Chairperson, the comment made by the Minister is obviously true that certain municipalities don't have the capacity and the resources to get their house in order, but there are pertinent examples of fairly large municipalities, including metropolitan municipalities, whose problem is not the equitable share but whose problem is getting the basics right, including collecting revenue.
Now, as we speak, the Mangaung Metropolitan Municipality is on terms with Eskom. Their power will be cut next week if a deal is not made. They also owe money to Bloem Water. The prospect, because of this dysfunctional state
of that metropolitan, is that it will become the first metro in South Africa where water and lights are cut off because of dysfunctional bad governance. My questions is: Will the Minister intervene to stop this metro from having its lights cut off and its taps run dry?
The MINISTER OF CO-OPERATIVE GOVERNANCE AND TRADITIONAL
AFFAIRS: Chair, let us be frank with each other. We can only discuss; we don't have any legislative power to say, stop. Treasury and us ... In fact, Treasury has the authority to do pricing and to make sure that bulk services are paid for, but we work with them. We will try our best, but I cannot stand here and say that it will not happen. We can try, as we have tried in other areas. Thank you.
Question 294:
Sepedi: