REPORT OF THE SELECT COMMITTEE ON PETITIONS AND
MEMBERS’ LEGISLATIVE PROPOSALS ON THE FACT FINDING MISSION TO NEW EERSTERUS,
HAMMANSKRAAL ON 29 NOVEMBER 2007
1.
BACKGROUND:
The
Select Committee on Petitions and Members’ Legislative Proposals received a
petition on water service delivery from the residents of Block 2 and Block 4
extension in New Eersterus, Hammanskraal,
which had been submitted to the office of the Speaker of Parliament on
2.
OBJECTIIVES:
The
committee decided that a delegation of the Committee will go to
3.
COMPOSITION:
The composition of
the delegation was as follows:
1.
Mr F Adams (ANC) - Chairperson of Committee and Leader
of
Delegation
2.
Mr M A
3.
Mr A Watson (DA)
4.
Ms T M Sepanya (Committee
Secretary)
5.
Ms N Nqcaba (Committee
Researcher)
4.
FINDINGS:
4.1
Meeting with City
Council Officials at the Tshwane
Metro-council offices:
The
meeting was chaired by Mr Pillay the chairperson of
the Mayoral Committee on Municipal Services.
Mr Pillay indicated that, the area in question was previously
administered by the North-west provincial government and that Tshwane Metropolitan Council,
He
explained that the area does not have bulk water. The council is busy with water connections
and will complete this around July 2008.
The process has been delayed because the area
is still being developed. There are
about 5 000 stands in the residential area.
The installation of the sanitation system will be completed sometime in
2010.
He
indicated that, they had received complaints about the quality of the water and
had assigned the SABS to test this and it was found to be of good quality. It was discovered that, whatever strange
particles, e.g. dead cats had been deliberately put there by the residents
themselves as they did not want the tankers that had been installed.
The
ward councillor Mr Solly Moima
explained that the council had a meeting with the community in July 2007. He has been giving the residents feedback on
the progress of water provision. He
explained that, there are 11 boreholes and 5 trucks which will be increased to
8. The construction of the Phase I water
reticulation network started on
The
labour for this project is sourced from the local community. This is a very labour intensive project.
4.2
Meeting with the
community of New Eesterus:
The
chairperson outlined the purpose of the visit, that the meeting would only be
deal with the matters raised by the community in the petition to
Parliament. This was water provision.
The
community was led by Ms Hilda Monkwe. She indicated that they had various meetings
with all the relevant structures within the council about their plight and did
not get any assistance hence they resorted to petitioning Parliament as they
believed that they have exhausted all avenues available. She believed that it was the role of Parliament
to “deepen democracy” so the committee would then help in getting this
achieved. She mentioned that all the
construction projects do not benefit the local community.
It
became clear during the meeting that, the concerns of the community were not the
provision of the water in particular but they were unhappy about the way the
council was dealing with the development of the area.
Mr Joseph Mogale, a
member of the delegation complained about the fact that there was no proper
consultation about matters affecting them e.g. the tender process on the
project that was being undertaken. He
indicated that there was a strong feeling that the policies of the Extended
Public Works Projects are not implemented on the council’s projects.
The
Council appointed a steering committee.
A work committee was elected and they believed that members of this
committee should not be compensated for performing this function as all of them
have a stake in the construction company.
Mr Brian Makhubedu, mentioned that, since
water was a measure of service delivery, they petitioned on it but that the
real issue was the “reconstruction and development” of the area.
Mr Danie Swart, Manager for infrastructure provision in
response outlined the project. He
explained that the council had designed a basic network of water supply. The council would provide full water supply
service to be linked to Phase II which would be completed by June 2009. Phase II would start in the last week of
November 2008.
A
project steering committee was set up for each project the council was involved
in. A community liaison officer
appointed by the council also participated in the site meetings.
The
sub-contractor, Mr Abraham Mashilo started this
project in October 2007 and it is due for completion in June 2008.
The
leader of the community delegation Ms Hilda Monkwe
was concerned that the locals do not benefit from the projects. She insisted that only certain members of the
ruling party benefit as prospective employees are asked to produce their ANC
membership cards before they could be employed.
The
delegation also visited the site where the project was conducted from.
5.
RECOMMENDATIONS:
The
Committee recommends, in terms of rule 235 of the NCOP Rules, that the matter
be referred to the Select Committee on Local Government and Administration and
the relevant Committee in the
6.
CONCLUSION
The
Committee would undertake a follow-up meeting in six months to find out if
matters raised so far have been dealt with.
Report to be considered.