THE PROPOSED PEPUDA AMENDMENT BILL HAS POSED THE CONCERN THAT, IF ACCEPTED, IT MAY ADVERSELY AFFECT RELIGIOUS FREEDOM WITHIN SOUTH AFRICA. [1]
PEPUDA
Pepuda is an acronym for the Promotion of Equality and Prevention of Unfair Discrimination Act. It was passed into law in 2000: Alleged News. [1]
WELL OVER 150 000 OBJECTIONS
Invitations were extended to the public to write to the Department of Justice (DOJ) to voice concerns. The deadline for these submissions was the 30th June 2021. [2] The Department of Justice received well over 150 000 submissions and comments; Alleged News. [3]
Under the heading "Deputy Minister promises to look at making PEPUDA Amendment Bill "clearer" on the issue of religious autonomy", Executive Director of FOR SA Michael Swain stated on 30 July 2021, "The power of constructive engagement in the democratic law-making process by both individuals and religious organisations, was clearly and substantively demonstrated in the unprecedented response to the PEPUDA Amendment Bill. While FOR SA fully supports Government's efforts to promote equality and to prevent unfair discrimination, our legal analysis of this Bill made it clear that it would have devastating and negative consequences for all people and organisations of faith."
Executive Director Swain stated that people made individual submissions on the Bill. The result was that well over 150,000 submissions and comments were received by the Department of Justice, the vast majority of which requested the Bill to be scrapped in its entirety; Alleged News. [3]
Executive Director Swain further stated, "Thanks to this exceptional level of public support for religious freedom rights, FOR SA requested (and was granted) an opportunity to attend a virtual meeting with the Deputy Minister of Justice, John Jeffery MP, on 7 July 2021. This was a constructive and fruitful engagement during which FOR SA and various senior religious leaders, representing a cross-spectrum of denominations, churches and faith groups, were able to relay to the Deputy Minister - with reference to faith-specific examples - their serious concerns regarding the Bill, and its potentially negative impact on their organisations and faith adherents. FOR SA appealed to the Deputy Minister to reconsider the Bill in its entirety, because we do not believe that it will pass constitutional muster and it is evidently not acceptable to a major sector of the faith community of South Africa," Alleged News. [3]
In response, the Deputy Minister stated that "it is not the intention of Government to regulate or to interfere with religious institutions, what they believe and how they put it forward", but that this was nonetheless something that the Department could "look at making clearer" in the Bill; Alleged News. [3] In this regard, the Deputy Minister referred to FOR SA's previous interaction with the Department in relation to the so-called Hate Speech Bill, which initially had the potential to criminalise the preaching, teaching and expression of the tenets of many faiths; Alleged News. [3]
Again - and as a consequence of significant opposition and the active engagement of the religious community - this resulted in the inclusion of a "religious exemption clause" in the Bill; Alleged News. [3]
Recommendation for clause
FOR SA subsequently wrote (at his invitation) to the Deputy Minister to summarise the key issues discussed at the above-mentioned meeting, and to highlight FOR SAs recommendation in FOR SA's submission on the Bill - that similar to the existing prohibitions of unfair discrimination on grounds of race and gender (in sections 7 and 8 of the existing Act respectively) - a clause to specifically prohibit unfair discrimination on grounds of conscience, religion and belief be included in the next draft of the Bill; Alleged News. [3]
[1] South Africa: Religious Freedom potentially affected by Pepuda Amendment Bill
[2] Joy! Magazine. August 2021. Pepuda Amendment Bill; Alleged News. Page 74
[3] Deputy Minister promises to look at making PEPUDA Amendment Bill "clearer" on the issue of religious autonomy, Alleged News
FOR SA Newsletter - August 2021; Alleged News
With thanks to Joy! magazine, FOR SA, youtube and forsa.org.za
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