Questions and Replies

Reply:

Bloem Water was the first water board to implement the 96KW Conduit Hydro Power in the country on 31 March 2015. The new technology (Hydro Power) is still operational and in use.

(a) (i) The total cost for the project was R 3.5 million.

(ii) (aa) The average electricity savings a month are estimated at R30 000.00. The savings vary due to the seasonal demand for electricity

(bb) An estimated R2.5 million has been saved in the last seven years of running the generator. The only time the Bloem Water had to replace the generator on the turbine was in 2017 at a cost of R20 000. Other than that, the yearly budget for operation and maintenance of the generator is R40 000.

(iii) Bloem Water budgets R40 000 annually for both electrical and mechanical maintenance. Other than that, there are no other costs as the generator depends on the potable water supplied by the Bloem Water’s Welbedacht Water Treatment Works to its main Brandkop reservoir.

(b) This water passes through the turbine via a re-routed pipeline to generate electricity before it goes

back into the main reservoir. The project was initiated by Bloem Water and completed in conjunction with key stakeholders, including the Water Research Commission (WRC)and the University of Pretoria (UP). The second phase of this project is currently ongoing which will see the extension of the project to the Bloem Water’s Uikyk Reservoir. This site has a potential of an energy output of 300KW.

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Reply:

I have been advised by the Department and SOEs as follows:

DEPARTMENT:

(1)(a)(i) R329,384-00 was paid on settlements.

(1)(a)(ii) R2 024 276,50.

2. The response is provided in annexure A.

SOEs:

1. (b-f)

SOEs	(i)NSettlements	(ii) Salaries to suspended employees
SAPO	R23, 023,132. 69	R69, 631,178. 13
Nemisa	R 30 000.00	R653 332.77
SABC	R66 390 764.35	R26 787 242.38
SITA	R 9 438 136.08	R 46 882 565.68
BBI	R 1 971 372.00	R 2 083 164.00

2. The responses are provided in the annexures. Annexure B for SAPO and annexure C for the other entities in question.

Authorised for submission by

 

MS. NONKQUBELA JORDAN-DYANI

DIRECTOR-GENERAL (ACTING)

DATE:

Recommended/not recommended

__________________________

HON. PHILLY MAPULANE, MP

DEPUTY MINISTER OF COMMUNICATIONS AND DIGITAL TECHNOLOGIES

DATE:

Approved/ not approved

________________________________

HON. KHUMBUDZO NTSHAVHENI, MP

MINISTER OF COMMUNICATIONS AND DIGITAL TECHNOLOGIES

DATE:

Reply:

I have been advised by SAPO as follows:

(a) Since 1 January 2018 a total of 248 branches were closed, for various reasons.

(b) Please see attached spread sheet

(c) Please see attached spread sheet

Authorised for submission by:

 

MS. NONKQUBELA JORDAN-DYANI

DIRECTOR-GENERAL (ACTING)

DATE:

 

Recommended/not recommended

__________________________

HON. PHILLY MAPULANE, MP

DEPUTY MINISTER

DATE:

Approved/ not approved

________________________________

HON. KHUMBUDZO NTSHAVHENI, MP

MINISTER

DATE:

Reply:

I have been advised by the SOEs as follows:

1.

SOEs	(i)mSettlements	(ii) Salaries to suspended employees
a) ICASA	R1,098 751.50	R3 041 738.20
b) Sentech	R299 090.06	R1 557 694.72
c) USAASA	-	R 1 521 3834.00
d) FPB	R3 320 804.52	R1 337 956.81
e) GCIS	The question pertaining to the GCIS and MDDA should be directed to the Minister in the Presidency as these entities fall within his portfolio.
f) nMDDA

 

2. The responses are provided in the attached annexure.

Authorised for submission by

 

MS. NONKQUBELA JORDAN-DYANI

DIRECTOR-GENERAL (ACTING)

DATE:

Recommended/not recommended

__________________________

HON. PHILLY MAPULANE, MP

DEPUTY MINISTER OF COMMUNICATIONS AND DIGITAL TECHNOLOGIES

DATE:

Approved/ not approved

________________________________

HON. KHUMBUDZO NTSHAVHENI, MP

MINISTER OF COMMUNICATIONS AND DIGITAL TECHNOLOGIES

DATE:

Reply:

I have been advised by SAPO as follows:

(a) None.

(b – f) Not Applicable.

 

Authorised for submission by:

MS. NONKQUBELA JORDAN-DYANI

DIRECTOR-GENERAL (ACTING)

DATE:

 

Recommended/not recommended

__________________________

HON. PHILLY MAPULANE, MP

DEPUTY MINISTER

DATE:

Approved/ not approved

________________________________

HON. KHUMBUDZO NTSHAVHENI, MP

MINISTER

DATE:

Reply:

(1)(a) The delay in the establishment of the Catchment Management Agencies (CMAs) has been for several reasons including (a) reconfiguration and realignment of all entities of the Department of Water and Sanitation in accordance with the Presidential report on the rationalisation of public entities; and (b) opposition to the establishment of new Agencies by labour unions as it is seen as privatisation

(1)(b) Breede-Olifants, Inkomati-Pongola, Mkuze-Mtamvuna, Vaal-Orange, Limpopo-Olifants and Mzimvubu-Tsitsikamma Catchment Management Agencies.

(1)(c) The Mkuze-Mtamvuna, Vaal-Orange, Limpopo-Olifants CMAs will be established by April 2023 and the Mzimvubu-Tsitsikamma CMA will be established by April 2024.

(2)(a) It is anticipated that the Olifants River Catchment Management Agency will be operational by April 2023

(2)(b) Due to reasons provided in 1(a) above, the Department changed its approach to the establishment of CMAs.

(3) The submitted action plan of 30 March 2022 proposed a passive treatment system (a wetland DongaLock system which is being evaluated by the Department’s wetland specialists. If approved, the system would be operational by September 2022.

(4) The existing dosing plant below Kromdraai Mine is active but is only partially treating the mine water as the sulphate quality limits are not being met. Measures will be implemented to continue with the improvement of the liming plant to the required design standard.

Regarding whether the department can provide the reports of the PH levels, the toxic heavy metals, aluminium and salts like sulphates to the Member, it should be noted that third party Information can be made available subject to a Promotion of Access to Information Act application.

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Reply:

Excess deaths refer to the number of deaths observed during the pandemic above a baseline of recent trends. Estimates of excess deaths provide information about the burden of mortality potentially related to the COVID-19 pandemic, including deaths that are directly or indirectly attributed to COVID-19.

The numbers of excess deaths in South Africa are estimated from the death registration data that the South African Medical Research Council obtains from the National Population Register maintained by the Department of Home Affairs.

Using all-cause deaths reported in the death registration system of South Africa (adjusting for late registration and incompleteness), the MRC developed estimates and monitors excess deaths experienced during the COVID-19 pandemic in the country. Weekly reports have been published, providing the total number of excess deaths from natural causes by province since 3 May 2020.

(a)-(b) Table A below provides the broad age break down of the numbers of excess deaths from natural causes in each wave of the pandemic and the figure shows the broad age band breakdown of the total excess deaths experienced during the period Week 19 of 2020 to Week 13 of 2022 (i.e., 9 May 2020 – 2 April 2022). 52 weeks are assumed per calendar year. The data is collected and presented by Epidemiological weeks which are used as a standard method to report excess deaths. Estimates of the numbers of excess natural deaths by province by age group are currently not available due to the fact that as you go lower down in population breakdown, variations may be marginal in comparison, which affects the confidence level of the estimates. The research team, comprising demographers, epidemiologists and statisticians are confident within a small range of uncertainty, with the numbers of excess deaths by broad age group (separate from provincial categorisation) at a national level.

