Questions and Replies

Reply:

(a) My Department is working on the implementation of the Berg River-Voelvlei Augmentation Scheme (BRVAS). This project augments the Western Cape Water Supply System that serves the Cape Town Metropolitan and surrounding smaller urban areas as well as irrigators in the area. In addition to the BRVAS project, various surface water schemes (e.g. the Michell’s Pass Diversion, Further Phases of the Vloevlei Dam Augmentation, Upper Wit River Diversion, Molenaars River Diversion and the Raising of the Lower Steenbras Dam) are at various stages of investigation for further augmentation of the system in the medium- to long-term.

(b)(i) Planning work for the BRVAS project has been concluded and environmental authorisation is expected by May 2018, if there are no snags with appeal process. However, considering the severe drought situation prevailing in the region, I have whilst awaiting the approval or finalization of the environmental authorization appointed the Trans-Caledon Tunnel Authority (TCTA) to secure funding and implement the project on a fast-track basis. The TCTA is currently engaging the City of Cape Town and other potential users of the water to finalize off-take agreements.

(b)(ii) The TCTA is currently engaging the National Treasury to obtain approval on a funding mechanism and the required guarantees.

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Reply:

(a)(i) My Department has currently a total of five (5) disputed unpaid invoices for more than 60 days at R 64 604.12; a total of two (2) disputed unpaid invoices for more than 90 days at R 883 101 646.14; and a total of 29 disputed unpaid invoices for more than 120 days at R 85 226 308.47.

It should be noted that there are various reasons for disputed invoices as follows:

• Discrepancies with regards to the actual invoices;
• Contractual arrangements;
• Discrepancies regarding supplier details;
• Discrepancies regarding banking details;
• Work done not supported by a certified engineer; and
• Unverifiable work.

(a)(ii) Refer to the table below for the total number of supplier invoices that are currently unpaid by my Entities:

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Reply:

a) The total number of households that were moved to make space for the Nandoni Dam is 465 (which included recognition of families desiring to separate/divorce, one Musanda, three churches, one clinic, two business; one government and community buildings). These structural replacements should were separate from the relocation of 2 100 subsistence farmers.

b) Yes, a settlement agreement was reached with the affected households/ community. The Relocation Action Plan (RAP) was developed with the project steering committee which comprised of provincial and territorial authorities.

c) The total monetary value of the settlement is R 8,005,248.79.

d) and (e)

It must be noted that the compensation system adopted to mitigate losses and other disadvantages caused by the project strived for reinstatement as a preferred option rather than monetary value. Where reinstatement was impractical or inadequate, resort was made to other forms of compensation. In addition to reinstatement, the following households were also compensated in monetary value.

See attached Annexure A.

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Reply:

Refer to the table below for the detailed breakdown for the branch CFO: Main Account in my Department also refer to Annexure A for the detailed Breakdown from Construction Unit.

Main Account as at 31 August:

Refer to Annexure B for the detailed breakdown for the Entities reporting to me.

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Reply:

a) My Department is currently owing R47 803 754.46 to three (3) Water Boards as at 13 December 2017 as per the table below:

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Reply:

(1) Rietspruit Outfall Sewer Pipeline project has recently been incorporated into the Sedibeng Regional Sewer Scheme (SRSS) based on the recommendation of the SRSS Technical Feasibility Study review. Risimati Consulting Engineers Pty (Ltd) were appointed by Emfuleni Municipality before the project was incorporated into the SRSS and to date, about 50% of the detail design of the sewer pipeline has been completed. Since the project is now part of the SRSS and Rand Water is the Implementing Agent for SRSS, the Risimati contract is to be ceded to Rand Water. Currently the due diligence exercise is underway at Rand Water, and it is about 90% complete.

(2) No, the contractor has not yet been appointed. Once the Rasimati Consulting Engineers have completed the detail design of the sewer outfall pipeline, then a competent contractor to do the construction work will be appointed following Rand Water’s procurement process.

(3) Subject to availability of funds, the Rietspruit Outfall Sewer pipeline project will commence in the next financial year, and will run for a period of 3 years.

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Reply:

(1) A total of 67 officials and/or employees in my Department have been granted permission to have businesses.

