Hon Speaker, I'm sure the councillors have not been asked not to do their work. As far as I know, they continue to do their work. The question, as the hon member indicated earlier, has been: How do you co-ordinate the work that is done by traditional leaders and their structures?
The argument has been that you cannot have the councillors working as if you do not have traditional leaders and their authorities, who are also recognised by the Constitution. The debate has been about how we get councillors and traditional leaders to work together. I think that's what we should be looking at. You should not come here and say: "Look, I'm elected. So, whoever you are, I'm not worried about you; I'm doing what I'm doing", and therefore not recognise other people and their authority even if they are recognised by the Constitution despite the fact that they are not elected.
Really, the debate should be about how you get councillors and traditional leaders to work together. Nobody disputes the fact that traditional leaders and their system do exist, are recognised and operate in a particular manner. Equally, there are councillors who are elected representatives. How do you get these two to work together? I don't think traditional leaders, for example, should operate in their areas as if there are no councillors that are legitimately elected. I also do not think that councillors should operate in such a way that they don't care whether there are traditional authorities around. I think that this House should be helping in creating harmony in this system so that councillors are able to exercise their democratic rights and we are in a position to allow traditional leaders to do their work.
How do we describe this system? That is the reason why the hon Smith said that there are agreements. His statement in this regard went to the core of the following questions: How will councillors and traditional leaders complement each other? Are they able to work in such a way that the people they are meant to assist are assisted rather than experiencing tensions and fights? I think that is what we are trying to deal with here.
There have been difficulties in some areas, and in others no difficulties at all. Areas differ in the way councillors and traditional leaders work together. I've crisscrossed the country and have come across numerous areas where there are no problems. However, there are areas where there are problems. It may be related to the question: What have we learnt after 15 years of working together and co-ordination?
So, this is a matter that we need to look at from an angle that appreciates the fact that we have councillors and traditional leaders existing in the manner that they do. Thank you. [Applause.]