Departments Human Settlements and Social Development: AG on key internal controls review; required disclosures; with Minister

Meeting report

Briefing by Department of Human Settlements

Mr Francois de Wet, CFO: Western Cape Department of Human Settlements, focused his presentation on the title deed and asset management, housing subsidy administration, stakeholder management, delegation’s framework, Human Settlement implementation, and standing operators framework.

He reported that the title deed restoration project was an on-going process. The Department would confirm the accuracy of the backlog figure by identifying all projects, including Peoples’ Housing Process (PHP) projects in terms of all subsidy houses registered on the Housing Subsidy System to ensure all the affected projects were included in the backlog figure. It would further identify, per municipality, per project, the final number of subsidy houses built and transferred, remaining houses to be transferred, and identify constraints hampering the transfer of title deeds. The Department would establish a dedicated Title Deed Office. In appointing external service providers to assist with reducing title deeds backlog, clear and concise contractual terms, highlighting responsibilities and timelines, would be included in the contract.

All action plans on housing subsidy administration have been implemented and controls have been put in place as recommended by the internal audit to address all control deficiencies.
On stakeholder management, the Department agreed on 14 action plans for the sub-directorate. Six plans were implemented and eight action plans expired without being implemented by the Department. Seven action plans related to the lack of stakeholders’ consultation. The Department was required to compile Standard Operating Procedures (SOP) to include recommendations by the internal audit. All six action plans were regarded as partially implemented because the document provided did not address all the concerns raised by the internal audit.

Mr de Wet indicated that all action plans on the delegation’s framework have been implemented and recommendations by the internal audit were taken into consideration to improve the delegation process. The improvements were confirmed by the internal audit during the 2017/18 financial year. The Department has also implemented all human settlement action plans and has now put controls in place as recommended by the internal audit to address all control deficiencies.

Concerning standing operating procedures, the Department still needed to process risks and AGSA findings, and facilitate the confirmation of points of integration between supply chain management (SCM) and programme managers and ensure acknowledgement of roles and responsibilities. A consulting engagement process was held and key controls were work-shopped with management on various occasions and were updated in the SOP document. The points of integration were facilitated with role players. Input was obtained and key controls in the updated SOP reflected the integration.

Lastly, he stated the Department has implemented mechanisms to assist municipalities in their business plans, and this has resulted in the Department over-achieving on its targets. Standard project application documents were developed and work-shopped with municipalities to ensure credible and reliable information was provided by the municipalities.
Briefing by Department of Social Development

Mr Juan Smith, CFO: Western Cape Social Development Department, centred his presentation on the following major areas: Department of Public Service and Administration (DPSA) delegation, youth development, Metro East: child care and protection, Metro South: child care and protection, customer care, substance abuse, and sustainable livelihoods.

He reported the Department did not formerly appoint a DSA (Delegated Systems Administrator) or formally assign the prescribed DSA duties to a specific employee. The DSA should complete Annexure D6 quarterly as per the requirements of section 7.10 of the directive. It was confirmed that Legal services did not validate the Department’s delegations that were approved on 21 September 2015. The HOD has formally appointed a DSA. Powers to exercise a power or duty has been included in the employment contract of the HOD as a generic performance indicator. The DSA ensures quarterly update of the Annexure D6 and submits to HOD for signature as required from June 2018. Legal Services issued a validation certificate confirming that the delegations that were signed off on 31 October 2017 were legally sound as required.

On youth development, findings pointed out that an analysis should be conducted for youth development services delivered by the various programmes within the Department and at the Regional Offices to determine the locations where youth development services are delivered. The management should develop a policy document that incorporates youth development norms and standards to be complied with Non-Profit Organisations (NPOs) people delivered by DSD, own services and those outsourced to partners in order to ascertain gaps in youth services. The report was completed in June 2017. A Norms and Standard Youth Development Policy was approved and signed by the Director: Community Development on 31 July 2017.

With regard to Metro East (child care and protection), findings indicated that Social Work Supervisors must use the weekly case flow meetings where progress on cases is discussed to monitor compliance to the 90-day timeframe. The Child Protection (C39) register should be accurately updated with the status of individual cases and interventions and should be forwarded to the relevant social work manager for monitoring of interventions to be implemented to address cases at risk of exceeding the 90-day period. Training on the Canalisation Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) that was issued by the HOD on 30 May 2017 is currently underway. This SOP details standard caseload registers, and fields to calculate the 90-day turnaround process in order for it to be validated by Social Work Managers. The sub-process level operations which feeds into the above process, aligned to the SOP from the HOD, is fully operational from 30 September 2017.

