Questions and Replies

Reply:

a) The Karoo Regional Spatial Development Framework (KRSDF) has now entered its final phase, following the conclusion of the public participation period on 15 May 2022. All the comments received will be assessed and where applicable, amendments to the spatial plan will be captured. Once all the amendments have been considered, the final draft document will be presented to all key stakeholders, who will then sign off the final KRSDF. The final document will be presented to the Minister of Agriculture, Land Reform and Rural Development for approval.

b) The Department of Agriculture, Land Reform and Rural Development presented the Karoo Regional Spatial Development Framework at the Karoo Small Town Regeneration conference on 16 and 17 May 2022. The conference was hosted by the South African Local Government Association and attended by all the municipalities and provinces involved in the generation of the KRSDF. The conference expressed support for the KRSDF and recorded a resolution to that effect.

Reply:

No. There has been no details to the Agriculture and Agro-processing Master Plan (AAMP) since 1 April 2019 as the AAMP was recently signed. An implementation plan is being developed and will be reported on periodically, after Cabinet’s endorsement of the AAMP Social Compact.

(a),(b),(i),(ii),(iii),(v),(iv) Falls away.

Reply:

1. None. The information requested may be obtained from the concerned municipalities.

2. (a),(b) No. The Minister of Agriculture, Land Reform and Rural Development will not be able to intervene on the matter as the municipalities concerned are best placed to respond to the question.

3. The information requested may be obtained from the Department of Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs (COGTA) and the concerned municipalities.

Reply:

1. The Department of Agriculture, Land Reform and Rural Development (DALRRD) is not responsible for the National Animal Pounds Act, this is mainly under the jurisdiction of the Department of Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs (COGTA). The information required on the implementation of this act may therefore be obtained from COGTA.

(a),(b) Falls away.

2. No.

(a),(b) Falls away.

Reply:

1. Please refer to Table 1 below.

2. Current vaccine stock levels of certain products at the OBP might not be adequate to cater for the management of certain livestock diseases. However, the Board and Management of the OBP have assured that measures are being put in place to mitigate this risk.

Table 1: Available vaccines

Product	Availability	Product	Availability
Anthrax 100ml	Available	Lumpy Skin Disease 100ml 50 Dose	Available
Black Quarter 100ml	Available	Lumpy Skin Disease 50ml 25 Dose	Available
Blue Tongue	Available	Pastuerella Sheep 100ml	Available
Botulism 100ml	Available	Pastue rella Cattle 100ml 50 Dose	Available
Botulism/Black Quarter 100ml	Available	Pulpy kidney (Alum)	Available
Brucella Abortus S19 25 dose	Available	Redwater Africa	Available
Brucella CFT	Available	Redwater Asiatic	Available
Brucella RB	Available	Rift Valley Fever Inact 100ml	Available
Brucella Rev 1	Available	Rift Valley Fever Live 100ml	Available
Brucella Std Serum	Available	Swelled Head	Available
Elephant Skin Disease	Available	Tetanus	Available
Gas Gangrene	Available	Tuberculin Avian	Available
Horse Sickness	Available	Tuberculin Bovine	Available
Leukopast 3 (cattle)	Available

Reply:

The question does not specify which agricultural products are unprotected in the face of unfair and hostile competition, nor does it provide details regarding tariff adjustments; countries are also not specified. As a result, the Department finds it challenging to provide a specific response to the question.

South Africa is a member of the World Trade Organisation (WTO) and abides by the rules as agreed by the Member States within the organisation. The primary task of WTO is to facilitate the rules of trade among the nations. Amongst others, the rules of trade within the organisation hinges on the principles of reciprocity and non-discrimination among the trading partners. This avoids a situation where the single (dominant) decision-maker takes decisions that leave the individuals in the group with an outcome that is less than optimal for individuals as a group. South Africa therefore, has to be cautious in its approach when trading with other nations such that it does not come across as overly protective through tariff and non-tariff barriers. If perceived to be overly protective, which amounts to breaking the rules of WTO, the trading partners may reciprocate, to the detriment of the economy. Alternatively, partner countries may retaliate by seeking alternative markets.

DALRRD considers circumstances as they emerge and makes appropriate policy recommendations in line with trade remedies prescribed by existing agreements in advancing and defending national interests.

Reply:

(a)(i) South African citizens by birth who were born in another country are already entitled to apply for Smart ID Cards.

(a)(ii) The Department is proceeding with the expansion of the Live Capture footprint and the verification processes for the records of naturalised citizens and is continuing with the implementation of the system upgrades that will make provision for this category of applicants.

(b) The Minister will make an announcement upon determination of adequate footprint and system status readiness which will enable naturalized citizens the opportunity to apply for Smart ID Cards.

END

Reply:

DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE, LAND REFORM AND RURAL DEVELOPMENT

(a) No (i) no

(b) No (ii) no

However, a bilateral agreement on cooperation in the field of agriculture was signed in 2018 between this Department and the Ministry of Agriculture of the Russian Federation.

The agreement prioritizes the following areas of cooperation:

• Livestock farming and veterinary medicine;
• Plant cultivation and phytosanitation;
• Personnel training development in the field of agriculture;
• Agricultural products marketing;
• Investment in agriculture; and
• Cooperation in the field of agriculture within the framework of international organizations and unions.

AGRICULTURAL RESEARCH COUNCIL

(a) No (i) no

(b) No (ii) no

Perishable Products Export control Board

(a) No (i) no

(b) No (ii) no

NATIONAL AGRICUTLURAL MARKETING COUNCIL

(a) No (i) no

(b) No (ii) no

Ingonyama Trust Board

(a) No (i) no

(b) No (ii) no

ONDERSTEPOORT BIOLOGICAL PRODUCTS (OBP)

(a) No (i) no

(b) No (ii) no

Reply:

(a)(i) The numbers are as follows:

FINANCIAL YEAR	TOTAL
2019/20	16677
2020/21	8415
2021/22	11018

 

(a)(ii) and (b)(i) The numbers deported from the Lindela Holding Facility and directly from the provinces to their countries in the past three years are as follows:

2019/20 – Total 29376

COUNTRY	TOTAL
ALGERIA	3
ANGOLA	22
BANGLADESH	26
BOLIVIA	6
BOTSWANA	11
BRAZIL	10
BULGARIA	2
BURUNDI	15
CAMEROON	11
CAPE VERDE	3
CHINA	29
CONGO BRAZZAVILLE	10
CUBA	1
DRC	87
ECUADOR	1
EGYPT	7
ETHIOPIA	13
GABON	1
GHANA	25
GUYANA	2
INDIA	29
IRAQ	2
ISRAEL	1
IVORY COAST	1
KENYA	21
LESOTHO	3963
MALAWI	4277
MOROCCO	1
MOZAMBIQUE	13834
NAMIBIA	19
NIGERIA	176
PAKISTAN	32
PALESTINE	1
PERU	1
SAINT VINCENT	1
SAUDI ARABIA	1
SENEGAL	3
SOMALIA	8
SPAIN	1
SRI LANKA	2
SWAZILAND	314
TANZANIA	517
THAILAND	11
UGANDA	50
UNITED KINGDOM	2
VENEZUELA	2
ZAMBIA	31
ZIMBABWE	5790
TOTAL:	29376

2020/21 – Total 14859

NATIONAL	TOTAL
ANGOLA	23
ARGENTINA	1
BOLIVIA	1
BOTSWANA	3
BRAZIL	13
BULGARIA	1
BURUNDI	19
CAMEROON	2
CHINA	3
DRC	51
GERMANY	1
GUINEA	2
GUYANA	1
INDIA	1
KENYA	5
LESOTHO	5796
MALAWI	2019
MOZAMBIQUE	2714
NAMIBIA	24
NIGERIA	59
PAKISTAN	1
PARAGUAY	2
PERU	5
PHILIPPINES	2
SEYCHELLES	1
SWAZILAND	622
TANZANIA	236
THAILAND	3
UGANDA	9
UNITED KINGDOM	4
USA	1
ZAMBIA	8
ZIMBABWE	3226
TOTAL:	14859

2021/22 – Total 20093

COUNTRY	TOTAL
ANGOLA	11
BANGLADESH	8
BOLIVIA	3
BOTSWANA	3
BRAZIL	1
BURUNDI	23
CAMEROON	2
CHILE	2
CONGO BRAZZAVILLE	2
DRC	67
EGYPT	7
ETHIOPIA	13
FRANCE	0
GABON	1
GHANA	8
INDIA	7
IRAN	2
KENYA	11
LEBANON	1
LESOTHO	6582
MALAWI	2797
MAURITIUS	1
MOZAMBIQUE	4766
MYANMAR	6
NAMIBIA	46
NEPAL	2
NIGERIA	69
PAKISTAN	13
PORTUGAL	1
SENEGAL	3
SOMALIA	6
SWAZILAND	1434
TANZANIA	141
UGANDA	26
UNITED KINGDOM	1
VENEZUELA	4
VIETNAM NORTH	1
ZAMBIA	10
ZIMBABWE	4012
TOTAL:	20093

(b)(ii) The cost to the Department was as follows:

FINANCIAL YEAR	TOTAL
2019/20	R30,459,100.64
2020/21	R15,953,826.04
2021/22	R26,089,452.68

 

END

Reply:

(1) (a),(b) The result of the 2017 Land Audit indicated a figure of 7 701 605 hectares of land that is unregistered trust state land. This figure consists of both un-surveyed and unregistered land in the Republic. It should be noted that this figure includes national parks, forest reserves, rivers and estuaries and many road and railway reserves amongst others.

