Non-Profit Organisation Amendment Bill, 2021
The purpose of the Bill is noted in its preamble
To amend the Non-Profit Organisations Act, 1997, so as to amend and insert certain definitions; to provide for the Office of the Registrar of non-profit Organisations, to provide for the registration of non-profit organisations and compulsory registration of foreign organisations, to provide for the Arbitration Tribunal for the disputes resolution; and to provide for matters connected.
In a nutshell the Bill seeks to replace the Directorate with an Office of the Registrar. There is however no explanatory memorandum that explains the recommended changes. The interesting change is the compulsory registration of foreign organisations. There is no elaboration on the registration requirements in the Bill. Questions that come to mind are: Why has this clause been introduced? Why now? What other laws govern foreign organisations? What benefits or costs will emerge with this new objective? How difficult will it be to register? How many foreign non-profits work in South Africa and how will their work be impacted?
Legislation:
Submissions on the Non-Profit Amendment Bill
NPO Working Group
The working group, made up of independent organisations and facilitated by the Inyathelo team, was established to assist with coordinating comments from the NPO sector about the proposed amendments to the NPO Amendment Bill is constituted of volunteers and persons nominated by the participants at the webinar. Working group members include:
- Feryal Domingo – Inyathelo (Chairperson, NPO Amendment Bill Working Group)
- Boichoko Ditlhake - The Kagiso Trust;
- Jenny Wright - Milk Matters;
- Dee Moskoff - Social Causes;
- Ann Bown - Independent Consultant;
- Fiona Balgobind - Pietermartizburg Children’s Home;
- Zoleka Maphalala - Infinite Family;
- William Bird - Media Monitoring Africa;
- Margaret Grobbelaar National Coalition for Social Services;
- Noncedo Madubedube - Equal Education;
- Julie Todd - Pietermaritzburg Child Welfare;
- Colleen Douglas - Franschoek Hospice;
- Eltena Rethman - Community Chest of the Western Cape; and
- Nicole Copley - NGO Law
Communiqués from the Working Group
Previous Communiqués
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Communiqué 1909 March 2023
We have all been grinding away at a level of busy-ness that the non-profit sector is well known for – planning and improving to strengthen the sector. This communique will provide an update on aspects that the NPO Working group are working on.
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Communiqué 186 December 2022
The NPO Working Group would like to thank all those who attended our public meeting on the 1st of December 2022. The NPO Working Group, representing NPOs and civil society organisations across South Africa, have volunteered their time and expertise for the past 13 months to analyse, interpret and share information on proposed legislation such as the NPO Act Amendment Bill.
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Communiqué 1728 November 2022
The NPO Working Group invites all those interested in the recent developments with regards to the NPO Act Amendment Bill to a public meeting on Thursday, 1 December 2022.
Since our last public meeting there has been a lot of activity and developments that the sector should be aware of.
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Communiqué 163 November 2022
Update on the General Laws (Anti Money Laundering and Combating Terrorism Financing) Amendment Bill submission, the Presidential Social Sector Summit and the Terrorist Financing Risk assessment.
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Communiqué 15: URGENT CALL FOR SUBMISSIONS05 October 2022
The proposed General Laws Amendment Bill aims to avoid the grey-listing of South Africa, (which would have negative repercussions on our economy) and to comply with the recommendations contained in South Africa’s Mutual Evaluation Report of the Financial Action Taskforce Force (FATF) has been released for public comment on Tuesday 27 September and details for submission can be found here.
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Communiqué 1404 August 2022
Please find below links to the following documents for the Summit:
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Communiqué 1303 August 2022
The Presidential Social Sector Summit will take place between 04-05 August 2022. The theme for the Summit is: “Fostering Social Cohesion to enable socio-economic participation in communities.” Inyathelo received the concept document and programme for the Summit as well as a letter of invitation on Friday 29 July 2022
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Communiqué 1209 June 2022
The extended deadline for comment on the NPO Amendment Bill is 10 June 2022. Comments that were submitted prior to the deadline do not have to be resubmitted.
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Communiqué 1126 May 2022
It has been brought to our attention that the extended deadline for comment on the NPO Amendment Bill is 10 June 2022. Submissions that were submitted prior to the deadline do not have to be resubmitted.
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Communiqué 1026 April 2022
The NPO Working Group has been informed by the Directorate for Non profits that that the notice for an extension of the deadline for comments on the NPO Amendment Bill is still to be gazetted and therefore the deadline for submitting comments on the Bill is no longer 30 April 2022. We were not given a new deadline.
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Communiqué 906 April 2022
As indicated in our last communication, the NPO Working Group will host a workshop at 10h00 on Wednesday, 13 April, that will help the Nonprofit Sector make submissions on the NPO Act Amendment Bill, 2021. The Working Group will also present their views on the next steps that will be followed.
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Communiqué 825 March 2022
The NGO representative working group and nominees from the NGO sector participated in a virtual meeting organised by the Department of Social Development on Wednesday 23 March to discuss the NPO Amendment Bill. Although the original intent of the meeting was a workshop format, the DSD conducted the meeting as a structured presentation format with, question-and-answer slots at the end of each presentation.
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Communiqué 723 March 2022
Subsequent to our last communication wherein we requested nominations to attend the meeting proposed by DSD planned for 23 March 2022, we have now been informed by the department that this meeting will only be convened virtually.
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Communiqué 611 March 2022
Virtual meeting with the NPO Sector on the 10th of March 2022 | Feedback on the NPO Act Amendment process
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Communiqué 53 March 2022
On 27 January 2022, our Working Group emailed Chief Director: NPO Information and Registration Management, Mpho Mngxitama, to query the outcome of Cabinet’s decision on our request for an extension to the date for submissions on the NPO Amendment Bill.
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Communiqué 416 November 2021
Comments and resolutions from the meeting of 10 November 2021 called by the DSD to address the concerns raised by our Working Group regarding the NPO Amendment Bill and our request for a deadline for comments by civil society organisations.
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Communiqué 39 November 2021
We have had further contact with the Department of Social Development since our letter was submitted, and have now received an agenda for the meeting scheduled on 10 November 2021 from 10:30 – 12:30.
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Communiqué 23 November 2021
The Working Group on the Nonprofit Organisation Amendment Bill (WG-NOAB) submitted a letter requesting an extension to the deadline for comments on the NPO Amendment Bill, along with preliminary comments on the Bill to the Acting Director-General, Mr. Mchunu, on 31 October 2021.
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Communiqué 128 October 2021
This note refers to the Inyathelo webinar convened on Thursday, 21 October 2021 on the Department of Social Development’s call for comments on the Non-Profit Amendment Bill 2021.
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