ATC110215: Report the oversight visit to Mpumalanga, 24 – 26 January 2011, dated 15 February 2011

Public Works and Infrastructure

Report of the Portfolio Committee on Public Works on the oversight visit to Mpumalanga, 24 – 26 January 2011, dated 15 February 2011

 

1.       Introduction

 

A multi-party delegation of the Portfolio Committee on Public Works (the Committee) conducted an oversight visit to the province of Mpumalanga on 24 – 26 January 2011.

 

The delegation consisted of the following members:

Hon M C Mabuza (ANC) (Chairperson and leader of the delegation),

Hon C D Kekana (ANC),

Hon N M Madlala (ANC),

Hon N E Magubane (ANC),

Hon N D Ngcengwane (ANC),

Hon N T November (ANC),

Hon M W Rabotapi (DA),

Hon L Gaehler (UDM),

Hon P B Mnguni (COPE), and

Hon K P Sithole (IFP).

 

The following parliamentary support staff accompanied the delegation:

Ms A Busakwe (Committee Secretary),

Ms V Makubalo (Committee Assistant), and

Ms I Stephney (Committee Researcher).

 

2. Objective

 

The overall objective of the oversight visit was to exercise oversight over the national Department of Public Works, specifically with regard to the performance of the Expanded Public Works Programme (phase II), roll out of the Government Immovable Asset Management Act (GIAMA) in the province of Mpumalanga and progress made by the department at the Lebombo border post. 

 

3. Summary

 

The oversight visit took place from 24 to 26 January 2011. Over the three-day period, the Committee received briefings from the national Department of Public Works, provincial Department of Public Works, Ehlanzeni district municipality, Umjindi and Nkomazi local municipalities. The focus of the visit was on the work done by the national Department of Public Works at the Lebombo border post, on the roll-out of EPWP II and the roll-out of GIAMA in the Mpumalanga province.

 

 

 

 

The Committee found that:

 

1.  There were ongoing challenges around the management of the Lebombo border post which needed the attention of all stakeholders concerned. The new building structure at the border post remained incomplete with major structural components that needed completion before the building could be handed over to all client departments for occupation. These included the installation of counters, the completion of the ablution facilities and the installation of hard drive portals.

 

 

2.   The Mpumalanga province needed to improve on the adherence to the EPWP II guidelines. The national Department of Public Works needed to provide technical support to the municipalities in the province.

 

3.   With regard to the roll-out of GIAMA, the province and the municipalities were still struggling with the identification, vesting and registration of state assets. The Committee recommended that the national Department of Public Works should focus on assisting provinces by providing all the necessary resources to register their assets. A decision was taken that Mpumalanga should be identified as a pilot project in the collective effort of focusing all resources in that province and in assisting it in every way possible towards the compilation and completion of its asset register.

 

 

4. Presentations

 

The following information was reported to the Committee:

 

 

4.1 Status of the Lebombo Border Post

 

In January 2009, a phased approach was adopted for the construction of facilities for the Lebombo one-stop border post.  The Department of Public Works prepared a design which provided the minimum facilities necessary to make a significant difference to the situation that was at the Lebombo border post. Phase 1 included the maximum use of existing facilities with minimum additional construction as the remaining phases could take several years before they could be completed.

 

There was a proposal to create new flat portions of the site that were going to create bypasses to prevent traffic bottlenecks at the border. The land adjacent to these bypasses was going to be used to construct buildings that may be needed in the future. The main aim was to address the challenge of slow service delivery due to traffic congestion and also further address slow service delivery due to limited counter space.

 

Additional accommodation for office administrative staff was provided in temporal prefabricated structures at Komatipoort (4 kilometers away from the border post). These were built from a budget of R22 million. The offices inKomatipoort were going to further reduce inefficient service delivery as a result of inadequate parking at the border post. Additional space and facilities that were still going to be built were going to reduce inefficiencies, intermittent searching and control procedures resulting in loss of revenue.

 

Phase 1 Project – South African side of the border:

 

The plan included separation of the pedestrian and motor vehicle traffic to enable the control officials to ease congestion at the border.  A new pedestrian facility for the processing of border control formalities for both South Africaand Mozambique was constructed.

