WEDNESDAY, 7 NOVEMBER 2001
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                PROCEEDINGS OF THE NATIONAL ASSEMBLY
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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.

REPORT BY MINISTER OF FOREIGN AFFAIRS ON WORLD CONFERENCE AGAINST RACISM

                      (Subject for Discussion)

The MINISTER OF FOREIGN AFFAIRS: Madam Speaker and hon members, we wish to take this opportunity to express our sincere thanks to all South Africans who made the World Conference against Racism, Racial Discrimination, Xenophobia and Related Intolerance the success that it truly was; from the ordinary South Africans to parliamentarians, academics, artists, sportsmen and sportswomen, youth and, especially, to the South African nongovernmental organisations for steering the NGO forum the successful outcome.

My deep appreciation and gratitude go to my colleagues, who spent long hours hammering consensus in the different committees and of, course, all the staff from Foreign Affairs and the different departments who worked very hard behind the scenes to produce a successful conference. We met in Durban to discuss what we would collectively do to change the life conditions of those who are affected by racism, racial discrimination, xenophobia and related intolerance. It was a fitting tribute to the sacrifice of millions inside and outside the country that the World Conference against Racism was held in South Africa. It was correct that the conference was held in our country, which had witnessed the most repugnant form of institutionalised racism. South Africa, which was not so long ago the fountain head of racism, was the right venue to demonstrate to the world that the demon and ghost of racism can be exorcised. To us as South Africans the hosting of this conference presented the opportunity to express our deeply felt gratitude to the international community for waging together with us, the relentless struggle against apartheid and racism, for the international community could not have been indifferent to the suffering of fellow human beings in South Africa. They could see that as long as the apartheid crime against humanity was allowed to exist as a result of their inactivity, so long would their own humanity be denied and their dignity violated.

The peoples of the world entertained the hope that out of the terrible human disaster that apartheid was, would be born a democratic South Africa, anchored in nonracialism, with equality of all national groups guaranteed, and a South Africa that respects human rights, at peace with the world and working tirelessly for the upliftment of all its human beings and citizens. To the international community, there could be no better venue than South Africa which occupied a pre-eminent place in the latter half of the 20th century.

To the indigenous people who are daily subjected to humiliation through the staggering arrogance of those who have deigned themselves their superiors, the Conference against Racism offered hope that their lot would change for the better. To the Romas, the Gypsies, the Travellers, the Sinti, the indigenous people whose very life is characterised by conditions of wretchedness, degrading hunger and denigrating racism, the conference renewed their confidence in themselves and their dignity, and accorded them the necessary respect. We had the opportunity to listen to the indigenous people tell their stories of how in their everyday life they are treated as subhumans. We knew then that the conference was a success.

To the immigrants, to women and children who are trafficked as mere chattels, the conference stood before the cruel and shameful life they endure and emphasized the enjoyment of human rights that is inherently, inalienably and rightfully theirs too. It could be that many across our common universe expected us - with good reason, because of our specific history - to have the possibility and responsibility to make an important contribution to the universal struggle to defeat the scourge of racism.

It cannot be gainsaid that racism, racial discrimination, xenophobia and related intolerance is on the rise, especially in the countries of the developed north. No country is immune from racism. The scourge of racism afflicts us all, in one way or another. The barbaric acts of terrorism in the United States have shown that the conference is even more important now than it was before 11 September. Equally appalling, there has been the tendency in some developing countries - and even here in South Africa - to vent out anger at a particular group of people because of their religion.

The last few weeks have witnessed hitherto, the rise of Islamophobia and anti-Arab feelings and related intolerance in the developed world. This in itself is the work of specialists on the Middle East and on Islam. The view expressed by those pseudo-specialists reinforces the stereotyping of the people of Middle Eastern origin as inherently violent. This we must reject, just as the Durban conference instructed us to do.

For this and many other reasons it was timely that the World Conference against Racism was held and set out an agenda to roll back the frontiers of racism. Those of us who stayed because we cared deeply about the social ills that afflict human beings all over the world, also stayed because we understood the urgency of launching a global movement against racism and against those disempowered and socially excluded, which has become the daily companion of the majority of the peoples of the world.

Despite the absence of others, the World Conference against Racism met and successfully concluded its work. The conference spoke eloquently of the New World Order, which is people-centred. This new order will work hard to deal comprehensively with poverty eradication and further harness the process of globalisation to address the growing gap of wealth between and amongst countries. Necessarily, this would entail the formation of a mass global movement against racism and xenophobia to take this struggle forward. The conference continued and succeeded in spite and despite attempts of others to embark on misguided actions, if only to inflict maximum embarrassment on us before the world delegates.

The defeat of apartheid and the peaceful transfer of power from the white racist minority government to the majority, predominantly black, government offered hope to many millions around the world that, at last, a real base to launch a global offensive against racism was secured. The despised of the world acknowledged with admiration that, for the first time in the history of the world, the victims of the worst form of racism were in power and that these victims of racism, having understood the humiliation they had suffered, have taken the position that they will not visit racism on the minority. They have taken a decision that they will restore dignity both to the indigenous majority and to the white minority in our country. This epoch-making victory gave renewed hope to millions around the world who are despised because of their colour, culture and traditions, to millions who face the degrading and denigrating conditions of poverty and millions who die of curable diseases.

South Africa is home to the former oppressor and the oppressed equally. We are the embodiment, in a way, of the United Nations, a country endowed with a different tapestry of cultures and a mosaic of religions. We are a country that is varied in many respects, like the colours of the rainbow. We are the microcosm of the world. Some people refer to us as a miracle precisely because we demonstrated that no matter how intractable our situation at times had seemed to be, we had the ability and ingenuity to reach a compromise. What had been expected to be an unimaginable conflagration made way for co-operation among various groups. It seems to us that we must have said to ourselves that the oppression of one by another diminishes the victim and the perpetrator as well. As it was once said by a religious writer, and I quote:

Consider the flowers of a garden, it will be said that though differing in kind, colour, form and shape, yet in as much as they are refreshed by waters of one spring, revived by the breath of one wind, invigorated by the rays of one sun, this diversity increaseth their charm and addeth onto their beauty. How unpleasing to the eye if all flowers and plants, the leaves and blossoms and the fruit and branches of the trees of the garden were all the same shape and colour. Diversity of hues, form and shape enricheth and adorneth the garden and heightenth the effect thereof.

This could not be a more correct reflection of our situation and the situation of the world. What was said in this House last week, and I quote: `` … unfinished business between the Afrikaner and the blacks … ‘’ beautifully captures our commitment to work together for the good of our people. Our armed forces who are doing sterling work inside and outside the country, black and white, amply demonstrate the spirit of togetherness which we speak of. What was not so long ago an army of destruction and mayhem, has become an army of healing and peacekeeping. This is what makes South Africa unique and this is what we can share with the world. This is what we shared with the world during the World Conference against Racism.

The World Conference against Racism was a landmark, an historic United Nations conference arranged in close co-operation with the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights in Geneva. The process had been a truly inclusive and broadly consultative one. Many member states attended and with serious commitment ensured the successful outcome thereof.

Despite the contentious issue before it, the conference dug deep in a supreme effort to make it a success in order to lay a firm foundation for the future of tolerance and harmonious coexistence. Those who cared sincerely about the critically important matters of human rights for all and human dignity for all stayed and grappled with sensitive issues and responded creatively to all the challenges posed as a result.

The conference, inter alia, agreed that the process should be directed at the most pressing challenge of our time. Through the Declaration and Programme of Action, it was agreed to launch the global army against racism in all countries in order to uproot the scourge of racism. From the intergovernmental to nongovernmental and civil society, everybody agreed in various forums to work jointly in partnership to take the world conference’s work forward.

In South Africa, various government departments and national institutions will now take the process forward in an action-oriented, but well co- ordinated way. It should be important for us as parliamentarians also to chart our own programme, co-ordinated with the rest of the country’s programme for taking the results of this conference forward.

Maybe I should just touch on what became the four contentious issues that the conference grappled with: Past injustices, Palestine and the Middle Eastern grounds for discrimination and the list of victims which continuously bogged the process down.

With respect to slavery, it has always been the contention of South Africa that unless and until the question of slavery is dealt with adequately, the centuries-old problem of racism could never be addressed. Slavery, which has seen African men, women and children shipped across the oceans in dark and pungent dungeons, has given rise to the centuries-old racism which describes us as anything but human.

There was never any doubt in my mind that those who visited this untold harm and humiliation on Africans would not accept responsibility for their actions. What was even more important was an attempt to reduce this pain to which the Africans were subjected into a money game. This was founded on the erroneous thinking that Africans wanted an apology in order to open a legal way for compensation and for making money.

To us as Africans our dignity has always been and will forever be priceless. No amount of money could bring back our dignity. All we wanted, and I am happy to tell the House that we did receive at the end, was for those who committed an affront to our dignity to squarely look at the damage they caused and own up to it. We wanted the perpetrators of these crimes of slavery, colonialism and racism to sit together with the victims of these antihuman and antisocial ideologies and apologise for them and their consequences.

After protracted deliberations, all the stakeholders in this issue agreed on common positions by consensus. The final outcome addresses the main issue of concern for Africa and the African people in the diaspora in particular, including the developing world in general. Apartheid and genocide, in the context of the conference, were declared crimes against humanity and colonialism was seen for what it was, nothing but unspeakable and rabid racism.

The apology for these inhuman acts was made, albeit with some legal caveats. For the first time in the history of the world, these crimes against humanity were publicly acknowledged and it was agreed that they accounted for Africa’s underdevelopment and reinforced racism against Africans.

The broader remedial measures, which are encapsulated in the New Partnership for African Development, were agreed upon. These include socioeconomic and developmental initiatives and other innovative ideas to ensure that the affected countries and their citizens should benefit therefrom in as broad a sense as possible. Such initiatives, finally adopted by the World Conference against Racism, are comprehensive, holistic and sustainable and will benefit more victims.

The World Conference against Racism also reaffirmed the right of the Palestinian people to self-determination and the establishment of their independent state, and the right of Israel to live in conditions of security. The return of the refugees was also acknowledged in the international document. The conference also recalled the ghastly holocaust. Additionally, it recognised the need to counter anti-Semitism and Islamophobia worldwide. We also agreed on the grounds of discrimination and the listing of victims.

All member states of the UN are now expected to translate the Durban Declaration into action. In this respect, governments, civil society and also business sectors would have specific roles in realising the objectives of the conference.

Consequently, the Department of Foreign Affairs will be making specific recommendations to Cabinet in the near future to ensure effective and appropriate action at the national level. The proposals will seek to involve all key players of South Africa’s society. Additionally, the Durban document also recommends further action at regional and international levels. Finally, the World Conference against Racism succeeded because all of us made a superhuman effort. There were times when the conference hovered on the brink of collapse. But, it must have occurred to all participants that the conference had to succeed for the sake of posterity. We all had to dig deep in ourselves to reach the acceptable outcomes that we achieved.

