Questions and Replies

Reply:

National Treasury has encouraged municipalities to enforce its credit control and debt management policies and bylaws. This implies that if any organ of state neglects to honor their payment arrangement for services rendered by municipalities within the legislative timeframe of 30 days as per the PFMA and MFMA, the municipal, by law, must proceed to terminate or restrict the services to those customers (including government departments and businesses) with immediate effect.

Even if the customer questions the accuracy of the bill issued by municipalities, which may be a valid concern, it is not acceptable behavior not to honor the payment for services knowing very well that services have been consumed. In some cases, dependent on the specific credit control and debt management policy, the customer may have to pay first before any dispute is resolved.

There are number of initiatives that government is undertaking to address systemic challenges in the management of revenue as well as guidance issued to assist municipalities which are summarized and articulated in an Annexure A to this response.

Annexure A:

Section 38(1)(f) of the Public Finance Management Act, 1999 (Act No. 1 of 1999) (PFMA) read together with Treasury Regulation 8.2.3, requires accounting officers of departments to settle all contractual obligations and pay all money owing, including intergovernmental claims, within 30 days or other period agreed with the creditors or suppliers.

Municipal liquidity and/ or cash flow is a complex challenge underpinned by various matters not only related to arrears owed by government departments and/ or businesses.

Smart metering solution - to improve revenue collection in municipalities, the National Treasury is exploring a SMART solution with the Department of Minerals and Energy and the Department of Trade and Industry to, through the Office of the Chief Procurement Officer (OCPO), issue a transversal tender for national roll out. It is envisaged this will transform the current backward-looking culture of payment for municipal services and property rates taxes to a forward-looking pre-paid payment solution of a consolidated municipal bill (for both services and property rates) also as it relates to organs of state and businesses. Unless funding can be facilitated, this will be a medium to longer term initiative to be funded from municipal own resources.

Organs of state debt - during the latter part of 2021, Government’s Multi-disciplinary Revenue Committee (MdRC) (as an organs of state consultation platform) initiated the Department of Public Works’ collection of information from all national organs of state on debt owed to municipalities and the reasons for them not paying. The project is delayed due to organs of state’s late or incomplete information. It is our understanding that the Department of Public Works is embarking on a similar project for provincial organs of state.

To ensure all government consumers of services are billed, a coordinated resolution is underway to correct the ownership of 80 000 government properties identified as registered to the incorrect government owner in the Deeds Office. This problem directly relates to the establishment and disestablishment of departments across 6 administrations since 1994. This has been stated by numerous organs of state as preventing them to pay the respective municipalities for property rates and services. This is unfortunately a costly and time-consuming process. The National Treasury will be engaging the Deeds Office to explore legal options to fast-track these corrections and more cost-effective ways to affect such going forward.

A project is also underway to assist municipalities to ensure that their valuation rolls agree to the asset registers of the Department of Public Works for all organs of state. It is anticipated that a nationwide reconciliation of this nature will provide a further list of variance properties that needs to be corrected in the Deeds Registry by the Department of Public Works and / or other organs of state. The second part of this project involves a long-term project to individually correct every property at the relevant Deeds Office on a case-by-case basis as mentioned above.

Reply:

1(a)(b)(i). The document with the names and locations of softball clubs is attached.

(ii). The following are the four softball diamonds in (aa) Cape Town region and (bb) Western Cape Districts:

Softball Diamond	Capacity
Turf Hall Stadium Athlone	3500
Lavender Hill	500
Beaufort West	500
Malmesbury	1500

(2)(a). The total building cost of the 3 500 –seater softball stadium in Polokwane is R90,960,827.34.

(b). The projected time frame for the completion of the project is 28 February 2023.

Reply:

According to the information received from the Kwazulu-Natal Provincial Department of Health-

a) There has been no further allocation towards compensation of employees (COE) for us to address actual vacancies of nurses in the Province, However, to ensure that there are minimal disruption of services, the Provincial Department has introduced several interventions to address the shortage of health workers in health facilities and this amongst others includes –

• Increased hours of work for health workers those that are working part-time to full time and approved overtime for permanent serving staff,
• Continues to engage with the Provincial Treasury for approval to fill posts in the current financial year
• Appointed 671 community service professional nurses to underserved and rural areas
• Redistribution of personnel to areas where the vacancy rate is higher to balance the equation, .

(b) (i) There were no budget adjustment instead the Department is experiencing further budget cuts.

(ii) As mentioned above on b(i), no budget adjustments were made.

(c) (i) The total number of nurses vacancies in KwaZulu-Natal is currently 6 435 details as per the table below:

SPECIFIED RANKS	TOTAL
Nursing Assistants	1011
Professional Nurses	3086
Staff Nurses	2338
Grand Total	6435

(ii) Measures put in place by the KwaZulu Natal Provincial Department of Health .

END.

Reply:

a) The Department of Home Affairs has in the past five years developed five policy papers, namely:

• The 2017 White Paper on International Migration,
• The White Paper on Repositioning DHA,
• The Official Identity Management Policy,
• The One-Stop Border Post Policy as well as the
• White Paper on Marriages in South Africa.

These policies are available on the departmental website – www.dha.gov.za

b) The South African Constitution makes it pertinent that in any form of decision-making, public participation must be conducted in order for such decision or policy to pass the test of legality and rationality.

The Constitution makes provision for public involvement in law-making, oversight and other processes of Parliament. South Africa’s democratic system not only provides for citizens to elect their representatives, but also allows citizens to have a say in matters that affect them.

The Department has held consultations with different structures outside government. In this regard, the department held consultations with various stakeholders including non-governmental organisations, academics, private sector, religious groupings, traditional leaders and members of the public. Further, the National Economic Development and labour Council (NEDLAC) was engaged on policies that have an impact on the economy such as the One-Stop Border Post Policy.

 

END

Reply:

The lead department for the South African Pavilion at the Dubai Expo was the Department of Trade, Industry and Competition. As per reply to Question no 2340, tabled on 6 July 2022, it is suggested that the Honourable member redirect his question to the relevant Minister.

(a) to (b) Not applicable

Reply:

1. The relationship with the specified person is that of a service provider who has been appointed to project manage the process of the development of the Theatre & Dance Policy. The DSAC cannot comment further on why he may or may not have lied as posed in your question.

Reply:

No, there is no dedicated resources allocated to Whistle-blowers protection programme in the Department of Health.

Nevertheless, the Department rely on the measures that are in place for the protection of whistle blowers in government at large, the first being based on the existing measures dependent on the Department’s relationship with the South African Police Services (SAPS).

Secondly, the department in collaboration with the United Nations Office of Drugs and Crime (UNODC), has approved concept by UNODC to develop and establish a whistle blowing protection and risk assessment and mitigation in the procurement system within the health sector which is due to be launched soon, details will be provided upon finalisation of the concepts by the department of Health.

END.

Reply:

1. The department has always had good co-operation from the government of the Kingdom of Lesotho when it comes to repatriating their nationals who are found to be illegal in South Africa. The position of the department is to continue this co-operation which includes the Lesotho government confirming their nationals prior to deportation.

(2)(a) The Inspectorate as at 1 September 2022 has 700 members.

(2)(b) Funding was provided for the filling of 293 posts in quarter 1 of this financial year. The process to fill the posts has already commenced with 196 offers of employment being issued.

