Deputy Speaker, first of all I agree wholeheartedly with the hon Kilian's point of departure. I think that is a shared concern. It's something that we all recognise. It is something that features very prominently in our National Development Plan - the importance of local government to every other aspect of our success as a nation. For that to happen, we do need a professional, well-functioning civil service at the level of local government. That is why we have taken a lot of these measures.
With respect to these measures, as I have indicated, there was an application in terms of which the deadline was extended to July 2014. Related but distinct from that are the requests that municipalities make for deviations. Those are requests that are sent on a case-by-case basis either to the Minister for Co-operative Governance and Traditional Affairs or to the Minister of Finance, depending on which employees are being appointed. Obviously, those requests need to be made before employment is finalised, and noncompliance would obviously be a serious matter.
I think that question of holding individual councillors liable for decisions that they take hon Kilian, is something that we can engage with further. But, just off the top of my head, I can think of quite a number of challenges in adopting such a position. I think hon Members of Parliament can ask themselves whether they would want to be held individually liable for the decisions of the collectives to which they belong and have been elected to. I don't know. Does one hold everyone in council liable, or only those who voted one way or another? I think the difficulties and the complications are obvious. But we can engage with it. Thank you. [Applause.]