NATIONAL
COUNCIL OF PROVINCES
PROVINCIAL
WEEK REPORT
7
– 11 SEPTEMBER 2009
SECTION ONE: INTRODUCTION
The Provincial
Week served as an instrument for the National Council of Provinces (NCOP) and
provinces to establish collaborative approaches in seeking solutions and
devising mechanisms that would address the needs of the people of
During
the Provincial Week, permanent delegates to the NCOP met with various provincial
leaders, including Speakers, Chief Whips and Chairpersons of
Committees, Premiers, Members of the Executive Council (MECs) and the
Departments, and other stakeholders such as local government leaders and the
South African Local Government Association (Salga). It gave permanent delegates
to the NCOP and members of provincial legislatures an opportunity to undertake
oversight visits and interact with communities in order to get “first hand”
information on the needs and challenges that were confronting the public. They
also visited projects that were implemented by both national and provincial
government in their provinces to ascertain progress that was being made.
The theme for the Provincial Week was “A Strategic
Mechanism for Strengthening the Representation of Provincial Interests in the
National Council of Provinces”
SECTION
TWO: PROVINCIAL REPORTS
1.
1.1
Meeting
with the Provincial Leadership
Permanent
delegates to the NCOP met with the Premier, the Speaker, Members of the
Executive Council and Members of the Legislature. At this meeting the role and
mandate of the NCOP was outlined as ensuring that provincial interests were
taken into account in the national sphere of government. This could be achieved
mainly by ensuring that the NCOP participated in the national legislative
process and by providing a national forum for public consideration of issues
affecting provinces.
The provincial
leadership indicated that the NCOP Provincial Week was an important mechanism
to solicit provincial interests and ensure that provincial delegates to the
NCOP were kept abreast with developments, as well as the challenges that were
facing provinces. It was also emphasised
that the focus of the NCOP in the next 5 years would be on the monitoring of government
programmes and also the evaluation of the impact of services rendered. During
the visit, the focus would be concentrated on the Chris Hani District which was
visited by the NCOP in November 2008.
The Premier
expressed appreciation for the NCOP programme and also acknowledged the fact
that the mandate of the NCOP was being taken seriously by the province. She further expressed the view that the NCOP was
the only forum where delegates advanced the interests of the province and where
principles of transparency and accountability were espoused.
Although issues
raised during the NCOP visit in November 2008 were raised in
1.2 Departmental Responses to NCOP Recommendations
Following the
visit in November 2008 all recommendations of the NCOP were attended to by
various departments. The following brief
reports were provided.
Health
Philani
Clinic:
Issues raised
were maintenance-related that tended to compromise delivery. These matters were addressed. The Department had entered into an agreement
with local municipalities to assist in fixing some of the damage at the clinic.
Education
Schools
visited
Although the
recommendations relating to the six schools that were visited during 2008 were
attended to, the Department was still faced with an inadequate infrastructure
budget. This was posing a serious
challenge in service delivery and in converting mud schools to brick and mortar
structures.
Local
Government
The Department
intervened in quite a few municipalities in the province.
Social
Development
Nceduluntu
Development Project
o
At the time of the visit there were no
quality crops to be harvested.
o
The borehole development and irrigation
scheme was complete. However, the electrical connection by ESKOM was still
outstanding
o
The area was very dry and therefore
underground water remained very sporadic.
Masibambane
Home-Based Care
Siyakhanyisa
Food Security Project: Askeaton
Sophilasonke
Home Community Based Care
Siyakhona
Poultry Project
Response
from SASSA
Social
& Disability grants
Housing
The houses and
services in Ward 4 – Lady Frere 700 Housing Project were identified for
Rectification Programme. The progress
was as follows:
o
R15,7m has been approved towards
rectification of water, sanitation and roads and storm-water
o
The roads and storm-water infrastructure
have been put to tender and was currently under evaluation
o
Engineers were also busy with a design
report on rectification of water and sewers.
o
The departmental technical team was
currently undertaking a site audit to establish the exact number of houses and
nature of defects, to allow for appointment of a structural engineer.
o
Actual rectification of the houses was
expected to commence in the 2010/11 financial year.
Safety
and Liaison
An appeal was
made to the NCOP delegation to consider and influence the budget vote of the
Eastern-Cape SAPS.
1.3 Meeting at
1.3.1 Briefing by NCOP Delegates
The NCOP
Permanent Delegates and the Members of the Provincial Legislature convened
together with Chris Hani District Councillors.
The NCOP delegation highlighted that the approach of the NCOP during the
5-year term would be focusing on the monitoring of government programmes and
assessing progress made. The Councillors
were also briefed about the purpose of the visit, namely that it was intended:
1.3.2 Briefing by Executive Mayor of Chris Hani
The Executive
Mayor briefed the NCOP Delegation and Members of the Provincial
Legislature. Firstly, he indicated that
he appreciated the follow-up visit by the NCOP and emphasised the fact that
promotion of cooperative governance should be strengthened at all spheres. Secondly, he alluded to the concerns and
challenges faced by the District and local municipalities. These included the
following:
1.4 Bengu Multi-Pupose Centre
The Delegation
visited the Multi-purpose Centre and interviewed the Ward Councillor, Municipal
Officials and the workers. The
Councillor emphasized that the Centre was not intended to be a general meeting
place only for the community but rather a “one-stop shop” where required government
services would be provided. Office space
would be provided for utilization by various Departments i.e. Home Affairs,
Social Services, Police Services etc to meet the needs of the community The project cost was R1,8 million (MIG
funds).
The building
started and was scheduled to be finished at the end of September 2009. However, in terms of progress so far, it was
anticipated that the project would not finish as scheduled but might be delayed
by two to three months. It was anticipated that it would be finished at the end
of November 2009.
The delegation
observed that the department was working well with
With regard to
recruitment, it was noted that although the Contractor, Urban Africa, came from
outside the Local and
Challenges
Recommendations
The delegation
recommended to the Municipality Management that a data base of the trained
bricklayers should be kept for consideration for future building projects.
Conclusion
Considerable progress had
been made though some delay had been noted. Government processes have been
adhered to, monitoring of the project was done closely, frequently and jointly
by the Community and the
1.5 Ngonyama Health Care Centre
Ngonyama
Health Care Centre was situated at Ngonyama Administrative Area approximately
62 kilometres from Lady Frere on the main road to
The
surrounding areas served were: Lower & Upper Vaalbank, Agnes Rest, Tsembeyi,
Zwaart Water, Ngonyama, Jojweni, Dubeni, Qoqodala and Buffels Doring
The Centre had
the following personnel: 2 x clinic operational manager, 2 x CPNs, 4 x PN, 1 x
Enrolled Nursing Assistant (on study leave), 2 x caregivers, 7 x Community
Health Workers. A private security was operating on a 24 hours basis (currently
one during the day and one at night).
The Centre provided
the following services: HIV/AIDS/PMTCT/ARV feeder site, Maternal and Child
Health, Women’s Health, Chronic Disease Management, TB Management, Treatment of
minor ailments and acute infections, Rehabilitation, Health Promotion and
School Health Services, Integrated Nutrition programme, Environmental Health, Circumcision
and Dental Services
The Clinic had
a solid infrastructure. Attention was being given to the nurses’ home, which
needed revamping to the roof and ceiling that were burnt down in 2006.
A Clinic
committee had been nominated to serve the various catchment areas that were
served by the Centre. The Department of Health and the Local Councillors,
however, did not regularly attend meetings.
Medicines were
available but there had been a challenge at the depots since the advent of the
swine flu. Presently the supplies were sufficient and no medicines were out of
stock.
Challenges
Way
forward
24hr service
in operation since December 2008.
|
Programme |
Indicator |
Actual Service Delivery Status Quo |
|
TB |
Suspect
rate 4 |
|
|
|
Nurse
clinical workload |
7.7 |
|
HIV/AIDS/STI |
%ANC
clients tested for HIV |
71.1 |
|
Health
Promotion |
No
of Health Promoting Schools |
1 |
|
|
Antenatal
before20 weeks |
37.8 |
|
|
STI
Partner Treatment rate |
79.2 |
|
MCWH |
Immunization
coverage |
92.9 |
|
|
Utilization
rate |
1.6 |
|
|
Utilization
rate less than 5 |
5 |
|
|
Vitamin
A 12 – 59 months |
13.1 |
|
|
Vitamin
A 6 – 11 months |
83.9 |
|
|
Weighing
Coverage |
90.5 |
|
|
Not
gaining Weight less than 5 yrs |
0.4 |
|
|
Severe
Malnutrition less than 5 yrs |
0 |
|
|
|
|
As a result, there was persistent
public discontent regarding removal of doctors. The delegation was concerned at
the rate at which the patients utilized the centre.
Issues
Raised
It was reported that some
of the issues that contributed to the problem was the removal of doctors, late
arrival of medicines and some staff attitudes. As a result, patients from the
surrounding communities utilized other nearby clinics and even visited Dodrecht
and Queenstown clinics.
Recommendations
It was recommended that
staff should, with immediate effect ensure the deployment of the sessional
doctor on regular basis to the Centre to ensure that the Centre was fully
utilized for its intended purpose.
It was emphasised that
the staff of the Centre through the Department of Health should work hand in
hand with the
1.6
The
school had been allocated R224 000-00 for the 2009/2010 financial year.
The total budget included
items such as maintenance, LTSM (buying of learning material) and charging fee.
Only half of the total amount of the allocated budget was utilized for the
needs of the school.
Challenges
The school was faced with
the following infrastructure related challenges:
There were also
the following human resources related challenges:
Findings
Recommendations
o
The recommendations by the NCOP must be considered
very seriously by all the spheres of government and progress reports should be
produced. It was proposed that a
turnaround strategy for the school must be developed.
o
The Department of Education must monitor the
situation to ensure that the budget allocated to Section 21
schools was utilized according to what it had been intended for.
General Recommendations
o
o
Training of
SGB must be conducted.
o
The School Governing Body was urged to lobby
businesses to adopt the school in the “Adopt a School Project”.
o
Freemantle Alumni should be established for former
students to be invited to plough back into the school.
o
The relevant Departments and Committees must play
an integral role in attending to relevant issues at the school.
1.7
The Provincial Whip
outlined the purpose of the visit. It
was emphasized that the delegation was at the school to monitor progress since
there were many challenges facing the school when the NCOP delegation visited
them in November 2008. The school had 270 learners and 12 educators including
the principal.
Challenges
Successes
The vision of the school was:
1.8
The NCOP delegation
visited the
Challenges
Successes
Role
of the District Office
Recommendations
1.9 Storm Water Site Visits
The NCOP Delegates visited the projects
and interviewed the Ward Councillor, Municipal Officials and the workers. The project was about controlling the flow of
water that came from the mountains, through the erection of a dam and a
concrete wall. The project cost was R5,1
million and was expected to end within six months.
With regard to recruitment the project was
community based. Every month new
workers from the affected communities were being employed to replace the
existing workers.
Findings:
There was insufficient funding for the
project to be completed in time. It was
therefore recommended that the Department of Water Affairs should be engaged to
provide more funding for the project.
There was a concern by workers that they
did not have protective clothing while working on the site.
1.10 Ndonga Sorghum Project
The project specialized in growing
sorghum. It was a cooperative and had a Board
of Directors. It was working hand in hand with Siyalima. At first the project was funded by the
cooperative and the Christ Hani Municipalities.
During the current year they harvested 2 173 bags of sorghum.
There were stakeholders that supported the
cooperative namely, the National Development Agency and the Department of
Agriculture. They were allocated 200 hectares of land, seed and fertilizer by the
National Development Agency. The
Department of Agriculture provided tractors and farming equipment for ploughing
and harvesting.
Vision
and plans of the cooperative:
o
To
make Lady Frere to be the best sorghum producing area.
o
To
manufacture sorghum mealie-meal.
o
If
funding could be made available, the project would be able to fulfil their
plans.
Challenges
regarding marketing:
o
Low
selling prices of sorghum.
o
Due
to the low market value of sorghum, many sorghum bags were still stored and not
sold because they were not profitable.
o
Lack
of funding: There were plans for developing the project to produce more sorghum
products like maltabella.
1.11 Conclusion
The NCOP delegation was of the view that although
there was some progress made there were still challenges in certain areas that
needed a pro-active approach of both Provincial and National Governments.
2.
From 7 to 11 September 2009 the Free State Permanent
Delegates to the National Council of Provinces (NCOP) joined the following
Portfolio Committees in conducting oversight visits to various sites in the
Fezile Dabi District and in the Lejweleputswa District:
The sites which were visited
by the various committees included the
following:
The Permanent Delegates and
Members of the Free State Provincial Legislature also met with the Office of
the Premier and received a briefing on the progress made in respect of the
setting up of the provincial Planning Commission and the Monitoring and
Evaluation Commission.
2.1. Findings and observations at the
agricultural sites visited
2.1.1 Grow
Together Project
Background
Grow Together Farming Project was established in 2004. Of the 11 members,
5 were women and 6 were men from the
The following key
issues and challenges were raised:
2.1.2 Itekeng
Poultry Project
The Itekeng Poultry Project was situated 2.7 km
outside of Deneysville on plots 99,100,103 and 104 Veekraal Small Holdings. The
total size of the property was 18.0192Ha. It was situated next to the
Vereeniging / Viljoensdrift road and was therefore accessible to road users.
The location of the project was central to larger towns both within and outside
of the province, i.e. Orangeville, Sasolburg, Vereeniging and Vanderbijlpark,
and these were potential markets.
The following key issues and challenges were raised:
o
There
was a serious challenge with regard to the market for selling chickens and
beneficiaries were currently selling their chickens in the local township.
o
The
main challenge for the project was for the abattoir to be able to comply with
the necessary health regulations. The beneficiaries could not otherwise achieve
their objectives of selling chickens and becoming commercially viable.
Currently the beneficiaries had 1000 chickens.
o
When
the project started there were 22 beneficiaries but due to a lack of progress
in the project beneficiaries had left and had gone to look for jobs elsewhere.
Only 3 beneficiaries have remained to run the project.
2.1.3 Tebogo
Mokonutlo Trust
The Mokunutlo Family Trust
was established in 2002. The project consisted of 10 family members, 7 males
and 3 females. All of them were from the
The following key issues and challenges were raised:
Recommendations
The Portfolio Committee would prepare a report on its
oversight visit to the various projects for tabling in the provincial
legislature. A copy of the report would be made available to the beneficiaries
of each of the projects.
2.2 Findings
and observations at the health and social development sites visited
2.2.1
The following issues and challenges were raised:
Discussion
The Hospital rendered the following services:
casualty, pharmacy, medical ward, surgical and paediatric ward, maternity ward,
physiotherapy, occupational therapy, speech and audio therapy, x-ray, oral health,
food services, Termination of Pregnancy (TOP), ARVs, step down facility, and a nursing
school.
The hospital had about 82 beds of which 35 were used
for the medical ward, 26 beds were used for the surgical and paediatric wards,
and 21 beds were used for the maternity ward. On average 3200 patients were seen
per month, with a record of 40 deaths per month.
The approved micro-structure of the hospital made
provision for 332 posts, 222 of the posts were filled. The 110 vacant posts
meant that there was an average vacancy rate of 34%. Other posts to be filled
included the professional nurses posts, enrolled nurses posts, enrolled nursing
assistants, and cleaners posts.
The committee was also briefed about the scarcity of
social workers and caregivers for the hospital, and long waiting hours for
patients in casualty. The (Occupational Specific Dispensation) posed a
challenge for the hospital with regard to the allocation of nurses especially
for the maternity ward.
Recommendations
o
The
hospital needed assistance in order to extend the hospital to accommodate the
entire community.
o
The
hospital’s budget needed to be supplemented so that the vacant posts could be
filled.
o
The radio
systems which were giving incorrect signals needed to be rectified.
o
Additional
response vehicles were required
o
Treatment
facilities for the treatment of hypertension were required.
o
The
hospital required assistance in dealing with the issue of low staff morale.
Way Forward
The Portfolio Committee would compile a report, table
the report to the House with recommendations for debate, forward the report to
the Premier and the relevant Department, and revert back to the home with the
report and solutions.
2.2.2 Ons Gryse jeug-Tehuis vir Bejaardes (Old Age Home)
The following issues and challenges were raised:
o
Insufficient
rooms
o
Availability
of transport
o
Medical
supplies
o
Lack
of counselling facilities
o
Availability
of doctors and nurses.
o
Access
to ambulance services (depended on referrals for assistance)
o
Facilities
for Alzheimer patients
o
Municipal
tariffs (electricity and water)
Discussion
The old age home offered accommodation, meals,
nursing, ambulance services, death guidance, counselling, entertainment, hair
salon facilities, laundry facilities, library facilities, and a tuck shop. The
home had a staff complement of 41 members, of which 10 were white. The staff
salaries varied from R1500 to R9 900 per month. The management of the home
comprised of the Chairperson, Directors, Auditor, and Members of the Church,
totalling 14 members in all. The management met on a quarterly basis.
The residents depended mainly on pensions, and some
on state grants. The residents were accommodated mostly in flats and houses.
The home offered 24 hour security for the residents. The home had about 10
residents suffering from Alzheimers disease, and had about 8 bed-ridden
residents. Entertainment was also provided for the residents which included
karaoke nights, plays, braais, sowing and knitting clubs, school plays, and
crčche dance plays.
Recommendations
o
The
home required assistance to increase their space
o
The
home needed improved access to ambulance services
o
The
home needed assistance in terms of the municipal tariffs for water and
electricity.
2.2.3 Zamdela Community Health Clinic
The following issues and challenges were raised:
o
Impact
of the population growth
o
Lack
of professional personnel
o
Transport
of patients to the hospital
o
Budget
constraints
o
Availability
of resources (human resources)
o
Scarcity
of IT resources
o
Lack
of workspace
o
Workload
(nurses were overworked)
o
Dispensary
needs
o
Maintenance
funds
o
Ambulance
response time
o
High
number of referrals to hospitals
o
Non-funded
posts
o
Data
capturing
o
Immunization
challenges
o
Environmental
challenges (industrial area)
o
Quality
of equipment
o
Conditional
Grants
o
Uniform
for the nurses
o
TB
Cure Rate (very low)
Discussion
Zamdela was a 12 hour clinic and a Community Health
Centre (CHC).
The major targets for the Centre were increasing the
number of professional personnel, and upgrading the structure to accommodate
more patients. The centre also struggled with the availability of medication
and with the availability of human resources such as nurses and a Chief Administration
Clerk. The nurses were overworked and the time allocation per patient posed
major challenges.
The Centre had a challenge with regard to space
utilisation, with the result that they had a very small dispensary which could
not be accredited. The Centre did not have sufficient maintenance funds to service
the clinic. There was also a scarcity of IT resources, which posed a serious challenge
in terms of data capturing, and lead to major backlogs. The Centre was
struggling to meet the National TB Cure Rate of 85%. It could only manage a cure
rate of 65% (against its own 70% target).
The environment also posed a major risk to the
Centre, resulting in the increase of patients suffering from asthma and other
related allergies. There was a major challenge with regard to the use of conditional
grants, which were diverted for other uses by the Centre. The shortage of
medication had resulted in the Centre having to approach the local pharmacies
for assistance.
The Centre had a high number of referrals to
hospitals, and because of transport challenges, staff nurses ferried patients
to hospitals.
Recommendations
Way Forward
The Committee would compile a report, table the
report to the House with recommendations for debate, forward the report to the
Premier and the relevant Department, and revert back to the Centre with the
report and solutions
2.3 Findings and
observations at the educational sites visited
2.3.1 Boitumelo Public Adult Centre
The following key
issues and challenges were identified:
o
The
centre was situated in Kroonstad and was started in 2000.
o
The
centre offered ABET levels 1 to 4. FET Grade 12 was still in the pipeline.
o
11
educators, including the Centre Manager/Principal were employed at a ratio of 1educator
to 15 learners. This was above the government recommended ratio of 1:10.
o
The
classes started at 13h00 and finished at 17h00 every week
o
There
was a lack of learning material, e.g. computers, photocopies and reading
materials
o
There
was a lack of financial support from the Department of Education
o
Educators
did not receive assistance from the Department when it came to the recruitment
of learners
o
The
centre needed more information regarding
the Kha Ri Gude Adult Literacy Programme
o
There
was a problem of poaching of the centre’s staff once they received their
necessary training and certificates
o
Different
treatment was accorded to ABET centres and their educators in comparison with that
of the mainstream education sector.
2.3.2 Lengau ABET Centre
The following key
issues and challenges were identified:
Recommendations
2.3.3.
The following key
issues and challenges were identified:
o
It
was a platoon school classified as a section 21 school. It was located in
o
The
school offered grades 8 to 10.
o
The
school had 16 classrooms, which consisted of 12 classrooms, 1 garage and 3
shacks.
o
There
was no library or computer centre in the school, although the Department of
Education had undertaken to provide 20 computers.
o
The
school only had one photocopy machine for its approximately 860 learners and 25
educators.
o
The
school had a maximum pass rate of between 80% to 85%
o
There
was a fully functional School Governing Body (SGB)
o
There
was a lack of electricity, toilet facilities and water and sanitation
facilities.
o
The
new premises for the school were 85% completed and was expected to be handed
over by the end of November 2009.
o
There
were no sporting facilities available for learners.
o
There
was no nutrition programme at the school
o
The learner
pregnancy rate had dropped from 15% in the previous year to 5%.
o
Absenteeism
and late-coming was a concern
o
It
was noted that in terms of the logbook the SMGD had only visited the school
twice this year (i.e. on 24/02/09 and 22/07/09)
Recommendations
o
That
the Departments of Education and Public Works needed to give continuous
feedback to the principal and SGB regarding the new premises.
o
That
it was imperative for the sake of the learners that the policy regarding
learner pregnancy be correctly interpreted
o
That
assistance should be asked from the health inspectors to ensure that a complete
record regarding learner pregnancy was properly kept
o
That
the problem of absenteeism and late-coming on the part of educators and learners
be addressed immediately using the Department’s disciplinary code
o
That
the Provincial Portfolio Committee should request the SMGD it appear before it.
