Deputy Speaker, I want to congratulate Mr Speaker on his excellent speech; it showed leadership. We will assist him wherever we can.
As far as the hon Smith is concerned, if I understood him correctly, he wants to move Parliament to Pretoria and he wants to move the Supreme Court of Appeal from Bloemfontein to Pretoria. So, may I ask him: Is that your own opinion, or is it the ANC's stance? [Laughter.]
Then, as far as the hon Watson is concerned ...
Watty, jy het dit teen die Ministers wat nie vrae beantwoord nie. Ons sal jou help. Kom ons donner hulle op! [Watty, you are complaining about Ministers not answering questions. We will help you. Let's sort them out!] [Laughter.] [Applause.]
The IFP wishes to thank all staff and members who have tried to make a success of our Parliament over the last year. I wish to share with you that last week I asked my caucus for comments on what I should say today. You will be as surprised as I was about what they said. One, Parliament is not functioning well. Two, presiding officers should know the Rules better, and not rely on the Table to assist them. Three, the Rules Committee is not meeting regularly enough. Four, the ANC should do more to ensure that we have quorums in the House and in the committees. Five, the quality of food in our restaurants is not good enough. [Interjections.] Six, members are not paid enough. [Interjections.] Do you agree? Yes! Kunjalo! [Yes, agreed!]
Seven, more research capacity is needed for members. And, eight, Parliament should take its oversight function more seriously. Nine, Parliament is not planning enough for the future, they say. Lastly, more time should be made available for party caucus meetings.
I have taken this up with the Chief Whip of the Majority Party, and we propose that every fourth Thursday be set aside for caucus meetings.
The good news from my caucus, in respect of Mr Speaker, is that not one of my members criticised him. In fact, they praised him. I must confess, however, that this took place after I had said that Mr Speaker would pressurise the Seriti commission to increase our salaries. [Laughter.] [Applause.]
I now wish to refer to a discussion by some of our colleagues with Mr Speaker a few days ago regarding the position of retired members. We must remember that all of us will one day be retired members, and we should look very carefully at our retirement packages. There are some members who, I hope, will soon be retired. I am looking at one on my right here - J J. [Laughter.]
What I want to point out is only one thing. If a member retires, then the member and the member's spouse get four economy-class air tickets. If a Minister retires, the Minister and his or her spouse get 72 tickets in business class! [Interjections.] There are more examples of how Ministers, on retirement, get a golden handshake, while members walk away with a wooden spoon. I trust that I will soon hear from Mr Speaker about this.
Speaker, I now wish to deal briefly with the European Union visit that we had two or three weeks ago, for which I thank you, Mr Speaker, because we learned very interesting lessons there. Firstly, the EU brought together 27 different nations - with their own languages, cultures and ways of life - under one umbrella. When we asked them how they did it, they said that the word is "compromise". The lesson that we can learn from that is that we cannot always have it our way; we have to compromise.
The second lesson we learned from the European Union is that we must plan ahead. So, great was our astonishment when we were told that the European Union has already planned for the next 50 years. We should, therefore, learn from the European Union as far as planning is concerned in respect of South Africa and our own Parliament. What will it be like in the year 2060? Will we then be travelling to the moon and to planets? Will we be able to live until the age of 200? Will there be peace and prosperity? Will the ANC still be governing by then? [Interjections.] Very importantly, will this Parliament still be standing here in the year 2060?
I wish to say, in conclusion: Let us as parliamentarians have a deep look into the future of this Parliament for the next 10, 20, 30 and even 50 years. We should ask ourselves how we are going to manage our Parliament in years to come; obviously, by doing effective planning ahead of time. Above all, let us plan more effectively with regard to how we can serve much better the people of South Africa who put us here. Thank you. [Applause.]