(3)(a) The number of deportation recorded for the last 3 financial years is as following:

• 1. 2019/20 – 29376
  2. 2020/21 – 14859
  3. 2021/22 - 14113

There was a notable decrease during the course of the state of disaster arising from the Covid Pandemic.

(3)(b) The budget allocation for deportations this financial year was R20,901,000.00

(4)(a) The department is aware of the figures given by the Statistician General Risenga Maluleke a figure of 3.95 million foreign nationals are in South Africa according to their mid-year population estimates in 2021. This figure includes foreign nationals regardless of status. The department therefore refutes the figure of 12 million as we are not aware of the verifiable source that figure comes from. In order to deal with the challenges arising from persons who are undocumented the department is vigorously conducting operations and inspections to deal with this.

(4)(b) The department has been active in engagements with communities like Krugersdorp and has ensured that local, provincial and national elected representatives, community groups and other stakeholders have direct access to the senior management of the department to respond to these challenges. The department has been part of the multi-disciplinary team that is responding to the challenges of illegal immigration. A team of 60 immigration officers has been part of this effort. Prior to this the department was part of the team that was involved in crime combatting efforts in Diepsloot from April 2022 to July 2022.

END

Reply:

1. (a) The only data available records for South African medical students studying outside the Republic is limited to those students studying under government to government agreements

(b) The completed and eligible data of recorded South African medical students studying outside the Republic are provided in 2 below (i) with gender per specified students .

(2) The data as recorded in the Internship and Community Service Program (ICSP) online System, is available from 2018 and the data can therefore be provided for the past five (5) years:

a)  total number of South African medical students who have studied outside the Republic have been allocated to serve their community service duties in the past five (5) years is 323

Year	Citizen	Gender	Total
2018		Male	1
	SA	Female	39
		Male	20
	Grand Total		60
	Citizen	Gender	Total
	SA	Female	35
Year		Male	26
2019	Grand Total		61
	Citizenship	Gender	Total
	SA	Female	4
		Male	16
	Grand Total		20
Year
2020	Citizenship	Gender	Total
	SA	Female	25
		Male	28
	Grand Total		53
Year
2021	Citizenship	Gender	Total
	SA	Female	62
		Male	47
	Grand Total		109

b) The following table reflects the details in this regard.

Medical Community Service Studied Abroad Allocations past 5 years per facility
Facility names	2022	2021	2020	2019	2018	Grand Total
	Female	Male	Female	Male	Female	Male	Female	Male	Female	Male
ec Humansdorp Hospital	2								2		4
ec Khotsong TB Hospital	2										2
ec Laetitia Bam CHC		1							1		2
ec Madwaleni Hospital	1								1		2
ec Mhlakulo CHC	1										1
ec Mjanyana Hospital		1									1
ec Sipetu Hospital	1										1
ec Victoria Hospital		2					1				3
fs Boitumelo Hospital	1										1
fs Diamond (Diamant) Hospital		1	1	1							3
fs Dr JS Moroka Hospital		1				1					2
fs Elizabeth Ross Hospital		1			1						2
fs Embekweni Hospital		1	1	1							3
fs Fezi Ngumbentombi Hospital		1									1
fs Itemoheng Hospital		1									1
fs Katleho Hospital	1										1
fs PAX CHC	1										1
fs Phuthuloha Hospital		1									1
fs Senorita Ntlabathi Hospital		1									1
fs Winburg Hospital	1										1
gp Bronkhorstspruit Hospital		1									1
gp Charlotte Maxeke Hospital	2	1	1								4
gp Chris Hani Baragwanath Hospital		1				1				1	3
gp City of Johannesburg District Office	2			1							3
gp Edenvale Hospital	1								1		2

Medical Community Service Studied Abroad Allocations past 5 years per facility
Facility names	2022	2021	2020	2019	2018	Grand Total
	Female	Male	Female	Male	Female	Male	Female	Male	Female	Male
gp Far East Rand Hospital		1									1
gp Helen Joseph Hospital	2					1					3
gp Mamelodi Hospital	1										1
gp Sebokeng Hospital	1								1		2
gp Sedibeng District Office	2	1									3
gp South Rand Hospital	1	1									2
gp Tembisa Hospital	1							1			2
gp West Rand District Office		1									1
kz Church of Scotland Hospital		1									1
kz East/Boom CHC	1		1	1		1					4
kz Hlabisa Hospital	1										1
kz Hlengisizwe CHC	1										1
kz Inanda C CHC		1		1							2
kz Ladysmith Hospital	1										1
kz Madadeni Hospital	1	1		1	1						4
kz Ndwedwe CHC	1			1		1					3
kz Phoenix CHC		2		1							3
kz Pholela CHC		1			1		1				3
kz Pomeroy CHC	1										1
kz St Chads CHC	1										1
kz St Mary's Hospital (Mariannhill)	1		2								3
lp Dr CN Phatudi Hospital		1		1							2
lp Mankweng Hospital	2	2									4
lp Pietersburg Hospital	2										2
lp Tshilidzini Hospital	2										2

Medical Community Service Studied Abroad Allocations past 5 years per facility
Facility names	2022	2021	2020	2019	2018	Grand Total
	Female	Male	Female	Male	Female	Male	Female	Male	Female	Male
mp Bethal Hospital	1										1
mp Elsie Ballot Hospital	1	2									3
mp Evander Hospital	2	1	1				6	1		1	12
mp Lydenburg Hospital		1									1
mp Matikwana Hospital		1									1
mp Middelburg Hospital		1									1
mp Piet Retief Hospital	2							2			4
mp Rob Ferreira Hospital		1								1	2
mp Shongwe Hospital		1									1
mp Standerton Hospital	2						2	1	1		6
mp Tonga Hospital	2								1		3
mp Witbank Hospital	1	1									2
nc Dr Harry Surtie Hospital		1									1
nc Port Nolloth CHC		1									1
nc Postmasburg Hospital	1										1
nw Joe Morolong Memorial Hospital	1						1	1		1	4
nw Kgetlengrivier sub-District Office	1										1
nw Klerksdorp-Tshepong Tertiary Hospital		1								1	2
nw Koster Hospital		1									1
nw Moses Kotane Hospital	1										1
nw Moses Kotane sub-District Office	1										1
nw Potchefstroom Hospital	1			1							2
nw Rustenburg sub-District Office	1	1						1	1		4
wc Alexandra Hospital	1										1
wc Citrusdal Hospital		1									1

Medical Community Service Studied Abroad Allocations past 5 years per facility
Facility names	2022	2021	2020	2019	2018	Grand Total
	Female	Male	Female	Male	Female	Male	Female	Male	Female	Male
wc Eerste River Hospital		1									1
wc False Bay Hospital	1										1
wc George Hospital	1										1
wc Helderberg Hospital	2								1		3
wc Mowbray Maternity Hospital	1		1				1				3
wc Paarl Hospital		2							2		4
wc SAMHS 2 Military Hospital	1										1
wc Stellenbosch Hospital		1									1
wc Swartland Hospital		1									1
wc Victoria Hospital	1										1
wc Worcester CDC	1										1
wc Worcester Hospital	1										1
nw Witrand Psychiatric Hospital			2								2
kz Newtown A CHC				1					1		2
nw Ganyesa Hospital				1			1				2
kz St Margaret's TB MDR Hospital			1								1
kz Mahatma Gandhi Hospital				1							1
lp Philadelphia Hospital				1				1			2
kz St Andrew's Hospital				1							1
kz SAMHS AFB Durban Military Medical Clinic			1								1
nw Itsoseng CHC			1								1
fs Mofumahadi Manapo Mopeli Hospital			1				1	1			3
nc Robert Mangaliso Sobukwe Hospital			1						1	1	3
fs SAMHS Bloemfontein Military Medical Clinic			1								1
gp Dr George Mukhari Hospital			1								1