(2) (a) Any state department with immovable assets such as land may sanction surveys of such land as and when the need arises. The role of the Chief Surveyor-General (within the Department of Agriculture, Land Reform and Rural Development) is to regulate the survey of land in South Africa. This includes the standards and manner in which land surveys should be carried out as well as the manner in which such survey records should be kept. The regulation of land surveying in South Africa is done through the Land Survey Act, 8 of 1997, and the regulations framed thereunder.

(b) The registration (transfer/vesting) of state land occurs when there is a need for such state land to be transferred from the current custodian government department to the relevant user department, in line with the Government Immovable Asset Management Act, 19 of 2007 read together with Schedule 6 item 28(1) of the Constitution. The transfer of state land may also occur from the state to beneficiaries, and in instances where the state acquires the land. The role of the Chief Registrar of Deeds (within the Department of Agriculture, Land Reform and Rural Development) is to regulate the registration of land in South Africa in accordance with the Deeds Registries Act, 47 of 1937, and the regulations framed thereunder.

(3) (a) Statistics on the survey of state land between 1994 and 2001 are not readily available and would require extensive research. Available records indicate that 356 360.8991 hectares of land has been surveyed since 2001.

(b) 262 175.3100 hectares of the land mentioned in part (3)(a) has been confirmed as registered.

Reply:

1. (a) a total of 285 inmates escaped from custody over the past six years (2017/2018 to 2022/2023 financial years). There was an average of 151 495 inmates in custody at any given time during the mentioned period. The escape rate can be averaged at forty eight (48) inmates per year. This translates to an average of 0.032% inmates escaping from custody per annum.

(b) Type of crimes committed by escapees over the past six financial years:

• Attempted murder
• Theft
• Armed Robbery
• Business Robbery
• Escape
• Robbery
• Robbery aggravating
• Housebreaking
• Housebreaking and theft
• Housebreaking with intent to rape
• House breaking with intent to commit robbery
• House Robbery
• Intercourse with a minor
• Kidnapping
• Possession of drugs
• Car theft
• Murder
• Murder and Robbery
• Malicious damage to property
• Attempted murder
• Dealing or smuggling of ammunition, firearms, explosives or armaments
• Assault common
• Assault with GBH
• Assault Serious
• Arson
• Stock theft
• Escape
• Rape
• Rape and kidnaping
• Attempted rape
• Robbery
• Illegal immigrant
• Indecent assault
• Intimidation and crimen injuria
• Possession of stolen property
• Possession of marijuana
• Pointing of a fire arm
• Stock Theft
• Suspected stolen goods

2. (a) (b) Total number of inmates who escaped, rearrested and/ or remain at large as at 30 April 2022.

Region	Un-sentenced Escaped	Total Re-Arrested	Un-sentenced still at large
Eastern Cape	08	08	00
Gauteng	28	13	15
Free State Northern Cape	16	14	02
Western Cape	82	80	02
KwaZulu- Natal	11	10	01
Limpopo Mpumalanga North- West	01	01	00
NATIONAL	146	126	20

Total number of sentenced inmates who escaped, re-arrested and/ or are still at large.

Region	Sentenced Escaped	Total Re-Arrested	Sentenced still at large
Eastern Cape	22	21	01
Gauteng	26	13	13
Free State, Northern Cape	20	17	03
Western Cape	18	17	01
KwaZulu- Natal	16	11	05
Limpopo, Mpumalanga, North – West	37	21	16
NATIONAL	139	100	39

4. Escapes are reported to the South African Police Services (SARS) and criminal cases are opened against the perpetrators. SARS track and tracing unit together with the DCS EST (Emergency Support Teams) conduct manhunt and search operations.

Due to the violent nature of most escapees. For all foreign national who escape, DCS and SAPS also engage with to the SADC countries law enforcement agencies.

END.

Reply:

1. No.

2. Falls away.

Reply:

a) PRASA operations are receiving increased attention from the Department in a number of ways:

1. In terms of the Shareholder Compact and Corporate Plan Prasa submits quarterly reports to the Department as a monitoring mechanism to track progress in key deliverables signed by the Minister and the Board of Control;
2. Quarterly meetings are held to present progress reports to the Department of Transport;
3. The Capital Project Steering Committee (CPSC) has been established and is convened quarterly to monitor progress in the implementation of CAPEX;

In addition to the above mechanisms the CPSC conducts oversight on the projects to verify information submitted.

b) PRASA has made strides in implementing the Integrated Security Plan launched by the Minister in October 2020. Security deployments have been made across identified hotspots.

Crimes and the type of crimes vary within PRASA. Constant intelligence and crime operations shows the different modus operandi within the different regions. When looking at the various crime data and information gathered, it shows how different regions will experience different types of crimes.

Intelligence driven projects, and criminal syndication penetration operations, have yielded great results. This would need to be intensified by strengthening PRASA joint operations with both the State security agency and SAPS crime intelligence.

Reply:

The company that is being alleged to be violating labour laws does not have a contract with government as it operates long distance or tourist services. However, the South African Road Passenger Bargaining Council (SARPBAC) is the enforcement agency for non-compliance with labour laws in the bus sector. Therefore, any non-compliance with basic conditions of employment and other labour practices by the operator should be reported at the agency. The Department of Employment and Labour may also be of assistance on this matter.

Reply:

a) Mining Indaba is a conference like any other, the Department does not derive its mandate from it.

b) All issues raised at different platforms, including mining indaba are dealt with in line with the Department’s mandate and in accordance with the annual performance plan.

Reply:

The COVID-19 pandemic that has spread rapidly and extensively around the world since March 2020, has had profound impact on the delivery of social development services to citizens especially community mobilisation, sustainable livelihoods, food security, registration and funding of non-profit organisations services. The unfolding crisis has affected these services and threatened people’s access to services and food. The country has witnessed not only a major disruption to food supply chains in the wake of lockdowns triggered by the global health crisis, but also a major global economic slowdown.

These crises have resulted in lower incomes and higher prices of food, putting food out of reach for many, and undermining the right to food and stalling efforts to meet Sustainable Development Goals. The Department (DSD) has been providing food and nutrition services to combat the growing challenge of malnutrition and hunger amongst poor and vulnerable communities therefore Covid-19 pandemic disrupted the provision of such very important commodity.

Prior to the outbreak of COVID-19 pandemic, the department developed a system of service delivery that empowered communities with economic empowerment projects, mobilisation and dialogue, food distribution and registration and funding of NPOs. South Africa has experienced an increase in the levels of food insecurity and vulnerability during this pandemic and the necessary lock-down to prevent the spread of the virus. Prior to lock-down the percentage of households with inadequate access to food was at 20.2% (3 347 342 people) in 2018. The lock-down exacerbated the magnitude of the need for food as more poor people living below the food poverty line found themselves with limited resources to sustain food supplies for their families.

The number of people accessing nutritious foods through DSD Food Programmes increased to 9 244 072 and 2 264 325 households, whilst the target set was 3 300 000 people and 1 million households. There was an increase in the number of persons accessing Psychosocial Support Services in 2020 as opposed to 2019. The increase can be attributed to the trauma resulted from the overall COVID-19 situation in the country.

The DSD through the Gender Based Violence Command Centre (GBV CC) mended by Social Workers dealt with all forms of trauma. There are number of reasons to the increase in the number of persons accessing psychosocial service via the GBV CC. For e.g. during the hard Lock down of March 2020, many people found themselves in confined spaces, with threatened job losses/security, this meant more people needed psychosocial support services. The Command Centre as a 24/7 telephonic service and was easily accessible under lockdown restrictions. Below table indicates over 50% increase on the comparison of number of persons who accessed the Centre for the period under review (2019 Vs 2020).

