Questions and Replies

Reply:

(a) and (b) Yes. The Cybersecurity Response Committee (CRC) under the Chairpersonship of the State Security Agency (SSA) meets regularly to assess progress on the implementation of the National Cybersecurity Policy Framework in order to ensure adequacy of measures for implementation of the National Cybersecurity Policy Framework, to identify gaps and ways to plug them including appropriate remedial steps with a view to keep-up-to-date the National Cybersecurity Policy Framework. The establishment of a 24/7 point of contact for all cybercrime reporting is an important measure in the fight against cybercrime.

The National Cybersecurity Policy Framework presents a coherent and integrated Cybersecurity approach to address cybersecurity threats and risks posed by cyberattacks and cybercrime. Most importantly, the NCPF makes provision for various government departments to develop relevant legislation, policies and strategies to adequately address existing and emerging cyberthreats and risks.

On 26 May 2021 the President signed the Cybercrimes Bill of 2020 into law. The President consequently proclaimed certain provisions of the Cybercrimes Act to commence on 1 December 2021. Plans are in place to ensure effective implementation of the provisions of the Cybercrimes Act and Protection of Personal Information Act (POPIA), which commenced in July 2021 to bring South Africa on par with international standards in the fight against cybercrime.

Furthermore, South Africa has been participating actively in the process of developing an International Convention on Cybercrime under the auspices of the United Nations (UN) pursuant to the adoption of the UN General Assembly Resolution 74/247. This commitment to the UN process ensures that initiatives at national level are on par with international norms and standards.

The State Security Agency is developing the National Cybersecurity Strategy and National Cybersecurity Bill. Both the Strategy and the Bill are vital for the coordination of the promotion of Cybersecurity measures by all role players (the State, private sector, and civil society) against Cybersecurity threats.

Reply:

a) As at 31 March 2022, Legal Aid SA had a total of 221 vacancies out of 2 689 budgeted positions. This translates to 91, 8% Staffing level vs an APP Target of 95% and 8.2% vacancy rate.

Table1: Vacancies as at 31 March 2022

Province	Budgeted Posts	Recruited Positions	Vacant Positions	Recruitment Percentage
Gauteng	493	464	29	94.1%
Eastern Cape	405	373	32	92.1%
Free State	194	184	10	94.8%
North West	145	143	2	98.6%
KwaZulu-Natal	419	365	54	87.1%
Limpopo	174	167	7	96.0%
Mpumalanga	171	150	21	87.7%
Western Cape	369	337	32	91.3%
Northern Cape	106	88	18	83.0%
National Office	213	197	16	92.5%
Overall Nationally	2 689	2 468	221	91.8%

b) As at 20 May 2022, Legal Aid SA has a total of 176 vacancies out of 2699 budgeted positions. This translates to 93,5% Staffing level vs an APP Target of 95% and 6.5% vacancy rate.

Table 2: Vacancies as at 20 May 2022

Province	Establishment	Filled Positions	Vacant positions	Percentage filled
Gauteng	494	471	23	95.3%
Eastern Cape	406	380	26	93.6%
Free State	193	180	13	93.3%
North West	146	140	6	95.9%
KwaZulu-Natal	421	394	27	93.6%
Limpopo	175	169	6	96.6%
Mpumalanga	172	156	16	90.7%
Western Cape	369	345	24	93.5%
Northern Cape	109	94	15	86.2%
National Office	214	194	20	90.7%
Overall nationally	2 699	2 523	176	93.5%

c) To cushion the 2021/2022 budget cut of R182,027,000 and the envisaged MTEF 2022/2024 baseline reduction of R352,623,000, Legal Aid SA reduced its establishment by 119 positions (91 legal practitioners and 28 support staff) in 2021/2022.

In addition, Legal Aid SA implemented various cost cutting measures to optimize available resources. This includes the reduction of Employee Benefits, operational and capital expenditure budget and minimal use of consultants. Table 3 below depicts abolished positions per province.

Table 3: Abolished positions in 2021/2022: Vacant Posts Abolished from the Establishment April 2021

