ATC090911: Report on National Council of Provinces: Provincial Week: 7 – 11 September 2009

NCOP Economic and Business Development

NATIONAL COUNCIL OF PROVINCES

PROVINCIAL WEEK REPORT

7 – 11 SEPTEMBER 2009

SECTION ONE: INTRODUCTION

The Provincial Week served as an instrument for the National Council of Provinces (NCOP) and provinces to establish collaborative approaches in seeking solutions and devising mechanisms that would address the needs of the people of South Africa.

During the Provincial Week, permanent delegates to the NCOP met with various provincial leaders, including Speakers, Chief Whips and Chairpersons of Committees, Premiers, Members of the Executive Council (MECs) and the Departments, and other stakeholders such as local government leaders and the South African Local Government Association (Salga). It gave permanent delegates to the NCOP and members of provincial legislatures an opportunity to undertake oversight visits and interact with communities in order to get “first hand” information on the needs and challenges that were confronting the public. They also visited projects that were implemented by both national and provincial government in their provinces to ascertain progress that was being made.

The theme for the Provincial Week was “A Strategic Mechanism for Strengthening the Representation of Provincial Interests in the National Council of Provinces”

SECTION TWO: PROVINCIAL REPORTS

1. EASTERN CAPE PROVINCE

1.1 Meeting with the Provincial Leadership

Permanent delegates to the NCOP met with the Premier, the Speaker, Members of the Executive Council and Members of the Legislature. At this meeting the role and mandate of the NCOP was outlined as ensuring that provincial interests were taken into account in the national sphere of government. This could be achieved mainly by ensuring that the NCOP participated in the national legislative process and by providing a national forum for public consideration of issues affecting provinces.

The provincial leadership indicated that the NCOP Provincial Week was an important mechanism to solicit provincial interests and ensure that provincial delegates to the NCOP were kept abreast with developments, as well as the challenges that were facing provinces. It was also emphasised that the focus of the NCOP in the next 5 years would be on the monitoring of government programmes and also the evaluation of the impact of services rendered. During the visit, the focus would be concentrated on the Chris Hani District which was visited by the NCOP in November 2008.

The Premier expressed appreciation for the NCOP programme and also acknowledged the fact that the mandate of the NCOP was being taken seriously by the province. She further expressed the view that the NCOP was the only forum where delegates advanced the interests of the province and where principles of transparency and accountability were espoused.

Although issues raised during the NCOP visit in November 2008 were raised in Emalahleni Local Municipality, they were province-wide and some of them required national intervention. The Premier further mentioned that the elections period had had a negative impact in addressing those issues timeously. The Premier highlighted the focal areas that posed a serious challenge to the province and where the NCOP was requested to concentrate on i.e. water shortages and the backlog in electricity supply.

1.2 Departmental Responses to NCOP Recommendations

Following the visit in November 2008 all recommendations of the NCOP were attended to by various departments. The following brief reports were provided.

Health

Glen Grey Hospital:

Accommodation of Medical Officers – Houses refurbished
Remuneration of Medical Practitioners – Salaries levels were raised
Staffing issues – Levels improved through appointment of personnel
Electrification and related infrastructures support – Issues attended to
Ambulance services – Province still faced a challenge in this area. There was a challenge relating to the centralized management of ambulances in the provinces. Even though the department went on tender to acquire more vehicles, funding was still a major challenge. The Provincial Treasury had been approached for more funding.

Philani Clinic:

Issues raised were maintenance-related that tended to compromise delivery. These matters were addressed. The Department had entered into an agreement with local municipalities to assist in fixing some of the damage at the clinic.

Education

Schools visited

Gcinubuzwe Senior Secondary
Lukhanyo High School
Nonkqubela Senior Secondary
Ngangamanzi Primary
Freemantle Boys High
Nompucuko Senior Primary

Although the recommendations relating to the six schools that were visited during 2008 were attended to, the Department was still faced with an inadequate infrastructure budget. This was posing a serious challenge in service delivery and in converting mud schools to brick and mortar structures.

Local Government

The Department intervened in quite a few municipalities in the province.

Social Development

Nceduluntu Development Project

o At the time of the visit there were no quality crops to be harvested.

o The borehole development and irrigation scheme was complete. However, the electrical connection by ESKOM was still outstanding

o The area was very dry and therefore underground water remained very sporadic.

Masibambane Home-Based Care

The municipality was engaged in providing accommodation, and had since provided the project with an RDP house. The location of the house was however not ideal.

Siyakhanyisa Food Security Project: Askeaton

The recommendations to assist the Chairperson and Board members to prepare a presentation to the Mayor and other stakeholders have not been implemented as yet.

Sophilasonke Home Community Based Care

The project was monitored and currently there were 96 OVCs receiving two meals per day.

Siyakhona Poultry Project

The project was officially launched on the 3rd of July 2009. The Department of Agriculture was working well with the Department of Social Services in assisting the project.
The training needs were submitted to the Department of Labour.

Response from SASSA

The Department of Social Services was working with SASSA to try and fast-track the process of grant applications.

Social & Disability grants

The agency was experiencing financial limitations in the building of pay points in the province.

Housing

The houses and services in Ward 4 – Lady Frere 700 Housing Project were identified for Rectification Programme. The progress was as follows:

o R15,7m has been approved towards rectification of water, sanitation and roads and storm-water

o The roads and storm-water infrastructure have been put to tender and was currently under evaluation

o Engineers were also busy with a design report on rectification of water and sewers.

o The departmental technical team was currently undertaking a site audit to establish the exact number of houses and nature of defects, to allow for appointment of a structural engineer.

o Actual rectification of the houses was expected to commence in the 2010/11 financial year.

Safety and Liaison

An appeal was made to the NCOP delegation to consider and influence the budget vote of the Eastern-Cape SAPS.

1.3 Meeting at Chris Hani District Municipality

1.3.1 Briefing by NCOP Delegates

The NCOP Permanent Delegates and the Members of the Provincial Legislature convened together with Chris Hani District Councillors. The NCOP delegation highlighted that the approach of the NCOP during the 5-year term would be focusing on the monitoring of government programmes and assessing progress made. The Councillors were also briefed about the purpose of the visit, namely that it was intended:

To close any communication gaps relating to sharing information about issues raised by the public, especially those raised during the last visit in November 2008.

To brief the councillors about the responses made by the departments on matters that had been raised at Emalahleni Local Municipality, even though some of the responses were not specific due to a lack of quality assurance and limited due to absence of other MECs.

To conduct site visits to new projects and to check on the progress made on some of the projects.

To sensitize municipalities about the two national Bills which were currently under consideration. Due to the Bills being section 76 Bills, the district was requested to assist in mobilizing the public to attend the public hearings that would be held in the area in due course.

1.3.2 Briefing by Executive Mayor of Chris Hani

The Executive Mayor briefed the NCOP Delegation and Members of the Provincial Legislature. Firstly, he indicated that he appreciated the follow-up visit by the NCOP and emphasised the fact that promotion of cooperative governance should be strengthened at all spheres. Secondly, he alluded to the concerns and challenges faced by the District and local municipalities. These included the following:

The Local Equitable Share (LES) formula revision must be expedited to include backlog items. The revision would assist municipalities to plan and budget for more tangible deliverables. It was recommended that finance structures like the Finance and Fiscal Commission and National Treasury must be engaged regarding the application of a costed norms approach to funding.
Lack of Intergovernmental Relations caused disintegration amongst the three spheres of government in terms of service delivery. There was no proper integrated planning that linked the national, provincial and local priorities. The issue of different financial years in spheres of government was a cause of disjuncture and was detrimental to service delivery. It was recommended that all service delivery plans from the three spheres of government must be synergised.
Unfunded mandates. It was highlighted that there were municipalities that were funding programmes that were not within their competency, for example, roads, housing and some local economic development related projects. Due to a lack of integrated planning, municipalities being closer to the electorate were forced to fund such programmes. The budgets of municipalities especially those which could not generate their own revenue were negatively affected.
Disaster Management. The District was faced with a huge backlog in terms of disasters. There were many disaster related matters that had not been attended to due to lack of funding, and due to funding that was done on an ad hoc basis. The declaration of disaster areas and the funding process must be reviewed to assist in eliminating the backlog.
Izimbizo (Presidential Outreach Programme).It had been highlighted that the programme was ineffective. The responses to the concerns raised by the public were minimal or not given. An alternative approach to the programme was recommended.

1.4 Bengu Multi-Pupose Centre

The Delegation visited the Multi-purpose Centre and interviewed the Ward Councillor, Municipal Officials and the workers. The Councillor emphasized that the Centre was not intended to be a general meeting place only for the community but rather a “one-stop shop” where required government services would be provided. Office space would be provided for utilization by various Departments i.e. Home Affairs, Social Services, Police Services etc to meet the needs of the community The project cost was R1,8 million (MIG funds).

The building started and was scheduled to be finished at the end of September 2009. However, in terms of progress so far, it was anticipated that the project would not finish as scheduled but might be delayed by two to three months. It was anticipated that it would be finished at the end of November 2009.

The delegation observed that the department was working well with Emalahleni Local Municipality on the project to ensure adherence and compliance to government procurement policies and smooth running of the project.

With regard to recruitment, it was noted that although the Contractor, Urban Africa, came from outside the Local andDistrict Municipalities, the company employed members of the community. The project started with 37 employees as follows: 20 x youth, 6 x women, 5 x men and; 6 bricklayers who worked closely with qualified builders for transfer of skills. Every month the employment process was reviewed to meet the required number of employees needed depending on the stage at which the project was. The Community was pleased with the manner in which the project was managed.

Challenges

Delays in the delivery of material: It was explained that this was not posing a serious challenge as the project seemed to be on track and was anticipated to finish around the expected time.

High crime rate: Because of high crime rate in the area, the delegation proposed that permanent SAPS staff should be on site.

Recommendations

The delegation recommended to the Municipality Management that a data base of the trained bricklayers should be kept for consideration for future building projects.

Conclusion

Considerable progress had been made though some delay had been noted. Government processes have been adhered to, monitoring of the project was done closely, frequently and jointly by the Community and the Local Municipality. Most importantly jobs that benefited the immediate community had been created in the process.

1.5 Ngonyama Health Care Centre

Ngonyama Health Care Centre was situated at Ngonyama Administrative Area approximately 62 kilometres from Lady Frere on the main road to Dordrecht. The centre was built in 1998 by the Department of Health but could not function as a Health Centre due to functional clinics in the surrounding areas.

The surrounding areas served were: Lower & Upper Vaalbank, Agnes Rest, Tsembeyi, Zwaart Water, Ngonyama, Jojweni, Dubeni, Qoqodala and Buffels Doring

The Centre had the following personnel: 2 x clinic operational manager, 2 x CPNs, 4 x PN, 1 x Enrolled Nursing Assistant (on study leave), 2 x caregivers, 7 x Community Health Workers. A private security was operating on a 24 hours basis (currently one during the day and one at night).

The Centre provided the following services: HIV/AIDS/PMTCT/ARV feeder site, Maternal and Child Health, Women’s Health, Chronic Disease Management, TB Management, Treatment of minor ailments and acute infections, Rehabilitation, Health Promotion and School Health Services, Integrated Nutrition programme, Environmental Health, Circumcision and Dental Services

The Clinic had a solid infrastructure. Attention was being given to the nurses’ home, which needed revamping to the roof and ceiling that were burnt down in 2006.

A Clinic committee had been nominated to serve the various catchment areas that were served by the Centre. The Department of Health and the Local Councillors, however, did not regularly attend meetings.

Medicines were available but there had been a challenge at the depots since the advent of the swine flu. Presently the supplies were sufficient and no medicines were out of stock.

Challenges

No doctors visited the clinic
Staff attitude
The sign post referred to Ngonyama Clinic instead of CHC
Water problem (a burst pipe identified)
Burnt Nurses’ Home- a hazard to the community and clinic as the roof was partially swept away following the fire

Way forward

The Sub-district Manager must request one of the sessional doctors to visit Ngonyama at least once a week for a start.
Staff attitudes: the identified official had been counselled and was awaiting a transfer (This was dependent on when a post would be available in Queenstown nearer her home). The new manager of the clinic seemed to be working well with the staff, clinic committee and the community.
The signage to be corrected to refer to Ngonyama CHC instead of Clinic
The water problem had been reported to the Department of Public Works. The Local Municipality was also aware of the problem.
The Sub-district Manager reported the issue of the roof of the nurses’ home to the Infrastructure Unit. An officer visited the clinic in November 2008.

24hr service in operation since December 2008.

Programme	Indicator	Actual Service Delivery Status Quo
TB	Suspect rate 4
	Nurse clinical workload	7.7
HIV/AIDS/STI	%ANC clients tested for HIV	71.1
Health Promotion	No of Health Promoting Schools	1
	Antenatal before20 weeks	37.8
	STI Partner Treatment rate	79.2
MCWH	Immunization coverage	92.9
	Utilization rate	1.6
	Utilization rate less than 5	5
	Vitamin A 12 – 59 months	13.1
	Vitamin A 6 – 11 months	83.9
	Weighing Coverage	90.5
	Not gaining Weight less than 5 yrs	0.4
	Severe Malnutrition less than 5 yrs	0

As a result, there was persistent public discontent regarding removal of doctors. The delegation was concerned at the rate at which the patients utilized the centre.

Issues Raised

It was reported that some of the issues that contributed to the problem was the removal of doctors, late arrival of medicines and some staff attitudes. As a result, patients from the surrounding communities utilized other nearby clinics and even visited Dodrecht and Queenstown clinics.

Recommendations

It was recommended that staff should, with immediate effect ensure the deployment of the sessional doctor on regular basis to the Centre to ensure that the Centre was fully utilized for its intended purpose.

It was emphasised that the staff of the Centre through the Department of Health should work hand in hand with the LocalMunicipality on the constant supply of water as delivery of such services was the municipality’s core business.

1.6 Freemantle Boys High School

The school had been allocated R224 000-00 for the 2009/2010 financial year.

The total budget included items such as maintenance, LTSM (buying of learning material) and charging fee. Only half of the total amount of the allocated budget was utilized for the needs of the school.

Challenges

The school was faced with the following infrastructure related challenges:

School and boarding facilities were in a state of disrepair and need urgent attention.
There were huge cracks in the walls and the buildings were nearing collapse.
Walls were stained and the paint was peeling off.
Windows and ceilings in the dormitories were broken.
Doors were broken and in some classes there were no doors at all.
The lack of proper fencing exposed the school to theft, break-ins, vandalism, as well as posing a danger to learners.
There was a dysfunctional sewerage system which posed a serious health risk. Toilets were blocked. Water pipes were old.
Water and sanitation fees placed a strain on the already limited budget.

There were also the following human resources related challenges:

No boarding master.
No security guards.
The library had outdated reading material.
The newly elected treasurer did not have insight into how to utilize a budget.

Findings

There had been no improvement pertaining to the issues and challenges that were raised since the visit by the NCOP in November 2008.
Minor repairs were supposed to be done by the school itself since it was a Section 21 school, but no repairs were done at all, regardless of R17 000-00 allocated to the maintenance budget.

Recommendations

o The recommendations by the NCOP must be considered very seriously by all the spheres of government and progress reports should be produced. It was proposed that a turnaround strategy for the school must be developed.

o The Department of Education must monitor the situation to ensure that the budget allocated to Section 21 schools was utilized according to what it had been intended for.

General Recommendations

o Freemantle School must be prioritized on the renovation list.

o Training of SGB must be conducted.

o The School Governing Body was urged to lobby businesses to adopt the school in the “Adopt a School Project”.

o Freemantle Alumni should be established for former students to be invited to plough back into the school.

o The relevant Departments and Committees must play an integral role in attending to relevant issues at the school.

1.7 Gcinubuzwe High School

The Provincial Whip outlined the purpose of the visit. It was emphasized that the delegation was at the school to monitor progress since there were many challenges facing the school when the NCOP delegation visited them in November 2008. The school had 270 learners and 12 educators including the principal.

Challenges

Pregnancy of teenagers attending school at Gcinubuzwe was escalating. Sometimes pregnant learners gave birth during school hours as they attended school until the pregnancy was at an advanced stage.
Drug abuse and gangsterism was increasing. It had been recommended that interdepartmental relations with the Department of Social Development and Health must be promoted to address the challenges.
The performance of Grade 12s had been poor last year compared to 2007. In 2007, the pass rate was 48% and in 2008 it had decreased to 34%.
The library was still empty but was in the process of being filled with books.
The conduct of learners needed more attention.
The role of parents in their children’s education was gradually decreasing.

Successes

The old structure had been demolished and the school had moved to a new structure. The new school consisted of 9 classrooms, computer library, administration block, HOD office, science laboratory, sick room and staff room.
The school was well furnished and had surplus furniture to be distributed in other rural schools.
Electricity was to be upgraded and an application had been sent to Eskom.
The school had entered into partnership with the Department of Social Development in terms of having a psychologist visiting the school and the Department of Safety and Liaison counselling the learners about the results of abusing drugs.
A science teacher had been recruited from Zimbabwe and had been appointed since January 2009.
There were sports facilities.
The policy that dealt with teenage pregnancy and conduct of learners would be amended through motivation of educators and parents.

The vision of the school was:

To expand the curriculum to include computer literacy and commercial subjects by 2010 and 2011 respectively.
To increase human resources.

1.8 Cacadu High School

The NCOP delegation visited the Cacadu High School which had not been visited during November 2008. The school was established in 1974. It started as a Junior Primary School and was later upgraded to a High School without alterations to the building structure. In 1993 grade 10 was added and later grade 11 and 12 were introduced. The school was a Section 21 school. The funds allocated for maintenance of the school amounted to R11 000.00 and was insufficient to be used on other infrastructure related items. The decrease in the numbers of learners had a negative impact in the allocation of funds for the school. The enrolment of the school was 188 learners.

Challenges

The school could not attract skilled educators due to the condition of the school building.
The performance of the school in terms of matric results had deteriorated in the past two years due to demoralization of both learners and educators.
The school was faced with the following infrastructure related problems: The school building had visible cracks and a dilapidated ceiling that was detrimental to health and safety of the educators and learners. There was a water shortage and also no toilet facilities. The donation made by USAID for borehole water had been vandalized by the community. The erection of the toilets by the appointed emerging contractor was incomplete. Government intervention in both instances was urgently needed. The Department of Education had not prioritized the school although application for major refurbishment of the school had been made since 2001.
The absence of fencing in the school was detrimental to the safety of the school building, learners and educators. The school was a thoroughfare to the community hence there were acts of vandalism.
There were no extramural activities because the school environment was not conducive for such activities.
Budget constraints hindered any plans that the educators and the community had for the school.

Successes

The Grade 10 performance was average considering the nature of the school.

Role of the District Office

The function of the District Office was to compile a list of priority schools and take it to the Department of Education’s Infrastructure Section and thereafter make a follow up.

The District Manager must make recommendations to the Department of Education as to why certain schools have to be prioritized.

Recommendations

The District Manager must conduct follow up meetings with the Department of Public Works and Department of Education on the abovementioned infrastructure matters.

1.9 Storm Water Site Visits

The NCOP Delegates visited the projects and interviewed the Ward Councillor, Municipal Officials and the workers. The project was about controlling the flow of water that came from the mountains, through the erection of a dam and a concrete wall. The project cost was R5,1 million and was expected to end within six months.

With regard to recruitment the project was community based. Every month new workers from the affected communities were being employed to replace the existing workers.

Findings:

There was insufficient funding for the project to be completed in time. It was therefore recommended that the Department of Water Affairs should be engaged to provide more funding for the project.

There was a concern by workers that they did not have protective clothing while working on the site.

1.10 Ndonga Sorghum Project

The project specialized in growing sorghum. It was a cooperative and had a Board of Directors. It was working hand in hand with Siyalima. At first the project was funded by the cooperative and the Christ Hani Municipalities. During the current year they harvested 2 173 bags of sorghum.

There were stakeholders that supported the cooperative namely, the National Development Agency and the Department of Agriculture. They were allocated 200 hectares of land, seed and fertilizer by the National Development Agency. The Department of Agriculture provided tractors and farming equipment for ploughing and harvesting.

Vision and plans of the cooperative:

o To make Lady Frere to be the best sorghum producing area.

o To manufacture sorghum mealie-meal.

o If funding could be made available, the project would be able to fulfil their plans.

Challenges regarding marketing:

o Low selling prices of sorghum.

o Due to the low market value of sorghum, many sorghum bags were still stored and not sold because they were not profitable.

o Lack of funding: There were plans for developing the project to produce more sorghum products like maltabella.

1.11 Conclusion

The NCOP delegation was of the view that although there was some progress made there were still challenges in certain areas that needed a pro-active approach of both Provincial and National Governments.

2. FREE STATE PROVINCE

From 7 to 11 September 2009 the Free State Permanent Delegates to the National Council of Provinces (NCOP) joined the following Portfolio Committees in conducting oversight visits to various sites in the Fezile Dabi District and in the Lejweleputswa District:

Agriculture and Rural Development
Health and Social Development
Education, Sports, Arts, Culture and Recreation
Police, Roads and Transport
Public Works, Economic Development, Environmental Affairs and Tourism
Cooperative Governance, Traditional Affairs and Human Settlement

The sites which were visited by the various committees included the following:

Grow Together project (Heilbron)
Itekeng Poultry (Deneysville)
Tebogo Mokonutlo Trust (Kroonstad)
Sasolburg District Hospital
Old Age Home (Ons Gryse jeugtehuis vir bejaardes)
Zamdela Clinic
Welkom Testing Station
Hoopstad Police Station

The Permanent Delegates and Members of the Free State Provincial Legislature also met with the Office of the Premier and received a briefing on the progress made in respect of the setting up of the provincial Planning Commission and the Monitoring and Evaluation Commission.

2.1. Findings and observations at the agricultural sites visited

2.1.1 Grow Together Project

Background

Grow Together Farming Project was established in 2004. Of the 11 members, 5 were women and 6 were men from the PhiritonaTownship. They bought the farm Grootkuil through a government LRAD programme. The farm was located 8 km from Heilbron. The Department of Land Affairs had through the LRAD program funded the project to the amount of R 470 545, 00. The farm had potential for crop and livestock production. Due to current market trends the focus would be on eggs and vegetable production under irrigation.

The following key issues and challenges were raised:

Currently there was no development of the project in the farm. The beneficiaries were still waiting on the Department of Agriculture (the department) for the implementation of the project.
The department had informed the committee that the delay in the implementation of the project was caused by the relevant environmental legislation which required that for poultry farming to take place, an environmental impact assessment had to be conducted.
The department had outsourced the environmental impact assessment due to a lack of skill within the department and this had caused a further delay for implementation of the project.
The environmental impact assessment had now been completed and the department was going to commence to implement the infrastructure for the chicken embroilers, water and electricity.
The beneficiaries had requested the Municipality to provide them with water and transport to deliver their chickens to the market.
The beneficiaries were intending to have 4000 chickens and to sell their eggs in the local township.

2.1.2 Itekeng Poultry Project

The Itekeng Poultry Project was situated 2.7 km outside of Deneysville on plots 99,100,103 and 104 Veekraal Small Holdings. The total size of the property was 18.0192Ha. It was situated next to the Vereeniging / Viljoensdrift road and was therefore accessible to road users. The location of the project was central to larger towns both within and outside of the province, i.e. Orangeville, Sasolburg, Vereeniging and Vanderbijlpark, and these were potential markets.

The following key issues and challenges were raised:

o There was a serious challenge with regard to the market for selling chickens and beneficiaries were currently selling their chickens in the local township.

Itekeng project beneficiaries had only acquired skills through having worked at the poultry farm. They still needed training on aspects such as bookkeeping and hygiene.
There was a lack of transport for beneficiaries to deliver their products to the market.
The infrastructure of the abattoir on the farm did not meet the standard of the relevant meat safety and health legislation. An inspection of the abattoir showed that the water on the floor was not being drained away but was collecting in pools.
The contractor who built the abattoir did not comply with the specifications of the building which resulted in the disqualification of the abattoir.

o The main challenge for the project was for the abattoir to be able to comply with the necessary health regulations. The beneficiaries could not otherwise achieve their objectives of selling chickens and becoming commercially viable. Currently the beneficiaries had 1000 chickens.

o When the project started there were 22 beneficiaries but due to a lack of progress in the project beneficiaries had left and had gone to look for jobs elsewhere. Only 3 beneficiaries have remained to run the project.

2.1.3 Tebogo Mokonutlo Trust

The Mokunutlo Family Trust was established in 2002. The project consisted of 10 family members, 7 males and 3 females. All of them were from the Maokeng Township. They bought the farm named Rotterdam no. 242 through the LRAD grant program. The farm was located 10 km from Kroonstad. The total size of the farm was 255.8252 hectors of which 149 000 ha was grazing land and 106.8252 ha was arable land.

The following key issues and challenges were raised:

The department appears to have made a substantial impact in terms of the development of the farm through providing the necessary agricultural infrastructure, sheep, cattle, fencing, windmills for water reticulation and training for capacity development of the emerging farmers.
The farmers requested the department to assist them with electricity so that they could expand their operations to also include poultry farming.
The farmers had further requested the department to provide them with a tractor and implements for cultivation of the land.
There was a dam on the farm but it needed infrastructural repairs and development so that it could supply sufficient water to the farm.
The farmers were planning to establish a dairy on the farm because they had sufficient cattle and their grazing land was good for dairy farming.

Recommendations

The Portfolio Committee would prepare a report on its oversight visit to the various projects for tabling in the provincial legislature. A copy of the report would be made available to the beneficiaries of each of the projects.

2.2 Findings and observations at the health and social development sites visited

2.2.1 Metsimaholo District Hospital

The following issues and challenges were raised:

Overflow of patients.
Shortage of personnel, both clinical and non clinical
Shortage of qualified doctors and nurses
Leaking roofs
Lack of qualified personnel to operate the gas boilers.
Vacancies to be filled
Shortage of beds
Challenge with radio systems
Shortage of rescue vehicles (only 3 for the entire Sasolburg)
Shortage of cleaning equipment
Misuse of official vehicles
Scarcity of medicines
Budget constraints
Referral system not working
The emergency helicopter contracted to the department did not operate during the night.
Shortage of IT personnel
A great need for counselling for every EMS station

Discussion

The Hospital rendered the following services: casualty, pharmacy, medical ward, surgical and paediatric ward, maternity ward, physiotherapy, occupational therapy, speech and audio therapy, x-ray, oral health, food services, Termination of Pregnancy (TOP), ARVs, step down facility, and a nursing school.

The hospital had about 82 beds of which 35 were used for the medical ward, 26 beds were used for the surgical and paediatric wards, and 21 beds were used for the maternity ward. On average 3200 patients were seen per month, with a record of 40 deaths per month.

The approved micro-structure of the hospital made provision for 332 posts, 222 of the posts were filled. The 110 vacant posts meant that there was an average vacancy rate of 34%. Other posts to be filled included the professional nurses posts, enrolled nurses posts, enrolled nursing assistants, and cleaners posts.

The committee was also briefed about the scarcity of social workers and caregivers for the hospital, and long waiting hours for patients in casualty. The (Occupational Specific Dispensation) posed a challenge for the hospital with regard to the allocation of nurses especially for the maternity ward.

Recommendations

o The hospital needed assistance in order to extend the hospital to accommodate the entire community.

o The hospital’s budget needed to be supplemented so that the vacant posts could be filled.

o The radio systems which were giving incorrect signals needed to be rectified.

o Additional response vehicles were required

o Treatment facilities for the treatment of hypertension were required.

o The hospital required assistance in dealing with the issue of low staff morale.

Way Forward

The Portfolio Committee would compile a report, table the report to the House with recommendations for debate, forward the report to the Premier and the relevant Department, and revert back to the home with the report and solutions.

2.2.2 Ons Gryse jeug-Tehuis vir Bejaardes (Old Age Home)

The following issues and challenges were raised:

o Insufficient rooms

o Availability of transport

o Medical supplies

o Lack of counselling facilities

o Availability of doctors and nurses.

o Access to ambulance services (depended on referrals for assistance)

o Facilities for Alzheimer patients

o Municipal tariffs (electricity and water)

Discussion

The old age home offered accommodation, meals, nursing, ambulance services, death guidance, counselling, entertainment, hair salon facilities, laundry facilities, library facilities, and a tuck shop. The home had a staff complement of 41 members, of which 10 were white. The staff salaries varied from R1500 to R9 900 per month. The management of the home comprised of the Chairperson, Directors, Auditor, and Members of the Church, totalling 14 members in all. The management met on a quarterly basis.

The residents depended mainly on pensions, and some on state grants. The residents were accommodated mostly in flats and houses. The home offered 24 hour security for the residents. The home had about 10 residents suffering from Alzheimers disease, and had about 8 bed-ridden residents. Entertainment was also provided for the residents which included karaoke nights, plays, braais, sowing and knitting clubs, school plays, and crèche dance plays.

Recommendations

o The home required assistance to increase their space

o The home needed improved access to ambulance services

o The home needed assistance in terms of the municipal tariffs for water and electricity.

2.2.3 Zamdela Community Health Clinic

The following issues and challenges were raised:

o Impact of the population growth

o Lack of professional personnel

o Transport of patients to the hospital

o Budget constraints

o Availability of resources (human resources)

o Scarcity of IT resources

o Lack of workspace

o Workload (nurses were overworked)

o Dispensary needs

o Maintenance funds

o Ambulance response time

o High number of referrals to hospitals

o Non-funded posts

o Data capturing

o Immunization challenges

o Environmental challenges (industrial area)

o Quality of equipment

o Conditional Grants

o Uniform for the nurses

o TB Cure Rate (very low)

Discussion

Zamdela was a 12 hour clinic and a Community Health Centre (CHC).

The major targets for the Centre were increasing the number of professional personnel, and upgrading the structure to accommodate more patients. The centre also struggled with the availability of medication and with the availability of human resources such as nurses and a Chief Administration Clerk. The nurses were overworked and the time allocation per patient posed major challenges.

The Centre had a challenge with regard to space utilisation, with the result that they had a very small dispensary which could not be accredited. The Centre did not have sufficient maintenance funds to service the clinic. There was also a scarcity of IT resources, which posed a serious challenge in terms of data capturing, and lead to major backlogs. The Centre was struggling to meet the National TB Cure Rate of 85%. It could only manage a cure rate of 65% (against its own 70% target).

The environment also posed a major risk to the Centre, resulting in the increase of patients suffering from asthma and other related allergies. There was a major challenge with regard to the use of conditional grants, which were diverted for other uses by the Centre. The shortage of medication had resulted in the Centre having to approach the local pharmacies for assistance.

The Centre had a high number of referrals to hospitals, and because of transport challenges, staff nurses ferried patients to hospitals.

Recommendations

Assistance with addressing the issue of the utilization of conditional grant funds
Assistance with regards to increasing the space for the centre
Assistance with funds.
Assistance with human resource challenges
Medication and transport issues needed to be addressed.
Intervention was required from the provincial government in addressing some of the key challenges
Workload relief for the nurses

Way Forward

The Committee would compile a report, table the report to the House with recommendations for debate, forward the report to the Premier and the relevant Department, and revert back to the Centre with the report and solutions

2.3 Findings and observations at the educational sites visited

2.3.1 Boitumelo Public Adult Centre

The following key issues and challenges were identified:

o The centre was situated in Kroonstad and was started in 2000.

o The centre offered ABET levels 1 to 4. FET Grade 12 was still in the pipeline.

o 11 educators, including the Centre Manager/Principal were employed at a ratio of 1educator to 15 learners. This was above the government recommended ratio of 1:10.

o The classes started at 13h00 and finished at 17h00 every week

o There was a lack of learning material, e.g. computers, photocopies and reading materials

o There was a lack of financial support from the Department of Education

o Educators did not receive assistance from the Department when it came to the recruitment of learners

o The centre needed more information regarding the Kha Ri Gude Adult Literacy Programme

o There was a problem of poaching of the centre’s staff once they received their necessary training and certificates

o Different treatment was accorded to ABET centres and their educators in comparison with that of the mainstream education sector.

2.3.2 Lengau ABET Centre

The following key issues and challenges were identified:

The centre was situated in Kroonstad and had 12 educators, including the Centre Manager/Principal.
The centre had approximately 45 ABET Level 1-4 learners and between 100 and 120 FET Grade 12 learners, who had completed their matric examinations.
There was a lack of learning material, computers and photocopiers.
There is an insufficient number of educators, due to poaching of staff.
The centre shared the buildings of the mainstream school.
There was lack of sanitation infrastructure for the ABET learners and educators.
Different treatment was accorded to ABET educators in comparison with that of the mainstream educators, e.g. ABET educators were normally employed on a twelve month contract. They did not have pension funds notwithstanding their years of service and their qualifications.
There was no central integrated learning process for all ABET centres

Recommendations

That the Department of Education should provide more support to the centres.
That the Curriculum supervisor and Management and Governance Coordinator deployed in the area should communicate more frequently in order to provide support to the centres
That it was imperative for the Centre Manager to have a written record of the discussions and agreements between himself and the Curriculum supervisor and Management and Governance Coordinator
That the departmental officials should assist the centre when it came to the recruitment of learners since they were receiving transport subsidies to facilitate the process.
That the Provincial Legislature Portfolio Committee should ensure that the necessary information regarding the Kha Ri Kude programme be provided.
That there needed to be an alignment between ABET and mainstream education.

