Questions and Replies

Reply:

1. The Minister does not have the power to hold principals of underperforming schools accountable, but Heads of Department (HODs) do. This is guided by section 58B of the South African Schools Act (SASA), 1996 (Act No. 84 of 1996) as amended.  According to subsection 1-5 of the SASA, the HoD takes the necessary steps to assist the school.  However, Members of the Executive Council (MECs) report to the Minister on the identification, management and support of underperforming schools by 31 March of each calendar year.  In the reports, the MECs indicate the challenges that led to underperformance, and the support programmes that will be implemented to deal with underperformance.

2. At the end of each financial year Provincial Education Departments report to the Minister the progress that has been made in supporting schools that have been identified as underperforming.

3 A table showing the number of underperforming schools per province is attached.

Reply:

(a)(i) Bethal:

• Post establishment according to structure

NUMBER OF POSTS	POST	LEVEL	FILLED	VACANT	POSTS TO BE FILLED
1	Cleaner	3	1	0	0
5	Front Office Clerk	6	2	3	3
1	Cashier	6	0	1	0
8	Immigration Officer	6	2	6	2
1	Admin Officer	7	0	1	0
5	Chief Admin Clerk	7	1	4	0
2	Client Service Officers	7	0	2	0
1	Civic Services Supervisor	8	0	1	1
1	Chief Immigration Officer	8	1	0	1
1	Office Manager	10	0	1	1
26			7	19	8

(b)(i) The Office Manager post was advertised during April 2022. The remaining posts will be advertised as per the HR project plan for implementation before 31st May 2022. The remaining vacant posts are unfunded.

(a)(ii) Secunda

• Post establishment according to structure

NUMBER OF POSTS	POST	LEVEL	FILLED	VACANT	POSTS TO BE FILLED
1	Cleaner	3	0	1	0
8	Front Office Clerk	6	6	2	0
1	Cashier	6	0	1	0
8	Immigration Officer	6	1	7	2
1	Admin Officer	7	0	1	0
4	Chief Admin Clerk	7	0	4	0
2	Client Service Officers	7	0	2	0
1	Cashier Supervisor	8	0	1	0
1	Civic Services Supervisor	8	1	0	0
2	Chief Immigration Officer	8	1	1	0
1	Senior Admin Officer	8	0	1	0
1	Office Manager	10	1	0	0
31			10	21	2

(b)(ii) The 2 Immigration Officer posts will be advertised and filled by June 2022. The remaining vacant posts are unfunded.

 

END

Reply:

INTEGRATED PUBLIC TRANSPORT NETWORKS PUBLIC TRANSPORT NETWORK GRANT TRANSFERS: 2017/18 -2021/22 (R’ Million)
Municipality	2017/18	2018/19	2019/20	2020/21	2021/22	Totals
Buffalo City	56	95	234	-	-	385
Cape Town	999	1 046	1 311	1 069	949	5 374
Joburg	918	1 066	1 188	965	895	5 033
Tshwane	900	808	732	632	675	3 747
George	210	168	163	177	210	928
eThekwini	917	825	841	623	773	3 979
Mangaung	232	235	230	280	224	1 201
Rustenburg	314	396	219	164	214	1 307
Ekurhuleni	701	604	679	569	629	3 182
Mbombela	212	203	199	20	198	832
Polokwane	217	330	179	216	179	1 121
Nelson Mandela Bay	273	275	298	349	218	1 413
Msunduzi	210	199	195	134	12	750
Totals	6 159	6 250	6 468	5 198	5 176	29 252

Reply:

This information is not readily available at the National Department of Health, it is in the provinces. The National Department of Health is therefore still consulting with all the Provincial Departments of Health to provide these details, and this will enable the Minister to respond to the Honourable Member’s question. The response will therefore be submitted as soon as information has been received from the provinces.

END.

Reply:

This information is not readily available at the National Department of Health, it is in the provinces. The National Department of Health is therefore still consulting with all the Provincial Departments of Health to provide these details, and this will enable the Minister to respond to the Honourable Member’s question. The response will therefore be submitted as soon as information has been received from the provinces.

END.

Reply:

International migration in South Africa is regulated in terms of the Immigration Act, 2002 9Act No 13 of 2002) (the “Act”), read together with the Immigration Regulations, 2014. The long title of the Act specifically indicates that the Act has been enacted to regulate admission of persons to, their residence in, and their departure from the Republic. It follows, therefore, that all migrants, African or otherwise, who wishes to enter, and reside in, the Republic must apply for, and meet the requirements of, entry and residence as prescribed. In this regard, all migrants are welcomed into South Africa regardless of their nationality.

END

Reply:

The COVID-19 pandemic has had multiple adverse social and economic impacts on our people. The pandemic has created important lessons that should inform our policy actions and decision making going forward. The dissolution of the National State of Disaster by the President on 5th April 2022 necessitates that government retains the necessary mechanisms and levers that can be proactively utilised in the management of future COVID-19 and other types of similar future pandemics and notifiable medical conditions.

In this respect, and to ensure there are enough legislative and regulatory measures to manage the current and future outbreaks, the National Department of Health published the draft regulations under the National Health Act (61 of 2003) and International Health Regulations Act (28 of 1974). The objective of these draft regulations is to create transparent and structured measures which include the surveillance and the control of notifiable medical conditions; public health measures in points of entry; management of human remains; and regulations relating to environmental health. These draft regulations are not in any way intended to allow for the long-term replacement of the dissolved State of Disaster regulations as it pertains to the COVID-19 pandemic.

