Hon Chairperson, that was very kind of you. Hon Chairperson, hon Deputy Chairperson, hon Minister of Finance, the hon Tito Mboweni, hon members, [Bantu bekhethu beSewula Afrika, lotjhani.] fellow South Africans, I greet you. I would like to take this opportunity to table the report of the Select Committee on Appropriations on the Division of Revenue Amendment Bill 2019-20 financial year.
We have as per the prescripts, the legislation as the select committee go to our different provinces that is all nine provinces were visited. We have held meetings with all nine provinces and mandates therefore have been given to permanent delegates.
Hon Chairperson, allow me to make some important remarks. The committee feels very strong that going forward, Parliament must ensure that between the tabling of the Medium-Term Budget Policy Statement, MTBPS, by the Minister of Finance and Parliament rising, there is a need for enough time to be allowed for Parliament and provincial legislatures to process as per section 12(19) of the Money Bill and Related Matters Act 9 of 2009. This has been a
complain, hon members. Remember when we had a workshop with members from the provincial legislatures and SA Local Government Association, Salga, that we are not giving them enough time. The same complain has been received from the members that enough time is not received for us to process and apply our mind correctly in as far as this is concerned.
Hon Minister, we have understood the situation that you find yourself to present the MTBPS at the time that you did this year. However, going forward we humbly request that it must be done in time so that we can apply our mind and proper consultation can be done. To give an example, like it has happened in my province, on the 21st, that was last week that was the day on which I consulted the province and soon after that the committee had to have public consultations.
We have to make sure that every decision that we are taking as Parliament and as government is mandated and it is people centred. Public participation is the core of this government. This is the government of the people by the people for the people.
Hon members, I am going to go straight with your permission hon Chairperson of this House, to highlight issues, I mean to talk to
the recommendations. I am not going to talk about the issues that we have emphasized and highlighted because the report has been printed in the Announcements, Tablings and Committee Reports.
The Select Committee on Appropriations recommends that the Minister of Finance must ensure that the National Treasury Gazzette corrections to the Conditional Grant Framework as well as the new Conditional Grant Framework as set out in annexure two and three of the Bill, in accordance with section 16(4) of the Division of Revenue Act 2009 as soon as possible for all the affected conditional grants as set out in the reports.
While hon Chairperson, the committee notes the technical issues behind the School Infrastructure Backlog Grant adjustment and adjustments to infrastructure grants as a whole, the committee recommends that all procedural and technical issues needs to be swiftly and effectively dealt with to ensure that the financial support to the removal of these backlogs is given and that government does everything in its power to ensure the speedy completion of these projects. Very important to us and very deep in our heart and it has been emphasised as we went to the committees to say there is nothing that will make us or convince us as lawmakers or as oversight bodies for the grants to be used for something else
because the conditional grants come with specific conditions. Therefore we do not expect anything else to be done, unless specific procedures are followed or permission is given by Treasury. That is not going to be accepted by all of us.
Hon Minister and hon Chairperson, we have committed that the Sixth Parliament is going to be a dog with sharp teeth, we are not going just to buck, we are going to bite.
Chairperson and hon members, in order to prevent fiscal dumping and fruitless and wasteful expenditure, the Minister of Finance together with the Minister of Agriculture, Land Reform and Rural Development, the Minister of Health and the Minister of Basic Education and the affected Provincial Treasuries, should ensure that concrete steps are taken to build and demonstrate capacity to spend. Capacity is needed because we want to do away with this fruitless and wasteful expenditure, including developing clear plans to monitor expenditure for proposed additional allocations and ensure that all the proposed additional allocations are effectively and efficiently spent according to the approved plans before the end of this financial year.
What we want to avoid hon Chair and hon members is that year in and year out the Auditor-General has the same findings on the same departments and there are no mitigation plans. We have made it clear to the provinces and the relevant stakeholders to say mitigation plans are needed. They need to be developed and presented to the committees and we are going to make sure that they are not repeated and we are not only going to attend to them at the end of the financial year or at the end of the year. We will make sure that on quarterly basis where there are interventions needed, we do intervene.
The Minister of Finance should ensure that the Minister of Finance should ensure that the National Treasury approve the roll-overs contained in the Bill for all projects contained for all projects near completion timeously for the receiving municipalities. With regard to this we are talking about for an example the Regional Bulk Infrastructure to be used for emergency Vaal River pollution remediation and provinces. We are talking about provinces like Limpopo in terms of hospitals.
