Hon Chair, I would like to express my gratitude to hon Hlengwa for raising the important issue of the destruction of school property. Far too frequently now, our children are being held hostage because of civic and political demands. I think we have a collective and individual responsibility as public representatives to make the appropriate intervention and try to educate our communities. The effect of this destruction is that school learning is interrupted, facilities for learning and teaching are destroyed and have to be replaced at enormous cost, and the value of education is diminished among learners and within society.
I believe we have to make a concerted effort to ensure that under no circumstances is quality education compromised because of political or civic demands, whether in our schools or in our tertiary institutions. I thank the hon member for raising this very important issue. I am not going to deal with the issue of hon Ramatlakane; I think Minister Naledi Pandor has dealt with it. Thank you very much. [Applause.]