Committee tables reports on bills

The Trade, Industry and Tourism Committee of Parliament on Monday tabled two reports meant to clarify issues of contention, among them a proposal that the secretary for Trade and Industry should be the director of Insolvency as outlined in the Insolvency Bill tabled at the last meeting of Parliament.

Tabling the reports which included one on Metrology Bill, chairperson of the committee, Willard Gwengwe, said it was clear that the Insolvency Bill had become necessary because the existing insolvency and bankruptcy laws had become outdated.
Before being merged under the Insolvency Bill, the Bankruptcy Act has been law since 1928, but the issues of bankruptcy and insolvency had been governed by multiple statutes which Gwengwe said made their procedures costly and time-consuming.
However, the committee proposed changes to the bill, among them that the office of the director of Insolvency should be a public office while the Registrar General should administer all issues to do with insolvency since the office was already involved in registration and administration of companies.