House Chairperson, I thank all the members of the House for supporting this debate. I think everybody has driven home his or her point. However, I just want to say a few words. If one listened to me very well, I said quite a few things that I quoted from other people. I think those things are very important in democracy.
Firstly, I said that when the chairperson of the Inter-Parliamentary Union, IPU, Mr Gurirab, was celebrating this day last week he said that democracy is accepting and respecting the basic rights and civil liberties of persons and groups whose view points differ from one's own. That is very important. We will never agree on everything in this world. We will always differ. But differing does not mean hating each other, neither does it mean fighting each other. That is what democracy is about.
We don't have the same minds as we are seated here. Every one of us has a unique way of thinking. These things are normal. For example, I normally have a fight with my wife as well as my children. But I've never chased them out of our home. It is their democratic right to question some of the things that I do as much as I have the right to question some of the things that they do. At the end of the day we sleep together, and we've got a very happy family. [Interjections.] That is all it means.
There are people who are so self-centred and selfish because they want to be recognised as individuals. We shouldn't be doing that because we would be killing democracy. All these views from the different walks of life that we are living as people in this country are very important. That's a viewpoint which I have expressed, and I put it very clearly.
Also, I said we are mindful of the central role of parliaments and the active involvement of civil society organisations and media. I have said it here; it's in my statement. I am reading from my statement about their interaction with government at all levels in promoting democracy, freedom and equality. They should not be destroying.
There are those who destroy. Building this democracy is not an easy thing, but destroying it is a very simple thing. I'm talking about promoting and not destroying these things: freedom, equality, participation, development, respect of human rights and the rule of law. We have to promote these issues, and we have to talk about them.
We must tell those people who are destroying them that they are wrong. Let's not go to restaurants to have dinners with such people and tell them they are right whereas we, as public representatives, know that those things are wrong and are destroying our Constitution. As I have said, the Constitution is a lovely document drafted by the people of South Africa, and we respect it.
I also quoted the former President, Mr Mandela, who said we must never allow - not just himself but all of us here as public representatives - that any should be denied their freedom as we were denied ours in the past; that any should be turned into refugees as has happened in the past; that any should be condemned into going hungry as we did in the past; or that any should be stripped of their human dignity.
We must not allow those things. All of us as public representatives must protect these rights as they are enshrined in the Constitution so that our dignity will remain intact and we can be proud citizens of South Africa. I thank you, House Chairperson. [Applause.]
Debate concluded.