Questions and Replies

Reply:

DEPARTMENT OF HIGHER EDUCATION AND TRAINING

Yes, the Department is on track to achieve some of the National Development Plan (NDP) 2030 targets. It should be noted that the achievement of the 2030 targets is directly linked to the availability of funding from the fiscus. Whilst positive progress has been made despite funding challenges, the Post-School Education and Training service delivery environment has recently been impacted by the effects of the COVID-19 global health pandemic. The table below provides progress status on the NDP targets. 

NDP 2030 target	Current performance (2021/22)
1. University student enrolments-1.62 million	1 094 808
2. Improve academics’ qualifications: (75% of academics with PhDs)	49.3%
3. Number of masters graduates (all masters degrees annually)	12 922
4. Produce 100 PhDs per million per annum i.e. 5 000 per annum	3 552
5. Full funding for all NSFAS qualifiers (poor) and loans (state surety) for others	504 336 (universities)
	261 404 (TVET colleges)
6. Increase enrolments in Technical and Vocational Education and Training Colleges to 1.25 million	452 277
7. Increase enrolments in Community Education and Training colleges to 1 million	142 538
8. 30 000 artisans produced per annum	15 107

University sector

Access to universities has grown substantially over the past 10 years, indicating that the country is on track to reach the NDP target of 1.6 million enrolments by 2030. Many more students enrolled in universities during the 2020 academic year.  Over 1.3 million students enrolled at public and private universities. Public universities were able to enrol 1 094 808 students, reflecting an increase of 4 808 (44%) from the set target of 1 090 000. In the same period, 504 336 qualifying students in universities received National Student Financial Aid Scheme (NSFAS) funding for tuition fees and allowances. 

Graduation rates at public universities grew significantly, indicating that the country is on track to reach NDP targets by 2030. Student completions show that 237 882 (107%) students completed a university qualification. Doctoral graduates constitute 3 552 (107%), 12 652 (86%) engineering graduates, 9 642 (91%) life and physical sciences graduates, 9 646 (88%) human health sciences graduates, 12 922 (92%) masters graduates (all masters graduates), 1 075 animal and veterinary sciences graduates, and 30 809 (108%) initial teacher education.

Progress made on the quality of teaching provided at universities demonstrates that the country is on track to meet the 75% NDP target by 2030. To date, 49.3% of university academic staff hold PhD degrees.

TVET college sector

Admittedly, enrolments in the TVET college sector has not been at envisaged levels.  The final 2022 consolidated funding grid indicates that of the planned headcount enrolment into ministerial approved programmes, 508,445, is comprised of 503, 221 headcount enrolments funded by State and 5,224 students are to be funded by TVET Colleges from student fees. This planned enrolment respectively represents a 100% contribution to the target of 503,221 headcount enrolments funded by the state and only 6.02% contribution to the target of 86,779 headcount enrolments funded by TVET Colleges from student fees. This contributes to a combined achievement of 86.18% of the total 2022/23 target set of 590,000 for ministerial approved programmes. The total required budget for this enrolment plan amounts to R14.550 billion of which R14.385 billion is funding by the State with a correlating budget deficit of (R165 million or 1.15% funding deficit) that must be absorbed by TVET Colleges through the recovery of student fees. The NDP target of 2,5 million enrolments in TVET colleges is not likely to be met. Similarly, the target of more students to be enrolled in TVET colleges compared to universities will not be met.

CET college sector

Enrolments in CET colleges are also not growing at the envisaged levels. Enrolment stood at 142 538, showing an underachievement of 78 011 (35%) against the set target of 220 549 in 2020.

Artisan development

The skills development system targets have significantly slowed down when measured against the projected artisan registration and completion. However, since the relaxation of COVID-19 regulations, there were continuous engagements with SETAs to speed up enrolments in meeting the NDP target of producing 30 000 artisans per annum by 2030.

DEPARTMENT OF SCIENCE AND INNOVATION

Please refer to the source document attached Tag A. 

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1. Yes, the department and its entities (SASSA and NDA) are planning to move to a new state-owned precinct, in Salvokop as part of the Tshwane Inner City Regeneration Programme. The plan is to permanently accommodate five state-owned government head offices as part of phase 1. These are Department of Higher Education and Training, Home Affairs, Correction Services, STASSA and the consolidated headquarters for DSD, SASSA and NDA.

