Parliament, Thursday, 14 September 2023 – Northern Cape’s permanent delegates to the NCOP are delighted to note that most municipalities they visited in the Northern Cape Province are delivering good and quality services to the communities. The delegation noted that meaningful interventions are required and it called for cooperation of all the roleplayers to maximise service delivery in the province.
The delegation is currently on a week-long Provincial Week programme, one of the NCOP annual flagship programmes that affords permanent delegates to return back to their respective provinces to conduct oversight.
Since the beginning of the week, as part of its oversight function, the delegation has been assessing and conducting oversight visits to infrastructure projects, including bulk water supply plants, human settlement projects, and water treatment plants on various districts of the province.
The delegation is of the view that national and provincial governments need to provide support to municipalities particularly relating to the Municipal Infrastructure Grant programme. This must be aimed specifically at establishing MIG systems and establishing MIG programme management.
Secondly, Municipal Infrastructure Support Agent (MISA) developed a Public Infrastructure Unit Cost Guidelines that municipalities can use for planning and budgeting of Infrastructure projects. The delegation calls on the department of Cooperative Government and Traditional Affairs to ensure that municipalities use the guidelines developed by MISA to accelerate the implementation of MIG Programmes.
The delegation together with its provincial legislature counterparts, kick started the oversight programme yesterday with visits to housing projects in Phase One, Hull Street in Francis Baard District Municipality and it was delighted with the progress made on the projects visited so far.
The delegation was overwhelmed by the significant progress it noted at Vaal Gamagara Regional Bulk Water Scheme Plant, a scheme built between 1968 to 1972 to supply water to semi-arid areas of Kalagadi. Now the scheme supplies water to Dikgatlong, Tsantsabane, Gamagara and Joe Morolong Municipalities, including surrounding mines and farmers.
The delegation raised serious concerns after it noted during peak season that the Vaal Gamagara Regional Bulk Water Scheme Plant struggles to meet the demand, hence areas such as Olifanshoek and Kalahari East are mostly affected by water shortages. Furthermore, the delegation was concerned that the scheme is unable to fulfil its financial obligations as it is owed more than R133 million by the Municipalities that it renders services to.
The leader of the delegation, NCOP Deputy Chairperson, Ms Sylvia Lucas, expressed her delight with progress made at the Regional Bulk Infrastructure Grant for Kgatelopele Local Municipality. During the walk-about, the delegation observed the smooth running of water filtration systems and the reservoir tanks, which house the wastewater for further treatment.
Ms Lucas noted that the rehabilitation of the old wastewater treatment works was hampered by the heavy rains and floods and saw an urgent need for replacement of existing Asbestos pipes in Kuilsvill, Tlhakalatlou and Danielskull Pump Stations.
Today the delegation will receive a briefing from National and Provincial Departments on road projects. It will then conduct site visits to Valazonke Projects (labour intensive programme to fix pothole), the Welisizwe Programme (construction of rural bridges), the S’hamba Sonke Projects (road maintenance on secondary and rural roads) and will conclude site visits at Kuruman and Kathu Water and Sanitation Plants.
On Fridayy, the delegation will have a debriefing meeting to report back on issues emanating from the Provincial Week and look for possible solutions and compile a final report with recommendations for adoption.
ISSUED BY THE PARLIAMENTARY COMMUNICATION SERVICES ON BEHALF OF THE LEADER OF THE DELEGATION, MS SYLVIA LUCAS.
For media inquiries or interviews with the Leader of the delegation, please contact:
Mlindi Mpindi (Mr)
Parliamentary Communication Services
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Email: mmpindi@parliament.gov.za
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