ATC130227: Report of the Portfolio Committee on Water and Environmental Affairs Relating to the Oversight visit Dealing with certain aspects of the work of the Department of Environmental Affairs and the Department of Water Affairs in the Gauteng Province 24th — 27th July 2012, Dated 7 November 2012.
Water and Sanitation
(
The following report replaces the
Report of the Portfolio Committee on Water and Environmental Affairs which was
published in the Announcements, Tablings and Committee Reports of 23 November
2012, on page 4996).
REPORT OF THE PORTFOLIO COMMITTEE ON WATER AND ENVIRONMENTAL AFFAIRS RELATING
TO THE OVERSIGHT VISIT DEALING WITH CERTAIN ASPECTS OF THE WORK OF THE
DEPARTMENT OF ENVIRONMENTAL AFFAIRS AND THE DEPARTMENT OF WATER AFFAIRS IN THE
GAUTENG PROVINCE 24
TH
27
TH
JULY 2012, DATED 7 NOVEMBER
2012.
The Portfolio Committee on Water and
Environmental Affairs having undertaken the oversight visit to
1. INTRODUCTION
The
Portfolio Committee as mandated by the Constitution and the rules of Parliament
conducted oversight to
1.1.
COMPOSITION OF THE DELEGATION
The delegation comprised the following;
Members of the Portfolio Committee:
Hon JH de Lange
(ANC) Chairperson;
Hon P Bhengu,
(ANC) ;
Hon SB Huang,
(ANC) ;
Hon J Manganye,
(ANC) ;
Hon DR
Tsotetsi, (ANC) ;
Hon JJ Skosana,
(ANC) ;
Hon GR Morgan,
(DA);
Hon M Wenger,
(DA); and
Hon CN Zikalala, (IFP)
Support Staff:
Ms T Madubela (Committee Secretary)
Dr S Watts (Committee Researcher)
Mr V Xabendlini (Committee Assistant
)
2. Background
The Portfolio Committee on Water and
Environmental Affairs (the Committee) went on an oversight visit, from 23
rd
to 27
th
July 2012, to assess and review matters on which the
Committee held public hearings and briefings, and also open opportunities for
further engagements with the Department of Environmental Affairs (DEA), and the
Department of Water Affairs (DWA), as well as their relevant entities, on various
issues. The oversight visit started at the Department of Environmental Affairs
Headquarters, in
2.1 Meetings
with the Department of Environmental Affairs and Department of Water Affairs
The Committee held briefing meetings
with the officials of the two departments, respectively, at the DEA head office,
in
Much discussion went into the
process the Department has embarked upon to process and adopt a new policy
framework that sets out revised principles for water management and underpins
the policy reform for addressing equity and water democracy, as contained in
the National Water Resources Strategy, Second Edition (NWRS2). The Committee
suggested the need for DWA to interact with the Committee on its policy
processes, citing the substantive contributions that parliamentary processes
added to the Climate Change Green Paper in 2011 and the subsequent White Paper
in 2012. It was recommended that the Departments national policy proposals
would be enriched in a similar manner, particularly as parliamentary public
hearings aim to hear views from South Africans of all walks of life. The
Department should give the Committee the space to engage relevant stakeholders
on proposed additions, amendments or changes.
The second significant input was a
joint presentation done by the Departments of Environmental Affairs and Water
Affairs, on the progress that these Departments had reportedly made in their
discussions with the Department of Mineral Resources relating to Integrated
Permitting. The Committee noted the good progress that the Departments had
reported to it, and proposed the use of a legislative approach or a political
protocol that can be adopted by Cabinet as suitable instruments for realising
the legal and institutional arrangement necessary for Integrated Permitting.
The Committee would like to be notified of the modality for Integrated
Permitting, once it has been completed and agreed upon, for it to assess the
viability of the applicable approach.
DWA also presented the overviews of
the Regional Bulk Infrastructure Programme and the Accelerated Community
Infrastructure Programme, where progress, successes and challenges were
identified by the Department. The Committee reiterated its unanimous view that
an urgent review and amendment of the present funding model for the financing
of Water Infrastructure and Water Services should be urgently undertaken and
implemented.
Firstly, the present use of
providing municipalities with funding for Water Service and Water
Infrastructure through the equitable share, which creates no obligation to
spend money on water related matters, must be urgently changed, to establish a
funding model which obliges spheres and organs of government to spend money
allocated for water related matters
only
on such matters or to forfeit the funding.
