Hon Deputy Speaker and members of the House, this Bill is necessary and long overdue. We are living in a global village and an intertwined economic and political world system. However, our strategic opponents want us to believe that South Africa is in a socioeconomic vacuum. When we draft legislation and make amendments, we are informed by this dynamic world outlook, which requires constant responses in accordance with our Constitution, international law and the developmental needs of our country. This Bill spans national security, socioeconomic development, individual security or protection, business interests, cultural and people- to-people exchange or movements.
This Bill requires multifaceted approaches involving government interdepartmental co-operation so as to effect real control in order to deepen and defend the gains of the past struggles and advance our national democratic revolution, as we were mandated by our people. The amendment of section 15 prevents abuses of the provisions in the principal Act, where people would be applying for asylum and take about 14 days in the country. One would wonder what they would be doing for 14 days because initially they came in to seek asylum. Obviously, if they get that five days, they would be able to travel within the country and be able to reach that particular refugee reception office in time and be serviced immediately. [Interjections.]
While we believe that people have the right to representation, we also believe that people have the right of choice. We cannot channel particular representatives into one grouping, where we would be saying only certain people who are registered with the Department of Home Affairs would be the ones who are representing those particular people. However, we are simply saying that people will have a choice - do they need to be represented or can they deal with their cases as individuals, as they may want to do? That, we believe, is what the particular amendment around the issue of immigration practitioners is all about.
It is true that when we deal with an issue of trade there is a relevant department to deal with that. That is why we emphasise that we are not disallowing anybody who wants to trade as an immigration practitioner. All we are saying is that people must come to Home Affairs' offices and make their applications there. The issue of the backlog is another issue that will be addressed at the implementation point.
The following amendment, which speaks about the holder of a business permit who may conduct work which is related to the business in respect of which the permit has been issued, again has to do with the control of people who would be coming into our country on the pretext of doing and performing a particular business activity. Having arrived in the country, they then change that into something else, which is actually employment. At the end of the day, we are faced with a situation where we have to take into consideration that the person is already in our country and is already doing something that he was not actually allowed to do.
Lastly, when we argue the issue of asylumseekers coming into our country ...
... ke tlo kopa ho bua. Ha ngwanaka a tswa lapeng la ka ke le MmaTeboho, a balehela ha MmaDlamini mme ha a fihla, a fumana hore o tshwanetse a kene ka lengolo le itseng, a be a ikgethela ho tlola lerako, a kena ka hara jarete, MmaDlamini o tla tseba jwang hore ngwana enwa o teng ka hara jarete? Ya bobedi, le nna ke tla be ke sa tsebe hore ngwana enwa ha a baleha lapeng mane, o ile kae. Jwale, ntho e bohlokwa ke hore hang ha bana ba ka ba bona ngwana ya jwalo ka hare ho jarete ya bo bona, a batla dipompong tsa bona le dibapadiswa tsa bona tseo ba bapalang ka tsona, ngwana ya jwalo a tlalehwe ho Mme hore ho na le mohlankana kapa morwetsana eo ba mmonang jareteng mona, mme o ba tsekisa dibapadiswa tsa bona, ebile ha ba mo tsebe etswe le heke e ntse e kwetswe; ha ba tsebe hore na o kene le kae.
Taba eo e bohlokwa haholo hobane MmaDlamini, MmaTumelo le MmaTeboho, ba tla kgona ho buisana mmoho hore, helang MmaDlamini! ke bona ngwana wa hao mona, ho etsahalang? Ha eba ke hloka ho mo thusa, ke tla mo thusa empa ha ho sa hlokahale hore ke mo thuse, ke tla mo kgutlisetsa ho MmaDlamini hore ba ilo lokisa ditaba.
Ke dumela hore e hlakile, e jwalo. Ha eba ho sa etsahale jwalo, ntho e teng e nngwe hape e ka etsahalang. Ho ka etsahala hore ha ngwana enwa a tlola lerako, dintja tsa ka di mo lome hobane di sa mo tlwaela, ebile di sa mo tsebe. MmaDlamini yena o tla ntwantshetsa hore ntja tsa ka di lomme ngwanahae, empa e le hore le nna ke ne ke sa mmona ngwana enwa hore na o kene le kae. Ha ke mo tsebe. Ka mantswe a mang, re leka ho laola le ho tlisa seriti sa naha ya rona hore e se ke ya nna ya tsamaya e ntse e hoeletswa hohle mona hore ha e kgone ho hlokomela bana ba balehileng. Modulaqhowa ya hlomphehang, re rata hore re le ANC, re lokisa dintho tse jwalo ka Bili ena. Kahoo, re a e tshetleha ebile re a e tshehetsa hore e fete. Ntho e nngwe le e nngwe ha e tla ka diphetoho, e fumana mathata, empa ha e se e ntse e sebetsa, ke hona batho ba bang ba tla bona bohlokwa ba yona. Re ne re sa tsebe kajeno hore re tla be re dutse moo re sa tsubeng kwae teng. Ke a leboha, Modulaqhowa. [Mahofi.] (Translation of Sesotho paragraphs follows.)
[... may I express myself this way: When my child leaves my home as MmaTeboho, and runs to MmaDlamini's home and when he or she gets there, they find that they have to produce certain documents in order to gain entry, and then they decide to scale the wall and enter the yard, how is MmaDlamini going to know that the child is in her yard? Secondly, even I myself wouldn't know where the child fled to when they left home. Therefore, a crucial issue is that when my children see that child in their yard who wants to have their sweets and wants to play with their toys, they should report such a child to their mother and notify her of their presence, and that they are haggling with them over their toys, they don't even know them and that the gate is still closed yet they don't know how they got into the yard.
This is a very important issue because MmaDlamini, MmaTumelo and MmaTeboho will have a discussion and say, "Hey, MmaDlamini, I see that your child is here, what's happening?" If I have to help him or her I will help them, but if I don't have to I will send them back to MmaDlamini in order for them to sort out their problems.
I would like to believe that is the case, that it's like that. If it does not happen that way, there is another thing that could happen. It can happen that as the child goes over the wall, the dogs might attack and bite him or her because they are not used to them as they don't know them. On the other hand, MmaDlamini will blame me because my dogs will have bitten her child, and yet I wouldn't have known how her child would have gained entry in my yard. I don't know him or her.
In other words, we are trying to restore the integrity of our country in order to avoid it being criticised by everyone because of its inability to look after its escapees. Hon Chairperson, we as the ANC would like to say that we are trying to fix such things with this Bill. Therefore, we support it and that it should be passed. Everything that brings change is accompanied by challenges, but it is only when it is implemented that some people then realise its importance. We never knew that today we would be sitting in a no smoking area. I thank you, Chairperson. [Applause.]]