Recent floods in KZN; DCOG, DTA & MISA 2022/23 Annual Performance Plans, with Ministry

Meeting report

The Chairperson welcomed Minister Dr Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma, Deputy Minister Obed Bapela and all in attendance. First on the agenda was a report on the recent floods in KZN. The Chairperson had written a letter to the Minister for guidance on how best the Committee could perform oversight given the scale of the problems caused by the KZN floods, which drew international attention. Many persons held an interest in the KZN floods. The Committee therefore found it important to be informed of any new developments around the disaster. It was important to understand the issues surrounding the floods. Everyone was prepared to assist. The Committee thereafter received a briefing on the 2022/23 Annual Performance Plan by DCOG, MISA and DTA. The Chairperson then handed over to the Minister.

Minister remarks

The Minister greeted all officials on the platform. She thanked the Chairperson for being understanding. She told the Department that it had been too early “at the time” to make a presentation to the Committee in respect of the KZN floods however the Department was now ready to make the presentation. KZN was affected by large amounts of rainfall over a single weekend. Some parts of the Province received rainfall equivalent to more than 100 days of rain. This caused floods which left a trail of destruction not only on the infrastructure but also on human lives. There were many heart wrenching stories detailing how people lost loved ones “in the blink of an eye”. Scientists had warned that with climate change South Africa would be exposed to two different types of climates. It was anticipated that the eastern regions of the country would be wetter with frequent floods and the western regions drier with frequent droughts. This was thought to be in the distant future but clearly it is with us now. As South Africa dealt with the aftermath of the KZN floods it should also seriously look into risk management and take into consideration factors of climate change whilst rebuilding.

The coordination of response and recovery efforts to flooding incidents in KZN  

Ms Ane Bruwer, Executive Manager, National Disaster Management Centre (NDMC), took the Committee through the presentation. The purpose of the presentation was to provide the Committee with an update on the national disaster which affected the KZN province as well as intervention measures by organs of state. The presentation would focus on; the extent of the damage caused by the floods, the immediate relief measures that were put in place to house families who were left homeless, how the province and national government were assisting eThekwini in providing drinking water to communities, disaster management plans in place for the province and support provided by sector Departments, resources for the management of the disaster and areas requiring strategic intervention.

South Africa had been experiencing torrential rain which had persisted in parts of the country but most of the damage was experienced in KZN due to flooding and mudslides. The most severe damage could be seen along the coast. EThekwini metro was particularly badly affected. More than 17 600 households were affected, a total of 5 672 households were completely destroyed and more than 9 500 houses were partially destroyed. An excess of 123 000 people had been affected by the floods. A total of 435 fatalities were reported, 53 people were missing, 6342 people were homeless and 40 people had been injured. Most of the departmental sectors had been affected i.e. Agriculture, Water and Sanitation, Social Development, Human Settlement, and Education.  

When looking at the interventions by national government, the processes in terms of the Disaster Management Act 57 of 2002 were about classification and the declaration of a state of disaster. The KZN disaster was originally declared as a provincial disaster but following the re-assessment of the conditions, the disaster was classified as a national disaster in terms of the Act. Classification assigns primary responsibility to a particular sphere of government to manage and coordinate the disaster. Therefore if something was a National disaster the responsibility would lie with national government. Classification also enabled the reallocation of funds by the affected municipalities and provincial departments from their own applicable grants to augment the resources for intervention measures. This was in accordance with the Division of Revenue Act. The Minister, Dr Dlamini-Zuma, declared the National State of Disaster in terms of s27 of the Disaster Act. Notice to this effect was published in the Government Gazette on 18 April 2022. The purpose of the declaration was to augment existing legislation and contingency arrangements of the affected organs of state and to activate other extraordinary measures when required.

The institutional arrangements in place in terms of the legislation were as follows. The Inter-governmental Committee on Disaster Management sat at the top and is chaired by Minister Dlamini-Zuma comprised of Cabinet members, MECs and MMCs. Next was the National Disaster Management Advisory forum. The Head of the National Disaster Management Centre was the chairperson here; members were senior representatives of national departments, provincial departments and the South African Local Government Association (SALGA). The National Joint Flood Coordination Committee would specifically deal with the floods. This Committee was extended to the Director Generals, chaired by the head of the National Disaster Management Centre. Next was the National Disaster Operations Centre where information was received and reports were developed on the situation. Nine workstreams had been established to deal with specific areas to cluster the task together. These areas were health and medical services, humanitarian relief, donor support, early warnings, food and nutrition, communication and community mobilisation, infrastructure intervention, security and emergency search and rescue. An overwhelming amount of support and contributions had been received from organisations and individuals, the list was ongoing. A number of disaster management plans had been received but a few municipalities had not submitted their plans. There were grants available to municipalities for re-allocation of funds to address disaster damages. There were also conditional grants available to provinces to deal with some of the effects of the disaster.  

When focusing on areas which required strategic intervention. The key areas of concern were poor infrastructure planning and implementation. This reflected poor workmanship resulting in recurring disaster managers. There were capacity constraints, establishment of human settlements in areas which were unsafe and bylaws not enforced by responsible authorities.

It was recommended that the Portfolio Committee make a note for an update on the impact of severe weather events and intervention measures in KZN. Progress was noted on multi-sectoral integrated interventions to ensure rapid and effective response to the disaster as well as post-disaster recovery and rehabilitation. Support was provided in advocating disaster risk reduction and mitigation measures within communities for sustainability and resilience building in the country. Municipalities within KZN were encouraged to develop, update, review and submit their disaster management plans to the NDMC.

In conclusion, Ms Bruwer said that the coordination of response and recovery efforts continued with the focus on the immediate humanitarian relief, stabilisation and recovery as well as rehabilitation and reconstruction. With the drastic spike of service weather events and disaster damages, it was evident that the conditions could not be addressed solely through funding. This required a drastic change from government, stakeholders, private sector, communities etc. and redirection of resources and focus on disaster risk reduction and mitigation measures to ensure sustainability and resilience building within communities. The focus needed to be on areas like risk assessments, spatial planning, climate change, adaptation measures, enforcement of bylaws and risk transfer measures/insurance. organs of state should focus on conducting disaster risk assessments to enable the development of practical and implementable disaster management plans. Risk-informed development planning was crucial and should be implemented through the One Plan process for each district space.

Discussion

Ms H Mkhaliphi (EFF) thanked the Chairperson and welcomed the presentation. She expressed disappointment at the delayed response from the Committee in respect of visiting the areas affected by the floods. The Committee needed to be within the people when they are faced with such disaster. It would be concerning if the Committee were not this proactive. The Committee should not merely wait for the Department to brief it on Zoom as if it did not take the plight of the people seriously, particularly the plight of the poorest of the poor. The Chairperson should engage with House Chair Cedric Frolick to persuade him into allowing the Committee to perform oversight on the effects of the floods. This would enable the Committee to show Ubuntu.