(2) No officials and/or employees have permission to do business with Government.

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Reply:

1. None

2. My Department has not used Travel with Flair services 2016- 2017 for Main Account and Water Trading Entity (WTE).

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Reply:

1. The Water Use License was issued by the Department of Water and Sanitation on 30 August 2015. The issued licence authorises the Mopani District Municipality to abstract a total volume of two million, six hundred and seventy six thousand (2 676 000) cubic metres per annum of water from the Blyde River for 38 villages in the Mopani District Municipality for domestic water supply.

2. Out of the 38 villages expected to benefit, the following villages are expected to benefit from Hoedspruit Bulk Water Supply:

1. Drankensburg
2. Drankenburg Park
3. Extension 10 (Retirement Village)
4. Extension 12 (Zandspruit Estate)
5. Extension 8
6. Hoedspruit Town
7. Hoedspruit Wildlife Estate
8. Extension 7 (Estimated)
9. Raptors View
10. Kampersrus
11. Scotia

The Municipality is considering amendment of the scope of work, which will now make the completed work dependent on the merged and revised scope of work, which is subject to approval. The project in question is funded through the Municipal Infrastructure Grant (MIG) and is the municipality’s project where the Department plays a supporting role but do not implement the project.

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Reply:

a) The Minister hereby submits the land register which carries the DWS immovable water infrastructure. The land assets are grouped per type of use and are based on representative land areas that the DWS requires to host, access and maintain these assets. The fair values were calculated using representative land costs for urban and rural settlement areas, open rural land and tribal land.

The DWS is currently busy reconciling this register with the available title deeds, which is a time-consuming process, considering that not all title deeds and Surveyor-General (SG) diagrams are electronically available and that many of the tribal land areas still need to be formalized. The land asset register has been developed on the basis of control other than ownership.

The type of land ownership comprises: (Land Asset register attached)

• State owned land where the DWS or DPW own the land due to permanent use such as:
• Dam basins to store water and to cater for increased dam levels during flood events.
• Administrative buildings such as offices, residential housing, workshops and stores.
• Special facilities such as pump stations, water treatment works, reservoirs and wastewater works.

Servitudes on private and tribal land to carry the following types of infrastructure and to provide access to this infrastructure for operation and maintenance purposes:

• Canals
• Pipelines
• Tunnels
• Access roads to dams and other buildings

Servitudes for “backwater” events, when water levels in rivers exceed the normal flood lines due to the backwater effect of dams. These are only applicable upstream of dams.

b) The land area was calculated using the definition of control, meaning the minimum area that is required to accommodate the above water storage at dams, access to bulk distribution infrastructure and flood events. This considered representative servitude widths, where these are not available from title deeds, and representative unit costs of land.

 (i) Location is available on a GIS; attached tables summarize the location per DWS scheme, area office and operating cluster.

(ii) Size of each item on the land register is shown in square meters in each table.

 (iii) Use of the land is listed under the column “Facility Type Description”.

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Reply:

(1) On 24 January 2017, I was informed of the water crisis pending drought disaster not limited to the Butterworth Hospital but for the entire Butterworth in the Eastern Cape. The Amathole District Municipality (DM) re-declared the drought in January 2017.

(2) Yes, essential services such as the Provincial Department of Health was kept abreast of the unfolding disaster through stakeholder meetings which included the Provincial Drought Technical Task Team, Provincial Sector Departments meetings and Joint Operation Committee meetings held in Butterworth where they were requested to make their own intervention plans as the Amathole DM made it clear that it would not have the capacity to provide the full water demand.

(3) Weekly dam levels have been provided by the Department to the Amathole DM and Provincial Disaster Management Centre. When the situation at Xilinxa Dam supplying Butterworth and surrounding areas became alarming, it was anticipated that it will have serious effect on the hospital and other institutions such as the Walter Sisulu University (WSU) campus. Regular drought water crisis meetings were held with the Amathole DM as the Water Services Authority and other key stakeholders, where they were requested to provide the drought intervention plans.

When the surface water supply to Butterworth (Xilinxa Dam and Gcuwa Dam) ran out completely, the Amathole DM prioritised carting of water to the Hospital. Owing to the logistics and costs of carting water from the nearest alternative source some 30km away, the Amathole DM was unable to meet the full demand at the hospital as well as to provide basic supply to all domestic consumers in Butterworth.

