Deputy Minister, certainly over a billion rand owed to water boards is an extraordinary high amount of money. Water boards find themselves in a difficult situation because on the one hand many municipalities struggle to pay and on the other hand, as you've said, the Minister sets the tariffs.
You said today that you didn't expect the tariffs to have any particular impact on capital expansion and infrastructure maintenance. But if you look at particular water boards, that situation may be very different. For instance, Namaqua has a negative net profit margin of 176% and Botshelo Water has a debt ratio of 217%.
What was interesting is that in the portfolio committee meetings, many boards said that the tariffs would not allow them to do what they wanted with the capital expansion plan. Is there an alternative funding stream that can be investigated for water boards? I know that the aim is to try and make them stand-alone institutions. But is there a possibility that a part of the municipal income grant can be ring-fenced and used to build infrastructure as well?