Chairperson, hon Deputy President, colleagues, the hon Ramatlakane has indicated that many members have their hands in the cashbox, but I can assure you that in many municipalities, and sometimes in the provinces, even the cashbox has disappeared. [Laughter.]
However, he also spoke about the question of municipalities using their conditional grants and the interest derived from them to pay operational expenditure within those municipalities. That is true; it happens. It is largely because National Treasury has not as yet devised a way of allowing municipalities to have separate banking accounts.
For example, if money is allocated for a water project in a particular municipality, there should be a trading account for that particular project. Municipalities now put these funds into a global account, hence there is no accountability. And if they have the opportunity to use some of those funds to pay staff and other expenses, they do so. Treasury should address this kind of situation as quickly as possible.
However, when one looks at the Division of Revenue Act, it's about sharing amongst the three spheres of government. If you share funds between the three spheres of government, you've got to rely on credible statistics. It is, therefore, a matter of concern that the Financial and Fiscal Commission indicated to our committee that the data they are using at the moment for an equitable share was last updated in 2001. So, we cannot rely on data from 2001 to ensure that there is an equitable share. I hope Statistics SA takes note of this so that we can have an equitable share distribution.
We as the IFP associate ourselves with all the findings contained in the committee report, but it is quite ironic that the first finding of the committee is as follows:
The committee noted with concern the persistent delays in implementing the pronouncement by the President of the Republic of South Africa with respect to the reopening of nursing and teaching colleges.
This is dj vu. As far back as 1994 the IFP said teaching and nursing colleges should not be closed because it would cause mayhem for our young people who would not be given the opportunity to be trained in those disciplines. What has happened today? We are returning to open teaching and nursing colleges. A number of those teaching colleges are in a dilapidated state and now we'll have to spend a lot of money repairing them. I think it was political expediency to close those colleges at that time.
However, what we would like to see is the Department of Health doing an audit on all the institutions that offer training to the so-called nursing colleges, because many of them are fly-by-night institutions. Young people and their parents spend a lot of money sending the youth to these institutions only to find that the qualification they receive cannot be utilised to get a job in a hospital or clinic.
Our biggest concern with the Division of Revenue Bill and how things operate is the underspending of funds. It is criminal when municipalities and provincial governments underspend. To give you an example: In terms of the municipal infrastructure grant 2008-09, Umdoni Municipality, my neighbouring municipality, received R195 million but spent R6 million. They spent only 3,3% of their allocation. Umhlabuyalingana spent 19,5%, Mtubatuba 9,7% and Eden 9,4%.
This is something we as government should not tolerate. As I said earlier on, the money is there. The money is not being utilised properly because people are still putting their hands in the cashboxes and people are not skilled enough to ensure that they spend the money for its intended purpose. Who gets short-changed, as a result, are the millions of people out there who expect this government to deliver on its mandate and promises.
Lastly, I would like to speak about the water and sanitation grants. The intention exists to do away with some of these grants and to consolidate others, whilst money is allocated for new water projects. We have to think seriously about ageing infrastructure. In a number of municipalities throughout the country, there is water. We have been receiving water for about 20 to 30 years, but the infrastructure is ageing so much so that there are leaks all over and people don't get water. We should therefore concentrate on providing funding for ageing infrastructure. Thank you. [Time expired.] [Applause.]