At the end of this conference, we could all agree that what we had set out to do has been done. While we agree that there is still a long road to travel, we have begun. The movement I represent, the ANC, had for the entirety of its existence sought to give succour to the despised, the wretched of the earth. In continuing this rich tradition, through this conference, we hope we have made a contribution to fight till racism is eliminated.

Amidst all the rough-and-tumble of the conference, we were emboldened by the beautiful words of Antjie Krog in her book entitled Country of My Skull, where she says:

because of you this country no longer lies between us, but within it breathes becalmed after being wounded in its wondrous throat in the cradle of my skull it sings, it ignites my tongue, my inner ear, the cavity of heart shudders towards the outline … of my soul, the retina learns to expand daily because by a thousand stories I was scorched A new skin I am changed forever, I want to say: forgive me forgive me Forgive me You whom I have wronged, please take me with you.

This genuine expression of atonement, appealed to us to work even harder to share with the world the gift of South Africa’s uniqueness. [Applause.]

Dr Z P JORDAN: Madam Speaker, colleagues, the World Conference against Racism was not about retribution, nor was it an attempt to put certain governments and countries in the dock. It was a conference that represented a genuine attempt by the international community to tackle one of the most degrading and demeaning practices from our collective past with a view to its eradication. It was about restoring the humanity of the victims of racism, racial discrimination and related forms of intolerance. It was also about rescuing the humanity of those who were its perpetrators. All the participants in that conference agreed that it should begin a process of healing, but that that healing process itself required that the perpetrators and the victims act together to repair the damage done to the human family.

The unequal relationship between the Europeans and the rest that had evolved after the European Rennaissance was captured by the poet laureate of British imperialism, Rudyard Kipling, who contemptuously referred to those whom the European powers had conquered and colonised as ``half devil and half child’’. This assumption of European racial superiority was a function of the slave trade, of colonial conquest and imperialism, and it was an assumption that had had and would have the most pernicious consequences. In the British colony of Virginia, anticipating the ruthless policies of genocide pursued by successive governments of the United States well into the 19th century, smallpox-infested blankets were deliberately sold to a native American nation in the full knowledge that this would mean their decimation.

In the foreign concessions that the British, French, Americans and Germans carved out in the port cities of China, signs reading Dogs and Chinese not allowed'' were placed at the park entrances. Indeed, here in our own country a separate lift forgoods and natives’’ was a feature of many buildings in the central business district of Johannesburg well into the 1970s. It is an unfortunate fact that, except for the most enlightened, most whites thought these demeaning exclusions unexceptional. Such undisguided in-your-face racism was not merely a case of human beings behaving badly, but was also expressive of a power relationship in which the whites were dominant. In every colonial society, and especially in pre-1994 South Africa, race was an index of power and access to power. It defined advantage and disadvantage.

But, in the last instance, systems of racism invariably fall back on brute force to compel the targeted group to submit to its subordinate status. Such force may be wielded by the state, as in many colonial situations and under apartheid. But even state violence is sometimes buttressed by informal force, as is the case of the racist nightriders of the Ku Klux Klan and the storm troopers of Hitler’s Brown Shirts. It sometimes comes in the shape of mobs, as happened recently in Ulster when Catholic schoolchildren had to run the gauntlet of an intimidating mob of screaming loyalists to reach their school. This is possible because racism sets up a moral universe from which certain human beings are excluded. Those so excluded can then legitimately be denied even the most elementary rights.

They can be treated as something equivalent to livestock that can be bought and sold. In the worst cases, they can be murdered en masse, as it happened with the Jews of Europe under the Nazi regime. But, for those within the moral universe erected by racism, immense rewards can accrue. These are not rewards derived from merit. They are unearned and accrued to the members of the privileged group purely by virtue of their membership of that group. The opponents of affirmative action, who like to dismiss it as racial quotas, seek to deny precisely this.

Merit, it must be understood, never was nor is a criterion in a racist system. The rewards accruing to those who receive them have nothing to do with capacity or performance. Every strand of liberation politics in South Africa long ago accepted that the white community had become a naturalised component of this country over three centuries of residence. Recognition of that imposed certain policy imperatives, which is why the Freedom Charter unequivocally states that ``South Africa belongs to all those who live in it’’, because it was anticipating a permanent white presence as one of the elements of a diverse postapartheid South Africa.

Nonracism, as one of the defining principles of the ANC, expresses our commitment to act together with other South Africans to create a society in which we acknowledge and affirm the diversity of our people as something of value and something enriching. It is a vision in diametrical opposition to the pervasive racism and brutalisation which was characteristic of colonial domination and apartheid. But, it is still an unrealised vision. Its realisation requires of us all a commitment to employ the power of the state, public institutions and civil society to put an end to the use of race as a determinant of access to power, status and wealth.

Racial oppression found expression in a number of palpable forms. We know from the reports of the South African Statistical Service what its consequences have been. Uprooting those consequences requires, amongst other things, precisely the correction of those conditions. In our view, the content of freedom and democracy requires radical transformation of South Africa so as to create an expanding floor of economic and social rights for the majority.

During the apartheid days, every bigot, racist and fascist in every part of the world saw apartheid South Africa as a vindication of their mad hopes and misanthropic dreams. We must now turn democratic South Africa into a beacon of hope for a nonracial world. [Applause.]

Mr E K MOORCROFT: Madam Speaker, the Minister of Foreign Affairs has given a glowing account of the success of the United Nations’ conference against racism and I appreciate that the desire to be gracious hosts or to justify the R100 million price tag on the conference probably motivates this assessment. But, if we want more than what one journalist called ``pious cant’’ to come out of this conference, then we need to take a hard and realistic look at what it did or did not achieve.

The media reports were damning. Time Magazine wrote, and I quote:

The conference was a disgrace. The only good thing that might conceivably come out of the conference is a determination that something so ill- advised, so poorly prepared, so intellectually bankrupt and so easily hijacked by special pleading must never be allowed to happen again.

The Economist said:

The farce in Durban has done no one any good.

The New York Times wrote:

While many presidents and foreign Ministers delivered eloquent speeches condemning racism and intolerance, few were willing to publicly address discrimination within their own borders.

This was the fatal flaw of the conference. It exposed the weakness of the United Nations as a mechanism to tackle issues affecting people as opposed to states. A prime example is how the Indian government managed to keep the untouchables off the agenda. It was as if a silent pact existed between governments that they would rather not speak about real racism perpetrated against real people all over the world today.

Governments preferred to play the blame, shame and claim game. The rules are simple. Some states are victims and others are guilty and should pay up. These claims are logged safely in the distant past, for example demands for reparations against slavery set up certain African countries as global victims entitled to redress from the United States and Europe. Only President Wade of Senegal had the honesty to admit that his ancestors sold their own people into slavery and that demanding government-to-government reparation for slavery is absurd. When I visited Gorée Island in Senegal some years ago, the curator of the infamous slave lodge on the island from which the bulk of slaves were exported from Africa into slavery, declared that what he found most difficult to accept in the whole sordid history of slavery was the part his own people had played in the capture and trafficking of slaves.

What about the Arab states? Let us not forget that Arab slave traders were an integral and indispensable part of the slave trade and that Arab involvement in slavery continued longer and equalled, if not surpassed, Western involvement. But of this there was not a word at the conference.

Then too, the conference chose to overlook the current scourge of child slavery in Africa. Child slaves, surely the most vulnerable of victims, are being trafficked to this day from one African state to another. And yet, public officials and even Unicef workers in these countries refuse to acknowledge this practice as slavery.

Africa suffers from some of the world’s worst problems of racism. The continent is riven by desperate conflicts which have cost the lives of millions. Consider the racial divide which is devastating the whole of central Africa, the conflict between the Hutus and the Tutsis. In Burundi and Rwanda the Tutsis are a minority of about 14%, yet have ruled over the Hutu majority in undemocratic governments.

This despotic arrangement, and the fierce mutual loathing between them, led to the genocide on 100 000 Hutus in Burundi in 1972 and 800 000 Tutsis in Rwanda in 1994. The conflict has impacted on the war now raging in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. Why then was the Palestine-Israeli conflict afforded more attention at the world conference? The issue should never have been allowed to hijack the agenda in the way it did. Racism should not be used as a stick with which to beat some nations, but not others.

Coming closer to home, an opinion poll released recently confirmed the DA’s own research that unemployment and crime are the most pressing issues for South Africans. Racism takes a lowly ninth place in their ranking of problems. Amongst black South Africans, 49% believe that race relations have actually improved in recent years. This shows how out of touch the ANC are with the reality of ordinary people.

The ANC’s submission to the conference argues that ``racism is as acute as ever’’. If the truth be told, what South Africans need are not talk shops on racism, but workshops on jobs, housing, health care, Aids education and crime prevention. [Applause.] If we are serious about building racial tolerance in South Africa, we should start in Parliament.

Less than a month ago, during question time, Parliament reached a new low. Black and coloured members of the DA came under disgraceful racial attack from the ANC. An ANC Minister called one of our coloured members a coconut, which is a pejorative term for someone who is supposedly brown on the outside, but white on the inside. Yet another ANC Minister referred to members of the opposition who, in his view, were, ``a bit brown and try too hard to be white’’.

But racial jibes feed into a deeper discourse which runs through ANC propaganda, that the ANC is the only legitimate representative of black interests. The corollary is that any black person who supports the opposition is a race traitor. The ugly truth of the matter is that the ANC needs racism and race consciousness to keep its increasingly disparate and dissatisfied constituency together. It seeks to herd all black South Africans into a race-based majority and fence them off from the opposition. [Time expired.] [Applause.]

Dr O BALOYI: Madam Speaker and hon members, the holding of the United Nations World Conference against Racism, Discrimination, Xenophobia and Related Intolerance presented an opportunity to reflect on race-related issues both for South Africa and the entire world.

For the first time in the history of mankind, an opportunity was made available to postulate and review the principles that underpin new international relations, which are more inspired by principles of substantive justice and international economic equalities among peoples, nations and countries. The resultant effect would be to build a better and more just world, free of intolerable levels of social injustice, poverty and human rights abuses. At this conference, mankind was offered an opportunity to grow into its new stage of moral awareness and finally reject and condemn its past history, turning over a new leaf in its tormented journey from war towards peace, from poverty and injustice towards prosperity and justice, and from oppression towards freedom.

Allow me to give context to the freedom I am talking about. I am not talking about a situation where we paint ourselves into boxes that determine what we will allow ourselves to do based on our race, gender, age and the external expectations that we believe those boxes impart. I am not talking about a situation where we allow labels and expectations to keep us in boxes and then cry out for freedom. The entire purpose of life on earth is for us to be free. We should exercise free will and choose the parameters of our freedom. What we do, instead, is to spend most of our lives doing and acquiring things that in many cases keep us in mental, physical and emotional bondage. Freedom is a state of mind. It is the outgrowth of our willingness to make conscious choices of our own free will and to live through the consequences of our choices without blame, shame or guilt.

