Deputy Speaker, hon Ministers and Members of Parliament, because there are no diverse or opposing views, the speakers here have been unanimous in the debate and thus they have made my job as the last speaker easy.
I dedicate my speech to the victims of torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment. The people's poet, Mzwakhe Mbuli, has a poem with a stanza that says:
I am no stranger to torture; I am no stranger to detention without trial.
I stand here before this august House as one of the surviving victims of torture and detention without trial or solitary confinement. Some of those victims who have been mentioned here are no more. May their souls rest in peace.
When addressing our South African Parliament last week on Tuesday, 6 November 2012, the President of Namibia, hon Hifikepunye Pohamba among other things uttered the following words:
During the dark days of the past, we never imagined that we would ever be addressing this Parliament that passed legislation that was aimed at oppressing some people.
President Pohamba further said:
We expected that the beneficiaries of the fruits of our struggle would be the children of our children.
Today we have a democratic country that has a Constitution that guarantees that everyone has the right to freedom and security, which includes the right not to be tortured in any way. I emphasise the right not to be tortured in any way. It is commendable that all the parties of the Justice Portfolio Committee are supportive of the United Nations, UN, Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment, as well as this Bill on the Prevention and Combating of Torture of Persons.
The Bill recognises that South Africa has a history of gross human rights abuses, including the torture of many of its citizens and inhabitants. Since 1994, it became an integral and accepted member of the community of nations. It is committed to preventing and combating the torture of persons, including bringing persons who carry out acts of torture to justice as required by international law, and it is committed to carrying out its obligations in terms of the convention.
When we were on the receiving end - with due respect - some judges never came to our rescue. For example, in dismissing my own application for release, and interdicting or prohibiting the police from torturing me when I was under detention without trial, a judge who has now retired said that my detention was "in terms of the law". This could be correct, but he continued by saying that it was "just". I still fail to understand how torture and detention without trial can be just. If it was during our days I would have loved to see or hear the judge's philosophical jurisprudence of his view on what is just.
Sinjenjenje, simanxebanxeba zinsizwa zangakithi esakhula nazo. Sanyathelwa zinsizwa zangakithi esakhula nazo! [Even today we still bear the scars of the gross injustices of the past and we were tortured by our own people that we knew well and had grown up with!]
That is why today we are saying never, never and never again should there be torture of persons within or across the borders of the Republic of South Africa. The ANC supports this Bill. Thank you. [Applause.]