Hon Speaker and hon members, after the President's letter of 26 August 2010, Cabinet further discussed the Public Protector's recommendations at its meeting on 24 November 2010.
The Cabinet decided at its meeting on 24 November 2010 that the guidelines in the Executive Members' Ethics Act, Act 82 of 1998, and the Executive Members' Ethics Code be subjected to an ongoing review, with the aim of simplifying its prescripts and application.
At its meeting on 20 April 2011, Cabinet approved that an Executive Members' Ethics Amendment Bill should be published for public comment. The Bill and the invitation to comment were published in the Government Gazette, No 34276 of 6 May 2011, as well as on the website of the Department of Justice and Constitutional Development.
After the process of consultation, a new draft of the Executive Members' Ethics Amendment Bill was submitted to Cabinet by the Minister of Justice and Constitutional Development at its meeting on 12 October 2011. In this instance Cabinet, after intensive discussions, referred the matter back to the Governance and Administration cluster committees for further consideration. The matter, which goes to the core of the doctrine of the separation of powers, has been further canvassed with various stakeholders through the executive arm of the state.
After recent discussions between the Presidency and the Ministry of Justice and Constitutional Development, agreement was reached on an amended draft of the Executive Members' Ethics Code to be brought to Cabinet during the course of September this year. Once Cabinet has sufficiently applied its collective mind to the draft amendments, a refined Executive Members' Ethics Code will be submitted to Parliament for consideration.