The Legislature’s Portfolio Committee on Infrastructure Development, recently considered the Report on the performance of the Gauteng Department of Infrastructure Development (DID) for Quarter 1 of the 2016/17 FY.
Led by Chairperson Lindiwe Lasindwa, the Committee duly adopted the oversight report, which will now be tabled for consideration in a Sitting scheduled for 30 September 2016.
In its report the Committee noted with concern the misalignment of the Department’s performance during the reviewed period. It was established that the Department spent R692 788 000 against a budget allocation of R583 470 000 – which translated to a 19% overspend. A request has been made for the Department to appear before the Committee to explain the over expenditure and present measures it will put in place to address this.
The Committee noted a further underperformance in the Department’s core mandate of the Public Works Programme in the period under review.
The Committee expresses its dissatisfaction with the explanation of the shortage of staff in the Department, given that the Department had previously assured the Committee that the organisational structure was approved and challenges related to staff shortages would soon be resolved.
The Committee also noted that the Department reported a 77% completion status on the Suikerborsrand Waterline Project. However, this contradicts the information provided to the Committee by the Department during its Budget Vote process, where it stated that there was no budget allocation to complete the 4% of the outstanding work for this project.
The Committee commended the Department for achieving its targets to spend 90% of its procurement budget on black owned companies, 50.33% on black women owned companies and 30% of the Departmental budget to SMMEs.
The Committee further noted that as an implementing agent the Department could not achieve some of the planned targets for Client Departments. An example was made about the Department of Health, where lengthy approval timeframes were counted among reasons provided for the non-achievement of projects. With regards to targets by the Department of Education, the Committee noted that some projects would be completed in Quarter 2 of the 2016/17 FY due to the re-prioritisation of the budget allocation.
The Committee will monitor progress in Quarter 2.
The Committee commended the Department for the launch of the ‘icareWecare’ campaign, which was launched in July 2016. The campaign aims to mobilize communities towards preserving public assets such as schools and clinics, and protecting public infrastructure from vandalism.
The Committee further welcomed the launch of the Lutsinga of the Infrastructure House in June 2016. This is an Infrastructure Monitoring Centre that consists of an integrated service delivery dashboard for up-to-date information on construction and refurbishment projects implemented on behalf of the Gauteng Provincial Government.
The Committee also noted the repeated non-achievement of targets for the Tshepo 500 000, empowering Military veterans and for SMMEs trained through the Contractor Incubation Programme.
The Department will appear before the Committee in the next term to provide the Committee with a report on progress made on issues raised by the Committee in its assessment.
For interview requests with the Chairperson of the Portfolio Committee please contact Mr Thebe Khumalo on
011 498 5948 / 072 266 1021 email: TKhumalo@gpl.gov.za