END.

Reply:

The unspent budget that the Honourable Member is referring to is part of the 2021/22 Social Relief of Distress (SRD) roll Over allocation totalling R134 million in the Eastern Cape which was approved and confirmed by the National Treasury on 15 November 2021. The tender was only advertised on 10 December 2021 and the closing date for the adverts was scheduled for 21 January 2022 as a result of Provincial Treasury directives for Tenders not to close in the month of December but be extended to January 2022.

After the finalisation of tender processes, the actual distribution of food parcels to the intended beneficiaries only commenced on 2 March 2022. By 28 March 2022, only 22 787 beneficiaries were able to receive food parcels constituting 26% of the total target of 85 741 beneficiary households. This is attributed to other various factors in addition to the stringent time frames that are related to Service Provider challenges with capacity to deliver as expected including unnecessary demands made by local truck drivers in the various local municipalities.

The Department through the Internal Audit Unit is currently exploring appropriate internal control systems and Risks involved in considering the operationalisation of the SRD Programme as transfers in future utilising a Zero Monthly Fee Digital Account as a Bank Card System possibly with no Bank Charges.

The Department remains convinced that exploring the utilisation of an Easy Zero Bank Card system is the most efficient and cost-effective mechanism to enable SRD beneficiary family households' easy access to food.

This system and/or mechanism remains the best option for the operationalisation of the SRD Programme in the Eastern Cape, given its largely rural terrain and thus difficult to access particularly during rainy days.

The Department has further initiated a process of preparing a submission in the form of a motivation to Provincial Treasury for the approval of additional allocation of funding to the Social relief of Distress Programme as a specialist and most urgent intervention to enable the 62 954 beneficiary family households to have access to food as well as to address immediate needs of hunger, child poverty and malnutrition amongst the Eastern Cape poor and vulnerable groups of family households who are mostly falling under the category of No Income Households.

Reply:

a) The National Health Laboratory Service (NHLS) insourced cleaners, gardeners and security officers starting from October 2017 and completed the process in April 2018.

b) The total number of workers insourced is (i) 430 however, (ii) the current total of insourced employees is 570 as the NHLS continued to recruit employees in the mentioned categories.

c) (i) Current remuneration: The cleaners and gardeners are graded at grade A on Paterson grading system. The salaries range from R96 051 per annum to R130 673 per annum. The security officers are graded at A3 on the Paterson grading system which ranges from R133 412 per annum to R179 198 per annum.

(ii) Worker Benefits: This cohort is part of the bargaining forum for employees within the NHLS. Their benefits include medical aid subsidy of 75%; 13th cheque which they receive in December each year, a living allowance of approximately R22 000 per annum and the pension fund. In addition, the NHLS implements a performance management and development policy which provides for annual performance assessment and criteria to qualify for performance awards or incentives in the form of pay progression and performance bonus. There are also bursary programs, and all employees complete a workplace skills plan for further skills development.

The NHLS also subscribes to the Basic Conditions of Employment Act No. 75 of 1997, which regulate hours of work and leave. Other benefits include an employee assistance program, where if an employee experiences personal challenges of any nature, they can call the NHLS’s 24 hours hotline and speak to a professional for assistance.

END.

Reply:

(a) The Department of Health actively promotes, protects and supports breastfeeding as a public health intervention to optimise child survival. This includes exclusive breastfeeding for a child’s first six month of life, followed by ongoing breastfeeding until at least two years of age together with introduction of good quality complementary household foods. The commitment is in line with the Tshwane Declaration which was adopted at the National Breastfeeding Consultative Meeting in August 2011.

In the years leading up to the Tshwane Declaration, the Department of Health provided free infant formula feed to infants whose mothers were HIV-infected. This policy and practice caused much confusion in communities and contributed to low exclusive breastfeeding rates in South Africa, which in turn contributed to high child mortality rates. One of the key Tshwane Declaration commitments was to stop providing free infant formula at public health facilities with limited exceptions for cases where breastfeeding is contraindicated.

(b) The Department has an RT-9 transversal contract in place which is managed by National Treasury. This contract includes all the necessary products or supplements that are currently required for use in people requiring specialised nutrition due to their disease conditions, and includes infant formula products. The products need to comply with the labelling, ingredient and other requirements as stipulated in the relevant regulations published in terms of the Foodstuffs, Cosmetic and Disinfectants Act, 1972 (Act 54 of 1972). Hospitals and clinics purchase the infant formula using the RT-9 transversal contract in accordance with their requirements. Where there are legitimate medical conditions as diagnosed by the medical practitioner, or when a mother is incapable for caring for her infant or young child, infant formula is provided for free by the hospital or clinic for up to 12 months.

END.

Reply:

a) Disciplinary action is instituted against officials who are found to be involved in the illegal issuing of passports in accordance with the Disciplinary Code and Procedure for the Public Service (PSCBC Resolution 1 of 2003);

b) Passport processes are evaluated regularly to identify possible vulnerabilities to fraud, corruption and security breaches, and recommendations are made to affected business units for implementation. Passports that are found to be issued illegally are referred for cancellation.

