Chairperson, yes, I agree that the accounting officers of the relevant government departments should be held to account, but so should the politicians.
One good example I think provinces should emulate is this. In one province, in every second cabinet meeting a standard item on the agenda is the debt owed by the provincial departments to municipalities. It is high up on the agenda. The Premier expects the MECs to answer for the outstanding debt. That was certainly happening in one of the provincial cabinets. Whether it is happening now I am not sure. Something that Mr Smith has said makes us think that maybe we should engage through the relevant intergovernmental relations structures to seek to ensure this happens at the level of all the provincial cabinets.
We are taking a report to the national Cabinet in due course. The national Cabinet may also consider putting this issue on the agenda, maybe once a month, to see to it that national departments are paying the service, rates and other charges that they owe to municipalities.
As for accounting officers, I cannot speak here. I certainly don't have any mandate from my Minister or my department. However, it would seem reasonable to me that the Public Finance Management Act, PFMA - I see the Deputy Minister of Finance here - might provide for such a thing. I actually think that we should engage with Treasury around this, and I don't see in principle what is wrong with what Mr Smith is saying. However, when we get around to doing this and implementing it, we will, needless to say, never acknowledge that it was Mr Smith who first proposed the idea to us. However, he can rest assured that if it happens, he can go to sleep better at night. Thank you.