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Dear Member,

Trespassing continues to be a socio-economic issue in South Africa, which is probably on the mind of every law-abiding landowner and occupier of immovable property or premises in both rural and urban areas.

On 12 August 2022 the Minister of Justice and Constitutional Development published the Unlawful Entry on Premises Bill, 2022 (“the Bill”) for comment by the public.

The main purpose of the Bill is to repeal and replace the Trespass Act (Act 6 of 1959) and to prohibit unlawful entry on premises.

Due to the technical legal implications contained in the proposed Bill, we have through our legal representative, Mr Juan Kotzé, requested Adv Henry Cowley to assist us to legally counter those proposed aspects of the Bill, which will invariably infringe on the rights of our members in self-protection on our own premises.

Although the Bill appears to address the ever present serious socio-economic issue of unlawful entry on premises in South Africa, it fails in its objectives for reasons stated in the document compiled by Adv Cowley (download at end of this Email).

Adv. Cowley makes the following statement in terms of the proposed amendments: “Most concerning is the attempt to remove the right which an owner or occupier have in terms of the Trespass Act and the CPA (the Criminal Procedure Act - 51 of 1977) to protect him/herself against an intruder who enters his/her premises unlawfully”.

Natshoot members who are landowners and/or occupiers of premises in South Africa, therefore have an interest in commenting in their own right on what the Bill attempts to introduce (consider the Minister of Police’s bid to take away the right to own firearms for self-protection in his ill-advised proposed amendments to the Firearms Control Act [Act 60 of 2000] last year).

Since the Bill intends to introduce serious limitations on the rights of lawful landowners and occupiers to protect themselves against trespassing intruders, Natshoot members are urged to raise their individual objections to the Bill with the Minister of Justice and Constitutional Development at [email protected] by no later than 16 September 2022.

The Comments section of Adv Cowley’s document (paragraph 29 on page 8) presents members with adequate direction in, and reasons for, objecting to the proposed Bill. 

Please download the relevant Government Gazette containing the Bill here

Please download Adv. Cowley's Comments HERE

Please be safe at all times !

Kind regards

Dr Herman Els

Executive Chair

The contents of this Newsletter communicated to all members via Email on 06-09-2022