The consolidated DSD/SASSA and NDA head office campus is anticipated to permanently accommodate DSD, SASSA and NDA within a state-of-the-art, custom-design, permanent facility enabling enhanced service delivery and efficient operations. This project is coordinated through a public-private partnership that is managed by National Treasury agency, the Government Technical Advisory Centre (GTAC).

2. DSD transferred R10 million, which is a portion of the transaction advisory fees to GTAC. The rest of the outstanding fees (R10 million) will be transferred once the transaction advisors have finalised the feasibility study – which is due later in the 2022/23 financial year.

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a) The Social Work Scholarship Programme was implemented to increase the human resource capacity of the social work profession employed to deliver developmental social welfare services.

b) The Scholarship Programme stipulated conditions for funding and employment of social work graduates where-

(i) Students were to serve the Department of Social Development, NGO or any department in any capacity for which the department concerned or NGO may consider suitable, for a continuous period of number of years sponsored plus one extra year.

(ii) The department did not guarantee employment of graduates upon completion of their studies.

(iii) Opportunities for employment within DSD were to be guided by availability of posts, funds and departmental recruitment processes for all employees.

c) In the event the Department failed to appoint students on its establishment within six (6) months after completion of their studies, students would be entitled to take any social work job offers available from sector employers.

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The current audit process is that the Office of the Auditor-General has access to Financial, Procurement and Performance matters. The only part of the financial information that the office of the Auditor-General does not have access to is source information that relates to the identity of sources and their specimen signatures. However, arrangements are in place to assure the office of the Auditor-General of controls in such cases in terms of the Audit Strategy. This implies Internal Audit will verify source-related financial and performance information. In the Audit Strategy for the financial year end 2021-2022, the following areas are included in the Internal Audit Plan that the Office of the Auditor General will rely on:-

1. Operational expenditure and any other financial-statement line item that affects the covert expenditure e.g. Accounts Payable.
2. Audit of performance information (Covert operations and others as agreed).

The automatic audit qualification relates to the high inherent risk due to the nature of the environment. This means that the level of assurance that can be given by the audit is lower than in the case of other audits due to the significant inherent risk relating to the sensitivity of the environment. The combined assurance between the Office of the Auditor-General and Internal Audit is aimed at improving the access of the Office of the Auditor-General to the financial records of the SSA so as to ensure proper financial oversight.

In terms of section 3(a) of the Intelligence Services Oversight Act, 1994 (Act 40 of 1994) the Joint Standing Committee on Intelligence (JSCI) receives reports from the Auditor-General  (AGSA) on the affairs of the State Security Agency and reports thereon to Parliament.  After obtaining such report from the AGSA, the JSCI considers the financial statements of the State Security Agency, any audit reports issued on those statements and any reports issued by the AGSA on the affairs of the State Security Agency. In order to perform its functions, the JSCI may in accordance with sections 3(i) – (l) of the Intelligence Services Oversight Act, 1994 (Act 40 of 1994):

(i) request the AGSA to explain any aspect of a report;

(ii) deliberate upon, hold hearings, subpoena witnesses and make recommendations including on the administration and financial expenditure of the State Security Agency;

(iii) consult with the Minister regarding the performance of the functions of the JSCI in terms of the above mentioned Act; and

(iv) consider and report on the appropriation of revenue or moneys for the functions of the State Security Agency.

Accordingly, the ambit of the oversight of the AGSA over the State Security Agency, and whether this is sufficient, is the subject of discussion between the Minister and the JSCI.

Yours Sincerely,

__________________________

Mr Mondli Gungubele, MP,

Minister in The Presidency

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There are no shelters in the (a) Hantam Municipality nor in the (b) Karoo Hoogland Local Municipality; In partnership with Namakhoi Municipality. The Department delayed to establish a shelter in that district, due to the fact that there has not been statistics of women who need safe accommodation and sheltering services. Establishing a shelter with no baseline information (statistics) may lead to the centre being a white elephant. A shelter was established in Springbok and was managed by an NGO, but it became a white elephant until it was closed down due to the fact that there were no victims accessing the service. Currently the victims of GBV are provided with psycho-social support service even though the shelter non-existent.

The Department is however currently in a process of establishing a shelter in Springbok district.