 

The Committee noted with concern the dirty state of the border post, the need for a legal taxi rank, hawker stalls and a need for more appealing signage on the South African side of the border post.

 

Phase 1 Project – Mozambique side of the border:

 

The information on the Mozambique side of the border is based on what was reported to the Committee by the Department of Public Works as the Committee did not verify the reported information and could only verify what was on the South African side of the border.

 

Mozambique refurbished an existing building to serve as a pedestrian clearance facility. The building was completed and was reported to be ready for occupation. The following additional items that were requested by the client for security purposes were still to be provided by variation order, at an estimated cost of approximately R2 million:

 

- Channeling fence to separate arrivals and departures on the South African side

- Air conditioning in the Mozambican server room

- Roofing to access culvert

- Paving of the pedestrian pathway at the borderline at access culvert leading to the   

  Mozambican Pedestrian Building

- Securing of window at the server room of Mozambique

- Securing of the office to be occupied by SAPS and installation of one way glass

- Construction of storm water drains on the Mozambican side of the building

- Provision of shelves and counters for the Vat Refund area

- Additional aluminium doors to prevent pedestrian crossing.

 

Office Accommodation:

 

Existing residential accommodation were converted into office space for all Border Control Operational Coordinating Committee (BCOCC) Government Departments. Some of the offices were already occupied at the time of the visit. The following additional work still had to be executed as requested by the client:

 

- Landscaping

- Burglar bars

- Paraplegic ramps

- Conversions to paraplegic toilets.

 

The plans included that freight coming from South Africa will be processed by all relevant BCOCC Government Departments at the freight facility. Additional parking, canopies, fencing and the upgrading of the sewer system were being completed and were ready for utilisation. South African Revenue Services (SARS) proceeded to reconfigure the Customs Warehouse at KM 7 (freight) for the clearance of commercial traffic. Refurbishment of the existing main building was going to include a new roof and air conditioning system. All boom gates were going to be fitted with spikes.

 

Phase one would not allow for the successful resolution of all the problems of traffic bottlenecks and would not fully resolve the freight processing problems. The rail processing was going to maintain the situation that was happening at the time of the visit. Targeting areas were under-provided and were going to operate much the same way as they did at the time of the oversight visit.

 

There was a plan in place for what was termed as a future phase. The future phase was going to include, further office accommodation particularly the police services and an administration centre for the two countries. The phase that was already constructed could only cater for the expected traffic growth for a few years and was going to require upgrading no later than 2016.

 

Presentation by the Border Control Operational Coordinating Committee (BCOCC):

 

The BCOCC was comprised of the following provincial member departments: SARS, South African Police Service (SAPS), Department of Home Affairs, Department of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries, Department of Health, National Intelligence Agency, Department of Public Works, Roads and Transport, Department of Tourism, South African National Defence Force and the Department of Transport.

 

The BCOCC indicated that there were staffing challenges at the Lebombo border post, accommodation was needed for hawkers, relocation of the existing illegal taxi rank and residence accommodation was also needed.

 

4.2 Status of the Expanded Public Works Programme in Mpumalanga Province

 

Mpumalanga EPWP II performance for the period 1 April 2009 – March 2010:

 

The overall provincial summary in all EPWP sectors reflected that the province had 1 726 projects with a total budget of R2, 477,531,993. The total expenditure from this budget was R813,618,076. An average minimum daily wage was R70 though the daily wage differed per sector. For example, in the Environment and Culture sector, the daily wage was R66. In the Infrastructure sector it was R 65. In the Non-State sector it was R47 and in the Social sector it was R71, 00. 43, 549 work opportunities were create with a total number of 1, 498, 565 person days of work.

 

Overall work opportunities per sector and sphere were as follows:

 

Environment and Culture created 186 work opportunities at municipality level, 2  667 at national and 698 at provincial level. They all added up to 3 551 work opportunities.

 

Infrastructure: 3 373 at municipality level, 145 at national, 4 449 at provincial and an overall total of 7 967 work opportunities.

 

Non-State: Nil at municipality level, 10 765 at national, nil at provincial and an overall total of 10 765 work opportunities.

 

Social: Nil at municipality level, 6 399 at national, 14 867 at provincial and an overall total of 21 266 work opportunities.

