Speaker, what we are trying to do with this Bill is very important. South Africa has not been complying with our international obligations in terms of protecting ourselves from oil spills. These Bills are the financial implications of two Bills passed by the Transport committee that will make sure that we finally comply with our international obligations. Up until now we have been exposed. From today, if we pass these Bills, we will be covered, and that is why the DA supports this Bill and the next one, which is the administration Bill, to support the money Bill.
Notwithstanding the support, the problem that the DA has is the model that National Treasury and the SA Revenue Service, Sars, have taken to collect the funds that South Africa owes to contribute to the International Oil Pollution Compensation Fund. Every single country that contributes to this fund, except for Canada and Israel, allows the fund to come and collect the money that they are owed from the companies that receive large oil deliveries - every single country, except for Canada and Israel.
Now, for some reason, Sars decides to set up this elaborate bureaucracy to collect the funds on behalf of companies that owe money to the international fund. There is no logic to this. If we are supposedly following the Canadian model, we should look at how their fund goes much, much further, covering additional ships and helping companies deal with claims from the fund. Our structure does nothing like that. It simply sets up a bureaucracy for Sars to manage because National Treasury tells us they do not want the fund to come into our country and act like a tax collector, and they say that the money that leaves our shores must be accounted for.
These decisions are in line with this government's decision to leave apartheid-era exchange controls in place, to drown temporary employment agencies in red tape, and to attempt to stifle media freedom in the first draft of the Secrecy Bill that they tabled in this House. This is the ANC's instinct - to overregulate, to control, and to construct elaborate bureaucracies where they are neither welcome nor required.
So, we support this Bill because it will protect ordinary South Africans from oil spills, but we have serious doubts about the ANC's attempt to create this bureaucracy to collect the funds when we could, like almost every other country on the planet, allow them to come and collect the funds themselves. Thank you very much. [Applause.]
Hon Speaker, on behalf of the ANC, I would like to indicate that we opted for this option that is ridiculed as an apartheid option. The reality of the matter is that this is not an apartheid option. This is an option that is provided for in article 14 of the international convention, the one that the Portfolio Committee on Transport, as well as the relevant select committee in the NCOP, has dealt with.
We are opting for this because, firstly, we think this particular approach carries the following advantages. In the event of litigation, it will be between Sars and the ship owner or oil importer, and not with international entities in a South African court. We think that this will give us enough space to handle our issues internally. We do not question our capacity.
Secondly, it provides the advantage that there will be a high degree of security for the fund as Sars will pay, and there will be no risk of defaulting by a private ship owner or oil importer, bringing stability at an international level as we contribute to this compensation fund. As the ANC, we are not going to be tempted into cheap politicking. We think this is an option that is here to ensure that we comply with international standards. We are fully behind this Bill. Thank you. [Applause.]
Bill read a first time.