Speaker, I'm glad that we are addressing this question as members of the National Assembly this afternoon. This issue could have been resolved and still can be resolved.
The issue here is about whether an individual member of society who is in possession of state information, some of which is actually in the interests of the South African society, will be protected by this Parliament to make that information known, knowing that, if it is proven that it is in the interest of the public, that member of society will not suffer consequences of punishment. We should not have a law that makes it difficult for conscientious citizens - patriots in fact - to put forward information that will help the nation, thereby placing them in same position as someone who might have that information for opposite objectives. [Interjections.] That is the question before this society.
Many of us in this House have been through years in which citizens who were patriots fighting against apartheid were detained ... [Interjections.] ... for no reason other than they were saying it is wrong to discriminate between black and white. Allister Sparks, who was editor of the Rand Daily Mail, often reported on issues which were right for the cause of the Constitution that we have today.
Many of us sitting in this House, including the leader of the DA, were journalists. Helen Zille was a journalist of the Rand Daily Mail when Sparks and the Rand Daily Mail were banned. The Rand Daily Mail was banned for saying it is wrong to discriminate between black and white. Sparks was classified a communist when he was not even a member of the SA Communist Party. We are now creating exactly the same situation as the one we faced during that time.
I shudder to think of the future of my children and yours. I shudder when I think of the future of journalists who will come from amongst our ranks, who will want to alert this country that something injurious to our society is being done in its name, such as what Maharaj's revelation has shown this weekend. [Applause.] I shudder to think that men and women who will say that money is being stolen will be locked up in the name of the ANC.