My Department has conducted drought awareness campaigns in Butterworth and has granted permission to the Amathole DM for the re-allocation of the Water Services Infrastructure Grant (WSIG) funding to accommodate emergency water supply in Butterworth through the Butterworth Emergency Water Supply Scheme (pipeline from Tsomo River to Xilinxa Dam), water tankering and groundwater investigations, namely, hydrogeological investigations, drilling, testing and equipping of boreholes at Butterworth, Kotana, Ehlobo, Teko Springs and WSU.

My Department approached the Office of the Premier, Provincial Department of Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs (CoGTA) and Provincial Treasury; as a result an amount of R 3 million has been pledged to assist Amathole DM with the drought.

Fortunately the water outage was short lived and the rain which fell from
8 to 9 October 2017 brought relief and the Gcuwa Dam was filled, but the Xilinxa Dam only rose to 7%, which will provide approximately 3 months supply. Butterworth is therefore not out of the crisis yet and needs close monitoring hence my Department has allocated Amathole DM with ten water tankers.

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Reply:

1. The project in question is being implemented by the Mopani District Municipality and it is funded through Municipal Infrastructure Grant (MIG) which is being administered by the Department of Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs (CoGTA). The Department of Water and Sanitation was only involved during the recommendation of the Technical Report submitted to source funding for the project. The Technical Report was approved in 2013 and the following scope of work was completed by the Mopani District Municipality:

• (a) New 5.94km long 400mm diameter steel pipeline starts from the connection point at Parma to the water treatment works site in Hoedspruit. The original scope of works as contained in the Technical Report was to treat raw water at Hoedspruit Water Treatment Works that was proposed to be built, however; the water will now be sourced from Blyde River and be treated at the new treatment works situated at Kampersrus.

2. Refer to the response provided in (1) above.

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Reply:

The following are metros in respect to the question with their respective registered volumes:

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Reply:

The Department manages water per Water Management Area (and not per ‘province’). Below is summary of the total registered volume:

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Reply:

1(a) 1.5% of the total provision for salaries is allocated towards performance reviews. This regulation is provided for by the Department of Public Service and Administration. My Department has complied with the regulation and a total of
1 961 employees qualified for performance bonuses.

(b) See table below for a detailed breakdown of payout to officials that qualified in the 2016/17 financial year.

(2) Performance rewards for the 2017-18 financial year have not been finalized, as the financial year ends in March 2018.

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Reply:

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Reply:

1. Below is a summary of the number of service providers awarded contracts within the Water Trading Entity for the past five years: A detailed list is attached as Annexure A.

Below is a summary of the number of service providers awarded contracts in the Main Account for the past five years. A detailed list is attached as Annexure B.

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Reply:

(a) The total cost for the Hydro Power project including (Civil, Mechanical, Electrical and Automation) amounted to R 2 604 215.00, this cost includes a Turbine which cost R1 000 000.00.

(b) An average monthly saving of R2 528.93 has been realised towards the Electricity costs of the Bloem Water Head Office block, these has been realised since the Hydro Power has been operational; especially during peak months of the winter season from 2016 to date.

(c) A total savings of R40 462.84 has been realised in the past 16 months, this includes the months where the Hydro Power was not operational because of the maintenance or repair activities.

(d) The total running costs, including repairs and maintenance over the past 16 months is R 162 721.00 [this includes some of the changes made during the first year of implementing the project where operational challenges were experienced as it was the first time such a project is implemented at any organisation (technology wise) in South Africa].

(e) The Brandkop Hydropower plant is a research project launched by Bloem Water in partnership with the Water Research Commission (WRC) and the University of Pretoria capable of producing 90kw/h of electricity used by the Head Office of Bloem Water. This is achieved through the use of the purified water passing through the pipeline before entering the main Reservoir Brandkop. The quality of treated water during the process is not compromised. The entire operation is controlled and monitored automatically by means of Programmable Logic Controllers and Telemetry systems which are operated at one of Bloem Water’s Treatment Works (Welbedacht Dam 150km away) by Process Controllers 24hrs, 7days a week.

