Kosi Bay border maintenance project: DPWI and PMTE briefing, with Deputy Minister

Meeting report

Chairperson’s Opening Remarks

The Chairperson welcomed all the attendees to the meeting and an apology was received from the Minister of Public Works and Infrastructure, Mr Sihle Zikalala.

The Chairperson noted that International Womens Day would be celberated in two days time. The theme for this year emphasises the critical role of women in many sectors. She started on this note because she noted the Department had a woman Deputy Minister and there were women on the Committee so it was important to empower and educate women because they often brought along other women with them. It is crucial to investment in women, as is the theme for International Womens Day 2024.  She hoped to see more women employed by the Department.

The briefing today emanted from the Committee’s oversight visit where the Committee saw there were some commitments not followed up on by the national Department of Public Works and Infrastructure to the KZN government. There were major problems of crime in the area because of the close proximity to the border with Mozambique. The Committee wanted to hear whether the commitments made at the time were being followed up on and how national govenrment was interacting with provincial government in this instance. This was part of the Committee’s oversight responsibilities and for the Department to action those recommendations in the oversight report.

Opening Remarks by the Minister

Deputy Minister of Public Works and Infrastructure, Ms Bernice Swarts, appreciated the opening remarks of the Chairperson and said the Department would try to live up to them by having more women professioanls registered and produced through the Council for the Built Envirionment (CBE).

Regarding the meeting today, she said that it is important that the Department of Public Works and Infrastructure (DPWI) adhere to the Committee's resolutions, especially in meeting timeframes as requested. This matter came from 2020 so the Department must improve on turnaround times.

DPWI Briefing  

Mr Wasnaar Hlabanwane, Deputy Director-General (DDG): Construction Project Management, DPWI, said that since the establishment of the multi-disciplinary task team in October 2020, a Memorandum of Agreement (MOA) was drafted to establish a protocol governing the collaborative efforts between the DPWI and the KZN Department of Transport (DOT) for Phase One of the construction of modified jersey barriers at the KZN Kosi Bay Border which demarcates the territories of South Africa and Mozambique. While the Department had initially committed to reimbursing the KZN DOT R50 million subject to certain conditions being met according to the initial draft MOA, the cost has now escalated to include the actual amount after tender and contract variations. The parties have since concluded the MOA process to verify work done by the Province, and the Province has resuscitated the project and on course to concluding phase one.

The Department applied for and received Environmental Authorization, and it was granted on 10 April 2019. An Environmental Assessment Practitioner who conducts monthly reports as stipulated in the conditions of the approved Environmental Management Programme (EMPR) has also been appointed to ensure compliance with the Environmental Assessment (EA). The works on the construction site are currently underway and the impact of the project has been received positively by the community and the South African National Defense Force (SANDF). For the 2024 financial year, it is anticipated that the construction of phases two and three will start on 30 September, with an estimated cost of R270 940 352 and the project will last 24 months.

See attached for full presentation

Discussion

Ms L Mjobo (ANC) welcomed the presentation and acknowledged the progress. She asked, with seven months left to finish the project, what is going to happen if these seven  months pass by without its completion?

Mr I Seitlholo (DA) noted that former President Jacob Zuma had instructed various spheres of government to intervene in the matter of the border post, but the first call of reference had to be the national DPWI, and it is worrisome that the premier and MECs in the Department of Transport led the inspection and assessments. He asked if the DPWI had any idea of what happened with the financial statements of the Department of Transport for the year 2020/2021, given that the R50 million would be classified as ‘unfunded’. What is the total cost to the DPWI in as far as the construction of the various phases is concerned? What are the details of the MOU relating to these costs, and does the Department have the budget to cover these costs, provided that the Department of Transport in KZN does not incur any of these costs? He added that he would ask if there have been any engagements with the Department of Home Affairs, National Defence Force and South African Police Services (SAPS) to coordinate a programme of action to deal with crime related to the illegal moving of goods at the border.

The Chairperson acknowledged the presentation and noted that she did not put blame on the previous Minister because even though there was a change in the executive, the employees were a part of the inception of the project. She asked if this will be a constant behaviour that when there is a change of staff, plans will be put on hold and blame will be placed on former staff members for the non-execution. Was an amount of R50 million claimed by the KZN Department of Transport paid?

