Questions and Replies

Reply:

Amatole District Municipality (ADM) is the Water Services Authority (WSA) in the ADM area of jurisdiction which includes Peddie. The Water Services Act, 108 of 1997 defines a WSA as any municipality responsible for ensuring access to water services. ADM however gets grant funding and technical support from the provincial and national government departments.

According to ADM, the water infrastructure in the villages in Peddie is not operating as designed to provide basic water through standpipes because of rampant illegal yard and house connections in about 80 % of the villages. This causes pressure reduction and higher water demand resulting in no water or intermittent supply to about 23 of the 123 villages. ADM supplements supply with water tankers that deliver water to communities.

Furthermore, ADM is implementing a multi-year Municipal Infrastructure Grant (MIG) funded project, Ngqushwa Villages Water Reticulation for about R36 million scheduled for completion in January 2022. ADM is conducting community awareness programmes highlighting the negative impact of illegal connections.

Reply:

1. (a) The time frame for the Chairperson of the Audit and Risk Committee is 3 years, which can be renewable for another 3-year term as provided for in the Audit and Risk Committee.

(b)The Chairperson of the Audit and Risk Committee has served for a period of 5 years, and he is serving his second and final term.

(c) He was re-appointed unanimously by Council in its meeting held on 14 June 2019, after his effectiveness, independence and objectivity was evaluated by the Chairperson of Council.

2. There is no legal requirement to advertise the position every three years. The Charter states the term of office (3 years) and indicates that the Accounting Authority may renew the contract once, which is to a maximum of 6 years. In exceptional circumstance where a member has resigned, died or automatically terminated, the position may then be advertised only if there is no prospective substitute member.

3. As stated above, the Chairperson of the Audit and Risk Committee is serving his second and final term. It is not good governance for a Chairperson of any Institution to serve over the prescribed term of office and the Charter does not allow for such. PACOFS applies the principles of KING IV to advance effective and excellent corporate leadership.

4. The current Chairperson is not a government employee at Treasury Northern Cape. He is compensated for being a Chairperson of Audit and Risk Committee according to rates determined by the National Treasury and approved PACOFS remuneration policy.

5. No, the institution has not received a clean audit under the leadership of the current Audit & Risk Committee Chairperson. Noteworthy is that the current Chairperson joined PACOFS in 2016 after it received a disclaimer of opinion in the financial period 2015/16. Under his leadership and active oversight role, he has since steered the institution to obtain an unqualified audit opinion in the period 2020/2021, a significant improvement worth noting since the past three financial period.

(b) The Chairperson of the Audit and Risk Committee has no role to play in the implementation of the recommendations of the Morar Investigation report, as it is Council’s responsibility to implement the recommendations of the report.

Reply:

1. The Department has not issued any contracts to NJR Projects/G5 Group.
2. N/A

Reply:

I have not recommended Mr Dovhani Colbert Mamphiswana for employment in any capacity to a municipality.

a) Not applicable.

b) Not applicable.

Reply:

Most of the forensic reports instituted in terms of Section 106 of the Local Government Municipal Systems Act, Act 32 of 2000 made recommendations that certain remedial or other corrective measures should be taken. In instances where corruption, fraud and related offences have been identified, such reports are handed over to law enforcement agencies for further processing. Where Councilors are implicated and internal disciplinary processes are recommended, disciplinary processes are instituted in line with schedule 1 of the Local Government Municipal Systems Act.

The outcome of the assessment in some of the forensic investigations reports points to the need for further investigations. The Department continues to collaborate with law enforcement agencies, provinces and municipalities to ensure that recommendations which emanates from forensic investigation reports are implemented.

Reply:

a) In terms of disputes at the level of kingship or queenship, the AmaZulu Kingship dispute is being attended to at national government level, and it was formally brought my attention in August 2021 and we are working with a Mediation Panel to assist the Royal family to resolve the dispute amicably. Other disputes at kingship or queenship level are those that were/are in the courts and they cannot therefore be dealt with by the Minister.

b) Limpopo Province

VaVhenda Kingship Dispute

One section of the Royal Family is challenging the recognition of the current King Toni Ramabulana as the King of VaVhenda in court. The matter is therefore being handled by the courts.

Bapedi Kingship Dispute

Following the passing of the late King of Bapedi, there is now disagreement on who should be the successor, the acting king/queen or the regent. One section of the Royal Family has taken the matter to court for the court to rule on the matter.

Eastern Cape

Amaxhosa Kingship Dispute

One section of the Royal Family has taken Government to court, to challenge the recognition of the King.

AmamPondo Kingship Dispute

One section of the Royal Family has taken government to court after the recognition of His Majesty King Zanozuko as the King of AmaMpondo.

c) There are 882 Traditional Leaders in South Africa including kingship, queenship, principal and senior traditional leaders. All are remunerated in accordance with the Remuneration of Public Officers Act (Act 20 of 1998). The salaries of all legally recognized traditional leaders are paid by provinces from their respective budgets.

