Questions and Replies

Reply:

Since the Minister took office (August 2021) no study has been conducted on SMMEs that have registered as formal businesses. The only study which was conducted was in partnership with Fin scope South Africa during 2021/22 financial year which has estimated the total number of SMMEs that have registered as formal businesses at 2 615 715. The study segmented micro enterprises at 2 219 026, small enterprises at 375 809 and medium-sized enterprises at 20 916, full details of each category are outlined below.

Table 1: Small Enterprises by category and number of employees

Additionally, small enterprises operate mainly within the services and trade industries whilst medium-sized enterprises are predominantly within the industrial sector. In terms of the study the industries/sectors of operation are as follows: majority of micro and small enterprises operate within the services sector/industry as well as trade, whilst medium enterprises are within the industrial sector.

STELLA NDABENI-ABRAHAMS

MINISTER: SMALL BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT

Reply:

The Honourable Member is requested to note that the Department does not have at its disposal the information he is requesting. However, he will be furnished with the information as soon as it is received from the Province as matters relating to chieftaincies (senior traditional leadership) are the competence of provincial government.

Reply:

The Department of Higher Education and Training (DHET) coordinates several international scholarships that are offered by international partners, while others are managed by other international, national and provincial departments or government agencies or private entities. The project initiation, administration, budgeting and funding of scholarship programmes are the responsibility of each provincial or national department that embarks on and implements these programmes as per the provincial or national department objectives.

All funding resources for any project including international scholarships have to be secured by the responsible sponsoring department before students are recruited and sent abroad. However, despite this clear separation of financial responsibilities of project implementation and funding between provincial and national department, DHET has put in several structures to promote and strengthen good practice, coordination and management of international scholarships.

The DHET established the International Scholarships Intergovernmental Forum, which it chairs and serves as secretariat. The DHET plays a national oversight and advisory role on international scholarship programmes in which different government departments at both national and provincial levels are involved. The Forum includes all government departments that administer international scholarships and meets biannually.

To further strengthen the Implementation of International Scholarships by the different government entities, the Minister of Higher Education and Training developed a strategy to strengthen the coordination, management and implementation of international scholarships. These Guidelines are geared towards facilitating the effective coordination and to address a range of persisting issues and challenges that have emerged in the implementation of international scholarships by South African Government entities. Furthermore, in order to strengthen the application of International Scholarships Guidelines, the guidelines are currently being processed into a National Policy to strengthen scholarship coordination, implementation and good practice.

Reply:

Any abuse of inmates is against the departmental code of conduct.

a) Department of Correctional Services has the following reported incidents of abuse on inmates by the officials reported over a period of five (05) years:

Period	Type of complaint	Alleged number of officials
2017/18	None	None
2018/19	None	None
2019/20	None	None
2020/21	None	None
2021/22	02: sexual abuse	02
	01: psychological abuse

b) In line with the departmental code of conduct, disciplinary processes were undertaken with the following outcomes:

Period	Type of complaint	Outcome of disciplinary process
2017/18	None	None
2018/19	None	None
2019/20	None	None
2020/21	None	None
2021/22	02: sexual abuse	01 official was not found guilty. 01 official was dismissed.
	01: psychological abuse	02 officials were given written warnings

END

Reply:

A general approach adopted by the Department is to understand the quantum of financing and activity in specific value-chains within the sector. With this perspective, it was noted that renewable energy is clearly the most substantial sector currently, and opportunities were identified for specialised SMMEs who provide the technical services and products required at different stages of development and operation. Technologies such as solar water heating, bioenergy, smart grids and smart meters provide considerable opportunities across the board for SMMEs. Beyond the various product and service sectors and value chains, another key area of intervention is to support SMMEs to make them greener, more sustainable and thereby more competitive.

The Department has looked at mechanisms to support SMMEs within targeted sectors, using all instruments at their disposal. This includes:

1. Business Development Support, incubation.
2. Ensuring specialised technical and quality support for SMMEs.
3. Plans are afoot to look at preferential and specialised financial assistance and incentives.
4. Policies to set-aside or ringfence a percentage of the value of projects or products for SMMEs in defined value-chains, sub-sectors and state procurement.
5. Localisation and demand-side policies.
6. Export support.

The Department is also looking at supporting SMMEs to become more sustainable and to adopt green practices through partnership with the Department of Fisheries Forestry and the Environment (DFFE) and the Department of Mineral Resources and Energy (DMRE) looking at the following specific measures:

1. To publicise, support and facilitate access by SMMEs to the full range of energy and resource- saving services.

2. Encourage and incentivise SMMEs to install embedded power generation technologies as it becomes economically feasible.

3. Promote the concept of circularity and the efficient manufacture and sustainable use of materials and resources.

STELLA NDABENI-ABRAHAMS

MINISTER: SMALL BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT

Reply:

Government will continue, within a constrained fiscal environment, to support measures to intensify the fight against corruption and ensure that there is sufficient capacity for the investigation and prosecution of criminal cases emanating from the State Capture Commission. Recommendations from the State Capture Commission that require additional financial resources are being considered by the National Treasury as part of the budget process.

Reply:

The National Anti-Corruption Advisory Council (NACAC) was established as part of the institutional arrangements contained in the National Anti-Corruption Strategy (NACS), which was developed through an extensive and inclusive participatory process.

The establishment of the council is a reflection of government’s commitment to work with all sections of society to fight corruption, promote integrity in the work of government and advancing Priority 1 of the Medium Term Strategic Framework – building a capable, ethical and developmental state.

The specific terms of reference for the National Anti-Corruption Advisory Council (NACAC) are as follows:

• Advise on the effective implementation of the National Anti-Corruption Strategy (NACS) by government, civil society and the private sector.

• Advise key role-players on the overarching thrust and six pillars of the NACS.

• Advise on the strengthening of South Africa’s anti-corruption architecture.

• Host the National Anti-Corruption Summit(s), bringing together government, civil society, business and academia to set the country’s anti-corruption agenda and evaluate progress in the implementation of the NACS; and

• Advise on public awareness about corruption in all its facets.

The NACAC is an advisory council to the President. The Presidency has budgeted for operational costs that may arise.

Given its terms of reference, mandate and broad representivity, the NACAC has a valuable contribution to make to the consideration and implementation of the recommendations of the State Capture Commission.

Reply:

There are several reasons for the severe economic challenges our country is experiencing today. The accumulated legacy of colonialism and apartheid has been compounded by the effects of state capture and corruption, by the devastating COVID-19 pandemic, by an energy crisis that has lasted for more than a decade, and now by global instability.

The Economic Reconstruction and Recovery Plan (ERRP), crafted in partnership with social partners at NEDLAC, is government’s response to these economic challenges. Since it was launched in October 2020, this plan has helped to restore some of the jobs that were lost, support vulnerable households and firms, and place the economy on a path to growth.

The plan includes the following key areas of intervention:

• A massive rollout of infrastructure, which will be achieved by unlocking new public and private infrastructure investment through building capability in Infrastructure SA and the Infrastructure Fund, reviewing procurement frameworks, and providing catalytic funding through blended finance instruments.

To date, 34 out of 50 strategic infrastructure projects are in implementation stages, accounting for R281 billion out of a total budget of R340 billion.

• Achieving energy security, by improving Eskom’s performance and rapidly expanding generation capacity through a diverse energy mix.

In addition to the measures in the ERRP, in July 2022, I announced further measures to ensure Eskom achieves an acceptable energy availability factor, to accelerate the procurement of new capacity from renewables, gas and battery storage, facilitate greater private investment in generation capacity and transform the electricity sector.

While government is accelerating and expanding its power procurement programme, there are currently over 80 private generation projects, with around 6,000 MW of capacity, at various stages of development.

• An employment stimulus to create jobs and support livelihoods through public and social employment.

Since its inception in October 2022, the Presidential Employment Stimulus has created over a million work and livelihood opportunities for unemployed South Africans. Of the participants, over 80% are youth and over 62% are women.

• Renewed support to grow South African businesses, by pursuing new areas of growth through industrialisation, localisation and export promotion, helping SA businesses to thrive and expand.

As part of this work, master plans have been finalised in eight industries – clothing, textiles, footwear and leather, poultry, sugar, automotive, furniture, steel, tourism and forestry – resulting in total investment commitments of R82.5 billion and the creation of 6,500 jobs.

The 4th South Africa Investment Conference in March 2022 raised investment pledges to the value of R332 billion. This brings the total value of investment commitments since 2018 to over R1.1 trillion.

• Implementing economic reform measures to reduce the cost of doing business, lower barriers to entry and create a more competitive and inclusive economy.

Some of the progress to date includes the auction of high-demand broadband spectrum, the identification of possible private sector partners for container terminals at the Durban and Ngqura ports, enabling third-party access to the freight rail network, clearing the water use licence backlog and significantly improving turnaround times, publishing a revised Critical Skills List and completing a comprehensive review of the work visa system.

Given the severe economic and social challenges our country is facing, government has been working with social partners towards consensus on the key tasks that we need to undertake together to address these challenges.

Underpinned by the ERRP, negotiations are underway through NEDLAC to finalise a ‘Framework for a Social Compact in South Africa’. This will form the basis for a broader engagement with all stakeholders and all South Africans on decisive actions to address unemployment, poverty and inequality.

Reply:

During the recent strike action, 2,186 Eskom employees were reported to have participated in the unprotected strike action. Eskom has served all identified employees with a notification to institute disciplinary action, and the cases are at different stages of the disciplinary process.

The System Operator determines the stage of load shedding required at any particular point in time in consultation with Generation. Stage 6 has been the highest level of load shedding to date and load shedding equates to approximately 5% of the load in a particular area per stage. The industry document that guides how load shedding is carried out is the NRS048 standard and it currently goes up to Stage 8 load shedding. Load shedding is executed in a controlled manner to ensure system stability across the country.

Since the announcement on 25 July 2022 of additional measures to tackle load shedding, the National Energy Crisis Committee (NECOM) has been established to oversee measures to improve the performance of Eskom’s existing fleet of power stations; accelerate the procurement of new generation capacity; increase private investment in electricity generation; enable businesses and households to invest in rooftop solar; and fundamentally transform the electricity sector to position it for future sustainability. Significant progress has been made in several key areas, including the following:

• The Department of Mineral Resources and Energy (DMRE) has published an amendment to Schedule 2 of the Electricity Regulation Act for public comment in line with the announcement made by the President to remove the licencing threshold for embedded generation projects. The schedule was previously amended to raise the licensing threshold to 100 MW, a reform which has already unlocked significant private investment.

