House Chairperson, I wish to respond to three matters. The first matter is about crime; the second one about the hon member who spoke about Home Affairs and the third one is about the issue of affirmative action.
The hon member from the DA did mention to the House that recently her son became a victim of crime and indeed was stabbed. I would like to express the sympathy of the members of the executive and of the whole government to this member for this unfortunate incident. I don't think anyone of us in this House would not be traumatised by the fact that so many people in this country are indeed being traumatised by criminal violence. We empathise with them.
What is even more necessary is for us to be correctly focused on dealing with this problem of criminal violence in the country. I think that it is indeed correct to note here that a number of citizens in this country are mobilising to draw the attention of society to this problem of crime.
I would like to say, if one analyses the mobilisation that is going on right now, whilst the strategic intent of the mobilisation might be correct in that it wants to draw attention to the escalation of the problem in the country, that I don't think the focus is correct.
If we are serious about doing something about crime, it requires the conjoint efforts of every one of us to act in concert with each other and to give support to the forces in this country that are charged with the responsibility for dealing with crime, and that is the SA Police Service.
What we need is for citizens in this country to mobilise to give support to the SA Police Service in every way possible so that it could actually deal with the escalation of criminal violence in the country. Taking to the streets does not necessarily help to resolve addressing the problem of crime. It might draw attention to it. I think its action is not focused and what we really need to do is to get down to the ground in our communities, build the structures in those communities that work in support of the SA Police Service to deal with fighting off this escalation of violence in the country.
On the matter of the Department of Home Affairs, the hon member stated that the people in this country have lost confidence in the department. And she went on to say that leadership in the department is lacking, and she particularly criticized the Minister.
I think you need to think very carefully about that statement because you need to know that it was this very Minister who, herself, requested that this special investigation be put in place so that we could find the correct strategy to deal with the many problems that have been identified by this Minister and her department within Home Affairs.
If we think that the problems that are currently present in the Department of Home Affairs can be eradicated overnight, then we are seriously misinformed. What we are dealing with here are problems that have been accumulating in this department for well over 13 years. The Minister is accurately seized with the enormity of this responsibility; has demonstrated effective leadership by putting in motion this specific study team; and has completely committed herself to ensuring that she would execute the recommendations of this task team to deal with correcting the current difficulties within the Department of Home Affairs.
I think the statement that leadership is lacking is totally untrue and totally incorrect. [Interjections.]
On a point of order, Chairperson: I was quoting directly from the report. So, for the Minister to say that I was misleading this House is actually wrong. He should read the report, because those words are in the report! [Applause.] [Interjections.]
Order! Order! Order! Deputy Minister, order, please. We were trying to listen to a point of order and then there was already clapping and heckling.
Deputy Minister, with regard to the issue of the words used, I'm not sure, we'll just come back to it. Can you just conclude on your remark and I will make a ruling.
I understand the hon member as having said that when she made the statement "leadership is lacking", ... but she drew it from the report. Well, I thought that she was attacking the Minister for showing a lack of leadership. But now that you in fact accept that that is not what you were saying, then I must therefore say that your understanding of the report is incorrect because that statement in the report ... [Laughter.] [Interjections.]
Order! Order, please!
... that statement in the report refers to leadership at the level of officials within the department.
The hon member from the Opposition, in dealing with the affirmative action matter, made a statement which is absolutely, I think, deplorable. The member made a statement to say that the policy of affirmative action is utilising apartheid as a scapegoat. [Interjections.]
On a point of order, Mr Chairman: I wonder if you could just give us a ruling. I understand that the previous speaker - the previous Deputy Minister - addressed this matter of affirmative action. We now have a second Deputy Minister to address that.
Hon Chairperson, I withdraw.
Order! On the issue that was raised earlier by Ms Kalyan around the issue of misleading, the member was not being unparliamentary because he did not say "deliberately misleading". He did not use that word. Therefore, in that context the Deputy Minister was not out of order. Thank you very much.