Medical Community Service Studied Abroad Allocations past 5 years per facility
Facility names	2022	2021	2020	2019	2018	Grand Total
	Female	Male	Female	Male	Female	Male	Female	Male	Female	Male
kz King Dinuzulu Hospital				1							1
nc Northern Cape Province Placeholder			1	1							2
nw Tigane CHC			1								1
fs Mangaung District Office			1								1
nw Ganyesa CHC			1								1
kz Tongaat CHC			1		1	1					3
kz St Apollinaris Hospital			1			1					2
wc Caledon Hospital			1								1
fs Thabo Mofutsanyana District Office			1	1							2
wc Red Cross War Memorial Children's Hospital			1								1
gp Tambo Memorial Hospital				1							1
kz Northdale Hospital				1							1
kz KwaZulu Natal Province Placeholder				3							3
nc SAMHS Midlands Sickbay				1							1
gp Ekurhuleni District Office				1			1				2
mp Carolina Hospital				1					1		2
nw Madibeng sub-District Office				1							1
kz Clairwood Hospital				1							1
fs Stoffel Coetzee Hospital				1							1
kz General Justice Gizenga Mpanza Hospital				1					1		2
kz Charles Johnson Memorial Hospital				1			1		2		4
kz Wentworth Hospital				1							1
kz Vryheid Hospital						1					1
kz Itshelejuba Hospital						1					1
fs Tokollo Hospital						1			1	1	3

Medical Community Service Studied Abroad Allocations past 5 years per facility
Facility names	2022	2021	2020	2019	2018	Grand Total
	Female	Male	Female	Male	Female	Male	Female	Male	Female	Male
nw SAMHS Potchefstroom Military Base Clinic						1					1
kz Appelsbosch Hospital						1			1		2
gp Thelle Mogoerane Regional Hospital						1					1
nw Mahikeng Provincial Hospital						1		1			2
lp Kgapane Hospital						1			1		2
ec Amathole District Office						1					1
kz Catherine Booth Hospital							1				1
ec Canzibe Hospital							1				1
ec Tayler Bequest Hospital (Matatiele)							1				1
kz Osindisweni Hospital							1				1
kz Dundee Hospital							1				1
gp City of Tshwane District Office							2		1		3
nc Springbok (Dr Van Niekerk) Hospital							1			1	2
nc SAMHS Lohatla Military Base Hospital							1				1
mp Ermelo Hospital							1	2			3
nc SAMHS Upington Sickbay							1				1
kz Umphumulo Hospital							1	1			2
kz Montebello Hospital							1				1
mp Barberton Hospital								1	1	1	3
mp Embhuleni Hospital								1		1	2
nw SAMHS Molopo Sickbay								1			1
ec Willowmore Hospital								1			1
ec St Patrick's Hospital								1			1
gp Leratong Hospital								1			1
kz Untunjambili Hospital								1			1

Medical Community Service Studied Abroad Allocations past 5 years per facility
Facility names	2022	2021	2020	2019	2018	Grand Total
	Female	Male	Female	Male	Female	Male	Female	Male	Female	Male
nw Bophelong Psychiatric Hospital							1				1
mp Ehlanzeni District Office							1				1
fs Xhariep District Office							1	2			3
mp Matibidi Hospital							1				1
nw Job Shimankana Tabane Hospital							1				1
lp Letaba Hospital							1				1
kz uMgungundlovu District Office							1				1
kz GJ Crooke's Hospital							1				1
kz Harry Gwala District Office								1			1
kz Impilwenhle Clinic								1			1
fs Lejweleputswa District Office								1			1
nc SAMHS Kimberley Sickbay								1			1
nw Ventersdorp Sub-District Office								1			1
lp SAMHS Ba-Phalaborwa Sickbay								1			1
gp Steve Biko Academic Hospital								1			1
ec Wilhelm Stahl (Middelburg) Hospital									1		1
ec Tower Hospital									1		1
fs SAMHS Kroonstad Sickbay									1		1
fs Botshabelo Hospital									1		1
kz Benedictine Hospital									1		1
ec St Elizabeth's Hospital									2		2
lp Seshego Hospital									1		1
ec Empilweni Gompo CHC									1		1
gp Carletonville Hospital									1		1
nc John Taolo Gaetsewe District Office									1		1

Medical Community Service Studied Abroad Allocations past 5 years per facility
Facility names	2022	2021	2020	2019	2018	Grand Total
	Female	Male	Female	Male	Female	Male	Female	Male	Female	Male
wc Elsies River CHC									1		1
wc Kraaifontein CHC									1		1
wc Khayelitsha (Site B) CHC									1		1
kz Rietvlei Hospital									1		1
wc Beaufort West Hospital									1		1
mp KwaMhlanga Hospital									1		1
ec Dora Nginza Hospital									1		1
ec Empilisweni Hospital									1		1
mp Themba Hospital									1		1
lp Malamulele Hospital										1	1
wc Breede Valley sub-District Office										1	1
lp Helene Franz Hospital										1	1
ec Bambisana Hospital										1	1
kz Nkandla Hospital										1	1
lp Siloam Hospital										1	1
ec Settlers Hospital										1	1
kz eThekwini District Office										1	1
kz Christ the King Hospital										1	1
gp Jubilee Hospital										1	1
gp Pholosong Hospital										1	1
Grand Total	67	48	26	32	4	16	37	29	43	21	323

(3) (a) The number of community service positions reserved for female and male doctors are 1 897;

(b) requirements for each job is complying with registration requirements to register as a community service doctor as set by the Health Professions Council of South Africa (HPCSA).

END.

Reply:

No, there were no loan requests made or granted at the recent International Monetary Fund / World Bank Spring Meetings held in Washington DC. Loan requests are typically not discussed at the Spring Meetings.

Reply:

There was no other role played by Market Theatre Foundation other than providing a venue for the said policy conference.

Reply:

An adverse event (not effect) following immunisation (AEFI) is any untoward medical occurrence which follows immunisation and which does not necessarily have a causal relationship with the usage of the vaccine. The adverse event may be any unfavourable or unintended physical sign, abnormal laboratory finding, symptom or disease.

i) From 17 May 2021 to the 8 August 2022 a total number of 6561 AEFIs (total minor and severe) following the use of either the Pfizer (Comirnaty) or J&J (COVID-19 vaccine Janssen) were reported to the South African Health Products Regulatory Authority (SAHPRA).

ii) Only severe and serious AEFIs are investigated. A total of 2771 clinical investigations are either concluded or under way.

iii) Following investigation, the case files are sent to the National Immunisation Safety Expert Committee (NISEC) for assessment.  For assessments completed up to the 2 September 2022:

• 81 AEFIs have been linked to the use of a COVID-19 vaccine (Pfizer 52 and J&J 29)
• these events include immunisation stress related reactions (fear of vaccination) and vaccine product related reaction or were related to the immunisation programme

The causality assessment outcomes are shared with the provincial health departments to provide feedback to the vaccine injured parties, regardless of the outcome.

