Committee on Developmental Local Government and Housing
31 October 2006
The Portfolio Committee on Developmental Local Government, Housing and
Public Works was in Taung in the Bophirima district from 5 to 8 September 2006
to perform oversight. The purpose of this oversight was a follow up visit since
the February to March floods. The Committee was in Taung in early April 2006 to
get a sense of the damage. The other aim of the oversight visit was to
investigate the progress made by the relevant government departments since the
floods.
The delegation, led by the Honourable Mahlakeng Mahlakeng, was briefed by
the Mayor, councillors of various wards, municipal manager and representatives
of various departments. The Mayor refreshed the minds of the delegation as to
the extent of the devastation in the region. The delegation was further
informed that Toro ya Africa were awarded the contract by the Provincial
Department of Local Government and Housing to build 2 000 houses in the region.
(A breakdown of houses per village is attached hereto as Annexure 1).
The mayor expressed the interest of the local contractors in getting
involved in the housing projects but was informed by the MEC to refer them to
the terms of contract with Toro ya Africa and engagement with the contractor
thereof. The municipality forwarded details of 10 local building contractors to
the department.
The mayor reported that:
* the sub contractors were reluctant to sub-contract to Toro ya Africa
because there were some disagreements on the amount of money offered by the
contractor for the building of a house
* a total of 60 houses have been built to date in a village called Qho
only
* concerns were raised about the quality of the houses
* the Department of Home Affairs was effective and efficient in replacing lost
documents (birth certificates, Identity Documents, etc)
* the Department of Education has replaced equipment in some schools
* progress within the Department of Agriculture is still ongoing
* the Department of Roads has made no significant progress thus far.
Modimong Project (public works)
1. Modimong Project, household food security project
* A visit to Modimong project was undertaken.
* The project was launched in February 2006.
* The department of Public Works in association with the Department of
Agriculture intended to give 100 people a vegetable patch and 20 chickens
including enclosures each.
* Eighty six beneficiaries have received their vegetable patch and chickens to
date.
* Farming and entrepreneurial skills were provided by the Skills Development,
Skills for Africa and the College of Agriculture in Taung.
* Beneficiaries interviewed complained of diseased chicken and that drugs are
not provided by the relevant departments.
2. Modimong Project, construction of road
* The roads project was divided into three phases of approximately 6,5
kilometres (km) each.
* The first contract was the upgrading of 6,8 km gravel road between Khibicwane
and Cokonyane villages in Taung. The scope of the work under this contract
comprises of the following:
* Upgrading approximately 6,8 km of existing gravel road to a surfaced road
using labour intensive methods.
* Progress on the construction work was not satisfactory.
* It was reported by the new site agent(since July 2006) that the machines used
to crush rocks to stones is not practical and that progress is very slow
because they cannot get labourers willing to do extreme physical work.
Vaaltyn Village
* Ikhutseng Primary School
* The school is situated at Vaaltyn. It has been has been destroyed several
times by strong winds. Several requests were made to the Departments of Public
Works and Education to renovate the buildings.
* Kakeo Contractor from Vryburg was awarded a contract and was supposed to
start the renovations from 12 July and complete by 11 October 2006. The
contractor removed the doors and the roof of some classes, but no progress with
regards to the renovation has been made so far. The learners are attending
classes that are not conducive to learning.
* The principal took some of the roof and build the shack to accommodate the
learners as depicted in photo A and B below.
Takaneng Village
* Pelonngwe Primary School
* This school is in Takaneng village
* It has only two blocks. One block (four classes) was destroyed in 2003. The
grades 4 and 5 share a class while grade 6s and 7 also share a class in a
nearby church. This arrangement has been described as pathetic and frustrating
to those teachers that must now shuttle between the school and the church, but
at the same time put the pupils in one class.
* The delegation immediately requested the official from the Department of
Public Works to remove some of the iron sheets which were still on the roof due
to a possible danger to the pupils, particularly in strong winds, since they
could easily be blown away.
* The former MEC of the Department of Education Mr Tolo visited this school on
18 January 2004 and promised to assist the educators with the renovations but
no progress has been made so far.
Ntsawanahatse
A visit to Ntswanahatse was undertaken to inspect the bridge that was washed
away in the floods. The Department of Roads has constructed a make-shift
bridge.
Diretsaneng village
* This village was also destroyed by the floods. The mayor and her committee
suggested relocating this community to another area as the area is classified a
grazing area.
* The community of Diretsaneng refused to relocate. The community is faced with
the problems of lack of water and electricity.
* Disaster relief provided residents with tents as temporary accommodation. The
houses are not yet built in this area.
Tamasikwa
* The delegation did not stop here. We inspected the flood-damaged
bridge.
Qho
* Qho suffered extensive damage in the floods and was earmarked to receive
266 of the 2 000 houses.
* Only 60 houses have been built so far.
* Local contractors interviewed complained that they received R40 per house to
do the finishing touches (refer to picture two)
Recommendations (Local Government and Housing)
The Committee recommends that:
* The contractor must spread the building of houses in that area across the
34 affected villages.
* The building must be speeded up to avoid possible problems due to the rainy
season that is fast approaching.
* If the current contractor does not have enough capacity to speed up that
process, more local contractors must be engaged.
* The contractor should be advised to deliver in terms of the stipulated time
in the contract.
* The families living in tents should be accommodated in houses by December
2006, even if all 2 000 houses are not built by then.
Recommendations (Public Works)
The committee recommends that:
* The contractor must find a user-friendly machine for the crushing of
rocks, which will speed up the process of the construction of the road.
* The Department of Public Works must urgently speed up the building of the two
schools, even though there are conflicting reports about who is responsible
between the Department of Public Works and Department of Education.
* The Committee recommends that the relevant department should take
responsibility and that the schools should be built as a matter of urgency and
that the plight of the learners should be taken into account. The chairperson
of the Portfolio Committee on Education has also been alerted of this possible
responsibility by the Department of Education.
* Proper training should be provided to the beneficiaries of the Modimong
Project (household food security programme).
Issued by: North West Provincial Legislature, North West Provincial
Government
31 October 2006
