Hon Chairperson, hon Minister, hon members, in addressing this House with one arm - as I am doing now - on this Bill, which has been tagged as a section 76 Bill, I should simply express the mandate of my province, because in the end it will be the provinces that will be voting for this Bill - as they have been called upon to do by the hon chairperson of the select committee.
Indeed, I am in possession of a mandate signed by the Speaker of the Mpumalanga Legislature, dated 6 June, but it is unfortunately not quite that simple. The truth is that Rule 32 (1) of the rules of my province, Mpumalanga, determines that unless otherwise provided by an Act of Parliament contemplated in section 65(2) of the Constitution, authority to cast votes on behalf of the province shall be conferred by way of resolution of the legislature within the timeframes required by the NCOP. All mandates conferred have to be approved by the House, in the same way that the mandate to reject the Older Persons Bill was handled yesterday.
The problem is, of course, that no such vote was taken in regard to this mandate, and I've scrutinised all the Minutes and all the documents since 2 June. So, the legislature in my province, which I can speak for, certainly did not authorise the mandate, which I'm sure the province would vote for. We all know that the real mandate comes from Shell House. But that's not making a wrong right. In fact ... [Interjections.]