Hon Chairperson and hon members of the NCOP, with your permission, I would like to make an announcement about the election date, as we are all aware that the term of our municipal councils will be ending soon. In terms of the Local Government: Municipal Structures Act, Act 117 of 1998, the term of municipal councils is five years, calculated from the day following the date set for the previous election of all municipal councils.
After consultation with the Independent Electoral Commission, government has set the date for local government elections as 18 May 2011. The Minister for Co-operative Governance and Traditional Affairs will, in the next week, in terms of section 24(2) of the Act, formally proclaim the election date by publishing a notice in the Government Gazette.
In keeping with our established tradition, we are announcing the election date prior to the formal proclamation to allow voters to plan their lives; that is, voters need to know exactly where they will be voting.
Once the election date is gazetted next week, the municipal segment of the voters' roll will close. This means that eligible voters have the last opportunity, from today until the proclamation of the election date is published in the Government Gazette, to ensure that their names appear correctly on the voters' roll.
I therefore call upon all South Africans, especially the first-time voters, to make full use of the last voter registration weekend of 5 and 6 March 2011 set by the Independent Electoral Commission to ensure that their names appear correctly on the voters' roll. I thank you. [Applause.]
Thank you, Deputy President, for the announcement. I think everybody will work very hard this weekend and make sure that people register. All out, hands on deck, because we need those votes.
We will now proceed with the questions as printed on the Order Paper. I now call upon the hon Deputy President to deal with Question 1, as asked by the hon Makhubela.