The new amendment will remove the licensing requirement for generation projects of any size and allow investment in larger, utility-scale projects to rapidly add new generation capacity to the grid.

• Various actions have been implemented to streamline regulatory processes for energy projects with more activities under review. The Department of Forestry, Fisheries and the Environment (DFFE) has waived the need to obtain an environmental authorisation for transmission infrastructure in areas of low and medium environmental sensitivity and in strategic transmission corridors. Average timeframes have been reduced for various regulatory processes, including grid connection, NERSA registration, water use licensing, environmental impact assessment and land use authorisation.

• Eskom is taking steps to address challenges at power station level, including by deploying former power station managers and skilled experts to improve operational performance and reduce partial load losses.

• A new Ministerial determination has been sent to NERSA for concurrence for over 18,000 MW of new generation capacity from wind, solar and battery storage.

• A revised RFP has been published for Bid Window 6 to increase the amount of generation capacity procured from 2,600 MW to 5,200 MW.

• An additional 200 MW has been procured through the Southern African Power Pool as of September 2022, with work underway to increase imports from the region.

• A standard offer approach has been developed for Eskom to procure up to 1,000 MW of additional capacity from existing generators, contingent on market response.

• Work is underway within Eskom to develop a mechanism to procure surplus energy from customers to increase uptake of rooftop solar installations.

• The Electricity Regulation Amendment Bill, which provides for the establishment of an independent transmission company and the emergence of a competitive electricity market, is being finalised for tabling in Parliament.

• The Integrated Resource Plan 2019 is being reviewed, with a completion target of March 2023, to update assumptions regarding energy availability and technological changes.

These and other measures currently underway will make a significant difference in reducing the risk of load shedding and achieving long-term energy security.

Reply:

The modelling conducted by the Ministerial Task Team was used to assist the Department, NSFAS and National Treasury as part of the medium-term budget discussions in preparation for the 2022/23 MTEF process. The model used the inflation estimates outlined in the 2022/23 MTEF Guidelines sent out by the National Treasury. This resulted in the shortfall for 2022/23 being addressed in the 2022/23 budget vote, with reprioritisation from across government, as well as an additional amount required from the Department’s budget. However, the discussion on whether allowances can be changed is dependent on funding available and anticipated costs for 2023. 

The MTEF allocations to NSFAS for university students are as follows:

MTEF - Allocation	2022/23	2023/24	2024/25
University allocation: Baseline	37 151 442	40 711 784	44 399 325
Reprioritisation-Universities	1 207 665
Sub-total: Universities	38 359 107	40 711 784	44 399 325

Reply:

The department is currently implementing the Strategic Framework on Self-sufficiency and sustainability (launched 01 April 2021), with the aim to increase the generation of food and other products. This is derived from the Correctional Services Act Section 3(2)(b) of the Correctional Services Act, Act No. 111 of 1998 as amended: “the department must as far as practicable be self-sufficient and operate according to business principles”.

DCS embarked on a process to incrementally increase self-produce food stuff and provide furniture and other products for own use and as ordered by other government departments. However, we have not been able to provide 100% in all of the needs of the inmates. The following progress has been recorded since the launch of the Strategic Framework on Self-sufficiency and sustainability:

• Vegetables from DCS farms, we recorded an 89% self-sufficiency;
• Fruit 78;
• Red meat and pork in access of 90%; &
• 100% self-sufficient in provisioning of eggs for inmate meals (ration)

This is an ongoing process of DCS investing in machinery and equipment in order to increase the level of sufficiency with the aim to eventually provide for the majority of food and other products to be used and or consumed by inmates.

Research is being conducted regarding the possibility and capacity to in source completely, which will then guide the possibility to provide outside of DCS.

END

Reply:

(1)(a) In terms of section 6(1) of the Broad-Based Black Economic Empowerment (B-BBEE) Act, 2003, as amended, the B-BBEE Advisory Council consists of members of the Executive and individuals appointed by the President, drawn from a wide range of persons with experience and expertise relevant to the work of the Council.

The members of the Council are:

• President, who is the Chairperson,
• Minister of Trade, Industry and Competition, who is the Deputy Chairperson,
• Minister of Employment and Labour,
• Minister of Agriculture, Land Reform and Rural Development,
• Minister of Communications and Digital Technologies,
• Ms Gloria Serobe,
• Mr Kganki Matabane,
• Dr Nthabiseng Moleko,
• Ms Sibongile Sambo,
• Mr Sibusiso Maphatiane,
• Mr Ajay Lalu,
• Ms Louise Thipe,
• Ms Makale Ngwenya,
• Mr Kashief Wicomb,
• Mr Thulani Tshefuta,
• Mr James Hodge,
• Ms Khathu Lambani Makwela,
• Ms Irene Dimakatso Morati,
• Dr Lulu Gwagwa.

(1)(b) The terms of reference of the Council are set out in Section 5 of the Act:

• advise government on black economic empowerment;
• review progress in achieving black economic empowerment;
• advise on draft codes of good practice which the Minister intends publishing for comment;
• advise on the development, amendment or replacement of the strategy referred to in section 11 of the B-BBEE Act;
• if requested to do so, advise on draft transformation charters; and
• facilitate partnerships between organs of state and the private sector that will advance the objectives of this Act.

(2) The Advisory Council is a statutory body and one of its functions is to review progress on B-BBEE implementation. Advances made in implementing this constitutional imperative include the increasing number of success stories of black entrepreneurs and industrialists who are adding to South Africa’s GDP and to job creation. As a consequence of governments’ empowerment programmes, more than 400,000 workers are now shareholders in their companies or are covered by agreements committing to introducing share ownership. An increasing number of black South Africans are occupying key management positions or serve as board members of leading South African companies and thousands of workers have benefited from skills development.

(3) The Council provides advice that can assist the work of government departments and entities and it does not therefore duplicate the work of any department, as it is not an executing structure. It does however provide Government with the independent perspectives of experts and persons with insights from different constituencies. The annual budget of the Advisory Council for the execution of its mandate and the legislated functions mentioned above is R734,000.

Reply:

It is not correct to say that I have established 25 task teams since becoming President of the Republic on 15 February 2018.

However, a number of advisory councils, commissions, panels and working groups have been established since 2018. Some of these continue to function as per their stated terms of reference, while others were established for a specific purpose and were therefore terminated upon completion of their work and submission of their reports.

The relevant information on these bodies is contained in the reply to NA Question 2292 submitted by Ms S Gwarube (DA) on 10 June 2022.

Cabinet Committees, including Inter-Ministerial Committees, have also been established and there are no costs attendant on these structures. The minutes of Cabinet Committees and Inter-Ministerial Committees are classified.

Where task teams are established, they are generally for a specific time-limited purpose, consist mostly of government officials and do not require additional costs.

Where applicable, the records of the relevant bodies may be obtained from the relevant secretariat departments.

Reply:

a) The Department of Small Business Development (DSBD) through its entity, the Small Enterprise Development Agency (Seda) provides business development support to SMMEs and Co-operatives with Information & Business Advice, Business Plans, Mentoring and Training etc.

b) With limited resources, Seda has over the past five financial years provided the following skills development programmes for SMMEs and Co-operatives as per table below:

TRAININGS	2021/22	2020/21	2019/20	2018/19	2017/18	Total
Start Up 1	R1,014,111	R438,178	R566,617	R903,389	R774,003	R3,696,298
Small business Start Up	R150,844	R157,365	R409,954	R440,347	R497,540	R1,656,050
Basic Business Skills	R2,363,054	R2,610,713	R1,216,157	R1,224,240	R1,070,592	R8,484,756
Other Training	R20,011,593	R7,270,968	R1,435,190	R1,879,117	R2,631,256	R33,228,124
Co-Op Training	R203,920	R269,310	R384,764	R130,220	R380,542	R1,368,756
Total	R23,743,522	R10,746,534	R4,012,682	R4,577,313	R5,353,933	R48,433,984

“Other training” in table above includes amongst others: Productivity improvement, Capacity Building training, Customer Service training, Labour Employer training, financial wellness and sector specific training which was introduced in 2021/22 FY.

Seda through its Learning Academy has developed different training programmes. These programmes are credit bearing and accredited by the Services Seta. Quality training aims to assist organisations of all types to implement and operate the Quality Management System (QMS) to increase effectiveness, consistency and customer satisfaction, explain the benefits of implementing QMS and understand the quality, management principles. Whilst food safety introduces Food Safety, Understand Pre-Requisite programme, Hazard Analysis, Critical, Control, Point system (HACCP) and HACCP principles and Implementing a Food Safety Management System (SANS 22000:2019.).

The table below provides Seda’s spent for the past five financial years:

Quality Training and Food Safety	2021/22	2020/21	2019/20	2018/19	2017/18	Total
	R10,140,769	R7,107,300	R5,337,100	R4,706,400	R5,660,400	R38,612,369

Seda also has an Export Orientation Course (EOC) which focuses on Export Development. These courses focus on the business with the aim of helping the business assess its export readiness. The trainings target SMMEs that have the intention and the potential to enter the export business or those already involved in exports but wanted to strengthen their knowledge in this field of business. Seda has over the past five financial years provided Export Orientation courses for SMMEs and Co-operatives as per table below:

Export Development - Export Orientation courses	2021/22	2020/21	2019/20	2018/19	2017/18	Total
	R730,000	R291,845	R150,000	R380,000	R220,000	R1,771,845

Furthermore, Seda has an Entrepreneurship in Schools Programme that encourages learners to consider entrepreneurship as an alternative career to employment. The main objective of the programme is:

1. To influence the mind set of learners by encouraging them to become job creators instead of job seekers once they leave the schooling system.
2. To equip learners with entrepreneurial knowledge and skills needed to start and manage their businesses; and
3. To improve entrepreneurial activity amongst the learners and educators.