• Above indicates exponential increase of over 50%
• The below is the reflection of number recorded cases that have since remained stable in 2021 as the situation of COVID-19/restrictions have been eased:

GBVCC Statistical Report
Date	Telephone call Receive	USSDs Received	SMS’s Received	Total
Jan - Dec	73 829	3484	2843	80156

Some of the impact of COVID 19 on shelters for victims of crime and violence are as follows:

• Beneficiaries of services in social welfare facilities which amongst other include older were negatively impacted by restrictions imposed by the Disaster Regulations and Directions which did not allow any visitation to these facilities during COVID 19. The closure of community-based programmes also created a burden to families who were strained and were not prepared to care for their individual members during that period.
• There was also a sudden increase in the number of persons who used the anti-substance abuse services. The following table illustrates number of persons reached through Anti-Substance Abuse programme during the 2020/21 and 2021/22 financial years:

Level of services	2020/21	2021/22
Prevention	217 9218	5 085 296
Treatment	32 575	44 332
Aftercare	7 557	10 032
Total	2 219 350	5 139 660

In general, the social welfare programme has been partially negatively impacted to render services as expected as the result of the outbreak. Some of the programmes that are customised to be delivered physically were compromised and delivered using the hybrid model and not all provinces and persons are having excess to the technological infrastructure.

The Department of Social Development (DSD) along with its agencies (South African Social Security Agency – SASSA and the National Development Agency - NDA) have initiated a Social Sector Research, Monitoring and Evaluation Technical Working Group for COVID-19 related projects. The studies which included three (3) rapid assessments were conducted to gather robust evidence on high priority strategies implemented in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. The table below summarises the findings of the three studies.

TITLE OF STUDY	KEY FINDINGS
1. Rapid Assessment on the Implementation and Utilisation of the Special R350 COVID-19 Grant	The findings indicates that: a) Communication about access, application process and criteria as this was misunderstood by those in need and this area requires improvement. b) The beneficiaries of the Special R350 COVID-19 grant are most likely in rural areas, less educated, less tech-savvy, and heavily reliant on word of mouth communication. c) Reach was subsequently hindered as those that qualified did not have the means and/or knowledge of how to apply. d) There is also a strong need to find ways to mitigate and bridge the digital divide in the administration of social security. This is supported by majority of the respondents (88%) who maintain that the grant to be accessed by all poor individuals that apply as there are many poor people in South Africa (as explained by 77% of respondents).
2. A rapid assessment of key monitoring indicators of measuring the impact of Covid-19 lockdown on child wellbeing in South Africa	a) General observations: The responsibility to care for children predominately rest on single parents. There are variations in family dynamics and support structure in different districts with possible implications for wholesome childcare and protection. This supposition is illustrated in various findings and should be considering in developing community specific interventions. Most households are headed by unemployed females who predominantly depend on child support grants. The high burden of childcare on single parents may be an impediment to pursue opportunities to improve their material circumstances and possibly break the circle of poverty and impoverishment. b) Child Protection and Psychosocial Domains: A higher proportion of children feel unsafe even if they have never been hurt. This may be reflective of the internal and external environment they find themselves. Exposure to adult violence was high in most of the districts and children in most cases reported being hurt, highlighting child safety and protection issues. Sexual abuse rates are high and affects children of all ages, with risk increasing by age group. The long-term psychosocial health implication of this may require attention and the integrated school health programme can be leveraged. c) Food Security and Anthropometric Findings: Rates of experience of hunger are concerning and vary considerably across districts. These variations are potentially due to prevailing socio-cultural, environmental, and economic dynamics. Anthropometric findings indicate that among vulnerable children targeted by this study, the prevalence of malnutrition is very high as reflected by the high proportions affected by stunting and underweight. d) Education and Economic Wellbeing Domains: A concerning proportion of children of school going age are not attending school especially among the younger age groups. Special programmes to ensure greater school attendance are essential as a path to true self-reliance. High proportions of children reported having limited or no support with schoolwork and also many don’t have access to stationery. A portion of the household heads reported not being able to provide basic needs such as food, water, and clothing despite the grants. Higher proportions of children from households with other income sources access basic needs compared to those that are solely dependent on social grants. Families that reported being able to provide basic needs had higher proportions of children who attend school regularly and their daughters are less likely to miss school due to not having sanitary pads. e) Health and HIV/AIDS Domains: There are varying levels of poor health among children across districts, with high rates of recent illness reported in the same districts that also had the lowest health seeking rates. Overall findings indicate high rates of recent illness reported among vulnerable children. Poor health seeking observed in some districts may indicate systemic challenges related to access to healthcare which require more investigation.
3. Synthesis evaluation of Social Development sector’s response to food relief mechanism during Covid-19	a) Relevance: The study found that the DSD food relief intervention was relevant for SA government needed to continually address the root causes of poverty, hunger and unemployment through policy initiatives and safety nets such as social grants to economically disempowered persons. There is a need for a systematic and consolidated approach to address the haphazard nature of government response to hunger and unemployment due to the lack of an integrated strategy to assist vulnerable people during crisis periods. b) Cohesion: The relief effort was targeted at reaching the vulnerable families, experiencing severe food insecurity during the lockdown period and was designed to be a stopgap measure to allow time for the more systemic government grant solutions to come on stream, and the resumption of government feeding programmes at schools and DSD centres. c) Effectiveness: The department was able to reach the most deserving vulnerable people through its partnership with SASSA. DSD and SASSA worked on a digital method for people to apply for grants as well as for the R350 Social Relief of Distress grant. This digital method applied to both smart and non-smart mobile phones to allow for others to apply on behalf of people who did not have a mobile phone or were not comfortable using one. d) Efficiency: There was resource efficiency given that most of the Fund’s disbursement went directly to beneficiaries, with very limited funding covering intermediary distribution costs. On average, the distribution costs were 6% of the total disbursement, with remote areas incurring higher distribution charges. e) Sustainability: Collaboration between the various levels of government and non-state actors in providing food relief response proved the potential of effective intergovernmental relations in responding to the needs of the poor. The use of hybrid food distribution (food parcels, cooked food and e-Voucher) model. The use of other stakeholders (multi-stakeholder approach to food distribution) will in future provide a working model for implementing food relief for future disasters. The disaster also assisted the capacity development of DSD internal systems for planning for disasters.

Reply:

a) Amounts unspent for the 2021/22 financial year

(i) National Department of Social Development.

The underspending relates to the social assistance grants (Old ages and Child Support Grants) for which less than expected beneficiaries have applied and being paid during the financial year.

The table below illustrates the preliminary underspending per programme:

Programme	Final Approp R’000	Prelim Exp Mar 2022 R’000	Prelim Deviation R’000
Administration	474 797	472 269	2 528
Social Assistance	224 542 226	222 717 897	1 824 329
Social Security Policy and Admin	8 072 401	8 052 807	19 594
Welfare Services Policy Development and Implementation Support	1 516 316	1 505 208	11 108
Social Policy and Integrated Service Delivery	366 378	360 751	5 627
Grand Total	234 972 118	233 108 932	1 863 186

b) The above under-spending had no impact on Social Welfare Services, all organisations approved for funding were allocated funds accordingly

(ii) Provincial Departments of Social Development.

• Eastern Cape

(a) See the link: https://pmg.org.za/files/1/Eastern_Cape.pdf

b) The impact of underspending on Social welfare Services affected the following:

• Service Centres- the maximum number of beneficiaries were kept at 20 for all the centres.
• Services to Persons with Disabilities- The funding for Sakhingomso in OR Tambo and CBR in Joe Gqabi will was not funded.
• Social Relief of distress- less number of students will benefited from the uniform purchased from this funding.
• Reduction of awareness programmes on prevention of GBV and Femicide (both physical and through media).
• Reduced monitoring of services and programmes.
• Reduced funding to NPOs affecting the number of caregivers and the increment in line with Ministerial Determination.
• Reduced admin funds for funded posts in NPOs.
• Reduced number of Everyday Heroes Ambassadors.
• Funds for prevention programmes were affected in funded NPOs as only stipend will be afforded.
• No expansion of services to underfunded or hot spot areas.
• No funds for capacity building of caregivers

• Free State

a) The Final adjusted budget for the 2021/22 financial year amounted to R1 533 739 000 of which R1 507 969 682.66 was spent. An unspent balance of R25 769 317.34 remained.