The purpose of causality assessment is to ensure that high levels of vaccine confidence are maintained in the immunisation programme, and it is therefore essential to identify if an AEFI was causally linked to the use of the vaccine or whether the AEFI was coincidental to vaccination.

Accurate communication about AEFI is essential to prevent misinformation circulating in the community.

END.

Reply:

The management of Durban Beaches is the responsibility of the eThekwini Municipality as the relevant Local Authority. In the event that the Honourable member wishes to obtain information on such matters, it would only be prudent for the member to directly engage with the relevant Local Authority.

 

Reply:

The recruitment policy or appointment of Mr Tembe by the orchestras is an internal matter of the boards of those orchestras.

These orchestras are not entities of the Department, so they do not report to us. The Honourable Member can contact the orchestras themselves for clarity on the matter.

Reply:

1. The table indicates total number of deaths by Province 

Province	(a)((i) 2018/19	(a)((ii) 2019/20	(a)((iii) 2021/22	(a)((iv) 2022/23	(a)01 April 2023 to date
Eastern Cape	outstanding	outstanding	outstanding	outstanding	outstanding
Free State	outstanding	outstanding	outstanding	outstanding	outstanding
Gauteng	17940	18324	16243	20221	9392
KwaZulu- Natal	outstanding	outstanding	outstanding	outstanding	outstanding
Limpopo	4658	5008	4406	5416	2439
Mpumalanga	4892	4949	4994	5098	2246
Northern Cape	outstanding	outstanding	outstanding	outstanding	outstanding
Northwest	1256	1225	1194	1423 to date
Western Cape	5666	5824	5362	5965	2416

 

Province	(aa) Motor vehicle	(bb) drownings
Eastern Cape	outstanding	outstanding
Free State	outstanding	outstanding
Gauteng	602	102
KwaZulu- Natal	outstanding	outstanding
Limpopo	701	45
Mpumalanga	10108	1201
Northern Cape	outstanding	outstanding
Northwest	2045	318
Western Cape	917

2. No.

END.

Reply:

(a) & (b),(i)(ii)(iii)(iv)

The Honourable Member is referred to the Statement made by Minister on 11th August 2022 in this respect, wherein Minister announced the first of three steps to be taken by the Department to secure the integrity of the South African passport, and make it foolproof against fraudulent acquisition. The Department thus has plans in place to combat fraudulent passports by intensifying the security measures in the South African passport and these plans will be implemented in phases. The following measures have been implemented:

• A passport can only be collected strictly from office where it was applied for, whereas previously you could collect from any office in the country.
• Only the person who applied for that passport can come and collect it by activating it through a fingerprint.
• For minor children, their parents or guardians who helped them to apply for that passport will be the only ones allowed to come and collect it and activate using their own fingerprints.
• The Director-General of the Department of Home Affairs has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with Interpol on 29 July 2022 on reporting lost and stolen passports.
• South Africa is a signatory to the Convention on International Civil Aviation Origination (ICAO) and is subjected to regular audits including on how it handles including on lost and stolen passports.
• The Department has also revised its Standard Operating Procedures, Manuals and Policies regarding lost and stolen passports, and these are being implemented.

Further measures are also underway at our Government Printing Works facility to continue to secure our passports. The Department will make a determination and will make further announcements on the implementation of the further plans to be implemented in due course, when the ABIS programme has been completed.

(c)(aa) In the past three financial years, 500 passports were identified as fraudulent. Each time an investigation uncovered a fraudulently issued passport, they were referred for blocking of the passport numbers on the National Population Register so that the holders thereof cannot be able to use them. These were also referred for V-listing on the Movement Control System, which means that should the holders thereof attempt to use them at a Port of Entry, an Immigration Officer will be alerted.

(c)(bb) Since January 2022, 185 passports were investigated and the passport numbers were blocked on the National Population Register and also placed on the Movement Control Systems’ V-Stoplist.

(d) Whistle-blowers reported allegations pertaining to fraudulent passports. The Department then conducted investigations on those allegations and also profiled the User IDs of the implicated officials which uncovered that more passports were issued fraudulently.

(e) Twelve (12) officials were charged with misconduct with eight (8) dismissals and the remainder are still pending disciplinary hearings. The officials and members of the public involved have also been charged criminally for fraud, corruption, money laundering, racketeering and contravention of the Immigration Act with the cases still pending in court.

END

Reply:

(1) (a) (i) Hybrid working arrangements have been withdrawn for all employees including employees with co-morbidities (now handled in line with standard sick leave procedures as per DPSA circular 38/2022).

(ii) N/A

(iii) N/A

(b) N/A

(2) N/A

Reply:

(a)(b)(i)(ii) The Special I investigating Unit (SIU) will be in a better position to respond to this question.

Reply to question 2460 recommended

GENERAL NATIONAL COMMISSIONER: SOUTH AFRICAN POLICE SERVICE
SF MASEMOLA
Date: 22-09-2022

Reply to question 2460 approved

MINISTER OF POLICE
GENERAL BH CELE, MP
Date: 27/09/2022

Reply:

1. The Minister received a briefing from the MEC of Health in Gauteng on issue pertaining Babita Deokoran, Thembisa Hospital and precautionary suspension of two senior officials related to the matter.

2. The Minister will await the outcome of the disciplinary process from the Provincial department

END.

Reply:

(1)(a) To date the Department has paid a sum of R293 754 950-57 to appointed service providers against ABIS Phase 1 milestone delivery:

• EOH: R280 877 475.75
• IDEMIA: R12 877 474.82

1(b) Implementation of ABIS Phase 1 is not complete as measured against the requirements within the Master Services Agreement (MSA). The programme is currently at 85% of the Phase 1 deliverable. This includes -

• 100% development of two dedicated Disaster Recovery Sites and;
• Procurement of IT equipment and infrastructure needed for development of ABIS architecture, interfaces and systems with payments to EOH comprising R113 383 482.12 for hardware, a further R110 972 282.7 for licensing and software and a sum of R56 521 710.91 against professional service fees.

(2)(a) Phase 1 remains in development, but work-in-progress is advanced and some of the Workstreams are fully delivered, namely:

• 100% of Infrastructure development in the form of Data Centres and Security Integration is complete and ready for Production.
• Three (CONLV, ONLV, IJS) of the six Interfaces are complete whilst the outstanding three interfaces (Live Capture, NPR and NIIS are advanced and soon to conclude end-to-end testing.
• Change Management is complete at 100% whilst training of business users and SAPS officials is ongoing in preparation for use of the system.
• Latent Search capability at work station level has successfully passed testing, Integration testing at Interface level is undergoing enhancement.
• Facial recognition capability is enhanced at the Back Office and will soon conclude testing.
• Data Migration stands at 99.76% complete, however the Department requires 100% of the HANIS database to be migrated to ABIS. This is a prerequisite to ensure complete integrity prior to its deployment into Production, and ensure that every existing client of the DHA will be able to access a service within the ABIS solution
• By November 2022, it is anticipated that as ABIS moves into a Production environment, the system will become the primary biometric platform of the department, and HANIS will operate as a secondary, back-up. As the ABIS system stabilises, inclusion of new functionality will be introduced. Considering this, it may not be appropriate to appointment another service provider at this late stage of the programme as it will inevitably hold the risk of setting the ABIS Programme further aback.