 

 

Work opportunities per designated group, were reported as follows:

 

Environment and Culture: 44% of youth, 30% of women and 0.93% of people living with disabilities.

 

Infrastructure: 44% of youth, 49% of women and 0.59% of people living with disabilities.

 

Non-State: 42% of youth, 45% of women and 0.03% of people living with disabilities.

 

Social: 22% of youth, 50% of women and 0.23% of people living with disabilities.

 

Total: 32% of youth, 47% of women and 0.30% of people living with disabilities.

 

The above information was reported to the Committee without any proof provided as the Department failed to prove the credibility of the information with supporting documentation.

 

Provincial Steering Committees:

 

The Provincial Steering Committee (PSC) held quarterly meetings. The infrastructure, social, environment and non-state sectors held monthly meetings. Enterprise and training meetings were ad hoc in the province. The independent Development Trust (IDT) was the key driver of the non-state sector in the province. The provincial Department of Public Works, Roads and Transport was the overall coordinator in the province. Regional offices of the national Department of Public Works provided technical support for overall coordinating and implementing bodies. The following sector departments played a key role: for example the infrastructure sector was led by Public Works, Roads and Transport. The social sector was led by the departments of Health and Social Services. The environment sector was led by the Department of Agriculture and Rural Development and the non-state sector was led by the IDT.

 

Mpumalanga Incentive Grant:

 

-          The province received incentive payments on the work done by the infrastructure provincial departments for the period April 2009 to March 2010. The following client departments received incentive payments: Housing, Education, Health & Social Services and Roads & Transport.

-          The infrastructure municipalities received incentive payments from the period April 2009 to March 2010. The following municipalities claimed their incentive payments: Pixley ka Seme, Govan Mbeki, Gert Sibande, Emalahleni, Dr J S Moroka, Nkangala District, Mbombela, Umjindi and Bushbuckridge.

 

Progress and Achievements:

 

Mpumalanga held its First Provincial Kamoso Awards in October 2010. Site visits to projects across the province were conducted randomly to verify quality and existence. A workshop was held between the national Department of Public Works and provincial Department of Roads, Transport and Public Works to improve intergovernmental relations and EPWP reporting. All eligible municipalities signed Incentive agreements with the national Department of Public Works. Mpumalanga hosted the national launch of the EPWP non-state sector at Bushbuckridge in May 2010. The social sector incentive business plan was in the process of being finalised and funds were transferred to relevant departments in the province. Five hundred and seventy youth learnerships were identified for funding under the strategic fund and the Safety and Security Sector Education and Training Authority (SASSETA). The National Youth Service (NYS) workshop was conducted to identify exit opportunities for exiting learners from the programme and 61 NYS learners would be recruited by the NDPW on two projects. Six NYS learners were placed in formal work (one at Emalahleni municipality, one at Lydenburg mine and four at WRAP SA).

 

Challenges:

 

- Lack of inadequate technical capacity in the programme management unit (PMU) at

  local government level.

- Poor quality of data reported by both municipalities and provincial departments.

- Under reporting on EPWP II projects.

- Inadequate data capturing capacity.

- Municipal protocol agreements were not signed by municipalities following the  

  agreement that was taken at the first EPWP summit in Durban 2010.

- Visibility of EPWP projects needed to be improved.

 

Interventions:

 

- There were plans to target the executive heads of the departments to sign the

   municipal protocols by the 1 February 2011.

- Training was going to be conducted in June, September and November 2011 for the

   department officials and data captures on the two reporting systems that were used for   

   EPWP II reporting.

-  National Department of Public Works appointed dedicated capacity to assist public

   bodies on technical issues.

- The Department of Public Works and the Local Government Sector Education &

   Training Authority LG SETA planned to train municipal officials on NQF 5 and 7.

 

Provincial Department of Public Works Projects:

 

Matsafeni Primary School:

 

 

-          The project was under the Sakhabakhi programme of the Department.

-          The duration of the project was from 29 November 2010 to 30 January 2011.

-          Total budget for the project was R1 974,161.58 which had a total expenditure of R 543,760.78 at the time of the visit.

-          The daily wage rate that was given to beneficiaries was R70.

-          A total of 24 work opportunities were created, 7 women, 18 youth and no persons with disabilities.

