COMMITTEE ON PUBLIC WORKS RECEIVES QUARTERLY PERFORMANCE REPORT FROM DEPARTMENT

The Portfolio Committee on Public Works and Infrastructure today met with the Department of Public Works and Infrastructure to receive the department’s quarterly report for the first quarter of the 2023/24 financial year.

The Chairperson of the committee, Ms Nolitha Ntobongwana, started the meeting by outlining the importance of parliamentary committees receiving performance reports from government departments and entities.

She said: “The performance report is one of the tools that we have to use as the portfolio committee to play our oversight role to the department, we also check whether the department has carried out the plans that it promised to carry, has it complied with the Public Finance Management Act (PFMA) and the regulations from National Treasury.”

She also explained that Parliament was not the only structure that receives the performance report, Treasury also is supposed to receive the report. While the committee welcomed the department’s report, it expressed a concern about the delayed processing of the Extended Public Works Programme (EPWP) grant.

The department reported that an amount of R263 million for the EPWP Non-State Sector Programme was withheld due to delays in signing the addendum Memorandum of Agreement between itself and the Independent Development Trust (IDT) for the implementation of the Non-State Sector programme.

The committee heard that another amount of R23 million for EPWP Integrated Grant for Provinces was withheld due to non-compliance to Division of Revenue Act and the non-submission of signed incentive agreements, project list and the soft copy of the project list and failure to spend at least 25% of the transferred amount.

Ms Ntobongwana said the internal processes in the department that result in delayed transfer of the EPWP grant were adversely affecting the beneficiaries of the programme.

“The reality is that in a country facing high rate of unemployment, delaying paying out EPWP through the transfer of grant, adversely impacts on majority of beneficiaries who amongst the most disadvantaged groups. The department must ensure that the transfers to provincial departments happen in time to avoid adversely affecting the beneficiaries of this programmes,” said Ms Ntobongwana.

She also raised concern about the lack of transformation at the Council for the Built Environment and that it excluded women and was dominated by white males. She called on Minister Sihle Zikalala to look into the matter.

The committee also questioned the reduced budget allocation to the department’s Property Management Trading Entity with members asking whether the entity will be able to perform optimally with inadequate funding.

Source: Parliament of South Africa