(2)(b) It is estimated that a budgeted spend of R183 650 240.23 is required for conclusion of the ABIS Programme (all phases)

(3) The Department has meticulously managed its commercial contract with IDEMIA and the service provider is being held to account for its failure to conclude and ensure milestone delivery against the Master Services Agreement. Through this legal process, penalties will be applied for late or non-delivery. The Department has already communicated its intention to leverage such contractual penalties with effect from 1 April 2021.

Operationally, the department, and IDEMIA, have confirmed their commitment to finalise outstanding work and to commence with a phased release of functional ABIS components by end November 2022. This plan will be supported by enhanced ABIS testing within its development environments.

END

Reply:

The Provincial Departments of Health have provided the following information regarding the payment status of South African Citizen students who pursuing medical studies in Russia:

Name Provinces	Student sent to Russia Yes/No	Stipends being paid Yes/No	When will the crisis be solved	Who has been held accountable
Eastern Cape	No	Not applicable	Not applicable	Not applicable
Free State	Yes	All active students in Russia are receiving stipends as authorization was given for the whole financial year 2022/23.	No crisis.	Not applicable
Gauteng	No	Not applicable	Not applicable	Not applicable
KwaZulu-Natal	No	Not applicable	Not applicable	Not applicable
Limpopo	No	Not applicable	Not applicable	Not applicable
Mpumalanga	Yes 229	32 of the 229 students not paid. Reason for delayed payments is due to the fact that these students have technical glitches with their banking details and they are already in Russia and the Province is exploring ways to process payments	Students were advised to open Digital banking accounts through e.g. Tymes bank in order to be able to send the bank confirmation letter for payment through BAS(Basic Accounting System). Once bank confirmations are received, the stipends will be paid accordingly for the 32 students.	No one as the challenge was not caused by employees.
Northern Cape	No	Not applicable	Not applicable	Not applicable
North West	No	Not applicable	Not applicable	Not applicable
Western Cape	No	Not applicable	Not applicable	Not applicable

END.

Reply:

1. Yes, the board instructed the Medical Advisory Committee of Boxing South Africa (MABBSA) to conduct the full investigation in this matter. The investigation is led by Dr Selepe who is the Chairperson of Boxing South Africa Medical Advisory Committee.

The committee has released a draft report which is yet to be discussed with the family and then be shared with oversight committees. There is a current police inquest being led by the Greyville Police Station and that process is currently ongoing.

Boxing South Africa is the regulator of safety standards in boxing. As the Minister, I will await the current investigation and recommendations thereof. Thereafter, I will in consultation with BSA determine if there is a need to update the existing safety protocols. While the death of an athlete may suggest that there is such a need, the technicalities of the required changes will be advanced by Boxing South Africa.

Reply:

a) (i) No doses that were stored at the vaccine distributors have expired.

(ii) There have been three shelf-life extensions of the Pfizer Comirnaty COVID-19 vaccine. The shelf-life extensions were effective on the following dates, and the stock on hand at the vaccine distributors at the time of the extension is reflected below:

• 1 October 2021 - three-month shelf-life extension. Stock on hand at the time of extension = 9,145,590 doses.
• 14 December 2021 - three-month shelf-life extension. Stock on hand at the time of extension = 9,209,880 doses.
• 12 May 2022 - three-month shelf-life extension. Stock on hand at the time of extension = 10,449,150 doses.

(b) The Republic is not in the process of purchasing more doses of the COVID-19 vaccine.

END.

Reply:

a) The mandate of the Department of Home Affairs is to manage international migration. In discharging its mandate, the Department of Home Affairs ensures compliance with South Africa’s international obligations as they relate to migrants and their rights. This includes the United Nations 1951 Convention and the Organisation of African Unity (OAU) Convention of 1969. In addition, South Africa is a signatory to the United Nations Protocol against Smuggling of Migrants by Land, Sea and Air; the United Nations Protocol against Trafficking in Persons, especially Women and Children; and the relevant Convention on International Civil Aviation regulating international travel.

Furthermore, the Global Compact for Migration requires that international migration should be safe, orderly and regular. Therefore, South Africa is duty bound to address irregular migration, as the Immigration Act already provides legal pathways through a number of Visas which migrants can apply for, enter and reside in South Africa. Enforcement against irregular migration is therefore not unique to South Africa, but an international practice of sovereign States.

In providing for the regulation of admission of foreigners to and their residence in the Republic of South Africa, the Immigration Act, 2002 (Act No 13 of 2002), inter alia, aims to promote economic growth through the employment of needed foreign labour which does not adversely impact on existing labour standards, rights and expectations of South African workers.

b) Adherence to the legislative prescripts ensures orderly migration and national security. It is critical that the DHA deals with illegal migration which is a criminal offence in terms of the Immigration Act. Any violation of laws undermines national security, territorial integrity and social cohesion.

END

Reply:

Attached find here: Reply

Reply:

1. Payment was made to 24 Community Health Workers in Mariti (16) and Madras (8).

2. In terms of the information received from Mpumalanga Department of Health, all Community Health Workers had received their stipend by the end of August 2022.

END.

Reply:

1. (a) A total of R 47 884 114 was spent on this project. Of this, R 36 184 114 was spent on construction and R 11 700 00 was spent on creating employment opportunities through the Expanded Public Works Programme (EPWP) and transport of EPWP workers.

(b) From the EPWP budget allocation

(c) The Honourable Member is advised to make a request in line with the Promotion of Access to Information Act (PAIA), Act No. 2 of 2000.

(2) Yes. The project was advertised in 2011 and Implementing Agent appointed in the same year.

(3) The handover of the project was not done because the project was not completed.

(4) A case has been opened with SAPS, State Attorney was instructed to recover the loses and implicated officials were charged.

 

 

Reply:

The evaluation of educator performance in terms of the Integrated Quality Management System (IQMS) and / or the Quality Management System (QMS) is a provincial competence as educators are employed by Provincial Education Departments (PEDs).  Each PED evaluates and keeps a record of its educators on Post Levels 1 - 4 in terms of the criteria applicable to the relevant Collective Agreement (IQMS was informed by Collective Agreement No. 8 of 2003 while the QMS is informed by Collective Agreement No.2 of 2020).  The final performance scores of educators are collated, verified and consolidated within each PED. 

The Department of Basic Education (DBE) has a monitoring and support role in the implementation of the performance management system.

The data required on the rating of educators on different post levels since January 2010 should therefore be requested from each province.

Reply:

The department periodically develops and reviews policies and this process involves extensive consultations with external stakeholders and the broader public. As such, draft policies are gazetted for public to provide comments.

Once departmental policies are finalised, the documents are gazetted and published on DWS website thus becoming public documents.

a) All policies of the Department can be accessed on the official website www.dws.gov.za

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Reply:

a) The Department of Justice and Constitutional Development already has a functional integrated electronic repository for domestic violence protection orders. During 2018/19 financial year, an Integrated Case Management System for Domestic Violence (ICMS: DV) was introduced in all district courts to capture applications for protection orders. This system monitors the flow of these applications in the court system. It further provides for disaggregated sets of data metrics to analyse trends per court, whilst giving a quantitative performance of each province.

