Hansard: Appropriation Bill : Debate on Budget Vote No 6 – Public Works
House: National Assembly
Date of Meeting: 04 May 2010
Summary
No summary available.
Minutes
WEDNESDAY, 5 MAY 2010
PROCEEDINGS OF EXTENDED PUBLIC COMMITTEE – COMMITTEE ROOM E249
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Members of the Extended Public Committee met in Committee Room E249 at 16:30
The House Chairperson Mr M B Skosana, as Chairperson, took the Chair and requested members to observe a moment of silence for prayers or meditation.
FIRST ORDER
START OF DAY
APPROPRIATION BILL
(Debate on Budget Vote No 6 – Public Works)
The MINISTER OF PUBLIC WORKS: Hon House Chairperson, hon Deputy Minister of Public Works, Ms Hendrietta Bogopane-Zulu, hon members of the Portfolio Committee on Public Works, the Acting Director-General of the department, Mr Sam Vukela and all senior officials of the Department of Public Works, representatives of our public entities, members of the media, distinguished guests, ladies and gentlemen, the struggle continues.
As we forge ahead towards the centenary of the ANC in 2012, reflections on the long road traveled occupy our daily thoughts and it is unavoidable that reflections give way to recriminations, lessons learned and the long road still ahead in achieving a better life for all.
In my Budget Vote speech last year, I shared with this House my thoughts on reviewing, reshaping and rejuvenating the Department of Public Works, to raise the bar in our efforts to deliver efficient services and to perform and deliver property development and management services that measure up to industry standards.
I also spoke of undertaking a turnaround strategy within the department, with the intention of optimising performance and efficiency on all levels so that we may reclaim the department's mandate. For our part as the Department of Public Works, we have insulated these strategic imperatives as anchors to our turnaround strategy. This strategy aims to improve functional efficiencies, inject new performance energy, improve optimal service delivery, and enhance organisational excellence.
We are committed to align our budget and programmes to specifically
contribute to the following government outcomes: Create decent employment through inclusive economic growth; ensure efficient and effective development-oriented public service and an empowered and inclusive citizenship; and sustainable human settlements and an improved quality of household life.
In pursuit of the aforementioned outcomes, the department welcomes the allocation of R6,4 billion for the financial year 2010-11.
In line with our new ethos to raise the bar in service delivery and client relationship, the department has just handed over the pristine Civitas Building in central Pretoria, to the Department of Health, ensuring that they have an integrated head office accommodation out of which they will drive policies to improve health services in the country.
The Civitas project marks our first groundbreaking A Grade model in the provision of world-class government accommodation and is indicative of our ambition to rejuvenate our competitiveness in the property management industry.
In October 2009, the department handed over the completed Phase One of the renovated WaterKloof Air Force Base to the Department of Defence for utilisation. Phase Two, encompassing the upgrade of taxiways and storm water drainage, is due for completion in May 2010.
The secondary runway and electrical infrastructure are currently underway, leading to full project completion in 2012. This project is a strategic imperative to complement our international commitment to a better Africa and a better world. This year, we aim to complete the building of the new generation prison in Kimberley, and work has begun with the construction of the correctional facility in Tzaneen.
The Department plays a pivotal role in contributing to the inclusive and shared growth path of the developmental state. In this regard, the allocated R1,3 billion capital budget will be channelled towards capital infrastructure projects for this current year undertaken by the department. The augmented R612 million allocated to the Property Management Trading Entity, PMTE, will be committed to maintenance and refurbishment of government buildings.
In utilising these funds, the department gives effect to accelerating inclusive and shared economic growth by continuing to role out a state-led infrastructure investment programme and promoting strategic investments in productive activities.
Inherent in our capital programme will be the accelerated drive to improve access to all state buildings for persons with disabilities. This will align with the department's Draft Policy Framework for Persons with Disabilities, which aim to promote employment equity, social inclusion and economic empowerment in line with the ethos of a caring nation.
House Chairperson, the Expanded Public Work Programme continues to be a strategic intervention to alleviate poverty and unemployment through the creation of labour-intensive work opportunities. In year one of Phase 2, the EPWP has created 604 000 work opportunities. The target for this current year is set at 642 000 work opportunities.
We intend achieving these targets through labour intensive projects and increasing labour intensity of existing projects and programmes. Participating in the Expanded Public Works Programme is not only about number crunching, but remains essentially a commitment to promote a human-rights-oriented public service delivery culture, characterised, amongst others, by caring for the elderly and sick, educating pre-school children, rehabilitating and cleaning up our environment, as well as upgrading and maintaining crucial infrastructure such as roads, bridges, water and sanitation through the labour intensive or labour absorbing service deliver models mentioned earlier.
The recent handing over of the pilot project of three bridges in the local municipalities of Intsika Yethu, Port St Johns and Umzimvubu in the Eastern Cape, which were constructed as a result of the Department of Public Works funding the project, and utilising the specific bridge-making expertise of the Department of Defence and Military Veterans, is indicative of a responsive government.
School children and the elderly can now safely cross rivers to get to schools and clinics without risk to life and limb, especially when rivers are flooded. [Applause.] The department will strive to ensure best use of the existing assets, and to balance the ownership and lease portfolio.
Furthermore, by 2013, 90% of state land will be vested, in accordance with the National Vesting Plan, developed in consultation with the provincial governments and the Department of Land Reform and Rural Development. Furthermore a task team chaired by myself, which includes Ministers Nkwinti, Gordhan, the Auditor-General and the Accountant-General have as our key focus, the management of state property.
We will be reconvening shortly to consider the technical report from the team headed by the Accountant-General. The Plan to establish the Amnesty Call Campaign is quite advanced. And the Launch of the initiative in this financial year will further encourage those in illegal possession or occupation of state assets to surrender them without having to face prosecution.
Our Black Economic Empowerment, BEE, Property Management proposition and the Property Charter ensure that we promote real economic transformation in the property sector in order to enable meaningful participation of black people, especially women and youth. We will continue, as part of our growth path, to ensure that BEE and black companies are empowered through the department's procurement processes.
Going forward, we will be monitoring this very closely to evaluate the impact of market concentration and market abuse. An intervention is currently underway, which will include, among others, the interaction with stakeholders in the property sector. There is huge potential for improvements in this regard.
Hon Chairperson, on the matters raised by the Auditor-General in his last report, I am pleased to announce that the process of cleaning up the Property Management Trading Entity is at an advanced stage, including financial systems integration, risk management, and a substantial reduction in the debtors' book.
The department is also finalising the business case on the establishment of the Property Management Trading Entity as a strategic measure to improve management of its asset portfolio and enhance the value chain. It is envisaged that the PMTE will offer a professional, seamless and integrated functionality, thus restoring value for money, improving operational efficiencies, offering quality service delivery and achieving client satisfaction.
The lack of timely payment by government to small, medium and micro enterprises has been raised. This has to stop! The launch of the Re Ya Patala, "We Pay", initiative by the department in 2009 has committed us to ensuring that there is strict adherence to the 30 days payment policy, as provided for in Public Finance Management Act for services rendered. I did not here that. [Applause.]
As such, we will continue to monitor that this practice is not reached. On the land and ports of entry and our African agenda, the Department has been instrumental in delivering infrastructure projects under the aegis of the Border Control Operating and Co-ordinating Committee known as BCOCC.
Ahead of the Fifa Soccer World Cup Tournament, the department initiated redevelopment projects at four land ports of entry bordering Mozambique, Swaziland,Namibia and Botswanato address the envisaged increase in movement of people and goods passing through these various ports of entry during the 2010 event and beyond, but also especially facilitating commerce, encouraging cross-border people mobility whilst restricting movement of illicit goods and people. Most of these are nearing completion.
Also completed are a number of infrastructure initiatives on the continent, including the construction of the O R Tambo memorial complex at Kawaweta in Uganda. Described as one of the most remarkable projects ever to be developed by Public Works, the Kawaweta project was recently officially opened by the both presidents; the President of Uganda and the President of the Republic of South Africa.
House Chairperson, Public Works is an area of concurrent legislative authority listed in schedule 4 of the Constitution. Both the provincial and national legislatures have legislative competence in relation to the matters listed in this schedule.
This concurrence often leads to some confusion in practical terms, and requires a closer study of other constitutional provisions regarding which sphere of government will prevail over another and in what circumstances such prevalence is permissible.
Achieving these strategic imperatives demand that the department attracts and retains relevant skills formation. Equally, it requires that the department is properly structured and has proper systems, process and policies. As part of our turnaround plan, we will ensure that critical skills are concentrated in the core business of the Department, to bring about an agile, responsive and result-driven organisation, supported by prudent systems and information technology. While we have registered strides on the financial management front through improved internal controls and accountability, we will continue to ensure that the state resources are utilised in an efficient way.
As part of promoting accountability and integrity management, the department has commissioned the services of the Special Investigating Unit. This follows consistent allegations of continued financial mismanagement, deliberate inefficiencies, escalation of costs, noncompliance with proper supply chain management processes, lack of integrity around procurement processes, and wasteful and fruitless expenditure within the department. I would like to reiterate that any form of graft or dishonesty will not be tolerated, not on my watch. [Applause.]
Optimal excellence and quality service delivery demand that our public entities share the same vision of the department and are responsive to the developmental agenda. Hence, we continue to sharpen the focus of the Construction Industry Development Board, CIDB, the Council for the Built Environment, CBE, Agrimor South Africa, and the Independent Development Trust, IDT. The IDT, as the development agency within the Public Works family, will continue to pursue its development model of social infrastructure delivery, which uniquely balances outputs with development outcomes. Not only is 85% of the IDT's work located in rural South Africa, but the IDT will also advance the comprehensive rural development strategy, built on the pilot that they concluded, on behalf of the Department of Rural Development and Land Reform, recently in the 2009-10 financial year. We congratulate them for a job well done.
