Questions and Replies

Reply:

According to the information received from SAA

1. Captain Vusi Khumalo has indeed been appointed to the position of Manager: Aviation Training Organisation (ATO) for a fixed term of three years.

2. His appointment came after a comprehensive, rigorous, and interrogative process where he emerged as the best candidate, and there is no doubt that he is the right person for the job. He not only knows the inner workings of SAA, but those of the industry and has clear ideas on what priorities need to be set in terms of driving the implementation of sustainable developmental solutions and align our training needs with business objectives and priorities to enhance optimum performance.

3. Captain Khumalo’s role will include expanding the mandate of the ATO to attract external business and turn it into a profit center. Furthermore, his role will include transformation, monitoring and evaluating the impact of learning and developmental interventions on performance across the airline. Captain Khumalo is a well-known and a respected figure in our company and the industry and has the full support of the Board and Executive team in his new position.

4. Yes, Captain Khumalo did receive the VSP, but the norm is that after a 12-month period and as required by the business, those that have previously taken packages can be brought back into any position, especially those that are multi skilled like Captain Khumalo. The position was advertised after the previous incumbent retired, shortlisting and interviews were conducted in line with the SAA recruitment and selection processes.

Reply:

a) The suspended social grants referred to were reinstated on 28 October 2021.

b) At this stage, SASSA does not have precise information on the employment nature of the re-instated beneficiaries. It is important to note that entitlement to a grant is not reviewed based on employment, but on income, as defined in the regulations to the Social Assistance Act.

c) Notices were sent in January 2022 to the suspected government employees, indicating that their social grant will be reviewed, and that they had 3 months to report to SASSA to enable this process to be concluded. This period has ended in April 2022. In May 2022 letters were sent to all beneficiaries, who have not come forward for the review process, informing them that SASSA intends to suspend their grant at the end of July 2022.

d) Beneficiaries who do not present themselves before the end of July 2022; will be suspended at the end of the month. However, the beneficiary will then still have another 3 months to come forward and request SASSA to re-instate their grants. Failure to comply, will result in the grant being permanently cancelled and the beneficiary will need to reapply for the grant should they still require it. Thus, it is expected that the entire process until termination of the grant will be concluded by October 2022.

e) Through the review process, SASSA updates the personal, financial and medical information of a beneficiary. This is very similar to an application process, and all relevant information required to determine whether or not a beneficiary still requires a grant is reviewed. Personal information is also updated to ensure that the records of the beneficiary is accurate and current.

Types of reviews include Administrative/ Financial reviews, Medical reviews, Foster Child Grants reviews and Refugee reviews. In terms of the Regulations to the Social Assistance Act, the Agency may review a social grant at any time where it has a reason to believe that changes in the beneficiary's financial circumstances may have occurred; or on expiry of the validity of the identity document of a beneficiary, if the beneficiary is a refugee; or on the expiry of the foster care order.

The process firstly requires identification of beneficiaries due for review. This is then followed by notification letters where beneficiaries are informed to approach a local SASSA office with the required documentation for purposes of completing a review process. Beneficiaries are given 90 days’ notice to complete this process. Once the process is completed the beneficiary is provided with an outcome letter.

In the case where the beneficiary still qualifies for the grant after the review process, the process ends, and the beneficiary will continue to receive payment of the social grant. Where the beneficiary no longer qualifies, the social grant is terminated, and he/she has the right to appeal to the Independent Tribunal for Social Assistance Appeals.

In cases where overpayments were made to the beneficiary, an acknowledgment of debt is raised; and /or the matter is referred to the Fraud and Compliance Unit for further investigation.

Reply:

(a) The total number of identified employers that should contribute towards the Compensation Fund as at 31 May 2022 is 520 860.

(b) The total number of employers who had submitted the 2021 ROE by the end of 31 May 2022 is 204 822

Reply:

a) (i) Three thousand seven hundred and twenty nine ( 3 729) public servants have been found to have applied for Early Childhood Stimulus Relief Fund (ii) however, none of them received the monies as they were identified prior to processing the applications for payment as the Department conducted a due diligence during verification process.

b) There is no breakdown that can be provided as the department did not pay any public servants from the Early Childhood Development Presidential Stimulus Relief Fund.

 

Reply:

According to the information received from the Department and SOCs:

DPE/SOC	REPLY:
DPE	(a) Whether his department have found any ghost workers within their system in the past five years, if not what is the position in this regard, if so, what: (i) total number of ghost workers was discovered: None (ii) total amount was paid to them: None (iii) steps have been taken to: None (aa) recover the money lost: None (bb) hold the offending parties accountable? None
ALEXKOR	Alexkor SOC Limited and the Pooling and Sharing Joint Venture (PSJV) do not have any Ghost Workers.
DENEL	a) N/A b) In August 2020, Denel (SOC) Ltd discovered that two apprentices whose training programme had ended on 30 June 2018 and 28 October 2019 respectively remained on the payroll until they were terminated on 30 August 2020. (i) The total number that was discovered was two (2). (ii) The amount paid to them during this period was a combined total of R182,082.40. (iii) (aa) No steps were taken to recover the money paid to them. (bb) The responsible employee resigned and left the company before the disciplinary action process could be finalised.
ESKOM	(b) In the past five years, no ghost employees have been found at Eskom. In 2018 Eskom embarked on an exercise to validate all employees on its payroll to ensure that no ghost workers exist. The exercise involved conducting various checks across Eskom in line with best practices. Eskom continues to implement further enhancements in terms of monitoring and identifying potential ghost employees. (b)(i) (ii) (iii) Not applicable. (aa) Not applicable.
SAFCOL	(a) N/A (b) None for SAFCOL (i) N/A (ii N/A (iii) N/A (aa) N/A (bb) N/A
SAA	SAA has not found any Ghost Workers in our SAP payroll system in the past five years. SAA’s position in this regard is that there is a very stringent system in place to ensure that no ghost employees are paid by the company. No Ghost Workers were identified following our recent HR audit.
TRANSNET	a) Not applicable b) On 15 June 2021 Transnet SOC (“Transnet”) commissioned Transnet Internal Audit (TIA) to conduct a Payroll Audit assessment to verify the number of employees within its system, amongst other functions. Following this assessment, a report was issued on 27 August 2021 which indicated that were no ghost employees on their system (i) Not applicable (ii) Not applicable (iii) Not applicable (aa) Not applicable (bb) Not applicable

Reply:

Budget for 2021-2022 financial year

The Sub-Programme Youth in the allocation for 2021-2022 allocated the funds according to the Goods and Services, which were programmes and interventions for youth across the country; compensation of employed staff and equipment needed for execution of tasks in the department. The allocation is as reflected below:

DIR : YOUTH 2021/22	Current Budget	Total Expenditure	Available Budget	Percentage
COMPENSATION OF EMPLOYEES	4 103	4 152	-49	101.19%
GOODS AND SERVICES	9 568	4 529	5 039	47.33%
HOUSEHOLDS(HH)			0
MACHINERY AND EQUIPMENT	45	-	45	0.00%
TOTAL	13 716	8 681	5 035	63.29%

Budget for 2022-2023 financial year

The Sub-Programme Youth in the allocation for 2022-2023 allocated the funds according to the Goods and Services, which are programmes and interventions for youth across the country; compensation of employed staff and equipment needed for execution of tasks in the department. The allocation and expenditure is as reflected below:

DIR : YOUTH 2022/23	Current Budget	Total Expenditure	Available Budget	Percentage
COMPENSATION OF EMPLOYEES	3 858	328	3 530	8.50%
GOODS AND SERVICES	8 701	545	8 156	6.26%
HOUSEHOLDS(HH)			0
MACHINERY AND EQUIPMENT	48	-	48	0.00%
TOTAL	12 607	873	11 734	6.92%

REPLY (2)

What are the details of any underspending in the 2021-22 financial year?