In 2021/22 financial year, the Department commenced with the alignment of the ICMS: DV Module to the Domestic Violence Amendment Act, 2021 (Act No. 14 of 2021) and the Draft National Directives for the management of this repository. The Draft National Directives were published for public comments on 15 June 2022 and the inputs thereto are being considered for incorporation.

It might also be worth-indicating that in the previous financial year, the Department further commenced with the development of the Online System for Applications for Protection Orders in line with the Domestic Violence Amendment Act, 2021 and its Draft Regulations. The plan is to integrate the Online System with the ICMS: DV as soon as the final Regulations are released. This is to ensure that the domestic violence systems are in sync, coherent and seamless in operations throughout the court system. The closing date for public comments was 14 July 2022 and it is anticipated that the Domestic Violence Regulations will be finalized and submitted to the Minister for approval.

b) The link of the ICMS: DV to key participating Departments is planned to commence in the next financial year (i.e. 2023/2024) as part of the next phase of development. The integration will be housed in the Integrated Justice System (IJS) Transversal Hub where key criminal justice role-players congregate to exchange data.

i. The systems integration between the participating Departments will commence in 2023/2024 financial year as part of Phase 2 of the project, and the rollout thereof is planned for a year later.

ii. Phase 2 of the project will start after the following activities for Phase 1 are completed:

• The upgrade of the Department’s Data Centre and migration of the systems to the new Infrastructure so as to ensure the stabilization and optimisation of the environment as part of the recovery process from the Ransomware Attack;
• The incorporation of the requirements in the e-Judiciary Workspace to ensure integration of the administration and judicial functions in domestic violence; and
• The procurement and incorporation of the Digital signature solution for the Judiciary.

The Phase 1 activities are expected to be finalised before the end of this financial year.

END

Reply:

There are two (2) Water Use Authorisations for Iron ore and Manganese mining activities currently in progress in the Northern Cape.

NO	APPLICANT	ACTIVITY	PROPERTY DETAILS	APPLICATION DATE	STATUS
1	Vumaste Resources March	Iron ore and Manganese	Land Parcel 54 of the Major Region KURUMAN (Portion 0 of the Farm March 54IM),	2022/08/24	Finalising Assessment
2	Japies Rus Minerale (Pty) Ltd	Iron ore and Manganese	Portion 1 of Land Parcel 668	2022/07/21	Initial assessment

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Reply:

a) The beautification of Booysens Magistrate Court was not advertised on tender. The Booysens Magistrate Court’s procurement section requested quotation using the Department of Justice and Constitutional Development’s Justice Yellow Pages (JYP) system to invite Central Supplier Database (CSD) compliant suppliers. Request for quotation was opened on 10 June 2022 with the closing date of 17 June 2022.

b) (i) The total number of bidders that responded to the request for quotations is seventeen (17), all bidders attended the site briefing meeting.

c) (ii) The winning bidder was Lenong M (Pty) Ltd.

d) (i) The duration of the contract is three (3) months.

(ii) The value of the service is R71 300.00.

e) Payments are only processed once the work has been completed and validated by the Court Manager, partial payments are made on monthly basis for the duration of the service.

f) The winning bidder commenced work on 15 August 2022, the delay for commencement of work was due to insufficient tools of trade and labour resources required to implement works needed.

g) The minimum standards were as follows:

• Gardening services for the entire court yard (back yard, front yard and all sides including weed removal at parking lots.
• Cutting of all overgrown lawn, grass fields within the court yard.
• Services include pruning, removal of weeds, tree felling and trimming, lawn stems at perimeter fencing.
• Using of weed killer on paving, paths and driveways.
• Supplier to provide their own working tools and labours.
• Removal of weeds and to see clear on the walk pathway.
• Supplier to ensure gardening is carried out bi-weekly every month.
• Ensure to remove all rubble waste from site and disposal thereafter.
• Bidder to inform the Court Manager prior coming to site to carry out the service in order to ensure that Court serves are not disturbed due to noise.

The terms and conditions were as follows;

• Quotations should be submitted on or before closing date as specified in the request for quotation.
• Quotes must include delivery.
• Quotation should indicate the validity period.
• Quotation should indicate the delivery period.
• All prices should be firm for the duration of the quotation.
• Quote should be strictly to specification.
• If bidder is VAT vendor, VAT number must be on quote.
• All quotations above R300 000.00 will be evaluated on 80/20 performance point system.

Monitoring for compliance is done by the Court Management of Booysens Magistrate Court through physical assessment and verification to ensure that the work, which is carried out on site, is per the specification issued out during request for quotation.

Reply:

1. The table indicates total number of deaths by Province

Province	(a)((i) 2018/19	(a)((ii) 2019/20	(a)((iii) 2021/22	(a)((iv) 2022/23	(a)01 April 2023 to date
Eastern Cape	outstanding	outstanding	outstanding	outstanding	outstanding
Free State	outstanding	outstanding	outstanding	outstanding	outstanding
Gauteng	17940	18324	16243	20221	9392
KwaZulu- Natal	outstanding	outstanding	outstanding	outstanding	outstanding
Limpopo	4658	5008	4406	5416	2439
Mpumalanga	4892	4949	4994	5098	2246
Northern Cape	outstanding	outstanding	outstanding	outstanding	outstanding
Northwest	1256	1225	1194	1423 to date
Western Cape	5666	5824	5362	5965	2416

Province	(aa) Motor vehicle	(bb) drownings
Eastern Cape	outstanding	outstanding
Free State	outstanding	outstanding
Gauteng	602	102
KwaZulu- Natal	outstanding	outstanding
Limpopo	701	45
Mpumalanga	10108	1201
Northern Cape	outstanding	outstanding
Northwest	2045	318
Western Cape	5 917	804

2. No. I will not make a statement on this matter.

END.

Reply:

The Specialised Commercial Crime Unit in the Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions Free State on 14 July 2022 declined to prosecute because there were no prospects of a successful prosecution. The facts did not disclose any criminal conduct, and the municipality was advised to proceed with the matter internally.

END

Reply:

1. The Nelson Mandela Bay University (NMU) has not been approached to carry out any research on alternative water resources to mitigate against the drought. The NMBM conducted its own research as guided Department of Water and Sanitation Algoa Reconciliation Strategy which was used to develop the NMBM Drought Mitigation Plan (DMP). The NMU is however a stakeholder at the NMBM Joint Operations Centre (JOC) where the DMP is reported which the university can provide their comments and inputs.

2. Yes, my Department has conducted the Algoa Reconciliation Strategy since 2011, which aims to reconcile bulk water sources with water requirements over a planning period of at least 25 years to prevent the risk of a water shortages. An annual update of the strategy, called the Status Report, is done which describes the status of the Algoa Water Supply System (WSS) in terms of bulk water infrastructure, water resources, current and future water requirements and yield balance, and recommended interventions and other actions.

