1. Hon. Speaker and members, I thank all Legislature officials, cleaners and on-site workers who make our lives more comfortable in a demanding environment.
2. I applaud the IT division for reducing the Legislature’s carbon footprint, as our contribution to combatting climate change.
3. Madam Speaker, the roof on the first floor must be replaced, as soon as possible, as on many occasions recently our offices had been flooded.
4. Rats and bird lice are still a menace at the back of the Legislature and regular pest control will assist with a complete overhaul of the plumbing system.
5. The air conditioners need to be serviced and light fittings changed for brighter light.
6. Hon. Speaker, please change the carpets, as these are damaged, loose and dangerous on the back stairways. Please also change all the door locks, which constantly jam. Although the office space is appreciated but we have to be safe.
7. Now Hon. Speaker, may I focus on constituency funding and its use. The MF, as a one member party, based on the proportional representation system, I have from 2014 run more than one constituency office but this is not possible with the rising cost of running fully fledged offices. Hon.Speaker there must be guidelines from the Whips, Rules and STACOV committees about the number of constituency offices in the Province, based on the number of MPL’s a party has.
8. As I stated before I am constantly attacked by Hon. Bradley Singh of the DA on WhatsApp groups and Facebook for closing the Phoenix Constituency office post the 2019 election and undiscerning voters are not aware that the DA eg: has received more than 30 000 to 40 000 votes in Phoenix and Chatsworth separately but do not have a constituency office in these areas. They have won wards and confuse the voters with their municipal funded councillor offices which serve different purposes. The same situation prevails in Northdale. This propaganda and harassment needs to stop and the control needs to come from the Legislature and funding rules.
9. Also, we have 11 Districts, and approximately eleven million population with 80 MPL’s; our people need a fair distribution of MPL offices to serve them.
10. The Rules committee needs to draft rules for member conduct, outside this Hon.House, on social media and other public spaces, more so, to protect women MPL’s from emotional and physical abuse if we are to be a ‘gender responsive’ Legislature because violence against women in politics is becoming a huge deterrent to motivate young women to enter the political arena.
11. I take this opportunity to thank both the Hon.Speaker and Deputy for ensuring that our university fees will be paid.
12. Hon. Speaker, with these words the Minority Front supports the Legislature budget of R 598 756 million.

HON.S. Thakur-Rajbansi