Deputy Speaker, I should like to thank the Deputy Minister. We understand that since posing our question a strong diplomatic statement has been made to the United Arab Emirates, requesting that the Karabus case be expedited. However, the trial has been postponed again, and that is the 17th time.
We wonder, hon Deputy Minister, whether this shows any kind of particular blatant disregard, or whether it is any kind of diplomatic message in response to the diplomatic intervention on the part of South Africa. If not, how do you interpret this action which is keeping an elderly, innocent and unwell South African professor constrained in a foreign country where he has been kept for over six months already? How will government proceed with this and what options are open to us in such a situation? Thank you.