Chairperson, the Joint Committee on Ethics and Members' Interests has tabled the two reports before the House in terms of the provisions of Parliament's Code of Ethics. The first report arose from an investigation conducted by the Auditor-General. This report speaks for itself and does not require further explanation.
The committee does wish to bring to the attention of this House and all its members one or two salient points. Most, if not all, of the business enterprises referred to in the first report, are dormant or have never traded. However, the fact that a business enterprise has never traded does not negate a member's responsibility and obligation to declare his or her interest in such a business enterprise.
There exists no distinction in Parliament's code of ethics between functioning or trading business enterprises and dormant ones. We take this opportunity, therefore, to appeal to all members of Parliament to bear this in mind. It is also significant to note that, although the Auditor-General audited Parliament's 2007 disclosures in respect of directorships, the vast majority of hon members of Parliament were found to have complied with the provisions of our code.
This brings me to the report and the complaint against the hon Minister Balfour. Perhaps understandably, this report evoked enormous interest in both the written and electronic media. Quite clearly, the rights of the media are enshrined in and protected by our Constitution and, needless to say, we respect those rights and it is our duty to defend those rights, which we do. We do, however, wish to make this humble appeal to certain sections, and I stress certain sections of our media, not to make premature judgements on these matters.
It is significant that the decision of the ethics committee was taken unanimously. Every single member present in that meeting agreed with the findings contained in the reports. With these few words, I take this opportunity to convey our thanks to the registrar of member's interests and the staff for the efficient manner and the hard work they put into expediting these matters. My thanks also to all members of the ethics committee for the responsible manner in which they considered these matters. We commend these reports to this honourable House and ask that they be adopted and, where required, be acted upon. I thank you.
There was no debate.
Question put: That the recommendations as contained in the Report of Joint Committee on Ethics and Members' Interests on Findings of the Auditor- General with respect to audit of disclosure of interests by Members be agreed to.
Agreed to.
Question put: That the Report of Joint Committee on Ethics and Members' Interests on Complaint against Minister B M N Balfour be adopted.
Agreed to.