Thank you
very much, hon Chairperson, hon Deputy Minister, hon members, special delegates, everyone present here. Martin Luther King jnr said the following and I quote:
"The ultimate measure of a man is not where he stands in moments of comfort and convenience, but where he stands at times of challenge and controversy".
Before I continue, let me appreciate the fact that I could see that this pandemic has truly united us as South Africans. We have a common purpose and we have unity of purpose with regards to this specific issue; and that is something that we appreciate much, hon Minister. This is a medical emergency that is faced by the world, far graver than we have experienced in over a century. The WHO has declared the Coronavirus outbreak as a global pandemic; and if we have listened to the statistics as given by the Deputy Minister this morning, it confirms the correctness of this decision by the World Health Organisation.
Never before in the history of our democracy has our country been confronted with such a situation. And now that the President has declared a state of disaster in terms of the Disaster Management Act, it has set in motion varied processes to implement an integrated and coordinated disaster mechanism which will focus on preventing and reducing the outbreak of the virus across the country.
Hon members, I want to speak on behalf of parliament and
say that we have come to the realisation that this pandemic will severely disrupt our programme and our activities, and that is why there was a special meeting convened between Presiding Officers, Chief Whip and the party representatives; and we have been briefed by the Chief Whip of the Majority party in order to make sure that there are immediate interventions devised by parliament in line with the announcement of the President of the National State Of Disaster on Sunday 15 March.
Yesterday the NA rose. the NCOP will rise today, and we will then be in constituency period up until the 13 April 2020 when a further assessment will be done. After that assessment we will decide how we are going to take our programme forward. But there are also some measures that have been devised by parliament inclusive of the screening of Members for possible exposure to the Coronavirus. I hope we will have time to do it as the NCOP.
We also devised a number of interventions to ensure the protection of the parliamentary community and visitors,
including the installation of our measures of hand sanitisers, availability of onsite medical support team for screening and testing. We have also made the decision to suspend the operations of parliament and to close parliament to the public until further notice.
I have also been informed that some of the staff members have been informed that they should self-isolate for 14 days to make sure that we are safe. Our Members will also continue to spread this message during this constituency period to make sure that the correct message goes out like other Members have said here. The spreading of fake news is only when we allow for fake news to be spread if we are not in direct contact with our constituency, and that is what we are trying to do.
But, also, we would love to call on municipalities to make sure that, particularly in informal settlements, people should have access to water. If you speak about hygiene, you speak about the use of water and about the access to water. And we would like to call on municipalities to
ensure that our people in informal settlements have access to water, particularly just as a basic need, to make sure that they have access to hygiene.
But, also, we want to commend the health workers and the volunteers. They are always ready to assist patients that need to be assisted; and it is commendable that you did not hear from the side of the health workers that there is any issue with regards to being ready to assist the communities with that. I think the time is now most befitting for us as parliament to imbue within ourselves a greater sense of political maturity, a greater sense of leadership. We must make sure that we work together; and I am glad to find that parties have committed themselves today that we are going to work together across the political spectrum to ensure that we give hope and that we give clarity to our constituencies. As Parliament, we are also committed to make sure that we implement the measures that have been outlined by government in response to the virus. In conclusion, hon Chairperson, I would like to just quote the former hon President Thabo Mbeki when he said:
"Gloom and despondency have never defeated adversity. Trying times need courage and resilience. Our strength as a people is not tested during the best of times."
We then call on all South Africans to join efforts with us as- with our government to ensure that we deal with the coronavirus. We also want to commend the religious sector because, particularly for Christians, Easter or Passover is a very important event on their agenda. It is a very important time for reflection and also for making sure that we as Christians or the Christians in this country get together and make sure that they observe Passover. But all the religious communities, all the different ones they have actually heeded the call of the President and we need to commend them because we need them in these trying times. And, also, we want to again say, united we stand, divided we fall, and I thank you. [Applause.]