Dear Editor
Once again, Minister Sihle Zikalala did not appear at the Portfolio Committee Meeting for the Department Of Public Works and Infrastructure (DPWI) this week – because he was in the Netherlands to propagate Infrastructure South Africa’s (ISA) efforts to get hydrogen projects off the ground. While this might be a noble effort, it demonstrates just how out of touch the Minister is with what is happening in the Portfolio Committee, and in the emerging construction and built environment arena in South Africa.
It also follows hot on the heels of his announcement, reported in a myriad of media reports, of ‘economic lifelines being thrown to small fishing harbours in the Western Cape’.
Saturday’s Weekend Argus ran a story with a misleading headline of ‘Harbour’s Thrown An Economic Lifeline’, detailing an influx of R500-million into the Hout Bay and Saldanha Bay Harbours, among the 13 small harbours which will benefit from the revamp budget following recent complaints from the Parliamentary Portfolio Committee. Until one realises that this is not a new allocation of money at all.
The Democratic Alliance (DA) can reveal that in her 2020 Budget Vote Speech, former DPWI Minister Patricia de Lille spoke about the Small Harbours Repair and Maintenance Programme which was gazetted as a Strategic Integrated Project (SIP) as part of the Infrastructure Investment Plan in May 2020.
In the 2022/23 Budget Vote, Minister de Lille announced that R501-million was allocated to the Small Harbours Repairs and Maintenance Programme – the very same money Minister Zikalala miraculously allocated last week – to be spent on the 13 Proclaimed Fishing Harbours. This money, which is hopelessly too little for what it is intended to achieve, must be used for the removal of sunken vessels, repair slipways, shore crane replacement, security upgrades, and civil and electrical upgrades.
The DA believes that this jet-setting Minister seems totally unaware that this money was already allocated last year, and he also believes it to be sufficient to meet the needs of all the work to be done.
But it comes as no surprise to the DA. Minister Zikalala started his tenure without ever having met the Portfolio Committee and has not come to a single meeting to date. If he had, we could have updated him comprehensively on the challenges faced by the construction and the professional built environment arenas. Instead, he seems content to visit sites after the Committee has done its oversight, like a benevolent uncle, handing out old allocations as new gifts to needy children who have been waiting for the DPWI to listen to their challenges and respond positively for years. It’s sneaky, and cheeky, at best.
The Minister must attend the meetings of the Portfolio Committee on Public Works and Infrastructure so that he can become appraised of the budgetary allocations and challenges within the portfolio he heads. Instead, he seems happy to either trail in its shadow or not bother to put in an appearance at all. Rather to travel overseas or engage with dignitaries from China and abroad.
It would be wiser if he stayed closer to home, engaged with the needs of the emerging construction and professional built environment contractors in South Africa … and attended to his job of leading his Department.
Regards
Madeleine Hicklin MP
DA Shadow Deputy Minister of Public Works and Infrastructure
marine dre
Diary of an Englishman after he moves to South Africa….
**August 1**: Just got transferred with work from London, UK to our new home in Phalaborwa, Limpopo, South Africa. Now this is a town that knows how to live! Beautiful, sunny days and warm, balmy evenings. I watched the sunset from a deckchair by our pool yesterday. It was beautiful. I’ve finally found my new home. I love it here.
**September 1:** Really heating up now. It got to 31 today. No problem though. Living in air-conditioned home, driving air-conditioned car. What a pleasure to see the sun every day like this. I’m turning into a sun-worshipper – no blasted rain like back in London! Had the back yard landscaped with tropical plants today. Lots of palms and rocks. No more mowing lawns for me! Another scorcher today, but I love it here. It’s Paradise !
**October 1:** The temperature hasn’t been below 35 all week. How do people get used to this kind of heat? At least today it’s windy though. Keeps the flies off a bit. Acclimatizing is taking longer than we expected. Fell asleep by the pool yesterday. Got third degree burns over 60% of my body. Missed three days off work. What a dumb thing to do. Got to respect the old sun in a climate like this!
**October 25:** This wind is a bastard. It feels like a giant fucking blow dryer. And it’s hot as hell! The home air conditioner is on the blink and the repair man charged R200 just to drive over and tell me he needs to order parts from @#$# Johannesburg. The wife & the kids are complaining.
**October 30:** The temperature’s up around 40 and the parts still haven’t arrived for the fucking air conditioner. House is an oven so we’ve all been sleeping outside by the pool for 3 nights now. Bleeding R4 million house and we can’t even go inside. Why the hell did I ever come here?
**November 4:** Finally got the fucking air-conditioner fixed. It cost R1,500 and gets the temperature down to around 35 degrees. Stupid repairman. Fucking thief. If one more smart bastard says ‘Hot enough for you today?’ I’m going to fucking throttle him. Fucking heat! By the time I get to work, the car radiator is boiling over, my fucking clothes are soaking fucking wet and I smell like baked cat. Fucking place is the end of the Earth.
**November 9:** Tried to run some errands after work, wore shorts, and sat on the black leather upholstery in my car. I thought my fucking backside was on fire. I lost 2 layers of flesh, all the hair on the backs of my legs and off my fucking behind. Now the car smells like burnt hair, fried bum and baked cat. The Weather report might as well be a fucking recording – hot and sunny. Hot and sunny, Hot and fucking sunny. It’s been too hot to do anything for 2 bleeding months and the weatherman says it might really warm up next week. Fuck!!
**November 15:** Doesn’t it ever rain in this darn place? Water restrictions will be next, so my R5,000 worth of palms might just dry up and blow into the fucking pool. The only things that thrive in this hell-hole are the fucking flies. You don’t dare open your mouth for fear of swallowing half a dozen of the little buzzards!
**November 20:** Welcome to HELL! It got to 45 degrees today. Now the air conditioner is gone in my car. The repair man came to fix it and said, ‘Hot enough for you today?’ I wanted to shove the car up his backside. Anyway, had to spend the R2,500 of the mortgage payment to bail me out of jail for assaulting the stupid fool. Fucking PHALABORWA! What kind of sick, demented idiot would want to live here!
**December 1:** WHAT!!!! The FIRST day of Summer!!!!
You are fucking kidding me, right?
Bootleg Taximan
Fun South African Fact: The South African flag was used for the first time on Freedom Day 1994.