-          The aim of the project was to renovate 16 dilapidated classrooms and 13 toilets at the school.

-          No training was provided due to time constraints.

 

Chief Makunyula Primary School:

 

-          The project was under the Sakhabakhi programme of the Department.

-          The duration of the project was from 29 November 2010 to 30 January 2011.

-          Total budget of the project was R1 532,132.20 which had a total expenditure of R 482,409.69 at the time of the visit.

-          The daily wage rate that was given to beneficiaries was R70

-          A total of 18 work opportunities were created, 6 women, 12 youth and no disabled persons.

-          The aim of the project was to renovate 16 dilapidated classrooms, make classrooms habitable, create a conducive learning environment and encourage learners to attend school in all weather conditions.

-          No training had been conducted for the labourers and though there was a need for training, time did not allow for training since the project lasted for only two months.

 

 

4.2.1 Expanded Public Works Programme in Ehlanzeni District Municipality

 

The Ehlanzeni district municipality presented on six of its EPWP II projects, as follows:

 

4.2.1.1 Bushbuckridge Tourist Information Centre:

 

-          The project entailed the construction of a centre that was meant to accommodate tourist operators, a trading area, coffee shop, an internet facility and offices.

-          The project started on 9 July 2009 and finished on 10 September 2010.

-          The annual budget of the project was R3,500,000.

-          The project created a maximum of 24 work opportunities, with 12 youth, 5 women and1 disabled person.

-          Nine people received training in bricklaying, 3 in electricity installation, 4 in plumbing, 1 in carpentry, 4 in tiling and glazing and 24 in occupational health and safety.  

-          The purpose of the project was to provide an information facility that would maintain a database of tourist products and expose the local community to abundant tourism opportunities.

 

4.2.1.2 Balule – Satara bulk water supply pipeline:

 

-          The project entailed the removal of the old corroded steel pipeline and the installation of a new 38 km unplasticised polyvinyl chloride (uPVC) pipeline inclusive of valves and special fittings.

-          The purpose of the project was to supply water from Balule water treatment works to Satara camp site in the Kruger National Park.

-          The project duration was from 23 November 2009 to 30 June 2010 (32 weeks).

-          Twenty three work opportunities were created: 70% youth, 30% women and no disabled persons.

-          Training was provided to 23 people in labour intensive construction, 12 in pipe laying, 5 in back filling, 6 in pipe fitting and 23 in occupational health & safety.

 

4.2.1.3 Phabeni – Pretoriuskop Bulk Water Supply:

 

-          The purpose of the project was to supply water from Phabeni water treatment works to Pretoriuskop camp site in the Kruger National Park.

-          The budget of the project was R850,000.

-          The project duration was from 23 November 2009 to 30 September 2010 (48 weeks).

-          The project aim was to remove the old corroded steel pipeline, install new steel pipes in two river crossings and install a new 600m uPVC pipeline inclusive of valves and special fittings.

-          Six work opportunities were created in bricklaying, administration and welding.

-          Training was provided as follows: nine in labour intensive construction, one in bricklaying, two in welding, two in pipe laying, two in back filling, two in pipe fitting and nine in occupational health & safety.

-          Eleven per cent of people employed were youth, 22% women and no disabled people.

 

 

 

 

 

4.2.1.4 Upgrading of Kanyamazane Stadium:

 

-          The purpose of the project was to provide FIFA with a training venue as a guarantee for the 2010 World Cup.

-          The project was for the upgrading of the building works inclusive of: VIP building, caretaker flat, spectator toilets, change rooms and gate booths. Storm water reticulation, training pitch and pitch fencing, electrical works and field lighting and erection of grandstand.

-          The project duration was from 19 June 2009 to 20 May 2010 (49 weeks).

-          The project budget was R21,000,000.

-          Thirty two labourers were employed in bricklaying, administration and in carpentry.

-          Training was provided as follows: 11 in bricklaying, 2 in welding, 5 in pitch laying, 6 in electricity installation and lightning, 4 in plumbing, 1 in carpentry, 6 in paving, 8 in tiling, 4 in glazing and 47 in occupational health & safety.

 

4.2.1.5 Upgrading of Kabokweni Stadium:

 

-          The purpose of the project was to provide FIFA with a training venue as a guarantee for the 2010 World Cup.

