Hon Madam Deputy Speaker, hon Deputy Ministers and Ministers in the House here, hon members and guests, today I greet you only in the name of the ANC-led government.
The people of Matatiele have spoken and the ANC has responded accordingly. The historical mission of the ANC has always been, and will continue being, to unite all people of South Africa wherever they are, not choosing the rich places, but wherever those masses are. The mission has at its centre the creation of a united, nonracial, nonsexist and democratic society.
This then means that our central task is the liberation of our people from all forms of bondage. It means uplifting the quality of life of all South Africans, especially the poor and the marginalised, from whom, even today, some people still want to benefit in an indirect manner. If you want to benefit from somebody, go directly and ask for a benefit; don't go about it indirectly.
Today marks one of the stages in the ongoing work around the Matatiele boundary changes. Today we adopt the Cross-Boundary Municipalities Laws Repeal and Related Matters Amendment Bill, which seeks to amend the Cross- Boundary Municipalities Laws Repeal and Related Matters Act of 2005. In 2005 the Constitution Twelfth Amendment Act and the Cross-Boundary Municipalities Laws Repeal and Related Matters Act were passed by both Houses of Parliament to do away with cross-boundary municipalities and kick- start the process of redetermination of provincial boundaries.
Ulalele kahle, lungu elihloniphekile.[Please listen carefully, hon member.]
You must listen very carefully. It has kick-started the process to correct whatever might have been going wrong somewhere. Today we have corrected that.
The Constitutional Court identified procedural defects in processing the Bills by the KZN legislature in terms of absence of public involvement. The KZN legislature, in considering and passing the Bill, did not conduct sufficient public hearings and such an act was deemed inconsistent with the Constitution and therefore the Acts were deemed invalid. This only applied to the aspects that relate to Matatiele between the two provinces of the Eastern Cape and KZN.
The court ruling therefore suspended it - the court didn't say it shouldn't happen - for correction due to the failure of the KZN legislature to conduct public hearings. The ANC didn't move away because there was an error. The ANC-led government came very close to those people who were upset about what was happening, and today they have responded.
While the Cross-Boundary Municipalities Laws Repeal and Related Matters Act was not necessarily one of the major key pieces of legislation for local government, it has been the single most controversial piece of legislation that continues to attract attention due to the community of Matatiele challenging the constitutional validity of the earlier legislation in respect of which the Constitutional Court found that KwaZulu-Natal had failed to facilitate public participation in the legislative processes required by the Constitution, which states that a provincial legislature must facilitate public involvement in the legislative and other processes of the legislature and its committees.
I'm not going to go into anything that has been said by somebody, but as I was seated here, somebody said it was Mickey Mouse consultation, but I'll get back to that later on.
The Constitutional Court felt that the previous Act that altered the boundary of KZN was invalid and it had not been adopted in a manner that was consistent with the Constitution. Accordingly, the court declared that part of the Act that transferred the area of Matatiele Municipality to the Eastern Cape province as invalid. It was by then invalid.
However, the court order did not reject the contents of the Act, but principally suspended the order of invalidity for 18 months - it was invalid for 18 months - so that Parliament could, if it so wished, adopt a new amendment in a manner that was consistent with the requirements of the Constitution, and today we are doing exactly that in response to the court order.
We can't run away. The ANC-led government will never run away from anything. It will just abide by the rules and regulations of the structure that has been mandated to correct whatever needs to be corrected. The court order also created room for extension if Parliament failed to meet the deadline. I am pleased today that Parliament is now adopting this Bill way before the cutoff date and would not necessarily need any extension.
By concluding with the Bill, we are then hoping that the area of Matatiele will normalise and that the municipality will continue to play a leadership role and drive development, involving and empowering citizens in the development process and creating a sense of common purpose by all the people affected.
Let me get back to that statement about "Mickey Mouse" consultation...