1.1 The Portfolio Committee on Public Service and Administration embarked on provincial oversight visits to the provinces of the Eastern Cape, KwaZulu-Natal, Limpopo and North-West, from the 31 July to 12 August 2005.

1.2 The decision on which the Portfolio Committee initiated this fact-finding mission was guided by the Public Protector Special Report number 19 of 2002, which revealed that delays in communication in the Public Service impacted negatively on service delivery.

1.3 In finding practical ways of pursuing and responding to the recommendations made in the Public Protector’s Special Report, the Portfolio Committee interacted with national, provincial and local government departments and institutions, parastatals and other agencies in the delivery of services. The oversight visits of the Portfolio Committee was concerned with and focused on five service delivery areas namely:

2.1 The purpose of the study was to investigate and gain an understanding of progress that was being made to improve service delivery by the public service. In particular, the Committee wanted to assess the impact of communication in service delivery and establish facts as to the validity of the claim that delays in communication, lack of co-ordination or the breakdown thereof, impacts negatively on service delivery.

2.3 Having considered the Public Protector Special Report No. 19 of 2002, the Portfolio Committee on Public Service and Administration decided to embark on oversight visits to selected Provinces with a view to establish facts about a finding that delays in Communication, or a breakdown thereof, impact negatively on service delivery. The Committee thus voted that it would be necessary to select areas of focus where it could be established that there is a Communication link either internally in a particular Department, between Departments, between the Public and Government Departments.

2.4 In the delivery of housing, for example, the Department, does not necessarily rely on the activities of other Departments, but there has to be very active Communication between the Department and various Developers, Contractors and suppliers of materials. In cases where there is no such communication, the housing projects are often at serious risk of not being completed, and when that happens, it is the governments’ targets that get compromised.

2.5 It is a known fact that there is an inter-sphere communication link in the delivery of water services between the Local (Category B) Municipalities, the District (Category C) Municipalities, and the Department of Water Affairs and Forestry, such that where a gap exist, the delivery of the services may be further compromised.

2.6 For the effective roll-out of the Social Security Services, the Department of Home Affairs plays a complimentary role to that of Social Development, and so is the Department of Health in dealing with the processing of applications for disability grants.

2.7 Whereas the Government has predetermined a time-period for the acquisitioning of documents as identity documents and the waiting time between applications for registration as beneficiaries of various categories of Social Grants, we may not say for certain that all is well. Where such anomalies occur, the impact is that the rendering of such services are affected negatively. The prevalence of this tendency may be due to a Communication gap between the applicants and the Departments concerned.

2.8 In the construction of classrooms, we see a communication link betw een the Department of Education and that of Public Works. The Committee’s decision to focus on these issues is due to the fact that anyone of the two Departments, may fail to reach their target, simply because the other one of them is not exerting enough effort to get things done according to the laid down communication.

2.9 The Public Protector’s report also made a finding that there are problems related to the general compliance with Batho Pele and that the Management of discipline in the Public Service is a point that needs attention. Accordingly, the Portfolio Committee will visit some hospitals and schools.

3.1 The Department of Education in the Eastern Cape is servicing about 6 642 schools, with 2,1 million learners. It has a backlog of about 21 248 classrooms; a significant number is in the Transkei region. About 1 487 schools have no toilets, 1 972 schools have no water supply, 4 333 schools have electricity and 90% of the schools do not have laboratories or libraries.

3.2 The Department has incurred a deficit of R600 million. The huge deficit impacts negatively on the functionality of schools. The Department does not have funds to employ the necessary administrative workforce as backup support to schools and as a result a 60% vacancy gap exists within the department.

3.3 The Department was resistant to the Interim Management Team IMT due to undue influence and strained labour relations with the South African Democratic Teachers Union (SADTU) and the National Education and Health Workers Union (NEHAWU). It saw the influence as interference in the work of the Department. The issue of undue influence by trade unions in the administration of the Department is an issue that needs urgent resolution at a political level.

