Deputy President, don't you agree that this is extremely distressing? In fact, we have heard that your government has been delivering for 17 years. The new system of local government has been around for 12 years, yet we find the kind of situation that this question has alluded to. It is actually a disaster, to be honest with you. It is a disgrace. Now, I have two questions in particular. Firstly, would you not agree that this demonstrates an utter lack of local leadership? I mean, in today's media, for example, we have the mayor saying, and I quote:
I could not believe that there are still some communities in Elliotdale who are literally sinking in poverty.
The mayor said that. Why does she not know it already?
The Amathole District Municipality issued a statement today. It said:
In the past the town received a small budget because it was allocated without any research being conducted.
That is absurd, utterly absurd.
So, this is my first question to you, Deputy President: Is that not a crisis of local leadership? Don't you think people would have been better served if another party had been running the show? [Interjections.] Secondly, we have had a municipal turnaround strategy in this country for the past three years. It was launched by our President three years ago. Every municipality has a municipal turnaround strategy. Clearly, there isn't one here. My question, though, is: Why is it that the Department of Co-operative Governance and Traditional Affairs, both provincially and nationally, has not pre-empted this and ensured that the situation has not arisen? How can we have a municipal turnaround strategy and yet still have this kind of crisis? It is absurd. Thank you.