Thank you, Deputy Chair and Deputy Speaker. Thank you, Minister, for being able to put into perspective what we think is very important regarding Defence and Military Veterans. The work is done and we have engaged on it. We have gone through the legislation and it is in front of Parliament now. Different members of our committee have really applied their minds. As the Minister has already indicated, we are very thankful for the type of work that we have been able to do together.
The work that we have done has always been in consideration of the ordinary soldier in terms of what is expected of him and what he expects from Parliament. We have managed to do that work.
I must indicate, Minister, to you today again, that the level of reporting that has taken place through your annual report and through your speech today clearly indicates to us that the winds of change are taking place within Defence itself. We do sincerely hope that the contribution that we are making as Members of Parliament will be able to help you to strengthen your hand in being able to do what is in front of you. Regarding a concern that was expressed on the role that should be played by the service commission, we have been able to get around it. Regarding the matter that has been raised in that it might create some unconstitutionality, we have been able to deal with it.
We have indicated to you and to the broader service that what was called irregular expenditure - an amount of R1 billion - we have been able to sort out today. We have applied our minds and, within the Bill, we have been able to say that we are giving you back that power, the power to be able to decide. It is a necessary power that we thought should be legislated.
The issues that have been indicated in terms of the Bill, that there is a dysfunctional Military Bargaining Council and Military Arbitration Board, are challenges. We are very clear in our minds as Members of Parliament that it is not our obligation to assist the trade union movement to be put together with Defence. Your job is not to go and create unions. If there are those who are interested in doing that, let them do that. But we have an obligation to be able to make decisions on behalf of Defence.
So, when we introduce section 55(3) that gives you the power to make decisions on behalf of Defence with the interim commission, we are quite clear that you deserve to do that because it is not your responsibility to make sure that the Military Bargaining Council and the Military Arbitration Board function. We do know, as a matter of fact, that you tried it and you tested it, former Minister, and that it was always judged against you.
As Members of Parliament, using the institution itself and our power for legislating, we have arrived at that particular decision and we have given the power back to the Minister to be able to make that type of decision.
With the primary Bill, we would constitute those structures. But we say that that power should rest with the Minister to use whenever she thinks things are very difficult in the department and she is unable to tolerate them.
We have also applied our minds quite strongly to the issue that has been raised by one of our members in terms of national security and the commission itself. We thought it was an important development, and we need to be able to protect it and be able to give power to it because the permanent national commission will have a lot of access to the department itself and that might touch on sensitive areas. We thought that that power should not be taken away. Our encouragement is that whenever you come across confidential reports in the department, those reports must not be accessed by the department.
In terms of the mindset of the committee, we are dealing with a military institution that deals with life and death. It is very important that we should be able to protect those men and women who are active in the department. This is not to say that we don't recognise transparency; we do, but we say that there will definitely be a lot of sensitive information that will go through the hands of the commission, and that has to be protected in the interests of our own country and the security of the country. We do give that power to the national commission to reflect on it.
We have also dealt with the issue that if ever a Reserve Force member, or anyone of us here, feels that he cannot go through the processes put in front of him and feels that his democratic rights are being taken away, we will definitely maintain, after applying our minds, that we are not here to criminalise different people who want to come in as Reserve Force members. However, we maintain that it is in the interests of those who want to play an active role in the Defence Force that we should encourage them to go into the Reserve Force. But it is recognisable that we should also not undermine our Constitution and some of the rights of individuals. We therefore crafted the Bill in a manner that it protects that particular right so that people do try all mechanisms. But at the end of the day, the appealing board and final appealing person will be the Minister herself.
We have been very clear that this is a ministerial commission, and not a presidential commission. We have given quite number of powers to the Minister to be able to run the Ministry and the commission itself. We were not blind to that. We are quite conscious about it after having applied our minds to and engaged with it.
Even at the level of looking at the different commissions, we are giving you that particular power regarding the nominations and creation of the nomination board, not because of overzealousness, but after a lot of interrogation and reflection within the committee on the challenges and the nature of these types of commissions and where those types of powers reside. The committee has come to the decision that it is not a presidential commission but a ministerial commission.
For us to be able to make these types of decisions and to give the Minister the capacity to make decisions, it should remain her responsibility that she gets to be the one who controls the commission and makes sure that the commission does deliver on the expectations because it is an advisory body to her. It is not a body that lies all over; it's an advisory body that is going to assist the Ministry to have the capacity to be able to do and make decisions within the institutions. For us, that is a very dynamic and progressive thinking to allow the Minister to be the one who takes full responsibility.
With regard to the reflection on the military command, as the Minister has already outlined, we thought that those powers, as reflected in the Bill, are powers that could be shared. But after reflecting on the Constitution, we realised that that responsibility is the sole responsibility that we would have to give to the President himself. That is what the committee seems to have come to an agreement on - that the military command has to be commanded by the President himself as Chief of Defence, as directed by the Constitution. We have been able to give that responsibility to him to be able to reflect on it.
I must again thank the different members who were part of the committee. While there have been issues that we would all have eagerly wanted to be expressed earlier, throughout the work that we have been able to do in the past two weeks, it became very clear to us, that, one, the defence of the Constitution was very important and that's what members have been able to apply their minds to as they created legislation; and, two, it was very important that we maintained the integrity of Parliament, which has been maintained without a fight or tension between any people. We think the Bill reflects all those things, and the challenges have been incorporated in a helpful manner.
On behalf of the committee, I still want you to be able to say to the Minister that we do want to thank the interim commission that has been able to play that role. On our behalf, I would like to pass on our thankful regards to the commission for the manner that it handled this particular matter. We will be able to strengthen all these things in the near future. We do know from where we are seated that we have encouraged a relationship between ourselves and the commission. When the commission gets constituted, it will have to come back to Parliament, after it has reported to the Minister, and make sure that it does put a report before Parliament.
We have incorporated one or two sentences to say that sometimes you have to make some of the reports public so that you can know what is going on. So, Parliament will be the type of institution to sit down and receive those reports, go through them, reflect on them and see if they are able to help the ordinary soldier. That's the challenge, and we want to thank all members of the committee. Thank you, Chairperson. [Applause.]