Chairperson, I
want to thank all hon members from the various political parties for their support and I pledge to work with all of you because I'm certainly going to need your help to really turn this department around. So thank you for all the support. The full speech is available on the department's website, but in summary I just want to refer to some of the issues raised by members.
The concern around the Independent Development Trust, IDT, was raised by a number of members. I have scheduled a meeting for the Deputy Minister and I to meet with the board. The director- general has already sent a letter to the IDT to review their budget process because we have seen a number of increases in
their budget which we cannot approve. So we are attending to that matter.
We have also identified 10 risks in the department, because if you want to manage this department you also need to prioritise. We have identified risks within the Department of Public Works as well as risks in the Property Management Trading Entity. I will share all of those risks, together with a plan on how to address the 10 risks, with the portfolio committee.
A number of members spoke about the exorbitant expenditure on accommodation. Yes, it is correct that because of austerity measures we have instructed the executive not to buy new furniture and new office furniture.
We started by reducing the state of the nation budget from R2,3 million to just under R500 000. So it can be done. But, while I have the ear of Members of Parliament, MPs, as much as we have put measures in place to recover outstanding rentals, not only from the executive but also MPs, can I please ask you to pay your outstanding rentals. The amount outstanding is
R430 000. Hon Kopane made reference to R1,2 million and I will certainly look into it.
Here's another appeal to MPs. Thank you to all of you who voluntarily moved out of your allocated state homes. On Sunday we had to take drastic measures to remove 19 MPs who refused to move. Please don't give us all of that because we had to clean the houses. Other members stayed in hotels while they waited for their houses.
Also, in terms of the money spent on what is called the Prestige Portfolio, I have asked the Deputy Minister to lead a process to change that name. I don't think prestige fits into the vocabulary of a government. So we will be making sure that we shift more money towards public spaces because that is where people interact directly with us and that is where they get the first impression of government.
Another measure that we brought in is the 30 day compliance wherein our department must pay suppliers. It's a compliance matter so they must comply. I have now made it part of the key
performance indicators, KPIs, and performance management of all the senior managers, so as to ensure that we pay all suppliers within 30 days. [Applause.]
Many members spoke about the asset register. Well, for the past nine years the department has sought to complete an asset register, including valuations. I understand we are in a transition from a manual system to a system called Sage, and Sage then moves on to a system called Archibus. I have appointed an external person to evaluate and verify our register, and provide us ... so that I am able to give the members an update very soon.
We are the custodians of 29 000 parcels of land, including
89 000 buildings. So it's a huge asset that we are sitting on as a portfolio. Public land and public assets must be used for the public good, and that is where we are going to move the resources to.
In terms of land reform, we are also making a contribution. We will be issuing 33 title deeds to farmers in Limpopo. We are
going to release 100 pieces of land to land claimants and that will further help us with spatial injustice in our country. I will be making further announcements on that.
In this financial year, everybody speaks about the role of infrastructure towards economic growth. I agree with that 100%. In this year we have budgeted R5 billion for 300 projects within the department and that is specifically so that we can stimulate the construction industry that is on a steep decline. That will be the catalyst that we will contribute to help the declining construction industry.
Maintenance and repairs is a mess. There's no other way you can describe it. This week I'm starting a programme where we are going to prioritise maintenance and repairs. I will be moving money from buying new buildings to maintenance and repairs in order to deal with the backlog.
This month I'm engaging directly ... I'm starting with the courts. I get a phone call almost every day, from Port Shepstone to Durban to all over the country, about the condition of our
courts. So we are bringing together all the regional court managers, together with the Department of Justice and Correctional Services. We are going to assess the situation and we are going to start repairing our courts immediately. Thereafter we are moving on to the police stations. I will be inviting MPs to join me in that exercise.
Some good news at least is that there's a feasibility study that will be concluded by the end of September 2019. We are going to save energy. We are going to put photovoltaic panels on all our government buildings to generate electricity ... [Applause.] ... and then put the reserve electricity back into the grid. We are starting with 300 buildings by the end of this month. This initiative will create a demand for more photovoltaic panels and more inverters, and therefore it's going to create an industry of its own and create jobs.
Lastly, with regard to the issue of small harbours, we have over
3 000 kilometers of coastline. We only have 12 proclaimed small harbours in the Western Cape and 55 unproclaimed harbours in the rest of the country in other provinces. I agree that small
harbours are important to Operation Phakisa and also the oceans economy. We have already seen the investment in the Western Cape for the repair of fishing harbours. Here we created 274 jobs and we empowered more than 35 local small, medium and micro enterprises, SMMEs. So there is definitely value in it, and in the coming days I will also be engaging with the private sector and other stakeholders. I'm starting tomorrow morning in Sandton by engaging the property sector on the property charter because it's time that we all come together to make sure that we use this asset. The value of the asset that we have, being the custodian of land and buildings ... It's the biggest asset holding on the continent. So we will welcome ideas on how we can utilise this asset, of which we are the custodian, in order to grow our economy.
The plans are in place. What we need now is to see action. We need to see implementation, implementation, implementation. So, I want to say ...
Afrikaans:
Baie, baie dankie aan almal wat geluister het.
English:
Thank you very much.
IsiXhosa:
Enkosi kakhulu.
Sesotho:
Ke a leboha.
English:
God bless. [Applause.]