2.3.4 Meeting with the Department of Sport and
Recreation in
The following key issues and challenges were
identified:
o
R350
000 was needed to repair the swimming pool in the
o
There
was a lack of sporting facilities in the area.
o
Anglo
Coal had undertaken to build a R19 million Multi Purpose Centre in Zamdela
o
A
stadium would be built in Orangeville with sponsorship from MTN
o
The
Department intended to build a library and multi-purpose centre in Deneysville
o
Recreational
events were held at schools to encourage learners to partake in sporting
activities
Recommendations
o
That
all the local municipalities within the area should be accorded a similar
treatment when it came to sporting facilities
o
That
there needed to be multi-purpose centres in all the local municipalities under
the District
o
That
sporting activities should be encouraged even outside of schools hours
o
That the
national Department of Sport and Recreation should also be approached for
assistance
2.4 Findings and
observations at the police sites visited
2.4.1
Welkom Testing
Centre
The centralisation
of functions to the Head Office in
There was a shortage of terminals and work
stations which also delayed and hampered service delivery, particularly in
light of the increased demand for learner and driver license applications as
well as roadworthy certificates. Although transport administration personnel
and traffic officials were required to capture all relevant information on the eNATIS
system, the traffic policing component was not catered for in the existing
infrastructure. The traffic officers had proposed that additional terminals be supplied which would
enable more effective services to be provided.
The equipment at
the centre was not calibrated and was outdated, yet the centre continued to use
the equipment and to provide vehicle roadworthy certificates. This posed a
serious risk to the public at large and also exposed the department to possible
legal challenges.
There was no
visible supervision of officials at the centre. The supervisors were all based
in
The budget was
controlled in
The issue of
security and the lack of basic security facilities were raised as a high risk
area. The centre received cash from the public on a daily basis whether it
related to appointments for learners’ or drivers’ licence tests or roadworthy
tests. There were no security measures in place for the cashiers. Files and
folders could not be stored or archived safely and increased the risk of fraud
because several people could access the area where the files were kept.
The security
officers were not issued with complete uniforms and they were not armed. They
were not given any radio / communication devices which would enable them to
make contact with the SAPS and call for back-up if required.
Training was
another challenge and it was revealed that the officers at the centre could not
be graded because they had to go to the training college to be graded. However
the training college was no longer operational. On-the-job training also
carried the risk that pin numbers / security codes (which were intended to guard
against fraud) had to be shared amongst colleagues.
There was a
critical shortage of vehicles. The example was given of one combi having to
ferry 12 officers together when they needed to do traffic control on some of
the busy roads and main routes. They could not split up and it was also very
risky to put that many officers in one vehicle.
Speed monitoring
equipment was also completely outdated and could not be used. They relied on
SAPS equipment when setting up roadblocks.
The maintenance
and the household services were the responsibility of the Department of Public
Works and that was again a problem of centralisation of functions being handled
in
There were a
number of vehicles that were impounded that were being kept at the testing
centre until the necessary licence fees were paid. Many of the vehicles had
fallen into disrepair. The decision as to what would ultimately happen to the
vehicles was again said to be a matter for Head Office in
The observation
was made that taken in its totality the shortage of critical resources at the
centre, both in terms of human resources, financial resources and equipment
(such as computers, fax machines, photocopy machines etc) meant that there was
in fact no testing centre.
Although staff
morale was low there seemed to be an eagerness and commitment on the part of
the officials present that they wanted to deliver an effective and efficient
service to the public.
2.4.2 Hoopstad
Police Station
The Cluster
Commander together with key management personnel provided a fairly
comprehensive written presentation to the Portfolio Committee. Although the
presentation was delivered at the library facility, the Portfolio Committee did
have the opportunity to visit the police station after the briefing. In terms
of the responses which were given to the various questions asked and comments
made by the Portfolio Committee, the following issues and challenges were
raised:
o
There were 40 SAPS officers in total of which there
was 1 white female inspector, 5 black female constables, 1 white male inspector
and the rest were black males.
o
The main crimes that were reported were common assault
and assault with intent to do grievous bodily harm (i.e. assault GBH). There
was an increase in these crimes over weekends and during the end of the month
and the beginning of the month. It could therefore be said that these crimes
were linked to alcohol abuse. There were 10 licensed taverns of which 8 were
located in the townships and 2 in the town. SAPS were not aware of any shebeens
or unlicensed taverns operating in the area.
o
There was one training facility for reservists. Given
the shortage of trainers they could usually only take a limited number of
reservists for training on a monthly or quarterly basis. The training took
place over 3 weeks. Thereafter the reservists were monitored at the station for
3 months under supervision of a senior officer. Once successfully completed the
reservists received a certificate of competency. The reservists were mostly
young people and comprised both males and females.
o
There were 33 reservists of which 11 were inactive. It
was explained that these 11 persons received their persal numbers but then did
not make themselves available for duty. However, the persal number did not mean
that these persons were receiving any payment because the system for reservists
was such that reservists had to complete a particular form to indicate to the
station that they were available for duty and were only paid on that basis.
Previously each station had its own budget to pay reservists but from this
financial year payment would be handled centrally by the province.
o
The station had initiated linkages with sectors such
as churches and schools. The Junior CPF was an initiative that came from the
interaction with schools. Basically the Junior CPF was where the learners formed
part of crime prevention activities by giving out information about the dangers
of drug abuse etc and also provided information to the SAPS about crimes that
may be taking place at schools and so forth. The programme was still fairly new
and they still had to assess its effectiveness.
o
In terms of rural safety, the farmers were cooperating
with the station and there was an operational plan that farmers were aware of.
There were still discussions to develop a consolidated operational plan that
would cover the whole jurisdiction of the Hoopstad station.
o
The station had a serious challenge in terms of
vehicles. They currently only had 4 vehicles and had recently made application
for 7 more. During the months of May and June, all the vehicles were available
and the reaction time was satisfactory. However in August, two of the vehicles
went in for repair and this had an impact on the reaction times being very
slow. The station had made use of foot-patrols during that time, but that was
not as effective as having all the vehicles available.
o
There was a victim empowerment service being provided
at the station. Counsellors were brought in from Welkom. Although the victim
empowerment offices could not be accessed by the Portfolio Committee it
appeared that it was not a very “friendly”/ supportive environment and might
need better resources.
o
In terms of crimes being committed by young offenders,
the station reported that the youth between the ages of 16 and 17 were not
involved in serious crimes such as murder and rape but generally committed
robbery at night. Gangster activity did not seem to be a problem.
o
As far as infrastructure such as roads, street
lighting, house numbers were concerned, it was reported that the roads were in
good condition (except when it rained) and that street lights and house numbers
were adequate in most areas, with one or two exceptions.
o
In the past the station officers had attended meetings
called by Ward Councillors and provided inputs on crime fighting etc. However
it was recently decided that it would be more effective if the CPF called
meetings and the SAPS and Ward Councillors would then be present and make their
inputs at those meetings. If for example, the condition of roads was hampering
the SAPS to fight crime then the Ward Councillor could take up that issue at
the relevant forum.
o
The SAPS did have a “wellness on wheels” programme for
officers. At the station level there were the Employee Assistance programmes
where officers could be referred for confidential assistance with all personal matters
including financial matters. The station had a soccer team which played against
other departments, as a way of building social relationships.
o
There were no reports of any abuse of station
resources such as vehicles. All vehicles that were used were done so with an
authorised trip authority. Leave was also closely monitored to ensure that
there was a sufficient number of officers on duty to carry out the work.
o
The Portfolio Committee encouraged the SAPS Officers
to familiarise themselves with the content of the “Iqabane” pocket book so that
they could also share amongst themselves their understanding of what is
contained therein.
2.5. Findings and observations at public works
sites visited
2.5.1
Toetsterrain Testing Centre (Odendaalsrus)
The following key
issues and challenges were raised:
o
The
Centre had 3 sub-contractors namely, Batja Trading Enterprise, Makoya Trading
CC 555 and Dinakangwedi Construction.
Discussion
It was reported that the sub-contractors at the
station were not doing an impressive job. The progress was relatively poor and the
quality of work was not acceptable. The sub-contractor Batja Trading Enterprise
struggled to follow instructions. Progress on the site was poor and very slow
due to cash flow problems.
The sub-contractor Makoya Trading CC 555 seemed not to
be committed to the project. The sub-contractor only completed 7% of the work,
bought the wrong materials and then simply dumped them at the testing pit. No
further progress had been made on the site. The sub-contractor Dinakangwedi
Construction also showed poor progress. Only
18% of the work had been completed and the progress was very slow due to cash
flow problems.
All the sub-contractors were emerging contractors and
were new in the field. They indicated that had raised concerns about lack of
training from the side of the Department of Public Works. Furthermore the
sub-contractors lacked the necessary financial background to manage the
project.
Recommendations:
o
There
needed to be adequate budgeting for the programme at the beginning of the
financial year.
o
The budget
allocations to the regions needed to be provided timeously
o
Workshops
needed to be arranged to deal with matters of financial management, project
management and technical skills.
o
Special
arrangements needed be made with regard to the supply of material
o
Arrangements
to be done with banks to fund the small contractors (BEE)
o
Proof
of payment needed to be provided.
o
The
matters of skills shortages must be addressed with the relevant SETA
2.5.2
Welkom Testing Centre
The following key
issues and challenges were raised:
o
The
testing centre had 1 sub-contractor namely, Seqhala Open Projects
o
The
budget for the centre was insufficient
o
There
were often delays in the process
o
No
workshops were conducted
o
There
was a lack of financial management skill, project management skill and technical
background and skill
Discussion
Seqhala Open Projects had exhibited good progress and
had completed 22% of the work. The quality of work was acceptable. The
sub-contractor used its own budget to finance the project and pay salaries. The
sub-contractor needed assistance to be recommended as a fully fledged
contractor in the future.
Recommendations
o
There
had to be adequate budgeting for the programme at the beginning of the
financial year.
o
The budget
allocations to the regions needed to be provided timeously
o
Workshops
needed to be arranged to deal with matters of financial management, project
management and technical skills.
o
Special
arrangements needed be made with regard to the supply of material
o
Arrangements
to be done with banks to fund the small contractors (BEE)
o
Proof
of payment needed to be provided.
o
The
matters of skills shortages must be addressed with the relevant SETA
2.5.3 Ventersburg
Testing Centre
The following key issues and challenges
were raised
o
The
testing centre had 1 sub-contractor namely Masiza Trading
o
The
budget for the centre was insufficient
Discussion
The sub-contractor Masiza Trading had made good
progress and had completed 98% of the work. They were busy with final touches and
finalising outstanding issues. The sub-contractor was also going to be
recommended for the second phase. The sub-contractor was available to train
other sub-contractors because of the lack of training offered by the Department
of Public Works. There was no female representation on the project in terms of
employee beneficiaries.
Recommendations
o
There
needed to be adequate budgeting for the programme at the beginning of the
financial year.
o
The budget
allocations to the regions needed to be provided timeously
o
Workshops
needed to be arranged to deal with matters of financial management, project
management and technical skills.
o
Special
arrangements needed be made with regard to the supply of material
o
Arrangements
to be done with banks to fund the small contractors (BEE)
o
Proof
of payment needed to be provided.
o
The
matters of skills shortages must be addressed with the relevant SETA
Way Forward
The committee
will compile a report, table it to the House with the necessary
recommendations, once adopted, forward it to the relevant offices (Premiers,
and Departments), and refer back to the Testing Centres with the report and
solutions.
2.6.
Findings and observations of the cooperative governance, traditional affairs and human settlement
sites visited
2.6.1 Witpan Sewage Plant
The following key issues and challenges were
identified:
o
Initially
the whole plant had been flooded with water due to the failure of the motor
machines. They had managed to temporarily control the water above water level,
although the system was not wholly functional.
o
A consultant
had been appointed and he was in the process of assessing the contractors.
o
The aim
to commence with the project once the Klippan Purified Effluent Pump Station
project had been completed. (The Klippan project was 97% complete)
o
The
projected amount for the whole project was R41 million and from that amount R26 million had already been granted for the
current financial year
o
The
project was funded from the MIG and Department of Water Affairs funds
o
It
had to be determined whether the relevant
engineer had checked the flood levels, because there was a likelihood
that the area could be flooded after heavy rains;
o
It
was important to ascertain whether proper cost implications studies for the
project were done as there were concerns that R41 million seemed insufficient
to complete the whole project;
Recommendations
o
That additional
funds need be made available for the project to be successful
o
The
security measures around the plant need to be increased and enhanced
2.6.2. Klippan Purified Effluent Pump Station
The following key issues and challenges were
identified:
o
Klippan
was part of the Witpan Sewage Plant
o
The
plant was 97% complete
o
It was
expected to be handed over by the end of September or beginning October 2009
o
A
motor machine had been installed with new equipment
o
The purification
process was in working order and it was tested on a monthly basis
o
Previously
there had been incidents of theft of the plant equipment. However security
measures had since been increased and improved.
o
There
was no information on the lifespan of the motor machine and there were no
spares and contingency plans in place should the motor machine suddenly break
down
o
The
electrical motors used were not brand new, i.e. they were secondhand
Recommendations
o
That
the project should review the status of the equipment as it did not appear to
be new equipment that was being used.
o
The security
measures around the plant needed to be enhanced.
o
That
there should be spare machines for the motor machines in case the current
machines broke down.
2.6.3. Poor workmanship in
Thabong
The following key issues and challenges were
identified:
Discussion
The Engineer explained that because the owner had an
existing foundation when other houses were built, it became difficult to build
her house according to standard specifications, hence it was facing a different
direction.
Recommendations
The following key issues and challenges were
identified:
Recommendations
2.6.4 Reatlehile Project
The following key issues and challenges were identified::
Recommendation
2.6.5 27508 Extension 14/2
The following key issues and challenges were
identified:
o
The
owner had been on the housing waiting list since 2004;
o
There
was an administrative error within the Department as the records show that the
owner eceived the housing subsidy;
o
Although
the ward councilors had contacted the Department in January 2009 with the view to
correcting this error, nothing had been done
Recommendations
2.6.6. Hundred Women Project
The following key issues and challenges were
identified:
o
When
a previous contractor failed to complete the houses allocated to him, a second
contractor, namely the Hundred Women Project, was solicited to complete the
project;
o
These
women were then trained in construction and received certificates from an
o
Although
the area had been in existence since 2002 it had no electricity and its
infrastructure was still underdeveloped (e.g. there were no sewer network);
o
ESKOM
had undertaken to complete the electrification process before the end of the
year, i.e. 2009;
o
There
were people who had illegally occupied some houses;
o
That
a certain Inspector (name furnished) had claimed to have bought house number
22298 for R10 000 from the Municipality and had been threatening the rightful
owner of the said house. A case was still pending against him in this regard;
Recommendation
2.6.7 Odendaal Site Visit
WARD 22
The following key issues and challenges were
identified:
o
There
was a huge sewage fountain in the yard of one of the members the public. The sewage
fountain, which started several years ago had been unblocked a number of times.
However it always resumed two days after the unblocking.
o
The
sewage system seemed to be unable to accommodate a huge number of toilets in
the area. (It was noted that the initial planning did not take into account the
fact that the community would developed so vastly.)
Recommendations
o
That
the councilor should take up the matter with the relevant authorities as soon
as possible as it was a health hazard.
2.6.8 Sewage Dam in K5
Odendaal
The following key issues and challenges were
identified:
o
The
dam had been there since 2001 and said to have been caused by sewage blockage
in the area
o
It
cuts across the yards of members of the public and was very hazardous
Recommendations
o
The
delegation was concerned that the problem had continued for a long time. Since
approximately R240 million was returned three years back due under-spending, it
might be possible for a solution to be found utilising the MIG funds.
2.6.9. Visit in K5 in
Odendaal
The following key issues and challenges were
identified:
o
The
area was built in 1961 and could have been built over a wetland or salt land as
it was near a mining area.
o
Most
houses in the area were badly damaged and there was no prospect of renovating
them.
Recommendations
o
That the
Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) should be approached to
conduct a proper research over the whole area
Conclusion
The report of the Free State
provincial week will be incorporated in the comprehensive Provincial Week
report which will be tabled in the NCOP, published in the ATC (Announcements,
Tablings and Committee Reports) and scheduled for consideration and adoption by
the NCOP in plenary. The various select
committees of the NCOP will follow-up on relevant issues.
3.
GAUTENG
Permanent delegates of the National
Council of Provinces (NCOP), Hon.
Mncube, Hon. Matila, Hon. Mabe, Hon. Montsitsi, Hon. Chen, Hon. Feldman visited Gauteng Provincial Legislature from 08
to 11 September 2009 to gather first-hand information about government service
delivery; under the theme “Working
together to ensure the delivery of quality services to communities”. The
week-long visits are an important component of NCOP’s work in exercising
oversight over the Executive (and all spheres of Government) implementation of
laws and policies.
The Provincial week has enabled permanent
delegates to interact with Gauteng Provincial Legislature’s Leadership and
various stakeholders, the Chairperson of
Committees, Deputy Chairperson of Committees, Committee Chairpersons, Members
of Executive Council, South African Local Government Association (SALGA),
Mogale City Local Municipality led by the Speaker of Council, Ward Councillors,
Senior Management of Gauteng Provincial Government; Chris Hani Baragwanath
Hospital and Lillian Ngoyi Community Health Centre senior management and
organised labour represented at Government; Chris Hani Baragwanath Hospital
and Lillian Ngoyi Community Health Centre with the purpose of engaging with
targeted stakeholders and communities to enable NCOP delegates to put community
issues on the legislative agenda.
The focus of the provincial week has been
on measures that the Province and municipalities are putting in place to
deliver quality services to the people and addressing the current service
delivery backlogs, in relation to new government priorities, in particular
housing (human settlement) and health priorities.
In keeping with the theme for this year’s
provincial week, the NCOP delegates have been engaging various stakeholders on
how the three spheres of government can work together to deliver quality
services to the people..
Permanent delegates were received by the
Office of Chairperson of Committees, which provided a detailed brief on the
programme and activities of the week..
Oversight visits were undertaken to
Various stakeholders were briefed prior to
the ensuing NCOP Provincial Week, to empower, inform and capacitate them with
the intention of enabling them to assist NCOP permanent delegates on the
oversight function as they had to interact with various stakeholders both in
and outside of government structures and institutions.
3.1 briefing
by the Chairperson of the Portfolio Committee on Health and Social Development
With the establishment of the new Gauteng
Provincial Executive Council the Department of Social Development and the
Department of Health were merged as a single department. This contributed to a blurred
accounting structure as the new department had two Heads of Department (HODs),
one from each previous department. The merger presented new challenges for the
Portfolio Committee as it had to consider two budget votes whilst integration
of the two departments was still being finalised.
The following key issues and challenges
were raised:
o Staff shortages still persisted in the
department, hence the lack of proper service delivery.
o The department had failed to comply with
the provisions of the Public Finance Management Act, 1999 in relation to supply
chain management processes particularly in regard to sourcing of consultants. An
example was cited of the Chris Hani Baragwanath where there was a problem with
their boiler machines which provide power to the hospital. Only two boilers
were working and there were constraints with the GSSC procuring system. There
were outstanding refurbishment of wards projects, where the constructor was
paid and left without completing the work.
o The provincialisation of health services
had impacted negatively on service delivery especially the Emergency Management
Services (EMS) and Primary Healthcare services (PHC).
o The Portfolio Committee recommendations were
not taken seriously by the department and this had threatened the quality of
service delivery and the oversight mandate of the committee;
o The department experienced challenges with
establishing prototype Old Age Homes;
o Relations between the department and
Non-Profit Organisations (NPOs) posed a challenge since these organisations
served as an extension arm of the department and most of them were unable to
retain skilled and competent staff due to the shortage of funds.
Discussions
of the presentation focused on:
Recommendations:
o That the Health and Social Development
Portfolio Committee should share its
strategic planning document with the NCOP permanent delegates so they could
interface with respect to concurrent competency service delivery issues;
o That the Health and Social Development
Portfolio Committee should engage the department concerning the issue of the
closing time of Community Health Centres to enable communities to have greater
access to health facilities.
Way
forward:
The Gauteng Provincial Government (GPG) had opened
nursing training colleges and was recalling retired health practitioners to
respond to filling of vacant posts, skills shortages and to curb the backlog
which impacted negatively on service delivery.
3.2 Briefing by the Chairperson of the Portfolio
Committee on Local Government and Housing
The Department of Local Government and
Housing was a merger between the Department of Local Government and the Department
of Housing following the establishment of the fourth Gauteng Provincial
Legislature (GPL).
Observations
of the Portfolio Committee:
The Portfolio Committee had noted serious
challenges with regards to the department’s resource allocation which was
inconsistent with the demands and capacity of the department.
Migration and immigration to the province
had placed a lot of strain on provincial government resources and this was
impacting negatively on service delivery as government’s plans were unable to
adequately respond to demand on services.
Most municipalities lacked specialised
skills such as engineering, finance, auditing and accounting, which would
enable municipalities to function optimally.
There was inadequate provision in the
budget for municipalities to enable them to perform their developmental
function that was responsive to local economic development, local governance
and community participation.
Part of the housing challenges in
Selling and renting of RDP houses was a
common feature in
Transformation of hostels into family
units was underway in some parts of the province.
3.3 Presentation
by the Executive Council of
The Executive Council was led by the
Leader of Government Business with a team of Members of the Executive Council (MEC),
Cabinet Committee Cluster Coordinators supported by relevant senior management officials.
The Head of the Gauteng Planning Commission made a presentation on behalf of
the Executive Council. The presentation was informed by the 15 year governance
review and the current priorities of the Gauteng Provincial Government, which were:
The presentation captured the progress made since the
installation of the current political leadership and outlined a comprehensive
programme with timeframes, which demonstrated that the Gauteng Provincial Government
was on course in meeting its deadlines.
3.4
The delegation from the municipality was
led by the Speaker of the Council and the Member of the Mayoral Committee (MMC)
for Finance accompanied by Councillors, Ward Councillors, Ward Committee
members. Also present, were the Gauteng Department of Local Government and
Housing regional officers.
The Presentation by the municipality
centred on the following:
Presentation on
Progress to date with regards to Housing backlogs: 2004 – 2009:
The backlog as of 2004 = 30 000
Houses built = 8826
Backlog as of 2009 = 21 174
Rietvallei
Planned units
= 5993
Actual delivered = 5178
Outstanding
=
715
300 units are still under construction and the
remaining 700 have been included in the 2009 – 2014 housing plans.
Munsieville
Planned units = 1200
Actual delivered = 1121
Outstanding = 921
The outstanding units have been included in the 2009 –
2014 housing plans.
Kagiso
Planned units = 4115
Actual delivered = 2527
Outstanding = 1588
Construction could not take place on 179 stands in
Sinqobile due to rocky patches. The
remaining 1409 stands could not be developed as tenants lived on the stands
instead of the title deed owner of the stands.
Some of the stands already had formal structures constructed by the
owners. Provision had been made for
households that were left out during the beneficiary administration process to
be included in the 2009 – 2014 housing development years.