2.3.3. Nomsa Senior Secondary School

The following key issues and challenges were identified:

o It was a platoon school classified as a section 21 school. It was located in Notoi Primary School and was started in 1994.

o The school offered grades 8 to 10.

o The school had 16 classrooms, which consisted of 12 classrooms, 1 garage and 3 shacks.

o There was no library or computer centre in the school, although the Department of Education had undertaken to provide 20 computers.

o The school only had one photocopy machine for its approximately 860 learners and 25 educators.

o The school had a maximum pass rate of between 80% to 85%

o There was a fully functional School Governing Body (SGB)

o There was a lack of electricity, toilet facilities and water and sanitation facilities.

o The new premises for the school were 85% completed and was expected to be handed over by the end of November 2009.

o There were no sporting facilities available for learners.

o There was no nutrition programme at the school

o The learner pregnancy rate had dropped from 15% in the previous year to 5%.

o Absenteeism and late-coming was a concern

o It was noted that in terms of the logbook the SMGD had only visited the school twice this year (i.e. on 24/02/09 and 22/07/09)

Recommendations

o That the Departments of Education and Public Works needed to give continuous feedback to the principal and SGB regarding the new premises.

o That it was imperative for the sake of the learners that the policy regarding learner pregnancy be correctly interpreted

o That assistance should be asked from the health inspectors to ensure that a complete record regarding learner pregnancy was properly kept

o That the problem of absenteeism and late-coming on the part of educators and learners be addressed immediately using the Department’s disciplinary code

o That the Provincial Portfolio Committee should request the SMGD it appear before it.

2.3.4 Meeting with the Department of Sport and Recreation in

Deneysville Municipality

The following key issues and challenges were identified:

o R350 000 was needed to repair the swimming pool in the Zamdela Local Municipality.

o There was a lack of sporting facilities in the area.

o Anglo Coal had undertaken to build a R19 million Multi Purpose Centre in Zamdela

o A stadium would be built in Orangeville with sponsorship from MTN

o The Department intended to build a library and multi-purpose centre in Deneysville

o Recreational events were held at schools to encourage learners to partake in sporting activities

Recommendations

o That all the local municipalities within the area should be accorded a similar treatment when it came to sporting facilities

o That there needed to be multi-purpose centres in all the local municipalities under the District

o That sporting activities should be encouraged even outside of schools hours

o That the national Department of Sport and Recreation should also be approached for assistance

2.4 Findings and observations at the police sites visited

2.4.1 Welkom Testing Centre

The centralisation of functions to the Head Office in Bloemfontein was one of the main challenges facing the testing centre. This impacted on various aspects of service delivery. An example was given of situations where members of the public wanted to apply for a duplicate registration certificate. The duplicate document could not be issued immediately because application forms first had to be faxed or submitted to the Provincial Help Desk in Bloemfontein for authorisation. In such instances the members of the public had to wait for three or more days before receiving the duplicate registration certificate. The traffic officers at the testing centre had proposed that this function should be decentralized to the district level and that the necessary effective internal control measures be implemented.

There was a shortage of terminals and work stations which also delayed and hampered service delivery, particularly in light of the increased demand for learner and driver license applications as well as roadworthy certificates. Although transport administration personnel and traffic officials were required to capture all relevant information on the eNATIS system, the traffic policing component was not catered for in the existing infrastructure. The traffic officers had proposed that additional terminals be supplied which would enable more effective services to be provided.

The equipment at the centre was not calibrated and was outdated, yet the centre continued to use the equipment and to provide vehicle roadworthy certificates. This posed a serious risk to the public at large and also exposed the department to possible legal challenges.

There was no visible supervision of officials at the centre. The supervisors were all based in Bloemfontein and it was reported that they were last at the centre more than two years ago.

The budget was controlled in Bloemfontein and despite repeated requests for the necessary resources to be made available, the response was inevitably that there was a lack of money and therefore the testing centre had to continue to operate on very limited resources. Examples were given of photo-copier machines and fax machines that were out of order and contracts that had expired since 2008. Telephone lines were not always operating effectively and service providers were not paid timeously. The centre had been without most of the basic stationery that they were required to use on a daily basis. Requests which were made during the 2008/09 financial year were not responded to including the requests for payment of postal boxes for testing stations in the Lejwelputswa District.

The issue of security and the lack of basic security facilities were raised as a high risk area. The centre received cash from the public on a daily basis whether it related to appointments for learners’ or drivers’ licence tests or roadworthy tests. There were no security measures in place for the cashiers. Files and folders could not be stored or archived safely and increased the risk of fraud because several people could access the area where the files were kept.

The security officers were not issued with complete uniforms and they were not armed. They were not given any radio / communication devices which would enable them to make contact with the SAPS and call for back-up if required.

Training was another challenge and it was revealed that the officers at the centre could not be graded because they had to go to the training college to be graded. However the training college was no longer operational. On-the-job training also carried the risk that pin numbers / security codes (which were intended to guard against fraud) had to be shared amongst colleagues.

There was a critical shortage of vehicles. The example was given of one combi having to ferry 12 officers together when they needed to do traffic control on some of the busy roads and main routes. They could not split up and it was also very risky to put that many officers in one vehicle.

Speed monitoring equipment was also completely outdated and could not be used. They relied on SAPS equipment when setting up roadblocks.

The maintenance and the household services were the responsibility of the Department of Public Works and that was again a problem of centralisation of functions being handled in Bloemfontein. Requests for replacement of light bulbs and general cleaning operations were just not receiving the necessary attention.

There were a number of vehicles that were impounded that were being kept at the testing centre until the necessary licence fees were paid. Many of the vehicles had fallen into disrepair. The decision as to what would ultimately happen to the vehicles was again said to be a matter for Head Office in Bloemfontein to decide.

The observation was made that taken in its totality the shortage of critical resources at the centre, both in terms of human resources, financial resources and equipment (such as computers, fax machines, photocopy machines etc) meant that there was in fact no testing centre.

Although staff morale was low there seemed to be an eagerness and commitment on the part of the officials present that they wanted to deliver an effective and efficient service to the public.

2.4.2 Hoopstad Police Station

The Cluster Commander together with key management personnel provided a fairly comprehensive written presentation to the Portfolio Committee. Although the presentation was delivered at the library facility, the Portfolio Committee did have the opportunity to visit the police station after the briefing. In terms of the responses which were given to the various questions asked and comments made by the Portfolio Committee, the following issues and challenges were raised:

o There were 40 SAPS officers in total of which there was 1 white female inspector, 5 black female constables, 1 white male inspector and the rest were black males.

o The main crimes that were reported were common assault and assault with intent to do grievous bodily harm (i.e. assault GBH). There was an increase in these crimes over weekends and during the end of the month and the beginning of the month. It could therefore be said that these crimes were linked to alcohol abuse. There were 10 licensed taverns of which 8 were located in the townships and 2 in the town. SAPS were not aware of any shebeens or unlicensed taverns operating in the area.

o There was one training facility for reservists. Given the shortage of trainers they could usually only take a limited number of reservists for training on a monthly or quarterly basis. The training took place over 3 weeks. Thereafter the reservists were monitored at the station for 3 months under supervision of a senior officer. Once successfully completed the reservists received a certificate of competency. The reservists were mostly young people and comprised both males and females.

o There were 33 reservists of which 11 were inactive. It was explained that these 11 persons received their persal numbers but then did not make themselves available for duty. However, the persal number did not mean that these persons were receiving any payment because the system for reservists was such that reservists had to complete a particular form to indicate to the station that they were available for duty and were only paid on that basis. Previously each station had its own budget to pay reservists but from this financial year payment would be handled centrally by the province.

o The station had initiated linkages with sectors such as churches and schools. The Junior CPF was an initiative that came from the interaction with schools. Basically the Junior CPF was where the learners formed part of crime prevention activities by giving out information about the dangers of drug abuse etc and also provided information to the SAPS about crimes that may be taking place at schools and so forth. The programme was still fairly new and they still had to assess its effectiveness.

o In terms of rural safety, the farmers were cooperating with the station and there was an operational plan that farmers were aware of. There were still discussions to develop a consolidated operational plan that would cover the whole jurisdiction of the Hoopstad station.

o The station had a serious challenge in terms of vehicles. They currently only had 4 vehicles and had recently made application for 7 more. During the months of May and June, all the vehicles were available and the reaction time was satisfactory. However in August, two of the vehicles went in for repair and this had an impact on the reaction times being very slow. The station had made use of foot-patrols during that time, but that was not as effective as having all the vehicles available.

o There was a victim empowerment service being provided at the station. Counsellors were brought in from Welkom. Although the victim empowerment offices could not be accessed by the Portfolio Committee it appeared that it was not a very “friendly”/ supportive environment and might need better resources.

o In terms of crimes being committed by young offenders, the station reported that the youth between the ages of 16 and 17 were not involved in serious crimes such as murder and rape but generally committed robbery at night. Gangster activity did not seem to be a problem.

o As far as infrastructure such as roads, street lighting, house numbers were concerned, it was reported that the roads were in good condition (except when it rained) and that street lights and house numbers were adequate in most areas, with one or two exceptions.

o In the past the station officers had attended meetings called by Ward Councillors and provided inputs on crime fighting etc. However it was recently decided that it would be more effective if the CPF called meetings and the SAPS and Ward Councillors would then be present and make their inputs at those meetings. If for example, the condition of roads was hampering the SAPS to fight crime then the Ward Councillor could take up that issue at the relevant forum.

o The SAPS did have a “wellness on wheels” programme for officers. At the station level there were the Employee Assistance programmes where officers could be referred for confidential assistance with all personal matters including financial matters. The station had a soccer team which played against other departments, as a way of building social relationships.

o There were no reports of any abuse of station resources such as vehicles. All vehicles that were used were done so with an authorised trip authority. Leave was also closely monitored to ensure that there was a sufficient number of officers on duty to carry out the work.

o The Portfolio Committee encouraged the SAPS Officers to familiarise themselves with the content of the “Iqabane” pocket book so that they could also share amongst themselves their understanding of what is contained therein.

2.5. Findings and observations at public works sites visited

2.5.1 Toetsterrain Testing Centre (Odendaalsrus)

The following key issues and challenges were raised:

o The Centre had 3 sub-contractors namely, Batja Trading Enterprise, Makoya Trading CC 555 and Dinakangwedi Construction.

The budget for the centre was insufficient
There were often delays in the process
No workshops were conducted
There was a lack of financial management skill, project management skill and technical background and skill
There were challenges with regard to the interpretation of the bill of quantities
There was a lack of commitment on the side of the contractors
The contractors were not always on site
The contract periods were not met due to late payment
Suppliers did not want to assist contractors with materials
There were cash flow problems on the part of the contractors
The officials from the department were not traveling frequently enough to the project areas to assess progress and identify challenges

Discussion

It was reported that the sub-contractors at the station were not doing an impressive job. The progress was relatively poor and the quality of work was not acceptable. The sub-contractor Batja Trading Enterprise struggled to follow instructions. Progress on the site was poor and very slow due to cash flow problems.

The sub-contractor Makoya Trading CC 555 seemed not to be committed to the project. The sub-contractor only completed 7% of the work, bought the wrong materials and then simply dumped them at the testing pit. No further progress had been made on the site. The sub-contractor Dinakangwedi Construction also showed poor progress. Only 18% of the work had been completed and the progress was very slow due to cash flow problems.

All the sub-contractors were emerging contractors and were new in the field. They indicated that had raised concerns about lack of training from the side of the Department of Public Works. Furthermore the sub-contractors lacked the necessary financial background to manage the project.

Recommendations:

o There needed to be adequate budgeting for the programme at the beginning of the financial year.

o The budget allocations to the regions needed to be provided timeously

o Workshops needed to be arranged to deal with matters of financial management, project management and technical skills.

o Special arrangements needed be made with regard to the supply of material

o Arrangements to be done with banks to fund the small contractors (BEE)

o Proof of payment needed to be provided.

o The matters of skills shortages must be addressed with the relevant SETA

2.5.2 Welkom Testing Centre

The following key issues and challenges were raised:

o The testing centre had 1 sub-contractor namely, Seqhala Open Projects

o The budget for the centre was insufficient

o There were often delays in the process

o No workshops were conducted

o There was a lack of financial management skill, project management skill and technical background and skill

Discussion

Seqhala Open Projects had exhibited good progress and had completed 22% of the work. The quality of work was acceptable. The sub-contractor used its own budget to finance the project and pay salaries. The sub-contractor needed assistance to be recommended as a fully fledged contractor in the future.

Recommendations

o There had to be adequate budgeting for the programme at the beginning of the financial year.

o The budget allocations to the regions needed to be provided timeously

o Workshops needed to be arranged to deal with matters of financial management, project management and technical skills.

o Special arrangements needed be made with regard to the supply of material

o Arrangements to be done with banks to fund the small contractors (BEE)

o Proof of payment needed to be provided.

o The matters of skills shortages must be addressed with the relevant SETA

2.5.3 Ventersburg Testing Centre

The following key issues and challenges were raised

o The testing centre had 1 sub-contractor namely Masiza Trading

o The budget for the centre was insufficient

Discussion

The sub-contractor Masiza Trading had made good progress and had completed 98% of the work. They were busy with final touches and finalising outstanding issues. The sub-contractor was also going to be recommended for the second phase. The sub-contractor was available to train other sub-contractors because of the lack of training offered by the Department of Public Works. There was no female representation on the project in terms of employee beneficiaries.

Recommendations

o There needed to be adequate budgeting for the programme at the beginning of the financial year.

o The budget allocations to the regions needed to be provided timeously

o Workshops needed to be arranged to deal with matters of financial management, project management and technical skills.

o Special arrangements needed be made with regard to the supply of material

o Arrangements to be done with banks to fund the small contractors (BEE)

o Proof of payment needed to be provided.

o The matters of skills shortages must be addressed with the relevant SETA

Way Forward

The committee will compile a report, table it to the House with the necessary recommendations, once adopted, forward it to the relevant offices (Premiers, and Departments), and refer back to the Testing Centres with the report and solutions.

2.6. Findings and observations of the cooperative governance, traditional affairs and human settlement sites visited

2.6.1 Witpan Sewage Plant

The following key issues and challenges were identified:

o Initially the whole plant had been flooded with water due to the failure of the motor machines. They had managed to temporarily control the water above water level, although the system was not wholly functional.

o A consultant had been appointed and he was in the process of assessing the contractors.

o The aim to commence with the project once the Klippan Purified Effluent Pump Station project had been completed. (The Klippan project was 97% complete)

o The projected amount for the whole project was R41 million and from that amount R26 million had already been granted for the current financial year

o The project was funded from the MIG and Department of Water Affairs funds

o It had to be determined whether the relevant engineer had checked the flood levels, because there was a likelihood that the area could be flooded after heavy rains;

o It was important to ascertain whether proper cost implications studies for the project were done as there were concerns that R41 million seemed insufficient to complete the whole project;

Recommendations

o That additional funds need be made available for the project to be successful

o The security measures around the plant need to be increased and enhanced

2.6.2. Klippan Purified Effluent Pump Station

The following key issues and challenges were identified:

o Klippan was part of the Witpan Sewage Plant

o The plant was 97% complete

o It was expected to be handed over by the end of September or beginning October 2009

o A motor machine had been installed with new equipment

o The purification process was in working order and it was tested on a monthly basis

o Previously there had been incidents of theft of the plant equipment. However security measures had since been increased and improved.

o There was no information on the lifespan of the motor machine and there were no spares and contingency plans in place should the motor machine suddenly break down

o The electrical motors used were not brand new, i.e. they were secondhand

Recommendations

o That the project should review the status of the equipment as it did not appear to be new equipment that was being used.

o The security measures around the plant needed to be enhanced.

o That there should be spare machines for the motor machines in case the current machines broke down.

2.6.3. Poor workmanship in Thabong

15660 Dr Mnyandu Street

The following key issues and challenges were identified:

Although there was an agreement between the owner and the contractor that the remainder of the subsidy would be used for ceiling and tiling, poor quality tiles were installed, the ceiling fell apart and the windows were not properly fitted;
The toilet was also not fitted resulting in the owner building it outside;
The owner was concerned that her house was facing the wrong direction
A municipal water pipe for drinking water had been leaking for the past six months resulting in the street being flooded

Discussion

The Engineer explained that because the owner had an existing foundation when other houses were built, it became difficult to build her house according to standard specifications, hence it was facing a different direction.

Recommendations

That the ward councilor should follow up the matter with the relevant contractor.

15619 Dr Mnyandu Street

The following key issues and challenges were identified:

Although the house were built in 2006, they were already falling apart because of poor workmanship;
The PHP contractors used newly trained people who had no real experience;
The house was built differently to other houses in the same area which had toilets inside (i.e. standard housing with the same specifications across the board);
The material used was of poor quality

Recommendations

That the ward councilor follow up the matter;
That the ward councilor should provide the provincial Portfolio Committee with a report regarding all similar problems in the area

2.6.4 Reatlehile Project

The following key issues and challenges were identified::

Approximately 50 foundations were left incomplete since 2002

Recommendation

That the ward councilor follow up the matter to determine whether were there any punitive measures taken against the contractor

2.6.5 27508 Extension 14/2

The following key issues and challenges were identified:

o The owner had been on the housing waiting list since 2004;

o There was an administrative error within the Department as the records show that the owner eceived the housing subsidy;

o Although the ward councilors had contacted the Department in January 2009 with the view to correcting this error, nothing had been done

Recommendations

Realizing that this was an internal administrative error and that the house might have been built but pn a wrong erf, the ward councilor was requested to follow up this matter and report back to the provincial Portfolio Committee within two (2) weeks thereafter;
That the ward councilors should also provide the Committee with a report regarding all other related problems in the area

2.6.6. Hundred Women Project

The following key issues and challenges were identified:

o When a previous contractor failed to complete the houses allocated to him, a second contractor, namely the Hundred Women Project, was solicited to complete the project;

o These women were then trained in construction and received certificates from an FET College. A certain Ms Ina Nicholson then bought the land for the Hundred Women Project;

o Although the area had been in existence since 2002 it had no electricity and its infrastructure was still underdeveloped (e.g. there were no sewer network);

o ESKOM had undertaken to complete the electrification process before the end of the year, i.e. 2009;

o There were people who had illegally occupied some houses;

o That a certain Inspector (name furnished) had claimed to have bought house number 22298 for R10 000 from the Municipality and had been threatening the rightful owner of the said house. A case was still pending against him in this regard;

Recommendation

That the Department and the Municipality be urgently summoned to appear before the provincial Portfolio Committee so as to explain the matter in detail
That the allegations of police victimization be followed as a matter of urgency since the police had a duty to protect citizens and not to victimize them.

2.6.7 Odendaal Site Visit

WARD 22

The following key issues and challenges were identified:

o There was a huge sewage fountain in the yard of one of the members the public. The sewage fountain, which started several years ago had been unblocked a number of times. However it always resumed two days after the unblocking.

o The sewage system seemed to be unable to accommodate a huge number of toilets in the area. (It was noted that the initial planning did not take into account the fact that the community would developed so vastly.)

Recommendations

o That the councilor should take up the matter with the relevant authorities as soon as possible as it was a health hazard.

2.6.8 Sewage Dam in K5 Odendaal

The following key issues and challenges were identified:

o The dam had been there since 2001 and said to have been caused by sewage blockage in the area

o It cuts across the yards of members of the public and was very hazardous

Recommendations

o The delegation was concerned that the problem had continued for a long time. Since approximately R240 million was returned three years back due under-spending, it might be possible for a solution to be found utilising the MIG funds.

2.6.9. Visit in K5 in Odendaal

The following key issues and challenges were identified:

o The area was built in 1961 and could have been built over a wetland or salt land as it was near a mining area.

o Most houses in the area were badly damaged and there was no prospect of renovating them.

Recommendations

o That the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) should be approached to conduct a proper research over the whole area

Conclusion

The report of the Free State provincial week will be incorporated in the comprehensive Provincial Week report which will be tabled in the NCOP, published in the ATC (Announcements, Tablings and Committee Reports) and scheduled for consideration and adoption by the NCOP in plenary. The various select committees of the NCOP will follow-up on relevant issues.

3. GAUTENG

Permanent delegates of the National Council of Provinces (NCOP), Hon. Mncube, Hon. Matila, Hon. Mabe, Hon. Montsitsi, Hon. Chen, Hon. Feldman visited Gauteng Provincial Legislature from 08 to 11 September 2009 to gather first-hand information about government service delivery; under the theme “Working together to ensure the delivery of quality services to communities”. The week-long visits are an important component of NCOP’s work in exercising oversight over the Executive (and all spheres of Government) implementation of laws and policies.

The Provincial week has enabled permanent delegates to interact with Gauteng Provincial Legislature’s Leadership and various stakeholders, the Chairperson of Committees, Deputy Chairperson of Committees, Committee Chairpersons, Members of Executive Council, South African Local Government Association (SALGA), Mogale City Local Municipality led by the Speaker of Council, Ward Councillors, Senior Management of Gauteng Provincial Government; Chris Hani Baragwanath Hospital and Lillian Ngoyi Community Health Centre senior management and organised labour represented at Government; Chris Hani Baragwanath Hospital and Lillian Ngoyi Community Health Centre with the purpose of engaging with targeted stakeholders and communities to enable NCOP delegates to put community issues on the legislative agenda.

The focus of the provincial week has been on measures that the Province and municipalities are putting in place to deliver quality services to the people and addressing the current service delivery backlogs, in relation to new government priorities, in particular housing (human settlement) and health priorities.

In keeping with the theme for this year’s provincial week, the NCOP delegates have been engaging various stakeholders on how the three spheres of government can work together to deliver quality services to the people..

Permanent delegates were received by the Office of Chairperson of Committees, which provided a detailed brief on the programme and activities of the week..

Oversight visits were undertaken to Mogale City Local Municipality, Rietvallei extension 5 and Mulddersdrift (Rietfonten Village) in the West Rand Region, Chris Hani Baragwanath Hospital and Lillian Ngoyi Community Health Centre in Soweto, under the administration of the Gauteng Department of Health and Social Development: Johannesburg-West Rand Health Services, which concluded the business of the NCOP permanent delegates.

Various stakeholders were briefed prior to the ensuing NCOP Provincial Week, to empower, inform and capacitate them with the intention of enabling them to assist NCOP permanent delegates on the oversight function as they had to interact with various stakeholders both in and outside of government structures and institutions.

3.1 Briefing by the Chairperson of the Portfolio Committee on Health and Social Development

With the establishment of the new Gauteng Provincial Executive Council the Department of Social Development and the Department of Health were merged as a single department. This contributed to a blurred accounting structure as the new department had two Heads of Department (HODs), one from each previous department. The merger presented new challenges for the Portfolio Committee as it had to consider two budget votes whilst integration of the two departments was still being finalised.

The following key issues and challenges were raised:

o Staff shortages still persisted in the department, hence the lack of proper service delivery.

o The department had failed to comply with the provisions of the Public Finance Management Act, 1999 in relation to supply chain management processes particularly in regard to sourcing of consultants. An example was cited of the Chris Hani Baragwanath where there was a problem with their boiler machines which provide power to the hospital. Only two boilers were working and there were constraints with the GSSC procuring system. There were outstanding refurbishment of wards projects, where the constructor was paid and left without completing the work.

o The provincialisation of health services had impacted negatively on service delivery especially the Emergency Management Services (EMS) and Primary Healthcare services (PHC).

Occupational Specific Dispensation (OSD) had not been properly managed. The department could not verify the criteria for the implementation of the OSD and to state the number of beneficiaries of OSD. This resulted in the disgruntlement of other professionals who never benefited from OSD. The committee had also noted a significant increase in the current financial year of R 9 037,304 billion as compared to the previous financial allocation of R 8 170,038 billion for compensation of employees. The sharp increase was due to the implementation of OSD and adjustments of personnel salaries.

o The Portfolio Committee recommendations were not taken seriously by the department and this had threatened the quality of service delivery and the oversight mandate of the committee;

o The department experienced challenges with establishing prototype Old Age Homes;

o Relations between the department and Non-Profit Organisations (NPOs) posed a challenge since these organisations served as an extension arm of the department and most of them were unable to retain skilled and competent staff due to the shortage of funds.

Discussions of the presentation focused on:

Integration and working relations between the Department of Health and Social Development in establishing Early Childhood Development Centres; as the competence of the Department of Health and Social Development and the provision of educational programmes as the core function of the Gauteng Department of Education (GDE)
The building and maintenance of Old Age Homes, which were constructed by the Department of Infrastructure Development and administered by the Department of Health and Social Development, the relationship and integration between the two departments with regards thereto. Occupants of these facilities were required to contribute to monthly municipality services fees.

Recommendations:

o That the Health and Social Development Portfolio Committee should share its strategic planning document with the NCOP permanent delegates so they could interface with respect to concurrent competency service delivery issues;

o That the Health and Social Development Portfolio Committee should engage the department concerning the issue of the closing time of Community Health Centres to enable communities to have greater access to health facilities.

Way forward:

The Gauteng Provincial Government (GPG) had opened nursing training colleges and was recalling retired health practitioners to respond to filling of vacant posts, skills shortages and to curb the backlog which impacted negatively on service delivery.

3.2 Briefing by the Chairperson of the Portfolio Committee on Local Government and Housing

The Department of Local Government and Housing was a merger between the Department of Local Government and the Department of Housing following the establishment of the fourth Gauteng Provincial Legislature (GPL).

Observations of the Portfolio Committee:

The Portfolio Committee had noted serious challenges with regards to the department’s resource allocation which was inconsistent with the demands and capacity of the department.

Migration and immigration to the province had placed a lot of strain on provincial government resources and this was impacting negatively on service delivery as government’s plans were unable to adequately respond to demand on services.

Most municipalities lacked specialised skills such as engineering, finance, auditing and accounting, which would enable municipalities to function optimally.

There was inadequate provision in the budget for municipalities to enable them to perform their developmental function that was responsive to local economic development, local governance and community participation.

Part of the housing challenges in Gauteng was as a result of land scarcity, where some of the under-utilised land was not conducive for human settlement.

Selling and renting of RDP houses was a common feature in Gauteng, even though the Department of Local Government and Housing had an anti-corruption unit which was responsible for investigating such matters.

Transformation of hostels into family units was underway in some parts of the province.

3.3 Presentation by the Executive Council of Gauteng

The Executive Council was led by the Leader of Government Business with a team of Members of the Executive Council (MEC), Cabinet Committee Cluster Coordinators supported by relevant senior management officials. The Head of the Gauteng Planning Commission made a presentation on behalf of the Executive Council. The presentation was informed by the 15 year governance review and the current priorities of the Gauteng Provincial Government, which were:

Creation of decent work and an inclusive economy
Quality education and skills
Better healthcare for all
Rural development and food security
Fight against crime and corruption
Building cohesive communities
Strengthening the developmental state.

The presentation captured the progress made since the installation of the current political leadership and outlined a comprehensive programme with timeframes, which demonstrated that the Gauteng Provincial Government was on course in meeting its deadlines.

3.4 Mogale City Local Municipality site visit

The delegation from the municipality was led by the Speaker of the Council and the Member of the Mayoral Committee (MMC) for Finance accompanied by Councillors, Ward Councillors, Ward Committee members. Also present, were the Gauteng Department of Local Government and Housing regional officers.

The Presentation by the municipality centred on the following:

Challenges with regards to the provision of housing which is not per se the function of the municipality.

Presentation on Progress to date with regards to Housing backlogs: 2004 – 2009:

The backlog as of 2004 = 30 000

Houses built = 8826

Backlog as of 2009 = 21 174

Rietvallei

Planned units = 5993

Actual delivered = 5178

Outstanding = 715

300 units are still under construction and the remaining 700 have been included in the 2009 – 2014 housing plans.

Munsieville

Planned units = 1200

Actual delivered = 1121

Outstanding = 921

The outstanding units have been included in the 2009 – 2014 housing plans.

Kagiso

Planned units = 4115

Actual delivered = 2527

Outstanding = 1588

Construction could not take place on 179 stands in Sinqobile due to rocky patches. The remaining 1409 stands could not be developed as tenants lived on the stands instead of the title deed owner of the stands. Some of the stands already had formal structures constructed by the owners. Provision had been made for households that were left out during the beneficiary administration process to be included in the 2009 – 2014 housing development years.

Challenges experienced from 2004-2009:

Subsidies

Slow approval of subsidies by Gauteng Department of Housing. The duplication of stands and beneficiaries during subsidy approval process. This happened in the initial years of the 5 year cycle and delayed performance. Mogale City was placed in mora by the same Department that caused these mistakes.

Contracts

Adjudication and awarding of contractors by Gauteng Department of Housing. Mogale City had no say in appointment of contractors
Mogale City cannot penalize contractors for delayed performance as they do not sign any agreements with contractors
Mogale City was not provided with copies of the contracts for monitoring and auditing purposes. This became a problem as all projects go to the IDP and are reported quarterly in the SDBIP.

Completion reports

o On project completion, Mogale City is not provided with completion reports by Gauteng Department of Housing. This leaves Mogale City in a difficult position as they cannot provide evidence to the Auditors about houses that have been built and completed.

Untimely payment of contractors

o Untimely payment of contractors, resulting in contractors abandoning the site on grounds of nonpayment, eg, Kagiso hostel, Rietvallei Ext 1 and Rietvallei Proper. These projects were to have been completed in March 2009 but due to nonpayment of contractors the project is still ongoing.

Land purchase

o Gauteng Department of Housing had undertaken to purchase land for housing in Tarlton, Magaliesburg, Nooitgedacht and Munsieville Extension 6.

Future plans 2009 – 2014:

Backlog as of 2009 = 21 174

Projected growth = 4000

Required housing by 2014 = 25 174

o 9203 of the required stands are in the rural areas of Hekpoort, Magaliesburg, Muldersdrift, Nooitgedacht and Tarlton.

o Required delivery per annum = 5000

Internal Challenges faced by the Municipality:

Inadequate staffing
Computers

External Challenges

o Growth of Informal Settlements in urban and rural areas

o Large number of households not registered in the Demand Data Base.

Gauteng Department of Housing stopped the Housing Waiting List and was advised that households needing housing should go to the Department’s Headquarters in Johannesburg to register or update details in the Demand Data Base. Most households are poor and live far from Johannesburg. They do not have transport fare to travel to Johannesburg and therefore remain unregistered. The implications are that they will not be able to access subsidies and will remain housed in poor conditions and the housing backlog will not be alleviated.

Intervention by NCOP

Gauteng Department must review its Demand Data Base Strategy and return this function to the Municipalities as a matter of urgency. We cannot have 98% of the rural population not being able to access subsidies because of lack of registration.

3.4.1 Lack of Identity documents

The delegation was informed that a recent survey conducted by staff from Mogale City Housing Division revealed that a substantial number of South Africans living in informal settlements did not have ID books. Having no ID book started from not having a birth certificate. A person who did not have an ID could not register for a housing subsidy.

Intervention by NCOP

The matter must be brought to the attention of the Department of Home Affairs so that instructions could be filtered down to local departments to undertake campaigns in informal settlements. People in need of ID’s must be assisted. This was crucial in the formalization and upgrading of informal settlements otherwise people would continue living in squalor in undeveloped settlements.

A representative of the Gauteng Department of Local Government and Housing provided clarity in relation to human settlement and housing issues. The delegation noted with concern that public representatives (councillors) were not sufficiently aware of issues regarding service delivery, as they could not respond to some of the questions relating to their various wards or constituencies.

The site visit was conducted at two areas. The following challenges were identified:

The objective of the Munsieville Urban Renewal Programme was to rejuvenate the old township by installing storm water drains, sewerage systems and creating a healthy and conducive environment. The programme had however run short of funds.
Unavailability of land. Even land that was available was not suitable for habitation due to dolomitic conditions and unsafe mining practices by multi-national companies.
There was a huge informal settlement at Rietfontein with illegal land invasions. The rapid growth of the informal settlement threatened the municipality’s development plans. Most of the inhabitants did not have identity documents while a large percentage constituted immigrants from other countries.
Private property owners often evicted farm labourers who had been residing on the land for years. These farm labourers currently did not have alternative accommodation.
Houses built on unstable ground in a section of Rietvallei developed cracks and collapsed. The local municipality lost the court case against the residents and was therefore liable to settle the law suit.
The municipality did not have an accurate record of privately owned, municipality owned or provincially owned land.
There was no conducive working relationship between the councillors and the municipality’s officials and there was a lack of information flow between the two.
Some developers in the municipality provided shoddy workmanship with little concern for safety standards. Those whose contracts were terminated by the Department of Housing sued the municipality for damages.

