Department of Human Settlements, Gauteng Province & North West Province on their Business Plans

Human Settlements, Water and Sanitation

13 June 2017
Chairperson: Ms N Mafu (ANC)
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Meeting Summary

The North West Province presented the summary of the province’s annual business plan. In total the province budgeted for 5 244 sites, 12 618 units and intended to create 17 862 housing opportunities for the current financial year. The Summary of Planned Targets for the financial years was also given. On the projects for the revitilisation of distressed communities, 1 433 sites was earmarked encompassing 4 164 units and this made up 63% of the budget in mining towns that were in construction level or ready for construction. 1 458 sites and 1 362 units were in procurement stages making up 33% of projects in mining towns.

There were two Catalytic projects in the province situated in Matlosana and Rustenburg area.  The total sites were 1 745 and 851 units at both construction and procurement stages. A total budget for both projects was R226 287. The Title Deeds in the Province post-1994 to be eradicated was 24 001 with a cost implication of R29 806. The National Department of Human Settlements added that the most important aspect of the presentation was to highlight was the readiness matrix because it told of the state of readiness of all the programmes to be implemented this year. Procurements related projects were over R600 million and this was a high risk area that had to be watched because procurement process took a long time. Besides, if care was not taken here, it could derail the Department from meeting its targets, although the good news was that 57% of the project’s contractors were already on site. 

Members asked why projects such as the Integrated Residential Development Programme (IRDP) Phase 2, Top Structure and Individual Housing Subsidies, amongst others, were on zeros in the presentation. Why were these projects not budgeted for? Others stated that the business plans was watertight and optimistic but was not happy that the non-delivery of projects by the Department was always attributed to external factors. As a result, interventions should have been developed bearing in mind projected interruptions and disruptions experienced in previous years.

The Gauteng Human Settlements Department presented its business plan for 2017/18 in which it was said to have allocated R5.5 billion for the current financial year. The planned delivery was for 19 799 stands and 33 262 units. This included social housing of 1850 units with an allocated budget of R184 636 623 million. There were also 912 Hostel Community Residential Units (CRUs) which were being converted and updated in the business plan, though it was still being discussed with the National Department.

The Medium Term Expenditure Framework (MTEF) for 2017/18 programmes summary was given. Other programmes included Upgrading of Informal Settlements (UISP), New Individual Subsidies, CRU’s already under construction, Rural Hosing and Finance Linked Individual Subsidy Programme (FLISP). The National Department of Human Settlements added that going back to readiness matrix, it would be noticed that more than R1 billion was earmarked for new procurement processes.  As stated earlier, this was a high risk area. Special attention would be paid to these programmes because they took more time to implement. 

Members commented that the Committee noticed that the Gauteng province had accruals amounting to R278 million. That did not sit well with the Committee regarding the spending patterns of the Gauteng province. The result of this anomaly was a lack of service delivery in terms of meeting projected targets. Others raised concerns relating to underspending trends which trickled down to the performance of the metros. What was being done going forward so that annually these same problems were not encountered? Did the Department come up with ways that anticipated how to manage these trends?

Meeting report

Briefing by the Department of Human Settlements North West Province on their business plan for 2017/18

Mr Phihadu Motoko, HOD, Department of Human Settlements North West Province, gave the summary of the province’s annual business plan. He said that the total budget planned budget for 2017/18 was R2 186 679 broken down into regions / districts. In total, the province budgeted for 5 244 sites, 12 618 units and intended to create 17 862 housing opportunities for the current financial year.

The Summary of Planned Targets for the financial years was also given. He said that the Upgrading of Informal Settlements Programme was allocated a budget of R1 024 286 billion, New individual Units excluding Rural was R1 22 644 million, Community Residential Units (CRU) had R39 691 million allocated, Social and Rental Housing was allocated the sum R128 734 million, Finance Linked Individual Subsidy Programme (FLISP) allocated R7.9 million, Rural Housing allocation stood at R701 853 million, Military Veterans allocated R38 540 million, Title deeds Backlog Eradication apportioned R24 million, Title Deeds for New Developments R5 960, and Land Acquisitions was assigned a budget of R12 119 million.

