Trans Caledon Tunnel Authority, Water Research Commission, Inkomati Usuthu Catchment Management Agency & Breede Gouritz Catchment Management on their 2016 Budget & Corporate Plan

Water and Sanitation

06 April 2016
Chairperson: Mr M Johnson (ANC)
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Meeting Summary

Awaited Documents: 
Inkomati-Usuthu Annual Performance Plan 2016/2017
Breede Gouritz Annual Performance Plan 2016/2017
Trans Caledon Tunnel Authority Annual Performance Plan 2016/2017
Water Research Commission Annual Performance Plan 2016/2017 [[email protected]]

The Water and Sanitation portfolio committee received presentations from four entities -- the Water Research Committee, Trans Caledon Tunnel Authority, the Inkomati-Usuthu Catchment Management Agency and the Breede-Gouritz Catchment Management Agency – on their budgets and strategic plans for the 2016/17 financial year.

The Water Research Commission (WRC) aimed to continue the wide-spread dissemination its research information. It had put great emphasis on entrepreneurship and plans for improving the participation of women and youth through its newly-founded incubation model, which would be launched early in August 2016. It also planned to raise water-shortage awareness in society and influence peoples’ behaviour towards saving water with a new billing format strategy. It intended establishing 87 new projects and having 84 projects completed by the end of the year. It had a target of 400 new students being involved in the WRC projects and foresaw a good opportunity to make its research known in South Africa and internationally.

The WRC was commended on the new behaviour model it planned to apply, and was asked to give reasons why it should still build its own desalination plants, since the private sector could build and maintain them more cheaply. Members wanted statistics about South Africa’s tap water service delivery and its safety, compared globally. They also suggested the Commission should do more research regarding grey water systems.

The Trans Caledon Tunnel Authority (TCTA) was involved in the management of debt on the Vaal River System, and as at March 31 2016, it had an outstanding debt of R19 963 million which it would increase by R3 836 million during the 2016/17 year. It planned to take on Acid Mine Drainage (AMD) and the treatment plant. It had the Western Basin project running, and currently the discharge of effluent was in accordance with standards set in the directive. It planned to upgrade the plant to increase pumping to 50 mega litres per day. The Central Basin project currently ran a treatment of 72 mega litres per day of AMD under interim operations. The TCTA had finished off the Eastern Basin treatment plant by 31 March 2016. During the year, it planned to discharge effluent in accordance with standards set in the directive. In future, when it built new infrastructure that impacted on cultural activities, it would consider the affected community’s necessary traditional ceremonial practices.

Members asked why the Lesotho Highlands Water Project had been delayed, as it was supposed to have been completed by 2019, but the new deadline was now 2024.  The Authority was asked to include fencing Hazelmere dam in its capital expenditure. The TCTA and the Department of Human Settlement had agreed to work together to solve the problems regarding hindrances to the provision of water and toilets.

The Inkomati-Usuthu Catchment Management Agency (IUCMA) would investigate how much water it had, and who was stealing water. It would continue to monitor the water quality, Last year it had built boreholes in Umkomaas, while this year the focus was on Lesotho. It would conduct a feasibility study on the use of gravity flow for historically disadvantaged individuals (HDIs).

The IUCMA was commended for cutting spending for the 2016/17 year. The Committee wanted clarity on why the cell phone charges and contracts, telephone costs, electricity, legal fees and board meetings costs were unusually high. The Members were not happy with the explanation they received on the board meeting costs.

The Breede-Gouritz Catchment Management Agency said it intended to complete 80% of its catchment management strategy, to have 80% of land use planning and rezoning applications, 80% of water registrations, and 80% of licences finalised.  Two water quality monitoring projects would be implemented, 70 water resource points monitored, four river rehabilitation projects finally and technically supported, 2 250 learners reached during various water campaigns, four newsletters developed and circulated, resource-poor farmers technically supported, and all financial prescripts reported on.