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Reply:

Refer to the table below for the litres of water lost annually due to water leaks in each metropolitan municipality.

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Reply:

Kindly refer to the table below for the annual amounts that all the documented water leaks are costing each province. The amounts are calculated at a unit cost of R6 per 1000 litres of water.

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Reply:

(a)(i) The Blue drop progress assessments for 2015 data have been completed and the progress assessments for 2016 data will only be initiated in the last quarter of 2017/18.

(ii) The Green drop progress assessments for 2015/16 are currently in progress.2015/16 are currently in progress.

(b) The blue drop progress assessment report for 2015 data is currently being edited and will be submitted for approval. The 2015/16 draft Green drop progress report will be developed in the first quarter of 2018/19.

(c) The blue drop and green drop progress assessments are currently being done internally.

(d) The full assessments will be done by departmental staff with the support of a service provider. The estimated cost of using external resources is R10.6 million for 2017/18 (blue drop progress and green drop full assessments).

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Reply:

(a) Municipalities with most leaks are located in Gauteng and KwaZulu-Natal. The Department does not assess location of water leaks by wards system. Instead, Municipalities provide information on water leaks as per distribution/ reticulation systems in accordance with either the number of households, total reservoir supply area and/or systems operating pressure regime.

(b)(i) In Gauteng Province, the municipality with the most leaks is the Johannesburg Metropolitan Municipality.

(b)(ii) In KwaZulu-Natal Province, the municipality with most leaks is the EThekwini Metropolitan Municipality.

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Reply:

(a)(i)(aa) The current status of Mokolo and Crocodile River (West) Water Augmentation Project (MCWAP) Phase 1:

• • Phase 1 was commissioned in June 2015. The project is at Defects Notification Stage, which will be completed in October 2017. The project (excluding refurbishment) will be closed in June 2018, after the environmental rehabilitation of the servitude and land owner sign off on the various farm portions.
    • • The refurbishment of the old pipeline from Mokolo Dam is primarily aimed as back-up supply to Lephalale Municipality during maintenance outages on the main pipeline, in lieu of 18 day storage capacity. The pipeline will also offer some redundancy to other water users. The refurbishment is forecasted to be completed in December 2022, if a go-ahead is given in the current financial year.

(a)(i)(bb) The current status of Mokolo and Crocodile River (West) Water Augmentation Project (MCWAP) Phase 2A:

• • • • Phase 2A is at the planning stage, after the confirmation of the transfer capacity of 75 million m3 per annum.
      • The EIA and other Planning work is expected to be concluded by December 2018. 
      • TCTA will raise commercial funding and implement MCWAP-2A with co-funding from the fiscus. I have granted TCTA a borrowing limit, with the concurrence of the Minister of Finance, to raise commercial funding for the project. Approval to issue government guarantees in relation to some of the funding to be raised by TCTA has been granted.
      • The requirements for fiscal funding contributions are being addressed to cover this year’s commitments in order for pre-construction activities to start by January 2018 in accordance with the current programme to achieve water delivery by October 2023 and to achieve Eskom’s required water delivery date for Medupi FGD retrofitting (to reduce Sulphur emissions) in terms of Eskom’s World Bank loan commitments.

(a)(ii)(aa)The Total Amount spent Mokolo and Crocodile River (West) Water Augmentation Project (MCWAP) Phase 1 is as follows:

• MCWAP 1:- Expenditure to date is R 1 602 466 000.
• MCWAP 2:- No expenses to date

(a)(i)(bb) The total amount spend for Mokolo and Crocodile River (West) Water Augmentation Project (MCWAP) Phase 2A

• • MCWAP 1:- Forecasted cost to complete (including refurbishment) is R 2 138 635 114 (on the base date of 2015)
  • MCWAP 2:- Forecast project costs is R 13 308 127 000

(b) The phases will be completed as follows:

• MCWAP 1:- Project excluding refurbishment will be closed in June 2018.
• MCWAP 1:- Project including refurbishment will be closed in Dec 2022.
• MCWAP 2:- Water delivery is forecasted for October 2023, and project closed in October 2025, after rehabilitation of the servitude and land owner sign off.

