Hon Chair, the EFF objects to the adoption of the report, because it is not going to take the industrial expansion programme forward in the spirit that we developed in the colloquium with ... [Inaudible.]
I would also like to clarify an issue. There is an existing law called the Mineral and Petroleum Resources Development Act, and then there is an amended version of the Act, which must still be signed by the President. This Act was referred to him by the fourth democratic Parliament, but he has not signed it yet.
The fact that he has not signed it yet does not make the current law illegal. [Interjections.] The Minister makes the recurring mistake that we cannot do certain things because there is an amended Bill on the desk of the President and because he is lazy and doesn't sign the Bill into law, we cannot implement the existing law. That section is there in the existing Act and in the amended Act, which is the Bill on the desk of the President.
So the issue that must be dealt with is that we have existing policy instruments to effect certain changes and give direction, particularly in the beneficiation and industrialisation of mineral resources. The fact that we do not have the law to deal with certain things now cannot be an excuse.
So really, the Minister is misleading himself. I do not know why he speaks confusion after confusion. I think it is one of the things that we have to deal with.
Thus, on the basis of the confusion of the Minister, and therefore of the Ministry of Trade and Industry, we reject this report. Thank you very much. [Applause.]