No.	Province	Local Office	Position
	Eastern Cape	Butterworth	Candidate Attorney
	Eastern Cape	Butterworth	Candidate Attorney
	Eastern Cape	Butterworth	Legal Practitioner - Civil Level 2
	Eastern Cape	East London	Legal Practitioner - Civil Level 2
	Eastern Cape	Grahamstown	Legal Practitioner - DC
	Eastern Cape	Grahamstown	Legal Practitioner - Civil Level 2
	Eastern Cape	King Williams Town	Candidate Attorney
	Eastern Cape	King Williams Town	Administration Officer
	Eastern Cape	Mthatha	Candidate Attorney
	Eastern Cape	Mthatha	Legal Practitioner - Civil Level 2
	Eastern Cape	Port Elizabeth	Candidate Attorney
	Eastern Cape	Port Elizabeth	Administration Officer
	Eastern Cape	Port Elizabeth	Legal Practitioner - DC
	Eastern Cape	Port Elizabeth	Candidate Attorney
	Eastern Cape	Port Elizabeth	Legal Secretary
	Eastern Cape	Uitenhage	Legal Practitioner - DC
	Eastern Cape	Uitenhage	Legal Secretary
Total for Eastern Cape	17
	Free State and North West	Bethlehem	Candidate Attorney
	Free State and North West	Bethlehem	Legal Practitioner - Civil Level 2
	Free State and North West	Bloemfontein	Legal Practitioner - HC
	Free State and North West	Bloemfontein	Supervisory Legal Practitioner - Criminal
	Free State and North West	Bloemfontein	Candidate Attorney
	Free State and North West	Bloemfontein	Legal Practitioner - RC
	Free State and North West	Bloemfontein	Candidate Attorney
	Free State and North West	Bloemfontein	Legal Practitioner - DC
	Free State and North West	Bloemfontein	Legal Practitioner - Civil Level 1
	Free State and North West	Bloemfontein	Legal Secretary
	Free State and North West	Botshabelo	Legal Practitioner - DC
	Free State and North West	Botshabelo	Legal Practitioner - RC
	Free State and North West	Mafikeng	Legal Practitioner - DC
	Free State and North West	Mafikeng	Administration Officer
	Free State and North West	Mafikeng	Candidate Attorney
	Free State and North West	Phuthaditjhaba	Candidate Attorney
	Free State and North West	Welkom	Candidate Attorney
	Free State and North West	Welkom	Candidate Attorney
	Free State and North West	Potchefstroom	Candidate Attorney
	Free State and North West	Rustenburg	Candidate Attorney
	Free State and North West	Welkom	Legal Practitioner - RC
	Free State and North West	Lichtenburg	Candidate Attorney
Total for Free State and North West	22
	Gauteng	Benoni	Supervisory Legal Practitioner - Criminal
	Gauteng	Benoni	Candidate Attorney
	Gauteng	Ga-Rankuwa	Candidate Attorney
	Gauteng	Ga-Rankuwa	Candidate Attorney
	Gauteng	Ga-Rankuwa	Candidate Attorney
	Gauteng	Ga-Rankuwa	Candidate Attorney
	Gauteng	Johannesburg	Candidate Attorney
	Gauteng	Johannesburg	Legal Practitioner - HC
	Gauteng	Johannesburg	Legal Practitioner - RC
	Gauteng	Pretoria	Legal Secretary
	Gauteng	Soshanguve	Candidate Attorney
	Gauteng	Soweto	Candidate Attorney
	Gauteng	Soweto	Candidate Attorney
	Gauteng	Tembisa	Candidate Attorney
Total for Gauteng	14
	Kwa-Zulu Natal	Durban	Legal Practitioner - RC
	Kwa-Zulu Natal	Durban	Candidate Attorney
	Kwa-Zulu Natal	Durban	Legal Practitioner - RC
	Kwa-Zulu Natal	Empangeni	Candidate Attorney
	Kwa-Zulu Natal	Empangeni	Legal Practitioner - RC
	Kwa-Zulu Natal	Empangeni	Administration Officer
	Kwa-Zulu Natal	Newcastle	Administration Officer
	Kwa-Zulu Natal	Pietermaritzburg	Legal Practitioner - RC
	Kwa-Zulu Natal	Pietermaritzburg	Candidate Attorney
	Kwa-Zulu Natal	Pietermaritzburg	Office Assistant
	Kwa-Zulu Natal	Pietermaritzburg	Legal Practitioner-HC
	Kwa-Zulu Natal	Pinetown	Legal Practitioner - DC
	Kwa-Zulu Natal	Port Shepstone	Legal Practitioner - RC
	Kwa-Zulu Natal	Port Shepstone	Administration Officer
	Kwa-Zulu Natal	Umlazi	Candidate Attorney
	Kwa-Zulu Natal	Umlazi	Candidate Attorney
	Kwa-Zulu Natal	Verulam	Candidate Attorney
	Kwa-Zulu Natal	Verulam	Legal Practitioner - DC
	Kwa-Zulu Natal	Verulam	Candidate Attorney
	Kwa-Zulu Natal	Vryheid	Office Assistant
Kwa-Zulu Natal Total	20
	Limpopo and Mpumalanga	Ermelo	Legal Practitioner - Civil Level 1
	Limpopo and Mpumalanga	Ermelo	Administration Officer
	Limpopo and Mpumalanga	Middelburg	Legal Practitioner - DC
	Limpopo and Mpumalanga	Nelspruit	Administration Officer
	Limpopo and Mpumalanga	Nelspruit	Legal Practitioner - DC
	Limpopo and Mpumalanga	Nelspruit	Paralegal - HC
	Limpopo and Mpumalanga	Polokwane	Legal Practitioner - Civil Level 2
	Limpopo and Mpumalanga	Polokwane	Legal Practitioner - RC
	Limpopo and Mpumalanga	Polokwane	Legal Practitioner - DC
	Limpopo and Mpumalanga	Tzaneen	Candidate Attorney
	Limpopo and Mpumalanga	Witbank	Legal Practitioner - DC
	Limpopo and Mpumalanga	Witbank	Legal Practitioner - Civil Level 1
Limpopo and Mpumalanga Total	12
	Western Cape and Northern Cape	Athlone	Legal Practitioner - RC
	Western Cape and Northern Cape	Athlone	Administration Officer
	Western Cape and Northern Cape	Athlone	Legal Practitioner - Civil Level 1
	Western Cape and Northern Cape	Bellville	Legal Practitioner - RC
	Western Cape and Northern Cape	Bellville	Candidate Attorney
	Western Cape and Northern Cape	Caledon	Administration Officer
	Western Cape and Northern Cape	Cape Town	Receptionist/Typist
	Western Cape and Northern Cape	Cape Town	Legal Practitioner - HC
	Western Cape and Northern Cape	Cape Town	Legal Practitioner - HC
	Western Cape and Northern Cape	Cape Town	Legal Practitioner - HC
	Western Cape and Northern Cape	Cape Town	Legal Practitioner - Civil Level 1
	Western Cape and Northern Cape	Colesberg	Legal Practitioner - DC
	Western Cape and Northern Cape	George	Legal Practitioner - RC
	Western Cape and Northern Cape	Kimberley	Paralegal
	Western Cape and Northern Cape	Kimberley	Legal Practitioner - DC
	Western Cape and Northern Cape	Stellenbosch	Office Assistant
	Western Cape and Northern Cape	Stellenbosch	Administration Officer
	Western Cape and Northern Cape	Upington	Legal Practitioner - RC
	Western Cape and Northern Cape	Upington	Candidate Attorney
	Western Cape and Northern Cape	Vredendal	Legal Secretary
	Western Cape and Northern Cape	Worcester	Legal Secretary
Western Cape and Northern Cape	21
	National Office	Communications	Intern
	National Office	Communications	Intern
	National Office	Legal Development	Admin Officer/Librarian
	National Office	Legal Development	Legal Practitioner - Civil Level 2
	National Office	National Ops	Legal Support Practitioner
	National Office	National Ops	Legal Training Administrator / Coordinator
	National Office	National Ops	Administration Officer
Total for National Office	7
Overall Total Nationally	113

Table 4: Abolished positions in 2021/2022: Vacant Posts Abolished from the Establishment in May 2021

No.	Province	Local Office	Position
	Eastern Cape	Mthatha	Candidate Attorney
	Free State & North West	Mafikeng	Candidate Attorney
	Kwa-Zulu Natal	Newcastle	Candidate Attorney
	Limpopo and Mpumalanga	Nelspruit	Candidate Attorney
	Limpopo and Mpumalanga	Polokwane	Candidate Attorney
	Limpopo and Mpumalanga	Witbank	Candidate Attorney
Total	6

Reply:

a) The total number of tourist visa applications that were rejected for the 2021/2022 financial year is reflected in Annexure “A” as reported per Mission. The operations in Missions and lockdowns as a result of the spread of the Coronavirus-19 pandemic impacted on the applications for visas globally.

b) The reasons for rejection would be related to the application which will require the Mission to provide the details of an individual to a third party. However, in general Missions reported the following general reasons for rejection:

• Falsified bank statement

• Falsified invitation letters

• Falsified hotel reservation

• Falsified employment letters

• Insufficient funds on submitted bank statements

• Presentation of false South African Visas

c) The total number of rejected applications per country as reported by the respective Missions is contained in Annexure A.

d) The Department accept applications for visas from all countries recognised by South Africa as autonomous States.

e) We accept applications from passport holders from recognized States only.ccepted.

f) The information is as reported in Parliamentary Question No. 2048.

END

Reply:

The Minister has been briefed of the impact of the floods on tourism infrastructure. This was done during the recent site inspections by a team from the Department of Tourism; EDTEA; TKZN; Ezemvelo and the KZN Sharks Board: - (19 April 2022), to the following sites: -

• Two World Heritage Sites - iSimangaliso Wetland Park and uKhahlamba-Drakensberg Park focusing on Didima Nature Reserve
• Big 5 Game Reserve - Hluhluwe-iMfolozi Park
• Coastal & Marine Tourism and Coastal Belt - Dakota Beach in Isipingo, Margate, Salt Rock Beach Front, Ballito, St. Lucia)
• Midlands Tourism Route – Mandela Capture Site, Howick Falls, Midmar Game Reserve, etc.

The intention was to undertake assessments of sites that have relatively high impact on the value-chain to drive local tourism development and recovery post the pandemic, thus having socio-economic bearing on affected neighboring communities.

Findings

The damage wreaked by the floods is in various categories, viz:-

• Damage at beaches include debris, damage to dunes as well as damage to safety nets etc;
• Infrastructure and services, including water and electricity, roads and bridges;
• Structural damage to buildings, including roofs and walls.
• While King Shaka International Airport experienced water damage in parts of the terminal, there was no disturbance to operations and flights are operating as scheduled (not part of the inspections by the team).

Based on the latest available information from these areas, the total estimated damage thus far is about, R131 445 000,00. KZN has indicated that cases for immediate attention amount to about R89 595 000, while the balance can be undertaken over the medium term.

Fortunately, the overall impact is that tourism will not face long term negative impact. Arrangements were made by the Province and local authorities to clean up the beaches by removing the debris and other objects that affect access thereto. Relevant Provincial and municipal Departments and entities have commenced work in restoring/repairing infrastructure and services crucial to communities and business, e.g. raids, bridges etc. In some of the areas e.g. Isipingo, local communities have been closely involved in the cleanup of the beaches and we are grateful to them for lending a hand. At the moment access to beaches in some areas is possible and normal beach activities can take place.

