When the SA Copyright Act of 1978 came into existence the world was a different place. Apartheid was in full force, the internet did not exist and the word “meme” was merely an obscure concept in evolutionary biology. Forty years later SA is another country, but it still has essentially the same, archaic copyright law — stifling education, crushing creativity and thwarting economic progress.
SA’s constitution separates the powers of the legislature, the executive and the judiciary. Section 79 of the constitution describes the powers and duties of the president in dealing with legislation passed by the legislature. The president must assent to and sign a bill sent to him within a reasonable period.
The perceived threat is that the US government will give in to its media industry and slap tariffs on imports from SA. But it’s a hollow threat. In 1998 SA was singled out for proposed changes to the Medicines Act that would ease the use of generic drugs, primarily to treat the millions of South Africans with HIV who needed them to stay alive.
A further contention is that there was not enough public consultation, despite the process lasting several years and the parliamentary subcommittee in charge reopening comments on proposals no less than four times. The most ludicrous of all these contentions may be that “fair use” in copyright — a concept that allows users to do what you normally assume users can do, a concept we copied from US legislation — is an arbitrary deprivation of property.
Andrew_Rens + Achal Prabhala There's a whole bunch of reasons! Bill is flawed. Imperils SA book retail publishing printing industries & with it, employment opportunities. Puts African intellectual property at risk. Given cash, students aren't buying books anyway. Re-think 🤷🏾♂️
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