(c) The total amount of Litres transferred is as follows:

• MCWAP 1:- Zero liters from Crocodile River, and 30 million m3 per annum (30 billion litres per annum) from the Mokolo Dam
• MCWAP 2 will transfer 75 million m3 per annum (75 billion litres per annum) from the Crocodile River.

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Reply:

(a) No, the Minister has not authorised Kropz Elandsfontein (Pty) Ltd formerly Elandsfontein Exploration and Mining (Pty) Ltd to undertake listed water use despite the suspension of its water use licence as a result of an appeal in respect of that licence pending before the Water Tribunal.

(b) The Compliance Monitoring and Enforcement team of my department conducted an inspection on the 06 September 2017 at Portion 4 of farm Elandsfontein 349, Malmesbury Rd which is a property of Kropz Elandsfontein (Pty) Ltd formerly Elandsfontein Exploration and Mining (Pty) Ltd in respect of which a water use licence that was issued by my department. The finding of this inspection is that there was no water use taking place in the said property in violation of water use licence suspension

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Reply:

(1) From 2008 to 2017, a total of 414 appeals have been lodged, and 4 decided; 74 withdrawn by appellants.

(2) No. The reason for discontinuation Water Tribunal is that the Water Tribunal is not an efficient, cost effective and speedy mechanism for the resolution of appeals arising from the implementation of the Act. The new Bill seeks to provide for an administrative dispute resolution mechanism which is more efficient, cost effective, and quicker.

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Reply:

Refer to the table below for the amount of litres of water lost annually in each province due to leaks:

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Reply:

Refer to table below:

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Reply:

Requesting Honorable Member to refer to the response provided in NA 1666 of 9 June 2017.

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Reply:

(a) So far there is no mine that achieved a hundred percent compliance with its water use license conditions. The non compliance varies and is assessed according to the impact posed to the water resources and the environment in relation to specific conditions. Non-compliance depending on the impact or threat posed may either be addressed through an action plan, administrative, civil or criminal enforcement. Out of 111 mines that were monitored in the 2016/2017 financial year, 55 mines were found to be significantly not complying with the conditions of the water use license of which 25 mines were referred for enforcement actions (refer to Annexure A). The other 30 mines were requested to provide action plans to address non-compliance.

(b) For the 2017/18, (April to June) 22 mines were monitored with 15 mines significantly not complying of which 8 required enforcement actions.

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Annexure A

Reply:

(a) The next Blue Drop progress assessment report will be finalised by end October and will be published once it is approved. The Green Drop assessment commenced in August 2017 for a self assessment by Municipalities. The report writing will be finalised in April 2018 and report will be published once it is approved.

(b) The Department does regular monitoring of wastewater treatment plants through compliance monitoring and where transgressions are realized Directives are issued to Municipalities and ways are established to turn the situation around. Over and above, the Department also plays a support role by facilitating funding for these wastewater treatment works. The Department also has an enforcement function that work with compliance monitoring section, to ensure that administrative enforcement are enacted once it is observed that despite all the support provided to assist municipalities the situation of non-compliance still persist and only then can legal actions taken.

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Reply:

The Minister of the Department of Water and Sanitation lifts a suspension of a license pending the outcome of the appeal made to the Water Tribunal when a petition is made indicating any of the following:

1. that the granting of all authorisations or a water use licence followed all relevant due processes;
2. that the suspension is highly prejudicial and detrimental to a lawfully obtained authorisations;
3. that the suspension will derail the entire project timelines and create uncertainties;
4. that the suspension will put hundreds of millions of investments at risks as well as forego much needed jobs and community development projects;
5. that the issues raised by the Appellants in the appeal should be decided upon by the Water Tribunal, and the Appellants will not be prejudiced by the lifting of the suspension; and
6. if the reasons provided by the person who is affected by the suspension are persuasive.

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Reply:

(a)(i) Yes, my Department and entities reporting to me are funding, including by way of discretionary funding, institution of research and development domestically. Refer to the tables below:

Department of Water and Sanitation:

Entities:

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Annexure A

The list of organisations or Institutions with WRC/DWS funding.