END

Reply:

No, the Department of Health does not keep a record of clinic and hospital visits of children who receive a Child Support Grant from the SA Social Security Agency (SASSA). The Department renders health services according to the needs of all clients, regardless of their social standing.

END.

Reply:

The official learner to educator ratio is as follows: 

Province	Learner Educator Ratio considering both State-paid and SGB-Paid Educators	Learner Educator Ratio State-Paid Educators only
Eastern Cape	30.1	34.7
Free State	31.1	33.9
Gauteng	30.9	33.6
KwaZulu-Natal	30.7	31.9
Limpopo	34.5	35.5
Mpumalanga	31.6	33.9
Northern Cape	29.9	33.3
North West	31.6	33.5
Western Cape	31.9	39.8
South Africa	31.4	34.1
Source: 2021 School Realities Publication, EMIS

Reply:

South African Civil Aviation Authority (SACAA)

a) The South African Civil Aviation Authority (SACAA) granted permission to the operator to conduct non-aviation operations in line with an application submitted to the SACAA as per the applicable regulations. (b) The approval granted was effective from 06h00 on 19 March to 00h00 on 21 March 2022. The operator was required to comply with a set of requirements before the approval was granted. The Operator was expected to comply with crowd control, communication, general safety and specific arrangements regarding the event (c) (i) (ii) (iii) The initial Notice to Airman (NOTAM) C0769/22 was issued on 15 March 2022 at 10h08 Local time for the 20th of March 2022 to close the Aerodrome from 06h00 to 18h00 Local time. The NOTAM was then cancelled and replaced with NOTAM C0801/22 which was issued on 18 March 2022 at 15h09 Local time for the period 19 March from 06h00 until 20 March 2022 at midnight as per the Promulgation of NOTAM request form CA 175-03 and Indemnity letter. Aerodrome closed for the period 19/03/2022 @ 06:00 till 20/03/2022 @ 23: 59.

Reply:

The Branch Appointment Booking System (BABS) has yielded positive results as the clients are serviced within the timeslot booked and confirmed, and the offices are able to plan for those who have booked the day prior to the scheduled appointments.

END

Reply:

Attached find here: Reply

Reply:

This information is not readily available at the National Department of Health, it is in the provinces. The National Department of Health is therefore still consulting with all the Provincial Departments of Health to provide these details, and this will enable the Minister to respond to the Honourable Member’s question. The response will therefore be submitted as soon as information has been received from the provinces.

END.

Reply:

The Department has investigated the matter with the Operational Manager of Stanford Terrace clinic and one of the reasons for the patient queuing outside the gate was due to inadequate space in the waiting area of the clinic as the clinic was implementing disaster management strategies and observing social distancing. The spacing of patients in mitigating the spread of COVID 19, resulted in queues that were outside the gate also because of large patient numbers.

Whilst the EC DOH acknowledges the basic conditions of employment of employees and nurses in particular, the locking of the gate with nurses enjoying lunch is regrettable, and investigations by labour relations office in this regard is underway. Should the findings of our investigation be found to be inconsistent with the EC DOH policies, consequence management will be instituted to those employees who failed to exercise the Batho Pele Principles whilst on duty.

PLANNED INTERVENTIONS

• Training of Stanford Terrace Nurses on Batho Pele Principles and;

• Procurement of a tent as a temporal measure for patients waiting to be served

As the National Department of Health, we will follow this matter closely to see to its conclusion.

END.

Reply:

The National Department of Health is consulting with the Gauteng Provincial Department of Health to source the relevant details in this regard. The Gauteng Provincial Department has been requested to provide the Ministry with the required information to enable the Minister to provide the response to the Honourable Member’s question. The response will be submitted as soon as information has been obtained from the Gauteng Provincial Department of Health.

END.

Reply:

As the National Department of Health, we are consulting with the provincial Departments of Health to collate the responses from those provincial Departments of Health to enable the Minister to respond to this question. The Minister will submit the response to the question as soon as the relevant information is received from the provinces.

END.

Reply:

South African Civil Aviation Authority (SACAA))

1. (a) the aircraft carrying 12 passengers was unable to land on arrival at the Ladysmith Airport on 19 March 2022 because the airport was closed as per the NOTAM which stated that the airport will be closed for the period 19/03/2022 @ 06:00 till 20/03/2022 @ 23: 59 (b) No action has been taken against any SACAA official because the NOTAM was published and the following is the history of the NOTAM: The initial NOTAM C0769/22 was issued on 15 March 2022 at 10h08 Local time for the 20th of March 2022 to close the Aerodrome from 06h00 to 18h00 Local time. The NOTAM was then cancelled and replaced with NOTAM C0801/22 which was issued on 18 March 2022 at 15h09 Local time for the period 19 March from 06h00 until 20 March 2022 at midnight as per the Promulgation of NOTAM request form CA 175-03 and Indemnity letter. (c) no compensation is due to the owners and/or users of the aircraft for being unable to land at the airport.

2. The incident was not reported to the SACAA.

Reply:

a) (i) and (ii); (aa); (bb); (b)(i) and (ii) Sexual misconduct cases are reported to the employer. Therefore, the question is more relevant to the provincial administration since it is the responsibility of the employer, who in terms of section 3(1)(b) of the Employment of Educators Act, 76 of 1998, is the Head of the Provincial Education Department, to enforce disciplinary code and procedures against all educators employed at the provincial level.

