Speaker, democracy is an ideal that speaks to members of society having control over rules and policies, treating each other as equals and being treated as equals. As a country we have impressively laid out a legal framework guaranteeing people's rights, but there are further questions that we need to ask ourselves to determine whether the ideal of democracy has been realised.
The following questions are asked: Are our governing institutions representative of and accountable to the people? Do we have an active civil society and are we empowering it without manipulation? Do our political parties articulate the views and aspirations of the people?
We have taken tremendous strides as a young democracy, but we also cannot afford to be complacent because the equality ideal is so far from being realised and without it democracy remains a distant ideal. Thank you, Mr Speaker. [Applause.]