The table below provides Seda’s spent for the past five financial years:

Entrepreneurship in schools	2021/22	2020/21	2019/20	2018/19	2017/18	Total
	R3,260,000	R1,893,242	R2,072,671	R2,060,364	R2,103,817	R11,390,093

Seda is also in partnership with the United Nations Conference on Trade & Development’s (UNCTAD) Division of Investment and Enterprise United Nation’s Empretec training Programme. The following are details about the programme:

1. Empretec is a 6 Day programme aimed based on a unique Harvard University methodology focusing on behavioural approach to entrepreneurship.
2. The programme is interactive, experience and self-assessment based and takes 25-30 participants per workshop. Participants learn by doing.
3. Participants on this programme receive an UNCTAD endorsed certificate.
4. Programme develops Personal Entrepreneurial Competencies (PECs) such as Opportunity Seeking, Persistence, Goal setting, risk taking, fulfilling commitments, planning etc. for participants.

The table below provides Seda’s spent for the past five financial years:

Empretec	2021/22	2020/21	2019/20	2018/19	2017/18	Total
	R1,050,000.00	R1,155,000.00	R1080000	R1710000	R810000	R5,805,000.00

Seda also has a dedicated programme, The Basic Entrepreneurship Skills Development (BESD) which was jointly developed by Seda and German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development via Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) since 2012. GIZ left the programme in December 2016. The programme is funded by the National Skills Fund for an amount of R84 million. The BESD approach utilises coaching as an innovative methodology to facilitate and reinforce learning and development support to emerging entrepreneurs. A total of 260 undergraduates and 1998 Emerging Entrepreneurs successfully completed the training initiative.

STELLA NDABENI-ABRAHAMS

MINISTER: SMALL BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT

Reply:

As with all Advisory Councils, the members of the National Anti-Corruption Advisory Council (NACAC) only receive remuneration for the time spent for the preparation and attendance of the meetings and such other tasks as may be delegated by the NACAC.

Members of the NACAC shall be remunerated according to the remuneration category and scale recommended by the National Treasury’s Central Evaluation Committee. The Presidency has budgeted for operational costs that may arise.

The National Anti-Corruption Advisory Council members have been drawn from civil society, academia, business and labour, based on a list of publicly nominated individuals.

Reply:

1. The only meeting discussing appointments within the Department of Small Business Development (DSBD) that I attended within my role as Executive Authority of the DSBD was with the departmental officials duly appointed and authorised to engage on the appointment of personnel within the DSBD.
2. All appointments within the Department of Small Business Development (DSBD) are in line with the relevant Public Service Regulations as published by the Department of Public Service and Administration. Appointments within the DSBD follows the processes and guidelines contained within the regulations. As such these appointments do not get discussed at forums or external structures that are not regulated by the Public Service Regulations.

STELLA NDABENI-ABRAHAMS

MINISTER: SMALL BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT

Reply:

(a) The following Incubators are funded by the Small Enterprise Development Agency (Seda) through funding allocation from Department of Small Business Development (DSBD):

No.	Province	Number of Incubation Centres
1	Eastern Cape	17
2	Free State	6
3	Gauteng	36
4	Kwa Zulu Natal	19
5	Limpopo	7
6	Mpumalanga	10
7	Northern Cape	5
8	North West	8
9	Western Cape	14
122

(b) According to data collected during 2019/20 financial year, a total of 106 incubators in the private sector were recorded. See below breakdown:

Type	No
Accelerators	49
Incubators	57
Total	106

It is however difficult to get real time numbers since state funded and private sector incubators are not governed and or affiliated to a body. Seda is in a process of resuscitating the Southern African Business and Technology Incubation Association (SABTIA) which will address the intention of assessing the overall number of incubators in the country.

(c) Seda does not have data on international players per province, however Seda is co-funding an incubator with the French Embassy called French South African Tech Labs in Cape Town.

STELLA NDABENI-ABRAHAMS

MINISTER: SMALL BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT

Reply:

The Department of Small Business Development (DSBD) spent a total of R4 512 571.93 on consultants from 1 May 2019 to 31 May 2022, as tabulated below:

DSBD Consultants services - 1 May 2019 to 31 May 2022
Item	Purpose	Amount in Rands
Audit committee	Audit related functions	773 254,15
HRM services	Employee, Health and Wellness related matters	307 570,81
Occupational health	Training	7 900,00
Organisational structure	BBBEE Verification	54 625,00
Qualification verification	Payment for candidate verification	146 980,38
Research and advisory	Appointment of a service provider to provide an overview of the economic challenges experienced by SMME's cooperatives in South Africa and a comparative analysis of policy responses of at least three (3) countries at a similar stage of development and propose suitable policy responses to DSBD for a period of six (6) months. Appointment of a service provider to undertake a study on an analysis and assessment of barriers to entry for small, macro and medium enterprise and cooperatives to economic opportunities and to draft a policy framework. Update the IDBS Policy and Package for Gazzette. Appointment of a service provider to assist the Department with the strengthening of the Red Tape Reduction strategy. SMME Annual Review. Financial Literature and Context Review. Provision of human resources within the Office of the Director-General to render Secretariat functions for a period of 12 months.	3 118 601,60
Translate and transcription	Interpretation and sign language services	103 639,99
TOTAL		4 512 571,93

STELLA NDABENI-ABRAHAMS

MINISTER: SMALL BUSINESS DEVELOMENT

Reply:

The allocated budget of the Wholesale and Retail Sector Education and Training Authority on skills development for small and medium businesses for each of the past financial years is as follows:

Financial year	Number of SMEs Supported	Budget Allocated
2018/19	910	R16 380 000.00
2019/20	3 608	R64 944 000.00
2020/21	2 446	R44 028 000.00
2021/22	2 508	R23 826 000.00
2022/23	2 700 (in progress)	R25 650 000.00

 

Reply:

1. The Department is engaging with the Department of Labour and Employment on the issue of Domestic Workers. In August 2022, the DWYPD participated in a dialogue session organized by the Department of Labour and Employment, where its main purpose was to bring together policymakers and partners to build and/or strengthen strategic partnerships that will collaboratively work towards improving access to the Unemployment Insurance Fund and Compensation Fund and other benefits for Domestic Workers in South Africa.

The main challenge the Domestic Sector is experiencing is that majority of domestic workers are not registered, which makes it very difficult for the department of Labour to monitor in terms of the implementation of the labour law.

In this dialogue process, the DWYPD engaged with different National Departments such as the Departments of Social Development; Employment and Labour, as well as with Representatives from the Joint SDG Fund in South Africa: viz. ILO, UNICEF, UN WOMEN; Representatives from civil society, private sector; and Domestic Workers representatives.

This work is ongoing.

2. The Department of Women, Youth and Persons with Disabilities made a recommendation that the that Department of Labour working with DWYPD deploys inspectors to the households to check if they are registered and check compliance in terms of the minimum wage agreement, maternity benefits, medical benefits and other related issues. The DWYPD will continue engaging the Department of Labour and Employment in this regard.

_________________________

Approved by Minister

Ms M Nkoana-Mashabane, MP

Date:

Reply:

a). Additional Funding

There is no additional funding for either the Province or the Metro of Human settlements grants provided in the current financial year.

b). Reprioritization

An amount of R340.3 million was reprioritised under Urban Settlement Development Grant (USDG) and R124.4 million under Informal Settlements Upgrading Partnership Grant (ISUPG). These reprioritised funds, as part of the 2022/23 annual allocations, have already been transferred to eThekwini Metropolitan Municipality for the reprioritization for the flooding disaster relief purposes. It should be noted that the above-stated funds are not additional funds but are part of the allocated 2022/23 financial year.

(2) What are the details of the impact of the above-mentioned local, provincial or national reprioritisation of any Human Settlements grants on the provision of housing and basic services in the (a) 2021-22 and (b) 2022-23 financial years? NW3097E

a) 2021-22 financial year

There were no declared disasters that necessitated the reprioritisation measure during the 2021/22 financial year. The Provinces and Metropolitan Municipalities were able to continue with the normal operational tasks as expected of them without any impact on the annual budgets allocated to the Province.

b) 2022-23 financial year

(i) KwaZulu-Natal Provincial Department of Human Settlements

The natural disasters that occurred recently implied that the National Department had to approve the entire annual allocation of Provincial Emergency Housing Grant (PEHG) amounting to R326 million to assist the reported disaster of KwaZulu-Natal Province and therefore had no funds afterwards to assist any other Province with similar funding needs.

In the case of KwaZulu-Natal Province, an amount of R515 million (HSDG-R326 million and ISUPG – R189 million) was reprioritised by the Province to address the disaster and after the PEHG was approved, the Province decided to utilise the R326 million from PEHG and reverse the same amount which was reprioritised to address the disaster back to the HSDG. This implied that the Province still has the full annual allocation of HSDG of R2.9 billion to address human settlements needs for the 2022/23 financial year

(ii) eThekwini Metropolitan Municipality

The Metro reprioritised funds allocated under Urban Settlements Development Grant amounting to R340.3 million to cater for the following projects:

• Sundry replacements (Blocksum) and replacement of network to ensure security of supply to existing customers - R14.4 million;
• Repair of damaged road surface, sidewalks, manhole, storm recovery, bridges, catch pit, embankments Damaged gabion, road reinstatement and stormwater repairs in various areas – R218.4 million;
• Marrianhill stormwater Protection and Environments Protection, replacement of Leachate Treatment Plants, Sundry Replacements (Blocksum) Lovu Landfill cell PH and Infrastructure, Bisassar Road Landfill – R72.3 million; and
• Tongaat Water Treatment Works Remedial to storm damage – R35.2 million

Under the Informal Settlement Upgrading Partnership Grant, the Metro reprioritised an amount of R124.4 million to cater for:

• Purchase of land in Quarry Road West and Ezingwenyeni Informal Settlements – R8 million; and
• Three projects for refurbishment or rehabilitation of the infrastructure damaged by the storm in various informal settlements namely, Dassenhook Informal Settlement, Salvia Place Informal Settlement, Quarry Road Informal Settlement, Umlazi Z and Q Informal Settlement and Mayville Informal Settlement – R116.4 million.

Reply:

Limpopo does not have homeless shelters. The shelters that were indicated in question 282 of 2021 are for Gender Based Violence, i.e. Khuseleka in Polokwane Welfare Complex and Huis Maroela in Phalaborwa.

Reply:

According to the information received from the Gauteng Provincial Department of Social Development, there is no information on the officials in question in their employment records. In the absence of such information, I am not able to provide any further details on the matter.

