Speaker, I know the hon member always asks this question. I have said that we were faced with growing crime and we needed to give the police everything that they needed to fight crime. I am saying that they have fought crime and succeeded in doing so. You are quoting other instances of incidents by the police that happened even before they were referred to as "ranks". You are all putting it together as if it happened after the ranking. It is not true; you know it very well. We are dealing with crime. We are saying that the police must be empowered; must be encouraged to fight crime.
Ranking them, as we felt we needed to, was one way of making the police feel that they can fight crime. You could have a different view. You have a right to have a different view, and you can raise it. You cannot say that before the ranking there was no crime in South Africa, because you are putting it that as soon as ranks were created, the crime escalated. It is actually the other way around. You have a view. [Interjections.] Yes, I know that he was a member of Cabinet at some point. [Interjections.]
You have a view, and I can tell you, as an opposition, you will always have a view on every issue. [Interjections.] That is what happens, and you can advance your view. It does not change the situation that as far as we are concerned, this was necessary and, indeed, the crime rate has gone down. It is not as if, before the ranking, there were no people who were dying in operations. You talk as if there was nobody dying at all. That is the exaggeration of facts. I am saying that you are entitled to a view, and you can advance it. This is a system we believe will help, and it has helped to a large extent. Thank you. [Applause.]