Office of the Premier Annual Report 2009-2010 - Gauteng Online

• Enhanced legislative drafting capacity• Definitive legal advice and opinions furnished• Strategic legal support provided• All legal opinions requested adequately responded to• Enhanced compliance• Vetting of all types of agreements• All litigation against the GPG attended to• Continuous communication with departments on legal issues.Service delivery objectives and indicatorsThe Chief Directorate: Legal Services provides strategic legalsupport to the Gauteng Provincial Government. This includescoordinating and compiling the legislative agenda, analysing andmonitoring the quality of legislative submissions to EXCO andcertifying legislation (primary and subordinate) before tablingin the Legislature. Support is also provided to the Leader ofGovernment Business, EXCO and the Legislature to facilitate theintroduction and passage of legislation. The Chief Directorate isfurther responsible for providing qualitative and definitive legaladvice and opinions to the Executive, Heads of Department(HODs) and departments, and for managing litigation against thePremier. An integral part of the vetting of agreements is to ensurethat the agreements advance the interests and objectives of theprovince. A great deal of emphasis is also placed on promotingand ensuring the implementation of constitutionally mandatedpieces of legislation such as the Promotion of Access to InformationAct, 2000 (Act No. 2 of 2000) and the Promotion of AdministrativeJustice Act, 2000 (Act No. 3 of 2000). The Chief Directorate isresponsible for the monitoring of litigation in the GPG.Effective LegislationIn order to foster uniformity and certainty in the legislative processthe Chief Directorate has introduced a process map called the“Path to Legislation”. The purpose of the Path to Legislation isto provide clear guidelines on the process to be followed whendrafting legislation and it emphasises the clear distinction betweenthe policy cycle and drafting of Bills. During the current reportingperiod the EXCO system was reviewed as part of the era ofrenewal in Gauteng. This revision requires amendments to thePath to Legislation to ensure alignment with the revised system.The amendment of the Path to Legislation will be addressed in thenext reporting period.The reporting period coincided with an election year. As inprevious election years, not many Bills, other than money Billswere adopted by the Legislature during the reporting period. Thiscreated an ideal opportunity for the Executive to call for legislativeproposals in order to plan for and prioritise proposed legislationfor the legislative years 2010, 2011 and beyond. EXCO approvedthe legislative programme for 2010 on 27 January 2010.The State Law Advisors draft in plain English ensures that the rightsand obligations stipulated in legislation are easy to understand.The following Bills and subordinate legislation were certified in thereporting period:42