Reply:

We record our undertaking as that the questions relate to Rand Water Zuikerbosch Pumping Station. We also respond with understanding that stripping refers to demolition of infrastructure for the purpose of constructing the new infrastructure, upgrade refers to augmentation. We refer to augmentation when we upgrade our infrastructure to meet water supply demands.

Rand Water implemented augmentation programmes at Zuikerbosch pumping station to provide additional capacity of 200 Ml/d. Annexure A shows augmentation projects implemented at Rand Water Zuikerbosch pumping station in the last five years. The balance of the other contracts at Zuikerbosch pumping station over the last five years is shown in Annexure B.

(1)(a) Refer to Item 7 on Annexure A regarding what was a demolition work which entailed demolition of an old pilot filter house 2B. Demolition was necessary so that new filter house 2B to provide additional 100 Ml/d could be constructed. Refer to Item 11 on Annexure A was the construction of a new sedimentation tank to provide additional 100 Ml/d. The contractor could not achieve contractual obligations and some structures had to be demolished and reconstructed properly.

(1)(b) Refer to the Items 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 8, 9, 10, 12, 13 and 14 on Annexure A regarding all upgrades forming part of augmentation projects at Zuikerbosch pumping station as part of additional 200 Ml/d added to the infrastructure to meet water supply demands. Items 7 and 11 on Annexure A refer to demolition work (stripping) and the rest of the items refer to augmentation (upgrades).

(2)(a) Demolition work as referred to in Item 7 on Annexure A shows Jampe Construction being the contractor that failed to demolish an old pilot filter house 2B. They were appointed for R1, 736,009 and were paid R342, 510 at the time of terminating their contract due to non-performance. The termination was referred to mediation as per the provisions of contract and the termination was upheld by the mediator. After they were terminated, their remaining scope of work was added to the work awarded to Superway (Pty) Ltd. In addition to demolition of an old pilot filter house 2B, Superway was appointed for the construction of the new filter 2B.

(2)(b) Refer to Item 11 on Annexure A regarding upgrade workshows Dipcivils (Pty) Ltd being the contractor that failed their contractual obligations to construct a new sedimentation tank. They were appointed for R103, 349,955.00 and were paid R57, 911,310.90 at the time of terminating their contract due to non-performance. As of part recouping the costs, Rand Water has held the surety (R10.3m) and retention (R5.8m) from the contractor. The total amount held is R16.1m which is the sum of surety and retention. Furthermore, Rand Water's Legal Service Department has been pursuing claim for damages. Dipcivils had undergone business administration in the process.

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Reply:

(1)(a) The position of the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Overberg Water has been vacant since May 2015 to date.

(1)(b) My Department seconded Ms ONV Fundakubi as the acting CEO at Overberg Water. The secondment was effective from 1 July 2015 and terminated on
22 June 2017.

(2) Yes, the current acting CEO, Mr Phakamani Buthelezi, was recommended by the selection panel for permanent appointment as CEO at Overberg Water.

(2)(a) On 9 March 2016, the panel recommended to the Overberg Water Board the approval of the appointment of Mr Buthelezi for the position of CEO at Overberg Water.

(2)(b) My Department wanted the Board and former Acting CEO, Ms Fundakubi to deal with all outstanding issues related to the finalisation of the Annual Report of 2016/17 before processing the appointment of the new CEO.

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Reply:

a) Relevant Degree or BTech in Civil Engineering, Master Degree advantageous (The job advert of the position is attached).

b) The current incumbent is Ms Tsakane Radebe.

c) The position is a 5-year contract and the successful candidate assumed her duties effective from the 01 May 2016.

d) The details of the specified person’s qualifications are as follows:

• Matric
• National Diploma: Mechanical Engineering
• Bachelor of Technology: Mechanical Engineering
• Project Management Professional
• Certified Associate in Project Management

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Reply:

a) The internal audit function at Magalies Water is outsourced because the entity currently does not have an established internal audit division.

b) The duration of the period is three (3) years. The contract commencement date is 01 October 2015 and will expire on 30 September 2018.

c) The internal audit function is outsourced to PRICEWATERHOUSECOOPERS.

