Integrated Sustainable Rural Development Programme: progress report by Independent Development Trust; Department of Public Works

Meeting report

PUBLIC WORKS PORTFOLIO COMMITTEE
18 February 2004
INTEGRATED SUSTAINABLE RURAL DEVELOPMENT PROGRAMME: PROGRESS
REPORT BY INDEPENDENT DEVELOPMENT TRUST; DEPARTMENT OF PUBLIC WORKS:
ANNUAL REPORT

Chairperson Kgoshi Hlengwa (IFP)

Documents handed out
Independent Development Trust presentation
Department Of Public Works presentation
Committee Annual Report

Independent Development Trust website
Department Of Public Works website

SUMMARY
The Committee heard presentations from the Independent Development Trust (IDT) on the
Integrated Sustainable Rural Development Programme (ISRDP). The Committee was concerned
at some of the Independent Development Trust's assertions especially the statement that certain
ministers, the National Nodal Champions, were not visibly committed to the ISRDP programme.

The Department's Annual Report commented on its 100% spending of its budget and improved
financial management. It reported on its achievements in the programmes dealing with
Community-Based Public Works, Capital Works and Maintenance, Asset management, Women-
in-Construction, Emerging Contractor Development and Construction Industry Development.

MINUTES
The new CEO of the IDT, Ms T Nwedamutswu, introduced herself to the Committee, noting that
she had started in December 2003. She apologised that she would not be able to join the
Committee during its visits to the nodal areas as scheduled by the Committee. The IDT's senior
members unfortunately had prior engagements, which coincided with the visits to the nodal areas.

The Chair announced that the committee unfortunately would have to cancel its planned visits to
nodal areas as it coincided too closely with the 14 April election day.

Independent Development Trust (IDT) presentation
The presentation concentrated on the Integrated Sustainable Rural Development Programme
(ISRDP) and its targeted focus on thirteen nodes. The Independent Development Trust said the
unresolved roles of traditional leaders was creating bottlenecks and delaying development in the
rural areas. Further the role of various essential agents in championing rural development was
unclear and hampering efficient development. Other challenges identified in the Integrated
Sustainable Rural Development Programme were the huge infrastructure backlogs, the extremely
low or non existent revenue base in many municipalities plus institutional lack of capacity (see
document).

Discussion
Mr K Moonsamy (ANC) asked what progress and or challenges the IDT experienced concerning
development in the rural areas. The rural areas had been lagging behind in developmental terms
for far too long. He said the IDT had many plans and programs to enhance development but
asked whether they had sufficient capacity to ensure follow-though on these plans.

Mr M Moeng, IDT Chief Operating Officer, said much progress had been achieved towards the
implementation of the ISRDP. The ISRDP was segmented into various phases. During the first
phase they focussed on its alignment with the Integrated Development Plan (IDPs) and other
government programmes. The purpose of the ISRDP was to maximise the impact of all relevant
government programmes. The 2001 to 2003 period was focused on establishing the necessary
conceptual framework. The IDT was now prepared for full scale implementation and would
hopefully make a very meaningful contribution to the lives of the rural poor.

Mr Moonsamy asked what bottlenecks had been created by the unresolved role of traditional
leaders as stated in the presentation.

Mr Moeng said not all nodal areas were experiencing difficulties with the traditional leadership.
Some traditional leaders contributed in a very significant sense to the development of their
respective areas. Unfortunately the IDT did not get the blessing of the traditional leaders to do the
work they needed to in some areas. However they were currently considering ministerial
intervention in such cases.

Mr Moonsamy asked how the lack of clarity of certain stakeholders in the rural development had
challenged the IDT, as stated in the presentation.

Mr Opperman (DA) asked for clarity on the IDT statement that there was low visibility amongst
some of the National Nodal Champions

Mr Moeng said the National Nodal Champions were all national ministers and their involvement
varied amongst the various ministers. Unfortunately some ministers focused mainly on their
respective ministry's sector and did not appreciate the need for holistic solutions to rural
challenges. There were unfortunately also not clearly defined roles between the Technical and
the Ministerial champions for many nodal areas. A plan that outlined the respective
responsibilities of the various spheres of government required urgent attention.

