... considered the comments received. The report therefore concludes that the committee is of the opinion that the substance of the comments received from the National House of Traditional Leaders does not materially differ from the original comments presented to the committee in October 2010. Accordingly, it is satisfied that it has duly considered all the comments made by the National House of Traditional Leaders. This report, which is before you, was therefore adopted by the committee without amendment.
However, I think it is important, at this time, to reiterate why we need this Bill and why it is overdue. By amending the current framework of intellectual property law, we are seeking to protect our indigenous knowledge; to protect the creativity of the minds of our forefathers and mothers. This Bill confers the right of ownership on our indigenous communities to own and to benefit from their inherited indigenous knowledge.
We seek this protection because we recognise, firstly, the value of our indigenous knowledge and we believe that the benefit associated with our national assets should accrue to the communities who conceived them. Secondly, we believe that our people's creativity should be no less protected and no less valued than the intellectual property that we already have protected in our law.
This is an important first step to protect indigenous knowledge in our law. We acknowledge that there will be more discussion in the future as the international community deliberates on these issues and as we, South Africans, develop and refine our intellectual property legislative framework. The ANC supports this report and everything that the passage of this Bill will represent to our people.
At this point, I believe it is appropriate that we recognise the contribution that Dr Mario Oriani-Ambrosini has made to these deliberations. We know he is not able to be with us in the House today. However, this is a matter that is very close to his heart. We wish him well in his recovery. I'm sure that I speak for all of us when I say to his family that our prayers and our warm thoughts are with them and with Mario for his recovery to good health. [Applause.]
There was no debate.