Mnr die Voorsitter, die mandaat van di departement is om staatseiendom te bestuur ... [Tussenwerpsels.] ... en in die staat se akkommodasiebehoeftes te voorsien. [Tussenwerpsels.] Dit is die staat se eiendomsagent.
Die derduisende eiendomme wat die staat besit, is miljarde rande werd. Trouens, di departement se eiendomsportefeulje is sewe keer groter as di van sekere privaatfirmas. Die departement sit letterlik op 'n goudmyn, maar hierdie departement het probleme. Groot probleme! Minister Themba Nxesi s self ... (Translation of Afrikaans paragraphs follows.)
[Ms A M DREYER: Chairperson, this department's mandate is to manage state property ... [Interjections.] ... and to provide for the state's accommodation needs. [Interjections.] It is the state's estate agent.
The thousands of properties owned by the state are worth billions of rand. In fact, this department's estate portfolio is seven times larger than those of certain private firms. This department is literally sitting on a gold mine, but this department is experiencing problems. Big problems! Minister Themba Nxesi himself says ...]
This department is in the intensive-care unit.
Die direkteur-generaal s:
If MPs knew the full extent of the problems, we would be shocked.
[Tussenwerpsels.] Om die waarheid te s, hierdie departement is disfunksioneel. Wanfunksionerende instellings vergemaklik egter korrupsie. [Tussenwerpsels.] Die direkteur-generaal bevestig dit ook wanneer sy s:
The scale of corruption is so wide and it goes so deep, it is scary.
[Tussenwerpsels.] (Translation of Afrikaans paragraphs follows.) [The director-general says:
If MPs knew the full extent of the problems, we would be shocked.
[Interjections.] To tell the truth, this department is dysfunctional. Malfunctioning institutions, however, facilitate corruption. [Interjections.] The director-general also confirms this when she says:
The scale of corruption is so wide and it goes so deep, it is scary.
[Interjections.] How did this happen? How did this happen? A member of the National Planning Commission, Prof Karl von Holdt, ascribes the current disintegration of public institutions to a lack of professionalism and an ambivalence towards skills and budgetary discipline.
Prof Ivor Chipkin of the University of the Witwatersrand says that the ANC government has replaced the basic, but unglamorous, tasks of planning, organising, staffing, reporting and budgeting with an ideologically driven management system. [Interjections.]
The National Planning Commission underlines the importance of a capable state in delivering quality services. Without a capable state, there can be no service delivery.
Die verval van dienslewering in hierdie departement het skrikwekkende gevolge vir dienslewering, en ek noem slegs twee voorbeelde. [The decline of service delivery in this department has appalling consequences for service delivery, and I'll name just two examples.]
A crisis is brewing in Du Noon, where there is a critical need for a new community health care centre. In 2009 already, the Western Cape provincial government identified a piece of land belonging to the national Department of Public Works. After repeated requests, access to the land for planning purposes was achieved. However, to address the critical need for health care services in Du Noon in the interim, the City of Cape Town is now, at great cost, transporting patients to the clinic in Table View, which is some distance away.
Tweedens, Minister, toe die DA regering in die Wes-Kaap bewus word van 'n dringende behoefte aan 'n nuwe laer- en horskool in Grabouw, het hulle dadelik geskikte grond, onder beheer van die nasionale Departement van Openbare Werke, gedentifiseer. [Tussenwerpsels.]
Na drie jaar se pogings om oordrag te kry, deur formele briewe, foonoproepe, e-posse, persoonlike ontmoetings met opeenvolgende Ministers - soos die Premier van die Wes-Kaap wat self met Minister Geoff Doidge gepraat het - en vier geskeduleerde maar gekanselleerde afsprake met Minister Gwen Mahlangu-Nkabinde, is Minister Nxesi se antwoord aan Premier Zille slegs ...: (Translation of Afrikaans paragraphs follows.)
[Secondly, Minister, when the DA government in the Western Cape became aware of an urgent need for a new primary and high school in Grabouw, they immediately identified suitable land, which is under the control of the national Department of Public Works.
After three years of attempting to obtain transfer by way of formal letters, telephone calls, e-mails, personal meetings with successive Ministers - such as the Premier of the Western Cape herself speaking to Minister Geoff Doidge - and four scheduled but cancelled appointments with Minister Gwen Mahlangu-Nkabinde, Minister Nxesi's answer to Premier Zille is merely ...]:
The issue is still in progress.
[Tussenwerpsels.] Op 12 April vanjaar skryf Provinsiale Ministers Robin Carlisle, wat daarbo in die gallery sit ... [Tussenwerpsels.] ... en Donald Grant saam 'n brief aan Minister Nxesi, waarin hulle die ernstige krisis weereens onder sy aandag bring en dringend vra vir okkupasie van die grond, hangende die toestemming tot oordrag, sodat hulle onmiddelik met die konstruksie van die skool kan begin om dit teen einde volgende jaar te kan voltooi.
