Mr Speaker, I have to say that on the other side of the House we were not too impressed by the Deputy President's efforts in this regard. We are hearing lots of talk but really not seeing much result. When the framework agreement was announced some eight months ago, we were told that the intention was to ensure a peaceful wage bargaining season and to restore investor confidence.
Since then, we have had clashes between mineworkers and police, between mineworkers and mine security and between members of different unions. We have had a nonstriking miner attacked, beaten and set alight. And just this Monday, we had an NUM union member at the Union Mine badly beaten, his head severely damaged and his ribs and arms broken. There is not much on the peace side - even less on the investor - side where we just came from an 11- week strike at Northam Platinum. We now have 80 000 platinum miners who are approaching their sixth week on strike. In the face of all these, how could the Deputy President claim that his efforts have been successful?