Emerging contractors have raised their concerns and suggestions on some of the registration regulations. In this regard, a review of some of the regulations is underway. The review will ensure that emerging contractors progressively benefit meaningfully from the construction industry. In particular, the CIDB will, with immediate effect, pursue the developmental objectives, including the national contractor development programme, construction site health and safety, and enhancing infrastructure delivery skills. These will be key performance improvement priorities. In addition, the CIDB plans by the end of the year, "to develop financing models based on implementation of various banks' memorandum of understanding". These are exciting initiatives by the CIDB, and these are two of the initiatives planned to begin addressing the challenges of emerging contractors.
The CBE and the professional councils have increased the number of university programmes accredited by the professions. The CBE, the six councils and the sector stakeholders have an important role to play in enabling the human resource development strategy in the built environment and professions, in support of achieving the outcomes of the national human development strategy.
Agrimor South Africa continues to fulfil an important role, by facilitating the introduction, application and use of innovative and nonstandard construction products. It is important for us to finalise an organisational model that will best enable Agrimor South Africa to significantly increase its delivery capability over the next budget cycle.
On the legislative front, the Expropriation Bill will be tabled next year. It is currently receiving attention in our department and is co-ordinated with the Department of Rural Development and Land Reform. The joint technical teams are at work, and both Ministers will be receiving the report soon. As a department, we are of the view that this legislation is imperative for the real economic transformation in our country. More importantly, as we move towards the centenary of the Natives Land Act, Act 27 of 1913, the review of the State Land Disposal Act, Act 48 of 1961 is currently receiving urgent attention. Equally, the review of the department's White Paper is in the pipeline.
As I conclude, I would like to reiterate that we will continue to ensure that our core mandate supports the principles and ethos of a developmental state. As part of reclaiming our mandate, we will have to revisit resolutions that devolved the capital budgets to line departments. We will be engaging with Parliament and Cabinet on this matter, to ensure that proper consultations are done, as we seek to improve instruments of efficiency and service delivery. The department will continue to put people first in its service delivery ethos. We will continue to turn around the operational model on how we conduct our business and realign our outputs to our strategic national outcomes. This we do fully aware that it will be a long, arduous struggle, for which we require vision, determination and commitment. It is incumbent upon us to work in unison to construct a social compact with all stakeholders that will harness our collective resolve, underpinned by our shared values and a common vision.
Finally, I want to thank the Deputy Minister, Ms Hendrietta Bogopane-Zulu, the Acting Director-General, Sam Vukela, and all those senior managers who ably stepped in where vacancies existed to ensure that work continued unabated. Thank you for keeping the ship on course. Soon we will be announcing the successful candidates for the posts of director-general, chief operations officer and the vacant deputy-director general posts, once Cabinet has approved the submissions. I can report here that this morning, Cabinet already approved two candidates, so we are down to only three acting positions. To the department, I say that we must always remember our central theme. This is the year of action, to make government work faster, harder, and smarter with less. I thank the Portfolio Committee on Public Works, under the able leadership of Mr Godfrey Oliphant, for his leadership, and we thank him for enhancing the constructive oversight that has been done over our department.
I would also like to thank the Chief of Staff in the Ministry, Anusha Pillay, and her able team for their commitment and support during very difficult times. Last but not least, I want to thank my good wife sitting behind me and my family for tolerating me and my very busy schedule. [Applause.] I ask, Chairperson, that the House considers Budget Vote 6 and gives us its blessing.
I must also say that in keeping with a healthy lifestyle ... Can you protect me, Chair? There is a bit of ... I know I have a beautiful wife, but leave her in peace. [Laughter.] In keeping with promoting a healthy lifestyle, as led by the Minister of Health, we will not be having a function this evening, but we will be having an imbizo where we can bring together small, medium, and micro enterprises, SMMEs, and emerging contractors, and we will be making an announcement soon, so that we can interact with those service providers that we don't pay as Public Works. Let them come and talk to us, and we want to do that, not in Parliament, but where they actually do their work. So, we want to promote a healthy lifestyle: No steak and chops this evening, sorry. Thank you very much. [Laughter.] [Applause.]
The HOUSE CHAIRPERSON (Mr M B Skosana): Thank you, hon Minister. I would have protected you, but you invited the bewilderment. [Laughter.]
Mr G G OLIPHANT
The MINISTER OF PUBLIC WORKS
Mr G G OLIPHANT: Chairperson, hon Minister, Deputy Minister, I see hon Minister Shabangu is also here, hon members, distinguished guests, ladies and gentlemen and comrades, let me anchor my input in this very important debate by paying tribute to the workers of South Africa, in particular, and their counterparts and comrades around the globe for their successful May Day rallies and celebrations over the past weekend. [Applause.] I did not hear that. [Applause.] May Day remains an important date of working class solidarity and a critical rallying point for the advancement of workers' rights, and indeed a better world for their respective families.
It was on this day in 1886 that workers in the USA protested bitterly against slavery working conditions and demanded, amongst others, for a reduction in working hours to eight hours per day, 40 hours per week, over five days. Hundreds of workers were killed and maimed around the world by capitalist brutality in collaboration with governments that supported them.
One hundred years later, in 1986, albeit under the state of emergency, workers in South Africa, under the banner of Cosatu, after waging endless struggles, forcefully celebrated this day. It is therefore important that, in this important workers' month, we pause to remember those heroes and heroines who laid down their lives during the difficult days of apartheid oppression in association with capitalist exploitation, in order for us to enjoy the freedom and democracy we have today.
Let me remind the House that, on 24 August 2006, on the occasion of the 60th anniversary of the mineworkers' strike under the leadership of uncle J B Marks, Parliament agreed to the following resolution that still needs to be implemented. Just for reference, the resolution appears in Hansard of 24 August 2006, column 6020, and it reads as follows:
That the House-
(1) notes that 12 August 2006 marks the 60th anniversary of the mineworkers' strike of 1946;
(2) further notes the important role played by the mineworkers in the development of our economy and the transformation of our country;
(3) believes that the demands put forward by the African Mineworkers Union in 1946 were not fully addressed and are still relevant today, and
(4) resolves-
(a) that the living and working conditions of mineworkers be investigated further and be improved;
(b) to support the initiative by the National Union of Mineworkers to build a workers' museum;
I also said that Parliament should give consideration to naming some of its buildings after J B Marks, a leader of the African Mineworkers Union, and other heroes and heroines of the struggle.
The Department of Public works, DPW, is the single biggest landlord in our country with huge responsibilities around accommodation and maintenance. All the departments of this government inside the country, as well as the Department of International Relations and Co-operation outside the country, including Ministers, Deputy Ministers and you, hon members, expect this department to offer decent and adequate accommodation together with the requisite services. This is a very huge task.
We have started some collaboration with the Portfolio Committee on Correctional Services and intend to meet affected parliamentary committees like Home Affairs, Co-operative Governance and Traditional Affairs, Defence and Military Veterans, in an attempt to strengthen our collective oversight responsibilities relating to decent accommodation, proper registration and maintenance of state assets.
It is incomprehensible that, 16 years since our democratic breakthrough, we are still unable to properly account for all state assets that rightfully belong to future generations. The office of the Auditor-General has, amongst others, raised this matter as one of the serious qualifications that needs urgent attention. The portfolio committee has already agreed to have a meeting with the office of the Auditor-General in the coming week, in order to discuss this matter and find some solutions.
The Government Immovable Assets Management Act, Giama, still has to be fully implemented at national and provincial levels. That Act specifically excludes jurisdiction at local government level, an issue that still remains a serious bone of contention in the portfolio committee.
In November last year, we conducted a strategic planning workshop which included, amongst others, representatives of the Department of Rural Development and Land Reform and other important stakeholders. Among other critical issues discussed were the problems around vesting of state land associated with the Deeds Office. This matter still needs to be resolved.
One matter that we are seriously concerned about is the high level of vacancies in the Department of Public Works. I'm happy to hear that it's been addressed, but we have been extremely worried about senior positions, including that of the director-general and chief directors, that are vacant. This situation seriously undermines the capacity of the department and impacts negatively on the service delivery efforts needed in this department. I still do not understand why the state continues to have such high levels of vacancies, especially in funded posts, while the country is bleeding with high levels of unemployment.
The Expanded Public Works Programme, EPWP, is the single most important project of government intended for job creation and poverty alleviation in society. We therefore need to ensure that resources allocated to this programme are fully utilised and efficiently accounted for. The current state of affairs needs serious improvement so that we can properly massify work opportunities in a much more co-ordinated and comprehensive manner.
We have an opportunity of a lifetime to get South Africa working. With over R60 billion allocated to this department, and an additional amount of over R2 billion allocated for capital budget in other departments in this financial year, together with the infrastructure budget allocated over the Medium-Term Expenditure Framework, MTEF, the economic fortunes of our citizens can be changed for the better. We can indeed stimulate our economic activity in the short- to medium-term in a meaningful way. It is doable, it can be done, let's do it!
The ANC truly believes that, by working together, we can do more. A lot of good work has been done in the department and a lot still needs to be done. For instance, a combination of the capital resources in the development finance institutions like the Public Investment Corporation, PIC, Industrial Development Corporation, IDC and the Development Bank of SA, DBSA – to name but a few – plus the creativity of South African brains, has the greatest potential to make poverty history and to increase the profile of state assets, especially in rural areas and poor municipalities.
The Inner City Regeneration Programme is good and can be accelerated. However, Re Kgabisa Tshwane has been going on for many years now. When is re kgabisa Thaba Nchu going to happen? When is re kgabisa rural areas going to happen? And especially, when is re kgabisa Warrenton going to happen? [Interjections.]
Ag nee man, re kgabisa Kokstad? Re kgabisa Kroonstad? We must truly and sincerely live by the saying that goes "South Africa works because of Public Works."
The Independent Development Trust, IDT, has done tremendous work in rural areas and in poor municipalities and needs to be supported. The committee agreed to mobilise financial resources for the IDT so as to optimise the utilisation of skills and expertise within the entity for the benefit of poor communities. This must be done almost immediately so that we can bring about certainty and stability within the IDT. They were, after all, the proud entity which reported to the Department of Public Works which continued to receive clean audits for the past seven years. Give them a big hand. [Applause.]