Recommendations:

Due to the lack of land for poor communities (considering the fact that the Local Municipality and the Provincial Government were unable to buy land to resettle communities and build houses in safer areas), a proposal was made that the “willing buyer, willing seller” policy be reviewed. Most communities were becoming desperate and invaded both land and houses illegally.
The mining companies who were responsible for the reckless and unsafe mining practices should be followed up on, with the objectives of punitive and heavy financial fines as a form of restitution to communities and government.
The relevant department of the Gauteng Provincial Government should speedily intervene in educating former farmer labourers who had worked for years on the land where they were born and the private property owners who evicted without compassion for children and women.
Due to the lack of capacity among the councillors of the municipality in executing certain functions and exercising oversight, it was recommended that training programmes and capacity building workshops be organised for the councillors.
The Gauteng Provincial Government should assist the municipality to resolve the issue of illegal house invasions in the Rietvallei extension 5 area as soon as possible in order to install services for the sake of maintaining a healthy and conducive environment for the communities.

3.5. Presentation by the Office of the Chairperson of Committees

The presentation focussed on the role of the Office of the Chairperson of Committees as being that of strategic management of committees of the Legislature. The role of both the Chairperson of Committees and Deputy Chairperson of Committees, Committees of the House and the Committee on the Scrutiny of Subordinate Legislation and the role of Presiding Officers as a collective leadership was also explained.

The presentation indicated that the Gauteng Provincial Legislature had recently emerged from a strategic planning workshop and had adopted the following new goals:

o Oversight and Scrutiny

o Law Making

o Public Participation

o Cooperative Governance

o Stakeholder Management

Although most committees of the Legislature had emerged from their strategic planning workshops, they had not adopted their strategic plans. This made it difficult for the Office of Chairperson of Committees to share those reports with the NCOP permanent delegates. The presentation also identified the following challenges:

Positioning Gauteng Provincial Legislature as a people’s assembly that addressed issues that were pertinent to the public. This included understanding the legislature’s role and locating it in the hearts and minds of the people of the province.
Contributing towards democratic and popular participation in the province.
Ensuring effective public representation through effective public participation in the legislative process

o Enhancing the capacity of Members to discharge their responsibilities

3.6 Presentation by the delegation from the National Council of Provinces (NCOP)

The NCOP permanent delegates gave a brief presentation on the role of the NCOP and the Strategic Priorities that unfolded from the NCOP Strategic Planning Session Workshop held on 11 – 12 August 2009. They explained the purpose of the Provincial Week, the role played by the NCOP permanent delegates during the Provincial Week and challenges NCOP permanent delegates experienced in interacting with the Gauteng Provincial Legislature.

It was also mentioned that Hon A. Matila would be briefing the Portfolio Committee of Local Government and Housing on the 18thSeptember 2009 in respect of the National House of Traditional Leadership Bill and the Traditional Leadership and Governance Framework Amendment Bill. It was emphasized that the Legislature’s Portfolio Committees should regularly interact and engage with NCOP permanent delegates in the spirit of cooperative governance and most importantly to tackle issues which were transversal to all spheres of government.

3.7 Visit to the Chris Hani Baragwanath Hospital (CHBH) And Lillian Ngoyi Community Health Centre (CHC)

The CHBH delegation was led by the Hospital Board Chairperson and the Acting Chief Executive Officer. The Lillian Ngoyi CHC delegation was led by the Chief Director: Johannesburg-West Rand District Health Services. Each leader made a presentation on their respective facilities.

Both presentations provided historical, demographic and organisational background of the respective institutions and the range of communities they serviced. The presentations highlighted that a lot of good work was continuously underway at both facilities but that as a result of not having a dedicated person responsible for media relations, the good work was not captured by the media. This was one of the challenges that had been addressed by appointing a Public Relations Officer who working towards a communications strategy for the institution.

Lillian Ngoyi CHC was the only clinic closing at 22h00 and once other clinics closed at 16h00 patients were referred to Lillian Ngoyi CHC. The CHC was exploring possibilities of operating for 24 hours daily.

Organised labour was part of the meeting and expressed that there was a good working relationship with the management from both facilities. The NCOP permanent delegates and the Members of the Legislature were impressed by the work done by both facilities and urged management to communicate their success and challenges regularly. The GPL Portfolio Committee on Health and Social Development should develop a close working relationship with CHBH in particular in its function, through the Department of Health and Social Development.

After the presentations site visits were conducted to both facilities to enable Members to acquaint themselves with visible service delivery. CHBH was about to finish the new outpatient infrastructure, which would help in revitalising the institution that was built in 1942, as it had been deteriorating and was overcrowded.

Challenges identified at Chris Hani Baragwanath Hospital:

o The resources allocated to the hospital did not meet the demands of the hospital

o There was a shortage of public funds to maintain and develop the resources of the Public Health Service Development System.

o The lack of infrastructure and water in nearby informal settlements lead to a large influx of burn patients.

o There was under funding in the area of goods and services, which lead to the hospital management utilising funding from the clinical budget to provide in other areas where there were huge challenges in funding.

o The OSD did not cover the general nurses that worked in Medical and Surgery. This had resulted in nurses being reluctant to work in those areas.

o The building was very old and the ceilings were falling apart. The partitioning was not well organised.

o The Cardiac ward had 52 beds although it was a 30 bed ward. As a result of this the staff members were not coping with the trauma cases.

o The hospital had four boilers but only one boiler was functioning because they had never been serviced by Department of Public Works. This had led to lack of hot water at the hospital and impacted negatively on service delivery. There were also leaks in theatres which impacted on the sterility of the theatre environment.

o The hospital was experiencing problems with contractors who did not finish renovations in wards because of a lack of resources.

o The new out-patient building had 10 000 rooms and consisted of a reception area, Radiology, Accidents, Emergency and Trauma area, a Pharmacy, Audiology, Speech Therapy and Physiotherapy sections

Challenges identified at Lillian Ngoyi CHC:

o There were no air conditioners and the temperature regulation posed a huge challenge.

o There were only thirty seven nurses and only four doctors who saw over five hundred patients a day.

o There were no auxiliary nurses to interpret for doctors.

o There was a need for a larger area for a pharmacy.

o There was insufficient office space to consult with patients.

o The CHC had a training centre that offered training to primary health care nurses.

o The training centre received student nurses from all provinces but did not have capacity to accommodate them.

o The maternity section of the CHC did not have any doctors. The clinic had to rely on doctors from other units.

o The clinic did not have any ambulances. The clinic made use of private ambulances and this had a negative impact on their budget.

Recommendations:

While the committee noted and appreciated the sterling work of Mr. Siphiwe Msimango, who has been volunteering his services at Chris Hani – Baragwanath Hospital for the past 10 years; and learnt about the various fund-raising programmes he embarked over the years to raise funds for needy children who requires organ transplants, raised funds for the elderly to undergo operations and generally brought relief to most in particular the children’s section of the Hospital; the committee strongly recommended that the Department of Health and the Provincial Legislature investigate the process of acquiring Mr. Siphiwe Msimango’s services on a full time basis as a remunerated employee of the department.

3.8 Interaction with the Media

Guided by the media plan, the Provincial Whip held various interviews with the mainstream and community media, telephonically and studio interviews. The interview with Alex FM, drew a lot of interest from community members. The Provincial Week was well covered by the following local and national media, including Khaya FM (twice), Jozi FM, SABC Radio, Alex FM (twice) and Soweto T.V. The main issues raised were the awareness and clarification of the purpose of the NCOP Provincial Week and explaining the programme and issues emanating from the site visits and different stakeholders on 10 September 2009.

Overview of issues raised during the interviews:

Leaking of roofs in bond houses in the Alexander Township.
Crime at Stshwetla informal settlement
Time delays in converting female hostels and male hostels to family units
Problem of rats eating children and babies in the area.
Illegal invasion of houses
Problems of communal toilets which were shared by more than thirty family members and were always blocked
The high failure rate by grade 12 repeaters
Threats of the closure of the Alexsan Resource Multi-purpose Centre in Alexander.

3.9 Conclusion

The NCOP Provincial Week to Gauteng Province was a success as NCOP permanent delegates and Members of the Gauteng Provincial Legislature led by the Deputy Chairperson of Committees received first–hand knowledge and information on matters affecting targeted communities, stakeholders, provincial government priorities and the role of the Legislature in performing oversight over and holding the Executive accountable. Matters of national and provincial importance identified throughout the week would be referred to the relevant Gauteng Provincial Legislature’s House Committees for consideration, deliberations and follow up with relevant departments.

This NCOP Provincial Week programme was a microcosm of the dynamic role public representatives should continuously play in engaging with the public and other state organs to monitor government implementation of programmes and to carry out checks on what was reported by both the media and departmental officials. Legislatures are the true representatives of the people and must create spaces for community dialogue and engagement.

4. KWAZULU-NATAL

4.1 Meeting with Provincial Leaders

The programme began with a meeting with the Provincial Leaders, namely, the Deputy Speaker, Chief Whip and Chair of Committees of the Provincial Legislature. Provincial Leaders were briefed about the objectives and activities of the Provincial Week, which were to assess progress made and backlogs in service delivery.

Issues raised:

o Relationship and communication between the NCOP and the Provincial Legislature: There was a need to strengthen the relationship and communication between the NCOP and Provincial Legislatures. Joint sittings of Parliament and debates were efficient mechanisms to strengthen that relationship and ensure visibility of provinces at national level. Provincial leaders expressed concern with the absence of permanent delegates at Legislature sittings. It was stressed that permanent delegates should utilize their seats in the Legislature and participate even though they could not vote. This would also ensure that they were abreast of provincial issues that required intervention at a national level. The power of the NCOP in raising issues of national concern should not be underestimated. NCOP and Provincial Legislature programmes need to be synchronized in order to allow permanent delegates time to travel to provinces for sittings.

Communication channels between the NCOP and the Provincial Legislature required strengthening as there were problems. It was agreed that communication would come from the office of the Speaker and should then be distributed to all stakeholders. All key offices should be informed of responses to correspondence, which was currently not the case. Lines of communication between Chief Whips should remain the same. Members expressed concern regarding the absence of a Liaison Officer but it was reported that the position had been advertised and was being fast tracked.

o Oversight functions: Oversight should be strengthened to reach the people. Committee workshops and oversight plans would be completed by the end of September 2009. The “Taking the Province to the People” programme was scheduled for November 2009 in ILembe District. The programme encouraged public participation and would allow a platform for issues such as agriculture, water supply and land re-distribution. The legislature scheduled annual events that encouraged public participation, namely, Women’s Parliament, Youth Parliament and Worker’s Parliament. It was agreed that the disabled people were currently not prioritised. There were over a million disabled people in the province but the Legislature had never had activities for the disability sector. There were many social issues affecting the disabled that need to be prioritised and the Legislature had the responsibility to ensure that that was done.

o Backlogs and challenges in service delivery: There should be constant monitoring of service delivery and of projects that worked towards delivery. The Department of Rural Development, in particular, should be assisted since it was in its inception stage and KwaZulu-Natal was mainly rural. Support mechanisms for municipalities should be established and Members should utilize sectors in the community to identify challenges they faced in time. There should be joint oversight of quality service to communities. Water remained a challenge in the province. Lack of water hindered many other service delivery areas such as agriculture. The “One Garden One Home” project, for example, could not succeed without water. Records of issues relating to water would be tracked via the Hansards. This would assist in better understanding the history of the problem, hindrances and in paving the way for better delivery. The province still faced the challenge of lack of training offered to communities that had benefited from land re-distribution programmes. People were given land and not trained to properly utilise it. Agriculture had been declining, even before the economic recession and there was a lack of capacity. These issues should be addressed to the Portfolio Committee to ensure that they were dealt with in the national sphere.

4.2 Briefings by the MEC for Local Government and Traditional Affairs / HOD on Provincial Priorities and Service Delivery Backlogs:

The aim and objectives of the briefing were:

o To assist and find ways of engagement in service delivery.

o To ensure that local government was not neglected.

o To allow for sharing of information and assess state of readiness.

o To broadly share with the MEC steps forward.

4.2.1 Issues raised:

o Assessments: Departments should assess their own performance in fulfilling duties assigned when working towards service delivery.

o Collective delivery: Departments needed to collectively plan for service delivery interventions.

o Legislation: Two pieces of legislation, namely, National House of Traditional Leaders Bill [B56B –2008] and Traditional Leadership and Governance Framework Amendment Bill [B57B – 2008] were highlighted. It was emphasised that there was a need to enhance the legislation in order to oversee the functioning of the local government sphere.

4.2.2 Challenges faced by the Department:

o Backlogs and lack of funding for service delivery: Lack of water and electrification were major concerns. Currently, there were dams with water that communities could not access as they were privatised. Purification plants also needed to be prioritised.

o Poor planning and lack of proper co-ordination of service delivery projects: There needed to be proper planning to ensure projects were in sync.

o Lack of monitoring mechanisms in service delivery: Programmes required proper monitoring in order to easily identify problem areas.

o Inadequacy of equitable share: The equitable share was not equal in vast municipalities and should be addressed.

4.2.3 Recommendations:

It was proposed that Departments construct a blue print for service delivery to ensure collective planning and standardized operations across government entities when providing services. Service delivery statistics should be clearly defined. For example, they should consider issues of migration, population and specify geographical areas of concern. The Department was currently looking at ways of monitoring service delivery through IT systems. Discussions with ESKOM were underway. The MEC was required to produce a commitment plan in this regard. There were eight (8) purification plans underway. Consultants would be utilised to visit households to conduct assessments. These would be conducted from ward to ward.

4.3. Briefing by MEC for Agriculture, Environmental Affairs and Rural Development / HOD on Provincial Priorities and Service Delivery Backlogs

The aims and objectives of the briefing were:

o Interaction with the Department and assess state of readiness in service delivery.

o To address issues of water and sanitation that were of priority in the province.

o To strengthen relations with the department in order to be able to view blockages at a national level and to also ensure there were no further blockages.

The Department aimed to be a champion for prosperous agricultural productive land use, food security and environmentally sustainable livelihoods. It would achieve this by providing quality agricultural, veterinary, environmental and conservation services to the people of KwaZulu Natal, together with its partners and communities. The Department’s objectives were improved local, national and international trade access and competitiveness; provision of food security; farmer development and support; integrated sustainable natural environmental management and integrated and transformed service delivery.

4.3.1 Challenges faced by the Department:

o Lack of training for farmers.

o Lack of finance for farming.

o Lack of certificates of compliance.

o Backlogs in service delivery due to lack of resources for project implementation e.g. “One home one garden” project may be hindered by lack of water.

o Land distribution. Agriculture was impossible without land.

o Lack of co-ordinating programmes of various departments.

4.3.2 Presentation on Entrant Farmer Support Strategy

A presentation on Entrant Farmer Support Strategy was delivered. KwaZulu Natal produced 6% of South Africa’s fruit and vegetables valued at R1, 08 billion and there was potential to increase this substantially due to the province’s favourable climatic conditions and variety of bio-climates. The province produced 5% of South Africa’s maize crop, which was staple food. It was mentioned that in the Cabinet Lekgotla, held in June 2009, the Premier highlighted the need for expansion of export markets for commercial farmers; the need for household food security to move to income generation and ultimately exports; the need for provision of seed, fertilisers, lime fencing, water pumps and mechanisation to viable entities; the need for Dube Trade Port to become the base for exports; the need for warehouse capacity to be built in municipalities as well as for the Regional Planning Council, led by the Premier, to mobilise stakeholders.

There were however numerous challenges. Top down management styles led to projects being implemented without proper business plans, and strong buy-in by local farmers and municipalities. Lack of capacity lead to slow procurement processes and planting outside planting seasons. Community structures were not financially strong enough. Communities were becoming dependent on departmental inputs and there was an absence of a strong Monitoring and Evaluation unit to critically examine the quality and sustainability of projects at grass root level.

The new massification policy aimed to give technical and management skills to entrant farmers in order for them to successfully run a farming operation. It aimed to:

o allow commercial farmers grouped as a legal entity to become productive and have the economic advantage of group bargaining when purchasing inputs.

o empower resource poor entrant farmers, ensuring self sufficiency and independence.

o reduce the risk of business failure and increase the profitability of farming food parcels.

o allow access to commercial markets and associate benefits of economy of scale and reduce the cost of grain-based staple foods in rural areas.

The new massification policy targeted women and youth, small scale farmers, small agribusiness, agricultural co-operatives, physically challenged groups and ex-combatants and victims of violence. Categories of assistance were mentorship, training, production inputs and machinery modules. The objective was to fully utilize 100% of identified communal cropping land in five years and to create focused product villages producing and processing generic and niche crops at commercial scale.

4.3.3 Presentation on Food Security Programme

A presentation on the food security programme, one of the flagship projects, was delivered. KwaZulu Natal had the highest burden of diseases associated with underdevelopment and poverty and this exacerbated the situation of food insecurity. These diseases had been cited as the main causes of mortality in the province. Persistence of disease resulted in malnutrition, which was one of the leading causes of childhood morbidity and mortality. 60% of children who died in 2006 were underweight for their age, and nearly 35% severely malnourished.

The “One Home One Garden” campaign targeted the poor at household level through the equitable distribution of essential resources to the able bodied poor. This campaign was launched in Inkandla to demonstrate government’s focus on ensuring food security for the people.

The implementation strategy entailed identifying the status of the wards in terms of the level of food security. A package would then be developed for each household and would include the food security and social comprehensive package unique for that specific household. The next step would be delivery of the comprehensive support package to the households and ensuring the intervention around household gardens was sustainable with a co-operative programme that would be responsible for driving the ongoing funding of the provision of seeds and basic inputs. Households would be visited to track their improvement based on the various interventions and support packages. Progress would be obtained from individual household profiling. This would be monitored at municipal level and at household level. Cadres who would monitor this progress were currently being trained.

4.3.4 Presentation on environmental management

A presentation on environmental management was delivered. There had been a review of all IDPs for environmental content and compliance with provincial priorities. Three environmental management frameworks had been completed. Five strategic environmental assessments had been completed and a committee for environment co-ordination had been established.

Enforcement actions had been undertaken for no-compliance with legislation. Environmental management inspectors were trained and implementation of approved standard operating procedures would also ensure compliance. An emission inventory base had been developed and functioning ambient air quality monitoring system was in place.

In terms of biodiversity management, 111000 hectares of land had been cleared of invasive species. 4000 people were employed in terms of the Expanded Public Works Programme.

4.3.5 Recommendations:

There is a need to enhance challenges within legislation in order to oversee the functioning of the local government sphere. Needs of small farmers should be addressed, for example, training and additional irrigation capacity. The Department should align its programmes with other departments e.g. Department of Water Affairs, Department of Transport, Land Affairs and Department of Economic Development. The Department should work towards ensuring proper handling of land re-distribution and should work towards ensuring accessibility of finance. Backlogs should be identified per ward.

4.4. Briefing by MEC for Education / HOD on Provincial Priorities and Service Delivery Backlogs:

The aims and objectives of the briefing were:

o Interaction with the Department and assess state of readiness in service delivery.

o To strengthen relations with the department in order to be able to view blockages at a national level and to also ensure there were no further blockages.

o To interact together in dealing with challenges

4.4.1 Challenges faced by the Department:

o Lack of proper infrastructure for delivery of quality education.

o Teacher capacity: challenge of unqualified and under qualified teachers.

o Lack of equipment in classrooms.

o Lack of capacity and specialist teachers in special schools.

o Budget constraints.

4.4.2 Issues raised:

o Special schools: The MEC indicated that there was a high demand for improved performance and good quality education. Delegates expressed concern with the lack of capacity in special schools. The MEC assured them that these schools would be prioritised and that backlogs were considered but progress was at a slow pace due to budget constraints. There was awareness and sensitivity towards special learners in schools. There were currently 70 special schools in the province, some of which had been transformed to full service schools. An additional special school was currently being built in Eshowe. The drawback in progress was the shortage of specialist teachers for these schools. Unqualified teachers were currently being employed to teach grade R and posed a major concern.

It was agreed that capacity in these schools should be strengthened to avoid having learners that could not be accommodated, which would later lead to having older children in the system. The need to distinguish between slow learners and the disabled in these schools was identified.

o Medium of instruction in schools: Delegates urged that indigenous languages as medium of instruction be strengthened. It was reported that a policy decision was taken that all schools in the province should have IsiZulu as a language. The challenge was with parents who preferred English as medium of instruction. The Department was working on creating awareness of indigenous languages. The remarkable increase of focus on the usage of indigenous languages was however noted. This increase was however running at different stages. The MEC indicated that there was keen interest but it was too early to determine the outcome.

o Early Childhood Development: Delegates stressed that there should be proper management of Early Childhood Development programmes (ECDs).The MEC indicated that remarkable progress had been made and that concentration was on quality. The province had exceeded the target of universal access of ECDs. Some schools had more than one grade R class.

o Bridging programmes: Delegates expressed a need for bridging programme between school and higher learning institutions as they would minimise dropouts. Delegates stressed the need for Further Education and Training colleges (FETs), noting that there was a considerable number of unemployed individuals, who studied matric but did not qualify. These individuals contributed to the high number of unemployed citizens. Training programmes could help alleviate unemployment. It was also raised that there was no proper transition for disabled learners.

o Age restriction in schools: It was agreed that age groups remain a challenge in schools as there were many factors that may hinder progress of learners. Age restrictions did not apply to special schools.

o Budget: The Chief Financial Officer reported on the Department’s 2009/10 budget. It was reported that, even though there was demand for improved performance and improved service delivery, the budget had not necessarily increased. The Department was likely to overspend but the CFO would ensure that overspending was at a controllable rate.

4.4.3 Recommendations:

The Department should concentrate on mass literacy campaigns. Training of teachers should be prioritised and the Department should work towards capacitating special schools. The term ‘special learners’ should be clearly defined, to distinguish between slow learners and disabled learners.

4.5. Interaction with Provincial Cabinet: Discussion on Service Delivery Backlogs and Premier’s Pronouncements Regarding Civil Society

The NCOP delegation met with Provincial Cabinet Members at the Premier’s Office to discuss service delivery backlogs and for the Premier’s pronouncement regarding civil society.

The Provincial Whip briefed the Provincial Cabinet about the aims and objectives of the Provincial Week and updated them on meetings that had been held. He highlighted the programme theme “working together to ensure the delivery of quality services to communities” and stressed the need to strengthen the relationship between provincial and national spheres.

The Premier, Mr Zweli Mkhize, briefed the delegation on the province’s challenges and successes as follows:

4.5.1 Challenges faced by the Province and issues raised:

Service delivery backlogs: The Premier indicated that amongst many challenges, KwaZulu Natal Province faced the challenges of a lack of water, sanitation, agriculture, road infrastructure and better health. The province had a high poverty rate and issues of food security and land reform could not be ignored.
Participation of Cabinet Members at National level: The Premier highlighted the importance of engagement and participation of Cabinet Members in national forums and noted the challenge of activities that were conducted simultaneously, making it difficult for Members to avail themselves. Shortage of flights between Durban and Cape Town was identified as another factor that made it difficult for Members to attend Parliamentary sittings and meetings.
Land reform projects: The lack of experience and budget management systems to carry out land reform projects was highlighted. The Premier reported that an audit team implemented a special purpose vehicle to rescue farms and various challenges were explored. He indicated that land reform projects aimed to see more people benefiting and not losing land.
Health: The need to engage with communities and integrate activities of different departments to address health issues was stressed. The Premier stated that that there was a need to engage different institutions e.g. NGOs, churches, businesses to fight diseases. Activities of different government departments should be integrated in addressing health issues. Every ward should also have a ward plan in working towards better health services. The HIV/AIDS Programme of Action was looking at expansion of its programmes.
Behavioural change: Behavioural issues translated into various social ills. The Premier indicated that volunteers should be appointed to look into these issues.
Crime prevention: It was noted that there should be proper co-ordination of the security cluster (Justice, Crime Prevention and Security). Volunteers should be mobilised to assist in ensuring proper action.
Education: The Premier expressed the need for support in dealing with the lack of infrastructure. He said communities should be mobilised to provide support and that government should ensure access to schools and their resources.
Job creation: The Premier indicated that a Summit on Jobs and Economic Recovery was convened on 6 to 9 August 2009 to discuss how the province could deal with the impact of recession and job creation issues. The province was focused on current programmes and projects that aimed at creating jobs and enhancing tourism. He made special mention of DubeTrade Port that aimed to achieve both in areas of job creation and tourism. Skills development programmes were in place. The Premier indicated that challenges where re-development had caused an outcry from street vendors were being addressed. The Premier mentioned particularly the “One Home One Garden” project, stating that he hoped to extend it to a “One Product One Village” project. He said that Dube Trade Port should be utilised to drive exports.
Nation Building: The province was focusing on good governance and better management of resources to ensure better productivity. There was a need to prioritize the fight against corruption. Different departments need to ensure a strong image of collective governance. The Premier drew attention to the Heritage Day celebration which encouraged general acceptance of different cultures and civil society participation.

4.6. Briefings with municipalities

The delegation held briefings with eThekwini Municipality, Msunduzi Municipality, Umgungundlovu District Municipality and KWANALOGA.

4.6.1 Meeting with eThekwini Municipality

In the absence of the eThekwini Municipality political leadership, the delegation met with an official from the municipality. Challenges faced by the municipality were reported as follows:

o Job creation

o Backlog of electricity and water supply

o Inadequate healthcare and sanitation

o Lack of proper housing

o Over populated schools

o Inadequate billing

o Poor delivery of road construction.

o Inappropriate funding.

4.6.2 Presentation on service delivery achievements:

o Housing

Over 90 000 homes were delivered since 2002. This included an average of 16 000 new housing units, 2 500 new rural units and 15 000 units in Cornubia. Hostels were currently being upgraded. Rental transfer was ongoing, 1 000 units were delivered to tenants and 100 jobs were created through the Expanded Public Works Programme (EPWP). A considerable amount of work was ahead and eradicating backlogs would take many years.

o Water

Free basic water remained 9KL per month and there were no fixed charges for houses of value below R190 000. 27 199 households were supplied from ground tanks and 178 228 had access via water dispensers / standpipes. Service was expanding to rural areas. Coverage was at 98% and with a target of 100% coverage in 3 years. Groundwater tanks were servicing 800 households per month. Processes of reducing water loss from 39% to 35% through zonal meters, expanding investigation team, metering unaccounted water, replacing aging infrastructure were underway. 2 400 jobs have been created through EPWP programmes.

o Sanitation

The municipality was extending services to rural areas. Acceleration of desludging pit latrines was phased over 3 years, with desludging of 45 000 VIP pit latrines targeted to be complete by 2011. 1 600 jobs have been created through EPWP programmes.

o Electricity

Access of free basic electricity was increased from 50KwH to 65KwH in 64 000 households. R80 000 000 was provided for electricity in townships and rural settlements. The municipality was introducing Smart Metering from 2009/2010 onwards.

o Roads

Road construction projects were being undertaken in the following areas: Usikwama, Folweni, Inanda, Stockville, KwaMakhutha and Kwamashu. 33 pedestrian bridges and 166 kilometres of sidewalks were being constructed. The gravel to blacktop programme was in progress and included the following projects: Inwabi Road, Mkhize Road, Mtwabula Road,Ridgeview Road, Mtshali Road, Yawa Nzimande Road, Kosanai School Road, Ovambo Road, Goathill Extention, 17 Community Access Roads, Molweni School Road and Nsepe Road. 24 000 jobs have been created through this EPWP programme.

o Cleansing and solid waste

The municipality aimed to extend refuse removal to 100% coverage by the end of this year and to improve on recycling and waste minimization.

o Free Basic Services

There were no rate charges on the first R120 000 of property value, pensioner’s first R400 000 of property value and first R30 000 of property land. In terms of water, the first 9 kilo litres were free and there was no fixed charge for properties valued under R190 000. In terms of electricity, the first 65KwH were free to poor residents using less than R150KwH.

o Public Transport

The municipality aimed to restore Durban Transport buses and improve on its service. It also aimed to improve public transport ablutions, expand on the parking control system and improve response time for robot repair.

o Health Care

Approximately 2 213 682 people were being served per annum. There were 1950 ARV enrollees since July 2008.

o Job creation

2010 projects created an average of 17 214 jobs. The Zibambele project had created 6000 permanent jobs, agricultural gardens created 4 900 permanent jobs. The Dube Trade Port offered new economic opportunities in the province.

4.6.3 Recommendations

It was recommended that the housing plan be properly co-ordinated. The need to implement proper billing processes was identified as there were apparent irregularities. It was urged that service delivery be prioritised and focus be on eradicating backlogs and ensuring proper utilisation of funds.

The NCOP delegation noted the absence of Ethekwini Municipality political leadership and expressed concern in their lack of interest in engaging with the NCOP.

4.7 Meeting with KWANALOGA on service delivery and provincial backlogs

The NCOP delegation held a meeting with a representative from KWANALOGA (KwaZulu Natal Local Government Association). The aim and objectives of the meeting were:

o To address concerns regarding the quality of support to municipalities

o To determine the current state of municipalities

o To discuss problems faced by KWANALOGA

o To determine the way forward in addressing issues faced by KWANALOGA

4.7.1 Challenges faced by KWANALOGA:

o Improper procurement processes

o Labour related matters

o Improper co-ordination between ward and PR Councillors.

A presentation was delivered by the KWANALOGA representative, highlighting that the organisation’s mandate was to promote and protect the institution of local government and to support municipalities in their efforts to deliver services to their communities.

4.7.2 Issues Raised

Areas of focus were identified as follows:

o Capacity needs of municipalities that hindered service delivery

o Municipalities that were unable to raise own revenue

o Provincial programmes prioritised by KWANALOGA and

o Promotion of community involvement in service delivery.

Key proposals included quarterly seminars by KWANALOGA targeting Municipal Managers, CFO and the Provincial Department to address needs and provide support to municipalities; to revisit the status of poor communities and training to equip municipal officials with skills and knowledge around procurement matters. There were challenges relating to procurement processes, absence of Chief Financial Officers , abour matters such as nepotism and recruitment of unqualified workers

It was reported that there were challenges between political office bearers and administration. Relations between district and local municipalities needed attention. Sound relations and co-operation between ward and PR Councillors was vital. Public participation and IDPs also needed to be focused on. There was a need to clearly define and clarify support given by municipalities to ward committees and the roles of community development workers. It was important to have feedback mechanisms between council and communities. It was also reported that money was owed to municipalities by government departments.

Attention was drawn to factors that triggered service delivery protests, such as lack of service delivery; lack of development; perceived fraud and corruption in municipalities; poor consultation and lack of transparency, lack of efficiency. In order to manage these factors, KWANALOGA was embarking on Councillor training, Municipal Leadership Development training, skills transfer and peer learning and the mobilization of funding resources to desperate municipalities. The National and Provincial departments of Co-operative Government and Traditional Affairs, SALGA, Ward Committees, CDWS and various sector departments were involved in this process.

The Delegation requested clarity on the role of the deputy mayor in instances where the mayor was present. In response, the KWANALOGA representative indicated that the matter was a policy issue which should be addressed by political principals.

The Delegation requested clarity on roles of KWANALOGA and SALGA. In response, the representative indicated that KWANALOGA was a member of SALGA but that that did not affect KWANALOGA’s financial audit as their budgets were managed separately.

An update and clarity on games hosted by KWANALOGA was requested by the Delegation. It was reported that games were a trademark for KWANALOGA and formed part of the educational programme. The games were aimed at relaxing interactions between municipalities and encouraging healthy living. The games were funded by the Departments and supported by businesses.

Since KWANALOGA had been running seminars for a considerable number of time, the Delegation enquired about the duration of the seminars. It was explained that seminars were required for induction of new councillors, and given that new councillors were continuously entering the sector, the seminars would also continue.

4.7.3 Recommendations:

It was recommended that a selection process of SALGA representatives be determined in accordance with the Constitution. A clear distinction between SALGA and KWANALOGA should also be determined, as it was currently unclear which entity to contact for certain issues. The following roles should be determined and clarified:

o between Councillors

o between KWANALOGA AND SALGA

o between Ward and PR Councillors

o between CDWs

o the Speaker

Uniformity in respect of how Councillors should conduct oversight was also recommended. Visibility and accessibility of councillors was emphasised. The role of the Speaker required reviewing as the Speaker was chairperson of the Council and was expected to play an oversight role. Delegates also urged KWANALOGA to utilize its NCOP seats to address local government issues at national level. KWANALOGA was encouraged to continue enhancing games as its trademark and utility tool.

4.8 Meeting with Msunduzi Local Municipality

The NCOP delegation held a meeting with the Msunduzi Local Municipality to determine the level of support and current state of the municipality. Msunduzi Municipality covered a population of 600 000 which included the greater Edendale Imbali, Vulindlela tribal area and the borough of Pietermaritzburg.