3.4 The performance of the Department of Education in KwaZulu-Natal has significantly improved over the last five years as demonstrated by the results of senior certificate candidates, which increased from 49% since 1999 to 73% pass rate in last year’ s results.

3.5 While the Department of Education in the Eastern Cape is faced with strained relations with labour, the Department in KZN enjoys good and normalised relations with organised labour to the extent that there is greater willingness on the part of the both parties to cooperate in resolving differences and in the provision of services.

3.6 The Departments of Public Works in Limpopo indicated that the function of construction of classrooms is carried out on request by the Department of Education. In other words the Department should indicate to Public Works where schools should be built and how many classrooms should be built. In spite of such problems, the Department of Education in Limpopo managed to reduce the backlog to 11 000 classrooms.

3.7 In some cases in the province of Limpopo, it was found that the learner-ratio was reasonable enough for a particular school but due to failures in the school management plans, timetables and others, learners where then found studying under trees.

3.8 The Limpopo and North-West departments of Education were worried about over-crowding in schools.

3.9 The North-West Education department explained that, amongst others, there is no redress for infrastructure i.e. there is not enough money available (e.g. backlogs of about R6.8 billion). The province intends to build more schools, one per region; however, mobile classrooms with toilets are currently being used to ease the problem of overcrowding at some schools. These mobile classrooms will be moved to other needy areas as soon as classrooms have been built.

3.10 All the departments of Public Works in the provinces visited complained of shortages of appropriate skills in many areas such as land and quantity surveying, engineers, etc. Another area of concern was on lack of clarity on who is having the legal responsibility to maintain schools. In this regard, it surfaced that lack of co-ordination between the Department of Public Works, Department of Education and Municipalities was emerging with regards to the erecting of schools and servicing of water and electricity.

3.11 The other general challenge facing the visited provinces was in the area of libraries, laboratories and ways of addressing the shortage in furniture.

3.12 While the depth and intricacy of challenges differ by province, major challenges are in the areas of:

¨ Temporary Teachers - The question of temporary teachers keeps on haunting the Departments. The question is whether there is a possibility to overcome this problem at some stage. Of course, it is just normal to expect that whenever vacancies occur, such should be used to accommodate the temporary teachers, but the departments argue that this is not always the case, because the School Governing Bodies may prefer to appoint a totally new applicant than absorb a temporary teacher and others like the Eastern Cape reached agreements with organised labour in that educators in excess must first be absorbed before the temporary ones can be absorbed.

3.13 The utilisation of inherited "school inspectors". This category of employees are posing a serious threat to performance, either due to allegiance to the old order and resistance to change, or they have just reached a stage where they cannot learn or adjust to new strategies. The departments called on the Portfolio Committee to assist in the development of an audit plan.

3.14 While both the Departments of Public Works and Education in the four provinces visited are signatories to a service delivery agreement in the area of classroom construction, there are nonetheless reports of strained relations with each other and relations vary from fairly good to very bad. On the one hand the Department of Education blames the Public Works department for taking too long to put up infrastructure and for allowing already existing infrastructure to degenerate, while on the other hand the Department of Public Works complains that it experiences problems with Education with late submission of request and lists of school requirements, thus not allowing it enough time to adhere to its forward planning approach.

It surfaced that the Departments of Public Works and Education have a generally volatile relationship that regrettably often leads to adverse points of contention in the critical area of classroom construction.

3.15 However, the overwhelming majority of provincial departments concerned are currently putting up interventionist measures to resolve the disagreements. The Committee views this common issue as an indication of the wider challenges that exist between the two provincial departments and that corrective measures need to be in place to find practical ways of dealing with these disputes in order to minimise and eradicate factors that act as obstacles in the delivery of service and particularly in the construction of schools. This situation is coupled by poor integrated planning between departments, parastatals and the private sectors.

