Deputy Speaker, I want to try to respond to four statements. First of all, regarding the hon Smith's statement, I've heard these ideas that there's going to be excessive pricing by airlines ahead of 2010. As a rumour, I don't know whether that is correct or not, but I should just point out that there are two matters that could fall under the competition authorities.
First of all, if there was any collusion around price-setting, that would be matter. Secondly, abuse of dominant position to set unfair prices to the detriment of consumers and the country at large could also be something coming out of the purview of the competition authorities.
If - and I don't know whether this is the case or not - it were to be that the kind of price-setting that the hon Smith described were to come to fruition, this would be something that we would expect the competition authorities to look at very closely and to apply the letter of the competition law.
Secondly, regarding the Soweto call centre, I'd just like to say that this is indeed a very exciting project. In fact, it's a call centre that's supposed to deal with major investment enquiries - large foreign investment enquiries.
It's very significant that it was actually established in a facility in the Cheshire Home in Soweto. The decision that led to us doing this was that we were not just providing charity to people that were disabled, but we were actually recognising the ability of those people to carry out those tasks and the importance of the support facilities available in at Cheshire Home.
I think this is actually a model project. We were very happy to have representatives of the Department of Women, Children and People with Disabilities present as well. I think it's a model that many other facilities of this sort could follow.
Thirdly, on the question of Alcan, I think the hon Ngonyama should be looking at what Pepi Silinga had to say about this - he is the CEO of Coega. He said that they were not fazed by this, and that long ago, they had departed from the model of looking for an anchor tenant, particularly an anchor tenant based on large energy use and which was not labour- creating projects such as that of aluminium smelters.
In fact, it was by mutual agreement that this project was suspended, basically because we don't have the energy to support those kinds of projects that actually generate very little downstream activity and depend on large quantities of energy. Actually, Coega already has another big project, the petrol refinery, and is working on a number of other activities. So, I don't think it's a disaster, but it is also an indication that we can't expect to be having these kinds of energy-absorbing projects of this nature in the future. I think the concept of industrial decentralisation belongs in the past, and is certainly not a current one. I certainly don't think that it's a disaster for the Eastern Cape or for Coega.
Regarding Mr Marais' point on the lottery board, well, this is still in the hands of the committee and in the hands of Parliament. I have not received any communication as yet regarding the processes. I need to receive a report and the recommendations through the proper procedures of Parliament.
The hon member is welcome to make whatever representation he wants to at that point. But I think that he has just given us a series of allegations today that I know other members of the committee will not say is what actually happened in the committee. The fact of the matter, as I understand it, is that a number of candidates were interviewed, and I trust that the outcome will enable us to strengthen the lotteries board so that it can deliver on the mandate of making sure that there is actual delivery of lottery funds to good causes. Thank you very much. [Applause.]