4.8.1 Challenges faced by the municipality:

o Lack of revenue.

o Outdated facilities that hindered sustainable services

o Poor payment of services

o Equitable share

o Municipal Infrastructure Grant shortfalls

o Lack of inventories

The municipality reported on its service delivery performance. It was indicated that backlogs for electricity had decreased to 3 741 households however the resolution to electrify some semi and informal settlements had increased to about 4 841. This backlog did not include new housing schemes yet to be built. It was further indicated that alternative energy had been provided to indigent households and cooperatives of 58 people were benefiting from the jobs created in distributing the alternative energy.

An issue of limited funding was raised. Infrastructure currently required upgrading as there had previously been under spending. A maintenance budget had increased by R50 000 000. However, the municipality was overspending and was currently engaging provincially and nationally for grants. It was further reported that there was also a challenge of poor payment from consumers. An auditing plan was in place.

The equitable share also remained a challenge as there was a narrow gap between the advantaged and disadvantaged municipalities. The municipality had taken full responsibility for water distribution and was one percent short of achieving blue drop status, which was a 100% distribution rate. Customer care centres had been established to strengthen relations between the municipality and its customers.

4.8.2 Recommendations

The Delegation recommended that the auditing plan be closely monitored. Sharing of information, ideas and strategies towards a common goal, vision and perspective was encouraged between the local and district levels. A response plan to deal with the need for high level infrastructure was proposed. A proper formula should be developed for determining the equitable share allocations .

4.9 Meeting with Umgungundlovu District Municipality

The Delegation met with the Umgungundlovu District Municipality with the aim to determine the level of support and current state of the municipality.

4.9.1 Challenges faced by the municipality:

o Debt collection

o Lack of inventories

o Lack of proper communication

o Backlogs in service delivery

o Irregularities in property handling

o Lack of funding

The municipality informed the Delegation that debt collection was a challenge, especially with regard to government departments. Late payments affected the budget and therefore also led to improper service delivery. It was stated that more funding was required for municipalities rather than municipalities having to relying on payments for services. Asset registers were a challenge as these were previously not managed and there were cases of untraceable stock. The municipality was looking into the issue and working at updating its registers.

Electricity maintenance was considered a priority and R40 000 000 had been allocated to it.

Lack of committee meetings was confirmed and the municipality aims to schedule regular meetings for better communication and assessment of delivery.

The municipality briefed the Delegation on property handling. It was reported that social housing was introduced to cater for civil servants earning from R3 000 per month and that the social housing policy required 15 years of rental before ownership could be transferred. The municipality also indicated that property evaluations were not properly handled. Full ownership of title deeds was handed over to the community. The Delegation expressed concern with handing over of title deeds as the municipality had reported to handing over houses to the communities without proper maintenance.

4.9.2 Recommendations

The Delegation requested the municipality to ensure proper handling of finances in the municipality in order for service delivery to improve. It urged better communication and engagement with communities and for the municipality to explore better handing of title deeds.

4.10 Site Visit to the Dube Trade Port

The Delegation visited the Dube Trade Port (DTP) to assess progress made and receive a briefing on its future projections.Dube Trade Port was a new platform for economic development in the province. It was a world-class airport development which combined the King Shaka International Airport, a Trade Zone and a cyberport. The development was situated 30 kilometres north of Durban’s city centre.

The Delegation received a presentation on the development and its progress and was taken through a tour of the construction site. In the presentation it was informed that the first phase of the DTP was targeted to be fully operational by 2010 and would include a runway, passenger and cargo terminals, perishables and cyberport. This would accommodate the increase in passenger and freight volumes expected by that time, inclusive of the 2010 Soccer World Cup. It was further reported that certain new direct international flights would be introduced in 2010.

5. LIMPOPO

The Provincial Week programme began with a visit to the Molemole Local Municipality. The delegation of the NCOP was well received by both the Speaker of the Municipality and the Chief Whip. The Chief Whip of the Municipality presented challenges experienced in the implementation of the Rural Housing Project that was approved in the 2006/2007 financial year for 200 units. The project was allocated R5.7 million, but only R3.7 million had been spent thus far. The delegation learnt that the contractor who was appointed to construct the units had disappeared without paying people employed to build the houses.

5.1 Oversight visit to Ga-Maponto village

The delegation visited two sites at Ga-Maponto village. The delegation found one house that had been completed and another plot/stand that only had a foundation. The completed house did not meet the standards of proper workmanship. After looking at the condition of the house, the delegation resolved that the structure posed a danger to the children living in it and should be demolished, and a proper new structure should be constructed for the family. This was to be done as a matter of urgency, given that the family was one of many child-headed households.

The family that owned the site that only had a foundation explained that the foundation was done in 2004. Since then they had not been contacted by anybody to explain the delay in the construction and completion of the house. The family of ten were living in two very small houses built of mud. The MEC for Local Government and Housing indicated to the delegation that the family was not the only family that was facing this sort of situation. Many other sites were left in the same condition by contractors who simply disappeared.

The MEC made an undertaking to the two families that their houses would be constructed as a matter of urgency and that they would be completed within three months. The process would start with the identification of a reliable contractor who would carry out the task to its completion.

5.2 Molemole Municipality

The delegation was informed that the Molemole Municipality had been without a municipal manager for 12 months. The absence of key officials had contributed to the municipality not being able to spend its Municipal Infrastructure Grant funds. Other municipalities were also facing the problem where Municipal Managers were carrying out functions in an acting capacity which affected service delivery very badly. The other challenge in municipalities was the lapsing of the contracts of section 57 managers. Molemole Municipality had one strategic manager who was acting as a Municipal Manager but was only a Chief Financial Officer in the section 57 category.

Challenges raised:

Contractors were not committed to and did not complete the structures that they were hired to build.
The quality of houses delivered was poor and posed a danger to the intended beneficiaries.
Delays in housing delivery was a serious challenge that needed to be addressed with immediate effect
A lack of commitment in the spending of the housing budget
A lack of monitoring and evaluation of housing projects
A lack of communication between the municipality and the Department of Local Government and Housing on housing projects
A lack of consultation with respect to housing projects from planning to completion of structures
There were at least 13 000 incomplete rural housing projects

Recommendations

The payment of salaries of labourers should be addressed as a matter of urgency by the Department of Local Government and Housing
The Department of Local Government and Housing should put in place measures for the monitoring and evaluation of rural housing projects
The Department and the municipality should develop a Housing Steering Committee that would oversee the implementation of housing projects
The Steering Committee should comprise of Councillors, Traditional Leaders, Members of the Ward Committee, Community Development Workers, Municipal Officials, and Officials from the Department
All blocked projects should be unblocked and they should be carried out with immediate effect
The two families in the Ga-Maponto village should not have to wait any longer for their structures to be constructed
The Department should complete at least 7 000 rural housing projects this year from the outstanding 13 000

5.3 Blouberg Local Municipality

The delegation visited Ward 6 in Springfield where they met with members of the ward committees, members of the School Governing Bodies, Community Development Workers and other members of the community. The delegation heard about challenges that they were facing in the municipality with regard to a lack of consistent water supply, electricity connections to houses and schools, and poor road infrastructure. There was a dam that was currently being constructed to provide water to the entire ward. Members of the community complained that the size of the dam would not be able to provide water in relation to the size of the population.

The delegation also went to visit Potokela Primary School, where they were told that there were 695 learners and 23 teachers. The principal said that they needed at least 12 more classrooms in addition to the reconstruction of the mud block of classrooms. The mud classrooms posed a serious danger to the pupils and needed to be demolished as a matter of urgency before disaster struck.

Challenges

Lack of consistent water supply
Lack of electrification
Poor road infrastructure
Insufficient classrooms at the Potokela Primary School

Recommendations

The issue of water, electricity and poor roads should be addressed and progress should be monitored
The school should be assisted with the building of 12 additional class rooms

5.4 Katlegong Drop – In Centre

The Drop-in Centre used a rented facility to provide care for children. The Drop-in Centre was established in 2006, but was only registered with the Department of Social Development in 2007 as a Non-Profit Organisation. The Centre had since its inception relied on the Department of Social Development to assist them with funding for both operational costs and construction of the Centre. The Centre also engaged the City of Polokwane Municipality to provide them with land for the construction of a proper Drop-in Centre. The Department had since failed to provide the Centre with any assistance with regard to logistical needs as stated above.

The Drop-in Centre had been of service to the children with the assistance of donations from community members, the South African Social Services Agency and private companies or local businesses. The food that was donated for a particular day determined what the children would eat. The Centre was told by the Department that there was no funding for the construction of a building. The Department only provided funding for operational costs and procurement of equipment such as computers.

The Department advised the Katlegong Drop-in Centre to use the certificate that they had received in order to obtain funding. This certificate would have to be supplemented by a letter of approval from the local Councillor, Social Worker, local Traditional Leader and local clinic. There were two Drop-in Centres that had received assistance from private companies to build their structures. The Department advised the Drop-in Centre to follow this example to raise funds for the construction of their structure as the policy of the Department did not make provision for the construction of such structures.

On the issue of funding, the Centre’s application for funding was approved the morning that the NCOP visited the centre. The land problem was also resolved on the same day, as a site was identified by the school to be utilised by the Drop-in Centre to construct their own building.

The issue of mushrooming of Drop-in Centres was raised very sharply during discussions. It was agreed that the Department should develop regulations to ensure that there was no abuse of the Centres for personal gain.

Challenges

There was a need for funding and support
The mushrooming of Drop-in Centres
Lack of funding to fund all Drop-in Centres
Lack of funding from the Department for the building of Drop-in Centres

Recommendations

The Department should be more involved and proactive in assisting Drop-in Centres
The application for a Drop-in centre should be screened thoroughly to curtail the mushrooming of these centres
The Department should set up norms and standards to determine the radius within which Drop-in centres could be built .The Drop-in centres should be built and approved within walking distance from communities
Drop-in centres should use their certificates to fundraise from private companies who have a social responsibility to give back to the community
Other stakeholders should be engaged with in highlighting the importance of assisting Drop-in centres

5.5 EPWP Site Visit

The delegation was taken on a site visit to see a proposed road construction which was aimed at reducing traffic on the N1 between Tzaneen, Morea and Polokwane. There was no budget for this project even though it could be a success in terms of reducing congestion on the N1 during the Easter holidays.

The Gondu lashu EPWP road project had been discontinued due to the poor quality of the roads that this initiative had produced. It was recommended that the delegation should assist in advocating for funding for the construction of the road.

5.6 Meeting with the Premier, MECs and Heads of Department

The Premier of the Province issued a very comprehensive report to the delegation of the NCOP outlining the successes achieved so far and future plans which largely emanated from the 2009 State of the Province Address. The Premier reiterated the province’s commitment of a 13 percent contribution to the national government’s initiative to create 500 000 jobs country-wide this year. The province had since June 2009 contributed to the creation of at least 16 201 job opportunities, of which 15 368 were created through the Extended Public Works Programme, 120 from the Revitalisation of Small Irrigation Scheme, 677 from Environmental Management, and 36 from the filling of vacant posts in various departments. These figures could be attributed to the contribution of all municipalities in the province to creating job opportunities.

5.6.1 Economic Development

The economic development of the province relied on mining, agriculture and tourism. To support these sectors the province had identified seven industrial clusters for job creation and economic growth. These industrial clusters focussed on horticulture, meat, forestry, coal, energy, logistics and petrochemicals, platinum and tourism.

The Limpopo Wildlife Resort (LWR) was engaged in a programme of upgrading and revamping recreational facilities and lodges within the province’s nature reserves. The upgrading programme had seen 12 Provincial Reserve Facilities being upgraded, including the Nylsvlei International Site. The province was committed to ensuring that 15 percent of the tourism industry in the province was provided to the Previously Disadvantaged Individuals (PDIs), at least by the end of the financial year.

5.6.2 Education

The province was currently building four new state-of-the-art schools in addition to the eight that had already been constructed. All these schools were set to have modern computers, modern laboratories, a home economics centre, a modern library, state of-the-art biology laboratory, nutritional centres, modern classrooms and a 1 000 capacity school hall. These schools would bring to an end the days when black children had to conduct experiments through imagination.

5.6.3 Primary Health Care

The province had committed itself to increasing the number of clinics providing 24 hour health care services from the current 74 percent to 86 percent by the end of the financial year. The unavailability of medicine and qualified health care professionals remained a challenge in the province. The current ratio of nurses and doctors per patient left much to be desired and needed to be drastically improved.

The Sero-prevalence rate of HIV amongst pregnant women decreased from 20.7 percent in 2006 to 18.5 percent in 2007. The Anti-Retroviral sites also increased from 47 in the 2007/08 financial year to 64 during the 2008/09 financial year. The number of patients benefiting from ARV treatment increased from 17 019 to 43 025 as of March 2009. The view of the province remained that everyone should adhere to the ABC prevention message i.e. Abstinence, Being faithful to one’s partner, and the use of Condoms.

5.6.4 Rural Development

After the visit to Ga-Kgatla Village in the Blouberg Municipality, the province managed to ensure the delivery of basic services in the village, including electrification and water supply in a region that was poverty stricken with people living in difficult conditions. This sign of progress set an example across the province of measures that needed to be implemented in order to fight rural poverty and underdevelopment. The province would embark on agrarian reform with a view to supporting subsistence food production and expanding the role and productivity of modern small-holder farming, as well as maintaining a vibrant and competitive agricultural sector.

5.6.5 Crime and Corruption

The province would establish a Provincial Justice Crime Prevention and Security Cluster and implement the Provincial Crime Prevention Strategy to root out corruption. This would be boosted by the establishment of the new Limpopo High Court to be built in Polokwane.

In the next three months the province would establish and roll out a programme of Community/Village Street Committees and Neighbourhood Watches to all five District Municipalities in response to the call by the President of the country. There were 143 schools that had been identified as high risk schools in terms of levels of crime, and the province had already started engaging at least 25 of these schools on this matter.

5.6.6 Economic and social infrastructure

The province had completed the spatial development framework, which identified growth points for bulk economic activities. The R33 (Modimolle to Lephalale) and R37 (Polokwane to Burgersfort) roads had been identified as important networks with a huge potential for enhancing economic productivity in the province. The R33 would soon be proclaimed as a national road. The work to reseal the R37 from Polokwane to Olifantrivier would soon be undertaken. The terminal building in the airport was 99 percent complete. The Regional Mall of the North in Polokwane was being constructed at a cost of R1.5 billion. It is envisaged that the mall would create about 1 500 permanent job opportunities and close to 1 500 temporary jobs.

5.6.7 Basic Services

Water provision, sanitation and electricity remained serious challenges in the province. A lot had been achieved in many areas, but more still needed to be done. The province was committed to ensuring that by 2010 there should be 83 percent water supply and electricity connections across the province and a target of 50 percent for sanitation.

The province was committed to reducing the use of electricity consumption by 10 percent in 2010 with an effort to respond to the challenges posed by global warming and greenhouse gas emissions.

Challenges

Job opportunities in the agricultural sector could not be sustained due to the economic recession
Shortage of water supply
Delays in the resolution of land claims
Sporadic conflicts between various mining communities and mining houses, especially in places such as Motlhotlho in the Waterberg District
The child mortality rate of children who die before the age of five
The Credit Access Schemes were a challenge to farmers
The NCOP programme did not visit agricultural projects
A shortage of teachers in science and mathematics
A lack of funding for infrastructure at schools
Training of principals in the management and governance of schools
Roll out of Information Technology and Communications systems at schools
The equitable share did not address the service delivery backlog

Recommendations

The provisions of the Mineral and Petroleum Resources Development Act had to be enforced to ensure that people received equitable benefits in mining
Schools should be declared firearm free zones

5.7 Presentations by various departments

Written presentations were received from the Limpopo Provincial Treasury, Safety Security and Liaison, Local Government and Housing and the Department of Public Works.

5.7.1 Provincial Treasury

The department was determined to maintain a sound fiscal stance to support growth and development in the context of the economic crisis. It would ensure that the budget was aligned with priorities and would ensure that the members of the community received value for money in respect of delivery of services. The department was further determined to improve audit outcomes from five unqualified audit opinions to eight unqualified audit opinions in the next review. There were 13 departments in the province with a total budget allocation of R30.6 billion.

Challenges

Over-spending
Non-alignment of budgets and plans
Insufficient operational budget
Poor expenditure on conditional grants
Delays in implementation due to procurement related issues

Recommendations

Costed operational plans
Alignment of plans with the budget
More rigorous monitoring of departmental budgets

5.7.2 Public Works

The Department of Public Works was currently constructing 28 schools in the province. The first 12 of these schools were still in phase 1 and had been allocated R64 million. They were focussed on addressing the issue of overcrowding. Three of the 28 schools were to address challenges imposed by cross-boundaries in the Sekhukhune District Municipality with an allocation of R16 million. The other 13 schools were in phase 2. There were another 37 school construction projects that were nearing completion, with between 60 and 70 percent work having been completed.

The Department was implementing a programme on the revitalisation of hospitals, including Letaba Hospital, MaphuthaMalatji Hospital, Nkhensani Hospital, Thabamoopo Hospital, and Polokwane Hospital. The projects had an estimated budget of R286 million. In addition to the hospitals, the Department would be constructing 15 new clinics in Calais, Modjaji, Sekororo, Masisi, Vleifontein, Elandsdoorn, Spitspunt, Regorogile 2, Groblersdal, Sadu, Gideon, Zeist, Dichoeng, Marishane, and Ikaneng with a budget allocation of R94.4 million. The Department was further constructing a health centre in Thabalishona with a budget allocation of R45 million and another one in HC Boschof with an allocation of R8.8 million. The construction of a forensic pathology facility in Mokopane had been completed. Another one in Kgapane was 75 percent complete, while the one in Grobblersdal was still at the inception stage. Other projects that were being implemented by the Department include 18 one-stop centres, 18 hospital staff accommodation facilities, construction of two libraries and upgrading of 17 libraries; three traffic stations; and maintenance of government buildings.

Challenges

Delays in the procurement process
Late delivery of equipment and materials
Delays in matters referred to legal services
Delays in submission of inputs by public bodies
Projects put on hold by clients
Delays due to lack of design information from consultants
Lack of approval by traditional leaders of projects
Poor performance by appointed service providers
Labour disputes
Delayed process of land acquisition

5.7.3 Safety, Security and Liaison

The following projects were currently being implemented by the Department:

Youth at Risk
Rural Safety
Safer Schools
Community Policing Forum
Community Safety Forums
Facilitation of the implementation of the Justice Crime Prevention and Security Cluster’s Programme of Action
Monitoring and evaluation
Facilitate the improvement of services offered at Victim Empowerment Centres
Intensification of Public Consultation

Challenges

Backlog of cases
Non-alignment of the demarcation of police stations to those of municipalities and the skewed design of the demarcation of magisterial districts
Shortage of resources in police stations – i.e. human resource and vehicles
Overcrowding in cells
Border control in relation to the human movement and traffic control particularly in Beit Bridge and the Groblersburg border

In reply to the presentations received the Chairperson of the NCOP Hon. MJ Mahlangu gave an overview of the NCOP Draft Strategic Framework Plan which was a product of inputs from all nine provinces. The plan was going to inform the oversight function of the NCOP for the next five years. The Chairperson undertook that the delegation would take up the issues as requested, including:

Reviving of Training Colleges
The distribution of the equitable share with a strong bias towards the rural areas.
Assessing the efficacy of the laws that had been passed in the democratic dispensation
Developing a plan on what could be done in respect of the four municipalities in the province which could not raise revenue.
The use of section139 interventions as a last resort
The need for section 106 reports to be forthcoming to assist to track problem areas timeously.
Copies of relevant documents from MECS to be made available to the NCOP delegation to assist in debates.

5.8 Polokwane Welfare Complex

The welfare complex was comprised of four sites which were: Place of Safety; the Children’s Home; the Crisis Management Centre; and the Secure Care Centre. The complex housed children up to the age of 18 years who were referred to the complex by a court order. The children stayed at the centre for at least six months with an option of renewal given the circumstances. Children were allowed to stay in the centre permanently in cases where efforts to reunite them with their parents proved fruitless. The centre also housed children from other countries, with children from Zimbabwe being in the majority. The centre liaised with the international office in Pretoria in an effort to reunite foreign children with their parents.

Challenges

Institutionalization of children was discouraged, children should live free and be released to the society
Putting children up for adoption was an option to release the children to proper families, but it was a challenge for black people who did not understand the procedure and also do not believe in buying a person, which is what they understood adoption to mean.
It was difficult to assist foreign children with the relevant documentation and to send them to school

Recommendations

The definition of a child as contained in the Constitution needed to be reviewed in order to refer to ‘a child born in the country’ as was the case in other countries
There was a need for consultation with the United Nations on a resolution dealing with children living on the streets
A culture of adoption should be encouraged and actively promoted

5.9 Westernburg High School

The school was saved from closure after it was linked with a number of alleged illegal activities. The delegation learnt that the problems in the school started when black learners were allowed to enroll in the school. The coloured people allegedly did not want to associate themselves with blacks people. A number of coloured teachers left the school in protest at the enrolment of black learners. The school was then vandalized, used as a dumping site, and it became unruly as community members would walk in and out of the school at any time of the day. The staff rooms were destroyed and the assets of the school were stolen. The head master, who was coloured, was suspended. The school owed the municipality R754 000. The municipality entered into an agreement with the school to pay R8 000 a month in order to reduce its debt. The school, however, could not afford to pay that money because parents boycotted the payment of school fees for a number of reasons. The school had 40 educators of which 4 were coloured. One teacher resigned on 22 August 2009. The principal said that learners would hide in the ceiling, including both boys and girls. While in the ceiling, they would smoke dagga, drink alcohol and even commit rape while the teacher was teaching the class.

The department of education was renovating one block and the Department of Public Works though the EPWP programme had cleaned the surroundings of the school and was renovating the rest of the school. 30 women were involved in this EPWP skills development programme.

Challenges

o The property of the school, learners and educators were not protected

o The school owed the municipality R754 000 in services

o There was a need for 24 hour security

o A community meeting to address the issue of ethnicity was needed

o All managers in the school were in acting positions

o Lowering the quintile of the school to a ‘no fee’ school

o Oversight in school needed to be strengthened

Recommendations

o The school should be removed from quintile five to a lower quintile

o The Department should pay the municipality the outstanding R754 000 in service fees

o Security should be put in place - perhaps there should be negotiation with SAPS to provide security in order to assist the school to stabilize

5.10 Meeting with Presiding Officers, Chief Whip, Chairpersons and Members of Committees

The need to strengthen oversight was emphasised as a mechanism to ensure quality of service delivery. Mention was made of a number of projects being implemented in the province where there was a lack of oversight. These included the housing project in Mankweng where houses were built along a flood line, which necessitated the relocation of the residents. The other project was the Gundo Lashu road construction project, which had been slated as being of poor quality. It was acknowledged that the Portfolio Committee in the Provincial Legislature needed to play a bigger role and put more focus on overseeing the implementation of projects, as opposed to placing emphasis on the development of legislation. Much work had already been done in respect of the latter, except for minor amendments that needed to be made in certain instances. The NCOP would focus on the actual activities that were taking place in the provinces to ensure that projects were being delivered upon and that the objectives corresponded to those of the national government’s programme of action.

The issue of the disappearance of service providers in housing projects after they had been paid was raised as a major concern. It was noted that service providers guilty of this practice often changed their company names and were awarded tenders in other municipalities. The delegation indicated that they were not satisfied with the view that there were no mechanisms to trace these service providers, who were after all residents of South Africa. The delegation added that in terms of providing oversight. an appeal was made to the Department of Education to assist Westernburg High School by paying off the debt that the school owed the municipality.

5.11 Visit to various housing projects

The delegation visited housing projects in Seshego extension 9l, extension 40 and extension 44. All the houses were being constructed by one company tasked to deliver 700 houses. The houses were incomplete for a very long time and the argument put forward was that the beneficiaries of those houses had not come to claim their houses.

The Ward Councillor explained that the system of allocating houses was open to corruption. She gave an estimate of about 300 houses that were not occupied by their rightful owners. A resident complained that he had been on the waiting list for more than 13 years. He lived with his wife and children, and had been moved to different houses three times. Even the house where he currently stayed was still not in his name and this therefore heightened the belief that he could be removed at any given time. Another resident complained that he had used his money to complete the construction of his house after the contractor had left it incomplete. Another resident complained about the floor that kept eroding every time she swept and cleaned the house.

Challenges

o Houses were not designed to accommodate people living with disabilities

o The waiting list did not detect and identify repeat beneficiaries

o A number of housing projects have been blocked

o There was a challenge in replacing a beneficiary

o There was no transparency with regard to the waiting list

o Contractors disappeared without completing structures after they had been paid

Recommendations

o All blocked projects should be unblocked

o The waiting list should be transparent

o Beneficiaries should be given a 30-day waiting period

o The contractor should keep to the standard of the building observed in Extension 44 Seshego

o All outstanding projects in the areas should be completed by December 2009

5.12 Meeting with Mayors, Salga and Capricorn District Municipalities - Service Delivery Backlog in Municipalities

SALGA gave an extensive presentation on the challenges faced by municipalities. The Association raised lack of capacity as a serious problem facing municipalities. Some of the positions that required attention include engineering, accounting, auditing, planning and a need for skilled personnel across the board. There was a high demand for Chief Financial Officers (CFOs), Municipal Managers and Senior Managers. A number of municipalities faced a challenge in filling these positions. Molemole Local Municipality had been without a Municipal Manager for the past 12 months. This was a critical position which needed to be filled in a short space of time. In addition, the municipality was operating without all senior managers excluding the Chief Financial Officer. The current Acting Municipal Manager was a senior manager responsible for corporate services. It should be noted that municipalities faced a challenge in recruiting the right personnel due to the grading status of municipalities. Polokwane Municipality was the only highly capacitated municipality that was in a position to recruit personnel relatively easier than its counterparts in the province.

According to the MEC for Local Government and Housing in the Province, the current vacancy rate for positions of Municipal Managers was 17 percent which had been dramatically reduced from 46 percent in the 2005/06 financial year. During the 2007/08 and 2008/09 financial years the vacancy rate was zero percent, but since then it had increased. The vacancy rate of Section 57 managers was 6 per cent as per the figures provided for the 2008/09 financial year. Meanwhile, the vacancy rate for CFOs was at 30 percent. All Section 57 vacant positions were 100 percent filled at one stage, but then the challenges of vacancies occurred.

The other challenge facing municipalities was non-compliance with National Treasury Regulations, Audit requirements and Municipal Finance Management Act (Act No. 56 of 2003). In the previous review, only two municipalities received unqualified audit reports, meanwhile a few received qualified audit reports. The majority of municipalities received disclaimers and adverse reports. Other municipalities still had a challenge in submitting financial statements for auditing.

A few municipalities were able to develop Integrated Development Plans (IDPs) and approve budgets. The challenge remained with the quality and credibility of the IDPs as well as implementation. Municipalities had a tendency of implementing projects that were not in their IDPs, hence violating legislative provisions. In addition, alignment of IDPs with sector department’s programmes and plans remained a challenge. IDP reviews were held in the province but a lot still needed to be done to enhance the current system in order to improve the quality and credibility of IDPs.

There was a need for further training and skills development of ordinary Councillors, so that they were placed at the same level of training as the Municipal Mayor and Members of the Mayoral Committee. This might improve oversight by the municipal committee which currently played a very small role beyond the review of the annual report of the municipality. The current system of oversight in municipalities was not living up to the desired standards and expected outcomes.

The conflict caused by a lack of understanding between the roles of councillors and the responsibilities of the traditional leaders in the provision of services still existed in the municipalities. An example was cited of the Mbembe in ThulamelaMunicipality.

The level of corruption in municipalities was still high with a number of senior officials being suspended, hence the high number of acting Municipal Managers and senior officials.

Public consultation was done at the level of IDP and Budget processes, which was not quite enough. Ward committee meetings were not held according to the norm and the required standard. Municipalities should communicate their successes and challenges including their failures to the community. For instance, the housing delivery in the province was not well communicated by both the province and the municipality. Beneficiaries of houses were not informed timeously or were not involved during the construction of their houses hence there was corruption in the allocation of houses. It was mentioned that in Seshego 9L, about 300 houses were not occupied by their rightful owners. Furthermore, the relationship between the ward councillor, ward committee members and community development workers needed to be strengthened. The leadership of the ward was a source of conflict.

The implementation of by-laws was another challenge in the municipalities. These laws were only implemented in urban municipalities such as Polokwane, while there was no implementation in rural municipalities.

The system of providing for the indigent still had a number of challenges, especially as the province faced the challenge of water supply and electricity connection. The province still needed to develop a definition for who qualified as an indigent.

5.12.1 Electricity

The Polokwane Municipality had a problem with the pace of electricity connection by Eskom. The Municipality was concerned that it would not achieve the target set for the Millennium Development Goals. In the Molemole LocalMunicipality seven villages still needed a connection to electricity, while in the Blouberg Local Municipality 13 villages still needed to be connected.

5.12.2 Roads and Storm water

According to the Mayor of the Capricorn District Municipality, there was still a challenge in the tarring of roads. At the current rate of delivery at least two or three roads could be tarred in a financial year due to insufficient funds. People were angry about the gravel roads, and they demanded tarred roads. Rural municipalities experienced challenges in respect of the roads due to bad planning by the previous administrations. For example, there were no storm water drainage systems. During rainy seasons, roads were not user friendly.

5.12.3 Local Economic Development

There was a challenge of job creation, as there were no investments in the Capricorn District Municipality. People had been assisted to start their own businesses. There were farming projects focusing on poultry, beading etc. According to the MEC for Local Government, the province was currently implementing 81 local economic development projects across the province with a budget of R151 million. The projects were spread out in such a manner that they were situated in all five district municipalities in the province. The Sekhukhune District was allocated 12 projects, Mopani 29, Capricorn 14, Vhembe 13 and Waterburg 13 projects. The Department had put aside an amount of R9.7 million for the Local Competitive Fund programme to assist in building the capacity of local entrepreneurs. Furthermore, the Department had established a Resource Centre that would work concurrently with the University of Limpopo to provide training and support for Small Medium and Micro Enterprises. The adoption of Local Economic Development Strategies had improved from 3 percent in 2005/06 financial year to 96 percent in the 2008/09 financial year. All district municipalities were successfully holding their development summits.

5.12.4 Municipal Finance and Financial Viability

The MEC for Local Government reported that the Mutale Local Municipality, Aganang Local Municipality, Fetakgomo LocalMunicipality and Molemole Local Municipality were facing a serious common challenge in raising revenue for themselves. These municipalities had been without credible means of revenue generation since their inception in 1995. Meanwhile, there had been an improvement in the establishment of audit committees with 90 percent currently functional. There was slow progress though in the establishment and functionality of internal audit units. There were currently 64 percent audit units that were functional in all municipalities. Nevertheless there had been progress in compliance with supply chain management policies and procurement regulations. In the last five years, only two municipalities had been receiving unqualified audit opinions. The Department had developed a turnaround strategy which was to be implemented in eight municipalities. The Department targeted at least 50 percent of these municipalities to receive unqualified audit opinions.

The Department of Co-operative Governance and Traditional Affairs at the national level had recognised challenges faced by municipalities in the implementation of the Municipal Property Rates Act. Only one municipality in the province had failed to comply with the deadline for implementation of 1st July 2009. A Municipal Property Rates Amendment Bill had been introduced which would address challenges faced by municipalities with the valuation roll. The anti-corruption and risk strategy had been adopted by 50 percent of the municipalities. The communication system was progressing very well since the 2005/2006 financial year.

5.12.5 Inter-Governmental Relations (IGR)

The IGR system of Capricorn District Municipality had been improved by the level of participation of traditional leaders. According to the Mayor, a working relationship between the municipality and traditional leaders had proved to be a success. There was sound coordination between the district and sector departments such as housing, health, social development, sport and recreation; arts and culture etc.

The approach to low-cost housing needed to be revisited. A lot of space was being used and this encouraged urban sprawl, thus there should be a focus on higher density housing development. Rezoning was also a challenge in residential areas. Rezoning would assist in terms of high density and would be cheaper in terms of providing infrastructure.

5.13 Philadelphia Hospital – Moutse

The Philadelphia Hospital was built in 1939, but the buildings were now dilapidated and posed a serious challenge to management over the issue of maintenance.

The other challenge for the municipality was the re-demarcation of the Moutse area into the Limpopo Province fromMpumalanga Province. The staff living in Moutse West had since been experiencing intimidation and violence while going to work. They had been told not to come to work by community members of the village that did not want to be part ofLimpopo Province. Social instability in the village had also affected local clinics that had since been closed.

