Madam Speaker, hon members, in layman's terms this Bill can be called a comeback.
Die Konstitusionele Hof het ons proses met die 12de wysiging geweeg en te lig bevind. [The Constitutional Court weighed our procedure relating to the 12th amendment, and found it wanting.]
When we debated the 12th amendment to the Constitution in 2005 the Deputy Minister said it defied all understanding that we did not support it. I wonder whether he also does not understand why the Constitutional Court found parts of the 12th amendment to be unconstitutional. He didn't listen to us then, when we warned him not to fast-track constitutional amendments and to take the wishes of the inhabitants into consideration.
The Deputy Minister also said in 2005 that they would be judged by history whether they did the wrong thing or not. It is perhaps too soon to expect a judgment from history, but the Constitutional Court has judged and ruled that consultation had not been adequate, as we warned back then. [Interjections.] The Constitutional Court has proved us right and him wrong.
In die annale van ons regspraak is dit aangeteken, vir altyd! [In the annals of our judicature this stands recorded for all time!]
In his reply in 2005 the Deputy Minister also expressed the view that after the adoption of the 1996 Constitution, the constitutional principles ceased to exist. We never have the opportunity to reply to these responses which come at the end of a debate, but I would like to take this opportunity to tell the Deputy Minister that he's also wrong on that point. The constitutional principles are the ground norm of our Constitution and cannot be amended or ignored, and most definitely did not cease to exist.
I challenge the Minister to put this view as a legal question to the Constitutional Court. [Interjections.] He will no doubt again respond to this, knowing that I don't have the opportunity to reply, but I can predict now that, should he take up my challenge, he will again be proved wrong.
It has been said that a successful government leaves a country happier. I wonder how happy the people of Matatiele feel. Are they happier to be included in the Eastern Cape? I doubt it. When will we learn that people cannot be treated as objects? Successful government involves confronting the problems of the future, not those of the past. [Interjections.] We did not support the 12th amendment and we will also not support this Bill for the same reasons. People should not be moved from one province to another by the stroke of a pen. I thank you. [Applause.]