All we are asking is that you bring solutions instead of arguments and that you do not speak as if you are not on the committee.
The Strategy and Tactics of the ANC states that South Africa has entered its second decade of freedom with the strengthening of democracy and acceleration of the programme to improve the quality of life of all the people. Steadily, the dark night of white minority political domination is receding into a distant memory. Yet we are only at the beginning of a long journey to a truly united, democratic and prosperous South Africa in which the value of all citizens is measured by their humanity, without regard to race, gender and social status.
The Freedom Charter's assertion that South Africa belongs to all who live in it, black and white, came out of a conscious realisation that the apartheid oligarchy was gradually depriving the majority of the people of their citizenship rights. The effect of the now abolished Group Areas Act, and similar draconian laws, was to push Africans to 13% of the land according to their ethnic groups.
In essence, this meant that African people had the status of foreigners in 87% of the land; and to ensure monitoring of their movements, Africans had to carry the "dompas" everywhere they went. Failure to carry the "dompas" and special work permit resulted in imprisonment, flogging, or labour indenture.
As the ANC, we do not take the right to South African citizenship lightly. In it, we behold the gushing blood of the victims of the Sharpeville massacre. In the right to South African citizenship, we behold Comrade Charlotte Maxeke, who led a women's march against the carrying of oppressive pseudo-identity documents in our motherland.
Hon members, the new democratic dispensation does not seek to limit access to citizenship for legitimate and patriotic South African people, but to regulate how citizenship is acquired, kept and lost. Citizenship comes with rights, responsibilities and obligations. In this regard, it is expected of every citizen that he or she complies with the laws of our country.
However, some people can obstinately engage at an international level in activities that compromise the Republic, like wars which the Republic does not support. The Republic has been compromised in recent times by citizens who engage in wars not supported by the Republic and, in extreme cases, by mercenary activities. [Interjections.]
Just shut up and listen!
Chairperson, our Constitution provides that no right is absolute ... [Interjections.]