This brief on the floods was very late. Members had forwarded written submissions to the Chairperson urging him to ask the Minister for a briefing when the topic was still fresh. The response received from the Minister stating that the Department was still in the process of attaining more information was inappropriate. Part of the presentation mentioned that some of the Ministers were on the ground immediately following the floods. The Committee wanted direct information. It was not appropriate for the Committee to receive information this late. In terms of the presentation, the most discomforting thing was the response from the Disaster Management Centre. It was supposed to coordinate with other relevant departments. There were families who had not seen a single politician or official from Disaster Management. There were activists on the ground saving lives and comforting those affected by the floods and the disaster was heavy. Most people had lost multiple family members and some persons were missing to this day. Activists suggested that a list be sent to the Disaster Management sector of the Department. As yet, feedback had not been received from Disaster Management in terms of the list which had been sent to them because no one is giving anyone feedback. No response had been received after the list had been submitted. The Departments of Social Development and Human Settlements were also in question. The Department of Human Settlements was a disaster itself. People had lost their homes and no one from the Department of Human Settlements addressed them with a plan specifying the rebuilding of houses. The people who lost their homes in the floods were the same people who did not have proper housing. The Department was missing in action and nowhere to be found. SASSA had intervened. The Department of Social Development tried its level best.

Ms Mkhaliphi told the Committee that SASSA and its CEO, Ms Busisiwe Memela-Khambula, were very active. She responds to messages sent after hours without complaint. She is an example of the type of official that the Committee is looking for in this particular government. The Department of Social Development promptly intervened. The offices of SASSA in some parts of the country were taking advantage of the poorest of the poor. In the Phoenix, SASSA offices the vouchers being handed out were strictly directing people to particular stores far from where they lived. This particular office has an arrangement with Browns Cash & Carry. Some people would need to take two taxis to reach that location. Why were retail stores around Phoenix not engaged? People reported that a particular list of items to purchase was given to them at Browns Cash & Carry and they could not diverge from this list. The intervention steps taken to address this matter were that an SMS was sent to the Minister of Social Development who did not even attempt to enquire about the matter. When the SASSA office in Phoenix was confronted and asked where it received the authority to deny or restrict purchasing of certain goods it could not answer.

In terms of water tankers, people were struggling. There were no water tankers providing people with water. People in parts of KZN, especially in eThekwini, were blocking roads because water was not being provided. People were left days without water. There were no plans to ensure water was being provided to affected communities.

Prior to the floods, there were people who had built homes on the banks of rivers which were identified as high flood zones. What were the interventions taken by the municipality to alert those who build houses in high flood zones? It was the role of the municipality and all other stakeholders in government to alert people who lived in high flood zone areas i.e. river banks. There was no plan to alert people of the dangers and to provide alternative land for people to erect settlements on. The Minister was familiar with the areas in KwaZulu-Natal. Certain lands near Amaoti had been declared flood zones but there was no campaign or strategy from the municipality to alert people that they were in a danger zone. People in the area have died in numbers. EThekwini Disaster Management has moved survivors from this area into the community hall and has provided food for those people. There were however complaints about food being locked away from the people. People complained that they were hungry while food is available but being locked away. When a follow-up was conducted at the eThekwini Municipality it was said that the person accused of locking food away, was the same person responsible for cooking for the people in the hall. No follow-ups were however conducted to ensure that people were not starving in the hall. People were also not told how long they would be staying in transit. Most wanted to return and rebuild their homes. There was uncertainty and no councillors present to address the concerns people had. When President Cyril Ramaphosa addressed the nation in respect of the floods, specific cases were mentioned by the EFF at the debate. The municipality of eThekwini had announced that families who had lost members would be assisted with R15 000. The Councillor of ward 59, Cllr Mhlongo, was phoned by a local radio station and informed that there was a particular situation in the ward. The councillor did not make contact with any of the families to check whether they had any needs. The Premier had insisted on receiving the contact details of those families affected but as yet no contact had been made. There was no coordination. It was pointless to have a beautiful presentation and stating that different stakeholders had assisted families while the focus should be on the Department itself.

When the disaster started there was engagement with different stakeholders particularly in the disaster management services. Information had been shared that there were particular houses in informal settlements that would be adversely affected and a report stated that the rainfall would continue during the weekend. Ms Mkhaliphi told the Committee that she had urged people to be sent from the Department to investigate whether a particular river was blocked. Not a single person from the municipality had checked whether the river had any blockages. Upon engagement with disaster management at a national level, it was said that assistance was still coming. For how long must the Committee just make noise? The reality was that there was no proper coordination in disaster management.

Ms E Spies (DA) said she wanted to add to what Ms Mkhaliphi had said. There was a total disconnect between what was happening on the ground and what was being presented to the Committee. People reported that officials could not be contacted. Councillors were running around because they have to do what they can with what they had. There was uncertainty about where the Disaster Management centre was located. There was also uncertainty around who was managing donations and how the donations were being handled. Many institutions had contributed financially but what mechanisms were in place to ensure that those financial donations were going to the right channels? In the slides which addressed the disaster response and recovery approach, one of the three steps was for immediate humanitarian relief, making sure everyone was safe and making sure basic needs were met, however people were without water. How do you explain 70 water tankers provided to a population of four million people? The Department has said that there are interventions underway that were being discussed in the water and sanitation war room. These were all things that were mentioned but none were being detailed. There were ten plans from the district municipality and eleven plans developed by the local municipality. The Department has been saying that it is still talking in recommendations about encouraging Municipalities to develop, update and review their disaster management plans. This could not be so. The Minister rightfully mentioned that scientists had warned that extreme weather patterns would be experienced. Climate change was real yet; discussions were around things that are still in the air with no deadlines. Municipalities must have plans in place and review those plans. There must be a date linked to when these plans ought to be completed because honestly, the Department cannot operate like this. Where was the major in all of this? How were people really being assisted? It was sad to see how desolate and totally distraught people looked on the news. They do not know whether they would ever find their families or their bodies or what is left of them. This emphasised the total disconnect in respect of what was presented to the Committee today and what was actually happening on the ground. It was time for the Committee to go and see for itself what was happening. A physical visit would ensure that the questions Members had and received on a daily basis could be answered and the Committee would be able to see what was really happening on the ground.

Mr A Matumba (EFF) said that there was no reason for the delayed visit from the Committee because the floods occurred within its jurisdiction. The Committee needed to perform oversight and talk to the people. This was important so that when departments presented to the Committee a thorough oversight could be done. This would enable the Committee to scrutinise the work done by departments because the Committee worked for the people. The people relay their problems to Members. A mandate was needed from those affected by the floods. The Committee should have been on the ground performing oversight a long time ago and this should not be disputed. It is an African tradition to pay respects to a grieving family by visiting the family without delay. This is done to comfort the grieving family by being present. This visitation would also indicate to the family that they would be helped. The Committee should have visited the affected areas as soon as possible. In 2019 in Durban Easter floods occurred and it was reported that 1 000 people had been displaced. Members were left with so many questions when there were struggles that needed to be addressed. Were the previous 1000 displaced people affected by the Durban Easter floods assisted and did they receive new houses? Would those affected by the current floods be given land to settle on? There should have been knowledge on what to do and what not to do because floods had previously been experienced in 2019. Visiting KZN was the priority and the Committee should not only do a boardroom oversight.

