Chairperson, hon Minister, colleagues, I don't know what to say because Kgoshi and the rest of the comrades who spoke before me have actually spoken on everything.
Hon Minister, I was requested by the committee to speak on the law enforcement and the resources that will ensure that this piece of legislation that we are to pass today is fully implemented.
Firstly, let's talk about the challenges that the rest of the colleagues have spoken about. I am from the North West province. You will be aware that North West is 70% rural. What you have there is that the people who are economically active will be mainly the rural small and medium businesses and small farmers to commercial farmers.
What we have encountered in recent years is that crime on the metal front has increased - as have crimes involving cables - as arethe most important or valuable goods that are kept by communities for use at home. Those things are being stolen by criminals.
On the farms theft of fences and the other things that go with that, like your poles and all those things, is increasing. The reason for that is because some people are unemployed, but that does not justify the crime they are involved in. They steal those things and take them to the illegal scrap yards. Actually, perhaps it is in those scrap yards where organised crime takes place; on the one hand exploiting the very same people who are stealing and trying to make a living for themselves, but on the other hand committing crime.
On that front, again, one of the biggest problems that we have is that this kind of activity is not properly regulated. As a result, these big businesses are actually encouraging crime. Now, it is our well-considered view that this piece of legislation is going to assist us to deal with this kind of crime that is happening in the country and in the countryside.
In this Bill, we are also happy that the police, the law-enforcement agencies, have now been given powers to go to those scrap metal dealers and related businesses to inspect on a periodic basis if indeed the activities that are happening at those metal businesses are legal.
We are also pleased, as a committee, that this Bill gives the Minister the power to identify areas where illegal activities might be happening and to extend the power to deal with those activities. However, on the resources front - as we said, this is a very good piece of legislation - we are a little worried that it might not achieve its intended objectives because of a lack of resources.
It is on that basis that we agree with our colleague from KwaZulu-Natal that whilst we are aware that the police are doing a very good job, they need to be beefed up. They need to be reinforced. We need some kind of specialised unit that will specifically focus on dealing with this kind of a crime.
It is our well-considered view that that is one area that needs to be looked at. But besides establishing that unit, our experience is that we have been passing very good pieces of legislation in this august House. What has happened is that it takes time to implement those pieces of legislation simply because there are no resources in the form of money to ensure that the laws that we pass are effectively implemented.
Once again, it is our request that this area needs to be made a priority. Having said all these things, we want to say as a committee that we wish the department well in ensuring that these illegal activities are uprooted in our society. We support this Bill. [Applause.]