Age group (years)	Wave 1 (2020 week 19 -2020 week 42)	Wave 2 (2020 week 43 - 2021 week 14)	Wave 3 (2021 week 15 -2021week 46)	Wave 4 (2021 week 47- 2022 week 13)	Total (2020 week 19 - 2022 week 13)
0-9	-3 399*	1 806	4 540	3 832	6 779
10-19	183	473	685	462	1 803
20-29	604	1 400	1 857	848	4 709
30-39	-533*	1 381	475	-452*	871
40-49	1 675	6 200	6 020	478	14 373
50-59	8 554	18 448	21 243	3 850	52 095
60-69	14 428	30 219	29 426	6 642	80 715
70-79	14 026	26 362	29 792	6 927	77 107
80+	13 107	20 010	26 600	7 766	67 483
Total	48 647	106 298	120 640	30 353	305 938

Table A

* negative values were reported where the deaths were lower than the baseline

(i.e., no excess death for that period)

Table B below shows excess death rates adjusted for differences in the age structure in each province. This data is from a peer reviewed publication scheduled for release in the May/June issue of the South African Journal of Science[1].

Province	Total excess natural deaths	Cumulative age-adjusted rate per 100 000 population	Annualised age-adjusted rate per 100 000 population
			Wave 1 (2020 week 19-2020 week 42)	Wave 2 (2020 week 43-2021 wee k14)	Wave 3 (2021 week 15 - 2021week 46)	Wave 4 (2020 week19-2022 week 4)	2020	2021
Eastern Cape	50 257	621	362	502	237	389	299	294
Free State	16 662	570	304	388	411	208	150	404
Gauteng	58 254	410	210	249	346	79	111	299
KwaZulu-Natal	60 942	610	233	651	300	253	178	416
Limpopo	31 758	467	100	440	353	222	419	384
Mpumalanga	22 795	509	132	467	396	183	444	410
Northern Cape	8 428	671	212	361	602	330	114	535
North West	16 569	422	117	322	395	124	63	352
Western Cape	30 559	379	154	272	249	154	130	237
South Africa	295 135	497	183	389	318	179	218	342

Table B

1. Bradshaw D, Dorrington R, Laubscher R, Groenewald P, Moultrie T. COVID-19 and all-cause mortality in South Africa – the hidden deaths in the first four waves. South African Journal of Science. (In Press).END.

    

Reply:

The Department does not fund Metropolitan Municipalities for water and sanitation programmes since such municipalities receive the Urban Settlement Development Grant (USDG) from the Department of Human Settlements (DHS). The USDG is intended to fund programmes related to the Built Environment for the provision of basic municipal services, including water and sanitation infrastructure.

The Department of Water and Sanitation engaged with Mangaung Metropolitan Municipality (MMM) about short-medium term plans towards the eradication of bucket toilets in Section C of Botshabelo in Ward 32 and obtained the following report:

• Botshabelo is affected by bulk sanitation constraints. The main outfall sewer needs an upgrade at an estimated cost of R60 million. Additionally, the wastewater treatment works needs to be upgraded from its current capacity of 20Ml/d to 40Ml/d at an estimated cost of R380 million.

• The current hydraulic load at the WWTW is 18ML/d, which means that there is a spare capacity of 2ML/d. The upgrade of the main outfall sewer is expected to be completed by December 2023. The project to eradicate bucket toilets in Botshabelo Section C is planned for the 2022/23 financial year. The current bulk sanitation spare capacity is adequate to accommodate the additional imposed demand caused by the planned upgrade.

• MMM plans to install an upgradable alternative sanitation solution as a short-term measure to overcome bulk challenges. A budget of R94.5 million has been appropriated for the programme under USDG over the Medium-Term Expenditure Framework period. A total of 5 300 units will be constructed and later converted to a full waterborne system after installation of the bulk infrastructure. The project is at the procurement stage and awaiting the National Treasury directive on procurement matters due to the constitutional court finding on the PPPFA.

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Reply:

1. a) Granted Asylum status per year

Year	Total
2012	6226
2013	7286
2014	9230
2015	2499
2016	3157
2017	2267
2018	1594
2019	1834
2020	2020
2021	184

1 b) Certification as a Refugee Indefinitely Granted per year at SCRA

Year	Total
2012	NOT AVAILABLE
2013	94
2014	948
2015	684
2016	510
2017	1082
2018	1463
2019	2459
2020	578
2021	606

2. The Department currently have asylum applications from the below mentioned countries

Afghanistan	Colombia	Haiti	Mali	Senegal	USA
Algeria	Comoros	Hungary	Mauritania	Serbia	Venezuela
Angola	Congo	India	Mauritius	Sierra Leone	Wallis and Futuna
Australia	Croatia	Iran	Morocco	Slovenia	Yemen
Bahamas	Denmark	Iraq	Mozambique	Solomon Islands	Zambia
Bahrain	Djibouti	Ireland	Namibia	Somalia	Zimbabwe
Bangladesh	DRC	Ivory Coast	Nepal	Sri Lanka
Barbados	East Timor	Jamaica	Netherlands	Sudan
Belarus	Ecuador	Jordan	Niger	Suriname
Benin	Egypt	Kazakhstan	Nigeria	Swaziland
Botswana	Eritrea	Kenya	Niue	Sweden
Bulgaria	Estonia	Kyrgyzstan	NULL	Syria
Burkina Faso	Ethiopia	Lebanon	Oman	Tanzania
Burundi	Gabon	Lesotho	Other	Thailand
Cambodia	Gambia	Liberia	Pakistan	Togo
Cameroon	Germany	Libya	Palestine	Turkey
Central African Republic	Ghana	Macau	Russia	Uganda
Chad	Guinea	Malawi	Rwanda	Ukraine
China	Guinea Bissau	Malaysia	Saint Kitts and Nevis	Uruguay

3. The current government policy position on refugees remain non-encampment, any policy shift will be informed by necessary political discussions and structures. My role in those discussions is to provide input informed as politically deployed to the Home Affairs portfolio.

4. The number of persons identified, arrested and confirmed for deportation in terms of the Immigration Act 13 of 2002 are indicated in the attached statistics.

5. The list of the countries and total figures with respect to each country are captured in the attachment.

END

Reply:

The information requested by this question is not readily available at the National Department. The Department is working with all provincial departments of Health and the Health Professions Council of South Africa (HPCSA) to source this information. As soon as the information is received, the Minister will furnish a full response in this regard.

END.

Reply:

It should be noted that besides the above explanation regarding security services, the department also engaged the then contracted service provider to conduct assessment on the functionality of security systems of Mbombela High Court while the contract was still active. It was discovered that two Network Video Recorders were faulty and becomes dysfunctional. The two NVR system were found to be irreparable due to unavailability of spare parts in the local market. To mitigate the risk, the procurement process to replace the faulty NVR and monitors has since been finalized in March 2022, in that the security system functionality has now improved, however, there are some of the cameras that needs to be maintained and repaired which will be attended to as soon the new service provider is appointed.

END

Reply:

(a) The department has reviewed its Supply Chain Management (SCM) policy and aligned it with the National Treasury SCM Instruction Notes and Circulars that are issued from time to time by National Treasury. Currently NDOH SCM is also reviewing its Standard Operating Procedure of SCM to be also in line with the new with the intension to workshop rework shop all their internal stakeholders (different branches and clusters in the department). With these workshops is the enhance compliance with prescripts and bring everyone on board with the latest developments in SCM space.