Mr K Ceza (EFF) said that the outcome of the deprivation of land was seen through the disastrous floods. Historically people were moved to lands that were unproductive and unsustainable. The floods should first and foremost demonstrate that people have been pushed to such lengths. Government was not taking the question of climate change seriously. Had government taken climate change seriously, monitoring instruments would have been seen in place to pre-empt any future disasters. This had been requested for a very long time and it seems as if the Committee is just making noise without taking action. The presentation mentioned that poor maintenance, recurring disaster damages, capacity constraints and the establishment of human settlements in unsafe environments contributed to the occurrence of floods. The Department did not have the audacity to tell the Committee about those factors. The exodus of rural dwellers and the development of the rural dwellers to abolish the distinction between rural and urban areas should be spoken about. The infrastructural development within those areas is not the same. The Committee had echoed this for a very long time yet no results are seen. Parliament approaches the end of term yet the Department seems to be doing nothing to ensure the abolishment of the town to rural distinction. Rural dwellers continue to go through difficulties. The Department did not give the Committee any timeframes for the projects they were mentioning. The stopgap system of the District Development Model as a temporal measure was often taken without sustainable and clear timeframes. Clear timeframes were important to ensure sustainability and to encourage thinking outside of the box to ensure communities do not face disasters in the first instance. There were issues around the type of instruments put in place to combat corruption during this period of the floods. Were there instruments put in place to ensure that the Department, province, districts and municipalities pre-empt all forms of corruption? Corruption was seen in the Covid-19 reports. There seemed to be no report indicating that there were instruments in place to curtail corruption within the donations made by the different sectors. What were the criteria used to report on these things and to ensure that the contributions made were monitored very well and each and every cent was accounted for? The EFF had contributed and this contribution had not been recorded. This would mean that the contribution would not be accounted for since the criteria decided not to include it.

Ms P Xaba-Ntshaba (ANC) welcomed the presentation from the Department and greeted everyone singling out the Minister. The Minister and her team had been seen going all over KZN where there were targets. In KZN the terrain is such that there are mountains which prevent one from seeing one side of land when situated at the other end. It could not be said that the Department did or is doing nothing. On the morning of the meeting, people addressed the media stating that they had not received aid from disaster management. Large teams from disaster management were however seen on media working hard to assist those affected by the floods. Team members could be seen trekking through rivers and assisting people. When will the disaster management team reach all the affected people? Considering that the DCoG was the leading Department equipped to deal with the disaster. Could the Minister not collaborate with other Ministers and their departments? This collaboration would enable the team to reach more people because this was a big disaster.

Ms Xaba-Ntshaba confirmed that the Minister had seen addressing many people and discussing the disaster. However, this engagement was not enough because the terrain of KZN was such that it made it difficult for all people to be accounted for. The Minister’s hard work was nonetheless acknowledged. What measures did the Minister have in place to ensure that all people were reached in KZN? The Committee needed to visit the affected areas to give people hope. This would comfort people, knowing that the Committee was following the Minister to see for itself what was happening in KZN. There was consensus with all the previous Members who spoke. The Committee needed to prioritise the visit to KZN. Currently, in three hospitals there was no water. People were concerned about the unhygienic spaces they stayed in. There were foul odours and children were becoming ill. What the Minister would do about this was uncertain. The belief however was that the Minister could do something in her power. Could the Minister help those hospitals that were without water? If this did not fall under the Department of Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs could the relevant Departments be involved? How would the Minister ensure that the money donated to aid recovering from the disaster is closely monitored? Certain people take advantage and steal the monies donated by donors. What would the Minister do to closely monitor monetary donations to ensure each cent was accounted for? The tendency certain people had to steal money from the poor was embarrassing. This embarrassed the Committee and the Department. The Committee was reminded of the Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) corruption where people stole money like nothing happened. The money was stolen irrespective of the fact that the money was geared towards saving lives. How would the Minister closely monitor the monetary donations to ensure that they were not stolen?

Mr G Mpumza (ANC) welcomed the report. The Committee had now received the report on the KZN floods. The time had arrived for the Committee to perform an oversight visit to KZN and the Eastern Cape. The Committee had been yearning to do so. There was hesitancy to go on the very first day of the floods, but now that a report had been received from the Department the oversight could move forward from an informed position. The Committee needed information first so that oversight could be performed on the basis of the information received. The belief that an obligation existed amongst African communities to be physically present where another experiences misfortune was uncontested and correct. The Committee had been put in a better position after receiving the report and it would need to consider undertaking the oversight visits to KZN and the Eastern Cape. The Minister had mentioned that scientific reports had indicated that climate change was with us and that abnormal floods and desertification would become the norm in South Africa. The slide reflecting on the submission of disaster management plans by municipalities was worrying. There were a number of municipalities that had not submitted their disaster management plans. The fact that those institutions did not have disaster management plans was a clear indication that they were not ready to respond to disasters if they were to occur. In any planning done by any institution, risk management should be the first priority in respect of saving lives and saving the infrastructure. The vitality of an economy in any geographic situation would require adequate resilient infrastructure. Where disaster management plans were absent it meant that constant disaster management assessments were not being conducted by those institutions. This would indicate that there was no disaster risk reduction strategy in the event of its own occurrence. Pre-emptive disaster strategies were thus absent. This was a worrying factor. Where is the centre of coordination that receives the particular aid before it is distributed? This information was important to ensure aid is distributed to the appropriate persons and the coordination centre would ensure accountability. When the Committee conducts its oversight visits it would need to strongly engage with the disaster coordinating centre. This engagement would help the Committee conduct its oversight with clear and accurate information pertaining to the floods.

South Africa was not unfamiliar with disasters. The floods were not a first but had however developed into a huge calamity. Focus needed to be placed on building the agility to reduce vulnerability. The floods indicated that spatial planning reinforced by clear bylaws was not very adequate in eThekwini. There was a provision in the law which stated that wherever a settlement would be constructed an environmental assessment was mandatory to determine whether the area was habitable. The most vulnerable people were affected by the floods. Why, as government, do we allow people to establish themselves along the banks of rivers and floodplains? This spoke to a non-existent spatial plan. The lesson learned from the calamity in KZN was the need to develop the agility to reduce vulnerability in communities in whatever form. The Department of Human Settlements as well as municipalities should begin to look at these issues more seriously in respect of establishing houses.    

Mr X Msimango (ANC) greeted everyone. He agreed with most of what was said by the Members who previously spoke in terms of the Department needed to do better. A call was received reporting that people could not get a hold of officials to assist them. This was disturbing news. The work that the Minister could do was appreciated however more could be done. The Minister needed more hands to assist on the ground. It was disturbing to hear that people had not met any officials to assist them. Yet when we need those people to vote for us we go to their houses door to door. It cannot be that when we want votes we are able to go to the people’s houses but when they are in problems we do not go to the very same houses where we asked for votes. More hands were needed to assist. There are reports along with media interviews of people stating that they are not receiving assistance. It was important to know exactly how many people had not received any assistance. Perhaps more focus should be directed to KZN and the people who had been affected by the floods. A comprehensive plan needed to be crafted by the Department giving an indication of the number of people who had been assisted. This would enable stakeholders to track the number of people who still needed assistance. It was understood that people could become very technical when it comes to these things, in terms of what is reported to the Committee and what was happening on the ground. It would be difficult to determine who was honest and who was not without a comprehensive plan. A plan seeking to reach almost all of those affected by the floods needed to be prioritised. The KZN floods were an urgent matter and could not be delayed. It needed to be resolved before life could return back to normal. Mr Msimango said that the people needed them on the ground we they had to make sure they are there with them.