During our oversight to the Eastern Cape in February this year, the portfolio committee members were taken aback by the scourge of underdevelopment in rural areas, especially in Ngcingcinikhwe, a rural area in Ndabakazi near Butterworth. The village borders the Kei River, but villagers have no access to clean drinking water. Electricity connections are a stone's throw away across the river, but the village is not connected. There are no schools, no clinic and yet there have been no protest marches. Our people are still hopeful that their government will, one day, address their plight and bring about a better life for them as well. Some families informed us that they even bought TV sets, just in case they also get connected, so that they can have an opportunity to watch and enjoy the World Cup Soccer Tournament, together with other fellow South Africans.
What are we waiting for, Comrade Komphela?
IsiXhosa:
Kuza kude kube nini Ndoda?
Sesotho:
Bomme re emetse eng, kapa re emetse mang... -
English:
- ...before we can start acting decisively as this Parliament?
Pregnant mothers in Ngcingcinikhwe were still subjected to giving birth at home unless some men volunteered to carry them, on time, on a stretcher, on their shoulders across the mountain to the nearest clinic. Thanks to the Department of Public Works there is now a one kilometre bridge or road that was erected to improve vehicle access to that village. [Applause.]
My office recently received correspondence from the IDT office in the Eastern Cape reporting that they are working on the issues raised during our oversight visit to those villages, and we are expecting progress reports soon.
My time is running out very fast.
The committee has resolved to conduct comprehensive oversight to provinces in the near future, and has especially resolved to have serious engagement with the Construction Industry Development Board, CIDB, the Council for the Building Environment, CBE, and Agrima SA.
I see that time is running out very fast, so I will not go through everything here.
I would just like to say at the end that we are going to be meeting with the CIDB and all these other entities that report to Public Works to finalise the work that still needs to be done.
As I conclude, I wish to take this opportunity to thank the portfolio committee members very much, especially the ANC for their unwavering support and commitment to tackling the challenges ahead. I would also like to extend a special word of welcome to the opposition party members participating in the portfolio committee, as well as to the Minister and Deputy Minister, thank you very much.
I would very much like to thank the staff of the CIDB, CBE, IDT and Agrément South Africa, ASA, the secretary of the committee, Akhona Busakwe, the secretary to the chairperson, Gadija Osman, the new secretary to the ANC, Pumla Kweyama, and Inez, the researcher. We thank you very much for your hard work. Re a leboga [Thank you.]
I would also like to thank the catering staff who feed us here at Parliament everyday, and the cleaning staff who clean up all the mess after we have left. Thank you. The ANC supports this debate. [Applause.]
Mr S J MASANGO
Mr G G OLIPHANT
Mr S J MASANGO: Chairperson, Ministers, Deputy Ministers and hon members, the DA is in support of your idea to rejuvenate and reshape the department and develop a skill operation that focuses on core functions.
However, all these good ideas mean nothing unless they are implemented properly and speedily. Again, Minister, the road ahead will not be easy if one consider the following issues: Administratively, your department is headless, and it will be headless until you fill all the posts; the mud-slinging in the leadership politically and administratively does not do any favour to the department; the budget does not cover all the vacancy rates in your department including the Occupation Specific Dispensation, OSD; very little if nothing is allocated for skill development; and lack of capacity in your department remains a concern.
Chairperson, unless the above issues are addressed, the Minister's good idea will remain but a pipedream. Another issue that demotivates the department's employees is that the contract employees are earning higher salaries than the permanent staff. This is something that the department must attend to as soon as possible.
Last year, Chairperson, I mentioned that the Marievale Military Base, a government-owned property was in a state of disrepair. And, until today, nothing has been done there and the situation is getting worse.
The problem with Marievale is that there are communities who are staying there, and they've been renting the houses from the Department of Defence. There is absolutely no service delivery there. The municipality is unable to help because their area belongs to the national government. The community members are always stranded whenever they encounter problems because they don't know whom to report to.
The rampant looting that has plagued the area is continuing. Rented houses are falling apart because no one is repairing them. Cable boxes are left open exposing children to danger. Without adequate drainage, the roads run like swimming pools and all over the place the grass grows high. Nothing is happening there except the development of a golf course. How this will benefit the local community, is unclear.
Minister, I urge you to give due consideration to the situation at Marievale and implement the suggestion I made to you last year. Another military base, that is not utilised, is the Mariepskop Radar station in Mpumalanga and very soon it will also be looted. It is one of the most beautiful places in our country. Standing on top of the mountain you can see forever.
The sad part of this is that very few people know about it. It has more than twenty three-bedroom houses, three blocks of storey flats, a dining hall, fully equipped kitchen with walk-in fridges, three different pubs, medical stations, swimming pool, rugby field, tennis courts and many other facilities left to jungle.
The government has, since 1990, been wasting a lot of money by paying the personnel to look after the property. Here is a wonderful opportunity, Minister, for the private sector to open this village a holiday resort that will offer much more than any other resort in the area; it will also provide lots of job opportunities in an area where the thought of a job is seen as a silly dreams, not to mention the great income it can generate.
The DA supports the creation of job opportunities through the Extended Public Works, EPW. However, it is not enough to measure only the number of jobs opportunities created; we should go beyond this. It must not be about job creation just for the sake of meeting targets, there must be value for money spent from the public coffers. The department must start to measure quality of the work done and customer satisfaction. The project must leave some legacy behind, like the road built at Ncincinikwe in the Eastern Cape, that's a good example. The community must feel proud of the work done by the EPW in their area.
The skills transfer from Extended Public Works Programme, EPWP, must be real and genuine. They should be approved by the SA Qualification Authority; if this is not the case, then we are wasting these young children's time. It is also not true that we can train 500 people at a time and after completion they go home just to rust again. Let us be realistic and train a reasonable number that will be absorbed into full employment either by government or the private sector.
IsiNdebele:
Omunye weminqopho ye-EPWP kurarha indlala - umtlhago. Kodwana, Ngqongqotjhe, ukuthi ngubani ekufuze aqatjhwe nokuthi kuqatjhwe bunjani, lokhu kusese yindaba engalethi ubuthongo. Amathuba wemisebenzi asanikelwa labo abazanako nanyana abaneenhlobo. Abantu abatlhaga khulu nanje abawatholi lamaphrojekthi. UmNyango kufanele wendlale imihlahlandlela nemithetho ngokuqatjhwa ku-EPWP begodu uqinisekise bonyana abomasipala neemfunda bayayilandela leyo mithetho. Ukuze kurarhwe indlala, umtlhago kufuze kube, okungasenani, umuntu munye osebenzako emndenini ngamunye. Nangabe ubaba nomma abasebenzi, kufanele baqalelelwe kokuthoma. Labo babantu abazokuqinesekisa bonyana kubanokudla ekhaya - kurarhwe umtlhago.
English:
Chairperson, corruption must be treated equally amongst all employees, from a general worker up to senior level. Many public sector employees seem to be getting away with it.
Minister, I am saying this because the former director-general of your department appointed Servcon and Intersite to do an asset register on behalf of the department without following the tender procedure in accordance with the Public Finance Management Act, PFMA. This is a serious offence and until now nothing has been done to bring him to book, but junior officials are being disciplined, arrested and charged for minor offences and not senior officials.
Presently, we are told that the companies are demanding R200 million for a job they dismally failed to carry out. But, strangely enough is that in 2009 Intersite appointed another company to do their asset register. Why can't they do their own asset register if they are qualified to do that? I hope the Minister is going to treat this very seriously and ensure that the law takes its course.
Minister, after a few interactions with some of the institutions under your department, one wonders why some are existing and why under your department. One institution that I am not going to dwell on so much is Agrément South Africa - even the Minister is not too sure why this doesn't fall under the Department of Public Works.
All contractors must be registered with the Construction Industry Development Board, CIDB, in order to do business with government, but this is not the case. It depends on who you are and whom you are connected with. The law abiding emerging contractors are kept on Grade 1 and 2 as long as their financial status are low, they will remain there and probably most of them will die there. If contractors like SGL Engineering can get R140 million from government tenders in two years time without being registered with CIDB and no actions are taken against them, then what is the use of registering with CIDB? It is just a waste of time; it is either we give this institution some teeth to bite or we do away with them.
IsiNdebele:
Kwamaswaphela,
English:
The Council for Built Environment is mandated to oversee the professional council. Minister, I don't understand why a council is overseeing another council. These are professional councils and they can stand on their own and report to the Minister without another council doing this on their behalf. This is just duplication and a fruitless expenditure.
All these institutions have board members that are paid by the government for attending board meetings. The biggest question is: What are they discussing in every meeting? Does whatever they decide on change the lives of the ordinary citizens of this country? I doubt it, Minister.
Former President Thabo Mbeki once said that it cannot be business as usual, and President Jacob Zuma keeps on saying that we are doing things differently. It is time that we also consider the mandates of this institution and do things differently.
IsiNdebele:
Ngiyathokoza. [Iwahlo.]
Mr P B MNGUNI
Mr S J MASANGO
Mr P B MNGUNI: Chairperson, hon Minister, hon Deputy Minister, hon members, what we want from this department as Cope is service delivery; not drama. With so many officials acting and the dramatic tension being so high, the department can easily rival Isidingo for entertainment value. However, this debate is to approve funds for the department to deliver on its mandate, and that is what we are demanding. Cope is also concerned about the article, which appeared in the Sowetan on Monday regarding the Council for the Built Environment, CBE, and more specifically Engineering Council of South Africa, ECSA. If newly qualified black engineers are being held back by ECSA, as it is being alleged, the Minister must inform this House what he has done to remove the bottleneck.
We are also interested to know when ECSA and CBE will start to reflect the greater demographic representativity. With regard to government's promise of many years to use the state's assets to transform property industry and spatial development planning so that it bears the mark of the new democracy, we need the Minister to disclose what has been happening in this regard.
In 2007 the department also undertook to make available state assets to support the country's housing backlog. To what extent has this been happening? In the same year, the Government Immovable Asset Management Act was legislated to provide for a uniformed framework for the management of immovable assets; the co-ordination of their use to achieve service delivery objectives; and to set guidelines and minimum standards regarding asset management.