According to the Chief Executive Officer of the hospital, the hospital was experiencing serious challenges; a number of services had not received attention. These included the renovation of the buildings and appointment of staff. The Department had placed a moratorium on the appointment of staff for a lengthy period, but it had since lifted it. Adverts for vacant posts were sent to the District for advertising in national newspapers, but the posts had not yet been filled.

The hospital was unable to attend to a number of cases which ended up being referred to surrounding hospitals, which were George Mukhari, Steve Biko, Groblersdal, Matlala, and Kalafong Hospital in Pretoria. Other patients were referred to Community Health Centres, while others were referred to clinics.

The Information Technology and Communication system was installed by the Mpumalanga Government, however it had not been upgraded and updated. The current system caused major delays in the performance of the hospital. There was a need for the Department to assist to upgrade the hospital infrastructure in order to allow for the smooth running of the hospital and the processing of information and record keeping.

The Ward identified for TB treatment was under renovation, and it was about 80 percent complete. In an effort to deal with the challenge of long waiting periods for treatment, the hospital had proposed a construction of a Gateway Clinic just outside the hospital where patients could be attended to, and would not have to wait in long queues.

The hospital had commissioned a research project by the University of Limpopo to examine the challenge of the prenatal mortality rate that was constantly increasing. The MEC for Health proposed that in the meantime, the hospital should provide vitamin A to the children, since prior research demonstrated that vitamin A assisted in preventing prenatal mortality.

The hospital admitted psychiatric patients and referred them to Lebowakgomo within 72 hours provided that there was space to accommodate those patients. In the event that there was no space in the surrounding hospitals, those patients would remain at Philadelphia until such time that an opening became available elsewhere.

Challenges

Old infrastructure
Outdated Information Technology and Communication system
Social unrest as a result of outstanding problems relating to the issue of cross-boundary municipality
Shortage of staff – doctors 62 percent, specialists, junior medical doctors and nurses at 22 percent
Upgrading of casualty space
Perinatal mortality rate
Stillbirth rate – they were brought to the hospital without records
Patient waiting time

Recommendations

Doctors should be employed in clinics because local people did not have transport to come to the hospital.
Children should be given Vitamin A to reduce the perinatal mortality rate
Review of the waiting period
The Strategic Planning Workshop should address a number of issues affecting the municipality
The quality of leadership and management needed to be improved
Oversight quality should be done in all hospitals quarterly
Implement the Gateway Clinic.

5.14 Zama Zama Senior Secondary School

The performance of the school had declined in the previous financial year due to a lack of educators. The school had one teacher for science and one teacher for maths who taught from grade 9 to 12.

The pass rate of the school had declined since 2001. The situation was exacerbated by the challenge of adapting to the introduction of the National Curriculum Syllabus. The system was not well equipped to ensure that teachers with prior qualifications were properly trained to teach without encountering problems. The other challenge was the deployment of teachers in the fields that they were not qualified in.

In 2008, only two out of 35 matriculants passed science because the school did not have a science teacher – the previous incumbent left in 2007 and the post was never filled. The accounting teacher was ill for the better half of the year and resigned in October last year, which also resulted in a number of challenges for the learners and they ended up failing the subject. The introduction of food nutrition at the school in April had improved the performance of learners.

The Dennilton Circuit had the lowest grade 12 pass rate in the province. As a result it was recommended that the Circuit be put under “intensive care”

Challenges

Poor conditions of the school
Lack of educators
No security for the computers
Lack of staff

Recommendations

The school should have an improvement plan
Adult Based Education and Training should be introduced in the school
The Department should prioritise the Sekhukhune circuit as it was underperforming
The leadership and management of the school should be improved
The union should be consulted to assist

5.15. Mphezulu High School

The grade 12 performance results of the school have dropped as compared to the previous financial year. The performance rate was at 41 percent. The delegation was confident that school could achieve far better results. The performance rate in the previous financial year was at 54.4 percent. The delegation emphasised to the educators that education was one of the five priorities for the term of government for 2009 – 2014. The school had overcome a number of challenges that were raised during the previous visit, even though isiNdebele had been phased out by the department because of non-compliance with the curriculum.

Challenges

There were no sporting facilities
There was no library
There was no school hall
Child-headed households
Over-aged learners
The school was last renovated in 1998 - there was a serious need for renovations
There was need for more toilets
The school was not neat

Recommendations

The issue of learners not being taught in their vernacular needed to be raised with the department because it had implications for the right to practice one’s mother tongue, explore one’s culture and raise one’s personal esteem.
The school should be taken to quintile 1
The department’s Infrastructure Unit needed to address issues of toilets, library and school hall

5.16. Jane Furse Memorial Hospital

Challenges

Accommodation for students
199 vacant nursing posts
26 vacant doctors’ posts
Four hours waiting period
Lack of storage for the patients’ records
Lack of procurement contracts
There was no Eye Ward as the Hospital was a level 1 and thus did not qualify for an Eye Ward
No plans to address vacant posts
Poor water supply

Recommendations

To reduce waiting time, local clinics should be used and patients should bring referral letters. They could then be attended to easily
The municipality should be consulted regarding poor water supply
The hospital should improve the storage of records

5.17 Makhuduthamaga Local Municipality

The delegation observed that the Makhuduthamaga Local Municipality in the Sekhukhune District Municipality comprised of 163 villages, 29 of which were without electricity connections. This amounted to a total of 7 387 households. It should be noted that Makhuduthamaga was not licensed to provide electricity connections within the municipality. This function largely been managed by Eskom. Eskom was responsible for both electrification and the maintenance of all electricity operations in the municipality. A total of 46 266 households had been electrified. The electrification backlog was currently 13 percent. The capacity for supply was a problem between the municipality and Eskom.

Electricity backlog

Village	Number of Households
Manotong/Setebong/Dikatone	384
Good Hope	150
Masakaneng	150
Ntoane/Manthlanyane/Botshabelo	217
Ga-Tshehla	95
Hlalanikahle	1 143
Vierfontein	563
Mare	200
Ga-Maboki	30
Magolego	140
Greater Komane	965
Ntshong	200
Mohwekere	250
Diphagane	180
Glen Cowie/Mathousand/Unit D	970
Crodile	70
Maila Segolo	150
Apel – Cross	130
Harkdore (Tswaing)	140
Mphane	90
Makgwabe	85
Tshehlwaneng	180
Maserumule Park	205
Setlaboswane	160
Brooklyn	120
Phokoane	150
Mahlolwane	120
Thabampshe	150

The Municipality was not a Water Service Authority or a Water Service Provider. This function was currently managed at a district level by the Sekhukhune District Municipality. According to the District Municipality the water supply backlog stood at 38 034 and sanitation was at 39 457 households.

The housing backlog was 13 258, and there was a challenge due to lack of water supply and poor access roads in areas where structures were supposed to be built. The delegation was concerned that there were still communities without access to proper roads. The delegation was informed that trucks could not enter some villages to deliver material for the construction of low income houses. The communities carried the material with their hands and heads to the construction sites.

In his presentation, the Acting Municipal Manager of Makhuduthamaga indicated that the total length of the roads was unknown because there was no master plan. The processes for appointing a service provider to draw up the master plan on behalf of the municipality were currently underway and were due to be completed very soon. To date, the municipality had been able to tar at least 39.4 kilometers at a cost of R70 million.

The following roads needed serious attention including access roads in ward 14 and 15:

Leolo Road
Madibong – Maruleng – Manganeng Road
Mashabela – Mphanama Road
Setlaboswana – Serageng – Mogaladi Road
Seopaela – Maila Mapitsane – Manganeng Road
Malegale – Mathibeng – Dinotji – Mailasegolo Road
Schoonoord – Hoeparkraans Road
Moloi – Phokoane Road
Masemola – Thabampshe Road
Patantshwane – Eenzaam Road
Glen Cowie – Malaka – Thoto – Maserumule Park Road
Malope – Phokoane Road
Phokoane – Mogaladi Road
Mokwete – Molepane – Malaka Road

The following were areas that needed bridges to be constructed:

Ga-Mailamapitsane
Sehuswane (Eenkantaan)
Thoto

Challenges

Lack of infrastructure master plan
Electricity capacity that was experienced by Eskom as the service provider
Insufficient budget allocation
Unplanned extensions of the existing villages
Poor access roads in other areas, especially ward 14 and 15
Unavailability of land for the municipality
No ward meetings were held in ward 1
No clinic in ward 24
No transport in ward 24
There were water taps installed in ward 1, but they were not connected to the water supply
Lack of water supply delayed the construction of houses
The municipality did not have any source of revenue, they were fully reliant on grant funding – hence water was provided by the District and electricity by Eskom. Water and electricity were the main sources of revenue for the municipality

Recommendations

Road construction needed to be prioritised for communities living in hilly and mountainous areas.

The MEC for Local Government and Housing would discuss the possibility of having two summits in the province, one on energy and another on water, with the Minister responsible for energy.

5.18 Debriefing Meeting with the Provincial Leadership

The NCOP delegation noted the progress made by the province to improve service delivery. The province had overcome a number of obstacles and met a number of the challenges facing service delivery. It was noted that provision of basic services continued to reach people on the ground. The Polokwane Welfare Complex was noted as one of the best in the country, with similar arrangements established in Gauteng and the Free State. In general, the delegation noted the delays experienced in the province with housing delivery; the challenge faced with access to water and sanitation, electricity and roads and an inadequate storm water drainage system. In addition, the condition of schools and the performance of matriculants was a cause for concern. There was also a need to make a serious intervention at the Philadelphia Hospital.

The delegation prioritised the construction of the two family’s houses; the unblocking of all housing delivery projects, attention to water and electricity, as well as roads especially in ward 14 and 15 of Makhuthamaga Local Municipality, the lowering of the quintile of both Mphezulu High School and Westernberg High School.

5.19 Assessment of progress being made in respect of 2010 FIFA World Cup

The reconstruction of the Peter Mokaba Stadium officially started in March 2009 and was 90 percent complete. The stadium should have been completed in June 2009 but the Municipality missed the deadline. The stadium would be completed in October 2009. The Municipality drafted a concept paper on the construction of the precinct around the stadium, which was 60 percent complete. The precinct had been allocated R40 million which would include construction of the Fan Park and parking for soccer fans. The design was constructed in a format which required that fans park their cars in an area 1.3 kilometres away from the stadium. From there they would be driven to the stadium and back to their cars after the matches. This was also done inJohannesburg during the Confederations Cup.

Challenges

Development of a master plan to guide the city in preparation and execution of the 2010 FIFA World Cup
Strike action and its influence on the completion date
Procurement of fleet
Coordination with safety and security provincially
Lack of clarity on the need of a stand-by training venue and its maintenance
The cost of running the Fan Park which might not be recouped
Receiving sufficient support from local and national business to co-sponsor the Fan Park
To acquire adequate staff to run operations during 2010 for both water and electricity
Lack of clarity on whether Lepelle-Northern Water would be able to supply enough water through the Olifants Sand Water Scheme – their water supply had been unreliable
Insufficient financial resources for accommodation and other places of interest
Lack of clarity on the roles of security structures and those of the host city
Few staff understood protocol work and needed extensive training in that area
The taxi industry would be involved in the ferrying of spectators

6. MPUMALANGA

The permanent delegates to the NCOP met with the Premier, Members of the Executive Council, Speaker, Chief Whip, Chairperson of Committees and SALGA. At these meetings the role and mandate of the NCOP was outlined as ensuring that provincial interests were taken into account in the national sphere of government. This could be achieved mainly by ensuring that the NCOP participated in the national legislative process and by providing a national forum for public consideration of issues affecting provinces.

6.1. Meeting with the Speaker

Review of the programme: The Chairperson of Committees gave an outline of the programme for the week and briefly touched on areas that the delegates were going to deal with e.g. the public hearing in Mkhondo Municipality and the logistical arrangements thereof. (The Hon Watson raised a concern about the meeting in Mkhondo Municipality. he informed the meeting that when he spoke with a DA councillor in that municipality, that councillor was not aware of this visit by the permanent delegates and some MPL’s. He was informed that the Speaker called a meeting and only invited ANC councillors. He raised his objection to this fact and said that the delegates were going there to meet all councillors and not only the ANC councillors).
Bills referred: The bills referred to the province were only in English and yet there were other indigenous languages spoken in the province. An example was made of a challenge that Members encountered when they had to brief the indigenous communities on a Bill that they did not understand because the Bill was not in an indigenous language.
Administrative support to Constitution House: The Speaker said that a need for an extra person in Constitution House had been identified long ago. What was needed to be done was to ascertain whether the support that was available there was adequate. If it was not, what support should the province give to permanent delegates to improve the services that were offered by that office in order to make it more efficiently. It was stated that the Legislature must first identify what duties were to be performed by the people in that office. A need for a senior person to interact with the Departments at a high level was identified. The person should be knowledgeable and interact at a high level with the Departments and raise questions on any of the Departments’ programmes to ascertain what impact those programmes would have on the province.
Role of the permanent delegate: Reference was made to the provisions of section 113 of the Constitution. The oversight role of Members over the Executive was discussed and it was stated that there should be a formula on how to monitor the work of the national Executive that had an impact on the provinces. The need for the formula was identified by the Legislature during their strategic planning session. The delegation was informed that the Legislature could use the permanent delegates to monitor the national Executive. The Legislature could communicate the concerns to the permanent delegates who in turn would send them as questions for oral or written reply to the Executive and give feed back to the Legislature.

The issue of presentation in committees was raised and the fact that the Legislature was not aware of which committees the permanent delegates belonged to. It was suggested that the permanent delegates should try and reconcile their position as a delegation to effectively cover those departments that had a direct impact on the province.

It was stated that the work of the permanent delegate should be guided mainly by issues that were affecting the province. Departments such as Home Affairs, Mining, Water Affairs and Energy were raised as examples of national Departments that dealt with issues of national competence that had an impact on the province. The permanent delegates could assist the province in monitoring those national Departments. An amendment to the rules and orders of the province to outline the roles of the NCOP members was also suggested.

6.2. Meeting with the Premier and Members of the Provincial Executive

A presentation on provincial challenges, provincial priorities and high impact programmes was made and also a report on the assessment of the state of municipalities.

6.2.1 Provincial Challenges:

Workers facing retrenchments from the mining sector;
Evictions and the recurrence of human rights violations in farm communities;
Support to small businesses – government procurement and payment of services;
Poor road infrastructure;
Reduction of poverty; unemployment and inequality in the context of growing the economy;
Negative global economic environment posed a threat to acceleration of identified priorities-collaboration;
Management of learner transport and school nutrition programmes;
Wastage, vandalism, illegal connections and public perceptions that water was free;
Incomplete infrastructure: houses, schools and health facilities;
Health care system, poor service and lack of a tertiary hospital in the province;
Crime and corruption; and
Duplication of functions, wastage of Government resources, poor accountability and financial management.

6.2.2 Provincial Priorities

To speed up the economic growth and transform the economy to create decent and sustainable livelihoods:
- Working together with both Organised Business and Organised Labour to support measures that would prevent job losses and negative impact of economic meltdown;
- Investment in massive infrastructure to support job losses;
- Opportunities in the province; Eskom infrastructure projects, coal haulage, phase II of EPWP and 2010; and
- Strengthening of State-owned enterprises to contribute meaningfully to enterprise development and job creation-merging as well as institutional arrangements for flagships.
Massive programme to build economic and social infrastructure:
- Provision of basic services- water, sanitation, electricity and refuse removal
- Institutional capacity for management, distribution and maintenance of water infrastructure; and
- Dealing with backlogs of incomplete infrastructure: houses, schools and health facilities
Comprehensive rural development strategy linked to land and agrarian reform and food security linked to land reform:
- Service delivery to farm communities and human rights;
- Implementation of the Anti-Poverty Campaign;
- Rural economic and enterprise development;
- Transforming agriculture and natural resource products for creation of jobs and improvement of local income levels;
- Employment, local income and additional opportunities for non farming opportunities through implementation of the comprehensive rural development strategy; and
- Accelerating the implementation of Masibuyele Emasimini as well as Traditional Leaders.
Strengthening the skills and human resources:
- Improve learner attainment and instil a culture of quality teaching and learning at all grades;
- Attention to be paid to schools that had never performed above 60% over past 5 years and to improve both quantity and quality of learner performance;
- Management of scholar transport and school nutrition programme
- To provide training to educators to master new content and assessment methodology;
- Comprehensive support to poor and vulnerable learners- no fee, transportation and nutrition;
- Explore the option of board facilities;
- Strengthening the capacity of FETs to respond to the needs of the provincial economy and development challenges; and
- Establishment of a Provincial Bursary Fund – to increase the study opportunities for students.
Improvement of health profile of all South Africans:
- Improve institutional capacity for the provision of services at all levels of health care delivery, expand hospital revitalisation; and
- Implement a comprehensive plan for the treatment of HIV and AIDS to reduce HIV infections rate by 50% by year 2011 and reach 80% of those in need of ARV treatment.
Fight against crime and corruption;
- Mobilise collective commitment of all community stakeholders to stand against crime;
- Strengthening partnership with all sectors to fight against crime;
- Put effective systems to eliminate the manipulation of supply chain management process ; and
- Entrench a culture of transparent, honest and accountable public service.
To build a cohesive, caring and sustainable communities:
- Development of integrated and de-racialised human settlements with economic and social infrastructure to strengthen the social divide in the province.
Building a developmental state including the improvement of public service and strengthening democratic institutions:
- Strengthening IGR to enhance aligned planning and implementation across the three spheres of government;
- Realignment of PGDS with Manifestos priorities;
- IDP as a common frame of reference for planning across the three spheres and meaningful participation of Departments in IDP development and implementation;
- Strengthening M&E to ensure continuous evaluation of government performance on key priorities and targets;
- Strengthening organisational performance as well as management of public finances-no over or under expenditures and accruals
- Public participation in policy implementation and governance processes- strengthening democratic governance institutions;
- Strengthening partnership between Government and institution of Traditional Leadership.

6.2.3 High Impact Programmes

Eskom power stations: It was reported that Eskom had commenced with the construction of the Kusile power station at a cost of R111 billion and had already created the 2700 jobs on construction.
Masibuyele Emasimini: The programme focused on supporting rural communities in using under-utilised land to enhance their livelihoods. The key goal of the programme was to increase community food production so as to attain household food security especially to the poor and vulnerable households. The programme encouraged the communities to till fallow land and realise the economic benefits and prevent agricultural land from being converted to other competing land uses. Focus was on the provision of production inputs and training communities on tractor operation and production aspects to ensure sustainability of the programme.
Comprehensive Rural Development Programme: The programme focused on enabling rural people to take control of their destiny with the support from government and thereby dealing effectively with rural poverty through the optimal use and management of natural resources. This would be achieved through a coordinated and integrated broad based agrarian transformation as well as the strategic investment in economic and social infrastructure that would benefit the entire rural community. The province identified Mkhondo Local Municipality as a pilot for the CRDP. It was reported that the Departments had committed various projects, short, medium and long term for this municipality. Mondi company had also committed land for development of Agri-villages and financial resources.
War on Poverty Campaign: The campaign was launched in the Province on the 30th of January 2009 at SikhwahlaneVillage – Nkomazi Local Municipality. The campaign was in line with the National Anti Poverty Strategy driven from the Office of the President. The rollout phase covered 7 municipalities which had the highest population living below the poverty line namely: Pixley Ka Seme, Mkhondo, Albert Luthuli, Thembisile Hani, Dr JS Moroka, Nkomasi and Bushbuckridge. For the 2009-10 financial year it was reported that 12 000 households were targeted by the programme. Two to three wards had been identified jointly with municipalities for the roll out. The Local and District War Room Structure had been established to coordinate the implementation and monitoring of War on Poverty programmes. It was further reported that the training for household and community profiling had been conducted and 50 households from Mkhondo Local Municipalitywere profiled and linked with the CRDP programme.

6.2.4 Assessment on the State of Municipalities

It was stated that the report was triggered by the service delivery protests that erupted in most municipalities throughout the country. The findings of the report were that there was a dysfunctional system of governance due to political and administrative structure relations and poor public participation. The issues identified were cutting across all municipalities. The Executive Mayor, the Speaker and the Municipal Manager were not talking to each other. The collaboration between the Mayor and the Municipal Manager was either good or bad. The fact that some Municipal Managers were holding higher political positions than the Executive Mayors they reported to, created a lot of problems within those municipalities.

On financial management, it was reported that there was a lack of adherence to financial management systems and capacity constraints. It was stated that the systems were very poor and that there was no capacity to manage the finances in terms of the Municipal Financial Management Act. There was an emerging trend of money disappearing because of inappropriate management of finances. There were no credit controls in place.

It was stated that there were poor relations between labour and management which resulted in flouting of human resource policies and procedures.

The permanent delegates were informed that there was lack of quality service delivery. The matters that enhanced effective service delivery such as IDPs, coordination, planning, proper MIG expenditure and technical expertise to mention a few had not been procedurally followed.

There was also no LED strategy and the absence of implementation plans for rural economic development and tensions hampered economic development.

The report proposed the following interventions for municipalities:

Political intervention was needed to resolve some of the alleged issues within the municipalities;
Deployment of intervention teams to the identified municipalities to provide management support;
Filling of critical vacant posts within a period of three months;
Completion and assessments of infrastructure projects primarily unfinished houses;
Fast-tracking the approval of technical reports on infrastructure, viz. water purification plants and sewer plants;
Enforcement of HR policies and effective consultation with local labour forum
A need for the establishment of shared centres within the district areas;
Full implementation of the Supply Chain Management to counter corruption; and
The vetting of senior management and identified officials.

The permanent delegates requested a copy of the detailed report so that they could go through it and identify issues. They permanent delegates informed the Premier and the Members of the Executive that during the week they would, through their interaction with the municipalities, be able to engage municipalities on some of the issues raised and get first hand experience.

The permanent delegates raised a concern about the mining activities in the province and that they were not sure about the mines’ contribution to the province. A question was asked about the ownership of the mines and the participation of the people of Mpumalanga in those mines.

The permanent delegates acknowledged the Executive for being honest in admitting where the problems and challenges were in the province.

6.3. Meeting with Municipalities on Service Delivery Backlogs

The Municipalities were informed by the permanent delegates that they had received a report on the state of municipalities in the province and that they wanted to hear from each municipality what challenges they faced. The permanent delegates noted that there were similarities in the challenges faced by the various municipalities.

6.3.1 Delmas Municipality

The Municipal Manager reported that the municipality performed very well in terms of financial management. Revenue collection was still a big challenge and they relied on the District Municipality for financial assistance. The infrastructure for roads and sewers was old. The municipality had two sewer plants, one with a 4 mega-litre capacity that had been working at an 8 mega-litre capacity. The permanent delegates were informed that this resulted in sludge being released which had been spilling over and was highly contaminated. It was reported that the municipality was extracting waster from bore holes. The municipality had 39 vacant positions. The permanent delegates were informed that public participation was a challenge because the Community Development Workers and the Ward Committees were not functioning and that meetings were sporadic.

6.3.2 Dr JS Moroka Municipality

Public participation was a challenge because the Ward Committees were not functioning properly and they were struggling with the payment of stipends. Sanitation and the provision of water was a serious challenge. The road infrastructure was not completed. It was reported that the municipality needed a huge allocation and that some of the roads were cross boundary roads. The payment of rates and services had decreased. The lack of resources resulted in the clinics not operating on a 24 hour basis, they were operating on an 8 hourly basis. The municipality had a huge housing backlog. The permanent delegates were informed that during floods, the floods constituted a serious challenge in the municipality because some farmers would open up their dams to release excessive water.

6.3.3 Thembisile Municipality

The Municipality had a challenge of financial viability. It was reported that the needs of the municipality exceeded the revenue supply. The permanent delegates were informed that the formula for the allocation of municipal grants needed to be reviewed. The municipality’s resources were very limited.

The bulk infrastructure was old and dilapidated. The maintenance and operations of the infrastructure was problematic. It was reported that projects in the municipality had been implemented by the other spheres of government without the involvement of the municipality. The municipality had not been given an opportunity to plan, monitor and evaluate those projects. The municipality complained that those projects were not even communicated in their IDPs. The municipality did not receive assistance that was expected from the other spheres of government. There was a huge backlog of housing and the houses already built had poor workmanship. The road to Pretoria had been closed for almost a year due to lack of resources.

It was stated that the municipality needed to improve its capacity to monitor and evaluate projects. The Ward Committees and the Community Development Workers were not performing their responsibilities hence the performance of Councillors had not been monitored. There was lack of communication between the Councillors and the community and the community was not aware of what had been done. It was reported to the permanent delegates that there was a power struggle between the CDWs and the Councillors. Fraud and corruption still remained a serious challenge.

6.3.4 Emakhazeni Municipality

It was reported that the Mayor of the municipality had been recalled and the municipality was still awaiting a report. The municipality was strategically located between Pretoria/Johannesburg complex in Gauteng and Nelspruit in Mpumalanga. It was situated on the N4 Maputo corridor, the main link between Gauteng Province, Mpumalanga Province and Mozambique. This municipality occupied the largest surface area when compared to all the municipalities in the District of Nkangala. The land occupied resulted in the wards being vast in size and the communities were sparsely spread. This made it difficult for the Councillors to reach all the areas in a ward.

The permanent delegates were informed that the Councillors did not receive any allowances for doing their constituency work. Councillors had to use their own money to do constituency work like door to door campaigns on issues of service delivery. It was reported that the ward committee meetings had not been convened as regularly as they should. Another challenge identified by the Councillors in this municipality was that in some wards the language barrier posed a major challenge and this had been cited as the main reason for non attendance by some ward committee members.

The majority of the people in the community did not pay for council services, e.g out of 13000 people only 3000 were able to pay for services. The permanent delegates were informed that the equitable share the municipality received had been based on 2001 statistics and had therefore been inadequate.

6.3.5 Steve Tshwete Municipality

The permanent delegates were informed that the municipality needed a cash injection to extend the bulk infrastructure in order for it to meet the expansion of the town. The roads were not maintained because the MIG allocation excluded an allocation for the maintenance of infrastructure. The municipality had a challenge in the retention of scarce skills such as that of engineers and electricians.

The municipality had difficulty in providing water to farm dwellers because some farmers had been preventing the municipality from providing water and they also refused to allow Eskom to install transformers to provide electricity to the farm dwellers.

It was reported that there was a lack of service level agreements through which the municipality could enforce discipline and undertake in the monitoring of the CDWs. The issue of section 57 managers was a challenge and the leadership roles should be clarified especially as it pertained to effective accountability.

6.3.6 Emalahleni Municipality

The population of the municipality had grown significantly and therefore there was a challenge in terms of infrastructure development. There was a shortfall of R3 billion in order to provide for financial support to bulk infrastructure expansion, e.g. quality water and sanitation. The municipality complained of the lack of access to farm settlements. There was a huge backlog of houses and informal settlements were mushrooming everywhere. The infrastructure was very old and under pressure due to population growth.

The municipality reported that the failure of sector departments to participate in the IDP process was a challenge. An example was made of one sphere that built a road and expected the municipality to maintain that road. The municipality did not have funds for that maintenance because it was not included in its IDP. The sector Departments sent junior officials to IDP meetings and those officials could not take decisions in those meetings.

The Community Development Workers did not know their roles and responsibilities and the Ward Committees were not effective because they were not paid stipends since there was no national or provincial norm for the payment of stipends. This lack of funds also led to public participation not being active and effective.

The permanent delegates were informed that the issues of service delivery that led to the burning of Councillors’ houses were issues that had a direct bearing on national and provincial spheres of government.

6.3.7 Mbombela Municipality

The municipality reported that it expected the NCOP to indicate a macro strategy for service delivery and cooperative governance. It also reported that the achievement of the Millennium Goals was a challenge. The permanent delegates were informed that a template to assess the KPAs was required to measure every municipality’s performance. They were also informed that since the administration in terms of section 139(1)(b), the municipality had never received any progress report to assess any progress made. The financial challenges the municipality was facing were related to revenue collection. The communities were resisting paying for rates and services resulting in revenue generation being adversely affected. There were institutional deficiencies that pertained to public participation and stakeholder involvement. The municipality had insufficient water and electricity supply. Nsikazi was the most affected and relied on Bushbuckridge Water Board.

6.3.8 Nkomazi Municipality

The municipality was predominantly rural and had between 8 to 9 Chiefs who simply allocated stands to the people. The population had grown and therefore the statistics that were used for the MIG allocation needed to be revised. It was reported that the municipality had an influx of people from Mozambique who were migrating for permanent stay. The municipality complained that the Chiefs had too much power and that some of their powers needed to be curtailed. It was stated that service delivery was a huge challenge because there was a gross shortage of water and electricity. The permanent delegates were informed that the project for water for all had been suspended due to mismanagement of funds. The dam had dried up and the municipality needed about R6 million for the provision of water. The municipality reported that despite all the challenges it had faced it had not experienced protest marches.

6.3.9 Mjindi Municipality

The municipality reported that the MIG funding was inadequate because it did not address the needs of the municipality. The municipality was rapidly expanding and the demands of the municipality exceeded the supply. The permanent delegates were informed by the municipality that the IDPs did exist but there were no funds available for those IDPs. Land invasion was also mentioned as a challenge. People had occupied the provincial land for 15 years. It was reported that the provision of water and sanitation both in rural areas and urban areas remained a serious challenge. The municipality was losing technical staff to Eskom and the mines. The number of indigent people was growing.

6.3.10 Thaba Cheuwu Municipality

In Thaba Cheuwu the permanent delegates were informed that a motion had been taken by the House to remove the Executive Mayor in terms of the Municipal Structures Act. This decision the permanent delegates were informed was taken without the knowledge of the ruling party and that subsequently 10 councillors were removed by the ruling party.

The challenges that the municipality was faced with was that the land fill sites had reached maturity and the council did not have extra land. The municipality needed more money than what they were actually collecting. The municipality’s collection rate was at 95%. It was reported that the cash flow problems that the municipality had been facing had been exacerbated by the 13% salary increase for municipal workers. Public violence made it difficult for the municipality to deliver effectively.

6.3.11 Bushbuckridge Municipality

It was reported in this municipality that there was a great challenge of land claims and the processing of the claims was very slow. The Department of Water and Environmental Affairs project was on hold. The infrastructure was in decline, the tarred roads were poorly constructed and there was lack of monitoring of capital projects by the officials. The municipality also had a shortage of skills in terms of finance and supply chain management.

6.3.12 Pixely Ka Seme Municipality

The permanent delegates were informed that in this municipality there was an increase in mining activities and that the municipality was not consulted on this activity. The municipality was not taken on board in respect of mining rights and prospecting rights in those mines. The provision of water was still a serious challenge. The water pipes used to distribute water were old and were of asbestos. The municipality was made up of a vast rural community. There was a scarcity of land and it was reported that the farm owners were refusing to grant permission to the municipality to roll out VIP toilets. The 80/20 principle of supplying electricity became a problem where the 20 percent needed to be provided by the farmer or the municipality. The permanent delegates were also informed that there was a land restitution claim that was approved in 2001 but had never been effected. It was reported that the mining activities were poisoning the underground water and that the electricity project required more funding.

6.3.13 Lekwa Municipality

The municipality had a housing backlog and had serviced some sites but the people still continued to stay in shacks. It was reported that the heavy rainfalls led to the water flooding the area. The sewer plants were very old. The grading of the municipality resulted in the municipality not recruiting technically skilled people. The technicians would leave the municipality and commence work at another municipality doing the same job but earning more. The permanent delegates were informed that the municipality faced a challenge of farm dweller evictions. It was also reported that the post of the Municipal Manager was vacant.

6.3.14 Govan Mbeki Municipality

The permanent delegates were informed that the R45 million budget for the eradication of the bucket system had gone to waste due to the substandard work of the service providers. The municipality needed R6 million to deal with the backlog. R36 million had been ring fenced in order to improve Bethal. The land invasions in Bethal were a cause for concern. It was reported that the housing backlog, poor workmanship and inefficient contractors was a challenge. The municipality had an influx of people due to the pull factors of SASOL and the mines. The revenue collection was at 84%.

6.3.15 Albert Luthuli Municipality

It was reported that the infrastructure was ageing and dilapidated. The sewer system was a cause for concern. The permanent delegates were informed that the municipality had a housing backlog, and the provision of electricity was a problem. It was further reported that Section 57 employees had not been employed.

6.3.16 Dipaleseng Municipality

In this municipality it was reported to the permanent delegates that unemployment was very high in the municipality despites the fact that a new mine had opened in the area. The municipality also had a huge housing backlog and that the informal settlements were spreading. It was reported that the Ward Committees and the Community Development Workers had not been functioning.