(b) Section 38 of the PFMA and Chapter 8 of the Irregular Expenditure Framework issued by National Treasury direct that disciplinary steps must be taken against officials responsible for irregular expenditure. In adhering to these requirements, some of the officials implicated in irregular expenditure cases had been suspended and disciplinary hearings are in progress.

END.

Reply:

The Department does not fund Metropolitan Municipalities for water and sanitation programmes since such municipalities receive the Urban Settlement Development Grant (USDG) from the Department of Human Settlements (DHS).

The USDG is intended to fund programmes related to the Built Environment for the provision of basic municipal services, including water and sanitation infrastructure.

The Department of Water and Sanitation engaged with Mangaung Metropolitan Municipality (MMM) about short-medium term plans towards the eradication of bucket toilets in Section C of Botshabelo in Ward 32 and obtained the following report:

• Botshabelo is affected by bulk sanitation constraints. The main outfall sewer needs an upgrade at an estimated cost of R60 million. Additionally, the wastewater treatment works needs to be upgraded from its current capacity of 20Ml/d to 40Ml/d at an estimated cost of R380 million.

• The current hydraulic load at the WWTW is 18ML/d, which means that there is a spare capacity of 2ML/d. The upgrade of the main outfall sewer is expected to be completed by December 2023. The project to eradicate bucket toilets in Botshabelo Section D is planned for the 2022/23 financial year. The current bulk sanitation spare capacity is adequate to accommodate the additional imposed demand caused by the planned upgrade.

• MMM plans to install an upgradable alternative sanitation solution as a short-term measure to overcome bulk challenges. A budget of R94.5 million has been appropriated for the programme under USDG over the Medium-Term Expenditure Framework period. A total of 5 300 units will be constructed and later converted to a full waterborne system after installation of the bulk infrastructure. The project is at the procurement stage and awaiting the National Treasury directive on procurement matters due to the constitutional court finding on the PPPFA.

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Reply:

(a) (i) The current ratio of doctor to patient in public sector is 1:3198.

(ii) The current ratio of Nurse to patient in public sector is 1:357.

This is based on the following:

• The current total of Medical Doctors in the public health sector is 16 073.
• There are currently 144 090 Nurses appointed in the public health sector as of 31 March 2022. (This total includes all categories of nurses) (i.e., in all 9 Provinces including the National Department of health) recorded on the 31 March 2022 PERSAL System date set.
• Based on the Stats SA mid-year population estimates 2021, the current South African population is 60.14 million, with 4.05 million registered members, serving 8.94 million beneficiaries (i.e., insured population according to the 2021 Council of Medical Schemes data); and
• Approximately 51.4 million citizens are uninsured, and they depend on the public sector hospitals.

(b) From 01 April 2017 to 31 March 2021 the National Department of Health has supported 1356 Medical doctors to apply for critical skill visa with Department of Home Affairs.

END.

Reply:

The National Department of Health engagements has been on the issues highlighted in the following Commission on Gender Equality (CGE) report.

1. Report on the consultative hearings on the status of shelters in South Africa 2020.

(a) (i) Total number of recommendations is six (6) and 1 of the recommendations has six (6) sub-recommendations.

(b) (i) Total number of recommendations not implemented is two (2).

Table below responds to details of the recommendations and indicate those implemented and not implemented

Table:

Recommendations	Implemented	Not implemented	Reason for not implementing
(a) The NDOH must develop norms and standards for the provision of services to domestic and GBV survivors, including: (i) The creation of an area-relevant shelter referral list (ii) The sensitive treatment of survivors of GBV. (iii) The required services for survivors and their children at shelters and duties of care.	List received from the Department of Social Department Front line workers are trained on treatment on sensitivity to survivorsrs and children implemented by all health facilities using the Sexual Reproductive and Health Rights policy and guidelines		Plotting of the shelter list to health facilities still needs to be concluded.
(iv) The prioritisation of survivors of GBV at clinics and hospitals. (v) Transport for survivors to health facilities and the provision of primary healthcare at shelters. (vi) Clear, sensitive norms for the provision of services to the LGBTIQA+ community and PWDs and other vulnerable survivors.	Ambulances are provided when needed. Front line workers are now trained for gender sensitisations in the Sexual Reproductive and Health Rights Module Adapted the The South African National LGBTI HIV Plan, 2017-2022 that define norms and package of care also to survivors.		After the process of plotting shelters, we will be able to know proximity of shelters to health facilities. Where there are no fixed structures, we will look at the option of mobile clinics.
a) The NDOH is to issue a circular by the end of December 2019 on the prioritisation of GBV survivors at health facilities at all levels. A copy of the circular is to be provided to the Commission.		Director General of Health to still approve Circular	Director General of Health to still approve Circular
b) The NDOH is to develop a programme on harmful social norms and myths that facilitate the spread of GBV, rather than to focus only on a legislative approach. The Commission welcomes engagements on this development		This Programme is a social phenomenon and Ndoh will not be able to prepare a Programme, however, will collaborate with other social stakeholders guided by the National Strategic Plan doe Gender Based Violence and Femicide.
c) The NDOH is to make mental health services as well as detoxification facilities more accessible to shelter residents. The NDOH must revert with the proposed roll-out plan.	Mental Health services are established in terms of the National Mental Health Policy Framework and Strategic Plan 2013-2020, which is being updated and founded on the provisions of the Mental Health care Act 2002 (Act No 17 of 2002). Access for all citizens including shelter residents is ensured, among others, through the following initiatives: Integration of mental health in the core package of district health services. Routine screening for mental illness and a stepped approach to management and referral for mental conditions from PHC. Establishment of district specialist mental health teams to plan and coordinate mental health services in districts. Strategic purchasing of services from health providers to render mental health services at Primary Health Care. These includes psychiatrists, Psychologists, Registered Counsellors, Social Workers and Occupational Therapists. Regarding Detoxification, Substance abuse prevention, treatment and rehabilitation services are provided in terms of the Prevention of and Treatment of Substance Abuse Act, 2008, which is led by the Department of Social Development (DSD). Substance abuse rehabilitation centres are subsidized by DSD. The Department of Health screens for and manages substance abuse across all levels of the health system in line with the Adult Primary Care guidelines and the Essential Medicines List, Standard Treatment Guidelines. Detoxification is provided to all community members in general hospitals, when required.
(e) The NDOH must provide a report on the training that frontline staff, managers, and senior managers have received on GBV.	Report was provided for frontline staff provided in 2020.
(f) The NDOH has a duty to educate communities around issues of health and it must engage the community around the stigmas surrounding survivors, and where to seek help.	Community mobilization is done on this issue by the Department and partners such as Love Life and Soul City.

 

2. Report into the investigation on the forced sterilization of women living with HIV/AIDS in South Africa 2020.

(a) (i) Total number of recommendations is nine (9) only 5 applicable to the Department of Health

(b) (i) Total number of recommendations not implemented is one (1) and in process.

