New Minister on her Vision for the Department

PUBLIC WORKS PORTFOLIO COMMITTEE
20 June 2006
NEW MINISTER ON HER VISION FOR THE DEPARTMENT

Acting Chairperson: Mr F Bhengu (ANC)

SUMMARY
The new Minister of Public Works, Thoko Didiza, briefed the Committee on her vision for the Department and its programmes as well as for inter-department and inter-government relations.

The Committee welcomed the Minister on board and said it was looking forward to working with her. Committee members raised a number of issues that included skills retention, transformation of the property market, management of government assets, the image of the Department of Public Works, backlog, recent Noseweek magazine reports, NEPAD and intergovernmental relations.

The Minister outlined the challenges facing the Department to be:
- ensuring that its interpretation of its mandate coincided with that of the provinces;
- addressing its role in relation to other departments to ensure that they are working in sync
- providing leadership to other departments on managing public works programmes
 
MINUTES
The Chair noted that the Committee would like to discuss three key issues with the Minister: (1) The vision of the Department and where it will be taken in the future; (2) Departmental programmes, although time did not allow them to look at each and every programme; (3) Interdepartmental and intergovernmental relations. He explained that members would raise issues and allow the Minister to respond.
 
Ms N Ngcengwane (ANC) remarked that the Minister had made a speech addressing the NCOP stating that she needed a Department that really works, one which can market itself and has its own committed civil service that is patriotic. She commented that there was a skills retention problem and asked the Minister for her vision on skills retention. 

Mr B Radebe (ANC) articulated that in order for Public Works to work it must be able to transform the property market on the ground, it must be able to execute its constitutional mandate and defend the rights of South African people proactively. He explained that this could be accomplished by accommodating other departments and being accessible to all of the people in South Africa. Property was another important factor. The Apartheid government had denied people of colour the right to own property. He asked the Minister what she was going to do to ensure that there was transformation in this sector.

Mr Radebe mentioned that government was going to import engineers from abroad so that it can meet its targets. He asked the Minister what she was going to do to ensure that the Council for the Built Environment promoted the engineering field locally. Also what was she going to do to  enable the absorption of previously disadvantaged people into the engineering sector, as providing skills can help fight poverty.

Mr S Opperman (DA) asked the new Minister what her view on 2010 was as well as what she thought their role in NEPAD was. He asked how the initiative could benefit from greater involvement in the development of infrastructure in the African continent.

The Minister requested that members not only ask questions but share their views.

Ms C Ramotsamai (ANC) said that one of the key responsibilities of the Department was to make sure that public assets were in “good health”. She noted that the Department had a problem with managing its assets, they still had to come to grips with Government-wide Immovable Asset Management (GIAMA).

She then referred to the matter of how Public Works dealt with other departments. The Department was greatly criticised on its services to other Departments. This aspect and its overall image had to be improved immediately. She added that other departments wanted to do their own construction and maintenance because Public Works has failed to carry out these tasks. She asked the Minister how she planned on improving the Department and its image.

Mr  L Maduma (ANC) agreed with Ms Ramotsamai that other departments want to usurp the functions of Public Works and added that such actions in a way rendered the Department ineffective. Public Works faced the challenge of a conflict of interests with other departments as well as the challenge of managing its assets which had been looted. He asked the Minister how she intended to deal with the disposal of assets.

The Chair suggested that officials who dealt with assets should disclose their interests so that the Department could make informed decisions.

Ms T Nwamitwa-Shilubana (ANC) commented that the vision of Public Works could only be enhanced if there was capacity in the Department. She explained that earlier in the year the late Minister of Public Works had wanted to add an extra Director-General and six additional Deputy Directors-General to her team and capacitate the regional offices because they complained that they did not have enough staff to handle problems. She asked if the Department was carrying out similar strategies as other departments to enhance its capacity.

She added that the Committee was concerned with how the Department carried out its contracting process. And asked how contractors were appointed and whether there was an evaluation process.

Mr S Huang (ANC) commented that there were a lot of challenges facing the Minister. He had listed three issues of concern: (1) Assets and the asset register (2) The recent negative “noseweek” reports on the disposal of property were an indication that something needed to be done in relation to government property and other assets. (3) The fact that the GIAMA Bill had attempted to address anomalies but was unfortunately referred back to the Department for further consideration.