Mr B Hadebe (ANC) welcomed the report and expressed his sincere condolences to the people of KZN who lost loved ones and were displaced, not forgetting the people of the Eastern Cape and Western Cape who had also fallen victim to the floods. Appreciation and gratitude were expressed to Cabinet and the Minister for their prompt response in attending to the disaster. The actions of Cabinet and the Minister did not go unnoticed and they should keep up the good work. He aligned himself with the comments of the Members who previously spoke and proposed an oversight visit. Now that the Committee had received the report and understood some of the details, content and extent of the disaster it was high time to study the report thoroughly. This thorough study of the report would enable Members to compare what was on paper to what was on the ground. A proposal was made for the Committee to move with speed to conclude all the logistics and details surrounding the oversight visit. Although the ad hoc committee established by Parliament was welcomed the Committee had a leading role to play in this disaster. The Committee needed to provide direction and the necessary support required.

The Chairperson handed over to the Department to respond.

Ms Mkhaliphi intervened to indicate that she had forgotten to ask a specific question in respect of SASSA grants. The grants were very welcomed as a sort of intervention to families who had lost everything in terms of the disaster. There were however still missing persons. What were the interventions in place, in terms of SASSA grants, for the families who had no hope of finding their missing family members? These were families who had opened missing cases with the police but were unaware of whether their family members would be found alive. Were there any arrangements for SASSA interventions to sympathise with those families in terms of the grants? There was a slide recognising those who had assisted during the floods, it was important to note that the EFF had assisted. Why was the EFF not part of that list?

The Chairperson reported that the Minister asked to be excused by 1pm. Some Members were part of the discussion of the Municipal Systems Amendment Act. The Minister and her team were permitted to respond to the questions.

Response

The Minister thanked the Chairperson and the Members for their questions. The team from the Department responded first followed by the Minister last.

Ms Bruwer said the Department took note of the concerns which were raised. The Department would make an effort to engage with the Provincial disasters management centre specifically on the lists that were mentioned to identify those who had not been assisted. There would also be engagement with the Department of Social Development. The Department of Social Development was a key Department of which a follow up would be conducted in respect of the SASSA grants and the particular areas identified as gaps. In terms of the issue with missing persons, this was an issue the Department had to investigate to determine whether there were specific timeframes. This would be led by the Department of Social Development because it is the custodian of the grants and attaining information from the security cluster in terms of the missing persons and how this was being dealt with. A follow-up would be conducted on those issues. The Committee was invited to visit the affected areas. The Department would propose that the sectored departments leading the task teams accompany the Committee to ensure that specific questions would be addressed by the relevant Departments. In terms of the hospitals without water, the Department would engage with the Department of Water and Sanitation including municipalities to determine whether there were any interventions to fast track. Many of the comments from Members were general comments and concerns, which had been noted. The Department was having a meeting on Thursday where these matters would be raised to ensure that feedback was received in terms of the actions and interventions taken.

The Chairperson said that there was some explanation the Committee ought to give. The situation in KZN demanded that everyone should be there. The Committee now knew what was expected of it. Government had a face and the face was the executive led by the President and Cabinet. It was the duty of the Committee to perform oversight. The Committee had noted the concerns and needed to adjust its programme to make sure it was present with some understanding of what was going on. This needed to be said so that it did not seem as if the Minister had delayed the oversight visit of the Committee.  

Mr Ntandazo Vimba, CEO, MISA, said that in terms of government interventions, critical for this Committee to note was that, approximately 147 engineers were deployed to assist in KZN from MISA, South African National Defence Force (SANDF) and other provinces. MISA deployed 16 professional engineers who were still working in KZN, assisting with assessments and looking at other Districts beyond eThekwini. MISA together with the Department of Public Works and Infrastructure were leading infrastructure intervention streams in response to the interventions in KZN. Other agencies and provinces also supported the initiative.

The Minister thanked the Chairperson and all the Members who had raised issues. A request was made for all Members who had information about people who were not being helped to submit this information. The Department responded to calls from members of the public. There were people who were in shelters and in the halls. There was a group who refused to leave a particular school. Initially, people were moved from the floodplains with such urgency that some ended up in schools. This was during an emergency. These people had to however be moved to other spaces because the schools also needed to open. There were people who refused to be moved from the schools. This was unfair towards the children who needed to attend school and the persons who had been found alternative living spaces. It was easy to account for those in shelters because one knows that they need blankets, mattresses, food and medicine. The difficulties came with those who did not come to the shelters but decided to live with relatives and friends. These persons become difficult to trace. Some may be traceable because the councillors have recorded them. Information explaining the whereabouts of those who were affected by the floods but are staying with relatives and friends would be appreciated. The people in shelters were being taken care of. The details of the shelter mentioned by Ms Mkhaliphi where food was allegedly being looked away were requested. Something would be done about that. The food was there for the people to eat.

The Minister appreciated having these issues brought to her attention so that they may be resolved. It might just be that the Department was unaware of certain issues, like how somebody is locking food away and not allowing people to eat. On the issue of search and rescue, initially, there was quite a big contingency of search and rescue teams not because they were in KZN but because other Provinces sent teams to assist. It was important to acknowledge that not enough search and rescue teams had been trained. It might be because South Africa had never experienced a disaster of this magnitude before and so this was a lesson. It was important from henceforth to train more search and rescue teams to ensure that assistance would be available if ever a disaster occurred again. There were four teams still present in KZN who was searching and trying to find the missing people. On Saturday seven bodies were found and the work was continuing. It was difficult to locate the bodies of those who had been swept away by the floods because the current often dragged the bodies kilometres away. There were 60 unidentified bodies. There were bodies that had been found but not identified by relatives.

On the issue of water, there was a huge problem with water in eThekwini in both the townships and suburbs. This prompted a lot of water tankers being sent to eThekwini. There were 188 water tankers in Durban and 100 wards in Durban. They should be able to service people because in some places water had been restored. The Deputy Mayor indicated that the municipality had acted on demand. If people indicate that they did not have water, water tankers would be sent.