The question should therefore be forwarded to the relevant employer for details and response.

Reply:

South African Civil Aviation Authority (SACAA)

(a) (b) The South African Civil Aviation Authority (SACAA) has a scheduled annual inspection for Ladysmith during the 3rd week of September 2022. (i) (ii) The SACAA does not inspect this type of aerodrome after such an event due to the following reasons:

1. Approval is granted for such events to be hosted on the airport premises and runway on condition that the aerodrome is closed for air traffic through publication and that the airport management ensures that the surface and shoulders of the runway are inspected, and any damage is repaired, before the aerodrome is opened for normal use.

2. The general duties of the Aerodrome Licence Holder, according to CAR 2011, Part 139.02.23, provides for the responsibility for aerodrome safety and security to be assumed by the License holder at all times as per international best practice.

3. There is no history of permanent damage, caused by such events, and it has been the SACAA’s experience that license holders adhere to safety requirements and ensure that the aerodrome is clean before re-opening it for air traffic.

4. The SACAA focusses its oversight on commercial and scheduled aerodromes, as guided by its risk assessments, and it would be costly to allocate resources to small non-commercial aerodromes in the absence of material risk.

Non-aviation events, such as drag racing, are hosted by the owners of small aerodromes, with no scheduled air traffic, in order to supplement their income to run the aerodromes.

Reply:

Attached find here: Reply

Reply:

(a)&(b) Due to capacity constraints the Department was not able to have an official stationed at the hospitals to register births of newborns. Issuance of birth certificates are rendered at the Bethal and Standerton offices. The Department is currently filling critical vacant posts with funds granted by National Treasury. These critical positions that have been identified will be filled in this financial year.

END

Reply:

a) (i) & (ii) No

b) (i) (ii) No

(aa)None/ not applicable

(bb) Not applicable

(cc) Not applicable

(dd) Not applicable

(ee) Not applicable

 

Reply:

1. Subsidised public transport services are currently provided on a contract basis where government contracts with operators to provide scheduled services in a particular route in terms of the relevant integrated transport plan and in alignment with applicable legislation. These contracts are designed in terms of demand to enable effective utilisation of funds. As a result, the Department is not subsiding the taxi industry due to their operating model. The Department is developing a Public Transport Subsidy Policy that will guide the distribution of subsidies in line with demand, where the right mode would be utilised for the right volumes.

2. There are no monthly adjustments done as there is no subsidy provided for the taxi industry as indicated in 1 above.

Reply:

a) 80.7% of supplier invoices are paid within 30 days from receipt of an invoice.

b) A total of 44 suppliers have not yet been paid within the 30 days’ period.

c) The total amount not yet paid within the prescribed 30 days is R73,793,809.86.

END.

Reply:

South African Civil Aviation Authority (SACAA)

(a) The South African Civil Aviation Authority (SACAA) processes an average of 168 licences per day and approximately 3500 aeroplane and helicopter licenses per month. (b) For the month of April 2022 alone, a total of 97 licenses have been issued of which for (i) renewals only seventy (70) are for aeroplanes and three (3) are for helicopters (ii) whilst for first issue applications twenty-three (23) were for aeroplanes and one (1) is for helicopters.

(c) During Covid-19, all license applications are received electronically and the average duration and/or turnaround time from receiving applications to issuing them is 7-10 working days provided that all regulatory requirements are met. These times will be revised to 5-7 working days as things return to normal.

RECOMMENDATION

1. It is recommended that the EA approves the reply, should he concur with its content.

MR ZAKHELE THWALA

DEPUTY DIRECTOR-GENERAL: CIVIL AVIATION

DATE:

MR MTHUNZI MADIYA

ACTING DIRECTOR-GENERAL

DATE:

DECISION

Reply approved/amended.

MINISTER F.A. MBALULA, MP

MINISTER OF TRANSPORT

DATE:

Date: 15/02/2018

Private Bag X 193, 159 Cnr. Struben and Bosman, Forum building, Pretoria, 0001, Tel; 012 309 3172, Fax: 012 328 5926

QUESTION 1463 (QUESTION PAPER NO 14, 22 APRIL 2022) FOR WRITTEN REPLY IN THE NATIONAL ASSEMBLY

Mr C H H Hunsinger (DA) to ask the Minister of Transport:

What (a) total number of licences are currently being processed by the SA Civil Aviation Authority, (b) total number of licence applications are for (i) renewal and (ii) new licences in respect of each different category of licences and (c) is the average duration and/or turnaround time from receiving applications to issuing them? NW1781E

Reply:

South African Civil Aviation Authority (SACAA)

1. The South African Civil Aviation Authority (SACAA) processes an average of 168 licences per day and approximately 3500 aeroplane and helicopter licenses per month. (b) For the month of April 2022 alone, a total of 97 licenses have been issued of which for (i) renewals only seventy (70) are for aeroplanes and three (3) are for helicopters (ii) whilst for first issue applications twenty-three (23) were for aeroplanes and one (1) is for helicopters. (c) During Covid-19, all license applications are received electronically and the average duration and/or turnaround time from receiving applications to issuing them is 7-10 working days provided that all regulatory requirements are met. These times will be revised to 5-7 working days as things return to normal.

