Thank you, Mr Chairman; once again, I appreciate the opportunity. Minister, I do apologise for not having been in the House personally when you made your speech today. I did not realise that things were going to go quite so quickly. I also apologise on behalf of MEC Robin Carlisle who is not able to be here today. He has asked me to stand in his stead and I do so willingly.
I would like to say that you are very lucky to have a Deputy Minister who can speak so well when she is unwell; I'd hate to see how well she does when she is well!
I would like to pick up one or two points that she made, if I may, please, right from the outset. She is relying on the provinces to assist. You can be sure that the Western Cape government is going to play its full role as far as Public Works is concerned. I think that the MECs have a really good handle on what is going on, especially with regard to the EPWP. I think South Africa has a golden opportunity during this recessionary period to do similar projects to what Franklin Delano Roosevelt did during the Depression in 1932 in America.
She did mention something with regard to an asset management register. I am not quite sure whether I picked up correctly with regard to what the Deputy Minister meant in this regard. I am just a little bit concerned that having a consolidated asset management register might impinge upon the spheres of government-related and/or constitutional aspects. Be that as it may, it is a matter I would just like clarity on.
I think some of the hon members might need a lesson on South African national politics as far as the role of the NCOP is concerned. This Chamber is here for the provinces to demonstrate their concerns at provincial level. This is what I am doing.
As far as inaccessible buildings are concerned, I think that the Deputy Minister has raised a very pertinent point. One of the single biggest problems in South Africa at the moment is the inability - and most departments are having to give back massive amounts of money into Treasury - and the lack of middle management skills for project management.
And I am horrified if she says that as the client the government is commissioning buildings, but the architects and the engineers are delivering something other than what the client wants. And that can only be as a result of a lack of project management and middle management skills. So I think that also needs to be addressed.
The Public Works division is a critical component responsible for the management of government assets, including the construction, upgrading and maintenance of buildings and related infrastructure. The programme, however, has not been able to perform its functions with the required excellence, as a result of the previous regime's lack of accountability and leadership at both administrative and political-executive level.
In this regard I would just like to quote from the Minister's statement that appeared in the Cape Argus of Friday, 26 June:
More than R1,5 billion had been spent on consultants in the past three years in the Western Cape. The department's poor record of school building was investigated and a report called for immediate disciplinary action against senior managers.
I think it goes hand in glove with the point that I made earlier with regard to project management.
It now faces serious budgetary constraints that will impede essential maintenance works on roads and government buildings. The Treasury has withheld R80 million from the Public Works maintenance budget for the current financial year. The current budget has allocated R642 million to Public Works, in addition to the funds budgeted under Health and Education, for meeting their needs.
The subprogramme support has grown from R87 million in the 2005-06 to R175 million in the 2009-10 financial year. Spending in this area will be subject to judicious review. On the other hand, Subprogramme 2 and 3, namely construction and maintenance, are R3 million less than they were in the 2005-06 financial year. This despite the fact that the physical condition of our roads and government buildings continue to deteriorate, whilst maintenance backlogs are rising at alarming rates.
The department has a mammoth task of meeting the target of roughly 112 000 full-time jobs for Phase 2 of the EPWP - that is for the Western Cape. In these recessionary times, the EPWP is an intervention that could improve the lives of many. The challenge, however, remains the vital issue of transferable skills, to enable beneficiaries of EPWP jobs to use the skills they have acquired working on EPWP projects to improve their lives beyond the completion of those projects - in other words, sustainability.
The department launched the Umsebenzi job portal two years ago to link jobseekers with potential employers by registering unemployed individuals and allowing employers to advertise vacancies on the site. Whilst the portal may have a real potential to contribute towards reducing unemployment in the province, until recently the last job posted on the site was in August 2008 - almost a year ago. We are gratified by the assurance in the House last week that the department has specific instructions to update the portal regularly, so that it becomes of great use to jobseekers.
The flagship training project, Learnership 1 000, does not reflect well on the department. It has been characterised by poor planning and execution, and is the subject of a forensic audit. The department can ill afford to underutilise resources designed to help reduce unemployment, especially during times where jobs are shed daily.
We welcome Minister Carlisle's objective to ensure that the department operates openly and honestly. We believe that accountability and decisive leadership at both administrative and executive level will enable the department to manage the provincial property better, and pursue innovative ways of generating revenue to conduct essential maintenance and upgrading work.
Mr Chairman, I would like to hand the Minister and his department a bouquet. I was at Fort Wyngard today, which is part of the 2010 precinct, and all the role-players there could not have been more complimentary with regard to Public Works, as to how they work with great alacrity and efficiency.
Having said that, a bit of a brick though: In the Claremont area, I think it is, the police barracks had a fire 21 months ago in a flat and four garages. It was in the newspaper of yesterday, the Cape Argus, that still no repairs have been done.
According to the police, all necessary documentation and correspondence was handed to the Department of Public Works, which was responsible for the repairs and maintenance of the building. They gave us an indefinite response that the process was underway. I must ask, please, the police are under enough pressure as it is and this particular building is very much in the public eye. I would appreciate if you could assist in that.
