Chairperson, hon members, the time has come for us to say goodbye to dear friends, fellow comrades and compatriots. We cried together; we sang together; we laughed; we fought, but today is a sad moment when we have to say, "Let's kiss and say goodbye".
Let me share with you the words of wisdom that were said to me this morning by hon Johannes Malahlela, who, by the way, is one of the members we are bidding farewell to, because this House has recommended that he be given another responsibility. He said, and I quote:
I shall pass through this world but once. Anything, therefore, that I do or any help that I can offer to any human being, let me do it now. Let me not defer or neglect it, for it shall not come this way again.
Let's all of us take these words and live by them.
On behalf of the ANC, I would like to thank all members of this House for the good work done this term. I would like to thank the Deputy President, who is our Leader of Government Business, for her guidance and leadership.
I'd also like to thank the following people: the Speaker and the Deputy Speaker for their good leadership; the leaders of the opposition parties represented in this House for their co-operation; the Table staff and the Secretary to the NA for the excellent work done in this House; the chairpersons of committees for the good work done in this term; members of the executive for their co-operation; chairpersons and Whips, members of the Chief Whips' Forum and all members for the good work. You really went beyond the call of duty to assist in the smooth running of this House.
I thank all service officers and all staff, Members of Parliament and the staff from parties for their assistance. We'd like to thank members of the media for covering our proceedings and debates. We do not always agree with them, but we thank them for their work.
We have come to the end of this historic, democratic Parliament, which has been an exciting place in many respects. It has been exciting because despite our different views on how we should handle certain issues or how to respond to certain developments, we have always remained loyal to the Rules we have set up to govern our conduct in Parliament. More importantly, we have remained loyal to the Constitution of the Republic, the supreme law of the country. To us, as the ANC, this is very important.
In the midst of heated exchanges, we have always found time to share jokes, enjoy lighter moments and laugh - especially hon Mike Ellis and hon Koos van der Merwe - amongst ourselves as Members of Parliament; as representatives of our people.
Over the past five years of the life of this Parliament we have worked well in various areas of deployment, be it at portfolio committee meetings, Chief Whips' Forum meetings or various other committees that were set up according to the niche. Working well does not necessarily mean that there were no differences; it means that we have come to understand that we will always differ and we will always need to persuade and convince each other of the correctness of our positions. However, there was one committee where all hon members sang from the same song sheet, namely, the task team on the Moseneke commission. [Laughter.]
Every member of that committee from every political party always agreed. I so wish that every committee in Parliament could function the way this task team did. There would be no need for late sittings!
Chairperson, I stand before you with a firm conviction that all of us seated here remain committed to one goal: to achieve a better life for all our people. In this Parliament we have embraced the unity of all South Africans, irrespective of their race, culture or religion. It is this unity that is a source of our strength.
Since 1994, our democratic elections have been about the aspirations and the collective desire for a better South Africa and a better life for all. It has been a journey to bring to an end the legacy of apartheid and to build a united, nonracial, nonsexist democratic and prosperous South Africa.
Much work still needs to be done to deepen our democracy and to deal with the scourge of poverty that afflicts our people. The coming Parliament will need to continue the work done by this Parliament and focus on the following: Continued democratisation of our society based on equality, nonracialism and nonsexism; national unity in diversity, which is a source of our strength; building on the achievements and experiences since 1994; an equitable, sustainable and inclusive growth path that brings decent work and sustainable livelihoods; education, health, safe and secure communities and rural development; targeted programmes for youth, women and workers, the rural masses and people living with disabilities; and working towards a better Africa and a better world.
We have entered our second decade of freedom, with the strengthening of democracy and the acceleration of the programme to improve the quality of life for all our people. This has been done through the processing of legislation, amongst other things.
In the past five years we have passed more than 230 pieces of legislation. This number might be seen as a drop in the ocean compared with the first and second democratic Parliaments. However, we must not forget that the third democratic Parliament focused more on oversight and the effect of the legislation that we have passed for our people.
The outgoing Parliament, as I have indicated, shifted its focus from passing legislation to issues of transformation of the institution itself, oversight and public participation, in line with the vision of Parliament to build an effective people's Parliament that is responsive to the needs of the people and that is driven by the ideal of realising a better quality of life for all the people of South Africa.
These achievements and many more were possible because all South Africans worked together to overcome the challenges facing our country. Together, we pressed forward to our shared vision of a united, nonracial, nonsexist democratic and prosperous South Africa.
It is our collective task to continue with the work started by this Parliament. We need to strengthen the oversight capacity of Parliament. The third democratic Parliament has seen its stature grow internationally through its active involvement in international activities and in partnership with other parliaments. More and more parliaments throughout the world are joining hands in an effort to create a just world for humanity.
In Africa we are part of the SADC Parliamentary Forum, which consists of representatives of all parliaments in the region. This body, amongst other things, is involved in observing elections in countries of the region.
On the continental front, we are part of and hosting the Pan-African Parliament, which is involved in continental discussions that range from peace and security to human rights.
Let me take this opportunity to extend our heartfelt gratitude to the hon members who will not be returning to the fourth democratic Parliament and those who will be assuming new assignments in various areas of our government and civil society.
We want to thank them for their loyal and sincere dedication to this institution. We wish them well in their new assignments.
We also extend our sincere appreciation to those hon members who are retiring from public life, and again we wish them well in their endeavours. Thank you very much. [Applause.]