The under expenditure realised within the department was mostly due to the ECD Conditional Grant allocated within Programme 3. Remaining funds in respect of the maintenance portion as well as the ECD Stimulus Relief Fund were requested for rollover.

• Gauteng

(a)

Gauteng Department of Social Development underspent the allocated budget for the 2021/22 financial year by R122,991 million.

The table below illustrates areas of underspending per standard item for the Gauteng Department of Social Development.

Economic classification	Final Approp R’000	Expenditure R’000	Variance R’000	% Spent
Compensation of employees	2 050 901	2 028 216	22 685	99%
Goods and services	1 162 709	1 129 995	32 714	97%
Provincial and local governments	2 362	2 362	-	100%
Departmental agencies & accounts	1 969	1 969	-	100%
Non-profit institutions (npi)	2 783 547	2 717 156	66 391	98%
Households (hh)	13 311	13 311	-	100%
Buildings & other fix struct	94 281	93 080	1 201	99%
Machinery and equipment	38 836	38 836	-	100%
Payments for financial asset	641	641	-	100%
Grand total	6 148 557	6 025 566	122 991	98%

• Compensation of Employee - 99%

Additional funds received in the 2021/22 adjustment budget period to appoint Social Workers on a four-month contract was not spent in full.

• Goods and Services - 97%

The underspending in this category is mainly on dignity packs due to late finalisation of specifications. In addition, the allocation received for the maintenance of ECD centres was not spent in full as some of the facilities identified for renovation were found to be closed and no longer in operation.

• Non-Profit -Institutions - 98%

The allocated budget for ECD Employment Stimulus Relief Fund was not spent in full due to rejections caused by unverified bank accounts, ECD Centres registered as Companies, Partnerships, and other forms of businesses other than Non-Profit Organisations.

• Building & Other Fixed Structure - 99%

The infrastructure budget was underspent by 1% due to delays in completion of some projects.

The Gauteng Department of Social Department applied for the roll-over of unspent funds for ECD Employment Stimulus Relief Fund amounting to R 63,049. This amount will be used to fund commitments not paid by the 2021/22 financial year. The balance of R59,942 million not spent will be surrendered to the Provincial Revenue Funds after the audit process is finalised.

b) The welfare programme affected by the underspending is the delivery of dignity packs as the target for the 2021/22 financial year was not achieved by the end of the financial year.

-KwaZulu Natal

a) A total of R82, 255 million was unspent in the financial year 2022/2023 in respect of Early Child Development (ECD) grant.

(ii) An amount of R78,781 million is in respect of the Presidential Stimulus Package.

An amount of R1, 340 million is in respect of ECD subsidy expansion. The cause for not spending the funds is that the ECD centres who had been identified for funding were found to be non-functional. Other ECD centres were found to have previously mismanagement funds and as a result funding was stopped.

An amount of R2, 134 million is the balance of the rollover amount in respect of ECD maintenance funds that were repurposed for procurement of PPPE`s for unfunded ECDs

b) The equitable share allocation was overspent by R26 105 million.

• Limpopo

a) The department surrendered R74,255,121 to National Treasury for 2021/22 financial year as detailed below:

-Mpumalanga

a) Unspent funds for the period ended 31 March 2022 amount to R53.068 million.

The underspending largely relates to conditional grant funding of Early Childhood Development (ECD) stimulus package which is attributed to payment rejections due to challenges of bank account of beneficiary ECD centres.

Application to request roll-over of unspent funds has been submitted to the Provincial Treasury to fund these commitments in 2022/23 financial year

(b) The under spending did not affect budget availability on any welfare programmes.

• Northern Cape

(a)

• Compensation – R 12,213 million

The saving in the compensation budget is due to vacant positions. The Department applied for a roll-over of R4,6 million for the appointment of Social Work leaners. Furthermore, the Department advertised vacant Social Workers and Community Development Workers positions in April 2022.

• Goods and Services – R 8,978 million

The savings under goods and services was due to late implementation of some of the programmes due to Covid-19. As a result, the Department has accruals of R6,191 million. The Department will engage Provincial Treasury for possible roll-over to cover the accruals in the new financial year.

• Transfers and Subsidies – R 12,765 million

The savings was primarily due to a decrease in the number of children at the children’s homes and reduction in the number of compliant ECDs.

• Capital Expenditure – R R8,877 million

The Department applied for a roll-over of R6,9 million for the completion of infrastructure projects. Due to Covid-19, the delivery of computer equipment was delayed resulting in a saving.

• Conditional Grant

ECD Administration allocation – R 1,414 million

The Department had a saving due to two vacant positions of a project manager and an administrative clerk.

• Transfers and Subsidies – R 10 460

The saving is made up of the under-spending on the Presidential Stimulus package and ECD subsidies.

b) The above under-spending had no impact on Social Welfare Services, all organisations approved for funding were allocated funds accordingly.

-North West

(a)(i) The NW DSD returned R142,1 million

(ii) The breakdown is as follows

Programme	Budget	Expenditure at 31 March 2022	Available Budget
Administration	221 189 000	216 498 784	4 690 216
Social Welfare Services	563 466 000	540 037 020	23 428 980
Children and Families	541 538 000	464 876 952	76 661 049
Restorative Services	311 266 000	285 745 503	25 520 497
Development and Research	190 138 000	178 242 933	11 895 067
Grand Total	1 827 597 000	1 685 401 191	142 195 809

b) The underspending affected the programs negatively due to accruals relating to goods and services to be paid in the current financial year, over and above the budget reduction implemented during the 2021 MTEF period

• Western Cape

a) The Western Cape DSD have spent R2,705 billion of the R2,726 billion adjusted budget that translates to 99.25% spent. This means an amount of R20.388 million was unspent.

The underspending relates to the following:

• • Procurement of specialized vehicles for the transport of children with intellectual disabilities (R6.290 million).

In terms of the procurement of the vehicles, the delivery of the vehicles did not take place by 31 March 2022. It is expected that the adapted vehicles will be delivered by GMT (Government Motor Transport) within the 2022/23 financial year.

• • Sanitary Dignity Project (R1.549 million).

The reason for the underspending in 2021/22 was due to the service provider informing the Department on 9th March 2022 that the delivery scheduled for March 2022 could not be completed due to the impact of load shedding and the non-availability of packaging. On 31 March 2022 the Department approved a 60-day extension ending 31st May 2022 for the delivery of the outstanding stock.

• • ECD National Conditional Grant and Partial Care (R10.306 million)

The department realised a saving of R10.306 million on the ECD CG. The reason for the unspent funds were that no new unregistered ECD centres applied for funding and thus no applications were received.

• • ECD Equitable Share (R2.243 million)

The department realised a saving on R2.243 million on the ECD Equitable Share. The reason for the unspent funds were due to fewer than anticipated unregistered ECD centres applied for funding and thus no applications were received.

Reply:

1. Yes, information will be made available after Cabinet approval.

2. The way forward will be informed by scientific studies currently underway.

Reply:

I can confirm that the SA National Roads Agency SOC Ltd has been appointed as a leading agency to rebuild the damaged roads as a result of the KZN Flood Disaster. They have been an active member since the inception of the Rapid Response Team consisting of the Department of Transport, SANRAL, KZN Province, COGTA, SALGA and Local Authorities’ representatives, which meets on a weekly basis to coordinate and track progress. To date, SANRAL’s engineers have been tasked with the flood damage verification inspections of nearly 2500 damage locations since the end of April 2022. SANRAL will also act as the Implementing Agent for priority projects on the Provincial and Municipal road networks as per the Memorandums of Agreements being finalised between the relevant parties.

Reply:

a) The total number of Breaking New Ground houses delivered in each province for the 2020-21 financial year.

Province	2020/21 FY
	Houses delivered
Eastern Cape	5 427
Free State	1 890
Gauteng	9 495
KwaZulu-Natal	10 315
Limpopo	4 518
Mpumalanga	4 522
Northern Cape	221
North West	2 847
Western Cape	6 354
Total	45 589

b) The total number of Social Housing Opportunities delivered in each province for the 2020-21 financial year.

Community Residential Units (CRU’s)

Province	2020/21 FY
	CRUs
Eastern Cape	0
Free State	602
Gauteng	0
KwaZulu-Natal	404
Limpopo	0
Mpumalanga	0
Northern Cape	0
North West	0
Western Cape	0
Total	1006

Social Housing Programme

Province	2020/21 FY
	Social Housing units
Eastern Cape	385
Free State	0
Gauteng	1049
KwaZulu-Natal	0
Limpopo	164
Mpumalanga	0
Northern Cape	0
North West	0
Western Cape	258
Total	1856

c) The total number of Informal Settlement Upgrades delivered in each province for the 2020-21 financial year.