MINISTER F.A. MBALULA, MP

MINISTER OF TRANSPORT

Reply:

The Minister of Public Works and Infrastructure

(a), (b),(i), (ii) I have been informed by the Department that neither the Department nor its Entities concluded any commercial contracts with the government of the Russian Federation and/or any other entity based in the Russian Federation since 1 April 2017.

(aa), (bb), (cc), (dd), and (ee) Not applicable.

Reply:

a) There is no regulation for Late Registration of birth for abandoned and/or orphaned children. However, abandoned and/or orphaned children are registered in terms of Section 12 of the Births and Deaths Registration Act (Act 51 of 1992), Regulation 9 of the regulation on Registration of Births and Deaths (2014) as well as Sections 46 and 156 of the Children’s Act, Act 38 of 2005.

b) Neither the Births and Deaths Registration Act nor the regulation on registration of births and deaths specify which types relatives may register an orphaned or abandoned child. However, the Births and Deaths Registration Act as amended (Births and Deaths Registration Amendment Act, Act No 18 of 2010) points out that any person other than the parents of such child who registers a child must be prescribed. Section 46 and 156 of the Children’s Act. Act 38 of 2005 deals with the designation of a person as a care giver of a child.

c) 9(1) A notice of birth of abandoned or orphaned child in terms of section 12 of the Act must be given on Form DHA-24 illustrated in Annexure 1A by a social worker within 60 days of obtaining a court order in terms of section 156 of the Children’s Act, and must be accompanied by-

a) a court order issued by the children’s court;

b) a certified copy of the identity document or valid passport and visa or permit of the social worker:

c) where available a certified copy of the identity document or passport and visa or permit of the parents of a child

d) where available, a copy of the death certificate of the parents of a child; and

e) a social workers’ report that was presented to the children’s court

END

Reply:

Attached find here: Reply

Reply:

(a) All invoices for utility bills have been processed and paid, except for one invoice currently under dispute for Civitas building to the amount of R3,2 million for the period 01 October 2021 to 02 November 2021. The National Department of Health did not occupy the building during this period.

(b) We still await information from the provinces. This information will be submitted to Parliament as soon as it is received.

END.

Reply:

Attached find here: Reply

Reply:

a) The issuance of the operating license function does not rest with the Minister of Transport. It is a function that falls within the competencies of the Provincial Regulatory Entities (PREs) and Planning Authorities, that is municipalities. Section 36(1) of the National Land Transport Act No. 5 of 2009 (the Act) requires all municipalities to prepare Integrated Transport Plans (ITP). Furthermore, the Act requires all applications for operating licences to be referred to municipalities for their comments and inputs as planning authorities. Municipalities must indicate whether there is a need for service on the route or routes or in the area or areas in terms of its integrated transport plans. If there is a need for such a service, the municipality can direct a PRE to proceed with granting an operating licence.

If a PRE based on the response from the planning authority does not support the issuance of an operating license, in most instances, it is as a result of oversaturation in a route, as determined through the ITP.

b) As indicated above, all applications for operating licences must be based on an ITP developed by a planning authorities. Integrated Transport Plans are data driven and evidence based and hence critical in informing the supply and demand model. An operator who is dissatisfied with the outcome of the application process for an operating license, they can appeal the decision of the PRE with the Transport Appeals Tribunal.

Reply:

1. A Rapid Response Team has been established under the leadership of the Director-General of Department of Transport. The team includes representatives from SANRAL, PRASA, KwaZulu-Natal province and various affected local authorities.

2. The focus of emergency response is to re-establish operations along all affected transportation networks (road and rail) within shortest timeframe. Where the above re-establishment of operations requires improvements to enhance road safety and security and increase network capacity, these will be implemented within available budgets. At this stage cleaning up operations to open affected road networks and damage assessments are still in progress. Detailed plans for each affected locality to be developed based on nature and extent of damage.

 

Reply:

1. Various upgrades have been done at Front Offices, Bank Branches, Ports of Entry (Land, Airports, and Harbours), and Refugee Reception Centres.

a) On a late evening of Thursday, 31 March 2022, Live Capture access to the National Population Registration was severed due to a damaged network cable that connected the DHA Network to the SITA hosted Mainframe Systems, with the National Population Register being one of these systems. The fault was only picked up the following morning of Friday, 1 April 2022, by SITA engineers. The exact location of the cable damage was found after a lengthy cable tracing process, and the cable repair process was completed by SITA engineers at 13:40.

SITA was supposed to have picked the drop in connectivity the very evening of Thursday, 31 March 2022 as SITA operates a 24x7x365 Network Operations Centre.

b) SITA has committed to the following interventions to prevent reoccurrence of this incident:

(i) SITA technical teams is investigating the possibility of installing a redundant cable that will need to be routed via a different path in the data centre in order to provide higher availability.

(ii) SITA is reviewing the alerting, monitoring processes and procedures in order to ensure there is additional monitoring in place in the hosting and network environment which will trigger events to log incidents directly on the call logging system. SITA has also proposed end to end monitoring to DHA that will assist to proactively pick up potential risk areas, or specific failure locality impacting service delivery for quicker resolution, across the value chain.