Ms Nwedamutswu said the progress of nodal areas was uneven as some were making excellent
progress. Some National Champions had been in constant communication and very involved with
their allocated nodal areas. Some of the best cases involved mainly women and perhaps this was
the result of their success. She reiterated that a clearer distinction was needed between the roles
of the National Nodal Champions and the Technical Champions. She mentioned one example
where a group of women were running a very successful enterprise and said this proved that
development in the nodal areas was not universally negative. Minister Valli Moosa visited his
central Karoo nodal constituency up to three times a year. All areas except the KwaZulu-Natal
were doing well. The area where National Nodal Area Champions were least visible was in the
KZN.

She said she had mentioned the fact that some ministers were not visiting the nodal areas
especially KwaZulu-Natal to the Chair during a private conversation. Unfortunately the IDT was
not in a position to explain why the ministers were not visiting there respective areas as they did
not have the authority to question ministers

Mr Radebe (ANC) praised the IDT for the very good work performed thus far and expressed the
hope that they would continue to do so. He referred to the presentation and asked why there was
un/under-utilised land when the minister had the authority to expropriate such categories of land.
This was not acceptable in the context of so much hunger for land and food in South Africa.

Mr Moeng replied that they experienced difficulty with under-utilised land earmarked for
development which was being contested in land claims. They requested the Land Commission to
prioritise such areas still under consideration. The Commission had informed the IDT that all land
claims had now been captured and outstanding matters could now be addressed

Mr Blanche expressed concern that the IDT was not taking the Committee into its confidence
regarding the activities of Nodal Champions. This Committee should be informed as they were
tasked and empowered with the an oversight function and could call anyone before the
Committee

Ms T Nwamitwa-Shilubana (ANC) asked whether National Nodal Champions could only be from
the nodal areas in question or whether any parliamentarian could step in to ensure the areas
received the attention they needed.

Mr Opperman said that only the previous week the Committee had been told that KZN was a
good example of the efficacy of the nodal are programme, now they heard the opposite

Ms Nwedamutswu said the performance of Nodal areas differed widely and that some nodal
areas had been doing very well in spite of little ministerial visibility in those areas. It was difficult
for the IDT to respond to members' questions, as the ministers had not given them any indication
why they are not visiting their respective nodal areas. She noted that the Deputy Defence Minster
had not been able to visit the allocated nodal area.

Ms Edith de Vries (IDT) said the IDT could not engage the ministers in question directly and could
only inform the government legotla via the Minister of Provincial Local Government.

The Chair said the Committee should wind up their questions as they had a full agenda to attend
to. It was very possible that in the future ministers would be able to attend their respective nodal
areas more regularly. He advised members that the Committee was not aware of the relevant
ministers' schedules. He added that the IDT had done nothing wrong in bringing this information
to the Committee's attention

Mr Blanche (said he wanted to be sure that the necessary work got done. He suggested that
perhaps the Committee should call the bureaucrats to the Committee to explain why they were
not helping the ministers and what hindered them from performing up to standard.

The Chair wished the IDT CEO well in her new position.

Department of Public Works: annual report
The Department reported 100% budget spending had a significant improvement in its financial
management according to the last Auditor General report. A total of 20 593 jobs had been
created through the department's various infrastructure development projects. The Department
had also made huge strides towards land reform through the sale of 825 non-commercial
properties in the extent of 63 502 hectares with an estimated market value of R 36,8 million. Its
achievements with regard to the Community-Based Public Works Programme, Capital Works and
Maintenance, Asset management, Women-in-Construction, the Emerging Contractor
Development Programme, and the Construction Industry Development Programme were outlined
(see document).