Challenges
experienced from 2004-2009:
Subsidies
Contracts
Completion reports
o
On project completion,
Untimely
payment of contractors
o
Untimely payment of contractors, resulting in contractors abandoning the
site on grounds of nonpayment, eg, Kagiso hostel, Rietvallei Ext 1 and
Rietvallei Proper. These projects were
to have been completed in March 2009 but due to nonpayment of contractors the
project is still ongoing.
Land purchase
o
Gauteng Department of Housing had undertaken to purchase land for
housing in Tarlton, Magaliesburg, Nooitgedacht and Munsieville Extension 6.
Future plans 2009 – 2014:
Backlog as
of 2009 = 21 174
Projected
growth = 4000
Required
housing by 2014 = 25 174
o
9203 of the required stands are in the rural areas of Hekpoort,
Magaliesburg, Muldersdrift, Nooitgedacht and Tarlton.
o
Required delivery per annum = 5000
Internal
Challenges faced by the Municipality:
External
Challenges
o
Growth of Informal Settlements in urban and rural areas
o
Large number of households not registered in the Demand Data Base.
Gauteng Department of Housing stopped the Housing
Waiting List and was advised that households needing housing should go to the
Department’s Headquarters in
Intervention by
NCOP
Gauteng Department must review its Demand Data Base
Strategy and return this function to the Municipalities as a matter of
urgency. We cannot have 98% of the rural
population not being able to access subsidies because of lack of registration.
3.4.1 Lack of Identity documents
The delegation was informed that a recent survey
conducted by staff from Mogale City Housing Division revealed that a
substantial number of South Africans living in informal settlements did not
have ID books. Having no ID book started from not having a birth certificate. A
person who did not have an ID could not register for a housing subsidy.
Intervention by
NCOP
The matter must be brought to the attention of the Department
of Home Affairs so that instructions could be filtered down to local departments
to undertake campaigns in informal settlements.
People in need of ID’s must be assisted. This was crucial in the
formalization and upgrading of informal settlements otherwise people would
continue living in squalor in undeveloped settlements.
A representative of the Gauteng Department of Local
Government and Housing provided clarity in relation to human settlement and
housing issues. The delegation noted with concern that public representatives
(councillors) were not sufficiently aware of issues regarding service delivery,
as they could not respond to some of the questions relating to their various
wards or constituencies.
The site visit was conducted at two areas. The
following challenges were identified:
Recommendations:
3.5.
Presentation by the Office of the Chairperson of Committees
The presentation focussed on the role of
the Office of the Chairperson of Committees as being that of strategic
management of committees of the Legislature. The role of both the Chairperson
of Committees and Deputy Chairperson of Committees, Committees of the House and
the Committee on the Scrutiny of Subordinate Legislation and the role of
Presiding Officers as a collective leadership was also explained.
The presentation indicated that the Gauteng
Provincial Legislature had recently emerged from a strategic planning workshop
and had adopted the following new goals:
o
Oversight
and Scrutiny
o
Law
Making
o
Public
Participation
o
Cooperative
Governance
o
Stakeholder
Management
Although most committees of the
Legislature had emerged from their strategic planning workshops, they had not adopted
their strategic plans. This made it difficult for the Office of Chairperson of
Committees to share those reports with the NCOP permanent delegates. The
presentation also identified the following challenges:
o
Enhancing the capacity of Members to discharge their
responsibilities
3.6
Presentation by the delegation from the National Council of Provinces (NCOP)
The NCOP permanent delegates
gave a brief presentation on the role of the NCOP and the Strategic Priorities that
unfolded from the NCOP Strategic Planning Session Workshop held on 11 – 12
August 2009. They explained the purpose of the Provincial Week, the role played
by the NCOP permanent delegates during the Provincial Week and challenges NCOP
permanent delegates experienced in interacting with the Gauteng Provincial Legislature.
It was also mentioned that Hon
A. Matila would be briefing the Portfolio Committee of Local Government and
Housing on the 18th September 2009 in respect of the National House of Traditional Leadership
Bill and the Traditional Leadership
and Governance Framework Amendment Bill. It was emphasized that the Legislature’s Portfolio
Committees should regularly interact and engage with NCOP permanent delegates
in the spirit of cooperative governance and most importantly to tackle issues
which were transversal to all spheres of government.
3.7
Visit to the
The CHBH delegation was led by the
Hospital Board Chairperson and the Acting Chief Executive Officer. The Lillian
Ngoyi CHC delegation was led by the Chief Director: Johannesburg-West Rand
District Health Services. Each leader made a presentation on their respective facilities.
Both presentations provided historical,
demographic and organisational background of the respective institutions and
the range of communities they serviced. The presentations highlighted that a
lot of good work was continuously underway at both facilities but that as a
result of not having a dedicated person responsible for media relations, the
good work was not captured by the media. This was one of the challenges that had
been addressed by appointing a Public Relations Officer who working towards a
communications strategy for the institution.
Lillian Ngoyi CHC was the only clinic
closing at 22h00 and once other clinics closed at 16h00 patients were referred
to Lillian Ngoyi CHC. The CHC was exploring possibilities of operating for 24
hours daily.
Organised labour was part of the meeting
and expressed that there was a good working relationship with the management
from both facilities. The NCOP permanent delegates and the Members of the
Legislature were impressed by the work done by both facilities and urged
management to communicate their success and challenges regularly. The GPL
Portfolio Committee on Health and Social Development should develop a close
working relationship with CHBH in particular in its function, through the
Department of Health and Social Development.
After the presentations site visits were
conducted to both facilities to enable Members to acquaint themselves with
visible service delivery. CHBH was about to finish the new outpatient
infrastructure, which would help in revitalising the institution that was built
in 1942, as it had been deteriorating and was overcrowded.
Challenges
identified at
o The resources allocated to the hospital did
not meet the demands of the hospital
o There was a shortage of public funds to
maintain and develop the resources of the Public Health Service Development
System.
o The lack of infrastructure and water in
nearby informal settlements lead to a large influx of burn patients.
o There was under funding in the area of
goods and services, which lead to the hospital management utilising funding
from the clinical budget to provide in other areas where there were huge
challenges in funding.
o The OSD did not cover the general nurses
that worked in Medical and Surgery. This had resulted in nurses being reluctant
to work in those areas.
o The building was very old and the ceilings
were falling apart. The partitioning was not well organised.
o The Cardiac ward had 52 beds although it
was a 30 bed ward. As a result of this the staff members were not coping with
the trauma cases.
o The hospital had four boilers but only one
boiler was functioning because they had never been serviced by Department of
Public Works. This had led to lack of hot water at the hospital and impacted
negatively on service delivery. There were also leaks in theatres which impacted
on the sterility of the theatre environment.
o The hospital was experiencing problems
with contractors who did not finish renovations in wards because of a lack of
resources.
o The new out-patient building had 10 000
rooms and consisted of a reception area, Radiology, Accidents, Emergency and
Trauma area, a Pharmacy, Audiology, Speech Therapy and Physiotherapy sections
Challenges
identified at Lillian Ngoyi CHC:
o There were no air conditioners and the temperature
regulation posed a huge challenge.
o There were only thirty seven nurses and
only four doctors who saw over five hundred patients a day.
o There were no auxiliary nurses to
interpret for doctors.
o There was a need for a larger area for a pharmacy.
o There was insufficient office space to
consult with patients.
o The CHC had a training centre that offered
training to primary health care nurses.
o The training centre received student
nurses from all provinces but did not have capacity to accommodate them.
o The maternity section of the CHC did not
have any doctors. The clinic had to rely on doctors from other units.
o The clinic did not have any ambulances.
The clinic made use of private ambulances and this had a negative impact on their
budget.
Recommendations:
While the committee noted and appreciated
the sterling work of Mr. Siphiwe Msimango, who has been volunteering his
services at Chris Hani – Baragwanath Hospital for the past 10 years; and learnt
about the various fund-raising programmes he embarked over the years to raise
funds for needy children who requires organ transplants, raised funds for the
elderly to undergo operations and generally brought relief to most in
particular the children’s section of the Hospital; the committee strongly
recommended that the Department of Health and the Provincial Legislature
investigate the process of acquiring Mr. Siphiwe Msimango’s services on a full
time basis as a remunerated employee of the department.
3.8 Interaction with the Media
Guided by the media plan, the Provincial Whip held
various interviews with the mainstream and community media, telephonically and studio
interviews. The interview with Alex FM, drew a lot of interest from community
members. The Provincial Week was well covered by the
following local and national media, including Khaya FM (twice), Jozi FM,
SABC Radio, Alex FM (twice) and Soweto T.V. The main issues raised were the
awareness and clarification of the purpose of the NCOP Provincial Week and
explaining the programme and issues emanating from the site visits and
different stakeholders on 10 September 2009.
Overview of issues raised during
the interviews:
3.9 Conclusion
The NCOP Provincial Week to
This NCOP Provincial Week programme was a
microcosm of the dynamic role public representatives should continuously play
in engaging with the public and other state organs to monitor government
implementation of programmes and to carry out checks on what was reported by
both the media and departmental officials. Legislatures are the true
representatives of the people and must create spaces for community dialogue and
engagement.
4.
4.1 Meeting
with Provincial Leaders
The programme began with a meeting with
the Provincial Leaders, namely, the Deputy Speaker, Chief Whip and Chair of
Committees of the Provincial Legislature.
Provincial Leaders were briefed about the objectives and activities of
the Provincial Week, which were to assess progress made and backlogs in service
delivery.
Issues
raised:
o
Relationship and communication between the
NCOP and the Provincial
Legislature: There
was a need to strengthen the relationship and communication between the NCOP
and Provincial Legislatures. Joint sittings of Parliament and debates were
efficient mechanisms to strengthen that relationship and ensure visibility of
provinces at national level. Provincial
leaders expressed concern with the absence of permanent delegates at
Legislature sittings. It was stressed
that permanent delegates should utilize their seats in the Legislature and
participate even though they could not vote. This would also ensure that they were
abreast of provincial issues that required intervention at a national level.
The power of the NCOP in raising issues of national concern should not be
underestimated. NCOP and Provincial Legislature programmes need to be
synchronized in order to allow permanent delegates time to travel to provinces
for sittings.
Communication channels between the NCOP and the Provincial
Legislature required strengthening as there were problems. It was agreed that communication would come
from the office of the Speaker and should then be distributed to all
stakeholders. All key offices should be informed of responses to correspondence,
which was currently not the case. Lines of communication between Chief Whips
should remain the same. Members expressed concern regarding the absence of a
Liaison Officer but it was reported that the position had been advertised and was
being fast tracked.
o
Oversight functions: Oversight should be strengthened to reach
the people. Committee workshops and oversight plans would be completed by the
end of September 2009. The “Taking the
Province to the People” programme was scheduled for November 2009 in ILembe
District. The programme encouraged
public participation and would allow a platform for issues such as agriculture,
water supply and land re-distribution.
The legislature scheduled annual events that encouraged public
participation, namely, Women’s Parliament, Youth Parliament and Worker’s
Parliament. It was agreed that the
disabled people were currently not prioritised. There were over a million disabled
people in the province but the Legislature had never had activities for the
disability sector. There were many social issues affecting the disabled that
need to be prioritised and the Legislature had the responsibility to ensure
that that was done.
o
Backlogs and challenges in service
delivery: There should be
constant monitoring of service delivery and of projects that worked towards delivery. The Department of Rural Development, in
particular, should be assisted since it was in its inception stage and
4.2 Briefings by the MEC for Local Government and
Traditional Affairs / HOD on Provincial Priorities and Service
Delivery Backlogs:
The aim and objectives of the briefing
were:
o
To
assist and find ways of engagement in service delivery.
o
To
ensure that local government was not neglected.
o
To
allow for sharing of information and assess state of readiness.
o
To
broadly share with the MEC steps forward.
4.2.1 Issues raised:
o
Assessments: Departments should assess their own performance in
fulfilling duties assigned when working towards service delivery.
o
Collective delivery: Departments needed to collectively plan
for service delivery interventions.
o
Legislation: Two pieces of
legislation, namely, National House of Traditional Leaders Bill [B56B –2008]
and Traditional Leadership and Governance Framework Amendment Bill [B57B –
2008] were highlighted. It was emphasised that there was a need to enhance the
legislation in order to oversee the functioning of the local government sphere.
4.2.2 Challenges faced by the Department:
o
Backlogs and lack of funding for service
delivery: Lack of water
and electrification were major concerns. Currently, there were dams with water
that communities could not access as they were privatised. Purification plants also needed to be
prioritised.
o
Poor planning and lack of proper
co-ordination of service delivery projects: There needed to be proper planning to ensure projects
were in sync.
o
Lack of monitoring mechanisms in service
delivery: Programmes
required proper monitoring in order to easily identify problem areas.
o
Inadequacy of equitable share: The equitable share was not equal in vast
municipalities and should be addressed.
4.2.3 Recommendations:
It was proposed that Departments construct
a blue print for service delivery to ensure collective planning and
standardized operations across government entities when providing services.
Service delivery statistics should be clearly defined. For example, they should consider issues of
migration, population and specify geographical areas of concern. The Department was currently looking at ways
of monitoring service delivery through IT systems. Discussions with ESKOM were
underway. The MEC was required to
produce a commitment plan in this regard. There were eight (8) purification plans
underway. Consultants would be utilised
to visit households to conduct assessments. These would be conducted from ward to ward.
4.3. Briefing by MEC for Agriculture, Environmental
Affairs and Rural Development / HOD on Provincial Priorities and Service Delivery
Backlogs
The aims and
objectives of the briefing were:
o
Interaction
with the Department and assess state of readiness in service delivery.
o
To
address issues of water and sanitation that were of priority in the province.
o
To
strengthen relations with the department in order to be able to view blockages
at a national level and to also ensure there were no further blockages.
The Department aimed to be a champion for
prosperous agricultural productive land use, food security and environmentally
sustainable livelihoods. It would achieve
this by providing quality agricultural, veterinary, environmental and
conservation services to the people of KwaZulu Natal, together with its
partners and communities. The Department’s objectives were improved local,
national and international trade access and competitiveness; provision of food
security; farmer development and support; integrated sustainable natural
environmental management and integrated and transformed service delivery.
4.3.1 Challenges faced by the Department:
o
Lack
of training for farmers.
o
Lack
of finance for farming.
o
Lack
of certificates of compliance.
o
Backlogs
in service delivery due to lack of resources for project implementation e.g. “One
home one garden” project may be hindered by lack of water.
o
Land
distribution. Agriculture was impossible
without land.
o
Lack
of co-ordinating programmes of various departments.
4.3.2 Presentation on Entrant Farmer Support
Strategy
A presentation on Entrant Farmer Support
Strategy was delivered. KwaZulu Natal
produced 6% of
There were however numerous
challenges. Top down management styles
led to projects being implemented without proper business plans, and strong
buy-in by local farmers and municipalities.
Lack of capacity lead to slow procurement processes and planting outside
planting seasons. Community structures were
not financially strong enough.
Communities were becoming dependent on departmental inputs and there was
an absence of a strong Monitoring and Evaluation unit to critically examine the
quality and sustainability of projects at grass root level.
The new massification policy aimed to give
technical and management skills to entrant farmers in order for them to
successfully run a farming operation. It
aimed to:
o
allow
commercial farmers grouped as a legal entity to become productive and have the
economic advantage of group bargaining when purchasing inputs.
o
empower
resource poor entrant farmers, ensuring self sufficiency and independence.
o
reduce
the risk of business failure and increase the profitability of farming food
parcels.
o
allow
access to commercial markets and associate benefits of economy of scale and
reduce the cost of grain-based staple foods in rural areas.
The new massification policy targeted
women and youth, small scale farmers, small agribusiness, agricultural
co-operatives, physically challenged groups and ex-combatants and victims of
violence. Categories of assistance were mentorship, training, production inputs
and machinery modules. The objective was
to fully utilize 100% of identified communal cropping land in five years and to
create focused product villages producing and processing generic and niche
crops at commercial scale.
4.3.3 Presentation on Food Security Programme
A presentation on the food security
programme, one of the flagship projects, was delivered. KwaZulu Natal had the highest burden of
diseases associated with underdevelopment and poverty and this exacerbated the
situation of food insecurity. These
diseases had been cited as the main causes of mortality in the province. Persistence of disease resulted in
malnutrition, which was one of the leading causes of childhood morbidity and
mortality. 60% of children who died in 2006 were underweight for their age, and
nearly 35% severely malnourished.
The “
The implementation strategy entailed
identifying the status of the wards in terms of the level of food
security. A package would then be
developed for each household and would include the food security and social
comprehensive package unique for that specific household. The next step would be delivery of the
comprehensive support package to the households and ensuring the intervention
around household gardens was sustainable with a co-operative programme that would
be responsible for driving the ongoing funding of the provision of seeds and
basic inputs. Households would be
visited to track their improvement based on the various interventions and
support packages. Progress would be obtained from individual household
profiling. This would be monitored at
municipal level and at household level. Cadres who would monitor this progress were
currently being trained.
4.3.4 Presentation on environmental management
A presentation on environmental management
was delivered. There had been a review
of all IDPs for environmental content and compliance with provincial
priorities. Three environmental
management frameworks had been completed.
Five strategic environmental assessments had been completed and a
committee for environment co-ordination had been established.
Enforcement actions had been undertaken
for no-compliance with legislation.
Environmental management inspectors were trained and implementation of
approved standard operating procedures would also ensure compliance. An emission inventory base had been developed
and functioning ambient air quality monitoring system was in place.
In terms of biodiversity management,
111000 hectares of land had been cleared of invasive species. 4000 people were employed in terms of the
Expanded Public Works Programme.
4.3.5 Recommendations:
There is a need to
enhance challenges within legislation in order to oversee the functioning of
the local government sphere. Needs of small farmers should be addressed, for
example, training and additional irrigation capacity. The Department should
align its programmes with other departments e.g. Department of Water Affairs, Department
of Transport, Land Affairs and Department of Economic Development. The
Department should work
towards ensuring proper handling of land re-distribution and should work
towards ensuring accessibility of finance. Backlogs should be identified per ward.
4.4. Briefing by MEC for Education / HOD on Provincial
Priorities and Service Delivery Backlogs:
The aims and objectives
of the briefing were:
o
Interaction
with the Department and assess state of readiness in service delivery.
o
To
strengthen relations with the department in order to be able to view blockages
at a national level and to also ensure there were no further blockages.
o
To interact together in dealing with challenges
4.4.1 Challenges faced by the Department:
o
Lack
of proper infrastructure for delivery of quality education.
o
Teacher
capacity: challenge of unqualified and under qualified teachers.
o
Lack
of equipment in classrooms.
o
Lack
of capacity and specialist teachers in special schools.
o
Budget
constraints.
4.4.2 Issues raised:
o
Special schools: The MEC indicated that there was a high
demand for improved performance and good quality education. Delegates expressed
concern with the lack of capacity in special schools. The MEC assured them that these schools would
be prioritised and that backlogs were considered but progress was at a slow
pace due to budget constraints. There was awareness and sensitivity towards
special learners in schools. There were
currently 70 special schools in the province, some of which had been
transformed to full service schools. An additional special school was currently
being built in Eshowe. The drawback in progress was the shortage of specialist
teachers for these schools. Unqualified teachers were currently being employed
to teach grade R and posed a major concern.
It was agreed that capacity in these
schools should be strengthened to avoid having learners that could not be
accommodated, which would later lead to having older children in the system. The
need to distinguish between slow learners and the disabled in these schools was
identified.
o
Medium of instruction in schools: Delegates urged that indigenous languages
as medium of instruction be strengthened. It was reported that a policy
decision was taken that all schools in the province should have IsiZulu as a language. The challenge was with parents who preferred
English as medium of instruction. The Department was working on creating
awareness of indigenous languages. The remarkable increase of focus on the
usage of indigenous languages was however noted. This increase was however running at
different stages. The MEC indicated that there was keen interest but it was too
early to determine the outcome.
o
Early Childhood Development: Delegates stressed that there should be
proper management of Early Childhood Development programmes (ECDs).The MEC indicated
that remarkable progress had been made and that concentration was on quality.
The province had exceeded the target of universal access of ECDs. Some schools
had more than one grade R class.
o
Bridging programmes: Delegates expressed a need for bridging
programme between school and higher learning institutions as they would
minimise dropouts. Delegates stressed the need for Further Education and
Training colleges (FETs), noting that there was a considerable number of
unemployed individuals, who studied matric but did not qualify. These individuals contributed to the high
number of unemployed citizens. Training
programmes could help alleviate unemployment. It was also raised that there was
no proper transition for disabled learners.
o
Age restriction in schools: It was agreed that age groups remain a
challenge in schools as there were many factors that may hinder progress of
learners. Age restrictions did not apply
to special schools.
o
Budget:
The Chief
Financial Officer reported on the Department’s 2009/10 budget. It was reported that, even though there was demand for
improved performance and improved service delivery, the budget had not
necessarily increased. The Department was
likely to overspend but the CFO would ensure that overspending was at a
controllable rate.
4.4.3 Recommendations:
The Department should concentrate on mass
literacy campaigns. Training of teachers
should be prioritised and the Department should work towards capacitating
special schools. The term ‘special learners’ should be clearly defined, to distinguish
between slow learners and disabled learners.
4.5. Interaction with Provincial Cabinet: Discussion on Service Delivery Backlogs and
Premier’s Pronouncements Regarding Civil Society
The NCOP delegation met with Provincial Cabinet
Members at the Premier’s Office to
discuss service delivery backlogs and for the Premier’s pronouncement regarding
civil society.
The Provincial Whip briefed the Provincial
Cabinet about the aims and objectives of the Provincial Week and updated them
on meetings that had been held. He
highlighted the programme theme “working
together to ensure the delivery of quality services to communities” and
stressed the need to strengthen the relationship between provincial and
national spheres.
The Premier, Mr Zweli Mkhize, briefed the
delegation on the province’s challenges and successes as follows:
4.5.1 Challenges faced by the Province and issues
raised:
4.6. Briefings with municipalities
The delegation held briefings with
4.6.1 Meeting with
In the absence of the
o
Job
creation
o
Backlog
of electricity and water supply
o
Inadequate
healthcare and sanitation
o
Lack
of proper housing
o
Over
populated schools
o
Inadequate
billing
o
Poor
delivery of road construction.
o
Inappropriate
funding.