The financial year 2021-2022 reflects underspending due to the following reasons:

There was no facilitated National Camp as a mobilization strategy for youth due to (i) the Department embarked on the process of appointing a service provider for conducting the Design and Implementation Evaluation of Youth Camps in order to determine the impact of camps over the years since 2012-2019. The appointment of the Service provider to conduct the evaluation of camps delayed due to no responses from the advertisements. Lack of a Service provider to deliver a skills development training on Business Management also resulted in 2021-2022 underspending. The hosting of provincial engagements further led to underspending due to COVID restrictions as well provincial competing priorities.

Reply:

According to the information received from Transnet

Transnet SOC (“Transnet”) plans to raise USD ($1 billion) (~ZAR15, 6 billion) in both the domestic and international capital markets to settle the USD $1,0 billion (an obligation that is due on 26 July 2022). Transnet has also appointed Joint Lead Managers (JLMs) who will assist Transnet to access the capital markets to raise the USD $1,0 billion (~ZAR15, 6 billion).

Reply:

We confirm that the operations of the airline are being funded from the working capital that was provided to the airline by Government as part of the R10.5 billion for implementing the business rescue plan. As soon as the audited fiancials are ready, these will be made public.

 

Reply:

1. The 28 596 are users registered in the Compensation Fund’s CompEasy system of which:

a) 14 974 are Employer representatives

b) 10 632 are Medical Service Provider representatives and; 2 990 are Third Party users representing either Medical Service Providers or Employers, or both.

2. 

a) Reasons why more users registered in previous systems versus now is unknown.

b). A communication was sent to all users during 2019 who were in the previous system informing them of the eminent change of systems and the new requirements for access on the new CompEasy system.

Reply:

No, there isn’t a decrease of 6 million beneficiaries in the 2021-22 financial.

In the 2020/21 financial year we paid 12 628 175 beneficiaries (that is the people who actually receive the social grant). Thus there was an increase of 159 691 to 12 787 866 between the two years.

The total number of grants paid in the 2020/21 financial year was 18 440 572 and this has increased to 18 677 339 in the 2021/22 financial year. A beneficiary may receive more than one grant, e.g. a caregiver receiving 2 child grants for 2 children. Hence the number of beneficiaries are smaller than the number of grants paid.

Reply:

(1)The amount of R501 000.00 is budgeted for the establishment of the shelter in the Namaqua district. The Namakhoi Municipality committed to provide the structure and to refurbish the structure and this process is already underway. This amount is for the running cost of the shelter.

(2) The province is in the process of ensuring that there is at least one victim support centre in each district. The only district that does not have a shelter is the Namaqua district. The Department in partnership with the Namakhoi Municipality in Springbok is in the process of establishing a shelter in the district in 2022/23 financial year.

Reply:

The South African Social Security Agency (SASSA) has contracted the South African Post Office (SAPO) to pay grant beneficiaries, which includes beneficiaries of the COVID-19 Social Relief of Distress. SAPO in turn has expanded their distribution network to include retailers. This agreement, however, is between SAPO and the retailers. SASSA is not a party to the agreement.

The arrangement, however, is similar to those between banks and retailers, where beneficiaries who chose to have their funds paid into their own personal bank account, can then access those funds from their bank, any other banks including ATM and/ or any merchant, which has an arrangement with their bank. For SAPO, this is done at no cost to the beneficiary.

Reply:

The NHBRC has finalised its investigation and concluded that it is unable to take disciplinary steps against this home builder based on the investigations conducted by the SIU and its internal resources. The NHBRC lacks jurisdiction on the matter as the Temporary Residential Units (TRUs) in question are not “homes” as defined in the Housing Consumer Protection Measures Act, 1998 (Act No. 95 of 1998).

Reply:

a) There is no specific budget allocated for psychosocial support. The psychosocial support budget is included in the overall allocation of the Gender Based Violence (GBV) which amounts to R 8 138 000, 00. This amount includes the provincial as well as district goods and services budgets.

b) An amount of R 1 904 000,00 has been allocated as a transfer allocation to NGO’s for the provision of GBV services. The total budget allocation for GBV services rendered by the Department of Social Development in Northern Cape is therefore R 10 042 000, 00.

Reply:

The top Five rejection reasons for medical invoices:

 

Rejection Reason	Number of invoices
No medical report	11 759
No Pre-authorisation	8 098
Duplicate invoice	4 112
Liability not accepted	1 972
Exempted Employer claim	1 078

Reply:

a) i) The purpose of the Annual Youth camp offered by the National Department of Social Development is to:

The purpose of annual Youth Camp is to empower youth by providing them with necessary employment, entrepreneurial and lifeskills. The Department provide these these interventions through partnerships with other government departments such as Department of Defence and Military Veterans, Department of Women, Youth and People with Disabilities, Youth organizations, youth structures and other relevant stakeholders. Youth are identified through DSD Youth Mobilisation programmes and are mobilized from different races, ethnicity, gender, class and language from all nine provinces. The Youth Camps are aimed at promoting national identity, nation building, social cohesion, patriotism and active citizenry under various themes each year. The camps present an environment where young people are moulded, guided and skilled to enhance their sense of responsibility and maximise their individual and collective energies for personal development as well as development of the broader society. Within the programme, young people are engaged in dialogues on topical issues that affect them and their communities, with a view of identifying root causes and identify strategic solutions to address the youth challenges.

(ii) The impact of the Annual National Youth Camp in the lives of the youth,

The impact of Youth Camps has been enormous in the sense that majority of Youth who participated in the DSD Youth Camps are involved in community development through running of the NPOs and their businesses contributing towards development of communities and building and strengthening of social cohesive communities. The department is also currently conducting a study on the ‘Design and Implementation Evaluation of youth camps’: DSD Camp model’. The study is scheduled to end in the second quarter of the financial year 2022/2023 and it will provide the department with a clear picture of the impact made by the Youth Camps and once the report is ready it will be shared with the Members as the report will identify and profile some of Youth that have participated in the Youth Camps and are making some impact in their respective areas of development.

b) How are the youth who participate identified?

The Youth camp participants are made of the youth from all the nine provinces. A youth criterion is generated to identify youth according to age, gender, race, disability, demographic location to ensure the balance concerning the participation of youth. The Youth come through the District Camp engagement per province, and Provincial Camps per province. At the District level, Youth are identified through Youth Mobilisation programmes by looking at their active participation and engagement with the programmes and their willingness to contribute towards eradication of the triple challenges of poverty, unemployment and inequalities especially as it affects the young people.

(c) What are the details of the involvement of the provinces in the national youth camps.

The Department has build-up camps first at District level that culminate into the Provincial Youth Camps. From the Provincial Camps, then the Youth will be taken to the National Youth Camps through submission of their names to National Department by the provinces.

(3) whether she will furnish Ms A L A Abrahams with a list of (a) facilities that were used to host the youth camps in the past 10 years, (b) catering service providers that were used for the specified period and (c)(i) all other service providers used, indicating service that was rendered by each in the specified period; if not, why not in each case; if so, on what date?

Response:

(a) Facilities that were used to host the youth camps in the past 10 years,

The Department has in the main used the Department of Defence and Military Veterans facilities as it had a partnership with the Department.

(b) Catering service providers that were used for the specified period and

The catering service providers in the main it was the Department of Defence and Military, who provided an all inclusive list of services.

(c) (i) all other service providers used, indicating service that was rendered by each in the specified period; if not, why not in each case; if so, on what date

The service providers used where mainly government departments and agencies (NDA, NYDA) rendering training on various aspects such as entrepreneurial and leadership skills. Other service providers included providers for promotional and training materials as well as facilitators.

Reply:

1. Information regarding the 198 government employees was received on the 29th March 2022 from DPSA.

2. No. The relevant Head of Department has not been informed yet.

a) The Agency is expecting to receive all relevant information pertaining to the level 13 official before it can open a case with the South African Police Services (SAPS). When this is received, we will concurrently inform the Head of the Department responsible for the official through the DPSA as agreed on how the process should flow.

b) The official is a Chief of Staff at one of the provincial government departments.

3. Information regarding the nine (9) government officials was received on 01 February 2022. On 29 March 2022 we received information balance of outstanding 198 officials.