He said that the provincial Summary of Project Readiness indicated that 57% of the budgeted projects were under construction stage and contractors were already on site. 37% of projects were still within the ACM processes and 6% of projects still under planning. The total sites were 5 244, Units 12 618 and the total budget was R2 099 780 billion

He said that on the projects for the revitilisation of distressed communities, 1 433 sites were earmarked encompassing 4 164 units and this would make up 63% of the budget in mining towns that were in construction level or ready for construction. 1 458 sites and 1 362 units were in procurement stages making up 33% of projects in mining towns.

He said that there were two catalytic projects in the province situated in Matlosana and Rustenburg area.  The total sites were 1 745 and 851 units and both were in construction and procurement stages. A total budget for both projects was R226 287.

The Title Deeds in the Province post-1994 to be eradicated was 24 001 with a cost implication of R29 806. Deeds ready for conveyance in 2017/18 post 1994 were 8 530 with a cost implication of R8 530. Beneficiaries to be confirmed were 11 609 with a cost implication of R17 414. The number of Title Deeds in Township establishment process were 3 862 with a cost implication of R3 862.

He said that with regards to Planned Targets per programme, the Upgrading of informal settlements had a total of 4 744 sites earmarked with a budget of R1 051 566 billion. IRDP: Phase 2, Planning and services (Informal Settlement) has 4 444 sites and allocated budget of R254 660 million. IRDP: Phase 4, Top Structure construction (Informal settlements) had 5 960 units and a budget of R777 137 million. Informal Settlement Upgrading had total sites of 300 with an assigned budget of R19 769 million. New Individual Subsidies Total (Excluding Rural) had a total budget of 12 777 million.

He said that People’s Housing Process had 88 units planned and a budget of R11 261 million was allocated. Social and Rental Housing including CRU had a total of 1 085 units planned and a budget of R168 425 million. Social Housing: Capital Grants for rental housing (funded by NDoH) had 1 008 units and a budget of R128 million. Rural Housing had a total of 500 sites planned and a budget of R701 853 million. For the Farm worker Housing assistance total units planned was 300 with a budget allocation of R38 081 million. For LISP 92 units were planned and R7 912 budgeted.

He said that with regards to Programmes for mining Towns, Military Veterans had 205 units planned and a budget of R38 540 million, Title Deeds Backlog (Post-1994) had a total of 24 001 planned units and a budget of R24 001 million, and Title Deeds for new developments had 5 960 units planned and a budget of R5 960.

For the Revitalisation of Distressed Mining Communities, Kgeleng Rivier had 414 planned units with a projected budget of R54 515 million, Madibeng had 721 units planned and allocated budget of R147 006 million, Matlosana had 1 932 units planned and a budget of R364 612 million, Moses Kotane had 875 units planned for and allotted budget of R135 331 million, and Rustenburg had 1 584 units planned and budget allocation of R277 977 million.

A Breakdown of Readiness Matrix was given. 109 projects were under construction with a total budgeted amount of R1 161 034 billion, 4 individual subsidies projects with a budget of R12 777 million, 10 Military Vets projects with a budget of R38 540 million, and 46 procurements projects with a budget of R665 272 million. The grand total breakdown of projects under readiness matrix was R2 186 679 billion and a total of R86 899 million was also earmarked for projects under the operational capital budget.

Mr Mbulelo Tshangana, Director General, National Department of Human Settlements, added that the most important aspect of the presentation to highlight was the readiness matrix because it spoke of the state of readiness of all the programmes to be implemented this year. Projects going to procurements were over R600 million and this was a high risk area that had to be watched because the procurement process could take a long time. Besides, if care was not taken here, it could derail the Department from meeting its targets, although the good news was that 57% of the project’s contractors were already on site.  The R600 million was significant and would be watched closely in the first quarter of this financial year. If it was it by August that the risks in these projects were improperly mitigated, then hard decisions would be taken by the Department so that money was not lost. HOD’s had to ensure that from now until August, all the high risk areas were properly assuaged.

Discussion

Ms M Nkadimeng (ANC) thanked the province for the presentation and asked why projects such as IRDP Phase 2, Top Structure and Individual Housing Subsidies amongst others were on zero’s all through in the presentation. Why were these projects not budgeted for? On title deeds planned targets, there were only backlog indications prior to 1994, what was the number of title deeds backlogs for the present day projects?