Reply:

 

a) There is a Performance Agreement in place with the Boards of all Agencies, including South African Road Agency Limited (SANRAL) wherein there is need to have a Routine Maintenance programme in place for 100% of the network and the following are the Technical Performance Targets for the road maintenance

• • • • 95% for Smooth Travel Exposure (STE);
      • 95% for Low Rut Exposure (LRE);
      • 95% for High Texture Exposure (HTE);
      • 90% for Bridge Condition Exposure (BCE);

SANRAL is performing according to these targets and had challenges, with regards, conclusion of awarding projects mainly funded from their Capex Budget. I have engaged with their Board to ensure they put in measures to address this backlog.

Besides challenges SANRAL has particularly with regards to GFIP, it is a well ran entity and has also proven beyond doubt in assisting Provinces during floods. Provinces are also relying on SANRAL for road rehabilitation, hence handing over their strategic roads to SANRAL.

b) There are no plans to privatise SANRAL, who are already operating based on commercial business principles, in the sense they can raise funds through tolling and from external sources and also enter into concession agreements with the provide sector

Reply:

(a) In terms of item 7 of the Notice on upper limits of salaries, allowances and benefits in respect of different members of municipal councils, a councillor designated by the South African Local Government Association (SALGA) to serve in its governance structures is entitled to an allowance not exceeding R1103.23 per day, irrespective of the number of meetings attended by such councillor on a specific day.

(b) (i)   According to information obtained from SALGA, fifteen (15) activities and thirty-four (34) meetings were held during the 2019/ 20 financial year, as follows:

 

No.	(b)(ii)  Types of Activities/ Meetings	(b)(iii)  Number of councillors attended each activity
1	PEC Meetings	59
2.	Municipal Finance and Fiscal Policy Working Group	41
3	Human Settlements and Municipal Planning Working Group	40
4.	Community Development and Social Cohesion Working Group	41
5.	Economic Empowerment and Public Employment Working Group	35
6.	Environment Planning and Climate Resilience Working Group	38
7.	Capacity Building and Institutional Resilience Working Group	43
8.	Water, Sanitation and Waste Management Working Group	43
9.	Public Transport and Road Working Group	38
10.	Governance and Inter-Governmental Relations Working Group	42
11.	Municipal Innovations and Information Technology Working Group	40
12.	SALGA Women’s Commission Meetings	81
13.	SALGA Women’s Commission Provincial Lekgotla	23
14.	Speakers Forum	56
15.	Provincial Members Assembly	39

 

Reply:

1. The department does not fund individual posts in any NPO. The department funds programmes in NPOs which is inclusive of operational costs to fill posts.

The table below reflects the number of Social Workers employed by NPOs in the nine provincial departments.

Table 1: Number of Social Workers employed in NPOs

PROVINCE	NUMBER OF SOCIAL WORKERS EMPLOYED AND FUNDED IN NPOs
Eastern Cape	0
Free State	0
Gauteng	2 311
KwaZulu Natal	1 111
Limpopo	136
Mpumalanga	328
Northern Cape	69
North West	-
Western Cape	1 100
Total	5 055

2. The number of Social Workers employed in provincial DSD are as follows:

PROVINCE	NUMBER OF SOCIAL WORKERS EMPLOYED
Eastern Cape	1 655
Free State	501
Gauteng	1 606
KwaZulu Natal	1 951
Limpopo	1 474
Mpumalanga	496
Northern Cape	231
North West	-
Western Cape	766
Total	8 680

3. The NPOs play a supporting role to the department in rendering social services to the most vulnerable citizens of this country. Since they operate within communities, they have direct access to the beneficiaries and are able to customize service provision according to specific target groups as per their founding constitutions, as well as localise according to the provincial/district/community needs. Their efforts contribute to the socio-economic development of the country in addressing the human development needs of society through their ability to provide developmental social services. The NPO-rendered services/programmes and interventions contribute towards improving the lives of the poor and most vulnerable. Below are some of the services and programmes rendered by NPOs:

• Social Welfare Services (care and protection of persons with disabilities, older persons including residential care facilities, programmes for Orphans and Vulnerable Children etc.);

• Children and Families Services (care and protection of children, community-based care services for children, support services to families, family preservation services, parenting programmes, adoption and foster care services etc.);

• Restorative Services (crime prevention and support, victim empowerment and substance abuse prevention, treatment and rehabilitation services); and

• Development and Research (community mobilisation programmes, institutional capacity building and support for NPOs, poverty alleviation and sustainable livelihoods, youth & women development (including food security, skills development, linking welfare beneficiaries to economic opportunities) and community-based research and planning.

Reply:

Yes, the road cited by the Honourable Ms B Mathulelwa was referred to the Eastern Cape Provincial Department of Transport, who advised that

• the company, Klus Civils, was appointed for the reseal of Provincial Road DR08012;
• the contract was terminated due to non-performance on 20 July 2022. The Department followed all processes as applicable in General conditions of contract for construction works 2015 (GCC 2015);
• Klus Civils was only paid for actual work done in terms of their contractual agreement; and
• the process is underway of sourcing a replacement contractor

Reply:

1. The road damage at Umkomaas on R102 is a slip failure, not a bridge collapse. The slip failure was a result of the recent April 2022 floods. The site has been assessed, and only one lane was deemed safe to use. The affected portion has therefore been barricaded and the road is currently operating on a single lane in order to prevent total road closure.

2. Remedial works are inclusive of backfilling the failed slope and protecting the damaged embankment. Contractors have been invited to quote for the required repairs and the quotations closed on the 9th of September 2022, and the works will commence immediately after the appointment of a contractor, which is anticipated to be before December 2022.

Reply:

The DWYPD assesses the draft APPs of departments to ensure that the plans are responsive to the priorities of WYPD and annually monitors the government progress towards the economic empowerment and promotion of the rights of WYPD. The 2019-2022 report has the following findings among others:

• Women in Energy (WiE) Programme was developed to promote access to information and support women to participate in through workshops and business summit for Women Owned Entrepreneurs. The workshop was held with over 1000 women entrepreneurs from all nine provinces, as well as Women in Energy (WiE) Business Summit attended by over 2000 women.

• 1 497 Small, Medium and Micro Enterprises (SMMEs) were approved for funding under the SMME Debt Relief Fund, of these, 33% are women-owned and 21% owned by young people;
• The DSI reported that 110 innovator youth business start-ups were supported as part of the Grassroots Innovation Programme. Thirteen (13) businesses for youths have been established. About thirty-one (31) of the 110 (29%) are women innovators who have been supported through the programme.

• The Department of Tourism is implementing a three-year pilot project on Women in Tourism (WiT) in Limpopo Province. The Project is based in the following municipalities: Musina, Thulamela, Greater Giyani, Hoedspruit and Molemole;

• Furthermore, the Department of Tourism supported the Green Tourism Incentive Programme with a total of 45 grants and 25 awarded to women-owned businesses. Tourism Transformation Fund grants were approved for 17 businesses, of which 8 are women-owned. Of these, 5 are 100% women-owned, 1 is 70% women-owned, 1 is 60% women-owned and 1 is 50% women-owned.

_________________________

Approved by Minister

Ms M Nkoana-Mashabane, MP

Date:

Reply:

1. All the 38 039 children were assisted with online applications by the Implementing Partners of the Children in the Move Project contracted by UNICEF in supporting the Department, for documents and through referral to the Department of Home Affairs.

The process of assisting children on the move is briefly outlined here and is more on care and protection of these children as per the provisions of the Children’s Act 38 of 2005:

The children are admitted in Child and Youth Care Centre through the Children’s Court Order as per the provisions of Section 151 and 152 of the Children’s Act. During the admission children usually undergo a panel review process to ensure a joint decision in the best interest of the child.

While in the Child and Youth Care Centres children are cared for by providing them with basic services to meet their immediate needs.

Services that are also provided relates to health education for improving hygiene and nutrition. Children are also provided with professional counselling and emotional support. Therapeutic services are also provided to them.

The following is the core component when assisting children on the move namely:

• Identification

Identification of children on the move is part of the intervention by Social Service Professionals (SSPs). Outreach work is done by Outreach Workers who are mainly Child and Youth Care Workers (CYCWs). Children are identified through the Outreach Programme which is a programme that reaches out to children to empower them to express their rights and needs and to link them with the necessary resources when required. Some of the resources are: their families; Drop-in-Centres and Child and Youth Care Centres (CYCCs). Social Service interventions are used to engage with the children and explore the reasons that led them to be on the move.

The identification of children on the move is two-fold:

• Focus on those children who can be re-unified with their families; and

• Those who cannot be reunified and would therefore have to be admitted in a Child and Youth Care Centre for further interventions.

Information on the home circumstances of the child emerge as the Social Workers engages the child. Through the engagement the Social workers are able to obtain the details of the family which he/she uses to contact them. In this regard, the contact becomes extended to family to establish the home conditions and reasons for the child to end up on the move. At this point, the family also becomes the focus of intervention until the child is fully re-unified with them. When the child is re-unified, there are other services which are recommended for the well-being and psycho-social support of the child.

A decision about a child who cannot be re-unified with the family is based on the outcomes of the investigations done into the home circumstances. The impending danger that is posed by the child being on the move is also a reason for immediate removal of the child from the situation.

Social workers further facilitate the provision of documentation by linking them with the Department of Home Affairs.

2. The breakdown of the types of documentation provided for each child is not available as the Implementing Partners do not receive feedback from the Department of Home Affairs about the document applications that are completed.

3. The number of the referred children who received each of the specified documents can be confirmed by the Department of Home Affairs as this falls within their mandate.

4. The number of the referred children that have been documented so far and have been declared citizens of the Republic and those that are still non-citizens can be confirmed by the Department of Home Affairs.

Reply:

The written reply is indicated below:

a) The purpose of the Systemic Evaluation (SE)

The purpose of the SE is to monitor learner performance trends across years, which will be based on a curriculum test in Mathematics and Languages in Grades 3, 6 and 9. The assessment of learner performance will be evaluated in the context of in-school (school) and out-of-school (district) factors that influence learner performance. 

b) The number of fieldworkers

The requirement for the appointment of fieldworkers was a teacher qualification and teaching experience. Fieldworkers were appointed by the appointed service provider. Learners write the assessments on their own but are monitored closely by the fieldworker. In their recruitment, the company did not distinguish between primary and secondary teachers. A total of 710 fieldworkers were recruited.

c) How field workers are compensated for their work

The rates of payment were as follows:

• • Administration of assessment: R500.00 for every day worked (including attending training sessions),
  • Own car usage: mileage reimbursement is  R3.82 per kilometre.
  • Public transport Allowance: R150.00 per day worked
  • Data and airtime allowance: R200.00 once off

d) The number of sampled schools

Schools were randomly sampled per province before the administration of the study. A provincial breakdown of the sampled schools selected for the study is indicated in table below. The sampling has been completed and the data collection has been completed and there is no further sampling required.

