Chairperson, first of all, at the outset we should say that participation in the process was consistently to try to adjust the legislation to what we could live with, because of the status of Icasa. Icasa is, actually the successor in law of the Independent Broadcasting Authority which is a Chapter 9 institution. It has swallowed all the functions of the Independent Broadcasting Authority. Even the Minister in the Presidency, hon Manuel, confirmed, however, that there was an oversight during the process of compiling the Icasa law in 2000, that it was not recognised at that stage, and that it was actually possibly an infringement of the Constitution. That matter has not been corrected in law up to now. I listened to what the hon Shinn said about what we have before us today. The reason why we are not objecting to the Bill, but cautioning the House, is the fact that it says Icasa must consider the policy made by the Minister. In terms of our Constitution, the executive is the policy-making body in government. We are the legislative authority. We must clearly see that policy and law find each other. However, we in Cope cannot ignore executive creep. Therefore, we are extremely mindful of and very cautious about the fact that the executive cannot interfere in the performance and the administration of the independent regulator. They are protected in terms of section 192 of the Constitution.
Clearly, the Act deals mostly with administrative matters - the Amendment Bill before us. However, we also caution that you cannot turn an ineffective regulator into an effective body by trying to legislate in further detail exactly who must submit what report when. That role is determined by the people that are appointed to the council of Icasa. However, we find that, mostly, the individuals who are appointed to that body are part of a political deployment of the ruling alliance. That is why that body is not functioning effectively. Secondly, Icasa has been before our committee on various occasions indicating that the staff employed do not have skills and capacity. That is why Icasa is failing.
So, by and large, the Bill before us is really completely unnecessary. It is not going to turn an ineffective body into an effective body. You cannot legislate to make an institution effective. Thank you. [Time expired.]