Forestry Laws Amendment Bill: Final Mandates; Department of Water Affairs and Forestry Annual Report

Mr Sindane replied that the Department had recently restructured its financial department. The old staff members had received sufficient time to address the problems; however, they had failed to do so. As a result, the Department would be hiring some new financial staff. The Chief Financial Officer (CFO) had been suspended due to alleged mismanagement. In the CFO's absence, a team had been established to prioritise and address the problems that the finance department had experienced. This team was providing weekly progress reports to the Department’s senior management.

Mr Sindane added that this team was a responsible for monitoring whether the Department’s regional offices possessed basic financial and accounting skills. This would include examining the stock taking procures of the regional offices. The Department was also considering the possibility of requesting mini annual reports from the regional offices. The Auditor-General would possibly be involved in assisting the regional offices to compile these mini annual reports. Added to this, the Department was examining the structure of the regional offices. It would perhaps be necessary to restructure the regional offices to ensure that they performed properly.

Mr Sindane noted that the Department would be providing the Portfolio Committee with quarterly reports on the progress that it was making towards addressing its financial management and human resource development challenges. Mr Sindane stated that the Department would submit these quarterly reports to the Select Committee.

The Chairperson pointed out that the Select Committee had been requesting quarterly reports from the Department since 1999. The Chairperson enquired why these reports had never been delivered.

Mr Sindane apologised for not having delivered the reports. Nonetheless, he reassured that the Committee that it would receive the quarterly reports in the future.

Mr Van Rooyen noted that the Department had included a Local Government Service Quality Table in its Annual Report. There were some concerning statistics in this Table. For example, some local governments had received very low ratings in terms of acceptable service quality. This situation was unacceptable. What was the Department doing to address this problem?

Mr Sindane replied that the Table outlined whether or not municipalities were testing the drinking water that they supplied. Many municipalities did not have the capacity to test the water. Indeed, 78 municipalities did not have any qualified engineers or technicians, which meant that they could not test the water that they supplied. The Department, however, had sent regional officials to monitor the water quality of the municipalities that lacked capacity. Added to this, the Department had requested the Water Boards to test the bulk water supply that they provided to the municipalities, and to check quality of the end-user tap water.

Mr Mzizi was concerned that most of the Department’s initiatives were ‘in the pipeline’. He asked when the Department would complete these projects. He noted that a number of Departmental officials were being investigated due to incidences of financial mismanagement. He enquired whether progress had been made around these investigations. Would any of these corrupt officials be prosecuted?

Mr Sindane responded that the investigations, which were being conducted, related to incidences that had occurred at the Bloem, Bushbuckridge, and the Botshelo Water Boards. These investigations were in different stages. For example, the investigation at Botshelo Water Board resulted in the dismissal of the CEO. The possibility of laying criminal charges against the CEO was being considered. Meanwhile, the Department was awaiting reports on the investigations at the Bloem and Bushbuckridge Water Boards.

The Chairperson enquired how much money had been defrauded by corrupt officials and how was the Department curbing fraud.

Mr Sindane responded that the Department had detailed statistics on the fraud cases. For example, in one case the Department had lost R 800 000 due to fraud. The fraud had been committed by a syndicate that had manipulated the Departments payroll system. The employees involved were due to appear in court. He added that the National Intelligence Agency was examining how the Department’s systems could be upgraded. The Department was also considering the possibility of paying employees salaries by cheque. This would possibly curb the problem of ghost workers.

Mr Mzizi noted that the Limpopo Province was experiencing a severe drought. Plans needed to be put in place to ensure that water was effectively harnessed and stored in preparation for the dry season. Mr Matukane replied that drought was endemic to certain areas of the Limpopo Province. He noted that many of the dam levels in the Limpopo Provinces were extremely low. In order to address this problem, the Department would be undertaking a water allocation reform initiative in the Limpopo Province.

Mr A Watson (DA, Mpumalanga) pointed out that many of the private saw mills in the Komatiland, the eastern Limpopo and the north-eastern KwaZulu-Natal areas had experienced a shortage of wood due to forest fires. In order to address this, the government had made 40 000 cubic meters of logs available to the affected saw millers. However, most of the logs had been made available to saw milers in the Bushbuckridge area. As a result, the logs were failing to reach most of the other affected saw millers. He asked whether the Department was aware of this problem. Mr Balzer acknowledged that most of the logs had not reached the small saw millers in other areas. This was due to the fact that the Department had acquired the logs from its plantations, which were mainly situated in the Bushbuckridge area.

Mr Watson noted that many people were losing their jobs due to the restructuring of SAFCOL. The Department needed to intervene to address this problem. Mr Balzer responded that the Department did not have a direct influence over SAFCOL, as SAFCOL fell under the auspices of the Department of Public Enterprises. Nonetheless, the Department would take the issue up with Public Enterprises. However, SAFCOL was mandated to operate on business principles.

Mr Watson observed that the Department had hired a number of Cuban underground water specialists. He enquired whether these Cuban specialists were transferring any skills to South Africans. He added that South Africa appeared to be a work agency for the Cubans. He then asked when the Cuban underground water specialists were returning to Cuba.

Mr Sindane replied that one of the aims of hiring Cuban specialists was skills transfer. However, it was difficult to actually measure skills transfer. Added to this, the skills transfer initiative had proved problematic in areas where there was a low skills base. The Cuban specialists sometimes undertook the work themselves due to a lack of capacity in the Department. All Cuban specialists were in South Africa on three year contracts. Mr Matukane noted that Cuban geo-hydrological specialists were responsible for managing groundwater projects in the Limpopo Province. This was due to the fact that there were very few geo-hydrologists in South Africa. Until recently, there was only one university in South Africa that offered training in geo-hydrology.

