, noted that ‘the amendments are intended to make it easier for retirement funds to offer members better investment growth and improved diversification, which come with infrastructure investments, particularly in the context of low economic growth and a shrinking local equity market as seen in South Africa.’
3. Employment Equity Act
The new Employment Equity (EE) Bill will result in amendments to the Employment Equity Act and aims to take the regulation of EE plans out of the hands of business and into the hands of the Employment and Labour Minister, who will regulate sector-specific EE numbers. Under the Bill, all existing EE plans will be scrapped by September 2022 and all new plans will have to align with five-year targets set by the Minister.
While big businesses will have some work to do, the EE Bill specifically aims to reduce the regulatory EE burden on small businesses.
4. Cybercrimes Act
South Africa’s new Cybercrimes Act came into effect on 1 December 2021, and employers and employees will start feeling its real-world impacts in 2022. The Act is a huge step forward in regulating online spaces, and its implications are far-reaching, especially in a time of remote working.
The Act aims to target cybercrimes like fraud, forgery, extortion, and theft of intangible property, and – here’s the part that people who send angry emails, SMSes and WhatsApp messages have to pay attention to – it also covers acts of malicious communication. This includes:
- sending data messages that incite damage to property or violence,
- messages that threaten someone, and
- sharing messages with intimate images.
By Mark van Dijk
Mark is an award-winning writer who focuses on business and industry news.