I take your advice that I am under no obligation to respond. But I just want to thank all the hon members for their participation in this First Reading. I think that they gave us a good flavour of what to expect when the discussions take place in earnest in the portfolio committee itself.
I thought I should also respond quickly to what the hon member Swart was saying about the ward committees - the concern that this is going to be an unfunded mandate. I think it's important that we all take note of the fact that government has been consistent in ensuring a massive increase in the year-on-year equitable share allocation to local government. We have emphasised the need for local government to make sure that some of our important activities are indeed prioritised when allocations are made to individual programmes of municipalities.
Public participation, at least in the post-1994 dispensation in matters of government, is not an optional extra. It goes to the heart of our own conception of a democracy. If this is the basis on which we are going to approach our work, then we expect municipalities not to see these increases in the equitable share allocation as something that has nothing to do with generating and improving levels of public participation in matters of government. So, we would expect them to make use of this resource to ensure that ward committees are formed throughout the country. By the way, the establishment rate today stands at over 96%. We want to see them being established everywhere in the country, including in Cape Town. Thank you. [Applause.]
Debate concluded.