Just one concluding remark, Minister, and that is that I come from the southern part of the Peninsula, where the largest navy on the continent exists. Many, many buildings are owned by the Department of Public Works and I ask that, in our fervour to forward the EPWP, we do not actually lose sight of the actual mandate of Public Works, and that is the maintenance of existing public buildings as well. Thank you.
UMntwana M M M ZULU: Mphathisihlalo, Mhlonishwa Ngqongqoshe Ndlunkulu ngoba ngeke ngikubize ngoMama uZulu, ngizothi Ndlunkulu. Ngithi Mhlonishwa Ngqongqoshe namalunga ahloniphekile aleNdlu umsebenzi onikwe wona esizweni sakithi wumsebenzi omkhulu, ukuba ubheke onke amafa kahulumeni noma impahla kahulumeni wezwe laseNingizimu Afrika.
Ngithi-ke Mhlonishwa Ngqongqoshe ngesikhathi uma senikhipha umsebenzi wabantu abasakhela izindonga zezindlu, kofuneka nibhekisise-ke ukuthi laba abakhipha leyo misebenzi yokwakha izikole namahholo omphakathi ngoba uMnyango wakho ngokubambisana neminye iMinyango, lokhu okuthiwa ukuphatha ngokubambisana, kunikezwa abantu ngendlela okuyiyona yona kuze kuvuleke imisebenzi uMhlonisha uMongameli ayekhuluma ngayo ukuthi yenzeke. Bese kuba khona abantu abangabacwaningi bomhlaba okuzokwakhiwa kuwona, nalapho ngocela Mhlonishwa Ngqongqoshe ukuba kube abantu bazo zonke izinhlanga abakhele leli lizwe abakwazi ukuthi bathole lawo mathuba bakwazi ukubheka izinto ukuthi zihamba kahle yini.
Bese kuba khona laba abaziwa ngokuthi abahloli bamabhilidi, ngiye ngikhathaze-ke Mhlonishwa Ngqongqoshe ngezimali eziningi ezisuke zikhishwe uhulumeni wezwe, kutholakale ukuthi kwakhiwa isikole abahloli bamabhilidi namabantu abadweba amabhilidi bakuphasisile lokho ekugcineni uthole othayela eseqhephuka phezulu kubonakale ukuthi kuyinto engahambanga kahle. Ngibuye ngibonge lapha, iphini lakho uNdlunkulu uthe nizozibhekelela izitshudeni zethu emaNyuvesi ukuthi mhlawumbe nizithuthukisa kanjani noma nizisize njengoMnyango ukuthi zikwazi ukuqeqesheka, ukuthi zikwazi ukubhekana nokuthi kuphele ububha ezweni lakithi. Ngithi-ke ngiyakuhalalisela ezicathuleni ongene kuzona wena Mhlonishwa Ngqongqoshe noNdlunkulu, ngiyacela ukuthi nifeze iphupho likaMongameli wezwe ukuthi kube khona imisebenzi ngokuhlanganyela kwayo yonke iMinyango ngoba ngeke kube uMnyango Wezemisebenzi Yomphakathi kuphela ongakha imisebenzi eyizi- 500 000. Masikhuluma iqiniso yiyona yonke iminyango ihlangene, zonke izinhlaka zikahulumeni zihlangene, yizona ezingakwazi ukwakha imisebenzi cishe ifike kuleso sibalo nakulelo phupho lokuqeda indlala ezweni lakithi. Ngiyabonga Sihlalo. [Ihlombe.] (Translation of isiZulu speech follows.)
[Prince M M M ZULU: Chairperson, hon Minister, Madam the First Wife - I cannot address you as Mrs Zulu, rather as Madam the First Wife and hon members of this House, the work assigned to you of taking care of our government's estates or assets is very huge.
Hon Minister, what I am saying is that when you award tenders to people who are building houses, you will have to make sure that those who award the tenders for building schools and community halls make proper decisions as to who are given those tenders in order to create the job opportunities that the hon President said should be created. Your department must work together with other departments to achieve what is referred to as co- operative governance. I once again want to urge the hon Minister to afford people from all races the opportunity to become surveyors so that they can monitor the process.
With regard to the building inspectors, hon Minister, I am concerned about the monies spent by the government of this country, and you find that after the school has been built and the building inspectors and the architects have approved it, the tiles break which shows that it was not a job well done. I would like to thank your Deputy, who said that as the department you will see to the development of our university students so that they can receive training to enable them to fight poverty in our country. Hon Minister and hon Deputy Minister, I would like to congratulate you on your position. I urge you to fulfil the dream of our President of creating jobs by getting all the departments to work together because the department of Public Works cannot create 500 000 job opportunities alone. To be honest, if all the departments and government structures work together we might create the estimated number of job opportunities and make this dream of eradicating poverty in our country come true. Chairperson, I thank you. [Applause.]]