5.2 The Committees were informed that officials of the relevant Departments held meetings with the Speakers of the provincial legislatures of the Eastern Cape and KwaZulu-Natal to discuss what is required of those provincial legislatures to comply with their constitutional obligation to "facilitate public involvement" when they consider the question whether or not to approve the Thirteenth Amendment Bill, as required by section 74(8) of the Constitution. The Committees were further informed that it was suggested to those provincial legislatures that they should consider the possibility of holding joint public hearings in the affected areas. The Committees were also informed that the following motivation for that suggestion was given to those provincial legislatures: (a) The effect of the suspension of the Constitutional Court's orders of invalidity of the Twelfth Amendment and the Repeal Act is that the provincial boundary between the provinces of the Eastern Cape and KwaZulu-Natal was changed with effect from 1 March 2006 when those two Acts came into operation. This means that the provincial legislature of KwaZulu-Natal would not on its own be able to hold hearings in the Eastern Cape where, for instance, Matatiele is now situated. (b) From the Constitutional Court's judgment in the Matatiele case it is clear that the provincial legislatures of the Eastern Cape and KwaZulu-Natal are required to facilitate public involvement in all the affected areas, in other words in the affected areas that they release, as well as the affected areas that they receive. (c) It would, from a financial and practical point of view, be more feasible to hold joint public hearings. (d) Once the joint public hearings have been held, the provincial legislatures of the Eastern Cape and KwaZulu- Natal should individually consider the question whether or not to approve the Thirteenth Amendment Bill. It was indicated to the Committees that after the above- mentioned meetings with the Speakers of the provincial legislatures concerned, there is an indication that those provincial legislatures may opt for holding joint public hearings in the affected areas, although the Committee noted that there are other options available to those provincial legislatures.