Members said they were not satisfied with the manner in which the Breede-Gouritz CMA expressed its targets. They also wanted it to explain how it was planning to help the government to achieve its mandates.

Meeting report

Water Research Commission (WRC)

Mr Dhesigen Naidoo, Chief Executive Officer, WRC, focused mainly in his presentation on the measures that would be most effective in improving people’s lives and the commission’s sustainability.

Currently, the WRC successfully ran a knowledge hub that was aimed at improving access to water and sanitation research. The hub contained the WRC research and innovation solutions for public use. Specifically, users could find information on valorization, the Programme for Atmospheric Water Supply (PAWS), dissemination of knowledge and other relevant solutions the general public may find useful. It also allowed for the exchange of solutions between users and knowledge brokerage.

The WRC envisaged transforming and expanding the research and development community, attracting more community practitioners, giving special attention to encouraging women and youth participation, and connecting entrepreneurs with investors, users and developers. Moreover, the WRC was planning to launch a new women’s business incubation model during the women’s month. To participate, one would have to find a technological solution elsewhere in the world and use the WRC to provide a technological assessment of the soundness of the solution. This initiative had been in response to the Minister of Water Affairs’ request last year for increasing the participation of women. The Commission believed that in this way, their research and innovation would have the most rapid improvement in peoples’ lives.

Having identified the future water and research demand the WRC had been, and was still, preparing for the future research demand. It had been working jointly with the Department of Water and Sanitation and the executive authority. It had gained recognition as a key development player on the global level and thus become an important partner with other international stakeholders. The Commission formed partnerships in order to secure funding and collaborations to demonstrate its research outputs and technology impacts. For example, in its research on the new dry sanitation model, it had been funded by a number of international organisations including the Bill & Belinda Gates Foundation. The very same research project was being demonstrated in India, China and ten other African countries. Clearly, with such a high water and sanitation research demand in South Africa and globally, the Water and Research Commission was sustainable and had a strong opportunity to grow, resulting in potential economic development and jobs.

However, the challenges facing the Commission could not be disregarded. In South Africa, there were behavioral issues inside the system whereby people were not aware of their own water use and what they were paying for water. The WRC was constantly engaging with new methodologies that would change those behaviors. One of the methodologies was to change the current water bill format. The current bill format showed what one’s water bill was for the month, and what it had been in the past 12 months. The new water bill would go one step further and tell one who was doing best in your area and where one was sitting along the range. Other barriers to WRC workings were the costs of the projects and the high energy activities needed for experiments.

For the financial year 2016/17, the WRC intended to enhance its research portfolio knowledge through new research. It planned to establish 87 new research projects, to complete and finalise 84 research projects scheduled in the financial year, and to continuously accommodate students as active participants in WRC projects. The Commission targeted accommodating 400 students. It further planned to increase emphasis on projects that had a direct impact on the lives and livelihoods of communities through water-related interventions, and to build sufficient capacity to assist with the post-project sustainability of those interventions, it aimed to initiate 24 research programmes. It also planned to enhance economic development in communities by supporting 27 small, medium micro enterprises (SMMEs) in the water and development sector, to grow the involvement of 57 previously disadvantaged individuals by increasing the number of project leaders from the designated groups, to increase the number of new innovations/products and services produced from WRC research by 23, and to have 13 of them piloted/demonstrated/implemented during the current financial year. To ensure that the WRC increasingly contributed to sustainable solutions for the water sector by creating knowledge products and events that disseminated knowledge produced from WRC research, it would host 18 dialogues during the current financial year, and would support the policy and decision makers with research based knowledge

In terms of the financial portfolio, the WRC planned to maintain income growth of R71.7 million, which was the second largest source of income.  This would be done by initiating four contracts to which WRC would provide funding. The last but very important objective in the financial portfolio was to achieve unqualified audit reports and improve its response to both internal and external audit results.

