3.1 In the Bill as introduced into Parliament, Item 8 of the amendments to the Criminal Procedure Act, 1977 (Act 51 of 1977), proposed the insertion of a new section 192A in the Criminal Procedure Act, 1977, after the existing section 192. Section 192 provides that every witness is competent and compellable to testify, unless expressly excluded. The aim of section 192A, as recommended by the Commission, was to provide expressly that all children (not only witnesses in sexual offences cases) are competent to testify in criminal proceedings. This was done so as not to create an artificial distinction between children in sexual offences matters and other child witnesses. The Committee decided to delete this provision from the Bill since it applies to all children and not just children who are victims of a sexual offence or who are witnesses in a sexual offence case. The Committee requested the Department to consider this proposal outside the scope of the Bill and to revert to the Committee if an amendment of this nature is considered to be necessary.