Committee's Draft Oversight Report on Mpumalanga Visit: Discussion; Adoption of Minutes

Meeting report

Chairperson’s opening remarks
The Chairperson welcomed two new Members to the Committee.

Minutes of Committee Meeting 19 January 2011
The Minutes of the meeting on 19 January 2011 were tabled and adopted.

Committee’s Draft Report on Oversight Visit to Mpumalanga 24 to 26 January 2011
The Chairperson noted an error on page 7 of the report. There was reference to a directive that the Committee had given to the then-Minister in 1994, to instruct the Director General of the Department of Public Works (the Department) to account for all departmental assets.

Mr K Sithole (ANC) proposed that the Committee should find out the situation around the Department’s asset register, since 1994. In particular, he suggested that the Committee needed to know how many properties were being leased by the Department in each province.

Mr W Doman (DA) enquired what the intention of the amnesty was.

Ms N Madlala (ANC) contested the use of the word “minor things” in relation to the incomplete buildings.

The Chairperson agreed that the incomplete buildings were not “minor” issues. She noted absence of security for police officers, incomplete furniture, and absence of water and ablution facilities. She added that if these were really to be seen as “minor” issues then there would not be issues around the adequacy of the budget.

Mr L Gaehler (UDM): proposed that the Committee should rather say that the buildings were 85 percent complete.

Mr M Rabotapi (DA) suggested that a building must contain all the necessities before it could be described as “complete”.

The Chairperson enquired why R22 million was used for prefabricated instead of fixed building structures.

Mr Gaehler proposed that the Committee should include a comment, in its recommendations, around the use of this money for prefabricated structures.

Mr Rabotapi commented on the untidy state of the Lebombo border post, which created a negative impression, particularly since it was the “face” of the country.

The Chairperson said that this should be included in the recommendations.

A Member noted that the South African government had agreed to police the border on both the Mozambique and South African sides.

Mr Sithole commented that there were not in fact two stadiums in Mpumalanga; there was only the Mbombela Stadium, whilst the other facilities were the kwaNyamazana and Kabokweni Sports Field.

The Chairperson agreed that the latter were sports fields. The Committee should address the differentiation between a stadium and sports ground, since the resources being spent on the sports facilities were equivalent to those of a stadium.

Ms N November (ANC) said the inability of the community as a whole to answer for this was a cause for concern.

Mr Gaehler expressed that there was a need to get the specific details of the contracts.

A Member pointed out that a total of R15 million was spent on the fields.

The Chairperson said that these areas must be visited during the next visit. Recommendations in regard to these facilities should be included in the Committee’s Report.

The Chairperson then noted the disposal of property by the Umjindi Municipality, despite the lack of a policy for disposal, and noted an anomaly in the way in which it accounted for its assets.

Mr Rabotapi cautioned that the Committee had not seen the Municipality and was speculating, so these comments should not be included in the report.

Mr Sithole said that there was a difference between what was reflected in the report and what was happening on the ground.

Ms Madlala said that report contained no facts for key sectors, such as the “status of women”.

The Chairperson noted that there were a number of issues of a political nature in the municipalities, which made it difficult to get an honest declaration of the state of delivery in the municipality.

Ms N Ngcengwane (ANC) agreed that most issues in Mpumalanga were at best an estimate.

Mr Rabotapi agreed that there were issues around accountability in some of the municipalities. He noted one instance where a cleaner had given a report on behalf of the Chief Financial Officer.

Mr Gaehler proposed that the Committee should get a register of all projects across the country. The Committee must choose for itself which projects to visit for oversight purposes, and not be misguided by the municipalities as to which should be visited.

Ms Madlala stressed that the Public Finance Management Act (PFMA) made it clear how properties must be disposed of, and that the MEC ought to be consulted.

Mr Doman said that there must be a differentiation between municipal and state assets. He also was adamant that traditional leaders had a right to attend municipal meetings. On the subject of illegal immigrants, he noted that this was a joint responsibility of the Department of Home Affairs and South African Police Service. It was not a core competency of a municipality.

Mr Gaehler noted that illegal immigrants sometimes owned property.

Mr Rabotapi noted that the identity of those selling property to illegal immigrants could be established.

Ms Madlala felt that the Department of Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs (COGTA) and amakhosi must plan together to promote municipalities’ services.

Mr Gaehler pointed out that there were apparently some instances of people leasing land for R10 a year, and he asked who was paying this, and how.

The Chairperson noted that there was a need to comment on the placement of taxi ranks, and on the provision of a taxi rank, water and ablution facilities for hawkers.

The Chairperson noted the point that domesticated animals being transported across the border could also be used for illegal narcotic smuggling.

Mr Rabotapi said that roaming animals posed a threat of cross border infection into South African livestock.

The Chairperson raised the issues of small houses near the border gateposts, that were to be used like offices.

Ms L Jacobus (ANC) proposed that a monitoring unit should work in all provinces.

Mr Gaehler suggested that recommendations be inserted into the report and that the comments made by the Committee should be incorporated within the next few days so that the report could be adopted.

The Chairperson noted that the Committee would wait for a further report from the Department within the week.

The meeting was adjourned.