Hon Chairperson, hon Deputy Minister, Chief Whip, all protocol observed, allow me to make a few remarks in this important debate.
The ANC-led government has once more proved that this government is the government of the people, governing by the will of the people. With these two pieces of legislation, the government is responding to flaws identified in the existing Act because at the time it was drafted the Act did not affect a large segment of the population, namely the black people of the country, who did not then reside in these areas. With the advent of democracy, they find themselves living in these areas. This has resulted in many challenges coming to the fore and the government has had to respond to them.
The Community Schemes Ombud Service Bill seeks to provide a conflict resolution mechanism for persons living in community schemes. It will serve as a legal entity that will monitor and control the administration of the private and the common areas in the community schemes. These schemes include sectional title schemes, share-block companies, homeowners' associations and housing schemes for retired persons in which there is governance by the community involved, shared financial responsibility and land facilities used in common.
Many owners and occupants of residential sectional title complexes have been frustrated by the lack of effective mechanisms for resolving disputes. The major problem is that the current management rule in sectional schemes providing for the compulsory arbitration of disputes does not provide an adequate practical and cost-effective method to avoid and solve problems.
This Bill will address the fact that the shared use of rights and shared financial obligations in community schemes regularly give rise to problems in practice. There is no accessible dispute resolution for persons involved in community schemes or a government department that assists such people. There is no government-sponsored entity that exists to educate persons in community schemes on how they should operate. There is a lack of reliable custody of sectional titles and other forms of community schemes governance documentation, which hampers good governance in such schemes.
We hope this Bill will deal with long-established problems which were inherent in the previous legislation. These living areas are currently populated by both black and white tenants, who will benefit equally from this Bill. This Bill and its intention give effect to the notion that this country belongs to all people who live in it, both black and white. We hope that the sceptics who doubted our young democracy are being proved wrong with the enactment of such legislation.
Let me just respond to what Mr Visser has said, and let me put it in a proper context. People who have benefited from these schemes were affluent and there is an encroachment of black people in these areas, and problems are arising. What do you do if you have a problem and you don't have money? So, that's why we have a Bill introducing an ombudsman because previously people would just take this to High Courts because they had money while the black people involved didn't.
This Bill is going to give people an opportunity to object in a cost- effective manner. I'm not surprised that Mr Visser is against this because this is encroachment on their terrain and they don't want our people to encroach. It is also important that the Minister should intervene because he represents the largest population group of this country. It is correct for the Minister to intervene and give proper guidance. This is why, as the ANC, we support the Bill in its entirety. [Applause.]