Chairperson, I am grateful for the interesting debate. Firstly, let me apologise to the hon members; I was aware that the day we appeared before the committee we were really going to throw the information at you. But as I said in that committee meeting - and I think that the hon member acknowledged that - we are looking forward to a constructive engagement in the committee.
The Minister and the Deputy Minister, the officials and the entities will be available to assist when your programme is settled. We can only succeed if your oversight is proactive, and that is what we want. We are not scared of oversight!
In my previous life in this Parliament, I used to be part of the team that drafted the oversight model. If I knew that I would be on the receiving side, maybe I wouldn't have put some things in it. But I want to assure you that in terms of the oversight model of this Parliament, it is rated amongst the best in the world. We have had Members of Parliament here from Sweden and from the United Kingdom, who said, "What are you doing? You guys are crazy. Why do you want to have an oversight model? Why don't you just do your job as Members of Parliament?"
But I also want to say to members, let's refer to Marievale, for example. Mr Masango, in fact, your predecessor Sankie Blanche took us to Marievale, with our officials and the Department of Defence, where the process started last year. You are quite correct in your assessment of what happened to the facility. It is a pity that it was vandalised, but that is what we are about - it is important to understand that the Department of Public Works at a national level is not the same as the public works in provinces.
Provinces may build roads; we don't build roads, but we assist them through the EPWP. So it is important that we understand the functions of the model of the Extended Public Works Programme in national, provincial and local departments; it's the same with Giama legislation. We'll get to local government when it is ready for us to look at its Giama aspects. But we can assist authorities - we've done it in the Western Cape and in a number of provinces.
If you want to build houses, the land belongs to us. Tomorrow we are meeting with Saldanha, and the hon Moss gave us a report in his speech that the land belongs to Public Works and if you want to use the land to build houses, why should we stop you? We will facilitate that process, and we've done it in a number of provinces across the country.
Let me quickly say this about the Expanded Public Works Programme: There is no magic in 500 000 or four million, you all made a commitment in your election campaigns that you want and support job creation, otherwise, you wouldn't be here. So, don't hassle about 500 000 or 250 000, or take four million and divide by five, divide it by 365 and then say that by now you should have created 2 345 jobs in so many days, weeks, minutes and seconds. Don't waste your time; people out there need jobs. This is an intervention by government; we are going to exceed the target of four million. Inkosi Mandela actually referred to irrigation schemes and rural roads. As I'm speaking, we have agreed with the Department of Defence - there's a team that will be off to rural areas across the provinces, next week, to assess the rural road infrastructure. Because you can build an eight-kilometre road, but with no bridge where will it go to? It doesn't help you. How many times haven't we seen on television how schoolchildren have lost their lives or been swept away by rivers? This is especially the case in areas where we have floods during the rainy season, like the heavy rainfalls in the Eastern Cape and Northern KwaZulu-Natal, where bridges get washed away.
We have engaged the Department of Defence; they've got the Bailey bridges and technology. We don't have to go overseas to get it; it's right here in our country. How do we, with the provinces and local government, build those bridges? And in doing that, we are doing it in a labour-intensive way and we create jobs. There is nothing wrong with that, so don't worry about the 500 000 - where's hon Mnguni? Don't worry, sir, we'll have 500 000 and more.
I want to say to the Members of Parliament that you need to assist us. Don't get bogged down about what is happening in the committee. You are all coming from constituencies and provinces; if you see those properties you are talking about, inform us, and if we have to put in place another amnesty period for people to give us those properties back, we can do so.
We have discovered over 700 000 such properties - and let us move away from the myth which says there is no asset register. Of course it's there, but it has to comply with the requirements of the Auditor-General and it's an existing document. Things come and go; we give people a property to build houses, we take another one back because they are not using it and give it to somebody else, so the Asset Register has to be maintained on an ongoing basis. When we have enough time we will sit in the committee and respond to a number of these things. The officials from the department are here; they've heard you and there is no problem.
Just like anybody else in government and society, we all don't like corruption. We all want to root it out, and when you hear about it and you have examples - like anything else in law, we have to be clear about our case - you can report it to us and talk to us. We have a corruption hotline. But also, on our Webpage, below the photograph of the Minister - and we must put one there also for the Deputy Minister - we have an email link, "Talk to the Minister." You couldn't have it better than that, and I will respond to you personally. There's no big deal about that. Or, if you want to, you can meet us on Facebook; we are there, so it's not a problem.
On the issue of the councils, when we have an opportunity in the committee we'll come and assist you and take you through the processes. It's a very complex situation because some councils are not as well off as others - I'm talking about the professional councils. Some are voluntary councils and they really don't have facilities or offices. They operate from their own private offices and therefore we need to assist them. But that is our engagement and, as I said in my speech, we have started engaging with them and we are quite happy that these processes are on track.
Mr Masango, hunger doesn't care about who you voted for; when it knocks at your door, you are hungry and it's going to take you. So don't worry because as far as we are concerned that issue doesn't exist, but all we want is for people to be proactive. This is a commitment that we all have to make and, as I say, in our election manifestos we said we wanted to create jobs, eradicate poverty and assist people; therefore, let's continue with our job.
I just also want to say that we must fully understand what we did in terms of Extended Public Works. Last year, Parliament approved the Medium-Term Budget Policy Statement. Those of you who were here approved R5,2 billion to create 4,5 million jobs. So don't come back this year when you have woken up after the elections and ask how we are going to do it or not going to do it; you approved it. We are just implementing what you have approved. Come back and gauge us and see if we did it, but we will surprise you! Further to the comments made about the vacancies, I want to report that the details will be given to the committee, but details are that processes are under way. We should have completed the senior managers' process by September this year and for the middle managers and supervisory personnel by December 2009.
Hon Swart, on some issues that you've raised, vacancies are also linked to the Occupation-Specific Dispensation, OSD, when it comes to the professionalism of the department. And you know that you've been following the media on OSD; we are on top of it as far as we are concerned, and when the money comes to us we will be able to address some of the issues that you've raised.
Yes, we are the lead department, and it's important for you to know that wherever you serve on committees, you should also look at other departments and assess their contribution towards the EPWP. Because all the departments across the national government have money as well as through the different spheres of government.
Hon Manana, you are quite correct, the youth has been an integral element of our EPWP and our programmes within the department of Public Works and, certainly, we'd like to engage you as well on a number of ideas that you may have. Come forth, we want to solve the issues. We want to become a department that listens to the Members of Parliament, let us have your ideas and the committee must assist us. Don't do oversight and not table reports. Table reports and make recommendations so that, in fact, we can take the recommendations and implement them.
I think, generally, I've covered most of the points. Where we have fallen short we will be waiting for an invitation from the committee. But, clearly, we are excited about this year's roll-out of the EPWP that was launched on 4 April 2009, here in Cape Town at the University of the Western Cape and we will be having a Minmec on Friday where we'll be discussing with provinces their targets, and we are quite happy that the targets set by the President will be comfortably achieved.
For those who do not agree with us about the 500 000 - well, we sympathise with you. But if you did promise jobs in your manifestos then you better come on board quickly and be part of it. Thank you very much.