Mr Chairman, hon members of this House, this is a Bill which I think made history here, because it was the first private member's Bill to be treated in a different manner. Of course, we accorded it that interest and focus ensuring, in fact, that all the stakeholders were contacted. In fact, we leaned so far backwards to ensure that it was accorded the same, if not better, treatment of process and procedure than other Bills brought to Parliament from a committee or a Minister. Despite the hon Oriani-Ambrosini being an hour late due to forgetting that his Bill was due to be before the committee after the two weeks' notice and reminders, we nevertheless accorded him the time to brief us.
On 31 January this year, he was of course profusely grateful on the matter. We treated him and the Bill with all the processes and procedures that would be demanded of a portfolio committee. You may now ask why it took us so long to bring it here. Well, the ANC is, of course, a caring government. [Laughter.] It is a very caring government, and that is an acknowledgement from the hon Oriani-Ambrosini. That is why I am saying that.
When he did not return for the final process one day, we heard that he had flu. We rescheduled the Bill and learnt that he was in hospital. We rescheduled it when we learnt that he was coming out of hospital, but it was unfortunate that only in a letter to me, I learnt from him that his was a terminal illness. And I am sure the House and everyone else wished him well during this particular part of his life.
Having said that, the main issues within the Bill, which were later rejected by the committee, were that there were two clauses and, on his own acknowledgment, the first clause was not the clause that needed to be focused on. In fact, he conceded that he would give way on that one. A number of stakeholders pointed out that they had challenges. I am not talking about, if you like, those within the fraternity that are card- carrying members of the ANC, but the financial community, the business community and many others.
He also said that the second one, the suspension of interest - which, incidentally, already existed and that some credit providers were already offering - would, in fact, lead to prolonged debt review. So, you would suspend the interest and have the prolonged debt review, but in the end, after five years, you would still have to pay it. You were merely putting off that final day. Another is that the relationship and the point made in terms of the accumulation of interest, credit fees and charges beyond the balance of the unpaid debt is already in the National Credit Act, Act 34 of 2005.
Having said that, in 2010, the committee had communicated with the Minister with the concern that the National Credit Act was not where we wanted it to be and that the National Credit Regulator needed to be reviewed, and this Act amended, so that we could seriously tackle some of the flaws. This has been done. Yes, it was done this year. The Act is now here, and we are going to be dealing with it.
May I add that it was unanimous in the committee, although people in this House will say it was not. We do not want to do it piecemeal; we want a comprehensive piece of legislation that will deal effectively with a very serious issues, and not something that would just single out one point which would address ... [Interjections.] No! May I say that the ANC, amongst others, totally supports the refusal or the rejection of the private member's Bill. [Time expired.] [Applause.]
There was no debate.
The Chief Whip of the Majority Party: chairperson, I move:
That the Report be adopted.
Declarations of vote: