Third Special Report

Third special report on the financial management of government’s covid-19 initiatives 68 Recommendations To effectively realise the intended outcomes of the initiative, management should prescribe in its arrangement or contracting what supporting documentation and information is to be submitted for monitoring of actual deliveries being made and reconciliation purposes, as well as to confirm that payment of invoices is based on actual deliveries made. This could include signed-off, detailed log sheets (e.g. signature of the community representative), validation of actual kilometres covered, size of tankers and litres of water delivered. Water tanks not filled, leaving communities without water The provision of water to the community was, and continues to be, a critical government strategy even before the pandemic. Water is required for household use, for hygiene purposes and now, importantly, for the prevention of the spread of covid-19. In addition to our findings on the water tanks and installations due to unsatisfactory needs assessment, project management and safety and security measures (covered in th e Focus area: infrastructure s ection, above), the following concerns on the supply of water compound the problem. Due to ineffectivemanagement monitoring and oversight processes, an adequate and continual supply of water to the communities was not ensured. The unsatisfactory processes collectively did not bode well for the effective implementation of the initiative tomeet the goal of providing water where it was most needed, as 20 (19%) of the 107 tanks we sampled for the audit were not adequately refilled. While we confirmed empty tanks during our site visits, and communities in some of the areas confirmed that tanks were empty for periods ranging froma week to twomonths, the extent of the finding could not be fully explored as key documents (schedules, logs) were not completed. Nkomazi We noted that water tanks at themunicipality were not always filled, leaving some communities without water for extended periods of time. According to the JoJo tank status report dated 2 February 2021, none of the five water tanks in the Majejane village were filled with water. This was confirmed when we inspected one of the tanks on 1 February 2021. Themunicipality indicated that it did not provide water through water tankers because its tankers were not scheduled to deliver water to the 3 500 stands in Majejane village. The village receivedwater up to October 2020 when the 30 hired private water takers were deployed to deliver water to the village, meaning that water was not delivered to the village for more than six months. With no water delivery in the community, villagers had to revert to buying water fromprivate water tanker providers, for which they had to pay themselves. JoJo tanks (5 000-litre) were also not filled for nine other communities due to the shortage of water tankers (according to the JoJo tank status report dated 2 February 2021, see table below). Villages where water tanks were not filled Village Ward Donor of tank Number of tanks Number of stands in village Steenbok W8 DWS 1 500 Mandulo W12 DWS 1 Not provided Thambokhulu W12 IUCMA 1 Not provided