The employee portfolio aimed to maintain a healthy staff diversity, and this was very likely to improve considering the new initiatives and emphasis on women’s involvement. The proximity to which the targets were met would indicate how well the Commission had performed at the end of the year and the targets would be monitored from time to time to see if there was progress.

Tables showing the budget for 2015/16 to 2020/21 were provided. Notably, levies made the largest contribution to income throughout the years (R293.3 million in 2016/17). The largest expenditure (R199.0 million in 2016/17) was on research and development, as one would expect.

Discussion

Mr L Basson (DA) wanted to know why the Department should still build its own desalination water plants, since there were private companies that already existed which could produce water more efficiently, especially in terms of costs. Why did the Department not just buy water from those companies since it was cheaper that way?

Mr Naidoo replied that the WRC was familiar with the new technology progress around desalination, but it believed that the desalination which the WRC currently had in place worked fine. He also mentioned that there were only a few companies willing give upfront funding to the Commission in order for them to do more work.

Mr D Mnguni (ANC) commended the WRC on the methodology it planned to apply in order to change people’s behavior towards a more cautious use of water, and suggested that that it should more research on grey water systems in particular, in order to find cost effective implementation of grey water systems. He added that the research done must be disseminated widely to ordinary people and must find ways to improve skills and training in the Department of Water.

Mr Naidoo replied that there was a health risk associated with the grey water system, and it required secondary infrastructure to be funded.

Dr Nozibele Mjoli, WRC Chairperson, said that the water skills South African institutions offered were not directed at training and developing skills which addressed the water shortage problem. The state-funded institutions must therefore adopt a policy to achieve the constant supply of these skills.

Ms M Khawula (EFF) asked which racial group was affected the most by the drought and water shortages and why the Department did not get icebergs from the oceans and melt them to get water. She also wanted to know what could be done to ensure equal distribution of water among racial groups.

Dr Mjoli said that the logistics of getting an iceberg could be very costly. It was already costly to get surface water.

Mr T Makondo (ANC) asked what had happened to the youth that had been trained in 2015, whether the Commission was planning to train more youths this year, and whether the trainees would go to work in the private sector or the public sector after training. He added that there were industries and individual households that had excess financial resources, and therefore they did not recycle. What was being done with such entities in terms of policy to ensure maintenance of water? He further wanted to know the costs and time it would take to find the solutions to the acid mining problem. He promoted the kind the partnership the Ethekwini Municipality had with Mondi  -- an agreement that ensured that Mondi recycled and reused.

Mr Naidoo emphasised the need for government intervention in institutions’ curricula, and added that the WRC did have programmes for developing water skills. The WRC had an academy within the Commission, another at Rand Water, and one other. The water and sanitation system was not short of people, but they were short of the mechanisms to skill people to prepare for the future. The Commission was working on research concerning acid mining. It had come up with eight solutions for now and the long term. Passive treatment was the best solution.

The Chairperson was interested in knowing statistics about South Africa’s tap water service delivery and its safety, compared globally. What was the Department’s vision of 2030 in terms of skills? How many people did it train per annum?  Was it really the case that black people suffered more from the water shortage problem?

Mr Naidoo replied that the WRC was in one of only 13 countries in the world that had conducted a formal study investigating the status of drinking water. The findings were that the water that came out of the taps was safe. The Commission had extended the study to rural areas and was expecting problems to be identified, which it was prepared to deal with. He admitted that the water crisis did affect black people the most and pointed out that this was not a research problem. It was, however, concerning from a policy viewpoint, particularly the reform of water allocation.

Based on the WRC’s current projects, technology was not going to be a barrier in sanitation, as 30% of peoples’ sanitation needs would be covered and that would cover the current sanitation deficit in four years’ time. The water availability that would be required to meet the target would be achieved, but accessibility was difficult to predict.

Trans Caledon Tunnel Authority (TCTA)

Mr James Ndlovu, CEO: TCTA, focused his presentation on the entity’s transformation strategy and the project plans for 2016/17, including the progress on the existing projects. Mr Simphiwe Kondlo, Director, TCTA, confined his presentation to finances and relations with stakeholders, business processes, growth and development.

