Hon Speaker, it is quite unthinkable that in the year 2013 a number of young men lost their lives because of a cultural practice and tradition. On behalf of the FF Plus, I would like to extend our sincere condolences to the families of these young men.
Just stop for one minute and think how you would feel if this was your child to whom this has happened. These are not just numbers but individual boys who died in the prime of their lives.
I listened to the hon Chief Whip today, and he started off quite well, explaining to us how this practice works and how it is being done. Then, unfortunately, he fell back into the past and blamed the past. I think that was rather unfortunate. Let us look forward and to the future and deal with this.
If you look at our Constitution you will find, in section 31, a provision that makes it possible for this practice to be exercised by the different communities in South Africa. Section 31(1) of our Constitution clearly states that persons belonging to cultural communities may not be denied the right, with other members of their community, to enjoy their culture. We respect that but we must also look at section 31(2) of the Constitution, which clearly states that the rights in subsection (1) may not be exercised in a manner inconsistent with any provision of the Bill of Rights. Surely, the young men who died had their rights infringed. There is no doubt whatsoever. That can never be accepted.
In die VF Plus respekteer ons hierdie kulturele aktiwiteit en praktyk wat vir sekere gemeenskappe in Suid-Afrika van groot belang is. Ons erken dit en dit is reg dat dit so toegepas word. Dit is tog duidelik dat hier iewers 'n baie groot probleem is, as 29 jong mans in Mpumalanga te sterwe kom en 6 in Limpopo. Hulle is eintlik jong kinders wat tussen 13 en 21 jaar oud is. In die afgelope klompie jare is 145 dood en meer as 1 000 is in hospitale opgeneem vanwe die praktyk. Daar is dus duidelik iewers iets groot fout en verkeerd.
Die verantwoordelikheid hiervoor l by die leiers van daardie gemeenskappe van wie se kultuur dit deel is om die nodige stappe te doen om te verseker dat daar nie misbruik gemaak word hiervan nie, en dat dit op die regte manier toegepas word. Dit is duidelik tans nie die geval nie.
Indien die leiers van daardie gemeenskappe nie daarin kan slaag om misbruik te voorkom en dit te reguleer nie, sal die staat nie anders kan nie as om in te gryp en hierdie praktyk te reguleer op 'n wyse wat die regte beskerm van daardie individue wie se regte deur hierdie praktyk misken word. Hier moet 'n fyn balans gehandhaaf word tussen daardie regte wat uitgeoefen word en ander regte wat misken word deur mense wat moedswillig misbruik daarvan maak vir geldelike voorsiening.
Ons simpatiseer met daardie families. Ons dink aan hulle, en dit is 'n tragedie wat hier plaasgevind het. Dankie. (Translation of Afrikaans paragraphs follows.)
[In the FF Plus, we respect this cultural activity and practice which is of great value to certain communities in South Africa. We acknowledge this and it is correct that it is being applied in this way. It is clear that somewhere there is a very big problem when 29 young men die in Mpumalanga and 6 in Limpopo. They are actually young children, aged between 13 and 21 years. In recent years, 145 died and more than 1 000 were hospitalised, because of this practice. There is, therefore, clearly something seriously wrong.
The responsibility for this rests with the leaders of those communities of whose culture it forms a part to take the necessary steps to ensure that this practice is not abused, and that it is applied in the correct manner. It is clearly not the case at present.
If the leaders of those communities cannot succeed in preventing the abuse of this practice and regulating it, the state will have no choice but to intervene and to regulate it in a way that protects the rights of those individuals whose rights are undervalued by this practice. A fine balance must be maintained here between those rights that are being exercised and the other rights that are undervalued by people who are deliberately abusing it for financial gain.
We sympathise with those families. We think about them, and it is a tragedy that has taken place here. Thank you.]