Ramaphosa to face Blind SA in ConCourt on Thursday
President Cyril Ramaphosa is set to appear in the Constitutional Court on Thursday to face accusations of stalling access to books for the blind and the visually impaired.
According to a report in The Star, Section27 will argue in Blind SA v President of the RSA that Ramaphosa’s failure to sign the Copyright Amendment Bill (CAB) has denied blind and visually impaired individuals access to reading materials in formats they can access.
The Bill includes exceptions that would allow materials to be converted into accessible formats without the consent of the copyright holder.
However, Ramaphosa’s delay in signing the Bill has resulted in the expiration of a court-crafted exception that was put in place in 2022.
earl Nicodemus, representing Blind SA and Section27, said that this exception, section 13A, allowed for the conversion of materials into accessible formats without the consent of the copyright holder.
They argue that the delay in signing the Bill has resulted in a ‘book famine’ for the blind and the visually impaired, with many being denied access to reading materials in formats they can access.
The case has sparked widespread concern, with many organisations – including Section27, Recreate, Right to Know, and the SA Democratic Teachers Union – coming out in support of Blind SA.
The Star report adds the organisations have also planned a picket outside the Constitutional Court on Thursday against Ramaphosa. His referral of the CAB to the Constitutional Court has also been criticised, with some arguing that it was a delaying tactic.
‘If the court-crafted exception is resuscitated and, once again, read into CAB, it will not only remove barriers that persons who are blind or visually impaired have experienced for decades when trying to convert materials into formats they can read, but will also allow SA to ratify the Marrakesh Treaty. This treaty will allow persons who are blind or visually impaired in SA to engage in the cross-border exchange of reading materials and will open up access to hundreds of thousands of titles in accessible formats, moving us one step closer to ending the book famine in SA,’ Nicodemus said.
Article disclaimer: While we have made every effort to ensure the accuracy of this article, it is not intended to provide final legal advice as facts and situations will differ from case to case, and therefore specific legal advice should be sought with a lawyer.