Province	2020/21 FY
	Informal Settlements Upgrading Plans developed (constitute Phase 1)
Eastern Cape	42
Free State	19
Gauteng	46
KwaZulu-Natal	30
Limpopo	16
Mpumalanga	24
Northern Cape	74
North West	30
Western Cape	12
Total	293

d) The total number of Finance-Linked Individual Subsidy Programme (FLISP) opportunities delivered in each province for the 2020-21 financial year.

Province	2020/21 FY
	FLISP
Eastern Cape	71
Free State	150
Gauteng	46
KwaZulu-Natal	313
Limpopo	32
Mpumalanga	39
Northern Cape	17
North West	131
Western Cape	1 176
Total	1 975
NHFC	1 186
Grand Total	3 161

e) The total number of title deeds delivered in each province for the 2020-21 financial year.

Province	2020/21 FY
	Pre 1994	Post 1994	Current and New developments
Eastern Cape	234	658	-
Free State	51	2 911	1 171
Gauteng	32	2 303	1 178
KwaZulu-Natal	442	1 187	1 650
Limpopo	3	620	436
Mpumalanga	196	579	1 036
Northern Cape	178	253	12
North West	30	507	-
Western Cape	88	1 025
Total	1 254	10 043	5 483

Reply:

1. I can only account for the Department of Social Development which has set aside a budget of R46 482 000.00 to deal with gender-based violence and femicide related matters in the current financial year. With regard to budget across departments, the Honourable Member is advised to direct the question to the Minister in The Presidency Responsible for Women, Youth and Persons with Disabilities. This budget covers goods and services, compensation and transfers to the three funded national organisations rendering services to victims of violence and crime.

2. Given the unacceptably high levels of gender-based violence and femicide in the country, the allocated budget is not adequate.

3. (a)(b) The short fall cannot be quantified as we have not conducted a costing excise as well as the legislation that mandate the funding of GBVF services. the finalisation of the Victim Support Services Bill, which is currently before Parliament will assist in quantifying financial implication in the delivery of GBVF services. Tackling the scourge of GBVF requires the whole-of-Government and whole-of society approach. In this regard, the Department continues to forge partnerships with various stakeholders to improve and fund the shortfall in the delivery of GBVF services. Currently, the Department has partnerships with the Criminal Assets Recovery Accounts (CARA), European Union and Global Fund.

Reply:

Yes, the Department has made assessment on the Provincial network. There are two processes currently underway and those are:

• COGTA or National Disaster Management Centre processes – this is the normal process that gets undertaken when disasters occur. It requires declaration, gazette and verification of assessment; and the process normally takes longer than 6 months to be concluded.
• National Department of Transport processes – Department is intervening in the Provinces that were recently affected by recent (April) disaster and Eastern Cape is one of those. There are series of meetings conducted in order to identify the exact intervention required. NDOT is considering reprioritising some of the Provincial Roads Maintenance Grant (PRMG) to disaster affected Provinces. NDOT processes are at advanced stages and ECDOT is finalising its implementation plan.

It must be mentioned that both processes will not result in roads being upgraded to surface standard but will restore condition to its original state.

Reply:

1. 28 October 2021.

2. At this stage, SASSA does not have the requested information. It is important to note that eligibility for a grant is not reviewed on the basis of employment, but on income as per the regulations to the Social Assistance Act.

3. January 2022. The suspected government employees were given 3 months’ notice 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 did not respond to the notice, informing them that SASSA intends to suspend their grant at the end of July 2022.

4. For beneficiaries who fail to comply with the notice by the cut-off date of July 2022; their social grants will be suspended. However, the beneficiary will then still have another 3 months to come forward and request SASSA to re-instate their social grants. Failure to comply, will result in the grant being permanently cancelled and the beneficiary will need to reapply, should they still require it. Thus, it is expected that the entire process until termination of the grant will be concluded by October 2022.

5. 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 grant. Where the beneficiary no longer qualifies, the 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:

(1)(a)(b)(2)(a)(b) In terms of the South African Social Security Agency Act (Act No. 9 of 2004), the Agency is not at liberty to disclose the personal information obtained as a result of an application for a social grant unless directed by a court orders such or the concerned individual has consented to such.

(3) Beneficiaries, whose employment conditions were suspected to have changed, were given notice in January of the intention to review their social grants. According to this notice, beneficiaries were afforded 3 months to complete this process. Those beneficiaries who did not approach SASSA during the period that ended in April 2022 to conduct their review were then issued with an “intention to suspend” notice. These notices were issued in May 2022 and gives beneficiaries until the end of July 2022 to remedy the situation. Failure to respond will result in the suspension of their grant. However, the beneficiary will still have the right to approach SASSA to re-instate their grant within 3 months after it has been suspended. If this is not done, the grant will be permanently terminated.

Reply:

(a)

Table 1: Passenger Volumes: 2017/18 – 2021/22

PERIOD	COMMUTER NUMBERS
2017/18	269,925,897
2018/19	208,888,587
2019/20	115,417,417
2020/21	8,147,180
2021/22	16,699,332

(b) Income Generated during the last 5 years as a % of Opex

Table 2: Income Generated versus Opex and Subsidy

Table 2 above proves the reply given earlier that the income generated through fare revenue during the last five years only covered a portion (or 10%) of operational costs. The rest has been covered through subsidy which indicates a heavy reliance on state support to operate commuter rail operations.

The major cause for this decline is the vandalism and theft of our Rolling Stock and Network Infrastructure impacting significantly on the optimal operations and in turn revenue collection. This was as a result of the lack of security to protect our infrastructure and network. The level 5 lockdown regulations imposed to mitigate the COVID-19 pandemic from 2020-2021 completely halted the operations, easing to levels 3 and 2 into 2021-2022 with limited operations also contributed to revenue loss.

Reply:

a) For the period under review sixty-two adoptions were processed by departmental social workers. In the Western Cape, adoption services are primarily dealt with by 34 accredited child protection organisations and social workers in private practice.

There is however adoption cases that are still under investigations which are reflected below and not included in the total numbers (62).

• Northern Cape: 5
• North West: 36

b) Below is the breakdown of adoption cases per province:

Province	2017/18	2018/19	2019/20	2020/21	2021/22	Total
Eastern Cape	4	7	10	8	9	38
Northern Cape	0	0	0	0	0	0
Mpumalanga	0	0	0	0	0	0
Free State	0	0	0	0	0	0
Limpopo	0	0	0	11	8	19
North West	0	0	0	0	0	0
Gauteng	0	0	0	0	5	5
Kwa Zulu Natal	0	0	0	0	0	0
Western Cape	0	0	0	0	0	0

The departmental social workers only got registered with the South African Council for Social Service Profession to provide adoption services during 2021/22 financial year. It is important for the Honourable Member to note that departmental social workers in the 8 provinces, namely Northern Cape, Limpopo, Gauteng, Mpumalanga, Free State, Eastern Cape, Kwa Zulu Natal and North West only started rendering adoption services during the financial year 2022/23. Only Eastern Cape social workers in some of the districts have been rendering adoption services since 2018/19.

Reply:

a) It is true that the road infrastructure plays a critical role in the economy of our country and has to play a complimentary role with regards to its sister mode, the rail infrastructure. It is for this reason that while the department is putting policies for rail sector, the road sector is going ahead with its road infrastructure plan:

i) The road policy is being developed with four critical chapters, namely: Road Safety, Road Financing, Non-Motorised and road infrastructure delivery models. The consultation of this policy position is underway and would be concluded soon.

ii). The classification of roads in South Africa is underway and this in terms of the RISFSA guideline document and this classification will guide spheres of government on the responsibility as Road Authorities.

iii). The national roads are managed by SANRAL which is the road agency of the National Department of Transport whilst other categories of road are managed by provincial road department and municipalities.

Table one below explains road network and the responsible authority to manage it:

Authority	Paved	Gravel	Total
SANRAL	22,262	0	22,262
Provinces – 9	46,511	226,273	272,782
Metros – 8	51,682	14,461	66,143
Municipalities	37,680	219,223	256,903
Total	158,124	459,957	618,081
Unproclaimed (estimated)		131,919	131,919
Estimated total	158,124	591,876	750,000
Unproclaimed roads = Public roads not formally gazetted by any authority

iv) Provincial roads receive a grant called Provincial Roads Maintenance Grant (PRMG) from National Department of Transport (NDOT). The NDOT does oversight role on business plans submitted by provinces during the implementation stages of the grant.