One of the key recommendations have been made through the Algoa Reconciliation Strategy was that the NMBM should complete implementation of the Nooitgedacht Coega Low Level Scheme Phase 3 which will provide an additional 70Ml/day potable water to the NMBM. This project will be commissioned at the end of September 2022. Further recommendations of the Reconciliation Strategy were:

• That the Metro should continue with the implementation of re-use schemes to meet the water demands of the Coega Special Economic Zone
• Ensure implementation-readiness for implementation of reuse schemes from the Fish Water Flats WWTW and the planned Coega WWTW; within the constraints of available development funds
• Proceed with planning for a potable reuse scheme, which should be preceded by a pilot scheme; and implementation of the 15Mℓ/d Coega seawater desalination scheme
• Update the comparative costs and potential impacts of raising the Kouga and the Guernakop Dams against investing in a desalination plant as a long-term augmentation option, considering that an EIA application for a 60Ml/d desalination plant has already been granted to CDC by DEA. This should be dependent on the updated yields, once the updated Algoa WSS model is available.
• Evaluate the Lower Sundays River Return Flows scheme at a more detailed reconnaissance level. This should be followed by a Feasibility-level Study by NMBM and considered as one of the next interventions to be considered for implementation. Consideration should be given to treating the water for industrial-quality use; and the municipality should timeously establish whether this scheme is worth pursuing further.
• Implement Water Use Efficiency / Water Conservation Water Demand Management projects to reduce the demand for water
• The Kouga LM should continue with groundwater evaluations and implementation of groundwater schemes, particularly those schemes that can easily integrated into the existing Water Supply System infrastructure. Groundwater initiatives undertaken by Kouga LM will further aim to make the various small towns less reliant on surface water supply. Potential groundwater yields should be updated when additional information becomes available.

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Reply:

1.  As indicated in response to Question no 2955, an amended rehabilitation plan was submitted on 4 August 2022 to include inputs from the Mpumalanga Tourism and Parks Agency. The approved rehabilitation plan entails deliverables of the project which are categorised into three (3) phases namely:

• Phase 1: Low Flow Eco Status Report
• Phase: 2: Development of Rehabilitation Actions from Phase 1
• Phase 3: Monitoring and Final Report

Implementation of Phase 1 of the rehabilitation plan has commenced, and the Khwezela Mine has appointed qualified team of specialists. The appointment of the team fulfils one of the requirements of the directive issued by this Department. Other key matters that the mine has made progress on include the following:

• Commencement with the first round of monitoring and this has been completed on 19 August 2022 the results have been distributed and the specialist team is working on the results.
• Commencement with the eco status assessment and reconnaissance surveys. The surveys entail systematic screening of the water resources through recording characteristics found in the water resources and recommended actions based on the results obtained.
• Furthermore, a workshop on updating the rehabilitation plan with the specialist panel will be held on 15 September 2022. Specialist workshop on 1st and 2nd round of monitoring will be held October 2022.

(2) The relevant details of the rehabilitation plan are outlined in the Gantt chart attached as Annexure A with an indication of timelines. It is envisaged that implementation of the rehabilitation plan will be completed by 2027.

(3) Provision of the “details regarding the progress of the rehabilitation of the two rivers” can be obtained by submitting a request to the Departmental chief information officer as guided by PAIA.

(4) Provision of the “details indicating whether the natural process of rehabilitation has started based on the reports provided to him by the rehabilitation company” can be obtained by submitting a request to the Departmental Chief Information Officer as guided by PAIA.

 

 

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Reply:

a) During this financial year the Department of Justice and Constitutional Development has planned to establish eighty (80) sexual offences courts (SOCs) in terms of section 55A of the Criminal Law (Sexual Offences and Related Matters) Amendment Act, 2007 (Act No. 32 of 2007) (the Act). This will be the first batch of the section 55A SOCs established in line with the resource specifications of the Regulations relating to Sexual Offences Courts. Many of these courts have been drawn from a pool of courts previously referred to as the MATTSO Sexual Offences Courts in order to bring them into compliance with section 55A of the Act, which requires all sexual offences courts to be established at courts designated by the Minister of Justice and Correctional Services, by way of notice in the Gazette. Below is the list of the planned eighty (80) sexual offences courts:

Regional Divisions	Sexual Offences Courts to be established	No. of SOCs
Eastern Cape	Dimbaza, East London, Port-Elizabeth	3
Free State	Bethlehem, Bloemfontein, Botshabelo, Brandfort, Ficksburg, Harrismith, Koffiefontein, Kroonstad, Ladybrand, Parys, Phuthaditjhaba, Thaba’Nchu, Welkom, Wepener, Zastron	15
Gauteng	Benoni, Booysens, Kagiso, Krugersdorp, Palm Ridge, Pretoria, Pretoria North, Randfontein, Roodepoort, Tembisa, Tsakane, Vereeniging	12
KwaZulu-Natal	Durban, Umlazi, Empangeni, Madadeni, Ntuzuma Pietermaritzburg, Pinetown, Scottsburgh	8
Limpopo	Giyani, Mahwelereng, Mankweng, Morebeng, Sibasa	5
Mpumalanga	Ermelo, Middleburg, Mbombela, Piet Retief, Secunda Mdutjana, Thulamahashe	7
Northern Cape	Kimberley, Upington, Springbok, Kathu, Kuruman Barkley West, Colesburg, Galeshewe, Fraserburg Kakamas, Postmansburg	11
North West	Potchefstroom, Ga-Rankuwa, Klerksdorp, Rustenburg Moretele, Mmabatho, Tlhabane	7
Western Cape	Atlantis, Bredasdorp, Cape Town, Khayelitsha Mitchells Plain, Oudtshoorn, Paarl, Parow, Plattenberg Bay, Thembalethu, Worcester, Wynberg	12
TOTAL	80

However, this list is not cast and stone as the caseload of sex crimes in a particular court is often unpredictable.

b) What progress has been made in respect of the establishment of each of the specified courts?

• I have received a letter of concurrence from the Chief Justice for the designation of nine (9) courts for the regional divisions where the 80 sexual offences courts will be established in terms of section 55A(2)(a) of the Act;
• In terms of section 55A(2)(b) of the Act, the National Director of Public Prosecutions has also responded in writing to the letter of the Minister in support of the designation process;
• The National Guidelines for the Establishment of the section 55A Sexual Offences Courts were developed with the judiciary, National Prosecuting Authority, Legal Aid South Africa and the civil society organisations, and were approved by the Minister. The Guidelines include a Checklist to verify resource compliance with the Regulations relating to Sexual Offences Courts;
• The Provincial Heads have submitted signed Checklists for the resourcing of each court falling under their respective provinces;
• A draft Gazette Notice for the designation of courts has been vetted by the Office of the Chief State Law Advisor, and is awaiting Minister’s approval. The SOCs will be established as soon as the Gazette Notice is published, as required by the Act.

END

Reply:

1. The Department of Justice and Constitutional Development (the Department) does allocate the budget for the training of officials in child maintenance and such budget is allocated to the Justice College which is the official training business unit of the Department.

a)  However, the Department cannot provide a curriculum used for the training on the Maintenance Act, 1998 (Act No.99 of 1998) (the Act) as the training is conducted in collaboration with the National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) which provides the training materials and the facilitators. This collaboration was necessitated by the need to ensure that the same training messages is communicated to both Prosecutors who are deemed Maintenance Officers in terms of section 4(1) of the Act and the Maintenance Officers appointed by the Department in terms of section 4(2) of the Act. It must be indicated that the Justice College has human resource capacity constraints to conduct this training since the recall of Senior Lecturers who were Magistrates back to the bench. It is in this light that Senior Maintenance Prosecutors (SMP) of the NPA have facilitating the training coordinated by the Justice College and also they extend the training in the Provinces to the officials of the Department as and when training is coordinated by the NPA.

