Chair, maybe before I start, I think it is important to remind the sponsor of the debate that he gave us a topic that is a double barrel. It speaks about crime and there are property elements in it. So, when we raise the issues beyond crime, don't cry foul.
I want to start by saying the escalation in violent crimes in our country is a cause for concern. We condemn in the strongest terms any act of violence aimed at our people and their properties. Law enforcement agencies should deal with any form of criminality without fear, favour or prejudice.
As a matter of fact, we get reports in this House that say the Minister of Police - the police - are arresting people everyday. We have that in annual reports and
everywhere. As a matter of fact we get reports here from the justice department and the NPA about how many people are convicted - life sentences and different sentences.
As a matter of fact, hon Groenewald, we also get report here - and we raised it even yesterday - that all the jails in South Africa are overcrowded. It means this government is at work. [Applause.] [Interjections.] So, whoever wants to complain that nothing is happening is living in another country and is not living in this country.
However, the issue in your topic - the issue that you wanted us to debate - is certainly not crime. You have hidden it and I want to expose it as I go - what the real issue that you are raising is. [Applause.]
The motion raises concern regarding protection of property, and at times this matter gets conflated and deliberately miscommunicated our policy as the ANC on land expropriation without compensation. That is the issue that is hidden in this topic.
For us, as the ANC, this debate perhaps offers us an opportunity to continue to explain our conference resolution on land expropriation without compensation to the nation and the world, as it has been misunderstood as a threat to investors and a chaotic grabbing of land.
Immediately after the 55th ANC National Conference, we witnessed deliberate attempts among some our compatriots who misunderstood and miscommunicated our conference resolutions in general and the land expropriation without compensation in particular.
To illustrate this point - I am glad he has come to sit next to me - perhaps it is best to quote the leader of FF-Plus in March 2018. He said, and I quote:
The proposed ANC programme of expropriation without compensation will, from a political perspective, lead to unforeseen consequences including the invasion of farms, where people will force the government to expropriate without compensation...and the ANC government won't have any argument to say we are not going to do it.
These are the words said by hon Groenewald. This is basically what he is doing today when he introduces this debate.
The introduction of this debate is an instalment of conspiracy campaign of a sophisticated swart gevaar by hon Groenewald. [Interjections.] That is what is happening! We asked ... [Interjections.] This is what was supposed to be ... He is hiding the real issue.
He is hiding his pain! His pain is not crime. His pain is the kind of things that I am going to raise because what contribute to crime are three triple challenges: Unemployment, poverty and inequality.
These are the kind of things that we must do to deal with those is his pain, and that is exactly what we must do. Yes, where we agree with him is that the history of dispossession was a violent one, but the redress and restoration of dignity - thanks to the ANC - will be guided by the prescripts of our constitutional democracy.
His pain is that when we do the process that I want to outline is that we will repeat what was done to our forebears. The ANC has been very clear and we are matching. We are going to do that. We are going to amend that Constitution. We are going to deal with issues of land because that is the pain that he is not raising here. [Applause.]
To add to this, this Parliament has passed the Protection of Investment Act 2015, whose aim is:
To provide for the protection of investors and their investments; to achieve a balance of rights and obligations that apply to all investors; and to provide for matters connected therewith?
If I were you the DA - ...
Afrikaans:
... die bloupoppe aan my kant - hierdie kant ...
English:
... you will be quiet because if you speak about crime here in the Western Cape, where you lead ... [Interjections.] The jails ... [Interjections.] The Western Cape contributes the highest in terms of people who go to jail. You know the reason why? Because, they are not dealing with social ills. They are not dealing the environment where you have informal settlements and police cannot do that. So, I should be keeping quiet if I were you. [Interjections.]
Our President has launched an Investment Summit in 2018, which was also held this year, and many investors have made investment commitment in our economy. This is a sign of confidence which investors have in our economy.
It will be a contradiction in terms if on one side we call for investments and on another we do not provide assurance through our laws for the protection of the properties of investors.
Going back to the concern of the FF-Plus, as outlined in the motion with regard to the responsibility of government to protect the lives of our people and their
property, it is perfectly obvious that there are no grounds to suggest that this Parliament will engage in arbitrary and irresponsible ways in dealing with the question of expropriation of land without compensation.
If we were to do that, we will be standing in contrast to our own policy position. Again, we correctly chose the route of setting up a parliamentary process which FF-Plus is part of, agreed to by majority of parties in this House, and to which all parties enjoy equal participation. And, we are going to be marching with that process because that is the only way that we are going to deal with unemployment, inequality and poverty.
The choice of the process of public participation, for example - in which South Africans in their diversities make both written and oral submissions to the Constitutional Review Committee - was a deliberate one aimed at ensuring that whatever approach we take as Parliament, will be an outcome which our people have participated in it.
The ANC participated and lead the process of drafting our Constitution. We have an experience in doing this. I want to go back before I forget this point. Some of the claims made here, for example: Hon Terblanche you are an unfortunate example I am making because you have the head of Hawks who has been found murdered. There is still an investigation happening there but you stand here and you seem to know what the cause of that is. You are here talking about suicide and murders and I don't know where you get those kind of facts. All in all ... [Time expired.] Thank you very much. [Applause.]