The TEMPORARY CHAIRPERSON (Mr L B G NDABANDABA): Order, order, order please, hon member sit down. Hon member, please bow when you get into the House. Go back and come in and bow, please. [Interjections.]
Hon member, please go out and come back and bow. [Interjections.]
Mr P B MNGUNI: Chairperson, I think you will have to add one minute on my time because he ...
The HOUSE CHAIRPERSON (Mr L B G NDABANDABA ): Yes, you are covered.
Mr P B MNGUNI: I thank you very much. Has this legislation now been fully implemented? Can the Minister show this House that all assets, which no longer meet the service delivery requirements, have been commercialised to the best advantage of the state? In this regard, are there any assets of strategic importance that are not being used for that purpose?
The Act also requires a continuous interaction between users and custodians of the assets to enable their optimal use. Is this happening uniformly across South Africa? Can the Minister give us assurance that users and custodians are interacting as the Act envisages?
I now come to the National Infrastructure Maintenance Strategy that was developed by the department to rehabilitate public assets, most of which are in dilapidated states. We ask the Minister to inform this House about the achievements attained under this programme. While R6,4 billion allocated for rehabilitation may not be adequate, getting true value for this amount and plugging leakages will allow this expenditure to go far. Today, South Africa has to contend with a triple problem: inadequate resources, rampant corruption in the public service and extensive incompetence. The Minister has to ensure that he exercises proper vigilance.
A vital question that has to be asked is: How is the department managing government's immovable property portfolio in support of the government's social, economic, functional and political objectives without a proper function of an asset register? Cope also questions why the compilation of the state asset register is being left to inexperienced students rather than experienced individuals in the field. The problem of the maintenance backlog in respect of government infrastructure and buildings is one of the great magnitudes. Is there a credible plan to deal with the problem?
In this regard, where and how is this department failing so that Minister of Communications, Siphiwe Nyanda, is forced and compelled to book into luxury hotels for an extended period? It is estimated that a total of R4,5 million was spent by Ministers on luxury hotel stays and other property-related expense scandals last year. These include the R800 000 spending spree by the Minister of Police, Nathi Mthethwa.
In addition, we cannot forget the report of R134 million that was splurged by the Department of Public Works' officials, including the Minister Geoff Doidge and his deputy, Deputy Minister Hendrietta Bogopane-Zulu on travelling, accommodation and restaurants since April 2008; with R34 million spent within the first six months of 2009. This is unacceptable at a time when the economy is in trouble and poverty is deepening. [Interjections.]
The prestige management that funds the allocation of activities relating to the Ministers and Deputy Ministers residences also needs to be brought under a magnifying glass. Reported expenditure on luxury Persian carpets, curtains and furniture, at prices above those prevailing in the market, if true, must mean that this government cares nothing about the poor. [Interjections.]
Will the Minister disclose, for example, what amount was spent on the residences of the Ministers and Deputy Minister in the period May 2009-10? [Interjections.] Will the Minister give a breakdown for carpets, curtains and furnishing in the Ministers' houses? The taste of fancy hotels and big spending should be funded by the Ministers themselves. Mismanaged spending means misallocation of resources and that in turn hurts job creation. [Interjections.]
The HOUSE CHAIRPERSON (Mr L B G NDABANDABA ): Hon members! Order, order!
Mr P B MNGUNI: Now, this is what you would like to hear Minister, Cope is pleased that 190 buildings have been identified for remodelling for 2010 and 2011 to meet the needs of the disabled persons in South Africa. [Interjections.] [Time expired.]
Mr V B NDLOVU
Mr P B MNGUNI
Mr V B NDLOVU: Chairperson, the Department of Public Works is one of the most important state departments due to the roles it plays in job creation, skills development and the combating of poverty. Needless to say these three areas impact very heavily on any country's ability to achieve rates of economic growth that meets the country's social and material needs.
The department's role with regard to the creation of employment and stimulation of the economy is particularly important now that we are in the midst of an economic crisis. We are in full agreement with government that we must, despite the current recession, spend on infrastructure because such investment will generate growth when demand in domestic and global economy naturally increases.
Investment infrastructure has a huge potential to redress the high unemployment and poverty level in South Africa, and also correct the skills deficit in disadvantaged communities. Commitment to poverty alleviation should continue to be high on government's agenda and should stay as one of the focal points of the department. The shortcoming and need to significantly improve upon the programme is self-evident. Internally, government has also become increasingly aware of its pitfalls.
The IFP had warned that the Expanded Public Works Programme, which has been the flagship government policy in the field of job creation until now, should not be seen as a welfare programme than a job creation venture inculcating further dependence on the state by exaggerating its role in job creation. One of the significant challenges identified in the first phase of the Expanded Public Works Programme, EPWP, has been the quality of training provided. The provision of two days of training per month of work on EPWP is unlikely to have a dramatic impact on skills composition of the labour force, and should not be measured on those terms.
While the Expanded Public Works Programme did absorb a large number of unskilled labourers, huge challenges remained in that projects are of a short duration and there is lack of timely payments of government to Small, Medium and Micro Enterprises, SMMEs. It is unacceptable for our government to be seen as contributing to the demise of black business through not paying on time for services rendered. The success of EPWP will be measured by its ability to target beneficiaries from the poorest households in order that it makes a decisive impact on the widespread poverty that is distressing our country. The department, therefore, needs to urgently crack down on nepotism and favouritism with regard to public works projects. We cannot, and I repeat, we cannot allow a situation where jobs that are in intended for the poor end up in the hands of politically connected people and siblings.
The department needs to consolidate its internal control and monitoring system, as well as compliance with Treasury regulations and the Public Finance Management Act. Too much reliance on consultants, especially considering the fact that some of the consultancies have been formally employees of the department, raises serious questions of accountability and good governance. The Council of the Built Environment is a case in point since we received a qualified audit each year from the Auditor-General. We call upon the Department of Public Works to strengthen its human resource capabilities by speeding up its filling of vacant posts in its high ranks, and we take regard and accept what the Minister has said on this matter. Thank you very much. [Applause.]
Ms N D NGCENGWANE
Hon V B NDLOVU
Ms N D NGCENGWANE: Chairperson, hon Minister and Deputy Minister, hon Members of Parliament, distinguished guests, ladies and gentlemen.
One of the key strategic development priorities of the ANC-led government is speeding up growth, creating more jobs, decent work and sustainable livelihood. Under "Rural Development and Land Reform", the 8 January2010 statement also states very clearly that the public representatives and government officials who have the responsibility of rural development and agrarian reform must speed up the provision of service to these communities.
With regard to economic transformation, one of the resolutions of the Polokwane conference states clearly that we need to overcome spatial patterns of economic marginalisation and fragmentation. It also states that we must reverse the geography of apartheid in both urban and rural areas.
We need to expand the opportunities for sustainable livelihoods and support the growth of the second economy activities in the urban centres. We must do this through ensuring better access to the centres of economic growth, financial and institutional support for co-operatives and micro-enterprises; and a significant expansion of the public works program linked to the expansion of economic infrastructure and meeting social needs with home-based care and early childhood development on a massive scale. We need programmes that target the employment of women, youth and people with disabilities, targeting labour-intensive production methods and procurement policies.
All these efforts by the ANC-led government are based on the wise words of our stalwart, our mentor, Mr Nelson Mandela, quoted and edited by Jennifer C Williams, he said, "as long as poverty, injustice and gross inequality persist in our world, none of us can truly rest."
The general approach to fight unemployment and youth unemployment in particular, is to have a wage subsidy that will create an incentive to hire youth and inexperienced workers and raising youth employment by 500 000 by 2013, using the extended Public Works Programmes.
The key components of Expanded Public Works Programme 2 are: targets and accountability across government spheres; Expanded Public Works Programmes, EPWP, incentive grant; nongovernmental sector; and technical support to spheres, sectors and implementation bodies.
The requirement here for public bodies is to have clear targets for each financial year. The public body must have clear programmes which will contribute positively to the targets. The targets will be annually adjusted to the Medium-Term Expenditure Framework, in line with budgets available and the performance of each public body.
Respective targets can only be achieved by holding respective political and administrative heads accountable. The setting and monitoring feedback processes for performance in relation to all targets will be monitored and managed by the EPWP unit. This is very crucial because without the monitoring, evaluation and feedback either monthly or quarterly, by the EPWP unit and Public Works Portfolio Committee members, we will not know whether we are coming or going.
As members of the ANC we are motivated by the choices we made. We made choices of committing ourselves to bettering the lives of the millions of disadvantaged South Africans. As Jim Rynn correctly puts it, "motivation is what gets you started and habit is what keeps you going."
As we all know, the Department of Public Works has been faced with a lot of challenges over the past few years. Again, because of the commitment of the ANC-led government, we did not give up; we could not be deterred by the challenges. Challenges are what make life interesting, and overcoming them is really what makes life meaningful. What the ANC needs is the commitment of the opposition parties to work towards the same goal instead of standing at a distance holding a red pen and looking for mistakes. South Africa belongs to all of us, black and white, united in our diversity.
Together we can intensify the fight against crime and corruption. We can work towards building a developmental state, including improvement of public services and strengthening democratic institutions. Ability is what we have, motivation determines what we do, and attitude determines how well we do it.
Let me quote Barrack Obama in one of his speeches when he said:
It took a lot of blood, sweat and tears to get to where we are today, but we have just begun. Today we begin in earnest the work of making sure that the world we leave our children in is just a little better than the one we inhabit today.
With regard to the EPWP incentive grant, an amount of R3,2 billion has been allocated to the Department of Public Works over the MTEF for the payout of the incentives to the public bodies. By 2014 this is expected to grow to at least R5 billion.
The main objective of the EPWP incentive grant is to reinforce and reward public bodies for implementing labour-intensive methods or increasing the labour centres of infrastructure delivery. Commitment and agreement between the Minister of Public Works and the Premiers of each Province led to the signing of the implementation protocols between 1 April 2010 and mid July 2010, and managed by EPWP partnership development directorate. Technical support from DPWP will be available to work in the Provinces. The EPWP monitoring and evaluation unit will give assistance to all identified programmes reporting on the web based reporting system. Before the public bodies have access to the EPWP incentive grant, they must report to the Public Works department their EPWP projects identified in a prior financial year, meeting minimum job creation based on the available grant budget.