Mr M Malatsi (DA) stated that the business plans was watertight and optimistic but was not happy that the non-delivery of projects by the department was always attributed to external factors. As a result, interventions should have been developed bearing in mind projected interruptions and disruptions experienced in previous projects. Were there such plans in place to mitigate those interruptions so envisioned and if so, what were those measures? To presume that everything would run smoothly was a very ambitious assumption. This province had problems delivering title deeds, what measures were in place to expedite this? This Committee knew that a national team was helping to fast track the process but in the Northern Cape, what were the extra plans put in place to eradicate this backlog?

Mr L Khoarai (ANC) asked how the department was dealing with slow performing contractors. What was their explanation to the Department for this state of affairs? What mechanisms did the department have to check when the contractors applied that they were capable of doing the job? On the infighting between the contractors and sub-contractors; this was taking place now in all provinces and municipalities. The department continued to fall into the same trap every year. What was the department doing regarding this issue since the department was the organ of state engaging the contractors? On the question of under-spending in the last financial year: when was the province submitting their list to the National Department and if already submitted, when was it expecting feedback?

Mr H Memezi (ANC) apologised for his late coming and agreed with the DG that problems in implementation should be anticipated.  There should be no pretense that these problems were new. The HOD and his team therefore had a duty to supervise awarded contracts and ensure that such contracts had an escape clause from the onset. Infighting amongst contractors could be prevented if their relationships were properly managed. Therefore the department had a duty to mediate, but it had to begin from the start of contract. It was comforting that the DG indicated that the contractors were on site on procurement related programmes but the department’s eyes must not be kept off the ball. The presentation was very promising and it was giving the Committee a faint hope that things might be different this time.

The Chairperson said she was interested on the last part of the presentation made by the HOD where he alluded to under-spending as the reason for under-performance.  The reason was laid on the steps of non-performing contractors in volatile areas and interdicted projects. What then were the processes put in place by the department to ensure there would be no repeat of the same thing happening again, especially in regards to slow performing contractors and the management of volatile areas so that contractors were not unduly delayed. It was heartening not to find in the North West province what was found in other areas such as building projects going on without first identifying who the beneficiaries would be and lack of services in some other cases. This question was raised because of the Committee’s impending oversight visit to the province, it was hoped that what was found in other provinces was not found there. In the presentation, there was a R17 million budget allocation for enrolment with the National Historical Publications and Records Commission (NHPRC), what did that mean? The presenter mentioned that 37% of projects were still within the ACM processes, since the financial year already begun, how long would the ACM process take?

In his response, Mr Motoko said that the province was weak in social facilitation and this stemmed from the fact that not enough was done engaging with councilors. This was an area that would be improved. One of the service areas was being invaded by the communities; this showed that not enough was being done. These were problems to be dealt with on a day to day basis.

He said that in terms of the military veterans, 205 houses would be built for them and a contractor was already appointed on site in the Mahikeng local municipality. Most of the problems regarding military veterans encountered previously was resolved. There was a constant interaction with the Department of Military Veterans and all impending problems trashed out. There was now a person appointed focusing on this programme and so their plight would be addressed fully.  The slow moving contractors were a problem but their contracts were now revised with punitive clauses forming part of the contracts. Contractors that had no sufficient capacity to carry out the contract were terminated and new comers to the construction industry capacitated. For women contractors, the department understood they needed special attention. Some of the contractors’ inability to work according to schedule was not entirely their own making because of the province’s terrain.

On the issue of interdicted programmes, the department managed to have an ad-hoc settlement with them and some of them were back on site, so that problem was now resolved.  Not identifying beneficiaries before building programmes were begun and lack of services was also a problem in the province. Some of the projects were approved and implemented and only at implementation stage did the department find out there were no beneficiaries. Right now the department was not approving projects without beneficiaries; this was done by undertaking a pre-beneficiary assessment before a project was passed for implementation. There were presently two projects being implemented without services first installed.  This would be a thing of the past going forward. The province was notorious for not following the project readiness matrix and some of this project mentioned came about because of not following this matrix.  The province was now following the project readiness matrix religiously. On the issue of 37% of projects within ACM processes, it surely would be less than that figure now because two projects were submitted and were in the final stages. This percentage figure would surely change by the end of the first quarter.