Province	Grade 3, 6 and 9 sampled schools
Eastern Cape	434
Free State	351
Gauteng	405
KwaZulu-Natal	450
Limpopo	418
Mpumalanga	373
Northern Cape	323
North West	387
Western Cape	398
Total	3 539

 

Reply:

1). The allocations of Human Settlements Grants in the KwaZulu-Natal Province:

(i) 2021/22 Financial Year

Provincial Allocations- KwaZulu-Natal Province

Name of Grant	Allocations (R’000)
Human Settlements Development Grant	2 455 021
Informal Settlement Upgrading Programme Grant	714 375
Provincial Emergency Housing Grant	-

Municipal Allocations-eThekwini Metropolitan Municipality

Name of Grant	Allocations (R’000)
Urban Settlements Development Grant	1 288 158
Informal Settlement Upgrading Programme Grant	686 369

(ii) 2022/23 Financial Year

Provincial Allocations- KwaZulu-Natal Province

Name of Grant	Allocations (R’000)
Human Settlements Development Grant	2 935 224
Informal Settlement Upgrading Programme Grant in KwaZulu-Natal	756 868
Provincial Emergency Housing Grant	-

Municipal Allocations- eThekwini Metropolitan Municipality

Name of Grant	Allocations (R’000)
Urban Settlements Development Grant	1 279 036
Informal Settlements Upgrading Partnership Grant	727 265

2). Transferred Amounts

(i) 2021/22 Financial Year

Provincial Grant Transfers

Name of Grant	Allocations (R’000)	Transferred (R’000)
Human Settlements Development Grant	2 455 021	2 455 021
Informal Settlements Upgrading Partnership Grant	714 375	714 375
Provincial Emergency Housing Grant	-	-

Municipal Grant Transfers- eThekwini Metropolitan Municipality

Name of Grant	Allocations (R’000)	Transferred Funds (R’000)
Urban Settlements Development Grant	1 288 158	1 288 158
Informal Settlements Upgrading Partnership Grant	686 369	686 369
Municipal Emergency Housing Grant	-	-

(ii) 2022/23 Financial Year

Provincial Grant Transfers as at 31 August 2022

Name of Grant	Allocations R’000)	Transferred Funds (R’000)
Human Settlements Development Grant	2 935 224	1 472 072
Informal Settlements Upgrading Partnership Grant	756 868	415 937
Provincial Emergency Housing Grant	325 764	140 003

Municipal Grant Transfers as at 31 August 2022

Name of Grant	Allocations (R’000)	Transferred (R’000)
Urban Settlements Development Grant	1 279 036	447 663
Informal Settlements Upgrading Partnership Grant	727 269	363 633
Municipal Emergency Housing Grant	-	-

3). Relevant details of all approved reprioritization from existing and future budget allocations from the grants for the specific purposes of flood relief in KwaZulu-Natal:

(i) KwaZulu-Natal Province

a) Human Settlements Development Grant

The natural disasters that occurred recently implied that the National Department had to approve the entire annual allocation of Provincial Emergency Housing Grant (PEHG) amounting to R326 million to assist the reported disaster of KwaZulu-Natal Province and therefore had no funds afterwards to assist any other Province with similar funding needs.

In the case of KwaZulu-Natal Province, an amount of R515 million (HSDG-R326 million and ISUPG – R189 million) was reprioritised by the Province to address the disaster and after the PEHG was approved, the Province decided to utilise the R326 million from PEHG and reverse the same amount which was reprioritised to address the disaster back to the HSDG.This implied that the Province still has the full annual allocation of HSDG of R2.9 billion to address human settlements needs for the 2022/23 financial year.

b) Informal Settlements Upgrading Partnership Grant

The Province had reprioritised R189 million from ISUPG and that amount remains to cater for the widely reported and declared disaster. The annual allocation of the grant amounts to R727 million for this current financial year.

(ii) eThekwini Metropolitan Municipality

Municipal Reprioritised Funds from the Urban Settlements Development Grant (USDG) and Informal Settlements Development Grant (ISUPG) for Municipalities are for the 2022/23 financial year as detailed below:

a) Urban Settlements Development Grant (USDG)-R340.3 million

1. Sundry replacements (Blocksum) and replacement of network to ensure security of supply to existing customers - R14.4 million;
2. Repair of damaged road surface, sidewalks, manhole, storm recovery, bridges, catch pit, embankments Damaged gabion, road reinstatement and storm water repairs in various areas – R218.4 million;
3. Marrianhill Storm Water Protection and Environments Protection, replacement of Leachate Treatment Plants, Sundry Replacements (Blocksum) Lovu Landfill cell PH and Infrastructure, Bisassar Road Landfill – R72.3 million; and
4. Tongaat Water Treatment Works Remedial to storm damage – R35.2 million.

b) Informal Settlements Upgrading Partnership Grant – R124.4 million

1. Purchase of land in Quarry Road West and Ezingwenyeni Informal Settlements – R8 million; and
2. Three projects for refurbishment or rehabilitate the infrastructure damaged by storm in various informal settlements namely, Dassenhook Informal Settlement, Salvia Place Informal Settlement, Quarry Road Informal Settlement, Umlazi Z and Q Informal Settlement and Mayville Informal Settlement – R116.4 million.

Reply:

1. I have not attend any meeting of that nature.

2. None

Reply:

a) DSD partially funds NPOs for programmes which includes operations and staffing in terms of the Public Finance Management Act (PFMA) provisions governing transfer funding. The Department’s transfer funding budgets have been reduced along with all other budget items due to the current economic situation in the country, which has curtailed the prospects of funding increases to NPOs in the medium term.

b) Refer to (a) above

2. The funding of social worker programmes in the NPO sector is reviewed annually by the department at the provincial level in an effort to maximize the allocation within the department’s budget constraints. Benchmarking of social worker posts within the public sector is done nationally in terms of the relevant Occupational Specific Dispensation.

Salaries in the Public Service are reviewed centrally. In this regard, the Director-General issued DPSA Circular 21 of 2021, dated 04 November 2021. All salaries were adjusted by 1, 5% across all levels.

3. See response to question 2.

Reply:

Attached find here: Reply

Reply:

(a) (b) The department funds programmes in NPOs which is inclusive of operational costs to fill posts. The department does not fund individual posts in an NPO.

There are 7 102 social workers employed by the NPO Sector across the country.

The table below reflects the number of Social Workers employed by NPOs in the nine provincial departments based on the programme funding received from the Department.

PROVINCE	NUMBER OF SOCIAL WORKERS EMPLOYED IN NPOs
Eastern Cape	1 638
Free State	409
Gauteng	2 311
KwaZulu Natal	1 111
Limpopo	136
Mpumalanga	328
Northern Cape	69
North West	No response
Western Cape	1 100
Total	102

 

2. The salaries of Social Workers and Supervisors/managers employed in the public service range from grades 1 to 4 and 1 to 2 respectively as prescribed by the Occupational Specific Dispersion (OSD) for Social Service Professionals (SSPs). In every Province these would range within these scales.

The table below reflects the categories of Social Workers and their respective salaries within the Public Service.

OCCUPATIONAL CATEGORY	SALARY NOTCH
Social work	Grade 1	R261, 456 – R303, 093
	Grade 2	R321, 546 – R369, 258
	Grade 3	R389, 991 – R452, 106
	Grade 4	R 479, 640 – R 589, 896
Social Work Supervisor	Grade 1	R 389, 991 – R 452, 106
	Grade 2	R 479, 640 – R 725, 517
Social Work Manager	Grade 1	R 806, 811 – R 908, 085
	Grade 2	R 806, 811 – R 1 116, 931
Social Work policy Developer	Grade 1	R 369, 268 – R 413, 739
	Grade 2	R 439, 945 – R 589, 896
Social Work Policy Manager	Grade 1	R 806, 811 – R 908, 085
	Grade 2	R 963, 387 – R 1 116, 831

3. Salaries of social Workers vary from NPO to NPO and Province to Province depending on the funds, sponsors and donations they receive.

Below are the examples of salaries paid to Social Workers in Gauteng, Western Cape and Eastern Cape based of DSD Programme funding.

Province	Professional Posts	Annual Allocation
Gauteng	Assistant Director	R 285, 084
	Chief Social Work	R 233, 784
	Social Work	R 174, 456
	Social Auxiliary Work	R 141, 168
Western Cape	Social Work Manager	R 547, 884
	Social Work Supervisor	R 299, 688
	Social Work	R 198, 132
Eastern Cape	Social Work	R 135, 187
	Principal Social Work	R 203, 553

4. Salaries in the Public Service are determined centrally by the Department of Public Service and Administration. Social Workers in the Public Service fall within the Occupation-Specific Dispensation (OSD) for Social Services Professionals (SSPs), which are tailor-made to ensure staff retention. `

The appointment of Social Workers in the NPO sector is guided by the employment policies of the various organisations and their respective management boards. The salaries of social workers are dependent on the subsidy that the department gives to the NPO, which is informed by the allocations it receives from National Treasury. It is also based on the ability of the NPO’s to source funding from other sources outside of government.

Reply:

(a) Since re-joining the Commonwealth in 1994, South Africa has not made any plans to withdraw from the Commonwealth. South Africa continues to actively participate in the Commonwealth Ministerial and Heads of Government Meetings to make sure that the needs and the voice of Africa and the countries of the South are heard. The Commonwealth is a growing Organisation. During the recent Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting held in Kigali, Rwanda in June 2022, Gabon and Togo, joined the Commonwealth. Membership has now grown from 54 to 56 members. The opening of the membership of the Commonwealth to former French and Portuguese colonies will ensure that the Commonwealth will remain growing in the future.

(b) Not applicable.

Reply:

The Limpopo Provincial Department of Cooperative Government, Human Settlements and Traditional Affairs (CoGHSTA) has advised that it has appointed Kgawana Construction and Enterprise CC to construct ten (10) houses in Ward 24 and that the contractor is currently on site. It has further indicated that the contractor is anticipating to complete all the houses as per Implementation Plan by the end of January 2023.

Reply:

1. With reference to the Public Protector’s report on the National health Laboratory, dated 30 March 2022, what total number of officials have been;

Question	NHLS Response
(a)(i) implicated in allegation of conflict of interest	None of the NHLS officials
(a)(ii) implicated in allegations of misconduct	None of the NHLS officials
(a)(iii) implicated in allegations of maladministration	None of the NHLS officials
(b) what total number of officials have been charged	None of the NHLS officials
(c) what number of officials have been taken on review	None of the NHLS officials
(d) what number of officials have been suspended with pay	None of the NHLS officials

2. (a) Not applicable as no NHLS officials launched review proceedings;

(b) The NHLS board will, in exercising its oversight responsibilities over the NHLS’s affairs, effectively and sufficiently observe and apply the principles enunciated in Part 5 of the King IV Code on Corporate Governance. 

The NHLS board is implementing the following corrective measures arising from the Public Protector’s report:

• Strengthening the NHLS internal controls on the application of the NHLS Supply Chain Management (SCM) Policy and NHLS Remuneration Policy with a view to prevent a recurrence of the improprieties referred to in the Public Protector’s Report. 

• A training course or workshop in Public Procurement, with particular emphasis on fiduciary duties and general responsibilities of Accounting Authorities outlined in the PFMA, as well as a refresher course or workshop on the NHLS Board’s Terms of Reference and guiding principles in the King IV Code on Corporate Governance. 

• Strengthening the monitoring system in line with the guiding principles outlined in Part IV of the King IV Code to monitor procurement and HR processes in the appointment of service providers and individuals. 

• A training course or refresher workshop in public procurement with particular emphasis on sections 57 and 83 of the PFMA as well as section 217 of the Constitution.

• A course on protected disclosure to ensure the proper identification of the requirements for a protected disclosure case and the proper handling thereof. 

• A refresher course on labour relations processes relating to, discipline, in particular the code of good practice on suspensions and dismissals.

• A provision/strategy in the Board’s Terms of Reference to include a prerequisite for compulsory submission of pertinent recommendations for any job grading and/or salary scales. 

• Training on Treasury Regulations 16A9.1 and sections 50, 51, 54, 63, 83 and 84 of the PFMA to enhance oversight capacity over the NHLS affairs. 

• Inclusion of a clause in the Code of Conduct, for the Board to promptly inform the Minister of any changes in the position of Board members.

• Inclusion of a provision in the NHLS Code of Conduct that a member of the Board who discloses to the Board any direct or indirect personal or private business interest which that member may have in any matter before the Board, must withdraw from the proceedings of the Board when that matter is considered. 

• Review the existing policy or the policy provisions on managing conflict of interest to ensure there is no ambiguity. 

• Guidelines in line with Rule 11 of Chapter 2 of the NHLSGR, Rule A.2(c) of Part V of the NHLSGR, where appropriate, pertaining to special circumstances for deviation from implementing recommendations for the implementation of the job grading and remuneration. 

• Guidelines to deal with the ambiguity relating to the proper disposal of NHLS Board documents. 

• Ground rules and timelines within which allegations of fraud, corruption and recommendations of forensic investigation reports, ARC and Legal Services Unit should be dealt with. 

• Management team to take cognizance of the findings of maladministration and improper conduct and to take corrective action to prevent a recurrence of the improprieties referred to in this Report. 

• Formal contract or service level agreement with a contractor, legally sound to avoid potential litigation and to minimise possible fraud and corruption. Such contracts must include legal vetting and must be constantly managed to ensure that both the NHLS and the contractors meet their respective obligations. 

• A monitoring system that ensures that proper procurement in appointing service providers by the SCM and recruitment processes in appointing individuals by the Human Resources Department.

• Review the existing policy or the policy provisions on managing conflict of interest. 

• Evaluation the effectiveness of the NHLS’s internal controls and monitoring system and introduction of strict measures for compliance with lawful, reasonable, and procedurally fair labour practices.

END.

Reply:

1.(a) In terms of the regulations relating to categories of hospitals, there are 100 656 approved beds in the republic and as of July 2022 the total number of usable beds was 85 126:

Province	Approved beds as per regulations relating to categories of hospitals	Usable beds as of July 2022
Eastern Cape	15436	13201
Free State	5372	4786
Gauteng	18833	18000
Kwa-Zulu	26213	20512
Limpopo	10603	7660
Mpumalanga	5848	4747
Northwest	5738	4461
Northern Cape	2287	1785
Western Cape	10326	9974
South Africa	100 656	85126

(b) There is no backlog in terms of new bed capacity that must be provided in the public hospitals.

The total bed capacity is determined using the beds per population ratio (the difference between the current bed capacity (approved) of public hospitals and the optimal bed capacity). According to Statistic South Africa mid- year population estimates of 2019, the total population in South Africa was 58,606,416 and this translated into 1.7 beds per 1000 population. The international benchmark for optimal beds per population is 1.5.

While the overall number of hospital beds per 1,000 population is in line with international references, the distribution of beds across the districts and levels of care appear to be extremely unequal (District Health Barometer 2019/20).

The table below provides a breakdown according to provinces.

Province	Approved beds as per regulations relating to categories of hospitals	StatsSA mid-year population estimates	Beds per 1000 population
Eastern Cape	15436	6,533,465	2,4
Free State	5372	2,971,708	1,8
Gauteng	18833	15,099,801	1,2
Kwa-Zulu	26213	11,503,917	2,3
Limpopo	10603	5,853,193	1,8
Mpumalanga	5848	4,598,333	1,3
Northwest	5738	4,053,179	1,4
Northern Cape	2287	1,240,254	1,8
Western Cape	10326	6,760,561	1,5
South Africa	100 656	58,606,416	1,7

 

The value of the indicator decreased to a lesser degree (less beds/population) for Gauteng, Mpumalanga and North West.

(2) Below is a list of new hospitals in the pipeline to be constructed: 2 (a) and (b) (i) (ii)

PROVINCE	HOSPITAL NAME	NUMBER OF BEDS	STATUS	TOWN
Eastern Cape	Greenville District Hospital	100 Beds	Design	Bizana
	Sipetu District	100 Beds	Construction	Mount Frere
	Khutsong TB Hospital	124 Beds	Construction	Matatiele
	Bambisana District Hospital	100 Beds	Construction Started	Nyandeni
	Zithulele District Hospital	157 Beds	Construction Started	King Dalindyebo
	Nelson Mandela Academic	To be confirmed	Feasibility Study	Queberha
Free State	Managaung District Hospital	330 Beds	Clinical Brief	Bloemfontein
	Free State Psychiatric Hospital	877 Beds	Clinical Brief	Bloemfontein
	Parys Hospital	To be confirmed	Feasibility Study	Parys
	Dihlabeng District Hospital	212 Beds	Tender	Kroonstad
Gauteng	Lilian Ngoyi Regional Hospital	556 Beds	Tender	Johannesburg
	Soshanguve Hospital	400 Beds	Land Acquisition	Pretoria (Soshanguve)
	George Mukhari Academic Hospital	To be confirmed	Feasibility Study	Pretoria (Ga-rankua)
	Chris Hani Baragwanath Hospital	To be confirmed	Feasibility Study	Johannesburg (Soweto)
KwaZulu Natal	UMzimkhulu Mental Hospital	90 Beds	Design	UMzimkhulu
	King Edward 8th	To be confirmed	Feasibility Study	Durban
	Northern KZN Tertiary Hospital	To be confirmed	Feasibility Study	Durban
Limpopo	Limpopo Academic Hospital	488 Beds	Tender	Polokwane
	Siloam Hospital	244 Beds	Construction started	Siloam
	Tshilidzini Hospital	535 Beds	Design	Thohoyandou
	Elim Hospital	416 Beds	Design	Elim
Mpumalanga	Witbank Tertiary Hospital	400 Beds	Tender	Witbank
	Witbank Psychiatric Hospital	400 Beds	Design	Witbank
	Mapulaneng District Hospital	400 Beds	Construction	Bushbuckridge
	Middelburg District Hospital	200 Beds	Construction	Middelburg
North West	Bophelong General Psychiatric Hospital	244 Beds	Construction started	Mafikeng
Western Cape	Swaartland District Hospital	132 Beds	Design	Swaartland
	Belhar Regional Hospital	596 Beds	Design	Belhar
	Klipfontein (GF Jooste) Regional Hospital	To be confirmed	Design	Klipfontein
	Tygerberg Hospital	800 Beds	Feasibility Study	Cape Town

END.

Reply:

The Minister of Public Works and Infrastructure

1. I am informed the immovable infrastructure maintenance approach in the Department of Public and Infrastructure (DPWI) is a blend of Preventative and Corrective. It is per the National Immovable Asset Maintenance Management (NIAMM) Framework, and facilities refurbishment and repair fall under Corrective maintenance.

a) Under Corrective maintenance, two asset renewal programmes ensure the upkeep of DoD facilities. These are Repair and Refurbishment (R&R) and Capital programmes. DPWI always has a myriad of repair and upgrade projects being carried out on the DoD portfolio. The current challenge is the decentralised budget that resides with the client. This model has bottlenecks that lead to delays in timeously carrying out refurbishment and capital projects due to unavailability or delay in funding confirmation.

Furthermore, in recent times DoD has prohibited DPWI from carrying out any Repair and Refurbishment projects in their facilities. The current DoD portfolio is relatively old, and the current prohibition of refurbishment by the DoD will accelerate the deterioration of the facilities resulting in a burden on the normal preventative and corrective maintenance budget. This could put the accounting officer in a precarious position if something were to go wrong due to the lack of refurbishment on these facilities.

b) DPWI continue to carry out Corrective (Day-to-Day) maintenance through various DPWI regional offices. Furthermore, there is an R1 million delegation assigned to the client to perform corrective maintenance as per the Day-to-Day guidelines. The department has already implemented the Total Facility Management (TFM) approach at one of the DoD key strategy facilities, 1 Military Hospital. The TFM implementation for 2 Military Hospital is imminent, and the site visit comprised of DPWI, management of 2 Military Hospital and potential service providers took place on 04 October 2022. TFM is a maintenance approach where the facilities' services are packaged by combining technical maintenance and soft services.

2. Refurbishment expenditure for the past two years on DoD facilities.

	Maintenance	Repair	Refurbishment	DoD funded Refurbishment
2019/20	473 329 770	94 966 731	20 056 739	R 463 066 106
2020/21	342 495 058	80 322 416	5 676 461	R 320 936 571

 

DoD has another Refurbishment budget over and above its normal Capital budget, and DPWI also executes the projects on a recoverable basis.