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a) The queue management system is a ticketing system, which identifies the services that an applicant would like to access and then issues a corresponding ticket to the applicant. The person is then able to sit anywhere in the office and wait for his/her ticket number to be called. This will do away with the current process where queues are managed through shifting positions on chairs, resulting in people being too scared to leave their chair they are sitting on, in fear of losing their place in the queue. It will also prevent those who take advantage of people queuing, by selling them priority places in the queue.

By using this system, the local offices will accurately be able to confirm the numbers of people served in any one day, the actual services they provided and also empower the local office manager to intervene when there are blockages by assigning staff to where the most pressure is.

b) As per our Annual Performance Plan for 2022/23, the queue management system will be piloted in 2 local offices in each of the 9 regions (provinces) – 18 offices in total; after which it will be progressively rolled out to all local offices, in accordance with available resources. Implementation depends on the procurement of hardware such as computers, monitors, tablets, ticket printers and a loudspeaker system.

c) The cost is estimated to be between R170 000 to R200 000 per site for rolling out the required infrastructure. This will vary depending on the size and layout of the application sites.

d) and (e) The queue management system is not directly intended to address the overcrowding of offices and the need to access the queues early. SASSA is currently also considering and piloting various online systems, which will reduce demand for accessing the physical premises and to allocate timeslots / bookings to applicants.

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1. The Northern Cape Province has eight (8) Victim Support Centres, six (6) are operational and two are in a process of being finalized. The total bed capacity of the shelters is 40. The bed capacity is sufficient because the Province has never experienced a situation where there is no space to accommodate and provide services to victims in the shelters. Victims whose home environment is safe and conducive, are provided with services by Social Workers outside of the shelter, in their homes. Over and above the four districts in the Province has a Victim Support Centre while one district does not have a Centre, which is Namaqua District. In partnership with Namakhoi Municipality, the Department is in a process of establishing a centre in the outstanding district in the current financial year 2022/23.

2. The Province does have enough capacity to render psychosocial services and has appointed sixteen (16) GBV Social Workers who are responsible for GBV related cases only. There are two (2) Victim Empowerment Social Workers in Z.F. Mgcawu and Frances Baard District who are also responsible for GBV. In partnership with National Department, HWSETA, four (4) GBV Social Work Interns are appointed on contract to strengthen GBV services in the Province. Probation Officers are also responsible to provide GBV services.

a) According to SAPS Crime Stats 2021/22, Francis Baard District (Galeshewe, Roodepan, Pampierstad, Hartswater) are the Hotspots of GBV in the Province. Furthermore, the Departmental Social Work Performance Reports from the districts confirms the crime stats, Francis Baard has the most number of victims provided with psycho-social support services.

b) The areas are identified as hotspots due to the number of cases of GBV reported at SAPS ranging from rape, murder, assault etc.

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(a) The following are the programmes in place that the Department provides to caregivers of CSG beneficiaries with more than six children:

• Participation and inclusion in Expanded Public Works Programme, poverty Alleviation Programme and Food Security.
• Parenting programmes to empower caregivers on parenting skills.

(b) The number of care givers who have 6 children in their care, for whom they receive the Child Support Grant are indicated below:

 

Caregivers with 6 children by Province (Not biological parents)
Region	No of care givers	Grand Total
Eastern Cape	336	336
Free State	62	62
Gauteng	92	92
KwaZulu-Natal	431	431
Limpopo	137	137
Mpumalanga	92	92
Northern Cape	64	64
North West	110	110
Western Cape	49	49
Grand Total	1 373	1 373

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The matters related to data from the Department of Education need to be referred to the relevant department.

1 (c) Regulation 11(1) of the Social Assistance Regulations, allows for a caregiver to apply for a social grant without identity documents; therefore an undocumented child can apply and receive a Child Support Grant, or any other grant they may qualify for.

2 (a)(ii) SASSA does not turn anyone away if they do not have identity documents. At present SASSA has provided grants to just over 35 thousand children without identity documents. In the odd occurrence that this does occur, it should be reported to the office manager of the relevant local office where the incident occurred.

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In total (11) inputs were received from various organisations and individuals which included the following: South African Institute for Race Relations, BlackSash, Institute for Economic Justice, Children’s Institute, Stellenbosch University, Banking Association of South Africa, United Nations High Commission for Refugees, Department of Social Development Western Cape, Centre for Applied Legal Studies (WITS), Mr. T Brink and Mr. T Maphabela.