6.3.17 Ehlanzeni District Municipality

It was stated that the de-establishment of Bohlabelo Municipality had caused challenges for this municipality. The creditors of the old municipality were submitting their claims to the municipality. The Nyaka Dam Water Scheme had come to a halt and people wanted to march to the District. The municipality was closer to the borders to neighbouring countries and had a problem of influx of immigrants seeking permanent stay in the municipality which caused a strain on the resources of the municipality. The majority of the immigrants were not of school going age and impacted on the high illiteracy rate of the people in the municipality. The permanent delegates were asked why municipalities were graded because the grading promoted disparities in allocation of funds amongst the municipalities. SALGA said that municipalities inherited an old system. Municipalities were graded in terms of its workers. They reiterated the challenge of staff and skills retention. Some leave to go to other municipalities because they would be paid more there for the same work because of the grading system.

6.3.18 Nkangala District Municpality

The permanent delegates were informed that the properties of Councillors were not insured and yet they were at the coal face of service delivery. The delegation was informed that when laws were made, the challenges that were faced by the Councillors on the ground should be appreciated. The Mayor informed the permanent delegates that the municipality should ask national Treasury to explain which formula had been used to allocate funds. The permanent delegates were informed that the Traditional Leaders wanted to be paid like Councillors. It was reported that the municipalities should begin to identify land and develop it to avoid land grabs.

6.3.19 Recommendations

It was recommended that the grading of municipalities and the equitable formula needed to be reviewed.

o Communication between the Councillors and the communities needed to be improved.

o Investigation of farmers who refused to allow the municipalities to provide basic services for communities in farms;

o Disaster management structures should be in place;

o Incomplete projects – when the delegation returns, the municipalities needed to show what steps they have taken to remedy the situation;

o Mpumalanga had the highest concentration of power stations in the country and yet there was lack of electricity in some areas;

o More time with the community to experience first hand what was happening in each municipality;

o Farmers that were refusing electrical connection were stifling development;

o There should be integration of planning with sector departments;

o The IDP should be informed by approvals from the Department and if a wish list got into the IDP, the municipality would encounter problems because of the expectations raised to the community;

o The invasion of land had led to the mushrooming of squatter camps;

o Constituency Offices, Councillors needed to talk to MPLs and MPs so that they could be able to assist;

o Municipal Managers could assist Mayors in drafting questions to the Minister and send them to the NCOP;

6.4. Meeting with the Whippery

The Whippery was asked to give a presentation and asked to be as honest as possible in talking about the challenges that they were facing in their municipalities. Issues raised included:

How could they enhance the operation of those offices;
Party must enforce party discipline to do party work;
They should visit constituencies all day;
They should do oversight and ask probing questions, attend committee meetings and caucus;
Enhance the involvement of communities in what government was doing;
Issue of full time and part time Chief Whips needed to be debated
When MPs visit their areas they do not plan with Chief Whips;
Disparities between salaries of municipal and provincial;
There was no written document clearly setting out roles and responsibilities of Whips.

6.5 Site Visit to Mkhondo Municipality

The permanent delegates and the members of the Portfolio Committee on Human Settlement, Co-operative Governance and Traditional Affairs had a series of meetings with the different stakeholders in Mkhondo Municipality.

6.5.1 Meeting with Mayoral Council of Mkhondo Municipality

The following issues and challenges were identified in the meeting with the Mayoral Committee:

The Mayor and the Municipal Manager were not communicating,
Municipal Manager would give reports to the Speaker instead of the Mayor,
The information from officials was not reliable and the reports were incomplete
Poor workmanship on projects,
Lapse of tender processes (SCM),
Budgets were exceeded without proper financial management (misuse of funds),
Reports sent to Council and Council did not do anything,
Mkhondo was a rural municipality, it was full of privately owned farms and it was difficult get into those farms. They needed permission from the farmer to go in and put in water services or build roads,
People were still discriminated on farms,
The budget was too little. The bulk of it went to administration and little went to capital projects,
The municipality had been one of the municipalities that could not spend their MIG allocation and after the intervention of DPSA through its programme Siyenza Manje it began to spend the MIG allocation;
The Municipal Infrastructure Grant was not enough, it was still based on old statistics (2001),
Water and Housing backlogs,
Sewer connection: sewer line not developed some of it was still made of asbestos
Equipment – Graders were not working – out of diesel
Land availability
Home Affairs office not available in Amsterdam and people had to come to Piet Retief,
Executive Mayor, Speaker and Municipal Manager not communicating,
They could not put in services on the claimed land
Rural development – needed to have a co-ordination with the Department. The departments were working in silos.
The mayoral committee raised an issue regarding their understanding of the section 139 (1) (b) intervention, which was then explained to them.

6.5.2 Recommendations

The Mayoral Committee was advised by the permanent delegates to compile a report:

Indicating what their needs were. If funds were required, they needed to indicate what the funding was for.
Explaining everything that was happening in the municipality and indicating what steps they had taken to remedy the situation

6.6 Meeting with the Municipal Administrator In Mkhondo Municipality

The Administrator made a presentation and highlighted the achievements he and his team had made.

The following problems were cited:

o Protests citing “poor service delivery”

o Accusations of corruption, nepotism, etc

o Anomalies in Supply Chain Management

o Lack of discipline

o Internal “squabbles” that undermine effective delivery

o “Silo” mentalities – Admin/Political, within departments, split reporting lines, etc

o Wasted resources

o Roles and responsibilities not clearly defined

Early defined root causes

o It was a systemic problem: The municipality as a whole had failed to deliver

o Poor governance

o Poor management

o Low levels of competencies (there were some pockets of competence)

o Limited alignment and integration of the IDP and Budget and SDBIP.

o Performance measures were largely activity centred, not necessarily linked to the actual delivery of services against agreed targets of delivery

o Limited evidence of needs modelling. Discussion over needs tradeoffs took place at the Executive level, but was not data driven within departments

o Lack of funding often meant that departments were challenged to maintain existing services rather than improve and develop additional services

o Programme management maturity was very low. Most of the focus at the IDP level was on tasks and projects, not on programmes and how they achieved the overall objectives of the organisation

o Service delivery outputs and success measures were not readily apparent

o Monitoring and Evaluation (M&E)

o Low levels of work ethic

Some key actions already underway

o Service delivery (21 actions)

o Finance – (11 actions)

o Legal – (powers and functions)

o Stakeholder management (political, civic, business, religious, general)

o Corporate services (12 actions)

o Forensic investigation (1st report completed)

o “As is” assessment (HOD’s, “Rapid assessment initiative”, Administrator's assessment, CGTA assessment)

Status Quo Summary

o Establishment of Administrator's Office – Complete

o Rapid assessment – 75% complete

o Forensic Investigation: Report 1 – Complete

o Forensic Investigation: Report 2 – Complete

o Immediate actions:

Quick Win projects – 60 projects commenced

Business Improvement projects – 12 projects commenced

Critical capital projects – already identified, prioritised, costed and funding being lobbied

Critical projects required to fix service delivery

o “Critical Projects”: critical for even a minimum service.

◦ Example: Upgrading of the sewer treatment works R47million

◦ Example: 140km asbestos water reticulation R65million

◦ Example: Upgrading of the Piet Retief sub station R22million

◦ Example: 1,5km electrical cable 40 yrs old, hazard R6million

◦ Example: Basic sanitation services (VIP’s) to 10,535 homes R95million

These were being prioritised and phased as funds become available

Included was filling of the absolutely crucial vacant posts on critical path to service delivery, especially in Engineering Services.

The Administrator concluded by stating that they were rapidly rolling out the turnaround plan. A number of “Quick win” service delivery projects were already rolled out and that R 313 million was required to effect the minimum service delivery improvements.

Members asked what steps had been taken in relation to Institutional arrangements and what role was the Mayoral Committee playing, taking into consideration the fact that the Administrator would be there for a short period. The delegation was informed that the structure still existed and that the Municipal Manager was on special leave and further that:

o The managers were re-prioritising projects.

o IDP – started from scratch. They would have to do an annual one and thereafter a 5 year plan.

o Plantation contributed between 7-9% of MIG. There was recession and therefore there was a downturn in sales.

o The water pipeline was asbestos and it was difficult to maintain and repair because of the availability of parts.

o Evictions – it was alleged that the farmers paid bribes to police to squash those eviction cases {dockets were missing and the police were taking kickbacks}.

o The Administrator was dealing with the issues raised in the Auditor General’s report. The Administrator and his team also did their own assessment.

o Nepotism – Findings were that selection and recruitment of employees was not approved by the Council in practice.

o The Administrator was trying very hard to include the administrative staff to be part of the process.

6.7 Meeting with Councillors

Councillors were asked to talk about the issues relating to institutional arrangements and how they worked with each other.

Councillors said that there were two institutions existing, one prior to the section 139 intervention and the one after that.
There was uncertainty as to role clarification. The role of the Administrator vs the role of Councillors.
The Councillors alleged that they were never informed as to what were the duties of the Administrator. Example – Special Council meeting was chaired by the Speaker instead of the Administrator.
The Councillors alleged that the Administrator had absolute power, and there was doubt that they exist as a Council.
Supply Chain Management – No Councillor could be part of a bid committee. The Council had not received a report back on bid committees. When requests were made they were told that the law provided that no Councillor could influence the bid committee and if they opened them up to Councillors there would be interference from the Councillors. Members should consider amending this legislation so that bid committees could be more inclusive.
Funding by District Municipalities – There was no reporting structure in terms of reporting on funds transferred by the District to the local municipality.
There was a complaint regarding the use of Mayoral cars by the staff of the Administrator and use of facilities without a Council resolution.
There was no consultation on projects done in the municipality by Departments.
Wards belonged to private land and not Council land.
Lack of communication.
Some Councillors were capacitated and others not. Those that were sent for training did not report back to the Council on that training.
The officials were always on training.
The concerned group had taken over the Municipality.
A new security company was in place – the previous one could not provide a contract between it and the municipality and was therefore suspended.
In rural wards Councillors were still fighting for people to get water.
Councillors reported that a radio announcement had been made that all the Councillors were suspended and this led to confusion. Councillors were not recognised by the people because of this.
Councillors wanted the MEC to come and visit them so that they could show him where the problems were.
Lack of team spirit in the Council.
Councillors caught in between the fight of Mayor and Speaker.

6.8 Recommendations

There should be clarity as to who the Council’s stakeholders were.
Recommendations should be accompanied by reports.
The Mayoral Committee should ensure that it conducted community meetings on a regular basis to report on its activities and also to promote public participation.
Councillors were cautioned to look at section 139 (1) (c) of the Constitution.
They needed to find a common objective
Mayor and Speaker to rise above their differences and start working together for the benefit of the community of Mkhondo.
A need for the improvement of communication with ward Councillors and that they should convene regular meetings.
The Administrator and his team should respect the Councillors and work together with the Mayor, Speaker and Mayoral Committee as the Council was not yet dissolved in terms of section 139(1)(c)

6.9 Public Hearing with the Community

In this meeting the members of the public raised the same issues that were raised in the previous meetings with Councillors on service delivery. There was also a complaint of farm evictions and harassment of farm dwellers. One member of the community had been physically assaulted and received an injury to his left eye.

6.9.1 Recommendations

It was recommended that the farm evictions and harassment of farm dwellers should be dealt with as a matter of urgency.
The responsibilities of the Administrator in Mkhondo should be defined vis-à-vis the roles of the Mayor, Speaker and Councillors;
The role of the police in the Mkhondo Municipality and should be investigated;
The role of Traditional Leaders should be clarified with regard to the allocation of land without the infrastructure;
The roles of the Mayor, Speaker and Chief Whip needed to be clarified;
The role of the Chief Whips should be defined just as those of the other Office Bearers;
The reporting lines of the CDWs should be clarified and also the extent of the Councillors involvement in the monitoring of the CDWs;
The Councillors must be capacitated in terms of their roles and responsibilities;
There should be a review of the institutional arrangements in Mkhondo as the Administrator failed to understand his role in relation to the role of the Mayor, Speaker and Councillors;
The Acting Head of Department should go to Mkhondo Municipality to clarify the terms of reference and section 139(1)(b).

7. NORTHERN CAPE

7.1 Meeting with Speaker and Chief Whip

The Chairperson Mr G Mokgoro opened the proceedings. Madam Acting Speaker welcomed the delegates of the NCOP and the representatives of the Provincial Legislature. Mr Mokgoro thanked the staff for the preparations.

The Chairperson gave a briefing on the work that the NCOP had been busy with in Parliament. He mentioned the composition of the NCOP and its functions, and section 77 bills and other related matters that were finalised. He also mentioned that he received communication whilst in Cape Town that he had been nominated as the whip for the NCOP delegation. Mr Mokgoro mentioned that the purpose of the day’s programme was to align the programme of the NCOP and that of the Legislature.

Mr Mokgoro also highlighted that in terms of the preparation of the NCOP Provincial Week, there was supposed to be a briefing with the Premier to regarding the priorities ands plan of the province and how these would be implemented in terms of the national priorities as mentioned by the President in the State of the Nation Address. The programme for the week was discussed and the changes made in terms of time allocation and representatives that the Legislature would avail for the week.

There was a question raised as to which part of the Vaalharts Irrigation Scheme would be visited. The NCOP Whip suggested that the community next to the scheme should be visited and the scheme as a whole, to look at possibilities of how the scheme would benefit the community especially in terms of food gardens. The Department of Agriculture would be requested to assist, since there was a resource that could be used to benefit the community and not only the farmers, as the community was dependent on boreholes for drinking water. There had also been a special request for a dam for Namakwa.

Mr Sinclair raised the voting process of the NCOP. Mr Mokgoro requested that the matter be referred to the House for discussion.

7.2 Briefing on Provincial Priorities and Service Delivery Backlogs

The Acting Director-General delivered a presentation (overview) on behalf of the Departments (Co-operative Governance & Human Settlements and Finance, Economic Affairs and Tourism). The presenter began by mentioning that the Departments’ plans were informed by the government’s key strategic priorities as contained in MTSF 2009 – 2014 and the ANC’s election manifesto. The province had many priorities but only the main ones were listed.

One of the priories was that in terms of the EPWP the province must create 500 000 job opportunities by December 2009. Some of the priorities were already provided for in the Current MTEF, but some would require additional resources.

Because of limited resources the province was forced to implement prioritization measures such as:

Sequencing and phasing in of various programmes based on available resources;
Comprehensive review of the budget to identify potential savings; and
Creative ways to involve Development Finance Institutions (DFIs) and private sector in the implementation of some new projects i.e. partnerships.

The priorities as adopted by the Northern Cape Executive Council on 9 June 2009 as per clusters were as follows.

7.2.1 Economic cluster

Among others the economic sector would:

o Relieve the burden of downturn on low income workers, the unemployed and the vulnerable;

o Establish an infrastructure task team to monitor the implementation of the infrastructure projects;

o Where there were constraints, Provincial Treasury would be tasked to find speedy solutions within the parameters of the law.

In the short term the sector was aimed at the following:

o Promotion of domestic procurement;

o Finalization of the reconfiguration of affected departments in the Cluster by November 2009;

o Immediate roll-out of EPWP phase 2;

o De Aar hospital completion to be fast-tracked by infrastructure team;

o Launch of Riemvasmaak pilot of Comprehensive Rural Development programme (deadline was June 2009)

o Establishment of Northern Cape Trade and Investment Agency (briefing was scheduled on 9 September 2009);

o Launch of Kimberly International Diamond and Jewellery Academy;

o National World Tourism day celebrations in Northern Cape (at Macala Lodge);

o Launch the provincial farm and rural school strategy.

Other activities of the sector include:

Treasury to prepare a report on preferential procurement for the provincial administration (this was initially scheduled for August 2009)
Department of Economic Development to convene a Provincial Economic Summit in November 2009; and
Produce final reports on current flagship and provincial projects in order to decide on reprioritization.

Presentation of these priorities was to be made to relevant stakeholders (including MINMECs). There would also be an Indaba on infrastructure and EPWP held in the province. The Department would also launch strategies for the development and promotion of cooperatives as well as the strategy for local economic development. It would also develop strategy for capacity building of the BEE companies and contractors in the province.

7.2.2 Social cluster

The aims of this cluster included:

Implementation of an integrated plan for school safety and crime prevention;
Reduction in the municipality rates for schools;
Improve school infrastructure design to accommodate the implementation of the school nutrition programme, grade R classes and sport facilities;
Finalization of ABET and early childhood development (ECD) conditions of service by Department of Education to ensure stability in the sector;
Finalise institutional arrangements between Khari Gude and relevant departments;
Implement a central integrated information and reporting system for learners and monitoring of performance generally.

These it would do by:

Giving accredited training for all ECD practitioners and doubling the intake of ECD learners;
Finalizing the establishment of a fully-fledged university for the province;
Prioritise the service delivery in John Taole Gaetsewe District;
Seek funding for the upgrade of the Northern Cape Theatre and for the proposed Northern Cape Sport complex;
The poverty rating and index of schools to be reviewed and amended if necessary;
Draft a report on the graduated nurses from the nursing college with a view of utilization of this pool and reconsider the location of the current nursing college with the view of affirming this institution;
Health and Corrections Departments to submit report on the spread of HIV/Aids in prisons with a view to reduction
Implement the 10-point plan for health as a driver for health transformation; and review the drug policy of the province.

7.2.3 Governance cluster

The priorities included:

Regular reporting on progress regarding implementation of the government Plan of Action;
Ensure alignment of new departmental configuration in line with national reconfiguration (President has signed this Proclamation);
Operationalise systems for effective monitoring and evaluation at the centre of provincial government, in line with requirements of new Planning and Monitoring & Evaluation ministries;
Ensure efficiency of all IGR structures (e.g. Premier’s Intergovernmental Forum)
Ensure province progressively realizes effective support to traditional leadership structures and communities;
Improve state capacity: filling of key critical posts in provincial administration as well as municipalities, develop retention strategy for scarce skills and ensure all departments have human resource development strategies reviewed;
Monitoring and regular reporting on provincial equity targets;
Ensure institutionalization and monitoring of the performance management and development system;
Ensure ongoing interaction with the electorate through Cabinet and Council meets the people interactions; and
More effective utilization of CDWs for service delivery enhancement (provincial master plan drafted – deadline is November 2009)

This would be done through:

Ensuring ongoing efforts for detecting and combating corruption e.g. implementing disclosure and conflict of interest frameworks, finalizing enquiries by NACH, finalise provincial anti-corruption structures and tighter procurement processes.
Participating in and supporting “ Operation Clean Audit” and ensuring tight fiscal management and control through training as well as improving internal audit capacity;
Ensuring higher levels of compliance with regard to Public Service Act.

7.2.4 Peace and Security cluster

The priorities were:

Establish efficient and transformed criminal justice system to develop capacity for fighting and reducing crime. This entailed, among others, review location of police stations for greater accessibility, management and funding for community safety forums, reductions of case backlogs, align structures and operational jurisdiction with municipal boundaries, improve systems in jail to reduce recidivism, etc.
Actively combat serious and violent crime by being tougher on criminals and organized syndicates. This entailed giving special attention to traffic offences as well as crime intelligence.
Security provision at big events. This entailed policing all provincial, national and international events hosted by the provinces.
Establish and strengthen new unit to fight organized crime.
Provide support for SAPS, especially to combat attacks on police. This included measure to decrease suicides among SAPS members.
Combat violence and crimes against women and children. Included establishing more and capacitating existing safety centres for abused women and children.
Mobilize communities to participate in combating crime. By establishing street committees, community policing forums, provincial Anti-Crime Forum etc. also mobilize traditional leaders to promote peace in rural areas.
Improve safety measures at schools. By integrating work of SGBs, PTAs and CPFs in order to develop school safety plans and integrated programmes to create safer schools.
Step up measures in the fight against corruption within society, the state and private sector. By introducing measures to eliminate tampering with SCM processes and eradicating bribery.
Transform judiciary and judicial services. Through recruitment and retention of historically disadvantaged law graduates within criminal justice system and allocating more resources to lower courts.
Improve border management to improve on national and regional peace. Through executing border control operations, combating crimes associated with illegal immigrants, and awareness campaigns to prevent xenophobic incidents.

The province pointed out that some of the priorities fell outside their competence and as such could not to be executed. It called on the NCOP delegates for assistance in that regard.

7.3 Service delivery backlogs

7.3.1 Sanitation

2 191 buckets still existed at May 2008 on formal stands that needed to be eradicated. 42 227 did not have basic sanitation and lived in towns and villages. 72% of the backlog was on formal stands. Another 19 057 households living on farms required basic sanitation by 2014.
Basic sanitation was supplied to 81% of all households. However, a total of 42 227 households living in towns and villages were without basic sanitation. The greatest need was in Moshaweng Municipality with 12 455 households.
Together with the backlog in settlements the total sanitation backlog was 61 284 households. Each year another estimated 3 000 households were formed thus increasing the backlog.
The only municipalities that have eradicated the sanitation backlog were Kgatelopele and four district municipalities in the former DMAs.

7.3.2 Water

Approximately 94% of the households had a basic supply of water with respect to a distance of 200m or closer to their homes.
In formal settlements the total water backlog was 18 364 households.
A total of 11 255 households on informal sites without basic water supply had increased and this was attributed to the growth in informal settlements. Moshaweng had a total of 7 009 households without basic water.
Another 7 109 households living on farms were without basic water supply.
Of the 32 municipalities, 18 had reached the water target by 2007/2008 and at least another six were expected to reach the target by the end of this financial year.

7.3.3 Household Electricity

The electricity backlog had been verified by Department of Minerals and Energy as 263 398 having electricity. The backlog was thus 46 608 households.
Gamagara Municipality had 489 households requiring access and Ga-Segonyana Municipality indicated that 16 774 households had access to electricity.

7.3.4 Housing

According to the Community Survey the backlog was 48 000 units.
During the MTEF the province was to build the following units: Lerato Park – 4 600 units, Ou Boks (Colesberg) – 2 200 units, Pampierstad – 1 400 units. Greater John Taole Gaetsewe – 4 500 units.

The total provincial budget for 2009/2010 was R178 million, plus the added national allocation of R152 million.

7.4 Questions and Comments

Hon. Faber commented that there should be marketing of the Northern Cape on the N1 to encourage all people to use N12. This was because the N1 had many tollgates which did not benefit the province. He also asked why the province built a prison for R1 billion and not a university. He said that the province must intervene in all municipalities that received disclaimers. In the SolPlaatjie Municipality there had been no people from the Department in 7 years to help the municipality despite disclaimers over that period.

With regard to criminal justice he said the shortage of magistrates was a burning issue that caused case backlogs. Regarding housing he said that the bad quality of houses at Soul City needed correcting, not observing. There must be a strategy and system to deal with housing backlogs.

Hon De Beer asked what progress had been made in Moshaweng since the NCOP’s last visit. Also what attractions did theNorthern Cape have for industries With regard to water he said it was irresponsible for people not to have water while farms had water for animals. He asked what the department was doing in that regard. With regard to CDWs, he asked what training they received and how were they monitored. He also asked what were the mining houses doing as their social responsibility in the province.

Hon Gunda asked for the province to push for the Khoisan and Griqua communities to be included in the Traditional Leadership Amendment Bill. He lamented the fact that development was focused in Kimberley at the expense of other regions and that there was no BEE in Northern Cape. He asked whether government institutions helped with economic development of the province.

7.4.1 Responses and further questions

The Acting D-G stated that the Executive Council would market the province more. With regard to the university, she said the province would rely on permanent delegates to lobby on the matter because higher education was not a competence of provinces. She said Moshaweng was prioritized and Agri-Northern Cape would be engaged on the issue of shortage of water to work out the quotas.

MEC Mmoiemang stated that regarding the issue of the Khoisan community, they had made a presentation to the Legislature and his Department regarding their status. It transpired that they were refused participation in the national House, but they did participate in the provincial House.

With regard to Sol Plaatjie Municipality the MEC said his Department had engaged the Treasury regarding intervention in that municipality. There was progress since the intervention. This was helped by the “Clean Audit” launched by the Department.

With regard to CDWs he said the Department would appoint supervisors in all districts for CDWs and also that the Department had put in place mechanisms for all the projects to ensure that they were finished as contemplated. He conceded that the funding model of the province was biased towards urban municipalities, but that that would change in line with the rural development priority.

Hon Gunda asked the Department to intervene in Rietfontein High School (in Kgalagadi) as it did not have a librarian and no sport activities. He said water in Siyanda was undrinkable and the laboratory tests had also attested to that.

The HOD for Economic Development responded that the delegates should help lobby for the province because the DTI was the one directing where the investment in the country should take place. He said the province was not an automatic choice for development, hence the need for delegates to help.

Hon Mokgoro requested the province to send correspondence to delegates so that they could base their lobbying thereon. He further said they would also do their best to ensure that the university projects soon materialized as these had economic spin-offs for the province.

Hon Tau stated that as delegates they were the conveyor belts for the issues affecting the province, and that the province must use them. He said they would raise in the NCOP the issue about the N2 Gateway project because the Northern Cape was initially identified as the pilot project for eradicating poverty through housing. He also said they would follow-up on the question they had asked the Minister of Mineral Resources about the diamond smelter in the province.

Hon Sinclair stated that there must be a move away from urban strategy to a rural-driven one in order to fight poverty. He also raised a concern that the economic development of South Africa was skewed in favour of the eastern parts. He asked about the progress on the Northern Cape Development Agency.

The HOD for Economic Development responded that the Agency needed legislation through which it was to be launched. The Department was busy with formulating this legislation.

When concluding Hon Tau made reference to the Oversight Model that Parliament had adopted and emphasized that in the same way that the departments were accountable to Parliament, Permanent Delegates were also held to account to provincial legislatures, and that that was not limited to “provincial weeks”. He also raised a concern that since the start of the Fourth Parliament no Salga delegate had represented the Northern Cape in the NCOP. MECs from the province had also not participated in policy debates on budgets. He appealed to the MEC to ensure that these began to happen.

7.6 Presentation by Department of Public Works – By MEC Booi, accompanied by Ms Palmer (HOD)

The presentation highlighted that the Department had about R78 million for 2009/2010 which could increase to R123 million in 2012/2013. The Department was in discussion with the Minister of Public Works regarding human resource capacity in order to meet the targets of the EPWP. The MEC also requested the delegates to help in that regard.

He said all the MECs were hands-on in respect of the EPWP since they were required to account politically. When procuring his Department was ensuring that the money remained in or was spent in the province. It also ensured that the local people were hired in those projects.

7.6.1 Questions and comments

Hon Faber raised a concern that the jobs created were not sustainable.

Hon De Beer said the road from Soebatfontein to N7 must be fixed. The Honderklip Bay road was built without consulting the local people and as such the road was now unusable.

Hon Gunda raised a concern that tenders were given to the same people, even when they had failed in previous projects. He said in many cases these were not even local companies and did not employ local people.

Hon Sinclair asked what the contribution of the EPWP jobs was to the infrastructure of the province. He also asked what the Department’s plan was regarding building of dams in the province.

Hon Tau responded that delegates must understand that the EPWP was an interventionist strategy to help the developmental state, as such it was aimed at permanent jobs. It was also to empower ordinary people to acquire skills so that they could create jobs for themselves.

7.6.2 Responses

MEC Booi stated that his Department was practical, and the theoretical debate whether this strategy was sustainable should be taken up by delegates. He, however, said they were learning from the mistakes in the awarding of tenders and were correcting them.

With regard to Honderklip Bay he said the Department was going back to the area and was listening to the community. He said they were making use of people in the EPWP projects and only used machines if that could not be avoided.

7.7 Visit to Vaalharts Irrigation Scheme

Presentation by HOD for Agriculture

The HOD gave an overview of what the Vaalharts Irrigation Scheme was all about. The project was very helpful to people of the area as they were largely dependent on agriculture. However, the Scheme had become overburdened and needed major maintenance.

7.7.1 Questions for clarity

Hon Faber asked whether the Department was also receiving water from the Taung Dam since the Scheme could not cope on its own. Hon Mokgoro asked whether the national Department of Agriculture was aware of all the plans regarding the Scheme.

The HOD responded that the national Department was aware of the plans and there had been a conference organized in partnership with the national Department where all provinces had participated. Experts were brought in to help with research and designs and the discussions were still continuing. With regard to Taung Dam he said that there was currently no irrigation out of that dam.

7.7.2 Additional presentations

The presentation indicated that one major problem with the Scheme was the salination of the water as that was not good for crops. The Vaal River was the major contributor of salt in the area and the river was declining rapidly thus negatively affecting the Scheme. Currently the scheme was not functioning optimally because there were defects on the canal supplying water to the farms.

NAFU added that the Scheme was expanding and some cattle had been brought in for piloting animal farming.

Agri-Northern Cape added that the project started in 1997 and was very helpful to the farmers of the area. This was important because agriculture was the backbone of the economy of the province, together with mining. It emphasized the need for new and upcoming farmers to be supported by all stakeholders: banks, government and existing farmers.

7.7.3 Questions and comments

Hon Mokgoro asked what would be done to fix the damage on the canal so that the Scheme could function optimally.

Hon Mompati (MPL) asked legislators to help with solving the problems in respect of the Scheme. He asked what the impact of the Scheme was on the people, especially the poor. He also asked what the equity plan was in respect of on the Scheme.

Hon De Beer asked what would be done with the catchment area of the Vaal River in Mpumalanga as that was where the salination started with acid deposits by mines in Mpumalanga. He also asked what the politicians were doing to put the Scheme on the national agenda as well as its capacity needs.

Hon Chotelo (MPL) asked how long it would take to repair the damage on the canal and for long it had been damaged.

7.7.4 Responses by the Department

With regard to equity plans, the department stated that the District Manager responsible for the Scheme was a black woman and that there was also one black civil engineer. However, there was a shortage of skilled engineers. The Department had an equity plan to address the issue.

The damage was beyond repair and the canal needed to be rebuilt. This would take about 10 years.

With regard to salination starting in Mpumalanga, the Department asked that the politicians assist in this regard especially as mining was a national competence. It said NCOP delegates must raise this issue with their counterparts from Mpumalanga to provide a solution.

After the presentation there was a site visit to the irrigation projects to witness the effects of the salination. There was also a visit to Spitskop Dam which was said not to be benefiting the local villages that were still without water. The person responsible for the upkeep of the dam attested to this claim and said it was the Department of Water Affairs and Environment that had to approve the giving of the water to the villages. He, however, stated that there first had to be the necessary infrastructure in place such as a purification system.

7.8 Presentation by Auditor-General (Northern Cape Office)

In the 2007/8 financial year 17 municipalities in Northern Cape had disclaimers and 7 had qualified reports. In 2008/9 3 municipalities (Gamagara, Ubuntu & Namakwa) moved from disclaimers to qualified reports. Kareeberg Municipality moved from a financial unqualified (with other matters) to a financially unqualified (with no other matters) opinion. Kai Ma Municipality moved from an adverse opinion to a qualified opinion.

Factors attributable to improvements in audit outcomes were:

o Proper records management

o Availability of key officials

o Compilation and implementation of specific action plans to address prior year issues

o Quality of management comments on findings

The way forward to obtain unqualified audit reports was

o Address property, plant and equipment issues

o Further improvement in records management

o Improved and sustained effort with action plans to address current and prior year issues

17 municipalities continued to get disclaimers while Moshaweng deteriorated from qualified to disclaimer.

Factors attributable to deterioration in audit outcomes:

o Vacancy at CFO level

o Lack of a proper records management system

o Key officials not available during the audit

For the current year 10 municipalities submitted their financial statements late. Phokwane had not submitted in the last two years. 13 did not report and 20 did not comply with the Act.

Fees owing to Auditor-General South Africa (AGSA) by municipalities as at 28 February 2009 totalled R23 121 561 and this made it very difficult for the office. However, it had to be kept in mind that most of the municipalities were cash-strapped.

7.8.1 Questions

Hon De Beer asked what AGSA was doing to train municipalities. The reply was that the assistance must be at the instance of the Treasury and Department of Cooperative Governance.

Hon Faber commented that the problem was with unqualified top management at these municipalities and that this must be corrected.

Hon Mokgoro asked what recourse AGSA had when municipalities did not pay and when they reported late. The response was that a letter in terms of section 133 of the Municipal Finance Management Act was sent, forcing them to respond. The letter was also sent to Parliament for it to take appropriate action. AGSA could not be involved in operational matters in municipalities. It was municipalities themselves that should develop the action plans to solve the root causes of their problems.

Hon De Beer asked that the question of unqualified staff should be followed up on because it was asked in 2008 through the Northern Cape SCOPA committee.

Hon Tau asked the extent to which consultants were used by AGSA as well as AGSA’s consideration of political imperatives by municipalities when they spent funds. The response was that AGSA reviewed and verified the auditing done by consultants that were contracted before the audit outcomes were made official. With regard to the second question, AGSA said it would appreciate it if it were informed of expenditure based on political imperatives so that it could record it properly.

7.9 Presentation by Salga

The presenter started by explaining Salga’s role in helping the municipalities. He said it established District Finance Forums for municipalities to share information and to be equipped regarding budget planning. There was also a partnership with the Department of Cooperative Governance regarding section 57 (of the Municipal Systems Act) appointments. However, he mentioned that political oversight by Salga was limited as municipalities were autonomous and affiliated voluntarily to Salga.

