Madam Deputy Speaker, listening to the Minister of Police was like being trapped in a time warp and listening to a member of P W Botha's government justifying the National Key Points Act in the late 1980s, in this very Chamber. Perhaps he dusted off a speech that he found lying around in his office, left in a corner by an apartheid Cabinet Minister. [Interjections.]
Just as with the National Party of the late 1980s, the ANC is increasingly anxious to hide the actions of its leaders. It knows they can't be justified, so it decides they must be hidden.
I want to start by thanking the hon Mario Oriani-Ambrosini. It's because of his tenacity that this private member's Bill is now going straight to the Police committee for deliberation, instead of South Africa having to wait for Minister Mthethwa to decide to deliver his so-called policy whenever he feels like it. Maybe it will be after the election, or maybe never. Hopefully, Minister Nxesi will also get himself a copy of the legislation and read it.
Hon Groenewald, you can be assured that the Act does in fact give specific and limited definition as to what constitutes a critical infrastructure installation. Hon Thring, my private member's Bill proposes the publication of a list of critical installations precisely so that they can't be used improperly to classify installations that are not critical to national security, but also so that people will not break the law unknowingly.
Hon Lekota, thank you very much for your support. We look forward to the deliberations in the Police committee, where the hon Van Wyk and her colleagues will be able to scrutinize the Bill in all the detail they like, and consider for themselves whether or not they are willing to wait for the hon Minister to deliver his so-called policy whenever he feels like it.
Speaking of Minister Mthethwa, I am so happy that he and his colleagues have adopted the language of my private member's Bill - "critical infrastructure" and not "national key points". [Applause.] Perhaps the Police committee will do the same and adopt the Bill. In 1987, the late O R Tambo said in reference to the National Key Points Act:
It is a stratagem by which Botha tries to retain control over the lives of our people, to arrest the process leading to fundamental change, and to steer this process away from ...
[Interjections.]