Hon Deputy Chairperson, it's an honour to be here in this House, and thank you for the invitation, and my congratulations also to the Deputy Minister in this portfolio.
What we are looking for in South Africa is a credible, honest, dependable and true service. Whatever political party we belong to, what we really want to see and know is that the men and women in blue have our interests and safety at heart.
For that reason, I want say thank you to this Parliament for coming up, as one of the first stages, with these two Bills. This is because what these Bills really do is that they are trying to show the seriousness of this government in combating crime, even if that crime is committed by the SA Police Service.
I believe that we are really serious, and what the public out there wants to see is that we don't really waste time on certain technicalities. But if these Bills are passed, are our citizens going to be safer out there: Yes or no?
Crime must be fought and the public must see that crime does not pay, especially when hon members here and I would get phone calls, sometimes in the middle of the night, to say a policeman had just raped a girl.
The worst thing is that when that happens, the Independent Complaints Directorate, ICD, would not be available; their telephone would not be available in the middle of the night. What happens is that the same policeman who has raped the girl must take the complaint.
I believe that those people will now realise that this is not a police state. The police will be responsible for their actions, whatever they may be. These Bills will help us to have a credible police service and the citizens will respect our men and women in blue.
Let me say that the scenes and sights that we saw on television the other day, which are happening in KwaZulu-Natal - I don't know if it was staged or not - where a policeman was sitting on someone and hitting him, must not be tolerated in South Africa.
Minister, talking about the Western Cape in particular and looking at some of the things our Metro Police are doing, I want to say that the police are not a law unto themselves. We, as leaders and representatives of our people, with the support of these Bills, entrust them with the power om daardie mense vas te vat [to clamp down on those people].
I don't know how to say that in English. I need to say this because not only do I speak on behalf of the ANC here, but I'm also from the Western Cape.
Do you know that these two Bills were discussed in our legislature, but I promise you that it's the first time that I have heard the sentiments in this regard that I have heard from the MEC today. There is no record in any document in the Western Cape that these were the sentiments that the MEC has just shared.
In fact, I am actually surprised that these Bills are before this House when the MEC did not discuss this in the Minmec. We must try to not play politics. We must begin to be honest. These Bills do not take away any power from the present Constitution; they do not. Let me tell you that I know that the MEC is new at this, so I'm taking care here; he needs some help. I know that, and won't go against him because every one of us must learn.
The power that the Constitution gives to all provinces, not only the Western Cape, is that if there is anything wrong with these two Bills, the Constitutional Court will never approve them. I would therefore challenge them to take this to the Constitutional Court and let's see who will be right then. This province has borne the brunt of men and women in the police who are not acting correctly.
Let me say how a mandate was arrived at in the Western Cape. These Bills came before the Western Cape parliament twice. In fact, the first time they came before the province, I actually got up in the House and said that it was a mistake for these Bills to come before us then because we were told that there was no deadline at that time. At that session, we even asked for a division in the House. So, seriously, the Western Cape was divided on this issue.
It was not a unanimous decision that they must vote against the Bills here. All political parties, excluding, of course, the DA and ID who are in agreement with them, voted for these Bills and also those who were not in agreement with them voted that these Bills must be approved. [Interjections.]
You just read the Hansard and you'll get the answers.
Do you know that when they came before this House the second time, the House was so wrong. In fact, the Leader of the Opposition talked about democracy in the House; as a result all the opposition parties, including the ANC, had to leave the House and walk out. The only remaining parties, and not the full ... [Interjections.]