Salga was also building capacity in municipalities in partnership with the Municipality Training Institute (MTI). More than 1000 officials and councillors had already been trained.

Hon Mokgoro asked why Salga had not been using the space given to it in the NCOP. The response was that Salga national was the deciding body and Salga Northern Cape was also concerned about the non- participation.

Challenges faced by municipalities in Northern Cape were:

o Bucket eradication

o Electricity

o Water

o Indigent Policies

o Waste Management Strategy

o Landfill sites

With regard to the first three the ever-increasing households were contributing to municipalities failing to meet targets.

7.10 Presentations by AGSA on the Dept. of Education in Northern Cape

The AGSA was unable to obtain sufficient appropriate evidence to provide a basis for an audit opinion on the financial statements and as such could not give an opinion. The qualification history of the Department was that in 2005 it received an unqualified report, in 2006 a qualified report, in 2007 and 2008 disclaimers i.e. there was a deterioration.

There were R22.8 million payments not disclosed to AGSA and expenditure documents for the amount of R18 million were not supplied. The assets register of the Department also showed major discrepancies. The accruals also had a R2.3 million understatement. A total of R900 million was unaccounted for.

Hon Tau asked how many people were charged for the poor record management. He said that there to be an improvement in terms of availability of key officials and documents during auditing. Also municipalities must have clear plans especially because that they raised concerns that they did not have adequate budgets. Salga must ensure that it participated in the NCOP so that it could be assisted regarding challenges it faced. Salga should also partner with other stakeholders to get the required skills into municipalities. Lastly it should follow-up on the R900 million that was unaccounted for as reported by AGSA.

7.11 Public Participation at Schmidtsdrift

Hon Mogoro explained the purpose of the meeting and put the “provincial week” in context.

Councillor Marekwa listed the biggest challenges of the area as being poverty, lack of water, ownership of land and lack of electricity, despite the area being rich in minerals (diamonds). He stated that the mining houses had promised to give the community about R2 million but never did. A clinic, police station and sports facilities were still needed in the area.

The Mayor mentioned that there were two projects (for roads and water purification plant) that were in progress and were budgeted for R21 million. He said currently the municipality did not have a budget for the provision of water People resorted to using boreholes. There were unused water mills and pumps because of a lack of electricity. He also said they were concerned about the youth unemployment in the area.

Community members raised concerns about problems brought about by the mining in the area such as excavation of graves and closing of cultivation fields. They said the CPA (i.e. the trustee of the land) did not negotiate with community members when dealing with the mining houses and this had divided the community.

One community member asked why the media were never brought along to the area during meetings of this nature. They said water tanks and piped installed were not working. There was only one nurse for the whole area and the clinic was overburdened.

7.11.1 Responses

Mr. Pholoholo (for CPA) stated that the Commission on Traditional Leadership (Nhlapo Commission) had not resolved the chieftaincy issue of Schmidtsdrift and as such CPA would be the trustee until the matter was resolved. However, he said that the Minister for Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs had undertaken to resolve the matter soon.

Ms Gill (Public Works) stated that the Department still owned some portions of Schmidtsdrift but that this would be transferred to the community soon, after all processes and formalities were concluded.

Mr. Buyane (Land Commission) stated that the conflicts between different groups in the community were delaying the transfer of claimed land. He also mentioned that their records showed that there was a lot of money in the bank for the Schmidtsdrift community, so it was surprising that the community was said to be poor. However, the area was one of the priority areas of the Rural Development Ministry.

Ms Brown (Department of Cooperative Governance) stated that Zone 4 had 400 portions that were being serviced, but the area was rocky and there were delays in the completion of the project – scheduled for December 2009. Zone 5 had about 200 sites serviced and completion was scheduled for February 2010. She said there would be meeting regarding tenders on upcoming projects on 15 September 2009 and asked the community to attend.

A representative from the Department of Agriculture stated that they had recently vaccinated the livestock in the area for anthrax and phase 2 of the vaccination would continue soon. He said the community was given seed for sowing but the challenge was water shortage. However, boreholes were being drilled to deal with the challenge.

Hon Dikgetsi (MPL) stated that the Legislature would ensure that people received the services as promised. It would hold departments accountable, follow up on the issues raised and may even invite the community to the meetings when it did so. He said that the provincial cabinet would be given the report to act on. He however, raised a concern about the reported conflict among community members. He warned them that that would derail the development of the area.

Hon Tau in conclusion, made a plea to the Department of Public Works to make an assessment and help with infrastructure development in the area. He said it was not enough that it shift responsibility, because government worked according to integrated plans (IDPs). He also made reference to the conflict and said the cause thereof was the interests of individuals in the mines in the area. He said the community should watch out for such people and strive to work together.

7.12 Debriefing meeting

7.12.1 Status of the NCOP (Liaison) Office in Cape Town

Hon Mokgoro explained the reason why he wanted the status of the Office discussed. He said that there were many problems in the Office to an extent that it was almost non-functional at all due to lack of tools of trade.

Ms Masekela (Liaison Officer) made an overview of the challenges faced by the Office. They included the following:

The allowance money given for rental and cellphone airtime was not sufficient;
Only R300. 00 was given for internet connection per month;
No stationery. Often had to borrow from other provinces;
No allowance for refreshments;
Furniture delivered does not fit in the office – office very small;
Sometimes fax was not working because it was a telefax and Telkom was not paid in time.
There was also dissatisfaction of the staff regarding salaries.

Hon Tau stated that this situation was unacceptable because the office was the entry point for the province to Parliament. It was actually the Premier’s office because the Premier was the leader of the delegation. The current status was undermining of the Premier’s stature. He said the office should be the reception area for every delegation from the province to Parliament under the leadership of the Provincial Whip, but this was not happening. Further that the current situation also undermined the Speaker’s Office because of its link with that Office. All communication with the Provincial Legislature must be done through the Liaison Office. He also said that the Legislature should provide for staff’s allowance for displacement to Cape Town. Lastly he said the role of Parliamentary Democracy Office (PDO) must be integrated into programmes of the Legislature as agreed at the Strategic Planning Workshop.

Hon Sinclair stated that Permanent Delegates must look internally and sort out these challenges by meeting regularly to discuss issues of the province. He said the functionality of the office must be reviewed in the Legislature with regard to capacity and how it assisted the delegates. He said the Permanent Delegates and MPLs must get together and discuss the way they operate in the NCOP.

Hon De Beer said the Parliamentary program must be sent to MECs to sensitise them to the processes and programme of Parliament.

Hon Molusi (Chief Whip of the Legislature) stated that the Legislature had not received the NCOP programme since the start of the term. He said the political leadership would visit the Liaison Office to ensure that it functioned properly.

Speaker van Wyk raised a concern that the opposition parties seemed not to be utilizing the Office and that the matter must be corrected. He mentioned that the Legislature did not have a sufficient budget, but would try by all means to resolve the challenges of the Office. He said the Rules Committee and EXCO would look into the whole matter and come up with a way forward. He also said communication between the Provincial Whip and the Legislature’s Chief Whip must improve.

Hon Mokgoro said the Speaker’s Office should check the Money Bills Amendment Procedure and Related Matters Act to see how it affected the province’s budget and how it could be used to resolve the under-budgeting of the legislature.

7.13 Draft Report

The Draft Report was tabled and members said they will interrogate it and make their inputs. It was agreed that the final report would be adopted on Thursday, 17 September and thereafter tabled in the legislature. The Members ended the programme by joining the MPLs in an oversight visit to a mental hospital building (still under construction) to check the progress thereof.

8. NORTH WEST

During the course of the Provincial Week the North West NCOP Permanent Delegates returned to their province in order to meet with the Premier together with her Provincial Cabinet , the Speaker and the Chief Whip of Legislature, the leadership of the four District Municipalities existing in the province together with their respective Local Municipalities, representatives of South African Local Government Association (Salga) and the community of Ntsweletsoku through public hearings, as part of pursuing the principles of co-operative governance as enshrined in chapter three of the Constitution of the country.

It was in this context that during the first day the North West Permanent Delegates had an opportunity to interact with the Premier Honourable M Modiselle together with her entire Cabinet. The meeting focussed on the priorities of each individual provincial department so as to exchange and share ideas on progress that had been made around service delivery issues and challenges confronting the North West Province in fulfilling its mandate. The meeting provided the Premier and her Cabinet an opportunity to give the NCOP Delegates a mandate in respect of issues that were to be placed on the agenda of the NCOP. The engagement was guided by the provincial week’s programme in the context of establishing the collaborative approaches in seeking solutions and devising mechanisms that would address the needs of the people of the North West.

8.1 Meeting with the Premier and Members of the Executive Council

The NCOP delegation was warmly welcomed by Premier Modiselle who expressed her commitment to co-operate with the NCOP and gave the assurance to provide the necessary and unequivocal support to the North West NCOP Permanent Delegates.

The NCOP Provincial Whip Honourable Maine on behalf of the delegation welcomed the input by the Premier and further alluded that the meeting with the Provincial Executive would be characterized by robust engagement with MECs in an effort to gain insight into their priorities in providing service delivery to the people of the North West. During his introductory remarks he emphasized that the principles of co-operative governance and intergovernmental relations outlined in the Constitution needed to be upheld at all times because they were the cornerstone of our democracy.

8.1.1 Presentation by the MEC for Finance, MEC Louisa Mabe

The MEC highlighted the following issues:

Infrastructure

Infrastructure planning and implementation had improved in the province to the extent that spending moved from 92% to 98% in 2008/09. The spending percentage for the 1st quarter of 2009/10 was more than the same period last year.

Backlogs

Due to the reduction of the provincial budget of about R2 billion in 2007/08, to R139 million in 2009/10, backlogs increased over the time. MEC Mabe stated that the Province was about to lose more than R1 million due to the decision to re-dermarcate Merafong. As a result of this decision, there would be a budget cut that may adversely affect service delivery in the North WestProvince. The budget cut contributed to the creation of backlogs in the province in areas such as: Infrastructure, hospitals and clinics, schools, roads, scholar transfer and subsidy and housing.

The service delivery / infrastructure backlog was estimated at R13.2 billion over the 2010/11 year based on recently submitted infrastructure plans:

Budget pressures

The budget and expenditure for the financial year 2009/10 had already started to indicate that the province required more than R500 million this financial year. The bulk of the projected overspending was in the following departments:

Public Works
Roads and Transport
Health
Social Development

These departments could not pay all invoices for the 2008/9 financial year due to insufficient funds, hence the high spending during the first quarter of 2009/10. The invoices were for road construction, medical claims, bus subsidies and so forth. The provincial expenditure as at 31 July 2009 (detailed below) showed an increase of 2% when compared to 2008/09.

North West Provincial Departments	Approved Budget 2008/09	Actual Expenditure as at 31/07/2008	% Spent of Budget 2008/09	Approved Budget 2009/10	Actual Expenditure as at 31/07/2009	%Spent of Budget 2009/10
	R’ 000	R’ 000	R ‘000	R ‘000	R’ 000	R’ 000
Office of the Premier	248,295	67,602	27%	261,662	90,893	35%
Provincial Legislature	106, 411	34, 897	33%	133, 282	52, 494	39%
Health	4,242,790	1,371,144	32%	4,935,842	1,641,691	33%
Sport, Arts and Culture	327,150	109,662	34%	489,857	100,327	20%
Economic Development and Tourism	233,387	89,411	38%	288,021	103,928	36%
Finance	255,287	65,589	26%	330,856	70,055	21%
Education	7,015,482	2,225,653	32%	8,146,365	2,528,514	31%
Local Government & Housing	1,28,728	345,398	28%	1,349,867	380,445	28%
Public Works	591,041	181,811	31%	653,214	176,665	27%
Social Development	607,253	152,255	25%	724,527	189,089	26%
Agriculture, Conservation & Environment	605,285	143,370	24%	611,893	163,739	27%
Contingency Reserve	50,758	---	0%	----	----	0%
Total Provincial Expenditure	17,183,514	5338,388	31%	19,881,799	6,503,799	33%

Debts owed by Municipalities to the Auditor General

Some of the Municipalities owed the Auditor General huge amounts of money. However, some of them had made arrangements to make monthly payments. There were about four municipalities that the Auditor General was particularly concerned about.

The Provincial Treasury was engaging the affected municipalities to assist in revenue enhancement and reprioritization of commitments. The Auditor General had also committed to provide the departments and municipalities with budget figures for the coming year to be included in their budgets for 2010/12.

Observations by the delegation

Municipalities in the North West Province were owed a total of 4 billion rand. The amount was made up of debts owed by the public and government departments.
The service delivery / infrastructure backlog was estimated at R13.2 billion over the 2010/11 year based on recently submitted infrastructure plans.
The challenge that needed more attention was the assessment and monitoring of value for money.
Debts owed to municipalities were of concern given that the challenge was based on the credibility of the information. The information was doubtful due to the lack of a reliable system and capacity of staff.
North West was the only province operating outside the National Basic Accounting Financial System. Consolidation of budgets and expenditure reports by National Treasury became difficult under the current Walker System.
Municipal support was experiencing challenges with regards to financial management capacity, viability and continuity of technical and management resources.
Quality of the data in reports was still a challenge.
The staff turnover was also a major concern for support and skills transfer.

Recommendations

The Provincial Treasury should swiftly respond to the economic downturn through cost saving measures by engaging departments to channel non-core funds to service delivery areas.
The Provincial Treasury should identify areas that departments must target in order to release funds to address the service challenges and to respond to the financial crises.
The Provincial Treasury should assist departments to conduct a thorough assessment and monitoring of value for money.
The North West Province must implement the Basic Accounting System (BAS) with effect from 2010/11 financial year in order to address the challenges of the Walker System.
The Provincial Treasury should assist municipalities in the preparation of Annual Financial Statements and Implementation of the Accounting reform.
An intervention plan must be implemented urgently to address issues affecting municipalities in order to ensure that sound financial management of municipalities was applied.

8.1.2 Presentation by the MEC for Local Government and Traditional Affairs, MEC Gordon Kegakilwe

The MEC presented the following issues:

24 municipalities in the North West Province were categorised into 6 high, 11 medium, and 8 low capacity municipalities.
Low capacity municipalities were grant dependent and generated very little or no revenue.
Medium and high capacity municipalities experienced problems of debt collection. Current outstanding debt was more than R4 billion.
Financial management in municipalities was not up to the desired standard.
68% of the municipalities (i.e. 17 municipalities) received negative Auditor- General Reports for the 2007/08 financial year.
Capacity in finance departments of municipalities was not sufficient (there was a lack of financial management skills).

Support provided by the department on municipal finances

The Department had entered into an MOU with the Department of Finance on MFMA support to municipalities. The key focus areas (in terms of the MFMA provisions) for the Department of Local Government were as follows:

Monitor unauthorised, irregular or fruitless and wasteful expenditure
Recommend stopping of funds to municipalities
Support municipalities with budget process and related matters (i.e. SDBIPs and performance agreements).
Budgetary Control and early identification of problems
Report to EXCO if conditions for Provincial Intervention exist
Monitor and support municipalities with issues raised by Auditor-General in audit reports and reporting to Legislature
Monitor municipalities’ submission of annual reports and oversight reports to the provincial legislature in terms of 132(2).
Approval of Financial Recovery Plans
Monitor Councillors’ remuneration and disclosures concerning councillors, directors and officials
Regulations relating to financial misconduct procedures and criminal proceedings – in concurrence with the Minister for Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs

The MEC reported that the majority of MFMA functions were the responsibility of the Department of Finance. The Department of Finance had agreed to work together in supporting municipalities with financial management.

Municipal performance

In his presentation the MEC indicated that in terms of the 5 year LGSA, the department provided hands-on support to all municipalities on the 5 KPAs of municipal performance as follows:

o Transformation and organisational development

o Basic service delivery

o Local economic development

o Financial viability

o Good governance and public participation

Auditor General Outcomes for 2006/7: 4 unqualified opinions with matter of emphasis, 1 qualified opinion, 14 disclaimers, 2 adverse opinions, 2 outstanding.

AG’s outcome for 2007/8: 4 unqualified opinions with matters of emphasis, 4 qualified opinions, 11 disclaimers, 1 adverse opinion, reports of 2 municipalities (Ditsobotla and Mamusa) outstanding.

MIG Performance

o Total MIG expenditure as at end July 2009 was 16%; whereas the national expenditure norm was 25% per quarter

o The Division of Revenue Act provided enforcement mechanisms to national government but not to provinces. The province could monitor but could not enforce issues where there was MIG under-expenditure and misuse.

o There was a need to review policy and legislation. Provinces only had section 139 of the Constitution and the MFMA which was not always suitable for certain instances such as MIG performance

Observations by the Delegation

Members observed that there was an insufficient allocation of funding to the Department of Local government and Traditional Affairs in respect of municipal support.
There were four vacant positions for Municipal Managers in the North West Province.
The Department of Local Government and Traditional Affairs did not have a Unit of Engineers.
R70 million had been allocated in the current financial year for disaster management and sanitation in the form of transfers to municipalities.
Current water and sanitation backlogs were costed at R1.7 billion and R1.8 billion respectively.
There was no funding allocation for capacity building for municipalities for programmes such as training of Councillors, Officials, and Ward Committees; systems improvement and development; revenue enhancement.
Municipalities did not have reliable information on service backlogs and used Census 2001 data. This resulted in the insufficient allocation of grants.
The Ward Committees were not functional and were not co-operating with the Community Development Workers.

Recommendations:

o The Department of Local Government and Traditional Affairs must prioritise the following eight municipalities in the next financial year for urgent, intensive support: Ventersdorp, Tswaing, Lekwa Teemane, Mamusa, Moretele, Maquassi Hills, Kgetleng and Naledi.

o The four vacant positions for Municipal Managers must be filled before the end of the financial year.

o The Department of Local Government and Traditional Affairs must launch an Engineering Unit within the department in order to support district and local municipalities with engineers.

8.1.3 Presentation by the MEC for Health and Social Development, MEC Rebecca Kasienyane

The MEC presented the following issues:

The Department of Health and Social Development had at the beginning of the term of the 4th legislature merged into a single department in order to best deal with government’s social cluster priorities of improving the health and social conditions of the people of the North West.
There were four priority areas under the comprehensive management of HIV and AIDS and TB and these included: HIV prevention, Treatment, Care and support, Human rights and access to justice and Research
The Department of Health and Social Development would continue vigorously with the implementation of the comprehensive plan to combat HIV/AIDS. This would be done by among others increasing the number of ARV accredited service points from 29 to 35, increasing the number of adults with TB screened for HIV from 50% to 60%, and further increasing the number of adults with HIV screened for TB from 67% to 70%.
The department was committed to empowering the people of the North West through care and support programmes. The department would roll out the implementation of capacity building programmes for 1200 community care givers as part of the EPWP (Extended Public Works Program). In implementing the programme the department would also co-ordinate the Provincial EPWP Social Sector Steering Committee and roll out funding to 36 new HCBC and Drop-in centres and community gardens across the province.
Women’s health would always remain the department’s priority. This would be realized through expanding CTOP (Choice on Termination of Pregnancy) to two Community Health Centres and conducting three community consultation dialogues on CTOP.
The following were the programmes that would be undertaken by the department during the course of the financial year:

a. Reduction of Maternal and Neonatal Morbidity and Mortality

b. Reduction of under-five Mortality and Morbidity

c. Mental Health

d. Oral Health

e. Health Promotion

f. Eye Care Services

g. Chronic Diseases, Geriatrics and Rehabilitation

h. Nutrition Programme and Management of serve malnutrition

i. Environmental Health

j. Pharmaceutical Services

k. Emergency Mental Rescue Services

Recommendations

o Access to grants especially by child headed families and the implementation of early child developments must be accelerated.

o The department must immediately launch a Unit to deal with the National Health Insurance after it has been finalized by the national department

o The department must establish an institution to deal with drug abuse in Mafikeng.

o The department should fill all vacant positions for Professional Nurses, Specialists, and General Practitioners.

8.1.4 Presentation by the MEC for Agriculture, Conservation Environment and Rural Development, MEC Boitumelo Tshwene

The MEC presented the following issues:

Since the inception of the 4th legislature, the responsibilities of his department had increased to deal with the following clusters: Land Reform, Forestry, Water and Fisheries, Land Reform and Rural Development.

The department had identified 10 priorities for the term, but for the purposes of the presentation to the NCOP Delegation the presentation would cover Rural Development and Land Reform.

The mandate of the department was influenced by the State of the Nation Address and the State of the Province Address.

The department in the 4th legislature would prioritize Rural Development programmes as part of heeding the call of the President to improve the living conditions of rural communities.

The department had identified a Rural Development Pilot Project in the Bojanala District in a village called Mogalwaneng as part of ensuring sound delivery of services in the rural development sector. The pilot project would need R42 million in order to be implemented successfully.

The MEC identified the following Flagship Projects as anchor projects for poverty alleviation, growth and development in the province.

o Rural Development (Mogalwaneng)

o Letsema la Mantsha Tlala

o Taung Irrigation Scheme

o Agriculture Master Plan

o Nguni Cattle Development Project

o Western Frontier Development Project

o Mechanisation Programme

o Fencing Programme

o Land Reform Programme

o Firebreaks and Equipments

o Livestock Handling Facilities

o Essentials Oils Project

o Hartebeespoort Remediation Programme

o Environmental Implementation Plan

o Climate Change Response Strategy

o Land Care Programme

The following factors were identified as challenges affecting the department of Agriculture Conservation Environment and Rural Development:

o Scarce skills (economists, environmentalist, air quality and engineers)

o Implementation of the national job evaluation outcomes

o Business planning projects

o Changing weather patterns

o Equitable funding for the sector

o Infrastructure backlogs

o Constrained competitiveness and low productivity

o Land degradation, particularly in communal areas

o Development financing for emerging farmers

o Group dynamics on projects

o High production input cost

o Implementation of the new environmental legislation

The MEC mentioned that the biggest lion breeder in South Africa was located in the North West Province where there was a person who owned about 500 lions. There were specific processes that needed to be followed before a person could legitimately own lions. The MEC indicated that there was approximately 92% compliance in the province in terms of breeding lions. The lion industry was boosting the economy of the province because the cost of one lion was R800 000. The department was in the process of closing down the 8% of lion breeders who did not comply with the legislative requirements.

Observations by the delegation:

Members observed and noted with concern that the department did not have a budget to implement the Rural Development Pilot Project in the Bojanala District in the village of Mokgalwaneng.

The Taung irrigation project would require R500 million to be implemented successfully.

The rights of farm workers were not protected.

The MEC had met with the lion breeders to address the challenges and concerns pertaining to the lion breeders industry.

Illegal evictions of farm workers in the province were still prevalent.

Recommendations:

The department should reprioritize its funding in order to secure R42 million to implement successfully the Rural Development Pilot Project in the Mokgalanweng village.

The Provincial Government should work together with Moses Kotane Local Municipality and Bojanala District in order to launch the Rural Development Pilot Project successfully.

The department should devise strategies and mechanisms for protecting the rights of farm workers.

The department should establish a conflict resolution Unit to effectively address the evictions in farms.

The department should apply for funding from the Development Bank of Southern Africa (DBSA) to address its shortfalls in implementing projects such as the Taung irrigation projects and others.

8.1.5 Presentation by the MEC for Economic Development and Tourism, MEC Wendy Matsemela

The MEC presented the following issues:

The department was driving the following key mandates:

Economic (DTI, Economic Affairs, Mining and Minerals)
Economic Planning and Monitoring
Tourism (DEAT – National)

The department had the following agencies to fast-track implementation of specific projects and projects not covered by the department, viz,

o Invest North West (Investment Promotion)

o North West Parks and Tourism Board (Tourism Promotion)

o North West Gambling Board (Gaming and Beting)

o Mafikeng Industrial Development Zone (Industrial Development RIDS & IDZ)

o North West Development Corporation (NWDC). This corporation was currently focusing on availing industrial flats mainly, as it was under a judicial management process. A plan was being developed to re-engineer the corporation.

o North West (NW Liquor Board) The process of establishing a stand alone agency had been started in order to deal with the many challenges facing this Unit as part of the department.

o North West Consumer Court. The department was at the advanced stage of establishing a court for consumers.

Observations by the delegation:

o The Department for Economic Development and Tourism provided economic development services to the people of theNorth West Province.

o Agencies were inadequately funded and as a result State-Owned Enterprises (SOEs) were compelled to reduce their production capacities leading to low service delivery.

o The policy imperatives of the Department of Economic Development and Tourism required more funding than was granted.

o The Small, Medium and Micro Enterprises (SMMEs) from rural areas were being disadvantaged.

o The discontinuation of the Passenger Railway Train had adversely affected the economy of the province.

Recommendations:

The Department should during the 2009/10 fiscal year, fast track the following services:

a). Filling of vacant posts,

b). Finalise a new Department structure,

c). Complete all outstanding projects,

d). Finalise the legislative framework review, especially the Liquor Act,

e). Develop the Regional Industrial Development Strategy (RIDS), Provincial Implementation Plan (PIP), and

f). State-Owned Enterprises should play a leading role in the creation of decent job opportunities through procurement and infrastructure spending.

8.1.6 Presentation by MEC for Public Works, Roads and Transport, MEC M Mahlakeng

The MEC presented the following issues:

The department was reconfigured due to the merger of two departments, i.e. the former Departments of Public Works and Transport, Roads and Community Safety.
The need for the reconfiguration was informed by the new administration’s quest to deliver services to the people better, faster and cost effectively.
The department was responsible for the biggest infrastructure projects in the province such as the provision and maintenance of public buildings such as hospitals, schools government offices and road networks.
The province had 14000km of gravel road and 6000km of tarred road. The budget allocated to the department to repair roads was R153 million. This amount was insufficient. The department needed R1.7 billion to repair roads.
The department was busy undertaking 63 health building projects that included hospitals, clinics, community health centres, and mortuaries to help the client departments to expand the provision of quality health services to the people of the province.
The construction for three projects had already started namely, the Moses Kotane Hospital worth R190 million and expected to be completed in the next four months, Brits Hospital worth R543 million and scheduled for completion by November 2011 and Vryburg Hospital worth R304 million and expected to be completed by the end of July 2009. The remaining two hospitals, namely Bophelong Psychiatric and Litchenburg were at the planning stage.
The department had a shortfall of almost R500 million and had R2.534 850 billion for the 2009/10 financial year because of the R293 million carried over from the previous administration.

Observations by the delegation:

The department had limited funds to manage the roads and building maintenance programmes.
The department spent R300 million per annum on subsidizing busses.
The department faced challenges of emerging contractors and inadequate funding.
The North West Province was mostly rural in nature with low population densities and inadequate infrastructure, especially in the remote rural areas. This posed a challenge in respect of market access and participation in the mainstream economy.
The province had inadequate infrastructure in rural areas
There is need a need for skills transfer and service delivery.

Recommendations:

The department should apply for more additional funding from Treasury to effectively address, amongst others, the following challenges:

a) Road construction and tarring of gravel roads.

b) Implementation and coordination of the EPWP to address poverty and unemployment.

c) Establishment and implementation of service delivery improvement strategy.

d) Skills development through a learnership programme.

e) Recruit skilled engineers.

8.1.7 Presentation by the MEC for Human Settlements, MEC Desbo Sefanyetso

The MEC presented the following issues:

The department did not have a Head of Department (HOD) and planned to appoint one by December 2009.
The availability of land in the province was a serious challenge and as a result the department was engaging the Department of Land Affairs.
The department had increased the square meters of RDP houses from 35 square meters to 45 square meters.
The Premier announced during the State of the Province Address that the Housing Co-operation would be closed by the end of the year and the remaining staff of the co-operation would be absorbed by other departments.
Legislation would be introduced in the legislature to formally repeal the North West Housing founding Act.
There was no housing development plan in the area of Ramotshiri Moiloa.

Recommendations:

The department should complete the complicated process of locating and accounting for assets owned by the Housing Corporation.
The department should appoint the Head of Department before the end of 2009.

8.1.8 Presentation by the MEC for Education, MEC Reverend O.J. Tselapedi

The MEC presented the following issues:

Education received the largest share of the North West Provincial Equitable Share.
The department would focus on the following nine key priorities namely:

a) Grade 12 learners with academic support programmes.

b) Demographics in terms of people moving from rural to urban areas.

c) Capacity building programmes for the Schools Management in terms of looking at whether schools were managed properly.

d) Eliminate learner drop-outs within the system.

e) Improve performance in gateway subjects (Mathematics, Science & English).

f) Some of the schools would be transformed into full service schools for easy access for physically challenged learners as well as strengthening of special schools.

g) Providing learner transport in rural schools and nutritious meals to all learners.

h) Increasing the number of “No Fee” schools.

i) Increasing the intake of students in FET Colleges in the province.

Observations by the delegation:

o A shortage of Educators was serious challenge in the Province.

8.1.9 Presentation by the MEC for Sport, Arts and Culture

The MEC presented the following issues:

o 87% of the annual budget of the department was used for payment of staff salaries

o An amount of R 88 458 000 was allocated to Cultural Affairs.

o An amount of R115 782 000 was allocated to Libraries and Information Services in order to assist the local library authorities in the rendering of public library services

o An amount of R 224 337 000 was allocated to Sport and Recreation.

o The total budget of the department for 2009/10 was R488 million.

o The department was responsible for development and promotion of the sectors of Sport, Arts and Culture in the province.

o The department committed itself as part of poverty eradication and empowerment to stage big events to boost tourism, economic development and mass mobilization of prominent sport activities within the province.

o The department had four programmes namely Management and Administration, Cultural Affairs, Libraries, Archives and Sport and Recreation.

o The departments had four Public Entities namely Mmabana, Arts, Culture and Sports Foundation and the North West Arts and Culture Council (PACC), Provincial Geographic Names Council (PGNC) and the Provincial Heritage Resources Agency (PHRA). Mmabana was funded from the provincial fiscus.

o The department through the conditional grant had been able to support developing clubs within the province, as well as the payment of a stipend to Community Development Workers.

8.1.10 Presentation by the MEC for Public Safety, MEC H. Yawa

Hon. Yawa was unable to present the work of his department due to departmental commitments. The presentation was submitted to the delegation later in writing. The presentation outlined the department’s 100-days projects report as follows:

Operation 2010:

Objectives:

To deliver a safe and secure Confederations cup as per the Safety and Security Master Plan
To showcase state of readiness through show of force to the public

Achievements:

These matches were hosted by the province:

New Zealand v/s Spain
South Africa v/s New Zealand
Egypt v/s USA
South Africa v/s Spain

Incidents:

The activities were monitored on daily basis through the different centres established from local to provincial level
There was a road traffic accident on 14 June 2009 in which 2 passengers were seriously injured

Challenges

Incidents of security companies employed by LOC but not screened, derailed plans
Incidents of appointment of undocumented security personnel also led to the removal of security companies from the plan replacing them with student constables
The transport plan particularly park and ride remained a challenge in regard to the following: Late arrival of the fans to the park and ride facility, insufficient transport, infrastructure not in acceptable condition, signage not visible, no proper security or marshals, poor communication to the public on the use of park and rides

General

All safety and security plans were usefully implemented
All 24 soccer and rugby games to be played in the province will be used as practice games for 2010 and this will activate all stake holders towards implementation of the master plan
All the challenges as raised above were being incorporated into the master plan including the transport plan

Provincial Road Safety Debate:

The objective of the debate was to ensure active participation of learners in promoting road safety within the province, develop and sharpen learners presentation skills, involve the learners in the enhancement of road safety education and promotion in schools.

Achievements

The event took place on the 19th June 2009;
2100 learners were reached through the debate at local level
Only 20 qualified for the provincial engagement
5 learners would represent the province at the national debate to be held on the 11th to 13th September 2009

Challenges

There was a need to sectorise the schools according to their levels as urban schools were better resourced than rural schools and therefore were able to fare better and eliminate the learners from schools in rural areas.

8.2 Meeting with Speaker, Chief Whip and Chairpersons of Committees

The purpose of the meeting was for the political management of the legislature to provide an input of the strategic priorities and objectives of the 4th legislature. During the presentation Speaker Maloyi highlighted the following key issues to the NCOP delegation:

o Over 95% of the Members of the Provincial Legislature (MPLs) were new and as a result the legislature had managed to successfully organize an orientation and induction workshop as part of fulfilling its strategic priorities, which among others sought to enable MPLs to understand their constitutional role and mandate. MPLs were elected to represent the people and their constitutional mandate was to ensure government by the people through providing a forum for public consideration of issues, passing transformative legislation and by scrutinizing and overseeing executive organs of the state.

o The Chairpersons’ of Committees were active, energetic and as a result they had applied themselves to their responsibilities by ensuring that they perform their duties according to the expectations.

o One of the key priorities was to harmonise the relationship of the Legislature, NCOP and National Assembly and that of the Members of the Executive. As a result of hard efforts the working relationship with stated stakeholders had vastly improved in the 4th legislature as compared to the previous legislature.

o The legislature was in the process of establishing a legislative review committee which would be given a mandate to review all the resolutions and the legislation passed in order to establish if they were implemented by the executive and to further monitor the impact they made in society.

o The legislature had passed the Legislature’s Financial Management Bill that empowered the Speaker as the treasury of the legislature to ensure that all revenue, expenditure, assets and liabilities of the legislature were managed efficiently and transparently. Once enacted into law the Bill would free the legislature’s budget from being decided on by the Treasury and governed by the Public Finance Management Act.

o During the course of the current financial year the legislature would also pass the Political Party Funding Bill which would address the funding of political parties in the legislature during this 4th term.

o The Treasury had allocated the legislature R133 million for the current financial year in spite of the R243 million that had been requested. As a result of the shortfall some of the programmes such as the international trips of committees and public participation programmes would have to be trimmed but legislative public participation would not be affected.

