Chairperson, the ACDP party respecting all languages, cultures, and race groups acknowledges the budgetary allocation of some R7,8 billion of the Department of Public Works and R16,7 billion for the Property Management Trading Entity
By its own admission the Department of Public Works has a weakened mandate, due firstly to, the absence of legislation which would enable it to properly act as the landlord of the state, and secondly, not completing the review of the Public Works White Papers of 1997 and 1999, which resulted in other departments setting up their own construction and maintenance programmes.
Clearly all is not well in the department. Of great concern to the ACDP, are the Auditor General South Africa's 2017-18 audit outcomes, of the department and its entities. Of the six entities, only one, the Council for the Built Environment, received a clean audit. The worst performing entity, the Independent Development Trust, IDT, received a disclaimer audit opinion for 2017-18, due primarily to the fact that:
Firstly, its systems are inadequate to provide assurance.
Secondly, matters which resulted in qualifications in the previous year remained unresolved, and
Thirdly, additionally, the AG reported that on fraud and consequence management at the IDT, investigations were done, but recommendations were not implemented.
The root causes identified by the AG for all of the entities, except for the CBE, include: inadequate responses to improving key controls and addressing risk areas; inadequate consequences for poor performance and transgressions; and instability or vacancies in key positions.
Our country is facing serious financial challenges. Unemployment is sitting at over 27% on the narrow definition. We have the highest gini-coefficient, making SA the most unequal nation on the planet. We have a deficit on our national account and our debt to gross domestic product, GDP has surpassed 50% and projected to reach 60% in the next two years. The economy contracted in the first quarter of 2019; the biggest quarterly falls since the global financial crises of 2009.
The Department of Public Works has a huge role to play in improving the lives of ordinary South Africans, by contributing
to GDP growth, creating meaningful jobs for the millions of unemployed, improving our skills base through Extended Public Works Programmes, EPWP, and by giving heed to the discrepancies raised by the AG. We did as we did in the pre-Budget Vote process, the ACDP will continue to hold this department to account. Thank you.