4. A progress report pertaining to the nine referred cases was received from SAPS as detailed below:

Item no	Station and Cas No	Court
1	Vereeniging 249/11/2021	Under investigation
2	Edenpark 166/11/2021	Under investigation
3	JHB Central 762/11/2021	Under investigation
4	Sandton 312/11/2021	Randburg court – the prosecutor declined to prosecute
5	Fochville 140/11/2021	Fouchville court - the prosecutor declined to prosecute
6	Hillbrow 385/11/2021	Johannesburg Court - the prosecutor declined to prosecute
7	Evaton 238/11/2021	Sebokeng Court - the prosecutor declined to prosecute
8	Moroka 323/11/2021	Protea Court - the prosecutor declined to prosecute
9	Evaton 240/11/2021	Sebokeng court - the prosecutor declined to prosecute

Reply:

The Department of Employment and Labour, as a consequence of the change in its mandate is in a process of internal engagement on the reconfiguration of the Department. The could be functions that are transferred to certain entities of the Department, including Productivity South Africa. For now, no such a decision has been made but purely suggestions.

Reply:

1(a)  total number of non-profit organisations (NPOs) received increases to their budgets in 2021-22 financial year in each province,

1 (a)	Provincial NPOs	No. of NPO received increases to their budgets in 2021/22
	Eastern Cape	3
	Free State	21 HIV/AIDS 24 VEP
	Gauteng	All funded NPOs received the inflation rate of 4% for the 2021/22 financial year
	Kwa-Zulu Natal	0
	Limpopo	0
	Mpumalanga	17
	North-West	0
	Northern Cape	All funded NPOs received the inflation rate of 5% for the 2021/22 financial year
	Western Cape	247

b) are the names of the NPOs that received increases and

1 (b)	Provincial NPOs	Names of NPO that received increases to their budgets in 2021/22
1.	Eastern Cape	Madeira Home Housing Utility Company ACVV Huis Genot Munro Kirk Home
2.	Free State	HIV & AIDS SUB-PROGRAMME NAME OF ORGANIZATION INCREASED AMOUNT THABO MOFUTSANYANA Clocolan Child Care Forum R12’000 Dihlabeng Development Initiative R12 000 Ficksburg Child Care Forum R12 000 Golden Gate Hospice R11 000 Ikaneng Child Care Forum R10 000 Itemoheng R11 000 Mamafubedu Child Care Forum R12 000 Moemaneng Child Care Forum R12 000 Petsana Child Care Forum R12 941 Senekal Child Care Forum R12 000 Tshwaranang R12 000 SUB-TOTAL R116 000.48 MANGAUNG Botshelo R15 090.00 Fadimehang Home Based Care R35 375.32 My Ride to Ikusasa R30 347.32 Kgauhelo Project R78 374.87 Masakhane Home Based Care R73 692.87 Santa Botshabelo Branch R10 000.00 Tshepong Care Centre R64 896.93 Tswellang R35 374.32 Paballo Home Based Care R30 374.32 Ikgomotseng R25 374.32 SUB-TOTAL R398 899.22 TOTAL R514 899.70 VICTIM EMPOWERMENT PROGRAMME Organisation Increase Lejweleputswa -7 (Seven) Boshof Victim Empowerment R14 200 Khululeka Victim Support R 14 200 Dr Maile Development Center R 8 900, Theunissen Boitelo VEP R 14 200 Tshireletsong VE R 8 900 Winburg VEP R 15 200 SUB-TOTAL = R75 600 Mangaung Metro ( 8)   Free Care in Action R 26 700 Free state Network on Violence against Women R8 900 Mangaung Setshabelo R 8 900 FAMSA R 17 800 Heatherdale Dikonale Dienste R 29 000 Child Welfare BFN Child Line R 9 000 Reya Phela Safe House R 16 799 05 Child Welfare SA Wepener R 16 710 00 SUB-TOTAL = R 133 809 .05 Xhariep( 5)   Women Support Group R 14 240 Bambanani Victim Empowerment R 14 240 Bophelong Victim Empowerment R 14 240 Sivile –Reutlwile Victim Centre R14 240 Kgothalang Victim Center R 14 240 SUB-TOTAL = R 71 200 Thabo Mofutsanyana (2)   Thusanang Advice Shelter R 16 800 Bethlehem Child and Family Welfare –Tshepo ya rona Shelter R 16 854 SUB-TOTAL = R 33 654 Organization Increase Thusanang Advice Shelter R 144 231 94 Goldfields Family Advice Organization R108 698 Total = 2 Organisations R252 929 94 Grand total 24 Organisations R 567 192 .99
3.	Gauteng	Refer to PQ 1484
4.	Kwa-Zulu Natal	N/a
5.	Limpopo	N/a
6.	Mpumalanga	SOS Children’s Village Association to the Republic of SA St John’s Care Centre Ebenezer CYCC Uzwelo Home CYCC SAVF Louis Hildebrandt Kinderhuis Janell Huis CYCC CMR Ermelo CYCC Phephelaphi CYCC Kosmos Kinderhawe Bethesda Home of Hope CYCC Octopus Network Malekutu Development Proframme Brothers Services Community Development Emphilweni Multipurpose Centre Isiphephelo Multipurpose Centre Hlayisekani Nursing Home Barberton Organization for the Care of the Aged
7.	North-West	N/a
8.	Northern Cape	All funded NPOs – refer to PQ 1484
9.	Western Cape	List attached

c) did the increases amount to in total;

1 (c)	Provincial NPOs	Increases amount to in total
1.	Eastern Cape	R672 000
2.	Free State	R1 082 093.00
3.	Gauteng	(4% inflationary rate
4.	Kwa-Zulu Natal	0
5.	Limpopo	0
6.	Mpumalanga	R24 449 444
7.	North-West	0
8.	Northern Cape	R10,7 million
9.	Western Cape	R48,751 million (excludes ECD Conditional grants)

(2) (a) what total number of NPOs had their budgets reduced due to her department taking over and/or now providing the service in each province;

2 (a)	Provincial NPOs	Budgets reduced due to her department taking over
1.	Eastern Cape	51
2.	Free State	None
3.	Gauteng	None
4.	Kwa-Zulu Natal	None
5.	Limpopo	None
6.	Mpumalanga	None
7.	North-West	None
8.	Northern Cape	None
9.	Western Cape	None

(3) whether she will provide Ms L L van der Merwe with a list of the NPO services that are no longer funded due to her department now providing the service in each province; if not, what is the position in this regard; if so, what are the further, relevant details?

3	Provincial NPOs	Increases amount to in total
1.	Eastern Cape	None
2.	Free State	None
3.	Gauteng	None
4.	Kwa-Zulu Natal	None
5.	Limpopo	None
6.	Mpumalanga	None
7.	North-West	None
8.	Northern Cape	None
9.	Western Cape	None

Reply:

1. The Minister, Department Officials, Eskom Board of Directors, Eskom Chief Executive Officer (CEO) and Management meet on a regular basis to discuss Generation performance challenges and plans to improve the performance. The Eskom’s worst-case scenario is assumption of unplanned unavailability between 13 500 MW and 15 000 MW for winter and between 14 500 MW and 16 000 MW for summer, this shows that 104 days of loadshedding could be expected in 2022 winter and 191 days of loadshedding could be expected in the 2022/23 summer. These result in total of the 295 days of load shedding. The Generational Recovery Plan (including Maintenance Recovery Programme) has been implemented to improve Generation performance. Eskom has been implementing defects correction mechanism plan to improve Energy Availability Factor (EAF) at Medupi and Kusile power stations. Eskom will require additional capacity of between 4 000MW to 6 00MW to minimise load shedding.

2. The explanation given by the Eskom CEO has been sufficient that the CEO and Management know what they are doing in turning around Generation performance. I have got confidence of Eskom CEO and management to turnaround Eskom’s Generation Performance and reduce loadshedding that is affecting our economy.

At the same time, the board, management and staff are being directed to make energetic and urgent efforts to avert as much load shedding as possible- recognising the deleterious effect it has on households and businesses.