Table below responds to details of the recommendations and indicate those implemented and

not implemented

Table:

Recommendations	Implemented	Not implemented	Reason for not implementing
1.The Commission will refer this report and its findings to the Health Professions Council of South Africa (Health Professions Council of South Africa) and the complaints contained herein. The HPCSA guides and regulates health professions on all aspects pertaining to professional conduct and ethical behavior. Thus, they ought to engage with this report on this matter as they have the necessary capacity to investigate the professional conduct and behavior of the implicated health care practitioners.		Responsibility of CGE
2. The Commission will refer this report and its findings to the South African Nursing Council (SANC) and the complaints contained herein. The SANC guides and regulates nurses on all aspects pertaining to professional conduct and ethical behavior. Thus, they ought to engage with this report on this matter as they have the necessary capacity to investigate the professional conduct and behavior of the implicated health care practitioners;		Responsibility of CGE
3.The NDOH, upon receipt of this report must interrogate and scrutinise the provisions of the Sterilisation Act and interrogate consent forms for sterilisations to ascertain whether the provisions contained therein provide for and protect the principle of informed consent in all respects. The NDOH must report to the CGE within 3 (Three months) of receipt of this report as to what concrete steps the Department will take to ensure that the eradication of the harmful practice of forced sterilization.	Implemented, and there was no need to change the Act however, clarification on Sterilization Act was provided in the National Contraceptive guideline updated in 2019
4. The NDOH, upon receipt of this report must facilitate dialogue between themselves and the complainants to for them to find ways of providing redress to the Complainants.	Done on the 3rd and 4th June 2021 in Durban.
5. The Commission will present this report as part of its petition to the SALRC for amendments to legislation that ensure consent is properly obtained such as counselling prior to consent, the timing of obtaining consent and compulsory information that must be provide.		Responsibility of CGE
6. The NDOH must revise consent forms to bring them into conformity with the guidelines provided by International Federation of Gynaecology and Obstetrics and standardised for all sterilization procedures. The NDOH should also print consent forms in all official languages, and the explanation around the procedure,particularly its irreversible nature should be given in the patient’s language of choice. This must be executed and attested to;	Implemented. Translation to 10 other languages completed and the process is in the process of acquiring tender to print the revised consent forms.
7. The NDOH must make it an operational policy requirement that where a patient agrees to sterilisation, they must be given a “Cooling off” period to fully appreciate the risks and consequences of their sterilisation procedure.	Implemented as documented on the revised Maternity case record
8. Standard timeframes should be put in place in relation to when the discussion around sterilisation should take place. Patients cannot be informed about this process minutes before going to theatre. Patients must also be informed that they are at liberty to change their minds at any time before the procedure takes place;	Implemented as documented on the revised Maternity case record
9. The DOH must ensure that their filing systems, both manual and electronic are standardised for ease of coordination. Feedback to the latter must be provided within 3 months from date of this report.		Not implemented however the process of filing systems are being addressed through the NHI configuration systems.

3. Report on the Government's Emergency Response Action Plan (ERAP) on Gender-based Violence and Femicide, Review of implementation 2020.

No recommendations in the report specific to the Department of Health.

4. Report on the gender transformation on procurement 2018/19

No recommendations in the report.

5. Report on the Victims Charter: Assessing the Effectiveness of Implementation by Departments of Health and Correctional Services 2012.

No recommendations in the report.

 

END.

Reply:

a.) The Asset Forfeiture Unit (AFU) has to date obtained preservation orders to the value of R157 744 720.20, and forfeiture orders to the value of R120 255 279.80. Some of the forfeited funds have already been paid back to the Unemployment Insurance Fund (UIF), the State or victims.

b.) The total number of arrests and/or court enrolments that have been made to date is 132. These relate to 87 natural persons and 45 juristic persons (entities).

c.) The total number of sentences that have been imposed to date is 19. These relate to five (5) natural persons and thirteen (13) juristic persons (entities).

        i.) Five (5) natural persons were charged and convicted of theft, fraud, forgery and uttering relating to claims from the UIF.

        ii.) Thirteen (13) juristic persons (entities) were charged and convicted of contraventions of Section 234(a) read with Section 22(1) of the Tax Administration Act 28/2011 and further read with Sections 1 and 23(1) of the Value Added Tax Act 89/1991.

Sentences imposed range from a term of imprisonment, fines as well as suspended sentences.

 

Reply:

Rand Water provides potable water to the City of Johannesburg. Over the past couple of years Rand Water experienced failures of bulk electrical and mechanical equipment at the Rand Water purification works and main pump stations. Interruptions at the Zuikerbosh purification plant impacts on Rand Water’s Palmiet and Swartkoppies pump stations. These pump stations supply water to the Klipriviersberg, Meyershill and Forest Hill reservoirs.

Johannesburg Water pumps water from the Rand Water Meyershill reservoir to the South Hills towers to supply water to Linmeyer, Risana, South Hills and surrounding areas. Johannesburg Water also pumps water from the Rand Water Forest Hill reservoir to the Forest Hill tower which provide water the Oakdene and surrounding areas.

Due to the electrical and mechanical failures at the works and the pump stations at Rand Water, the water levels at reservoirs are reduced to very low levels or run empty. When the water levels from the reservoirs are too low, the Johannesburg Water pumps are damaged.

To safeguard the pumps against the damage, Johannesburg Water switches off its pump stations until reservoir levels can be stabilised. During the period when the pumps are switched off, this results in water interruptions for the areas dependent on the Klipriviersberg, Meyershill and Forest Hill reservoirs.

Since February 2022 Rand Water had a number of failures at their Zuikerbosh plant as well as the Palmiet pump station which affected water supply capability to the South of Johannesburg; especially the Meyershill reservoir; which then impacted on the South Hills tower supply. The failures resulted from electricity supply failures, transformer failures as well as pump failures on various occasions. The duration of the interruptions would be as long as 5 days over which Rand Water managed to build sufficient capacity at its reservoirs. The City of Johannesburg provides water through alternative means to affected areas when there are disruptions.

During the last incident in the beginning of March 2022, arrangements were made for Johannesburg Water to pump water directly from the inlet pipe works at the Meyershill reservoir to restore water supply in the South Hills area. This stabilised water supply to the South Hills area since mid-March 2022 and also allowed Rand Water to stabilise levels of water at the servoir l at the Meyershill reservoir.

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Reply:

It is our considered view that in view of the Government Employees Medical Scheme (GEMS) being an entity falling under the responsibility of the Department for the Public Service and Administration, this question would be best be answered by that Department and not Health.

Parliament is therefore requested to divert this question to the Ministry for the Public Service and Administration accordingly.

END.

Reply:

I have been advised by the SOEs as follows:

(a)- (b) USAASA and FPB have indicated that they do not owe any of the mentioned municipalities.

Authorised for submission by

 

MS. NONKQUBELA JORDAN-DYANI

DIRECTOR-GENERAL (ACTING)

DATE:

Recommended/not recommended

__________________________

HON. PHILLY MAPULANE, MP

DEPUTY MINISTER OF COMMUNICATIONS AND DIGITAL TECHNOLOGIES

DATE:

Approved/ not approved

________________________________

HON. KHUMBUDZO NTSHAVHENI, MP

MINISTER OF COMMUNICATIONS AND DIGITAL TECHNOLOGIES

DATE:

Reply:

In South Africa many catchments are water stressed and this necessitates implementation of various measures to secure water resources in all the catchments in the country. The Department of Water and Sanitation (DWS) gives effect to the development and innovation of water infrastructure through the National Water Resource Strategy.

The DWS undertakes continuous scenario planning to ensure water security for the country. The key outputs of the scenario planning are strategies and projects to reconcile water requirements and availability for all large integrated systems in the country and localised water resource systems that secure water for small towns, villages or clusters of settlements.

Broadening of South Africa’s water resource mix is critical for water security as there are now limited opportunities for further surface water developments. To address this, the DWS:

• Is developing guidelines and a national strategy for supplementing surface water resources with groundwater resources in a sustainable fashion.
• Is importing surface water from neighbouring countries;
• Will increasingly be supporting municipalities to develop alternative sources of water, including through desalination and water re-use;
• Is encouraging and supporting municipalities to implement water conservation and demand management strategies, including reducing water losses; and
• Will increasingly be working with industries to increase water-use efficiency.

The Department of Water and Sanitation is currently in the process of establishing the National Water Resource Infrastructure Agency (NWRIA). Once established, the NWRIA will be able to finance and implement large-scale investments in national water resource infrastructure that are required to ensure that South Africa has sufficient bulk water supply.