The claims for incentive amounts can only be done upon proving that work has been created above the minimum threshold for EPWP of R50.00 per day for everyday of work created. The public bodies must bear in mind that if they meet their job creation targets, they will receive their incentive allocation quarterly from the Department of Public Works, DPW. The harder they work, the more grants they get.
A minimum eligibility above threshold must be met before the public bodies can start accessing the incentive except for rural municipalities where zero thresholds can apply. The total full-time equivalent allocation to provinces is R151 million for 2009-10 financial years. The total incentive allocation to municipalities is R201,7 million of which R147,2 million will go to rural municipalities, and metros will qualify for R54,5 million.
The nongovernmental bodies like NGO, CBOs and other nonprofit organisations are expected to create jobs through the implementation of EPWP Phase 2. An amount of 80 million for wage incentive for 2009-10 has been allocated and R749 million over the MTEF period. Management of the nongovernmental sector will be done by DPW with oversight done by other departments. There are two types of programmes that can be implemented the under nongovernmental sector. These the area based programmes that include different activities identified by communities in consultation with local government. Then there are institution based programmes. These will also be delivered by nongovernmental sector with specific focus areas such as health care, child care, community safety, etc.
IsiXhosa:
Sihlalo, malungu abekekileyo, iyandivuyisa le ndawo yokulandelela le misebenzi, ezizakwenziwa, maxa wambi sixelelwa ngalee misebenzi embetshembetshe, enjengokugxotha ikati eziko kuhlale uNomyayi. Bathi xa bezixela, bezincoma uqonde nawe oko kuba wonke umntu uzakuhlutha kunye nabamelwane, kanti umntu nje uzokwenza iindlela zokufumana imali. Ekuthi kwakufunwa ubungqina bomsebenzi okanye imisebenzi kuze amabali. Nathi siyi Komiti ejongene nemicimbi yeSebe siza kuthi gqolo sincedisana neSebe ukujonga ngeliso elibukhali loo misebenzi, kungenjalo sizakukha phantsi isitya sigcwele. Siya kucela iingxelo zenkqubela-phambili naxa sihambela amaphondo sizibone.
Enye into Sihlalo, Mphathiswa neSekela lakhe, xa ujonga iMpuma Koloni lelinye lamaphondo athwaxwa yindlala kanobom, yaye lineendonga ezinkulu ezibangelwa lukhukhuliseko lomhlaba. [Soil erosion.]
Xa sinokuvala ezi ndonga ngamatye acholwa cholwe ngabantu emakhaya, amatye akathengwa koko kuthengwa ucingo olwalukiweyo ekuthiwa yinetting wire, kuqokelelwe amatye ngabantu belali nganye kuthi kwakugqitywa kuvalwe ezindonga ngalamatye axhaswe leli cingo. Apha phezulu singade sifake okanye sityale amakhala okubamba amanzi nomhlaba, de sityale izityalo neentyatyambo ezintle ezingafiyo nasebusika.
Ekuqokeleleni amatye singasebenzisa neenqwelo ezi zitsalwa zimbongolo okanye ziidonki. Kubekho abantu abaqokelelayo nabagangatha iindonga, kubanjwe ukhukuliseko lo mhlaba, kubekho iindlela ezintle neendlela ezibukekayo nendlela yokubeka isonka etafileni kananjalo nelizwe lethu libe lihle lithandeke nakuba khenkethi.
Sihlalo, kuwo wonke amaqobokazana athe azijula ijacu ekhangela iinkedama zeli lizwe loMzantsi Afrika sithi 'Huntsu' ningadinwa nangomso eli lizwe beliyakuba lilizwe elinjani elizele zinkedama ezizula esithubeni zingenamakhaya. Nibaqoqoshile, nabathanda, nabakhulisa nabenzela namakhaya ngokunjalo. Sithi nakubacimi mlilo nabanye sithi 'Phambili' Mlisela Nomthinjana welizwe lakuthi. [Applause.]
The DEPUTY MINISTER OF PUBLIC WORKS
Ms N D NGCENGWANE
The DEPUTY MINISTER OF PUBLIC WORKS: House Chairperson, Minister, the senior officials of the Department of Public Works, hon members, distinguished guests, ladies and gentlemen, good afternoon. I would like to fist thank the hon members who have already spoken before me and also say to Mr Masango and Mr Mnguni that – my children like to say, "from tokoloshe to technology" - I hope that when we leave this room, you will make sure that you join me so that I can assist you to move from the tokoloshe stage to the technology stage. Maybe in the next debate we will get something different from you.
In the previous budget we indicated that for the first time in this government, Deputy Ministers are allocated responsibilities and we requested then that this House should judge us on the performance on tasks allocated to us which the Minister announced in his previous budget. Amongst the responsibilities, the Deputy Minister was given was to take of the assert register and do assert management which a lot of members were complaining about. Hence I felt that it is important hon Minister to take them from the stage of tokoloshe to technology. I'm extending an invitation to the members that for the first time we will be seeing this country's electronic assert register. It is out there in the foyer and we would like to make sure that we show members that, at the click of a button, you will know what asset belongs to whom, ... [Applause] ... its history, who owned it over the years, and once and for all put to an end the area that we don't know what we own. We might not have captured everything, but we know exactly what we own and we are waiting for some of this to be vested.
Let me, once and for all, indicate that vesting is not the responsibility of the Department of Public Works. For us to capture an asset on the register, the Department of Land Affairs and Rural Development must first vest that asset. Even if we know where the asset is, unless its vested, we can't capture it. For the last time, I hope members will understand that the vesting process contributes to the delay in us capturing our assets.
Our electronic asset register will assist members to understand that some of these assets belong to the provinces, even though sometimes, because we do not know, we would blame the national Department of Public Works for some of these assets. We are hoping that in the next three years, all assets of this government with its own unique identity code would have one single asset register for the state with different spheres so that you are able to understand which assets belong to whom. That will take us a long way in addressing the challenges that we right now.
I also want to say that, despite the vesting process lying in the Department of Rural Development, the Department of Public Works has led, as the Minister indicated – and I can proudly announce that this task team has worked very hard - and we do have a draft vesting master plan, which will be announced in due course.
A number of members also complained about the issues of rehabilitation and maintenance. As indicated, unlike previously where we had challenges of signing memorandums of understanding or service level agreements later, this time around we proudly stand here today to indicate that 98% of the service level agreements and the buildings that need to be rehabilitated have already been identified. For the first time, we will be on time, on schedule to spend the allocated resources for the rehabilitation and maintenance programme.
I would like to say to hon members some of us residing in parliamentary villages enjoy the renovated houses and say to members that, come 2011 April, the remaining houses will be fully renovated. We are looking at upgrading the security and we would appreciate it if members could allow us access to their houses so that we would be able to check whether you have telephone lines or not.
Lastly, I hope we will be appointing the long outstanding management board and, as the Minister indicated previously, we are finalising the legalities to enable the Deputy Speaker and the Deputy Minister to be responsible in the parliamentary villages. We hope that members will work with us in establishing their own residence committees to enable us to partner in the running functioning of the parliamentary villages. We also hope that members will kindly pay their rent so that they can complain and we can use the money.
HON MEMBERS: Viva! [Applause.]
The DEPUTY MINISTER OF PUBLIC WORKS: So can we please do that so that we can enjoy that comfort.
The issues around Giyama are working very well. We are on schedule, but we note at this Parliament, when Giyama was passed, it had some reservations around the issues of local government and we are in the process of responding to all those issues. We can confirm that our custodian and user asset registers are on schedule and we are hoping that each and every department will be done by 2011 March.
The Minister spoke at length around the issues of vulnerable groups. Needless to say that we all know that we have a responsibility to the women of this country who constitute more than 51% of the population. We would like to ensure that the money we spend, the work opportunities we create, as well as the experiences of women whether at the different levels of their professional experiences or at the different levels of the construction is responsive and indeed inclusive. We will be conducting a survey that will capture the experiences of women on construction sites so that we are able, together with our entities, to improve the working conditions of women to make sure that they also find the construction industry a very welcoming one without them having to change and become men but remain feminine and work in the industry.
We have done a lot of work with the women property network, professional women within the industry who are assisting us to ensure that we make the required changes, as the Minister indicated in his speech, in terms of ensuring that women in this country become property owners as well as managers of properties.
The Minister spoke around issues of the disabled. Even though we have a lot of vacancies, I can proudly say that we are on course to meet our 2% target and the vacancies that we are filling as the Department of Public Works, we are very clear it will reflect the demographics of this country. We will meet the 2% target as allocated.
As we understand the challenges and the realities faced by young people, we are in the process of establishing the youth directorate at a chief directorate level which is a sign that we take issues affecting young people very seriously without ghettoising the young people and putting them in a corner. This directorate's key mandate will ensure full integration of young people in all the work that we do.
We remain faithful and we are very loyal to the children of this country because we want to ensure that we are able to close the skills gap as well be able to ensure, as I said before, that the built and the construction industry become "cool" and it "rocks" so that more young people and children can join. We are doing that at the department. We do have mentorship programmes that expose young learners from Grade 8 to 10 to the built environment so that when they do career choices they are able to keep our skills and the gaps. We run career expos on construction where we are able to raise the required level of interest.
Regarding the Budget Vote, our communications unit ensured that our officials in the department give us some tips on the issues that we need to work on. One of the employees indicated that we need to relook at the budget to look at how our incubator and property programmes work. We can proudly say to members that we have heard you on the challenges that you've raised with the CIDB. We will be relooking at our property incubator programmes to ensure that we, once again, use those programmes to uplift those that are sitting at level one of the CIDB register.
This Budget Vote is taking place within the national HTC campaign. We, therefore, call upon captains of industry in the property and the built environment to allow access for government to undertake to bring services onsite where employees within the site would have an opportunity to be counselled to test as a responsible department we even will be hosting our own department testing campaign so that we ensure that this country meets the 15 million target as set by the President in the fight against HIV/Aids in June 2011.