Twee weke later het Minister Nxesi egter nog nie aan die versoek voldoen om binne 14 dae te reageer nie ... [Tussenwerpsels.] ... waarna die twee Wes- Kaapse provinsiale Ministers vir Minister Nxesi weer ernstig versoek het om hom dringend te ontmoet. Tot dusver was hulle onsuksesvol ... [Tussenwerpsels.] ... en nou oorweeg hulle ander opsies. Intussen sit 600 leerders sonder klaskamers by die oorvol Umyezo Wama Apile-skool. [Tussenwerpsels.]
Die jammerlike verbrokkeling van dienslewering in di departement is direk daarvoor verantwoordelik dat die armstes en die kwesbaarstes onder ons die ergste benadeel word. [Tussenwerpsels.] Is die Minister dan verbaas dat ... [Gelag.] ... in sy eie woorde, (Translation of Afrikaans paragraphs follows.)
[Interjections.] [On 12 April of this year, Provincial Ministers Robin Carlisle, who is seated up there in the gallery ... [Interjections.] ... and Donald Grant together wrote a letter to Minister Nxesi, once again bringing this serious crisis to his attention and urgently requesting occupation of the land, pending approval for transfer, so that they could immediately commence with the construction of the school in order to have it completed by the following year.
However, two weeks later Minister Nxesi had not yet acceded to the request to react within 14 days ... [Interjections.]... after which the two Western Cape provincial Ministers once again requested an urgent meeting with Minister Nxesi. Up to now they have been unsuccessful ... [Interjections.] ... and they are now considering other options. Meanwhile 600 learners are left without classrooms at the overcrowded Umyezo Wama Apile school. [Interjections.]
The woeful disintegration of service delivery in this department is directly responsible for the poorest and most vulnerable among us being the worst prejudiced. [Interjections.] Does it surprise the Minister that ... [Laughter.] ... in his own words,]
Nobody wants to associate themselves with this department. Our major clients are running away from us because they don't get the service they expect. [Interjections.]
Die vraag is nou, kan ons di departement met ons belastinggeld vertrou? Die begroting vir administrasie, wat personeelsalarisse insluit, groei met 15%, terwyl die departement erken dat hulle topswaar is en proporsioneel te veel senior bestuurspersoneel het.
Die item Regeringsonthale ... [Tussenwerpsels.] ... met ander woorde, partytjies ... [Gelag.] ... onder die program Aanvullende Dienste groei met 50%, terwyl die toewysing vir infrastruktuur met slegs 3% groei, waarskynlik omdat die departement in die vorige boekjaar 55% van die geld vir infrastruktuur nie bestee het nie. Dit lyk dus of partytjies belangriker is as infrastruktuur. [Tussenwerpsels.]
'n Verder verdoemende feit is dat, weens die komplekse aard van die foute in die departement se finansile state, ouditfooie van R26 miljoen tot R31 miljoen toegeneem het. [Tussenwerpsels.] Soos die DG s: (Translation of Afrikaans paragraphs follows.)
[The question is, can we trust this department with our tax money? The budget for administration, which includes staff salaries, has increased by 15%, while the department admits that it is top heavy and proportionally has too many senior management staff.
The item Government Functions ... [Interjections.] ... in other words, parties ... [Laughter.] under the programme Supplementary Services has increased by 50%, while the allocation to infrastructure has only increased by 3%, probably because in the previous financial year the department did not spend 55% of the funding for infrastructure. It would therefore seem as if parties were more important than infrastructure. [Interjections.]
A further damning fact is that, because of the complex nature of mistakes in the department's financial statements, auditing fees have increased from R26 million to R31 million. [Interjections.] As the DG says: "If this department were a business, it would have been bankrupt." [Interjections.]
Openbare Werke kan werk soos in die Wes-Kaap, waar begrotings nie op eie status of partytjies toespits nie, maar die regte prioriteite weerspiel. [Tussenwerpsels.]
Byvoorbeeld ... [Tussenwerpsels.] Luister hier! Provinsiale Minister Robin Carlisle se begroting vir sy eie ministerile kantoor is vandag 20% kleiner as twee jaar gelede toe hy sy pos aanvaar het. [Tussenwerpsels.] Luister! Teenoor die nasionale departement se onderbesteding op infrastruktuur, het die begroting vir infrastruktuur in die Wes-Kaap met 36% gegroei. [Tussenwerpsels.]
Provinsiale Minister Carlisle erken dat sy departement nie maklik is om te bestuur nie, maar hy het dit nogtans op die pad na sukses geplaas deur basiese beginsels van toegewyde personeel, harde werk en aandag aan detail toe te pas. [Tussenwerpsels.]
