President Ramaphosa refers the Copyright Amendment Bill (CAB) to South Africa’s Constitutional Court, despite SECTION27’s application to compel him to sign the CAB into law

In recent weeks, disputes over South Africa’s Copyright Amendment Bill (CAB) have intensified, with the visually impaired and blind community raising actions against the South African government. Blind SA, represented by SECTION27, launched an application in the Constitutional Court accusing President Cyril Ramaphosa of failing to fulfill constitutional obligations by failing to sign the CAB. The CAB was approved by the South African Parliament earlier this year, and seeks to address barriers of access to reading materials for visually impaired and blind South Africans.

Blind SA’s efforts to improve these laws began decades ago, since the current laws limit access to educational materials and fail to accommodate the use of modern technology to make info more accessible to those with disabilities. In a 2022 Constitutional Court decision, the Act was declared unconstitutional as it impeded access to reading materials for the visually impaired, and Parliament was given two years to rectify the law.

Despite Parliament’s passage of the CAB earlier this year, the President has not signed it into law. However, as of October 15, 2024, President Ramaphosa referred the CAB to the Constitutional Court for a ruling on their constitutionality. This action stems from the President’s concerns about certain provisions of the Bills, and he has requested the Court’s decision on whether these provisions comply with the Constitution. This step follows an earlier request by the President for Parliament to reconsider the Bills, which Parliament did.

While the President’s referral to the Court is a step in the right direction, it leaves a continuing gap for blind individuals who seek to convert copyrighted works into accessible formats like braille or large print without express permission. This situation persists despite the 2022 Constitutional Court ruling, which created a temporary exception to allow access while a permanent solution was being developed.

Blind SA seeks to compel the President to sign the CAB or, alternatively, to reinstate the temporary exception ordered by the court – but the President still disagrees with Blind SA over the Bill’s constitutionality.

This delay also has international implications, since as long as the Bill is delayed, South Africa can not join the Marrakesh Treaty, which facilitates the cross-border exchange of accessible formats and would enable visually impaired South Africans to access a much wider range of reading materials. SECTION27’s attorney Demichelle Petherbridge noted in a GroundUp article that the delay violates the rights of 3.7 million people in South Africa who are visually or print-disabled.