If Members knew of specific areas where there was no water they were encouraged to inform the Minister. There were enough water tankers to service people. On the issue of corruption, the Minister said that no one wanted corruption to happen especially with this disaster. The President mentioned that there was a team being developed together with National Treasury to ensure that the Auditor-General could have a line of sight of the transactions as they happened. There was a lot of effort being put into ensuring that the money is used for what it was intended. It was uncertain why the EFF contribution had not been mentioned. If there was a contribution from the EFF it should be reflected. The Minister confirmed that she was hearing this for the first time and was not aware of it. Some of the contributions get sent directly to the provinces and some directly to the municipalities. The KZN floods were only declared a National disaster later. For the first week, it was merely a provincial disaster. Some of the comments made by Members who did not need a response were noted. There were teams still trying to find the missing people and helicopters were being used to get to difficult to reach places. The work was difficult but still continuing. In respect of the SASSA grants, the people in the shelters would not necessarily receive the grant whilst they remained in the shelters. They would receive the grant once they leave. It was difficult if missing persons were not found and declared dead in respect of the SASSA grants. People were being helped when they needed help. If people needed shelter and food they would be helped. In terms of getting help for burial services, the person needed to be found and declared dead. This was a very sensitive topic and a painful situation. The rescue teams were trying their best to find people. The hope was for the unidentified bodies found to be identified. The Department should communicate the fact that certain bodies may have been swept away into different regions and so families should broaden their search to other districts not just their local mortuary. Relatives should just search everywhere. There were three main mortuaries being used in Pinetown, Phoenix and Park Rynie. The other issues raised needed a proper discussion. The Department acknowledged the issues and that is why they were in the report. Some of the municipalities had not sent the Department their disaster risk plans. When everything is rebuilt people should not be sent back to the same areas where they could experience floods again. Land where it was safe to build needed to be found. The people who lived in the mountainous regions where mudslides washed away their homes should be removed from those dangerous areas. Land needed to be found and people needed to be removed from those dangerous areas. For how long would people be in shelters? The Department of Human Settlement had given people temporary homes. Information was also required to determine whose homes needed to be repaired so that materials could be bought. Ms Mkhaliphi was encouraged to send all the details of the areas where people who received vouchers were being directed to locations that were far. The Department could not deal with things sitting in Pretoria. The people on the ground needed to be informed. Those things needed to be corrected. Ms Mkhaliphi was urged to send an email to the Department with all the information. On the issue of the Buthelezi family, the Premier committed to attending to that family. It seemed as though something went wrong. The family used their private undertakers. It was said that the family would be reimbursed. At the time when the funeral occurred, there was no proper communication with the family. This was the response received from the Premier. There would be discussions to determine how to reimburse the family. Members, who had acknowledged the work of the Department, even though it was not perfect, were thanked. If the Department had its way it would have wanted to be permanently stationed in KZN. Other responsibilities needed to be undertaken so the Department could not be there all the time. The comments and the discussions were appreciated.

The Chairperson noted hands but reminded Members that they were pressed for time. Ms Mkhaliphi was given the opportunity to ask a follow-up question.

Ms Mkhaliphi thanked the Minister. A request was made for the Secretary of the Committee to share the Minister’s number. The Minister was thanked for availing herself to be contacted. The Minister needed to conduct a follow-up on the people housed in Amaoti Community hall. There was an NPO tasked with cooking but people were left to starve even though disaster management provided food. Other issues would be directly communicated to the Minister as she had requested.

The Minister shared her contact details with Ms Mkhalipi.

The Chairperson concluded by stating that the urgency of the KZN floods had been noted. Out of the information shared with the Committee, Members would be able to undertake an oversight visit to KZN. The meeting proceeded to the APPs. The original plan was that each presentation would take ten minutes but a request was made for each to be limited to seven minutes.

Department of Cooperative Governance Annual Performance Plan 2022/23

Ms Avril Williamson, Director-General, took the Committee through the APP for DCoG for 2022/23; and the DCoG Medium Term Expenditure Framework (MTEF) budget allocation. The Department revised its Strategic Plan for 2019-2024 to ensure it aligned with the core mandate of the Department. This resulted in the review of the departmental operating model and organisational structure. The new structure would be shared once it was approved by the Minister. The review of the Strategic Plan was also informed by the review of the Medium Term Strategic Framework (MTSF) by the Department of Planning, Monitoring and Evaluation (DPME,) including the need to adjust plans so that they are in line with the COVID-19 pandemic and unrests in KZN and Gauteng. The APP for 2022/23 for DCoG was submitted on 11 March 2022 for tabling in Parliament.

The total number of key performance indicators was 30. The administration programme consisted of seven targets, Local Government Support and Interventions Management (LGSIM) had 11 targets, Institutional Development (ID) had seven targets, National Disaster Management Centre (NDMC) had three and the Community Work Programme (CWP) had two targets.

The District Development Model consisted of outputs and targets. The Annual Financial statements output indicators showed an improved audit opinion expressed by the Auditor-General South Africa (AGSA) and the target for 2022/23 was an unqualified audit opinion. Another target was to have 44 districts and eight metro One-Plans reviewed and updated. The Gender-Based Violence and Femicide (GBVF) preventative measure target for 2022/23 was to have a guideline for the mainstreaming of the GBVF in the Integrated Development Plans (IDPs) of municipalities developed. MIG expenditure on municipal infrastructure set a 2022/23 target of 85% of the 2021/22 financial year MIG allowance to be spent on municipal infrastructure by 30 June 2022 and 60% of 2022/23 MIG allocations spent on municipal infrastructure by March 2023. The target of district/metro hubs for 2022/23 was to have three reports on the identified district/metros readiness to establish and operationalise the district/metro hubs. There were a number of small towns identified for redesign and refurbishment as smart cities/towns the target was to have three existing towns identified and plans for redesign and refurbishment as cities/towns developed by 31 March 2023. The Intergovernmental Monitoring, Support and Intervention Bill (IMSI) was submitted in Parliament and the target was for the Bill to be submitted in Parliament by 31 March 2023. In respect of municipal support and intervention plans the target was to have 64 dysfunctional municipalities supported by 2023. In respect of institutional development the targets for 2022/23 were to have an Integrated Local Government Capacity Building Strategy (LGCBS) piloted in two districts and one metro, to have 18 district stakeholder engagements held on responsible citizenry, to have nine provinces supported to capacitate municipalities to maintain functional ward committees and to have Municipal Public Accounts Committees functionality assessment reports developed. Another target was to have improved audit outcomes by reporting on the implementation of actions to address issues raised by AGSA in line with s134 of the Municipal Finance Management Act (MFMA) submitted to form part of s48 report or State of Local Government report by 31 December 2022. In terms of CWP, the target for 2022/23 was to have 250 000 people participating in the programme and 25 000 CWP participants trained annually by March 2023. Stipends had also been reviewed for an increase.

Slide 17 depicted how money was filtered from the actual Department through various programmes. There were five programmes and the funds were split between compensation of employees, goods and services and capital. DCoG made sure that the funds would be aligned to the APP and Operational Plan including the Procurement Plan to ensure funds were being spent to impact service delivery.

Slide 18 shows the 2022 Estimates of National Expenditure. The Department had been allocated over R111 billion of this amount there were earmarked funds. The earmarked funds were monies being transferred to municipalities and entities. The bigger portion was allocated to the Local Government Equitable Share (R87.3 billion) followed by the Municipal Infrastructure Grant (R16.8 billion) and CWP (R4 billion). Earmarked funds make up over R110 billion. The total operational budget amounted over R955 billion. Programmes were being provided with specific amounts of funds. Most of the operational budget went to local government support and interventions (R132.7 billion) and the Community Work Programme (R336 billion). It was important to note the economic classification where there were funds of R353 million allocated to the compensation of employees and goods and services had over r558 million.

It was recommended that the Portfolio Committee note the APP and allocated budget for the 2022/23 financial year.  

