Mr Speaker, when President Zuma returned this Bill to Parliament because the National House of Traditional Leaders had not been consulted, the portfolio committee did not take the President seriously. It took no leadership to ensure that proper consultation with traditional leaders on this Bill took place. Instead, the committee used a two-year-old letter as evidence of consultation.
This is the Bill that the Department of Science and Technology, the Department of Trade and Industry's Regulatory Impact Assessment and the world's intellectual property rights community say cannot be implemented. The Bill further undermines existing copyright, trademark, patent design, performance and film protection rights.
Minister Davis himself is quoted as saying, as recently as 2 April, that the DTI is having "a thorough relook" and that he was unable to give any comfort that this IP policy will be coming out soon. It is bizarre that it is before Parliament today. This bad law will not protect traditional knowledge - but the DA's Traditional Knowledge Bill will. President Zuma should return this bad law once again and compel Parliament to do the right thing. [Applause.]
Speaker, the indigenous knowledge of South Africa needs all the protection it can get and must be protected against unfair exploitation. Cope has supported the promotion of a legal structure but cannot support this Bill. Not only is this Bill flawed in many instances but the process was also flawed. The claim that after the retagging of this Bill there was proper consultation with the House of Traditional Leaders is simply not true. This lack of consultation is against the spirit and meaning of consultation and its outcomes.
The important process started in 2007 already, when the Bill was redrafted several times. However, it just kept showing up more flaws. The South African intellectual property fraternity and the World Intellectual Property Organisation do not support the Bill. However, everyone sees the importance of creating a legal framework and of protecting the indigenous knowledge of all our people in the right way.
This Bill is creating the wrong expectation in communities and will eventually fail them. Let's calm down and restart this process on the correct footing. This Bill aims to bring an end to unfair practices and piracy in the South African market. The fact is that this is what it should be doing, but it is failing in many instances. Cope supports the principle wholeheartedly, but not in this format. We shall again abstain, as we did on 27 October 2011.
Speaker, the ANC wishes to confirm, as was said by the hon Van der Merwe, that we support the passing of this Bill in this House. Through this Bill the ANC seeks to guarantee just compensation for the indigenous communities when their indigenous knowledge is being used for commercial gain. [Interjections.] Those who are opposed to this Bill are suggesting that we must ensure that indigenous communities and their indigenous knowledge continue to be commercially exploited ... [Interjections.]
Oh please, no!
... without them participating and without them benefiting from the economic benefits that will accrue from this Bill. [Interjections.]
I-ANC ifuna ukuthi imiphakathi yakithi enolwazi olujulile ikwazi ukuhlomula uma umsebenzi nolwazi lwendabuko lusetshenziswa yilabo abangochwepheshe asebehlomule kakhulu esikhathini esingaphambilini kulo mthetho. (Translation of isiZulu paragraph follows.)
[The ANC wants our indigenous communities to be able to benefit when their work and their indigenous knowledge are used by experts who previously benefited a lot from this Bill.]
You must tell the truth!
Let me just quote what the World Intellectual Property Organisation said about South Africa with regard to this Bill during the portfolio committee's consultation:
The government of South Africa ought to be congratulated for having developed the policy framework for the protection of indigenous traditional knowledge through the intellectual property system and the Intellectual Property Laws Amendment Bill of 2008. These are pioneering initiatives and will be of interest to many other countries and regional organisations.
It is therefore important that we pass this Bill. [Interjections.]
Kuyoba yihlazo nenhlekelele ... [It will be a disgrace and a disaster ...]
... if on 24 September, Heritage Day, we fail to celebrate the legal protection, the legal recognition and the legal ability of our people to benefit from the redistribution of wealth accruing from intellectual property that has been commercially exploited.
Kunezibalo ezithi uma siqhubeka singafuni ukuthi abantu bakithi bahlomule ngalo mthetho kungenzeka bangahlomuli esibalweni semali elinganiselwa ezigidigidini eziyisi-5 zamarandi ngonyaka wezi-2020 ... (Translation of isiZulu paragraph follows.)
[There are statistics that show that if we continue to deny our people an opportunity to benefit from this Bill, there is a chance that they might not benefit from the budget estimated at R5 billion in 2020 ...] As the ANC, we support this Bill. [Applause.]
Bill read a second time (Democratic Alliance, Freedom Front Plus, Congress of the People and Independent Democrats dissenting).