Source document: https://docs-lawep.s3.us-east-2.amazonaws.com/1698926679775.pdf (South Africa)
CURRICULUM VITAE ADV J H POTGIETER SUMMARY OF SKILLS Hennie Potgieter’s association with the South African Law Reform Commission (SALRC) in Pretoria for a period of almost 20 years, where he was employed as a Principal State Law Adviser and Consultant respectively, equipped him with advanced research, writing, communication and legislative drafting skills.
His duties mainly involved the research and identification of lacunae in particular areas of the law, consulting with interested parties with a view to establishing options for reform of the law, finding solutions to problems emanating from the research results and drafting legislation to remedy deficiencies.
Since law reform requires scrutiny of selected fields or branches of the law, Mr Potgieter has acquired expertise in areas such as the law of testate succession, the law of civil procedure relating to debt collection, the law relating to children – both child offenders and children in need of care and protection – as well as constitutional law and the law relating to sexual offences.
As a private legal consultant he was part of the team responsible for the drafting of a very comprehensive set of regulations promulgated in terms of the Children’s Act 38 of 2005.
He has assisted with the development of child related legislation, not only in South Africa, but also in Namibia and Zanzibar, and has previously been appointed to the Department of Social Development’s Independent Tribunal on Social Assistance Appeals, considering appeals against decisions to reject applications for social assistance.
He also drafted amendments to the regulations made under the Social Assistance Act 13 of 2004 to provide for a supplementary child support grant for family members caring for orphans.

As will become evident later, Mr Potgieter was solely responsible for some of the SALRC’s projects, while he was part of a team in others.
BIOGRAPHICAL INFORMATION Full names: Johann Hendrik Potgieter ID no, gender and race: Male, Caucasian 1 Address: Physical: Postal: Marital status: Divorced Qualifications: B. Iuris (University of the Free State – 1981) LL.B (University of Pretoria – 1984) Professional affiliations Admitted as an Advocate of the High Court of South Africa on 8 September 1987 Registered as a language practitioner with the South African Translators’ Institute, 2020 Contact details: Cell: Office: Email: EMPLOYMENT RECORD Clerk: Magistrates’ offices, Bloemfontein (1979 – 1981) Assistant Master of the High Court, Pretoria (1982 – 1987) Principal State Law Adviser at the SA Law Reform Commission, Pretoria (1987 – 1997) Consultant at the SALRC (1998 – 2006) Private Legal Consultant (2007 – ) PUBLICATIONS Skelton, A and Potgieter, H 2002.
“Juvenile Justice in South Africa”.

In J Winterdyk (ed) Juvenile Justice Systems: International Perspectives.

Toronto: Canadian Scholars Press, pp 477-502.

Skelton, A and Potgieter, H, 2006: “Child Justice in South Africa: Law Reform in Action”.

In P Friday and X Ren (eds) Delinquency and Juvenile Justice Systems in the Non-Western World.

New York: Criminal Justice Press, pp 99-123.


2 Numerous publications under the auspices of the SALRC (such as the Reports on Contingency Fees; Debt Collection; Muslim Marriages; Juvenile Justice and Sexual Offences).

The Reports may be accessed via the following website: https://www.justice.gov.za/salrc/ PROFESSIONAL EXPERIENCE Private Legal Consultant (Pretoria, 2007 to date): Mr Potgieter was part of the team responsible for drafting the regulations promulgated in terms of the Children’s Act 38 of 2005.
He not only drafted a substantial part of the regulations and prescribed forms himself, but was also responsible for editing the draft regulations and forms compiled by other members of the team and assembling same.

A total of 143 regulations and 79 forms were drafted, resulting in a comprehensive document exceeding 300 pages.

The Department of Social Development made only minor changes to this document before publishing same for general comment in August 2008.
Mr Potgieter also wrote two chapters, on adoption and inter-country adoption respectively, for inclusion in the training manual for social workers to be released by the Western Cape’s Provincial Department of Social Development.
As private legal consultant he assisted the University of Pretoria’s Centre for Child Law in preparing submissions to court on a variety of sexual offences related issues, and drafted a publication, released by the Centre for Child Law, entitled “Justice for Child Victims and Witnesses of Crime” which explored the way in which current South African law and practice give effect to the 2005 United Nations Guidelines on Justice in Matters involving Child Victims and Witnesses of Crime (UN Resolution 2005/20).
He also assisted the Department of Justice and Constitutional Development during deliberations in the Portfolio Committee: Justice and Constitutional Development on the Child Justice Act 75 of 2008 as part of the drafting team.

From 2009 to 2012 Mr Potgieter assisted the Government of Namibia with refining and editing its draft Child Care and Protection Bill.

This led to the adoption of Namibia’s Child Care and Protection Act, Act No.

3 of 2015.
3 of 2015.

He was also contracted to draft all the regulations to be promulgated in terms of that legislation.

3 In 2010 he was part of the development and drafting of a comprehensive Children’s Bill on behalf of the Revolutionary Government of Zanzibar, which resulted in the adoption of Zanzibar’s Children’s Act, 2011.
This legislation received an international award (an initiative of the World Future Council) in 2015 “for its effective response to child abuse and violence and for its promotion and protection of child rights that have led to a marked societal change in attitudes towards children in Zanzibar.
Alongside a revamped child protection system, many schools are now piloting alternatives to the previously widespread use of corporal punishment and thousands of children have been assisted in returning to school from harmful work.” Mr Potgieter has also assisted the former Independent Complaints Directorate (investigating complaints against members of the South African Police Service) in drafting the regulations promulgated in terms of the Independent Police Investigative Directorate Act 1 of 2011.
Mr Potgieter has additionally gained experience in the field of social assistance and appeals relating to the rejection of applications for social assistance grants as he has been appointed, in August 2010, by the then Minister for Social Development as a member of the Independent Tribunal on Social Assistance Appeals (ITSAA).
In addition he was approached by the Centre for Child Law and the Children’s Institute to draft amendments to the regulations made under section 32 of the Social Assistance Act 13 of 2004 to provide for the payment of a supplementary child support grant for family members taking care of orphaned children.

