Madam Chair, the IFP supports this Bill with some reservations and sadness. It is worthwhile noting how this Bill came about.
The hon Dr Mario Oriani-Ambrosini, MP, fought for two years through extended litigation to introduce a much more limited set of amendments to the principal Act - effectively consisting of only two amendments.
Thanks to the excellent stewardship and chairmanship of the hon Joan Fubbs, MP, Dr Mario Oriani-Ambrosini's Bill was processed in an excellent manner, which constitutes a proper example of how Private Member's Bills ought to be processed.
Public comments were received and they were all in favour of Dr Oriani- Ambrosini's amendments. The department itself indicated that it saw merit in Dr Oriani-Ambrosini's Private Member's Bill, but rejected it on the basis of not wanting to have a piecemeal approach to the amendment of the principal Act, which, in their minds, required a broader overhaul.
This led to a negotiation between the committee and the department in which the department finally committed itself to bringing forward this Bill, also as a response to Dr Oriani-Ambrosini's Bill.
The committee reported to the House on Dr Oriani-Ambrosini's Bill, indicating that it rejected it on the basis of its contents being incorporated in the present amending Bill.
Yet the present amending Bill does not contain the two amendments of Dr Oriani-Ambrosini's Bill in spite of the people of South Africa having indicated that they wanted them.
One amendment would have enabled the court to suspend the accrual of interest for those under debt review so as to give the struggling people of South Africa a financial break in these times of economic harshness.
One must conclude that the only reason why the two amendments were not taken up in this Bill was that Dr Oriani-Ambrosini was not present in the committee to argue for them himself.
One wonders what this Parliament is made of if it takes the absence of one of its members, no matter how bright, for a committee to be in breach of the commitments it made to this House. One must also wonder how the department could be permitted to get away with having misled the committee.
I now want to turn my attention to the contents of the Bill. It is a welcome step in the right direction, but more must be done to alleviate the burden on our citizens who are currently under debt review. In this regard, the IFP suggests that the department begins by taking a serious look at the amendments as introduced by hon Oriani-Ambrosini's amending Bill. I thank you.