This issue is also one of the issues that we have to address in the summit that we are speaking of.
Clearly, we have three spheres of government. Your party would be the first to get excited were we to say that the national and provincial government should be far more proactive. You would insist on the autonomy of municipalities. On the other hand and in the same breath you would insist that the national government, like Big Brother as it were, intervened and effectively took over the role of municipalities.
In the first instance, there are the Local Government: Municipal Systems Act and the Local Government: Municipal Structures Act, which clearly provide for oversight of these projects and any activity in terms of the integrated development plan, IDP, by councillors and officials.
They also provide for a ward committee system and other forms of community participation. So the public needs to be more active and, as you well know, Mr Lorimer, we are reviewing the ward committee system to make it more powerful, effective and better resourced. These proposals have come to your committee and will be taken further in the next six months.
The second point, may I stress, is something you are familiar with. The MEC for local government in a province takes the immediate responsibility for overseeing the performance of municipalities.
The third point is that on the agenda of Cabinet at the moment is what we call the Monitoring, Support and Intervention Bill. It seeks to give effect to section 139 of the Constitution to provide for a far more proactive intervention - by provinces in the first instance, but by national government also - in local government issues, especially where a local government municipality is not performing the way it should. However, we are not seeking by this means to erode the basic powers and functions of municipalities. In fact, what we are seeking to do is to strengthen municipalities by ensuring more integrated and more effective co-operative governance.
In respect of the last tranche of your question, I am not very familiar with the issues, but from what I gather there is no evidence for the allegations that have appeared in the public domain. There was an investigation and the outcome was that there was no evidence to suggest that the mayor concerned had actually done anything wrong. The decision to promote her is something you should address with the provincial executive committee of the ANC, and I can give you the address. It is not a question to put to Parliament. Thank you.