Mr Chairman, I gladly follow the hon Thobejane. He takes his role as chairperson very seriously and I commend him for that.
The DA will support this report but need to point out why we do so with some reservation. This proposal by Mr Davidson was prompted by the President's late declaration of his interests last year and the Public Protector's finding in that regard.
The Committee on Private Members' Legislative Proposals and Special Petitions considers proposals in terms of six criteria, as the chairperson has mentioned. One of these criteria is to consider whether the executive would soon bring similar legislation. This private member's proposal was referred to the committee on 4 May 2010 and on 25 August 2010 the sponsor briefed the committee on its content. A process of consultation and deliberation then followed.
Key in this consultation process was information supplied to the committee by the Department of Justice and Constitutional Development on the executive's own legislative plans in the months ahead. The committee was informed by the department on 16 March 2011 that the government was indeed going to bring similar legislation. The committee heard that Cabinet had already approved the principle underlying the Executive Members' Ethics Act in November 2010 and, further, that government's own executive members' ethics Bill would in all probability be submitted for Cabinet's approval in the same month, March 2011, and to Parliament for consideration in April 2011.
This submission that sets out government's timeframes formed the basis for the committee's resolution to recommend that the proposal of Mr Davidson should not proceed since it pre-empted similar legislation soon to be introduced by the executive.
We are now in mid-August, four months later, and sadly there is still no sign of the promised legislation before Parliament. This is clearly unsatisfactory and we need an explanation for the delay. For the Committee on Private Members' Legislative Proposals and Special Petitions to be able to do its work properly and be taken seriously, it needs the support and co- operation of the executive.
I want to urge the Leader of Government Business to look into this matter and ensure that the legislation reaches Parliament urgently. Our committee also recently took a resolution in respect of the proposal to repeal the South African Boxing Act. The deadline provided for the introduction of that Bill is drawing closer and we will closely watch government's action or inaction in that regard.
Finally, we will nevertheless support this report before the House but urge the executive to take this committee and Parliament seriously. [Applause.]