3.16 In relation to Black Economic Empowerment (BEE), all the four provincial departments of Public Works visited complained that the BEE imperatives have to be consulted when awarding tenders and warrant them to support emerging contractors. They indicated that in considering BEE the departments have experienced problems with BEE contractors being slow to deliver as a result of various factors such as finances. Some BEE contractors often leave projects incomplete because of lack of financial management skills.

3.17 When the Department of Public Works in North-West was asked what plans they have to attract experienced and renowned contractors. The department responded that if a contractor shortens the construction period but still produces quality buildings, this will be added into a database for profiling and such contractors would stand a good chance in future tendering.

3.18 Concerning learners who travel long distances on foot to school, the MEC in North-West indicated that the provincial department of Transport and Roads has requested Education to indicate the number of learners involved in this category and what mode of transport it required but it took senior management +- 18 months to provide this. The matter is, nonetheless being pursued further.

4.1 The purpose of the visits was to look at issues of management of discipline and support services to the schools, which emanates from the report of the Public Protector. The Committee visited Wongalethu High in Mdantsane, in the Eastern Cape, Sejankabo High in North-West and Gija-Ngove High School in Limpopo.

4.2 The Committee discovered that Wongalethu High School in Mdantsane has been consistently under-performing with a 13% senior certificate pass rate last year. Moreover, in the past two years, the school operated without a school Principal and a new Principal started at the beginning of this year replacing the caretaker acting Principal.

4.3 Lack of discipline was a prominent feature in the schools visited and this was demonstrated by late coming from both learners and educators. At no time for instance has Sejankabo High in North-West enjoyed 100% attendance or presence of educators and learners in the year.

4.4 While Gija-Ngove High school in Limpopo has been obtaining 100% senior certificate passing rate for the past few years, lack of parental guidance or involvement was seen as the major contributing factor to problems of discipline, as parents are mainly migrant labourers. This led to schoolgirls falling pregnant and increasing the volume and degree of teenage pregnancy and child support grants for the province. This is further coupled by learners using drugs and drinking alcohol even during school hours.

4.6 Wongalethu High in the Eastern Cape was also characterised by a lack of co-operation between the Principal and the rest of the school management team. This was clearly demonstrated by the failure of the deputy Principal as one of the managers in the school management team to submit quality test assurance or assessments of the pupils on the last quarter, resulting in prejudice to the learners final year marks.

4.7 The Committee was further alarmed by information that the schools visited are not the only ones encountering such problems as mentioned above in 4.6 and in fact about 18 of other schools might possibly be experiencing such problems. The Committee feels strongly about pursuing this issue.

4.8 The Committee was surprised to learn of section 21 schools as the establishment of such provisions where never explained to it and forwarded to its attention by relevant departments. The Committee wants to determine whether the issue of section 21 schools points to gaps in legislation.

4.9. The other problem that troubled a significant number of schools visited relates to the agreement with the teachers union where the educators in excess must first be absorbed before the temporary ones can be absorbed. Hence in Limpopo some of the best teachers at the schools are temporary teachers and the affected schools may lose them at the end of the year.

4.10 Sejankabo High School is faced with a decline in the enrolment of learners. There is also a high rate of vandalism of the school. The passing rate has declined from 85% in 1996 to 29.8% in 2003; absenteeism remains a problem and proper school uniforms are not being worn by learners.

4.11 When asked about the school success rate despite the challenges, the Gija-Ngove teachers explained that good relationships between the staff and he School governing body (SGB), a no-nonsense approach by the school management team, no tolerance to absconding from study and attendance have been the key factors behind the school’s success. Educators are made to feel ownership of the school by allowing them to make suggestions on the running of the school.

4.12 When asked about learners who perform below expectations, the school responded that parental consultations take place regularly in order to deal with learners who are under-performing. Learners are urged to be at school even during examination times while not writing any paper and that peers and prefects monitor other learners.

4.13 When asked whether Learner Support Materials (LSMs) are received on time, the school explained that the problem with LSMs is that they are not allocated to specific learners. Therefore, LSMs are always insufficient when compared with the demand. In most cases there is either under-supply or over supply of books.

