Hon Speaker, His Excellency the President, His Excellency the Deputy President, hon Ministers, hon members, my comment is just about a moral issue; I'm not going to quiz the President. In fact, the President, whilst Deputy President of this country, was requested by the President and all of us in the Cabinet - when I was in the Cabinet - to head this committee that Mr Smith referred to and to see to it that there was not obliteration of the powers and functions of traditional leaders as a result of the implementation of the Local Government: Municipal Structures Act and other related legislation.
Our former President, President Mbeki, promised that if there was any such obliteration, he would amend the Constitution. On 30 November 2000, this committee, which was headed by His Excellency the Deputy President of this country who is now our President, and which included Ministers and some legal experts, addressed this question of preventing the obliteration of the powers and functions of traditional leaders. They came to the conclusion that in order to prevent that from happening, there needed to be amendments to Chapters 7 and 12.
Now, His Excellency our President has replied that this was merely a recommendation. In fact, just a day before the local government elections, some of the traditional leaders threatened that they would discourage their subjects from voting the following day.
The recommendation that was made by the committee that was headed by none other than the current President, who was then the Deputy President of the country, was conveyed to us as traditional leaders. To say that that was not an agreement but a recommendation that was rejected is something else. I was in the Cabinet too. I don't remember any meeting of the Cabinet where a recommendation was rejected by the same Cabinet that had made the recommendation. So, I say this is a moral issue. I'm not quizzing you, Your Excellency, but I feel that as a member of this House and also as a traditional leader - and also as an elder ... [Laughter.] ... I would not want my country to be governed by deception. Thank you.