Council for the Built Environment Annual Report 2006/07
Public Works and Infrastructure
14 November 2007
Meeting Summary
A summary of this committee meeting is not yet available.
Meeting report
PUBLIC WORKS PORTFOLIO COMMITTEE14 November 2007
COUNCIL FOR THE BUILT ENVIRONMENT ANNUAL REPORT 2006/07
Chairperson: Ms T Tobias (ANC)
Documents handed out:
Council for the Built Environment (CBE) Annual Report: Presentation
Council for the Built Environment Business Plan 2007-2010
Audio recording of meeting
SUMMARY
The Council for the Built Environment presentation provided an overview of the achievements, challenges, and financial performance of the organisation. CBE’s mandate was to ensure good governance in the provision of professional services, protect South African public against unsafe practices by built environment professionals and to coordinate standards in the six professional councils. The CBE was faced with many challenges, which included the transformation of the built environment sector and the inadequate funding of the Built Environment Professional Councils. Further, the legislated relationship between the Professional Councils and the CBE was not conducive to effective results in achieving their mandates and this needed to be changed.
The Committee was concerned about the poor working relationship and lack of cooperation between the CBE and the Professional Councils as well as the lack of funding for the Professional Councils
MINUTES
Council for the Built Environment (CBE) presentation
The CBE Chairperson, Mr Sipho Madonsela, in his briefing noted the challenges faced by CBE. These were the transformation of the Built Environment sector; its governance structures and the demographic profiles of registered persons; legislative overhauls concerning the Councils, the CBE and including integrative issues; the inadequate funding for BE Professional Councils and their poor achievements with regard to their set mandates such as poor registration time frames as well as their inadequate protection of the public.
Its achievements included having put in place systems that complied with the Public Finance Management Act (PFMA), creating public awareness of CBE’s roles and responsibilities, improved public protection and participations in Department of Public Works initiatives.
Discussion
Ms C Ramotsamai (ANC) asked about the relationship between the Council for the Built Environment (CBE) and the Professional Councils. What exactly did the legislation state with regard to the CBE relative to the Professional Councils.
Mr Madonsela explained that CBE played a coordinating role rather than acting as a governing body. The Act allowed the Professional Councils and CBE to operate on their own and this caused the bad relations between the parties. He explained that it was difficult for CBE to give orders to the Professional Councils. Mr Madonsela highlighted that the CBE used the PFMA as a guide and it was not an obligation.
Ms Ramotsamai commented that organisations must find ways to recruit women. She appealed for registration time frames across organisations. She asked why the auditing of the Professional Councils was not carried out by the Auditor General’s Office as in the case of the CBE for both were in existence as a result of an Act of Parliament and received funding from National Treasury.
Mr Bheki Zulu (CEO: CBE) agreed that time frames would have to be taken up and that the CBE for its part had time frames laid out for them by the Ministry of Public Works. In terms of the representation of women, Mr Zulu recommended that serious interventions for strategies on transformation should be entertained.
Mr S Nxumalo (ANC) asked for clarity on his use of “fruitless expenditure”.
Mr Zulu explained that the expression had been used on the advice of the Auditor General as it had to do with the remuneration of the ex-company CEO which brought about the unexpected expenditure costs and hence the choice of the expression.
Mr Nxumalo wanted to know why the CBE excluded FET colleges on their visits to universities. He was also confused by the “non-existence” of the South African Council for the Landscape Architectural Profession (SACLAP) yet there had been a breakdown on its financials in the annual report presentation by Mr Madonsela.
Mr Madonsela in response noted that the councils had a separate and independent legislative framework. SACLAP was in existence according to the legislative act that had created its mandate but the entity hardly existed in practice due to the limited funds they had received initially. SACLAP had to look to the CBE to survive while CBE on the other hand had been legislated to coordinate the council. In other words, SACLAP did exist but was not at optimal functionality. He added that FETs produced artisans and that they did not fall under the scope of the CBE. However Mr Madonsela assured them that discussions were to be held in the next financial cycle on whether Construction Industry Development Board (CIDB) or CBE should engage with FETs.
Mr S Opperman (DA) asked about the shortcomings of the curriculum in universities and also enquired about the FIFA 2010 construction strikes in the country, asking how the CBE dealt with these.
Mr Zulu pointed out that CBE had engaged with universities as well as the Department of Education to consider working closely together in combating these curriculum shortcomings. He reminded members that the Councils had the authority to accredit programmes in the universities and stressed that even though this had been the case, it still took a while longer to register with professional registrars. He said the CBE was not directly involved in the FIFA 2010 preparations in accordance with its mandate from the Ministry.
Mr L Maduma (ANC) was pleased about the presence of the Professional Councils and raised his concern about the lack of funding coming the way of the Professional Councils. He asked to what extent the CBE assisted the Professional Councils.
Mr Zulu replied that the legislation does not oblige them to financially assist the Professional Councils. The financial assistance they offered to some of the councils was insufficient to help optimum day to day functionalities.
Ms N Ngcengwane (ANC) expressed her concern over the lack of cooperation between the councils and the CBE. However they needed to get both sides of the story on SACLAP.
Mr Madonsela suggested that an overhaul of the legislative act would be advisable as the independency of the two institutes posed more problems than solutions.
Ms Ramotsamai was concerned that the non-existence of a registrar for professionals affected the country. She noted that no accurate statistics could be recorded if there was no registrar and that data that could have been gathered through the registrar would have assisted in future planning and economic developments in the country. She asked for a clearer explanation on the Professional Councils having to report to the Department of Public Works and not to the CBE.
Mr Madonsela said the separate legislative frameworks that guided the councils to work separately contributed to the bad environment that occasionally disturbed the two entities. He suggested an overhaul of the current legislative act that governed the CBE and the professional councils as opposed to its amendment.
Mr Maduma asked about accreditation by Councils at universities. He wanted to know how the Councils tackled the challenges of most “Bantustan” universities not having courses accredited by the Councils.
Mr Madonsela replied that the legacy of apartheid had left blacks isolated from and not highly involved in the industry. He added that this transformation must be realized.
Ms Ramotsamai raised a question concerning collapsing bridges and poor work on national roads that resulted in potholes becoming a problem on a large scale. She wanted to know how the CBE and the Professional Councils responded to these problems as leaders in the industry.
Mr Madonsela answered that the CBE regulated the registered professionals as directed by their mandate and thus disciplined them by the same mandate. This was the main reason that inspired the notion of compulsory registration as part of the new mandate CBE had proposed prior to the overhaul of the current mandate.
Mr Nxumalo observed that most if not all Professional Councils had problems and wondered about the way forward.
The meeting was adjourned.