Public Works Portfolio Committee: Budget public hearings & Committee's Five-Year Programme

Meeting report

Public hearings: advertisements
The Chairperson said the Committee still needed to make a decision on the placement of an advertisement in the newspaper about the upcoming public hearings. It was established that there was still R304 788 available. The quotations for the cost of placing the advertisement in the various newspapers had been obtained. The rounded figures were:  Sunday Times R24 000, Sowetan R13 000, City Press R15 000, Mail and Guardian R14 000, and Rapport 13 000. If the advertisement were to be placed in all these newspapers, the total cost would amount to R76 717, 44, however it would also be placed only in one newspaper, such as the Sunday Times. Members were asked to comment on the content of the advert and to give inputs on where the advert should be placed.

The Chairperson read the advertisement, which invited individuals and entities to submit written presentations on the budget allocation to the Department of Public Works (DPW), by 12 March 2010, and noted that the public hearings would take place on 16 and 19 March.

Discussion
Mr S Masango (DA) said that the advertisement should be placed in more than one type of medium. He was concerned that illiterate people would be excluded through newspapers and therefore suggested that a radio broadcasted advertisement would be more appropriate for them. He also felt that all the different language groups in South Africa should be reached by advertising on community radio stations in the local language.

The Chairperson agreed and asked for suggestions of specific radio stations to which the same advertisement could be sent.

Mr D Kekana (ANC) suggested that one written advertisement be placed in a chosen newspaper and the radio stations would advertise in the remaining languages.

Members expressed their concern that the Sunday Times was not widely read by people in the townships, and suggested other publications. The point was made that the reader-markets had to be considered and matched with who was likely to respond, and said that it was important also to cater for newly-interested groups.

The Committee agreed that the advertisement would be placed in the Sunday Times, the City Press and all community radio stations.

Draft Report on the Eastern Cape Oversight Visit
The Chairperson thanked and congratulated the researcher for her work. The Draft Report on the Eastern Cape Oversight Visit highlighted the projects and outstanding issues. The Chairperson asked the Committee to resume on page five of the document and to voice their comments and inputs. The introduction provided oversight and information on the Department of Public Works and noted the Department’s collaboration with the President’s indicated commitment to creating 500 000 job opportunities.

Mr H Magama (ANC)suggested including reference to the fact that it had been decided to undertake an oversight visit to the Eastern Cape as part of the Committee’s role and fulfilment of obligations. It was agreed that this be included.

The Chairperson noted that the reference to “National Youth Commission” should be changed to “Youth Development Agency”. The figures presented in the report had to be revised to ensure they were accurate and were not ambiguous.

The Chairperson drew Members’ attention to page 7, where the recommendations were listed.

The first recommendation stated that the residents from the area should engage with the members of the Provincial Legislature to address their concerns. Because the Constitution determined that Provincial competencies were vested within the National Council of Provinces (NCOP), this Committee, in a spirit of cooperative governance, should act collectively with the NCOP and not overstep its boundaries. However, if the Committee had a specific responsibility that did fall within its jurisdiction, it could carry out the task without infringing on the Province’s responsibilities. He stressed that this was of great importance, because Government and the Ministers would be expected to act on these recommendations. He asked that Members think about the issues and present their recommendations to the Committee for adoption the following week, when the Committee would meet the Department.

Mr Masango said he still had many concerns. At provincial level, it had been recommended that a road be paved an extended 1.5 km, but this fell within the competency of the National Department of Public Works.

The Chairperson noted this point, and reiterated that Members should submit all recommendations to the Committee Secretary.

Mr B Mnguni (ANC) suggested that a recommendation be adopted to apply some pressure on other relevant departments in respect of joint projects.

The Chairperson replied that the proposal was welcome, but that this would be difficult if it fell outside the Committee’s competency. Although cooperative efforts were possible, the fact remained that other Departments were responsible for building houses, agricultural fencing, water affairs, health concerns and electricity. Members within a constituency, such as the Provincial Government of the Western Cape, could adopt a project, identify problems and address them, but he believed that more thought needed to be given to how exactly to deal with this.

Mr Kekana said that the poor and needy villages visited in Eastern Cape were a few examples of similar villages all over the country and there was a real obligation on National government to work with all.

The Chairperson agreed that this was work in progress.

The Committee made suggestions for technical amendments, which were accepted, and that part of the report, as corrected, would be provisionally adopted. However, the Chairperson noted that the recommendations section still needed to be finalised.

Oversight matters
Ms N Ngcengwane (ANC) asked what was to be done after oversight visits. She said that letters of thanks had to be written to the people with whom the Committee had worked during the visit to the province, and the Committee should ensure that the projects were followed through and completed, and that the MEC or Department reported to the Committee on these. The National Portfolio Committees tended to identify challenges, but leave it up to the members of provincial legislatures to rectify the matters. She suggested that during the last day of an oversight visit, invitations should be extended to the relevant entities and the community, so that officials could then give briefings on action plans and allow inputs from the communities. The Department had to ensure that original agreements were kept and that “new” projects that were presented were not simply the same old projects presented differently.

Mr Kekana wanted clarity on the issue of oversight. The key industries for economic growth – trade, infrastructure development and electricity supply – were interlinked and also impacted on the ability to create job opportunities that were long term and permanent. The success of these industries was in doubt, which posed a risk of the targets not being reached, which would in turn impact on the Committee’s oversight.

The Chairperson responded that it was also an issue of jurisdiction. The infrastructure budget was mainly allocated to the Department of Public Enterprises, who would build the power stations, and to Provincial and Local Government. He said he would talk to the Chairpersons of the other relevant Portfolio Committees, and suggest to them that joint meetings be held to discuss collaboration and accountability on the matters.