He said that on the title deeds restoration programme, the province did not achieve its target and was not doing well towards achieving quarterly set targets. The challenge was always the township establishment and township not proclaimed which hampered the transfer of title deeds. The National Department was now engaged towards the issuing of clearing certificates. A list of affected municipalities was compiled and a provincial steering committee was now established that liaised with the National Department, municipalities and the deeds office and they met quarterly and reported to the national steering committee.  The municipalities were not attending the meetings as required and that slowed down the process. Recently, the department met with municipal managers and they were attending to the challenges that were affecting the processes.

He said that the challenge of contract management was another issue. This emanated from the removal of punitive clauses out of the contracts and that allowed service providers to get away with murder easily. Even some contractors when they were paid did not pay their sub-contractors. Such recalcitrance destroyed small contractors who put in their own money to execute contracts. The department was thinking of reviewing the system by either entering into contract with even the main contractors and the sub-contractors so that no one was short changed. Contracts were also being reviewed with accounting officer and legal services. The department’s intention was to terminate and scale down on non-performing contracts. On title deeds, 2 110 instructions was issued to conveyancers and over 2 000 title deeds backlog were ready to be handed over to municipalities. For this quarter, the department projected to deliver 4 000 title deeds which would be lodged at the deeds office within two weeks. On the number of new title deeds, the department had 5 960 to be achieved for new financial year from the backlog of 24 001. 

The Chairperson wanted to know how the National Department would help the province on the issue of social facilitation which the province admitted was their weakest link.

Mr Tshangana said there were three areas to highlight in conclusion. The readiness matrix was the single most important tool where the National Department focused most of its attention.  From the readiness matrix, DHS would be able to zero in on the readiness of projects earmarked for the year. A stress test was conducted to pinpoint elements that pointed to the projects not being ready and in the case of North West Province, those projects that were beyond planning were at procurement stages. There was comfort that procurement processes was already initiated, what was left was to finalise with contractors who were already on site. He said that DHS was aware that this was the area that might be a problem for North West Province so special attention would be paid to ensure that projects were off procurement stages to the contractors on site. Three measures were implemented by DHS. On the question of title deeds, he said that there was no longer the opportunity to look elsewhere, but rather for the National Department to step forward to assist the provinces. In addition to the provincial process, there was now a national task team of conveyancers meant to strengthen provincial departments towards addressing the problem. The title deeds challenges were now being confronted squarely, hence the task team signed an enabling agreement between the DG, HOD and the conveyancers so work would be done. A track of their progress or otherwise was being kept monthly, not quarterly.

On the question of infighting between contractors, special attention would be paid to those issues by DHS with the provinces. Contract management was an issue that could be easily dealt with so as not to impede service delivery. DHS would be providing additional support to the provinces in terms of programme delivery facilitation so that no one would be taken aback at the end of the quarter of non-delivery. Issues would be attended to as they arose. DHS was very conscious of the fact that until the job was done, it should not rest. The North West Province was open about the challenge they faced and that made the National Department’s work easier.  As things stood, there was a plan in hand; DHS was mindful of the risks and courteously pressing ahead.

The Chairperson thanked the North West Province for the presentation and being up-front with their challenges and reminded them that they were on now on the Committee’s radar and might be asked to return back to the Committee more often this year. The Committee might also visit the North West Province anytime in the course of the year to see progress being made.

Briefing by the Department of Human Settlements Gauteng Province on their business plan for 2017/18

Ms Matilda Gasela, HOD, Department of Human Settlements Gauteng Province, thanked the Committee for the opportunity given to Gauteng Human Settlements Department to present its business plan for 2017/18. In her presentation she said the Department was allocated R5.5 billion for the current financial year. The planned delivery was for 19 799 stands and 33 262 units. This includes social housing of 1 850 units with an allocated budget of R184 636 623 million. There were also 912 Hostel Community Residential Units (CRUs) which were being converted and updated in the business plan though it was still being discussed with the National Department.