Reply:

1. (a) I am informed as follows by the Department of Public Works and Infrastructure:

(i) Walter Sisulu Local Municipality (Gqeberha/PE Region):

The age analysis obtained from the Municipality as at 30 June 2022 reflects an outstanding amount of R 7.6 million, the engagements have commenced with the Municipal Manager and DPWI Senior Managers to verify and reconcile, after which DPWI will then make payment within 30 days of receipt of invoices. The amount owed is broken down as follows:

• • • DPWI accounts: R 5.2 million; and
    • Unknown accounts: R 2.4 million.

Unknown accounts are the accounts that do not belong to DPWI and the Municipality continue to bill DPWI.

Walter Sisulu Local Municipality (Umtata Region):

The age analysis obtained from municipalities as at 30 September 2022 reflects an outstanding amount R436 675.32. The amount owed relates to the current month billing for rates and taxes for 2022/2023 financial year (age analysis attached with the confirmation letter from the Municipality). The accounts outstanding are current and up to date.

DPWI does not pay annual property rates in advance but pays them programmatically on a monthly basis which is also applicable for Senqu Local Municipality. While municipalities may be reflecting the annual property rates as due and payable, and invariably overdue, there are few instances where invoices are not paid within 30 days.

(ii) Senqu Local Municipality:

As per the age analysis obtained from municipalities as at 31 August 2022 reflects an outstanding amount of R1.2 million broken down as follows:

• • • Municipal services: R415 217.25 (with R349 000 not yet allocated after the payment run).

R66 217.25 (R415 217.25 – R349 000) is part of the payment that cleared in September 2022 but not yet allocated.

• • • Property rates: R557 505.20 annual claim as outlined above for 2022/2023 financial year; and
    • Leased building: R231 285.33 long overdue lease rental accounts that is currently being investigated.

(2)

Walter Sisulu Local Municipality (Gqeberha)

#	User Department	Category	No. of Accounts	Mun. Services	Rates & Taxes	Arrear Amount
				R
1	Correctional Services	Known Accounts	4	627 431,55	1 985 255,02	2 612 686,57
2	Justice	Known Accounts	7	305 609,28	146 724,28	452 333,57
3	NDPWI	Known Accounts	10	0,00	561 410,18	561 410,18
4	SANDF	Known Accounts	6	0,00	76 882,58	76 882,58
5	SAPS	Known Accounts	18	72 898,77	902 687,41	975 586,19
6	Water Affairs	Known Accounts	34	0,00	510 348,50	510 348,50
7	Unknown		49			2 418 234,24
TOTAL	128	1 005 939,61	4 183 307,98	607 481,83

Walter Sisulu Local Municipality (Mthatha)

The Municipality has confirmed that the Mthatha regional office is up to date with the payments.

Senqu Local Municipality:

#	User Department	Category	No. of Accounts	Municipal Services
1	Correctional Services	Known Accounts	4	95 281,18
2	Justice	Known Accounts	4	55 980.99
3	labour	Known Accounts	2	9 850.2
4	SAPS	Known Accounts	12	188 569,69
5	Home Affairs	Known Accounts	2	65 535,19
TOTAL	24	415 217,25

• Rates and Taxes: R557 505.20 that relates to property rates for 2022/2023 financial year (See confirmation letter from the Municipality); and
• Leased building: R231 285.33 long overdue lease rental accounts that is currently being investigated.

 

(3)

Walter Sisulu Local Municipality (Gqeberha)

DPWI’s Gqeberha Regional Office has been in contact with the Municipality and a visit to perform an extensive reconciliation of the known accounts is arranged for 17- 21 October 2022. The objective is to conclude the reconciliation and settle the reconciled outstanding amount by the end of November 2022.

However, DPWI will only process the amount due upon the completion of the reconciliations and the submission of accurate invoices and supporting documents by the Municipality.

Notwithstanding the above, DPWI made payments of R 734 479, 41 for Rates & Taxes, and R 213 267, 43 for municipal services (utilities) during September 2022. This is a clear demonstration and continuous endeavours by DPWI to ensure that all valid invoices from municipalities – as it is with other creditors – are settled timeously.

Walter Sisulu Local Municipality (Mthatha)

DPWI has no arrear debt on municipal services and property rates and is busy with the current billing.

Senqu Local Municipality:

The Department’s Mthatha Regional Office will meet with the Senqu Municipality and perform an extensive reconciliation for the overdue amount relating to the leased building on 1 November 2022, to resolve and conclude the matter by 30 November 2022.

Reply:

The Minister of Public Works and Infrastructure

(1)

(a) The Department of Public Works and Infrastructure informed me the accepted contract amount at tender was R 71 822 928.02 incl. 14% VAT. The current contract value is R 83 658 783.56 as a result of Contract Price Adjustment (CPAP) = R 8 117 795, 50; the re-measurements (mobile offices rental, 1% VAT increase, excavations for foundations and plumbing) = R 2 683 137.07; additional P&G (for extension of time claims) = R 1 239 397.91

(b) Current expenditure is R 81 062 474.13 inclusive of the R 5 931 200.00 penalties for late completion.

(2) Predicted final cost will differ slightly from the current contract value as some items on the initially measured quantities will be adjusted in the Final Account.

(3) The original completion date was 12 August 2019, and the approved extension was 07 July 2020. The project was completed on 25 August 2022, and penalties were imposed for late completion.

Reply:

In line with Pillar 2 of the Agriculture and Agro-Processing Master Plan (AAMP), which prioritizes the provision of enabling infrastructure to support and grow the Agriculture sector, earlier this year the Minister of Agriculture, Land Reform and Rural Development formally communicated with major agricultural organisations and Agribusiness from around the country, requesting them to submit details of rural roads requiring repairs, rehabilitation and surface upgrading. In response the Department of Agriculture, Land Reform and Rural Development (DALRRD) received several lists of critically challenged rural roads that are affecting the efficient movement of agricultural produce in the country. These lists allowed DALRRD to map a status profile per Province and District municipality of the critical roads that require resurfacing and rehabilitation.

On analysis of the data and mapping it was found that the majority of the roads requiring attention are national, provincial and regional/municipal roads which are the mandate of the Department of Transport. The Minister of Transport has pronounced that his department will be attending to these. DALRRD will continue to work with other national sector departments and stakeholders to ensure that this work is completed with the urgency it requires.

Further, DALRRD is coordinating engagements between Agricultural Organisations and Agribusiness, sector departments and government stakeholders, in an effort to create a legislative provision for non-governmental organizations to render road rehabilitation services in partnership with rural municipalities. Commercial sector farmers have expressed their willingness, capacity and recourses to fix and maintain municipal roads that affect their businesses. Legislation, however, prevents them from doing so, as municipal roads are public responsibility. The DALRRD is coordinating a process with the Department of Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs (COGTA) and the Agricultural Business Chamber to identify roads that fall within this category and create a legislative framework for private farmers in partnership with local municipalities to undertake road repair and maintenance. Official correspondence has been sent to COGTA, Agriculture Chamber of Business and AgriSA in pursuance of this.

Finally, in line with Pillar 2 of the Agriculture and Agro-Processing Master Plan (AAMP), The Minister of Agriculture, Land Reform and Rural Development has directed DALRRD to commence with a Rural Roads Rehabilitation Program that will prioritise farm access roads to land reform farms, village access roads in communal areas and access roads to Farmer Production Support Units (FPSU) that support community based agriculture in rural areas. This program aims to start implementation in partnership with other stakeholders within the current financial year.

Reply:

a) South Africa and Zimbabwe use the Bi-National Commission (BNC) to discuss all matters of mutual interest, including political and security situations in both countries. It should be recalled that for the July 2018 harmonised elections in Zimbabwe, the Zimbabwean Government invited international observers, a move that was commended by the international community. It would also be recalled that the 2018 Elections were pronounced as having proceeded relatively quiet, free, and fair, notwithstanding recommended areas of improvement, as per AU and SADC Election Observer Missions. The violence erupted following the disputing of the election results by the leader of the then MDC-T, and the subsequent government response is well documented. President Mnangagwa established a Commission of Enquiry on the post-election violence, which was chaired by former President Kgalema Mothlanthe. The recommendations were released in public, which in South Africa’s view, was an indication of the commitment by the Zimbabwean Government to their implementation.

South Africa believes in peace, security, and stability in the region. Free and fair elections are a prerequisite of good governance for the attainment of the SADC Vision 2050, and the aspirations of the AU’s Agenda 2063. South Africa participates in electoral activities of the region through the SADC Electoral Advisory Council and is always part of the SADC Observer Mission.

b) With regard to the Job Sikhala matter, we will make further enquiries on the nature of his imprisonment. South Africa does not support any form of detention without trial or administrative detention as this is referred to in some jurisdictions. We will engage further with our counterparts on matters such as these.

COMPILER DETAILS

NAME AND SURNAME: Mr MJ Gininda

CONTACT: 012 351 1663

RECOMMENDATION

It is recommended that the Minister signs Parliamentary Reply 3332

 

MR Z DANGOR

DIRECTOR–GENERAL: INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS AND COOPERATION

DATE:

PARLIAMENTARY REPLY 3332 IS APPROVED / NOT APPROVED / AMENDED.

COMMENT/S

DR GNM PANDOR, MP

MINISTER OF INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS AND COOPERATION

DATE:

Additional information

The Government of the Republic of South Africa has not yet received any communication for the Government of the Republic of Zimbabwe regarding the forthcoming harmonised elections to be held in 2023.

Reply:

South Africa is not indifferent to what is going on in Ukraine. We are deeply concerned about the continuing conflict, the loss of lives and the deteriorating human rights and humanitarian situation. As a matter of urgency, there must be a cessation of hostilities, which would be the first step in a comprehensive response to the humanitarian crisis. We continue to stress that dialogue, mediation, and diplomacy are the only means to end the current conflict. As South Africa stated in the United Nations General Assembly, wars end when dialogue begins, and wars endure when there is no dialogue.

We have in our statements made calls for all parties in this conflict to respect The Laws of Wars, including respect for the Principles of Distinction, which enjoins all combatants to ensure civilians are not harmed.

Reply:

a) The number of applications not finalised from July 2016 to September 2022 is 125, which is part of the backlog project.

b) 11 Adjudicators worked on this category of applications.

(c)(i) 36 applications have been finalised.