(2) The reconstruction of the infrastructure is being assessed by the relevant lead departments. Progress is being communicated to the public in the normal course. As a department, we will contribute to the extent required where possible once the Province has concluded associated processes regarding the nature of support. This is also to ensure that there is no duplication of resources.

As regards the specific tourism infrastructure, the owners have during engagement indicated that some have insurance to cover some of the damage and mainly want speedy reconstruction of the affected bulk infrastructure. The Department working with the Provincial Authorities will ascertain the extent to which tourism specific support may be required and if necessary look into reprioritisation of resources. Again, this is based on the understanding that there should not be a duplication of resources.

The overall assessment is that there has not been fundamental disruption of the province’s tourism offerings. Based on the assessment, the department has no separate initiatives for the floods but is working with the province to assist in recovery of the affected site.

Reply:

10 The Tourism Sector Recovery Plan (TSRP) has been under implementation since April 2021 and progress towards achieving the Plan’s seven Strategic Interventions has been achieved as follows:

a) Norms and Standards

• Norms and Standards in respect of COVID-19 were gazetted by the Department in December 2021, providing a uniform framework for safe tourism operations for the sector. Integration of the norms and standards into various training programmes, namely, Food Safety Quality Assurers; Chefs; Wine Service Training and Hospitality Youth Programmes is in progress.

b) Infrastructure Maintenance and Enhancement

• Infrastructure maintenance work continued in 19 National Parks and 800 participants were employed as at the end of quarter three;
• Five (5) Nature Reserves identified in Limpopo for the Presidential Employment Stimulus Programme aimed at enhancing and maintaining state-owned attractions;
• Five (5) community-owned tourism projects to enhance visitor experience supported in Limpopo; and
• Nine state as well as community owned projects supported by the KwaZulu Natal (KZN) Department of Economic Development, Tourism and Environmental Affairs (DEDTEA) to enhance their physical state and sustainability.

c) Other achievements

• Three sessions were held to encourage hosting of major events in Villages, Townships and Small Dorpies (VTSDs).
• The implementation of the recovery efforts has also seen the return to full operation for food and beverage facilities.
• Improvements has also been noticed in the accommodation sector with regards to occupancies.
• Furthermore, the country has also witnessed the return of the various tourism trade shows such as Meetings Africa and Africa Travel Indaba in person and many other business meetings that the country is now hosting with more secured going forward.

d) Enablers

• The Global Advocacy Programme aimed at re-igniting the South African Brand was launched;
• The Tourism Monitors Programme was launched in collaboration with the Airports Company South Africa (ACSA) on 15 November 2021 at the OR Tambo and Cape Town International Airports;
• Integration of Tourism Safety Tips into MYSAPS App was completed and the development of a coding system by the South African Police Services to help encode cases reported by tourists is underway;
• The Department of Home Affairs (DHA)’s e-visa application system is now open. Eligible countries include:
• Kenya and Cameroon;
• Democratic Republic of the Congo, Philippines and Rwanda;
• Ethiopia, Iran and Egypt;
• India, Uganda and Mexico;
• Pakistan and Nigeria; and
• China and Saudi Arabia.
• The e-visa link https://ehome.dha.gov.za/epermit/home creates a four-step process where applicants can create their profile associated with passport details; submit online application form; upload documentation; and confirm secure payment;
• Biometric Movement Control System rolled-out at OR Tambo International Airport; and Immigration e-Gates implemented at three (3) major international airports.
• In respect of re-establishing South Africa’s airlift capacity, various airline operators resumed operations to and within South Africa.
• The challenge remains the vaccination uptake.
• Government consumption when it comes to utilization of commercial venues has also supported the recovery of the sector.

2. The Department engaged with the Departments of Home Affairs, Health, SAPS and Transport during the development of the Tourism Sector Recovery Plan and they endorsed actions that are within their respective mandates. The plan was approved at Cabinet level and reporting against its implementation is part of the reporting against Economic Reconstruction and Recovery Plan (ERRP).

3. The Department coordinates the Local Government Peer Learning Sessions in conjunction with Provinces and Local Government to constantly address matters relating to tourism development and promotion including tourism recovery. Thus, the Department’s point of entry to community tourism organisations is through Provincial and Local government with due recognition of the concurrency of the tourism legislative mandate.

Reply:

1. (a) (i) The matter is still at an investigative stage.

(ii) No charges have been withdrawn.

(b) The decision whether to prosecute or not will be taken once the outstanding investigations have been completed.

2. (a) The Hawks have not completed their investigation.

(b) The investigation is at an advanced stage.

Reply:

Attached find here: Reply

Reply:

The Department of Justice and Constitutional Development (DoJ&CD) is not responsible for the library material that is housed at the Supreme Court of Appeal. The Office of the Chief Justice (OCJ) manages its library material and has deployed Librarians at its libraries – including at the Supreme Court of Appeal.

The DoJ&CD merely provides the electronic material through the so-called “Virtual Library”, which is a service procured by the DoJ&CD to serve the library needs of DoJ&CD officials, Magistrates and officials of the Office of the Chief Justice.

END

Reply:

According to Chapter 6 of the Tourism Act, no. 3 of 2014 (Act), the role of the National Registrar is amongst others, to maintaining a central database of tourist guides registered by the Provincial Registrars. The registration of tourist guides takes place at provincial level by Provincial Registrars. On a monthly basis, Provincial Registrars, as a legal requirement submit their monthly statistics to the National Registrar as well as the number of renewals processed that month. This is consolidated by the Department in the National Register /database in order to report on areas such as the total number of guides registered by race, gender and province. The statistics below are based on the information submitted to the Department by Provinces.

(a) New tourist guides

(i) (aa) What number of first-time tour guides registered nationally.

(aaa) 2019-2020	(aaa) 2020-2021	(aaa) 2021-2022	(bbb) 2022 to date
1437	480	477	40

(i) (bb) What number of first-time tourist guides registered in each province.

Province	(aaa) 2019 - 2020	(aaa) 2020 - 2021	(aaa) 2021 - 2022	(bbb) 2022 (April only)
Eastern Cape	89	44	25	02
Free State	0	10	00	00
Gauteng	167	28	29	01
KwaZulu-Natal	158	78	79	23
Limpopo	179	73	112	06
Mpumalanga	138	76	101	07
Northern Cape	11	37	00	00
North West	16	23	40	01
Western Cape	679	111	91	06
TOTAL	1437	480	477	46

(ii) What were the categories of tour guides, respectively.

The categories of tourist guides vary and may include, Culture, Nature and/or Adventure guides. Provincial Registrars will have to be contacted to obtain specific information related to the categories of guides that were registered during the period in question.

b) Re-registered tourist guides

(i) (aa) What number of re-registered tour guides registered nationally.

(aaa) 2019-2020	(aaa) 2020-2021	(aaa) 2021-2022	(bbb) 2022 to date
1662	852	1320	67

(i) (bb) What number of re-registered tour guides registered in each province.

Province	(aaa) 2019 - 2020	(aaa) 2020 - 2021	(aaa) 2021 - 2022	(bbb) 2022 (April only)
Eastern Cape	71	56	61	04
Free State	4	01	00	00
Gauteng	262	85	190	17
KwaZulu-Natal	101	117	114	06
Limpopo	127	116	84	10
Mpumalanga	190	111	336	27
Northern Cape	3	10	15	00
North West	42	24	50	03
Western Cape	862	332	470	54
TOTAL	1662	852	1320	121

(ii) What were the categories of tourist guides, respectively.