She gave the Medium Term Expenditure Framework (MTEF) for 2017/18 programmes summary. For Financial Interventions, 4 235 units were planned and expected to gulp 13% of the budget, Incremental Housing programmes had 167 planned units and took 71% of the budget, Social and Rental Housing had 952 planned units and took 5% of the budget, Rural Housing had 200 planned sites, 765 planned units with an expected 2% of budget, Priority projects had 600 planned sites and 765 planned units and took 6% of budget, and Provincial Specific Programmes had 825 planned units and took 4% of the budget.

She said that Military Veterans planned targets of 2017/18, in the Ekurhuleni Region, was a total of 25 planned units, Sedibeng had 225 planned units, Joburg had 70 planned units, Tshwane had 150 planned units, and Westrand had 205 planned units. With regards to Mining Towns, a total number of 300 planned sites and 1 387 planned houses were for mining towns with a combined budget of R264 163 641 million.

She said that on other programmes, Upgrading of Informal Settlements (UISP) had 167 units with a budget of R20 million, New Individual Subsidies had a total of 12 184 sites, 7 583 Units and a budget of R1 billion, CRUs already under construction were 40 units with a budget of R14 760 336 million, Rural Hosing had 200 sites, 565 units and an allocation of R97 133 240 million, and FLISP had 4 135 units and an allocation of R222 326 916 million.

She then gave a breakdown of planned targets (Title Deeds). Deeds ready for Conveyancing (Pre 1994) were 4 629, Deeds Ready for Conveyancing (Post 1994) were 50 909, Beneficiaries to be confirmed (Post 1994) were 70 000, and the total number of Title Deeds in Township Establishment Processes were 133 819.

She said that in summary and conclusion, a draft trilateral agreement was developed between the province, GPF and HAD in the implementation of mega and catalytic projects. To strengthen inter-governmental relations and integrated planning, engagements with municipalities were held towards the establishment of a provincial planning structure. She said that bulk infrastructure investment remained critical in the successful implementation of mega and catalytic projects.

Mr Tshangana added that going back to the readiness matrix in the presentation, it would be noticed that more than R1 billion was earmarked for new procurement processes.  As stated earlier, this was a high risk area. Special attention would be paid to these programmes because they took more time to implement.  Of the entire 12 214 sites that were to be delivered in this financial year, 7 801 units amounted to 27% with a budget of R1.4 billion. All the procurement issues had to be sorted out before the start of the financial year. From their past records, Gauteng province was a good performer. The DHS would keep an eye on the procurement issues. One big risk area was the 27% and it was a risk that had to be mitigated.

Discussion

Ms L Mnganga- Gcabashe (ANC) appreciated the presentation from the team and additions made by the DG. She asserted that the National Department in reporting on its Department’s performance across all provinces a few weeks ago, the Committee noticed that Gauteng province had accruals amounting to R278 million. That did not sit well with the Committee regarding the spending patterns of the Gauteng province. The result of this was a lack of service delivery in terms of meeting projected targets. It was the reason the country kept seeing service delivery protests around Gauteng metros. According to national reports, the Johannesburg Metro under the last financial year under review had R357 million unspent under housing and Human Settlements programme. Water had R30.8 million unspent, sanitation R6.3 million, and electricity R89.7 million. The synergy was that Human Settlements should be seen to be leading in delivery services than any other department.  All these unspent funds impacted negatively on the delivery of services to our people in all spheres. The department should be able to link with city manager, HOD, MEC and Mayor to get service delivery moving. On today’s presentation, professional fees for Military Veterans was included in budget, what were the fees for? Were they planners dealing with sites? On title deeds, it was stated that beneficiaries to be confirmed was 70 000 post 1994, what we were dealing with here? Was it for deregistration, disputes, missing beneficiaries, housing sold illegally, deceased beneficiaries or what that made up this huge number of 70 000? On title deeds, the title deed was a very emotive issue for this Committee because it dealt with the restoration of the dignity of people. Property was an investment the world over and in South Africa black people were unable to invest on property because of the lack of possession of title deeds. In this day and age, 23 years after the dawn of democracy, we could not continue to be the cause of why our people were still suffering. It was written that there was 133 000 title deeds backlog on township establishment, what does it mean? Was it for individual units in the various townships? What was the reason for the delays? This Committee wanted to be able to assist the department to deliver on its programmes. What were the plans to forestall the re-occurrence of R278 million accruals experienced in the last financial year recurring?