Responses by DPWI

Mr Hlabanwane responded by saying that if the project is not completed within seven months, contractual reasons will have to be looked at and if there are any, the contract will have to be extended. The Department will also have to look at a possible acceleration program within the delay to ensure that activities are accelerated by increasing manpower or any necessary methods. If there are no adequate reasons as to why there is a delay, penalties are imposed. The National DPWI agreed upon the R50 million, and the payment has not been affected because of the delay in concluding the two conditions stated in the MOA. The conditions were recently concluded, and the KZN DOT will submit documents proving that it used its money to carry out the project and after verification, will be reimbursed. He also noted that the DPWI was supposed to initiate this project as a custodian of this function and acknowledged it as a shortcoming and that the Department should improve its planning.

Ms Sassa Subban, DDG: Real Estate Investment Services, DPWI, said that the DPWI is going to undertake the planning for an intergraded borderline solution that cuts across 700km within the RSA-Zimbabwean-Mozambique border, 600km of the RSA-Lesotho border and 500km of the RSA-Eswatini-Mozambique border. The planning phase includes site clearance that involves site feasibility to determine the site inventory and the route in which the infrastructure design will be coming through, servitude requirements, access roads to create efficiency, mapping the entire borderline, environmental considerations and engagements between the Department of Defence and the Border Management Authority (BMA) on how this project is going to be implemented. The flood lines that are impacted are also being looked at,and terms of reference were developed in the market using the international best practice guidelines and the Request For Information (RFI) was shared with the BMA. There was an agreement between the DPWI and the Department of Defense (DOD) to approach National Treasury to fund the solution and implementation going forward.

Mr Molatelo Mohwasa, DDG: Inter-Governmental Relations and Coordination, DPWI, agreed with the Chairperson in saying that the staff was there when the plans were drafted and that they have been engaging with the DOT. They were responsible for putting together the MOA and the Multi-Disciplinary Task Team (MDTT) that comprised of the Town Planning Team, Construction and Project Management Team, Intergovernmental Relations (IGR) and the Project Management Office (PMO). Due to variations, a rough amount of R92 million will have to be paid by the DPWI to the DOT, and the MOA was resuscitated because new things were added, like the new contractor on-site. The signed and revised MOA was received on 13 February 2024, and the Department is challenged with the recommendations of the Committee, one of them being getting a comprehensive report on the work done to look at irregularities. This has been put into the MOA as a clause and this requires a lot of processes to be done to obtain a full report, and the Department even wants to obtain the contractor’s internal audits to contribute to the report.

Before the DPWI remits the R92 million, conditions like environmental compliance, land acquisition and permission, project delivery & documentation, fair procurement process, construction quality & completion, maintenance plans, indemnity & liability and financial management must be met. Mr Mohwasa said that he was in KZN momentarily to perform an oversight on site and engage with the BMA, DOD, DOT, DPWI, and the service provider about dealing with the concerns raised by the Committee. The new contractor has emphasised that the remaining work will be done in seven months. Due to the strong collaborations identified, this project will be completed.

Follow-up discussion  

Ms Mjobo asked what the actual cost of this project is now that Mr Mohwasa has added an additional figure of R92 million.

The Chairperson appreciated that when the Committee was performing oversight, young people were at the centre of installing and developing barriers. She then asked if they worked for the contractor, or if they were under the Department. Does the new contractor use the same method of appointing young people as part of their team?

Mr Malusi Ntshangase, Project Manager, DOT KZN, said that the Department has not received any of the funds it has spent on the project from the DPWI. The Department has used R50 million to initiate the project, and the KZN DOT has trained 40 local youth through the National Youth Service (NYS) Programme, and it received accredited training of NQF Levels 2-4, and they were to be given preference when they make appointments for labour. Some of the youth have received offers from the private sector.

The Chairperson said it is important that everyone be trained and given an opportunity to participate in the project. She noted this porject had been covered in the media because of hijacked cars crossing the border. She appreciated the porgress made but the Department must still follow up, especially given that only seven months were left of the project. The Committee would like to see the 8kms finished in the months left.

Committee Minutes

Minutes of the meeting of 5 March 2024 were adopted with no amendments.

Meeting was adjourned.