I would like to express my sincere thanks to the ANC for the opportunity that they have awarded me, to the President, the Minister as a partner in crime in leading this department, the portfolio committee that cracks the whip and keeps us in order and the officials in the Department of Public Works. I would like to share one thought that I have on the wall of my office which says that, "time slips through our fingers, through our hands like grains of sand never to return again. Those who use time wisely from an early age are rewarded with rich, productive and satisfying lives."
I would like to say to the officials that that is how I value your contribution and the work that you do and the sense of urgency that is developing in the department. To my husband who works with me as my personal guide, half of the work I do is because of his guidance and all the time that he gives me, his seeing eyes to enable me to perform the work that I do so diligently. To my children whom I'm raising by remote control, I hope that one day they will understand that it's a contribution I needed to make. To the team in my office led by Mathute Motumi for the hard work and keeping up with the stress levels and the screaming and shouting that happens from time to time. This is an opportunity for us to say thank you.
By elevating the lives of others, your life reaches its highest dimension. The universe favours the brave. When you resolve to lift your life to its highest level, the strength of your soul will guide you to a magical place with magnificent treasures. I hope that is where this team of Public Works is taking South Africa. As we do that, we indeed confirm once again as a collective team that South Africa works because of Public Works. Thank you very much. [Applause.]
Mr M C MANANA
The DEPUTY MINISTER OF PUBLIC WORKS
Mr M C MANANA: Chairperson, hon Minister, Deputy Minister, acting director-general, distinguished guests, hon Masango I think life is no longer about SGL Engineering nor is it about Julius Malema. Therefore I think we must really grow and focus on our mandate. [Interjections.]
The 1994 democratic breakthrough ushered in a period in which youth development became part of the developmental interventions of the democratic state. In particular, youth formations of the government became seized with, among other things, the development of youth focused policy and legislative frameworks. Central among those were the National Youth Commission Act, the National Youth Policy of 2000 and the National Youth Development Policy Framework of 2000 to 2007.
The above-mentioned frameworks outlined the country's perspective and institutional arrangements for youth development wherein some difficulties and weaknesses were identified; hence the need to convene a national youth convention was necessary. The convention was aimed at reviewing the policy perspective and institutional mechanisms for youth development in the country. This convention adopted an integrated approach, which was canvassed by the ANC Youth league, during the robust engagements which took place in the convention at Emperor's Palace in 2005.
This integrated approach to youth development required realignment of the institutional mechanisms for youth development in the country. It was within this context that a decision to establish a National Youth Development Agency was taken to ensure integration, sustainability and responsiveness to aspirations and needs of our young people.
Let me deal with the ANC policy perspective. The ANC has always viewed young people as the most important stratum in society and, as such, has sought to ensure that they are fully integrated into society as agents of change. Consequently, young people are regarded as a critical component within the motive forces of the national democratic revolution in the thorough going process of resolving contradictions created by the system of colonialism and apartheid.
This means that young people have an objective interest in driving the national democratic revolution, NDR, towards its logical conclusion.
As active agents of change and social transformation, they stand to benefit from fundamental transformation of our society. As a consequence of the significant role played by young people in bringing about a democratic breakthrough in South Africa, the ANC seeks to ensure that past imbalances created by the apartheid regime are redressed and that young people are afforded the opportunity to participate meaningfully in all sectors of society. After realising the impact of the apartheid government's deliberate neglect of young people, the ANC continues to prioritise issues of youth development within the broader framework of reconstruction and development of the South African society.
Following its capturing of political power in 1994, the ANC started implementing its policy commitments through setting up institutions for youth development. Currently, the ANC remains committed to ensuring that South Africa has the best institutional vehicle for an integrated youth development so as to ensure effective implementation of youth development policies and programmes.
The ANC's national policy conference in July 2007 dealt with critical tasks facing the movement. Primary amongst these tasks was the challenge of dealing with the effects of unemployment through the Expanded Public Works Programme which is linked to the urban renewal and integrated sustainable rural development strategy. We acknowledged at that policy conference that the implementation of the national youth service programme created a huge opportunity for our unemployed youth and must be sufficiently expanded. The conference tasked government, through the Expanded Public Works Programme and Setas, to pay particular attention to the provision of skills to practitioners in the early childhood development, ECD, and Adult Basic Education and Training, Abet, sectors.
Six months later, at the occasion of our 52nd national conference in 2007 held at Polokwane, we resolved that government directly absorb the unemployed through labour-intensive production methods and procurement policies, as well as a significant expansion of the public works programmes linked to the expansion of economic infrastructure. We further resolved that government should meet social needs with home-based care and early childhood development on a massive scale; provide a much larger national youth service; and ensure the linkage of industrial strategy with key youth development programmes in the form of an integrated youth development strategy.
At the conference the ANC equally reaffirmed its commitment to youth development by its resolution that government should review the existing institutions of youth development and create a national youth development agency that will ensure integration, sustainability and responsiveness to the demands and aspirations of South Africa's youth. While it emphasises commitment towards youth and youth development, the ANC policy paradigm on youth development also placesobligations on young people to work for reconciliation and promote a common South African identity; to participate actively in the political, social and economic life of the country; to combat discrimination and racism; to promote democratic values; and to acquire skills and play a productive role in the economic reconstruction and development of the economy.
Let me deal with jobs for the youth. Given the high level of youth unemployment in the country, youth economic development should be anchored around the idea of youth co-operatives so as to provide for collective ownership and control of the economic resources produced therein. Unlike the privately owned business enterprises, these youth co-operatives would have greater economic impact in terms of responding to socioeconomic challenges facing the youth of South Africa. The national youth service remains one of the programmes concerned with creating job opportunities for the youth. In addition, the Expanded Public Works Programme, EPWP, is also tasked to create 40% of work opportunities for young people.
From 1 April 2009, 51 learners participated in the learnership programmes. The department implemented an artisan training programme with the intention of addressing the shortage of qualified artisans in technical fields. It is noted that the department is constrained by financial challenges to meet the 2,5% target of absorbing national service graduates. However, the department should focus on this area in the 2010-11 financial year due to the priority placed on the resuscitation of workshops. Unemployment, hon members, amongst the youth is very high and is at almost 3 million.
Let me briefly refer to the National Youth Service which is a government initiative launched in August 2004 to engage young people in service activities that are aimed at nation-building, whilst providing opportunities for learning. The youth service objectives are to promote social cohesion and build social capital; to inculcate a culture of service to communities by young people; to inculcate in young people the spirit of patriotism and an understanding of their role in the promotion of civic awareness and national reconstruction; to develop the skills, knowledge, and abilities of young people to enable them to make a meaningful transition to adulthood; and, lastly, to improve youth employability.
In the context of the ANC government's commitment to transformation and social development, the National Youth Service Programme has the potential to mainstream youth development. It also has the potential to proactively address poverty reduction, skills development, youth unemployment, building caring communities and enhancing social cohesion. It would also include the delivery of vital services including community care, water, housing, community infrastructure, adult education, food and nutrition.
The critical point of departure for youth in construction is to build the capacity of communities to operate and maintain infrastructure and, in this way, increase the number of entrants into the built environment trades. Historically, the National Youth Service project, the national Department of Public Works and the national Department of Labour have been working on specific projects in construction skills training. This skills training has enabled young people to proactively participate in national development.
In an effort to strengthen the National Youth Service Programme and make it sustainable, government departments have identified projects that could support this initiative and the national youth scheme. The refurbishment and maintenance of public buildings has been one area in which youth development in the built environment has taken place. Thank you. [Time expired.] [Applause.]
Mr L B GAEHLER
Mr M C MANANA
Mr L B GAEHLER: Chairperson and Minister, the UDM supports the Budget. This debate must be seen in the context of the current state of the South African economy. Public Works is at the forefront of government job creation initiatives, especially in the construction industry. Unfortunately, the latest economic data paints a grim picture. Unemployment has risen in the past quarter, as 171 000 jobs have been lost and the number of potential productive adults who are jobless stands at 35%. That is a staggering 6 million unemployed people. The construction sector has seen a decline in jobs since the completion of the World Cup projects.
One major concern is the shortage of skills within the department. The long-term solution is a skills audit within government, since this issue cuts across all departments. The private sector should be involved in the process. We would also argue that service providers such as consultants and contractors of the department should provide opportunities for interns, apprentices and professional interns. We believe that such a policy will require monitoring and tracking, but it could play a vital role in creating jobs and enhancing the skills available to the department.
It is shocking that government still does not have a proper asset register despite this being a long-standing issue. The Construction Industry Development Board needs to be restructured because it has failed to uplift contractors since most of them are still stuck in grade one, where the board placed them upon registration. The current board needs to be changed so that the emerging contractors are represented.
One major issue is the nonpayment of contractors within 30 days. It does not really affect public works nationally, but it affects public works at a provincial level.
IsiXhosa:
Abantu balamba izisu zithi nca emqolo, bade bafe kodwa banemali. Abanye kungaphezu konyaka bengabhatalwa. Baninzi abafileyo Mphathiswa. Siyakucela siyi-UDM ukuba ungenelele kule ngxaki. Yingxaki ebetha ilizwe lonke, ebetha nezi kontraka. Sisicelo esisenzayo eso. Enkosi. [Kwaqhwatywa.]
Mrs N T NOVEMBER
L B GAEHLER
Afrikaans:
Mev N T NOVEMBER: Voorsitter van die Huis, agb minister Geoff Doidge, adjunkminister Bogopane Zulu, hoofsweep, voorsitter en lede van die komitee, agb parlementslede, dames en here, goeie middag. Gun my die geleentheid om eerstens die moeders, vroue en kamerade van 9 Augustus 1956 te salueer vir die diep spore en sterk fondasie wat hulle gebou het. Die ANC het reeds in 1912 geglo aan 'n nie-rassige, nie-seksistiese en 'n demokratiese Suid-Afrika. Die Vryheidshandves en al die goeie beleide van die ANC is 'n bewysstuk daarvan. Die Polokwane-resolusies van die ANC het weereens bewys hoe belangrik gelykheid is in die samelewing. Dit is hoekom die ANC die deurlopende slagspreuk gebruik wat sê, "'n beter lewe vir almal". Vandag geniet vroue en vrouebemagtiging die prioriteit, en dit bevestig die 50-50 beleid van die ANC.