(b) The regulations were published on 22 February 2022 with a closing date of 13 March 2022.

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Information received from the North West Provincial Department of Transport and Roads (NWDoTR) through the North West Department of Education (NWDoE), indicates that the province experienced the budget depletion for the financial year 2021/2022 during the said period of interrupted service.  Therefore, the NWDoTR was unable to pay learner transport operators for the months of January, February and March 2022. 

When the budget for the new financial year 2022/2023 was loaded, all outstanding payments were processed. Therefore, at this moment there is no stopped or intention to stop payment intended for learners of Rakoko High School.

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(a) Total number of children reported as abandoned in (i) 2018, (ii) 2019, (iii) 2020 and (iv) 2021

	PERIOD	NUMBER OF CHILDREN REPORTED AS ABONDONED
(i) 2018	April 2017 – March 2018	144
(ii) 2019	April 2018 – March 2019	229
(iii) 2020	April 2019 – March 2020	589
(iv) 2021	April 2020 – March 2021	435

(b) The following programmes / interventions are put in place and provided in cases of abandoned children:

• In the case of an abandoned child, the Children’s Act 38 of 2005 stipulates that a social worker must gather all necessary information and affidavit/s from person/s who found or reported the child as abandoned and to report the case to police for investigation.
• The Department works with the South African Police Service (SAPS), to try and trace families of abandoned children.
• The Act makes provision for abandoned children in terms of section 150 and these children are identified as children in need of care and protection. These children can be placed in appropriate alternative care, meaning temporary safe care whilst awaiting finalisation of court proceedings on the decision for placement in foster care or child and youth care centre. Another child protection measure is adoption of such children. Section 157(3) of the Act provides that a very young child who has been abandoned must be made available for adoption in terms of Regulation 56 of the Children’s Act. Adoption as a permanent placement option gives a child the chance of growing up in a permanent family.

• Adoption services are promoted to address and sensitize communities on the dangers of child abandonment and made them aware of the available services such as counselling and support to biological parents with unwanted pregnancies and those who cannot care for their children. The service is also promoted to encourage communities to adopt children who are available for adoption and inform them of the benefits of adoption to the children and families.

• In addition to the above, the Department also provides, a programme called Risiha, which is a Community-Based intervention programme that renders core package of services within communities.

• Resiha programme is a prevention and an early intervention programmes that support families, parents and caregivers in distress, identifying risk factors that would put children’s lives in danger and further preventing vulnerabilities of children.

(c) The main reasons for child abandonment in the Republic are physio economic challenges, family breakdown and lack of family support.

(d) A total amount of R50 331 000.00 is allocated to the National Department’s Unit dealing with Children Services inclusive of child abandonment for this financial year 2022/2023.

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(a) The provisioning of Learning and Teaching Support Materials (LTSMs) is a provincial responsibility. However, DBE guides provinces on the procurement processes which detail the activities and timeframes in line with the LTSMs sector plan.

Thereafter DBE monitors if provinces observe the timeframe set. According to the reports received from provinces, all schools received their LTSMs as per their orders for 2020/21 financial year. The Hounourable Member is requested to direct the question through the provincial legislatures, where there are province-specific questions or concerns.

(b) Provincial reports to DBE show that all schools received their ordered LTSMs. Provinces have assured the DBE that where there are shortages, the provinces are currently receiving requisitions from schools to address these shortages.

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The question  has been addressed by the Revised Directions published in the gazette on 4 April 2022.

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1. (a) (b) (c). In 2011, the Department of Basic Education (in collaboration with the nine Provincial Departments of Education), determined the number of schools with no toilets.  A total of 1 053 such schools were included in the scope of the Accelerated School Infrastructure Development Initiative (ASIDI).

At present, 1 039 of these schools have received a full set of appropriate toilets in accordance with the minimum uniform norms and standards for public school infrastructure.  The balance of 14 schools are scheduled for completion in 2022/23.

In 2018, the Department of Basic Education, again in collaboration with the nine Provincial Departments of Education, determined the number of schools that are dependent on basic pit toilets. A total of 3 482 such schools were included in the scope of the Sanitation Appropriate For Education (SAFE) programme.