Mr M Malatsi (DA) raised concerns relating to under-spending trends which trickled down to the performance of the metros. What was being done going forward so that annually the same problems were not encountered? Has the department come up with ways that anticipated how to manage these trends? Another issue was on the delivery of title deeds. Was there a plan developed that could show and convince the Committee that the department took cognizance of what the bottlenecks were previously? Were there concrete plans now in place to ensure that the department would meet its own deadlines and deliver on targets set? This was to ensure that goalposts were not shifted when targets were unmet. Ultimately business plans spoke to a vision and was a more deliverable tool that showed how to use resources to align them with a plan, and both needed to take into consideration gaps and respond to those gaps.

Mr H Memezi (ANC) welcomed the presentation and was concerned that not much was said about the challenges faced by the department which was unhelpful. Challenges, if dealt with, helped the Committee to know whether the department could discern its weaknesses. The presentation painted a rosy picture and this was a problem. This state of affairs then forced the Committee to remind the department of its shortcomings. Gauteng was one province that got a bigger slice of the national budget, and it was expected to assist the numbers in the national performance index. If Gauteng under-performed, it had huge repercussions on the national performance as a whole. Therefore, how it was correcting its weaknesses should have formed part of the presentation. Gauteng spending patterns had to be addressed. In terms of money spent, Gauteng spent a lot of money but in looking at what it was spending on, it was not getting value for money. On the good news, Gauteng was a province that delivered new modern townships where there were none before. But it was not delivering now the way it was used to fifteen years ago. What then was the problem now? It was the Committee’s expectation that those who were employed in the department should deliver title deeds to the people. Also, some of the new townships lacked amenities such as community halls, there were reports reaching the Committee that those communities were meeting under tree shades when there was weddings, burials and the like. This should not be in a province like Gauteng. The numbers in the FLISP programmes for this financial year was seriously too small. The last count unearthed that those falling under this category was almost 7 million persons. They included the nurses, teachers, police men/women and officials working in the private sector who did not qualify in the banks to obtain housing loans. The projected number of 1 724 FLISP units for this financial year were way too small. They needed to be assisted. Lastly, the document presented was not reader friendly at all; did it mean this province could not even write documents?

Mr L Khoarai (ANC) reminded the Committee that it took a decision a while ago that Gauteng was one of the provinces that performed very poorly. Today’s report did not change that opinion. Gauteng faced lot unrest a while ago; there was no mention of it in the presentation. It could be because of the unrest that the MEC did not accompany the team. Could the Committee be briefed on the situation? On military veterans, the report mentioned a grand total of 675 units to be built, how far was the province in building the military veterans houses? There must be a stop to having this put in the budget every year and failing to deal with it each time.  This was a very important issue to this Committee.

The Chairperson asserted that the reason why Gauteng was amongst the first provinces to be invited by the Committee was because the Committee was concerned about their performance and unfortunately Gauteng’s performance affected national delivery. The good news was that at least Gauteng’s business plan presented to the Committee was approved. The Committee was aware that the province was amongst provinces whose business plans had to be approved late last financial year because of some challenges. The fact that its business plan was approved so early this year was an achievement because looking back to 2016/17, Gauteng’s business plan was sent back and the Committee sent them packing when they came to submit it to the Committee. The crux of the matter now was to see if it would follow through on today’s presentation, and that would be watched closely by the Committee.  It was stated that 35 000 units would be delivered including social housing; the Committee was interested to hear what plans were in place to follow through on this seeing that only 50% of this number was delivered in the last financial year.  Was the planning process done with the metros? Were metros appreciative of the challenges the province had with bulk infrastructure especially the metros that had Urban Settlement Development Grants (USDG)?

