Deputy Chairperson, we are all aware of the background to the circumstances which brought us here today to discuss the Constitution Sixteenth Amendment Bill.
Some will argue that it is the fault of government for not listening to the people, but it is, according to me, the complete opposite. The ANC government has listened to the people and will always do so. It will try to make the lives of the people of South Africa better than it was yesterday as well as to make tomorrow better than today. And so, it was for that reason that we had a situation where the proposed improvements for service delivery were rejected by a community and the re-organisation of service delivery were seen, wrongly so, as a threat to service delivery.
It is extremely regrettable that destruction to infrastructure took place. Community property was destroyed; education was disrupted; and valuable learning time was lost. The matric students, with the support of the Department of Education, made tremendous effort against all odds. They did well and I salute them.
It will take time to rebuild the area, not only schools and libraries, but also a spirit of learning and returning to a sense of normality. The people must once again respect and take care of the institutions that define it. The libraries and schools should once again be the pride and joy of the community. They should not be used as sites of protest and anger.
Let me also put on record that this is not done for election purposes. This has been a long time coming. We know that Khutsong is an ANC stronghold. People would rather not vote than to vote for any other party. It is a pity that this process has taken so long and cost so much. Public protest must be bound by the processes we have institutionalised in our society. There are avenues for protest built into the design of our Constitution and society. Perhaps we've failed in implementing these systems. Having said that, wonderful and valuable lessons have been learned, the most important of which is a reminder that the definition of democracy is "government by the people for the people" and that the will of the people must be respected at all times. The ANC, therefore, calls on all of us to work together to do more to change the lives of our people. We are proud of our election call which says "Working together we can do more".
Lastly, Minister, I would like to apologise because I will leave before the end of the debate as I have been deployed to attend the funeral of a comrade. So I do apologise, but my colleague, hon Mack, will inform me of what took place afterwards. I thank you.