A list of all upgrades done for the period in question (1 September 2021 to 25 April 2022) is available. The list is broken down by Office Name, Upgrade done, and Upgrade date.

END

Reply:

In the 2020/21 financial year, the sector employed 1 037 social work graduates. An additional 3 473 were employed in the same financial year which contributed significantly to the reduction of the number of unemployed social work graduates using the database of 9 000 unemployed social workers and social auxiliary workers that the Department developed in 2019.

In 2020/21-2021/2022 the department employed 3 388 unemployed social work graduates through the COVID-19 pandemic Presidential Stimulus Package.

As part of the long-term solution to address this issue, the Department has developed a draft sector strategy for the employment of social service professionals. The strategy addresses employment of social service professionals not only in the sector, but also in other departments/agencies, including at local government and the private sector where their professional services are required. This is an ongoing initiative within the context of the Inter-Departmental Forum. The forum resolved that all affected departments should submit a joint Funding Bid to the National Treasury in the current financial year for the permanent employment of social service professionals.

Reply:

In setting out to answer the posed questions, it is important to explain some principles as they guide how SARS approach their work with regards to collection of tax revenues that are due.

Firstly, SARS collects all revenue that is due to the fiscus without fear or favour. SARS does so regardless of the taxpayer profile due to the fact that its debt collection processes are indifferent to the taxpayer since they are primarily informed by the law. This neutral approach is crucial for the integrity of the tax system. SARS therefore cannot compromise this principle of apply the law without fear or favour under any circumstance. All forms of outstanding taxes constitute non-compliance, taxpayers are provided instruments in law to remedy their non-compliance. The approach of treating a taxpayer’s non-compliance irrespective of who the taxpayer is, applies regardless of the amounts involved.

SARS manages the collection of all outstanding revenues in line with the provisions of the tax administration laws. Firstly, SARS will seek to collect all revenues that are due by engaging the defaulting taxpayers, these taxpayers may approach SARS to enter into a deferred payment arrangement where the full debt cannot be settled at once. The deferral of payment (i.e. instalment payments) arrangements are in line with Section 167 and 168 of the TAA, this is a governed process where a governance structure makes such decisions pursuant to considering a number of taxpayer factors. Secondly, taxpayers may approach SARS to request for the compromise on the portion of the tax revenues that are due in line with the provisions of Section 200 of the TAA, once again this is a governed decision by a duly appointed structure. Thirdly, taxpayers may approach SARS to request for the suspension of the payment of tax revenues that are due but disputed, in line with Section 164 of the TAA. Fourthly, in circumstances where the tax debt remain outstanding after engagement efforts, SARS may appoint other parties (involuntary third party appointments – TPAs) in line with Section 179 of the tax administration act (TAA) to collect such outstanding revenues, these include employers, banks, other entities that hold monies that are due to the owing taxpayer. This process is clearly articulated in law in terms of steps that SARS must follow before triggering this instrument.

In instances where debt collection methods as per the above fail, SARS may, where economical feasible and justified, attach assets of taxpayers in an effort to collect revenues from the sale of such assets through securing a civil judgement (section 172 of the TAA) and writ of execution.

SARS will use a combination of the above instruments and others to ensure that due tax revenues are collected, against the above backdrop I then turn to provide the specific responses to the questions posed:

(1)(a)(aa)(aaa) Entities and Individuals that owe SARS in the range of R10 million and R20 million are:

1. 1,234 entities with a total amount in outstanding debt of R17,041,074,608.00 and
2. 242 individuals with a total amount in outstanding debt of R3,417,727,564.00. (The reported amounts include the capital debt, interest, penalties and additional tax)

(bbb) Entities and Individuals that owe SARS in the range of R20 million and R50 million are:

1. 784 entities with a total amount in outstanding debt of R24,257,828,448.00 and
2. 126 individuals with a total amount in outstanding debt of R3,693,222,592.00. (The reported amounts include the capital debt, interest, penalties and additional tax)

(bb) Entities and Individuals that owe SARS outstanding debt above R50 million are:

1. 498 entities with a total amount in outstanding debt of R129,059,637,995.00 and
2. 72 individuals with a total amount in outstanding debt of R14,828,653,526.00. (The reported amounts include the capital debt, interest, penalties and additional tax)

(b) The ageing of the amounts owed (by individuals as well as entities/companies in line with the above ranges in as per the below table, segregated in time intervals of three months.

2) SARS is pursuing strategies to ensure that taxpayers are clear and certain about their obligations, additionally, SARS is working to ensure that it is simple and easy for taxpayers to meet tax obligations. Where taxpayers still fail to meet their obligations SARS will always seek to ensure that it enforces its laws responsibly without fear or favour as mentioned earlier.

The above said, in the course of tax administration, tax debt arises from a number of different scenarios which includes the submission of returns without payment, audit assessments, etc. Depending on the origination of the debt, such debt can accumulate due to interest, penalties and additional taxes. Furthermore, debt could be as a result of a single assessment resulting in large amounts of debt being added into the debt book. SARS follows a prescribed debt collection process on all taxes overdue. However not all instances of enforcement (e.g. deferral of payment arrangements, third party appointments, etc.) readily lead to all debt being collected timeously, such that some debt remains in the books whilst collection steps are ongoing. SARS legal collection steps will include issuing a final demand and appointment of third parties, civil judgments, personal liability, writ of execution, etc. which may give way to the attachment of assets as explained earlier. SARS also considers criminal proceedings against taxpayers on the basis of the tax debt owed. Each debt case would however be treated on its own merits however SARS always seek to ensure that all due debt is collected on-time as far as practically possible and that the enforcement actions are applied consistently, taking into account the facts of each case.