The categories of tourist guides vary and may include, Culture, Nature and/or Adventure guides. Provincial Registrars will have to be contacted to obtain specific information related to the categories of guides that were registered during the period in question.

Reply:

a) Townships and (b) villages

Advocacy and Awareness initiative is implemented through partnerships with the Provincial Departments of Tourism, the Provincial Tourism Agencies and SANParks to develop awareness platforms in order to empower youth, unemployed graduates, students and high school learners. The initiative further promotes the importance of travel and tourism by creating platforms for information sharing and career guidance workshops in order to encourage learners to take tourism as a subject at secondary school and to pursue a career within the sector. The advocacy and awareness initiative targets learners from secondary schools including those in townships and villages.

The initiative entails the following:-

The Walk and Learn on the Wild Side (WALOW) Awareness.The programme is hosted in SANParks (Kruger National Park) on annual basis, targeting grade 10 to 12 learners from previously disadvantaged schools.

National Tourism Careers Expo (NTCE)

The Department hosts the annual National Tourism Careers Expo (NTCE) with Industry Stakeholders that exhibit various career opportunities and share information. The NTCE primary target group are secondary school learners from both rural villages and townships. The NTCE exposes learners to careers in areas of hospitality, food and beverage and travel. Other multiple interactive side platforms are established at the NTCE that include the following:

• Chefs Corner which practically demonstrates to learners how exciting and interesting Chefing can be as a profession.
• Mixology Corner is a platform where Bar Tenders (Mixologists) demonstrate the art of mixing drinks into cocktails, be they alcoholic and or non-alcoholic.
• Hospitality Corner is where a hotel environment is displayed with front of house activities (Reception), back of house (Management, finance, accounts and maintenance), Room Services).
• Youth Business Zone is where young people especially those who are doing final year in their studies are invited to pitch new tourism business ideas that can be nurtured and fine-tuned with the help of professionals in government.

Other platforms include Debates and Schools Competition, Educators Seminars, Conservation Corner, Entrepreneur Corner, Aviation Corner and more.

Reply:

Subsequent to the release of the 2020/21 Local Government Audit Outcomes by the Auditor General of South Africa, we issued a media release on 15 June 2022. We noted the improvements in the number of municipalities with unqualified audit outcomes. In addition we outlined the department’s position and interventions in place to assist under-performing municipalities.

The media release is attached herewith as annexure A.

Reply:

1. (a) The focus of the Department’s intervention in KwaZulu-Natal (KZN) was to assess the damage to major tourism attractions i.e. attractions with relatively high impact on the value-chain to drive local tourism development and recovery, post the heavy rains and floods that hit the province in April 2022.

The Department, through its entity South African Tourism, also sought to ensure that the key events scheduled for the province such as the Africa’s Travel Indaba went ahead as planned. The South African Tourism together with Tourism KwaZulu-Natal engaged tirelessly with industry and other authorities in ensuring that the events went smoothly during the Africa Travel Indaba held from 2-5 May 2022 and on other events to be hosted in the province.

(b) The Department deployed nine (9) officials with the Director-General joining the efforts on the 19th and the 22nd of April 2022. There were also officials from South African Tourism focussing on the major events scheduled to be hosted in the province, starting with the Africa’s Travel Indaba in early May 2022. No officials from the Department are deployed on site full-time. However, there is a Flood Response Team within the Department that participates actively in the Economic Recovery Workstream of the Extended National Joint Flood Coordination Committee (NJFCC).

2. No funds have been disbursed at this point.

3. (a) Not applicable. The Department is not involved in the Humanitarian Assistance Workstream but the Economic Recovery Workstream.

(b) Not applicable.

(c) Not applicable

(d) Not applicable

(e) Not applicable

Reply:

According to the Provincial Departments of Health, the following details provide responses to these questions:

(a)-(b) The following tables reflect the details in this regard

2020/21 FINANCIAL YEAR

NAME OF THE PROVINCE	TOTAL NUMBER OF MEDICO-LEGAL CASES LODGED AGAINST THE DEPARTMENT	TOTAL COST TO THE DEPARTMENT, POTENTIALLY
Eastern Cape	361 Cases	R4 095 828 952.00
Free State	72 Cases	R 744 220 990.29
Gauteng	80 Cases	R 958 735 433,55
Kwazulu- Natal	256 Cases	R2 652 163 923.10
Limpopo	215 Cases	R1 709 116 099.00
Mpumalanga	117 Cases	R1 117 605 000.00
Northern Cape	15 Cases	R 531 716 811.04
North West	61 Cases	R 325 119 700.00
Western Cape	62 Cases	R 527 000 000.00
TOTALS	878 Cases	R8,591,051,276.41

2021/22 FINANCIAL YEAR

NAME OF THE PROVINCE	TOTAL NUMBER OF MEDICO-LEGAL CASES LODGED AGAINST THE DEPARTMENT	TOTAL COST TO THE DEPARTMENT, POTENTIALLY
Eastern Cape	379 cases	R4 542 556.761.00
Free State	52 cases	R 446 981 920.00
Gauteng	107 cases	R 974 802 814.21
Kwazulu- Natal	204 cases	R1 885 019 875.00
Limpopo	277 cases	R2 452 118 059.00
Mpumalanga	142 cases	R 1 427 477 670.00
Northern Cape	20 cases	R 326 816 465.00
North West	64 Cases	R 379 378 957.00
Western Cape	77 cases	R 806 000 000.00
TOTALS	866 Cases	R13,241,152,521.21

END.

Reply:

I am ready to cooperate with any investigations on this matter and will answer whatever questions the investigators ask of me. The law must be allowed to take its course and due process needs to be followed. I have made every declaration required of me since my first election to public office in 2014 and will continue to fulfil those obligations.

Reply:

The allegation of submission of fraudulent matric certificate by an employee at Cofimvaba Hospital in the Eastern Cape Provincial Department of Health as investigated by the Fraud Management Unit is confirmed. However, the employee concerned has since resigned and the matter reported to South African Police Services (SAPS) for further handling.

The employee has since been arrested and the case has been reminded to the month of August 2022 in the Mthatha Specialized Crimes Court.

In order to avert such mishaps in the future, The Eastern Cape Provincial Department of Health has since issued a Departmental Operations Manual that emphasises that Managers must confirm the authenticity of prospective employees’ qualifications prior to their employment.

END.

Reply:

I think it’s important to explain firstly that the legislated national minimum wage (NMW) is not R3500 per month but R23.19 per hour payable for the numbers of ordinary hours worked.

The NMW Act requires the NMW Commission to review the NMW annually and to make recommendations to me on any adjustment of the NMW. In undertaking this function, the Commission is expected to annually undertake a research in order to gain insights on changes to working hours, employment, wages and non-compliance as a result of changes in the NMW.

The latest quantitative research shows that the average level of NMW non-compliance in 2020Q1, before the NMW was adjusted, was 35.8, meaning that approximately 36% of all workers were paid below the NMW. A year later, in 2021Q1, this number remained much the same, at 36.2. In 2020, the NMW was adjusted by 3.8%, and wages appeared to have risen by roughly this amount for those who remained employed in 2021Q1, meaning that the overall rate of non-compliance remained stable. However, the researchers found that the depth of violation did fall over the period, suggesting that for those workers earning below the NMW, wages increased in real terms, but not all the way up to the NMW.

The research report further shows that across industry categories there was a substantial variation in rates of NMW violation. Agriculture had the largest proportion of sub-NMW earners, and this appears to have increased over the period. Construction, Wholesale and Retail Trade, and Domestic Work, all had rates of violation close to 45%, and these remained relatively unchanged. Levels of violation appeared to have also risen in Finance, and Transport.

It is important to indicate however that the quantitative research looks at changes to working hours, employment, wages and non-compliance as a result of changes in the NMW across different sectors and not on individual companies.

