Thank you
hon Deputy Speaker. I move that the House resumes proceedings on the following Bills, which in terms of Rules 333 and Rules 351 lapsed on the last sitting day of
the sixth session of the Fifth Parliament, from the stage that they were referred to the relevant committees of the Assembly for consideration and reporting: Road Accident Benefit Scheme Bill; Airports Company Amendment Bill; Air Traffic and Navigation Services Company Amendment Bill; Science and Technology Laws Amendment Bill; Foreign Service Bill; National Land Transport Amendment Bill; International Crimes Bill; Social Assistance Amendment Bill; Prevention and Combating of Hate Crimes and Hate Speech Bill; State Liability Amendment Bill; Civil Aviation Amendment Bill; Defence Amendment Bill; Local Government: Municipal Systems Amendment Bill; SA Reserve Bank Amendment Bill; and National Health Amendment Bill.
Question put.
[Interjections.]
Where's your leader?
They overlook you. [Interjections.]
Declaration(s) of Vote:
You have a tiger to worry about. [Laughter.]
Deputy Speaker, the DA welcomes the revival of these Bills that lapsed after the Fifth Parliament. Amongst its other duties, the House has an obligation to South Africans to pass legislation, as prescribed by the Constitution.
We are, however, disappointed that it has taken this House five months to revive these important Bills that are before us today. Further to this, we are not in favour of all these Bills. The Road Accident Benefit Scheme, Rabs, Bill ... where the DA submitted a comprehensive view of all the shortfalls and appropriateness of the Rabs Bill ... has a relevant solution to the current Road Accident Fund Act. Sadly, these views were removed from the draft committee report and excluded from the report that was tabled in this House.
The purpose of committee reports is to facilitate debate and equip members of this House with adequate content to
make a decision. The Rabs Bill failed and the report which facilitated the debate was flawed in its reflection of what transpired in the committee.
Furthermore, in its current form, the Hate Speech Bill would criminalise the causing of offence. It is an ill- fated attempt to address the growing culture of intolerance through legislation and which will, in all likelihood, exacerbate the culture of intolerance in our country. Most importantly, the measures proposed in the Bill will certainly have the effect of eroding freedom of speech in an unjustifiable manner.
The International Crimes Bill, for instance, is a bad piece of legislation which typifies the legacy of the Zuma administration, when the ANC acted on all of its worst instincts. It's an attempt to gloss over the ill- fated decision of the Zuma administration to aid and abet the international criminal by the name of Omar al-Bashir, in the process diminishing our status as a responsible member of the international community.
We will argue further in committees and, needs be, we will oppose some of these Bills when it comes to the House. Nonetheless, we are in favour of the revival of these Bills, with the concerns mentioned. Thank you. [Applause.]
We will bring in a tiger Bill as well. [Laughter.]
Deputy Speaker, the EFF is not objecting to the Bills. We actually welcome the revival of all the Bills that are coming through to this House. This is because the primary objective and duties of Members of Parliament is to look after the legislation and ensure that we create and develop all the laws that will benefit the society of South Africa. And in doing so, the EFF has two Private Member Bills, i.e. the nationalisation of the Reserve Bank and the health care amendment Bill which seeks to make sure that the clinics and health care facilities in South Africa are open 24 hours rather than the current status of opening for only eight hours. We know the impact this has on our people in particular people in the rural areas and the townships, who live
very far from the facilities of health care in South Africa.
We will further introduce two Bills that will benefit the society - the liquor Bill as well as the insourcing Bill. We have seen what insourcing has done for people of South Africa in Johannesburg through the insourcing of securities. We have seen the insourcing through the EFF movement at the Wits University and University of Johannesburg, UJ where workers were insourced. We welcome that and hope that all parties here will work together with the EFF in forwarding the objectives of Parliament as well as helping the South African community. Thank you very much. [Applause.]
Deputy Speaker, the ACDP supports this motion. Rule 333 (2) states that, when the Assembly is dissolved, all Bills before the Assembly or any Assembly committee lapse at the end of that day. This is repeated in Rule 351, hence the tabling of this motion. The issue was discussed in the Chief Whips Forum and the Programming Committee, and it was agreed that Bills that have lapsed will, when the Assembly revives them like
today, they will be referred to the relevant portfolio committees for consideration, and this is very important.