MISA Annual Performance Plan 2022/23

Mr Vimba (CEO) said MISA tabled its approved APP for the 2022/23 financial year in Parliament on 11 March 2022. The presentation reflected all 33 outputs and 35 output indicators for the 2022/23 financial year. It gave a summary of financial resources allocated to the Agency over the three-year period of the current MTEF. The mandate of MISA had not changed but the operational notice had been reviewed and added an additional responsibility around spatial planning. There was a new indicator which spoke to the coordination of the implementation of the Eastern Seaboard Development project which had been assigned to MISA. There were six output indicators for Administration, 18 for Technical Support Services and nine for Infrastructure Delivery Management Support. There were three main programmes the budget was allocated to.

Programme One: Administration: ensure effective leadership, strategic management and administrative support to MISA.

The outcome of the programme would be improved governance, administrative support system and ethical practices. The budget allocation was R106, 8 billion with R47.8 billion allocated to compensation of employees and R58.9 billion to goods and services.

Programme Two: Technical Support Services: enhance the capabilities of municipalities for improved municipal infrastructure planning, delivery, operations and maintenance. The outcome of the programme would lead to; efficiency in infrastructure management, enhanced intergovernmental and interdepartmental coordination through the implementation of the District Development Model, effective water management systems for the benefit of all, spatially just and transformed National space economy, and improved Municipal capacity to deliver basic services, quality infrastructure and integrated public transport to increase household access to basic services.

R221.8 billion was allocated towards the programme.

25 municipalities were being supported with mainstreaming labour intensity construction methods in the projects implemented through conditional grants

44 Districts would be supported to improve performance on the Municipal Infrastructure Grant (MIG) Programme and reduce infrastructure backlog

150 Youth would be enrolled in the MISA Young Graduate Programme and 100 awarded the MISA bursaries in technical qualifications relevant to local government infrastructure management

Programme Three: Infrastructure Delivery Management Support: the purpose of the programme was to support the efficient delivery of municipal infrastructure programmes and projects, build a credible project pipeline for long term infrastructure investment, as well as to support municipalities with infrastructure procurement. The outcome of the programme would lead to; efficiency in infrastructure management, long term municipal infrastructure investment, and increased access to climate change mitigation and adaptation funds by municipalities.

R21.5 billion was allocated towards the programme.

MISA would be working with National Treasury to implement the Infrastructure Delivery Management System (IDMS), a system developed by National Treasury.

Ten municipalities would be supported with the rolling out of the Infrastructure Delivery Management System (IDMS)

Ten municipalities would be supported to improve infrastructure development through partnerships with public, private sector and non-governmental entities

MISA was tasked with the coordination and planning of the Eastern Seaboard Development

Department of Traditional Affairs Annual Performance Plan 2022/23

Mr Mashwahle Diphofa, Director-General, said the APP was tabled in Parliament on 11 March 2022.

Programme One: Administration: the purpose of the annual targets was to identify and develop a compliance management plan of organisational performance information management indicators within timeframes from the compliance framework, to strive to adhere to all timeframes with regard to organisational performance information reporting

DTA would review its policies to ascertain the level of mainstreaming of women, youth and persons with disabilities. Each year, the Department will prioritise a specific policy to be reviewed in order to address gender, youth and disability gaps in the Department.

There were two anti GBVF Interventions within the traditional affairs sector developed.

Programme Two: Research, Policy & Legislation (RPL)

• The research will focus on the following: The effect of customs and culture in the socio-economic development of women within traditional communities and on traditional and Khoi-San leadership council’s election processes.
• With the passing of the Traditional and Khoi-San Leadership Act (TKLA) there was now a window period for traditional councils to be reconstituted. The expectation was that between now and March 2023 they would continue with the constitution process of the traditional council. Part of the reconstitution involved the election of members to those councils. The Department wanted to do research on how those elections were practically conducted so that in future the Department could advise on whether there needed to be specific regulations which needed to be issued by the Minister on election processes in traditional councils.
• The TKLA introduced a new dispensation in respect of the composition of local houses.
• There were five projects in the approved TKLA three-year implementation Plan in respect of the implementation of the provisions of the TKLA.
• Most of the traditional leadership succession disputes within kingships/queenships are a result of non-documentation of customary laws of succession and genealogies. This project is an intervention to ensure that all kingships/queenships have documented customary laws of succession and genealogies to inform the processes of identification of their kings/queens. Eight provinces would be monitored per year on the development of principal and senior traditional leadership Royal families’ customary laws of succession and genealogies
• The Customary Initiation Act (CIA) commenced in September 2021 and the DTA has the responsibility of monitoring its implementation and compliance thereof.

Programme Three: Institutional Support and Coordination (ISC)

• The Department had developed the guidelines on the Implementation of s24 of the TKLA, which makes provision for government to regulate partnerships entered into between the institution of traditional leadership and other spheres of government and relevant stakeholders. The objective was to ensure maximum benefits to traditional communities in development initiatives in their areas.
• 32  Districts had been identified with Houses of Traditional and Khoi-San Leaders (HTKL) which would be coordinated to participate in District Development Model activities
• The indicator was aimed at workshoping provincial traditional affairs officials on s50 with the specific focus on subsections 6, 7 and 9 of the TKLA, in relation to the roles and responsibilities of the HTKL and to further improve knowledge and awareness for better implementation of the Act. The workshops with provinces will ensure uniformity in relation to the implementation of the section in reference.
• The remainder of the presentation dealt with issues of social cohesion and nation building. Social cohesion dialogue would be targeted. Four social cohesion dialogues convened on tribalism and living with foreign nationals in Traditional and Khoi-San communities. The dialogues were aimed at promoting social cohesion in traditional communities. The Department developed a social cohesion programme which was consulted with provinces. 

Budget allocations over medium term period

• The annual budget for 2022/23 was over R177 million. The growth over the years from 2018 to date had not been that much. It was important to note that the R177 million was shared with the National House of Traditional Khoi-San Leaders and with the Commission on Khoi-San Matters.

It was recommended that the Portfolio Committee noted the Department of Traditional Affairs 2022/2023 Annual Performance Plan (APP); and the MTEF budget indicative allocations.

Discussion

Ms Spies had a question on one specific matter which dealt with the APP of DCoG with reference to the CWP. The Minister would recall that a question had been asked on this. A huge amount of money was allocated towards the CWP programme. There was concern that money was being thrown at a programme which did not yield tangible results. Calls had been received from CWP workers who mentioned they had not been paid with no explanation yet the Minister had given assurance that things would change. These were ordinary people on the ground. They had no uniforms. Uniforms had been received a while back which needed to be divided and consisted of one set of uniform per person. Yet billions were being invested in the programme. A huge amount of the budget allocation went to the programme. It seemed as if money was being wasted. If the implementing agents were receiving money to make the programme work and run effectively why are they not doing what was expected of them? Mr Pretorius was asked to respond to this. In each APP the CWP appears and Members were being told about amounts being thrown at it yet no change was being observed. In terms of the MISA youth graduate programmes. Where around the country were the 150 youth that formed part of the programme?

