Speaker, I was not furnished with a copy of the Minister's statement and for that reason it is difficult to provide a comprehensive response to the announcement in Parliament this afternoon.
However, let me begin by welcoming the announcement made by the hon Minister of Defence and Military Veterans that she has now received a copy of the final report of the Interim National Defence Force Service Commission, and that the report will be fast-tracked through Cabinet and tabled in Parliament at the earliest opportunity. This, I am sure all members of the House will agree, is very welcome news indeed.
I would like to thank Judge Ronnie Bosielo, who headed up the commission, as well as all members of the commission, for their hard work in preparing the final report of the Interim National Defence Force Service Commission.
We also owe a special debt of gratitude to our colleagues, the hon Bantu Holomisa, the hon Hlengiwe Mgabadeli and the hon Pieter Groenewald, who were members of the commission, for their contribution to the final report of the Interim National Defence Force Service Commission. I hope that when we look back, the work of the commission will be a turning point in the history of our Defence Force.
Speaker, the events surrounding the Interim National Defence Force Service Commission triggered an almost unprecedented political battle between the executive and the legislature. Today's announcement goes some way, I believe, toward digging the hon Minister out of the parliamentary quagmire she finds herself bogged down in.
But the whole question of the interim reports of the Interim National Defence Force Service Commission remains. One of the many reasons why the Minister refused to make the interim reports available was that there was no link between the interim reports and the Defence Amendment Bill. But the fact is that there is a link between the interim reports and the Defence Amendment Bill.
The primary objective of the Defence Amendment Bill was to establish a permanent National Defence Force Service Commission. And what does one find when one reads the interim reports? One finds that the interim reports themselves recommend the establishment of a permanent National Defence Force Service Commission; several pages of the interim reports are devoted to recommendations covering the appointment, terms of reference, functions, staffing, and reporting responsibilities of the National Defence Force Service Commission. [Interjections.]