Chairperson, the ad hoc committee had a very wide focus and we did a comprehensive review. We looked at, amongst other things, the mandate of the Chapter 9 bodies, their enabling legislation, budgets, reporting, levels of parliamentary oversight, public participation and involvement, as well as the appointments in terms of the office of commissioners.
As for the delay in the report, as members clearly can see, is not the type of report that one can pass in a committee, put in the ATCs and pass in the House the next day, simply because of the far-reaching implications and also because some of the recommendations require very long-term interventions, possibly legislative amendments, changes to budgets and reporting and possibly even constitutional amendments.
One of the problems that we identified is that there seems to be a lack of co-ordination, that the various Chapter 9s report to different portfolio committees, and for that reason we tried to come up with creative ways in which to solve this problem. We therefore thought to put in place a unit in the office of the Speaker as a central point to co-ordinate all the various functions and operations of the Chapter 9 committees.
This will enable Parliament to act proactively. For example, just to alert the House that next year in September, the terms of office of all the remaining commissioners on the Human Rights Commission will be expiring. We don't want to leave the Human Rights Commission in a situation where it cannot function because the appointments have not been made timeously. So what the Unit in the office of the Speaker will do is it will put Parliament in a position to act proactively and to make the appointments timeously. We also believe that it will strengthen parliamentary oversight.
Just to respond to the hon Smuts on what she said about the attitude of Parliament: Parliament goes out of its way to strengthen the Chapter 9 Institutions and to assist and protect their independence and their dignity. For example, the House will recall that not too long ago when there were operational problems in the office of the Public Protector, this House established a special ad hoc committee to assist the Public Protector to sort out those problems. We then reconvened six months later to check on its progress.
With regard to the justice committee, we have taken up the issue about the Human Rights Commission Act. The Department of Justice has prepared a draft Bill that they will put to the justice committee.
I would like to thank Prof Asmal in absentia, members of the committee who worked extremely hard and also our support staff. Let us as Parliament remember that the Constitution in section 181 enjoins all of us to support, protect and strengthen the independence, dignity and effectiveness of all our Chapter 9s, and let us continue to do so. Thank you. [Applause.]