Department of Water and Sanitation & TCTA 2023/24 Annual Reports; with Ministry

Video Water and Sanitation   Trans Caledon Tunnel Authority The Minister reported some major achievements in 2023/24 but also recognised that there were still major challenges. She mentioned landmark legislation and operational achievements. She said that the department’s ability to establish agencies enables the department to attract investments and that it was important for the municipalities to be able to raise funds on their own. She noted that the DWS has moved from almost being bankrupt a few years ago due to non-payment by municipalities to a stage where it now has firm commitments from municipalities to pay on time. DWS is working with the Auditor General to improve financial controls and she hopes to return to the Committee to demonstrate its improvement due to its six months turnaround strategy. The two Deputy Ministers spoke on several topics of discussion including the logistics on water licensing, acid mine drainage and the way forward on the eradication of the bucket system. They acknowledged the challenges but also wanted the Committee to recognise the achievements of the Department thus far since teetering on bankruptcy some years ago. The Director General pointed to some success projects and outlined the legislative agenda and the procedures to be followed. He referenced the targets achieved that indicated improvement in some areas and admitted that the Auditor General pointed out some negative audit findings. He addressed the disciplinary action taken for officials involved in wrongdoing. He mentioned that the 109 current multi-year projects were at different stages. A priority is to recruit and employ more engineers and scientists when vacancies arise. The DWS CFO said that it was meeting on a regular basis with the Auditor General to improve financial controls and compliant expenditure. There were efforts to improve debt collection and there was training on financial controls for officials. The Trans-Caledon Tunnel Authority 2023/24 Annual Report was also presented. It noted that TCTA is being transferred to the new National Water Resource Infrastructure Agency (NWRIA). Committee members said that the DWS presentation was not a true reflection of what was happening on the ground for households with no access to piped water, especially in rural areas where infrastructure has been delayed. Members pointed to DWS failures that have persisted over the years with no improvements, ranging from deterioration of water quality, poor project management, lack of consequence management to lack of service delivery. Committee members asked about the negative audit findings such as the increase in irregular and fruitless and wasteful spending and its missed targets. Members said DWS was putting a shine on bad report and it should instead focus on improving matters. Some members acknowledged improvements in certain areas but saw regress elsewhere. Members requested more information on the DWS entities that implement projects and this was agreed to.