This grant started during 2011/12 financial year and it is addressing the maintenance challenges the provinces face on their roads.

(b) (i)There has been huge successes with regard to road programs across the country:

-SANRAL: Road network is one of the best and it is ranked 18th in the world

-Provincial Roads are mostly having challenges due to the lack of critical technical skills at both Provincial and Municipal spheres of government. For this reason SANRAL is now assigned responsibilities to assist with technical skills for the construction and maintenance of provincial road in particular by entering into MOU/MOA, and also in skills transfer.

(ii) Challenges experienced:

• There is a shortage of requisite technical skills particularly at Provincial and Municipal levels. They are unable to keep top engineers and relevant technical skills where the private sector pays more than the government.

• The business forums disrupt projects demanding 30 percent without doing any work.

• Another challenge is the level of funding in general, which is still lower than what is required and this is a general problem across all sectors.

As the economy improves, we believe government will be able to assist all sectors of our economy.

Reply:

1. (a) The Kerbside operations of the City of Ekurhuleni’s Bus Transport commenced in October 2017/18 with an introductory service with 8 buses operating between Thembisa and Isando Industrial area. In 2019/20 with the introduction of 10 additional buses (total of 18 buses) the system network was extended to OR Tambo International Airport. In 2021/22 additional 22 buses were introduced (total of 40 buses) the system was further extended to Bartlett Industrial area.

(b) The partial operations of the dedicated bus lanes commenced in 2019 when the system was extended to OR Tambo International Airport.

2. (a) Negotiations with the taxi industry for permanent compensation for Phase 1A have not been completed due to disunity within the taxi industry, and the City is actively assisting in resolving.

(b) KTVR is the current Special Purpose Vehicle (SPV) operating Harambee Bus service on behalf of the City and is solely funded for such operations. Finalisation of negotiations with the taxi industry shall result in the payment of permanent compensation.

3. (a) (b) Construction of the six pedestrian bridges along the dedicated bus lanes along Andrew Mapheto Drive and Zuurfontein Road were completed in 2019 and are currently open to the public.

Reply:

The Department of Roads and Transport in Gauteng are the custodians of the subsidised contracts with the Public Utility Transport Company (PUTCO). There are 34 subsidised bus contracts in Gauteng and 7 of these belongs to PUTCO. However, all bus contracts in Gauteng have reached the end of their contract life, some as far back as 2003, but due to lack of sufficient funds these contracts have not been renewed but are being extended on a short-term basis. This is a problem that is not only confined to Gauteng but apply nationally. There are 108 subsidised bus contracts across all provinces and all have reached the end of their contract life and have also been extended on a short-term basis. The continued extension of subsidised bus contracts is simply to ensure that there is no total collapse of services in the country whilst government is in the process of resolving this matter. There are ongoing discussions between the Department and National Treasury exploring various options for implementing a sustainable public transport funding model which includes the development of a subsidy policy.

 

Reply:

The following are the status of the appointment of Boards of the specified entities: -

a) The Cross Border Road Transport Agency (C-BRTA) has a constituted Board which was appointed with effect from 1st July 2021 and its term is ending on 30 June 2023.

b) The Board of the Road Traffic Management Corporation (RTMC) is appointed by the Shareholder Committee as contemplated by section 10 of the RTMC Act. The Shareholders Committee is a forum through which the national, provincial and local spheres of government co-operate with each other and with other persons or bodies concerned with road traffic matters. The Shareholder Committee consists of the Minister of Transport and every MEC of transport in the 9 provinces of South Africa. The Committee has initiated the process of appointment of the Board and this process will be finalised soon.

c) The term of the Board of the Airports Company of South Africa ended on 31 August 2021 and it has been extended until the process of appointment of a new board is completed. The process of appointment is at an advance stage and will be completed soon.

Reply:

1. a & b.

Rustenburg, Polokwane and Mangaung are the first three of the ten IPTN

cities that should implement the first integrated ticketing pilots in 2022. It will involve IPTN trunk and feeder buses and if applicable, contracted IPTN minibus services as well.

2. Santaco has been included in the rollout and are currently consulting on identifying their own pilot site utilising minibus taxis.

Reply:

DEPARTMENT OF SOCIAL DEVELOPMENT (DSD)

(a)(b) (i)(ii) (aa)(bb)(cc)(dd)(ee) Neither the Department nor its public entities have concluded any commercial contracts with the Government or any entity.

Reply:

The Road Construction and Maintenance Indaba held in February 2022 resolved to prioritise pothole fixing as one of the interventions to address the rapid deterioration of roads. The Mpumalanga Department of Public Works, Roads and Transport then commenced with pothole patching of the Nelspruit airport road between Plaston and the N4 Karino interchange.

The programme commenced on 18th April 2022 and has been completed on the 6th May 2022.

A small section remains where the pothole patching needs to be done after the underlying layers have been repaired and this should be completed before 31st May 2022.

As the Honourable member may be aware, pothole patching is a temporary intervention as the road has passed its design life and requires rehabilitation, which is not possible currently due to lack of funding.

Reply:

Yes.The recommendations made by the Technical Committee for Payments of Social Grants were mostly implemented, as most of them dealt with the transition of the payment services from Cash Payment Services (CPS) to the South African Post Office (SAPO) and the governance thereof.

The review of the SASSA implementation processes is in line with the amendments to the regulations. There are however, few governance and institutional reviews that are still work in progress. For example, the Department of Social Development has prepared a draft South African Social Security Agency Amendment Bill whilst the operationalisation of the Social Assistance Amendment Act No. 16 of 2020 and the amendment regulations thereof will be published shortly.

The recommendations by the Technical Committee can be summarised in 7 categories in the table below.

List of recommendations	a) Implemented	b) Not Implemented and why?	Ongoing
1. Documenting standard operating procedures: SASSA needs to document standard operating procedures of the new system as well as incorporate the biometric system. The SOPs must cover the entire cash transfer programme.	Yes:
2. Management and administration: A formal process of accountability and responsibility is required in which the system and institution operates. SASSA and SAPO need to collaborate to determine and implement a synchronised accountability system.	Yes: There is a Service Level Agreement governing and delineating responsibilities in the contract between SASSA and SAPO.
3. Process redesign: Identify multiple payment channels: (a). Different methods of payment available to beneficiaries; (b). The investment of SAPO and SASSA staff at the SAPO offices needs to be informed by the beneficiaries’ choice of accessing money.	Yes:
4. Management information system: Management and Information systems (MIS) are of crucial importance to ensure cash transfer programmes are effectively implemented.	Yes. Payment files are generated by the system and verification of beneficiary status with Home Affairs is done monthly before payment is processed.
5. Grievance and redress: Implement a grievance system at the different SAPO station and ensure it corresponds to SASSA office grievance and redress.	Yes. A system is in place whereby beneficiaries can lodge their complaints and grievances at the post office, Postbank and SASSA. Beneficiaries are able to lodge their complaints due to alleged payment fraud. These are investigated and refunded based on the merits of the fraud.		The refund of beneficiaries is still ongoing.
6. Monitoring and evaluation system: Robust monitoring and evaluation are crucial both for programme performance and political sustainability as well as to ensure quality control and assurance.	Yes: The SASSA has a monitoring and evaluation system in place though the following structures: SASSA/ SAPO Steering Committee Joint Steering Committee at a ministerial level between Minister of the DSD and Minister of Communication and Digital Technologies Joint EXCO DSD/(DCDT), SASSA & SAPO.		This process is ongoing, because the committees meet on a regular basis to monitor and evaluate progress.
7. Financial Inclusion: The current payment plan excludes financial integration for beneficiaries. Increasing financial access to the poor and allowing transfers into an account for beneficiaries enable households to save for future needs.		No: This is due to the high number of deductions on the CPS card; unauthorised deductions such as: airtime, data, enticing people to take more than one funeral policy and loans. Discussion were held with the oversight structures that the SAPO card will be restricted. Beneficiaries will only be allowed to have one funeral policy deducted and no other unauthorised deductions will be allowed on their SAPO card.

Workstreams: For SASSA to be able to effectively insource its core functions (grant administration and distribution) it had to undertake an extensive change programme spanning over 5 years with key functional components and sub-components that required:

• new and up-skilled workforce,
• improved business processes, and
• technology investments.

Therefore, 11 programmes were developed by the workstreams to ensure that a careful and tightly integrated orchestration of activities can be set into motion to ensure that, in parallel to sourcing new payment service providers, that SASSA is able to undertake a number of change and readiness exercises.