(c)(ii) 32 applications have been rejected.

END

Reply:

The Minister of Public Works and Infrastructure

1. The Department of Public Works and Infrastructure (DPWI) is the overall coordinator of the Expanded Public Works Programme (EPWP), comprised of the Infrastructure, Social, Environment and Culture and Non-State sectors. The DPWI leads the Infrastructure and Non-State sectors while the Department of Social Development (DSD) and Forestry, Fisheries and Environment (DFFE) coordinate the Social Sector and Environment and Culture Sector, respectively. Further, the EPWP is implemented by various public bodies across all three spheres of Government.

The following response is specific to the Department of Public Works and Infrastructure.

• The EPWP Municipal Infrastructure programme focuses on promoting the use of labour-intensive methods in construction by municipalities during the implementation of infrastructure projects to create work opportunities.
• The EPWP National Youth Service Programme (NYS) aims to train youth in built environment artisan trades. The programme is implemented by the Department of Public Works and Infrastructure and the provincial departments of public works.
• The Vuk’uphile Learnership Programme is a two to three-year learnership programme aimed at training and developing emerging contractors to enhance their skills for bidding and the execution of labour-intensive construction projects under the EPWP, as well as conventional construction projects. The Vuk’uphile Learnership Programme is implemented in partnership with various stakeholders that include public bodies, i.e. Municipalities, Provincial Departments and State Owned Entities, the Construction Industry Development Board (CIDB) and a financial service provider (who provides bridging finance).
• The EPWP Provincial Roads programme focuses on supporting provincial road departments to implement construction and maintenance projects labour-intensively. The support is provided by the Department of Public Works and Infrastructure in collaboration with the Department of Transport.
• The EPWP, Large Projects programme, focuses on ensuring that significant portions of projects with a budget greater than R30 million are implemented labour-intensively. The Large Projects are implemented in the different spheres of Government.
• The Non-State sector is a cross-cutting EPWP sector comprising Non-Profit Organisations (NPO) and Community Work Programmes which deliver infrastructure, social and environment-related services through non-state actors at local and community levels. The NPO component of the Non-State sector is implemented through the Independent Development Trust (IDT), an entity of the DPWI.

b) With regard to the budget allocated to each programme;

• R 20 million was allocated for Municipal Infrastructure support at a national level in the 21/22 financial year to support leveraging off projects funded by municipalities through various grants like the Municipal Infrastructure Grant. In the 21/22 financial year, municipal infrastructure projects worth more than

R5 266,472,189 were reported through the EPWP.

• • For the National Youth Service programme, a budget of R600,000 was used for coordination at a national level in the 21/22 financial year. The National Youth Service was implemented on projects with an overall budget of R221,691,176 in the 21/22 financial year.
  • A budget of R 7.9 million for support of the implementation of the Vuk’uphile Learnership Programme at a national level in the 2021/22 financial year with projects public bodies implemented more than R46.5 million.
  • R15.48 million was available for provincial road coordination support at a national level in the 21/22 financial year. Funding for the Provincial Roads programme is from the Provincial Roads Maintenance Grant (PRMG) and equitable share from provinces. Over R3.5 billion worth of projects were reported through the provincial roads programmes in the 21/22 financial year.
  • The Large Projects programme had R300,000 for coordination at a national level in the 21/22 financial year. Large projects worth more than R342 million were reported in the 21/22 financial year from different public bodies.
  • During 2021/22 financial year utilising own funding, public bodies in the Social, Environment and Culture and Non-State (CWP) sectors spent R4,5 billion, R3 billion and R889,904,599 respectively. The DPWI through the Implementation Agent, the Independent Development Trust (IDT), spent R797 975 370 of the NPO implementation allocation on participants’ wages in the 21/22 financial year.

c) With regard to the number of job opportunities created in each case;

• From the municipal infrastructure programme 88 462 work opportunities were reported in the 21/22 financial year.
• On the National Youth Service programme, 9,195 work opportunities were reported in the 21/22 financial year.
• For Vuk’uphile Learnership Programme, 618 work opportunities were reported during the 2021/22 financial year
• For Provincial Roads Programme, 134,340 work opportunities were reported on the EPWP reporting system by provincial roads departments in the 2021/22 financial year.
• For the 2021/22 financial year, 3,570 work opportunities were reported on the Large Projects programme from public bodies in the different spheres of Government.
• The number of work opportunities reported in the Social, Environment and Culture and Non-State (CWP) sectors was 163 928, 176 979 and 222 587, respectively. The Non-Profit Organisations program reported 100 212 work opportunities.

d) With regard to the duration of the contracts of the beneficiaries;

• Municipal Infrastructure projects in 2021/22 financial year had an average duration of 81 days.
• The average duration of work opportunities on the National Youth Service programme was 136 days in the 21/22 financial year.
• The Vuk’uphile learnership programme is implemented over a period of 2 to 3 years.
• Provincial Roads Programme recorded an average duration of 162 days for participants on projects reported by provincial roads departments in the 21/22 financial year.
• On the Large Projects programme, participants had an average duration of 101 days.
• The duration of contracts of the beneficiaries vary per sector, depending on the project duration. In the Social Sector in 2021/22 across all programmes, the average duration of work opportunities was 161 person days of work. The Environment and Culture sector provided an average duration of 77.8 person days of work while the Community Work provided an average of 34 person days of work.
• Due to the delayed start in the implementation of the NPO programme in 2021/22 financial year which resulted in a phased approach in October and November 2021, participants’ contracts were for six (6) and five (5) months ending in March 2022.

e) With regard to the conversion to permanent employment of EPWP participants;

• On the municipal infrastructure programme, there are no recorded statistics on conversation to permanent employment.
• On the National Youth Service Programme, 36 learners were permanently employed by contractors on the DPWI projects in the 21/22 financial year.
• The contractors in Vuk’uphile are not converted into permanent employment, however the training focusses on developing the emerging contractors such that they are better able to sustain their business.
• EPWP Participants on projects implemented under the Provincial Roads Programme are not converted into permanent employment but are capacitated through skills development for opportunities in the active construction labour market.
• On the EPWP Large Projects, there are no recorded conversion of participants into permanent employment.
• No formal reports in respect of conversion to permanent employment of EPWP participants were received from the implementing public bodies of the Social, Environment and Culture and Non-State sectors in 2021/22.
• Interestingly, a longitudinal study conducted by the EPWP Branch to determine the employment status of participants after their participation in the EPWP; the wave one of the study found that 21% of the participants that left the programme found employment elsewhere. This was confirmed by the Q1 2021 Quarter Labour Force Survey (QLFS) report which found that 22% of those that worked in the EPWP in the 2019/20 financial year and have left the programme found employment elsewhere after leaving the programme.

f) With regard to skills development that were undertaken in each programme;

• DPWI has to apply for funding to the National Skills Development Fund.
• On the municipal infrastructure programme, on-site training is conducted during project implementation which participant can then use it elsewhere when they exit the programme.
• Under NYS programme, the 9,195 participants in the 21/22 financial year undertook skills development (theoretical and practical training) in different artisan trades. There was also skills transferred to the general labourers who were employed in the projects.
• Contractors developed through the Vuk’uphile Learnership Programme are trained through Construction Education and Training Authority accredited training provider that offers them an NQF level 4 qualification called Supervision of Construction Processes. A total of 30 contractors were supported in the 21/22 financial year.
• A number of skills training courses and on the job practical training opportunities were given to participants on road construction and maintenance trades across all provinces during projects implementation.
• On the Large Projects programme, participants were provided with on the job training to be able to implement different activities on the infrastructure projects implemented.
• Training did not take place in respect of the Non-State sector NPO programme.
• The Social, Environment and Culture sectors reported 546 118 and 383 905 work opportunities with training days respectively across all sector programmes while the Non-State sector (CWP) reported 5 484 work opportunities with training.

Reply:

It is not correct that the Department has contributed 13,65 Billion dollars towards the Global Fund for HIV/AIDS, TB and Malaria. In order to put the record straight. South Africa has pledged 13,65 million dollars to the Global Fund as a contribution towards the Global Fund for HIV/AIDS. This is part of the country’s role as a member the global community in making a contribution towards addressing the challenges that are faced by the world in the fight against HIV/AIDS and Malaria, which is 36,5% more than our previous pledge.

a) The Global Fund Pledge of US$13 million was sourced from the Department of Health budget under the HIV/AIDS allocation as part of the pledge to Multi-National and Regional bodies/structures (United Nations and SADC). The Department provides for this allocation under Goods and Services, Posting Item Code: Membership & Professional Bodies. The US$650 thousand portion of the pledge was contributed by the South African National AIDS Council sourced from the private sector, as one of their 17 Sectors that support the country in shaping and implementing the HIV/AIDS and TB response.

b) (i) The contribution will be used to support the global intervention in the fight against HIV/AIDS in order to meet the global targets of 95-95-95 and Malaria elimination.

(ii) The benefits are as follows: South Africa is an implementor of Global Fund supported projects. Currently, the country received US$515 million through 4 Primary Recipients for implementation of various projects and programmes addressing HIV/AIDS, TB and Malaria. Included in the above figure, the National Department of Health is awarded US$364,357 million to implement the health driven interventions. Through the support from Global Fund, we will increase our drive to institutionalize granular, targeted, and gender-sensitive data systems and community-led approaches to monitor and address new HIV infections, especially among key populations and younger populations. Further to the attainment of the HIV/AIDS targets, the country will continue to improve the fight against Malaria, as part of the 8 countries that are called Malaria Elimination 8 or called E8 for short. It is our view further that the Global Fund support for Malaria programme, will include the prevention, surveillance, and treatment.

END.

Reply:

South Africa has always opposed violations of the sovereignty and territorial integrity of member states, in keeping with the UN Charter. South Africa is continuing to encourage all the parties, through diplomatic channels, within all relevant international mechanisms and in various bilateral engagements to find a lasting solution to the current situation in Ukraine, in full compliance with the UN Charter and universally recognised human rights and fundamental freedoms.

South Africa believes that the mere possession of nuclear weapons constitutes a threat. The concept of nuclear deterrence, which is included in the military and security doctrines of all nuclear-weapon States, as well as States in nuclear security alliances and States under extended nuclear security guarantees, is itself a threat of use to convince another party to refrain from initiating some course of action. For this reason, any and all nuclear threats, whether they be explicit or implicit and irrespective of the circumstances are unequivocally opposed by South Africa.