4.14 The Portfolio Committee feels that the failure of the Deputy-Principal to submit the quality test assurance needs to be taken up with the Department of Education. It views this as an example of gross misconduct on the part of the educator.

4.15 The Committee appreciates the teacher-learner relationship in the province, however, notes that teacher deployment in the Eastern Cape province in not complemented with other packages.

4.16 The lack of discipline on the part of educators and learners is a matter that needs urgent measures to reverse the decline in the case of Wonga-Lethu and the other 18 schools mentioned in 4.6 and 4.7.

4.17 It was noted with concern that generally across provinces learners are taught in the vernacular languages whilst they would be examined in English. The issue of the educators’ proficiency in English needs to be addressed.

5.1 The Portfolio Committee interacted with the representative of DWAF, and District and Local Municipalities, which are government structures concerned with the provision of water services.

5.2 Amatole District Municipality in the Eastern Cape is a coastal district municipality situated in the eastern mid-section of the Eastern Cape Province with a population size of approximately 1.6 million and estimated land extent of 23 675 square kilometers. There are eight local "B" municipalities (Mbashe, Mnquna, Great Kei, Buffalo City, Amahlathi, Ngqushwa, Nkonkobe, and Nxuba) to which Amatole is the water service provider. Located within its boundary is the Buffalo City, which is a secondary city, providing its own water to citizens.

5.3 Prior to 2003, the Department of Water Affairs and forestry (DWAF) was the sole provider of water services. Since the introduction of the new system of local government, local municipalities have assumed responsibility for the provision of water, whilst the department remains the regulator. The process of changing the function of municipalities to service providers depends on resources and the competence and capacities of staff. It is recognised that some of the municipalities lack capacity but the district municipality has plans to augment the funding and capacity where there are shortages.

5.4 The Amatole District Municipality as the regulator has developed policies and by-laws, which have been gazetted. However, the challenge faced by the municipality is to enforce these by-laws.

5.5 The municipality is committed to the national targets as set out in the government’s Plan of Action to ensure that communities have access to clean running water by 2010. It faces huge challenges in the Transkei to provide and develop sources of water.

5.6 Institutional relationships with local municipalities in terms of section 83 of the Structures Act to provide support to local municipalities appears to be inadequate as it puts the sole emphasis on political responsibility. There is hope that the Intergovernmental Relations Framework Act (IGRFA) will positive outcomes in this regard.

5.7 The Committee believes that in the delivery of water related services, strong communication and co-ordination links between local municipalities, district municipalities and DWAF must be maintained and where they do not exist needed to be initiated.

5.8 The Mopani District Municipality reported that in the period 1996 to 2001 it experienced increased figures for non-access for water-related services due to population increases and migration trends.

5.9 The district municipality further reported that the policy of prioritising water provision has resulted in budgetary decreases in other areas of services.

5.10 Again regarding the devolution of water services to local municipalities: the part to Mopani District Municipality was not ready to deliver services to the people due in capacity constraints.

5.11 It was also reported that DWAF is not responsive to the needs of municipalities despite existing service level agreements. DWAF appears to be refusing to refurbish the schemes before transferring them to the municipality. Moreover, DWAF transferred the scheme to BaPhalaborwa without transferring cost recovery infrastructure and as a result BaPhalaborwa owes the Water Board R90 million.

5.12 The Greater Giyani and Greater Letaba Municipalities have been identified to be part of Project Consolidate and hopes to benefit greatly from the project.

5.13 The overwhelming majority of government structures concerned with water provision indicated that the economic status of the users impact on their ability to recover costs. 80% of the workforce of BaPhalaborwa municipality has been retrenched from the mines. However, where supply of water is consistent, payment is normally not a problem.

¨ There are fears that the transfer of staff from the Department of Water Affairs and Forestry (DWAF) municipalities may result in overstaffing at local level.

¨ The capacity of DWAF schemes are designed to service the reconstruction and Development Plan (RDP) housing schemes in areas and not other informal settlements.