The committee appeals to the National Treasury, the Department of Co- operative Governance and Traditional Affairs and Salga to continue to support municipalities until the Eskom and the water
board debt issues are resolved. And to ensure that issues around provincial and municipal finances are attended to. To further ensure that municipalities create credible credit control measures, debt management policies and effective revenue collection strategies. We know we have heard about strategic plans, the intervention, the turnaround strategies and all those things and we are saying, enough is enough. We have looked at ourselves as the oversight body to say, if there were turnaround strategies and those oversight strategies have not worked, what have we done and what was our role? We took the blame to certain extent and we are ready to correct that.
The committee noted the issue of the prolonged drought raised by various provinces and the National Treasury's response was that funding is available, but it is not being spent. Provincial departments who have been allocated drought funding should urgently develop a clear strategy to ensure that drought relief funds reach the appropriate beneficiaries and further identify possible management and deal with the relevant officials accordingly.
Furthermore Chairperson, the Minister of Finance, the hon Tito Mboweni and the Minister of Transport should report progress to Parliament, to both Houses, within three months after the adoption of this report on what has been done since the pronouncement of the
Moloto Rail Corridor by the former President Jacob Zuma, in September 2017.
Hon Mahlangu, your time has expired.
The Moloto Rail development is a matter of importance to us people living in that area. Thank you very much. [Applause.]
Declaration of vote:
Hon Chairperson, the Western Cape province has considered the Division of Revenue Amendment Bill 2019, and while it is acknowledged that there is little scope for manoeuvre in this incredibly difficult financial time, we cannot forget that we got to this point as a result of years of ANC sponsored corruption, mismanagement and self-serving wastage.
The reality is that there are grave needs that should have been addressed by this budget, such as the appalling drought conditions experienced in the Western Cape, the Northern and Eastern Cape and other provinces. The absence of any assistance in this adjustment budget is sending the wrong message to struggling farmers in an already hostile environment.
The national government furthermore has an obligation to support safety and security programmes being driven in the provinces. Considering the President's commitment to fight the scourge of gender-based violence and the deployment of the SANDF to ganglands, it was expected that Premier Winde's recent launch of the provincial safety plan would have received some financial support. Nothing is forthcoming.
The provincial and local equitable shares are based on outdated information which does not reflect the massive in-migration and urbanisation, which is placing health and education services under increased pressure. It has been generally agreed since 2016 that equitable share needs to be reviewed. This must now be prioritised.
The lack of consequence management for financial irregularities, mismanagement and fiscal imprudence has become a point of consternation for many South Africans and yet, the ever growing Public Sector Wage Bill seems to reward individuals and departments for poor choices. Serious penalties are demanded together with a right sizing of the wage bill.
We do note the incredibly tough balancing act that must be achieved to ensure South Africa's financial viability. However, the continued
support of failing state-owned enterprises at the expense of life- changing services for real, average South Africans is unconscionable and as a result the Western Cape cannot in good conscience support this Bill. [Applause.]
Question put: That the Bill be agreed to.
IN FAVOUR: Eastern Cape, Free State, Gauteng, KwaZulu-Natal, Limpopo, Mpumalanga, Northern Cape and North West.
AGAINST: Western Cape.
Bill agreed to in accordance with section 65 of the Constitution.
... [Inaudible.] Thank you very much. I was saying that the majority of the provinces having voted in favour of the Bill, I therefore declared the Bill agreed to in terms of section 65 of the Constitution. [Applause.] We will now hon members move on to Questions. But before I proceed, I would like to take the opportunity to welcome the special delegates as well as the Ministers present. Further, I would like to make the following remarks just to remind members of what is expected of them:
The time for reply to a question by the Minister is five minutes maximum. Only four supplementary questions are allowed per question. A member who has asked the initial question would be the first to be allowed an opportunity to ask a supplementary question. The time for asking a supplementary question is maximum two minutes. The time to reply to supplementary question is four minutes and supplementary question must emanate from the initial question. I now call on the Minister to respond to the question. If you look at your Question Paper, hon members you will see that the first question is from hon T B Matibe and the question is Question 240 on Financial Misconduct in Local Government. This question is directed to the Minister of Finance. [Applause.]