The TCTA planned to contribute to transforming South Africa by providing cost-effective water infrastructure as an enabler of economic growth and jobs. It planned to develop entrepreneurship in small businesses and up-skilling the workforce to enable South Africa to compete in the world market, providing a comprehensive financial and implementation package to make sure the most cost-effective solutions, supporting other water sector institutions to deliver their mandates, providing infrastructure, and contributing to the development of knowledge in the water sector. There was also a comprehensive internal training programme to enable the TCTA to deliver quality products in the most efficient manner.

The Authority had the following goals:

- Managing funding and debt on the infrastructure projects in a manner that achieved cost effective funding, taking into account current and projected market conditions as well as risks;

- To develop infrastructure on time within budget, to appropriate standards and in a sustainable socio/environmental manner;

- Ensuring that Acid Mine Drainage (AMD) was treated to the correct standard before discharging to the environment;

- Raising finance for the construction of infrastructure in the most cost effective manner.

In the 2016/17financial year, the Authority had committed to pursue these goals through its fully designed performance framework.

The TCTA was involved in the management of debt and other financial obligations on the Vaal River System. As at March 31 2016, it had an outstanding debt of R19 963 million which would increase by R3 836 million to R23 799 million during the year. It also delivered advisory services to water management institutions, water boards and the DWS. It planned to have at least five appointments with water institutions to provide advisory services this year. It planned to take on Acid Mine Drainage and the treatment plant.

 It had the Western Basin project running, and as at 31 March 2016, it had had a discharge of effluent in accordance with standards set in the directive, and would upgrade the plant to increase pumping to 50 mega litres per day.

The Central Basin project currently runs a treatment of 72 mega litres per day of AMD under interim operations. The TCTA planned to appoint an operations and maintenance (O & M) operator for ongoing supervision of operations.

The TCTA had finished off the Eastern Basin treatment plant by 31 March 2016. During the year it planned to discharge effluent in accordance with standards set in the directive and appoint an O&M operator for ongoing supervision of operations.

The TCTA had an outstanding debt of R866 million for the Berg Water Project and was planning to reduce the debt by R89 million to a gross debt of R770 million. It also had an outstanding debt of R3 822 million for the Vaal River Eastern Subsystem Project, and would increase this debt by R131 million to R3 953. It had an outstanding debt of R1 878 million for the Mooi Mngeni Transfer Scheme (Phase2) and R1 265 million for the Komati Water Scheme Augmentation Project: Pump Station and Pipeline. It would reduce the Umngeni Transfer Scheme (Phase 2) by R82 million and the Komati Water Scheme Augmentation Project: Pump Station and Pipeline, by R62 million to an outstanding gross debt of R 1 327 million. By 31 March 2016, the TCTA had completed the pipe-laying for augmentation of the transfer scheme, with an amendment to the directive to include construction of a potable water pipeline for Umngeni Water and the Olifants River Water Resources Development Project (Phase 2c).

The Makolo and Crocodile River Water Augmentation Pump Station and Pipeline had an outstanding debt of R1 473 million as at March 312016. The Phase 1 augmentation of the existing scheme had been completed and declared operational and 2016 would be the defect liability period. It was also working on the Olifants River Water Resources Development Project (Phase 2B). For this project, the Charter & Project Implementation Plan had been approved and the record of implementation decision issued by the DWS. In 2016/17, it planned to have the institutional arrangements concluded and to finalise the design and tender documentation. Finally, the TCTA was working on the Kriel Pipeline project for which the design had been completed and the contract with the contractor finalized, with environmental authorisation and land acquisition. For this project, the TCTA would complete implementation and commissioning, and register permanent servitudes in 2016.

