Madam Chair, the UPSA will not support this Bill. [Interjections.] The nature and content of this Bill clearly reflects that this institution, namely Parliament, is abandoning the essence of its primary function. This primary function is not just one of law-making, but rather of making laws that reflect the norms and values of society. The Civil Union Bill, in its very essence, represents everything against the norms and values of our society at large. The acceptance of this Bill as an Act would be a failure of this Parliament's objective to give a true enunciation of society's values. The sensitive nature of this matter should have given government the opportunity to test this matter, together with the death penalty and affirmative action, by means of a referendum, precisely to test the will of the people.
The desire to have such an ethically challenged law is the wish of only a portion of society, minute in relation to the overwhelming majority of South Africans that finds it undesirable. I thank you. [Interjections.] [Time expired.]