Sitting at the seemingly repetitive negotiations in the drafting committees and working groups of the UN World Conference against Racism, one gathered an image of Western and African countries talking past one another. The two main aspects of such misunderstandings were the issues of reparation, including the controversy about apologies and race. African countries sought to affirm an unprecedented principle which to European negotiators seemed subversive of international law.

Past slavery and colonialism were manifestations of racism and its consequences still carry on to the present in terms of existing economic inequalities between developed and developing countries. Hence, the present world order is regarded as a product of racism and is itself racist, therefore the fight against racism demands redressing such inequalities.

On the other hand the Western countries and the UN establishment have different departure points on the issue of discrimination. Before the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, international law concerned itself only with relations amongst states and the rights and wrongs occurring therein.

After such a declaration, an unprecedented breakthrough took place in that it became the concern of all states how each state deals with its subjects and respects their fundamental human rights. Human rights violations came to be regarded as a threat to world security and peace. Since then, international law on any aspect of discrimination concerns itself with whether, in dealing with their subjects, states practice or allow discrimination of the various types identified.

Following this conference and the direction that events in the conference took, we need to consider whether a new beginning of looking towards the future and not the past ever materialised from the Durban conference; and whether the conference offered the opportunity of postulating and embracing universal principles of international co-operation, mutual assistance and a collegial promotion of social justice, which are the right principles to which humanity must aspire, and which are certainly not based largely on the grounds of past grievances.

Subsequent to this conference in Durban, therefore, there are expectations that a new world order must emerge. Therefore, it is important that we should ask ourselves: What did the conference do for us? Obviously, time will tell. The conference highlighted the need for building bridges to create a better mutual understanding among all nations of the world. We trust that the fruits of such a world conference against racism will be realised by all nations that attended the conference. [Applause.]

Mr W G MAKANDA: Madam Speaker, Deputy President, hon members, the South African Government hosted the United Nations World Conference against Racism, Racial Discrimination, Xenophobia and Related Intolerance. During the run-up to the conference, it became apparent that there was a big divide between the definitions of racism and the identities of states and people thought to be guilty of racism.

These fundamental differences threatened the outcome of the conference even before it began, because the United States, in solidarity with Israel, threatened to join the latter and withdraw its participation in the conference if Israel was accused of racism in its ongoing conflict with Palestine.

The European Union countries shared these reservations about the accusation of Israel of racism, and this contributed to the emergence of a major global divide that was to impact seriously on the achievements of the conference. Not surprisingly, the differences in what was to be included in the conference agenda and in the substantive issues in the conference itself reflect the chasm that separates the developed North, which has traditionally been associated with worse forms of racism, on the one hand, and the underdeveloped South, which has largely been the victim of racism, xenophobia and intolerance, on the other.

The big divide between the developed and the developing nations expressed itself at the UN world conference in their divergent understanding and interpretations of the Palestinian-Israeli conflict. The majority of nonaligned countries believe that racism characterises the conflict, which is reminiscent of apartheid’s racist and Balkanisationist policies of the past, in the context of aggressive Israeli militarism.

The European and American power bloc, while occasionally chastising Israeli excesses is, on the whole, protective towards Israel and does not perceive the latter’s aggression with the same poignancy.

In this era of a new democratic and nonracist South Africa, it is taken for granted that racism is an aberration of a bygone age. References to the socioeco-political origins of these tendencies in modern society are readily dismissed by some political pundits as ``tired left-wing cliches’’. The reality belies this illusion. Racism, racial discrimination and xenophobia remain firmly rooted in modern societies, because there has been no radical transformation of the economic and social power relations in the national and global spheres, which have been the domain of this scourge.

This state of affairs is a consequence of the continued manipulation of racial, cultural and religious differences for the exclusive advantage of certain groups. The global economic disparities that define the North-South relationship are derived from an era that believed in the myth of racial superiority of European colonisers, which evolved out of the commercialisation of labour and exploitation of natural resources in the colonies.

Oliver C Cox put it this way in his Caste, Class and Race:

The socioeconomic matrix of racial antagonism involved the commercialisation of human labour in the West Indies, the East Indies and in America, the intense competition among businessmen of different Western European cities for the capitalist exploitation of the resources of this area, the development of nationalism and the consolidation of European nations, and the decline of the influence of the Roman Catholic Church with its mystical inhibitions to the free exploitation of economic resources.

Thus, racial antagonism reached full maturity during the latter half of the 19th century.

The foundations of the structural relationship that came to link the North American and European nation-states with their postcolonial counterparts have not been dislodged by the transfer of political power to the indigenous peoples. The exercise of that power by the newly independent indigenous governments has been constrained by the lack of economic sovereignty and has resulted in their manipulation by the powerful economies of the North, in their own interests.

Xenophobia is very much the consequence of competition for scarce resources. It is imperative that the United Nations Conference against Racism should focus on promoting accelerated development of the Third World economies to facilitate wealth creation as a reinsurance against xenophobia.

The new partnership for Africa’s development should strive to dismantle the power relations, and build a continental capacity to contribute to the development of a viable and mutually beneficial economic order of the world. [Applause.]

The SPEAKER: Order! Hon members, I wish to acknowledge and recognise the presence in our midst of the representatives from the Majlis of Kazakhstan who are visiting our Parliament. You are welcome, hon members. [Applause.] Thank you for visiting us. 

Mr L M GREEN: Madam Speaker, hon Ministers and members, in a historic sense hosting the conference in South Africa provided a symbolic gesture of directing a process from apartheid to reconciliation and racial tolerance. It was proper for the Conference against Racism to be held in South Africa, because of our recent history and, moreover, because of our country’s successful peaceful political transition.

Two areas of contention that emanated from the conference indicate how long the road is that still needs to be travelled before the world is able to live together in a diverse universe. The one issue was the Middle East conflict, and the other equally contentious issue was the call by African states for apology and possible reparation for the issue of slavery. The question we have to ask is whether we managed to bridge these divides at this conference. Unfortunately, we have to admit that the world is still poorer in its capacity to deal effectively with these issues.

In an ironic way it took the 11 September attack on America to witness a fresh approach to the Israel-Palestinian issue. This means that Israel is now being asked to reconsider its occupation of Palestine. In the same context, we have also come to witness the fight against terrorism on a global scale.

The agenda for world political action still remains illusive for gaining equitable solutions as the divide between the powerful and less powerful nations still bring about problems in understanding globally shared interests. Africa with its dire need for reparation and development will have to look to itself for recovering from racism and economic deprivation. We believe in the principle of restorative justice, and if applied in the area of racism, it could bring about a new constructive way of addressing racism, not only in Africa, but throughout the world. [Applause.]

Dr J BENJAMIN: Madam Speaker, hon members, Deputy President, first of all, I want to thank Parliament for giving me the opportunity to participate in the World Conference against Racism, Xenophobia and Related Intolerances.

Before the conference, I was concerned that these conferences happen in our country and, as parliamentarians, we are not afforded a chance to participate. It was a very educational and enriching experience for me to participate in that conference.

What I saw when I got to the World Conference was that the masses of the world were streaming into South Africa to pay tribute to what we had achieved in this country - the way in which we had proceeded peacefully in our transition to democracy. The people who came there were from diverse backgrounds. They were mostly people who identified with the victims of racism all over the world. There were people from India - the Dalits from India - and other people from Tibet. There were people who were emotional about their causes, and this conference afforded them the opportunity to express themselves, even if in their own countries they were at war.

We must give South Africa and the World Conference against Racism credit that these opportunities were afforded to people who, in their own contexts, could not in fact express themselves peacefully. I therefore do not see it as a problem that there were people from Palestine expressing themselves, people from Israel expressing themselves, and people from Tibet and various other countries expressing themselves in the true spirit of democracy within that conference.

Most of the people who came there were also the people who participated in the world struggle against racism. They participated in the first and the second United Nations’ Conference against Racism, and they had encouraged their governments to get involved and take a stand against apartheid and racism in this country. They had eventually managed to get sanctions against the apartheid regime and helped us obtain our freedom. Therefore, I cannot understand when the members of the opposition such as the hon Dene Smuts say on a number of occasions that hosting the conference in South Africa was a waste of time and money. On the contrary, the masses of the world came to South Africa to pay tribute to us for the way in which we resolved our conflicts in this country, and also to acknowledge, as much as the opposition does not want to acknowledge it, the role that we have played and continue to play in the world in the struggle against racism, and the dehumanising effects of racism.

Slavery, colonialism and apartheid were systems which caused millions of people to become dehumanised. Even today, all over the world, but particularly today in our country, we still see the effects of this dehumanising experience.

At the NGO conference, the ANC had a series of workshops which were very well attended by democrats from all over the world, particularly intellectuals from Africa. At this conference, our Deputy Speaker presented a paper on the evolution of the gender experience with regard to racism - I cannot remember the title right now.

The point that I want to emphasise here, because it is not often acknowledged, is the experience of the Cape Peninsula in terms of the 15 000 slave women who were imported to the Western Cape. Those women were the foremothers of the people of the Western Cape. Those women were sexually exploited and subjected to hard labour. When slavery was abolished, they were used to breed slaves. Last year at the national conference, a Prof Williams from the United States referred to the third President of the United States, Thomas Jefferson, who was recently found or proved to have fathered one of his slave children, but it is thought that he fathered all six; and he also wrote a book on how to breed better stock in your slaves.

Those women did not have a way to resist, except for individual slave women who fought endless court battles in order to obtain freedom. It was only later, with industrialisation, when men went to the mines that women started to become organised. Later, when women went into the labour market, there were many women who through the trade unions became organised into politics. Some of those women found their way into this Parliament, such as, for example, Ms Liz Abrahams and Ray Alexander.

These were the women who got involved in organised politics. The ANC Women’s League also got involved in organising people to fight against racism in the national struggle for liberation. As women got involved, they also fought against sexism in this country. Therefore the conference looked at the way in which racism and sexism are inter-linked. So through those struggles so much was done in the interest of advancing gender equality, so much so that today we lead the world in terms of the number of women we have in Parliament and how far we have gone in achieving equality for women.

A number of members of the opposition who have spoken here today still cannot see what good hosting this conference has done for South Africa. I can only go back to what the President said about the two nations in this country, that is those who bear the brunt of racism, and those who fight in order to maintain the privileges of the white minority in this country - and that is the only way I can describe people who cannot understand how this country was chosen, and that it was not a waste of time or money to host the conference in this country.

Mnr P J GROENEWALD: Mevrou die Speaker, daar kan tereg gevra word of dit werklik ‘n mors van geld was of nie. Dit gaan nie noodwendig daaroor of dit ‘n mors van geld was of nie, maar oor die finansiële prioriteite van die Regering in Suid-Afrika.

Met verwysing na die rassekonferensie kan daar met reg gevra word of die geld nie anders aangewend kon word vir ‘n beter lewe vir almal in Suid- Afrika nie. Moderne menseregte ná 1945 het met die klem op individuele regte begin. Vandag het die klem na groeps- en minderheidsregte verskuif.

