Madam Chair, hon Minister, chairman of the committee, hon members, and those who work in the engine room of the department, it is a great pleasure for me to be here this afternoon and to talk about this incredibly important subject. It is my hope, now that we have a new Minister and a new director-general, that this constitutes a new beginning for this department, because it is a new beginning that is very necessary.
It is an incredibly powerful department, if one looks at the numbers. I am not sure of the assets, but I do know they are in excess of R450 billion. This means we are looking at a business here with an asset base of $100 billion. That makes it an enormous business with an enormous base by any international standards. It has a budget of R8 billion. It has leasing activity, if my memory serves me correctly, in excess of R1 billion per annum. So, it is a massive department, with the capacity to really make a huge difference to the economy of South Africa.
I think what we all find, whether we are at the executive level - at the provincial level or the national level - is that our revenue budgets are too small. The hon Minister mentioned, for instance, having a problem with maintenance, with looking after our buildings, etc. We all have that problem. That is common to you, and it is common in the provinces. We never have enough money to do all the things that we want to do in what we get from Treasury. However, what I think is incredibly important is the money that we can generate in Public Works. That becomes the important thing, and I want to come back to that in a moment.
In regard to a new beginning, hon Minister, I want to talk about three areas. The first area is one that you have tackled very boldly - I think part of me thinks a little too boldly. It is the question of honesty and integrity in the operations of your department, and your determination to identify and stamp out corrupt behaviour. I really must commend you on that. I think that to say that Public Works - certainly in this province, I think nationally and, I suspect, in most provinces - has been a haven of those who want to steal the people's money is unfortunately true. It was certainly true here. [Interjections.] It was certainly true here and I had to get rid of some of the people. [Interjections.] This is not a political matter. This is a matter about the country. I want to say to the hon Minister that what we must be very careful of is something we have just managed to stamp out here in the Western Cape. I know it exists elsewhere, however. I am going to give an example of what is happening in the Free State, and that is the practice of people in the department colluding with so-called property entrepreneurs outside the department. What is done is this. They get a letter from the department offering a rental for a certain building at an amount much higher than its historic rental or its market rental. [Interjections.] The so-called entrepreneur usually has an historically disadvantaged individual as a front, but there are nearly always white people behind it. This enables them then to purchase the building or to get loans to purchase the building at virtually any price because of its enormous rental in terms of this, and from that they secure the lease.
Let me give you an example. With three of my buildings, if those leases had been signed, the province would have paid out R70 million more than what it would have needed to pay out over the next nine years. Just on three buildings - R70 million! I do not know if there is anyone here from the Free State, but I would ask the administration there to look at the property known as Cooper House, 157 St Andrews Street, Bloemfontein. They should look out for a company trying to buy it called Cedar Creek Properties. That company was the one that got involved in my territory. They should also look out for two gentlemen called Peter Volkwyn and Juan Gossman ... [Interjections.] ... and stop whatever they are doing, because they want to take the people's money.
The second thing I want to comment to the hon Minister on is our agenda as the Public Works family. In the few years that I have been involved, I have found that our agenda has got a little bit stuck. Whilst we discuss important things, we are discussing the same old important things. While I think that we must not discard those things - they are very important - we have to widen that agenda. In particular, national government Outcome 6, I think, has to largely determine our agenda when we meet in the family with the hon Minister and the MECs from the provinces. We need to really start looking at that. Our business is infrastructure, and that is what we must be busy with.
I want to say to the hon Minister that I believe - and it is my private opinion - that none of the ten departments is capable of managing themselves in the whole complexity that they are faced with, without skilled and properly procured outsourcing. That is my experience and I pass it on to you after two years. I thought I could manage all that; we just don't have the resources and skills in the departments to do it.
I also want to say to the hon Minister that vesting is taking too long. It is being passed at the regional level of the hon Minister's department, but it is getting stuck somewhere between there and her. This is crucially needed - land for clinics at Du Noon, land for schools at Grabouw, and so on - and it is just taking too long.
I want to move to the third area, and that is the question of using our assets. I have to say that if we do not use our assets, we are like that person in the Bible who is given talents but goes and buries them in the garden. We may not do that. We have to use the assets we all have at provincial level, at municipal level and, indeed, at national level. They are a treasure chest and, as important as the Expanded Public Works Programme, EPWP, is - and I support the expressions of my colleagues and the hon chairman down there - the most important thing to do is to create permanent decent work. That is the most important thing we have to do. We own these huge assets. If we make them work for us, we are able to create permanent decent work. That has to be the prime goal for South Africa and it is certainly the prime goal for this department.
I understand the hon Minister's putting in place a moratorium while she fishes for thieves and crooks and those who steal the people's money out of her department and deals with them. Sometimes I wish she could deal with them in the way China does, but of course we cannot. Once she has done that, however, I suggest that we should not have a moratorium for too long. We are coming out of a recession where we are simply not growing fast enough to create those permanent decent jobs. Many other countries in the same economic position are using their public built environment to kick- start their economy.
We have started here in the Western Cape, but it is not easy. We have identified underutilised and unutilised pieces of land and we are learning how to work. We have one absolutely key guiding principle: we do not sell our land. We do not sell our land; we lease it. [Interjections.] It is the people's land and it must stay with the people, all right? However, you can lease it and use it to generate revenue to maintain your buildings, schools and roads. [Interjections.] You can use it to generate economic growth. [Interjections.] I am surprised that some people on that side are starting to cackle like the chicken that the hon chair spoke about ... [Interjections.] ... because these are things that I would have thought they would want to do for the people.
The House Chairperson (Mrs N W Magadla): Hon member, your time has expired, and please address the Chairperson, not the audience.