Order! Hon members will remember that at some point I made a commitment to the House that I would come back to make a ruling on two points of order raised by Mr Watson and Mr Harris during the plenary of 17 August 2010.
In respect of the point of order raised by hon Watson, my ruling is as follows. During the debate on the report on the Taking Parliament to the People programme - Limpopo, hon E S Maake, special delegate from Limpopo, said that:
We are confident that through our deeds this trend of choice shall continue whenever elections are called in this country, despite lesbian marriages which are being witnessed. We are prompted to say that the democratic dispensation in South Africa is very sweet and progressive; hence the kind of choices in relation to marriages, lest we witness domestic abuse of one partner by the other.
Mr Watson raised a point of order, saying that Mr Maake must withdraw the reference to lesbian marriages, as it was unparliamentary and irrelevant to the subject matter.
I then undertook to study the Hansard and make a ruling. With regard to the content of the statement, it is evident that even though the member's comments did not refer expressly to any specific person or persons and or/member or group, such marriages are recognised in our law. Any negative reference to such marriages cannot be condoned by this House. Therefore, members are called upon to be careful and sensitive in making reference to issues that have particular bearing on the legislation that we as the House have passed.
My ruling is therefore that the point of order raised by hon Watson be upheld.