¨ Some villages are receiving water for only 4 hours per day. Others have no electricity and water supply due to various problems.

There is poor communication between DWAF and the District Municipalities that result in the under-spending of funds earmarked for water supply.

¨ DWAF transferred funds (allocated mostly to capital projects) to District Municipalities as Water Services Authorities for 2003/2004 financial year. These funds were not spent.

¨ Funds collected by the local municipalities do not always end up being reimbursed to DWAF for operating the scheme.

¨ There is a Service Level Agreement (SLA) between the District and DWAF but it is difficult to enforce.

¨ There is a capacity problem within the municipalities to carry out cost recovery of services delivered.

¨ Sometimes Municipalities appoint contractors who are not qualified to do the job without any documentation. This leaves DWAF with no option than remaining silent on problems with construction.

¨ There are different service delivery standards between different government departments. There are, for example, no unified standards detectable between sanitation facilities built by the Department of Public Works and those provided by DWAF.

¨ Communication and co-ordination: Provincial departments are not communicating and not co-ordinating when they proceed with the transfer of functions.

¨ There is an Energy Forum but it has problems because ESKOM changes electricity units without consulting the Energy Forum. Free Basic Electricity is therefore also a challenge to act on and deliver to those who needs it most.

¨ Allocations of free basic water and electricity, based on the number of indigent people in areas are problematic in instances where the area is constituted of people with mixed income levels.

¨ The Environmental Impact Assessment made by the Department of Environmental Affairs delays project implementation.

¨ Technical reports have to be approved by DWAF and they further delay project implementation.

6.1 The Portfolio Committee in the Eastern Cape met with the provincial Department of Housing. The strategic objective of the Department is to support the capacity of local government in its plans of building affordable houses that meet the special needs of the most vulnerable in our society through an integrated infrastructure development.

6.2 The plan of the Department is to address the backlog focusing on both rural and urban areas. The two urban areas identified are Soweto on Sea in the Nelson Mandela Metropolitan Municipality and Duncan Village in Buffalo City Municipality. The Department of Housing in the Eastern Cape faces the challenge of meeting the Millennium Goals of clearing slums by 2014 and offering sustainable human settlement to all our people. There are problematic areas regarding a working relationship with traditional leadership in the province but these are less are less pronounced than in KwaZulu Natal (KZN).

6.3 The Department of Housing in KZN claimed that it was unaware of the visit by the Portfolio Committee and was, therefore, not in a position to meet it. After persuasion, the Head of the Department, reluctantly, agreed to meet and arranged discussions with the Portfolio Committee on challenges facing housing delivery in the province.

6.4 The Committee notes with regret that the department in KZN was not prepared to receive the Committee. The Committee, however, is of the view that such occurrences appear to point to key flaws within the communication structures in the department.

6.5 One of the major challenges facing housing delivery in the KZN arises from the strained relations between the traditional leadership and elected leadership. This relationship needs the intervention of politicians on a continuous basis to clarify the distinct roles and functions of the traditional and elected leaders.

6.6 In Limpopo, service delivery standards have been developed. There are policies for service delivery, but there are challenges with the implementation thereof.

6.7 The absence of a centralised call centre in KZN was noted with concern. For the period 1994-1999 the housing development process was performed by the Department, which played a role as one of the structures in the delivery chain, but with effect from 1999, the Department is playing the role of a developer. Municipalities draw priority lists and identify beneficiaries for housing projects that are forwarded to the provincial housing department. Acts of corruption have been identified.

6.9 The Matlhoks project was mentioned as a typical case of projects that are affected by communication and co-ordination problems. It was noted at the meeting that there is a need for this project to be followed up.

6.10 The department of housing in the North-West province indicated that for the 2003/2004 financial years it under-spent to an amount of R142 Million and are currently sitting with +-R610 Million for housing. It was further pointed out that in an effort to address the deficiencies, a program has been put in place to visit all 21 municipalities to empower them as developers so that the funds can be used.

