By Alicia Mmashakana
The Public Works and Infrastructure Department and some of its entities have been hauled over the coals for their poor annual performance.
Parliament’s public infrastructure committee heard this week that the department had only achieved 51% of its overall performance targets, which was a significant drop from the previous year’s 61%.
Committee members raised several questions and concerns during the engagement.
Chairperson Rikus Badenhorst said the department detailed challenges including delays in project funding from client departments, issues with the Land Affairs Board and limitations on filling empty posts.
The Property Management Trading Entity report noted that the government had released over 1099 hectares of land to support human settlements, land reform and other activities; spent R2.9 billion on maintaining the state’s immovable asset portfolio; and completed 77% of targeted infrastructure projects.
While the Construction Industry Development Board declared an improved performance by meeting 94% of its targets and receiving a clean audit result for the first time in its 20-year history.
The committee asked for clarification on the high amount of unlawful expenditure related to employee remuneration recorded by the CIBD and why there was no up-to-date asset register, which has hindered access to government leases and business automation processes.
The department stated that these were historical issues dating back to the 2008/09 and 2011/12 financial years, when additional funding was required for the Expanded Public Works Programme and other initiatives.
It went on to say that there had been no new unauthorised expenditure in the last 10 years.
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