END

Reply:

Yes. The threat landscape of cybercriume is evolving rapidly and is increasingly becoming a national security concern. Cyberthreats have grown at an alarming rate over the past two years. This is partly due to an increase in remote working due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Against this backdrop, it is imperative to ensure the protection of state information and improve the cybersecurity posture.

The State Security Agency (SSA) is therefore currently putting measures in place to enhance cybersecurity, whilst striving to ensure territorial integrity, sovereignty and constitutional order. Furthermore, the SSA is strengthening the provisioning of ICT Security Solutions and Services capabilities to organs of state for protection and securing National Critical Information Infrastructure (NCII) and related systems.

Implementation of the National Cybersecurity Policy Framework (NCPF) strategic objectives is underway, which amongst others include the following:

• building capability and capacity to address cybercrime and to promote cybersecurity;
• building the integrated cyber capacity and capability;
• finalising the Cybersecurity Bill and draft regulations with relevant provisions on NCII;
• finalising the National Cybersecurity Strategy;
• developing and implementing cybersecurity awareness programmes; and
• collaborating and cooperating with regional and international strategic partners to respond to cybercrime and cybersecurity incidents.

Reply:

The National Department of Health is working with the Gauteng Provincial Department of Health to finalise this information and the Minister will provide a full response as soon as the required information is received from the Province.

END.

Reply:

I am ready to cooperate with any investigations on this matter and will answer whatever questions the investigators ask of me. The law must be allowed to take its course and due process needs to be followed.

Reply:

a) No. Chapter 5 of the Minimum Information Security Standards (MISS), specially section 1.5 stipulate that political appointees are not required to be vetted unless requested to do so by the President.

b) Falls away.

Reply:

I am ready to cooperate with any investigations on this matter and will answer whatever questions the investigators ask of me. The law must be allowed to take its course and due process needs to be followed.

Reply:

The Honourable Member’s attention is drawn to his previous question 1846 of 13 May 2022 that are the same as above. The response is hereby attached for the Honourable member’s convenience.

Reply to 1846 of 13 May 2022 Question Paper no: 17

According to Chapter 6 of the Tourism Act, no. 3 of 2014 (Act), the role of the National Registrar is amongst others, to maintaining a central database of tourist guides registered by the Provincial Registrars. The registration of tourist guides takes place at provincial level by Provincial Registrars. On a monthly basis, Provincial Registrars, as a legal requirement submit their monthly statistics to the National Registrar as well as the number of renewals processed that month. This is consolidated by the Department in the National Register /database in order to report on areas such as the total number of guides registered by race, gender and province. The statistics below are based on the information submitted to the Department by Provinces.

a) New tourist guides/first time

(i) (aa) What number of first-time/new tourist guides registered nationally.

(aaa) 2019-2020	(aaa) 2020-2021	(aaa) 2021-2022	(bbb) 2022 to date
1437	480	477	40

(i) (bb) What number of first-time/new tourist guides registered in each province.

Province	(aaa) 2019 - 2020	(aaa) 2020 - 2021	(aaa) 2021 - 2022	(bbb) 2022 (April only)
Eastern Cape	89	44	25	02
Free State	0	10	00	00
Gauteng	167	28	29	01
KwaZulu-Natal	158	78	79	23
Limpopo	179	73	112	06
Mpumalanga	138	76	101	07
Northern Cape	11	37	00	00
North West	16	23	40	01
Western Cape	679	111	91	06
TOTAL	1437	480	477	46

(ii) What were the categories of tour guides, respectively.

The categories of tourist guides vary and may include, Culture, Nature and/or Adventure guides. Provincial Registrars will have to be contacted to obtain specific information related to the categories of guides that were registered during the period in question.

b) Re-registered tourist guides

(i) (aa) What number of re-registered tour guides registered nationally.

(aaa) 2019-2020	(aaa) 2020-2021	(aaa) 2021-2022	(bbb) 2022 to date
1662	852	1320	67

(i) (bb) What number of re-registered tour guides registered in each province.

Province	(aaa) 2019 - 2020	(aaa) 2020 - 2021	(aaa) 2021 - 2022	(bbb) 2022 (April only)
Eastern Cape	71	56	61	04
Free State	4	01	00	00
Gauteng	262	85	190	17
KwaZulu-Natal	101	117	114	06
Limpopo	127	116	84	10
Mpumalanga	190	111	336	27
Northern Cape	3	10	15	00
North West	42	24	50	03
Western Cape	862	332	470	54
TOTAL	1662	852	1320	121

(ii) What were the categories of tourist guides, respectively.

The categories of tourist guides vary and may include, Culture, Nature and/or Adventure guides. Provincial Registrars will have to be contacted to obtain specific information related to the categories of guides that were registered during the period in question.

Reply:

The Department of Tourism and its entity SA Tourism has not conducted research regarding the effect of the Elandshoogte Gold Mine on tourist visits to the Sudwala Caves nor did it receive any enquiries.

Reply:

The NHI Bill (and the Fund that it seeks to establish) will not replace the National Health Act of 2003 although it will amend several sections as listed in the first Schedule. The reforms do not replace the budget process nor the public works and other infrastructure mandates.

Therefore, the NHI does not have any specific arrangement that will focus on improving and/or developing infrastructure since that is catered for in other laws.

a) Public health sector infrastructure is subject to the Government Immoveable Asset Management Act (GIAMA) and construction of infrastructure in public health facilities is managed in terms of Treasury and Public Works prescripts. The national and provincial health departments will remain responsible for infrastructure of public health facilities. In keeping with the purchaser/provider split the NHI Fund will not be a provider of health services and therefore will not maintain and build infrastructure. That is a provider function. The NHI Fund will purchase services of a quality that it determines and in so doing will ensure that infrastructure is improved and/or developed.

b) Improving infrastructure of public health facilities will be planned by the National Department of Health with provincial departments. Maintenance of infrastructure must be paid for and managed by the providers (including the provinces as the provider in the public sector). Under the reformed health system major refurbishment, extensions and new infrastructure will be paid for through infrastructure allocations, such as is done through the present conditional grants, preferably from a centralised national health infrastructure fund.

END.

Reply:

(a) In order to expedite the implementation of the High Level Review Panel (HLRP) Report Recommendations, coordination of work on the implementation of the Recommendations has now been relocated to the Office of the Director-General in the State Security Agency (SSA).

(b) The reasons include required consultation process on General Intelligence Laws Amendment Bill (GILAB).

(c) Consultation on revised timeline by the State Security Agency is at an advance stages. The revised timeline will be communicated after approval by the Minister. The revised timeline prioritises passing of GILAB into law.

Reply:

I am ready to cooperate with any investigations on this matter and will answer whatever questions the investigators ask of me. The law must be allowed to take its course and due process needs to be followed. I have furthermore declared every gift provided me during the course of tenure as Deputy President and President as required by law.

Reply:

The Minister of Public Works and Infrastructure

As per the reply by Minister Lindiwe Zulu in question 1454, of the four lease bids advertised, only one in Khayelitsha was awarded; the rest was non-responsive. Therefore, the answers to the questions should be about only one bid that has been awarded.

a) The physical address for the one site is erf 809, Phakamani Road, Khayelitsha.

b) The bid for the Khayelitsha 1 was awarded to Kwa Ace Cc.

c) The building costs are to be borne by the bidder. Therefore, the Department is not involved in this regard and only awaits the delivery of the building.

d) The bid was awarded on 24 November 2021; the process is in the planning phase, drawing and submitting the plans to the Municipality for approval. After the approval of the plans, the timeline for the completion of actual construction is 12 months.