Die VF het die rassekonferensie in Durban bygewoon, om die waarheid te sê was hy die enigste opposisieparty wat daar was. Dit is jammer dat die Israel-Palestinasaak die konferensie so oorheers het. As dié saak egter buite rekening gelaat word, het die konferensie eintlik gehandel oor minderhede. Dit is minderhede wat in die wêreld onderdruk word. Die uitstallings by die konferensie het dit veel duideliker gestel.

Die Tamil van Sri Lanka wat selfbeskikking wil hê en wat tans onderdruk word, was daar. Die mense van Tibet wat selfbeskikking wil hê en wat deur China onderdruk word, was daar. Die Indiane van Kanada wat selfbeskikking wil hê, was daar. As Suid-Afrika een les uit die konferensie kan leer, is dit dat ‘n ware en moderne demokrasie nie net oor meerderhede gaan nie, maar juis minderhede in ag neem.

‘n Demokrasie wat nie minderhede in ag neem en minderheidsregte erken nie, kan vandag nie as ‘n moderne demokrasie beskou word nie. Daarop sê die VF selfbeskikking en minderheidsregte, ook vir Afrikaners, het niks met rassisme te doen nie, maar erken net die kulturele en etniese werklikhede van Suid-Afrika en die wêreld op ‘n realistiese manier. (Translation of Afrikaans speech follows.)

[Mr P J GROENEWALD: Madam Speaker, one could rightly ask whether or not it was, in fact, a waste of money. It is not necessarily about whether or not it was a waste of money, but rather about the financial priorities of the Government in South Africa.

With reference to the racism conference one could rightly ask whether the money could not have been applied differently for a better life for all in South Africa. Modern human rights after 1945 began with the emphasis on individual rights. Today the emphasis has shifted to group and minority rights.

The FF attended the racism conference in Durban, in fact, it was the only opposition party present. It is a pity that the Israel-Palestine issue dominated the conference to such an extent. If this issue is left out of the equation, however, the conference actually dealt with minorities. These are minorities that are oppressed in the world. The exhibitions at the conference stated this much more clearly.

The Tamils of Sri Lanka who want self-determination and who are currently oppressed were present. The people of Tibet who want self-determination and who are being oppressed by China were there. The Indians of Canada who want self-determination were there. If South Africa can learn one lesson from this conference, it is that a true and modern democracy is not only about majorities, but that it in fact takes minorities into consideration.

A democracy that does not take minorities into consideration and recognise minority rights, cannot be regarded as a modern democracy today. The FF therefore contends that self-determination and minority rights, also for Afrikaners, have nothing to do with racism, but merely recognise the cultural and ethnic realities of South Africa and the world in a realistic manner.]

Mr I S MFUNDISI: Madam Speaker and hon members, the World Conference against Racism identified slavery and colonialism as sources of racism.

It is common knowledge that slave masters never had slaves of their own kind and race. This is a manifestation of racial discrimination. A challenge remains for some of our people - some of them in this House - who turned their black employees into slaves in this modern day. The poor wages they pay these people, the inhumane treatment they are subjected to, and the deplorable conditions that they work under and live in do not behave people with human rights. Such treatment is meted out to them simply because of their race.

It was at the same conference that women from Africa held a meeting and observed that colonialism was a fundamental cause of racism. It is unacceptable that in this modern day slavery of African women continues in the form of trafficking women and young girls to Europe and the Middle East where they are used as sex and work slaves in the most deplorable conditions without payment. Therefore, it is incumbent upon political parties to desist from playing the race card or showing intolerance to any perceived dissent by other parties. This Parliament has, in an effort to level the playing field, gone to great lengths to put in place pieces of legislation that seek to put paid to racial discrimination, racism, xenophobia and other related intolerances.

South Africans of all hues and backgrounds should live side by side and show the world that we have realised Martin Luther King Jr’s dream. Our children play side by side as young South Africans. With the same legislative instruments and others on hand, there is no need for one race group to look down upon others. All people have a place under the sun. Let us hope that the lessons learnt from the World Conference against Racism will take root in our society.

While we decry the conduct of the US delegation in the run-up to and at the conference, we should bear in mind that human beings are not like rivers which flow in the same direction depending on the topography of the country. Human beings differ and hold different opinions which have to be tolerated. May we rise to the clarion call of the World Conference against Racism and eradicate racism, racial discrimination, xenophobia and related intolerance.

Dr S E M PHEKO: Madam Speaker, the World Conference against Racism did not achieve what was expected of a conference of this international magnitude. The nation did not speak with one voice, nor did the continent of Africa.

Important issues which affect Africa, such as reparations for the trans- Atlantic slave trade, colonialism and the foreign debt were sidelined. Landlessness of indigenous people and their colonial dispossession - which is genocide and has resulted in the disappearance and reduction of the populations of the indigenous people in many parts of the world - was totally ignored even when some delegates spoke of the landlessness of the indigenous populations as a form of racism.

Racism is a global power system. It was the renowned European historian Basil Davidson who wrote that the racism which we know today was born in Europe and the United States of America, from the cultural need to justify doing to black people, especially Africans, what could not morally and legally be done to European people.

Cecil Rhodes, that arch agent of British imperialism, said:

I contend that we are the first race in the world, that the more world we inhabit, the better it is for the human race. I contend that every acre of our territory provides for the birth of the English race and greater portion of the world under our rule.

Yet, many originators of racism in the world boycotted the conference or demanded conditions which ignored racism. Those who turned up at the conference hijacked the conference. Critical issues affecting those who have been victims of racism were put aside. Poverty and underdevelopment were merely paid lip service. We were told to forget about the past and concentrate on today’s situation. Yet, to this day the Nazis are still hunted by the Jews and punished for their crimes.

The PAC holds that racism will not be eliminated in heterogeneous societies for as long as the extreme wealth sit side-by-side with extreme poverty, and the world is divided between the haves and the have-nots.

Mr J P I BLANCHÉ: Madam Speaker, I listened carefully to what the ANC speakers and the Minister have said in trying to explain to us what a great success the conference was. One does not have to explain man’s ability to fly. One experiences and sees it nowadays. Boeing shows it to us. Why do we constantly have to come and tell people that it was such a great conference? Why do we not experience it in South Africa? [Interjections.]

Wanneer die ANC en sy mederegeerders nie hulle parlementêre program behoorlik kan uitvoer nie, dan kom hulle met namaalse besprekings soos hierdie van vanmiddag, om in te vul in dit wat hulle nie wil doen nie. Watter sin maak dit om drie maande ná so ‘n konferensie hier te kom staan en vir ons te wil vertel hoe wonderlik dit was? Dit nadat ons gesien het wat in Washington en in New York gebeur. Dit nadat ons sien wat nou wêreldwyd met antraks gebeur. Dit wanneer ons sien hoe die vrou sukkel om te lewe in Afghanistan en die onderdrukking waardeur sy gaan, dan is daar mos nie sukses om van te praat nie. [Tussenwerpsels.] So erg het die Durbankonferensie die denke van sommige van ons mense besoedel dat hulle teruggekom het en Mev Helen Suzman se volgelinge as rassiste begin bestempel het.

In die twee minute wat die ANC my toelaat om ‘n toespraak te maak, wil ek die konferensie as volg opsom: Die ANC wou hul alliansievennote tevrede stel, deurdat Cosatu en die SAKP, wat sedert 1994 aansien verloor het, geleentheid gegee is om gesien en gehoor te word by hierdie konferensie. Rassistiese groeperings van die wêreld het die konferensie misbruik vir eie gewin en die Suid-Afrikaanse belastingbetaler moes vir die Durbanvakansie betaal. Parlementêre werksaamhede is tydens die konferensie ontwrig en vandag word ons produktiwiteit weer op dieselfde manier belemmer. (Translation of Afrikaans paragraphs follows.)

[When the ANC and its co-rulers cannot carry out their parliamentary programme properly, then they come with belated discussions, like this one this afternoon, to fill in for what they do not want to do. What sense does it make, three months after such a conference, to come and stand here and tell us how wonderful it was? This after we have seen what happened in Washington and in New York. This after having seen what is happening now globally with anthrax. When we see how women struggle to live in Afghanistan and the repression they have to suffer, surely there is no success to speak of. [Interjections.] So severely did the Durban conference pollute the minds of some of our people that they came back and regarded Mrs Helen Suzman’s followers as racists.

In the two minutes that the ANC allows me to deliver a speech, I want to sum up the conference as follows: The ANC wanted to please their alliance partners, to give an opportunity to Cosatu and the SACP, who have lost face since 1994, to be seen and to be heard at this conference. Racist groupings of the world exploited the conference for their own gain and the South African taxpayer had to pay for the Durban holiday. Parliamentary activities were disrupted and today our productivity is being hampered in the same way.]

The ANC claims that it is ready to govern. Can they claim that they are ready to govern when they cannot lead us away from racism and intolerance? What are they going to tell their neighbour, Mr Mugabe? Have they taken him out of this racist mode of governance? It is obvious that the Durban conference was a failure. [Interjections.] [Time expired.]

Miss S RAJBALLY: Madam Speaker, may I start with a quotation from the Minister’s report:

South Africa, not so long ago, was a fountain of racism and the venue was well-chosen for the racism conference.

How right she is. [Applause.] Many nations made their presence known and chose to embark on efforts to mend the past injustices and put an end to the injustices of the present and reach consensus so as to avoid the repetition of these horrors. Having concluded the conference a while back now, views have been focused on the outcomes and suggestions regarding which the MF has made its support known.

It is now time to put our mechanics to work, be it an effort for a domestic, national, international or global cleanup. We have to voice our support and then, too, only not voice our support but also substantiate the support with action.

Our Constitution has led us on this path since 1996, and our achievements have been many. As part of all humanity, is it not our duty then to ensure that the protection we are given by our Constitution and especially the Bill of Rights should be observed and adopted globally, not in policies in respect of many diversities, but rather in terms of the respect and honour accorded to an individual as a human being who is naturally entitled to it from birth.

Mr C AUCAMP: Madam Speaker, world events were dominated in such a way by the events of 11 September that the UN Conference against Racism held in Durban in August is nearly forgotten. Expectations were high. Today, a few months and R90 million of taxpayers’ money later, it is appropriate to do a postmortem.

We must remember that it was a UN Conference and not one of the Government’s conferences. Three positive aspects should, however, be mentioned regarding South Africa’s performance. We need to congratulate our security industry. Despite protests and some aggressive public participation, only one serious event of a rather personal nature was recorded.

We give recognition for the conciliatory role the South African delegation played in trying to be part of the solution and not the problem. It was quite a surprise to me that perhaps the most undiplomatic Minister in Parliament turned out to be a formidable diplomat in her role as president of the conference. There is an Afrikaans saying applicable to our Minister of Foreign Affairs: ``Op straat is jy ‘n engel, juis, maar wees dit tog ook tuis.’‘[On the street you are an angel, indeed, but please be like that at home as well.]

