Chairperson, first and foremost, I think we owe a word of appreciation to the chairperson of the committee, the hon Fubbs, for having led a very difficult process in an all-inclusive manner and with the excellent input of a constant flow of technical assistance and experts.
Secondly, we as opposition parties have a major problem. We identified action that was not further identified. We heard the voices of the consumers on this corporate entity which we are bringing into reality. Those who use companies told us there were problems. We as a united opposition tried to fix the problems. We all looked at that dispassionately, and we came out with half a page of amendments.
There were six amendments, which were not asked for by us, but by Sica, the accountants, the lawyers and all those Ministers who perhaps cannot afford the services of Michael Katz and Edward Nathan Sonnenbergs, ENS. Those of us who use companies need to adjust the companies to the new requirements for companies.
There was no flexibility whatsoever on the ANC's side in coming to terms with the need for delaying the implementation so that people can actually read the law to be able to comply with it. There was no flexibility or willingness to understand that intercompany loans are a reality. As the hon Harris put it, the net has been cast too wide so that, together with the abuse, we have outlawed the use.
We also have an insolvency provision which will stop companies from doing what companies do, and I do not agree with the reading of the hon Fubbs. There has been so much discussion on what the provision means that, notwithstanding the amendments proposed by the hon Alberts, in South Africa we will not have a company that will go through the process of going up and down the way Apple Computers, Microsoft, General Foods, 3M and many other successful companies in the world have gone. We are outlawing the ordinary corporate processes.
I just want to show you the difficulty. This is the corporate Act on my left with its regulations. This is what we are using. This is the most successful corporate law in the world. These few pages are the Delaware corporate law. We have moved a lot towards modernising the Act, but we have not done what could have been done to bring it to the next stage. For this reason, we cannot support it. Thank you.