It is important to note that SARS has initiated an overall review of the current end-to-end debt management process with the first phase to be completed in April 2022. The improvements in terms of how SARS account for and manages the collection of debt will be progressive over the next 12 to 24 months in line with SARS’ strategic plan commitments.

Reply:

The Department of Social Development in the Northern Cape funded all NPO’s approved for funding during the 2020-21 financial year. NPO’s are required to demonstrate that they can implement effective, efficient and transparent financial management and internal control systems as required by section 38 (1) (j) of the Public Finance Management Act (PFMA Act No. 1 of 1999). Approval for funding is subject to compliance with the above provision of the PFMA. The Department conducts quarterly monitoring at all funded NPO’s to ensure compliance with the Service Level Agreements (SLA) and provide the necessary support.

 

Reply:

The KwaZulu-Natal Department of Health treated 529 patients at our health facilities for flood-related incidents with 17 deaths reported during the acute phase of the flood disaster. There were no major disruptions to rendering of health care services in the affected health districts.

An additional 7 sessional pathologists were brought in to expedite the postmortems. A total of 429 post mortems were conducted, of which, 399 bodies have been identified by families.

Health care services continue to be rendered to 1 749 clients from displaced communities that are currently sheltered in community halls. This also includes ensuring dispensing of chronic medication.

Environment Health is monitoring water quality in eThekwini Municipality and Ugu District Municipality. Where water quality issues have been picked up in tanked water and Jojo tanks, these have been escalated to the relevant authorities. Health and hygiene education on small-scale water purification methods i.e., use of Jik and chlorine sachets by households is ongoing. Health awareness on Waterborne illnesses, Waste Management & COVID 19 Protocols is ongoing. Awareness on foodborne illnesses on soup kitchens and distribution centres has also been raised. Communicable Disease Control monitoring for water borne diseases is ongoing.

Water tankers were used and still continue to be used supply water to hospitals and clinics without piped water.

KwaZulu-Natal Department of Health has identified at least 87 projects at health facilities related to the flood damages at an estimated cost of R258 million and is currently addressing these together with the Department of Public Works.

KwaZulu-Natal Department of Health, together with the National Department of Health, continue to monitor the situation and are addressing the challenges accordingly.

END.

Reply:

The Minister of Public Works and Infrastructure

a) I am informed that during the 2021/22 financial year SACAP undertook 60 digital Public Awareness campaigns educating the public about using registered professionals to design and build their homes, explaining what each category of a registered professional is competent and qualified to do in terms of the Identification of Work regulation, publishing the names of unregistered person to discourage members of the public from using them. SACAP reported all persons who falsely used the title of registered professional to the South African Police Services for investigation and prosecution.

b) The SACAP transformation and gender-empowerment programmes include Recognition of Prior Learning, architectural bursaries and the proposed Built Environment Code of Good Practice.

The procurement practices by clients in built environment have been identified as a hindrances to transformation by the built environment professions. Anti-transformative procurement policies are the reasons why built environment professions require an enforceable code of good practice. An effective and transparent mechanism is necessary to procure built environment services from previously disadvantaged built environment professionals in line with the provision of section 217 (2) of the Constitution.

More work is being done to push for transformation and gender-empowerment programmes.

• During the 2021/22 financial year 58 Recognition of Prior Learning (RPL) assessments were undertaken.
• 10 students were offered bursaries to study architecture at accredited architectural learning sites.

• SACAP held a Women’s Day Webinar on 06 August 2021 to have meaningful conversations about the role and challenges women face in the architectural profession.

• SACAP held a Transformation webinar on 26 November 2021 to have a meaningful discussion about transformation and how SACAP can contribute to transformation of the architectural profession. The webinar resolved to push for a Code of Good Practice for the built environment. The Transformation Webinar was a huge success with over 556 architectural professionals in attendance.
• Black architectural practices, particularly women architectural practice continue to struggle to find work from the public sector to sustain their businesses. SACAP notes with concern that public sector clients are failing to heed the call of the President of the Republic to set aside 40% of all procurement spend for women-owned businesses.

c) 

• The Transformation webinar was held on 26 November 2021, on a virtual platform
• The Women’s Day Webinar on 06 August 2021, also on a virtual platform
• In the first quarter of 2021/22, SACAP issued 15 awareness posters for CPD campaigns and 16 other social media updates were undertaken across all SACAP online media platforms. In addition, 2 x public awareness and Expo conducted at Soweto and Eldorado Park.
• In the second quarter 15 awareness posters were updated on social media platforms.
• In the third quarter 15 awareness campaigns posters were updated on social media platforms.
• In the fourth quarter 15 awareness campaigns posters were updated on social media platforms.
• 1 Voluntary Association Forum was held on 25 March 2022, on a virtual platform

d) In terms of the measurement of the success of the programmes, The SACAP has largely recorded a huge success, as there is a noticeable appreciation from members of the public of the different categories of registration and their competencies. Members of the public are now more alert, because when some persons pretend to be registered architectural professionals, these are immediately reported to SACAP. As such, 47 cases against unregistered persons were referred to the South African Police Services (SAPS) for investigation. However, the SACAP has not seen a positive reaction from law enforcement agencies with regard to prosecution of the reported individuals.