Reply:

1. (a) The total number of Veterinarian's posts in the province is 28 (Animal health, Labs and VPH).

b) N(i) 6 of these are vacant (5 in Animal health and 1 in the laboratory).

(ii) The province intends filling vacant positions in the new financial year.

2. With up 1000 000 mature livestock units in Limpopo province and 22 filled positions, the Livestock Units per State veterinarian ratio is 1:45 000.

3. Yes, the Compulsory Community Services (CCS) with Veterinarians has been implemented, and have been having a new cohort on an annual basis. There are currently 10 CCS Veterinarians across the Province.

4. (a) Foot and Mouth disease, Rabies, Lumpy skin disease and sporadic tick- borne diseases have been the major challenges.

(b) Vaccinations and identification of the susceptible population in the protection zone. Dipping of the communal cattle.

Reply:

a) The Public Service Central Bargaining Council (PSCBC) Resolution 1 of 2019 determines the provisions to be applied in the integration and migration process. These provisions were closely followed in the implementation of the integration and migration process.

b) The Department of Agriculture, Land Reform and Rural Development rolled out the Change Management and Leadership programme to boost the morale of employees especially on Senior Management Service (SMS) and Middle Management Service (MMS) levels. Some of the key issues addressed which contributed to the establishment of the new Department were:

• Understanding how to manage new teams;
• How to build and keep cohesive teams;
• Working together as senior managers;
• Embracing change/common culture;
• Change management tools;
• Managing virtual teams;
• Dealing with fear on the ground;
• Creating an environment where there can be sharing of ideas and new ways of working;
• How to motivate the demotivated; and
• Improve my leadership skills.

c) The exposure of the initial advertisement was found to be too limited, and thus not all potential candidates were reached.

Reply:

a) The liquidation proceedings have been stayed and are pending before the Western Cape High Court, Cape Town.

b) In the course of the liquidation proceedings, certain factual allegations emerged that caused a factual dispute which could not be resolved on paper or affidavit in the application. This necessitated that the liquidation application be held in abeyance pending action proceedings, which were instituted for purposes of resolving the factual dispute.

Reply:

a) National Treasury after being informed by the Pension Fund concerned, wrote to the municipality early in October 2020 to request the municipality to pay the outstanding debt and also to warn the Municipal Manager that it is a criminal offence not to pay over the pension contributions deducted from the employees to the Pension Fund.

b) (i) The municipal manager responded in late October 2020 acknowledging the debt and committed to settle all the outstanding amounts.

(ii) National Treasury is aware that by 15 December 2020, the municipality did not follow through on its commitment to settle all the outstanding amounts, but has since made a number of payments since January 2021, including current and outstanding debt. To date as at 08 September 2021, the total outstanding pension debt is at R16.4 million, which is a reduction by 50 per cent since January 2021.

As the Pension Funds Act currently stands, the Dr Beyers Naude Municipality is required to pay over pension contributions, in terms of the rules of the fund, deducted from member’s remuneration within 7 days of the end of the month in terms of section13A(1) read with 13A(3) of the Pension Funds Act, 24 of 1956 (“the Act”).  Further, in terms of section 13A(7) interest is payable on the late payment of contributions, which starts running from the 1st day of the end of the month in terms of Regulation 33(7).  Regulation 33(4) further requires the monitoring person, usually the Principal Officer, to bring the non-compliance to the attention of the affected members and advise the FSCA of the action taken.  If the non-compliance persists after 90 days, the Principal Officer must report the matter to the SAPS.  Should the Board of the Fund not take the requisite action against the employer, it may face regulatory action.

c) National Treasury does not have the power to take direct measures against a municipality that has not paid, as such power resides firstly with the provincial government. National Treasury can only act in terms of section 139 of the Constitution if the province has failed to exercise its oversight over the municipality.

d) The powers of the National Treasury are very limited in following up on non-payment by municipalities, and can only intervene via a province in terms of section 139 of the Constitution. National Treasury is working on amending the PFMA and MFMA to put in place a stronger framework to deal with non-payments on tax, pension contributions, as well as to suppliers like Eskom and Water Boards.

National Treasury does the have the power to stop the transfer of the equitable share funds to a municipality in terms of Section 216(2) of the Constitution and other applicable legislation in the event of persistent failure by a municipality to honour its financial commitments. National Treasury does require municipalities to report on the non-payment of its commitments to SARS, pension and other staff benefits deducted from municipal officials to be paid over to the appropriate Funds and / or institutions. Failure for municipalities to provide this evidence may result in their equitable share being withheld in an effort to enforce compliance.

Until further legislative changes are made to the MFMA, the power of the National Treasury to directly intervene in a municipality is very limited, and often restricted to a form of moral suasion and naming and shaming, or if it is suspected that there is a case of criminal actions, to refer such matter to the police for further action.

Reply:

The Minister of Public Works and Infrastructure:

1. A draft report on the independent assessment by BDO was submitted to the department on 19 October 2020 for the department’s management to comment on. The final report was submitted by DPWI management on 20 November 2020.

