Chairperson, firstly let me congratulate our new Chief Whip on her appointment and I assure her of the support from the Free State delegation. Secondly, let me try again and congratulate Graeme Smith and Neil McKenzie on their world-breaking partnership in Bangladesh. The purpose of the International Convention on the Control of Harmful Anti- Fouling Systems on Ships is to ensure that the parties to the convention take appropriate measures to prohibit and restrict the use of harmful and toxic anti-fouling systems on ships, which are not only harmful to human health but also to the ecology and the environment of our ports.
This is a proactive measure to ensure the protection of vulnerable ecosystems in our ports against the harmful effect of toxic compounds used by shipowners on hulls to control the growth of unwanted organisms on vessels. Any violation of the convention by shipowners could lead to the detention, dismissal and excluding of such vessels from our ports. Samsa, the South African Maritime Safety Authority, will be responsible for the enforcement and the implementation of this convention and new legislation will be required to give effect to this convention.
Regarding the ratification of the 1991 FAL, Convention on Facilitation of International Maritime Traffic, amendments to the Convention on the International Maritime Organisation of 1948, the IMO is a specialised agency of the United Nations consisting of an assembly, a council and five committees. Unlike the four of the five committees which are institutionalised by virtue of Article 11 of the IMO Convention, the facilitation committee, since its inception in May 1972, continues to function as a subsidiary body to the council. In November 1991 the assembly adopted a resolution to allow for the facilitation committee to be institutionalised and placed on the same level as the other four committees. South Africa is a member of the IMO council and taking account of the leadership role that we are playing in the council, the Select Committee on Public Services recommends that the Council, in terms of section 231 of the Constitution, approves and ratifies the International Convention on the Control of Harmful Anti-fouling Systems on Ships and the 1991 FAL amendments to the Convention on the International Maritime Organisation. I thank you.
Debate concluded.