Thank you, Madam Chair. May I also associate myself with those congratulations. During the first reading debate I stated that we regard this Bill as an important piece of legislation since it aims to protect the vested rights of Transnet employees and pensioners in the Transnet restructuring process.
Its aims are laudable, although the Bill in its original form, as we have heard, had not been meticulously drafted and the committee had to spend a great deal of time redrafting it. This was done primarily by the subcommittee already mentioned, consisting of myself and the hon Hendrickse as acting chair, with valuable inputs coming from the committee chair, hon Carrim, and very ably assisted by the already mentioned personnel from the pension fund, the Department of Public Enterprises, Transnet and the state law advisers. We owe them all a great deal of thanks.
In the same breath, however, it must be said that drafting legislation is not the function of parliamentarians. We should not find ourselves in the position of having virtually to reconceive the structure of a Bill and then to redraft it on the trot.
Apart from the many amendments in order to get rid of as much legalese as possible, the committee rejected the original clause 5 of the Bill and then had to redraft a whole new clause to insert into the Act as section 4A.
Section 4A contains the core provisions of the Bill. The other provisions essentially follow on from these, thus when the new section 4A was drafted a number of consequential changes in other clauses became necessary. The speed at which this had to be done is not acceptable. It increases the likelihood of unintended consequences in practice and at the minimum might saddle the Statute Book with a badly worded and ill-structured piece of legislation.
Under the circumstances and given the time constraints, we did our best to produce a workmanlike document that embodies the spirit and the intent of the agreement that was reached between Transnet and the labour unions. We trust that there will be no unintended consequences, but if there are we invite all parties concerned to approach the committee so that suitable amendments can be proposed. We sincerely believe, however, that this will not be necessary.
I have been approached by many Transnet pensioners seeking reassurance that their pensions will not be detrimentally affected. This insurance can indeed be given, but the weakness is that there are no changes that will materially benefit their plight. As a committee we had inputs from the pensioners, and we can assure all of them that we are very much aware of their problems.
We are currently urging the department and Transnet to bring these pensions, which have lagged behind inflation for years, up to a proper civilised standard. We are informed that some pensioners receive less than a civil pension, as has been mentioned. That is no way to reward those who served Transnet faithfully over many years. Transnet assures us that the sale of the V & A Waterfront might ameliorate that situation.
I have also tried to inform the Minister of Finance, the hon Trevor Manuel, that his department is indeed the guarantor of the Transnet Pension Fund, contrary to his denial of a few days ago in this House. I hope he got the message. When he becomes alive to that fact we trust that he, too, will start taking a keener interest in the whole matter of Transnet pensions.
Everything considered, we are satisfied with the Bill as it now stands and the DA supports its second reading. I thank you.