Deputy Chairperson, I want to thank you all. I never thought that the debate would be so vibrant! [Laughter.] Thank you very much. Everybody has contributed very well to the debate.
Let me touch on the issue of space utilisation, because I did not have time earlier on to do so. You will realise that there is a problem of space in Parliament. There's a shortage of rooms for committees, and a shortage of offices for members and staff members. Parliament has taken a decision to put up new office blocks.
We will be submitting a bid tomorrow to the Department of Public Works. They were in my office this morning, and the Acting Secretary to Parliament has been engaging with them. We engaged with the Minister last week to try to put up offices quickly for you so that you do not battle like you are doing right now. We are dealing with that; we are doing something about it. Mr Harris, I will check on the two issues that you've raised. I didn't have time to check on the questions you said were not responded to. I will check on that and then come back to you. I will write to you.
The other issue you were talking about is the fact that the Deputy President did not come to answer questions. I find it unbelievable, but let me check the facts - I don't have the facts right now - and then I will come back to you.
Let me touch on one issue that all of you have touched on. That is the oversight function. I always remind Members of Parliament wherever I am that the reason why we are here is that we are a few selected people who speak on behalf of our people. You cannot get the whole Republic of South Africa to come here and make laws and speak for themselves. You are very lucky. You must count yourselves very lucky.
The first thing that we must all do is to stand very tall and proud and show those people at home who have elected us that we are serious when it comes to speaking and doing the job on their behalf. That is very critical.
I normally make this example about a bridge; I like it. I will repeat it until people understand it. There is a bridge in your constituency which was started in 2005 by a department. To date it has not been completed. How many years has it been from 2005 to date? It's about three or four years. That bridge has not yet been completed. You, in your 4x4 or your beautiful Mercedes, drive through there every day and your car is damaged every day. The children cannot cross over it to go to school when it is raining, but you come to the NCOP or the NA and say nothing about it. I find it very strange. You stay in that constituency and yet you say nothing about it. That's the simple oversight that I'm talking about.
You don't have to go to a university to learn the terminology of oversight. Just go there and check on the things that are not being done, come here and put questions to those people who must respond to that.
One thing that we must do, Mr Tau - Mr Tau is the boss of the oversight function; he is in charge of that - is to create a unit in your office, at least for one or two people for now, because we don't have enough money, to track all the things that you people have raised and that have not been addressed.
That's where our problem is. We raise a lot of things here, we go back and they are not done. We raise them again, we go back and they are not done. We must track all those things and put them together, even if it means writing to the President or asking the President what they are doing about those things. I think that's a very important thing. [Applause.]
Mr Bloem, I wish you could take this to many people for them to understand that Parliament is both Houses; it's not just the NA. People think that the NA is Parliament and the NCOP does not exist. You do exist. And I hope, Mr Harris and others who have spoken about oversight, that once this machinery is running, after we have had this workshop that I'm talking about, you will not come back to me and say, "Chief, I'm sorry, I was wrong to ask you to do oversight. You are giving me too much work." I hope you won't do that, because you people are really going to work and you will see that.
There is no backbencher in this House. All of us have a job to do. All of us have to stand up and debate. All of us have to participate in our committees, many committees, not just in select committees, but joint standing committees, the Judicial Service Commission, the Magistrates Commission, the Constitutional Review Commission, etc. And we are only 54!
We must do that job. That's another thing that you will see very soon. After five years, some of you will say, "I'm not going back to the NCOP. I'd rather go to the NA, because they forget me at times."
I still have a few minutes. Mr Tau, thank you very much for mentioning public participation. What I want to emphasise to all the members is that the Constitution says that the NCOP must facilitate public participation. In the concept document that we are putting together, we want to propose to the provinces that when we do public hearings over the next five years, although resources are a problem, we must try to go to the people, and not try to call the people to come to us.
I will tell you why I'm saying this. If you say people must come to you in Parliament, who will come? Only those people who have; the have-nots will not be able to. Only those people who are organised and have the money to fax or e-mail a submission and so on, will be able to.
What we are requesting the provinces and the local government sphere to do is to go down to the villages. Let them go there. I do not even mean the legislatures - try to go out and sit in a village somewhere.
Put five or ten villages together, speak their language, stop the grand English which is used here in Parliament and speak in the language that they will understand so that they can respond, because that affects their lives. We've got to start doing that. And then we will physically be in touch with our people. That's the proposal we are going to put forward.
We will also look into members' facilities. If you write to me, I will put it to the Parliamentary Oversight Authority, POA, and we will look into that. The POA is the body that looks into that.
May I take this opportunity to thank staff members, particularly the Acting Secretary to Parliament, who has done a sterling job in his capacity as Acting Secretary. Thank you very much, Acting Secretary. I also want to thank the chief operations officer, who is here with us, and the staff in my Office, the Office of the Chief Whip and other offices that have done so well in assisting us to do our job.
The Chief Whip mentioned something here which I think is very important. This House is the only House in the world - listen carefully - that can bring all three spheres of government under one roof.
It is the only House; there is no other in the whole world. We can bring the national government, the provincial government and the local government here to discuss policy issues.
The Chief Whip has actually said something about that. The Minister for the Public Service and Administration challenged us yesterday. We must discuss the issue of Batho Pele. Did you hear him? I was sitting here listening. I'm challenging you to call a debate on that. Those are the policy issues that we must raise.
The Minister for Co-operative Governance and Traditional Affairs also challenged you to discuss local government issues. These are the things that we should be doing as Members of Parliament. Different select committees come with policy issues in this House, and we call these spheres of government to come and debate those issues.
Thank you very much for supporting the budget, and may God bless you. [Applause.]
Debate concluded.
Business suspended at 13:09 and resumed at 14:05.
Afternoon Sitting