-          The budget for the project was R31,000,000.

-          The project duration was from 19 June 2009 to 20 May 2010 (49 weeks).

-          Project description: Pitch works including pitch barrier fence, civil works including paving and aggregate surface, building works, i.e. change rooms and ablution block including tunnel and main entrance, Stadium lights, remedial works to boundary wall, reinstating of the athletics track and supply of domestic water and irrigation tanks.

-          Fifty nine labourers were employed on the project, including eight in bricklaying, three in administration and two in carpentry.

-          Training was provided as follows: 11 in bricklaying, 3 in welding, 7 in pitch laying, 6 in electricity installation and lighting, 5 in plumbing, 2 in carpentry, 16 in paving, 12 in tiling, 7 in glazing and 72 in occupational health & safety.

 

4.2.1.6 Fan Park (Bergvlam High School):

 

-          The purpose of the project was to prepare the fan park for 2010 FIFA Soccer World Cup Tournament.

-          The budget for the project was R20,000,000.

-          The project duration was from 19 June 2009 to 20 May 2010 (49 weeks).

-          Project description: demolition work, pilling, construction of ablution block, construction of pavilion and grandstand, roof covering pavilion steel structure, external site work and building work.

-          Twenty seven labourers were employed, including five in bricklaying, two in administration and one in carpentry.

-          Project beneficiaries were 69% youth, 17% women and no persons with disabilities.

-          Training was provided as follows: 11 in bricklaying, 3 in welding, 6 in electricity installation and lightning, 3 in plumbing, 1 in carpentry, 6 in paving, 3 in tiling and glazing and 35 in occupational health & safety.

 

 

4.2.2 Expanded Public Works Programme in Umjindi Local Municipality

 

The Umjindi area had a high rate of unemployment due to the demographic profile which combined both rural and urban areas.  The majority of people were earning below the poverty level. In 2007, the unemployment rate of the people of Umjindi was 41.2%. In 2008, it dropped slightly by 0.1%. The Umjindi local municipality was placed under administration a day before the visit of the Committee.

 

MIG Projects of Umjindi local municipality which were implemented focusing on EPWP requirement:

 

Roads and Storm Water Phase 3:

 

-          The project cost was R6,000,000 but the available budget was R3,879,539.67.

-          The objective of the project was to control water flow during the rainy season and minimise flooding in residential areas.

-          The project duration was six months, from 13 September 2010 to 13 April 2011.

-          Since the project started, it created 20 work opportunities.

-          The project employed three adult males, four adult females, six male youth, seven female youth and no persons with disabilities.

-          The number of people employed was expected to increase at the stage of installation of kerbs and the construction of concrete v-drains.

-          The project was behind schedule due to rainfall.

-          Total expenditure at the time of the visit was at 30.31% (R1,176,051.95).

-          Training conducted focused on technical skills transfer and social issues, technical training on concrete work, kerb laying, social issues  and AIDS awareness courses.

 

Water – Replacement of AC Pipes with uPVC Phase 3:

 

 

-          The total project cost was R8,423,680.

-          The objective of the project was to reduce the water loss by replacing all AC pipes with uPVC.

-          The project duration was eight months, from19 July 2010 to 25 February 2011.

-          The project created 54 work opportunities for local people.

-          Eighteen adult males, four females and 32 male youth were employed on the project.

-          During the project implementation there was no training conducted by service providers due to insufficient funds.

-          The contractor did provide training to local labourers e.g. health and safety in construction industry.

-          The amount paid to labourers was approximately R786,000.

-          Total expenditure at the time of the visit was 100%.

-          The project was successfully completed within six months.

 

 

EPWP incentive grant allocation was R167,000 and was increased due to the performance of the municipality to the amount of R260,000:

 

-          Two local emerging contractors were appointed.

-          The budget was divided into two various projects which were grass cutting and storm water cleaning.

 

Grass cutting project:

 

-          Total project allocation for grass cutting was R125,000.

-          Total expenditure at the time of the visit was R75,000.

-          The project started on 1 October 2010.

-          The project created temporary work opportunities for about eight people for a period of three months.

-          People employed were one adult male, one adult female, three male youth, three female youth and no persons with disabilities.

