Chairperson, hon Deputy Minister and hon members, the Criminal Law (Sexual Offences and Related Matters) Amendment Bill was first introduced in Parliament in August 2003. Its adoption today, therefore, comes more than four years later. This is an inordinate amount of time to guide a Bill through Parliament, but when one considers the fundamental changes the Bill makes to our body of law and the extensive and multiple phases of public consultation it went through, it is perhaps understandable in this particular case that less haste is less waste.
For decades a very large gap existed in our law dealing with offences of a sexual nature. This lacuna meant that the criminal offence of rape applied only to the rape of a woman by a man, as our hon Deputy Minister stated earlier. This Bill finally closes the gap by expanding the definition of rape to include all forms of sexual penetration without consent, irrespective of gender. The IFP welcomes this fundamental change to our statutory law.
The IFP also welcomes the repeal of the common-law offence of indecent assault and its replacement with the statutory offence of sexual assault, and the fact that new statutory offences are created for certain compelled sexual acts.
We are especially grateful for the creation of the national register for sex offenders in terms of the Bill. This register will contain the particulars of persons who have been convicted of sexual offences against children, and this is very good. The register will fill another gap in our law, namely the listing of sex offenders, thereby prohibiting them from committing a range of offences against children. Hopefully this will result, in practice, in more protection against the abuse of children.
In conclusion, I want to highlight the need for the Department of Justice and Constitutional Development to launch a project that is aimed at the promotion and facilitation of training on the legislation and its implications. This is a vital issue. All too often Parliament passes legislation that looks good on paper. However, these laws are sometimes either almost unimplementable or are so difficult to implement and understand that their objectives are never realised or are only partially realised.
This Bill provides South Africa, for the first time, with a single, comprehensive piece of legislation dealing with sexual offences. The IFP will support the Bill. I thank you. [Applause.]