Look, hon member, I respect you, but I also want you to give respect to what I'm saying. I'm saying that you must listen to me. I give you respect and I expect you to respect me. [Interjections.] No, no, what I'm saying is true. It's a true reflection because I have engaged with the staff of Parliament to get clarity on the matter of how Scopa versus the portfolio committee is working. So I don't know what you are talking about.
I'm not sucking facts out of my thumb here. I'm dealing with facts -I have gone out of my way to make sure that we understand our two roles. It is important to me, when I deal with this matter, that I am able to clarify for myself what my responsibility is and what Scopa's responsibility is, and how that engagement guides us. I also need to clarify how that engagement guides us because it is important for the broader public and the soldiers to understand whether the Minister is shunning Parliament or not. [Interjections.] I'm saying it's my responsibility; there is nothing wrong in doing that. I'm a member of this Parliament and I've got a responsibility to make myself clear.
What I'm saying is that, in discharging our responsibility as the portfolio committee, the Ministry has engaged with us about 29 times. The Ministry has remained accountable to the portfolio committee. This responsibility, which the Minister is meeting, is something which we really welcome and support. So if the newspapers, and or any other person, say that the Minister is not responsible, that she is not coming to Parliament, that is a blue lie. It is a matter of fact, in the correspondence that I have looked into, that she was called to come to and observe those particular meetings.
In reflection, it should be clearly said that if you want to summon a particular Minister, you need to be able to say why you are summoning him or her. I wanted to solicit a response from the Minister in order for me to know whether it was within her parliamentary responsibilities or whether it was part of our own. I also want to know whether this was about A400 or not. It was clear to me that the way the Minister conducted herself has been very honourable and very supportive. I support her in the efforts that she has made. [Interjections.] We will always be going ... That's part of the budget. We are talking about matters of accountability; that is, how do we remain accountable to the institution itself. [Interjections.]
The next matter that we need to deal with is the issue of transformation. The Minister has done a very good job and, in the past 15 years, there has been a lot of good progress with regard to issues of gender and race. There has been quite a lot of progress that has been made with regard to those particular issues. [Interjections.]