House Chairperson, the DA objects to the medium-term budget because the Minister needs to provide clarity in terms of the perpetual underexpenditure on the Rural Household Infrastructure Programme. By October 2012 the department had only managed to spend 5,8%, which is R27,8 million, of the allocated R479,5 million budgeted for the rural household infrastructure grant. To date, the department has declared underexpenditure of R138,875 million on this grant.
Approximately 2,4 million households are still lacking basic sanitation services. It is hard to comprehend how the department could declare a saving on a budget, which should clearly have been spent completely, if there are any serious attempts to address the sanitation backlog. The question is: What is the Minister doing to speed up the implementation and spending of the Rural Household Infrastructure Programme? Thank you.