Mr M Likotsi (PAC) explained that the vision of the Minister should include corporate image, and that this went hand in hand with working according to timeframes and preventing backlogs.

Mr J Blanche (DA) asked the Minister what she planned on doing about the backlog problem.   

The Chair explained that after the New Elliot Hospital in Umtata was established, illegal occupants tried to use the old building as a dormitory and received free benefits such as water and electricity. There were other incidents like this one but when people tried to evict the tenants, Public Works was silent on the matter.

Mr L Maduma (ANC) asked what progress had been made thus far with the Property Charter.

The Chair remarked that the Committee had tabled its oversight report regarding the Department's annual report and had made recommendations. He hoped the Minster had taken note of the issues raised and asked her to respond to the Committee’s questions and comments.

The Minister remarked that the Department had done completed some work since 1994 and that it was important for members to remember the history and how far they had travelled from there. She explained that she had met with the CEO of the Independent Development Trust to see what they were doing with their mandate as one of the bodies under Public Works. Public Works had concurrent functions with other spheres of government which required a lot of negotiation. It was important for the Department to go and look at Chapter 3 of the Constitution, which provided for cooperative government, and acknowledge the need for coordination and independence at the same time.

The Minister sketched out the challenges facing Public Works as: (1) Ensuring that their interpretation of their mandate coincides with the provinces. (2) Addressing their role with other Departments to ensure that they are working in sync. (3) Find out what it is that they need to give leadership on. Another department may understand the need to engage in a public works programme but it may be that they do not want to deal with managing the programme. Managing the programme would thus become an obligation for Public Works. The Minister commented that everyone “sings”  about Public Works but no one drives it. The Department needed to have another look at itself.

She then moved on to specific issues that were brought up by members. The first issue was skills management. The Minister stated that skills retention was an issue that the Department was also concerned about. She commented that skills retention in the built environment was challenging because there had been a lot of movement due to globalisation. Many skills in the built environment area were being lost because many people had left South Africa to work in the Middle East and so. The Department needed to see how it can improve this issue and accelerate forward.

The third issue addressed by the Minister was the relationship between Public Works and other departments. She explained that Public Works was currently working on its relationships and that the client feature of the relationship needs to improve. They were currently looking at ways to improve the client relationship. They were trying to improve the relationship by holding people accountable for their responsibilities. They were evaluating how the Department responded to problems that arose so that small problems for example could be fixed promptly and not months down the line.

If the Department's response was quicker and the Department were to ask clients what their problems were before they complain, their image could be improved. She explained that image was not about how the Department marketed itself, but rather how it kept good corporate governance and how its civil service took to heart the Batho Pele principle.

The Minister then moved on to the fifth issue regarding NEPAD. She explained that NEPAD was an initiative which sought to improve economic development on a continental level and that this took South Africa ‘s relationship with her neighbours into consideration. They would look at the extent to which they collectively work with other countries on common interests. She gave an example that border infrastructure was a common interest and that for border control to improve, countries on both sides of the border need to work together, if one country improves its side and the other does not the border will not improve. Thus they need to work with other countries to improve their work.

The Minister expressed that if the issue of infrastructure was addressed economic growth could enhance and South Africa could derive benefits from this. She related  that they are looking at how this issue could be addressed.

The final issue that she addressed was the Property Charter. She explained that they were currently considering the extent to which the Charter satisfies Black Economic Empowerment (BEE) legislation and the role of the Executive in the matter. They had not qualified the role of the Executive and the Legislature which was a bit of a blur / grey area in terms of separation of powers. She added that they need to find a way to handle these roles so that the Legislature could oversee the Executive - because such responsibilities helped the two branches enhance each other.

The Minister remarked that there were other issues raised that she would not respond to because they were under investigation, for example the “noseweek” issue. She had noted the issues that members want Public Works to take up and she would respond on the other issues when she met with the Committee again in August.

The Chair thanked the Minister for addressing the committee. He agreed that Chapter 3 of the Constitution was an area that had to be revisited. The Committee had had a workshop to tease out critical areas and look into separation of powers.

Mr Radebe expressed his happiness that the Minister was on board and said that the Committee was there to make sure that the Batho Pele principle (People First) is implemented.

Ms Ramotsamai agreed with Mr Radebe. She added that part of the Committee’s oversight was to put its ear to the ground and make sure that all players were considered including the previously disadvantaged. They were looking forward to working with the Minister.

The meeting was adjourned.