4.6.2 Presentation on service delivery
achievements:
o
Housing
Over 90 000 homes were delivered since
2002. This included an average of 16 000
new housing units, 2 500 new rural units and 15 000 units in Cornubia. Hostels were
currently being upgraded. Rental transfer was ongoing, 1 000 units were
delivered to tenants and 100 jobs were created through the Expanded Public
Works Programme (EPWP). A considerable amount of work was ahead and eradicating
backlogs would take many years.
o
Water
Free basic water remained 9KL per month
and there were no fixed charges for houses of value below R190 000. 27 199 households were supplied from ground
tanks and 178 228 had access via water dispensers / standpipes. Service was expanding to rural areas. Coverage was at 98% and with a target of 100%
coverage in 3 years. Groundwater tanks were servicing 800 households per month.
Processes of reducing water loss from 39% to 35% through zonal meters, expanding investigation team, metering
unaccounted water, replacing aging infrastructure were underway. 2 400 jobs
have been created through EPWP programmes.
o
Sanitation
The municipality was extending services to
rural areas. Acceleration of desludging pit latrines was phased over 3 years,
with desludging of 45 000 VIP pit latrines targeted to be complete by 2011. 1
600 jobs have been created through EPWP programmes.
o
Electricity
Access of free basic electricity was
increased from 50KwH to 65KwH in 64 000 households. R80 000 000 was provided
for electricity in townships and rural settlements. The municipality was introducing
Smart Metering from 2009/2010 onwards.
o
Roads
Road construction projects were being
undertaken in the following areas: Usikwama, Folweni, Inanda, Stockville,
KwaMakhutha and Kwamashu. 33 pedestrian bridges and 166 kilometres of sidewalks
were being constructed. The gravel to
blacktop programme was in progress and included the following projects:
o
Cleansing and solid waste
The municipality aimed to extend refuse
removal to 100% coverage by the end of this year and to improve on recycling
and waste minimization.
o
Free Basic Services
There were no rate charges on the first
R120 000 of property value, pensioner’s first R400 000 of property value and
first R30 000 of property land. In terms of water, the first 9 kilo litres were
free and there was no fixed charge for properties valued under R190 000. In
terms of electricity, the first 65KwH were free to poor residents using less
than R150KwH.
o
Public Transport
The municipality aimed to restore Durban
Transport buses and improve on its service.
It also aimed to improve public transport ablutions, expand on the parking
control system and improve response time for robot repair.
o
Health Care
Approximately 2 213 682 people were being
served per annum. There were 1950 ARV enrollees since July 2008.
o
Job creation
2010 projects created an average of 17 214
jobs. The Zibambele project had created 6000 permanent jobs, agricultural
gardens created 4 900 permanent jobs. The
4.6.3 Recommendations
It was recommended that the housing plan
be properly co-ordinated. The need to
implement proper billing processes was identified as there were apparent
irregularities. It was urged that
service delivery be prioritised and focus be on eradicating backlogs and ensuring
proper utilisation of funds.
The NCOP delegation noted the absence of
4.7 Meeting with KWANALOGA on service
delivery and provincial backlogs
The NCOP delegation held a meeting with a
representative from KWANALOGA (KwaZulu Natal Local Government Association). The
aim and objectives of the meeting were:
o
To
address concerns regarding the quality of support to municipalities
o
To
determine the current state of municipalities
o
To
discuss problems faced by KWANALOGA
o
To
determine the way forward in addressing issues faced by KWANALOGA
4.7.1 Challenges faced by KWANALOGA:
o
Improper
procurement processes
o
Labour
related matters
o
Improper
co-ordination between ward and PR Councillors.
A presentation was delivered by the
KWANALOGA representative, highlighting that the organisation’s mandate was to
promote and protect the institution of local government and to support
municipalities in their efforts to deliver services to their communities.
4.7.2
Issues Raised
Areas of focus were
identified as follows:
o
Capacity
needs of municipalities that hindered service delivery
o
Municipalities
that were unable to raise own revenue
o
Provincial
programmes prioritised by KWANALOGA and
o
Promotion
of community involvement in service delivery.
Key proposals included quarterly seminars
by KWANALOGA targeting Municipal Managers, CFO and the Provincial Department to
address needs and provide support to municipalities; to revisit the status of
poor communities and training to equip municipal officials with skills and
knowledge around procurement matters. There were challenges relating to
procurement processes, absence of Chief Financial Officers , abour matters such
as nepotism and recruitment of unqualified workers
It was reported that there were challenges
between political office bearers and administration. Relations between district and local
municipalities needed attention. Sound relations
and co-operation between ward and PR Councillors was vital. Public
participation and IDPs also needed to be focused on. There was a need to clearly define and
clarify support given by municipalities to ward committees and the roles of
community development workers. It was
important to have feedback mechanisms between council and communities. It was also reported that money was owed to
municipalities by government departments.
Attention was drawn to factors that
triggered service delivery protests, such as lack of service delivery; lack of
development; perceived fraud and corruption in municipalities; poor
consultation and lack of transparency, lack of efficiency. In order to manage these factors, KWANALOGA was
embarking on Councillor training, Municipal Leadership Development training,
skills transfer and peer learning and the mobilization of funding resources to
desperate municipalities. The National and Provincial departments of
Co-operative Government and Traditional Affairs, SALGA, Ward Committees, CDWS
and various sector departments were involved in this process.
The Delegation requested clarity on the
role of the deputy mayor in instances where the mayor was present. In response, the KWANALOGA representative indicated
that the matter was a policy issue which should be addressed by political
principals.
The Delegation requested clarity on roles of
KWANALOGA and SALGA. In response, the representative indicated that KWANALOGA was
a member of SALGA but that that did not affect KWANALOGA’s financial audit as their
budgets were managed separately.
An update and clarity on games hosted by
KWANALOGA was requested by the Delegation.
It was reported that games were a trademark for KWANALOGA and formed
part of the educational programme. The games were aimed at relaxing
interactions between municipalities and encouraging healthy living. The games were funded by the Departments and
supported by businesses.
Since KWANALOGA had been running seminars
for a considerable number of time, the Delegation enquired about the duration
of the seminars. It was explained that
seminars were required for induction of new councillors, and given that new
councillors were continuously entering the sector, the seminars would also
continue.
4.7.3 Recommendations:
It was recommended that a selection process
of SALGA representatives be determined in accordance with the
Constitution. A clear distinction
between SALGA and KWANALOGA should also be determined, as it was currently
unclear which entity to contact for certain issues. The following roles should be determined and
clarified:
o
between
Councillors
o
between
KWANALOGA AND SALGA
o
between
Ward and PR Councillors
o
between
CDWs
o
the
Speaker
Uniformity in respect of how Councillors
should conduct oversight was also recommended.
Visibility and accessibility of councillors was emphasised. The role of
the Speaker required reviewing as the Speaker was chairperson of the Council
and was expected to play an oversight role.
Delegates also urged KWANALOGA to utilize its NCOP seats to address
local government issues at national level. KWANALOGA was encouraged to continue
enhancing games as its trademark and utility tool.
4.8 Meeting with
The NCOP delegation held a meeting with the
4.8.1 Challenges faced by the municipality:
o
Lack
of revenue.
o
Outdated facilities
that hindered sustainable services
o
Poor
payment of services
o
Equitable
share
o
Municipal Infrastructure Grant shortfalls
o
Lack of inventories
The municipality
reported on its service delivery performance.
It was indicated that backlogs for electricity had decreased to 3 741
households however the resolution to electrify some semi and informal
settlements had increased to about 4 841.
This backlog did not include new housing schemes yet to be built. It was further indicated that alternative
energy had been provided to indigent households and cooperatives of 58 people were
benefiting from the jobs created in distributing the alternative energy.
An issue of
limited funding was raised.
Infrastructure currently required upgrading as there had previously been
under spending. A maintenance budget had increased by R50 000 000. However, the
municipality was overspending and was currently engaging provincially and
nationally for grants. It was further reported that there was also a challenge
of poor payment from consumers. An auditing plan was in place.
The equitable
share also remained a challenge as there was a narrow gap between the
advantaged and disadvantaged municipalities. The municipality had taken full
responsibility for water distribution and was one percent short of achieving blue
drop status, which was a 100% distribution rate. Customer care centres had been
established to strengthen relations between the municipality and its customers.
4.8.2 Recommendations
The Delegation recommended
that the auditing plan be closely monitored.
Sharing of information, ideas and strategies towards a common goal,
vision and perspective was encouraged between the local and district levels. A response plan to deal with the need for
high level infrastructure was proposed. A proper formula should be developed for
determining the equitable share allocations .
4.9 Meeting with
The Delegation met with the
4.9.1 Challenges faced by the municipality:
o
Debt
collection
o
Lack
of inventories
o
Lack
of proper communication
o
Backlogs
in service delivery
o
Irregularities
in property handling
o
Lack
of funding
The municipality informed the Delegation that
debt collection was a challenge, especially with regard to government
departments. Late payments affected the
budget and therefore also led to improper service delivery. It was stated that more funding was required for
municipalities rather than municipalities having to relying on payments for
services. Asset registers were a challenge as these were previously not managed
and there were cases of untraceable stock.
The municipality was looking into the issue and working at updating its
registers.
Electricity maintenance was considered a
priority and R40 000 000 had been allocated to it.
Lack of committee meetings was confirmed
and the municipality aims to schedule regular meetings for better communication
and assessment of delivery.
The municipality briefed the Delegation on
property handling. It was reported that
social housing was introduced to cater for civil servants earning from R3 000
per month and that the social housing policy required 15 years of rental before
ownership could be transferred. The
municipality also indicated that property evaluations were not properly
handled. Full ownership of title deeds was handed over to the community. The
Delegation expressed concern with handing over of title deeds as the
municipality had reported to handing over houses to the communities without
proper maintenance.
4.9.2 Recommendations
The Delegation requested the municipality
to ensure proper handling of finances in the municipality in order for service
delivery to improve. It urged better
communication and engagement with communities and for the municipality to
explore better handing of title deeds.
4.10 Site
Visit to the
The Delegation visited the Dube Trade Port
(DTP) to assess progress made and receive a briefing on its future projections.
The Delegation received a presentation on
the development and its progress and was taken through a tour of the
construction site. In the presentation
it was informed that the first phase of the DTP was targeted to be fully
operational by 2010 and would include a runway, passenger and cargo terminals,
perishables and cyberport. This would
accommodate the increase in passenger and freight volumes expected by that
time, inclusive of the 2010 Soccer World Cup.
It was further reported that certain new direct international flights would
be introduced in 2010.
5.
The Provincial Week programme began with a
visit to the
5.1 Oversight visit to Ga-Maponto village
The delegation visited two sites at
Ga-Maponto village. The delegation found one house that had been completed and
another plot/stand that only had a foundation. The completed house did not meet
the standards of proper workmanship. After looking at the condition of the
house, the delegation resolved that the structure posed a danger to the
children living in it and should be demolished, and a proper new structure
should be constructed for the family. This was to be done as a matter of
urgency, given that the family was one of many child-headed households.
The family that owned the site that only had
a foundation explained that the foundation was done in 2004. Since then they had
not been contacted by anybody to explain the delay in the construction and
completion of the house. The family of ten were living in two very small houses
built of mud. The MEC for Local Government and Housing indicated to the
delegation that the family was not the only family that was facing this sort of
situation. Many other sites were left in the same condition by contractors who simply
disappeared.
The MEC made an undertaking to the two
families that their houses would be constructed as a matter of urgency and that
they would be completed within three months. The process would start with the
identification of a reliable contractor who would carry out the task to its completion.
5.2
The delegation was informed that the
Challenges raised:
Recommendations
5.3
The delegation visited Ward 6 in
The delegation also went to visit
Challenges
Recommendations
5.4 Katlegong Drop – In Centre
The Drop-in Centre used a rented facility
to provide care for children. The Drop-in Centre was established in 2006, but
was only registered with the Department of Social Development in 2007 as a
Non-Profit Organisation. The Centre had since its inception relied on the
Department of Social Development to assist them with funding for both
operational costs and construction of the Centre. The Centre also engaged the
City of Polokwane Municipality to provide them with land for the construction
of a proper Drop-in Centre. The Department had since failed to provide the Centre
with any assistance with regard to logistical needs as stated above.
The Drop-in Centre had been of service to the
children with the assistance of donations from community members, the South
African Social Services Agency and private companies or local businesses. The
food that was donated for a particular day determined what the children would
eat. The Centre was told by the Department that there was no funding for the
construction of a building. The Department only provided funding for
operational costs and procurement of equipment such as computers.
The Department advised the Katlegong
Drop-in Centre to use the certificate that they had received in order to obtain
funding. This certificate would have to be supplemented by a letter of approval
from the local Councillor, Social Worker, local Traditional Leader and local
clinic. There were two Drop-in Centres that had received assistance from
private companies to build their structures. The Department advised the Drop-in
Centre to follow this example to raise funds for the construction of their
structure as the policy of the Department did not make provision for the
construction of such structures.
On the issue of funding, the Centre’s
application for funding was approved the morning that the NCOP visited the
centre. The land problem was also resolved on the same day, as a site was
identified by the school to be utilised by the Drop-in Centre to construct
their own building.
The issue of mushrooming of Drop-in Centres
was raised very sharply during discussions. It was agreed that the Department
should develop regulations to ensure that there was no abuse of the Centres for
personal gain.
Challenges
Recommendations
5.5 EPWP Site Visit
The delegation was taken on a site visit
to see a proposed road construction which was aimed at reducing traffic on the
N1 between Tzaneen, Morea and Polokwane. There was no budget for this project even
though it could be a success in terms of reducing congestion on the N1 during
the Easter holidays.
The Gondu lashu EPWP road project had been
discontinued due to the poor quality of the roads that this initiative had
produced. It was recommended that the delegation should assist in advocating
for funding for the construction of the road.
5.6 Meeting
with the Premier, MECs and Heads of Department
The Premier of the Province issued a very
comprehensive report to the delegation of the NCOP outlining the successes
achieved so far and future plans which largely emanated from the 2009 State of
the Province Address. The Premier reiterated the province’s commitment of a 13
percent contribution to the national government’s initiative to create 500 000
jobs country-wide this year. The province had since June 2009 contributed to
the creation of at least 16 201 job opportunities, of which 15 368 were created
through the Extended Public Works Programme, 120 from the Revitalisation of
Small Irrigation Scheme, 677 from Environmental Management, and 36 from the
filling of vacant posts in various departments. These figures could be
attributed to the contribution of all municipalities in the province to
creating job opportunities.
5.6.1 Economic Development
The economic development of the province relied on
mining, agriculture and tourism. To support these sectors the province had
identified seven industrial clusters for job creation and economic growth.
These industrial clusters focussed on horticulture, meat, forestry, coal,
energy, logistics and petrochemicals, platinum and tourism.
The Limpopo Wildlife Resort (LWR) was engaged in a
programme of upgrading and revamping recreational facilities and lodges within
the province’s nature reserves. The upgrading programme had seen 12 Provincial
Reserve Facilities being upgraded, including the Nylsvlei International Site.
The province was committed to ensuring that 15 percent of the tourism industry
in the province was provided to the Previously Disadvantaged Individuals
(PDIs), at least by the end of the financial year.
5.6.2 Education
The province was currently building four new
state-of-the-art schools in addition to the eight that had already been
constructed. All these schools were set to have modern computers, modern
laboratories, a home economics centre, a
modern library, state of-the-art biology laboratory, nutritional centres,
modern classrooms and a 1 000 capacity school hall. These schools would bring
to an end the days when black children had to conduct experiments through
imagination.
5.6.3 Primary Health Care
The province had committed itself to increasing the
number of clinics providing 24 hour health care services from the current 74
percent to 86 percent by the end of the financial year. The unavailability of
medicine and qualified health care professionals remained a challenge in the
province. The current ratio of nurses and doctors per patient left much to be
desired and needed to be drastically improved.
The Sero-prevalence rate of HIV amongst pregnant
women decreased from 20.7 percent in 2006 to 18.5 percent in 2007. The
Anti-Retroviral sites also increased from 47 in the 2007/08 financial year to
64 during the 2008/09 financial year. The number of patients benefiting from
ARV treatment increased from 17 019 to 43 025 as of March 2009. The view of the
province remained that everyone should adhere to the ABC prevention message
i.e. Abstinence, Being faithful to one’s partner, and the use of Condoms.
5.6.4 Rural Development
After the visit to
5.6.5 Crime and Corruption
The province would establish a Provincial Justice
Crime Prevention and Security Cluster and implement the Provincial Crime
Prevention Strategy to root out corruption. This would be boosted by the
establishment of the new Limpopo High Court to be built in Polokwane.
In the next three months the province would establish
and roll out a programme of Community/Village Street Committees and Neighbourhood
Watches to all five District Municipalities in response to the call by the
President of the country. There were 143 schools that had been identified as
high risk schools in terms of levels of crime, and the province had already
started engaging at least 25 of these schools on this matter.
5.6.6 Economic and social infrastructure
The province had completed the spatial development
framework, which identified growth points for bulk economic activities. The R33
(Modimolle to Lephalale) and R37 (Polokwane to Burgersfort) roads had been
identified as important networks with a huge potential for enhancing economic
productivity in the province. The R33 would soon be proclaimed as a national
road. The work to reseal the R37 from Polokwane to Olifantrivier would soon be
undertaken. The terminal building in the airport was 99 percent complete. The
Regional Mall of the North in Polokwane was being constructed at a cost of R1.5
billion. It is envisaged that the mall would create about 1 500 permanent job
opportunities and close to 1 500 temporary jobs.
5.6.7 Basic Services
Water provision, sanitation and electricity remained
serious challenges in the province. A lot had been achieved in many areas, but more
still needed to be done. The province was committed to ensuring that by 2010
there should be 83 percent water supply and electricity connections across the province
and a target of 50 percent for sanitation.
The province was committed to reducing the use of
electricity consumption by 10 percent in 2010 with an effort to respond to the
challenges posed by global warming and greenhouse gas emissions.
Challenges
Recommendations
5.7
Presentations by various departments
Written presentations were received from
the Limpopo Provincial Treasury, Safety Security and Liaison, Local Government
and Housing and the Department of Public Works.
5.7.1 Provincial Treasury
The department was determined to maintain
a sound fiscal stance to support growth and development in the context of the
economic crisis. It would ensure that the budget was aligned with priorities
and would ensure that the members of the community received value for money in respect
of delivery of services. The department was further determined to improve audit
outcomes from five unqualified audit opinions to eight unqualified audit
opinions in the next review. There were 13 departments in the province with a
total budget allocation of R30.6 billion.
Challenges
Recommendations
5.7.2 Public Works
The Department of Public Works was currently
constructing 28 schools in the province. The first 12 of these schools were
still in phase 1 and had been allocated R64 million. They were focussed on addressing
the issue of overcrowding. Three of the 28 schools were to address challenges
imposed by cross-boundaries in the
The Department was implementing a
programme on the revitalisation of hospitals, including
Challenges
5.7.3 Safety, Security and Liaison
The following projects were currently being
implemented by the Department:
Challenges
In reply to the presentations received the Chairperson
of the NCOP Hon. MJ Mahlangu gave an overview of the NCOP Draft Strategic Framework
Plan which was a product of inputs from all nine provinces. The plan was going
to inform the oversight function of the NCOP for the next five years. The
Chairperson undertook that the delegation would take up the issues as
requested, including:
5.8 Polokwane Welfare Complex
The welfare complex was comprised of four sites which
were: Place of Safety; the Children’s Home; the Crisis Management Centre; and
the Secure Care Centre. The complex housed children up to the age of 18 years
who were referred to the complex by a court order. The children stayed at the
centre for at least six months with an option of renewal given the
circumstances. Children were allowed to stay in the centre permanently in cases
where efforts to reunite them with their parents proved fruitless. The centre also
housed children from other countries, with children from
Challenges
Recommendations
5.9
The school was saved from closure after it
was linked with a number of alleged illegal activities. The delegation learnt
that the problems in the school started when black learners were allowed to
enroll in the school. The coloured people allegedly did not want to associate
themselves with blacks people. A number of coloured teachers left the school in
protest at the enrolment of black learners. The school was then vandalized,
used as a dumping site, and it became unruly as community members would walk in
and out of the school at any time of the day. The staff rooms were destroyed
and the assets of the school were stolen. The head master, who was coloured,
was suspended. The school owed the municipality R754 000. The municipality
entered into an agreement with the school to pay R8 000 a month in order to
reduce its debt. The school, however, could not afford to pay that money
because parents boycotted the payment of school fees for a number of
reasons. The school had 40 educators of
which 4 were coloured. One teacher resigned on 22 August 2009. The principal
said that learners would hide in the ceiling, including both boys and girls.
While in the ceiling, they would smoke dagga, drink alcohol and even commit
rape while the teacher was teaching the class.
The department of education was renovating
one block and the Department of Public Works though the EPWP programme had
cleaned the surroundings of the school and was renovating the rest of the school.
30 women were involved in this EPWP skills development programme.
Challenges
o
The
property of the school, learners and educators were not protected
o
The
school owed the municipality R754 000 in services
o
There
was a need for 24 hour security
o
A
community meeting to address the issue of ethnicity was needed
o
All
managers in the school were in acting positions
o
Lowering
the quintile of the school to a ‘no fee’ school
o
Oversight
in school needed to be strengthened
Recommendations
o
The
school should be removed from quintile five to a lower quintile
o
The
Department should pay the municipality the outstanding R754 000 in service fees
o
Security
should be put in place - perhaps there should be negotiation with SAPS to provide
security in order to assist the school to stabilize
5.10 Meeting with Presiding Officers, Chief Whip,
Chairpersons and Members of Committees
The need to strengthen oversight was
emphasised as a mechanism to ensure quality of service delivery. Mention was
made of a number of projects being implemented in the province where there was
a lack of oversight. These included the housing project in Mankweng where
houses were built along a flood line, which necessitated the relocation of the
residents. The other project was the Gundo Lashu road construction project,
which had been slated as being of poor quality. It was acknowledged that the
Portfolio Committee in the Provincial Legislature needed to play a bigger role
and put more focus on overseeing the implementation of projects, as opposed to placing
emphasis on the development of legislation. Much work had already been done in respect
of the latter, except for minor amendments that needed to be made in certain
instances. The NCOP would focus on the actual activities that were taking place
in the provinces to ensure that projects were being delivered upon and that the
objectives corresponded to those of the national government’s programme of
action.
The issue of the disappearance of service
providers in housing projects after they had been paid was raised as a major
concern. It was noted that service providers guilty of this practice often changed
their company names and were awarded tenders in other municipalities. The delegation
indicated that they were not satisfied with the view that there were no mechanisms to trace these
service providers, who were after all residents of
5.11 Visit to various housing projects
The delegation visited housing projects in
Seshego extension 9l, extension 40 and extension 44. All the houses were being
constructed by one company tasked to deliver 700 houses. The houses were incomplete for a very long
time and the argument put forward was that the beneficiaries of those houses had
not come to claim their houses.