(d) Terms of the contract are as follows:

1. Provision of Internal Audit Services:

• Evaluating adequacy and effectiveness of controls and advising managers at all levels in determining key control indicators and develop recommendations for enhancement or improvement of these controls;
• Assisting the Chief Executive Officer in achieving the objectives of the institution by evaluating and developing recommendations for the enhancement or improvement of processes through which —
• Objectives and values are established and communicated;
• The accomplishment of objectives is monitored;
• Accountability is ensured; and

2. Corporate values are preserved:

• • • Analysing operations and conformity to organisational mandate; and
    • Reviewing the Internal Audit Charter for the approval by the Audit and Risk Committee and Magalies Water Board, and thereafter adhere to the Charter;
    • Liaising with the Risk Specialist in the development of a risk-based 3-year rolling internal audit plan;
    • Conducting forensic audits as and when required;
    • Evaluating specific operations at the request of the Board or management, as appropriate;
    • Maintaining professional audit staff with sufficient knowledge, skills, experience and professional certification to meet the requirements of the internal audit charter;
    • Evaluating adequacy and effectiveness.

(e) The total amount paid is R4 213 594.28

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Reply:

(1) Adv. Mosotho Petlane holds the position as the Chairperson of Magalies Water Board.

(2)(a) Yes, Adv. Petlane was charged in 2005 for fraud. However, the case was dismissed by the Court of Law.

(2)(b) No, my Department is not aware of any allegation that was leveled against Adv. Petlane.

(2)(b)(i)Magalies Water does not have the details of the allegations.

(2)(b)(ii)Yes, the case was dismissed by the Court of Law.

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Reply:

My Department did not implement any emergency Waste Water Treatment Plants (WWTP) projects in the 2014/15 and 2015/16 financial years. The amount spent on emergency works at waste water treatment plants in each province in the 2016-17 financial years is detailed in the table below:

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Reply:

(1) Yes, the asset register of my Department contains that information of all infrastructures that existed before 1994.

(2) Yes, in 2007, my Department launched a project called “verification and valuation of all major water resource infrastructure” and produced an asset register. On an annual basis, verification is performed mainly to include assets that were not included in the 2007 verification exercise.

(3) Yes, the verification and valuation exercise of 2007 included all national water resource infrastructures including the former Bantustan water infrastructure.

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Reply:

Yes, the Motau Task Team has finalised its work. I am still reviewing the findings of the report and will furnish Parliament with the report in due course.

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Reply:

(1)(a) Currently the Deputy Director General under suspension is Mr Anil Singh.

(1)(b) Following allegations of misconduct by the Deputy Director-General, the Director-General decided to apply a precautionary suspension in terms of Chapter 7 of the SMS Handbook of the manager concerned pending an investigation into such allegations.

(1)(c) Arising from the suspension, the Director-General appointed a senior manager in an acting capacity as Deputy Director-General: Regulation whose responsibility it is to perform all the functions, duties and delegations pertaining to the post.

(2) No, the date for the publication of the Draft National Water and Sanitation Bill in August 2017 cannot be met due to the following:

The Bill was presented to the ESEID cluster on 19 July 2017, requesting approval for submission to Cabinet for Cabinet to approve the publication of the Bill in the government gazette for public comment.

The cluster recommended further consultation with all other government departments being members of both the ESEID and SPCHD clusters. The further consultation took place on 10 August 2017 and the Bill will be resubmitted to the cluster at the date to be specified. Only after Cabinet has approved, the Bill will be gazetted for public comments.

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Reply:

Yes, Magalies Water is paying for courses or further studies for the Chief Operating Officer and the Chief Executive Officer for a Senior Executive Program-Africa: Harvard Business School in collaboration with Gordon Institute of Business Science. The total cost of the courses is R326 542.50 each (US$25,000/person) for the period 31/07/2017 to 01/12/2017. Below are further details regarding the courses as follows:

The Senior Executive Program-Africa is aimed at building exceptional leaders in the African continent. Harvard Business School Executive Education offers the Senior Executive Program - Africa, in partnership with the Gordon Institute of Business Science (GIBS) of Pretoria University in South Africa. It is designed to strengthen the leadership skills and build insight into local, regional, and global markets, the program explores the proven approaches of successful leaders in Africa and around the globe, preparing participants to compete effectively, seize the region's many growth opportunities, and sustain success for one’sorganisation.