With regard to finances, the TCTA aimed to improve efficiency in the management of operational costs. It also aimed to finance and implement projects in the most cost-effective and sustainable manner. In order to achieve this, it would develop a sustainable funding model for the new projects, conclude the institutional arrangements and raise funds.  For the existing projects it aimed to deliver water in compliance with DWS requirements and treat AMD to the required standards before it was discharged it to the environment. Concerning the treaty functions for the Lesotho Highlands Water Project (LHWP), the TCTA aimed to have operations and maintenance of Outfall Tunnel North in accordance with best practice, and an effective management of all outstanding project debt.

The TCTA would provide proactive support to other sector institutions, including the DWS. It would ensure efficient operating environment for the business sector. It targets to create a progressive Total Quality Management (TQM) implementation, focusing on core functions, Treasury Management Systems (TMS), Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) and Project Management Systems (PMS).

In terms of growth and development, the TCTA sought to forge synergistic partnerships for skills development in the water sector. It targeted to have signed an agreement of cooperation by the end of the year. It was also looking to be a leader in critical aspects of water and to have submitted at least three thought-leading papers by the year end.

The TCTA received most of its income from the tariffs that were charged on their stakeholders through the DWS, and these were used to repay debt. It spent mostly on the primary business mandates (capital expenditure).

(Tables were provided to illustrate the predicted and actual budget for 2015/16 and the outlined budget for 2016/17)

Discussion

Mr R Cebekhulu (IFP) said that in Jozini, there was a cemetery in which the graves were under water. He asked if the TCTA had allowed people to conduct their appropriate traditional ceremonies there.

Mr Ndlovu replied that the Authority allowed every kind cultural activity and had learnt that they should consider cultural activities whenever they built new dams. This also applied to Hazelmere Dam.

Mr Basson said that in 2007, the cost of the LHWP had been estimated at R6.6 billion, given that it was going to be finished in 2019. The current cost was estimated at R22.9 billion and the project was now planned to be finished in 2024. It had already been indicated that no contractors or engineers had been appointed for the project. Why was the LHWP being delayed?

Mr Johann Claassens, Executive Manager: Project Management and Implementation, replied that the cost increased substantially, possibly because of the exchange rate. The alarming R22.9 billion did include contingencies. However, the TCTA did not have control over the cost management of the LHWP, as these were all managed by a Lesotho organisation called LSDA. The TCTA had asked LSDA what contributed the most in costs so that they could look into how they could influence the reduction of costs. Furthermore, there was a treaty between Lesotho and South Africa that had delayed the project, which also had to be considered. It was also important that the costs were merely estimated from feasibility studies.

Ms B Maluleke (ANC) wanted to know what the TCTA was doing to address the skills problem, because resorting to consultants was more costly. She further asked how the TCTA would help in creating jobs. What progress did it make last year to assist the DWS to achieve its objectives?

Mr Mnguni wanted to know the plan and progress on the AMD issue, the plans on capacity building, if the TCTA was developing any skills, and whether South Africa would need those skills in the long term.

Mr Ndlovu said the TCTA had built and delivered 42 houses, creating job opportunities. The next goal was to build an aqua-culture facility in the Mooi River area. Historically, it had built 80 houses in Cape Town. It had trained 30 people last year and allowed them to work for the TCTA or for private companies. It had also given bursaries and was looking to have its own academy.

Ms Khawula asked that the TCTA include fencing of the Hazelmere dam in its capital expenditure because there had been reports that people surrounding the dam were drowning. She added that the TCTA should allow relatives of the people who had drowned in the dam to find the remains of their bodies.

Mr Ndlovu replied that they were in the process of securing Infrastructure. They had fenced some dams and were looking to fence still more.

The Chairperson asked if the TCTA had handed over the AMD satellite station, and whether it had the skills to operate the station. He asked if the TCTA would meet the water target with the AMD satellite station and whether it was sustainable to dilute the Vaal River as a short-term solution to the problem.

