Madam Speaker, indeed, for many a democrat in our country, for all in my party, all those who work for the wellbeing of our people in general, our women, our children, for the promotion and protection of their rights, I am here to lead in the debate around the Criminal Law (Sexual Offences and Related Matters) Amendment Bill - a very important piece of legislation for the promotion of the human rights of all our people, women and children in particular, the most vulnerable.
This legislation has been in the making for many years now. I had, earlier on in the day, during the media briefings of the JCPS cluster by my colleague the Deputy Minister, indicated that it has been in the making for 12 years. I would like to say, as a follow-up on that very remark, it may well be not exactly 12 years, that over the past years a lot of work has been done at tertiary institutions by my party, by NGOs and CBOs interested in the promotion of human rights, and in particular in the protection of women and children against violence. A body of knowledge has therefore been gathered and developed over this period of time, and it is submissions bearing this kind of detail relating to the safety of such persons that have been presented as submissions before the Portfolio Committee on Justice.
This Bill is informed by a lot of contributions from the parties that are participating in the portfolio committee or have participated over the years, CBOs and NGOs and other experts who made their submissions to the portfolio committee. The assumption one has to draw is that it is therefore as comprehensive as a Bill of this nature can be.
If one looks at the explanatory notes of the Bill, one realises the broad spectrum of coverage by the Bill from institutional arrangements to determining penalties related to sexual offences. It even includes new, modern notions such as having a national register for sex offenders, and also deals with issues related to post-exposure prophylaxis in cases where one is infected with HIV/Aids. It is therefore very wide.
My task today is twofold. As I introduce this legislation, I would firstly want to use the occasion to commend all those who have been involved over the years. Most importantly, I want to commend the Deputy Minister for Justice and Constitutional Development, my colleague adv De Lange, who was involved in the steering of the drafting of this Bill over many years until the current Chairperson, Fatima Chohan-Khota, took over and, of course, led very efficiently the process of consultation and drafting of this Bill. I, then in the same spirit, have to acknowledge the role played by my predecessors, both the late Dullah Omar and Penuel Maduna. In the time left I want to thank members of the department for the work that they have done.
The second part of my task is an undertaking that, as the Bill comes to pass, I should then use this occasion today to say that we will do our best to implement or lead in the implementation of this Bill. In parts, the Bill requires the setting up of very intricate and complex institutional arrangements and, obviously and correctly so, requires that there be a very close collaboration between interlinked departments.
Without much ado, I would like to make that commitment, that we will do our best, but then to say laws can only be enabling. If we are to eradicate violence in our society, we really need to do more. We must address those cultural practices in our society that lead to or exacerbate or cause the abuse of women. In other words, we must enjoin all those who fight for the promotion and advancement of women's human rights. We must also work hard towards the protection of our children. We must even work equally hard for stable family units, because, dear friends, as you may know, it is in the area of contact crime that we record higher levels of criminality and thus we must work towards strengthened and strong family units.
We have a lot to do, so whilst we do have enabling legislation, which prescribes punitive measures as well, we have to take the struggle to the streets, to our people. We have to enjoin all our people to be part of the fight against criminality in general and against the abuse of women and children in particular.
It is indeed opportune for us to advocate for elements of this Bill at this particular time, because, as we all know, we recognise in this month in particular, moving into December, the 16 Days of Activism for No Violence against Women and Children. The President always says this is a 365-day campaign and so perhaps we will pick on elements of this Bill to further educate our people on the advancement of the security of women and children and indeed all vulnerable persons in our country. Thank you, Madam Deputy Speaker, for the opportunity to address the House. [Applause.]