Chairperson, I must say that probably the hon Kader Asmal is the only person I'd contemplate a coup in Parliament with. From his last remarks, he is certainly aware of the powers of committees, and I think he is probably correct.
I thank the speakers, and I also think that what we have done has been a very interesting experiment. I hope we will settle down to a continued process.
In the same spirit, let me just add a few more issues, because I think members have raised some very important and interesting points. Firstly, the origin of the Bill, as you know, was from a strike action. The strike action raised a number of issues around the restructuring and I think, at the end, it is a testimony to the trade union movement and what it can achieve, that we were able to sit down at the end of a protracted strike and identify what would be sensible, equitable and feasible solutions, which would have a real and important impact on many, many members.
I think it is once again testimony to the importance of trade unions that they were able to highlight, particularly in this area of pensions, that there would be real uncertainty and real possible prejudice for members. I am very pleased that we have been able to settle this in the manner we have indicated.
There has been an issue as to whether we should put the exclusion of new members into the Transnet retirement fund from other companies into the rules or into the Act. We have insisted that we believe it should be in the Act, and the reasoning behind that is that, in the main, what we have to do now is already the consequence of some unusual steps that were taken in 2000, and even more problematic steps that were taken in 1990 when funds were set up with pensions which left us with some very difficult legacies. I will comment in a moment on the Second Defined Benefit Fund.
I think we should not create a situation, going forward, where there may be an expectation or a pressure arising that could further complicate this situation. We don't need that. This is already an adjustment to meet the needs of pensioners. I have heard the arguments of some of the unions that maybe there would be benefit in it, but I am not at all persuaded. I think we should have clarity. We should be very clear that there will be this change, and that will be the end of it. We can't have further changes. It is, I believe, in the interest of everybody, pensioners and all.
Let me very briefly comment on some of the speakers' comments. In particular, I welcome the cross-party clarification to pensioners that this will not affect their rights. I think that is very important. It is the thrust and intention of it. It is in the spirit of the settlement we reached with the unions.
I really would urge all members that we should keep telling pensioners that. There is nothing worse than being a pensioner and being somewhat insecure about what is going to happen. Nothing will change. We will make certain that that is the case.
We could not deal with the Second Defined Benefit Fund in this Bill. It, unfortunately, is in an exceptionally complicated position, affected very much by the situation of the revenue coming into the fund, but I think, as has been intimated by Transnet, I am at least pleased that we will probably do something positive in the very near future. We are looking at that, but we could not change this Act, and create unnecessary exposure which could be massively to the detriment of Transnet. Transnet's prime function is to ensure that we build ports - it came up earlier today - the railway lines, and that we get the new pipeline built. That is its prime function.
You must not underestimate what an impact a massive deficit on your pension fund can have on your balance sheet. We are trying to address that. We are seeking many, many ways of doing it, but at least I am confident that we will make some positive announcements in the near future.
Very briefly, on some of the comments made by the hon Cronin, we remember that there are other entities within Transnet that will go into a similar position. We are, as you know, looking at the issue of the South African express. We, in terms of the previous settlement, agreed to undertake an investigation on Autopax. We have now reported back to the unions, and I think fairly soon we will be able to indicate where that entity will go. I think it is important that we solve those issues.
Very briefly, on the implications ...
The ACTING DEPUTY SPEAKER (Ms C-S Botha): Very briefly.