THURSDAY, 10 FEBRUARY 2000 __

                PROCEEDINGS OF THE NATIONAL ASSEMBLY
                                ____

The House met at 14:03.

The Speaker took the Chair and requested members to observe a moment of silence for prayers or meditation.

ANNOUNCEMENTS, TABLINGS AND COMMITTEE REPORTS - see col 000.

                        CELLPHONES IN CHAMBER

The SPEAKER: Order! Hon members, please take your seats quickly. Notwithstanding the mirth, cellphones should certainly not be left on in the House.

                         PRESIDENT'S ADDRESS

          (Resumption of Debate on Subject for Discussion)

The PRESIDENT OF THE REPUBLIC: Madam Speaker … We are waiting for the hon the Minister of Defence to sit down. [Laughter.]

‘n AGB LID: Skiet hom! [Gelag.] [HON MEMBER: Shoot him! [Laughter.]]

The PRESIDENT OF THE REPUBLIC: Madam Speaker, hon members, as this session of Parliament was about to resume, attention was drawn to the fact that our opening on 4 February would mark the tenth anniversary of the opening of Parliament at which, among other things, the then President, Mr F W de Klerk, announced the unbanning of various organisations. Accordingly, last Friday we began by commenting on what we believe are some of the country’s major achievements during the past 10 years since the opening of Parliament on 2 February 1990.

I make these remarks because some hon members have contested what we said because they understood that we sought to deny the contribution to our liberation of organisations that had not been banned prior to 1990. Nothing that was said last Friday suggests this nor would we make an historically incorrect statement of this kind. We have neither the desire nor the intention to rewrite our history. Neither will we ever pursue the objective of belittling any contribution made by anybody to the liberation of our people, including the important contribution made by the legal organisations which occupied various positions along the broad and common front of struggle.

Remarking on this last decade, I also said:

Surely, Madam Speaker, we are entitled to make the claim that as a people, both black and white, we did, in a mere decade, carry out a multifaceted task whose accomplishment speaks highly of the capacity of our people and all humanity to achieve results which can only be described as good and noble.

I went on to say:

I am, therefore, privileged to have this opportunity to extend heartfelt congratulations to all our people, regardless of race, colour and gender, for the extraordinary and sustained effort over the past 10 years which has enabled the overwhelming majority among us to say: ``We are proud to be South African!’’

I was, therefore, somewhat taken aback that some hon members sought to teach us that those who had participated in this extraordinary and sustained effort, as a result of which most of us are proud to call ourselves South African, included people of all races, colours and gender.

On Monday I received a letter from a fellow South African, Paul A Dunn, who said:

It is with great shame that I write to you today as a white citizen of the Republic of South Africa. I live in Russia temporarily for study reasons and read this morning of the absolutely abominable and offensive e-mail from a fellow white citizen. Certainly, in your wisdom, you know that not all South Africans, despite their colour, are racists. However, I know that in the Afrikaans segment, from which I also come, there are still those who are racists. Be assured that you have my own individual support in the struggle against racism. In my heart I long for the day when we will not refer to each other as black and white, but as fellow South Africans.

[Applause.] I believe that it is this kind of honest and unequivocal response that points the way forward for all of us, a response which says that we are faced with the problem of racism and that we must work together, both black and white, to end racism in our country.

It may be that some of us will still have to experience what Daniel Lemmer has experienced. Again, on Monday I received two letters from Mr Lemmer. Here is part of what he said:

I was an active member of the right-wing group. I was a founder member of the HNP, the AWB, the CP and the National Front. I worked with good loyal Afrikaner South Africans in all the aforesaid organisations. If I analyse, in retrospect, our motivations, then, in my case, it was born purely out of fear and not racial prejudice or hate. I am an Afrikaans South African, living in Japan and Taiwan for the past seven years. I work for a very large Japanese multinational company, developing their export markets internationally. I have to admit that I used to be one of the sceptical white South Africans when the ANC first won the elections. I used to find great pleasure in listening to my white South African compatriots gossip regarding mismanagement and mistakes of the newly elected ANC Government. Fortunately this has changed. I have just returned from holiday, touring South Africa, and although difficult at first, I eventually had to admit that for the first time in history, South Africa has a responsible Government that offers so much hope to all its citizens.

[Applause.]

There are so many things that impressed me, things I thought were never possible in the new South Africa. I found no bitterness or any feeling of revenge when mixing with my fellow black South Africans. Perhaps for the first time, I am proud to carry a South African passport, and for this reason I want to become part of the process and effort of the Government in its sometimes difficult task. You can be sure that from now on wherever and whenever I rub shoulders or meet with international businessmen, investors and tourists, I will do everything in my power to depict the positive picture South Africa and the Government deserve.

[Applause.] The Afrikaners Paul Dunn and Daniel Lemmer have committed themselves to fight against racism and, as Mr Lemmer puts it, to depict the positive picture our country deserves and to become part of the process and effort of the Government in its sometimes difficult task.

On Friday we spoke of these difficult tasks. They include the transformation of our country into a truly nonracial society and, therefore, the intensification of the struggle against racism, an issue we dare not trivialise, as the hon Dr Mangosuthu Buthelezi put it.

At least 94% of the chartered accountants in our country are white. Similarly, at least 95% of our professional engineers are white. I do not believe that it would be sufficient for us merely to remark on these figures and then do nothing. Among other things, we will have to engage the issue of human resource development in the directions we indicated on Friday, including the implementation of the comprehensive Tirisano programme to which we referred and the radical improvement of the management of our schools. In this regard I would like to assure the hon Marthinus van Schalkwyk that what drives us as we strive to end both the racial and gender imbalances in our country, among other things through the use of affirmative action, is to offer hope to all our citizens, to use the words of Daniel Lemmer. I trust that we all listened carefully when the hon Mosibudi Mangena warned that those who do not feel our pain should beware of the ignorance they display when they argue that ours is but a phantom pain.

We have, in the past, spelt out what we need to do to ensure that we protect, promote and respect the cultural, linguistic and religious rights of all our people. We have not departed from these positions and will continue to work to do the things we promised to do.

The difficult tasks to which we referred also include the common challenge to ensure that our economy grows, develops and meets the material needs of all our people. To meet this challenge, we will need more Daniel Lemmers and a continuous recognition of the fact that the search for partisan political advantage will not necessarily take us to where we need to get with regard to the economic objectives we have to accomplish. We have to sustain the fight against poverty, among other things by implementing the various programmes of which we spoke last Friday, incorporating within this the objective of ending the racial and gender imbalances in our society. This too will be done.

Just over six months ago we spoke of the work we have to do to combat and prevent crime, detailing various measures that would be implemented. That work continues and includes the preparation of new gun laws, whose importance was demonstrated only yesterday when an unacceptable criminal assault was made against the High Court in Pretoria. That work included the establishment of new law enforcement units, raising the professional capacity of the Police Service, the improvement of our judicial system, focusing on the high crime areas in our country, and so on. This work will also continue with the urgency which our situation demands.

Yet another of these difficult tasks is finding the modus vivendi between the democratically elected institutions of government for which many of us across party lines fought and the structures of traditional authority in some of our rural areas. Again, as we indicated last Friday, we will interact with our traditional leaders to arrive at a resolution of this matter in a manner that, among other things, respects the rights of all our citizens, including the traditional leaders, as enshrined in our Constitution.

The construction of a properly functioning, corruption-free, people- oriented and affordable system of governance is critical to the achievement of many of the tasks we confront. Among other difficult things, we will therefore implement the programme, some of whose elements the hon Geraldine Fraser-Moleketi indicated when she addressed the National Assembly yesterday.

Last Friday we said that while we are ready to engage in genuine consultations with regard to the taxi industry, it was a mistake to think that the Government could be intimidated into taking wrong decisions. Statements reported yesterday and attributed to some people within this industry, raising doubts about the possibility of a peaceful and amicable resolution of issues affecting this industry, will not help. If the intention of these statements is to force us to take decisions driven by fear, that intention will not realise its objective. Accordingly, I would like to repeat that it is a mistake to think that the Government can be intimidated into taking wrong decisions. [Applause.]

The difficult tasks of which Daniel Lemmer spoke include the realisation of the objectives of the African renaissance of which we spoke when we participated in the millennium debate towards the end of last year. We will work with everybody, both within our country and on the rest of our continent, who is genuinely committed to the achievement of the life-and- death objectives of peace, democracy, stability and development on our continent, undeterred by those who are ready to resort to foul means to subvert this effort.

I am convinced that the tasks we have mentioned and others constitute a national agenda that calls for the united effort of all our people. Peace on our continent and the elimination of poverty and unemployment, racism and sexism in our country, the suppression of crime and the fight against Aids, the promotion of the rights of all sections of our population and the restoration of the dignity of each and every South African, must surely be treated as central challenges which we are all committed to address every day, by word and deed. Surely, all of us must heed the heartfelt plea made by the hon Manie Schoeman that we must continue still to fight to overcome all mistrust among us, to emphasise what unites rather than what divides us, to encourage inclusive processes of change and to see ourselves as a people who share a common destiny. No greater good can be done than to work without any apology to anyone towards the realisation of the vision that Manie Schoeman conveyed to us and to the country. [Applause.]

Let those who will, work together to bring the gift of hope to all of us. I am certain that hon members join me as we wish Bafana Bafana success in the semifinal match … [Applause] … they will play tonight as they advance towards reclaiming the African Cup of Nations.

I thank all hon members for their participation in this important debate. [Applause.]

Debate concluded.

The House adjourned at 14:20. ____

            ANNOUNCEMENTS, TABLINGS AND COMMITTEE REPORTS

ANNOUNCEMENTS:

National Council of Provinces and National Assembly:

1. The Chairperson and the Speaker:

 (1)    On 10 February 2000 the following Bill, at the request of the
     Minister of Transport, was introduced in the National Council of
     Provinces by the Select Committee on Public Services. It was
     referred to the Joint Tagging Mechanism (JTM) for classification
     in terms of Joint Rule 160:


     National Land Transport Transition Bill [B 5 - 2000] (National
     Council of Provinces - sec 76(2)) - (Select Committee on Public
     Services) [Explanatory summary of Bill and prior notice of its
     introduction published in Government Gazette No 20868 of 7
     February 2000.]