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Reply:

The National Department of Health is still working with the Gauteng Provincial Department of Health on this report. It will be shared with the Honourable Member as soon as it has been completed.

END.

Reply:

The department is responsible to make transfer payments to the Office of Health Standards Compliance (OHSC) as allocated from the national fiscus for the entity to conduct its operations in accordance with its legislative mandate. Requests for additional funds for the entity’s operations including compensation of employees would be made to the National Treasury by the entity with support from the department following due process (budget process).

The department supported the OHSC’s application to the National Treasury to retain accumulated surplus for the 2020/21 financial year considering the negative impact of COVID-19 and budgetary constraints to fund the following objectives as identified by the entity:

• Supplementing human resource capacity in the Complaints Management Unit, Certification and Enforcement Unit, and Legal Service Unit; 
• Additional budget for inspections and re-inspections, and certification and enforcement; 
• Replacement of old computer equipment/tools of trade (recapitalization); and 
• Development and/or enhancement of core systems – inspection, early warning system, certification, and enforcement.  

In addition, the Department during the 2020 MTEF process ensured that the OHSC’s budget was not reduced. National Treasury had proposed a reduction of 5.7% in 2021/22 and 8.5% in 2022/23 as a result of the tight fiscal envelope.

END.

Reply:

(a)(i) Number of mining right holders that are complying is 48

(ii) Number of mining right holders that are not in compliance is 51

(b) Directives and orders in terms of section 29 and 93 of MPRDA were issued to those mining right holders who does not comply

(c) The publishing of SLP is not only limited to website, but some companies also publish in their website while most Mines are publishing in Tribal Authority, Local Municipalities and Libraries for easy access to community they are operating around.

Reply:

The information requested by this question is not readily available at the National Department. The Department is working with all provincial departments of Health to source this information. As soon as the information is received, the Minister will furnish a full response in this regard.

END.

Reply:

As of April 2022, 23 million doses of vaccine were available in South Africa. Given the continuing low uptake of vaccination, there is a high risk that a significant number of doses will not be utilised before their expiry date. In light of this situation, no vaccines are currently being procured.

1. The Department of Health continues to work with a range of partners to increase uptake of vaccination. These interventions include:

1. Continuing to provide consistent messaging around the importance of vaccination through a multiple media channels.
2. Ensuring effective liaison and collaboration for COVID -19 vaccination with community leaders and key stakeholders at ward-level
3. Strengthening platforms for participatory community dialogues, events, and activations
4. Improving community engagement and mobilisation for COVID-19 vaccination through the use of trained vaccinated Social Mobilisers
5. Providing technical assistance for localised communications that support COVID-19 vaccination mobilisation activities
6. Improving site marketing and build sustainable vaccine trust by advertising vaccination sites and using Social Mobilisers
7. Strengthening social mobilisation results-based management using Electronic Vaccination Data System (EVDS) and Geolocation Information System (GIS) generated data
8. Strengthening demand acceleration amongst vulnerable and hard to reach populations such as youth, undocumented persons and People Living with HIV thorugh community engagement strategies

(b) The National Department of Health is exploring opportunities for donating excess vaccines to other countries. If this is not possible, then excess vaccines that have reached their expiry date will be discarded.

END.

Reply:

The Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) is a project and a vision of the People’s Republic of China, initiated with the intention to re-connect Asian, European and African countries along the concept of the ancient Silk Route and new Maritime Silk Road to promote mutually beneficial international cooperation.

Realising the potential benefit of this initiative to the African Continent, the African Union (AU) has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with China in this regard on 27 January 2015. The MoU focused on plans to connect all 54 African countries through transportation networks and infra-structural projects, including modern highways, airports, and high-speed railways.

The BRI, in respect to Africa’s common developmental agenda, is seen as an important vehicle to realise some of the following Continental priorities:

• Industrialisation;
• Infrastructure development (which includes ICT);
• The development of Special Economic Zones and industrial parks;
• Development of the energy sector;
• Building the Oceans Economy;
• Securing development finance; and
• Human resource and skills development.

Furthermore, the BRI will assist the Continent in bringing the programmes for African development to fruition, as it is in sync with NEPAD’s developmental architecture, in which the Programme for Infrastructure Development in Africa (PIDA) is also aimed at developing regional and continental infrastructure, policies and implementation strategies.

Most importantly, there is congruence between the spirit of the BRI and the seven aspirations of Agenda 2063, i.e. to bridge the divide between people through economic development and social cooperation. As Africa is at the centre of South Africa’s Foreign Policy, the BRI would serve to enhance continued cooperation and development on the Continent towards a better Africa - and world – which remain the key foreign policy focus of South Africa. Some examples of BRI projects in Africa include the Nairobi-Mombasa railway link; and Ethiopian infrastructural developments (through the utilization of industrial parks, investment and employment has grown considerably). The BRI provides further opportunity to support regional integration and the development of regional value chains.

 

Reply:

The price threshold for official vehicles for members of the executive is reviewed regularly and considers different criteria. Among these are budget constraints, the changing market price of vehicles, the practical requirements of executive members to fulfill their portfolio responsibilities, as well as safety and reliability, including for travelling in difficult terrain. The Guide for Members of the Executive (“the Guide”) confers powers to the Minister of Finance to determine any annual adjustments to the threshold. The National Treasury maintains a transversal contract for the purchase of official vehicles for use by the executive which should be used by government departments. This contract allows for vehicles to be purchase directly from the manufacturer where the vehicle is new. This ensures superior value-for-money compared to purchasing vehicles from dealers.

Paragraph 2.6 of the Guide states the following: “The price for the purchase of official vehicles shall not exceed R700 000-00, inclusive of VAT, security upgrades and maintenance plans. The limitation on the cost of the vehicle must be adjusted annually by the Minister responsible for Finance, in consultation with the Ministers responsible for Police, Transport and State Security”.

In the period since the finalization of the Guide, National Treasury Instruction no. 6 of 2019/2020 was issued, stating in paragraph 3.1 that the threshold for the procurement of official vehicles for members of the executive is revised from R700 000 to R800 000.00 inclusive of VAT and security features. Paragraph 3.3 of the said Instruction further provides that it is the responsibility of each department to ensure confirmation of the price of security features is obtained from the South African Police Service prior to finalization of the vehicle purchase.

The above is the most recent instruction note issued in this regard, and ongoing reviews will continue to be undertaken.

Reply:

The Department of Water and Sanitation has allocated R15 million, through Water Services Infrastructure Grant (WSIG), for the Makolokwe Water Supply Project. This project is intended to connect to the water supply pipeline from Glencor Mines, which is still under negotiation.

The design of the pipeline and connection is completed, and tender document is ready for the construction. The anticipate commencement of construction is May 2022, the projected completion date is August 2022.

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Reply:

a) The queues are already reduced in both offices as a few management principles/ processes have been implemented such as floor walkers have been appointed

b) Clients are assisted with query management while on queues; those whose queries are resolved remain on the queue for collection of products and those with unresolved queries are released to reduce the waiting time on the queue and also Branch Appointment Booking System in both offices assist in managing the queues, improving delivery of services and reducing the waiting period. Whilst High volume of clients have also been addressed through extension of operating hours during school holidays and peak periods.

 

END

Reply:

(1) In a 2013, the Department developed a Policy Guideline for Tertiary Services which provides guidance or a blueprint for the minimum health workforce categories required at each category of hospital. These category of hospitals ranges from the Regional, Tertiary, Central, National Referral Hospitals to Specialised Hospitals.