Mr Ndlovu replied that the AMD process was a short term TCTA strategy. The Cabinet had issued a time table that detailed how construction should be done and the TCTA had added its inputs.  He admitted that the skills required was still an issue, but they believed that over time their learning curve would improve. He also admitted that polluting the Vaal River was not sustainable and that they were merely used that methodology as a short term solution.

Mr Basson expressed his dissatisfaction over the delay of the LHWP project, specifically the interference of politics on the Department’s work and how it wasted taxpayers’ money.

Mr Ndlovu said the TCTA would take Mr Basson’s assertion as a comment.

Ms Khawula asked the Chairperson to invite the Department of Housing to discuss the issue of people who did not have houses and toilets.

The Chairperson replied that TCTA did not deal with the subject of housing.

Ms N Gasa, the new Deputy Director General: Programme Management Unit (PMU), DWS, replied that following the guidance from the meeting the TCTA had held with Department of Human Settlements the previous day concerning hindrances to the provision of water and toilets, the departments had agreed to work together to solve the problem.

Mr Ndlovu concluded by saying that the TCTA touched peoples live by employing people who were from the areas where the projects were taking place. They formed partnerships to create entrepreneurship opportunities for economic development.

Inkomati-Usuthu Catchment Management Agency (IUCMA)

Dr Thomas Gyedu-Ababio, CEO: IUCMA, said the Agency’s objectives in 2016/17 would ensure:

  • Effective, efficient and sustainable management of water resources;
  • Collaborative and coordinated integrated water resource management for wise socio-economic development;
  • Effective and efficient management of IUCMA resources; and
  • The promotion of knowledge generation and distribution, and the pursuit of an international development agenda.

The key priorities for IUCMA were to prevent and remedy water resource pollution, to provide a water quality monitoring network and an integrated water quality management framework, to deal with the unlawful use of water, a water allocation plan, to finalise compulsory licensing where necessary to achieve water allocation reform, and to maintain river flows and rainfall data loggers to support river operations and the billing of water users.

The key projects were verification and validation, an integrated water quality management strategy, water quality monitoring, stakeholder empowerment, boreholes for the needy, and a feasibility study on gravity flows for historically disadvantaged individuals (HDIs).

The IUCMA aimed to achieve the DWS goals of being an efficient and development-oriented sector leader, providing equitable and sustainable water and sanitation services, and ensuring protection of water across the value chain.

In the pursuit of these objectives, the IUCMA faced the following threats: water users were not familiar with the water use license application legislation and governing procedures; the water resource dilution, especially from sewage leaking/spilling into the water resources, which caused a serious risk; and non-compliance by water users, including municipalities, and the continued lack of law enforcement, which was negatively impacting on socio-economic development and rapidly reducing the sustainability of water resources

(Tables were shown to illustrate baseline budget for 2015/16 and budget allocation for 2016/17)

Discussion

Mr Mnguni congratulated the IUCMA on cutting spending from the financial year of 20156/16 to 2016/17. He asked how long it took them to respond to queries, because Mr Maseko -- a member of the public – had lodged a complaint two years ago and had still not received a response. 

Ms Patience Nyakane-Maluka, IUCMA Chairperson, replied that the IUCMA had dealt with Mr Maseko’s case and the recordings of the case were available.

The Chairperson referred to a case in Makana, where there had been a pipe from a river in a black peoples’ community to a white peoples’ community. The water was dry in the black peoples’ dam, but there was water in the white peoples’ dam. He asked if the IUCMA had encountered a scenario of that nature.

The Chairperson also sought clarity on cell phone charges and contracts, telephone costs and electricity, and legal fees. He wanted to understand the line items, as they were increasing at such a rapid rate, such as accommodation (about R800 000) and board meetings (about R450 000). He paid a special attention to rental expenses and asked why the Agency spent more than R4 million on rent when it could just buy a building, since they were spending almost as much as a building would cost.

Ms Nyakane-Maluka replied that the IUCMA had bought some offices and was still negotiating with traditional leaders to buy land.

