Speaker, no, the fact that I say there must be a debate is not influenced by any publicity. I've had this view for a long time, and I think I have said it in public when I spoke about this for the first time.

Last year already, I felt we needed to enter into debate and by so doing we are not dictating. The problem is that there are South Africans, from different professions or whatever, who give themselves authority and the right to judge others - that's a problem - and degrade other people's practices, beliefs and everything because they hold certain beliefs, and that's not correct. That's the point I am making.

Let us debate this. Let us accept what our Constitution says, namely that we live in a country of diversity. How do I get respect if I share a particular belief which you do not share? Should you stand up and say this is totally out of order; this person is wrong, even criminalise the activities of somebody else? We are saying - I am saying - that that is wrong. Let us debate this and agree that this is what has happened.

Also, let us be guided by our history. As you know, in South Africa, some of the things we did as South Africans, were said by some to be were barbaric; that we must be stopped, and other values imposed on us. I don't think we have had an opportunity to speak. I am saying for the first time: Let us speak. What is it that we do? At times people in this country were forced to do their own thing on the quiet, because they were afraid; because they were declared abnormal, as not being right.

One of the things we did in 1994 was to liberate religion and beliefs, to say everybody has a right to worship, in whatever way. Before that you couldn't worship anything, except if you were a Christian. Then you were recognised. If you were a Muslim, everything you did was recognised. There are many other things we did not address then. We addressed this aspect.

I am saying the debate must help us to address those issues, so that South Africans should know that what they say publicly about certain cultures at times injures those people who are practising them, and they have nowhere to go. I am saying: Let us set the standard. Let us utilise democracy and free debate to address those issues, and people are going to have every right to express their views in whatever way.

That's what I am encouraging, so that we do not injure other people's souls without realizing it, because we believe what we believe in is superior, is everything. What you believe in, I believe is nonsense; I do not like it. That's what I say we must deal with, as a country, so that we cement the unity and diversity and have cohesion and respect for other people's beliefs and cultures. All that I am calling for is that we debate and come to an agreement. I think it is the correct thing to do for us as South Africans. I think the time has come to do so. Thank you.

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