During the 2021/22 financial year 58 RPL assessments were undertaken. This number is indicative that the SACAP RPL outreach programmes are success and year-on-year we a noticing an increase in those registering for RPL.

Every year within the first quarter of the financial year, SACAP offers 10 architectural students bursaries towards their tuition fees. The assessment of the bursary programme shows a huge success. Out of 10 bursaries offered, 9 were given to black female architectural students. All students who received bursaries from SACAP have progressed to the next year of study. This development is very encouraging given the need to address the demographic imbalance of the professions, especially in terms of the representation of women.

Reply:

Attached find here: Reply

Reply:

a) The National Department of Health did not conclude any commercial contracts with the government of the Russian Federation or any other entity based in the Russian Federation since 1 April 2017.

b) None of the entities reporting to the Minister of Health concluded any commercial contracts with the government of the Russian Federation or any other entity based in the Russian Federation since 1 April 2017.

END.

Reply:

The grant allocation transferred to SANRAL from the National Budget is for the declared national road network throughout South Africa, and not per province. This grant covers both capital and operational (maintenance) expenditure. The grant is then assigned to priorities as determined through the SANRAL Asset Management System based on 30-year life cycle modelling of expected future road performance that takes into consideration condition, traffic and climatic trends on each section of the network.

The total grant, capital and maintenance, transferred to SANRAL is summarised in the table below:

 

Financial Year	Amount (R’000)
2012/13	9 728 055
2013/14	10 497 184
2014/15	11 916 947
2015/16	12 542 488
2016/17	13 915 586
2017/18	15 944 823
2018/19	18 624 158
2019/20	21 177 224
2020/21	20 400 264
2021/22	21 621 212

Reply:

The Eastern Cape Department of Health has put together a Health Turn-Around Plan consisting of six pillars to address the administrative challenges of the EC DOH. The strategies outlined in the plan envisage collaboration with and seeking assistance from other government departments and the Office of the Premier as well as external stakeholders including private sector, communities and academic institutions. The plan gives a detailed outline of the strategies and the support required from each of these stakeholders. The pillars of the plan are summarised below.

PILLARS OF THE EC HEALTH TURNAROUND PLAN AND STRATEGIC SUPPORT

1. Financial sustainability initiative: This pillar addresses the EC DOH financial discipline and wellness; looking at strategies to take department beyond compliance and towards social entrepreneurship. Strategies to address this pillar include a) revenue generation, b) introducing efficiencies, c) management of cost-drivers and d) management of debt and unauthorised expenditure.

2. Medico-legal intervention: addresses the following strategic objectives i.e

a) Stopping haemorrhage of funds

b) Strengthening case management

c) Developing Medico-Legal litigation expertise

d) Manage unauthorised expenditure associated Medico-Legal (ML) settlements

3. Service delivery optimisation pillar focuses on:

a) Service Optomisation Implementation Planning

b) HR Intervention to promote SDO

c) Securing buy-in from key stakeholders

4. Digitalisation and eHealth: This pillar addresses issues of inadequate capacity to track all debts against the department, insufficient staff and budget to electronically capture and store of maternity medical records on HMS2 module. Support services are manual therefore labour-intensive, cumbersome and prone to human error and broadband to critical sites slow. Alternative solutions are required in the interim to gain last mile connectivity.

5. Clinical - Healthy Communities Initiatives: has four strategic objectives which are:

a) National Health Insurance (NHI) implementation through ward-based community outreach teams

b) Primary Health Care (PHC) Approach of inter-sectoral collaboration

c) Addressing Burden of Disease

d) Integrated Development Planning6. 

6. The Foundation Pillar purports to strengthen Leadership and Management Capability and improves stakeholder trust and confidence in the EC healthcare system. The key focus areas are valued employees, capable teams, effective leadership and communication & change management.

END.

Reply:

Posts whether teaching or otherwise on the establishment of the Provincial Department of Education in Limpopo are the responsibility of the Head Of the Department of Education in Limpopo to fill since he/she is the employer and not the Department of Basic Education.

For this reason, the honourable Ms Tafeni is requested to direct this question to the MEC or Head of Department of the Limpopo Provincial Department of Education for a response.

Reply:

The National Department of Health is still consulting with the KwaZulu Natal Provincial Department of Health on this matter, to enable the Minister to respond to the Honourable Member’s question. The response will therefore be submitted as soon as information has been received from the province.

END.

Reply:

No, this road does not fall under the mandate of SANRAL.

The Provincial KwaZulu-Natal Department of Transport has confirmed this is part of their road network and its named P2-2. The Province is aware of the sink hole that needs to be addressed as part of the exercise to repair the roads damaged from the recent floods that occurred in April 2022 and is in the process of the appointment of service providers to do remedial works for the various road infrastructure projects, including the above work.

Reply:

The National Department of Health is working with all the Provinces to collate this information and will provide the response to the question as soon as the information has been received from all provinces, in due course.

END.