Secondly the Committee highlighted the need for a single centralised
infrastructure planning process that spans over all water infrastructural
programmes. Therefore, there is a need for water infrastructure projects,
including those in municipalities, to move to a centralized planning process
and to a conditional grant funding model, as opposed to the equitable share
funding model, with the National Treasury playing a critical role in this
regard. The Committee underscored the need for the allocation of more money by
the fiscus for the water sector, but indicated that this should not be under
the current model of funding that allows municipalities to shift funds
allocated for water related matters to sectors they deem priority.
In addition, the Committee requested the
Department to produce and submit a report on the water hotspots (outside the
23 district municipalities), to which 58 per cent of the 2012/13 budget of DWA
was allocated, in order for the Committee to conduct its parliamentary
oversight processes.
The Department of Environmental Affairs (DEA)
made three presentations in the afternoon of the same day. The first presentation
outlined the new structural alignment of the Department. This was followed by
the presentation on the outcome of the Rio+20 Conference and the green economy
in the context of poverty eradication, in terms of both growth and employment
creation in some renewable energy subsectors, such as wind and solar, which
have exponential growth potential. The presentation featured the national
policy landscape in support of a green economy transition; the possible
sources of funding for low-carbon and green economy transition; and
The Committee supported the
reconfiguration of the Department, taking into account the explanations
provided.
The Committee also encouraged
the use of the Green Fund for mobilising international funding. It further
requested the Department to adequately delimit the scope of the Fund and also
to develop a coherent set of rules to insulate decision-making on the Green
Fund from stakeholder pressure. The Committee reminded the Department that the
Green Fund would be a major focus for parliamentary oversight and
accountability.
2.2 Visit
to the
The Committee visited the Western
Witwatersrand
Basin, on 25
th
July 2012, to view the efforts being put into decant prevention and management,
ingress control and water quality management, following the presentation of a
progress report in Parliament on the acid mine drainage (AMD) situation in the
area. It was evident to the Committee that progress had been made in the three
preceding thematic areas, although much still remains to be done to effectively
deal with AMD in the
The Committee then left for the
Cradle of Humankind World Heritage Site (COHWHS) that holds the secrets of the
origins of species (according to archaeological & paleontological studies)
to view the alleged impacts of AMD on the Cradle of Humankind. This visit
occurred against the backdrop of media reports that AMD would destroy the
Cradle of Humankind by dissolving fossils and by sinking caves. Scientists briefed
the Committee, by presenting the findings of a recent study that was conducted
by the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR), to assess the
impact of AMD on the Cradle of Humankind. The study revealed no impact of AMD
on the groundwater quality and hence no threat to the Cradle of Humankind,
although the quality of freshwater in certain surface streams appeared to have
been compromised. The dolomite rock in the area, which is known to pacify
acidification, explains this disparity. In fact, the CSIR study indicated that
groundwater quality in the area was worse in 1985 than at the time of the
recent study. The Committee was satisfied with the explanations provided by the
scientists, and noted and encouraged their good work and the Committee then
went on a tour of the
world-famous Sterkfontein Caves
and the award-winning Visitor Interpretation Centre at Maropeng that serves as
a laboratory for the discoveries made in
COHWHS
.
2.3
The Committee visited, on 26
th
July 2012, the 276-hectare,
2.4 Eskoms
Renewable Energy Initiatives
The Committee proceeded from the
The Committee visited Eskom to see
the renewable energy initiatives that Eskom implements at the
The Committee was scheduled to visit
the Kendal Power Station, in
3.
Conclusion
The Committee initially planned to
visit the
The Report,
on 7
th
November 2012, was unanimously adopted by the Committee.
The Committee accordingly recommends
the adoption of this report to this House.
Report to be considered.
[1] Level 1: Start-up (no departments frameworks for controls; Level 2: the Department has developed proper frameworks for controls; Level 3: the Department has effective controls; Level 4: the Department measures resource utilisation; Level 5: the Department manages resources in a manner that produces effective results; and Level 6: the Department optimises processes providing for continuous improvement and learning.
[2] Natural capital is the land, air, water, living organisms and all formations of the Earth's biosphere that provide us with ecosystem goods and services imperative for survival and well-being. It is the basis for all human economic activity.
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