Findings concerning Metro North (child care and protection) pointed to non-compliance to statutory requirements at the regions as it relates to Child Care Protection may impact on effective service delivery to beneficiaries. A Standard Operating Procedure for children's court proceedings was developed with the regional offices and approved by the HOD on 31 May 2017. Social work supervisors were trained by National DSD during November 2017 on the Roll-out Plan of the Induction Manual for Child Protection Social Workers. Training for regional social workers was completed during May and June 2018. Regional management monitors the implementation of the Standard Operating Procedure manual for child care and protection services at service delivery areas.

In terms of customer care, findings signify a failure to provide effective feedback for complaints received by the Department. A Standard Operating Procedure for Call Centre Enquiries, Complaints and Citizens Report Management at Regional and Programme level was approved by the HOD on 14 July 2017. A communication and training plan for the implementation of the Standard Operating Procedure for Call Centre Enquiries, Complaints and Citizens Report Management at Regional and Programme level was developed by the Deputy-Director: Customer Care and approved by the Chief Director: Business Planning and Strategy on 26 July 2017.

Pertaining to substance abuse, the finding suggested that the formulation and management of the substance abuse programme resulted in non-compliance with legislation and slow rate in registration of treatment centre. A Standard Operating Procedure for Registration of Substance Abuse Treatment Facilities was approved by the Chief Director: Social Welfare on 10 February 2017. Furthermore, a Standard Operating Procedure for Quality Assurance and Performance Monitoring was approved during August 2017. To comply with timeframes, additional clauses were included in the Standard Operating Procedure for Quality Assurance and Performance Monitoring to accommodate all programmes. Weekly substance abuse team meetings and quarterly review meetings are held to monitor the SOP processes and timeframes.

About sustainable livelihood, the finding shows that individuals experiencing hunger and malnutrition were not provided with nutritional support to sustain them. There was a need for the development of a draft norms and standards for Sustainable Livelihood programmes. The existing feeding site assessment tool was enhanced and distributed to all monitoring and evaluation staff to ensure consistent application. A stakeholder engagement was held on 31 January 2018 with various Non-Profit Organisations’ representatives and draft norms and standards were work-shopped. A list of available feeding sites was updated.

Discussion on Human Settlements Presentation

Mr Thando Mguli, HOD: DHS, commented they made sure all the concerns and recommendations made by the Committee were documented and actioned to make the Department and the province proud. The Western Cape Department of Human Settlement was the only department under the National Department of Human Settlement that has a clean audit in the whole country.

The Chairperson stated he was impressed by what they have achieved because he knew where the Department was coming from, all these years it has been interacting with the Committee. What the Department has achieved should be a lesson for departments in the Western Cape.

Ms C Beerwinkel (ANC) asked if the Department was utilising funds received through the conditional grant for the title deeds, and if it was comparing itself with others based on what it receives. She wanted to find out why there were protests around housing delivery among the stakeholders and asked if it were because housing delivery was an emotive thing. Lastly, she wanted to establish why the department was not getting on well with communities if it was working so closely with the municipalities.

The Minister of Human Settlements, Mr Bonginkosi Madikizela, explained that the DORA grant was not prescriptive on how it should be spent. Provinces have to prioritise how it should be spent. Most priorities were aligned to departmental programmes. He further stated there were a number of reasons for unhappiness in communities. Communities were competing for limited resources. Municipalities were not getting the principle of first come, first serve right. It is not being applied or followed right. The manner of allocating houses must be informed by the waiting list. The Department was using a bottom-up approach when planning for housing. Municipalities were not prioritising beneficiaries. They were only prioritising only those who qualify for free houses.

Mr S Tyatyam (ANC) asked what could have been the major problem for the Department when it started delivering title deeds. He said in the Mawu-Mawu section of Nyanga there were cases where in one erf there were two houses or one house with two families and those families were expected to discuss it among themselves how to share this erf. He wanted to understand how this matter was going to be addressed because the affected people did not feel the sense of ownership.

