Passing a slew of legislation in the final days of this year's parliamentary calendar, Parliament left President Cyril Ramaphosa with a full inbox heading into the festive period.

There are currently Fifteen bills on Ramaphosa's desk awaiting his signature.

All these bills, bar two, have been passed by Parliament in November or early December, shortly before Parliament rose for the year.

There has already been a clamouring for Ramaphosa to not sign at least one of these pieces of legislation, the National Health Insurance (NHI) Bill, which was passed by the National Council of Provinces on 6 December.

Shortly after the bill was passed, Business Unity SA and Business4SA indicated they were preparing to submit a formal petition to Ramaphosa, requesting he refer the NHI Bill back to the National Assembly for amendment.

"We believe that the bill, in its current format, is not only unworkable, unimplementable, and unaffordable, but also unconstitutional, both on substantive and procedural grounds," they said.

The SA Health Professionals Collaboration (SAHPC), which represents 25 000 medical professionals in nine organisations, also called on Ramaphosa to refer the bill back to Parliament for reconsideration. 

"This is on the basis that it lacks clarity on key elements, and if implemented in its current form, will have a devastating impact on the country's ability to deliver quality healthcare," said the SAHPC. 

In South Africa, the president does not have the right to veto a bill. However, its role in terms of processing legislation is to ensure the bill complies with the Constitution.

"The president must either assent to and sign a bill passed in terms of this chapter or, if the president has reservations about the constitutionality of the bill, refer it back to the National Assembly for reconsideration," reads Section 79(1) of the Constitution.

If, after Parliament reconsiders a bill that the president referred, the president must sign it if it "fully accommodates the president's reservations".

If not, the president must either "assent to and sign the bill; or refer it to the Constitutional Court for a decision on its constitutionality", the Constitution requires.

If the Constitutional Court decides the bill is constitutional, the president must assent to and sign it.

The Constitution does not prescribe a timeframe in which the president must assent to a bill.

For instance, the controversial Protection of State Information Bill - dubbed the Secrecy Bill due to its draconian, securocratic measures that would have allowed the state to keep any information it wanted secret and jail anyone who disseminated it - was passed in November 2013.

Former president Jacob Zuma never assented to it during his tenure, and Ramaphosa only sent it back to the legislature in June 2020.

The bill is currently before Parliament, but it has not been worked on since Ramaphosa referred it back and it appears to be in legislative purgatory.

Of the current bills waiting Ramaphosa's assent, the Communal Property Association Amendment Bill was passed in December 2018.

This bill sought to address shortcomings in the implementation of the Communal Property Associations Act, but its critics had misgivings about its constitutionality at the time.

Apart from the NHI Bill and the Communal Property Association Amendment Bill, the bills that are awaiting Ramaphosa's signatures are as follows:

Judicial Matters Amendment Bill

The intention of the bill is to "amend numerous acts which are administered by the Department of Justice and Constitutional Development [the department] and are intended to address practical and technical issues of a non-contentious nature", according to its explanatory memorandum.

It was introduced to Parliament in March, and passed on 6 December, without having courted much controversy.

If this is signed into law, criminal defamation would be repealed.

Correctional Services Amendment Bill

The bill, introduced in June, intends to bring the Correctional Services Act in line with the Constitution and give effect to a December 2020 Constitutional Court ruling which declared the act constitutionally invalid to the extent it failed to provide an adequate level of independence to the Judicial Inspectorate for Correctional Services.

The Constitutional Court ordered the declaration of constitutional invalidity is suspended for 24 months to afford Parliament an opportunity to correct the defect giving rise to the constitutional invalidity.

It was passed on 29 November.

Regulation of Interception of Communications and Provision of Communication-related Information Amendment (RICA) Bill

The bill had its genesis on 4 February 2021, when the Constitutional Court ruled in favour of the amaBhungane Centre for Investigative Journalism, confirming a Gauteng High Court ruling deeming parts of RICA unconstitutional.

The case started in 2017 when amaBhungane received confirmation its managing partner, Sam Sole, had been under surveillance under RICA legislation when he was investigating a National Prosecuting Authority decision to drop corruption charges against former president Jacob Zuma in 2008.

Justice Minister Ronald Lamola requested the apex court to suspend its orders of invalidity for a period of three years to draft a revamped RICA.

The court found this reasonable, and 36 months were allowed for the amendments.

