Legal teams from Parliament, National Treasury, and the South African Reserve Bank have unanimously advised on how the General Finance Laws Amendment Bill could proceed, according to Standing Committee on Finance (SCOF) chairperson Dr Joseph Maswanganyi.
The proposed route is for SCOF to omit the amendment to the invalidated Public Procurement Act and continue with the proposed changes to the Financial Sector Regulation Act.
But SCOF has not yet adopted the advice.
“This was guidance and leadership, not a decision,” Maswanganyi told the Committee on 13 October 2026. “The Committee will have to decide when it deliberates on the Bill.”
A written version of the legal guidance was being prepared for circulation to Committee members.
The guidance addresses the problem that stopped the Bill from advancing on 29 September. The Constitutional Court declared the Public Procurement Act unconstitutional and invalid on 17 September, leaving one of the Acts the Bill sought to amend no longer available to be amended.
The Committee had also raised questions about the process for public participation if the Bill’s provisions were amended, an issue that should not be treated as resolved solely by the legal guidance described at Tuesday’s meeting.
Read: Parliament hits pause on urgent JIBAR transition Bill
Why the legislation matters
The Bill would establish a statutory mechanism for dealing with legacy financial contracts that continue to reference an official benchmark after its discontinuation. This includes measures to facilitate the transition from the Johannesburg Interbank Average Rate (JIBAR) to the South African Rand Overnight Index Average (ZARONIA).
Some existing contracts cannot necessarily be amended unilaterally, while others may lack an effective contractual fallback when a benchmark is discontinued. The proposed framework would enable the SARB to designate replacement benchmarks and related adjustment spreads for affected contracts.
When Treasury briefed the Committee on 29 September, it said the legislation was intended to address legal, financial-stability, and operational risks arising from the transition. It warned that failure to enact the Bill by JIBAR’s proposed discontinuation date could delay the transition of JIBAR-referencing contracts and leave market participants without the proposed safe-harbour protections.
JIBAR’s final publication is scheduled for 31 December 2026, after which the benchmark is due to cease.
Treasury also said the amendments were needed for the SARB’s planned phase-out of the prime lending rate, which is widely used as a reference rate for mortgages, consumer credit, and some commercial credit.
Read: JIBAR transition enters legislative phase
How the Bill could proceed
Maswanganyi said the legal guidance was that the Committee should omit clause 3 during clause-by-clause consideration. Clause 3 proposes amending the Public Procurement Act. The reference to that Act should also be removed from the Bill’s long title.
The Bill would retain its existing name and identification number while it is before Parliament. If passed in the amended form and assented to, the resulting legislation would be titled the Financial Sector Regulation Amendment Act, 2026.
Advocate Frank Jenkins, from Parliament’s legal team, said the Bill currently had no external legal effect and would not affect the Constitutional Court case. Its continued reference to the Public Procurement Act was “not an issue of contempt of court”, nor was it an attempt to revive the invalidated Act.
The reference remained because the Bill was tabled on 18 August, before the judgment was delivered.
Jenkins said Parliament could amend the Bill before it. The alternative would be for the Minister of Finance to withdraw it, which would involve a longer and more expensive process.
He said it was “100% in order” for the Committee to exercise its legislative powers, remove the references to the Public Procurement Act, and assess whether the remainder could stand independently. In his view, the remaining provisions could stand on their own.
Written submissions and next steps
The Committee received four written submissions, from the Banking Association South Africa, Ninety One, and two individuals. None of the submitters was present at Tuesday’s meeting to make an oral presentation or answer questions from members.
Jenkins said the Committee could invite the submitters to appear, send them written questions, or issue a summons.
Maswanganyi said members could submit questions through the Committee Secretariat. The submitters would be asked to reply in writing, after which Treasury would consider their answers and return to the Committee.
Committee secretary Allan Wicomb said any responses to members’ questions should preferably be received before Treasury’s scheduled response to the submissions on 17 November. The draft programme proposes clause-by-clause deliberations on 25 November and envisages finalising the Bill before the end of 2026.
The dates remain provisional. Committee finalisation would also not complete the legislative process: both Houses must pass the Bill before it can be sent to the President for assent.
The legal guidance provides a way for the benchmark provisions to advance, but it remains unclear whether the Bill can be enacted before JIBAR’s proposed discontinuation on 31 December 2026.