Regional/Secondary (R) hospitals require the permanent presence and input of a general specialist in each of the TEN core specialties listed below, or at least two full time specialists per core specialty:

• Medicine
• Surgery
• Psychiatry
• Obstetrics & Gynaecology
• Orthopaedic Surgery
• Paediatrics
• Anaesthetics
• Diagnostic Radiology
• Laboratory Medicine
• Emergency Medicine

Tertiary Hospitals (T1) provide services with more specialists than is generally available at Regional hospitals. T1 services are centred on a strong core of specialists in the main specialties, supported by other specialist and sub-specialists.

Central Referral Hospitals (T2) represents a set of highly specialist services, delivered by sub-specialists that require unique, highly skilled and scarce personnel.

 

National Referral Hospitals (T3) offer services that are provided by super-specialist at national referral units only, each linked to a Central Hospital.

Specialised Psychiatric Hospitals (SP) offer services that may be provided in general hospitals (usually acute psychiatric wards only) but are mostly provided at specialised facilities designed for care of mentally ill patients.

Further considerations:

• In all regional and tertiary hospitals, consideration is given to the number and complexity of supporting clinical departments and allied clinical support services required to deliver the service. For instance, cardiothoracic surgery requires the support of a cardiology service, intensive care, cath lab, Clinical Technology personnel, etc.

• The skills and competencies required to deliver the service will depend not only on the level and scarcity of skills and competencies of specialist doctors but on the level and scarcity of skills and competencies of all of the allied professionals whose inputs are required to deliver the service.

• The caseload required to sustain these skills and competencies must be optimal to ensure the patient’s safety and to justify the investment in the units.

(2) (a) Informal quality checks should be done on a daily basis in hospitals. According to the Norms and Standards Regulations applicable to different categories of health establishments (Feb 2018) all health establishments must conduct an annual self-assessment (formal quality assessment) against the Norms and Standards Regulations. The measures for District and Regional hospitals for the Norms and Standards Regulations were published by the Office of Health Standards Compliance in August 2021. The Central Hospital tool is in draft format.

(b) Currently the Ideal Hospital Framework is used by public hospital to conduct a self-assessment. The framework has been aligned with the published measures for the Norms and Standards Regulations and will come into effect in the 2022/23 financial year. The result of the assessments conducted by hospitals for the 2021/22 financial year is set out in the table below. From the 394 public hospitals, 257 (64%) hospitals have conducted an assessment.

Outcome of self- assessment for 2021/22 financial year	Number of Hospitals
Silver	116
Gold	6
Platinum	6
Not achieved	129
Total assessments conducted	257

(3) (a) The attached table indicates the (HR) component in each hospital recorded on PERSAL as at 31 March 2022.

(b) The current overall shortage of staff for all job categories, which provide both health related, and administration functions are 26 444 posts, in the public health sector (Hospitals) (i.e. in all 9 Provinces) recorded as on the 31 March 2022 PERSAL System date set.

(c) Due to general budget cuts introduced by National Treasury, the Cost of Employment (CoE) is negatively affected and therefore not all posts can be filled simultaneously. It is therefore impossible to confirm total funded vacancies as all posts are placed in the same pot and stringent measures are implemented to control filling of positions including key line function posts to avoid over expenditure on CoE.

(d) The period that the positions has been vacant for is immaterial as on a monthly basis, Provinces are pprioritizing filing of posts in accordance with the Annual Recruitment Plan, where funding permits.

(e) Each hospital in each Province does have a Human Resources capacity plan compared to the population capacity, however, as mentioned above, due to budget cuts, it is not always possible for the hospital to employ to full capacity but mechanisms are in place to ensure that service delivery is adequately provided at all times.

To mitigate the above, the Department has introduced several interventions to address the shortage of health workers in health facilities, which amongst others includes:

• Prioritisation of the posts in the Annual Recruitment Plan – where funding permits
• Prioritisation of the posts for conditional grant funding
• Filling of replacement posts considered and approved weekly
• Advertisements published National wide through print media
• A dedicated Registrar Programme to train and produce in-house Medical

Specialists

• Provision of internship and community service programmes.

END.

Reply:

1(a) The current progress on the upgrade of the Madibeng Water Treatment Works is at 73% towards completion.

b (i) The project cost for the project is R750 million.

(ii) The allocated cost for the financial year 2022/23, is R103 million.

2 (a) The project is being implemented in a phased approach. It is anticipated that phase 2 of the upgrade of the Water treatment Plant will be completed by April 2023.

(b) The current phase of the project is still under construction and is anticipated to be completed by April 2023. The next phase of the project is under planning and will be implemented in partnership with the Sibanye Stillwater Mine. It is anticipated that phase 3 of the project commence in May 2023 and be completed by May 2024.

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Reply:

(1)(a)(i) There were 106 municipalities that adopted unfunded budgets. The attached Annexure A provides the list of municipalities per province that adopted unfunded budgets for the 2020/21 financial year.

(1)(ii) There was no intervention introduced during this period, however, National Treasury and Provincial Treasuries have institutionalised processes to guide municipalities. During the window of opportunity, 31 March and end of May of each year, Treasuries assess the budgets of municipalities, this is referred to as the Benchmark process. During this process, municipalities whose budgets are assessed to be unfunded are advised to correct this position before adoption. Unfortunately, some municipalities ignore this advice and continue to adopt unfunded budgets. Those that adopt unfunded budgets are requested to correct this position during the adjustments budget period by the end of February of the following year. Once the unfunded budget is adopted, this is the only legal opportunity to rectify the position.

In addition, the National Treasury targets the 2nd instalment (December of each year) of the Equitable Share allocation to ensure compliance with Section 18 of the Municipal Finance Management Act (MFMA) and address unfunded budgets.

If a municipality is not able to achieve a funded budget position within a year or two due to the extent of the problem, such as high Eskom debt, the National Treasury has created an opportunity for municipalities to adopt a credible funding plan that will ensure that the funding position is improved. The implementation of these plans is monitored through quarterly reports submitted by municipalities.

Furthermore, the National Treasury also circulates annually, a document that compares the original budget, adjusted budget and the outcomes as per the Annual Financial Statements, in essence this exercise highlights that municipalities are simply “living beyond their means” when it reflects a deficit position.

To date, the resolution emanating from the Budget Council and Budget Forum, which forms the political platform for discussing and addressing municipal matters, was not to accept the adoption of an unfunded budget by any municipality.

(1)(b) After the 2020/21 adjustments budget process, 105 municipalities were recorded to have unfunded position with 5 additional municipalities undetermined. The detail of the unfunded list is in the attached Annexure A.

2. The attached Annexure A shows that 112 municipalities adopted unfunded budgets for the 2021/22 financial year. Many municipalities that adopted an unfunded budget during the adjustments period (2020/21) of the previous year are found to have adopted an unfunded budget for the 2021/22 year (main budget). During the preparation of the new budgets, municipalities often increase their expenditure budget and not align it to realistic anticipated revenue to be collected by them. On the other hand, some municipalities base their budgets on a collection rate far beyond their capability. When the National or Provincial treasuries undertake their assessment of the budget based on previous years audit outcomes, the budget is assessed to be unfunded.

3. The Minister of Finance usually refers to the funding position of municipalities in the Budget Speech and it is published in the Budget Review and the Medium Term Budget Policy Statement. Due to the importance of adopting a funded budget, addressing unfunded budgets is a standing item on the agenda of Budget Council and Budget Forum, which is the political platform in the municipal context.

Reply:

The Department is working with all provincial departments of Health to source this information. As soon as the information is received, the Minister will furnish a full response in this regard.

END.

