Point of order, point of order. Deputy Speaker, the new leader of the DA asked this question as a follow up earlier on that: Will the President support the Minister of Finance to remove the red tape? There are hon members with new questions. Can we maximise the time of these... [Inaudible.] This question has already been answered in this session. It looks like the new DA does not have creativity now. [Laughter.]
THE PRESIDENT OF THE REPUBLIC: Hon Deputy Speaker, the answer to that is yes. We want and continue to want to remove the red tape. This was raised very prominently with us by the business sector. We then asked them to specify the areas where red tape still existed and they have. In these meetings that I was talking to you about, the first Monday of every month at the National Economic Development and Labour Council, Nedlac, is precisely what we are also doing.
We are looking more specifically at areas where there is red tape. I sighted the water licensing one, I cited a number of others and we were able to bring in those people who run the water permitting process and they
explained the process and we said we want them to reduce the timeline that it takes to get a water licence. This happened when I told them that I waited for three years to get a water permit for water that rose on my farm. I asked as to why I had to wait for three years but they could not give me an answer. Therefore, we want to reduce that, it is a number of other processes.
On supporting, I would say you should really actively engage with the Minister of trade and industry. Minister Patel is the one who is seized with all these matters that have to do with red tape. I will ask him to invite you for coffee or whatever else you drink. He will be able to invite for that, so that you can have a discussion to see how well the proposals that you want to put forward are really synchronised with what they are doing. Thank you very much.