Challenges

o The implementation of policies in the legislature in terms of curbing inconsistency in compliance with policies was a great challenge.

o The building that housed the legislature was very old and as a result did not respond to the current challenges facing the legislature. In addressing this matter a certain company was appointed during the 3rd legislature and received an assurance letter that it would be paid to refurbish the legislature building. However the company was never paid as promised because there was no money to cover the cost of the refurbishment.

o The upgrading of the information systems and the struggle to employ IT specialists in order to assist the legislature to respond to the current technological demands was a challenge.

o The Kgotla newsletter which was the legislature’s newsletter and other communication strategies of the legislature were not assisting in terms of promoting the political profile of the legislature and refuting the distortions and fallacious stories that were published by various media institutions about what was happening in the province.

o MPLs did not exercise their constitutional powers in terms of initiating Bills and as a result the legislature only dealt with Bills that were initiated by the Executive and section 76 Bills that came from the NCOP.

o The gym facility had old equipment that posed a danger to the gym users.

Observations by the Delegation

o The delegation, having noted the presentation by the Speaker and his Presiding Officers, were of the view that it was characterized by positive plans that sought to transform the legislature to be responsive to the needs of the people of North West Province through passing laws that were intended to change the lives of the people.

o The Provincial Whip informed the leadership of the legislature that there were two section 76 Bills before the NCOP namely, the National House of Traditional Leaders Bill (B56B-08) and the Traditional Leadership and Governance Framework Amendment Bill (B57B-08). The Provincial Whip advised that the provincial briefings on the two Bills would take place on 17 -18 September 2009 at the legislature and a relevant NCOP Permanent Delegate would brief the relevant committee of the legislature that dealt with matters of local government. He further indicated that in terms of the Mandating Procedures of Provinces Act the legislature will be required (after convening public hearings) to develop negotiating and final Mandates that would subsequently have to be sent to the NCOP.

8.3 Meeting with Municipalities on Service Delivery and Provincial backlogs

The Provincial Whip outlined the objectives of the meeting which among others was to provide the NCOP delegation an opportunity to engage with the local sphere of government to harmonise working relationships given the important role played by municipalities in the provision of quality services to the public. The meeting was attended by the four District Council Mayors from the District Municipalities of the province together with Local Mayors from local municipalities and their Councillors.

In his introductory remarks, the Provincial Whip called upon the leader of Salga in the province to share vital information with regards to the state of backlogs with reference to water and sanitation, electricity and housing within the North West Province.

Councillor M Maphetlhe delivered the presentation on behalf of Salga and highlighted the following challenges:

Water

o Inadequate bulk water, sanitation and electricity when housing projects were approved.

o Inadequate funding allocation to eradicate backlogs.

o Delayed formal approval of technical and design reports by relevant delegated authorities, like DWA.

o There was currently no funding for bulk services resulting in problems for WSAs

Housing

o Lack of coordination and communication between Sector Departments

o No coordinated and integrated planning.

o Not enough serviced stands available for housing projects in either urban, peri-urban or rural areas.

o There were cases where beneficiaries sold or rented out houses and relocated to informal settlements resulting in a perceived increase in backlogs.

o Inadequate funding and no direct transfer to municipalities.

Electricity

o Long distances from grid connections

o Generation capacity problems

o Uncoordinated planning

o Insufficient funding

Observations of the Delegation

o There was a need to ensure sustainable participation of WSAs.

o There was a need to build long term capacity to manage water services delivery and quality issues.

o There was a lack of training for Councillors to enable them to understand and master their duties accordingly.

o All municipalities of the province were in dire need of water reservoirs and as a result municipalities depended on borehole water which was generated underground.

Recommendations

o A well resourced support to municipalities for better skills retention and a developmental agenda should be devised.

o It was vital to build the necessary technical and financial capacity through robust engagement with relevant sector specific SETAs

o A more integrated approach in addressing the challenges should be attended to as a matter of urgency.

o Municipalities must use the Municipal Infrastructure Grant appropriately.

o The FFC formula that was used to allocate funds to municipalities must be reviewed and changed.

o Councillors and council officials who were suspected of being corrupt must be reported to the Hawks and the SAPS as soon as possible.

o Treasury should desist from using the 2001 Census statistics when determining the allocation of funds to municipalities. The 2001 statistics were reported to have been factually incorrect.

Closing remarks

During the closing remarks Honourable Mr. T. Chaane indicated that section 67 of the Constitution made provision for the participation of Salga in the NCOP. He advised the provincial leadership of Salga to engage its national leadership to participate in the proceedings of the NCOP. He stated that the NCOP delegation would lobby the provincial MECs to attend the budget speech and the Medium Term Budget Policy Statement of the Minister of Finance in order to network and have an opportunity to lobby the Minister for more resources that could assist North West municipalities.

Participants at the meeting agreed that local government was central to achieving the nation’s vision of a better quality of life for all citizens as it was the sphere of government that was at the coalface of service delivery. Furthermore a strong working relationship and co-ordination of programmes between national, provincial and local spheres of government was necessary.

8.4. Visit to Ramotshere Moiloa Local Municipality

The delegation converged at the above local municipality where it was briefed by the Mayor, who was accompanied by the Mayor of Ngaka Modiri Molema District Municipality. The briefings included the challenges affecting Ramotshere Moiloa Municipality in providing service delivery. The following key issues were raised:

o Inadequate bulk water supply. Communities depended on borehole water. The water was extracted from underground through boreholes that operated with engines. The municipality preferred that the borehole worked with electricity for the purposes of providing efficient services,

o Housing backlogs were a serious challenge within the municipality.

o Roads were in a bad condition

After the briefing the NCOP delegation together with Ngaka Modiri and Ramotshere Moiloa Local Municipality Councillors paid a visit to the Willow Park and Dinokana Projects which were both initiatives of the local municipality.

8.4.1 Dinokana High Mast Lights

Project Description

The installation of eight scissor mast lighting on 30m upright pole Grade 300 WA steel equivalent to BS 4360 fitted with 9x400 lamp on a 230V+3% -10% 50hz single phase system in Dinokana Ward 10.

Project Funding and Budget

The project was funded by the Municipal Infrastructure Grant (MIG). The total budget for the project was R1 330 000.00.

Service Providers Consultant and Contractor

Inplan Africa (PTY) LTD had been appointed as Consultants by the municipality for the planning, design, project management and construction monitoring for scissor mast lighting in Dinokana.

Badiboa building Construction had been appointed by Inplan Africa for the erection of the high mast lights in the Dinokana village.

Employment of the Project

Youth Female – 3 Labours

Youth Male – 5 Labours

Youth Male -3 Semi Skilled

Adult Male – 1 Skilled

Youth Mlae – 1 Supervisor

A total number of 13 people have been employed on the project to date

Progress to date

The Contractor took occupation of site on the 19 June 2009. The excavations for 8 slabs were completed. The contractor was busy casting the steel reinforcement.

8.4.2 Willow Park Emergency Houses

Project Description

The construction of 60 RDP houses in Willow Park

Project Funding and Budget

The project was funded by the Department of local Government and Housing. The total budget for the project was R2 610 360.

Service Providers Consultant and Contractor

Mosegedi and Associate was appointed the Department of Local Government and Housing using a turkey approach for the designs and construction of the 60 houses in Willow Park.

Progress to date

The Contractor took occupation of the site on February 2009. The Project was 100% completed.

8.5 Public Hearings

The NCOP delegation, the MEC of Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs Honourable Gordon Kegakilwe, the delegation of Ngaka Modiri District Municipality, the delegation of Ramotshere Moiloa Local Municipality and the Members of legislature Portfolio Committee on Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs met the King Moiloa of Ntsweletsoku as part of requesting permission to address the members of the public through public hearings that were organised in the community of Ntsweletsoku.

Kgosi Molioa welcomed the delegation by expressing a warm word of welcome to them. The King appealed for a continuous engagement with the public representatives in order to work together to combat the challenges facing the community. After securing permission the delegation proceeded to the venue of the public hearings. Honourable Ms. W. Mokgate outlined the purpose of public hearings as follows:

o To enhance dialogue and interaction between NCOP and the people.

o To provide an opportunity for NCOP to communicate its programme of

action and the progress being made.

o To listen to the people about problems needing attention, blockages in

implementation and policy areas that may need review.

During the public hearings the community raised the following challenges:

o Lack of Water

Residents raised concerns regarding the shortage of water in their areas. People in these communities reportedly relied on one tank to provide for the water needs of a whole community. Although this situation had been brought to the attention of both theNgaka Modiri District Municipality and the local municipality of Ramotshere Moiloa, no action had been taken in this regard. Residents therefore requested intervention by the NCOP in this situation. Furthermore, residents reported that water pricing fluctuated and clarity was required on the matter

o Schools

a) Lack of water within the school premises.

b) Lack of recreational facilities, such as playgrounds.

c) Poor state of the school infrastructure

d) Shortages of Educators,

o Health centres

a) Emergency Medical Services (EMS) took a long time to respond to emergencies.

b) Most patients travelled long distances to access health support services.

c) Poor road infrastructure impeded the effectiveness of the EMS.

d) The existing health centre was ill-equipped.

o Social Development

a) Poor support for children with special needs.

b) Lack of sufficient support for vulnerable groups and orphans.

c) Shortage of social workers.

d) Utilisation of the social grants by elders.

o Police Station/Building:

The space utilised by the police station was neither conducive nor friendly to workers who were expected to deliver an effective service There were insufficient resources such as computers and furniture, hence officers had to share space for their daily operations and one ablution facility was shared by all. There was an inadequate number of police vehicles.

o Unavailability of councillors:

Allegations were made that Ward Councillors were not dealing with issues raised by the community and in some areas people did not know who were their Ward Councillors .

o The issue of demarcation of wards should be reviewed in order to reclassify the wards that are closer to one another.

Closing remarks during the Public hearings:

Honourable Ms. W Makgate thanked the community for raising their issues and concerns and further stated that the NCOP delegation would take all the issues to the NCOP. A report would be submitted to the relevant national Departments in terms of addressing the concerns and deepening service delivery. Local Councillors were requested to respond to the local issues.

The Mayor of the Ngaka Modiri District Municipality assured the community that her District Municipality would develop priority plans that would intervene urgently in effort to accelerate service delivery. Furthermore the District Municipality together withRamotshere Moiloa Local Municipality would work hard to bring the services closer to the people. The District Mayor concluded by saying that Ngaka Modiri Molema District Municipality would introduce a telephone hotline to enable the community to report challenges in terms of service delivery.

8.6. Conclusion

The NCOP was responsible to ensure that the interests of provinces were taken into account in the national sphere of government. This included providing a national forum for public consideration of issues affecting the provinces.

The Provincial Week had shown that the NCOP North West Permanent delegates took their mandate of representing their province in Parliament seriously. The Provincial Week programme was designed for public representatives to interact with the people in the interests of promoting public participation and carrying out their oversight function.

9. WESTERN CAPE

9.1 Briefing by the Premier of the Western Cape and Provincial Ministers

The Premier of the Western Provincial, Hon H Zille, began her presentation by thanking the NCOP permanent delegates; the Western Cape Members of Parliament and all the officials that were in attendance. She then proceeded by briefing the delegates about the provincial government's strategic priorities and its plans to address challenges.

One of the key issues highlighted by the Premier as an impediment to effective service delivery was excessive red tape in legislation. She indicated that after raising the issue of red tape caused by unwieldy legislation, the Provincial Government of theWestern Cape was asked by the Presidency to submit a schedule of delays to delivery caused by legislation. So far a 70 page list had been drawn up, including input from municipalities and each provincial department. The NCOP and the Provincial Legislature would also be requested to input into the draft document.

The Premier indicated that the biggest challenge faced by the province was that of substance abuse, which was linked to the high percentage of crime in the province. The Premier in her concluding remarks indicated that the immediate focus of the provincial government was to make government more efficient by cutting non-essential expenditure.

9.2 Briefing by the NCOP Delegation

It was reported that there were two section 76 bills before the NCOP Select Committee on Co-operative Governance and Traditional Leadership, namely, the National House of Traditional Leaders Bill [B 56B-08] and the Traditional Leadership and Governance Framework Bill [B57B-08].

It was further reported that members of the relevant Standing Committee would be briefed by the permanent delegates in due course on the contents of the two bills. Members of the Provincial Parliament were reminded that it was essential that their programming and scheduling of the two bills be in accordance with the six-week legislative cycle of the NCOP.

The Members of the legislature were also informed that the NCOP would convene an Intergovernmental Fiscal Review on Tuesday, 15 September 2009 at the Good Hope Chamber, Parliament. Members of the legislature were urged to attend the workshop.

It was emphasised that co-operation and information sharing between the NCOP permanent delegates and the Members of the Provincial Parliament be improved.

9.3. Sitting of Western Cape Provincial Parliament

The NCOP permanent delegates were invited to attend and participate in the proceedings of the Western Cape Provincial Parliament. The NCOP permanent delegates and Members of Parliament of the Western Cape discussed the following subject matter: “The impact of the economic recession on the Western Cape and the steps that can be taken to prevent recession.”

9.4. Visit to the Southern Cape

Members of the Provincial Parliament and NCOP permanent delegates were divided into two groups. Group one visited theSouthern Cape of the province and Group two visited the West Coast of the province.

The delegation that visited the Southern Cape interacted with the following stakeholders: Eden District Municipality; Bitou LocalMunicipality; Knysna Local Municipality; Kannaland Local Municipality; Knysna Tourism Board and the Kwanokuthula Community.

9.4.1. Meeting with Mayors and Councillors of Eden District Municipality

The delegation visited and met with the Eden District Municipality. The meeting was chaired by the Chairperson of the Standing Committee on Governance, the Hon. Mr JJ Visser. The Chief Whip of the NCOP, Hon. Ms N Ntwanambi indicated that the primary objective of the meeting was to assess and discuss impediments pertaining to service delivery and interventions that would be used in order to address such bottlenecks. The following municipalities were requested to give an overview on issues pertaining to service delivery: Bitou Local Municipality, Knysna Local Municipality, Kannaland Local Municipality and Eden DistrictMunicipality

The Outeniqua and Oudtshoorn Municipalities also attended the meeting but could not give inputs due to time constraints and pre -arranged engagements. Salga was invited but could not attend the meeting.

9.4.2. Briefing by the Mayor of the Bitou Local Municipality

The Mayor of Bitou Local Municipality, Cllr. Mvimbi briefed the delegation on the following:

Successes/Achievements

The municipality was providing better quality services to the community.
Free basic services such as water and electricity were provided to the households.
Low cost quality houses had been built with the assistance of the National and Provincial departments of housing. Since 1995 to date, 4000 low cost houses have been built.
A sum of 13 million had been spent on the Extended Public Works Programme with the main aim of creating jobs.
The municipality enjoyed sound working relationships with the district municipality; provincial and national governments.

Challenges

The previously disadvantaged groups were still facing challenges with regard to establishing their own businesses.
The municipality experienced unrests that were instigated by a certain political party.
High rate of unemployment.
No support from the provincial department with regard to the Eskom high electricity tariff. Electricity shortage was stalling infrastructure development in the area.
Delayed transfer of the Municipal Infrastructure Grant (MIG) by the provincial government.

9.4.3. Briefing by the Mayor of Knysna Local Municipality

The Mayor of Knysna, Cllr. Bouwspies brought the following to the attention of the delegation:

Successes/Achievements

The municipality had received an award on the quality and quantity of the service delivery with regard to houses.
The municipality has secured funds for the neighbourhood development grant and food security programme from the national government.
The IDP had been commended by the Minister as one of the best three in the province.
Roads were properly maintained.
Local Economic development (LED) was in place.
The municipality received an unqualified report from the Auditor General.
The municipality was building low cost housing in partnership with ABSA bank.
Youth development had been prioritized by the municipality. Bursaries had been awarded to the deserving students. Internship and training programmes were also offered to the selected youth. In partnership with BMW, a Love life centre had been built.
An integrated transport plan was in place.
A water desalination plan was in place

Challenges

Ageing infrastructure.
Budget constraints, hampered service delivery.
Non-availability of land for housing purposes.
High rate of crime and substance abuse.
Water shortages.
Non- functional Ward Committees.

9.4.4. Briefing by the Mayor of George Local Municipality

The Mayor of George Local Municipality, Cllr. Swart briefed the delegation by highlighting the following:

Successes/Achievements

Had received two awards for the best municipality in South Africa with regard to water quality and sewage system.
Good track record with regard to service delivery.
Local Economic Development was fully functional.
Bursaries were awarded to students intending to pursue studies in the field of municipal affairs.
Two crèches had been built every financial year.

Challenges

Water shortages.
Migration impacted on the infrastructure and quality of services rendered to the community.
High rate of unemployment.
About 18000 families were on the housing waiting list.
High rate of crime.
Lack of land for housing development.
Many families were still living in informal dwellings.

Proposals

The Mayor indicated that in order for the economy of the municipality to improve a possibility of bringing back the “Outeniqua Tjoe –tjoe” should be explored.

The Mayor indicated that due to huge housing backlogs and migration, the municipality would not be able to provide the entire community in the informal settlements with low-cost houses. He proposed that all the settlements be formalized in order to enable the municipality to provide basic services such as water and electricity. The municipality would explore the possibility of amending the housing policy in this regard.

9.4.5. Briefing by the Mayor of Kannaland Local Municipality

The Mayor of the Kannaland Local Municipality briefed the delegation on the following:

Achievements/Successes

Debt collection rate had improved to 90%.
Partnered with the Swedish Government in dealing with high level of poverty.

Challenges

The municipality was one of the poorest in the province.
Insufficient funds to address challenges faced by the municipality.
Project Consolidate did not address challenges faced by the municipality.
Received disclaimers from the Auditor General, due to the non availability of supporting documents that were seized by the police during the forensic audit investigation.
Limited water supply. No adequate storage facilities.

Subsequent to the presentations by the municipalities, the following issues were noted by the delegates:

The District Municipality had not extended invitations to some of the Councillors.
The Kannaland Municipality was not viable, due to a number of challenges that were highlighted by the Mayor and the Municipal Manager.
The George Local Municipality was rendering services on matters that did not fall within their functional area of competence. Examples cited were the school feeding scheme programme and provision of private security to farmers by the municipality.
The objectives and aims of the visit were not well communicated to the relevant municipalities. All the Mayors that were present were of the view that that were to be briefed by the delegation and therefore could not prepare a proper presentation.

9.5. Recommendations

The delegation should engage the Office of the Auditor General with regard to the stalled auditing of the KannalandMunicipality.
The role and effectiveness of the Community Development Workers (CDWs) should be further discussed by the relevant stakeholders.

9. 6. Public Hearing on service delivery at all levels of government

The programme director, the Hon. JJ Visser, opened the proceedings, by introducing Members of Parliament. The Chief Whip of the NCOP, the Hon. N Ntwanambi contextualized the event by emphasizing the role of all spheres and legislatures in the delivery of quality services to the communities.

9.6.1 Key issues raised by the community

The community generally acknowledged successes and interventions that had been made by the municipality with regard to service delivery. The success of the Red Door Project, and the Thusong Multi-purpose Centre were cited as examples in this regard.

Notwithstanding these achievements the community highlighted the following issues that would need urgent intervention by the municipality:

No police station in New Horizon area.
The municipality had no agricultural policy and rural development policy in place.

Some members of the community raised the following allegations:

Low cost houses were allocated on the basis of political affiliation.
60% of municipal officials were not qualified for the positions they occupied
Unrests and protests within the municipality were instigated by certain political parties.
Abuse of municipal vehicles by officials.
Bursaries were awarded to families and friends of municipal officials.
Access to the Simunye multi-purpose centre was denied to the organized youth groups.
Allocation of bodyguards to the Mayor at the expense of taxpayers’ money.
The Mayor bought a new vehicle with ratepayers’ money.

9.6.2. Response by the Mayor of Bitou, Cllr.Mvimbi

He urged all those that had made allegations against the municipality to furnish the Council with all the relevant evidence. The Mayor indicated that the Simunye multi-purpose centre was not managed by the municipality. There was a special committee that was set up by the community in order to run and manage the centre. He concluded by indicating that the municipality was committed to ensuring that basic services were rendered to all the communities of the Bitou Municipality.

The Delegates indicated that all issues that had been raised by the community would be consolidated into a report that would be debated by the NCOP and the Western Cape Provincial Parliament. Subsequent to that the report would be referred to the relevant Committees for following up on issues.

9.7. Meeting with Knysna Tourism Board

The municipality was voted as the favourite city in South Africa for two consecutive years. The municipality was advancing BEE and forging relations with the Local Economic Development.

Assistance sought included the following:

Cape Town Routes Unlimited should also put a strategy in place for the rest of the province.
Losing iconic attractions such as the Outeniqua “Tjoe-Tjoe” trains.
The role of Eden District Municipality in the tourism industry needed to be enhanced.
Water and sanitation capacity inhibited growth and there was little assistance from the Department of Water Affairs in that regard.

The economic downturn was having a negative impact on the tourism industry. The delegation was pleased with the Knysna Tourism Board’s presentation and commended the Board on a job well done.

9. 8. Visit to West Coast

The delegation met with the following stakeholders: Ebenaeser community and fishing industry; parties to the Ebenaeser land claims; farmers; Early Childhood Development Centre; Women’s Organisations and the Matzikama Municipality.

9.8.1. Visit to Blue Bay Mussel Farm

The delegation visited the Blue Bay mussel farm in Saldanha Bay. Blue Bay had six small farms and two corporates. It had 100 workers of which 30 were men, doing the hard labour while 70 women worked in the factory. The mussels were harvested on a rotational basis to ensure that it remained sustainable. The Blue Bay Mussel Farm exported approximately 500 000 tons of mussels per year. South Africa was in competition with China, New Zealand and Chile with regard to the exportation of mussels. Mussel farming and aquaculture, in general could provide an income for the struggling fishermen of the West Coast, but the industry had many challenges. An example was cited of the monthly rental payment of a sum of R5000 per hectare to Transnet

Recommendations

The NCOP and the Provincial Parliament to engage Transnet with regard to the high rent paid by the farmers
Engage with government on ways and means of assisting the farmers to expand, so that they could export.
Aquaculture should be promoted as an alternative economic activity for the struggling fishing communities of the West Coast.

9.8.2 Meeting with the West Coast fishing industry and fishing community

The delegation met with the fishing community and industry and the following issues were raised:

o Workers in the fishing industry did not receive appropriate labour protection, such as, salary, pension and medial aid. In the past there were pensions for fishermen.

o Fishing was not allowed in marine protected areas (MPA), because it impacted negatively on the fishing stocks. However a counter view was expressed that evidence indicated that this measure boosted the stock in New Zealand.

o The quota system and adherence to seasons had complicated the lives of the fishers. Even though, a requirement is that the applicants should be ‘on the boat’, many people who were not dependent on fishing for a living, but professional people, like doctors, obtained fishing quotas.

o Decline in fishing resource, bad weather and bureaucratic red tape.

o The peak season for fishing was May to August, but approval to fish was only obtained by 18 August, whilst the season closed at 31 August. The industry was in talks with the government with regards to the possibility of extending the season.

o The fishing quota system and the issue of subsistence fishing should be reviewed by the national government and inputs should be obtained from the province and the affected fishing communities.

Recommendations

o To address challenges relating to the access rights and annual quotas, the policies pertaining to fishing should be revised.

o The issuing of quotas should be reviewed in order to benefit the small fishers and not the big fronting companies.

o Alternative livelihoods, like aqua-culture should be investigated

o The fishing season should be extended to allow fishers to benefit from the quotas.

9.8.3 Meeting with the parties in the Ebenaeser Land Claim – The land owners

The landowners stated that land claims were registered in 1996 and proclaimed in 1997. Since then, there had been slow progress which in turn impacted negatively on the economy of the area as developments and capital investments were on hold.

To fast- track the process a steering committee, consisting of the government, land owners and beneficiaries was established. The landowners indicated that a framework was drafted and adopted without their input. They noted that government was backtracking on its undertaking with regard to the process that would be followed in the land claims. The land owners indicated that they read in the newspapers that the land commission had no money to buy land. The feeling expressed was that the ‘willing buyer, willing seller’ concept was not working, because the government did not finish the valuation process to establish a selling price.

Recommendation:

The NCOP and the Provincial Parliament should engage the Department of Rural Development and Land Reform with regard to the finalisation of the land claims.

9.8.4 Meeting with the parties in the Ebenaeser Land claim – The Municipality

Mr Bruwer, the CFO and Acting Municipal Manager, gave the background of the land claims by highlighting the following challenges:

The restitution claimants constituted a large proportion of the population, but about 60% of them did not live in Ebenaeser anymore.
The transformation process was started in 2003 with an initial timeframe of 18 months. It was then extended by 2 months and later to 6 months. When no agreement in the community could be reached, the process was halted.
The municipality tried to revive the process, with help of a consultant, but the consultant’s report had yet to be released to the community.
Slow progress, no feedback to the community and the lack of continuity with the constant change of officials and political leadership was stalling the process.
Consultants were appointed at high cost, but the reports were not publicised.

9.8.5 Meeting with the parties in the Ebenaeser Land claim – The beneficiaries

Key issues raised:

No feedback given to the community with regard to progress of their claims.
Consultants were appointed but the report had yet to be given to the claimants.
Some members of the community had access to land, but needed capital for agricultural purposes.
Water shortages, exacerbated by river pollution, caused by sewerage and pesticides.
Conflict between the community that needed water for agricultural activities and those that used it for other needs.
Farmers used more water than other residents. This should be taken into consideration when water restrictions were applied by the municipality.

Response by the Land Claims Commission Representative

It was stated by the representative of the Land Claims Commission that there were two options that were considered namely, Government providing money to the claimants or handing over the original land. He also indicated that the claim was initially R20 million, but the community was dissatisfied with the offer and it had to be raised to R100 million. He said that the issue had created conflict in the community as some people wanted money instead of land .The matter was further complicated by the existence of two camps in Ebenaeser. This delayed the work of government to provide for the development grants of R6500 per family. A third mediation process was currently underway to resolve the differences.

The Land Claims Commission indicated that the verification committee’s report would be discussed with the community. In addition, a development plan would be workshopped and the community would provide feedback and input. The inputs of the community and the Department of Agriculture would be the basis of the plans to develop the identified farms. The cut-off date to register individual claims was 1998. The community had to decide between the money and the land. The Land Commission provided regular feedback to the community, such as, newsletters (The Ebenaeser), which gave a status report on the claim to the community. He added that six farms were bought by the government and kept in trust for the community, until the claim had been settled.

Recommendation

The Land Commission to brief the Provincial Parliament and the NCOP on a quarterly basis with regard to the progress of the claim.

9.9 Visit to the Babbelbekkies Early Childhood Development (ECD) Centre

The permanent delegates of the NCOP together with the Members of the Standing Committees on Agriculture; Community Development and Premier, Gender, Youth and Disabled, visited the early childhood development centre n Ebenaesar. The aim of the visit was to get firsthand information with regard to challenges faced by the centre.

The Delegation was briefed on the following:

That Babbelbekkies Early Childhood Development Centre had 72 registered learners, with the staff complement of four 4 educators.
That the provincial Department of Education was providing funds for the operational running of the school. The tuition fee was R30 per child, per month.

9.10 Visit to the DORCAS Centre

Dorcas was a project aimed at caring and assisting people with TB, HIV & AIDS by developing vegetable gardens. It was a registered as a Non Profit Organisation (NPO). Geographically, the project was initially situated in Vredendal but due to space challenges, they had to move outside Vredendal where they were renting a place from the Roman Catholic Church. Dorcas was also proving a soup kitchen for approximately 60 people (adults and children) in Vredendal. In addition the centre had a beading project which aimed to develop skills The Departments of Social Development and Agriculture were providing financial assistance and human resources.

Successes

HIV & AIDS patients were fed once a month.
Vulnerable children were fed three times a week.
Voluntary workers, mainly women, were attending to the vegetable gardens

Challenges

The centre had one car and it was proving to be a huge challenge in terms of the operational running of the centre.

Little or no involvement of the able-bodied men: No involvement with regard to growing vegetables, developing a garden so as to be self sustainable.

Recommendation

The NCOP and the Provincial Parliament to engage with the departments of Social Development, Health, Agriculture with regard to financial and capacity support needed by the centre.

9.11 Visit to the Ebenaesar Clinic

Ebenaesar was a satellite Clinic which operated twice a week (Tuesday and Thursday). On the days in which it operated, it was run as any ordinary / normal clinic. It had one sister and three other nurses on site. The doctor visited once a week (Thursdays from 14:00). Once a month, they had a Physiotherapist, Occupational Therapist and a Social Worker who visited the clinic. They had a mobile clinic that visited the far-away farms once a week. They also had a Pharmacist that was providing services to the community of Lutzville.

Challenges

High rate of TB and HIV & AIDS.
Due to space shortages, TB patients used the very same waiting room as HIV & AIDS patients.
Lack of staff complement.

9.11. Conclusion

A concern was raised that some of the political parties were not consulted in the drafting phase of the programme. It was emphasized that future visits should be properly planned and that all the stakeholders, such as municipalities should be given all the necessary information relating to the planned visit.

Summary of Written Submissions Received During Public Hearings (Bitou Local Municipality)

Chrisloo Vlok- Plettenberg Bay Ratepayers’ Association: Complained about the late notice to the public hearing inPlettenberg Bay. Indicated that the Bitou Municipality should conduct its affairs in an open and transparent manner and also provide better communication with ratepayers.

Wendy Flyod and Associates: Complained about the lack of cooperation from the Town Planning Department in particular the office of an identified individual and delays in approving land use applications and sub-division rezoning.

M Booysen Councillor Ward 6: Alleged that there were jobs for pals. It was alleged that senior councillors and municipal officials told applicants that they would not be employed because they did not vote for the ANC during the by-elections. This member of the public said he was available to give testimony to prove that service delivery did not happen and funding to the ward was given to people who belonged to certain political parties.

Councillor Elaine Paulse- Asked for a total breakdown with regard to the cost of hiring bodyguards for the Mayor.

Yandiswa September ward 6- Asked whether it necessary for the Mayor to buy an expensive car with so many extras like blue lights and 19 inch wheels. Asked for an investigation into: a skills audit of municipal staff; the housing development in Bossiesgief/Qolweni, and the people that would occupy those houses, the issue of Ntomboxolo Mrubata who was visited by the Mayor and his councillors who allegedly broke her door and manhandled her family.

Mr Chris Strobel- Constructed a wall for the municipality and he had not yet been refunded by the Municipality.

Use of public Halls- Facilities were used by certain political parties free of charge.

Craig pipe line- 800 000 Water pipeline was constructed against the recommendations of the Public Works department in an effort to supply Mr G Seitisho property with municipal supply. Money ran out and the pipeline was still not completed. The community regarded this as fruitless, wasteful and irregular expenditure.

Julia Avenue landslip- There had been a serious landslip in Julia Avenue rendering several houses inhabitable and non-repairable. Certain engineering studies blamed a leaking Municipal storm water drain and old sewer. The Municipality flatly refused claims against it and refused to reply to correspondence from claimants.

Bitou Municipality had not yet formulated their by-laws, a council resolution was taken on 09 March 2006 where the Municipal Manager was tasked to draft the delegation for the Council resolution but this was not done.

Code of conduct for Councillors- This was used as a tool to attack political opponents. It was alleged that a vast amount of money was used on this. Codes of conduct were applied in a highly selective manner and matters that were affecting other councillors were swept under the carpet.

Code of conduct for Municipal staff- Why have no disciplinary steps been taken against those officials arrested for arson and malicious damage to the municipal property?

Sexual Harassment- There had been ample evidence and a damning report against an identified individual. He had not been yet been charged internally and this had exposed the municipality to a civil claim. The municipality was required by law to act against such perpetrators. 10 years had passed and nothing had been done thus far.

Somikazi Besana- Women were not given a chance in construction, fishing industry, and in environmental projects.

Documents

No related documents

ATC090911: Report on National Council of Provinces: Provincial Week: 7 – 11 September 2009

NCOP Economic and Business Development

Documents

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