Reply:

I have been advised by the SOEs as follows:

a) nState Information Technology Agency (SITA):

1. Tshwane Metropolitan Municipality account is up to date.
2. Not applicable.
3. Not applicable.

b) nBroadband Infraco (BBI):

(i-iii) The BBI does not owe any of the Municipalities in question.

c)n Independent Communications Authority of South Africa (ICASA)

(i-iii) ICASA does not owe any of the Municipalities in question.

d) Sentech

1. As at 7 March 2022, Sentech owed the Tshwane Municipality R1 221 722.00. This amount was subsequently paid off.
2. Johannesburg Municipality was owed R724 934.89 and this amount was paid off on 18 March 2022.
3. Not applicable.

Authorised for submission by

 

MS. NONKQUBELA JORDAN-DYANI

DIRECTOR-GENERAL (ACTING)

DATE:

Recommended/not recommended

__________________________

HON. PHILLY MAPULANE, MP

DEPUTY MINISTER OF COMMUNICATIONS AND DIGITAL TECHNOLOGIES

DATE:

Approved/ not approved

________________________________

HON. KHUMBUDZO NTSHAVHENI, MP

MINISTER OF COMMUNICATIONS AND DIGITAL TECHNOLOGIES

DATE:

Reply:

The information requested by this question is not readily available at the National Department. The Department is working with all provincial departments of Health to source this information. As soon as the information is received, the Minister will furnish a full response in this regard.

END.

Reply:

a) The following progress has been made:

PROGRESS FOR THE EMERGENCY UNIT

The technical work for the Emergency Unit is 99% complete. The Certificate of Occupancy has been issued by the City of Johannesburg. The clinical operations will be executed in phases starting from the 6th May 2022.

PROGRESS FOR THE REMEDIAL WORK FOR ALL THE BLOCKS

The remedial work covers the following milestones:

(i) THE IMPLEMENTATION OF THE NEW STORES FACILITY

• Construction works will start on the 25 May 2022
• Practical handover of the News Stores Facility is scheduled for the 10 November 2022.

(ii) CONDUCTING OF A DETAILED ASSESSMENT

Construction works will start on the 4 April 2022 until 13 June 2022

(iii) THE IMPLEMENTATION OF A TEMPORARY ACCESS TO PARKING

• Construction works will start on the 13 April 2022

• Practical handover of the News Stores Facility is scheduled for the 15 May 2022.

(iv) THE IMPLEMENTATION OF THE MAIN WORK FOR BLOCK 4 AND 5 REMEDIAL WORKS

b) Practical handover and completion is December 2023

END.

Reply:

a) The root cause is related to the following factors:

• Some of the delays were caused by the COVID-19 restrictions including the unavailability of material. CORRECTIVE MEASURE: Due date for completion has been extended until end of September 2022.
• There was a poor application of the design standard to be used for example: IUSS (Infrastructure Unit System Support) matters. CORRECTIVE MEASURE: Training has been arranged to unpack the IUSS requirements.
• There was a lack of bulk infrastructure on site. CORRECTIVE MEASURE: The National Department of Health has provided a team of technical engineers to the Mpumalanga Province to address the issues related to the lack of bulk infrastructure.
• Insufficient yearly budget allocation due to COVID-19 requirements and priorities.

b) Further remedial activities:

Department has allocated budget for 2022/23 financial to install the bulk infrastructure services (sewerage, bulk water supply, storm water drainage and access road) because municipality does not have the funds and these charges will be deducted from the municipality bill payment of the services.

END.

Reply:

I have been advised by the SAPO as follows:

1.

(a) The only local authority that SAPO owes is Buffalo City Metropolitan Municipality in the Eastern Cape. The amount outstanding is R 237,256.83 and will be settled in full on 15 April 2022.

(b) All other local authority accounts are up to date.

(2) SAPO is recovering all outstanding utilities amounts from Telkom

(3) No statement will be made on the matter.

Authorised for submission by

 

MS. NONKQUBELA JORDAN-DYANI

DIRECTOR-GENERAL (ACTING)

DATE:

Recommended/not recommended

__________________________

HON. PHILLY MAPULANE, MP

DEPUTY MINISTER OF COMMUNICATIONS AND DIGITAL TECHNOLOGIES

DATE:

Approved/ not approved

________________________________

HON. KHUMBUDZO NTSHAVHENI, MP

MINISTER OF COMMUNICATIONS AND DIGITAL TECHNOLOGIES

DATE:

Reply:

The National Department of Health is working with all provincial departments of Health to source the information requested by this question. As soon as the information is received, the Minister will furnish a full response in this regard.

END.

Reply:

1. (a) SASCOC has responded to indicate that as guided by the SASCOC Safeguarding Policy and Case Management Flow Chart, any cases lodged must adhere to the internal due process as per the determined jurisdiction over reported concerns. Therefore, please be advised that cases are dealt with by the National Federation. SASCOC in most cases is just being made aware of such. (b) SASCOC requests more time to collect information and clarity on specific cases whilst contacting the National Federations concerned.
2. As indicated above, SASCOC requests more time to get more information and clarity with the National Federations concerned.
3. SASCOC has indicated that there is no new signed safeguarding policy, however they are currently reviewing the existing one.

Reply:

1. (a) Honourable King, there are fifty (50) public Technical Vocational and Education and Training (TVET) Colleges in South Africa with more than 264 campuses spread across the rural and urban areas of the country. To make it easy for the public, we have split them according to the Province each college is located. For example, Eastern Cape 8, Gauteng 8, Free State 4, KZN 9, Limpopo 7, Mpumalanga 3, North West 3, Northern Cape 2 and Western Cape 6.

(b) (i)(ii) Ordinarily the Sector Education and Training Authorities (SETAs) do not issue in-service certificates as their main function is to assist with funding. However, when a student completes his/her in-service training with the employer, a report is compiled and submitted to the college so that they can process the issuing of certificates with the department.

(iii) The department has put systems in place in line with policy prescripts for TVET students to apply for and be awarded with level certificates and the National N Diploma (National Nated Diploma – NND) after having met the programme requirements according to the policy. The students are to comply with the minimum requirements for the issuing of certificates on N4, N5 and N6 levels as contemplated in Report 190/191 in line with the National Education Policy, Norms and Standards for the Instructional programmes, Examination and Certification thereof in Technical College Education, Report 190(2000/03). Further, we issued a Memorandum 31 of 2013 to examination officers, examination centres, public and private colleges as well as Umalusi outlining the requirements for the issuing of National Nated Diploma (NND).

Accordingly, only students who meet the requirements will receive the National Nated Diploma for the period in question. Students who do not complete their work experience as indicated in the memorandum we issued, will not receive their diplomas until they complete and apply to the Department of Higher Education and Training to process the application and evaluate compliance with the requirements according to the minimum requirements for the issue of a NND.

It is against this background that my department can only provide the number of students who qualified to be awarded the NND. It often takes time for students to get the relevant workplace placement and they can only submit their applications on completion thereof. The 18 and 24 months required for Business and Engineering Studies respectively, can be achieved over a long period in short stints of work experience given the difficulties of securing workplace experience for all qualifying students. As a result, Honourable King, I have instructed officials within my department as well as colleges to keep data of students who have completed their in-service training and who have qualified to be awarded certificates and diplomas. Currently my department is not in a position to respond adequately on the total number of students who have completed their in-service training and awaiting to be issued with certificates. Going forward, we will track the placement of TVET graduates as announced by President Cyril Ramaphosa during his state of the nation address. As we all know the President has called on the private sector to support wherever possible to not demand experience as a hiring requirement but to give as many young people as possible their first job so they can learn whilst working.