President Mbeki’s approach of ``trade rather than aid’’ must also be supported. Instead of a one-sided call for reparation, the call for active participation in the Millennium African Recovery Plan should be appreciated.

Wat die res van die konferensie betref, was die ondertoon gans te negatief, eensydig, polariserend. So lank as wat sekere lande simplisties dink die res van die wêreld is vir hul probleme verantwoordelik, gaan hulle nooit uit die blokke kom nie. So lank as wat konferensies soos hierdie ontaard in ‘n vertoon van the good, the bad and the ugly'', van diecowboys’’ en die ``crooks’’, met ‘n selektiewe klagstaat van die Derde Wêreld teen die Eerste, sal dit teenproduktief bly en eerder die klowe vergroot. ‘n Misplaaste skuldsindroom maak meesal van ‘n individu ‘n onproduktiewe mislukking. Dieselfde geld vir ‘n land.

In hierdie opsig was die konferensie ‘n mislukte, polariserende oefening wat so in die verlede vasgehaak het dat weinig positief vir die toekoms bewerkstellig is. Dit is nie net 11 September wat hierdie konferensie ‘n vergete deel van die geskiedenis gemaak het nie. (Translation of Afrikaans paragraphs follows.)

[As regards the rest of the conference, its undertone was altogether too negative, one-sided, polarising. As long as some countries think simplistically that the rest of the world is to blame for their woes they will never get out of the starting blocks.

As long as conferences such as this one degenerate into a display of ``the good, the bad and the ugly’’, of the cowboys and the crooks, with a selective charge sheet of the Third World against the First World, they will remain counterproductive and instead widen the gaps. A misplaced guilt syndrome usually turns an individual into an unproductive failure. The same applies to a country.

In this regard the conference was a failed, polarising exercise which got so bogged down in the past that very little that is positive was accomplished for the future. It was not only 11 September that turned this conference into a forgotten part of history.]

The MINISTER FOR THE PUBLIC SERVICE AND ADMINISTRATION: Madam Speaker, members of this House, our President, in his opening address at the World Conference against Racism, stated:

We are meeting here because we have said to ourselves that since poverty is not an act of nature, but the product of human society, we must, as this human society, fight together and vanquish poverty and underdevelopment.

Indeed, as South Africans, we know well how human action could cause unbearable suffering and long-lasting legacies of inequality, the waves of which we are still riding today. I think today is an opportunity - and the racism conference once again offered us an opportunity - to reflect on how we have dealt with the erosive effects of racial policy and societal discrimination.

There are moments, however, when we pause and ask: Is our country or some forces in our country really ready to confront and uproot racism? And as we listened to some individuals today, regrettably we have to say that some individuals have not been able to either ride that wave or go that route.

The Minister of Foreign Affairs just stated earlier today in this debate, and I quote:

There was never any doubt in my mind that those who visited this untold harm and humiliation on Africans would not accept responsibility for their actions. What was even more important was an attempt to reduce this pain to which the Africans were subjected into a money game.

Regrettably, in this House today, we see it once again, and I think it is shameful. I would like to go further and state that we have also seen once again today that issues pertaining to race which in the past have always constituted the organising principle of the South African landscape also veers to the fore in instances in the presentation by members of the opposition, and the sad thing is they do not even see it. The hon Moorcroft was one of those examples.

It came in the guise of parties advocating the exclusion of the majority of people from the political dispensation or offering parallel institutional arrangements, as in the past, with the NP or the liberals and now pseudo- liberals, as it was with the PFP, DP and more recently DA, who will not necessarily use outright racist language, but who are resisting the fundamental transformation of the effects of perpetual racist behaviour.

This includes the extremely large gap, in terms of socioeconomic conditions, experienced on a daily basis and particularly the racial patterns that these assume in our society. They even refuse to discuss the issue of race and are bold in that, as we heard through the hon Moorcroft today. And, as we recently observed in ANC Today, and I quote:

Current racial ideology in South Africa includes ideas and practices that endorse the notion that racial discrimination and prejudice no longer pose a significant social problem. Some argue that since the attainment of formal equality, the main racial problem in society is that blacks are becoming too demanding and that their demands unfairly disadvantage whites. Such arguments overlook or seek to deny the continuing patterns of racial inequality in our country and the world. And at the apex of such views is the idea that even to discuss the question of racism is itself an act of racism.

Then, of course, we have parties who make no bones about the fact that they represent the very particular interests of specific ethnic groups. The challenge, of course, for these groupings is to assert the interest of their narrow constituencies, without assuming blatant racist positions and becoming obstacles to the larger transformation agenda of this country.

However, throughout the better part of the past 90 years, there is and has been only one political voice, and that is the ANC, which unwaveringly advocated the position for nonracialism. [Applause.] The approach of the ANC-led liberation movement was one that clearly reflected our commitment that South Africa belongs to everyone, black and white. This has been a fundamental principle underpinning this democracy of nonracialism and nonsexism.

Ours has never been the revengeful response that Shylock, the Jew, in Shakespeare’s The Merchant of Venice, cautioned about when he said:

``… if you wrong us, shall we not revenge? If we are like you in the rest, we will resemble you in that … The villainy you teach me, I will execute, and it shall go hard but I will better the instruction’’.

In the course of our colonial and apartheid history, our people resisted assaults on their dignity, but they never surrendered to the temptation of advocating black racial domination. Instead, they showed that they were not like Shylock from The Merchant of Venice. I think many should listen to that. In responding to a system that sought to deny the humanity of our people, the ANC has drawn consistently and unwaveringly on the principles of nonracism, nonsexism, and the transition to democracy was a product of the struggles of our people.

I want to tell the hon member that the defining feature of the ANC’s approach to nonracialism was not clumsy. It was based on our efforts to build a future in the present through united action. This is what will guide us through the choice of forming any co-operative arrangements with any other party in this House. The action that we seek is not empty rhetoric on issues of racism and nonracialism. The action that we seek is that which is directed at waging war against poverty in this country.

The day that we are no longer able to distinguish between two nations which show the common fault lines along racial and economic dimensions, the day that the humanity of all our people is restored, not withstanding race, gender, religion, class etc, that is the day we will have achieved our objectives. As our President previously stated:

All our parties, and all of us as members of Parliament, shall be judged by the people as having been good or bad or of no meaning, not by our eloquency in this Chamber, not by our agility in parliamentary debate, nor yet by the skill with which we outsmart our real or imagined opponents. We shall be found to have been good or bad or of no meaning by the extent to which we use the positions of power which we occupy actually to improve the quality of life of our people.

Over the past three weeks, South Africans have been exposed to the crisis in the DA. We are dealing with tricky national issues, induced identity dynamics but to mention a few. The current crisis in the DA, while this may be precipitated by the actions of the leader of the DA, should not be seen in a social vacuum. The crisis is essentially a reflection of changes in the sociopolitical environment, and I believe it was inevitable.

It is the mentality of coloniser and the imperialist that is imbued in the organisational culture of the DP that lies at the heart of DA breakup [Applause.] It lies in the inability of people who belong to that party to buy into the shared vision and shared values base that many of us have developed in this House, that we find the root of the demise of the DA, and that will make them increasingly irrelevant. Their inability to seek a dispensation that will benefit the majority of people in our society, and their inability to break the mind-set of white superiority within their own organisation and structures, make such people a nuisance factor, as we strive to achieve the ideals that this country has opted to pursue, as captured in our Constitution.

Chief Albert Luthuli captured the white superiority complex well in 1961 when he stated:

Few white people escape corruption, and many of their children learn to believe that white men are unquestionably superior, efficient, clever, industrious and capable, that black men are equally unquestionably inferior, slothful, stupid, evil and clumsy.

That is the mentality that still continues. That is the uneasiness and deep- seated cultural tension that is prevalent and has never been fully resolved within the DA and its formations. [Interjections.] [Applause.]

Wanneer ons die geskiedenis van die Afrikaners in hierdie land versigtig ontleed, dan moet ons die afgelope paar weke se verwikkelinge nie as ‘n verrassing beskou nie. Die Afrikaners bring met hulle ‘n pioniersgeskiedenis waar die onbekende en die moeilike nie as ‘n afskrikmiddel dien om vooruitgang te maak nie. Dink maar net aan die berge in die Boland: Watter motivering moes dit nie geneem het om dit oor te steek nie? Die spreekwoorde in die Afrikaanse taal vang hierdie lewensbenaderinge vas: 'n boer maak 'n plan'', voeg die daad by die woord’’ en ``die hand aan die ploeg slaan’’.

Regdeur die geskiedenis waar die Afrikaners aan ‘n saak geglo het, het hulle alles ingesit om dit te laat gebeur. Ons moet nie uit die oog verloor dat die Afrikaners ook ‘n geneigdheid het om te twis en baklei nie. Hulle aanvaar moeilik ‘n ander se leierskap en hulle politieke geskiedenis is deursprek met splintering, skeiding en duplisering. Nieteenstaande hierdie negatiewe eienskap is ons daarvan oortuig dat die Afrikaners ‘n geweldige rol in die toekoms van hierdie land kan speel.

Dit sal net gebeur sodra hulle by die punt uitkom waar hulle nie langer na hulle eie belange omsien nie, maar waar hulle hulself as integraal gekoppel sien aan die lot van hierdie land en al sy mense. Die punt waar empatie wat hulle vir hul eie armes gehad het, ook die empatie word van die armes wat hulle beleid van diskriminasie en apartheid agtergelaat het, die punt waar hulle die visie van wat ons vir hierdie land het, gaan glo en nie langer gevangenes gaan wees van vrese en drogbeelde wat hulle koester oor die ANC nie, of waar hulle hul toekoms gaan soek in die uithoeke van die Noord-Kaap of in die arms van liberale magte wat hulle eie eksklusiwiteit nog altyd met geld verseker het nie. Dit gaan die oomblik wees wat as katalisator gaan dien vir die groot en positiewe verandering. Dit gaan wees soos wanneer een van daardie sleutelstukke in die legkaart uiteindelik sy plek kry. Ewe skielik is daar ook sommer tientalle ander stukke wat sommer vanself hul plek sal vind. [Applous.] (Translation of Afrikaans paragraphs follows.)

[When we carefully analyse the history of the Afrikaners in this country we should not regard the developments of the past few weeks as a surprise. The Afrikaners bring with them a pioneering history where the unknown and the difficult do not serve as a deterrent to make progress. Just think of the mountains in the Boland: What motivation it must have taken to cross those mountains. The proverbs in the Afrikaans language capture these approaches to life: 'n boer maak 'n plan'' [farmers are enterprising], voeg die daad by die woord’’ [to put the action to the word] and ``die hand aan die ploeg slaan’’ [to put one’s hand to the plough].

Right through history where the Afrikaners believed in a cause they put everything into it to make it happen. Let us not lose sight of the fact that the Afrikaners also have a tendency of feud and fight. They do not accept another’s leadership easily and their political history is interspersed with splintering, separation and duplication. Notwithstanding this negative quality we are convinced that the Afrikaners can play an immense role in the future of this country.