It was recommended that in year one (1), a new service provider/s can commence with an on-schedule transfer of functions to SASSA in a phased “transition and integration” towards strategic insource completion.

Recommendations	Implemented	Not implemented
CPS phase-out – Build-Operate- Transfer (BOT) model has been recommended - transitioning strategic functions to SASSA in two phases, every two years in duration, thus resulting in a three-year contract with a two-year extension or ultimately a five year contract.	CPS is no longer rendering any contracted services for SASSA. Inter-Governmental Partnership in place - SAPO/Postbank services comprising: card issuance over-the-counter payment cash disbursement at pay points. .	The Built-Operate-Transfer model (BOT) as part of the payment review process – the SASSA / SAPO agreement was based on BOT arrangement, but unfortunately due to other complications within SAPO and how some of their contracts with service providers were structured, it was not feasible for SASSA to continue on a BOT arrangement, Hence SASSA opted to go through a BPR process.
New payment infrastructure programme - strategic business processes are insourced and other payment functions co-sourced. Core Banking and Payments Electronic payment Alternative pay points		As far as card issuance and payments are concerned – SASSA is currently engaging South African Reserve Bank (SARB) to establish possibilities for participation in the National Payment System (NPS) space as a non-bank organisation. The engagements are at an early stage. In the same note, there is a project which is at a conceptual stage to look at implementation dynamics for a number of disbursement options in an effort to get the recommendation by the work-streams to life. The first report of this team was presented to SASSA EXCO in April 2022 and the team is currently packaging the terms of reference of the project, including finalisation of the appointment of team members.
	SAPO/Postbank is responsible for - Card Body Production, Card Issuing, Account Issuing and transaction processing.
	Insourced service: A cash send payment option has been introduced, although currently used only by COVID 19SRD R350 grant recipients.
	Merchants network established and selected Retailers are now part of the Grant Payment eco-system. Various banks offer payments services including a wide range of ATMs.
Identity and Access management programme - integrated multi-factor authentication and access control capability. User Biometric Access for internal staff	Biometric and Smart Card, as the central identity database and authorization for frontline staff project started in 2019. The project was stopped as a result of COVID-19. However, by the end of the 2020/2021 grants value chain officials have been registered and are making full use of the system.	Beneficiary Biometric project was halted due to disagreements with organised labour in 2019/2020 financial year. The issues of dispute have since been resolved. For the 2022/23 financial year, the beneficiary biometrics project will be piloted in 4 local offices in line with the agreement with the organised labour.
Fraud, risk management and cyber assurance - ensure a more robust integrated risk management process to adequately address Fraud & Risk Management System Cyber Assurance & Risk Analytics Service		Introduction of Signature pads – this has not been done as yet but this is part of the SASSA Automation Strategy which goes beyond the Signature but focuses on their ICT and service offering to support business operations.
Web enabled platform - build a single web enabled platform to host all applications the user can access to process grants Applications for deductions to manage Regulation 26 are internally performed.	The web enabled platform is being implemented. The Online Grants Application System is being rolled out and is stabilising. Regulation 26A deduction has been insourced with the assistance of QLink.
Biometric enrolled programme - SASSA to biometrically enrol beneficiaries and recipients of grants. High performance one-to-many matching server and integration to Home Affairs for identity verification.	SASSA has completed the rollout of Biometrics for Socpen Users access. A non-repudiation capability is built into the authentication process and this has significantly reduced user identity swaps and/or stealing to perform unauthorised access to the system or perform fraudulent transactions. SASSA performs beneficiary validation and verification with Department of Home Affairs systematically before payment is run.	The one-to-many biometric server has not been implemented.
Integrated customer care and support - improve beneficiary experience through quality of service delivery	Electronic Queue Management system – Piloted in Benoni Office and work is in progress to roll-it out to an additional 18 offices during 2022/23 financial year.
Alternative pay points and Local Economic Development Cashless environment where beneficiaries can utilize the SASSA payment card to purchase goods electronically.		SASSA to fast track some of the changes that were envisaged over time. These changes included automation of the application process; opening of multiple application channels, and introduction of an additional payment channel. SASSA is extending these lessons to cover the normal social grant process.
Date service integration An integration layer must be built to support integration of data and the system between SASSA’s internal systems and external partners (government and non-governmental).	SASSA is able to conduct real-time personal information verification (ID numbers, name match etc.) of beneficiaries through the Department of Home Affairs. Other departments and entities that SASSA has a system interface with and where such information is currently utilised for the COVID 19 SRD R350 grant applications with the intention of progressively introduced for main-stream grants applications process and these are: SARS, Department of Labour (UIF) National Student Financial Aid Scheme Correctional Services PERSAL and PERSOL Department of Public Service and Administration Government Employees Pension Fund Pensions database from National Treasury.
SASSA readiness change management office - Project Management framework developed to govern evolution of projects and programmes Establish Programme and Project management office to support the change management	Projects management office has been established. Change management – culture and ability audit conducted and the entity is currently implementing recommendations from the survey.
Supply Chain Management readiness SASSA’s capacity and capability to manage external partners including merchants in the payment value chain		Only manual monitoring is conducted at merchants as part of the customer care programme.

Reply:

a) The Department has transferred R 2.025 billion from 2008 to 2022.

b) The Department of Transport has not contracted any companies for the Mangaung Metropolitan Municipality to develop its system. The Department’s role is to set standards, monitor and evaluate planning, implementation and management, and to report on progress with project implementation against funding. The Department transfers funds to the Municipality, and the Municipality will follow its Supply Chain Management t processes to procure services from companies to plan, develop and implement infrastructure and the subsequent public transport operations of the system.

c) Based on the Municipality’s Metro-wide IPTN plan, all the phases will be complete by 2034/35 financial year.

Reply:

1. A total of 40 buses were procured and were operating by October 2019. These took a year for these operations to be fully phased in due to the Covid-related drop in passenger demand.

These 40 buses are all currently being used to operate three (3) services between Thembisa hospital and Isando Industrial area, Bartlett Industrial area and OR Tambo International Airport.

2. The Department has held at least 3 Bilateral meetings per year on project progress with the City of Ekurhuleni. The need to complete unfinished work, ramp-up services and increase revenue has been continuously raised.

The City team has committed to do their best to implement changes. The Department has indicated it will continue to monitor progress.

3. The City of Ekurhuleni has not requested any rollover of unspent funds from the allocated budget in the current financial year.

4. The City indicates that all 40 buses have been procured. Initial leases were an interim measure to secure vehicles for services prior to the KTVR operating company being able to secure financing.

The Public Transport Network Grant (PTNG) covers the cost of vehicles as a capital subsidy. This subsidy is either paid to the operating company, if it secures financing; or as a direct purchase by the City.

5. a. 40 buses have been bought to date.

b. The Vehicle Operating Company (VOC) and KTVR are the same entity, KTVR (the VOC) obtained approval for bus funding through Bidvest Bank. The City used PTNG funds to enable KTVR to settle the loan. The Grant allows for a capital subsidy for bus purchase.

c. KTVR is the Vehicle Operating Company. There is no separate legal entity

Reply:

a) There are no contractors that have been blacklisted in KwaZulu-Natal in the period 1 January 2016 to date for delivering sub-standard houses and/or as a result of not fulfilling their contractual obligations. However, the Province’s overall list of restricted contractors can be accessed on the National Treasury website (www.treasury.gov.za//restricted suppliers

b) No contractors were blacklisted during the period under review.

c) Not Applicable

NATIONAL ASSEMBLY

QUESTION FOR WRITTEN REPLY

QUESTION NUMBER: PQ 1901

DATE OF PUBLICATION: 13 MAY 2022

L BELE

ACTING CHIEF FINANCIAL OFFICER

DATE:

Recommended/ not recommended

M S TSHANGANA

DIRECTOR-GENERAL:

DATE:

______________________________________________________________________

Approved/ Not approved

MS M T KUBAYI, MP

MINISTER FOR HUMAN SETTLEMENTS

DATE:

Reply:

SASSA has a target of 97% system availability, and in recent periods has managed to maintain an average of 99%. When systems are down, SASSA is still able to process grant applications manually; thus, enabling the delivery of the service during these times.

Where downtime is as a result of power failures or load shedding, most local offices are equipped with backup generators to keep the systems running.

Furthermore, SASSA is moving towards the implementation of an online applications system. This has worked exceedingly well for the COVID-19 SRD Grant and has been rolled out for the other types of grants.

