Mr Speaker, as this is the last parliamentary day of 2012, I prefer to speak to you in the spirit of Christmas. We wish to express our sincerest appreciation to all members - all of you - whether you go to Mangaung or not! [Laughter.] We wish to thank you and the staff for assisting to make 2012 such a wonderful year. We wish all of you a merry Christmas and a prosperous New Year, and may you return next year - all of you - well rested and ready to continue here to serve our country.
Next Friday, 30 November, I shall be celebrating 35 years of uninterrupted service as a Member of Parliament. [Applause.] I can assure you that 35 years is a long time! In fact, I arrived here in 1977 and I saw the whole movie of moving from the old dispensation to the new one. There are 16 Members of Parliament who were born only after I arrived here, and one of them is the hon and beautiful Liezl van der Merwe, who is the youngest of all the female members.
Many members have asked me: "Koos, what have you learnt in the 35 years?" I want to say that the first lesson to learn is to be careful of VIP fever. That is the fever where you think that now that you are an MP, you are a very important person. Let me warn you, that fever has cut short many careers in Parliament. Therefore be humble and just remain yourself. I was just Koos when I arrived here, and I am still just that same Koos. [Applause.]
The second lesson is respect. One must respect other members. Everyone must respect everyone in this place. Respect members, no matter what party they belong to. Remember to respect the staff. Respect your seniors, elderly people, your parents, your teachers and, in particular, rulings by the Speaker and other presiding officers. Obey them. I remember what my teacher told us when I started playing rugby at the age of eight. He said:
Koos, die ref [skeidsregter] is altyd reg. [Koos, the referee is always right.]
Remember, the Speaker is always right.