At present, 1 962 of these schools have received a full set of appropriate toilets in accordance with the minimum uniform norms and standards for public school infrastructure.  The balance of 1 520 schools are part of the DBE plans for this current financial year.

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Anecdotal evidence often indicates that the Child Support Grant (CSG) may be abused by a few members within society, however research has shown, that in the vast majority caregivers generally prioritise the needs of their children. It is thus important for government not to over burden the poor, mainly women, who are doing an excellent task of taking care of their children with the very limited resources at their disposal.

Because CSG applies “follow the child” principle, the grant is allocated to the caregiver who is actually taking care of the child (which may not necessarily be the biological parent). This incentivises the actual caregiver of the child to apply for the grant, if the child is not being cared for by the biological parent. In such cases, SASSA will assess, often with the support of local social workers, who is responsible for the care of the child, and pay the grant accordingly.

Raising a child is a community effort, and neither DSD, SASSA nor government, on its own, can be responsible solely for a child’s wellbeing. The reporting of child neglect, and in particular, child abuse is mandatory for professionals (such as health practitioners, teachers, ministers, etc), and encouraged for other citizens and community members in terms of section 110 (1) and (2) of the Children’s Act (Act 38 of 2005). It is thus the duty of Members of Parliament to not only listen to community complaints about child neglect and abuse, but to actively record these and facilitate reporting to the relevant authorities.

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a) The total number of 10 migrant children have been assisted with documentation.

b) The Department of Home Affairs is better positioned to respond this question.

c) 38 037 undocumented children have been referred to the Department of Home Affairs for documentation by the Implementing partners on the Children on the Move Project.

It should be noted that the R19 million programme called Children on the Move that was launched in December 2020 with UNICEF is aimed at providing capacity in the department to support implementation of the Children on the Move Programme.

Furthermore, the funds support the establishment and sustenance of the coordinating and collaborative mechanisms which amongst others include the functioning of national steering committee on Separated and Unaccompanied Children; and the development of the Standard Operating Procedures across relevant government departments.

It also funds initiatives to promote the Best Practices for Children on the move, which is a multiregional project and has been implemented in Central America (Mexico, El Salvador) and Eastern & Southern Africa (Zambia, South Africa).

The duration of the project is 30 months, starting December 2020. The funds are administered by UNICEF.

 

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(a), (b) (i)(ii). The National Department does not collect the requested information as part of its routine monitoring and support framework. The Department will, however, request each Provincial Education Department to provide the information as requested. The information will be provided to the Honorable Member of Parliament once it is obtained. 

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The Department gazetted the Exploration Strategy recently and key areas of influence were identified. Government and social partners will address these to improve the country’s investment attractiveness within the next five years.

There are logistical (rail and freight), regulatory (water and environmental licensing) and security challenges which fall outside the mandate of the DMRE.

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a) Although Social economic development is the constitutional mandate of the Local Government, mining companies have to also contribute to the socio-economic development of the area they are operating through Social and Labour Plans. Mining companies around those areas have committed to contribute to the socio-economic development of the area in line with the IDPs of the municipalities.

b) The Department has a responsibility to monitor compliance. If non-compliance is detected, the Department issues a directive to remedy the non-compliance. If the non-compliance is not addressed, it may lead to a right being suspended or cancelled.

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HIGHER HEALTH, with support from its Technical Scientific Team, the Department of Health and the National Institute for Communicable Diseases (NICD), has developed a comprehensive and clear set of PSET guidelines and protocols on managing COVID-19 in the sector which were formally released by the Minister of Higher Education, Training, Science and Innovation since 30 April 2020.  One of these guidelines is the GUIDELINE FOR THE DEVELOPMENT OF INSTITUTIONAL POLICIES ON COVID-19 VACCINE IN THE POST-SCHOOL EDUCATION AND TRAINING SECTOR that can be followed in producing institution-specific vaccine policies.  This guideline has been produced after extensive consultation with relevant stakeholders in the Post-School Education and Training (PSET) sector, including Universities South Africa, the South African Public Colleges Organisation, Community Education and Training (CET) College management, student bodies and student leadership, labour unions, public health experts and the HIGHER HEALTH Scientific Technical Task Team.

