Well, I happen to know that he is a very diligent member of the committee ...
If I may move on, what this Bill seeks to do, as it contributes to economic freedom, is to develop and nurture an environment that balances responsible lending and borrowing with access to affordable credit.
The Bill now will ensure that credit providers do not adopt or continue with the cavalier attitude they have had so far where, when you want a loan, you can give them any income you choose and the loan is granted. In fact, you can get the loan just by using a telephone or at an automated teller machine.
It has been far too easy for credit providers, including the financial houses of our country, simply to provide credit - easy loans. You do a little dance, we see it on television - "Come and get it. Come and get it."
What they don't tell you is that the moment you have taken that loan, you will begin to incur initiation fees and administrative charges. If you are not careful with short-term loans and also, of course, long-term loans, you would be forced - forced! - to obtain what is called credit loan insurance. No one should be forced to go that route, especially with short-term credit.
To come back to this culture, the Minister has already indicated that his thinking is in line with what we are, to a large extent, looking at.
Therefore, on behalf of the committee, I would like to congratulate the Minister on taking forward the process that started with the NCOP's resolution, as all the provinces, without exception, requested a review of adverse credit information, as well as seriously looking at its removal.
I stress that it is the removal of information and not the fact that you still owe the capital or the debt. It's not that at all, but the way in which people sometimes talk in this House you would think they were giving them an amnesty with regard to the capital overnight.
We are not doing that! All we are saying is that from now on you won't be imprisoned by your debt to the extent that you cannot secure employment. We all - including members to the left and the right of this House - know of people, even among our own families, who cannot get jobs as a result of this practice. And I am glad to see some members nodding over there.
The ANC is exerting its full energy to build an inclusive economy. [Interjections.] Yes, I am glad to hear that.
On the other hand, we find irresponsible and reckless credit providers and money lenders who defy legislation. We also heard from the SA Reserve Bank and National Treasury that regulatory arbitrage has become a common practice. In fact, the Department of Trade and Industry, through the National Credit Regulator, also agreed that this was the case.
Regulatory arbitrage has become a game of, "Hum, we don't fit here under national. Haw, but we fit there." And between the humming and hawing they escape through the gap. Well, that is going to be stopped. You all know about them. [Interjections.] You all know! I see hon Marais laughing over there.
I do want to say that what the Minister has done, which he has shared with the House today, is to agree to the removal of all adverse credit information and paid-up judgments. The fact that it will come into effect from 1 April, hon Minister, should not discourage anyone.
I want to share with this House that my only son got married on 1 April, and he has been happily married for more than 12 years. So it is a very good date for me, thank you very much!
On behalf of the House and everyone sitting here - and I am sure you would share in this with me - I want to appeal to all the stakeholders that provide credit, big and small, to consider the country they are creating with this edifice of indebtedness. For one moment consider the problem of impaired debt and acknowledge that this is not the way to create a sound economy.
It is not the way to grow the economy. It is simply the way to fall over the precipice. Think about the call made by our late icon, Tata Madiba, whom we are all inspired by as we sit here. He called upon us to ensure that the poor and the working class truly benefit from the material fruits of the freedom for which we had fought in different ways. Now this Bill can help realise that.
I come from a farming background and one knows only too well that the greedy credit providers should take one thing into consideration. In fact, I feel like taking them to a farm so they can take a look. You can look after the tree, you can nurture it and get a tree full of fruit. However, deprived of nurturing, hemmed in and crowded by interest and administration fees to the point where the tree cannot grow, what fruit do you get? [Interjections.]
Nothing! You all know it. Absolutely no fruit! And our people who work as labourers on the farms have a very clear understanding of that. Someone once said to me, "You know what these credit providers remind me of? They remind me of something I heard in my village: Guess what? Why buy a cow when you can get free milk? Why remove interest rates, administrative charges and initiation fees when it's coming in for free?" I'm telling them now, they had better buy cows. [Applause.]
The amendments to the Bill have incorporated codes of conduct. [Interjections.]