Inquiry into water affairs to go ahead

The Treasury, the Special Investigating Unit and the auditor-general will form part of a full-scale inquiry into the crisis at the Department of Water and Sanitation, formerly led by Nomvula Mokonyane and now broke.

The Treasury, the Special Investigating Unit and the auditorgeneral will form part of a fullscale inquiry into the crisis at the Department of Water and Sanitation, formerly led by Nomvula Mokonyane, and now broke.

Mokonyane was shifted to the communications portfolio following a cabinet reshuffle.

The auditor-general has flagged the department for incurring billions of rand in irregular expenditure.

Concern was raised about the department’s overdraft of R2.9bn with the Reserve Bank, which has since reportedly been reduced to R1.9bn.

A joint committee of the water committee and the standing committee on public accounts met on Wednesday to implement the resolution of the water and sanitation committee in its budgetary review and recommendation report, which called for a commission of inquiry to be established.

Themba Godi, the chairman of the standing committee on public accounts, said the inquiry would seek to establish why the department was in a mess.

The joint committee would engage the auditor-general, the Treasury and the Special Investigating Unit, he said.

The inquiry is also expected to invite Mokonyane.

The department has attributed its crisis and the decision to dip into its overdraft to the failure of municipalities to pay for services, a situation that was worsened by budget cuts amounting to about R2.6bn in the 2016-17 financial year.

The department is owed about R11bn by municipalities and water boards.

The ANC study group on water and sanitation said it supported the decision for a full investigation into the department of water and sanitation.