The guideline has been presented to the Minister of Higher Education, Science and Innovation.  The Minister referred the guideline to the COVID-19 Ministerial Task Team led by the Deputy Minister and comprise all stakeholders including unions and student formations.  The guideline is currently still under consultation with various stakeholders and has not been released in the PSET sector.  

At this stage the Department does not promote mandatory vaccine policies in institutions.

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(a)    There are five programmes being offered at the institution, which are continuations of legacy qualifications which were formally accredited as aligned to the Higher Education Qualifications Framework (HEQF). These are:

• Advanced Diploma in Internal Auditing; 
• Advanced Diploma in Journalism; 
• BSc Honours in Zoology; 
• Master of Medicine in Obstetrics and Gynaecology; and
• Postgraduate Diploma in Chemical Pathology. 

It should be noted that in 2013, a revised Higher Education Qualifications Sub-Framework (HEQSF) was gazetted as policy, replacing the HEQF, and all higher education institutions had to align their legacy qualifications to the HEQSF. New student registrations could only be taken into the legacy qualifications until 31 December 2019, after which the programmes had to be taught out or a new programme put in place that enabled continued offering in the area. 

The five qualifications listed above fall within this category and should be in teach-out until new replacement programmes are accredited and registered. In the case of the Walter Sisulu University (WSU), there were new student registrations after 31 December 2019.

There is a sixth qualification, i.e. the Postgraduate Diploma in Library and Information Services, which also has legacy roots and has not been offered since 2019.

(b)    The Higher Education Quality Committee (HEQC) of the Council on Higher Education (CHE) approved that the following processes should be undertaken:

• Appoint an evaluator to review the HEQSF alignment processes for the five programmes. Once the report of the evaluator has been compiled, the HEQC will consider the report and recommendations. This process is underway.
• A full audit of all the programmes WSU is offering will be undertaken to confirm that all programmes being offered meet the compliance requirements of the three regulatory bodies, i.e. Department, CHE and South African Qualifications Authority. This process has also already commenced.

(c)     There are no further cases that have come to the attention of the CHE or Department. A Data Validation Project is underway by the CHE which is intended to validate the HEQSF alignment data to ensure the accreditation record at the CHE is an accurate reflection of what the institutions can offer. If/when discrepancies are identified, the CHE will deal with them in a similar manner to the processes described above.

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The tables below provide an overview of the number of new applications, where the applicant was a SASSA beneficiary in the period 1 January 2017 to 31 December 2022, that were funded by NSFAS, per academic year and institution. Please note the 2022 funding cycle registration data exchange process between NSFAS and institutions is still ongoing and the 2022 information will be updated upon finalisation of this process.   The information has been provided per education sector (University or TVET College).

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1. The Presidential Red Tape Reduction Team, under the leadership of Mr Sipho Nkosi, is an important red tape reduction initiative and a centralised coordination office, whose task is to rally both the efforts and resources to deal with issues of red tape in government. It is by no means a vote of no confidence on the DSBD by the President and the SMMEs.

The DSBD views this development as a meaningful contribution particularly by the private sector in providing expertise to contribute to coordinating, aligning and unblocking channels to address long standing red tape and administrative challenges, that have plagued businesses and more especially small businesses and Co-operatives, but also large ones with start-ups, micro and informal sector even more vulnerable as participants in the economy.

The Department have engaged on numerous steps to ensuring a productive, goal orientated and positive working relationship with the Red Tape Office in the Presidency. The engagement with the Presidency through the Red Tape Office have decided to identify clear areas of collaboration. The details of all these proposals are being finalised and shall form part of the strategic engagement and focussed coordination channels between the DSBD and Mr Nkosi’s Office.

2. The Department understands that communication is a dynamic process of engagement on the needs of our SMMEs and through the Provincial Roadshows and Provincial Partnerships, the Department has proactively engaged SMMEs and Co-operatives in seven (8) provinces already. These engagements would often take place in rural and far-flung locations with the purpose of meeting, listening to and attending to SMMEs’ and Co-operatives’ needs. The range of inputs received from SMMEs have been constructive, which is evident that SMMEs still have the confidence in the DSBD to reduce red tape. There has been overwhelming attendance and participation in these roadshows.

