Chairperson, the department's mission is to develop appropriate policies and legislation to promote integration in government's development programmes and service delivery; to provide strategic interventions and support interventions ... It sounds impressive, but it is the same old rhetoric. The poor performance by provincial and local government has not been due to a lack of policies but rather to a lack of implementation and measuring tools.
The 2008-09 annual report records a number of occasions where irregular expenditure had been incurred, where officials did not comply with the procurement policies and many other irregularities. All these do not point to an absence of policies but rather an apparent neglect in implementing such policies. How will the department ensure that we don't continue to see this happening?
The annual report also records underspending on urban and rural development and we think that this is a disgrace. We have seen riots over service delivery in various parts of our country, which threaten to destabilise the country, yet we can still underspend. How can that be? This is an inexcusable phenomenon that has been going on for a while. The UCDP thinks the department should table a plan that will ensure that this does not continue to happen.
The department set a target in its plans that 85% of indigent households would receive free basic water by 31 March 2009. They claim in the report that this has been partially achieved, with 75% of households receiving basic water. We applaud this achievement but in future we would like the department to produce a list to back up their report.
It is also a grave disappointment that the Auditor-General could not find supporting documents to determine the existence of capital assets with a value that exceeded R4 million. It is unacceptable that many municipalities have not complied with the Division of Revenue Act. This has a great impact on service delivery.
Also to be addressed are the corrupt practices in awarding tenders in the local government sphere. Service delivery has been greatly impaired by officials with an obvious conflict of interest tendering and awarding themselves tenders. Officials need to desist from this corrupt practice and Parliament must exercise a hawk-like oversight over them. There are so many irregularities that need to be addressed for this department to operate at optimal level. The UCDP supports the Budget Vote. [Time expired.]