Hon Deputy Speaker, hon members, one of the ways we serve the interest of the people is to legislate and write good necessary laws. We cannot turn a blind eye on some clauses and negotiate the content of other clauses. A badly written law is a badly written law, period. This Bill falls decimally short of the stated good intentions. In many instances numerous clauses in the Bill remain ambiguous and unclear. Just read the extensive contributions and the submissions by the Western Cape province in this regard. I would advise that the submission of the Western Cape province which forms part of the public record be carefully read.
The Bill will also allow an increase in central government's power over other spheres of government that can lead to the undermining of authority and power that duly elected provincial and local government public representatives may exercise. In fact, when you look closely to what is written in this Bill, you will see the most elaborate and yet subtle smoke screen. It is hiding the real diabolical intent of centralised control under the cloak of the noble course of fighting corruption and building capacity in the Public Service. All these noble causes could have been achieved by amending other laws but no, central government just had to stick its fingers in to the manpower issues and who controls them, right down to the smallest municipality.
The evil genius of clever propaganda is at work here, and I predicted this Bill will - once it becomes law - be selectively implemented to achieve the real intent, that of interfering in other spheres of government. The committee's records will reflect that the Bill's path through the legislative process turned out to be a farce. From the very beginning it was clear that it would be rushed through and with clear premeditated and diabolical intent.
This shameful state of affairs is the result of ignoring input during the so-called public hearings. Not one of the submissions from the public and other stakeholders could convince the majority party in the committee to change a single clause or word. Why on earth do you have public hearings in the first place if you are not interested in what the public and its institutions outside Parliament have to say? It makes a mockery of the whole process of legislation and consultation. Bad laws end up being unimplementable with unforeseen and unintended consequences resulting in unnecessary financial laws.
There are also numerous shortcomings in the Bill that the Minister and the department claim that it would be covered by regulations. This law will boomerang. I will not have my good time attached to it and when the boomerang returns with a vengeance I will not have to duck. I am sure that this Bill is heading for disaster, one way or another with possible endless legal wrangling and misery to public servants. Put plainly, it is a bad piece of legislation.