 

Storm Water Cleaning:

 

-          The objective of the project was for the cleaning of the storm water drainage and to improve the flow of water during the rainy season.

-          Total project allocation was R125,000.

-          Total expenditure at the time of the visit was R64,912.28.

-          The project started on 1 October 2010.

-          Since the project started it created 16 temporary work opportunities.

-          The allocated budget for training was R10,000.

-          A service provider was appointed to conduct training on health and safety issues.

-          Total expenditure at the time of the visit was R10,000.

 

4.2.3 Expanded Public Works Programme in Nkomazi Local Municipality

 

 

-          The Nkomazi local municipality had a population of about 515,465 people with 100, 722 households in terms of the reviewed 2010 Water Services Development Plan (WSDP).

-          The municipality was 80% rural. It was operating 18 water treatment schemes that supply 95% of the people with water.

-          The municipality used mobile water tankers to supply water to some of the communities as an intervention due to the fact that some of the water services infrastructure were still under planning/development.

-          Nkomazi municipality implemented the following capital projects to ensure sustainable water supply to the community: Nyathi Water Treatment Works and Masibekela Water Treatment Works.

-          In this municipality it was reported that the foreigners outnumbered the locals.

 

 

4.3 Status of the Asset Register in Mpumalanga Province

 

-          The province comprised four previous homelands.

-          The state properties in the province were recorded in the asset register at cost rate and not at market value.

-          The Department was busy with condition assessment of properties and not much was done as they were lagging behind in this area. The CSIR was also assisting with the assessment of properties.

-          The Department reported that it had numerous vacancies.

-          The Department indicated that there was a challenge of unknown properties that possibly belonged to government.

 

4.3.1 Asset Registration in Ehlanzeni District Municipality

 

The asset register of Ehlanzeni district municipality contained a record of information for every asset that provided support to the effective financial and technical management of the institution and met statutory requirements i.e. Municipal Finance Management Act (MFMA), Generally Recognised Accounting Practices (GRAP); as well as Ehlanzeni district municipality’s asset management policy.

 

The municipality categorised its assets into capital and minor assets. Capital assets were classified as those assets that had a life cycle greater than one year and minor assets were those assets other than capital assets which were fully depreciated in the year of existence.

 

The Ehlanzeni district municipality did not have any infrastructure assets as these assets were with the local municipalities. The district implemented infrastructure projects on behalf of the local municipalities and therefore those assets were in the asset registers of the municipalities.

 

4.3.2 Asset Register in Umjindi Local Municipality

 

-          The municipality was governed by the council policies in the management of its asset register, the supply chain management policy: s40 (1) and (2) which provided for the criteria for the disposal or letting of assets, including unserviceable, redundant or obsolete assets, subject to sections 14 and 90 of the MFMA (Act 56 of 2003), Infrastructure Asset Management Policy, Movable Asset Management Policy and Asset Disposal Policies were followed.

-          The asset register of the municipality was divided into infrastructure assets and community assets.

-          Under the infrastructure assets, the municipality recorded its caravan parks, hostel (public & tourist), market stalls, office buildings, old age homes, workshops and depots.

-          In September 2008 the municipality and the provincial Department of Health entered into a Memorandum of Agreement for the transfer of assets. This process was taken through a disposal committee, and subsequently to management.

-          The municipality had a challenge of being understaffed in the Asset Register Unit and subsequently made use of consultants.

 

Plans to address the identified challenges:

 

-          The municipality employed an experienced senior accountant who was responsible for preparing financial statements and asset management activities.

-          The municipality established a risk management division (August 2010) and it was assisting the asset management unit in identifying asset management’s control weaknesses and thereafter designing detecting and preventative controls aimed at ensuring that the municipality’s assets were well managed and accounted for.

-          Asset reconciliations were going to be performed on a monthly basis. This was going to assist in ensuring that additions at year-end as per the asset register agreed with the general ledger.

-          The municipality was considering alternatives on how to deal with the old assets for which there were no maps and records.

 

4.3.3 Asset Register in Nkomazi Local Municipality

 

In order to account and ensure that the municipality’s land, buildings and other immovable properties were reliably used at all times, the municipality complied with the requirements of section 96(2)(b) of the Municipal Finance Management Act, which requires the Accounting Officer to take all reasonable steps to ensure that the municipality has and maintains a system of internal control of assets and liabilities, including an asset register. The institution drafted and implemented an asset management policy as a tool to monitoring asset management’s activities.

