Hon Chair, let me first of all clarify that we did support the Bill, but as a committee we agreed and felt it would not be practical and realistic now to discuss the components pertaining to constituencies and the whole system that it encompasses for the 2014 election. On that aspect we agree that we will bring a Private Member's Bill to the House after the next elections. All other aspects with regard to voting, voting in other provinces, voting abroad and so forth are incorporated in the Independent Electoral Commission Bill. That is the reason why this change happened. There was no rejection of any Bill.
The report states that the proposals contained in hon James Selfe's Private Member's Bill might very well dilute the constitutional principle of multiparty democracy. It also says that it's detrimental to smaller parties. Yet the report does not explain why this is the case and how these conclusions were reached, because the Bill explains exactly the opposite.
In addition, the report states that the Bill would result in a system that is less proportional to the votes received by each party than is currently the case. In fact, the Bill ensures that this balance is maintained while introducing added accountability to voters.
It is something that the ANC does not like and they are really fearful of introducing such a Bill as it would ensure that their MPs have to be accountable. The report again fails to substantiate this erroneous statement.
The report also ignores the fact that the current system we have in local government allow voters to indeed vote for ward candidates. The report implies that it cannot be done at national level for the National Assembly, stating that a constituency system would confuse voters, as was mentioned in the report and by the hon Gaum.
This is simply insulting to the voters as similar systems exist worldwide and those voters understand them perfectly well. Why wouldn't South Africans? That is why we are saying that we dealt with the two Bills in a separate way. These are the aspects of how we approached the matter. We will be dealing with aspects of voting in other provinces and abroad in terms of the present IEC Bill.
Thank you very much. [Applause.]