Consideration of Committee & Oversight Report

Human Settlements, Water and Sanitation

24 October 2012
Chairperson: Ms B Dambuza (ANC)
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Meeting Summary

The Committee considered on its joint meeting with the Standing Committee on Appropriations on Rural Household Infrastructure Grant. Members made several minor corrections to document. In addition, they highlighted they focused on the recommendations in the report and highlighted that for the balance of the Rural Household Infrastructure Grant for 2012/13 to 2013/14, an integrated and collaborative planning should be undertaken by the respective departments i.e. Department of Cooperative Governance, Department of Water Affairs and Natural Treasury. Another recommendation that came to the fore was that the Department of Human Settlements should fast-track the drafting of legislation regulating the provision of sanitation and report progress to the Committee by the end of November. It was noted that the the report would be corrected then handed to the Appropriations Committee so that it could be later adopted.

The North West Province Report on housing delivery was considered and adopted by the Committee. Concerns included the slow pace of housing delivery in North West and the never ending investigations conducted by the Special Investigating Unit around the alleged corruption in the building of housing units. It was suggested that the Department should have standardised housing plans for the government funded housing plans to eliminate shoddy work done by some contractors.

Meeting report

Joint Report of Portfolio Committee on Human settlements and Standing Committee on Appropriations on Rural Household Infrastructure Grant
The Chairperson tabled the document. Thereafter, she went through it page-by-page inviting comments and amendments from Members.

Ms N Mnisi (ANC) mentioned that her name did not appear on the list of people who had attended the meeting and asked that this be corrected

Ms M Borman (ANC) proposed several changes to the report:
Firstly, she referred to page 2 (line 3 under the heading introduction) and suggested that the word “attended” be changed to “attending”. It should also be followed by the words “the Joint Committee.

Secondly, she referred to the same paragraph and suggested the insertion of the words “various Departments would be making presentations” before the last sentence of that paragraph.

Thirdly, on the fourth last sentence of the last paragraph she suggested an insertion of the words “of the Department of Human Settlements” at the end of that sentence.

The Chairperson pointed out that the sentence referred to the Department of Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs.

After a brief discussion the Committee agreed to Ms Borman’s suggestion.

Ms Borman proposed various other minor amendments, which were all agreed to.
 
Ms J Sosibo (ANC) suggested the deletion of some wording in the document.

Ms Borman highlighted that the abbreviation DORB should be replaced with the full name “Division of Revenue Bill” and the abbreviation of LGES should be written in full as “Local Government Equitable shares 1st bullet point.

Mr S Mokgalapa (DA) said that the content reflected the views of the Committee.

The Chairperson referred to the second recommendation and suggested that reference to the South African Local Government Association (SALGA) should be removed.

Ms Borman referred to the fourth recommendation and suggested that the wording “as soon as possible” be substituted with the “end of November”.

The Chairperson informed the Committee that the report would be corrected then handed to the Appropriations Committee so that it could be later adopted.

Ms M Njobe (COPE) asked whether the Department of Human Settlements (Department) had legislation that dealt with sanitation.

The Chairperson explained that the Department had a White Paper on sanitation. The White Paper had been reviewed in 2011. Lastly, she stated that the Committee need to “crack the whip” to give direction to the officials on issues like sanitation.
 
Consideration of the North West Report
The Chairperson invited Members to confirm their attendance as reflected in the report.

She then asked the Committee Secretary when the current MEC for Housing in North West had assumed office.

Ms Kholiswa Pasiya, Committee Secretary, replied that the MEC had only been working for seven weeks when he had to brief the Committee.

The Chairperson then went through the report and invited Members as she went along; she touched on the qualified audit of the Provincial Department. The North West Housing Corporation was not delivering the houses that it was supposed to have built.

Mr Mokgalapa raised his concerns regarding lack of service delivery in the Province. The Mayor of Naledi had also complained about the work of Special Investigating Unit (SIU), saying that the investigations took very long time to be finished.

Ms A Mashishi (ANC) said that the Committee should be informed about the progress and the list of all cases that were handled and completed by the SIU.

Mr Matshoba was upset and commented that the SIU took long because it wanted to prolong its employment.

Ms Borman mentioned that some housing units did not even have bathroom facilities. She then suggested that the Department should establish standards for all housing units that were built with Government funds.

Ms Njobe said that the North West Housing Corporation should be included in the recommendations, because it had been delaying the service delivery in that Province

The Chairperson mentioned in passing the fact that the Department had promised to build 20 000 units in a year. She felt that Government officials were simply promising pipe dreams.

The Chairperson said that the Committee should even look at approved and unapproved building plans.

Ms Mnisi said that the SIU should be called to account to the Committee. It was used to shield corruption. The slow pace of the SIU was delaying service delivery of housing in the North West.

Mr Matshoba proposed the adoption of the report and Mr K Sithole (ANC) seconded the motion and the North West Report was adopted.

The meeting was adjourned.   




 





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