Additional Information for the Minister

Eskom never plans to loadshed. The System Operator (SO) evaluates the adequacy of the power system at the beginning of each season (1 April – 31 August for winter and 1 September – 31 March for summer) based on the maintenance requirements of the generation fleet, the anticipated demand from the customers and the unplanned breakdowns of generators. The capacity unavailable due to breakdowns, is highly volatile and uncertain, leading the SO to resort to scenario planning based on the range of unplanned unavailability of generation capacity.

For the 2022 winter, the SO determined that the unplanned unavailability of generation capacity would be in the range of 12 000 MW – 15 000 MW based on a trend analysis of the previous five years performance. For the 2022/23 summer, this range is between 13 000 MW – 16 000 MW (subject to review in August 2022).

This was broken down into three scenarios which were further analysed:

• The optimistic scenario: with unplanned unavailability below 12 000 MW for winter and below 13 000 MW for summer, this illustrates those 0 days of loadshedding would be expected in winter 2022, while 16 days of loadshedding could be expected in summer 2022/23.

• The realistic scenario: with unplanned unavailability between 12 000 MW and 13 500 MW for winter and between 13 000 MW and 14 500 MW for summer, this shows that 37 days of loadshedding could be expected in 2022 winter and 132 days of loadshedding could be expected in summer 2022/23.

• The extreme scenario: with unplanned unavailability between 13 500 MW and 15 000 MW for winter and between 14 500 MW and 16 000 MW for summer, this shows that 104 days of loadshedding could be expected in the 2022 winter and 191 days of loadshedding could be expected in the 2022/23 summer. This is the total of the 295 days referred to.

The unplanned unavailability varies dynamically in time with variances in excess of 4 000 MW in a single week being common. To achieve 295 days of loadshedding in summer and winter combined, the unplanned unavailability would need to remain at 15 000 MW for every hour of winter and at 16 000 MW for every hour of summer for the 12-month period, and that is unlikely.

Reply:

1. Offices occupied by the Department of Social Development in Bloemfontein and Botshabelo and the conditions in terms of Occupational Health & Safety Compliance are as follows:

Office Building	OHS Condition
CIVILIA BUILDING – PROVINCIAL OFFICE	FIRE EQUIPMENT Valid unit 31/12/2023. FUMIGATION Attended - 17/02/2022. Follow Up - 17/03/2022 & 28/03/2022. VENTILATION New Aircons installation completed September 2021, the Chiller Machine currently being serviced. LIFTS New lifts installation completed November 2020. GENERAL MAINTENACE Inspection conducted with Landlord on 12 April 2022 to attend to maintenance matters.
OLD STANDARD BANK BUILDING – PROVINCIAL OFFICE	FIRE EQUIPMENT Valid unit 31/10/2022. FUMIGATION Completed on 18/02/2022. VENTILATION Aircons serviced in March 2022. LIFTS Functioning well. GENERAL MAINTENACE Attended by Landlord as per request.
STANDARD BANK HOUSE BUILDING – PROVINCIAL OFFICE	FIRE EQUIPMENT Valid unit 31/10/2022. FUMIGATION Completed on 18/02/2022. VENTILATION Aircons serviced in March 2022. LIFTS Functioning well GENERAL MAINTENACE Attended by Landlord as per request.
LEMO MALL – DISTRICT OFFICE	FIRE EQUIPMENT Valid unit 31/12/2022. FUMIGATION To be attended in the current financial year. VENTILATION Aircons in working order. LIFTS In working order. GENERAL MAINTENACE Attended by Landlord as per request.
TSHEPONG – DISTRICT OFFICE	FIRE EQUIPMENT Valid unit 30/09/2022. FUMIGATION Procurement underway for all outstanding institutions and sub offices in Mangaung. VENTILATION Windows available. Air conditioners to be installed during the 2022/23 Financial Year. LIFTS Flat structure. Ramp available. GENERAL MAINTENACE Attended to by the Department.
BOTSHABELO FDC – DISTRICT OFFICE	FIRE EQUIPMENT Valid unit 30/09/2022. FUMIGATION To be attended to in the current financial year. VENTILATION Windows available. New Air conditioners installed during 2019 and functioning well. LIFTS N/A. GENERAL MAINTENACE Attended by Landlord as per request. Last major renovations took place during August 2019.
TSHIRELETSONG CYCC	FIRE EQUIPMENT Not in good working condition. Department of Public Works and Infrastructure in a process to service fire equipment. FUMIGATION Completed in April 2022. VENTILATION Windows available. Air conditioners in good working order. LIFTS N/A. GENERAL MAINTENANCE Attended by the Department of Public Works and Infrastructure as per the conditions of the lease contract.
BOIKETLONG OLD AGE HOME	FIRE EQUIPMENT Valid until 30/09/2022. FUMIGATION Service to be completed by 17/05/2022. VENTILATION Windows available. Air conditioners in good working order. LIFTS N/A. GENERAL MAINTENANCE Attended by the Department as and when required.
WINKIE DIREKO & ONE STOP CHILD JUSTICE CENTRE	FIRE EQUIPMENT Valid until 30/09/2022. FUMIGATION Completed in March 2022. New procurement underway. To be finalised by 30 June 2022. VENTILATION Windows available. Air conditioners in good working order. LIFTS N/A. GENERAL MAINTENANCE Attended by the Department.
BOTSHABELO HAVEN	FIRE EQUIPEMENT Valid until 30/09/2022. FUMIGATION Procurement underway. To be finalised by 30 June 2022. VENTILATION Windows available. Air conditioners in good working order. LIFTS N/A. GENERAL MAINTENANCE Attended by the Department as and when required.

2. The offices are still operating due to the fact that the issues identified in the previous years in terms of Occupational Health and Safety were attended to and the buildings comply with the requirements of the Act.

3. No new Contraventions/Prohibition Notices were received by the Department to date in the offices in question.

Reply:

According to the information received from Eskom:

(a)(i) In the 2021/22 financial year, 571 295 617 litres of diesel were burnt.

(a)(ii) The total cost of diesel consumption was R 6 407 million.

(b) Eskom implemented loadshedding for 50 days from 1 January 2022 to 2 June 2022. Five (5) days were at Stage 1; 35 days were at Stage 2; four (4) days were at Stage 3; and six (6) days were at Stage 4.

(c ) (i) The amount of diesel consumed at Eskom’s Ankerlig and Gourikwa OCGTs, as well as the associated cost for the current year, 2022 (January to May) is 272 911 112 litres consumed.

(c ) (ii) The total cost of the diesel consumption from January to May 2022 is R 3 843 million.

Reply:

a) The post was advertised and the preliminary shortlisting process has been finalised. The Department intends to conclude the interviews in the coming weeks, preferably June subject to the availability of all panel members whose diaries we are currently aligning.

(b) Immediately after the interviews are done, a Cabinet Memorandum will be generated and submitted for Cabinet’s concurrence, which is a requirement for all posts at this level.

Reply:

According to the information received from ESKOM

1. The performance indicators for the Group Chief Executive and Chief Operating Officer are agreed to at the beginning of each financial year. These indicators are based on the Shareholders compact / Corporate Scorecard as approved by the shareholder and includes the following key performance areas and key performance indicators:

KPA	FY23 KPI	Unit	FY23	FY24	FY25
Focus on Safety	Lost-time Injury Rate (Employee) (LTIR)1	Rate	0.30	0.30	0.30
Improve Plant Operations 2	Energy Availability Factor (EAF)	%	65	TBC	TBC
	Post Philosophy Outage UCLF (PPO UCLF)	%	14	TBC	TBC
	Outage Readiness Indicator (ORI) at T-3	%	80	TBC	TBC
	Boiler Tube Failure (BTF) rate	No. of failures per unit per year (12mma)	1.8	TBC	TBC
	Number of days of load reduction (load shedding and/or curtailment)	Days	63	TBC	TBC
Reduce Environmental Footprint in Existing Fleet	Relative Particulate Emissions (Kg/MWh sent out)	Kg/MWh	0.30	0.30	0.28
	Specific Water Usage –Litres Per Kwh (l/kWh Sent Out)	l/kWh	1.39	1.30	1.25
	Atmospheric Emission Licences (AEL) Compliance	%	90	91	92
Primary Energy Optimisation3	Migration Of Coal Delivery Volume From Road To Rail	Mt	4.7	7.6	7.6
	Coal Purchases Rand/Ton % Increase	%	Commercially confidential
Deliver Capital Expansion	Generation Capacity Installed and Commissioned (Commercial Operation)	MW	800	800	800
Improve Plant Operations	System Minutes Lost	Min	3.53	3.53	3.53
	Transmission Lines Installed	Km	140	340	346
	Transmission Transformers Capacity Installed and Commissioned	MVA	0	1 315	1 500
	Payment Levels Excluding Soweto Interest	%	95.7	95.7	95.7
	Distribution Total Energy Losses	%	9.44	9.42	9.56
	Total Electrification Connections	Number	106 280	105 936	105 000
	SAIDI	Hours	38.0	38.0	38.0
Ensure Financial Sustainability3	EBITDA	Rm	53 829	68 053	82 805
	Cash Interest Cover Ratio	Ratio	1.75	2.28	2.04
	Debt Service Cover Ratio	Ratio	0.73	1.01	0.91
	Savings From Turnaround Initiatives	Rm	21440	22619	23863
Legal Separation	Business Separation Key Milestones (Gx legal separation)	Date	2022/12/31
	Business Separation Key Milestones (Dx legal separation)	Date	2022/12/31
Socio-economic Impact: Human Capital	New intake: Learner Artisans	Number	100	100	100
	New Intake: Learner Engineers	Number	50	50	50
	New Intake: Learner Technicians	Number	50	50	50
	New intake: Sector specific	Number	90	90	90
	Training Expenditure as % of Budgeted Gross Employee Benefit Expense	%	3.75	3.75	3.75
Corporate Social Investment (CSI)	CSI Committed Spend	Rm	131	131,3	137.9
Industrialisation and Localisation	Preferential Procurement	%	80	80	80
	Local Content	%	80	80	80
	B-BBEE Score Level	Number	6	4	4
	Enterprise Development	Rm	5	5	5
	Supplier Development	Rbn	5	6	7
	National Industrial Participation Programme	%	100	100	100
	Research and Development	%	90	95	95
Data Analytics	Integrated outage solution platform	%	30	TBC	TBC
	Improved data quality	%	30	TBC	TBC
	Plant data actionable insights	%	30	TBC	TBC
	Enhance self-service capability	%	10	TBC	TBC

 

The key performance areas such as Financial Sustainability and Legal Separation will have higher percentages in the Group Chief Executive compact whereas higher ratings in the Chief Operating Officer compact will be given to operational key performance areas such as improvement of plant performance and primary energy optimalisation.

(2) With all the challenges facing Eskom these officials are performing according to and beyond their agreed performance scorecards. There had been a dramatic improvement in Eskom’s performance with an 85% improvement in earnings before interest, tax and depreciation (ebitda). Eskom has also successfully reduced debt to R396 billion, from a previous high of R440 billion. The actual performance against the shareholders compact can be shared once the Audit is completed.

Reply:

In the KwaZulu-Natal region, there is

(a)(i) One SASSA local office in Chatsworth that was damaged by the floods that services approximately 140 beneficiaries per day (ii) No facility under Social Development was damaged.

(b) The roof of the local office (the building is shared with the Department of Home Affairs) was previously affected by rain damage that resulted in the flooding of the floor space. This had a temporary effect on daily operations. According to the estimates from the Provincial Department of Public Works, the estimated costs for repairing the roof prior to the floods were estimated at R 17,5 million.

(c), (d) and (e) Due to the minimal damage no services at SASSA offices were severely compromised and services to grant applicants are continuing as normal.

Reply:

(1) The South African Social Security Agency (SASSA) has issued 9 520 Social Relief of Distress vouchers between 2022/04/12 and 2022/05/23.

(2) The total value of these vouchers is R16 264 216.

(3)(b) SASSA has not disbursed any food parcels as it has relied solely on the use of vouchers for the purposes of providing Social Relief of Distress. This enables the agency to provide relief in a much more timely manner, and also enables the recipients to select their own relief items from the voucher.

(4) SASSA also provides meals at 72 shelters across the province. Refer to the attached list of shelters for further details.

Reply:

According to the information received from Transnet

a) Medium Term Plans

The following infrastructure development projects are intended to materialize in the short- to medium-term and is illustrated below:

a) Land reclamation next to the current iron ore stockyard for the increase of the iron ore stockpile area (short-medium term) as well as additional space for new Liquid Natural Gas (LNG) facilities (medium-long term).

b) LNG Floating Ship Regasification Unit (FSRU) infrastructure connected to the new LNG facilities (extension of land in dunes area and oyster dam reclamation).

c) The existing Mossgas Quay converts to maritime engineering berth together with additional maritime engineering berths as provision for dedicated facilities for rig and ship repair.

d) One additional maritime engineering berth for ship repairs adjacent (southern side) to the break bulk Multi Purpose Terminal (MPT) berths.

e) One additional dry bulk berth adjacent (south) of the new ship/rig repair berth.

f) Break Bulk (MPT) extension towards the north providing one additional Break Bulk (MPT) berth at the Break Bulk terminal.

b) Long Term Plans

The following infrastructure development projects are intended to materialize in the long-term and is illustrated in Annexure B:

a) New proposed land-based LNG storage area inside the port limits.

b) Decommissioning of the LPG Multi Buouy Mooring (MBM) Facility at end of life, and subsequent replacement with fixed LNG and LPG berths (eastern side of the port).

c) Expansion of the Offshore Supply Base.

An aerial view of the port indicating the specific berths that are referred to above are provided in Annexure C.

(i) Development of additional infrastructure for the Port of Saldanha

Background

Future port development is planned for and indicated on the Port Development Framework Plans (PDFP). The PDFP aims to provide a flexible spatial guideline within which the port can develop over the next 30 years. It is defined as a spatial framework within which future port services can be provided.

The planning process comprises of the agreement and alignment of planning objectives, the assessment of the current state of port infrastructure and its associated cargo throughput or functional role, analysis of potential and latent capacity and a comprehensive cargo demand forecast. The outcome of this work defines the temporal and spatial demand for future freight handling facilities, leading to the drafting of several port developments options (PDO). The preferred development is then subjected to further rigorous evaluation in terms of cost benefit analysis, phasing to meet demand, inter-model and other port relationships and opportunity and constraint analyses, leading to the final PDFP.

The following port development framework plans (PDFP’s) are based on the approved 2019 PDFP’s. The 2022 updated PDFPs have been submitted to TNPA head office for approval.

(ii) Maintenance of current infrastructure at the Port of Saldanha

Background

Maintenance of current infrastructure is performed using the Transnet Asset Maintenance Policies and Procedures. This typically follows annual inspections, and identification of short-term maintenance requirements, and budgeted for on a 3 year rolling cycle, using operational budget (OPEX).

For medium term maintenance requirements, these typically are for extensive refurbishment activities, such a midlife refurbishment of assets, or rehabilitation that adds significant remaining useful life to the assets. These are placed onto the Capital investment corporate plan (CAPEX).

Maintenance activities typically have a short to medium term planning cycle that comprises a window of up to ten years.

(a) Short to medium term maintenance plans

At present, there are three main refurbishment programs identified over the 10-year period:

• Refurbishment of Quay and Jetty Infrastructure – which covers Fenders, Mooring Hooks and Concrete repairs;
• Road and Rail Upgrade – which covers 3 phased refurbishment and upgrade projects for the port road network;
• Refurbishment of Main Breakwater and Causeway rock revetments – which covers coastal protection structures critical to the port operation;

Maintenance activities typically have a short to medium term planning cycle that comprises a window of up to ten years. Where assets are identified for replacement due to end-of-life consideration beyond this planning period or where any upgrade as per the original design or intended use becomes applicable, budget planning would consider CAPEX requirements. Such events would normally require significant planning and alignment of operational activities and could be included on the PDFP’s. This would allow for coordinated planning by all stakeholders to ensure minimal impact on operational activities.