As for the other three sites that are to be advertised again, the Bid Specification Committee met on 23 June 2022 to develop the procurement strategy; the procurement strategy will be submitted to the Bid Adjudication Committee for consideration on 05 July 2022.

Reply:

According to the Provincial Departments of Health, the following details provide the responses to the above questions:

1. (a) Based on the prevalence of mental disorders in South Africa, it is estimated that 6 566 703 persons need care for common mental disorders and 1 292 991 of those aged 15 years and older need care for severe psychiatric conditions.

(b) (i) There are 14060 beds in the public sector and (ii) 5692 in the private sector.

(2)-(3) The table below indicate the breakdown of psychiatric specialist in each province (Public Sector) with the vacancy rate:

PSYCHOLOGIST PUBLIC SECTOR
Province	Filled	Vacant	Total	Vacancy Rate
Eastern Cape	2	10	12	83.33
Free State	4	4	8	50.00
Kwazulu-Natal	35	14	49	28.57
Limpopo	6	29	35	82.86
Mpumalanga	3	12	15	80.00
Northern Cape	2	4	6	66.67
North-West	41	6	47	12.77
Western cape	99	1	100	1.00
Grand Total	451	187	638	29.31

The current ration of psychiatric specialist to the population breakdown per provinces reflected below:

POPULATION PER PROVINCE (PUBLIC SECTOR RATIO)
Province	Population	Total Psychologists	Ratio to population
Eastern Cape	6,676,590	2	1: 3338295
Free State	2,932,441	4	1: 733110
Kwazulu-Natal	11,513,575	35	1: 328959
Limpopo	5,926,724	11	1: 538793
Mpumalanga	4,743,584	3	1: 1581194
Northern Cape	1,303,047	2	1: 651523
North-West	4,122,854	41	1: 100557
Western cape	7,113,776	99	1: 71856
Grand Total	60,142,979
STATSSA:	https://www.statssa.gov.za/publications/P0302/P03022021.pdf

END.

Reply:

(1) (a) The total amount spent in Hout Bay as part of the Small Harbours Unit repair and maintenance initiative was R89.87 million.

(b) Details of the expenditure are as follows:

(i) The marine infrastructure upgrades included removal of sunken vessels, dredging of harbour basins, repairs to slipways, shore crane replacements and electrical kiosks to jetties and quays, equated to R57.88 million.

(ii) The land infrastructure upgrades included fencing of the harbour precinct, new harbour masters office, new compliance building, new ablution facilities, upgraded fish flecking area, new guard houses, entrance control and internal fencing, CCTV and security apparatus equated to R31.99 million

(2) Yes, plans are in place for the further development of Hout Bay Harbour in line with the Department’s Spatial & Socio-Economic Development Frameworks (SEDFs).

The SEDF allows for the phased development of Hout Bay Harbour with the works mentioned above completed under question 1 comprising of Phase 0 and a portion of Phase 1 of the SEDF. The outer phases, i.e. Phase 1-3, comprise of the further development of Hout Bay Harbour by developing economic-specific precincts in the harbour and include new multi-use buildings, marine support services, reconfiguring and adding of marine infrastructure, small-scale fishing facilities, harbour administration facilities and bulk infrastructure upgrades.

(3) (a) There are 34 tenants currently occupying premises within Hout Bay Harbour.

(b) (i) There are 30 tenants currently on month-to-month leases.

(ii) There are 4 leases with remaining terms as per the below table:

No.	Property description	Contract lease start date	Contract Lease end date	Lease period	Remaining term
1	Lot 82	1 November 2001	31 October 2026	25 years	4 years and 4 months.
2	Lot 30A	1 July 1993	31 May 2030	26 years and 11 months.	7 years and 11 months.
3	Lot 13A	1 July 2004	30 June 2024	20 years	2 years.
4	Lot 66A	1 December 2021	30 November 2026	5 years	4 years and 5 months

Reply:

Yes, a domestic tourism survey is conducted, which amongst other matters looks into the reasons for people not traveling. The results indicate the following:

The main reason why most South Africans did not take part in domestic overnight trips in 2021 was no reason to travel (29.2%), this had gone up by +7.0% over 2020. Just as in 2020, financial reasons amounted to a further 11.5%, and domestic travel being too expensive contributed a further 7.8%, as well as having no income or being unemployed, an additional 4.4%. Safety and security issues make up another 5.0% with this alluding to general safety and security as well as the Covid-19 restrictions emanating from the pandemic.

Reply:

Financial Year	(a) What MOUs and other similar agreements have been concluded	(b) What countries were the signatories to the specified agreements	(c) On what date was each agreement signed
(i) 2019-2020 financial year	None	Not applicable	Not Applicable
(i) 2020-2021 financial year	MoU in the field of tourism	Ethiopia	12 January 2020
(i) 2021-2022 financial year	MoU in the field of tourism	Kenya	23 November 2021
(ii) 1 April 2022 to date	None	N/A	N/A

(d) (i) Department

There were no cost implicatios for the signing of the MoU s’

(ii) South African Tourism

What about the MOU recently signed between SA Tourism and Emirates Airlines?

SA Tourism does not have any MOU’s with countries. As an entity of the Department, SA Tourism works with the department on implementing key activities.

Reply:

(1) The Department has no jurisdiction in the sector due to the fact that there is a Bargaining Council in place.

(2) The Department collaborates with Bargaining Councils on a needs basis. There has not been any meeting between the SARPBC.

Reply:

The Minister of Public Works and Infrastructure

1. In terms of the Parliamentary Villages Management Board, there is only one board for the three Parliamentary Villages consisting of board members from the three villages.

The Parliamentary Villages Management Board was elected and appointed by the Minister on 26 November 2021.

a) The following members were appointed:

• Hon H April, MP
• Hon B Tshwete, MP
• Hon T Letsie, MP
• Mr G Koko, Sessional Official

b) The following members were appointed;

• Hon D Nkosi, MP
• Hon R Semenya, MP
• Hon N Gantsho, MP
• Mr M Ndara, Sessional Officials

c) The following members were appointed;

• Hon N Mvana. MP
• Hon P Mahlo, MP
• Hon N Lesoma, MP

2. The Acacia and Laboria Park Parliamentary Villages Residents Committees are fully constituted. However, the Pelican Park Parliamentary Village Residents Committee requires one sessional official to be added to their Residence committee.

3. The current board was appointed on the 26 November 2021, and the first board meeting was scheduled for the 29 April 2022 and was postponed

(b) Laboria Park Residents committee meeting was last held on 20 May 2022.

Residents Committee meetings for Acacia and Pelican Park were held in September 2021.

Reply:

The Minister of Public Works and Infrastructure

The first phase of the cabinet-approved National Infrastructure Plan 2050 refers to the state of infrastructure in the identified sectors without necessarily providing a blow-by-blow account of the condition assessment of specific components of infrastructure under examination. The NIP 2050 proposes, amongst others, the 3-year intervention and the more long-term interventions to remedy the deteriorating infrastructure; it proposes areas of intervention, including green design elements and financing.  

In addition, ISA has entered into a collaboration agreement with the South African Institution of Civil Engineering (SAICE) to support them with collating information on the condition assessment of infrastructure within the respective provinces. This will augment the accuracy of the SAICE Infrastructure Report Card.

ISA is currently embarking on a project entitled the Infrastructure Barometer of South Africa that not only focuses on the information contained in the Infrastructure Report Card but also considers other reference material such as the World Bank and infrastructure information from project sponsors. The Infrastructure Barometer of South Africa report will be published in March 2023. The broad aim of the Infrastructure Barometer is to:

• report on the condition assessment and subsequent trends of infrastructure asset condition in South Africa by sector;
• report on the level of access to infrastructure and subsequent services by sector;
• develop specific Infrastructure Indices; and
• identify critical infrastructure interventions required.

