While “turning South Africa into a construction site” is a noble goal, Auditor-General of South Africa national executive head of audit Bongi Ngoma has questioned Public Works and Infrastructure Minister Dean Macpherson on how new infrastructure will be maintained.

Speaking at the inaugural Public Works and Infrastructure Summit, in Sandton, on April 1, Ngoma noted that building new infrastructure was only one side of the infrastructure delivery picture.

“The other half is maintaining and servicing it. The ‘construction site’ . . . narrative is not complete until we also apply ourselves to how this infrastructure will be maintained. All these dire lived experiences that we are aware of are a cumulative result of failure [to deliver] and also a failure to maintain infrastructure,” she said.

She warned that ongoing inadequate maintenance of existing, as well as new, infrastructure would have significant cost implications for the country, because it also put pressure on the fiscus.

“Therefore, while huge investments continue to be made, it is necessary to yield tangible returns on the money that is spent,” Ngoma said.

She highlighted the “scourge” of vandalism as a major cause of unnaturally rapid infrastructure decay across various sectors, including electricity, water, rail, roads and in the low-cost housing environment.

Ngoma noted that the rapid decay of new infrastructure was also often a direct result of poor-quality construction and shoddy workmanship – often accompanied by significant overspending – and resulting in instances where these properties were not being used or usable.

“Audits have revealed that, because there's insufficient due diligence processes and poor assessment, both in terms of technical and at financial capability, when appointing service providers, we then end up appointing service providers that are underperforming and that do not deliver.”

“We end up paying them even before they conclude on the projects, and then we are unable to hold them accountable, because once you have made that payment and you did not monitor the lifecycle of the project or its milestones, then you will not be able to hold that supplier accountable,” she said.

Ngoma complained that there was a persistent lack of consequence management for poor performance and, as a result, a severe lack of accountability. She called on Macpherson to ramp up the accountability framework to root out those who failed to deliver.

“We need to have a concise understanding of . . . the accountability ecosystem, which basically refers to the integrated system that links all the role players that have got a constitutional mandate on infrastructure accountability.

“To master the art of infrastructure delivery is to master the art of accountability. This therefore necessitates a robust activation of the accountability ecosystem to address the root causes [of failed infrastructure delivery],” she said.