On 8 September, 31 months later, Deputy Justice Minister John Jeffery introduced the RICA Amendment Bill to the Portfolio Committee on Justice and Correctional Services with the following words: "The bill is late, it has to be passed by early February".

Furthermore, the bill was not the complete overhaul of RICA that Lamola promised the Constitutional Court, but only addressed the defects identified by the apex court.

Unimpressed, Democratic Alliance (DA) MP Glynnis Breytenbach likened the bill to "sticking plaster over a massive gaping wound".

Despite some opposition parties' misgivings, the bill was passed on 6 December.

Division of Revenue Amendment (DORA) Bill

The DORA Bill provides for the equitable division of revenue raised nationally among the national, provincial, and local spheres of government for the financial year.

It is introduced annually when the finance minister tables the Medium Term Expenditure Framework.

It was introduced on 1 November and passed on 29 November.

Money bills: Adjustments Appropriation Bill, Rates and Monetary Amounts and Amendment of Revenue Laws Bill, Taxation Laws Amendment Bill, and Tax Administration Laws Amendment Bill

These bills are also introduced yearly to give effect to the budget.

All the bills were introduced on 1 November, and passed on 7 December, bar the Adjustments Appropriation Bill, which was passed the following day.

Agricultural Product Standards Amendment Bill

The bill was introduced in August 2021.

It seeks to amend the Agricultural Product Standards Act of 1990, which provides for control over the sale and export of certain agricultural products, control over the sale of certain imported agricultural products, control over other related products, and for matters connected therewith.

"Various deficiencies in the act which necessitated the amendments were identified.

"A key deficiency was in the definition of management control system, which covered all management systems pertaining to inspection, audition and production practices and was found to have not been correctly captured in order to fully address what was intended.

"This revelation was made by the state law advisor when the organic regulations were developed which were found to be ultra vires [beyond the scope of the act]," reads the bill's explanatory memorandum.

The bill was passed on 23 November.

National Veld and Forest Fire Amendment Bill

This bill, introduced in December 2021, intends to improve the administration of 1998's National Veld and Forest Fire Act, and seeks to make "a number of important technical enhancements" and "ensure that the act remains responsive and relevant in the field of combating and preventing veld and forest fires".

"Veld and forest fires contribute to economic, social and environmental degradation in South Africa.

"They threaten and undermine government's agenda of food security in the country and result in job losses, displacement of people, habitat and biodiversity loss," reads the bill's explanatory memorandum.

It was passed on 23 November.

Fundraising Amendment Bill

The bill was introduced to Parliament in October 2020.

It aims to rationalise the Fundraising Act of 1978 "by consolidating the Disaster Relief Fund, the Refugee Relief Fund, the Social Relief Fund and the State President's Fund into the Disaster Relief and National Social Development Fund, so as to focus on proactive mitigation of disasters and promote the social development of communities".

"The consolidation of the funds will streamline administrative processes and enable more efficient services to poor communities and reduce costs," reads the memorandum.

It was passed on 26 September.

Prevention and Combating of Hate Crimes and Hate Speech Bill

First introduced in April 2018, this is one of the more controversial bills awaiting Ramaphosa's signature.

When the Fifth Parliament disbanded, the bill lapsed, but it was revived by the Sixth Parliament in October 2019.

"The primary aim of the bill is to create the offences of hate crimes and hate speech and to put in place measures to prevent and combat these offences," reads its memorandum.

Critics of the bill insists it restricts freedom of expression too much, or impinges on religious freedom, while others consider it a blunt instrument where a scalpel is needed.

The bill's proponents consider it necessary to eradicate hate speech such as racism and homophobia.

It was passed on 5 December.

National Land Transport Amendment Bill

This bill was first introduced in 2016.

It lapsed in May 2019 when the Fifth Parliament disbanded and was revived in October 2019.

It was passed in March 2020, but in September 2021, Ramaphosa sent it back to Parliament, citing concerns the bill usurps powers of municipalities, conferring it to the national government and provinces.

The bill intends to amend the National Land Transport Act of 2009, including inserting certain definitions and amending others and to provide for non-motorised and accessible transport, to bring the act up to date with developments since its implementation, to provide for certain powers of provinces to conclude contracts for public transport services, to expand the powers of the transport minister to make regulations and introduce safety measures, to amend other transport-related legislation to bring it into line with the act, and to clarify or simplify various provisions or solve problems that have arisen since the implementation of the act.

The bill was passed on 7 December.