Om die DA se steun te kry, moet die Minister ten minste drie kernprobleme oplos. Eerstens is daar die ernstige vaardigheidskrisis wat die departement erg belemmer. Die regering se rasbeheptheid het talle kundiges verdryf. Ander, soos mnr Hennie Smook van die Noord-Kaap, 'n spesialis-ingenieur met jare ervaring en talle toekennings van die departement self, is onregmatig afgedank. 'n Hofbevel verplig die departement om mnr Smook weer in sy pos aan te stel, maar die departement ignoreer dit. [Tussenwerpsels.] Hy wil bitter graag sy pos terug h, terwyl die departement met 'n vaardigheidskrisis sit. Minister Nxesi, hoe verklaar u dit? U het tog self ges: (Translation of Afrikaans paragraphs follows.)
[Public Works could operate as it does in the Western Cape, where budgets are not focused on one's own status or parties, but reflect the correct priorities. [Interjections.]
For instance ... [Interjections.] Listen to me! Provincial Minister Robin Carlisle's budget for his own ministerial office is 20% smaller today than it was two years ago when he took office. [Interjections.] Listen! Compared to the national department's underexpenditure on infrastructure, the budget for infrastructure in the Western Cape has increased by 36%. [Interjections.]
Provincial Minister Carlisle admits that his department is not easy to run, but he has nevertheless placed it on the road to success by applying basic principles of dedicated staff, hard work and attention to detail. [Interjections.]
To gain the DA's support, the Minister needs to resolve three core issues. Firstly, there is the serious competency crisis that is badly hampering the department. Government's obsession with race has chased away many experts. Others, like Mr Hennie Smook of the Northern Cape, a specialist engineer with years of experience and many awards from the department itself, have been wrongfully dismissed.
A court order has compelled the department to reinstate Mr Smook in his post, but the department has ignored this. [Interjections.] He would dearly like to have his post back, while the department is stuck with a competency crisis. Minister Nxesi, how do you explain this? It was you who said:]
This department is a technical department. It requires skilled people such as architects, engineers and quantity surveyors, yet this department has almost none.
[Interjections.]
Die tweede kernprobleem is onrelmatighede met die verhuring van eiendomme. In talle gevalle ontbreek huurkontrakte, word huurgeld, eiendomsbelasting asook water- en elektrisiteitsrekeninge nie betaal nie, of is die huurbedrag aan die privaateienaar, oftewel die ANC-kader, buitensporig hoog. Dit lei tot grootskaalse korrupsie, soos met die huurskandaal van die veelbesproke polisiegebou in die middestad van Pretoria. [Tussenwerpsels.]
Minister, ons is bly om te hoor u s dat daar 'n ondersoek is. Ons is bewus daarvan, maar wat belangrik is, is die gevolge vir mense betrokke. [Tussenwerpsels.] Gaan hulle tot verantwoording geroep word? Gaan u krimenele klagtes teen di mense l? [Tussenwerpsels.]
Die derde probleem is dat die departement grootliks nie weet wat hy besit nie, waar hierdie eiendomme is nie, wat die toestand of waarde daarvan is nie, wie die eiendomme bewoon nie en of dit leeg staan en vergaan nie. [Tussenwerpsels.] Dit is omdat die departement sedert 1994 nie 'n betroubare bateregister het nie. Dit is soos 'n groot bank wat nie weet waar die sleutel vir die kluis is nie. [Tussenwerpsels.]
In teenstelling hiermee, voldoen die Wes-Kaapse provinsiale departement na slegs twee jaar reeds volledig aan al die vereistes van die Government Immovable Asset Management Act, Act No.19 of 2007. [Tussenwerpsels.] (Translation of Afrikaans paragraphs follows.)
The second core problem concerns irregularities with the leasing of properties. In many cases leasing contracts are missing, while rentals, property taxes plus water and electricity accounts are not being paid, or else the rental paid to the private owner, or ANC cadre, is excessively high. This leads to large-scale corruption, such as with the rental scandal with the widely debated police building in central Pretoria. [Interjections.]
Minister, we are glad to hear you say that there is an investigation. We are aware of it, but what's important are the consequences for the people involved. [Interjections.] Will they be called to account? Will you lay criminal charges against these people? [Interjections.]
The third problem is that the department in general does not know what it possesses, where these properties are situated, what the condition or value is, who is occupying these properties and whether they are standing empty or are in a state of disrepair. [Interjections.] This is because since 1994 the department has not had a reliable register of assets. It is like a big bank that doesn't know where the key to the vault is. [Interjections.]
In contrast with this, after only two years, the Western Cape Provincial department is already fully compliant with all the requirements of the Government Immovable Asset Management Act, Act no.19 of 2007. [Interjections.]]
We don't expect Minister Nxesi immediately to create a department as effective as the one in the Western Cape ... [Interjections.] ... but when will he be able ... [Interjections.] But when ... [Laughter.] [Interjections.]