Reply:

South Africa’s foreign policy promotes human rights and a broad developmental agenda both in the continent and the world. As the political head of the Department of Employment and Labour, the Minister leads the country’s domestic priorities in the global labour agenda (i.e. promoting rights at work, encouraging decent employment opportunities, enhancing social protection and strengthening dialogue) linking these to own priorities such as sustainable economic growth, employment, social justice and ultimately equality for all.

In line with the objectives set above and since his appointment in 2019, the Minister and support staff from his office have undertaken 7 international visit to the following destinations:

 

Botswana: ARLAC Ministerial meeting (February 2022);

Cost:

Accommodation& Flights: R 26890.26

Daily allowances: R6000

Brazil: Attending BRICS Ministerial meeting (September 2019);

Cost:

Accommodation & Flights: R 403923.79

Daily allowances: R6 633, 64

Cuba: Consolidation of Bilateral relations as per the signed MoU (November 2019);

Cost:

Accommodation & Flights: R 205651.86

Daily allowances: R14 759, 73

France: Attending the Global Deal Conference of which South Africa is a member (February 2020);

Cost:

Accommodation & Flights: R 277429.79

Daily allowances: R9694, 60

Geneva: Attending the International Labour Conference (June 2019) and Governing Body (November 2019)

Cost:

Accommodation & Flights: R 252779.79

Daily allowances: R 31000

Ivory Coast: ILO Africa Regional Meeting and part of Presidential visit and signed an MoU (December 2021)

Cost:

Accommodation & Flights: R 374608.85

Daily allowances: R10536,47

Ivory Coast: ILO Africa Regional Meeting (December 2019) and part of Presidential visit and signed and MoU.

Cost:

Accommodation & Flights: R 152105.79

Daily allowances: R10089, 73

Reply:

Attached find here: Reply

Reply:

The table below shows comparison between the amounts collected as contributions versus benefit payments including COVID-19TERS and Workers Affected By Unrest (WABU) from 1 April 2020 to 30 April 2022. Collected contributions for the period in question were about R 42 614 054 783.39 and payments made amounted to R98 227 419 458.80. The payments made were augmented by UIF’s investment income.

MONTH AND YEAR	CONTRIBUTIONS COLLECTED	BENEFITS PAID OUT
April 2020	R 1 489 744 791.06	R 5 595 676 052.28
May 2020	R 1 375 298 505.07	R13 172 928 723.51
June 2020	R 1 335 564 830.96	R13 068 700 225.51
July 2020	R 1 496 909 778.13	R9 415 898 814.82
August 2020	R 1 585751 566.86	R5 667 762 970.91
September 2020	R 1 611 552 998.33	R7 908 312 370.75
October 2020	R 1 568 512 532.29	R5 980 930 862.56
November 2020	R 1 622 687 992.99	R4 456 953 942.35
December 2020	R 1 763 727 010.25	R3 927 167 367.31
January 2021	R 1 661 367 602.89	R2 899 403 916.45
February 2021	R 1 636 027 114.57	R2 310 584 770.16
March 2021	R 1 723 779 766.38	R404 273 999.73
April 2021	R 1 592 978 941.54	R2 323 066 342.86
May 2021	R 1 640 087 379.41	R2 514 408 103.46
June 2021	R 1 721 034 856.93	R2 355 909 336,52
July 2021	R 1 840 499 770.09	R1 983 650 328.24
August 2021	R 1 780 033 476.48	R2 153 009 834.92
September 2021	R 1 834 927 690.29	R1 744 262 146.86
October 2021	R 1 834 616 317.72	R1 872 803 420.63
November 2021	R 1 833 004 513.85	R2 061 444 524.61
December 2021	R 2 023 204 166.34	R1 040 830 165.00
January 2022	R 1 874 300 044.96	R1 387 392 619.75
February 2022	R 1 860 885 762.66	R1 348 257 031.23
March 2022	R 2 058 845 885.37	R1 179 149 173.01
April 2022	R 1 848 711 487.97	R1 454 642 416.20
Total	R 42 614 054 783.39	R98 227 419 458.80

Reply:

In dealing with the digital economy, the Honourable member will know that the President has established a commission. Amongst the others, the Commission is to assist the government in taking advantage of the opportunities presented by the digital economy. The work of the Commission will be tabled at NEDLAC for further discussion on how to come up with policies that will respond to the changes in the labour market.

Over and above this, NEDLAC social partners are hard at work in dealing with how to regulate the e-hailing industry. The first question that must be answered is whether uber workers are employees and if they are employees, what conditions of employment are suitable to their sector as way of introducing a sectoral determination.

Albeit the above, kindly note that the national minimum wage covers all workers, already uber drivers earn above the national minimum wage.

END

Reply:

Thank Hon. Member by this question. The matter you have raised shall be attended to. Employer Audit Services under the Inspection and Enforcement Services in the North West Province will visit the two mines and ensure that all employees are registered for UIF and contributed for.

Reply:

• While the National Treasury has not specifically done a full cost analysis evaluating the impact that load shedding has had on GDP since 2008, various analyses have been undertaken over the past few years to assess the impact of the electricity constraint on economic activity.
• To understand the impact of electricity shortages on factor productivity, investment and potential growth, the National Treasury uses analytical tools such as its macro-structural model (which is also used for the macroeconomic forecast) as well as a computable general equilibrium (CGE) model.
• This macro-econometric analysis generally builds on detailed energy modelling conducted by institutions such as the CSIR and is always supplemented by secondary research, data from Eskom’s Medium-Term System Adequacy Outlook as well as consultations with key stakeholders in the energy sector.
• Some of this analytical work has focused specifically on the economic impact of load shedding, which has been published in several editions of the Budget Review as macro-fiscal scenarios that inform the budgeting process. This includes:
  • • The 2019 Budget Review quantified the impact of a decline in Eskom’s average energy availability factor to between 65 and 70 per cent for 18 months. As a consequence, GDP growth was anticipated to weaken to 0.2 per cent in 2019 relative to the baseline forecast of 1.5 per cent (which is equivalent to a loss in GDP of R40 billion in real terms).
    • The 2015 Budget Review estimated growth to decline by 1 per cent in 2015 should there continue to be a deterioration in electricity availability.
• Beyond assessing the impact of load shedding on the economy, several studies on the evolution of electricity supply and economic growth have been conducted as part of the National Treasury’s Southern Africa - Towards Inclusive Economic Development (SA-TIED) programme. These studies are available on the SA-TIED website (https://sa-tied.wider.unu.edu/climate).
• National Treasury takes into account the energy constraint when generating its macroeconomic forecasts, and frequently reviews its outlook for load shedding based on the most recent information at its disposal.

Reply:

The CCMA has reviewed progress on the case file and reports as follows:

1. FAWU obo Mahlalela & Others v Umbhaba Estates (Pty) Ltd initially relating to an Organizational Rights dispute under case MP6595-14 which, led to a strike following which employees were dismissed for misconduct.
2. The dismissal dispute was referred to the CCMA under case number MP10027 – 15 for dismissal of employees for participating in a strike. The dismissal was not related to wages as per the EFF parliamentary question but emanates from the dispute about Organizational Rights.

Chronology of Events

1. The matter commenced 03 September 2014 when FAWU referred an organizational rights dispute to CCMA against Umbhaba. The matter was conciliated on 23 September 2014.
2. The matter remained unresolved and a certificate of non-resolution was issued.
3. FAWU opted for a strike route.
4. The strike was long and protracted,in between there was intimidation and later employer dismissed the employees.
5. After the dismissal, the union referred an unfair dismissal dispute to CCMA under case MP10027-15 on 18 November 2015.
6. On 03 December 2015, a jurisdictional challenge was lodged.
7. On 30 June 2015, the Respondent forwarded a withdrawal notice of review under Labour Court case number JR640/2016.
8. On 01 July 2016, the parties were directed to hold a pre-arbitration conference scheduled for 25 July 2016.
9. On 03 July 2017, the Applicant attorney forwarded a notice of attorney of record withdrawal.
10. On 04 October 2018, the Respondent attorney sought a postponement of the arbitration which was opposed by the Applicant.
11. On 12 April 2019, the Respondent attorney forwarded a notice of attorney of record withdrawal.
12. On 28 October 2019, the dispute was postponed without a date and the file closed on account of the intention of the Respondent to file a review application at the Labour Court.
13. The CCMA received the review application on 18 November 2019.
14. To date, the matter remains before the Labour Court.

Reply:

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Reply:

The decision for the support and or withdrawal of the candidacy of Professor Mthunzi Mdwaba for the position of the International Labour Organisation Director-General was a Cabinet matter.

END

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