Speaker, firstly I would like to respond to the false and misleading statement from the Chief Whip of Cope. In her statement she gave the impression that I, as the responsible Minister, was imposing myself on the committee in the National Council of Provinces and bulldozing the processes which are happening on that side. That is far from the truth. The truth is that the committee in the National Council of Provinces invited me to come and respond to the progress they were making in the National Council of Provinces.
Secondly, I commended the efforts being made by the National Council of Provinces, but it's also my responsibility to highlight the areas that may be problematic while they are making those amendments. That was the sole purpose of going to interact; it was at the invitation of the committee. Thirdly, the issues we were raising were not forcing the members of the committee but were highlighting those issues that may be unconstitutional, because it is our responsibility that we should pass constitutionally sound legislation, but also equally implementable legislation.
The second item I would like to respond to is a statement by a member of the ANC, who was commenting on the recent international solidarity conference. This was one of the most important conferences which happened recently here in South Africa. This is because it outlined the role played particularly by President Tambo in ensuring that there is solidarity across the world to fight the common evils of oppression of our people. What also became quite clear was that from now on we have to join hands, because there were delegates from Europe, the Americas, Asia, Africa and all over the world, and that the common enemy is the underdevelopment of our people. We should learn from each other on how we deal with physical challenges facing our people today. Thank you. [Applause.] [Time expired.]