Committee Report on Department Budget and Strategic Plan: adoption

Meeting report

PUBLIC WORKS PORTFOLIO COMMITTEE
12 April 2005
COMMITTEE REPORT ON DEPARTMENT BUDGET AND STRATEGIC PLAN: ADOPTION

Chairperson: Mr F Bhengu (ANC)

Documents handed out:
Draft Committee Report on Public Hearings on the Department’s Strategic Plan and Budget

SUMMARY
The Committee continued their discussion on recommendations on the Department strategic plan and budget to be tabled in the National Assembly. Members discussed the wordings of each recommendation, which mainly dealt with the maintenance backlog, the duties of companies to train personnel, and the training of officials. The recommendations also dealt with the implementation of the emerging contractor programme as well as the proposed Construction Charter. The Committee went over the sections dealing with the simplification of the contract documentation and addressed the issue of ‘fronting’. The Report was adopted with amendments.

MINUTES
The Chairperson noted that Point 1 of the recommendations dealt with the elimination of the maintenance backlog. He suggested a stricter phrasing to implement a duty on the Department of Public Works to work together with the National Treasury to deal with the backlog. The Committee agreed that the report should state that the duty would be to "clear the backlog".

Mr Blanché (DA) wanted to introduce a timeframe into the recommendation within which the backlog problem needed to be addressed. This timeframe would have to be within the period of the present Parliament so that the Department could give feed back to the Committee.

Mr H Maluleka (ANC) indicated that strict timeframes might prove to be unrealistic but would force the Department to come up with realistic suggestions.

The Committee agreed to rephrase the recommendation to include a duty to clear the backlog in maintenance within a specified timeframe and that the Department would have six months time to develop a plan and report back to the Committee on its proposals.

The Chairperson continued to Point 4 dealing with the training of Department officials on the guidelines of the Expanded Public Works Programme (EPWP). He mentioned that this was not yet a reality in the field as the Committee had experienced during their visits to the regional departments.

Mr L. Maduma (ANC) suggested introducing a duty for reorientation to the guidelines.

Mr Gogotya added that officials should be trained in at least one African language. The Chairperson added that the tender documents also needed to be available in an African language of the region.

Mr H. Maluleka (ANC) explained that this was an important aspect of ‘Batho Pele’ which represented an all-encompassing work ethic.

The Chairperson continued to Point 5 that dealt with expedition of payments to contractors in order for them to comply with their commitments.

Mr Gogotya suggested adding words to the effect that the Department also needed to deal with the impediments resulting from the delays in payment to which the Chairperson agreed.

Mr Blanché intervened and said that payments should only be expedited for work that had actually been done.

The Committee discussed the merits of shortening the recommendation on Point 6 that dealt with the separation of EPWP from the ordinary public works programmes in the competency of the provinces.

Mr S Opperman (DA) felt that the guidelines were clear enough on this division and the recommendation could remain unaltered.

The Committee eventually decided to strike this Point out of the recommendations.

Next the Committee dealt with Point 7 which outlined the need to impart skills through learnership programmes. Mr Maduma suggested combining Point 7 with Point 3 already dealt with as they both dealt with training of persons.

The Chairperson moved to Point 8 of the recommendations and underlined that the Independent Development Trust (IDT) needed to be utilised by the Department as the IDT had experience in the field of the EPWP.

The Committee agreed to strike out Point 9 from the recommendations.

On Point 10, the Chairperson stressed that the Construction Industry Development Board (CIDB) needed to provide statistics for the whole of the country that depicted the demographic and racial breakdown of the contractors registered.

Mr Maduma added that the statistics should also include data on disabled persons registered.

The Committee discussed on how the emerging contractors who exited the incubation programme could be monitored and assisted after completion of the programme.

Mr Blanché asked how it would be possible to follow up on these persons after they had finished the programme. Mr Opperman agreed and noted that such follow-up work would be very difficult for the Department. He felt that after completion of the programme the Department had no further duties towards them and the programme could not guarantee work for all these persons from the programme.

The Chairperson expressed that these persons were the beneficiaries of the programme and a follow-up was legitimate and could assist in providing information and data on empowerment.

Mr Maduma noted that the resources implemented on the proposed follow-up monitoring should rather be used to introduce new entrants into the incubation programme.

Mr Blanché agreed that there needed to be some sort of monitoring of the emerging contractors but this function could be fulfilled by the relevant professional associations.

Mr Siboza (ANC) favoured to keep the programme participants to be reflected in a database.

Mr Gogotya noted that the problem was the many contractors of the programme still could not find work and that the local government authorities are not aware of the training which emerging contractors have received. He suggested the Department needed to liaise with the provinces to promote the registration of contractors in local government. The industry was still dominated by previously advantaged groups and emerging contractors experienced difficulties to enter these spheres.

The Chairperson agreed and mentioned that the established industry needed to adopt a South African approach to transformation. An indaba needed to be called to address this issue. He stressed that it was not the Department’s duty to offer protection to these emerging contractors but the Committee needed to bear in mind that they were aiming at a responsible government. The differences in economical might needed to be borne in mind as new contractors were not in a position to compete adequately with existing contractors.

Mr Gogotya suggested broadening the base of persons offering input to the Department to include the European Union (EU) as it had experience in affirming nations in the EU by giving financial aid to previously economic weaker Member states. This knowledge could be put to use in the transformation process.

Mr Maduma noted that many construction companies are not participating in the development of the Construction Charter and that a call needed to go out to all companies to join up.

Mr Gogotya agreed and suggested the reformulation of the recommendation to include a duty of the Department to reach out to all stakeholders who should participate in the formulation and process of the Construction Charter.

The Chairperson dealt with the Point on the simplification of the contract documentation. Further, he discussed the recommendation dealing with the need to make the construction industry an appealing career option. The Members agreed to change the wording of the recommendation to "attractive" from previously "glamorous".

Mr Opperman suggested changing the wording to include encouragement at secondary level.

Mr Blanché added that school-leavers need to be encouraged to move into the construction industry.

The Chairperson suggested including the Department of Education in this process.

Mr Gogotya felt that besides school-leavers, the recommendation should include persons already in the job market. Government needed to become more pro-active in conjunction with the industry.

The Chairperson went on to discuss Point 16 of the recommendations which centred on the problem of fronting. The CIDB needed to address this issue and adopt a strategy that focused on every form of fronting.

The Committee agreed to strike off Points 17 – 19 from the recommendations.

The Committee affirmed the recommendation to call on the Department to investigate why the Council for Built Environment (CBE) had not tabled its annual reports.

Mr Siboza cautioned the Committee that the expansive use of acronyms was confusing for Members as well as for the public.

Mr Maduma moved to adopt the report with the proposed amendments. Mr Blanché seconded the motion.

Mr Maduma had been approached by the Council members of provinces not yet visited by the Committee, on the possibility of receiving the draft versions of the reports.

The Chairperson suggested providing the provinces with the key issues of the reports but not the draft reports themselves.

The meeting was adjourned.