Thank you so much, House Chair. Hon Minister, I appreciate your honesty and the fact that it hasn't achieved the desired fruit. All of these happen in the midst of you heading an interministerial task team where the province and ten portfolios in the province itself are under administration. Minister, the ANC in 2001 had 61% of the votes in Tlokwe, JB Marks. In 2016, they got 50,8% of the votes in JB Marks. Can you tell us the truth of why the amalgamation had to take place?
The MINISTER OF CO-OPERATIVE GOVERNANCE AND TRADITIONAL
AFFAIRS: The amalgamation took place in 2016, and not in the midst of me being in the North West. I think you got your years wrong. There was a need to amalgamate because there it was thought that amalgamating the two will make them a stronger municipality than when they are separate
- the weaker one would be strengthened by the stronger one when they are amalgamated. I think that was the reason.
Of course, mergers don't just merge and everything work well the following day; it takes time. Even the merger itself takes time because you are taking two municipalities that may not be belonging to the same class. One municipality may have high salaries and the other one have lower salaries and all sorts of things that have to be dealt with in a merge. So you can't say it has failed in a few years. I am just being honest by saying I can't say I stand here today and say everything is okay. But there is progress and we have just to work hard at it. It is not a sprint but a marathon. Thank you.