This Act establishes the National Student Financial Aid Scheme (NSFAS) and provides for loans and bursaries to be granted to eligible students at public higher education institutions.

This Act amends the Higher Education Act, 1997 and creates provisions that extend the period within which the CHE must submit a report to the Minister, regulate the powers and functions of the council, principal and the registrar of a public higher education institution. It also provides for the Minister to appoint an administrator for a public higher education institution where there is financial or other maladministration of a serious nature.

This Act came into effect on the 1st August 2000. It deals with the relationship between landlords and tenants and it applies to all written or verbal lease agreements entered into on or after 1 August 2000.

This Act amends the South African Certification Council Act of 1986, the National Education Policy Act of 1996, the South African Schools Act of 1996 and the Employment of Educators Act of 1998.

This Act introduces an integrated and interactive system for the management of national heritage resources, as well as laying down general principles for governing heritage resources management throughout the Republic. The Act also establishes the South African HeritageResources Agency and enable the provinces to establish provincial heritage authorities.

This Act amends the Tobacco Products Control Act of 1993, so as to provide for the prohibition of advertising and the promotion of tobacco products, to provide for the prescription of maximum yields of tar, nicotine and other substances contained in tobacco products and to increase fines.

This Act establishes the National Heritage Council and sets out its objects, functions and method of work. It also prescribes the manner in which the Council is to be managed and governed.

This Act provides for a Statistician-General to head up Statistics South Africa. This Public Entity is responsible for the collection, production and dissemination of official and other statistics, including the conducting of a census of the population.

The aim of this act is to modernise the system of financial management in the public sector and will lay the basis for a more effective governance framework for the public sector.

The key objectives of the Act may be summarised as being to:

• modernise the system of financial management,
• enable public sector managers to manage, but at the same time be accountable,
• ensure the timely provision of quality information,
• eliminate waste and corruption in the use of public assets

Implementation in the first phase will focus on the basics of financial management, like the introduction of proper financial management systems, appropriation control and the accountability arrangements for the management of debts. Subsequent phases will focus on efficiency and effectiveness of programmes and best-practice financial management - these can only be systematically introduced after the basics of financial management are in place.