Deputy Speaker, the fact of the matter is that Public Works has more than 60% of the projects that are run by the department with its agency, the Independent Development Trust, IDT, so we have a lot of work with them.
The amount of work which has to be done is beyond the capacity of Public Works. That is why we are using other agencies, like the DBSA, the Coega Development Corporation and many other agencies that can help us with the different projects.
These include the water projects which have the capacity, the Mvula Trust and all sorts of activities, so it is not as if we do not really recognise Public Works. We work very well with them and that is why, as I have said, more than 60% of our projects are with them.
The hon member is correct in terms of our experience with the Asidi schools. For me it was quite disappointing that with regard to the 50 schools, the big contractors performed dismally. The contractors that performed and finished good-quality schools on time were those with the lower CIDB gradings. They were able to build the schools in the shortest time and gave us the best infrastructure, while using locals.
I do not choose the contractors, but we raised it with the implementing agencies and said small contractors have proven beyond doubt to us that with adequate support they perform much better than the big contractors, which have lots of money, high CIDB gradings and all sorts of things. We even had to terminate the contract of one of the biggest contractors we were using because they were just not coping and were subcontracting small contractors to do the work. So you are quite right; I have raised it with our service providers and told them that they have to look at this again, based on the evidence we obtained from those 50 schools.