ANC gives water and sanitation commission of inquiry the thumbs-up

The ANC has welcomed the decision by the portfolio committee on water and sanitation and the standing committee on public accounts (Scopa) to institute a full parliamentary inquiry into malfeasance at the department previously politically headed by Nomvula Mokonyane.

Mokonyane has since been redeployed to the communications portfolio by President Cyril Ramaphosa shortly after he was installed as the head of the state earlier this month.

“The ANC Study Group on Water and Sanitation supports the decision for a full investigation in a form of a parliamentary inquiry into the Department of Water and Sanitation.

“The call for an investigation comes as one of the recommendations of the committee’s Budgetary Review and Recommendation Report (BRRR) adopted by the National Assembly in November 2017.

“Today, the Portfolio Committee on Water and Sanitation had a joint meeting with the Standing Committee on Public Accounts (SCOPA), to map out the terms of reference for the inquiry,” the ANC said in a media statement.

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The organisation also noted that the joint committee “identified the key focal points for the inquiry, which include, but not limited to, the mismanagement of public funds, lack of leadership and failure of project management; the joint meeting agreed to engage the Auditor General and National Treasury in order to determine the scope for the investigation”.

“The meeting also agreed that the inquiry will be a full one, with an evidence leader and witnesses from within and outside the department. This process will work concurrently with law enforcement agencies, namely, the Hawks and Special Investigations Unit.

“Where there are issues identified that require the attention of these law-enforcement agencies, they will automatically be referred, and a case will immediately be opened,” the statement said.

Study group chairperson and MP Hlomane Chauke said the “inquiry will commence once time frames have been set and agreed on”.