(2) With respect to the availability of the standard form to be used for in-service training, colleges receive applications from students with relevant work experience to evaluate, moderate and issue certificates to those who comply. However, there is a standard log book students use when they are in-service training.

Reply:

The Department of Sport, Arts and Culture (DSAC) bought the Downtown Music Hub equipped with high standard studios as part of addressing a challenge for artists who could not have access to proper facilities and artists who could not access facilities easily. The Department has assisted this facility in ensuring that there are artists developmental programmes that are in–house serving to develop; empower and provide artists with opportunity to enhance their art.

The Department is currently; as part of implementation of the Revised White Paper on Arts; Culture and Heritage developing a music strategy which seeks to advance the young music business entrepreneurs country–wide. This is currently an on–going consultation process with the music sector.

Further the Department continues with its program of creation of spaces in different provinces which is also intended for enhancement of the creative industries. Over and above these initiatives; the Department is implementing both the Presidential Employment Stimulus Program and the Mzansi Golden Economy strategy which are programs geared towards supporting artists and expansion of the Cultural and Creative Industries.

Reply:

I have been advised by SAPO as follows:

(a)(i) There were 1762 incidents recorded during the last two financial years in which SAPO paid Social Relief of Distress (SRD) grants. Implementation was from May 2020. 1131 incidents of burglaries and 631 incidents of armed robberies were reported during the same period.

(a)(ii) 103 cases of vandalism or malicious damage to property were reported during the abovementioned period.

(b) Due to the sensitivity around SRD payments, SAPO is not in a position to provide a breakdown of the losses incurred. It can, however, confirm that beneficiaries did not incur any loss as supplementary cash orders were made available for swiftly making payments. In addition, SAPO is insured against losses incurred for, among other things, incidents of violent crime.

Authorised for submission by:

 

MS. NONKQUBELA JORDAN-DYANI

DIRECTOR-GENERAL (ACTING)

DATE:

Recommended/not recommended

__________________________

HON. PHILLY MAPULANE, MP

DEPUTY MINISTER

DATE:

Approved/ not approved

________________________________

HON. KHUMBUDZO NTSHAVHENI, MP

MINISTER

DATE:

Reply:

It is the mandate of the department to ensure security of energy supply. The Department delivers on this mandate through the development of policy and regulations, energy planning and the facilitation of investment into the sector.

In line with the government investment drive, the department intends to continue to attract private sector investment into the energy sector including renewable energy. It must be noted that there is no law prohibiting organs of state from investing in the energy sector and the department has through the IRP 2019 and Electricity Regulations on New Generation Capacity further clarified this.

Reply:

The Minister of Public Works and Infrastructure:

(1) I have been informed by the Department that the professional councils are not listed public entities and therefore they fall outside of the scope of the Public Finance Management Act, 1999 (Act No 1 of 1999) (PFMA), as amended. They are statutory bodies that exist primarily to safeguard the interest of their members, but also serve the public interest purpose of ensuring public safety, by regulating the professions in such a way that registered persons who are practicing professionals and candidates are held accountable in line with the prescribed code of conduct established by the respective Councils. In that regard, many of the requirements on listed public entities, such as the submission of annual financial statements to the Auditor-General South Africa, do not apply to the professional councils. Therefore, there is no requirement that audited financial statements must be submitted to the Auditor General. Section 15 (7) (a) of the Act stipulates that the Council must annually prepare a statement of income and expenditure and a balance sheet demonstrating its financial position as at the close of the financial year to which it relates. This is done without fail.

(a) Furthermore, section 15 (7) (b) enjoins the Council to have the statement and balance sheet audited by an auditor registered in terms of the Public Accountants’ and Auditors’ Act, 1991 (Act No. 80 of 1991). SACAP’s financial statements for the past three financial years have been audited by PriceWaterhouseCoopers. SACAP has now acquired the auditing services of Nexia SAB&T auditors registered with the Independent Regulatory Board for Auditors. There is no legal requirement that SACAP must submit financial statements to the Auditor General.

(2) There were no material findings on the SACAP financial statements. SACAP obtained an unqualified audit.

(3) The Council has filled all key positions including the position of Registrar and Senior Finance Manager. SACAP does not have a position of Chief Operating Officer on its operating model.

Reply:

1. Number of patents registered over the past 2 decades in the field of (a) water technology and (b) process engineering:

The response from the CSIR is that it has registered 883 patents over the last two decades. However, the information was not disaggregated into water technology and process engineering.

2. Number of scientists working at the CSIR annually for the past 2 decades.

(a)

Financial year	No. of Scientists	Financial year	No. of Scientists
2002	No data	2012	1537
2003	No data	2013	1578
2004	No data	2014	1691
2005	No data	2015	1869
2006	No data	2016	1969
2007	1490	2017	1966
2008	1512	2018	1850
2009	1551	2019	1608
2010	1547	2020	1367
2011	1560	2021	1474

(b) Number of scientists specifically working on water related technology and/or solutions each of the periods

The CSIR doesn’t have data in this level of details.

3. What number of:

(a) Number of patents registered each year at the CSIR for the past two decades:

Financial year	No. of Patents	Financial year	No. of Patents
2002	25	2012	55
2003	39	2013	29
2004	30	2014	41
2005	24	2015	59
2006	37	2016	87
2007	30	2017	43
2008	50	2018	48
2009	51	2019	46
2010	30	2020	76
2011	58	2021	25
Total	374	Total	509

(b) Technologies successfully commercialised and implemented in (i) South Africa and (ii) outside South Africa in the past 4 decades.

Over the past four decades, the CSIR has entered into commercialisation agreements with over 100 entities. Depending on the technology and the commercial partner, these agreements have provided various exploitation rights such as domestic, foreign or worldwide commercialisation rights. Among the various technologies/products successfully commercialized include:

• Umbiflow
• Heavy vehicle simulator
• Qfrency
• Eucalyptus material
• High performance node
• In-shell pasteurization of eggs
• MEME
• Corocam
• BioFizz
• BioFloc
• BioActive
• Aloesin

Reply:

The Minister of Public Works and Infrastructure:

I have been informed by the Department that Erfs 153 and 159 situated at 24 and 26 Webber Street respectively in Germiston are under the custodianship of Public Works and Infrastructure. These Erfs are recorded on the Immovable Asset Register.

Reply:

Over the past two decades, the CSIR has not partnered/collaborated with WRC in the development of novel technologies and processes developed by the organisation. However, the CSIR has over the decades competed for project funding following various WRC calls for funding and succeeded in securing some of the funding which were mainly for basic research without novel technologies outputs.

The Municipal Finance Management Act remains a challenge when fostering collaborations for technology development among the two organs of state due to the tendering system which does not effectively support easy contractual agreements between organ of states as more investment is required for successful novel technologies and processes for water.

Reply:

Yes. The Department submits quarterly progress reports to the Land Claims Court, the District 6 Working Committee, and the District 6 Reference Group (which both represent that largest claimant groupings in District 6) amongst others.

The report covers all aspects of the redevelopment and is accessible to all claimants. This is over and above the engagements we have with claimants that walk into our offices, contact us via telephone/email, WhatsApp etc. and the engagements we have with their appointed representative groupings.

Last year, the Department with the District 6 Reference Group hosted a consultation process where each verified claimant was invited to our Mowbray Offices to be briefed on current progress and developments in District 6.

This process was done under strict Covid protocol and took place over a 4-week period to allow for claimants to attend in small groups, where they could ask questions and get responses. This process was undertaken for the specific need to updating claimants and addressing their concerns in person.

Further, we also address the members of the District Six Working Committee when invited.

END

Reply:

Montessori schools are classified as private schools and do not form part of the public sector. The Minister of Basic Education can therefore not account for the school in question.