Mr Ceza welcomed the presentation. The first presentation he would address was from MISA. On slide 22 of the presentation, it indicated that the number of municipalities supported by the rolling out of the Local Government Framework for Infrastructure Delivery and Procurement Management (FIDPM) amounted to 20. The slide indicates which municipalities those were and why those particular municipalities were selected. The Committee needed a sense of the identities of the municipalities presented in the slide because there were municipalities that would seek to be supported in terms of infrastructure delivery and procurement management. The procurement process of municipalities is astray in the sense that they have to outsource all sorts of things including simple things like compiling financial statements. Slide ten spoke about the internal audits. Was there sufficient training of the internal audit teams in terms of transferring the skills from the consultants? When can we see the capacity being built within those internal processes?

In the presentation by the Department of Traditional Affairs, there was a case which had been dragging on for a very long time in a traditional community. There were disputes, GBVF and one could see in slide six, traditional leadership spoke to the issues of GBVF. In Emangweni, there was a situation which still persisted. The Pietermaritzburg court had taken a decision that the rightful heir to the throne must be signed by Premier Zikalala who had not done this. There were gross images of people who had been murdered. In one week 18 people were murdered and nothing was being said about this. What was preventing the Premier from signing off a simple thing like a court order? Follow-ups had been conducted. It had nearly been two years and nothing was happening. On slide 14 the Department spoke about social coercion. The issues of justice should be spoken to first. Often the focus was such that there should be reconciliation. This was nice to say but justice was needed to ensure communities were given their leadership. Communities needed to be led effectively and crime reduced. Women were dying, people were being intimidated and crime was an escalating factor. Should the focus not be on the aforementioned? On the issues of functional impacts, what were the lessons drawn from the functional impacts? What was the turnaround period enabling the monitoring environment in this regard? It needed to be determined whether oversight committees in the municipalities were doing what they were supposed to do. The oversight committee in the municipalities needed to be led by an opposition member and this often does not happen. There was a lot of outsourcing and dictatorship in terms of who receives services to provide to the municipalities. This was a question of when, how and what could be done to ensure municipalities had powerful impacts, particularly on the received reports from s56 managers in the municipalities.

Mr Matumba observed on page six of the DCoG report that one thing not seen on the report which was a serious matter of concern was consequence management. Provincial departments came before the Committee and none could speak on consequence management in terms of the Unemployment Insurance Fund (UIF) reported to it. None said they had implemented s32 of the Municipal Financial Management Act in respect of consequence management. Management in Municipalities reported unauthorised irregular fruitless and wasteful expenditure. An investigation was done but nothing happened to anyone. The Provincial Department could not explain what they had done when UIF had been reported to them. It was whistle blowers and SIU Hawks who had to intervene and act. It would have been great to see the implementation of consequence management. One might think the institutional capacities were slow when in reality the capacity was there but clouded by corruption. The Committee should not be at a point where it is worried about things like potholes, electricity, water loss and failure to prepare financial statements. The implementation of ideologies should have been discussed not simple things that management and administration should have been doing.

On slide 12 of the DCoG report, there were towns identified for redesign and refurbishment as smart cities/ towns. It was acknowledged that South Africa was a special type of colony. Government said it would achieve a national democratic society through a national democratic revolution. This meant that economic infrastructure needed to be built for the previously disadvantaged because the economic infrastructure of the internal coloniser was not meant to benefit our people in any way. The Department should not be telling the Committee about smart cities but providing economic infrastructure to the previously disadvantaged. The Department cannot talk of smart cities when our own people still have pit toilets and children in Limpopo were dying in pit toilets, yet the focus is on developing towns. The economic gaps need to be closed. In 1910, South Africa obtained independence but this independence was not celebrated because there were those who gained independence and developed themselves. It was not appropriate to identify and develop smart cities while people in impoverished areas were dying and being eaten by crocodiles when they fetched water. This was against the resolution Government took when it said it wanted to achieve a national democratic society. The gaps caused by colonialism of spatial types needed to be covered. Presently, black people were still colonised and do not have the independence of having their own economic infrastructure. If black people wanted to open a business they must go to town, to the head office of the colony and open the business there. Where they were located there was no infrastructure to support their businesses, no sewerage system or electricity capacity and for this reason, black people needed to go to town to start businesses.

Mr Matumba said that CWP had been changed from what it was supposed to be. CWP was meant to assist people who were capable of being employed to seek employment. The posts at CWP were not meant to be permanent but intermediary until you found a job using the stipend received for assistance. What was the progress report of CWP? What exactly were people doing? Who was being employed with CWP? The report would help determine whether CWP was serving people and helping them find employment. If CWP was not serving people it needed to be replaced by another programme that would. Instead of assisting people, CWP was allegedly abusing them.  

Mr Msimango acknowledged the presentation and thanked the presenters. A special request was made to Mr Vimba. The people in uMlalazi Municipality, KZN indicated that they did not have water for the past eight months. The taps were dry and no explanation had been given for this. Mr Vimba was asked to conduct a follow up on the matter to determine the appropriate response to the people in KZN. The youth graduate programme had been mentioned which was unspecific. It did not specify whether the programme would be rolled out to municipalities throughout the country. This might not be feasible because of lack of resources. MISA needed to be specific in respect of where it would roll out the programme. MISA was congratulated for thinking of such a programme. The programme made a lot of sense and would address the issue of unemployment while also giving graduates much needed experience. In terms of the DCoG presentation, when the Committee recently visited the Free State to perform oversight. Two district municipalities raised an issue around the sharing of functions and powers between district and local municipalities. There were powers and functions removed from District Municipalities and they believed that those powers should have been left with them. Could the Committee intervene in this respect? Could a plan be crafted in order to revisit the powers and functions stripped away from the district municipalities to ensure good inter-governance relations were created and promoted between the district and its local municipalities?

Responses

DCOG

Ms Williamson, in terms of the question on capacity building and why the capacity building did not focus on the audit outcome raised by Mr Matumba, as part of the capacity building strategy the Department worked jointly with National Treasury. The Department had begun to look at how exactly it would continue with capacity building within Municipalities and specifically with the budget National Treasury offered. Included in the strategy was how the Department would capacitate audit committees so that they would be able to exercise their oversight roles. The process of consulting all stakeholders had begun to indicate how they would be involved in the improvement of audit outcomes. The Department also looked at ways in which it could improve record keeping. The aim was to determine how to support Municipalities in improving their record keeping. This had become a big issue especially for the conducting of audits by the Auditor-General and missing documents. A system that would better assist Municipalities when it came to document management was being looked at.

In respect of the question of consequence management and how this was undertaken within municipalities and whether they were receiving support from provincial departments. Disciplinary cases formed part of the priority of the municipalities. National Departments did not have direct access to actual disciplinary matters. Through the Department’s capacity building process it had provided training on how municipalities would need to go about disciplinary proceedings. The Department had looked at ways to strengthen this area because it could be linked to the area responsible for anti-corruption. Facilitating engagement with municipalities through awareness programmes around anti-corruption was being explored. The Department was looking at methods to extend its reach and make it much more scalable because the Department learned that focusing on a particular number of checks per year would not necessarily result in the desired impact. The Department wanted to strengthen itself practically.