This will only happen when they reach the point where they no longer only look after their own interests, but where they see themselves as integrally connected to the destiny of this country and all its people. The point where the empathy which they had for their own poor people also becomes the empathy for the poor people that their policy of discrimination and apartheid left behind, the point where they believe in the vision we have for this country and no longer remain prisoners of fears and phantoms which they harbour about the ANC, or where they seek their future in the remote areas of the Northern Cape or in the arms of liberal powers who have always ensured their exclusivity with money. That will be the moment which will serve as a catalyst for the big and positive change. It will be like when one of those key pieces in the puzzle eventually slot into place. Suddenly many more pieces will also slot into places. [Applause.]] The DEPUTY MINISTER OF FOREIGN AFFAIRS: Madam Speaker, Deputy President, hon members, today’s debate, which is on a very important issue, once again highlights what we have been experiencing for some time - the intellectual capacity on the part of the majority party and some members of the opposition to tackle issues of profound importance to us in a very serious way.

On the other hand, the DP once again exposes its intellectual bankruptcy in its attempt to try to deal with very burning issues in a very simplistic and wrong way. I want to believe that 31 August to 8 September will go down in history as a moment when thousands of delegates representing governments, NGO’s, and supporters of various causes gathered in South Africa, which was a previous fountainhead of the worst forms of racism, and now a model and a beacon of hope for many.

They gathered in South Africa to acknowledge that the dangerous spectre of racialism, xenophobia and other forms of related intolerance is haunting humanity. While some of the ostriches on my left try rigorously to deny this, the delegates who gathered in Durban openly, sometimes heatedly, but constructively, tackled the burning issues confronting us and resolved to unite as an international army against racism.

What is ironic is that those who come from peoples who have experienced racism and other forms of discrimination are not only able to intellectually describe our experiences, but are also constructively able to put forward programmes of action to genuinely achieve nonracism, while those who pretend to be antiracists, but, who in fact, from what they say and do, reflect a very strong racist tendency, fail to acknowledge that the evils of racism, xenophobia and other related forms of intolerance exist.

By a strange twist of logic, Mr Moorcroft tries to turn the victims into perpetrators of slavery and racism. He, indeed … [Interjections.]

An HON MEMBER: Did you listen to what he said?

The DEPUTY MINISTER: Yes, I was listening, and unfortunately it has given me a headache. [Interjections.] Instead of studying the documents that emerged from the conference, the hon member began selectively to quote certain magazines whose articles were written even before the government conference opened. This indicates the hon member’s intellectual ruthlessness and bankruptcy. Indeed, neither the hon member nor any of his party’s members even bothered to attend the conference. He did not even bother to study the final documents, because the programme of action and the joint communiqué is an excellent document that leads us to unite in the fight against racism, xenophobia and other forms of intolerance.

The hon member and his party, the DP - I am glad at last the New NP has seen some sense and is walking away from them - refuse to acknowledge the internationally accepted view that despite this being one of the most difficult conferences ever held, it was a watershed experience in the fight against racism. [Interjections.] In fact, the conference managed to break the barrier of silence on many issues confronting minority groups, migrant workers and other people suffering racism and xenophobic actions in the world.

Nobody can say that the conference did not succeed, because it is generally acknowledged that it did succeed. I do not know how the hon Moorcroft can stand here in all seriousness and criticise the debating of the issue of reparations and compensation for slavery and colonialism. It had to be debated, because our continent, on which millions of people were sacrificed on the altar of slavery and colonialism, has been suffering from the effect of this phenomenon. [Interjections.] Despite what the hon members on the left are saying, the vast majority in the world acknowledges that slavery and the slave trade, including the transatlantic slave trade, were appalling tragedies in the history of humankind.

The vast majority of humanity has acknowledged that slavery and the slave trade are crimes against humanity and that they have always been so, and are among the sources of racism, racial discrimination, xenophobia and related intolerance. I am happy that the conference acknowledged that apartheid and genocide constitute crimes against humanity in international law, and I hope that one day those who purport to be antiracist would begin to understand what the world had declared in Durban.

The conference recognised that these historical injustices have contributed to poverty, underdevelopment, marginalisation and social exclusion, not only in the African continent, but also internationally. Indeed, I want to say that under the South African chairpersonship we were able to ensure that the reparations and compensation debate was not geared to trying to compensate either individuals or countries, but to be committed to supporting new partnerships for African development.

Again, I do not understand why the members on my left can say that the Middle East issue dominated the conference and that that was wrong. How can we deny that the situation developing in the Middle East, in which hundreds of people are dying on a continuous basis, is becoming a threat to international peace and security? How could we expect this not to be a heated and very strong discussion in the conference?

I think that it is up to us to accept and acknowledge that despite the fact that the United States and the Israeli delegation left even before the conference really got under way the conference emerged with a programme and a decision on the issue of the Middle East which nobody can challenge. I would like to tell these imbeciles on my left that the conference … [Interjections.]

Mr D H M GIBSON: Madam Speaker, on point of order: Even the hon the Deputy Minister cannot believe that it is parliamentary to describe his colleagues who are sitting here on his left as imbeciles. [Interjections.]

The DEPUTY MINISTER: Madam Speaker, I withdraw and I will look for a better word in the Oxford Dictionary and it will mean the same thing. [Interjections.] Let me tell my colleagues on the left that the conference’s programme of action reiterated that the Holocaust must never be forgotten. It resolved that all disputes in the Middle East should be solved through peaceful means and political dialogue. It recognised the need to counter anti- Semitism and Islamaphobia worldwide. It recognised the right of the Palestinian people to their own state and at the same time recognised the right of Israel to exist within secure borders.

But, who in his normal intelligent mind can say that the conference emerged with positions that were absolutely one-sided? This is what worries me about the level of intellectual bankruptcy that the colleagues on my left tend to display all the time. If they did not understand the importance of that conference, I hope that 11 September was a wake-up call for these ostriches who refuse to see what we are facing. [Interjections.] The 11 September event was a clear warning to anybody who had any common sense, eyes and ears to understand, that if we do not deal with conflicts, especially in the Middle East, we will not deal with terrorism. [Interjections.]

Mr D H M GIBSON: Madam Speaker, on a point of order: I believe that it has been previously ruled that it is unparliamentary to refer to hon members in terms of animals and other allusions. [Interjections.] The hon Deputy Minister is now referring to people as ostriches.

The DEPUTY MINISTER: As what?

Mr D H M GIBSON: Things like ostriches, baboons and so on are all unparliamentary. [Interjections.]

The DEPUTY MINISTER: No, man. I said ostriches keep their heads in the sand and do not see what is happening above ground. Maybe I was … [Interjections.]

The DEPUTY SPEAKER: Order! Hon Gibson, on this one I will have to look at the Hansard.

The DEPUTY MINISTER: Madam Speaker, let me repeat: Ostriches keep their heads in the sand and refuse to acknowledge reality. [Laughter.] [Interjections.] Well, if the hon member thinks that he is an ostrich, then let it be so. [Laughter.]

What happened on 11 September showed that if we do not deal with the issues raised in Durban, we will, indeed, have a world of terrorism and conflict. Indeed, Durban’s conference showed that the root causes of terrorism are poverty, deprivation, underdevelopment and conflict, especially in the Middle East. Therefore, these are not irrelevant issues, but issues that we want to confront if we want a New World Order in the interests of all of us. [Applause.]

Debate concluded.

                     UNEMPLOYMENT INSURANCE BILL

              (Decision of Question on Second Reading)

The DEPUTY SPEAKER: Order! I would like to remind hon members that the debate on this particular Bill has already taken place in this House.

Question put: That the Bill be read a second time.

Division demanded.

The House dividend:

AYES - 228: Abrahams, T; Abram, S; Ainslie, A R; Asmal, A K; Aucamp, C; Baloyi, M R; Baloyi, O; Baloyi, S F; Bekker, H J; Benjamin, J; Bhengu, F; Biyela, B P; Bogopane, H I; Booi, M S; Botha, N G W; Buthelezi, M N; Cachalia, I M; Carrim, Y I; Cassim, M F; Chauke, H P; Chiba, L; Chiwayo, L L; Chohan-Kota, F I; Cindi, N V; Coetzee-Kasper, M P; Cronin, J P; Cwele, S C; Diale, L N; Dithebe, S L; Ditshetelo, P H K; Dlali, D M; Doidge, G Q M; Du Toit, D C; Duma, N M; Dyani, M M Z; Ebrahim, E I; Fankomo, F C; Fazzie, M H; Fihla, N B; Fraser-Moleketi, G J; Frolick, C T; Gandhi, E; Gcina, C I; George, M E; Gerber, P A; Goniwe, M T; Goosen, A D; Govender, P; Green, L M; Gumede, D M; Hajaig, F; Hanekom, D A; Hangana, N E; Hendrickse, P A C; Hlaneki, C J M; Hlangwana, N L; Hogan, B A; Holomisa, S P; Jassat, E E; Jeffery, J H; Joemat, R R; Jordan, Z P; Kannemeyer, B W; Kasienyane, O R; Kasrils, R; Kati, J Z; Kekana, N N; Kgarimetsa, J J; Kgauwe, Q J; Kgwele, L M; Komphela, B M; Kota, Z A; Kotwal, Z; Lamani, N E; Landers, L T; Lishivha, T E; Lobe, M C; Lockey, D; Louw, J T; Louw, S K; Lucas, E J; Luthuli, A N; Lyle, A G; Mabena, D C; Mabeta, M E; Madlala-Routledge, N C; Magashule, E S; Magazi, M N; Magubane, N E; Magwanishe, G; Mahlangu, M J; Mahomed, F; Maimane, D S; Maine, M S; Makanda, W G; Makasi, X C; Malebana, H F; Maloney, L; Malumise, M M; Mangena, M A; Manie, M S; Manuel, T A; Maphalala, M A; Maphoto, L I; Mars, I; Martins, B A D; Masala, M M; Maserumule, F T; Masithela, N H; Masutha, M T; Matsepe-Casaburri, I F; Mayatula, S M; Maziya, A M; Mbadi, L M; Mbombo, N D; Mbulawa-Hans, B G; Mdladlana, M M S; Meshoe, K R J; Mfundisi, I S; Mguni, B A; Middleton, N S; Mkono, D G; Mlangeni, A; Mnandi, P N; Mnumzana, S K; Moeketse, K M; Mofokeng, T R; Mogoba, M S; Mohamed, I J; Mohlala, R J B; Molebatsi, M A; Molewa, B G; Moloto, K A; Mongwaketse, S J; Montsitsi, S D; Moonsamy, K; Morobi, D M; Moropa, R M; Morutoa, M R; Moss, M I; Mothiba, L C; Mothoagae, P K; Motubatse, S D; Mpaka, H M; Mpontshane, A M; Mshudulu, S A; Mthembi- Mahanyele, S D; Mthembu, B; Mtsweni, N S; Mudau, N W; Mutsila, I; Mzondeki, M J G; Nair, B; Nash, J H; Ncube, B; Ndlovu, V B; Ndou, R S; Ndzanga, R A; Nel, A C; Newhoudt-Druchen, W S; Ngaleka, N E; Ngcengwane, N D; Ngculu, L V J; Ngwenya, M L; Nhleko, N P; Nhlengethwa, D G; Njobe, M A A; Nkomo, A S; Nonkonyana, M; Nqodi, S B; Ntombela, S H; Ntuli, B M; Ntuli, S B; Nzimande, L P M; Olifant, D A A; Oosthuizen, G C; Pahad, A G H; Phala, M J; Pheko, S E M; Phohlela, S; Pieterse, R D; Radebe, B A; Radebe, J T; Rajbally, S; Ramgobin, M; Ramotsamai, C M P; Rasmeni, S M; Ripinga, S S; Roopnarain, U; Saloojee, E; Schneeman, G D; Schoeman, E A; September, C C; September, R K; Shabangu, S; Shilubana, T P; Sibiya, M S M; Sigcau, S N; Sigcawu, A N; Sigwela, E M; Sikakane, M R; Sithole, D J; Skosana, M B; Slabbert, J H; Smith, P F; Smith, V G; Solo, B M; Solomon, G; Sonjica, B P; Sosibo, J E; Sotyu, M M; Southgate, R M; Thabethe, E; Tinto, B; Tolo, L J; Tshabalala-Msimang, M E; Tsheole, N M; Tshivhase, T J; Tshwete, S V; Turok, B; Twala, N M; Vadi, I; Van den Heever, R P Z; Van der Merwe, S C; Woods, G G; Zita, L; Zondo, R P; Zuma, J G.