Although there is no formal curriculum on the Act, the Department conducts a number of education and training interventions to close the gaps and up skill the officials in the front line on support services that assist in performance and investigations in terms of the Act. The first training is conducted on Maintenance Online Trace and Track (MOTT) System which includes training on the system used to track and trace personal and financial details of parties. The second training conducted is on the Maintenance Integrated Case Management System (Maintenance ICMS) which enables Clerks of the Maintenance Courts to capture performance and process based information. This also delves on the relevant sections of the Act. The former training is conducted by the officials of the OCFA and also includes education on the Protection of Private Information (POPI) Act, 2013 (Act No.4 of 2013) (POPI Act) and section 205 Criminal Procedure Act, 1977 (Act No. 51 of 1977) (the CPA).

b) Training coordinated by the NPA is conducted on an annual basis. This training is always extended to the Maintenance Officers and Investigators appointed by the Department. However, as the NPA will be reviewing its curriculum in respect of training on the Act during the current financial year (2022/2023), Justice College has coordinated the training for court officials who need training in all the Regions for the current financial year (2022/2023). A training schedule has been issues and it will be facilitated by the two Senior Maintenance Prosecutors of the NPA and specifically targets Maintenance Officers and Maintenance Investigators across all the Regions.

2. b) (i) and (ii) A total of 2022 magistrates were trained by the South African Judicial Education Institute from 2012 to date across the different provinces regarding the Maintenance Act, Act 99 of 1998.

c) (i) It must be noted that no training evaluation has been conducted in respect of the impact of current training curriculum which is offered by the NPA as it has been indicated that the current training is dependent on the training conducted by the NPA because of the capacity challenges of Justice College. The engagements between the role players will include discussions on the review of the training materials by the NPA and the development of training materials for maintenance investigations. These discussions will include how and the frequency of external evaluation of the impact of this training.

ii) As responded above, no training evaluation has been conducted.

In conclusion, it is worth mentioning that the NPA is currently in a process of reviewing its curriculum on the Act, and one working session was already held on 19 May 2022 with Senior Maintenance Officers internally. Subsequent working sessions to involve the OCFA which is the business unit responsible for coordinating complaints management, performance, policy, stakeholder management and systems interventions with internal role-players in respect of Maintenance Services and the Justice College. Furthermore, the OCFA and NPA National Coordinator of the Senior Maintenance Officers are due to meet with the Justice College to discuss how to improve the current training arrangement and focus areas. This will include discussions about training evaluation as already alluded.

Reply:

The allegations in the question are untrue. It should be noted that the Master’s Office: Kimberley is open for the public from 7h45 – 12h15 and again from 13h45 – 15h30. Officials however, have lunch break 13h00-13h45 and remain in the office until 16h15 (as per normal working hours).

The time between 12h15 and 13h00 as well as between 15h30 and 16h15, is utilized for attending to administrative, office work and attend to the members of the public that are still in the office.

No public is assisted during the lunch break period, as the office does not want a situation in the office, where a female official sits alone with members of the public during the lunch break (13h00 – 13h45), to avoid possible intimidation or harassment allegations.

Any complaints suggesting the contrary should be brought under the attention of the Head of the Office, Mr Craig Davids, and will be investigated immediately.

Reply:

According to the Children's Act, it is expected that all Early Childhood Development (ECD) programmes that provide services to children with disabilities must have specialised training to provide quality ECD services that will benefit those children. In line with this, training of ECD practitioners, in accordance with the National Qualifications Framework (NQF), has a module that looks at working with children with disabilities. Over and above this, the Department is funding Uhambo, which is a disability organisation which continues to support and capacitate practitioners in stimulating children with different disabilities. In terms of inclusion, the developed infrastructure designs take into consideration the needs of children with disabilities. The Department has also begun reviewing the Screening, Identification, Assessment and Support (SIAS) policy to establish gaps in regard to children in ECD living with disabilities. This will be used to capacitate ECD practitioners. 

Reply:

The questions asked have direct implications for the work of the Members of Executive Council (MECs) of Provincial Education Departments (PEDs), and not the Minister of Basic Education. The Hon Member is therefore advised to submit the questions to the MECs for education in PEDs. 

Reply:

All appointments in the department are subject to open recruitment and selection processes and are not subject to Minister having meetings outside the public sector.

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Reply:

(1) The Biodiversity Company was appointed by Khwezela Colliery to develop and implement a Rehabilitation Plan.

(2) The Rehabilitation plan was submitted before 30 April 2022. However, the plan needed to be reviewed and amended to include the Mpumalanga Tourism and Parks Agency (MTPA) inputs and was subsequently submitted to the department on 04 August 2022.

(3) The Biodiversity Company was appointed by Khwezela Colliery to develop and implement a Rehabilitation Plan for the Klein Olifants and Wilge Rivers.

(4) The Rehabilitation Plan was approved by the department.

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Reply:

The Nandoni-Nsami Pipeline Project consists of Construction of two (2) bulk water pipelines to provide water to Giyani and the greater Malamulele areas as well as a pump station at the Nandoni Water Treatment Works to supply water to the pipelines.

The 33.98km out of 40.50km of the Nandoni-Nsami line has been completed. There have been several delays with Glass Reinforced Plastic (GRP) pipe delivery. To date, 21.32km out of 26.58km the Nandoni-Malamulele pipeline has been laid. The project is left with chambers, pressure testing, Luvhuvu crossing and some finishing touches.

The project started on 07 March 2016 with an initial completion date of 09 November 2020. This could not be realised due to several unforeseen circumstances. The adjusted practical completion date is 14 March 2023.

The Water Service Authority (WSA), the Mopani District Municipality is also implementing additional reticulation to 55 villages that are supplied from the Giyani Water Treatment Works. Reported current progress with the reticulation project is as follows:

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Reply:

The questions asked have direct implications for the work of the Members of Executive Council (MECs) of Provincial Education Departments (PEDs), and not the Minister of Basic Education. The Hon Member is therefore advised to submit the questions to the MECs for education in PEDs. 

Reply:

1. No disciplinary action was taken by DWS against municipal officials that did not adhere to non-compliance letters issued by the DWS as the non-compliance letters were issued by the DWS against the Water Service Authorities not individual employees. The WSAs against whom non-compliance letters were issued are indicated in Annexure A.

2. In terms of the Constitution of South Africa, the Department has an obligation to provide support to local government and to exhaust all intergovernmental relations remedies prior to turning to the judiciary for relief. The Department therefore approached the Department of Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs, the Municipal Infrastructure Agency and the South African Local Government Association to provide support and assistance to the Water Services Institutions that are struggling to develop and implement action plans. The Department monitors compliance against the implementation plans. Where these are not implemented or submitted despite support, the department will revert to administrative enforcement measures under the National Water Act. Where there are persistent and material breaches (offences) in terms of sections 151 of the National Water Act and 82 of the Water Services Act, the department will conduct criminal investigations to which may lead to criminal prosecution.

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