President Jacob Zuma has denied that he unduly delayed dealing with the Financial Intelligence Centre Amendment (Fica) Bill‚ which he sent back to Parliament in November 2016 because of concerns over the constitutionality of warrantless searches.
Parliament adopted the bill six months earlier in May‚ leading to accusations that Zuma was stalling under pressure from the Progressive Professionals Forum (PPF) and the Black Business Council (BBC)‚ which appealed to him in July and September respectively not to sign the bill into law.
The opposition EFF appealed to Zuma in September to assent to the bill urgently.
Parliament’s finance committee held hearings on the bill on Wednesday‚ during which the BBC and the PPF described it as a "dangerous" piece of legislation which needed to be scrapped in its entirety.
The committee on the advice of senior council and Parliament’s own legal advisers will only consider the constitutionality of the clause providing for warrantless searches and will not open up the whole bill for review.
Zuma’s denial of inordinate delays came in an affidavit signed on November 28 and filed in the Constitutional Court in response to an application by the Council for the Advancement of the South African Constitution (Casac) for an order compelling Zuma to deal with the bill‚ which is required for SA to meet its international obligations to the Financial Action Task Force.
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– TMG Digital/BusinessLIVE
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