English:
Despite the significant progress since the establishment of our democratic government, South African society is unfortunately still characterised by racially-based income and social service inequalities. Consequently, the vast majority of South Africans remain excluded from ownership, control and management of productive assets and from access to training in strategic skills. This is not only unjust, but it inhibits South Africa's ability to achieve its full economic potential.
Since 1994, the ANC–led government has identified the construction industry in South Africa as essential to the achievement of the Reconstruction and Development goals. These include housing, jobs, infrastructure development, skills and public service delivery improvement. The relationship with the industry is historical, as the ANC relied on industry to meet its development goals. Today, government has made available more than R787 billion for the next three to five years to develop infrastructure in the country, with immense benefits.
The Constitution of the Republic of South Africa, No 108 of 1996, states the imperative of redressing historical and social inequalities in, inter alia, the Bill of Rights, Section 9, on equality and unfair discrimination. Furthermore, the Broad-Based Black Economic Empowerment Act, No 53 of 2003, establishes a legislative framework for the promotion of broad-based black economic empowerment, BBBEE. One of the fundamental principles of this Act, as well as the many sector transformation charters, is to address gender inequality in the workplace. Provisions on the scorecards by which the transformation of organisations is measured effectively promote the employment of women as well as ownership and control by women within the business environment.
Traditionally, very few women have been involved in contracting, particularly on the technical side. To a degree, this male domination in the industry can be ascribed to discriminatory and narrow-minded thinking. There is a mindset that contracting is a man's work, and this mindset obviously needs to be eradicated as it really amounts to no more than unfair discrimination. [Applause.] There is much that can be done in this regard, and there are certain NGOs, such as South African Women in Construction and Women for Housing, that are doing sterling work in terms of assisting women to become more involved in the construction sector.
Evidence that affirmative action policies do, in fact, yield results comes from the experience of white women over the past 16 years. Such commendable advancement, however, betrays deliberate racial discrimination in that the higher profile of white women in senior management is a post-1994 development - the result of women being designated as a disadvantaged group and beneficiaries of affirmative action policies.
A white corporate culture has advanced white women, but continues to exclude all black women. Save for a limited number of equity transactions, to date, the construction sector continues to reflect vast inequalities in ownership, with little transformation having taken place. There are limited numbers of black women in controlling and managerial positions and in the specialised professions in larger enterprises in the sector. Black women, in particular, continue to be under-represented at board level and in executive management in the sector.
South Africa's once male-dominated construction industry has become attractive to women. The South African Women in Construction Association's database of women contractors has grown from 60 at its inception in 1999 to over 2 000. However, black participation is principally through micro and small businesses, where there are also low levels of sustainability. There is little penetration of black enterprises in those components of the sector that are more capital- and knowledge-intensive. This situation is exacerbated by the absence of adequate financial and other support mechanisms for small, medium and micro enterprises, SMMEs, and the sector's inbuilt bias towards urban centres of development.
Without deliberate and effective intervention, emerging women contractors will not readily graduate to become commercially sustainable and technically proficient players in the construction industry. Failure to intervene in this space would mean that women contractors will remain trapped in the category of emerging contractors, unable to grow their businesses and unable to create decent jobs. They need to be identified, encouraged and supported with targeted and appropriately customised interventions, which will ultimately enable them to compete in the open market with established contracting firms.
The aim must be to promote the effective advancement of employment equity in the industry to achieve a sustainable change in the racial and gender composition of ownership, control and management in the sector. Another aim must be to address skills development in a manner that accelerates the advancement of black women and designated groups, with particular emphasis on learnerships and technical and management training.
The ANC welcomes the department's commitment to women empowerment. Its internal recruitment drive has seen an upsurge of women in senior management from 23% in 2007 to 46% in March 2009. Externally, it seeks to ensure that there is an increased percentage of access to opportunities for women in the traditionally male-dominated construction and property sectors. A number of these programmes have been developed at national level and include the Expanded Public Works Programme, the Emerging Contractor Development Programme, and the Contractor Incubator Programme.
The South African Women in Construction Association is a national association of women entrepreneurs in all areas of the construction industry, from the skilled trades to business ownership. Realising the need to build capacity and management skills for women in the industry, this association was established in 1999. It works closely with the Development Bank of Southern Africa, the Independent Development Trust, the IDT, and government departments to build up skills, create career opportunities, and provide networking platforms for women in construction. The ANC supports the Budget Vote. [Time expired.]
Mr M W RABOTAPI
Mrs N T NOVEMBER
Mr M W RABOTAPI: Chairperson, hon Minister, Deputy Minister, hon members and hon guests, management of the Extended Public Works Programme, EPWP, on the ground is not properly managed especially the time frame that department entered into contract with contractors. The payment of contractors is another factor. This demoralises our contactors to do business with the department.
Emphasis should be made with the provincial administration that the portfolio committee is entitled to come and do oversights as a result must be treated with respect in the sense that we fully need to know their strengths and weaknesses. Also a number of projects for us to choose which ones do we want to visit and not them to choose for us.
Creating sustainable jobs still remain the challenge in our country. However, we acknowledge the efforts of the department in striving to create jobs for South Africans even though they might not be sustainable.
Hon Minister your department's endeavour to empower South Africans with skills is moving at a snails pace and needs to be jacked up. Students from Further Education and Training, FET, Colleges and skilled labourers who are no longer employed could be helped to fill the gap of leadership in the building industry. Let us get South Africa working. By so doing we will be creating opportunities for all people of South Africa.
In the last financial year your department promised to create 500 000 jobs with its EPWP throughout the country. However, the target was never reached even though it was not too far from the said target.
Government-wide Immovable Asset Management, Giama, must be extended to municipalities to ensure that all properties that belong to municipalities are known. There are too many properties that belong to the municipalities.
On yesterday' Business News of The Star newspaper your department gave itself top marks for the creation of decent work opportunities for South Africa's unemployed.
The TEMPORARY CHAIRPERSON (Mr A Mlangeni): Order! Order members! I won't allow that. There is too much noise there at the back. We are not children and we don't need to be reminded of that every time when somebody is talking, whether you agree with the person or not. Please, give him or her the opportunity to speak. There is too much noise on my right. I want discipline from you, comrades, please. Please, carry on.
Mr M W RABOTAPI: Hon Minister, you further went on to say there were five main government programmes associated with jobs involving infrastructure building. Minster, the reality is your satisfaction does not reflect what is happening on the ground. A lot of developing contractors are frustrated because of the grading system that does not do justice to their objectives.
The fourth project that you mentioned is the Vukuphile Learnership Programme, aimed at creating contractors and supervisors trained in labour based methods. However, these poor people are not happy with the grading system that is being used against them either.
It is on record that 482 000 jobs were created last year. However, by December almost a quarter of them were home already as the jobs were not sustainable. Things can be turned around if we learn from our past mistakes and also admitting where we went wrong. Let us get our team right and put people who are fit for purpose in positions compared to the chopping and changing system that we have been using.
In the parliamentary villages some members are still using very old furniture while others have new furniture. The alarm systems do not function. Each time a technician comes he complains about the department not authorising a budget for batteries to be purchased.
South Africa is a predominantly rural country but in terms of development this is not reflected in rural areas unless there is migration from rural to urban areas. All that I am saying is that let us take our rural communities onboard. Your department has a rural development programme which seems to be there in name only. Our people are waiting with keen interest for these programmes to start unfolding.
There must be planned maintenance and emergency maintenance. I'm pleased that the department for this financial year has planned to do maintenance on 64 properties and hope this will reduce the backlog. The concern is that, as the committee, we are not informed of those properties so that we can do oversight.
Setswana:
Motswana a re "tau e e senang seboka e siiwa ke none e tlhotsa, ka jalo a re tshwarane ka diatla ka gore ntšwanyana e bonwa mabotobotong. Ke a leboga
Mr C D KEKANA
Mr M W RABOTAPI
Mr C D KEKANA: Hon Chair, hon Minister, hon Deputy Minister, hon members, distinguished guests, ladies and gentlemen. A lot of ground has been covered by previous speakers, so I will only focus on infrastructure. The modern economy strives on infrastructure; in other words, the cornerstone of any economy is its infrastructure. By infrastructure I am confining myself to rail, roads, sea ports, airports, dams, electricity and power stations.
From the beginning of 1994 up to the current international recession, we were told by economists that South Africa has done very well in the economy. In fact, they called it a phenomenal growth in the economy. They said that apartheid did not grow the economy as much as the new ANC-led government has done. [Applause.]
We grew the economy up to 4,5%, there were challenges and a part of those challenges was that the economy was not creating as many jobs as it is supposed to. We had an economic policy called the Joint Initiative on Priority Skills Acquisition, Jipsa, and Accelerated and Shared Growth Initiative for South Africa, Asgisa. Asgisa said that, for us, in order to grow the economy further than what we have done - further than this phenomenal growth that outshines apartheid - we need to beef up our infrastructure. They said that the economy has grown so much that the infrastructure can't cope any more.
The infrastructure has become small, because the economy itself has grown. We need to beef up and increase our infrastructure. If you go on the highway you will see congestion there, but you will also see that we are already increasing the infrastructure, because where there were three lanes there are now four lanes and that shows that we are increasing the capacity of our roads to carry our vehicles.
Another good example of this infrastructure that is so important for the economy to grow, is electricity and power stations. Just to give you an idea, agriculture consumes 12% of electricity in South Africa; residents in South Africa consume 15% of electricity; mining consumes 17% of electricity; and manufacturing alone consumes 37% as small as it is. You will realise that a lot of our raw materials are still manufactured from mining overseas and we still export a lot of raw material. At Limpopo there was a resolution stating that we would like to beneficiate and expand manufacturing.
