Parliament, Friday, 13 May 2022 – The Portfolio Committee on Water and Sanitation received a report on the status of disciplinary cases in the Department of Water and Sanitation. While the committee has noted the commendable work which has been done to ensure consequence management against officials who got the departmental funds irregularly, it has, however, raised a concern on the low pace of the recovery of those funds.
The committee is of the view that accelerating the rate of recovery of those funds will ensure that they are directed to service delivery and to ensure that people receive water as promised.
While the committee welcomes the information that about R300 million has been recovered by the department and an additional R622 million has been saved by the department since 2014 as a result of civil, legal and criminal actions resulting from cases of corruption and financial misconduct, it is of the view that much more can be recovered if investigations and prosecutions are concluded expeditiously.
In line with this, the committee welcomes the commitment by the Minister of Water and Sanitation to fight corruption within the department. The committee has called on the department to enhance collaboration and interaction with law enforcement agencies to ensure that investigations are fast tracked.
The committee underscored its dissatisfaction that some of the criminal cases were closed without valid reasons and/or engagement with the departmental forensic team and has welcomed the initiative taken by the department to interact with the National Commissioner of the South African Police Service to re-evaluate those decisions.
Meanwhile, the committee has raised a serious concern over the cost incurred by the department in relation to the establishment of various Ministerial Advisory Committees such as the Disciplinary Advisory Committee established between 2019/20 and 2021/22 financial years at a cost of over R63 million.
The committee’s concerns are premised on the fact that these committees duplicated the work done by officials and added no quantifiable value within the department and its operations. The committee welcomes and supports the decision taken by the Minister not to renew the terms of office of the Disciplinary Advisory Committee as it is of the view that monies spent for those committees diverted much needed resources for service delivery to a function that was not necessary.
Moreover, the committee is concerned that a full report from the Disciplinary Advisory Committee was never provided to the Minister and that indicated that no value was added to the department. The committee welcomes the information that a letter of demand has been written to the former Chairperson of the Disciplinary Advisory Committee requesting the report. The committee has suggested that the department must institute recovery processes for the monies paid to the committee if the report is not forthcoming.
The committee has called on the department to strengthen its internal audit and risk management units to ensure that weaknesses in the system are pre-empted. The committee has also highlighted the need for civil and criminal cases against officials that resign from the department before investigations against malfeasance are concluded.
It has also called on the department to update the committee on progress especially of criminal and internal disciplinary cases for the purposes of effective oversight. The committee has committed to engaging the Special Investigating Unit to get an assessment of the progress of cases it is investigating.
“At the end what the committee wants to see is an efficient functioning department which is able to utilise the monies appropriated to it for the service of the people of South Africa. Water is key and plays a critical role in the lives of the people in any country and the misuse of funds appropriated to make water and sanitation available to the people is treasonous,” said Mr Robert Mashego, the Chairperson of the Committee.
ISSUED BY THE PARLIAMENTARY COMMUNICATION SERVICES ON BEHALF OF THE CHAIRPERSON OF THE PORTFOLIO COMMITTEE ON WATER AND SANITATION, MR ROBERT MASHEGO
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