The Ward Councillor explained that the system of allocating houses was open to corruption.
She gave an estimate of about 300 houses that were not occupied by their
rightful owners. A resident complained that he had been on the waiting list for
more than 13 years. He lived with his wife and children, and had been moved to
different houses three times. Even the house where he currently stayed was
still not in his name and this therefore heightened the belief that he could be
removed at any given time. Another resident complained that he had used his money
to complete the construction of his house after the contractor had left it
incomplete. Another resident complained about the floor that kept eroding every
time she swept and cleaned the house.
Challenges
o
Houses
were not designed to accommodate people living with disabilities
o
The
waiting list did not detect and identify repeat beneficiaries
o
A
number of housing projects have been blocked
o
There
was a challenge in replacing a beneficiary
o
There
was no transparency with regard to the waiting list
o
Contractors
disappeared without completing structures after they had been paid
Recommendations
o
All
blocked projects should be unblocked
o
The
waiting list should be transparent
o
Beneficiaries
should be given a 30-day waiting period
o
The
contractor should keep to the standard of the building observed in Extension 44
Seshego
o
All
outstanding projects in the areas should be completed by December 2009
5.12 Meeting with Mayors, Salga and
SALGA gave an extensive presentation on
the challenges faced by municipalities. The Association raised lack of capacity
as a serious problem facing municipalities. Some of the positions that required
attention include engineering, accounting, auditing, planning and a need for
skilled personnel across the board. There was a high demand for Chief Financial
Officers (CFOs), Municipal Managers and Senior Managers. A number of
municipalities faced a challenge in filling these positions.
According to the MEC for Local Government
and Housing in the Province, the current vacancy rate for positions of
Municipal Managers was 17 percent which had been dramatically reduced from 46
percent in the 2005/06 financial year. During the 2007/08 and 2008/09 financial
years the vacancy rate was zero percent, but since then it had increased. The
vacancy rate of Section 57 managers was 6 per cent as per the figures provided
for the 2008/09 financial year. Meanwhile, the vacancy rate for CFOs was at 30
percent. All Section 57 vacant positions were 100 percent filled at one stage,
but then the challenges of vacancies occurred.
The other challenge facing municipalities was
non-compliance with National Treasury Regulations, Audit requirements and
Municipal Finance Management Act (Act No. 56 of 2003). In the previous review,
only two municipalities received unqualified audit reports, meanwhile a few
received qualified audit reports. The majority of municipalities received
disclaimers and adverse reports. Other municipalities still had a challenge in
submitting financial statements for auditing.
A few municipalities were able to develop
Integrated Development Plans (IDPs) and approve budgets. The challenge remained
with the quality and credibility of the IDPs as well as implementation.
Municipalities had a tendency of implementing projects that were not in their
IDPs, hence violating legislative provisions. In addition, alignment of IDPs
with sector department’s programmes and plans remained a challenge. IDP reviews
were held in the province but a lot still needed to be done to enhance the
current system in order to improve the quality and credibility of IDPs.
There was a need for further training and
skills development of ordinary Councillors, so that they were placed at the
same level of training as the Municipal Mayor and Members of the Mayoral Committee.
This might improve oversight by the municipal committee which currently played
a very small role beyond the review of the annual report of the municipality.
The current system of oversight in municipalities was not living up to the
desired standards and expected outcomes.
The conflict caused by a lack of
understanding between the roles of councillors and the responsibilities of the
traditional leaders in the provision of services still existed in the
municipalities. An example was cited of the Mbembe in
The level of corruption in municipalities was
still high with a number of senior officials being suspended, hence the high
number of acting Municipal Managers and senior officials.
Public consultation was done at the level
of IDP and Budget processes, which was not quite enough. Ward committee
meetings were not held according to the norm and the required standard.
Municipalities should communicate their successes and challenges including
their failures to the community. For instance, the housing delivery in the
province was not well communicated by both the province and the municipality.
Beneficiaries of houses were not informed timeously or were not involved during
the construction of their houses hence there was corruption in the allocation
of houses. It was mentioned that in Seshego 9L, about 300 houses were not
occupied by their rightful owners. Furthermore, the relationship between the
ward councillor, ward committee members and community development workers needed
to be strengthened. The leadership of the ward was a source of conflict.
The implementation of by-laws was another
challenge in the municipalities. These laws were only implemented in urban
municipalities such as Polokwane, while there was no implementation in rural
municipalities.
The system of providing for the indigent still
had a number of challenges, especially as the province faced the challenge of
water supply and electricity connection. The province still needed to develop a
definition for who qualified as an indigent.
5.12.1 Electricity
The
5.12.2 Roads and Storm water
According to the Mayor of the
5.12.3 Local Economic Development
There was a challenge of job creation, as
there were no investments in the
5.12.4 Municipal Finance and Financial Viability
The MEC for Local Government reported that
the
The Department of Co-operative Governance
and Traditional Affairs at the national level had recognised challenges faced
by municipalities in the implementation of the Municipal Property Rates Act.
Only one municipality in the province had failed to comply with the deadline
for implementation of 1st July 2009. A Municipal Property Rates
Amendment Bill had been introduced which would address challenges faced by
municipalities with the valuation roll. The anti-corruption and risk strategy
had been adopted by 50 percent of the municipalities. The communication system was
progressing very well since the 2005/2006 financial year.
5.12.5 Inter-Governmental Relations (IGR)
The IGR system of
The approach to low-cost housing needed to
be revisited. A lot of space was being used and this encouraged urban sprawl,
thus there should be a focus on higher density housing development. Rezoning was
also a challenge in residential areas. Rezoning would assist in terms of high
density and would be cheaper in terms of providing infrastructure.
5.13
The
The other challenge for the municipality was
the re-demarcation of the Moutse area into the
According to the Chief Executive Officer
of the hospital, the hospital was experiencing serious challenges; a number of
services had not received attention. These included the renovation of the
buildings and appointment of staff. The Department had placed a moratorium on
the appointment of staff for a lengthy period, but it had since lifted it.
Adverts for vacant posts were sent to the District for advertising in national
newspapers, but the posts had not yet been filled.
The hospital was unable to attend to a
number of cases which ended up being referred to surrounding hospitals, which were
George Mukhari, Steve Biko, Groblersdal, Matlala, and
The Information Technology and
Communication system was installed by the Mpumalanga Government, however it had
not been upgraded and updated. The current system caused major delays in the
performance of the hospital. There was a need for the Department to assist to
upgrade the hospital infrastructure in order to allow for the smooth running of
the hospital and the processing of information and record keeping.
The Ward identified for TB treatment was
under renovation, and it was about 80 percent complete. In an effort to deal
with the challenge of long waiting periods for treatment, the hospital had
proposed a construction of a Gateway Clinic just outside the hospital where
patients could be attended to, and would not have to wait in long queues.
The hospital had commissioned a research
project by the
The hospital admitted psychiatric patients
and referred them to Lebowakgomo within 72 hours provided that there was space
to accommodate those patients. In the event that there was no space in the
surrounding hospitals, those patients would remain at
Challenges
Recommendations
5.14
The performance of the school had declined in the
previous financial year due to a lack of educators. The school had one teacher
for science and one teacher for maths who taught from grade 9 to 12.
The pass rate of the school had declined since 2001. The
situation was exacerbated by the
challenge of adapting to the introduction of the National Curriculum Syllabus.
The system was not well equipped to ensure that teachers with prior
qualifications were properly trained to teach without encountering problems.
The other challenge was the deployment of teachers in the fields that they were
not qualified in.
In 2008, only two out of 35 matriculants passed
science because the school did not have a science teacher – the previous
incumbent left in 2007 and the post was never filled. The accounting teacher
was ill for the better half of the year and resigned in October last year,
which also resulted in a number of challenges for the learners and they ended
up failing the subject. The introduction of food nutrition at the school in
April had improved the performance of learners.
The Dennilton Circuit had the lowest grade 12 pass
rate in the province. As a result it was recommended that the Circuit be put
under “intensive care”
Challenges
Recommendations
5.15.
The grade 12 performance results of the school have
dropped as compared to the previous financial year. The performance rate was at
41 percent. The delegation was confident that school could achieve far better results.
The performance rate in the previous financial year was at 54.4 percent. The delegation
emphasised to the educators that education was one of the five priorities for
the term of government for 2009 – 2014. The school had overcome a number of
challenges that were raised during the previous visit, even though isiNdebele
had been phased out by the department because of non-compliance with the
curriculum.
Challenges
Recommendations
5.16.
Challenges
Recommendations
5.17
The delegation observed that the
Electricity backlog
|
Village |
Number
of Households |
|
384 |
|
|
Good
Hope |
150 |
|
Masakaneng |
150 |
|
Ntoane/Manthlanyane/Botshabelo |
217 |
|
Ga-Tshehla |
95 |
|
Hlalanikahle |
1
143 |
|
Vierfontein |
563 |
|
Mare
|
200 |
|
Ga-Maboki |
30 |
|
Magolego |
140 |
|
Greater
Komane |
965 |
|
Ntshong |
200 |
|
Mohwekere |
250 |
|
Diphagane |
180 |
|
Glen
Cowie/Mathousand/Unit D |
970 |
|
Crodile |
70 |
|
Maila
Segolo |
150 |
|
Apel
– Cross |
130 |
|
Harkdore
(Tswaing) |
140 |
|
Mphane
|
90 |
|
Makgwabe
|
85 |
|
Tshehlwaneng |
180 |
|
|
205 |
|
Setlaboswane |
160 |
|
|
120 |
|
Phokoane |
150 |
|
Mahlolwane |
120 |
|
Thabampshe
|
150 |
The Municipality was not a Water Service Authority or
a Water Service Provider. This function was currently managed at a district
level by the
The housing backlog was 13 258, and there was a
challenge due to lack of water supply and poor access roads in areas where
structures were supposed to be built. The delegation was concerned that there were
still communities without access to proper roads. The delegation was informed that
trucks could not enter some villages to deliver material for the construction
of low income houses. The communities carried the material with their hands and
heads to the construction sites.
In his presentation, the Acting Municipal Manager of
Makhuduthamaga indicated that the total length of the roads was unknown because
there was no master plan. The processes for appointing a service provider to
draw up the master plan on behalf of the municipality were currently underway
and were due to be completed very soon. To date, the municipality had been able
to tar at least 39.4 kilometers at a cost of R70 million.
The following roads needed serious attention
including access roads in ward 14 and 15:
The following were areas that needed bridges to be
constructed:
Challenges
Recommendations
Road construction needed to be prioritised for
communities living in hilly and mountainous areas.
The MEC for Local Government and Housing would
discuss the possibility of having two summits in the province, one on energy
and another on water, with the Minister responsible for energy.
5.18 Debriefing Meeting with the Provincial Leadership
The NCOP delegation noted the progress made by the
province to improve service delivery. The province had overcome a number of
obstacles and met a number of the challenges facing service delivery. It was
noted that provision of basic services continued to reach people on the ground.
The Polokwane Welfare Complex was noted as one of the best in the country, with
similar arrangements established in
The delegation prioritised the construction of the
two family’s houses; the unblocking of all housing delivery projects, attention
to water and electricity, as well as roads especially in ward 14 and 15 of
Makhuthamaga Local Municipality, the lowering of the quintile of both Mphezulu
High School and Westernberg High School.
5.19 Assessment of progress being made in respect
of 2010 FIFA World Cup
The reconstruction of the Peter Mokaba Stadium
officially started in March 2009 and was 90 percent complete. The stadium
should have been completed in June 2009 but the Municipality missed the
deadline. The stadium would be completed in October 2009. The Municipality
drafted a concept paper on the construction of the precinct around the stadium,
which was 60 percent complete. The precinct had been allocated R40 million which
would include construction of the
Challenges
6.
MPUMALANGA
The permanent delegates to
the NCOP met with the Premier, Members of the Executive Council, Speaker, Chief
Whip, Chairperson of Committees and SALGA. At these meetings the role and
mandate of the NCOP was outlined as ensuring that provincial interests were
taken into account in the national sphere of government. This could be achieved
mainly by ensuring that the NCOP participated in the national legislative
process and by providing a national forum for public consideration of issues
affecting provinces.
6.1. Meeting with the Speaker
The issue of
presentation in committees was raised and the fact that the Legislature was not
aware of which committees the permanent delegates belonged to. It was suggested
that the permanent delegates should try and reconcile their position as a
delegation to effectively cover those departments that had a direct impact on
the province.
It was stated that
the work of the permanent delegate should be guided mainly by issues that were affecting
the province. Departments such as Home Affairs, Mining, Water Affairs and
Energy were raised as examples of national Departments that dealt with issues
of national competence that had an impact on the province. The permanent
delegates could assist the province in monitoring those national Departments. An
amendment to the rules and orders of the province to outline the roles of the
NCOP members was also suggested.
6.2. Meeting with the Premier and Members of the
Provincial Executive
A presentation on
provincial challenges, provincial priorities and high impact programmes was
made and also a report on the assessment of the state of municipalities.
6.2.1 Provincial Challenges:
6.2.2 Provincial Priorities
6.2.3 High Impact Programmes
6.2.4 Assessment on the State of
It was stated that the report was triggered by
the service delivery protests that erupted in most municipalities throughout
the country. The findings of the report were that there was a dysfunctional
system of governance due to political and administrative structure relations
and poor public participation. The issues identified were cutting across all
municipalities. The Executive Mayor, the Speaker and the Municipal Manager were
not talking to each other. The collaboration between the Mayor and the
Municipal Manager was either good or bad. The fact that some Municipal Managers
were holding higher political positions than the Executive Mayors they reported
to, created a lot of problems within those municipalities.
On financial
management, it was reported that there was a lack of adherence to financial
management systems and capacity constraints. It was stated that the systems
were very poor and that there was no capacity to manage the finances in terms
of the Municipal Financial Management Act. There was an emerging trend of money
disappearing because of inappropriate management of finances. There were no
credit controls in place.
It was stated that
there were poor relations between labour and management which resulted in
flouting of human resource policies and procedures.
The permanent
delegates were informed that there was lack of quality service delivery. The
matters that enhanced effective service delivery such as IDPs, coordination,
planning, proper MIG expenditure and technical expertise to mention a few had
not been procedurally followed.
There was also no
LED strategy and the absence of implementation plans for rural economic
development and tensions hampered economic development.
The report
proposed the following interventions for municipalities:
The permanent
delegates requested a copy of the detailed report so that they could go through
it and identify issues. They permanent delegates informed the Premier and the
Members of the Executive that during the week they would, through their
interaction with the municipalities, be able to engage municipalities on some
of the issues raised and get first hand experience.
The permanent
delegates raised a concern about the mining activities in the province and that
they were not sure about the mines’ contribution to the province. A question
was asked about the ownership of the mines and the participation of the people
of
The permanent
delegates acknowledged the Executive for being honest in admitting where the
problems and challenges were in the province.
6.3. Meeting with Municipalities on Service Delivery Backlogs
The Municipalities were
informed by the permanent delegates that they had received a report on the
state of municipalities in the province and that they wanted to hear from each
municipality what challenges they faced. The permanent delegates noted that there
were similarities in the challenges faced by the various municipalities.
6.3.1
The Municipal Manager
reported that the municipality performed very well in terms of financial
management. Revenue collection was still a big challenge and they relied on the
6.3.2
Dr JS Moroka Municipality
Public participation was a
challenge because the Ward Committees were not functioning properly and they
were struggling with the payment of stipends. Sanitation and the provision of
water was a serious challenge. The road infrastructure was not completed. It
was reported that the municipality needed a huge allocation and that some of
the roads were cross boundary roads. The payment of rates and services had
decreased. The lack of resources resulted in the clinics not operating on a 24
hour basis, they were operating on an 8 hourly basis. The municipality had a
huge housing backlog. The permanent delegates were informed that during floods,
the floods constituted a serious challenge in the municipality because some
farmers would open up their dams to release excessive water.
6.3.3
The Municipality had a
challenge of financial viability. It was reported that the needs of the
municipality exceeded the revenue supply. The permanent delegates were informed
that the formula for the allocation of municipal grants needed to be reviewed.
The municipality’s resources were very limited.
The bulk infrastructure was
old and dilapidated. The maintenance and operations of the infrastructure was
problematic. It was reported that projects in the municipality had been
implemented by the other spheres of government without the involvement of the
municipality. The municipality had not been given an opportunity to plan,
monitor and evaluate those projects. The municipality complained that those
projects were not even communicated in their IDPs. The municipality did not
receive assistance that was expected from the other spheres of government.
There was a huge backlog of housing and the houses already built had poor
workmanship. The road to
It was stated that the
municipality needed to improve its capacity to monitor and evaluate projects.
The Ward Committees and the Community Development Workers were not performing
their responsibilities hence the performance of Councillors had not been
monitored. There was lack of communication between the Councillors and the
community and the community was not aware of what had been done. It was
reported to the permanent delegates that there was a power struggle between the
CDWs and the Councillors. Fraud and corruption still remained a serious
challenge.
6.3.4
It was reported that the
Mayor of the municipality had been recalled and the municipality was still
awaiting a report. The municipality was strategically located between
Pretoria/Johannesburg complex in
The permanent delegates were
informed that the Councillors did not receive any allowances for doing their
constituency work. Councillors had to use their own money to do constituency
work like door to door campaigns on issues of service delivery. It was reported
that the ward committee meetings had not been convened as regularly as they
should. Another challenge identified by the Councillors in this municipality
was that in some wards the language barrier posed a major challenge and this
had been cited as the main reason for non attendance by some ward committee
members.
The majority of the people in
the community did not pay for council services, e.g out of 13000 people only
3000 were able to pay for services. The permanent delegates were informed that
the equitable share the municipality received had been based on 2001 statistics
and had therefore been inadequate.
6.3.5
The permanent delegates were
informed that the municipality needed a cash injection to extend the bulk
infrastructure in order for it to meet the expansion of the town. The roads
were not maintained because the MIG allocation excluded an allocation for the
maintenance of infrastructure. The municipality had a challenge in the retention
of scarce skills such as that of engineers and electricians.
The municipality had
difficulty in providing water to farm dwellers because some farmers had been
preventing the municipality from providing water and they also refused to allow
Eskom to install transformers to provide electricity to the farm dwellers.
It was reported that there
was a lack of service level agreements through which the municipality could
enforce discipline and undertake in the monitoring of the CDWs. The issue of
section 57 managers was a challenge and the leadership roles should be
clarified especially as it pertained to effective accountability.
6.3.6
The population of the
municipality had grown significantly and therefore there was a challenge in
terms of infrastructure development. There was a shortfall of R3 billion in
order to provide for financial support to bulk infrastructure expansion, e.g.
quality water and sanitation. The municipality complained of the lack of access
to farm settlements. There was a huge backlog of houses and informal settlements
were mushrooming everywhere. The infrastructure was very old and under pressure
due to population growth.
The municipality reported
that the failure of sector departments to participate in the IDP process was a
challenge. An example was made of one sphere that built a road and expected the
municipality to maintain that road. The municipality did not have funds for
that maintenance because it was not included in its IDP. The sector Departments
sent junior officials to IDP meetings and those officials could not take
decisions in those meetings.
The Community Development
Workers did not know their roles and responsibilities and the Ward Committees
were not effective because they were not paid stipends since there was no
national or provincial norm for the payment of stipends. This lack of funds
also led to public participation not being active and effective.
The permanent delegates were
informed that the issues of service delivery that led to the burning of
Councillors’ houses were issues that had a direct bearing on national and
provincial spheres of government.
6.3.7
The municipality reported
that it expected the NCOP to indicate a macro strategy for service delivery and
cooperative governance. It also reported that the achievement of the Millennium
Goals was a challenge. The permanent delegates were informed that a template to
assess the KPAs was required to measure every municipality’s performance. They
were also informed that since the administration in terms of section 139(1)(b),
the municipality had never received any progress report to assess any progress
made. The financial challenges the municipality was facing were related to
revenue collection. The communities were resisting paying for rates and
services resulting in revenue generation being adversely affected. There were
institutional deficiencies that pertained to public participation and
stakeholder involvement. The municipality had insufficient water and
electricity supply. Nsikazi was the most
affected and relied on Bushbuckridge Water Board.
6.3.8
The municipality was
predominantly rural and had between 8 to 9 Chiefs who simply allocated stands
to the people. The population had grown and therefore the statistics that were
used for the MIG allocation needed to be revised. It was reported that the
municipality had an influx of people from
6.3.9
The municipality reported
that the MIG funding was inadequate because it did not address the needs of the
municipality. The municipality was rapidly expanding and the demands of the
municipality exceeded the supply. The permanent delegates were
informed by the municipality that the IDPs did exist but there were no funds
available for those IDPs. Land invasion was also mentioned as a challenge. People
had occupied the provincial land for 15 years. It was reported that the
provision of water and sanitation both in rural areas and urban areas remained
a serious challenge. The municipality was losing technical staff to Eskom and
the mines. The number of indigent people was growing.
6.3.10
In Thaba Cheuwu the permanent
delegates were informed that a motion had been taken by the House to remove the
Executive Mayor in terms of the Municipal Structures Act. This decision the
permanent delegates were informed was taken without the knowledge of the ruling
party and that subsequently 10 councillors were removed by the ruling party.
The challenges that the
municipality was faced with was that the land fill sites had reached maturity
and the council did not have extra land. The municipality needed more money than
what they were actually collecting. The municipality’s collection rate was at
95%. It was reported that the cash flow problems that the municipality had been
facing had been exacerbated by the 13% salary increase for municipal workers.
Public violence made it difficult for the municipality to deliver effectively.
6.3.11
It was reported in this
municipality that there was a great challenge of land claims and the processing
of the claims was very slow. The Department of Water and Environmental Affairs
project was on hold. The infrastructure was in decline, the tarred roads were poorly
constructed and there was lack of monitoring of capital projects by the
officials. The municipality also had a shortage of skills in terms of finance and
supply chain management.
6.3.12
Pixely Ka Seme Municipality
The permanent delegates were
informed that in this municipality there was an increase in mining activities
and that the municipality was not consulted on this activity. The municipality
was not taken on board in respect of mining rights and prospecting rights in
those mines. The provision of water was still a serious challenge. The water
pipes used to distribute water were old and were of asbestos. The municipality was
made up of a vast rural community. There was a scarcity of land and it was
reported that the farm owners were refusing to grant permission to the
municipality to roll out VIP toilets. The 80/20 principle of supplying
electricity became a problem where the 20 percent needed to be provided by the
farmer or the municipality. The permanent delegates were also informed that there
was a land restitution claim that was approved in 2001 but had never been
effected. It was reported that the mining activities were poisoning the
underground water and that the electricity project required more funding.
