Hon Speaker, with regard to the visit of President Obama, the issue is not about what the hon member raised, but rather that the visit was politicised from the moment that the DA made an application, and the way they went about doing it.
What happens during protocol arrangements? The City of Cape Town was supposed to consult, engage and discuss. Principally it was a good idea but the process was then supposed to be followed. None of that was done. The day when the decision was taken, we made a call to the hon Mayor of the City of Cape Town, through the Co-operative Governance and Traditional Affairs, Cogta, Minister, and said that our advice was to follow the process.
Stubbornly so - I don't think it was the mayor - a kind of elite team around her, Neilson and others, then decided to do what they have done and instructed the mayor differently.
What then happened after the horse had bolted and when there was clearly a problem of people writing letters to the mayor, saying that it was unacceptable - not the ANC in this case - the mayor then tried to get the President to intervene in the process as there was a problem. Civil society started raising critical issues of consultation. Then they tried to pull the President in, and that was where it went wrong.
The second problem was that the Leader of the Opposition in this House did not go to the Chief Whip of the Majority Party but went public and said that they wanted President Obama to come and speak in this House. Basically what they have done is to politicise an official engagement. [Interjections.] You should have waited on the process ... [Interjections.]