From there, clause 5 states that everyone shall be free and equal before the law. In that instance, during the April 1994 breakthrough, a serious fundamental process began to ensure that what was an injustice and declared as a crime against humanity by the United Nations was corrected.
The ruling party, which is the ANC, started the process, as from 2004, to undo what was a serious injustice against the people of South Africa. As we debate this Bill, we see a reflection of what people said during the gathering in 1955.
The two Bills seek to ensure that the people of South Africa are building a nation that will thrive under peace and harmony, precisely because we came from a nation that was defined differently before 1994. The other nation is the nation that was racially secured by law, and appointments and many other things were done on the basis of racial discrimination.
Now we are building a nonracial nation through our strategic objective. Firstly, the Bills that we are debating today are aimed at ensuring that the police force in this country responds to the issues of injustice irrespective of skin colour.
Secondly, we want to see the country being serviced by the type of police and justice system that would apply to each and everyone, regardless of colour. This is a fundamental objective of the ANC. When we, as the ANC, went to Polokwane in 2007 - Polokwane was a conference for the ANC and the country - and when we went to Durban again to reassess how far we were, we emphasised the point that indeed issues of police services must be looked into. We gave a mandate to our deployees in Parliament to ensure that they come up with the type of law that will ensure that South Africans are safe.
We believe that these two Bills, particularly the Independent Police Investigative Directorate Bill, which tries to transform the ICD, will now ensure that the police are no longer doing as they wish; precisely because previously the police were doing as they wished, especially from a racial point of view. Now we want to see to it that they don't do as they wish, and that they don't for example investigate a murder without it being overseen. As we do so, the question of "shoot-to-kill" will be debated later and not now.
We have inherited certain police elements through our sunset clause, ensuring job security. We believe that there will be training to change the mind-sets and attitudes of members of the former police force, and to make them more oriented towards a democratic order through this Bill. This is because some of them are hard nuts; they don't want to change and they still pursue a certain element within the system.
Through the Independent Police Investigative Directorate Bill, we will know that, indeed, the police will be monitored, and if there is any wrongdoing, the police will be brought to account. Previously, the Independent Complaints Directorate, ICD, as we looked at it, was there but did not have the teeth to bite.
We want a system that has the teeth to bite because the public wants a safe environment. If the system of safety is corrupt, then our people won't be safe precisely because the police are not punishable. We do not have the power to return to them and punish the perpetrators within the police services.
Therefore, that is the essence of the importance of the Independent Police Investigative Directorate Bill, as created by the resolutions of the ANC in 2007, and in Durban 2010.
In terms of the Civilian Secretariat for Police Service Bill, we see the strengthening of the relationship, particularly between the management component and the Minister, and it also provides for overseeing the police.
The Civilian Secretariat for Police Service Bill and Independent Police Investigative Directorate Bill will work together to ensure safety and security, and ensure that, within the context of co-operative and intergovernmental relations, any element of corruption or crime does not go undetected in any unit within the departmental system. If we leave it too independent, some elements might end up in other units.
Therefore, we will have to ensure that the security force units work together within this context, precisely because what we call "collective work" will be reflected in reality within the departmental system. This is part of the national democratic programme of the movement. At the end of the day, we would want to see all people living together as equals, in harmony, free from fear and from war.
We had been living in fear for most of our lives before 1994, but we want everybody - even those who tortured us - to live with us in harmony, without any fear. They must not have any fear of the democratic order, because the Constitution explains clearly that everyone is equal. Therefore it is important that these two Bills be passed.
These Bills will also strengthen the work of the police in order for them to be able to prevent, combat, and investigate crime, and to protect and secure the inhabitants of this country. They must also be able to enforce a law that is guided by the procedures in the system that we put in place through these Bills.
After these Bills, obviously, there would be a particular regulation that would direct specifications on the behaviour of the police. As the ANC, we are en route and we are happy about what Parliament is doing. When we took over in 1994, we had to be fundamentally persistent in respect of transformation to put in place new laws that are in line with the Constitution.
That was a task carried out until 1999. From 1999 to 2004, we knew that our Parliament was seized with certain oversight, and had to ensure that after the oversight there was implementation.
We then moved from 2004 to 2009. During this time implementation was a core event in the Department of Police and Department of Justice and Constitutional Development; implementation was an issue.
These things inform us, precisely because when we check prior to where we are today, there was an outcry from the public that crime levels are too high. Now we are putting the system in place to ensure that crime is reduced. When crime is reduced, economic growth and development in this country indeed will be high.
In this way we will create a stable society where everyone in our nonracial, nonsexist, democratic country will enjoy the fruit of freedom. We are doing this because we are creating a country that is going to be much better. [Interjections.]
Yes, let us pass this Bill, to correct apartheid's legacies. [Applause.] [Time expired.]