Minister Madikizela elaborated there was a huge backlog on title deeds and there were instances where they found it difficult to issue title deeds. The reason being that one would discover that simple things were not done, especially things considered important and necessary for housing development and allocation. e.g. you discover the land belongs to a private owner, land surveying, etc. All these things were contributing to protests. He said the Department was putting measures in place to regularise things to ensure people were getting title deeds even if one was not an original beneficiary. Legal processes are taking time. So, if two families are in one erf, the alternative is to relocate one family. That is how the Department dealt with double occupation in Khayelitsha.

Mr Mguli added that the department was trying to deliver title deeds the ways it has been done for military veterans in other provinces. In cases where the yard is big, they would build one house on top of another and do double occupation. The intention is not to take people out of houses and leave them houseless. He went on to say the backyarders were the ones now rebelling. While the government is trying to look at the vulnerable, the attention has to shift now towards the backyarders.

Ms M Maseko (DA) remarked that when it comes to the restoration of title deeds, the implementation is being different because of the capacity within the municipalities. She enquired how the Department was going to capacitate municipalities not to exhaust the grant they have so that families do not have to pay for title deeds, especially those in poor rural municipalities. She also commented there is political interference from councillors which is hampering what the officials want to do in terms of project development. Consequently, this leads to protests.

Mr Mguli indicated the capacitation of municipalities was a continuous thing in the Department to ensure accurate information for planning processes in order to help municipalities to do their work of delivering houses. He further pointed out there was this desire to do well while people on the other hand are unhappy. Now the Department was prioritising development for certain areas. The man in the street does not see the documentation for development planning including the delays involved in trying to comply with legislation.

Minister Madikizela informed the Committee that six weeks ago the Department called all the municipalities to let them know that for their plans to be approved by the Department, their priorities have to be complete and prove the areas to be prioritised were initially prioritised. Their business plans should also be based on the priority list of people meant to benefit.

Mr Tyatyam remarked there are cases where people did not get the houses they were waiting for in their areas, but were relocated to far away areas. Newcomers were getting houses in the areas that were initially occupied by the people who were now allocated house to very far places.

Minister Madikizela stated there was a vacuum in leadership. The best people who understand communities are the leaders who come from those communities. If leadership was strong at that level, such things would not have happened because the Department does a lot of consultations.

Ms Beerwinkel commented people should be informed about the lengthy processes involved when developing and building houses. That is where public participation falls flat. People need to be informed that houses could not just be built anywhere. The communities should be informed of the legislation processes that are being followed before developments take place.

The Chairperson asked for clarity on the non-prescriptive nature of the DORA grant in the delivery of title deeds.

Minister Madikizela explained that the reason why other provinces were behind is that tittle deeds were not prioritised and that has resulted in huge backlogs. Provinces have to take the grant and prioritise items that talk to their programmes. He noted public participations sessions are always held to inform people while things are at a conceptual stage. Councillors are always involved in the process to keep people informed and to allow them to be members of the standing or steering committees. Unfortunately, the chain gets to break along the way. He also indicated that on informal settlements outside the urban areas that need services, the Department has a joint responsibility with the municipalities to provide services. Some of the things that get said by officials at top level indicate they have never visited those areas. It is not practical to relocate people in an informal settlement to a nearest developing small town, for example.

Discussion on Social Development Presentation

Mr G Mitchell (DA) remarked that the action plans were appearing to be good on paper but were not looking practical.

Ms Beerwinkel stated the document had missing annexures or attachments and that was leaving the Committee with less information and being unable to make follow-up questions.  She indicated they want to see if things were implemented and what the implications were. She complained that the presentation was read to them, but they were not taken through it. It did not talk to them because of the missing details. It would have been better if there were examples to follow the presentation.

The Chairperson told the Department that what the Members were saying has been said to other departments because the Committee does not deal with the departments every day. Hence the need for specifics. He admitted the Department has done what the Committee needed and addressed the gaps, but the presentation lacked details. For instance, the document talked of a person who resigned, but details for the act or resignation were not covered. He indicated that the Department of Human Settlement used to be like Social Development before in terms of presentations, but now it has changed for the better.

Mr Mitchell agreed with the Chair, saying the things the Committee requested have been answered, but the presented document lacked monitoring mechanism.

Mr Robert Macdonald, HOD for Social Development Department, explained that the person who resigned did so because he benefited from irregularity. He would provide the Committee with a list of information with details and timelines if the Committee could give him a list of what it wants.

Adoption of Minutes

Committee minutes of 22 August 2018 were adopted with minor amendments.

The meeting was adjourned.