6.3.13
The municipality had a
housing backlog and had serviced some sites but the people still continued to
stay in shacks. It was reported that the heavy rainfalls led to the water
flooding the area. The sewer plants were very old. The grading of the
municipality resulted in the municipality not recruiting technically skilled
people. The technicians would leave the municipality and commence work at another municipality doing
the same job but earning more. The permanent delegates were informed that the
municipality faced a challenge of farm dweller evictions. It was also reported
that the post of the Municipal Manager was vacant.
6.3.14
The permanent delegates were
informed that the R45 million budget for the eradication of the bucket system
had gone to waste due to the substandard work of the service providers. The
municipality needed R6 million to deal with the backlog. R36 million had been
ring fenced in order to improve Bethal. The land invasions in Bethal were a
cause for concern. It was reported that the housing backlog, poor workmanship
and inefficient contractors was a challenge. The municipality had an influx of
people due to the pull factors of SASOL and the mines. The revenue collection was
at 84%.
6.3.15
It was reported that the
infrastructure was ageing and dilapidated. The sewer system was a cause for
concern. The permanent delegates were informed that the municipality had a
housing backlog, and the provision of electricity was a problem. It was further
reported that Section 57 employees had not been employed.
6.3.16
In this municipality it was
reported to the permanent delegates that unemployment was very high in the
municipality despites the fact that a new mine had opened in the area. The
municipality also had a huge housing backlog and that the informal settlements
were spreading. It was reported that the Ward Committees and the Community
Development Workers had not been functioning.
6.3.17
It was stated that the
de-establishment of
6.3.18
Nkangala District Municpality
The permanent delegates were
informed that the properties of Councillors were not insured and yet they were
at the coal face of service delivery. The delegation was informed that when
laws were made, the challenges that were faced by the Councillors on the ground
should be appreciated. The Mayor informed the permanent delegates that the
municipality should ask national Treasury to explain which formula had been used
to allocate funds. The permanent delegates were informed that the Traditional
Leaders wanted to be paid like Councillors. It was reported that the
municipalities should begin to identify land and develop it to avoid land
grabs.
.
6.3.19 Recommendations
o
Communication between the Councillors and the
communities needed to be improved.
o
Investigation of farmers who refused to allow the
municipalities to provide basic services for communities in farms;
o
Disaster management structures should be in place;
o
Incomplete projects – when the delegation returns, the
municipalities needed to show what steps they have taken to remedy the
situation;
o
o
More time with the community to experience first hand
what was happening in each municipality;
o
Farmers that were refusing electrical connection were
stifling development;
o
There should be integration of planning with sector
departments;
o
The IDP should be informed by approvals from the
Department and if a wish list got into the IDP, the municipality would
encounter problems because of the expectations raised to the community;
o
The invasion of land had led to the mushrooming of
squatter camps;
o
Constituency Offices, Councillors needed to talk to
MPLs and MPs so that they could be able to assist;
o
Municipal Managers could assist Mayors in drafting
questions to the Minister and send them to the NCOP;
6.4. Meeting with the Whippery
The Whippery was asked to
give a presentation and asked to be as honest as possible in talking about the
challenges that they were facing in their municipalities. Issues raised included:
6.5 Site Visit to
The
permanent delegates and the members of the Portfolio Committee on Human
Settlement, Co-operative Governance and Traditional Affairs had a series of
meetings with the different stakeholders in
6.5.1
Meeting with Mayoral Council of
The
following issues and challenges were identified in the meeting with the Mayoral
Committee:
6.5.2 Recommendations
The Mayoral Committee was
advised by the permanent delegates to compile a report:
6.6 Meeting with the
Municipal Administrator In
The Administrator made a
presentation and highlighted the achievements he and his team had made.
The
following problems were cited:
o
Protests
citing “poor service delivery”
o
Accusations
of corruption, nepotism, etc
o
Anomalies
in Supply Chain Management
o
Lack
of discipline
o
Internal
“squabbles” that undermine effective delivery
o
“Silo”
mentalities – Admin/Political, within departments, split reporting lines, etc
o
Wasted
resources
o
Roles
and responsibilities not clearly defined
Early
defined root causes
o
It
was a systemic problem: The municipality as a whole had failed to deliver
o
Poor
governance
o
Poor
management
o
Low
levels of competencies (there were some pockets of competence)
o
Limited
alignment and integration of the IDP and Budget and SDBIP.
o
Performance
measures were largely activity centred, not necessarily linked to the
actual delivery of services against agreed targets of delivery
o
Limited
evidence of needs modelling. Discussion
over needs tradeoffs took place at the Executive level, but was not data driven
within departments
o
Lack
of funding often meant that departments were challenged to maintain existing
services rather than improve and develop additional services
o
Programme
management maturity was very low. Most
of the focus at the IDP level was on tasks and projects, not on programmes and
how they achieved the overall objectives of the organisation
o
Service
delivery outputs and success measures were not readily apparent
o
Monitoring
and Evaluation (M&E)
o Low levels of work ethic
Some key actions already underway
o
Service delivery (21 actions)
o
Finance – (11 actions)
o
Legal – (powers and functions)
o
Stakeholder management (political, civic, business,
religious, general)
o
Corporate services (12 actions)
o
Forensic investigation (1st report completed)
o
“As is” assessment (HOD’s, “Rapid assessment
initiative”, Administrator's assessment, CGTA assessment)
Status Quo Summary
o
Establishment of Administrator's Office – Complete
o
Rapid assessment – 75% complete
o
Forensic Investigation: Report 1 – Complete
o
Forensic Investigation: Report 2 – Complete
o
Immediate actions:
Quick Win projects
– 60 projects commenced
Business
Improvement projects – 12 projects commenced
Critical capital
projects – already identified, prioritised, costed and funding being lobbied
Critical projects required to fix service delivery
o
“Critical
Projects”: critical for
even a minimum service.
◦
Example:
Upgrading of the sewer treatment works R47million
◦
Example:
140km asbestos water reticulation R65million
◦
Example:
Upgrading of the Piet Retief sub station R22million
◦
Example:
1,5km electrical cable 40 yrs old, hazard R6million
◦
Example:
Basic sanitation services (VIP’s) to 10,535 homes R95million
These were being prioritised and phased as
funds become available
Included was filling of the absolutely
crucial vacant posts on critical path to service delivery, especially in
Engineering Services.
The Administrator
concluded by stating that they were rapidly rolling out the turnaround plan. A
number of “Quick win” service delivery projects were already rolled out and
that R 313 million was required to effect the minimum service delivery
improvements.
Members asked what
steps had been taken in relation to Institutional arrangements and what role
was the Mayoral Committee playing, taking into consideration the fact that the
Administrator would be there for a short period. The delegation was informed
that the structure still existed and that the Municipal Manager was on special
leave and further that:
o
The managers were re-prioritising projects.
o
IDP – started from scratch. They would have to do an
annual one and thereafter a 5 year plan.
o
o
The water pipeline was asbestos and it was difficult
to maintain and repair because of the availability of parts.
o
Evictions – it was alleged that the farmers paid
bribes to police to squash those eviction cases {dockets were missing and the
police were taking kickbacks}.
o
The Administrator was dealing with the issues raised
in the Auditor General’s report. The Administrator and his team also did their
own assessment.
o
Nepotism – Findings were that selection and
recruitment of employees was not approved by the Council in practice.
o
The Administrator was trying very hard to include the administrative
staff to be part of the process.
6.7 Meeting with Councillors
Councillors were
asked to talk about the issues relating to institutional arrangements and how
they worked with each other.
6.8 Recommendations
6.9 Public Hearing with the Community
In this meeting
the members of the public raised the same issues that were raised in the
previous meetings with Councillors on service delivery. There was also a
complaint of farm evictions and harassment of farm dwellers. One member of the
community had been physically assaulted and received an injury to his left eye.
6.9.1 Recommendations
7.
7.1
Meeting with Speaker and Chief Whip
The Chairperson Mr G Mokgoro
opened the proceedings. Madam Acting Speaker welcomed the delegates of the NCOP
and the representatives of the Provincial Legislature. Mr Mokgoro thanked the
staff for the preparations.
The Chairperson gave a
briefing on the work that the NCOP had been busy with in Parliament. He
mentioned the composition of the NCOP and its functions, and section 77 bills
and other related matters that were finalised.
He also mentioned that he received communication whilst in
Mr Mokgoro also highlighted
that in terms of the preparation of the NCOP Provincial Week, there was
supposed to be a briefing with the Premier to regarding the priorities ands
plan of the province and how these would be implemented in terms of the
national priorities as mentioned by the President in the State of the Nation
Address. The programme for the week was discussed and the changes made in terms
of time allocation and representatives that the Legislature would avail for the
week.
There was a question raised as
to which part of the Vaalharts Irrigation Scheme would be visited. The NCOP Whip
suggested that the community next to the scheme should be visited and the
scheme as a whole, to look at possibilities of how the scheme would benefit the
community especially in terms of food gardens. The Department of Agriculture would
be requested to assist, since there was a resource that could be used to
benefit the community and not only the farmers, as the community was dependent
on boreholes for drinking water. There had also been a special request for a
dam for Namakwa.
Mr Sinclair raised the voting
process of the NCOP. Mr Mokgoro requested that the matter be referred to the House
for discussion.
7.2 Briefing on Provincial Priorities and
Service Delivery Backlogs
The Acting Director-General delivered
a presentation (overview) on behalf of the Departments (Co-operative Governance
& Human Settlements and Finance, Economic Affairs and Tourism). The
presenter began by mentioning that the Departments’ plans were informed by the
government’s key strategic priorities as contained in MTSF 2009 – 2014 and the
ANC’s election manifesto. The province had many priorities but only the main
ones were listed.
One of the priories was that
in terms of the EPWP the province must create 500 000 job opportunities by
December 2009. Some of the priorities were already provided for in the Current
MTEF, but some would require additional resources.
Because of limited resources
the province was forced to implement prioritization measures such as:
The priorities as adopted by
the Northern Cape Executive Council on 9 June 2009 as per clusters were as
follows.
7.2.1 Economic cluster
Among others the economic
sector would:
o
Relieve the burden of downturn on low income workers,
the unemployed and the vulnerable;
o
Establish an infrastructure task team to monitor the
implementation of the infrastructure projects;
o
Where there were constraints, Provincial Treasury would
be tasked to find speedy solutions within the parameters of the law.
In the short term the sector
was aimed at the following:
o
Promotion of domestic procurement;
o
Finalization of the reconfiguration of affected
departments in the Cluster by November 2009;
o
Immediate roll-out of EPWP phase 2;
o
De Aar hospital completion to be fast-tracked by
infrastructure team;
o
Launch of Riemvasmaak pilot of Comprehensive Rural
Development programme (deadline was June 2009)
o
Establishment of Northern Cape Trade and Investment
Agency (briefing was scheduled on 9 September 2009);
o
Launch of Kimberly International Diamond and
o
National World Tourism day celebrations in
o
Launch the provincial farm and rural school strategy.
Other activities of the
sector include:
Presentation of these
priorities was to be made to relevant stakeholders (including MINMECs). There would
also be an Indaba on infrastructure and EPWP held in the province. The
Department would also launch strategies for the development and promotion of
cooperatives as well as the strategy for local economic development. It would
also develop strategy for capacity building of the BEE companies and
contractors in the province.
7.2.2 Social cluster
The aims of this cluster
included:
These it would do by:
7.2.3 Governance cluster
The priorities included:
This would be done through:
7.2.4 Peace and Security cluster
The priorities were:
The province pointed out that
some of the priorities fell outside their competence and as such could not to be
executed. It called on the NCOP delegates for assistance in that regard.
7.3 Service delivery backlogs
7.3.1 Sanitation
7.3.2 Water
7.3.3 Household Electricity
7.3.4 Housing
The total provincial budget
for 2009/2010 was R178 million, plus the added national allocation of R152
million.
7.4 Questions and Comments
Hon. Faber commented that
there should be marketing of the
With regard to criminal
justice he said the shortage of magistrates was a burning issue that caused
case backlogs. Regarding housing he said that the bad quality of houses at
Hon De Beer asked what
progress had been made in Moshaweng since the NCOP’s last visit. Also what
attractions did the
Hon Gunda asked for the
province to push for the Khoisan and Griqua communities to be included in the
Traditional Leadership Amendment Bill. He lamented the fact that development was
focused in
7.4.1 Responses
and further questions
The Acting D-G stated that
the Executive Council would market the province more. With regard to the university,
she said the province would rely on permanent delegates to lobby on the matter because
higher education was not a competence of provinces. She said Moshaweng was
prioritized and
MEC Mmoiemang stated that regarding
the issue of the Khoisan community, they
had made a presentation to the Legislature and his Department regarding their
status. It transpired that they were refused participation in the national House,
but they did participate in the provincial House.
With regard to
With regard to CDWs he said
the Department would appoint supervisors in all districts for CDWs and also
that the Department had put in place mechanisms for all the projects to ensure
that they were finished as contemplated. He conceded that the funding model of
the province was biased towards urban municipalities, but that that would
change in line with the rural development priority.
Hon Gunda asked the
Department to intervene in
The HOD for Economic
Development responded that the delegates should help lobby for the province
because the DTI was the one directing where the investment in the country
should take place. He said the province was not an automatic choice for
development, hence the need for delegates to help.
Hon Mokgoro requested the
province to send correspondence to delegates so that they could base their
lobbying thereon. He further said they would also do their best to ensure that
the university projects soon materialized as these had economic spin-offs for
the province.
Hon Tau stated that as
delegates they were the conveyor belts for the issues affecting the province, and
that the province must use them. He said they would raise in the NCOP the issue
about the N2 Gateway project because the
Hon Sinclair stated that
there must be a move away from urban strategy to a rural-driven one in order to
fight poverty. He also raised a concern that the economic development of
The HOD for Economic
Development responded that the Agency needed legislation through which it was
to be launched. The Department was busy with formulating this legislation.
When concluding Hon Tau made
reference to the Oversight Model that Parliament had adopted and emphasized
that in the same way that the departments were accountable to Parliament,
Permanent Delegates were also held to account to provincial legislatures, and that
that was not limited to “provincial weeks”. He also raised a concern that since
the start of the Fourth Parliament no Salga delegate had represented the
7.6 Presentation
by Department of Public Works – By MEC Booi, accompanied by Ms Palmer (HOD)
The presentation highlighted that
the Department had about R78 million for 2009/2010 which could increase to R123
million in 2012/2013. The Department was in discussion with the Minister of
Public Works regarding human resource capacity in order to meet the targets of
the EPWP. The MEC also requested the delegates to help in that regard.
He said all the MECs were
hands-on in respect of the EPWP since they were required to account politically.
When procuring his Department was ensuring that the money remained in or was
spent in the province. It also ensured that the local people were hired in
those projects.
7.6.1 Questions and comments
Hon Faber raised a concern that
the jobs created were not sustainable.
Hon De Beer said the road
from Soebatfontein to N7 must be fixed. The
Hon Gunda raised a concern
that tenders were given to the same people, even when they had failed in
previous projects. He said in many cases these were not even local companies
and did not employ local people.
Hon Sinclair asked what the
contribution of the EPWP jobs was to the infrastructure of the province. He
also asked what the Department’s plan was regarding building of dams in the
province.
Hon Tau responded that
delegates must understand that the EPWP was an interventionist strategy to help
the developmental state, as such it was aimed at permanent jobs. It was also to
empower ordinary people to acquire skills so that they could create jobs for
themselves.
7.6.2 Responses
MEC Booi stated that his
Department was practical, and the theoretical debate whether this strategy was sustainable
should be taken up by delegates. He, however, said they were learning from the
mistakes in the awarding of tenders and were correcting them.
With regard to
7.7 Visit to Vaalharts Irrigation Scheme
Presentation
by HOD for Agriculture
The HOD gave an overview of
what the Vaalharts Irrigation Scheme was all about. The project was very
helpful to people of the area as they were largely dependent on agriculture.
However, the Scheme had become overburdened and needed major maintenance.
7.7.1 Questions for clarity
Hon Faber asked whether the
Department was also receiving water from the Taung Dam since the Scheme could
not cope on its own. Hon Mokgoro asked whether the national Department of
Agriculture was aware of all the plans regarding the Scheme.
The HOD responded that the national
Department was aware of the plans and there had been a conference organized in
partnership with the national Department where all provinces had participated.
Experts were brought in to help with research and designs and the discussions were
still continuing. With regard to Taung Dam he said that there was currently no
irrigation out of that dam.
7.7.2 Additional presentations
The presentation indicated
that one major problem with the Scheme was the salination of the water as that
was not good for crops. The
NAFU added that the Scheme was
expanding and some cattle had been brought in for piloting animal farming.
7.7.3 Questions and comments
Hon Mokgoro asked what would
be done to fix the damage on the canal so that the Scheme could function
optimally.
Hon Mompati (MPL) asked
legislators to help with solving the problems in respect of the Scheme. He
asked what the impact of the Scheme was on the people, especially the poor. He
also asked what the equity plan was in respect of on the Scheme.
Hon De Beer asked what would
be done with the catchment area of the
Hon Chotelo (MPL) asked how
long it would take to repair the damage on the canal and for long it had been
damaged.
7.7.4 Responses by the Department
With regard to equity plans,
the department stated that the District Manager responsible for the Scheme was
a black woman and that there was also one black civil engineer. However, there was
a shortage of skilled engineers. The Department had an equity plan to address
the issue.
The damage was beyond repair
and the canal needed to be rebuilt. This would take about 10 years.
With regard to salination
starting in
After the presentation there
was a site visit to the irrigation projects to witness the effects of the
salination. There was also a visit to Spitskop Dam which was said not to be benefiting
the local villages that were still without water. The person responsible for
the upkeep of the dam attested to this claim and said it was the Department of
Water Affairs and Environment that had to approve the giving of the water to
the villages. He, however, stated that there first had to be the necessary
infrastructure in place such as a purification system.
7.8 Presentation
by Auditor-General (Northern
In the 2007/8 financial year
17 municipalities in
Factors
attributable to improvements in audit outcomes were:
o
Proper records management
o
Availability of key officials
o
Compilation and implementation of specific action
plans to address prior year issues
o
Quality of management comments on findings
The
way forward to obtain unqualified audit reports was
o
Address property, plant and equipment issues
o
Further improvement in records management
o
Improved and sustained effort with action plans to
address current and prior year issues
17
municipalities continued to get disclaimers while Moshaweng deteriorated from
qualified to disclaimer.
Factors
attributable to deterioration in audit outcomes:
o
Vacancy at CFO level
o
Lack of a proper records management system
o
Key officials not available during the audit
For the current year 10
municipalities submitted their financial statements late. Phokwane had not
submitted in the last two years. 13 did not report and 20 did not comply with
the Act.
Fees owing to Auditor-General
South Africa (AGSA) by
municipalities as at 28 February 2009
totalled R23 121 561 and this made it very difficult for the office. However,
it had to be kept in mind that most of the municipalities were cash-strapped.
7.8.1 Questions
Hon
De Beer asked what AGSA was doing to train municipalities. The reply was that
the assistance must be at the instance of the Treasury and Department of
Cooperative Governance.
Hon
Faber commented that the problem was with unqualified top management at these
municipalities and that this must be corrected.
Hon
Mokgoro asked what recourse AGSA had when municipalities did not pay and when
they reported late. The response was that a letter in terms of section 133 of
the Municipal Finance Management Act was sent, forcing them to respond. The
letter was also sent to Parliament for it to take appropriate action. AGSA could
not be involved in operational matters in municipalities. It was municipalities
themselves that should develop the action plans to solve the root causes of
their problems.
Hon
De Beer asked that the question of unqualified staff should be followed up on because
it was asked in 2008 through the Northern Cape SCOPA committee.
Hon
Tau asked the extent to which consultants were used by AGSA as well as AGSA’s
consideration of political imperatives by municipalities when they spent funds.
The response was that AGSA reviewed and verified the auditing done by consultants
that were contracted before the audit outcomes were made official. With regard
to the second question, AGSA said it would appreciate it if it were informed of
expenditure based on political imperatives so that it could record it properly.
7.9 Presentation by Salga
The
presenter started by explaining Salga’s role in helping the municipalities. He
said it established District Finance Forums for municipalities to share
information and to be equipped regarding budget planning. There was also a partnership
with the Department of Cooperative Governance regarding section 57 (of the Municipal
Systems Act) appointments. However, he mentioned that political oversight by
Salga was limited as municipalities were autonomous and affiliated voluntarily
to Salga.
Salga
was also building capacity in municipalities in partnership with the Municipality
Training Institute (MTI). More than 1000 officials and councillors had already
been trained.
Hon
Mokgoro asked why Salga had not been using the space given to it in the NCOP.
The response was that Salga national was the deciding body and Salga Northern
Challenges faced by municipalities in
o Bucket eradication
o Electricity
o Water
o Indigent Policies
o Waste Management Strategy
o Landfill sites
With
regard to the first three the ever-increasing households were contributing to
municipalities failing to meet targets.
7.10 Presentations by AGSA on the Dept. of Education in
The
AGSA was unable to obtain sufficient appropriate evidence to provide a basis
for an audit opinion on the financial statements and as such could not give an
opinion. The qualification history of the Department was that in 2005 it received
an unqualified report, in 2006 a qualified report, in 2007 and 2008 disclaimers
i.e. there was a deterioration.
There
were R22.8 million payments not disclosed to AGSA and expenditure documents for
the amount of R18 million were not supplied. The assets register of the
Department also showed major discrepancies. The accruals also had a R2.3
million understatement. A total of R900 million was unaccounted for.
Hon
Tau asked how many people were charged for the poor record management. He said that
there to be an improvement in terms of availability of key officials and
documents during auditing. Also municipalities must have clear plans especially
because that they raised concerns that they did not have adequate budgets. Salga
must ensure that it participated in the NCOP so that it could be assisted regarding
challenges it faced. Salga should also partner with other stakeholders to get
the required skills into municipalities. Lastly it should follow-up on the R900
million that was unaccounted for as reported by AGSA.
7.11 Public Participation at Schmidtsdrift
Hon
Mogoro explained the purpose of the meeting and put the “provincial week” in
context.
Councillor
Marekwa listed the biggest challenges of the area as being poverty, lack of
water, ownership of land and lack of electricity, despite the area being rich
in minerals (diamonds). He stated that the mining houses had promised to give
the community about R2 million but never did. A clinic, police station and
sports facilities were still needed in the area.
