LEGACY REPORT: PORTFOLIO COMMITTEE ON WATER AFFAIRS AND FORESTRY - FEBRUARY 2004
OUTSTANDING ISSUES
LEGISLATION There is no outstanding legislation before the committee.
OVERSIGHT
Visits The committee has embarked on a series of Provincial Study tours in 2002/3. The only province that was not visited is Western Cape. The committee also identified the following provinces for follow-up visits:-
Eastern Cape
KwaZulu-Natal
Mpurnalanga
Limpopo
Briefings Because of a much shortened Parliamentary program, there are certain briefings planned by the Committee which did not take place, i.e.
- Human Resource Development and transformation in the Department of Water Affairs and Forestry
- Restructuring of Commercial and Indigenous Forest
- Briefing by Rand Water Board
- Briefing by National Sanitation Task team
- The role of SETA's on transformation and human resources development in the water and forestry sectors
RECOMMENDATIONS AND CONCLUSIONS
The Portfolio Committee wants to make the following recommendations:
- The Portfolio Committee needs to be better resourced to do its oversight work in a proper and effective way.
- There is a need for more portfolio-related training for members, especially in certain technical aspects of the portfolio. The issue needs to be followed-up with the Water Research Commission and/or tertiary institutions.
- The interaction between the Minister and the Portfolio Committee needs to improve.
- Notwithstanding notable improvement in the delivery of sanitation, factors still contributing to a slower pace of delivery needs to be removed as a matter of urgency if the eradication of the backlog needs to be realized within the timeframes set out by the Department.
In conclusion, it is the opinion of the Portfolio Committee that, notwithstanding the fact that there are still a lot of challenges, the Department of Water Affairs and Forestry as well as other role-players in the water and forestry sector are on track to ensure the availability and supply of water on a national level, to ensure equitable and efficient provision of water services at local level, and also to promote sustainable forestry management.