'Most Notably' (27 April 2026)

We open this week's 'Most Notably' with a media statement from the National Assembly's Justice & Constitutional Development Committee on a recent Constitutional Court ruling clarifying the role and powers of the South African Human Rights Commission (SAHRC). According to committee chair Xola Nqola, "the ruling affirms (the) investigative role of the Commission while reinforcing the central role of the courts in issuing binding remedial orders". This notwithstanding, "Parliament remains committed to supporting Chapter 9 institutions in safeguarding constitutional democracy and ensuring access to justice for all people in South Africa".

To that end, "mindful of the operational realities faced by the SAHRC", the committee "will carefully consider whether the existing legislative framework governing the SAHRC sufficiently enables the Commission to discharge its functions effectively". In that regard, the statement refers to circumstances in which "non-compliance with its recommendations may require costly litigation".

"We stand ready to engage constructively should legislative refinement be necessary to strengthen the protection of human rights", Nqola is quoted as having continued – drawing attention to plans for ongoing discussions "with the SAHRC and other stakeholders to assess the full implications of the judgment and to ensure that the protection of human rights remains robust, effective and accessible".

local government elections

Speaking at a recent ministerial stakeholder engagement with members of the legal profession, Justice & Constitutional Development Deputy Minister Andries Nel drew attention to the somewhat worrying results of a Human Sciences Research Council 2025/26 voter participation survey released in March 2026. Conducted for the Independent Electoral Commission (IEC), according to the Deputy Minister the survey confirmed that "widespread disillusionment with political leadership persists, leading to growing demands for more decisive, authoritarian approaches to governance". Among other things:

• "popular support for democracy is at a historic low"

• "commitment to democracy is present but not dominant" in any of the country's nine provinces

• survey results point to the prevalence of a "fatalistic view" and indifference towards the "type of political regime" in place

• the appeal of "authoritarianism" is growing significantly

• there is increasing "openness to non-democratic alternatives" characterised by:

  • strong, decisive leadership

  • "instrumental authoritarianism" (with some in favour of leadership "without institutional or procedural constraints")

  • "rule-breaking ... to get things done"

  • executive autonomy (with elected leaders making decisions "without consultation"), and

  • many participants believe that "elected leaders should ignore laws/court decisions they believe are wrong".

An IEC press release elaborates on several of these issues, providing links to the the source documents.

airports

In the absence of a covering notice or media statement, at first it was difficult to understand why the Department of Transport gazetted its national airports development plan more than two years after its apparent finalisation. This was especially given the publicity surrounding a draft national rail masterplan recently released for public comments. Having covered that development for SA Legal Academy last week, we hope our report will serve as a useful starting point for anyone wishing to participate in the draft masterplan consultation process.

Returning to airports, some digging and delving revealed that the document is still a work in progress. According to the department's 2025/26 annual performance plan (page 124), it was expected to be submitted to Cabinet during the 2025/26 financial year for pre-public participation process approval. However, a presentation document circulated at a 22 April 2026 meeting of the National Assembly's Transport Committee refers to an additional pre-Cabinet approval step in the process: consultations in the National Economic Development & Labour Council. The document's submission to Cabinet is now scheduled for the 2027/28.

So, why was it gazetted?

As things now stand, among other things its executive summary refers to a draft civil aviation policy that was released in May 2025 for public comment. At the time, we also covered that for SA Legal Academy and now share our report for the sake of convenience.

The executive summary also states that, "for the next five years, a reactive process to applications for international, 'regional international' and national airports will be used within application window periods". The intention is that this should "enable comparison between applications", taking due cognisance of:

• airspace

• transport masterplans

• economic viability and sustainability

• security imperatives, and

• information from "other data-gathering systems".

Meanwhile, with budget allocations in mind, provincial governments and local municipalities "may want to identify which ... airports in their jurisdictions cannot become commercially viable but are serving a particular public service and can be justified on a socio-economic basis".

The executive summary ends with a long list of "initiatives" the implementation of which will require the department to "work closely with other airport role players".

Perhaps this edition of 'Most Notably' will find its way into the hallowed halls of one such role player, in which case the Minister might be persuaded to gazette a notice withdrawing the document and apologising for its premature publication?

Until next Monday ...

Policy Watch SA

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