I have been informed by the Department that the projects started in 2012 and that the responsible Deputy Director-General at the time of the project, retired from public service in July 2020.
The DDG, relied on monitoring visits that were conducted by officials charged with project management responsibilities in the Programme. Project progress was assessed through monthly financial and project reports submitted by the Implementing Agents.
A review of the Working for Tourism Programme was undertaken around 2017. The Programme is now aligned to the Framework for Infrastructure Delivery and Procurement Management (FIDPM).
The Department further contracted with the Development Bank of South Africa (DBSA) in November 2020 which has built environment professional capacity to manage infrastructure projects.
This happened before my time but what I have since started work to build infrastructure capacity.
The Department is also in the process of acquiring built environment professionals to support internal infrastructure programme management and is also finalising discussions with Infrastructure South Africa in this regard.
The matter has been reported to the police for investigation in September 2020.