The Minister of Trade and Industry has said that in order to change the structure of this economy that exports raw material, we need to focus on manufacturing, but the very important point there is that we cannot expand our manufacturing. As small as it is, it is already consuming the highest supply of electricity, which is 37%. So, in order to increase our manufacturing, we will have to increase electrical supply.
We know that our government is already busy with the building of power stations to boost the electrical infrastructural facilities for manufacturing. We hope that when manufacturing increases in our economy and when all the raw materials: our platinum, chrome, diamond, which are beneficiated overseas - as much as 90% of small and rough diamonds are beneficiated in India - we are saying all that must happen here, because big diamonds are beneficiated in London, Belgium and Israel.
We want to do all that here in South Africa, but besides the skills, for example in engineering, that we need to start designing our companies, we are also going to need a highly increase level of supply of electricity, because without electricity manufacturing can never manifest.
Now, this just goes to show how important infrastructure is to our economy. Public Works has been given that responsibility. The 500 jobs that we are going to create are short-term, but long-term and permanent jobs will be created when our economy expands.
In fact, Asgisa has said that we need to increase the growth of our economy beyond 6% and once manufacturing has taken effect, we will definitely go beyond 6%. We would like all of you to support us by supporting this budget for infrastructure, because no economy can ever strive without infrastructural basis. The foundation of any economy is the infrastructure. [Applause.]
Fortunately, 2010 has also assisted us in beefing up our economy, as we can see that our airports and sea ports are being developed further and even our roads, because there was a budget allocated to infrastructural development for the purposes of the 2010 World Cup. It looks like good things are happening in South Africa in different ways. We can only wish that Bafana wins, because South Africa is actually winning.
In conclusion, with regard to the assets registration, the Minister and Deputy Minister have covered the asset registration issue, which is important. We need to know what belongs to government and what assets are of what value in as far as land is concerned and which farms belong to the government, because there are people occupying those farms. If you didn't know you, would be under the impression that they belong to Mr so and so only to find out that those farms are government's property. There are also properties internationally and in embassies.
With regard to the asset registration, I would like to focus on the area of rights. We have mineral rights and are prospecting to know exactly where minerals are. Geoscience is doing the research, but the private sector, as it was involved in mining, already know where minerals are because they have done prospecting.
Together we can do better and we hope they will reveal the information so that we can have asset registration as far as minerals are concerned. I support the budget. Thank you. [Applause.]
The MINISTER OF PUBLIC WORKS
Mr C D KEKANA:
The MINISTER OF PUBLIC WORKS: Chairperson, I thought as a former House Chairperson you would give me 10 minutes. [Laughter.] I used to be very generous when you were on the floor, Chair.
The TEMPORARY CHAIRPERSON (Mr B Skosana): In fact you are supposed to have three, you know? [Laughter.]
The MINISTER OF PUBLIC WORKS: House Chairperson, let me start by speaking about what hon Mnguni raised about Hollywood and Bollywood. He is a good contender for Parlywood. May be Parliament should have an act of Parlywood. I'm sure it will compete well with Isidingo.
Let's clarify this, the acting senior managers are not people from outside; they are from within the senior management. We could have, if we wanted to, just said, "This position is vacant; we don't have this particular position filled." But instead, we gave those members in the senior management an opportunity to come up and experience what is to be a director-general, a chief operations officer and a deputy director-general. Therefore this creates an impression that there's a long string of acting. In fact, there is none.
As I stand here today, there are only two vacancies in senior management. If one listened carefully to what I said, this morning Cabinet confirmed two deputy director-general positions. The candidates for the director-general position have been interviewed. Their names are with the Department of Public Service and Administration, DPSA, and are on their way to Cabinet, that's three. That leaves the position of the chief operations officer who resigned in February vacant. The deadline for applicants to apply for this post has passed. We hope that in the next week or two a panel will be set up with Ministers to actually interview the candidates for the chief operations officer position. That leaves one deputy director-general post of the Expanded Public Works Programme, EPWP, still vacant.
These are very able personalities from within senior management. I hope that we will see this in the light that these are very capable people. They have kept the ship on course. We haven't fallen off the bridge. These are our people that we are trying to promote and give exposure to. Let's not create an impression that they are acting and therefore they are not the same as the real McCoy. They are the real McCoy and I have confidence in them.
I thank members that spoke about the recapitalisation of the Independent Development Trust, IDT. I certainly think IDT have done their role or played their part in the eradication of mud schools. But let me hasten to say that in my speech you will see I spoke about concurrent functions. Building schools is not the work or the function of the national Department of Public Works. But because the IDT is the special kind of vehicle that they are, they are able to straddle national, provincial and local government. The IDT works at three different spheres and it also works across national departments.
This is why feel very strongly that we need to do everything possible to ensure that the IDT is recapitalised, retained under Public Works, and remains a special purpose vehicle. They can be used by other departments. They are used by provincial and local governments. They built a beautiful building in Kokstad, which is my hometown, hon Rabotapi. I didn't spear-head it, but the local municipality asked them to put up a good office building for them. If one goes to other areas he or she will see that they are building courts for Justice and Constitutional Development. In fact, they are operating so well and I'm a little bit worried that there will be opposition for the Department of Public Works, DPW, one of these days. Therefore we need to make sure that we recapitalised them.
Yes, somebody mentioned the Public Improvement Commission, PIC; I think we need to think outside the box. The PIC is sitting with funding; the Industrial Development Corporation, IDC, is sitting with funding; and the Development Bank of Southern Africa, DBSA, is sitting with funding. Let's think outside the box and see how Public Works can access these funds so that we can address some of the issues that have been raised here. I'm happy to say, hon chairperson of the committee, that, in fact, the department is currently working on a model and it will share with the committee what our thinking is.
I want to come back to the point made by hon Mahlangu. We are not headless. I think all the people who are sitting there do have heads. [Laughter.] So they are not headless. Don't worry about that, we've kept the ship on course. They had an option to say, "Minister, we don't want to act in these positions." They could have done so. However, because they bought into the vision and mission of the Minister and serve their country with passion, they have therefore stood up and said, "Minister, there's a task ahead, we will do it for you."
I agree on the issue of Occupational Specific Dispensation, OSD. Recently we went to India; the Department of Public Works in India employed 7 000 professionals. We don't have as many professionals in our department as the people sitting behind me. Therefore we have got to make a decision. Is this a technical department or do we want a rental collection office? What is it that we want? That is the vision that is in our strategic plan when we begin to say we want to raise the bar, review, reshape and rejuvenate.
Isixhosa:
Niyandilandela maqabane? Uyandilandela mhlekazi?
ILUNGU ELIHLONIPHEKILEYO: Ulahlekile.
UMPHATHISWA WEZEMISEBENZI YOLUNTU: Ulahlekile?
English:
You see, hon Mnguni complaints about - I don't know how many millions were spent on travel - ...
IsiXhosa:
Baba, andisokuze ndiqabele imbongolo ...
English:
... to go and create jobs through the EPWP.
IsiXhosa:
Ndiza kuhamba ngebhaloni. [Kwaqhwatywa.]
English:
With regard to the issue of Marievale, hon Mahlangu, I see that when Mr Blanché retired from politics in Parliament he left you with a legacy. [Laughter.]
Isixhosa:
Ukuphethe kanzima ...
English:
... under Marievale. You know, what he didn't tell you is that he and I and went to Marievale. "Unombuzo" [You have a question.] every five minutes about Marievale. What's the problem with Marievale? Do you want to go and play golf on a golf course? I can invite you; it's not my golf course; I didn't build it. However it's not true about Marievale.
You see, we must understand some of these functions of Public Works. Marievale is under the Department of Defence and Military Veterans. If they decide that they want to go ahead like Lephalale. We've just refurbished Lephalale. We sorted out the sewerage systems which you complained about in Marievale. If the Department of Defence and Military Veterans wants us to do that, we will gladly do it. We explained that to Mr Blanché. He is now not a member anymore, but he was honourable then and I hope he is still honourable. However, we went there and explained the issue. I think you and I must go there again so that we can help you with that issue, because I can see "iyakuhlupha" [It concerns you.] [Laughter.]
I covered some of the issues that have been addressed at a very high level in my speech. I get a sense that maybe, as we interact at committee level, we must certainly make sure that we go into some of the issues raised by members. I want to say to you that the Construction Industry Development Board, CIDB, and the Council for Built Environment, CBE, have done more than they have ever done before in reaching out to communities and talking to contractors.
THE TEMPORARY HOUSE CHAIRPERSON (Mr B Skosana): Hon Minister you need to wrap up.
The MINISTER OF PUBLIC WORKS: Oh! Thank you, Sir. Let me also say to hon Mnguni that, in the performance agreement we've just signed, the agreement with the President is that in the next four years we have to release 6 250 hectares of state-owned land to provide local government with land to build houses. What I can tell you hon Mnguni is that Public Works has already provided local government and provincial government with so much land in the last year. We will be happy to draw up a list for you to indicate just how much has been shared.
Let me also just make a very important point in the last minute of my allocated time: there is a very young organisation called SA Women in Engineering, Saweng. I would like to make sure that members of the committee actually make contact with this association. I think it's a voluntary association. They invited me to speak there and I thought I will see 10 to 15 women. But I saw 150 young women - the most beautiful in our country. They told me they are engineers, quantity surveyors, architects, and I was shocked, really shocked, to see that there are so many young women who are organised and really assertive. I think, hon November, we must put you in touch with them because what those women are doing will inspire you. Thank you Chairperson. [Applause.]
With regard to the last point, this reminded me that there is a demonstration which we are going to go to downstairs because it's not true that there is no asset register in Public Works.
IsiXhosa:
Iphaya ematshinini. Siza kucofa phaya ...
The MINISTER OF PUBLIC WORKS: ... so that everybody can see it. Thank you. [Applause.]
The TEMPORARY CHAIRPERSON (Mr B Skosana): Hon Minister, if I were you, I would be careful, 150 beautiful women. I would be careful. [Laughter.]
Debate concluded.
The committee rose at 18:38.
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