Thank you, Deputy Speaker, I hope Mr Ellis will be happy today that I am standing up. The hon Minister of Defence asked me to respond on her behalf, if any statements were made with respect to the incidents that occurred two weeks ago, and indicate that she does share the sentiment of those hon members who regard the incident as unacceptable conduct by those who are sworn to defend our country and uphold its interests.
Therefore, we will support the sentiment as expressed by the hon Groenewald that that conduct was unacceptable, that we cannot have leaders of the Defence Force leading soldiers into mutiny and not disciplined conduct. Therefore, the Minister will certainly act to ensure that we build a SA National Defence Force that our country and our people can have faith in, and which we know will uphold the best interests of South Africa, and respect its leader, our commander in chief, President Zuma, and the people of our country.
With respect to the action of the Deputy Ministers, I thought they would stand up and make a brief comment on their determination, and ours, to ensure that we do protect the children of South Africa from paedophiles and all these who sexually abuse children. And we, as parliamentarians, need to speak up very strongly about the presence of pornography in South Africa in various visible spaces which threaten to harm our children. And, therefore, we exhort the Deputy Ministers to continue with the good efforts they've began in order to enhance our protection of children against pornography in this country.
Finally, on the matter of language, let me say that our universities do use more than one language and we do have universities that are committed to looking at addressing how we can develop additional languages in South Africa as languages of science and teaching in higher education in South Africa. All universities have a duty to carry out such exploration, because they are there to enhance intellectual discourse as well as the development of all the languages of South Africa.
Therefore, we do welcome the hon Fransman's call that there shouldn't be exclusivity in universities' utilisation of languages. I am pleased that, unlike some other parties, our universities are edging more and more towards multilingualism rather than single-medium university teaching. This is a welcome development in South Africa and we must support all our higher education institutions that are committed to expanding the use of all the languages of South Africa in higher education.
In conclusion, on the lecture that was referred to by the hon leader of Cope - the lecture by Mr Mathatha Tsedu - I think we have in this House expressed our concern about the prevailing greed that we see in our society. And it is something that doesn't occur only among public figures, but also because when we speak of public figures often we are referring to state institutions or Parliament. In the private sector we have unbridled greed, which we all need to start speaking about more and more and more.
When we speak about inequality in our country, of salaries and wages, and you look at the gap between a chief executive officer and an ordinary worker in a corporate entity, it is actually horrendous that we allow that kind of inequality in our country. So, I would say to the public commentators and public representatives, let us look at all forms of greed and inequality in our country and speak out on every individual who has the possibility of improving the conditions of the poor in our society. [Applause.]