We have newly-elected Members of Parliament who must apply themselves to these Bills in terms of section 55 1) of the Constitution. This states categorically the powers of the National Assembly which, when exercising its legislative power may (a) consider, (b) pass, (c) amend or reject any legislation before the National Assembly. So, the Sixth Parliament must then apply section 55 in its entirety and it is not bound by the provisions of the Fifth Parliament.
There are a number of Bills before the House which are contentious and which other speakers have referred to, such as the Road Accident Benefit Scheme Bill, State Liability Bill, the International Crimes Bill and the Hate Speech Bill, to mention a few. Our support of this motion does not mean that we will support those Bills which need due consideration by Members of this Parliament.
Lastly, a number of Private Member's Bills have also been re-introduced. Those where the member that introduced them in the Fifth Parliament has been re-elected and can now re-introduce or continue with that Bill which has lapsed. There are certain circumstances such as the ACDP's Private Member's Bill that was introduced by our member who was not re-elected, i.e the Animal Protection Amendment Bill, and will now have to be introduced de novo with a new process, and that will be done. So, the ACDP supports this motion. I thank you.
Hon Deputy
Speaker, as the ANC we have never said that the Bills will not be revived. We have agreed to this process in consultation with the Office of the Leader of Government Business and working with other political parties including the DA, who were making noise about these Bills in both the National Assembly Programming Committee as well as the Chief Whips Forum. So, if you want to debate on each and every Bill, you'll do so in the committee - in your respective committees and not in the House. In the House you will be afforded the opportunity to come
and declare on each and every Bill that will be tabled in the House.
The other issue, hon members, is that those Bills which were before the House are being referred to committees for information and not for the committees to open and start the process afresh. So, the ANC supports all the Bills that are being revived today. Thank you. [Applause.]
Motion agreed to.
Hon Deputy
Speaker, I move:
That the House -
1) notes the resolution adopted by the NCOP on Thursday, 17 October 2019;
2) concur with the NCOP that the following Bills be revived and consideration thereof be resumed from the stage reached in the Fifth Parliament before
lapsing, namely that the Bills had been passed by the National Assembly and were before committees of the NCOP:
|(a) |Border Management Authority |Bill; | |(b) |Traditional Courts Bill; | | |(c) |Cybercrimes Bill; | | |(d) |Civil Union Amendment Bill; | | |(e) |National Gambling Amendment |Bill; | |(f) |Child Justice Amendment; | | |(g) |Local Government: Municipal |Structures | | |Amendment Bill; and | | |(h) |Hydrographic Bill | |
I so move.
The DEUTY SPEAKER, Hon members, I now put the motion. Are there any objections to those?
Deputy Speaker, there's no objection, but the DA would like to make a Declaration, please.
Declaration(s) of vote:
Deputy Speaker, again, these pieces of legislation could only go as far as the NCOP in the Fifth Parliament. In the Fifth Parliament, hardly any legislation was passed. As Members of Parliament our core duty is to pass legislation. We don't just pass legislation for the fun of it; we pass legislation that is supposed to change the live of South Africans for the better.
If we don't pass legislation, people's lives will not change for the better as promised when we go to elections. Just today, we have heard that the unemployment rate for the third quarter of 2019 stands at a staggering 29,1%. These are the types of challenges faced when Parliament cannot move in optimal time to pass legislation.
These are the effects and out there and the people are feeling it if we cannot pass legislation. To revive these Bills after five months it's a waste of time and impacts on the lives of ordinary South Africans. Our colleagues in the NCOP Select Committees will further deliberate on these Bills. We certainly hope that the Sixth Parliament
will do justice that the members can do their work to benefit the people. Thank you.
Hon members, I assume that there are no further Declarations and that... [Interjections.] There is? Okay, go ahead ma'am.
Deputy Speaker, the point that I just want to make is that, when the Bills are actually referred back by the NCOP to the National Assembly, it can never be a waste of time. If there are amendments, those amendments need to be considered by the National Assembly. Therefore, we welcome the introduction of the Bills. I thank you.
Hon members, there are no objections to the revival of these Bills from the NCOP.
Hon Deputy Speaker, was there any time when the Rules were changed that the people can wear hats in the House? That guy was wearing a hat. [Interjections.]
Hon members, order. Order. Who's wearing a hat?
HON MEMBERS: Paulsen.
Paulsen, please take it off, thank you very much. You can be orderly when you choose to. Thank you.
Hon Deputy
Speaker, I move that the Reports be adopted.
Motion agreed to.