Mr Tau was not satisfied with the Department’s response. He noted that the South African government had a strategic partnership with Cuba. Indeed, the Cubans had offered valuable support to South Africa. The Department should not be apologetic about hiring Cubans. South Africa needed Cuba’s assistance in areas where there were skills shortages. Other countries often came to South Africa and depleted its resources without benefiting anybody. Mr Tau was concerned that Mr Watson was ridiculing the Cuban people.

Mr Watson responded that his question was around skills transfers. The Department had admitted that the Cubans often undertook work without offering skills transfers.

Mr Watson noted that the Rand Water Board was constructing a pipeline from Mamelodi to Ekangala. He observed that the old Renosterkop Dam was closer to Ekangala than Mamelodi. Why could a filtration plant not be established at the Renosterkop Dam? This would allow water to be piped from the Renosterkop Dam to Ekangala. Added to this, the Vaalbank townships, which were close to the Renosterkop Dam, had taps but no water. The Renosterkop Dam could also be used to pipe water to the Vaalbank townships.

Mr Balzer responded that the Department had examined all the possible oppositions around the water supply to Ekangala. It was found that Mamelodi had spare capacity. It was found that it would take a shorter time to build a pipeline from Mamelodi to Ekangala, than to construct infrastructure at the Renosterkop Dam.

Mr Watson noted that a number of dams were being built as part of the Komati Basin Project. Were there any plans to promote economic activities, such as tourism, around these dams? Mr Sindane responded that the Department worked with provincial and local governments around their growth and development strategies and their integrated development plans (IDPs). This included linking water related matters, such as water supply and tourism, to the growth and development strategies and IDPs. Indeed, the Department, along with local governments, had been involved in cleaning up the Vaal River to enhance its tourism potential. Mr Balzer added that the Department was preparing Sustainable Utilisation Plans (SUPs) for a number of dams. These SUPs would include a tourism component.

Mr Watson asked when phase two of the Lesotho Highlands Water Project (LHWP) would begin.

Ms Matlanyane commented that R 1.3 billion had been allocated to municipalities in the Limpopo Province to improve water services and sanitation. However, only R 40 million of this had been spent. She asked why the remainder of these funds had not been spent. Was it due to a lack of capacity?

Mr Sindane responded that municipal under-expenditure was concerning. When the Department detected a municipal under-expenditure, it would write to that municipality requesting a report on why there had been an under-spend. Following this, the Department would then request an action plan from the municipality. The Department would also offer assistance to the municipality. Added to this, the Department would inform the relevant provincial government about the municipality’s under-expenditure. The government had also implemented Project Consolidate to assist municipalities that were experiencing problems with under-expenditure.

Mr Sindane noted that there had been a public debate around a lack of capacity in certain municipalities. In order to address the capacity problem, the Department was considering the possibility of re-hiring retired civil engineers. These engineers could be deployed at the Department’s regional offices so that they could be dispatched to municipalities that had capacity problems. The Department was also negotiating with certain training institutions to ensure that learners were paired with these experienced engineers.

Mr Tau asked for an update on the Working for Water programme. Were its objectives being met? Mr Sindane replied that the Working for Water Programme was a success. It had assisted with poverty alleviation and employment creation. Nonetheless, certain challenges had been experienced. For example, there were certain issues around the participant exit strategy. The Department was working towards addressing these problems.

Mr Tau commented that certain of the WUAs still mainly benefited privileged consumers. He enquired how the Department was addressing this problem. Mr Sindane responded that the idea of establishing the WUAs was to ensure that previously disadvantaged people also benefited from their services. However, the Minister had raised certain questions around the WUAs. Indeed, the Minister had asked whether the WUAs were carrying out the government’s mandate. As a result, Mr Sindane had pledged to undertake a study to examine how WUAs operated in other countries. This would allow the government to tighten up the legislation that surrounded the WUAs in order to ensure that they delivered on their mandate.

The Chairperson asked what plans the Department had to deliver water to people in the rural areas.

The Chairperson noted that many people in the townships and rural areas were becoming bitter and angry about poor water services. People in these areas were waiting for delivery. The fact that funds were underused was extremely serious. The Members would feel the people’s pressure when they returned to their constituencies. They would be asked by people why the Department was not delivering effectively. The Committee needed to take the Department to task. The Committee wanted comprehensive progress reports from the Department. For example, when would the bucket system be eradicated? Did the Department know how to eradicate the bucket system? There could not be a situation where projects were left incomplete. If Department employees were not performing properly, they should not then claim that there was a lack of capacity. The Chairperson was concerned that the Department’s Annual Report did not reflect the reality on the ground. One needed to be able to measure what was delivered on the ground.

Mr Sindane responded that he sympathised with the Select Committee’s sense of frustration. The Department would forward data on the eradication on the bucket system to the Committee. Added to this, it would provide extensive progress reports to the Committee on the projects that it was undertaking, which included its activities in the Nodal Areas.

The Chairperson responded that it was important that the Committee receive such information which needed to be simple and to the point. The Members would then be able to check on the projects that had been undertaken in their constituencies. The Committee and the Department needed to work together to ensure that there was effective delivery.

The meeting was adjourned.