Discussion
Mr E Sigwela (ANC) said he could vouch for the good work the department was doing. The
incubator project had helped many of the poorest people, which he personally could attest to. The
Department had offices in the provinces but was there an awareness campaign to inform the
deeply isolated rural communities who otherwise could not access information about this?

Mr Maseko, Director-General Department of Public Works, replied much could be done to
enhance communication with the rural poor. The Department mostly used existing regional offices
to reach communities, as they did not have area offices. He acknowledged that more could be
done. In a recent visit to certain rural areas he had learnt this firsthand from contractors. They
had some appreciation of the role of the Department but not as much as he would have liked.

Mr Sigwela asked whether the Department had done a skills and needs assessment to determine
the potential that existed in the rural areas. He cautioned that it may appear that there was a lack
of skills in certain fields while that expertise actually existed in abundance in the rural areas.
He asked who maintained and paid for South Africa's foreign assets - he referred to a huge five-
storey embassy that was built recently in the Democratic Republic of Congo.

Mr Maseko said embassies fell under the jurisdiction of the Foreign Affairs Department. The
previous year the Department of Public Works (DPW) had built an embassy in Berlin, Germany
that was hailed as one of the best in that area and mostly South African engineers and staff were
used in its construction. In Uganda the DPW also opened an embassy that contained both the
embassy and living areas for diplomats. These projects were generally very expensive but more
so because South African expertise had to be flown in to complete the construction. The
Department of Foreign Affairs usually took responsibility for their own foreign acquisitions but they
also cooperated with the Department as was evidenced by these examples.

Mr Sigwela said when the Department constructs roads it often quarried the necessary rock in the
very areas the road was being built, but after completion of the road the quarries were deserted.
He asked if the Department had considered these quarries as potential black empowerment
projects, as they could become viable businesses.

Mr Maseko replied that the Department had not considered the suggestion to turn the quarries
into employment-generating projects but they would discuss the matter with the Department of
Minerals and Energy under whose jurisdiction mining belonged.

Mr Opperman asked for a detailed list of emerging contractors from his constituency. He asked
what criteria were employed to determine emerging contractors and whether it was possible to be
white and an emerging contractor.

Mr Maseko replied that he could make the information available as all the information was on the
Department's database. The majority of recently established companies were black owned, the
Department had a database of all service providers irrespective of ethnicity but gave preferred
treatment to Black Empowerment companies. They frequently advertised in the various
newspapers inviting companies to add themselves to the Department's list of service providers.

Mr Blanche referred to the 20 593 jobs mentioned in the presentation and said the Committee
had been told a few weeks earlier that these jobs were not permanent five-days-a-week posts. He
queried what the acronym RAMP meant and pointed out that the SA embassy in Uganda was
built at the cost of R17 million.

Mr Maseko replied that the Department only created employment that was linked to the various
projects they undertook and they were by their very nature not permanent employment. This was
also true for the 20 593 jobs the member referred to. One of their more innovative projects
involved delegating responsibility for both the construction and maintenance of a segment of road
to specific families thus creating long term income for those families. RAMP was an acronym for
the Repair and Maintenance Programme and it was part of the programme to maintain state
property.

Mr Maseko said there were no entry requirements to the construction industry so new companies
were being formed all the time. The department only provided training to those companies who
had already worked for them as it was part of the contract entered into that the department would
assist in the provision of training to emerging contractors.

Mr Maseko, referring to the expanded Public Works programme, assured the Committee that all
the business plans would be ready and submitted by the end of February and ready for
implementation by the end of March. He said much preparatory work had brought the Department
to the point where they were confident that the programme would be success

Ms R Naicker, Key Accounts Manager Department of Public Works, corrected a previous
reference to the embassy built in Uganda and said it was in fact built in Kinshasa and contained
both a chancery and a diplomatic compound

The Chair thanked everyone for their active participation, and the good working relationships built
during the last few years.

Committee Annual Report
The Committee amended a few small errors in the report and asked the Committee clerk to affect
the corrections.

The meeting was adjourned