Thank you very much, House Chairperson. I want to thank colleagues for their good engagement and discussion on these matters. By way of free education I want to say that there are 257 municipalities in South Africa that have the right to rate property, not 283. The reason is very simple: Some of them are district municipalities; therefore they are not allowed to collect rates and taxes.
The other matter that I want to raise is that there are areas that are undervalued and overvalued. One of the important things is that Parliament is the body that represents the interests and aspirations of South Africans. That being the case, parliamentarians cannot complain that they don't have the ability to make government account to them. My advice, which is free, is that members must go to those areas and make those municipalities account to them - because you are not helpless in the way you have tried to project yourselves in this debate. You have the right to ensure that any sphere of government accounts to you and that they do the right thing.
The other issue is about Matatiele and Moutse. I have clarified that matter. We have said that processes have been undertaken in Moutse, and we will be processing it in Matatiele, Mothibistad between the Northern Cape and North West and also Balfour, which we will still go to.
You are the people who have to effect any changes that are required. We can't change the Constitution willy-nilly, or at the wink of an eye. We need to respect the Constitution. When we make changes, they must be changes that are required. That is why it cannot be done when it comes to each and every cross-boundary municipality or province. I think we must really look at the question: Do we really need to put issues of changing the Constitution in the Constitution or should they be in the law? This is so that we do not make these boundaries as hard as they are.
In conclusion, I want to thank the members again for their contributions. We have noted the points that they have raised. I concur with the chair of the committee, the hon Lechesa Tsenoli, in that next year we will call upon you to be part of the process, because we will be doing a comprehensive review of the Local Government: Municipal Property Rates Act, including with regard to the people in rural areas who are raising issues. They will be touched upon, as will farmers. I think uGatsheni will agree with me that even the areas of the IFP will be touched on when we deal with this issue.
Therefore, fasten your seatbelts. We will be there. We are about to take off. Thank you very much. [Applause.]
Debate concluded.
Bill read a second time.