Infrastructure South Africa is conducting research on infrastructure scenarios for 2050. The scenario analysis aims to describe the implications of three different levels of acceptance of infrastructure governance and delivery of smart infrastructure by the year 2050. This report will be published by November 2022.

Reply:

The Life Chatsmed Garden Hospital is a private hospital in Durban. We are informed by the management of the Hospital that there were no patients transferred to any of our Public health facilities following the fire incident. Instead injured patients were transferred to other private facilities.

END.

Reply:

Attached find here: Reply

Reply:

a) (i) Department

(i) 2019/2020	(i) 2020/2021	(i) 2021/2022	(ii) Since 1 April 2022
11 (eleven)	None	None	None

b) A period between 2005 and 2014.

c) and (d) Transgressions were identified through a forensic investigation after AGSA audit findings.

d) Contravention of PFMA provisions.

e) 11 Officials from the Department are implicated but to the department’s knowledge no one has been charged as yet as matters are still under police investigation.

f) (i) Currently, no money has been paid back as the police investigation is still underway.

(ii) Not applicable.

(a)(ii) South Africa Tourism

(i) 2019/2020	(i) 2020/2021	(i) 2021/2022	(ii) Since 1 April 2022
None	None	None	None

(b) – (g) Not applicable

 

Reply:

The Department’s main purpose of visiting KwaZulu-Natal was to assess the impact of the floods on major tourism attractions and establishments that drive tourism demand in the province. While the assessment team focussed primarily on damage to the physical infrastructure of key establishments, as well as the roads inside these major attractions, the assessment of access municipal roads and the national or provincial roads leading to these major attractions fall within the mandate of the relevant departments and entities responsible for road infrastructure. The various efforts are integrated at the level of the Disaster Management Centers both provincially and nationally.

The Department of Tourism did not visit the Eastern Cape for an assessment. This was done by the Eastern Cape Parks and Tourism Agency (ECPTA) working with the Local Tourism Organisations (LTOs). Their reports indicate that the roads in the affected areas were not in a good condition due to past and recent heavy rains and/or floods. ECPTA indicated that this has disrupted operations in three major tourism attractions in the OR Tambo District Municipality, namely: Hluleka Nature Reserve, Mkhambathi Nature Reserve and Cremone Estate.

Tourism stakeholders have been requested to report any road infrastructure challenges they are facing due to the floods to the relevant provincial tourism departments.

Reply:

a) Required consultation processes in government regarding bills of this nature contributed to the delay on submission of the General Intelligence Laws Amendment Bill for tabling in Parliament.

b) The consultation processes are at advanced stages of finalisation. It is anticipated that the General Intelligence Laws Amendment Bill (GILAB) will be submitted to Parliament in September 2022.

A roadmap outlining timelines on processes for introduction of GILAB to Parliament was presented to the Joint Standing Committee on Intelligence (JSCI) during its oversight visit to State Security Agency Head Quarters in April 2022.

Reply:

Attached find here: Reply

Reply:

The National Department of Health is working with Provincial Departments of Health to finalise this information and the Minister will provide a full response as soon as the required information is received from the provinces.

END.

Reply:

I am and will remain committed to the fulfilment of my oath of office. I do not intend to address these matters in a piece-meal fashion and will ensure the investigations currently under way have my full cooperation. The law must be allowed to take its course and due process needs to be followed.

Reply:

a) Department

(i) In October 2020 a criminal case was opened with the South African Police Service against implicated officials and service providers.

(ii) The reason for opening the case was due to contravention of PFMA provisions.

(iii) One criminal case was opened in October 2020 against all involved officials.

(iv) The criminal case was opened at the Sunnyside Police Station in Pretoria.

(v) The Director-General of the Department of Tourism opened the criminal case.

(vi) here is no case currently resolved, investigations are underway.

(vii) There is no outcome at the moment as the investigations are currently underway.

b) SA Tourism

SA Tourism has not opened any criminal case with SA Police Services in the past three financial years as well as the current year to date.

(i) – (viii) Not Applicable

 

Reply:

The reply below was provided by UThukela District Municipality:

1. The Ownership of Zakheni Water Treatment 

     (a) Ownership of specified property

     The plant is owned and operated by uThukela District Municipality (WSA)

               

(b)  Legal Contract for the use of the property

By virtue, the plant was transferred from Local Municipality to the (WSA) and therefore the property belong to the DIstrict hence this no no contract obligation.

                  

(c) Rental Payable to the owner of the property

None - the District owns the Property.

 

(2)      National Key Point Status

The Ezakheni plant supply only 9 wards out of 37 ward in Alfred Duma Local Municipality therefore it currently not a National key Point. The District will therefore need to be guided in terms of the National Key Point Act 102 of 1980 South African Government. 

Reply:

It is important to recognise that reforms of the magnitude anticipated in the NHI Bill need to be phased in over time. For that reason, the transitional arrangements in section 57 of the Bill state:

57(1) (b) National Health Insurance must be gradually phased in using a progressive and programmatic approach based on financial resource availability.

And subsection (2) elaborates that Phase 1 will:

1. continue with the implementation of health system strengthening initiatives, including alignment of human resources with that which may be required by users of the Fund;
2. include the development of National Health Insurance legislation and amendments to other legislation;
3. include the undertaking of initiatives which are aimed at establishing institutions that must be the foundation for a fully functional Fund; and
4. include the purchasing of personal health care services for vulnerable groups such as children, women, people with disabilities and the elderly;

The NHI Bill (and the Fund that it seeks to establish) will not replace the National Health Act of 2003 although it will amend several sections as listed in the first Schedule.

1. Bearing the context in mind it must be noted that the current status and availability of resources and capacity are only a starting point.

a) (i) The resources available for the establishment of the reformed health system where providers are paid by the Fund are the current resources of the entire public and private health sectors. This includes all health establishments, personnel and technologies currently in use.

(ii) The capacity to roll out the reforms described in the NHI Bill starts with the commitment and stewardship of Parliament to improving the health system for all. The leadership will be provided by the National Department of Health. To this end the Minister of Public Service and Administration has approved a special transitional NHI Branch in the NDOH to serve as the incubator for the Schedule 3A entity. The five clusters, and the nucleus of 44 new posts to be added to the existing 40 posts, are funded through earmarked funding from National Treasury. The reorganisation of the Branch and the preparations for the advertisement of the new posts have commenced.

The remaining Branches in the National Department of Health are all focussed on providing leadership and direction on the anticipated reforms.

In addition to this is provincial management lead by the nine provincial HoDs for Health plus renewed support from many donor partners.

There are many private sector providers that engage with the department and [provide support to various committees and structures involved in the reform.

b) The state of public hospitals and clinics varies widely from immaculate to extremely poor. The department maintains an infrastructure condition assessment and all provinces submit User Asset Management Plans (UAMPS) annually as required by the Government Immoveable Asset Management Act (GIAMA). There is a quality improvement programme in nineteen locations covering over 100 establishments as we have reported to the house in the recent past. Private establishments also vary in their condition.

The health system suffers from shortages of professional personnel in all categories as we have reported to this house. The biggest challenge is the inequitable distribution of personnel but there are nominal shortages. The public sector budgets allocated for Conditions of Employment are fully committed so there is extremely limited room for recruitment of additional personnel. It is for this reason that the NHI envisages a ‘universal’ system for everyone in the country where the NHI Fund purchases services from both public and private providers.

2. Yes, The Minister is prepared to make a statement.

END.

