Transport Budgetary Review and Recommendation Report

Meeting report

Budgetary Review and Recommendation Report (BRRR) of the Portfolio Committee on Transport

Adv Alma Nel, Committee Content Advisor, went through the draft BRRR, drawing attention to changes made in response to matters raised by Committee Members in the previous day’s meeting. The revised report expressed the Committee’s dissatisfaction with various performance failures, such the non-submission of Annual Reports by the Road Traffic Infringement Agency (RTIA) and the South African Maritime Safety Agency (SAMSA) in stronger terms. It also used stronger language on the significant performance failures at the Passenger Rail Agency of South Africa (Prasa), the removal of measures to provide supply chain management (SCM) training across the Department, and the inadequacy of performance indicators and the need for them to be linked to actual service delivery. The report included a list of reporting requests made to the Department of Transport that had not been included in its Annual Report. Comments on the impact of COVID-19 and the lockdown, which had been put in place in the last month of 2019/20, had also been added at various points in the report.

Recommendations of general applicability made in the BRRR included the filling of board vacancies, taking steps to prevent irregular expenditure, ensuring that officials receive training on compliance with the Public Finance Management Act (PFMA), and addressing the financial health of entities, especially those that might be impacted by COVID-19. Recommendations to specific entities were also made. The BRRR noted that the Minister of Finance had not responded to the recommendations in the previous year’s BRRR in his 2020 budget speech, and repeated the recommendation that the Minister assist the Department to strengthen its SCM policies and provide it with clarity on the financing of the Moloto Rail Corridor. The BRRR recommended that the Minister in the Presidency assist the Department to process its decision on the financing of the Gauteng Freeway Improvement Project. 

The report can be read here https://pmg.org.za/tabled-committee-report/4432/ 

Discussion
Mr C Hunsinger (DA) said that the criticism of the Department in the report for missing 0.5% of its performance targets missed the real point, which was that the targets themselves were linked to spending, rather than service delivery. He suggested that all entities might need to update their SCM policies. He strongly recommended that the Committee consider suggesting that the Road Accident Fund (RAF) re-establish its internal fraud unit, which had been closed down without explanation in 2015/16. The Minister of Transport should be commended for filling board vacancies. He asked about the status of the dispute involving minority shareholders in the Airports Company of South Africa (ACSA) and called for parity in cross-border permit fees for South African and foreign trucks. He said that the reason for rejecting the Road Accident Benefit Scheme (RABS) Bill had been that amending the RAF Act was a better option, and the BRRR should reflect the fact that amending the Act was a necessity. The report should also not ignore the fact that nine out of ten toll-gates operated by the South African National Roads Agency Limited (SANRAL) were profitable. It was only the e-toll system in Gauteng that was experiencing financial problems. The report should indicate concern about the integrity of Prasa’s asset register in light of the extensive vandalism that had been observed first-hand, as well as rail safety and the significant number of manual authorisations made by the Railway Safety Regulator (RSR) related to management problems at Prasa. He did not support the acknowledgement of the work of the Prasa War Room in the report without seeing evidence that it had actually benefited commuters. He suggested that the report should recommend better protection for the trucking industry. 

Mr L Mangcu (ANC) agreed with Mr Hunsinger on many points and acknowledged the value of his comments, but noted that many of them went beyond the period under review. He agreed that performance indicators needed to be linked to service delivery but thought that the Committee should still never be satisfied with less than 100% of targets being met. The Department and entities set their own targets and should be able to fulfil all of them. He suggested that lack of SCM training was being used as a cover for simple theft. The legislation contained specific minimum requirements for employees involved in SCM, and therefore the report should include a paragraph on consequence management in SCM. He did not recall the Committee explicitly resolving to amend the RAF Bill, and therefore references to it in the BRRR should be left as is. He also did not think it was within the Committee’s mandate to recommend the establishment or re-establishment of an internal fraud unit at the RAF. He did not think that the Minister should be applauded for filling board vacancies, as this was simply his job.

Mr T Mabhena (DA) asked for the outstanding oversight report briefings from the Department to be entered into the Committee’s decision register. He suggested that there was a deliberate and coordinated attempt to maintain a skills deficiency in SCM compliance. This was done in order to enable officials to plead ignorance of non-compliance. A report from the South African Civil Aviation Authority (SACAA) on the calibration aircraft that had crashed was still outstanding. He agreed that the Minister of Finance needed to provide the Committee with clarity on the funding of the Moloto Rail Corridor. Had it been cancelled, and had its funding been redirected to the Moloto road upgrade? The Minister was yet to confirm this with the Committee. He said that the BRRR should be clear that the new driver’s license card design should be introduced along with the new card production machine which was going to be obtained, as it did not make sense to develop a new design that would be produced with the old machine. He asked for clarity on what exactly was meant by the “Moloto bus contract design.” The Department needed to fully account for the fact that the public transport safety plan was still incomplete, which meant that it could not respond to the carnage on roads. He expressed concern about overspending by eNatis, which had been going on for several years. There seemed to be no will to address it.

Mr K Sithole (IFP) also did not think it was necessary to applaud the Minister for filling vacancies. He asked for clarity of the Committee’s position on e-tolls in Gauteng. The Committee had been promised a resolution from the Minister but nothing had happened. He also complained that no tangible progress had been reported on the South Africa-Lesotho agreement. 

Mr M Chabangu (EFF) said that the EFF rejected the BRRR. The reasons were that it was a “cut-and-paste” of the previous year’s report, and did not indicate when the Department would take action against fraud, hire qualified personnel instead of consultants, put proper consequence management in place, make payouts to RAF beneficiaries, fill vacancies at SAMSA, address irregular expenditure, and complete the consolidation of the taxi industry. 

Ms M Ramadwa (ANC) also did not think that it was within the mandate of the Committee to recommend the establishment or re-establishment of an internal fraud unit at the RAF.

The acting Chairperson said that there was broad agreement on most matters. The Committee should not be satisfied with the Department achieving less than 100% of its performance targets and the Minister should not be applauded for filling vacancies. He agreed that the language in the report on the transition to the new driver’s license design and machine should be more strenuous. The sections of the report on the RABS Bill should be left as is and a recommendation to submit a report on the calibration aircraft accident should be included. He agreed to the inclusion of a recommendation to the Department to report on the incompleteness of the public transport safety plan.

Mr Hunsinger withdrew his comments and proposals on the BRRR in order to allow it to be adopted.

Adv Nel drew attention to a substantial paragraph, in the recommendations section of the BRRR, which referred to the possibility of criminal charges for SCM non-compliance in terms of the PFMA. It included a strong recommendation to follow up on officials who resigned when their conduct was investigated. She would make sure that the report made reference not only to the new driver’s license card design but also to the new card production machine. The Moloto bus contract design was part of the Department’s intervention in the Moloto corridor after the Public Utility Transport Corporation (PUTCO) had pulled out. She said that the general recommendations covered the issue of overspending at eNatis, adding that some of the issues that had caused it were being resolved. She could not comment on the Committee’s position on e-tolls but she believed that the recommendation to the Minister in the Presidency on the matter was stern enough. The report did also recommend that the Cross-Border Road Traffic Agency (C-BRTA) report on the South Africa-Lesotho agreement, and it also noted that some progress had already been made.

Mr Mangcu moved for the adoption of the BRRR with the amendments discussed, adding that it was unfortunate that the EFF had rejected it.

Ms Ramadwa seconded the adoption of the report.

Mr Hunsinger rejected the report on behalf of the DA.

Mr P Mey (FF+) rejected the report on behalf of the FF+.

The report was adopted with amendments. 

The meeting was adjourned.