The
Mayor mentioned that there were two projects (for roads and water purification
plant) that were in progress and were budgeted for R21 million. He said
currently the municipality did not have a budget for the provision of water People
resorted to using boreholes. There were unused water mills and pumps because of
a lack of electricity. He also said they were concerned about the youth
unemployment in the area.
Community
members raised concerns about problems brought about by the mining in the area
such as excavation of graves and closing of cultivation fields. They said the
CPA (i.e. the trustee of the land) did not negotiate with community members
when dealing with the mining houses and this had divided the community.
One
community member asked why the media were never brought along to the area
during meetings of this nature. They said water tanks and piped installed were not
working. There was only one nurse for the whole area and the clinic was overburdened.
7.11.1 Responses
Mr.
Pholoholo (for CPA) stated that the Commission on Traditional Leadership
(Nhlapo Commission) had not resolved the chieftaincy issue of Schmidtsdrift and
as such CPA would be the trustee until the matter was resolved. However, he
said that the Minister for Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs had undertaken
to resolve the matter soon.
Ms
Gill (Public Works) stated that the Department still owned some portions of
Schmidtsdrift but that this would be transferred to the community soon, after
all processes and formalities were concluded.
Mr.
Buyane (Land Commission) stated that the conflicts between different groups in
the community were delaying the transfer of claimed land. He also mentioned
that their records showed that there was a lot of money in the bank for the
Schmidtsdrift community, so it was surprising that the community was said to be
poor. However, the area was one of the priority areas of the Rural Development
Ministry.
Ms
Brown (Department of Cooperative Governance) stated that Zone 4 had 400
portions that were being serviced, but the area was rocky and there were delays
in the completion of the project – scheduled for December 2009. Zone 5 had
about 200 sites serviced and completion was scheduled for February 2010. She
said there would be meeting regarding tenders on upcoming projects on 15
September 2009 and asked the community to attend.
A representative
from the Department of Agriculture stated that they had recently vaccinated the
livestock in the area for anthrax and phase 2 of the vaccination would continue
soon. He said the community was given seed for sowing but the challenge was
water shortage. However, boreholes were being drilled to deal with the
challenge.
Hon
Dikgetsi (MPL) stated that the Legislature would ensure that people received the
services as promised. It would hold departments accountable, follow up on the issues raised and may even
invite the community to the meetings when it did so. He said that the
provincial cabinet would be given the report to act on. He however, raised a
concern about the reported conflict among community members. He warned them
that that would derail the development of the area.
Hon
Tau in conclusion, made a plea to the Department of Public Works to make an
assessment and help with infrastructure development in the area. He said it was
not enough that it shift responsibility, because government worked according to
integrated plans (IDPs). He also made
reference to the conflict and said the cause thereof was the interests of
individuals in the mines in the area. He said the community should watch out
for such people and strive to work together.
7.12 Debriefing meeting
7.12.1 Status of the NCOP (Liaison) Office in
Hon
Mokgoro explained the reason why he wanted the status of the Office discussed.
He said that there were many problems in the Office to an extent that it was almost
non-functional at all due to lack of tools of trade.
Ms
Masekela (Liaison Officer) made an overview of the challenges faced by the
Office. They included the following:
Hon
Tau stated that this situation was unacceptable because the office was the
entry point for the province to Parliament. It was actually the Premier’s
office because the Premier was the leader of the delegation. The current status
was undermining of the Premier’s stature. He said the office should be the
reception area for every delegation from the province to Parliament under the
leadership of the Provincial Whip, but this was not happening. Further that the
current situation also undermined the Speaker’s Office because of its link with
that Office. All communication with the Provincial Legislature must be done
through the Liaison Office. He also said that the Legislature should provide
for staff’s allowance for displacement to
Hon
Sinclair stated that Permanent Delegates must look internally and sort out
these challenges by meeting regularly to discuss issues of the province. He
said the functionality of the office must be reviewed in the Legislature with
regard to capacity and how it assisted the delegates. He said the Permanent
Delegates and MPLs must get together and discuss the way they operate in the
NCOP.
Hon
De Beer said the Parliamentary program must be sent to MECs to sensitise them to
the processes and programme of Parliament.
Hon
Molusi (Chief Whip of the Legislature) stated that the Legislature had not
received the NCOP programme since the start of the term. He said the political
leadership would visit the Liaison Office to ensure that it functioned
properly.
Speaker
van Wyk raised a concern that the opposition parties seemed not to be utilizing
the Office and that the matter must be corrected. He mentioned that the
Legislature did not have a sufficient budget, but would try by all means to
resolve the challenges of the Office. He said the Rules Committee and EXCO would
look into the whole matter and come up with a way forward. He also said
communication between the Provincial Whip and the Legislature’s Chief Whip must
improve.
Hon
Mokgoro said the Speaker’s Office should check the Money Bills Amendment Procedure
and Related Matters Act to see how it affected the province’s budget and how it
could be used to resolve the under-budgeting of the legislature.
7.13 Draft Report
The
Draft Report was tabled and members said they will interrogate it and make
their inputs. It was agreed that the final report would be adopted on Thursday,
17 September and thereafter tabled in the legislature. The Members ended the
programme by joining the MPLs in an oversight visit to a mental hospital
building (still under construction) to check the progress thereof.
8.
NORTH WEST
During the course of the Provincial Week the North West
NCOP Permanent Delegates
returned to their province in order to meet with the Premier together with her
Provincial Cabinet , the Speaker and the Chief Whip of Legislature, the
leadership of the four District Municipalities existing in the province
together with their respective Local Municipalities, representatives of South
African Local Government Association (Salga) and the community of Ntsweletsoku
through public hearings, as part of pursuing the principles of co-operative
governance as enshrined in chapter three of the Constitution of the country.
It was in this context that
during the first day the North West Permanent Delegates had an opportunity to
interact with the Premier Honourable M Modiselle together with her entire
Cabinet. The meeting focussed on the priorities of each individual provincial
department so as to exchange and share ideas on progress that had been made
around service delivery issues and challenges confronting the
8.1 Meeting with the Premier and Members of the Executive Council
The NCOP delegation was warmly welcomed by Premier Modiselle
who expressed her commitment to co-operate with the NCOP and gave the assurance
to provide the necessary and unequivocal support to the North West NCOP
Permanent Delegates.
The NCOP Provincial Whip Honourable Maine on behalf
of the delegation welcomed the input by the Premier and further alluded that the
meeting with the Provincial Executive would be characterized by robust
engagement with MECs in an effort to gain insight into their priorities in
providing service delivery to the people of the
8.1.1 Presentation by the MEC for Finance, MEC Louisa Mabe
The MEC highlighted the
following issues:
Infrastructure
Infrastructure planning and
implementation had improved in the province to the extent that spending moved
from 92% to 98% in 2008/09. The spending percentage for the 1st
quarter of 2009/10 was more than the same period last year.
Backlogs
Due to the reduction of the provincial
budget of about R2 billion in 2007/08, to R139 million in 2009/10, backlogs
increased over the time. MEC Mabe stated that the Province was about to lose
more than R1 million due to the decision to re-dermarcate Merafong. As a result
of this decision, there would be a budget cut that may adversely affect service
delivery in the
The service delivery / infrastructure
backlog was estimated at R13.2 billion over the 2010/11 year based on recently
submitted infrastructure plans:
Budget pressures
The budget and expenditure for
the financial year 2009/10 had already started to indicate that the province
required more than R500 million this financial year. The bulk of the projected overspending was in
the following departments:
These departments could not
pay all invoices for the 2008/9 financial year due to insufficient funds, hence
the high spending during the first quarter of 2009/10. The invoices were for
road construction, medical claims, bus subsidies and so forth. The provincial
expenditure as at 31 July 2009 (detailed below) showed an increase of 2% when
compared to 2008/09.
|
North West Provincial
Departments |
Approved Budget 2008/09 |
Actual Expenditure as at
31/07/2008 |
% Spent of Budget 2008/09 |
Approved Budget 2009/10 |
Actual Expenditure as at
31/07/2009 |
%Spent of Budget 2009/10 |
|
|
R’ 000 |
R’ 000 |
R ‘000 |
R ‘000 |
R’ 000 |
R’ 000 |
|
Office of the Premier |
248,295 |
67,602 |
27% |
261,662 |
90,893 |
35% |
|
Provincial Legislature |
106, 411 |
34, 897 |
33% |
133, 282 |
52, 494 |
39% |
|
Health |
4,242,790 |
1,371,144 |
32% |
4,935,842 |
1,641,691 |
33% |
|
Sport, Arts and Culture |
327,150 |
109,662 |
34% |
489,857 |
100,327 |
20% |
|
Economic Development and Tourism |
233,387 |
89,411 |
38% |
288,021 |
103,928 |
36% |
|
Finance |
255,287 |
65,589 |
26% |
330,856 |
70,055 |
21% |
|
Education |
7,015,482 |
2,225,653 |
32% |
8,146,365 |
2,528,514 |
31% |
|
Local Government & Housing |
1,28,728 |
345,398 |
28% |
1,349,867 |
380,445 |
28% |
|
Public Works |
591,041 |
181,811 |
31% |
653,214 |
176,665 |
27% |
|
Social Development |
607,253 |
152,255 |
25% |
724,527 |
189,089 |
26% |
|
Agriculture, Conservation &
Environment |
605,285 |
143,370 |
24% |
611,893 |
163,739 |
27% |
|
Contingency Reserve |
50,758 |
--- |
0% |
---- |
---- |
0% |
|
Total
Provincial Expenditure |
17,183,514 |
5338,388 |
31% |
19,881,799 |
6,503,799 |
33% |
Debts owed by
Municipalities to the Auditor General
Some of the Municipalities owed
the Auditor General huge amounts of money. However, some of them had made
arrangements to make monthly payments. There were about four municipalities
that the Auditor General was particularly concerned about.
The Provincial Treasury was
engaging the affected municipalities to assist in revenue enhancement and
reprioritization of commitments. The Auditor General had also committed to
provide the departments and municipalities with budget figures for the coming
year to be included in their budgets for 2010/12.
Observations by the delegation
Recommendations
8.1.2 Presentation by the MEC for Local Government and Traditional Affairs, MEC Gordon
Kegakilwe
The MEC presented the
following issues:
Support provided by the department on municipal finances
The Department had entered
into an MOU with the Department of Finance on MFMA support to municipalities.
The key focus areas (in terms of the MFMA provisions) for the Department of Local
Government were as follows:
The MEC reported that the majority
of MFMA functions were the responsibility of the Department of Finance. The
Department of Finance had agreed to work together in supporting municipalities
with financial management.
Municipal
performance
In his presentation the MEC indicated that
in terms of the 5 year LGSA, the department provided hands-on support to all
municipalities on the 5 KPAs of municipal performance as follows:
o
Transformation
and organisational development
o
Basic service
delivery
o
Local
economic development
o
Financial
viability
o
Good
governance and public participation
Auditor General Outcomes for 2006/7: 4 unqualified opinions with matter of
emphasis, 1 qualified opinion, 14 disclaimers, 2 adverse opinions, 2 outstanding.
AG’s outcome for 2007/8: 4 unqualified opinions with matters of emphasis, 4 qualified
opinions, 11 disclaimers, 1 adverse opinion, reports of 2 municipalities (Ditsobotla
and Mamusa) outstanding.
MIG
Performance
o
Total MIG expenditure as at end July 2009 was 16%; whereas the national
expenditure norm was 25% per quarter
o
The Division of Revenue Act provided enforcement mechanisms to
national government but not to provinces. The province could monitor but could
not enforce issues where there was MIG under-expenditure and misuse.
o
There was a need to review policy and legislation. Provinces only
had section 139 of the Constitution and the MFMA which was not always suitable
for certain instances such as MIG performance
Observations by the Delegation
Recommendations:
o
The Department of Local Government and Traditional Affairs must prioritise
the following eight municipalities in the next financial year for urgent,
intensive support: Ventersdorp, Tswaing, Lekwa Teemane, Mamusa, Moretele, Maquassi
Hills, Kgetleng and Naledi.
o
The four vacant positions for Municipal Managers must be filled
before the end of the financial year.
o
The Department of Local Government and Traditional Affairs must
launch an Engineering Unit within the department in order to support district
and local municipalities with engineers.
8.1.3 Presentation by the MEC for Health and Social
Development, MEC Rebecca Kasienyane
The MEC presented the
following issues:
a.
Reduction of Maternal and Neonatal Morbidity and Mortality
b.
Reduction of under-five Mortality and Morbidity
c.
Mental Health
d.
Oral Health
e.
Health Promotion
f.
Eye Care Services
g.
Chronic Diseases, Geriatrics and Rehabilitation
h.
Nutrition Programme and Management of serve malnutrition
i.
Environmental Health
j.
Pharmaceutical Services
k.
Emergency Mental Rescue Services
Recommendations
o
Access to grants especially by child headed families and the
implementation of early child developments must be accelerated.
o
The department must immediately launch a Unit to deal with the National
Health Insurance after it has been finalized by the national department
o
The department must establish an institution to deal with drug
abuse in
o
The department should fill all vacant positions for Professional
Nurses, Specialists, and General Practitioners.
8.1.4 Presentation by the MEC
for Agriculture, Conservation Environment and Rural Development, MEC Boitumelo
Tshwene
The MEC presented the
following issues:
Since the inception of the 4th
legislature, the responsibilities of his department had increased to deal with the
following clusters: Land Reform, Forestry, Water and Fisheries, Land Reform and
Rural Development.
The department had identified
10 priorities for the term, but for the purposes of the presentation to the
NCOP Delegation the presentation would cover Rural Development and Land Reform.
The mandate of the department was
influenced by the State of the Nation Address and the State of the Province
Address.
The department in the 4th
legislature would prioritize Rural Development programmes as part of heeding
the call of the President to improve the living conditions of rural
communities.
The department had identified a Rural Development Pilot
Project in the Bojanala District in a village called Mogalwaneng as part of ensuring sound delivery of
services in the rural development sector. The pilot project would need R42
million in order to be implemented
successfully.
The MEC identified the
following Flagship Projects as anchor projects for poverty alleviation, growth
and development in the province.
o
Rural Development (Mogalwaneng)
o
Letsema la Mantsha Tlala
o
Taung Irrigation Scheme
o
Agriculture Master Plan
o
Nguni Cattle Development Project
o
Western Frontier Development Project
o
Mechanisation Programme
o
Fencing Programme
o
Land Reform Programme
o
Firebreaks and Equipments
o
Livestock Handling Facilities
o
Essentials Oils Project
o
Hartebeespoort Remediation Programme
o
Environmental Implementation Plan
o
Climate Change Response Strategy
o
Land Care Programme
The following factors were identified as challenges
affecting the department of Agriculture Conservation Environment and Rural
Development:
o Scarce skills (economists,
environmentalist, air quality and engineers)
o Implementation of the national job
evaluation outcomes
o Business planning projects
o Changing weather patterns
o Equitable funding for the sector
o Infrastructure backlogs
o Constrained competitiveness and low
productivity
o Land degradation, particularly in communal
areas
o Development financing for emerging farmers
o Group dynamics on projects
o High production input cost
o Implementation of the new environmental
legislation
The MEC mentioned that the biggest lion breeder in
Observations by the
delegation:
Recommendations:
8.1.5 Presentation by the MEC for Economic
Development and Tourism, MEC Wendy Matsemela
The MEC presented the
following issues:
The department was driving the
following key mandates:
The department had the
following agencies to fast-track implementation of specific projects and
projects not covered by the department, viz,
o
Invest
o
o
o
Mafikeng Industrial Development Zone (Industrial Development RIDS
& IDZ)
o
North West Development Corporation (NWDC). This corporation was
currently focusing on availing industrial flats mainly, as it was under a judicial
management process. A plan was being developed to re-engineer the corporation.
o
o
Observations by the
delegation:
o
The
Department for Economic Development and Tourism provided economic development
services to the people of the
o
Agencies were inadequately funded and as a result State-Owned
Enterprises (SOEs) were compelled to reduce their production capacities leading
to low service delivery.
o
The policy imperatives of the Department of Economic Development
and Tourism required more funding than was granted.
o
The Small, Medium and Micro Enterprises (SMMEs) from rural areas
were being disadvantaged.
o
The discontinuation of the Passenger Railway Train had adversely
affected the economy of the province.
Recommendations:
The
Department should during the 2009/10 fiscal year, fast track the following
services:
a). Filling of
vacant posts,
b). Finalise a new
Department structure,
c). Complete all
outstanding projects,
d). Finalise the
legislative framework review, especially the Liquor Act,
e). Develop
the Regional Industrial Development Strategy (RIDS), Provincial Implementation
Plan (PIP), and
f). State-Owned
Enterprises should play a leading role in the creation of decent job
opportunities through procurement and infrastructure spending.
8.1.6 Presentation by MEC for Public Works, Roads
and Transport, MEC M Mahlakeng
The
MEC presented the following issues:
Observations by the delegation:
Recommendations:
The department should apply for more additional funding from
Treasury to effectively address, amongst others, the following challenges:
a) Road construction and tarring of gravel
roads.
b) Implementation and coordination of the EPWP to address
poverty and unemployment.
c) Establishment
and implementation of service delivery improvement strategy.
d) Skills development through a
learnership programme.
e) Recruit skilled engineers.
8.1.7 Presentation by the MEC for Human
Settlements, MEC Desbo Sefanyetso
The MEC presented the
following issues:
Recommendations:
8.1.8 Presentation by the MEC for Education, MEC Reverend
O.J. Tselapedi
The MEC presented the
following issues:
a)
Grade 12 learners with
academic support programmes.
b)
Demographics in terms
of people moving from rural to urban areas.
c)
Capacity building
programmes for the Schools Management in terms of looking at whether schools were
managed properly.
d)
Eliminate learner drop-outs
within the system.
e)
Improve performance in gateway
subjects (Mathematics, Science & English).
f)
Some of the schools would be
transformed into full service schools for easy access for physically challenged
learners as well as strengthening of special schools.
g)
Providing learner transport in
rural schools and nutritious meals to all learners.
h)
Increasing the number of “No Fee”
schools.
i)
Increasing the intake of
students in FET Colleges in the province.
Observations by the delegation:
o
A shortage of Educators was serious challenge in the Province.
8.1.9 Presentation by the
MEC for Sport, Arts and Culture
The MEC presented the
following issues:
o
87% of the annual budget of the department was used for payment of
staff salaries
o
An amount of R 88 458 000 was
allocated to Cultural Affairs.
o
An amount of R115 782 000 was
allocated to Libraries and Information Services in order to assist the local
library authorities in the rendering of public library services
o
An amount of R 224 337 000 was
allocated to Sport and Recreation.
o
The total budget of the department for 2009/10 was R488 million.
o
The department was responsible for development and promotion of
the sectors of Sport, Arts and Culture in the province.
o
The department committed itself as part of poverty eradication and
empowerment to stage big events to boost tourism, economic development and mass
mobilization of prominent sport activities within the province.
o
The department had four programmes namely Management and
Administration, Cultural Affairs, Libraries, Archives and Sport and Recreation.
o
The departments had four Public Entities namely Mmabana, Arts,
Culture and Sports Foundation and the North West Arts and Culture Council
(PACC), Provincial Geographic Names Council (PGNC) and the Provincial Heritage
Resources Agency (PHRA). Mmabana was funded from the provincial fiscus.
o
The department through the conditional grant had been able to
support developing clubs within the province, as well as the payment of a stipend
to Community Development Workers.
8.1.10 Presentation by the
MEC for Public Safety, MEC H. Yawa
Hon. Yawa was unable to
present the work of his department due to departmental commitments. The
presentation was submitted to the delegation later in writing. The presentation
outlined the department’s 100-days projects report as follows:
Operation 2010:
Objectives:
Achievements:
These matches were hosted by
the province:
Incidents:
Challenges
General
Provincial Road Safety Debate:
The objective of the debate was
to ensure active participation of learners in promoting road safety within the
province, develop and sharpen learners presentation skills, involve the
learners in the enhancement of road safety education and promotion in schools.
Achievements
Challenges
8.2 Meeting with Speaker, Chief Whip and
Chairpersons of Committees
The purpose of the meeting was for the
political management of the legislature to provide an input of the strategic
priorities and objectives of the 4th legislature. During the presentation Speaker Maloyi
highlighted the following key issues to the NCOP delegation:
o
Over
95% of the Members of the Provincial Legislature (MPLs) were new and as a
result the legislature had managed to successfully organize an orientation and
induction workshop as part of fulfilling its strategic priorities, which among
others sought to enable MPLs to understand their constitutional role and
mandate. MPLs were elected to represent the people and their constitutional
mandate was to ensure government by the people through providing a forum for
public consideration of issues, passing transformative legislation and by
scrutinizing and overseeing executive organs of the state.
o
The
Chairpersons’ of Committees were active, energetic and as a result they had applied
themselves to their responsibilities by ensuring that they perform their duties
according to the expectations.
o
One
of the key priorities was to harmonise the relationship of the Legislature,
NCOP and National Assembly and that of the Members of the Executive. As a result
of hard efforts the working relationship with stated stakeholders had vastly
improved in the 4th legislature as compared to the previous
legislature.
o
The
legislature was in the process of establishing a legislative review committee
which would be given a mandate to review all the resolutions and the
legislation passed in order to establish if they were implemented by the
executive and to further monitor the impact they made in society.
o
The
legislature had passed the Legislature’s Financial Management Bill that empowered
the Speaker as the treasury of the legislature to ensure that all revenue,
expenditure, assets and liabilities of the legislature were managed efficiently
and transparently. Once enacted into law the Bill would free the legislature’s
budget from being decided on by the Treasury and governed by the Public Finance
Management Act.
o
During
the course of the current financial year the legislature would also pass the
Political Party Funding Bill which would address the funding of political
parties in the legislature during this 4th term.
o
The Treasury
had allocated the legislature R133 million for the current financial year in
spite of the R243 million that had been requested. As a result of the shortfall
some of the programmes such as the international trips of committees and public
participation programmes would have to be trimmed but legislative public
participation would not be affected.
