Mr Chairman, let me tell the House that R350 million of your money going to a government of tyrants is what is before you today. The reason for us to express solidarity with them is because they have inflicted injuries on their own people through economic policies that have failed because of tyranny! We cannot put that aside! We are not expressing solidarity with a people, but we are expressing solidarity with a regime which has placed those people in a position leading to the necessity for them to ask for solidarity! There are no references to human rights conditions. There are no references to the human rights dialogue.
The cost of this treaty is not only the R350 million. It is the opportunity cost of engagement with this country at the expense of not engaging with other countries with whom we could do business. It is a shift of policies, from what matters in business terms for the country, to what does not matter, except for political reasons.
If this is a political payback, the bill for this political payback should be sent to Luthuli House, not to the people of South Africa! [Applause.] What we want to say today by opposing this treaty, which the entire opposition opposed in committee, is to tell the Minister to get his hands out of our pockets when it comes to paying political bills. [Applause.]
We are also extremely concerned about the way this treaty has been phrased. It is really a non-recourse loan. There are provisions in this Bill that bypass the ordinary means of adjudicating disputes, and effectively the treaty says that if payment is not made, all that South Africa can do is to search for an amicable solution. I wish I could ... [Interjections.]