Mr Pieter Pretorius, DDG: Corporate Services, said in relation to the question asked by Ms Spies, the payment system was hosted at SITA. It was unfortunate that almost every month there was some form of disruption to the payment system which delayed the payment of participants. Attempts had been made in 2021 to fix the problem by introducing modifications but it became clear that the future solution lay outside the SITA network. A business case had been developed for a new system. The Department was busy procuring and appointing a service provider to develop a new system. The delays would hopefully no longer be present once the new system was in place. It is the Department’s hope every month that the system would be stable but most months unfortunately that was not the case.

In terms of the procurement of PPE and uniforms, when the new CWP implementation policy was introduced in October 2021 strict requirements were put in place for the procurement conducted by implementing agents. In the past there was almost no oversight over procurement done by implementing agents and this procurement was quite often non-compliant, irregular and did not deliver value for money. Strict procurement requirements were introduced in the policy to ensure all procurement was done in full compliance with PFMA and Treasury regulations. It was discovered that many of the implementing agents were not able to procure in a compliant manner despite claiming that they were able to do so. The agents would submit their procurement documents to the Department for scrutiny before starting the process. In many cases, the Department had to return documents and advise agents on how to construct the documents differently so that their procurement was in line. Over the past six months, this had led to a slow down of procurement. It was observed that in March this issue seemed to have been resolved and implementing agents for the most part now understood what was required of them.

In terms of the question asked by Mr Matumba regarding youth programmes, Mr Pretorius told the Committee that a detailed report had been provided to the Committee on the work done at each site. The broader question of participants existing and finding work was a critical area the CWP was focused on. There were no statistics on how many participants found permanent opportunities because when participants left the programme they did not indicate why. They just stop turning up. So there was uncertainty as to why certain participants left the programme. The old model used when it came to both training and finding useful work did not serve the purpose of the CWP. The National Youth Development Agency (NYDA) was appointed in Mpumalanga to be an implementing agent. Very encouraging results were seen of participants actually being supported to get relevant and appropriate training. In the past training was merely done for the sake of compliance. The implementing agents did not care what training was provided. People were simply put in a room and made sure to receive a certificate. Training therefore was not always useful and did not contribute to the skills of participants. The new model changed all of this. This was a critical part of CWP going forward.  Two other pilot projects were being run where the Department partnered with other organisations to run specific projects. One project was on road maintenance where participants are trained and develop the necessary skills to enable them to find employment and start their own businesses. For the majority of the provinces, with the possible exception of Mpumalanga, very few participants exit the programme. This was one of the key focus areas moving forward in terms of the new model. The redesigned model needed to be implemented in a way that would allow participants to exit so that new participants could enter. A big challenge was when participants struggled to exit the programme, this subsequently prevented new participants from entering the programme. Hopefully this year the programme would gain momentum and real results would be seen.

Dr Kevin Naidoo, Executive Manager: Municipal Governance, DCOG, responding to Mr Ceza who asked the question about which municipalities would be focused on in terms of monitoring functionality, said that all municipalities would be focused on. The impacts would not only be monitored but all committees of the council that a municipality had would be monitored. The committee system was a very important system within the entire value chain of oversight and if committees functioned in the manner that they were supposed to. The goal was to see the same proactive engagement and oversight displayed by national and provincial portfolio committees within committees of municipal councils. This activity needed to be mirrored in municipalities. The Department would see how it could extend the work it was doing around monitoring impacts as well as seeing how it focuses on other committees of council.

Ms Mohanuoa Mabidilala, Chief Director: Performance Monitoring and Evaluation, said the reason why rural areas were being developed into smart cities was to address the issue of people relocating more into urban areas. On the assessment made by the Department there was rapid urbanisation and people were moving towards urban areas instead of staying where they were. The approach taken by the Department was the need to develop rural areas to encourage local economic investments by the private sector to ensure that people lived and worked where they resided. The Department was trying to address urbanisation and spatial planning to ensure no one would be left behind. The goal was to have basic services in all areas, in all corners of the country and in every municipality.

MISA

Mr Vimba said he would start by answering the first question raised by Ms Spies on the young graduates programme. MISA had advertised nationally with adverts being placed in universities and in municipalities to recruit young graduates.

In terms of the question asked by Mr Msimango, there was a list covering almost all nine provinces and about 102 municipalities where 150 graduates were being deployed.

In terms of the question raised by Mr Ceza regarding the support to the 20 municipalities on infrastructure procurement the target was on the 64 municipalities who were part of the State of Local Government report which was found to be dysfunctional. A number of these municipalities had challenges around infrastructure procurement. The 20 municipalities that were targeted were drawn from that list. A report would be formulated and submitted to the Committee and the list of all municipalities would be submitted to the Committee immediately after this session.

Mr Msimango raised the matter of uMlalazi not having any water. MISA engineers would be dispatched with immediate effect to determine the cause of the water problem in uMlalazi. An intervention measure would then be developed to address the situation.

A request was made for Mr Ceza to submit the contact details and information so that the team could engage. An attempt would be made to send a team this week to conduct the assessment.

DTA

Mr Diphof said a specific issue was raised by Mr Ceza relating to a case where a decision was taken by the court including the challenges around the implementation of the ruling. The Department was aware of this matter. It had previously been raised with both the head of Department of Cogta in the province and the Director-General in the province who indicated that the issue was being attended to. The matter had however taken a while to finalise. The Department needed to make sure that the matter would be raised to the Executive Authority of the Department in the province. Where a court had taken a ruling the Department should not be found to be on the wrong side of the law. This was the escalation that would be pursued to ensure that if there were particular challenges around the practicalities of implementation and if assistance were required that assistance could be provided.

This also addressed the issue Mr Ceza raised around social cohesion and communities having the right leaders. The reality was that not all disputes involved government. There were disputes just amongst family members and what needed to be done was to ensure that the disputes were resolved as amicably as possible. The majority of them unfortunately ended up in the courts. Customary laws of succession with the workshops, guidelines and support the Department had in mind should create a better basis in future for the Minister to provide regulations in this regard. This was to create a requirement on the part of royal families to make sure the customary laws of succession were documented as a legal requirement. This was also to ensure that when decisions were made about succession there would be a clear and updated document available for reference. The issues of social cohesion in the context where there were disputes became difficult because there would be different groups fighting each other. The intervention was to make sure that government was not found to be on the wrong side but to ensure a certain level of predictability through documented and signed off customary laws of succession.

The Minister wanted to add to the discussion of smart towns versus building towns. Maybe it should not be either or but rather where a town could be improved because those towns needed to cater for everyone including those previously disadvantaged. The statement about building new towns could be a discussion on its own. In the interest of time, this would not be addressed in detail at the moment.   

In terms of the issue Ms Mkhaliphi mentioned about Amaoti, there was no NPO appointed, and the people in the shelter cooked for themselves. There was a local NPO who sometimes helped but otherwise, there was no NPO appointed to cook for the people in the shelter. The reason the food was being locked away was because people wanted to take the food with them to their homes. A follow-up would however be conducted but this was the information for now.

The issue of CWP was something the Department grappled with. The Department had come to the conclusion that the way CWP was structured was not the way it should work. The remodelling and the new policy framework were trying to address some of the issues raised by Members in respect of CWP.

The Chairperson thanked everyone saying that the session was informative. Some of the issues had been noted. The Committee would continue to engage with issues but was satisfied for now.

Meeting was adjourned