The 2017 offering comprises a module in Kigali from 13 August to 18 August 2017; an independent work module from August 2017 to November 2017; and a module on the Harvard Business School campus in Boston from 26 November to 01 December 2017. It is intended to help participants build the knowledge, perspective, and confidence needed to lead more effectively and accelerate the company's growth. Participants also have the opportunity to share insights and learn from other senior leaders across Africa.

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Reply:

Chapter 3 of the National Water Act, 1998 makes provision for the protection of water resources. As part of protecting the water resources, the Minister is required to determine water resource classes and Resource Quality Objectives. The water source areas will therefore be protected by ensuring that they are prioritized for protection when determining the water resource classes and resource quality objectives. Once the class of a water resource and the resource quality objectives have been determined they are binding on all authorities and institutions when exercising any power or performing any duty under the National Water Act, 1998. The Department has regulatory measures in place, which include monthly water quality monitoring programmes in order to ensure that the levels of protection are maintained and any transgressors are dealt with accordingly.

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Reply:

(a) After communicating the Green Drop Progress Report Results of 2014, my Department prioritized 260 systems that are put under regulatory surveillance to monitor progress and reduction of risks identified in the report. Our Compliance team has audited 17 treatment works during this year (2017). Treatment works that do not comply are dealt with through Administrative Enforcement. This year, the Department of Water and Sanitation as well as the Department of Environmental Affairs will be conducting joint operations for certain priority treatment works.

(b) This specific form of pollution falls under the mandate of the National Department of Water and Sanitation, the Provincial Department of Environment (Waste and Pollution) as well as Local Government (Pollution and Storm Water Management). The Department's Directorate: Water Services Sector Development regularly updates model by-laws and shared with the Water Services Authorities to fine tune according to their municipal set up and industries/activities applicable in their area of operation and promulgated by respective council for implementation. Due to possible overlapping of mandates, my Department has not to date had an operation/project to raise awareness to address this matter. It will be tabled at Outcome 10 working group IV where the relevant parties can deliberate and bring a pragmatic plan of action to the table.

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Reply:

Request the Honourable Member to refer to the response to NA 1173 on 12 May 2017 which was adequately responded to and see Annexure A for details of the report on the assessment.

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Reply:

The joint assessment initiated by both Ekurhuleni and Rand Water revealed that Rand Water did not disturb the storm water infrastructure whilst laying the new pipeline. It should be noted that the joint assessment undertaken did not include my Department but was undertaken by Rand Water and the Ekurhuleni Metropolitan Municipality.

Furthermore, requesting the Honourable Member to refer the question to the Minister of Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs, who is in a better position to respond to issues relating to the plans going forward by the Ekurhuleni Metropolitan Municipality in Gauteng.

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Reply:

(1)(a) Rand Water conducted a conditional assessment on the G28 and the entire network from the 8 to the 14 May 2017.

(1)(b) Yes, Rand Water did inform Ekurhuleni Metropolitan Municipality of the condition assessment to be carried out at G28 pipeline.

(2) Refer to Annexure A for the copy of the email that informed Ekurhuleni Metropolitan Municipality of the condition assessment to be carried out at G28 pipeline.

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Reply:

(a) There are a total of 47 service level agreements that have been finalised with municipalities that are in arrears with various water boards.

(b) Refer to Annexure A for the names of municipalities.

(c) Refer to Annexure A for the total amount owed by each municipality as at 31 March 2017.

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Reply:

(a) My Department does not have a budget allocation for drought relief in the 2017/18 financial year.

(b) There is no amount allocated for Western Cape towards drought relief in the 2017/18 financial year.

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Reply:

(1)(a) The Office of Director-General currently has a total of forty four (44) employment positions.

(1)(b) A total of twenty one (21) positions are currently vacant within the office of the Director-General. Refer to the table below.

(1)(c) A total of two (2) positions have appointed persons on an acting capacity.

(1)(d) Refer to Annexure A for the names and positions of each person employed in the office of the Director-General.

(2) All positions in the office of Director-General are still relevant, no positions were declared redundant since 1 April 2016.

(3) Refer to Annexure A for a detailed organogram for the office of Director-General.

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