Hon President, the DA's viewpoint with regard to this matter is that the Constitution and its principles must be upheld. Furthermore, the democratically elected public office-bearers, in this case the councillors, must be respected and allowed to do their duty in the rural areas where traditional leaders operate.
We have a problem that sometimes some of these councillors abandon their duties, leaving them to be performed by traditional leaders. Traditional leaders are not democratically elected to do municipal work at ward level.
So, Mr President, we just want to ask you: Will the government ensure that councillors are still held accountable to fulfil their constitutional role at the municipal level?