A delegation of the Department of Water and Sanitation (DWS), led by Deputy Minister Pamela Tshwete and Acting Director-General Deborah Mochotlhi, made a presentation on the department’s First Quarter of 2018/19 financial analysis to a joint sitting of the Select Committee on Appropriations (SCOA) and the Portfolio Committee on Water and Sanitation. The presentation is based on the oversight activities of Parliament on the work of government, in this instance particularly relating to departmental activities as against expenditure.
The department presented on matters of financials and non-financial activities in the first quarter of the 2018/19 Financial Year. The department’s presentation to Parliament is meant to ensure that Parliament follows the money and also ensure that the work of government gives meaning to the improvement of people’s lives for the better. This is what must bind this main objective of the ideals of the Constitution.
The department was presenting as a follow up from the July meeting with Joint Committees and also indicate how it implemented some of the advice received from the Committees at the time.
Some of the issues raised by the Joint Committee members included what is perceived to be a bloated Top Management. The department clarified that there are four posts of Deputy Directors-General; that the Chief Financial Officer/s and Chief Operations Officer are at the level of DDGs. The Parliamentarians also raised an interest in the challenge of human capacity, with some funded posts being vacant for a long period of time.
In response to the issues raised, Deputy Minister Tshwete indicated that “the issue of non-alignment of municipal reticulation infrastructure that is not supported by bulk infrastructure from the DWS emanates from the fact that sometimes there is insufficient consultation with DWS. Reticulation is in municipal hands, but it is essential for healthy Inter-Governmental relations to be in place.”
ADG Mochotlhi brought into context that: “accruals made a huge impact on current budget. DWS has met with National Treasury and agreed on the need for a financial recovery plan. This recovery plan embarked upon will be presented to the President on finalisation. The DWS has also embarked on contract review with three categories: those projects that can be dropped, those that can be deferred, and those that must be done. In particular, the review will be targeting the irregular projects and those with less value; particularly those that are open-ended.
“This review will enhance cost containment as directed by National Treasury. DWS has also realised that poor contract management has not been helpful therefore that is one part of our work that needs to be enhanced.”
Other inputs included the fact that DWS is conscious of the need to stall new expenditure in order to accommodate the accruals from the previous financial year. The combination of the previous financial year’s accruals and the current payables make up most of what the DWS has spent money on.
DM Tshwete made the point that “it is critical for the department to fill the most critical post of Director-General. It has not been helpful to have more acting employees in this post as has happened over the last while.
“What is also important to acknowledge is that in order to ensure a smooth running of the war on Leaks programme, we needed to have consulted more with COGTA as the leaks are at municipalities, where there is a need for the students to be absorbed. I believe that in the next briefing to the Committees, we urge the Committees to invite Rand Water and EWSETA for a full report on the programme. The private sector has also lent a hand in the programme.”
The Portfolio Committee Chairperson made the point that as today’s meeting was more of a briefing, more of the issues around the DWS performance will be raised during the presentation of its Annual report.
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