In 2011 Mr Potgieter was approached by the then Chairperson of the SA Human Rights Commission, Adv Lawrence Mushwana, to assist the Commission in reviewing its complaints handling mechanism.
This involved the development of procedures to be followed upon receiving a complaint in respect of human rights violations, as well as a manual on the handling of complaints.

Mr Potgieter finalised this assignment in September 2011.
During 2012 he was contracted by the then Deputy Minister of Home Affairs, Ms Fatima Chohan (currently Deputy Chairperson of the SA Human Rights Commission) to revise the law relating to refugees and asylum seekers, and submitted a draft Bill on that topic to the Department of Home Affairs in July 2012 as well as another draft in 2016.

Partially due to his inputs, the Refugees Amendment Act 11 of 2017 has been enacted in December 2017.
4 In 2013 Mr Potgieter was part of the team responsible for drafting comprehensive amendments to the South African Children’s Act 38 of 2005 – known as the Children’s Act Third Amendment Bill.

In 2016 Mr Potgieter was also involved in drafting a strategic framework, at the bequest of UNFPA, involving some 20 East and Southern Africa countries regarding access by children to sexual and reproductive health services and the legislation in each respective country surrounding those issues.
In 2019 Mr Potgieter entered into an agreement with a UK based NGO, Sisters for Change, which provides technical and financial support to Namibia’s Ministry of Justice in finalising Bills centred on gender-based violence.

His role is to revise, edit and give legislative drafting guidance to Bills drafted by the Ministry’s drafting team.
He was responsible for editing Namibia’s Combating of Domestic Violence Amendment Bill and produced a draft Bill focusing on unfair discrimination and hate speech in the Namibian context.

Mr Potgieter qualified to become a language practitioner in 2020 and is registered with of the South African Translators’ Institute.

His skills include translation of documents from Afrikaans to English and vice versa as well as editing and proofreading of official documents, court transcripts and theses.
His goal is to become a sworn translator which will require certification by the High Court of South Africa.

He has already completed a practical examination in this respect and is awaiting the results.
Principal State Law Adviser and Consultant to the SA Law Reform Commission (Pretoria, 1987 – 2006): Mr Potgieter’s duties included research with a view to reforming and modernising specific areas of the law, writing up the research results in the form of Discussion Papers and Reports for both domestic and international distribution and drafting national legislation.
He was solely responsible for the research and draft legislation in the following investigations: • The appointment of curators for mentally incapacitated persons, leading to the adoption of the Mentally Ill Persons’ Legal Interests Amendment Act 108 of 1990 • The acquisition and loss of ownership of game, leading to the adoption of the Game Theft Act 105 of 1991 5 • Simplification of the debt collection procedure, the regulation of extra-judicial debt collectors and imprisonment of debtors, leading to the adoption of the Magistrates’ Courts Amendment Act 81 of 1997 and the Debt Collectors Act 114 of 1998 • Speculative and contingency fees for legal practitioners, leading to the adoption of the Contingency Fees Act 66 of 1997 As part of a research team he assisted with the research and, where applicable, draft legislation in the following investigations: • The review of the law of testate succession, leading to the adoption of the Law of Succession Amendment Act 43 of 1992 • Group and human rights, an investigation in respect of which the SALRC was awarded the Human Sciences Research Council’s prestigious Humanitas Prize in recognition of outstanding research which had a proven and practical effect on the enhancement of the quality of life in South Africa • Constitutional models, which served as a discussion paper and background document during the political negotiations in the early 1990s • Juvenile justice, which led to the adoption of the Child Justice Act 75 of 2008 • Sexual offences, which led to the adoption of the Criminal Law (Sexual Offences and Related Matters) Amendment Act 32 of 2007 • The recognition of Muslim Marriages in South Africa, the recommendations in respect of which are still under consideration by the Department of Justice and Constitutional Development During his tenure with the SALRC Mr Potgieter also gained diverse experience by – • writing memoranda to the Minister for Justice and Constitutional Development on a variety of law reform issues • participating in meetings of the SALRC, its
 working committee and project committees • participating in meetings of Parliament’s Portfolio Committee on Justice and Constitutional Development • participating in radio interviews on the SALRC’s investigations • writing articles on the activities of the SALRC for publication in South African legal journals such as De Rebus and Consultus 6 Assistant Master of the Supreme Court (Pretoria, 1982 – 1987): Mr Potgieter’s duties included – • Controlling deceased and insolvent estates as well as estates under curatorship • Submitting reports to the High Court regarding disputed estate matters and the appointment of curators and administrators as well as the rehabilitation of sequestrated persons • Controlling the work of subordinates and protecting the interests of heirs, minors, incapacitated persons and creditors (in insolvent estates) Clerk, Magistrates’ offices (Bloemfontein 1979 – 1981): • Maintenance clerk • Prisoners’ friend (an official title) • Acting prosecutor LANGUAGE PROFICIENCY English, Afrikaans (reading, writing and speaking) Dutch (reading) REFERENCES 1.
The Honourable Mr Justice Mohammed Navsa (Judge of the Supreme Court of Appeal – Bloemfontein.

2.

Professor Julia Sloth-Nielsen (Former Dean: Law Faculty, University of the Western Cape.

Cell no: 3.

Professor Ann Skelton (Former Head: Centre for Child Law, University of Pretoria and currently the Chairperson of the United Nations’ Child Rights Committee.

Cell no: 7