Deputy Speaker, this is not the opportunity to do annual reports, but just very briefly I'd like to say that during the course of this year, which was quite a momentous and tumultuous year, we did succeed in advancing the vision of a People's Parliament that works for the creation of a better life for all.
Even though this is not the opportunity to do an evaluation of the year, I think there are certain landmarks that we should remind ourselves of, for example the fact that we, as a nation, went to the polls again in local government elections and further consolidated our democracy; the fact that we celebrated the 50th anniversary of the Women's March; there was the centenary of the Bambatha Rebellion; and there was the 30th anniversary of the June 16th uprising.
At a parliamentary level there was also the People's Assembly that we held that, I think, stands out. On the international front there was our hosting of the SADC PF and our participation in the DRC elections. Of course, there was also the election of South Africa to the UN Security Council.
As a Parliament we continued to pass transformative legislation. I can mention the Further Education and Training Colleges Bill and the Civil Union Bill, and we came so close to passing the sexual offences Bill but, hopefully, will do so in the near future.
I think we also continued to strengthen our oversight role. We ensured that greater resources were allocated for constituency work. We engaged in a very thorough debate around a parliamentary oversight model and, I think, all of these things are taking us forward as a Parliament.
I think we need to also pay tribute to those of our colleagues who walked with us, but are not seeing the end of the year with us. We think in particular of the late hon Stella Sigcau, the hon Vincent Mabuyakhulu and the hon James Kati. We pay tribute to them.
We would like to thank the presiding officers, the Secretary and the staff of the parliamentary service; in short, everyone who contributes to making Parliament work in the way that it does. In particular, we would like to thank the Whips of all parties with whom we work so closely in the Chief Whips' Forum. Despite many appearances of animosity, we actually are very united in serving the best interests of Parliament and our people. We would also like to thank the people of South Africa who have sent us here with the mandate that we have.
Lastly, I just want to say to everyone we hope that somewhere in the next couple of weeks you will have some rest, you will reintroduce yourselves to your families and you will just generally have a good festive season. Thank you very much. [Applause.]