ACDP Parliamentary newsletter - 24 October 2003
In this issue:
1. Commission of Inquiry into Justice corruption is necessary
2. Moratorium needed on GM foods
3. Spare the rod, spoil the child
4. Electoral Laws Amendment Bill discriminatory
5. Medicine price controls will have opposite effect
6. Chaos in Zimbabwe
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1. Commission of Inquiry into Justice corruption is necessary
A separate Judicial Commission of Inquiry should be established to investigate allegations of corruption in the Department of Justice modelled on the Jali Commission into alleged corruption in prisons, says ACDP spokesperson on Justice Mr Steve Swart.
Allegations made by suspended deputy director-general and former Master's Office Business Unit head Mike Tshishonga claim that Justice Minister Penuell Maduna had sought to use his influence to appoint liquidator Mr Enver Motala in the insolvency of the Retail Apparel Group in Pietermaritzburg. Further information was furnished by Chief Legal Advisor Mr Enver Daniels concerning widespread corruption in the liquidation industry.
"The Hefer Commission's mandate is to investigate whether the Minister abused his position to repay past apartheid obligations to the apartheid government and will exclude investigating the wide-ranging allegations of corruption and cronyism in the Justice Department," Mr Swart said.
"A separate judicial commission of inquiry should be instituted into the Justice Department, with particular emphasis on the liquidation industry and the Master's Office Business Unit.
"In view of the allegations made by extremely high-ranking officials, the ACDP calls on the President to establish such a Commission on Enquiry," Mr Swart said.
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2. Moratorium needed on GM foods
African Christian Democratic Party MP Kent Durr (NCOP)moved a second motion in National Council of Provinces regarding genetically modified foods this week. This highly controversial issue has been swept under the carpet in South Africa by the government and supported by opposition parties such as the DA. While Mr Durr does not necessarily have anything against GM foods, more public debate on this issue is necessary before South Africa heads into implementing a process that cannot be reversed.
In this motion, Mr Durr quotes from a UK study that found that the overwhelming majority of British consumers will not purchase GM foods. Europe as a whole has similar views, and considering that this is South Africa's largest export market, careful consideration and more research is necessary on this issue.
Mr Durr has received support from a wide variety of sources for his first motion calling for a moratorium on GM foods and of course opposition from a company that manufactures GM seed and products.
Here is the motion:
The House notes the fact that recently the following groups inter alia have called for a moratorium on the further use and application of genetically modified organisms (GMO's):
1) U.S. National Family Farmers Coalition and other farm groups:
2) National Farmers Union (Canada)
3) British Medical Association
This comes on top of the very recent official UK government survey testing 37,000 respondents in the UK which found that:
1) 93% agree that not enough is known about the long term health effects of the GM foods: Only 5% disagree.
2) 85% agree GM crops would mainly benefit producers and not ordinary
people: Only 8% disagree.
3) 91% agree that there are potential negative effects of GM crops on the
environment: Only 7% disagree.
4) 93% agree that GM technology is driven more by profit than the public
interest: Only 6% disagree.
5) Only 8% are happy to eat GM foods: 86% disagree.
6) 84% agree that GM is an unacceptable interference with nature: Only 10% disagree.
The House notes further that only last week the company that owns 91% of patents on GM seeds grown worldwide, announced that it is pulling out of the European Cereals Business and putting its Cambridge headquarters in the UK up for sale; as well as its cereal development stations at Cambridge, England; in France, Germany and the Czech Republic, following the hardening resistance to GM crops throughout Europe.
The House thus re-affirms its call for an immediate moratorium on the use and introduction of GMO's into South Africa; at least until comprehensive and credible research has been done on the possible damaging effects to the environment, to public health and to our exports.
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3. Spare the rod, spoil the child
While the number of child abuse cases reported daily in South Africa is appalling, the criminalisation of moderate parental corporal punishment is not the answer, says Mr Steve Swart.
"It is significant that the criminalisation of corporal punishment at schools has not solved the problem of the physical abuse of children in schools, with Childline reportedly receiving more reports of assaults than ever before. This, we believe, would be the same situation in the home, should moderate parental corporal punishment be abolished," Mr Swart said.
"Whilst there are alternatives to enforcing discipline within the family, there may be times when spanking, as a moderate form of chastisement, is necessary. Incidents of abusive discipline do occur however, and when they do, guilty parents must be prosecuted to the full extent of the law for assault and child abuse.