6.11 When asked as to why the department has a housing backlog whilst it claims to be sitting with R610 million, the Chief Director responded that the transfer of monthly funding by the National Department of Housing is not done within the allocated time period. This results in material being bought on credit and the department failing to pay on time with the results that suppliers are reluctant to deliver material. Construction workers who have not been paid also abandon projects.

6.12 When asked what is being done with municipalities that fail to deliver, the response was that such municipalities are required to return the responsibilities to the department.

6.13 Responding to what action the department utilise when the National Department fails to transfer monthly funding in time, the North West provincial department indicated that it is co-co-ordinating well with its national counterpart. This is evidenced by the local department being a member of all the task teams of the national department concerned with housing delivery.

6.14 The Portfolio Committee further wanted to know whether skills transfer programmes between the department and contractors are taking place. The department stated that this is being dealt with through tripartite agreements between the department, municipalities and contractors.

6.15 On the subject of the role of the Housing Corporation in housing delivery, the department revealed that the entity in question was inherited from the past regime and its role was mainly to provide rental housing e.g. flats but does not have a role in the new dispensation on housing delivery.

6.16 When the Committee enquired about the extent of progress regarding the eradication of bucket system along the Millennium aims. The department indicated that R1 Billion to R5 Billion is required for rural sanitation in order to eradicate the bucket system from our society. Funding is thus the main problem as some municipalities are not able to counter funds because they have very poor revenue bases.

6.17 Unfortunately, because the Provincial Housing Department’s Chief Directorate has just recently been staffed, the Portfolio Committee could not get a detailed account of what caused backlogs in the past years.

7.1 The Portfolio Committee met with the provincial Departments of Social Development and the Regional Offices of the Department of Home Affairs.

7.2 The Department of Social Development in the Eastern Cape has two components, the Social Grant and Development components. The Social Grant component is in the process of being transferred to the new Social Security Agency (SASSA). The target date for the new Social Security Agency is 6 April.

7.3 The objective of the Social Development component will be to provide protection to the most vulnerable and reducing dependence on social grants. It wants to ensure that areas of social protection are focused.

7.4 The department is to focus on income generation projects. It will also address issues of children in conflict with the law and the protection of the elderly.

7.5 Communication in the Department was found to be a problem area. The Social Services department in KZN has experienced an increase in litigation over the last few years. The litigations are in connection with non-approval of applications for social grants or their termination. Because of problems it encountered with the State Attorney, it opted to acquire and use the services of private practitioners. This is a case that the Portfolio Committee wants to raise with relevant structures and such as the Department of Justice and Constitutional Development.

7.6 The Department in KZN has opted for a single service provider to pay out social grants to beneficiaries for the whole of the province. This is also a matter the Portfolio Committee feels should be examined. In particular, the Portfolio Committee wants to investigate the issue of whether it is appropriate that the service of actual payments of social grants should be privatised.

7.7 The Portfolio Committee commended the Department on pay-points specifically with regards to the provision of shelters and chairs for the beneficiaries. It felt, however, that there should be a more effective regulation of traffic, hawkers and moneylenders in the vicinity of the pay-points. In view of the fact that the beneficiaries are elders, disabled people and children arrangements should be made with the local clinics and day hospitals for paramedics, nurses and, or a doctor to be on standby for cases of emergency.

7.8 In the Limpopo Province, the Portfolio Committee was able to meet both the department of Social Development as well as a social security pay-point in Ngove. The relevant recommendations regarding these are made in the sections detailing recommendations.

7.9 The Committee notes with regret that the department of Social Development in KZN has enormous backlogs of unprocessed applications and this issue needs to be followed up on.

7.10 The Portfolio Committee noted the outsourcing of social services to private contractors performing the function on behalf of the department in KZN.

7.11 There appears to be slow progress in Msinga in the past 7 years because of infrastructure not properly exploited due to the unwillingness of traditional leaders. The Committee feels that traditional leaders in the province have to adapt to the social structure of the wider society. The traditional leaders in the province appear to be blocking progress.

