Chairperson, the DA supports this protocol and we have no objection in ratifying it today. We are taking the unprecedented step, though, of today ratifying a trade treaty which has not yet been signed by the President. Of course, the President was absolutely correct in returning immediately to South Africa on 16 August 2012 to deal with the Marikana tragedy. But, Chair, it has been 13 months since that awful day last August and the document has still not been signed. The President's Office and the SADC Secretariat have been unable to get together in the past 13 months for even five minutes just to sign this document. This has caused unnecessary delay regarding a crucial document.
We are sure that what we are doing here today is legal and so we are proceeding with ratification, but we must ask why it took so long to negotiate, finalise and ratify such an important and obviously beneficial agreement for South Africa and for job creation in industry in this country.
South African professionals, Chairperson, are by far the biggest providers of professional services to the rest of the continent. Our industry and our professions are best placed to take advantage of this agreement. We provide services in a wide variety of industries like financial services, energy, transport, telecommunications, agribusiness and many others. So this treaty is a very important milestone and opportunity for our country. But, Chairperson, perhaps the delay in signing the treaty that we are discussing today is somewhat indicative of the delay in the department's African trade and customs integration vision. The vision, as previous speakers have said, is laudable, but the pace is achingly slow. We have seen little significant progress on the tripartite FTA, as African News Network, ANN7, would call it.
There are South African businesses and professionals waiting to take advantage of agreements like this to grow the industry into the continent and create jobs here at home. Services already account for 22,9% of South African employment and there are many businesses literally waiting at the border for increased access and opportunities. We must then ask why the department has made so little significant progress in the African integration vision. We need access, we need infrastructure and we need a much faster work pace than we have seen over the last few years. There are really significant opportunities, but this department needs to focus and get the job done. Thank you very much. [Applause.]