NOES - 31: Andrew, K M; Bell, B G; Blaas, A; Blanché, J P I; Borman, G M; Bruce, N S; Clelland, N J; Da Camara, M L; Davidson, I O; Farrow, S B; Gibson, D H M; Groenewald, P J; Heine, R J; Kalyan, S V; Lowe, C M; Maluleke, D K; Moorcroft, E K; Morkel, C M; Nel, A H; Niemann, J J; Ntuli, R S; Rabie, P J; Rhoda, R T; Schalkwyk, P J; Schippers, J; Selfe, J; Semple, J A; Smuts, M; Sono, B N; Swart, P S; Waters, M.

Question agreed to.

Bill accordingly read a second time.

QUESTIONS AND REPLIES - See that book.

                   SHOWING OF CHARTS IN THE HOUSE
                              (Ruling)

The CHAIRPERSON OF COMMITTEES: Order! Before I move to notices of motion, I just want to make a ruling on a point of order which was raised when I was presiding some time last week. During the notices of motion on 25 October, the hon Mr Goniwe raised a point of order on whether it was acceptable for the hon Rev Meshoe to show charts on the subject on which he was giving a notice of motion. Although it is not common practice, members do, on occasion, bring objects into the House to make a particular point with reference to their speech. I would discourage this approach as a debate is all about a verbal exchange of views. Therefore, while I cannot rule what was done as out of order, I would appeal to all members, as far as possible, to refrain from this practice.

                          NOTICES OF MOTION

Ms N V CINDI: Chairperson I hereby give notice that on the next sitting day of the House I shall move on behalf of the ANC: That the House -

(1) notes that President Thabo Mbeki embarked on a three-day state visit to Mali;

(2) further notes that Mali and South Africa reached an agreement for economic, social and cultural co-operation;

(3) believes that this agreement reflects the commitment of the ANC-led Government to join hands with other African countries to fight poverty and to work for economic prosperity and social development on the continent; and

(4) welcomes the decision for co-operation between the two countries.

Adv P S SWART: Chairperson I hereby give notice that on the next sitting day of the House I shall move:

That the House -

(1) notes the continuing decline in the moral fabric of society resulting in an escalation in the incidents of child rape and child abuse;

(2) expresses its horror at and condemnation of such acts, in particular the recent rapes of babies as young as nine and fourteen months;

(3) agrees that there can be no mitigating circumstances preventing a convicted rapist from facing the prescribed life sentence for raping a child younger than 16 years;

(4) calls on the Minister of Safety and Security to empower properly the Child Protection Units with the necessary manpower and resources to protect effectively the rights of South Africa’s children; and

(5) urges society to assist the police and not to condone these horrific deeds by keeping silent when they occur within the family context. Mr J H SLABBERT: Chairperson, I hereby give notice that on the next sitting day of the House I shall move on behalf of the IFP:

That the House -

(1) acknowledges that the motor vehicle finance scheme has been reinstated for all regional magistrates with effect from 1 July 2001;

(2) realises that this move will boost the morale among the regional magistrates and thus assist in reducing the backlog of cases; and

(3) thanks all concerned persons, including the Minister for Justice and Constitutional Development, who contributed to the resolution of this matter.

Mr A M MAZIYA: Chairperson I hereby give notice that on the next sitting day of the House I shall move on behalf of the ANC:

That the House - (1) notes that the SA Police Service arrested 40 persons believed to belong to a platinum-theft syndicate on Tuesday;

(2) further notes that nine million rands’ worth of this precious metal was recovered by the police;

(3) commends the SAPS for this breakthrough; and

(4) expresses the hope that this arrest will lead to conviction of all involved in this criminal action.

[Applause.]

Dr P J RABIE: Chairperson, I hereby give notice that on the next sitting day of the House I shall move:

That the House -

(1) notes that the South African rand failed to benefit from the US dollar’s weakness during the past week and became a victim of euro and sterling strength; and

(2) calls upon the Government to retain fiscal discipline, to speed up the process of privatisation and to address the grave danger of HIV/Aids seen within the context of an expected global economic slowdown.

Prof L M MBADI: Chairperson, I hereby give notice that on the next sitting day of the House I shall move on behalf of the UDM:

That the House -

(1) notes that the Eastern Cape Standing Committee on Welfare has received evidence that the names of at least 120 civil servants who are currently employed and receiving salaries have been found on the list of people classified as ``disabled social grant beneficiaries’’;

(2) further notes that these civil servants are currently engaged in a class action against the department for not having been paid between 1996 and 2000;

(3) expresses its disgust and states that even though they were not paid it does not absolve them from their corrupt behaviour;

(4) acknowledges that this clearly indicates incompetence and corruption in the Eastern Cape Social Development Department and makes a mockery of the two costly registration processes in the province; and

(5) calls on the Eastern Cape Social Development Department to urgently settle this costly case and eradicate corruption at all levels.

Mr G B MAGWANISHE: Chairperson, I hereby give notice that on the next sitting day of the House I shall move:

That the House - (1) notes that the ANC Youth League will host the 58th Congress of the International Union of Socialist Youth, IUSY, in Johannesburg over the weekend, and that the IUSY Africa Committee meeting will start today in Johannesburg;

(2) further notes that delegates from all progressive youth organisations throughout the world will discuss issues confronting young people in this new global order; and

(3) welcomes delegates to this conference and wishes them good luck in their deliberations. [Applause.]

Mr P H K DITSHETELO: Chairperson, I hereby give notice that on the next sitting day of the House I shall move:

That the House -

(1) notes the Government’s intentions to transform the public sector to ensure that the previously disadvantaged gain equal access to empowerment opportunities;

(2) also notes, however, that -

   (a)  there is public outcry directed particularly at  the  Department
       of  Foreign  Affairs  that  it  is  involved  in  discriminatory
       employment practices; and


   (b)  the complains revolve around allegations that a  certain  ethnic
       group is given first preference as opposed to  other  groupings;
       and

(3) urges the Department of Foreign Affairs to investigate these allegations and also provide a breakdown of its staff profile according to the demographics of our society.

Mr C AUCAMP: Chairperson, I hereby give notice that on the next sitting day of the House I shall move:

That the House - (1) notes that -

   (a)  the realignment of the political landscape can be a  normal  and
       positive development in the South African situation; and


   (b)  a simple confrontational style of opposition in  line  with  the
       Westminster system can be counterproductive, with a negative and
       polarising effect on society in  a  multicultural  country  like
       South Africa; and

(2) further notes that the AEB -

   (a)  is in favour of a system of consociational democracy,  according
       to which the interests of all communities are represented in all
       spheres of government;


   (b)   is  of  the  opinion  that  this   representation   should   be
       constitutionally entrenched, and not be executed by way  of  co-
       option where the co-opted has to behave himself  sweetly  before
       the majority on which he always stays dependent; and


   (c)  believes that development in this direction should not happen by
       way of opportunistically pressing the panic button, but that  it
       should develop in an evolutionary, orderly manner and  with  the
       full mandate of the relevant constituency.

Chief M NONKONYANA: Chairperson, I hereby give notice that on the next sitting day of the House I shall move:

That the House -

(1) notes that the Governor of the Reserve Bank, Mr Tito Mboweni, received an award for maintaining stable macroeconomic policies and keeping low levels of inflation; (2) believes that this award serves as recognition of the Government’s economic policies which encourage growth and investment; and

(3) congratulates the Governor of the Reserve Bank, Mr Tito Mboweni, on receiving this award.

[Applause.]

Ms J A SEMPLE: Chairperson, I hereby give notice that on the next sitting day of the House I shall move:

That the House -

(1) notes that the 7th World Wilderness Conference has been held in Port Elizabeth this week;

(2) congratulates the organisers on obtaining internationally renowned speakers and overseas delegates at a time when international travel is severely curtailed;

(3) acknowledges the showcasing of the Eastern Cape as a tourist destination; and

(4) urges the Government to act in proclaiming the Baviaanskloof as a proclaimed wilderness area as soon as possible.

Dr R RABINOWITZ: Chairperson, I hereby give notice that on the next sitting day of the House I shall move:

That the House, in view of the desire to promote ubuntu to strengthen different cultures and respect for one another in our country -

(1) notes -

   (a)  the tendency for matric farewells to become costly affairs  with
       expensive cars taking matriculants to posh venues; and


   (b)  the extent to which the matric dance dress competition sponsored
       by the Sunday Times  fuels  this  trend  to  keep  up  with  the
       Joneses; and

(2) calls on large publishing houses to introduce competitions that reward matriculants, as individuals or groups, who do most to promote mutual tolerance and the spirit of ubuntu.

Mrs N D MBOMBO: Chairperson, I hereby give notice that on the next sitting day of the House I shall move:

That the House -

(1) notes that -

   (a)  a child rapist was sentenced for life in Pretoria;


   (b)  a 17-year-old teenager was arrested for raping a  three-year-old
       child in Umtata; and
   (c)  the ANC Women's  League  organised  a  nationwide  mass  protest
       against child abuse over the weekend;

(2) further notes that the Human Rights Commission intends to release a report on child abuse;

(3) believes that child abuse practices are evil and must be uprooted from our society;

(4) further notes that communities need to co-operate with the police in fighting this evil crime; and

(5) welcomes the sentence imposed by the Pretoria court.