Reply:

Attached find here: Reply

Reply:

According to the Gauteng Provincial Department of Health, the following details provide the responses in this regard:

a)

South Rand Hospital	(aa)			(bb)
	2019/20	2020/21	2021/22	Since 1 January 2022
Office furniture	R233 565,00	R770 508,50	R424 499,50	R0.00
Beds	R993 268,93	R2 764 455,72	R3 122 868,00	R0.00
Medication	R10 164 376,93	R13 292 299,42	R12 498 823,64	R5 669 243,48
Bedlinen and blankets	R221 425,00	R39 600,00	R0.00	R868 544
Pillow and pillow cases	R85 300,00	R20 520,00	R0.00	R67 820

 

 (b)      Value of each item in each financial year

	2019/20	2020/21	2021/22
Office furniture	R1 717,39	R965,55	R5 306,24
Beds	R7 699,76	R13 290,65	R31 228,68
Medicatio	An average value for medication will not yield an accurate figure due to the types of medication purchased, to maintain minimum medicines stock available
Bedlinen and blankets	R260,50	R330,00	None
Pillow and pillow cases	R289,15	R190,00	None

 

(c)        The decision to purchase is informed as follows:

	2019/20	2022/21	2021/22
Office furniture	Replacement after been worn out	Replacement after been worn out	Replacement after been worn out
Beds	Replacement of old un-adjustable high beds and broken beds with new high-low beds	Replacement of old un-adjustable high beds and broken beds with new high-low beds	Replacement of old un-adjustable high beds and broken beds with new high-low beds
Medication	To keep minimum stock available
Bedlinen and blankets	Replacement after been worn out	Replacement after been worn out	None purchased
Pillow and pillow cases	Replacement after been worn out	Replacement after been worn out	None purchased

Reply:

a) (i) Department

(aa) 2019/2020	(aa) 2020/2021	(aa) 2021/2022	(bb) Since 1 April 2022
4	1	0	0

(b)

1. 25/09/2019 to 31/12/2019
2. 04/10/2019 to 21/01/2020
3. 04/10/2019 to 21/01/2020
4. 04/10/2019 to 21/01/2020
5. 03/03/2021 to 03/05/2021

(c) Reasons for suspension:

1. To enable the department to investigate allegations of misconduct, create a conducive environment for the investigation and to avoid any possible interference and intimidation of witnesses.

2. To enable the department to investigate allegations of misconduct, create a conducive environment for the investigation, avoid possible interference with records or evidence and any tools or sources necessary for the investigation.

3. To enable the department to investigate allegations of misconduct, create a conducive environment for the investigation, avoid possible interference with records or evidence and any tools or sources necessary for the investigation.

4. To enable the department to investigate allegations of misconduct, create a conducive environment for the investigation, avoid possible interference with records or evidence and any tools or sources necessary for the investigation.

5. To enable the department to investigate allegations of misconduct, create a conducive environment for the investigation, avoid possible interference with records or evidence and any tools or sources necessary for the investigation.

5. Not applicable, no current expenditure since all suspensions were resolved within the prescribed 60 days’ timeframe in line with the Public Service requirements.

(e) Not applicable, as all suspensions were resolved within the prescribed timeframe of 60 days in terms of Public Service requirements.

a)b (ii) South Africa Tourism

(aa) 2019/2020	(aa) 2020/2021	(aa) 2021/2022	(bb) Since 1 April 2022
1 official	None	None	None

b) One official was duly suspended on 01 April 2019.

c) The official was suspended pending investigations into allegations of misconduct against him. Allegations of misconduct were investigated and led to the issuing of disciplinary charges against the official. Disciplinary enquiry was conducted in the months of September, October and November respectively.

d) There is no current expenditure as the suspension was resolved.

e) Suspension was resolved on 13 December 2019 following conclusion of a disciplinary enquiry against the suspended official.

Reply:

The Minister of Public Works and Infrastructure

a) Table 1: Total membership of each council

Name of the Council	2018	2019	2020	2021
Engineering Council of South Africa	49334	57867	55730	61799
South African Council for the Architectural Profession	9988	10982	11859	11790
South African Council for the Landscape Architectural Profession	282	330	374	403
South African Council for the Quantity Surveying Profession	4098	4422	4130	4454
SA Council for the Property Valuers Profession	5122	2075	1886	1894
South African Council for Project and Construction Management Professions	3207	6843	7367	11422
Total	72031	82519	81346	91762

(b) Voluntary Associations

In South Africa, a Voluntary Association (VA) is any association recognised by the Councils for the Built Environment Professions (CBEP). An association is broadly defined as an institute, institution, association, society or federation established by Built Environment practitioners to promote their collective professional and/or business interests. Their initial and continuing recognition is dependent on their adherence to the policy prescripts of the associated council for the profession on VAs as set out in the respective CBEP Act.

VAs are an important constituent of the Built Environment professional milieu as a repository of profession-specific technical knowledge. They are highly involved in Continuous Professional Development (CPD) activities and the development of qualifications. Their recognition is essential and should be encouraged since they play the following critical roles:

1. Provide a pool of practitioners to serve on professional councils’ committees;
2. Play the role of competency assessment (assessors) in the registration process;
3. Provide a pool of mentors for candidates; and
4. Serve as members of evaluation committees for programme accreditation at higher education institutions which offer Built Environment qualifications.

Table 2: Number of Voluntary Associations Recognised by the CBEP

CBEP	Number of VAs Recognised	Number of VAs Not Recognised
SACAP	13	0
SACLAP	3	0
ECSA	51	0
SACPVP	3	0
SACPCMP	13	3
SACQSP	1	1

(Source: CBEP Fourth Quarter Report 2020/21)

Reasons for Non - Recognition of Voluntary Associations

• Do not meet the minimum requirements of the guidelines
• CBEP awaits full compliance with requirements for recognition

(ii) parallel professional structures exist in competition with the various councils

Reply:

There are no parallel professional structures in competition with the six Councils.

(iii) voluntary associations are registered with the additional structures, and (c) is the estimated membership of each structure?

Reply:

No. None are known of to DPWI. Therefore (c) falls away.

Reply:

In accordance with information received from Provincial Departments of Health (excluding Gauteng and Northern Cape), the table below outlines the number of cases reported in the Public Health Sector. Unfortunately, information as received from Provinces does not provide details of each case and progress made on investigations. Therefore, letters have since been written to Provincial Departments of Health to provide such information where possible, without jeopardising investigations and the individuals concerned:

 

FINANCIAL YEAR	NATURE OF INCIDENT	OUT COME
EASTERN CAPE	RAPE	SEXUAL ASSAULT	PHYSICAL ASSAULT	DISMISSAL
2019/20	0	0	0	N/A
2020/21	0	0	0	N/A
2021/22	0	0	0	N/A

FINANCIAL YEAR	NATURE OF INCIDENT	OUT COME
FREE STATE	RAPE	SEXUAL ASSAULT	PHYSICAL ASSAULT	DISMISSAL
2019/20	0	1	0	N/A
2020/21	0	0	0	N/A
2021/22	0	0	0	N/A

FINANCIAL YEAR	NATURE OF INCIDENT	OUT COME
MPUMALANGA	RAPE	SEXUAL ASSAULT	PHYSICAL ASSAULT
2019/20	0	0	0	DISMISSAL
2020/21	0	0	0	N/A
2021/22	0	0	0	N/A

FINANCIAL YEAR	NATURE OF INCIDENT	OUT COME
NORTH WEST	RAPE	SEXUAL ASSAULT	PHYSICAL ASSAULT	DISMISSAL
2019/20	0	1	0	N/A
2020/21	0	1	0	N/A
2021/22	0	0	0	N/A

FINANCIAL YEAR	NATURE OF INCIDENT	OUT COME
WESTERN CAPE	RAPE	SEXUAL ASSAULT	PHYSICAL ASSAULT	DISMISSAL
2019/20	0	0	0	N/A
2020/21	0	0	0	N/A
2021/22	0	8	2	N/A

END.