Ms Thembelilhle Mjaji, CFO: IUCMA said the cell phone charges and cellphone contracts were two separate charges. The cell phone charges were the variable charges and they were expensive because they included roaming charges. The Agency could not control the monitoring of electricity use since it was only renting the building. Regarding the legal fees, it had made provision of R600 000 for payment in case it lost its case against Northern Poles, but it had won the case so the IUCMA would reallocate the R600 000 to the budget plan. The telephone and fax bills were fixed Telkom lines. The board meeting costs had been separated into two, because the board stipends were per sitting fees.

The Chairperson was unhappy about how the board meeting costs were disclosed, specifically about how retainer fees caused confusion.

Ms Maluleke asked how the IUCMA was dealing with non-compliant users.

Mr Ababio replied that they were taking polluters to court.

Mr Makondo asked how many members of staff the IUCMA had.

Mr Ababio replied that there were about 70 members.

Mr Mnguni complained about the disclosure of the financial information and also expressed his dissatisfaction over the Mr Maseko issue.

Ms Maluleke asked what the relationship between the DWS and the Catchment Management Agencies (CMAs) was.

Mr Ababio said that the Department was the regulator, and set the standards and norms. It also dealt enforcement and dilution control. The DWS’s two CMAs – the IUCMA and the Breede-Gouritz -- were listed public entities. The Minister of the DWS was a shareholder and a board member of the two CMAs, and so had influence. He proposed that the CMAs’ interactions with local government should be presented, together with the SA Local Government Association (SALGA).

Breede-Gouritz Catchment Management Agency

Mr Phakamani Buthelezi, CEO: Breede-Gouritz CMA, focused outlined the entity’s objectives, which covered water resource planning, water use management, institutional and stakeholder relations, water allocation reform, water resource protection, information systems, strategic support (human resources and financing), and management and governance.

With regard to key performance indicators, Breede-Gouritz aimed to complete 80% of its catchment management strategy, to have 80% of land use planning and rezoning applications, 80% of water registrations, and 80% of licences finalised.  Two water quality monitoring projects would be implemented, 70 water resource points monitored, four river rehabilitation projects finally and technically supported, 2 250 learners reached during various water campaigns, four newsletters developed and circulated, resource poor farmers technically supported, all financial prescripts reported on and one corporate compliance submitted.

The total budget that would allow the Breede-Gouritz CMA to achieve its objectives was R47.4 million. The increase in budget line items showed that Breetz-Gouritz still had an opportunity to grow.

(Tables with the baseline budget for 2015/16 and 201617 budget allocation were shown)

Discussion

Mr Mnguni commented that the Breede-Gouritz CMA circulated its newsletters among the MPs.

Mr Makondo said he could not agree with the way Breede-Gouritz expressed it targets. He wanted to know the base numbers instead of the percentages.

Mr Buthelezi replied that in the cases where the planning depended on the demand, it was difficult to come up with actual numbers. Otherwise, where it was possible to give actual or predicted numbers, the company did give the base numbers.

Mr N Singh (IFP) added that they should start making efforts to provide numbers instead of percentages.

Ms Maluleke was concerned that the report did not allow the MPs to see how the CMA would help the government achieve the goals it had set. There had also been no follow ups from the previous year in the report.

Mr Buthelezi responded that Breede-Gouritz did have a number of projects such as food gardens in various communities, promoted channel agriculture in schools, collaborated with women’s forums for food gardening, and the company was aligned with the NDP’s goals.

The Chairperson wanted to hear about the measures in place for the water supervision aimed at combating theft. He asked if the board’s costs amounting to R1 Million could be unpacked.

Ms Zanele Mngoma, the Breeds-Gouritz CFO, responded that normally the board costs were just above R400 000, but with the new directives, they were projected to be R1 million.

The Chairperson said that the new directive concerning board meeting costs caused confusion.

The meeting was adjourned.

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