[Applause.] Mr A BLAAS: Chairperson, I hereby give notice that on the next sitting day of the House I shall move:

That the House -

(1) notes the plight of disabled workers in the light of the following:

   (a)  disabled workers, amongst them qualified artisans,  employed  by
       the service products factories, within the Sheltered  Employment
       Scheme, struggle to survive due to wages paid in the  region  of
       R1 400 a month;


   (b)  these workers receive no medical aid or pension benefits; and


   (c)  after numerous requests  and  years  of  negotiations  with  the
       Government no positive action has been taken in this regard; and

(2) calls on the Government to address the plight of disabled workers as a matter of urgency.

Mr D G MKONO: Chairperson, I hereby give notice that on the next sitting day of the House I shall move: That the House -

(1) expresses its disgust at the alarming rate of baby and child rape cases during the past two weeks;

(2) expresses its shock at the fact that five more cases of child rape have been reported in the Eastern Cape, North West and Mpumalanga;

(3) notes that many of these rapes are committed by criminals known to the family, and takes cognisance of the effect of HIV/Aids in rape cases;

(4) calls on the Government to urgently implement a national co-ordinated strategy to deal with the uniqueness of crimes committed against children, in order to protect our future generations from hurt, trauma and life-long scares; and

(5) further calls on the Government to implement legislation criminalising the intentional spreading of HIV/Aids.

Mrs D G NHLENGETHWA: Chairperson, I hereby give notice that on the next sitting day of the House I shall move:

That the House -

(1) notes the statement of the Minister of Public Works, the hon Stella Sigcau, during here imbizo visit in Mpumalanga that the Government will ensure that rural development will be addressed by the public sector in partnership with the private sector;

(2) further notes that in her statement the Minister mentioned that seven projects with a collective budget of over R5,1 million have been implemented in Daggakraal, and that these include the construction of market stalls, a vegetable garden, a community hall, a taxi rank, two schools and a trading centre; and

(3) therefore commends the Minister and the Government for working hard to improve the lives of all our people. [Applause.]

                   DEATH OF MATTHEWS MOTSHWARATEU

                         (Draft Resolution)

The ACTING CHIEF WHIP OF THE MAJORITY PARTY: Chairperson, I move without notice:

That the House -

(1) notes with shock and sadness the untimely and violent death of Matthews “Loop en Val” Motshwarateu, the former Springbok athlete who was shot by robbers;

(2) condemns this barbaric murder of one of our nation’s finest sons;

(3) urges the criminal justice system to spare no effort to bring the perpetrators to book; and

(4) expresses its heartfelt condolences to the bereaved and mourns the passing of this great South African.

Agreed to.

              REMEMBRANCE SUNDAY: SOUTH AFRICAN LEGION

                         (Draft Resolution)

Mr D H M GIBSON: Chairperson, I move without notice:

That the House -

(1) recognises the initiative of the South African Legion - an organisation which looks after the interests of all military veterans and their dependants, irrespective of the cause they fought for - to honour the dead of all wars;

(2) acknowledges that this initiative is being followed by all Commonwealth countries, including South Africa, as well as many other countries in the world; and

(3) resolves to support the idea that those who are able to do so, will on Remembrance Sunday on 11 November 2001 at exactly 11:00 observe two minutes of silence in honour of the sacrifice made by all those who died in war.

Agreed to.

                 REVENUE LAWS SECOND AMENDMENT BILL

                           (Introduction)

The MINISTER OF FINANCE: Chairperson, this is the third tax Bill that has been put before this House this year and a further illustration of the massive tax reforms that we have embarked upon. The Revenue Laws Second Amendment Bill includes changes to some 190 clauses. Because all hon members here are so fresh and interested in tax matters, I shall now proceed to read the changes to each of the 190 clauses. Alternatively, I shall say: I move. That is what I opt to do. [Laughter.] [Applause.]

Bill referred for consideration and report to the Joint Committee on Revenue Laws Second Amendment Bill, 2001, established by resolution of the House on 11 October 2001.

The House adjourned at 18:09. ____

            ANNOUNCEMENTS, TABLINGS AND COMMITTEE REPORTS

                           5 NOVEMBER 2001

ANNOUNCEMENTS:

National Assembly and National Council of Provinces:

1. The Speaker and the Chairperson:

 (1)    The Joint Tagging Mechanism (JTM) on 5 November 2001 in terms of
     Joint Rule 160(6), classified the following Bill as  a  money  Bill
     (section 77):
     (i)     Adjustments Appropriation Bill  [B  82  -  2001]  (National
          Assembly - sec 77).

National Assembly:

1. The Speaker:

 The following papers have been tabled  and  are  now  referred  to  the
 relevant committees as mentioned below:


 (1)    The following papers are referred to the Portfolio Committee  on
     Justice  and  Constitutional  Development  for  consideration   and
     report:


     (a)     Treaty between the Government  of  the  Republic  of  South
          Africa and  the  Government  of  the  Kingdom  of  Lesotho  on
          Extradition,  tabled  in  terms  of  section  231(2)  of   the
          Constitution, 1996.


     (b)     Treaty between the Government  of  the  Republic  of  South
          Africa and the Government of the Kingdom of Lesotho on  Mutual
          Legal Assistance in  Criminal  Matters,  tabled  in  terms  of
          section 231(2) of the Constitution, 1996.


     (c)     Explanatory Memorandum on the Treaties.


     (d)     Statute of the Hague Conference  on  Private  International
          Law, tabled in terms of section 231(2)  of  the  Constitution,
          1996.


     (e)      Explanatory  Memorandum  on  the  Statute  of  the   Hague
          Conference on Private International Law.


 (2)    The following paper is referred to the  Portfolio  Committee  on
     Environmental Affairs and Tourism:


     Report and Financial Statements of  the  South  African  Veterinary
     Council for 2000-2001.

TABLINGS:

National Assembly and National Council of Provinces:

Papers:

1. The Minister of Housing:

 Report and Financial Statements of the Department of Housing for  2000-
 2001, including the Report of  the  Auditor-General  on  the  Financial
 Statements for 2000-2001.

                      TUESDAY, 6 NOVEMBER 2001

ANNOUNCEMENTS:

National Assembly and National Council of Provinces:

1. The Speaker and the Chairperson:

 The  Minister  for  Agriculture  and   Land   Affairs   submitted   the
 Wysigingswetsontwerp op Veterinêre en Para-veterinêre Beroepe [W  66  -
 2001]  (Nasionale  Vergadering  -  art  75)  to  the  Speaker  and  the
 Chairperson on 6 November 2001. This is the official translation of the
 Veterinary and Para-Veterinary Professions Amendment Bill [B 66 - 2001]
 (National Assembly - sec 75), which  was  introduced  in  the  National
 Assembly by the Minister on 6 September 2001.

National Assembly:

1. The Speaker:

 (1)    Message from National Council of Provinces to National Assembly:
    Bill, as amended, passed by National  Council  of  Provinces  on  2
    November  2001  and  transmitted  for  consideration  of  Council's
    amendments:


     (i)     Marketing of Agricultural Products Amendment Bill [B 26D  -
          2001] (National Assembly - sec 76).


     The amended Bill has been referred to the  Portfolio  Committee  on
     Agriculture and Land Affairs for a report  and  recommendations  on
     the Council's amendments.


 (2)    Message from National Council of Provinces to National Assembly:


    Bill, as amended, passed by National  Council  of  Provinces  on  6
    November  2001  and  transmitted  for  consideration  of  Council's
    amendments:


     (i)     Industrial  Development  Amendment  Bill  [B  32D  -  2001]
          (National Assembly - sec 76).


     The amended Bill has been referred to the  Portfolio  Committee  on
     Trade  and  Industry  for  a  report  and  recommendations  on  the
     Council's amendments.


 (3)    Message from National Council of Provinces to National Assembly:


     Bills, subject to proposed amendments, passed by  National  Council
     of Provinces on 6 November 2001 and transmitted  for  consideration
     of Council's proposed amendments:


     (i)     Merchandise Marks Amendment Bill [B 33B -  2001]  (National
          Assembly   -   sec   75)   (for   proposed   amendments,   see
          Announcements, Tablings and Committee Reports, p 1203).


     The Bill has been referred to the Portfolio Committee on Trade  and
     Industry of the National Assembly for a report  on  the  amendments
     proposed by the Council.


     (ii)    Gas Bill [B 18B - 2001] (National Assembly - sec  75)  (for
          proposed amendments, see Announcements, Tablings and Committee
          Reports, p 1253).


     The Bill has been referred to the Portfolio Committee  on  Minerals
     and Energy of the National Assembly for a report on the  amendments
     proposed by the Council.

                     WEDNESDAY, 7 NOVEMBER 2001

ANNOUNCEMENTS:

National Assembly and National Council of Provinces:

1. The Speaker and the Chairperson:

 The Revenue Laws Second Amendment Bill [B 84 - 2001] was introduced  in
 the National Assembly by the Minister of Finance on 7 November 2001. In
 accordance with resolutions passed by the  National  Assembly  and  the
 National Council of Provinces on 11 October 2001,  the  Bill  has  been
 referred to a joint committee established in terms of Joint  Rule  111.
 The Bill has been referred to the Joint  Tagging  Mechanism  (JTM)  for
 classification in terms of Joint Rule 160.

National Assembly:

1. The Speaker:

 The following paper tabled on  5  November  2001  is  referred  to  the
 Portfolio Committee on  Housing.  The  Report  of  the  Auditor-General
 contained in the following paper is referred to the Standing  Committee
 on Public Accounts for consideration and report:


 Report and Financial Statements of the Department of Housing for  2000-
 2001, including the Report of  the  Auditor-General  on  the  Financial
 Statements for 2000-2001.

TABLINGS:

National Assembly and National Council of Provinces:

Papers:

1. The Speaker and the Chairperson:

 (1)     Report  of  the  Auditor-General  on  Auditing  and   Financial
     Management Matters in the Public Sector [RP 265-2001].


 (2)    Report and Financial Statements of the Auditor-General for 2000-
     2001 [RP 200-2001].


 (3)    Report and Financial Statements  of  the  Financial  and  Fiscal
     Commission for 1999-2000, including  the  Report  of  the  Auditor-
     General on the Financial Statements for 1999-2000 [RP 197-2001].


 (4)    Report and Financial Statements  of  the  Financial  and  Fiscal
     Commission for 2000-2001, including  the  Report  of  the  Auditor-
     General on the Financial Statements for 2000-2001 [RP 201-2001].

1. The Minister of Finance:

 (1)    Government Notice No R.997 published in  Government  Gazette  No
     22723 dated 2 October  2001,  Recognition  of  Stock  Exchanges  in
     terms of the definition of "Recognised Exchange" in Paragraph 1  of
     the Eighth Schedule to the Income Tax  Act,  1962  (Act  No  58  of
     1962).


 (2)    Government Notice No R.1036 published in Government  Gazette  No
     22752 dated 12 October 2001, Notice in terms of Regulation 4(3)  of
     the Exchange Control Regulations, 1961.


 (3)    Explanatory Memorandum on  the  Second  Revenue  Laws  Amendment
     Bill, 2001 [WP 3-2001].