Reply:

(a),(b),(c),(d),(i),(ii) None. After consultation with the industry, there is no indication of supply shortages of critical agricultural products such as seeds, fertilisers, pesticides and equipment. However, the Department of Agriculture, Land Reform and Rural Development will monitor the impact of the ongoing conflict.

Reply:

(a)(i) 82 549 claims have been settled, the figure excludes the report on urban claims from 2006 to 2011/12, the verification of the statistics is work in progress because during the various stages of settling the claims counting changed from counting land claims forms to counting land rights restored.

(ii)(aa) 8 938 claims settled through land restoration (the number is not a reflection of the extent e.g one claim can represent 2 hectares in the Western Cape but 20 000 hectares in North West.

(bb) Falls away, the restoration of land includes both alternative and original restored.

(cc) 69 933 claims settled through financial compensation.

b) 2 892 966 hectares transferred and 3835167 hectares settled.

(c) Land cost is R24,578,801,491.71

Financial Compensation is R17,361,570,718.22

Approved Development Grants is R 4,018,918,373.87

END

 

Reply:

The Department of Agriculture, Land Reform and Rural Development does not regulate fuel. The Department of Mineral Resources and Energy is best placed to respond to this question.

Reply:

The appointment was made in terms of Section 32(2)(b)(ii) of the Public Service Act, 1994, (as amended) and the Acting Appointments Policy of the Department

Reply:

The department is busy consolidating the figures and a detailed reply will be submitted once finalised.

 

Reply:

Attached find here: Reply

Reply:

Attached find here: Reply

Reply:

1. The tables below lists the stakeholders in the project and their participation over the years: (a) refers to government stakeholders and (b) to private person/ entities:

(a) Name of Govt Stakeholder	Years in Participation
	2015/16	2016/17	2017/18	2018/19	2019/20	2020/21	2021/22
(a) KZN-COGTA	Project Steering Committee	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y
	Project implementing	N	N	N	N	N	N	N
	Project Funding	Y	Y	Y	N	N	N	N
(a) KZN-DARD	Project Steering Committee	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y
	Project implementing	N	N	N	N	N	N	N
	Project Funding	N	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	N
(a) KZN-ADA	Project Steering Committee	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y
	Project implementing	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y
	Project Funding	N	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y
(a) Okhahlamba Local Municipality	Project Steering Committee	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y

	Project implementing	N	N	N	N	N	N	N
	Project Funding	N	N	N	N	N	N	N
(a) KZN-EDTEA	Project Steering Committee	N	N	N	N	Y	Y	N
	Project implementing	N	N	N	N	N	N	N
	Project Funding	N	N	N	N	N	N	N

(b) Name of Private Stakeholder	Years in Participation
	2015/16	2016/17	2017/18	2018/19	2019/20	2020/21	2021/22
(b) Grain Hills Agri (Pty) Ltd- (Mentor)	Project Steering Committee	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y
	Project implementing	Y	Y	Y	Y	N	N	N
	Project Funding	N	N	N	N	N	N	N
(b) Cathedral Peak Wine Estate- (Off taker for Winegrape’s)	Project Steering Committee	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y
	Project implementing	N	N	N	N	N	N	N
	Project Funding	N	N	N	N	N	N	N
(b) Beneficiaries (the Cooperatives in each site)	Project Steering Committee	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y
	Project implementing	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y
	Project Funding	N	N	N	N	N	N	N
(b) Traditional Council Representatives	Project Steering Committee	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y
	Project implementing	N	N	N	N	N	N	N
	Project Funding	N	N	N	N	N	N	N

(2)(a) The project in its entirety was an initiative of the Okhahlamba Local Municipality, with its concept and business plan used to source initial funding from COGTA. Funding was approved by COGTA for commencement with implementation in the 2015/16 financial year. COGTA therefore provided project initiation funding and could not fund the project beyond the first two years of implementation.

COGTA then effectively contributed 14% of the total project funding until year two of implementation.

At that time of funding approval, the KZN Provincial Agribusiness Development Agency (ADA) was appointed as the project implementing agent for the project on this site which was in the 2015/16 financial year.

The ADA is a provincial entity of the Department of Agriculture and Rural Development (DARD) which implements commercial agribusiness projects for the department. The DARD through ADA, continued to fund the project from 2018/19 until 2020/21 when project review indicated that the project would not be sustainable without perpetual government support based on possible income expected from the wine grapes. The DARD then effectively contributed 86% of the total project funding until year five of implementation.

The ADA further appointed Grain Hills Agri (Pty) Ltd as mentor to provide overall capacity building and skills transfer to the beneficiaries including production and business management in relation to grapes enterprises.

Market for the wine grapes was secured with Cathedral Peak Wine Estate, a wine producer/processor in Winterton.

(b) No funding was received from private persons or entities for this project

3. Please refer to Annexure A.

4. (a),(b) Please refer to Annexure A which includes details of consultants who are, and/or have been involved in the project and the services that they rendered.

Reply:

Plant and Animal Products Export Markets from 2019 to date:

(a) Markets opened since 2019

• Market access for the export of South African Pears to China was granted in 2021 and the protocol of sanitary and phytosanitary requirements for the export of pears from the Republic of South Africa to the People’s Republic of China was signed on 30 November 2021. The implementation date for the signed protocol was confirmed to be 17 January 2022.
• Market access for the export of South African Citrus to the Philippines was granted in 2020. The protocol was signed on 20 July 2020.
• Poultry meat market access to the United Arab Emirates (UAE) was granted in 2019.
• The market for the export of raw beef to Malaysia was opened. The Malaysian Veterinary Authority approved an abattoir to start exporting in October 2020.
• Wool, hides and skins were exported to the People’s Republic of China after a new health certificate was negotiated in 2020.
• Live cattle, sheep, and goat health certificates were negotiated with Botswana in 2020.

(b) Changes in conditions regarding market access made to date:

The revised protocol of phytosanitary requirements for the export of South African citrus fruit to China was signed on 18 June 2021. South Africa has been exporting citrus to China under a protocol that was bilaterally agreed upon and signed on 21 June 2006. Under this protocol, the potential risk of a false codling moth (FCM), a pest of quarantine concern to the People’s Republic of China, was addressed through a cold treatment regime of 24 days at 0.6°C in transit which was not ideal for lemons. Currently, under the revised protocol, cold treatment for lemons will be 3°C or below for not less than 18 consecutive days.

• Re-opened markets since 2019: Botswana, ESwatini and Namibia have been re-opened.

• Poultry Meat markets in the process of negotiation: Saudi Arabia and the United Kingdom.

• Beef markets re-opened since 2019 in Angola, Bahrain, Botswana, China, Egypt, Jordan, Kuwait, Lesotho, Mozambique, Qatar, Seychelles, eSwatini, UAE and Zimbabwe.

New Markets Opened for Imports

YEAR	COMMODITY	EXPORT COUNTRY
2022	Avocado fresh fruit (Persea americana)	Tanzania
2022	Mango fresh fruit (Mangifera indica)	Peru
2021	Avocado fresh fruit (Persea americana) for processing	Tanzania
2021	Apple fresh fruit (Malus spp.)	Lesotho
2021	Mango fresh fruit (Mangifera indica)	India
2020	Mango fresh fruit (Mangifera indica)	Egypt
2020	Pineapple fresh fruit (Ananas comosus)	Angola
2019	Citrus fresh fruit (Citrus spp.)	Morocco
2019	Mango fresh fruit (Mangifera indica)	Brazil
2019	Citrus fresh fruit (Citrus spp.) for processing	Spain
2019	Mango fresh fruit (Mangifera indica)	Spain

Revised Phytosanitary Import Requirements (Plant Products)