STELLA NDABENI-ABRAHAMS

MINISTER: SMALL BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT

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a) The R1 billion mentioned by the President refers to funds that are provided for in the 2022 Division of Revenue Bill (and are not new monies), namely disaster relief funds (for immediate response) through the Provincial Disaster Response Grant and the Municipal Disaster Response Grant. These grants are allocated R144 million and R371 million respectively in 2022/23. A further R501 million is available for this financial year in the form of provincial and municipal Emergency Housing Grants. These funds, amounting to just over R1 billion, are available shortly after Treasury receives an application from the National Disaster Management Centre (NDMC) and / or the national Department of Human Settlements (DHS), which are responsible for administering these grants. NDMC and DHS submit their applications to National Treasury once they have verified the submissions received from the province(s) and municipality(ies) concerned. To date, National Treasury has not received any applications from the NDMC or DHS.

b) In addition to immediate relief grants, state organs can reprioritise their budgets and existing conditional grants for emergency relief, reconstruction and recovery. For example, the Human Settlements Development Grant to provinces already allows for the construction of houses. Additional resources are also available through the contingency reserve, which will become available after the Appropriations Bill is passed. Another option is to use the Reconstruction and Development Programme (RDP) fund, which mainly consists of donor disbursements through various financing agreements, plus interest accrued on capital of related development projects. Therefore, since the full cost of emergency relief, reconstruction, and recovery is yet to be determined, it is difficult to determine whether the sources discussed above are adequate.

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Phase 1 on provision of immediate humanitarian relief focuses on addressing the immediate needs within affected communities. This includes search, rescue and recovery operations, burial assistance, death certificates, post-mortems, health services, psychosocial support, temporary shelter, food, personal essentials and emergency water supply.

Phase 2 on stabilisation and recovery interventions focuses on short term measures to repair and rebuild public infrastructure and facilities. This includes water, sanitation, stormwater and drainage infrastructure, electricity infrastructure, roads and bridges, rail networks, telecommunications infrastructure, health facilities, solid waste infrastructure, school infrastructure and human settlements. It also includes the provision of housing support and provision of social relief of distress grants.

For the details of the implementation plans, I refer the Honourable Member to the presentation by the Department of Cooperative Governance to the Ad Hoc Joint Committee on Flood Disaster Relief and Recovery on 23 May 2022.

The coordination of efforts by relevant stakeholders is the responsibility of the Minister of

Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs (COGTA) as per the Disaster Management Act, 2002 (Act No. 57 of 2002). Each organ of state is responsible for interventions across the phases as per their respective mandates.

The Communication and Community Mobilisation Task Team led by the Government Communications and Information System (GCIS) is responsible for communicating progress to the public. Updates are also being provided through existing platforms across the spheres of government.

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The placement on parole of offender Morné Harmse’s was not approved by the Minister of Justice and Correctional Services as the Minister is responsible for parole consideration of offenders that are sentenced to life imprisonment (lifers). Offenders serving determinate sentences are considered by the Case Management Committees and the Correctional Supervision and Parole Boards (CSPB) without the intervention of the Minister of Justice and Correctional Services.

Offender Morné Harmse was first considered on 16 November 2019, by the CSPB for possible placement on parole after completion of his minimum detention period on 09 June 2019, and was found not suitable for placement. Subsequently five (05) further profiles were approved by the CSPB and he was referred for further interventions.

Offender Morné Harmse was reconsidered by the CSPB on 24 February 2022, and this time parole placement was approved effective from 03 March 2022, subject to compliance with parole conditions. The decision to place offender Morné Harmse on parole was taken after considering multi-disciplinary reports including the Social Work report. Offender Harmse still continues with rehabilitation efforts under the system of Community Corrections. The offender is complying with his placement conditions since he was placed out.

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Reply:

The National Coronavirus Command Council (NCCC) was established as a committee of Cabinet by the Cabinet in its meeting of 15 March 2020 to coordinate government’s response to the coronavirus pandemic. The NCCC makes recommendations to Cabinet on measures necessary to manage the pandemic.

The NCCC continues to perform this function since, although the national state of disaster has been lifted, the COVID-19 pandemic is unfortunately not yet over.

As a Cabinet committee – which, like all other Cabinet Committees, was established to support the work of Cabinet in whichever form the Executive deems most practical or useful – the existence of the NCCC is not dependent on a national state of disaster being in operation.