"In line with our Biblical worldview the African Christian Democratic Party is opposed to provisions in the South African Law Commission's draft Child Bill, that seek to remove the common law defence of reasonable chastisement available to parents, effectively criminalising all forms of parental corporal punishment," Mr Swart said.
"The ACDP considers this a serious inroad into the role of the family in society and should be seen against the background of various legislative measures eroding parental authority, such as providing abortions for minors and the provision of contraceptives to children over the age of 12 - both without parental consent.
"Child abuse in any form must be met with the full force of the law. However, there is no doubt about the important role that moderate chastisement of children can play within the family context."
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4. Electoral Laws Amendment Bill discriminatory
African Christian Democratic Party MP Kent Durr (NCOP) gave the following speech about the Electoral Laws Amendment Bill which does not allow South African citizens that are overseas at the time of next year's elections to
vote:
The provisions of the Bill which allow only for government officials and their households to vote abroad in a general election I believe is wrong. I believe it is unconstitutional and discriminatory.
In a free society with a free economy where we as a nation have opted for globalization, the natural and logical consequence of that policy is for South Africans to find themselves studying, serving and working abroad in the interests of our economy. Why discriminate against these South Africans and only allow government officials to vote? It is discrimination of the worst kind.
Our Minister of Tourism goes abroad and appoints Sunshine Ambassadors from South Africans living and working overseas, to sell South Africa as a tourism project. We ask South Africans abroad to promote our country, where they work. So one can work abroad for South Africa but you can't vote abroad for South Africa. It is a sick joke. No-one can tell me that this is administratively difficult to arrange. Postal voting is an easy and a well known tried and tested procedure.
Arguments that it will cause administrative difficulties, I am uniquely placed to refute: As the past Ambassador and High Commissioner to the UK, I presided over the 1994 South African election, and nothing could have been easier or a happier occasion. It brought South Africans together. It demonstrated our democracy to everyone and engendered confidence.
So you can be a Sunshine Ambassador but not a Sunshine Voter! You can clean the church, but you can't worship in it!
In London alone there are some 30,000 to 40,000 South Africans (a floating
population) working for South African Companies arranging our trade to and from the UK and Europe. You can work for South Africa abroad but not vote for South Africa abroad.
By allowing South Africans the fundamental right to vote we would keep them involved with South Africa. They would try and keep informed and feel part of the electoral process. The government really must think again.
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5. Medicine price controls likely to have the opposite effect
The newly established Medicines Pricing Committee set to recommend a single selling price for pharmaceuticals, intended to make medicines more affordable, is more likely to have the opposite effect, says ACDP spokesperson on health Mrs Cheryllyn Dudley.
"In October 2002 when the Medicines and Related Substances Control Amendment Bill to legislate state interference in pricing was passed in the National Assembly, the African Christian Democratic Party opposed the bill. We maintained at the time and continue to believe that availability of generics and open competition are sufficient to drive down prices.
"The ACDP recommended that the pricing committee be scrapped, predicting that it will only drive up costs and ultimately prices. There are 15000 manufacturers in the vicinity of Bombay alone and provided medicines are tested and regulated, such huge competition will be the only effective way to drive prices down.
"One year later as this debate again rears its head, we would like to see government declaring South Africa a Pharmaceutical Manufacturing 'Free Zone' . This would attract investment and increase competition, bringing the desired results as opposed to counterproductive government manipulation at taxpayers' expense," Mrs Dudley said.
"Liberty requires more public choices, therefore the more supply points the
better. Additional courses to dispense must be available and encouraged
but not mandatory for medical doctors, especially doctors who are already dispensing. At the same time, pharmacists should be able to prescribe ethical medicine, thereby giving the public more choices, which is the best public protection."
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6. Chaos in Zimbabwe
African Christian Democratic Party MP Kent Durr (NCOP) moved the following motion on Zimbabwe:
The House notes that due to the catastrophic policies followed by President Mugabe and the Zanu-PF government of Zimbabwe, a once prosperous state has been reduced to privation, poverty and starvation.
The House notes further that millions of Zimbabweans fleeing from the rogue government for economic or political reasons are now found all over neighbouring countries in Southern Africa, and are scattered all over the world.
The House calls upon the South African government to use its influence to end this nightmare and to work for the earliest possible full and fair properly adjudicated elections, to return an administration that can start the long hard task of re-building that country. Further that this be accompanied by the exiting of Mr Robert Mugabe whose government has become an obscenity.
The House calls upon the government to stop hiding behind the chimera of quiet diplomacy which has become understood as tacit acceptance of the excesses of the Zimbabwean government.
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