YEAR	COMMODITY	EXPORT COUNTRY
2022	Banana fresh fruit (Musa spp.)	Mozambique
2022	Mango fresh fruit (Mangifera indica)	Namibia
2021	Pepper (Capsicum spp.)	Namibia
2021	Watermelon (Citrullus spp.)	Namibia
2021	Melon and cucumber (Cucumis spp.)	Namibia
2021	Pumpkins (Cucurbita spp.)	Namibia
2021	Tomato (Solanum lycopersicum)	Namibia
2020	Banana fresh fruit (Musa spp.)	Eswatini
2020	Citrus fresh fruit (Citrus spp.)	Eswatini
2020	Avocado fresh fruit (Persea americana)	Eswatini
2020	Banana fresh fruit (Musa spp.)	Ghana
2020	Banana fresh fruit (Musa spp.)	Uganda
2020	Banana fresh fruit (Musa spp.)	Ivory Coast
2020	Banana fresh fruit (Musa spp.)	Zambia
2020	Banana fresh fruit (Musa spp.)	Zimbabwe
2020	Banana fresh fruit (Musa spp.)	Angola
2020	Banana fresh fruit (Musa spp.)	Ecuador
2020	Banana fresh fruit (Musa spp.)	Cameroon

Revised Sanitary and Phytosanitary Import Requirements (Animals And Animal Products)

YEAR	COMMODITY	EXPORT COUNTRY
2019	Porcine semen	France
2020	Frozen pork, porcine semen	Belgium
2021	Frozen pork	Germany
2022	Cured and heat-treated pork products	Italy

New Markets Opened for Imports Animal Product

YEAR	COMMODITY	EXPORT COUNTRY
2019	Heat treated pork and poultry	France
2019	Heat treated pork	Hungary
2021	Heat treated pork	Germany

(b) The Agriculture and Agro-processing Masterplan (AAMP) has recently been signed by the Government together with its social partners. Following the signing in May, branches in the Department initiated the process of incorporating the Master Plan into their Operational Plans. As a result, no conditions with regard to market access can be attributed to the AAMP as yet.

Reply:

The department is busy consolidating the figures and a detailed reply will be submitted once finalised.

Reply:

a) As at 31 March 2022, a total of 5 198 594 hectares has been redistributed to black people.

b) Provincial breakdown of redistributed land, in hectares:

Provinces	EC	FS	GP	KZN	LP	MP	NW	NC	WC
Redistributed Land	569 189	434 799	63 575	621 674	197 973	498 426	594 297	1 622 208	596 453

c) Since 27 April 1994, an amount of R 19 809 billion cost the Department to buy land for redistribution.

Reply:

1.Since the advertisement of pieces of land by the Department Agriculture, Land Reform and Rural Development (DALRRD), a total number of 204 farms are fully leased, while another 72 farms are partially leased (land units).

2. DALRRD has conducted farm assessments on 654 of these farms and provided training on 94 farms, covering 165 farmers. Skills audit has also been conducted, report of which informed the training priorities. Start-up support packages based on farm assessments have been developed to be implemented this current financial year. This planned support will be directed to the 165 farmers in 94 farms that were trained in business and entrepreneurship. The farms are distributed as follows:

• Limpopo 40;
• Mpumalanga 30; and
• Northwest: 24.

This approach is in line with the recently approved National Policy on Beneficiary Selection and Land Allocation.

Reply:

The first allocation for the FMD vaccine factory was made in the 2007/2008 financial year. A figure of R214 million was allocated by the National Treasury over a four–year period. An additional figure of R400 million was allocated over the MTEF beginning in 2019-2022.

The process of establishing a GMP compliant facility started with the development of new production methods. This process is to ensure that there is capability for production of GMP compliant vaccines at scale once the new factory is completed. This involves processes such as optimisation of cell culture production, optimisation of antigen production, production of master seed stocks, validation of antigenicity, scaling production to pilot amounts, optimisation of downstream processing and optimisation of formulation. This process is ongoing and will continue during the establishment of the new factory.

In preparing for the GMP compliant facility, construction preparatory work was undertaken. This process involved the management of land rights including necessary zoning, environmental, infrastructural/ external services, legal requirements in relation to such land rights (obtaining the title deed, Surveyor-General diagram, municipal account, and approval).

Currently, the project plan for the GMP compliant facility is at the stage of appointment of service providers. This process is to ensure that the specifications for the appointment of service providers to design various aspects of the project (process engineers, architectural designer, mechanical engineers, electrical and electronics engineers, quantity surveyors, civil and structural engineers as well as other key appointments such as fire engineers, occupational health safety and environmental practitioners is concluded. Appointment of service providers for the built environment has been approved by Council and is underway subject to service level agreements. Service providers will commence work immediately upon conclusion of these contracts.

Reply:

a) The start of South Africa's 2021/22 summer crop production season was challenging for farmers and agricultural role players because of excessive rains that delayed planting in various regions and threatened crop yield prospects. But the past few weeks were calm with reasonably warm weather conditions in much of the country, thus supporting crops and easing concerns about the possibility of smaller yields due to excessive soil moisture. The data released by the Crop Estimates Committee on 28 February 2022 underscores this optimistic view of crop conditions. For example, while the 2021/22 first production estimate for maize is 14,5 million tons, down 11% year-on-year (previous season=16,3 million tons), this is well above the 10-year average harvest of 12,8 million tons and annual maize consumption of about 11,8 million tons. About 7,54 million tons is white maize, and 6,99 million tons is yellow maize. The yearly decline is mainly due to a reduction in area plantings, combined with expected lower yields in some districts. Importantly, this means that South Africa will likely remain a net exporter of maize in the 2022/23 marketing year, which starts in May (this corresponds with the 2021/22 production season). The exports for the 2022/23 marketing year is expected to be 2,8 million tons, which is 28% less than the 3,9 million tons of the 2021/22 marketing year.

The soybean's 2021/22 crop is estimated at 1,82 million tons, down by 4% year on year, and the second largest harvest on record. The expansion in area plantings, combined with expected better yields in some districts, are the major factors behind these expected relatively large harvests. On the upside, the 2021/22 sunflower seed production is forecasted at 914 350 tons, up by 35% year on year. This is the third-largest harvest on record, primarily due to an expansion in area plantings and expected better yields in some regions. Thus, there is enough supplies for South Africa and the neighboring Southern African Custom Union (SACU) countries for the foreseeable future, and therefore no need to panic that the country could experience shortages. We have benefitted from good harvests of a range of crops and fruits and have already imported a large share of products that we are import-dependent on, such as wheat and rice..

b) To date, the Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) of the United Nations and the World Food Programme (WFP) have reached out to DALRRD for possible collaboration in formulating and implementing a food security response to the situation as follows:

• The FAO and WFP have availed immediate technical support towards strengthening the assessment of the impact to the agriculture sector. This support includes the rapid geospatial analysis that was undertaken by the FAO starting from the 11 to 20 March 2022 and work on finalising the Geospatial analysis draft report on the likely impact;
• The WFP has also availed drones for conducting the assessment in areas that are not easily accessible. DALRRD is in the process of requesting the clearance from the Aviation Authority;
• Both organisations are keen to work with the national and provincial government in planning and implementing the mid to long term food security interventions that are aimed at restoring livelihoods that have been disrupted by this situation; and
• Task teams have been set up and response implementation plan developed and costed under National Disaster Management Centre to provide much needed support to affected farmers.

The following are the short-term interventions from DALRRD:

• Rehabilitation of infields roads to the amount of R23 083 100;
• Assistance to farm workers, dwellers and vulnerable households amounting to R56 930 000;
• Soil fertility soil PH balance support (soil testing, liming and fertiliser support scheme to farmers) amounting to R1 238 000;
• Supply household garden packages (household food security intervention): R5 million budgeted for this initiative;
• Soil liming for R6 484 000;
• Crop Maintenance to the value of R20 840 400;
• Support re-enforcement of Bio security measures of farms to the value of R10 million;
• R19 481 365 is budgeted for resuscitating livestock operations on affected farms; and
• Sugar cane support initiative amounting to R71 590 400.

The budget required for these interventions is R214 647 265 and the reprioritised budget amounts to R60 524 000, resulting in a shortfall of R154 123 265.