The municipality’s asset register was categorised as follows: land and buildings, roads, electricity, water and sewer infrastructure, waste disposal equipment, machinery and equipment, furniture and office equipment, computer equipment, transport assets, heritage assets, biological assets and investment assets.

The Nkomazi municipality undertook a study tour to the Netherlands where they discovered a tool used for identifying underground pipes.

 

The municipality was facing the following challenges with regard to assets:

 

-          The Auditor-General of South Africa raised the following issues related to immovable property during the 2009/10 audit:

-          The existence, rights, completeness and valuation of infrastructure assets as disclosed in the financial statements could not be established.

-          Additions to property, plant and equipment disclosed in the financial statements did not agree with the amount reflected in the asset register.

-          The system that was used for asset management (e-venus) was not integrated with the financial system; hence it was difficult to reconcile the asset register to the general ledger or correctly calculate depreciation.

-          The municipality did not have enough funds to procure asset management software which supported GRAP 17 compliant information.

 

Challenges regarding assets:

 

-          The asset management unit was understaffed and had only two officials who were responsible for a large number of assets with a total cost of R735,064,923.

-          Fully depreciated assets were still being used by the municipality.

-          Numerous infrastructural assets were transferred from the former Transitional Local Councils (TLCs) when they were consolidated into Nkomazi local municipality.

-          These assets were not physically verified to ascertain their existence or location. For example, maps for underground pipes were not provided and as a result the municipality was unable to detect all the underground pipes and correctly add them to the asset register.

-          The municipality did not have enough capacity to scan the underground pipes and draft the required maps.

 

5. Recommendations

 

-          The Committee made a recommendation to the Nkomazi municipality to ensure that the Lebombo border post is kept clean.

-          The Committee recommended that ablution and water facilities should be included in the small structure at the Lebombo border post to stop the situation of officials that had to walk a distance of 200 meters to a building that had water and ablution facilities.

-          The Committee asked the national Department of Public Works to find out who was the rightful owner of the land where the Lebombo border post was situated as the uncertainty brought about a negative impact on development.

-          The national Department of Public Works should follow up on the issue of state land in the province that was leased at ridiculously low prices.

-          The national Department of Public Works should hold a joint meeting with all the other client departments involved in the operation of the Lebombo border post and attend to management issues.

-          Municipalities were advised on having proper disposal policies and ways of identifying municipal assets in line with section 14 of the Municipal Finance Management Act.

-          The local municipalities were advised to have proper working relations with the tribal authorities for easy management of their municipalities, especially on the issue of rates and taxes.

-          The national Department of Public Works was advised to provide technical training to the municipalities on the roll-out of the EPWP II. The data capturers employed by the national Department of Public Works should be deployed in each of the provinces.

-          The national Department of Public Works was advised to assist the Mpumalanga province in the compilation of its asset register.

-          The Committee recommended that the Nkomazi local municipality together with its traditional authorities should attend to the report which was provided by the municipality itself on the state of the municipality in relation to the huge inflow of illegal immigrants into the Nkomazi local municipal area. In some of the villages, it was reported that the illegal immigrants outnumbered the South African citizens and in some areas there were illegal connections of water, electricity and the allocation of sites for money by the Induna’s.

-          The Committee recommended that the Department of Co-operative Governance and Traditional Affairs should strengthen relations between municipalities and the amakhosi. Relations should also be strengthened among the Departments of Health, Police, Defence and Military Veterans and that of Co-operative Governance and Traditional Affairs.

-          The Committee recommended that the national Department of Public Works and the provincial Department of Public Works should form strong relations with the Construction Industry Development Board (CIDB) and that adherence to EPWP II guidelines should also be taken seriously.

-          The Committee recommended that the provincial Department of Public Works, Roads and Transport should have a clear plan on the maintenance of roads.

-          The Committee recommended that the vacant positions in the Asset Registration Units of the provincial Department of Public Works should be filled.

-          At the Lebombo border post, the national Department of Public Works should ensure that there were stalls for hawkers and a legal taxi rank.

 

 

 

Report to be considered.