Chairperson, hon Minister, hon members, my colleague in the National Assembly, the hon Butch Steyn, made the point that the previous racial boundaries of the apartheid regime are no longer clear, as they have largely been replaced by current-day wealth boundaries. The economic upswing that we have experienced over the past number of years has benefited many thousands of people but it also has its downside.
Properties of all kinds have escalated beyond the wildest dreams of most developers, and those who have invested in property timeously will have benefited handsomely. They will argue that they have invested wisely and that is possibly true. However, those who had insufficient means, who constitute the vast majority of our population, were unable to apply their wisdom even if they wanted to. Let us be quite frank about this: The empowerment programme of government has benefited only a select group of the population. Only those with the right family connections, the right contacts and the right party affiliations have become extremely rich, whilst the poor, by and large, have become poorer.
Property and, particularly, a choice of house is therefore still out of the reach of the masses, and any measure to address this crying need must be welcome. The proposed restructuring zones envisaged in this Bill, if properly administered and implemented, will create the possibility of bringing lower-income people into the areas where there are jobs and will provide them with accommodation, which, previously, they would have been unable to afford. This is truly a noble concept, but the envisaged Social Housing Regulatory Authority will have their job cut out for them in order to maintain a sustainable balance in this regard.
You simply cannot uplift people by impoverishing those with means who surround them. That is an outdated communistic concept that history has effectively rejected. Only a limited number of people in the world with established power bases still believe that is possible. Unfortunately, we still have some of those in South Africa and even amongst us here in the House who preach the principle but only when it would not endanger their own assets and comfort zone.
When you have one deflated wheel on your car, you do not deflate the other three to level the car. You inflate the one tyre in order to lift it to the level of the other three wheels. I am, however, sure that the long-term objectives, as contained in the policy document of the Bill, are aimed at putting into place a process that is highly regulated and progressive.
My province, Mpumalanga, has conferred a mandate on our delegation to support this Bill and my party, the DA, likewise supports the Bill. One small item, however, concerns me somewhat. The select committee, supported by the provinces, inserted a small addition, which ensures that much needed and laudable recognition is also extended to child-headed households.
In our present situation, as a country suffering under the threat of the dreaded HIV/Aids disease, many child-headed households have surfaced and emerged, and if we really are a caring society, we must look after them and all policies must provide for them. My problem is that rental of whatever nature implies that contracts must be entered into and, by law, hon Minister, minors are not permitted to enter into contracts.
I do not believe that we considered this unintended potential problem properly, but I am sure that the legal advisers would have given the matter the consideration it deserves and I trust that the Minister will, in her reply, give us the necessary assurance. I thank you. [Applause.]