8.1 The Portfolio Committee made unannounced visits to hospitals as part of observations to determine compliance with the Batho Pele Principles. Visits were conducted in the Giyani Health Centre, Cecelia Makiwane, and Grey’s Hospital, North Dale Hospital and Bophelong Hospital.

8.2 The Portfolio Committee made an unannounced visit to Cecelia Makiwane Hospital in the Eastern Cape. It spoke to the medical staff, from doctors to nurses and general workers. It also to patients in the maternity wards, it visited paediatric and the psychiatric wards.

8.3 The hospital showed clear signs of debilitation. However, it was kept clean. The Portfolio committee was very impressed by the commitment and passion by employees to the provision of quality service. The overwhelming majority of the hospitals visited raised common issues relating to staff retention, shortages and resources.

8.4 The North-Dale Hospital in KZN is a district hospital, which services communities from Umgungundlovu, Uthukela, Umzinyathi, Ilembe and Sisionke. Northdale is a referral hospital that receives patients from the Primary Health Clinics and Community Health Clinics.

8.5 The Hospitals visited in the province appear to be struggling on staff retention, which point to a need for improved conditions of work.

8.6 The Hospital just like the other rural municipalities visited would like to see the hospital re-categorised from a small district hospital to take into account the geographical area it covers, and additional funding that goes with re-categorisation.

¨ A national co-ordinating structure to deal with local issues of service delivery e.g. the housing delivery, and deal with problems in traditional leadership areas.

¨ Regarding the flight of skills from hospitals, led by the PSC and other appropriate state organs: A structure need to be established at the national level which, in terms of the Committee’s observation, emanates not only from conditions of employment but also from our policy framework.

¨ Provinces need to be provided with a copy of the report before the following up on issues to afford them the opportunity of studying the findings and recommendations of the Committee.

¨ A review of the issue of functions as they relate to the Department of Public Works, Education and local government structures (municipalities) in the area of classroom construction and maintenance thereof should take place.

Initiate bilateral meetings with SADTU and others in the Eastern Cape around IMT-related issues.

¨ There is a need for the establishment of a Provincial Infrastructure Co-ordination Unit to co-ordinate plans of various institutions like Eskom for provision of electricity, Department of Water Affairs for provision of water, Department of Education for provision of schools, Public Works for construction of the said classrooms and Roads and Transport for provision of roads and transport routes.

¨ Maintenance of school buildings could be incorporated into the Expanded Public Works Programme.

¨ The volatile relationship between the Department of Education and Public Works might have to be addressed at national level in order to ensure improvements in service delivery.

¨ The provincial departments concerned must look at the possibilities of reconciling the socio-economic imperatives of BEE and the wider national democratic principles of a better life for all.

¨ The Committee wants to note that the issue of BEE as it unfolds, is a problem and that the standard of work tends to compromise the construction of schools. The Committee further wants to consider whether the departments should pursue or glance the issue of BEE at the expense of adequate classroom construction.

¨ The Portfolio Committee recommends that steps be taken to ensure that standards are set which would apply across the board.

¨ DWAF is requested to furnish the Portfolio Committee with a list of municipalities that are unable to spend money that has been transferred to them.

¨ The PSC to investigate the recruitment of principals.

11.1 The Portfolio Committee convened a workshop after the oversight visits to assess the issues that arose during the visits as part of the preparation of this report to Parliament. It held a one-day workshop on the 12th September 2005 in Parliament in which Public Service Commissioners who were part of the visits also participated. It was clear, after this assessment, that there is a need for follow-up visits to these provinces and institutions in order for us to accomplish the mission of the oversight visit. The Portfolio Committee needed to give an opportunity to key stakeholders to express their views on issues that arose during the oversight visit.

11.2. With a view to taking action, the Portfolio Committee was of the view that the institutions in the following action plan should be invited to a hearing on the delivery topics mentioned below, in order that they can express their views on the issues that arose during the oversight visit.