Ms Gasela in her response thanked Members for their questions and said that the province began a process of planning, together with the municipalities, to ensure that USDG and HSDG programmes were aligned. Incidentally, the National Department was going to the provinces to align the process of planning in both USDG and HSDG processes. The Department also now had a Deputy Director General responsible for planning. This was to ensure that before the Department went on site and implemented a project, all the processes was being followed through and most importantly a session took place with the metros. In this session, the project structure, responsibilities and obligations of the municipalities were discussed. Fortunately, the Department also had an MEC responsible for Cooperatives and Traditional Affairs (CoGTA) who ensured that those engagements actually took place.

In terms of under-spending, this matter concerned everyone in this Department. What the Department discovered was that the USDG was not necessarily used for the purpose of infrastructure in the metros. What happened was that when the USDG was received, it was allocated to salaries and other departments. Discussions were ongoing to look into how the USDG was utilized by the various metros. This discussion was monitored by the Minister and various MECs.  The Department was ensuring that money was not under-spent and then taken away any longer. The three big metros were being engaged to ensure that before the end of the financial year, this money was committed to the mega projects. In Ekurhuleni, where there was a potential for under-spending, the Executive Mayor and MEC was now being urged to allocate this money for the bulk projects. The Department would admit that it was very weak in monitoring; it was an identified area to be strengthened.

In terms of accruals, it was correct to say that there were high accruals in the province.  This was something the Department was now monitoring. Gauteng had an unfortunate situation where people migrated from everywhere to it. Though it was lucky not to encounter land/project invasions, the unfortunate thing was that security had to be employed and this fell outside the budget. Some of these accruals were money paid to securing land and projects.

On the issue of low performance, it was acknowledged also and the DG always reminded the department that failure of Gauteng to perform affected the national performance too.  On what the department was going to do differently, with the assistance of the National Department, Gauteng ensured that any project that was part of the business plan was projects that were ready to be implemented. That was why 71% of projects were ready, according to the presentation. The projects were also being consistently monitored with the National Department. The DG said that they were concerned about the 27% of the projects where the SCM processes was yet to take place, this was an area now being fast tracked. Part of this number might be something small that was outstanding and the department was looking to deal with this eventualities.  On the professional fees for the military veterans, these fees were not specific to anything in particular. It was professional fees in general. The targets for military vets were not being achieved and it was an area that was being seriously monitored. Out of the 75 000 units, there were a sizable number of completions already. The National Department earlier advised to complete some units before May, which was done.

On title deeds, there were cases where the occupants of houses were the original people who were owners of the houses. There a situation where RDP houses were issued and for economic reasons, they were hired out for extra income generating purposes or outright sale. To tackle this, the department activated social facilitation measures and was running awareness campaigns to sanitize the populace that this could not be done. There were also cases where the original owners passed on and then dispute arose between siblings. This kind of cases made up a huge chunk of the problems the department was encountering. There was now a task team constituted by National Department to look into the delivery of title deeds. The Gauteng department engaged a number of conveyancers to assist it in its work in delivering title deeds faster. The big problem remained unregistered informal settlements because there were no roads, and this were issues the department had no control over.

Mr Tshangana said that the National Department was very nervous about the plans in Gauteng. Looking at the number of mega and catalytic projects in Gauteng, by their nature these projects had a long time to be completed. As a result, their funding needed to be spread over time which the Gauteng provincial department did not do. Time was spent with them therefore to ensure that what got implemented in a particular year was what was funded in that year. Added to that was Gauteng having the highest concentration of urban dwellers in the country. So infrastructure development there required a slightly different plan and funding approach.  The National Department gave them the space to use a portion of the allowable grant to fund the bulk projects; Sedibeng was a case in point. The department had to unlock that bulk to deliver its own targets. What was needed going forward was the need for the cities and the provinces to enter into inter-governmental contracts and spell out who did what and in which year. The National Department was working with the provinces and metros to align the plans because there was no single sphere of government that could unilaterally deliver a project in South Africa. The National Department committed to avail itself to the provinces for additional tactical support. It could provide tactical input to some of the challenges confronting the provincial department.

The Chairperson thanked the officials for their input and hoped that when they returned back next time, hopefully the policy report on the USDG and volatile areas in Gauteng province would all be ready.

The meeting was adjourned. 

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