Challenges
o
The
implementation of policies in the legislature in terms of curbing inconsistency
in compliance with policies was a great challenge.
o
The
building that housed the legislature was very old and as a result did not
respond to the current challenges facing the legislature. In addressing this
matter a certain company was appointed during the 3rd legislature
and received an assurance letter that it would be paid to refurbish the
legislature building. However the company was never paid as promised because
there was no money to cover the cost of the refurbishment.
o
The
upgrading of the information systems and the struggle to employ IT specialists
in order to assist the legislature to respond to the current technological
demands was a challenge.
o
The Kgotla
newsletter which was the legislature’s newsletter and other communication
strategies of the legislature were not assisting in terms of promoting the
political profile of the legislature and refuting the distortions and
fallacious stories that were published by various media institutions about what
was happening in the province.
o
MPLs
did not exercise their constitutional powers in terms of initiating Bills and
as a result the legislature only dealt with Bills that were initiated by the
Executive and section 76 Bills that came from the NCOP.
o
The gym
facility had old equipment that posed a danger to the gym users.
Observations by the
Delegation
o
The
delegation, having noted the presentation by the Speaker and his Presiding Officers,
were of the view that it was characterized by positive plans that sought to
transform the legislature to be responsive to the needs of the people of North
West Province through passing laws that were intended to change the lives of
the people.
o The Provincial Whip informed the leadership of the legislature that there were two section 76 Bills before the NCOP namely, the National House of Traditional Leaders Bill (B56B-08) and the Traditional Leadership and Governance Framework Amendment Bill (B57B-08). The Provincial Whip advised that the provincial briefings on the two Bills would take place on 17 -18 September 2009 at the legislature and a relevant NCOP Permanent Delegate would brief the relevant committee of the legislature that dealt with matters of local government. He further indicated that in terms of the Mandating Procedures of Provinces Act the legislature will be required (after convening public hearings) to develop negotiating and final Mandates that would subsequently have to be sent to the NCOP.
8.3 Meeting
with Municipalities on Service Delivery and Provincial backlogs
The Provincial
Whip outlined the objectives of the meeting which among others was to provide
the NCOP delegation an opportunity to engage with the local sphere of
government to harmonise working relationships given the important role played
by municipalities in the provision of quality services to the public. The
meeting was attended by the four District Council Mayors from the District
Municipalities of the province together with Local Mayors from local municipalities
and their Councillors.
In his introductory remarks, the Provincial
Whip called upon the leader of Salga in the province to share vital information
with regards to the state of backlogs with reference to water and sanitation,
electricity and housing within the
Councillor M
Maphetlhe delivered the presentation on behalf of Salga and highlighted the
following challenges:
Water
o
Inadequate
bulk water, sanitation and electricity when housing projects were approved.
o
Inadequate
funding allocation to eradicate backlogs.
o
Delayed
formal approval of technical and design reports by relevant delegated
authorities, like DWA.
o
There
was currently no funding for bulk services resulting in problems for WSAs
Housing
o
Lack
of coordination and communication between Sector Departments
o
No
coordinated and integrated planning.
o
Not
enough serviced stands available for housing projects in either urban, peri-urban
or rural areas.
o
There
were cases where beneficiaries sold or rented out houses and relocated to
informal settlements resulting in a perceived increase in backlogs.
o
Inadequate
funding and no direct transfer to municipalities.
Electricity
o
Long
distances from grid connections
o
Generation
capacity problems
o
Uncoordinated
planning
o
Insufficient
funding
Observations of the Delegation
o
There
was a need to ensure sustainable participation of WSAs.
o
There
was a need to build long term capacity to manage water services delivery and
quality issues.
o
There
was a lack of training for Councillors to enable them to understand and master
their duties accordingly.
o
All
municipalities of the province were in dire need of water reservoirs and as a result
municipalities depended on borehole water which was generated underground.
Recommendations
o
A
well resourced support to municipalities for better skills retention and a developmental
agenda should be devised.
o
It
was vital to build the necessary technical and financial capacity through
robust engagement with relevant sector specific SETAs
o
A more
integrated approach in addressing the challenges should be attended to as a
matter of urgency.
o
Municipalities
must use the Municipal Infrastructure Grant appropriately.
o
The FFC
formula that was used to allocate funds to municipalities must be reviewed and
changed.
o
Councillors
and council officials who were suspected of being corrupt must be reported to
the Hawks and the SAPS as soon as possible.
o
Treasury
should desist from using the 2001 Census statistics when determining the allocation
of funds to municipalities. The 2001
statistics were reported to have been factually incorrect.
Closing remarks
During the
closing remarks Honourable Mr. T. Chaane indicated that section 67 of the
Constitution made provision for the participation of Salga in the NCOP. He
advised the provincial leadership of Salga to engage its national leadership to
participate in the proceedings of the NCOP. He stated that the NCOP delegation
would lobby the provincial MECs to attend the budget speech and the Medium Term
Budget Policy Statement of the Minister of Finance in order to network and have
an opportunity to lobby the Minister for more resources that could assist
Participants at
the meeting agreed that local government was central to achieving the nation’s
vision of a better quality of life for all citizens as it was the sphere of
government that was at the coalface of service delivery. Furthermore a strong
working relationship and co-ordination of programmes between national,
provincial and local spheres of government was necessary.
8.4. Visit
to
The delegation
converged at the above local municipality where it was briefed by the Mayor,
who was accompanied by the Mayor of Ngaka Modiri Molema District Municipality.
The briefings included the challenges affecting
o
Inadequate
bulk water supply. Communities depended on borehole water. The water was extracted
from underground through boreholes that operated with engines. The municipality
preferred that the borehole worked with electricity for the purposes of
providing efficient services,
o
Housing
backlogs were a serious challenge within the municipality.
o
Roads
were in a bad condition
After the
briefing the NCOP delegation together with Ngaka Modiri and Ramotshere Moiloa
Local Municipality Councillors paid a visit to the
8.4.1 Dinokana
High Mast Lights
Project Description
The installation
of eight scissor mast lighting on 30m upright pole Grade 300 WA steel
equivalent to BS 4360 fitted with 9x400 lamp on a 230V+3% -10% 50hz single phase system in Dinokana Ward 10.
Project Funding and Budget
The project was
funded by the Municipal Infrastructure Grant (MIG). The total budget for the
project was R1 330 000.00.
Service Providers Consultant and Contractor
Inplan Africa (PTY) LTD had been appointed
as Consultants by the municipality for the planning, design, project management
and construction monitoring for scissor mast lighting in Dinokana.
Badiboa building Construction had been
appointed by Inplan Africa for the erection of the high mast lights in the
Dinokana village.
Employment of the Project
Youth Female – 3
Labours
Youth Male – 5
Labours
Youth Male -3
Semi Skilled
Adult Male – 1
Skilled
Youth Mlae – 1
Supervisor
A total number
of 13 people have been employed on the
project to date
Progress to date
The Contractor
took occupation of site on the 19 June 2009. The excavations for 8 slabs were
completed. The contractor was busy casting the steel reinforcement.
8.4.2
Project Description
The construction
of 60 RDP houses in
Project Funding and Budget
The project was
funded by the Department of local Government and Housing. The total budget for
the project was R2 610 360.
Service Providers Consultant and Contractor
Mosegedi and
Associate was appointed the Department of Local Government and Housing using a
turkey approach for the designs and construction of the 60 houses in
Progress to date
The Contractor
took occupation of the site on February 2009.
The Project was 100% completed.
8.5 Public
Hearings
The NCOP delegation,
the MEC of Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs Honourable Gordon
Kegakilwe, the delegation of Ngaka Modiri District Municipality, the delegation
of Ramotshere Moiloa Local Municipality and the Members of legislature
Portfolio Committee on Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs met the
King Moiloa of Ntsweletsoku as part of requesting permission to address the members of the
public through public hearings that were organised in the community of
Ntsweletsoku.
Kgosi Molioa
welcomed the delegation by expressing a warm word of welcome to them. The King
appealed for a continuous engagement with the public representatives in order
to work together to combat the challenges facing the community. After securing permission the delegation
proceeded to the venue of the public hearings. Honourable Ms. W. Mokgate
outlined the purpose of public hearings as follows:
o
To enhance dialogue and interaction between NCOP and
the people.
o
To provide an opportunity for NCOP to communicate its
programme of
action
and the progress being made.
o
To listen to the people about problems needing
attention, blockages in
implementation and policy areas that may need review.
During the public hearings the community raised the following
challenges:
o
Lack of Water
Residents raised
concerns regarding the shortage of water in their areas. People in these
communities reportedly relied on one tank to provide for the water needs of a
whole community. Although this situation had been brought to the attention of
both the
o
Schools
a) Lack of water within the school premises.
b) Lack of recreational facilities, such as
playgrounds.
c)
Poor
state of the school infrastructure
d) Shortages of Educators,
o
Health centres
a)
Emergency
Medical Services (EMS) took a long time to respond to emergencies.
b)
Most
patients travelled long distances to access health support services.
c)
Poor
road infrastructure impeded the effectiveness of the
d)
The
existing health centre was ill-equipped.
o
Social Development
a)
Poor
support for children with special needs.
b)
Lack
of sufficient support for vulnerable groups and orphans.
c)
Shortage
of social workers.
d)
Utilisation
of the social grants by elders.
o
Police
Station/Building:
The space utilised by the police station was neither
conducive nor friendly to workers who were expected to deliver an effective
service There were insufficient resources such as computers and furniture,
hence officers had to share space for their daily operations and one ablution facility
was shared by all. There was an inadequate number of police vehicles.
o
Unavailability of councillors:
Allegations were made that Ward Councillors were not
dealing with issues raised by the community and in some areas people did not
know who were their Ward Councillors .
o
The
issue of demarcation of wards should
be reviewed in order to reclassify the wards that are closer to one another.
Closing remarks during the Public hearings:
Honourable Ms. W
Makgate thanked the community for raising their issues and concerns and further
stated that the NCOP delegation would take all the issues to the NCOP. A report
would be submitted to the relevant national Departments in terms of addressing
the concerns and deepening service delivery. Local Councillors were requested
to respond to the local issues.
The Mayor of the
8.6. Conclusion
The NCOP was responsible to ensure that the interests
of provinces were taken into account in the national sphere of government. This
included providing a national forum for
public consideration of issues affecting the provinces.
The Provincial Week had shown that the NCOP North
West Permanent delegates took their mandate of representing their province in
Parliament seriously. The Provincial Week programme was designed for public
representatives to interact with the people in the interests of promoting
public participation and carrying out their oversight function.
9.
9.1 Briefing by the Premier
of the
The Premier of the Western Provincial, Hon H Zille,
began her presentation by thanking the NCOP permanent delegates; the Western
Cape Members of Parliament and all the officials that were in attendance. She
then proceeded by briefing the delegates about the provincial government's strategic
priorities and its plans to address challenges.
One of the key issues
highlighted by the Premier as an impediment to effective service delivery was
excessive red tape in legislation. She indicated that after raising the issue of red tape caused by
unwieldy legislation, the Provincial Government of the
The Premier indicated that the biggest challenge
faced by the province was that of substance abuse, which was linked to the high
percentage of crime in the province. The Premier in her concluding remarks
indicated that the immediate focus of the provincial government was to make
government more efficient by cutting non-essential expenditure.
9.2 Briefing by the NCOP
Delegation
It was reported that there were two section 76 bills
before the NCOP Select Committee on Co-operative Governance and Traditional
Leadership, namely, the National House of Traditional Leaders Bill [B 56B-08]
and the Traditional Leadership and Governance Framework Bill [B57B-08].
It was further reported that members of the relevant
Standing Committee would be briefed by the permanent delegates in due course on
the contents of the two bills. Members
of the Provincial Parliament were reminded that it was essential that their
programming and scheduling of the two bills be in accordance with the six-week
legislative cycle of the NCOP.
The Members of the legislature were also informed
that the NCOP would convene an Intergovernmental Fiscal Review on Tuesday, 15
September 2009 at the Good Hope Chamber, Parliament. Members of the legislature
were urged to attend the workshop.
It was emphasised that co-operation and information
sharing between the NCOP permanent delegates and the Members of the Provincial
Parliament be improved.
9.3. Sitting
of
The NCOP permanent delegates were invited to attend
and participate in the proceedings of the Western Cape Provincial Parliament. The NCOP
permanent delegates and Members of Parliament of the
9.4.
Visit to the
Members of the Provincial
Parliament and NCOP permanent delegates were divided into two groups. Group one
visited the
The delegation that
visited the Southern Cape interacted with the following stakeholders:
9.4.1. Meeting with Mayors
and Councillors of
The delegation visited and met with the
The Outeniqua and
9.4.2. Briefing by the Mayor
of the
The Mayor of Bitou Local Municipality, Cllr. Mvimbi
briefed the delegation on the following:
Successes/Achievements
Challenges
9.4.3. Briefing by the Mayor
of
The Mayor of Knysna, Cllr. Bouwspies brought the
following to the attention of the delegation:
Successes/Achievements
Challenges
9.4.4. Briefing by the Mayor
of
The Mayor of George Local Municipality, Cllr. Swart
briefed the delegation by highlighting the following:
Successes/Achievements
Challenges
Proposals
9.4.5. Briefing by the Mayor
of
The Mayor of the
Achievements/Successes
Challenges
Subsequent to the presentations by the
municipalities, the following issues were noted by the delegates:
9.5. Recommendations
9. 6. Public Hearing on
service delivery at all levels of government
The programme director, the Hon. JJ Visser, opened
the proceedings, by introducing Members of Parliament. The Chief Whip of the
NCOP, the Hon. N Ntwanambi contextualized the event by emphasizing the role of
all spheres and legislatures in the delivery of quality services to the
communities.
9.6.1 Key issues raised by
the community
The community generally acknowledged successes and
interventions that had been made by the municipality with regard to service
delivery. The success of the Red Door Project, and the Thusong Multi-purpose
Centre were cited as examples in this regard.
Notwithstanding these achievements the community
highlighted the following issues that would need urgent intervention by the
municipality:
Some members of the community raised the following
allegations:
9.6.2. Response by the Mayor
of Bitou, Cllr.Mvimbi
He urged all those that had made allegations against
the municipality to furnish the Council with all the relevant evidence. The
Mayor indicated that the Simunye multi-purpose centre was not managed by the
municipality. There was a special committee that was set up by the community in
order to run and manage the centre. He concluded by indicating that the
municipality was committed to ensuring that basic services were rendered to all
the communities of the
The Delegates indicated that all issues that had been
raised by the community would be consolidated into a report that would be
debated by the NCOP and the Western Cape Provincial Parliament. Subsequent to that the report would be
referred to the relevant Committees for following up on issues.
9.7. Meeting with Knysna
Tourism Board
The municipality was voted as the favourite city in
Assistance sought included the following:
The economic downturn was having a negative impact on
the tourism industry. The delegation was pleased with the Knysna Tourism
Board’s presentation and commended the Board on a job well done.
9. 8. Visit to West Coast
The delegation met with
the following stakeholders: Ebenaeser community and fishing industry; parties
to the Ebenaeser land claims; farmers; Early Childhood Development Centre;
Women’s Organisations and the
9.8.1.
Visit to
The delegation visited the
Recommendations
9.8.2 Meeting with the West
Coast fishing industry and fishing community
The delegation met with the fishing community and
industry and the following issues were raised:
o
Workers
in the fishing industry did not receive appropriate labour protection, such as,
salary, pension and medial aid. In the past there were pensions for fishermen.
o
Fishing
was not allowed in marine protected areas (MPA), because it impacted negatively
on the fishing stocks. However a counter view was expressed that evidence
indicated that this measure boosted the stock in
o
The
quota system and adherence to seasons had complicated the lives of the fishers.
Even though, a requirement is that the applicants should be ‘on the boat’, many
people who were not dependent on fishing for a living, but professional people,
like doctors, obtained fishing quotas.
o
Decline
in fishing resource, bad weather and bureaucratic red tape.
o
The
peak season for fishing was May to August, but approval to fish was only
obtained by 18 August, whilst the season closed at 31 August. The industry was
in talks with the government with regards to the possibility of extending the
season.
o
The
fishing quota system and the issue of subsistence fishing should be reviewed by
the national government and inputs should be obtained from the province and the
affected fishing communities.
Recommendations
o
To
address challenges relating to the access rights and annual quotas, the
policies pertaining to fishing should be revised.
o
The
issuing of quotas should be reviewed in order to benefit the small fishers and
not the big fronting companies.
o
Alternative
livelihoods, like aqua-culture should be investigated
o
The
fishing season should be extended to allow fishers to benefit from the quotas.
9.8.3 Meeting with the
parties in the
The landowners stated that land claims were
registered in 1996 and proclaimed in 1997. Since then, there had been slow
progress which in turn impacted negatively on the economy of the area as
developments and capital investments were on hold.
To fast- track the process a steering committee,
consisting of the government, land owners and beneficiaries was established.
The landowners indicated that a framework was drafted and adopted without their
input. They noted that government was backtracking on its undertaking with
regard to the process that would be followed in the land claims. The land
owners indicated that they read in the newspapers that the land commission had
no money to buy land. The feeling expressed was that the ‘willing buyer,
willing seller’ concept was not working, because the government did not finish
the valuation process to establish a selling price.
Recommendation:
The NCOP and the Provincial Parliament should engage
the Department of Rural Development and Land Reform with regard to the
finalisation of the land claims.
9.8.4 Meeting with the
parties in the
Mr Bruwer, the CFO and Acting Municipal Manager, gave
the background of the land claims by highlighting the following challenges:
9.8.5 Meeting with the
parties in the
Key issues raised:
Response by the Land Claims Commission
Representative
It was stated by the representative of the Land
Claims Commission that there were two options that were considered namely, Government
providing money to the claimants or handing over the original land. He also
indicated that the claim was initially R20 million, but the community was dissatisfied
with the offer and it had to be raised to R100 million. He said that the issue
had created conflict in the community as some people wanted money instead of
land .The matter was further complicated by the existence of two camps in
Ebenaeser. This delayed the work of government to provide for the development
grants of R6500 per family. A third mediation process was currently underway to
resolve the differences.
The Land Claims Commission indicated that the
verification committee’s report would be discussed with the community. In
addition, a development plan would be workshopped and the community would
provide feedback and input. The inputs of the community and the Department of Agriculture
would be the basis of the plans to develop the identified farms. The cut-off
date to register individual claims was 1998. The community had to decide
between the money and the land. The Land Commission provided regular feedback
to the community, such as, newsletters (The Ebenaeser), which gave a status
report on the claim to the community. He added that six farms were bought by
the government and kept in trust for the community, until the claim had been
settled.
Recommendation
The Land Commission to brief the Provincial
Parliament and the NCOP on a quarterly basis with regard to the progress of the
claim.
9.9 Visit to the
Babbelbekkies Early Childhood Development (ECD) Centre
The permanent delegates of the NCOP together with the
Members of the Standing Committees on Agriculture; Community Development and
Premier, Gender, Youth and Disabled, visited the early childhood development centre
n Ebenaesar. The aim of the visit was to get firsthand information with regard
to challenges faced by the centre.
The Delegation was briefed on the following:
9.10 Visit to the DORCAS
Centre
Dorcas was a project aimed at caring and assisting
people with TB, HIV & AIDS by developing vegetable gardens. It was a
registered as a Non Profit Organisation (NPO). Geographically, the project was
initially situated in Vredendal but due to space challenges, they had to move
outside Vredendal where they were renting a place from the Roman Catholic
Church. Dorcas was also proving a soup kitchen for approximately 60 people
(adults and children) in Vredendal. In addition the centre had a beading
project which aimed to develop skills The Departments of Social Development and
Agriculture were providing financial assistance and human resources.
Successes
Challenges
The centre had one car and it was proving to be a
huge challenge in terms of the operational running of the centre.
Little or no involvement of the able-bodied men: No
involvement with regard to growing vegetables, developing a garden so as to be
self sustainable.
Recommendation
The NCOP and the Provincial Parliament to engage with the departments of Social Development, Health,
Agriculture with regard to financial and capacity support needed by the centre.
9.11 Visit to the Ebenaesar
Clinic
Ebenaesar was a satellite Clinic which operated twice
a week (Tuesday and Thursday). On the days in which it operated, it was run as
any ordinary / normal clinic. It had one sister and three other nurses on site.
The doctor visited once a week (Thursdays from 14:00). Once a month, they had a
Physiotherapist, Occupational Therapist and a Social Worker who visited the
clinic. They had a mobile clinic that visited the far-away farms once a week.
They also had a Pharmacist that was providing services to the community of
Lutzville.
Challenges
9.11. Conclusion
A concern was raised that some of the political
parties were not consulted in the drafting phase of the programme. It was
emphasized that future visits should be properly planned and that all the
stakeholders, such as municipalities should be given all the necessary
information relating to the planned visit.
Summary of Written
Submissions Received During Public Hearings (
Wendy Flyod and Associates: Complained about the lack of cooperation from the
Town Planning Department in particular the office of an identified individual
and delays in approving land use applications and sub-division rezoning.
M
Booysen Councillor Ward 6:
Alleged that there were jobs for pals. It was alleged that senior councillors
and municipal officials told applicants that they would not be employed because
they did not vote for the ANC during the by-elections. This member of the
public said he was available to give testimony to prove that service delivery did
not happen and funding to the ward was given to people who belonged to certain
political parties.
Councillor
Elaine Paulse- Asked for
a total breakdown with regard to the
cost of hiring bodyguards for the Mayor.
Yandiswa
September ward 6- Asked
whether it necessary for the Mayor to buy an expensive car with so many extras
like blue lights and 19 inch wheels. Asked for an investigation into: a skills audit
of municipal staff; the housing development in Bossiesgief/Qolweni, and the people
that would occupy those houses, the issue of Ntomboxolo Mrubata who was visited
by the Mayor and his councillors who allegedly broke her door and manhandled
her family.
Mr
Chris Strobel- Constructed
a wall for the municipality and he had not yet been refunded by the
Municipality.
Use
of public Halls- Facilities
were used by certain political parties free of charge.
Craig
pipe line- 800 000 Water
pipeline was constructed against the recommendations of the Public Works
department in an effort to supply Mr G Seitisho property with municipal supply.
Money ran out and the pipeline was still not completed. The community regarded
this as fruitless, wasteful and irregular expenditure.
Code
of conduct for Councillors-
This was used as a tool to attack political opponents. It was alleged that a
vast amount of money was used on this. Codes of conduct were applied in a
highly selective manner and matters that were affecting other councillors were
swept under the carpet.
Code of conduct for Municipal staff- Why have no disciplinary steps been
taken against those officials arrested for arson and malicious damage to the
municipal property?
Sexual Harassment- There had been ample evidence and a damning
report against an identified individual. He had not been yet been charged
internally and this had exposed the municipality to a civil claim. The municipality
was required by law to act against such perpetrators. 10 years had passed and
nothing had been done thus far.
Somikazi Besana- Women were not given a chance in construction,
fishing industry, and in environmental projects.