The Chairperson asked the Committee Researcher to capture the issues for all entities separately, so that the entities could be asked to give a response on the concerns to the Committee during their meetings.

The Chairperson reminded the Committee of its commitment to send the report to the MEC in the Eastern Cape as soon as it had been finalised. He reminded Members that the recommendations must still be translated into “workable items” for Parliament, and elaborate on the recommendations. He suggested that the report be distributed to all stakeholders such as the Ministry of Public Works, the Departments of Agriculture and Rural Development and any other relevant committees. Ideally the Committee would become an activist for these issues.

Draft Report on the Committee Strategic Plan
Mr Magama said that the Committee had not received a report from the Department on the previous term’s targets, although the President said in the most recent State of the Nation Address that approximately 480 000 jobs had been created. He noted that the Department’s strategic plan would be discussed at the next meeting.

Mr M Rabotapi (DA) was concerned that the Committee had not received exact feedback on the number of jobs that had been created. The previous year the Department reported that it had not been able to reach the target, but this year it was announced that 480 000 jobs had been created. Different reports seemed to have come from the same department. This Committee should be able to confirm the figures presented by the President.

Mr Magama commented that the President would have announced the correct figures and that it was appropriate for the President to have access to the report before the Committee did. He said that during the previous year the Department had said, in answer to queries, that it should be able to exceed the target.

The Chairperson interrupted and said this was an important issue which had to be based on facts. The Department did brief the Committee on the progress of the Extended Public Works Programme, but there had not been a meeting with the Department between then and March 2010. The target of 500 000 jobs to be created was set for December 2009, but the final audit of the figures would be done at the end of the financial year in March 2010. In the final report it would be possible to account for the 480 000 jobs that had been created and to indicate how many jobs had been created in a province, the duration of these jobs, and the list of names. The Chairperson reminded Members to focus on the facts available to them on this issue.

The Chairperson suggested some changes. On page 1, under asked Key Strategic Objectives the phrase ‘the constitutional mandate of the committees’ should be changed to ‘Parliament’. The one implied the other and it was just an issue of alignment. On page 2, he suggested that the word ‘Models’ be omitted from ‘Oversight and Accountability’ because Parliament was still debating what type of model it wanted to use. He asked that, under item 5.2, another bullet point called ‘Public Participation’ should be added. On page 3, meaning should be given to the council by listing the issues that had been raised.

The Chairperson explained that the statement which indicated that the ‘true story’ would be revealed referred to the perceived shortage of cement in South Africa. The Independent Development Trust had made an observation that this shortage was created artificially and was not a true reflection of the cement production in the country. Clarity would only be reached as soon as the research had been completed and the IDT could provide more information.

Mr Kekana asked if there was a linkage between the cement issue and the demolishing of government houses that were not of good quality.

The Chairperson said that he could not ascertain whether a link could be made although it had been raised as a content issue in the report. He suggested that the question be followed up with the housing component of the Department of Human Settlements, whose competency it was to build houses.

Mr H Magama (ANC) asked that the researcher should be asked to investigate the situation and to advise on whom to further engage on the issue.

The Chairperson raised the matter of persons with disabilities and said that the Committee had previously raised what kind of support Parliament would be able to provide, and had ascertained that, for a Member with impaired vision, the Committee’s budget would need to provide for audio tapes.

Mr Rabotapi said that wheelchair access to all buildings should be ensured.

The Chairperson noted that the DPW had budgeted to provide disabled access to buildings, but would be able only to renovate around 12% of buildings. He said that more needed to be done to acknowledge persons with disabilities and their empowerment.

Members raised concern about the registration of foreign assets and asked if it also extended to general maintenance. Each department had specific assets relevant to their function and the services it provided. It was unclear which assets were maintained by the individual departments, and what fell to be maintained by DPW, particularly in regard to foreign property. These issues also impacted on budgets.

The Chairperson concluded that in essence the document referred to registration. The issue of maintenance was not clear and would be omitted from the document.

Some other technical amendments were made to the rest of the document to improve readability or change emphasis or update facts.

The Chairperson said that the report would not be finally adopted before the section dealing with the vision and mission of the Committee had been finalised. Members were asked to compare the vision and mission of Parliament and that of the Department of Public Works and to link these with the roles and functions of the Committee, so that the vision and mission could be reformulated.

Draft Committee Programme
The Chairperson noted that Parliament had not yet indicated its own programme for the following five years and this put limitations on the Draft Committee Programme for the next five years. He proposed that the programme for this quarter be adopted, with the framework for the year, and amendments to the Five-Year Plan could be made after Parliament’s programme had been released.

He asked that the Committee continuously isolate the issues that emanated from the minutes and the reports, which would be presented as part of the response to the budget during the meeting with IDT, when other stakeholders may be present.

Mr Magama recognised the constraints of the Committee over the past year, but felt strongly that the Committee had to be stronger in two areas. The first area was that of public participation, insofar as resources and the Parliamentary programme allowed,, and the second was oversight, where he recommended that the Committee strengthen its oversight role and conduct more oversight visits.

The Chairperson agreed but said there was a need for further discussion. At the previous day’s meeting it had been agreed that more visits to provinces should be conducted, but and more creative ways were needed to improve on public participation, but the budget must always be borne in mind.

The Chairperson advised Members that a further research document titled “Poverty Reduction through Public Works Programmes – International Case Studies” was yet to be distributed to members for further reading.

The meeting was adjourned.