their work properly and providing a forum
where the representatives of the people can
publicly debate issues. The National Council
of Provinces is also involved in the law-making
process and provides a forum for debate on
issues affecting the provinces.
The Judiciary (Courts):
The judiciary comprises the courts. The
head of the Constitutional Court is also
the Chief Justice of South Africa. Organs of
state such as Parliament and the executive
must help and protect the courts to ensure
their independence, impartiality, dignity,
accessibility and effectiveness. The judiciary
is an independent branch of the government
and interprets the law.
What is a law?
Law is a system of rules, enforced through a
set of institutions to regulate human conduct.
There are various laws such as contract law,
property law, criminal law, constitutional law
and administrative law. Constitutional law
provides a framework to create the law, to
protect human rights and to choose political
representatives.
How law is made
Parliament is the national legislature (law-
making body) of South Africa. One of its
primary functions is to pass new laws, to
amend existing laws, and to repeal or abolish
(cancel) old laws. This role is guided by the
Constitution, which governs and applies
to all law and conduct within South Africa.
Parliament must fulfil all is constitutional
obligations. For example, it must, when
making law, facilitate public involvement in
its law-making processes. Parliament has
a wide discretion of how this must take
place. Parliament is the only body that can
make statutory law and therefore is the only
body that can amend a mistake or error in
a law. The executive cannot do this task as
its function is not to make laws but to carry
out the law according to the doctrine of
separation of powers.
SAVA’s case is about fixing an error
created by Parliament
SAVA’s concern is straightforward. This case is
not about a conflict between veterinarians and
the government (Executive) but a mistake that
came about while making a law. During the
law-making process, a technical committee of
Parliament, the Portfolio Committee on Health
made an error when making a law affecting
the veterinary profession. The Committee
introduced the word “veterinarian” in a section
of the Medicines and Related Substances
Amendment Bill-a Bill is a draft version of a
law-which resulted in the requirement that
veterinarians must be licenced to compound
and dispense medicines for animals in their
care.
The Parliamentary Committee caused this
mistake by ignoring the duty to talk about the
amendment with the people governed by the
change, amongst others, the veterinarians.
This is not allowed as Parliament must give
the public affected by a law an opportunity to
take part in the law-making process before it is
passed. It does this by calling on the public to
give written representations to the lawmaker
and invites the public to present their views
at an open meeting. This constitutional duty
means that Parliament must engage with
the public during its legislative (law-making)
processes. Failure to do so can be fatal to
the eventual law approved by the lawmaker
because the ConCourt can declare the law
invalid where Parliament has failed to meet
its constitutional obligation to facilitate public
involvement in its processes.
What can the ConCourt do?
Only the ConCourt can establish whether
Parliament has complied with this duty to
consult with the public when making a law and
that is the reason why SAVA has approached
the ConCourt directly for help. SAVA’s court
papers ask the ConCourt to review the