Mr Speaker, hon Deputy President, at the end of this debate, mine is a simple task and that is to reiterate the thanks and appreciation, if I may, to this House and the portfolio committee. Our thanks and appreciation go to Henk du Preez, as has already been stated, to Ananda Louw of the SA Law Reform Commission, Adv Sisa Makabela of the Office of the Chief State Law Adviser, and to Mr Mark Heyink and Mr Francis Cronj of the private sector, who provided us with their legal and technical expertise and knowledge. This played a valuable role in the processing and drafting of the Bill.
We take this opportunity to express our gratitude to all persons and organisations that made inputs during the consideration of this Bill, through both their written and oral submissions to the portfolio committee.
We express a special word of appreciation to the media and the SA National Editors' Forum. They played an important role in our consideration of this Bill. All of these parties helped us to achieve that critical balance between the freedom of expression, the right of access to information and the individual's right to privacy.
As chairperson of the Portfolio Committee on Justice and Constitutional Development, I take this opportunity to express my thanks and that of the committee to the subcommittee, or technical committee, that drove this Bill. I refer to the hon John Jeffery of the ANC, the hon Dene Smuts of the DA and the hon Mario Oriani-Ambrosini of the IFP who did all the donkey work and, in doing so, helped to turn what would have been a difficult, arduous task into a relatively easy one for the committee.
I am privileged to chair a group of dedicated South Africans in the portfolio committee. They have presented this law to you and I believe this law will serve South Africa's people well. We recommend it to this House. [Applause.]