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.