Chairperson, the debate on the Public Works Budget Vote takes place less than a week after the Auditor-General, Terence Nombembe, criticised the government and public servants because of what he called "the dire situation that has been weakening the pillars of government protecting South Africa's democracy".
He said further:
Things are serious, and they are even more serious than we thought they are. They are more serious because the people that are employed by the government to do work are least prepared and equipped to do it ... The accountability for the results is not taken as seriously as it should be. Bad results are regarded as a norm and when people get a disclaimer or qualified reports, little happens to them to show that this is unacceptable. This is the culture that we need to be concerned about.
When delivering his 2010-11 general report on national audit outcomes at a briefing in Pretoria, the Auditor-General said that he was unable to obtain sufficient and appropriate audit evidence to provide a basis for an audit opinion and, as a result, he gave the department his worse possible verdict, which is a disclaimer. He said that unauthorised, irregular, fruitless and wasteful expenditure had grown from R3,9 billion in 2009-10 to R4,5 billion in 2010-11.
In June 2010, the building of the R52-million Diepsloot Police Station came to a halt after the department cancelled the tender when the contractor experienced cash-flow problems. Two years later, the police station, which was 70% complete when the project was stopped, is still standing today, as a white elephant. The backlog of police stations that must still be built by the Department of Public Works is hindering service delivery in communities that are ravaged by crime. Many police officials are still locked out today because of the department failing to pay appropriate rent.
For a number of years now, the department has been experiencing a high vacancy rate. In spite of the pronouncement made by the President in the 2011 state of the nation address that all vacancies in the Public Service must be filled within six months, the Department of Public Works has still not done so. Actually, at the beginning of 2010, they still had 943 vacancies.
Now we ask: How can the department fulfil its mandate and obligations with such a deficit of staff? While I appreciate the progress that has been spoken about by the Minister ... [Time expired.] [Applause.]