The medium to long term interventions are the following:

• Replanting programme (production input support for crop enterprises) 772 farmers to be assisted to the value of R75 257 000
• Expansion of household food security programme (household garden packages), 1500 households, amount required here is R15 million
• Rehabilitation of the tunnels, eight (08) projects with 35 tunnels to be erected to the value of R7 million
• Rehabilitation of the fencing, 26 projects to be fenced for the distance of 33,5km costing R3 224 000
• Rehabilitation of irrigation, 16 projects covering 57 hectares to the value of R5 670 000
• 14 animal housing projects amounting to R3 038 000
• 17 dipping tanks projects to the value of R2 707 300

It is envisaged that the above-mentioned projects will cost R111 896 300 in total.

Reply:

a) Of the total number of 1707 CPAs that have been registered, 1612 CPAs are functional.

b) Of the total number of 1707 CPAs that have been registered, 1612 CPAs are operational.

Reply:

Attached find here: Reply

Reply:

There has been no engagement in the 2021-22 financial year.

The last engagement between the Department of Home Affairs and Organised Labour on this matter was on 3 November 2020, at the General Public Service Sector Bargaining Council, GPSSBC.

The minutes of the said meeting noted a concern from Organised Labour and this resulted in Unions invoking Clause 17, thus declaring a dispute on the matter. An agreement was reached by both Labour and the Department that this matter should be facilitated by the GPSSBC. The Department has approached Organised Labour to reopen this matter for further engagement.

END

Reply:

The Department of Home Affairs does not administer a refugee assistance fund.

 

END

 

Reply:

a) The draft Regulations in respect of (i) Criminal Law (Sexual Offences and Related Matters) Amendment Act, Act 13 of 2021, (ii) Criminal and Related Matters Amendment Act, Act 12 of 2021 have been prepared and consulted on, while the Regulations on the Domestic Violence Amendment Act, Act 14 of 2021 are still undergoing public consultation.

b) It is envisaged that the three (3) Acts and their related Regulations will be proclaimed and published for commencement as from 31 July 2022.

Reply:

Performance Area 1: Conduct general border management activities and security services to ensure effective and efficient border management

(i) Attend the on and off duty parades and be stationed as per deployment schedule of border guards.

(ii) Process proactive and responsive complaint attendances.

(iii) Report on arrested illegal foreigners held in the temporary holding cells.

(iv) Safeguard and control exhibits / evidence found to be handed over to other Agencies.

(v) Conduct arrest of illegal foreigners/ detainees to be transferred to the nearest ports of entry or police station for further handling.

(vi) Gather information for compiled reports as required by higher authority.

Performance Area 2: Implement controls on the movement of goods and people in the identified ports and segments

(i) Search people, luggage and vehicles as per the relevant regulations on the planned roadblock / check point operations in the port of entry and the vulnerable areas in the borderline.

(ii) Perform borderline duties, traffic check point operations and other law enforcement duties at outer/inner perimeter areas.

(iii) Report on all illegal movement of people and goods.

(iv) Maintain surveillance from covert positions at or near the international borders.

Performance Area 3: Control the access/egress at the identified port of entry and in border law enforcement area

(i) Conduct vehicle/foot patrols around the inner perimeter.

(ii) Control and regulate illegal movement of people and goods.

(iii) Identify and report on international visitors, travellers and shoppers for monitoring purposes.

(iv) Respond to electronic sensor alarms in remote areas as a Mobile Response Team.

(b) As clearly captured in the South African Constitution and the Defence Act, the responsibility of members of the Defence Force is to protect and safeguard the country’s territorial integrity through the patrolling of the 4773 kilometres of the land border areas, including the maritime coastline. They have currently deployed 13 companies to fulfil this responsibility through the application of high mobility patrol mechanism from on point to the other.

Therefore, as for the Border Guards, it should be noted that our sub-region has a number of inter-linked communities whereby the border fence had divided them into two halves. For instance, in the North-West Province, there are Batswana on the South African side and the Batswana on the Botswana side. In Mpumalanga, there are communities with Ba-Swati on the South African side and Ba-Swati on the eSwatini side. In the Free State, there are Basotho on the South African side and the Basotho on the Lesotho side. Therefore, this situation means that there is a lot of civilian activities taking place between South Africa and its immediate neighbours. These activities have been taking place in those areas for centuries. Therefore, at this point our concern is the fact that those areas have been hijacked by criminal elements who are then moving counterfeit goods through those.

communities for their own nefarious gains. It is for this reason that the BMA Border Guards would be statically deployed in those communities to monitor their activities with the intention to decisively deal with any criminal elements taking advantage of the situation. Further, the BMA would be registering those kind of areas and declaring them as Informal Community Crossing Points and statically deploy the Border Guards for monitoring those civilian activities.

In addition, there are certain areas outside the communities along the borderline which are being exploited by criminal elements for advancing their illegal activities. In this case, members of the SANDF and the Border Guards would collectively identify such areas (known as vulnerable segments of the border line) and get the latter to be statically deployed in those segments. This approach seeks to enable members of SANDF to freely apply their high mobility deployment mechanism while areas of concern are properly protected by the Border Guards. Further, since the Border Guards would have immigration, agricultural, and environmental legal empowerment amongst other prescript, the SANDF would be able to hand over intercepted civilians to the Border Guards for processing (e.g finger printing, declaring them undesirable and effecting deportations). Lastly, the BMA Act empowers the Border Guards to effectively protect the Port of Entry, including its 10 kilometres radius to detect any traveller who avoid using the port for whatever reasons. The deployment of the Border Guards to the borderline does not seek to compete with the deployed members of the SANDF, but

END

Reply:

1. On 6 June 2022, the authorities in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) informed me that the suspects have been arrested on the Red Notices issued. On 8 June 2022, the National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) forwarded a Request to the Department for the Provisional Arrest of the suspects in terms of Article 14(3) of the Extradition Treaty. The request containing the charge sheet and warrants of arrest for the suspects were forwarded under cover to the Department of International Relations and Cooperation (DIRCO) for onward transmission to the authorities in the UAE. On 10 June 2022, the Department was advised that the Investigating Directorate in the NPA is finalising the official extradition request, where-after same will be translated into Arabic, and thereafter forwarded to the Department for onward transmission to the authorities in the UAE via the diplomatic channel.

2. On 25 September 2018, South Africa and the United Arab Emirates concluded an Extradition Treaty. The Treaty came into force on 10 July 2021. The request for the extradition of Mr Atul Kumar Gupta and Mr Rajesh Kumar Gupta will be made to the UAE in terms of the Extradition Treaty.

Reply:

1. We consulted with SITA and requested the network outage statistics for the stated period, unfortunately their monitoring systems (eHealth & NMS) overrides data after12 months. According to the attached report from the e-Health system, the office experienced downtime for a whole day on the 29 Nov 2021over the 12-month period 01 June 2021 to 15 June 2022. We have also extracted information from the DHA network monitoring system (Manage Engine). The office experienced downtime on the following days 03/10/2022, 03/23/2022, 04/12/2022, 04/13/2022 and 06/10/2022, see the attached report for detailed downtime information.

The office downtimes would have been due to SITA Switching Centre network outage emanating from Cable Breaks, load shedding, and infrastructure theft in the Stellenbosch area.

2. The office is already running on a 2Mbps fibre optic line. The Department has made stabilisation a top priority. In addition, the department is working closely with SITA to carry out the various commitments made on this matter. A number of these measures were outlined during the recent budget vote speech by the Minister of Home Affairs. See attached summary slide.

END

Reply:

1.  The Department of Home Affairs does not condone such conduct by our outsourced security guards. It remains the responsibility of the Office Manager to communicate with clients and grant access. It should be noted that the Department has an immediate complaint resolution process which might be used by clients to escalate and report the conduct of employees to senior managers immediately. It is to this end that a photograph and contact details of the Office Manager, District Manager and the Provincial Manager are displayed in all our front offices. Contact details are also available from the DHA website. The Department has no record of any formal complaint lodged on or after 14 March 2022 related to the mentioned scenario. The matter was however raised with the Office Manager and the security guards. The Department will however be in a better position to launch a formal investigation once a complaint is lodged by the applicant or representative.

2. Once a formal complaint is received, the Department will then launch an investigation, and apply the necessary consequence management, should the perpetrator be found guilty of committing such an offence.

END