The report was, however, not submitted to me as the Executive Authority of the Department who commissioned the independent assessment. This audit report was only submitted to me on Friday, 17 September 2021, almost a year after the Department received it. This, after I made regular enquiries about the final report.

I have been informed by the Department that the draft action plan has been crafted and will be finalised with Internal Audit and be effective immediately upon finalisation. The final action, incorporating Internal Audit inputs, have not yet been shared with the Ministry. It is anticipated that this internal consultative process will be finalised by 30 September 2021.

a) No actions have been taken against any Official at this time.

b) I have written to the Acting Director-General to immediately institute consequence management against a) those who failed to share the report with me and 2) those implicated in any wrongdoing.

2. The report has been submitted to the Speaker of the National Assembly, as the report was commissioned following meetings held with the former Speaker.

3. I was not part of the meeting held by Internal Audit in which the report was presented.

(4) As indicated above, I have furnished the Speaker with the report for further processing

Reply:

The response is received from Ekurhuleni Metropolitan Municipality; the Lindelani informal settlement is currently provided with basic services such as water, sanitation, refuse removal, grading of the streets and mobile community services.

Further to the above, the residents of Lindelani informal settlement are earmarked to benefit from the two housing projects which are currently in the implementation phase, namely Alliance Extension 1 which entails the construction of houses and Alliance Extension 9 which entails the provision of serviced sites.

The allocation of completed houses at Alliance Extension 1 is in progress, whereas the construction of serviced sites and allocation thereof has not commenced. No electricity will be provided for the beneficiaries of houses and serviced sites as per the applicable policy.

However, the residents of Lindelani informal settlements who did not benefit in the Alliance Extension 1 and Alliance Extension 9 projects will be considered for the provision of water, sanitation and electricity when the informal settlement is re-blocked. The re-blocking will take place once the relocation has been finalised.

Reply:

a) Due to the ongoing dispute between the three role-players, Knysna LM, SANPARK and the Leisure Island Rate Payers Association about who is responsible for maintenance of such wall, no significant maintenance was done in the past five years. An Environmental Approval was issued by DEA&DP in 2019 to assigned to the Island Rate Payers Association to work on the sea wall.

b) The responsible party has not been formally identified and all maintenance remains on hold.

There is currently a formal IGR dispute between the Knysna Local Municipality and SANPARKS in relation to the above. Knysna Local Municipality disputes liability for maintenance of the seawall and so does SANPARKS.

A formal IGR has been declared by the Knysna Local Municipality to resolve the dispute as to whether Knysna or SANPARKS should be responsible for the maintenance of the seawall. The dispute is still ongoing, but there are current attempts to facilitate a resolution.  The dispute is however still ongoing and is not yet resolved.

The Acting Municipal Manager of Knysna Local Municipality on 8 December 2020 (attached as ANNEXURE A), requested that the Western Cape Provincial Government (WCG) designate a facilitator to assist with resolving the dispute between the Knysna Local Municipality (KLM) and SANParks regarding the repair and maintenance of the Leisure Island seawall.

The following three-pronged approach has been proposed to address the issue:

1. The Development Management unit of DEA&DP in the George Office, will engage with the officials of the KLM and SANParks to see whether a longer-term solution can be found to the conflict relating to the responsibility for the maintenance of the Leisure Island seawall and research on the history of the dispute.
2. Based on the outcomes of the engagement with the officials of KLM and SANParks, consider recommending the appointment of a facilitator (or facilitate such) to involve the parties in a high-level engagement which is documented in detail, to try and resolve the issue.
3. Should the above approach not be successful in finding a solution, KLM will then forward all records to the DFFE, to prove that the parties have indeed undertaken every reasonable effort to resolve the dispute.

There is no set date on the outcome and no timelines determined but will depend on the procedures of the IGR dispute.

Reply:

SA Tourism has not conducted a study on the changes brought about by the COVID pandemic and gig economy and its impact on job creation in the mainstream tourism products. The entity therefore does not have any data to support the question.

Reply:

The Department of Cooperative Governance (DCoG) does support municipalities in relation to the provision of electricity to indigent household in line with the Free Basic Electricity (FBE) policy. However, the Department provides support and guidance to all municipalities (not particular) with regards to the provision of FBE to indigent households. It further assists with the identification of indigent households not collecting their FBE thus not benefiting from the provision of FBE and enable the necessary interventions to be effected.

Tariffs are levied for the use of municipal trading services. Section 75 A of Municipal Systems Act (MSA) under general powers to levy and recover fees, charges and tariffs, it also states that the municipality may Levy and recover fees, charges, or tariffs in respect of any function or service of the municipality

Electricity tariffs is governed and approved by the National Energy Regulator of SA (NERSA) in as per the Electricity Regulation Act (ERA) and water and sanitation tariffs are regulated by the Department of Water and Sanitation (DWS) through the norms and standards.The tariffs approvals are outside the mandate of the Department, however, the Department plays a two important roles through provision of Free Basic Electricity (FBE) for poor households who qualifies as Indegents and also through providing inputs during tariff increase consultations..

The above is done through the regular monitoring of monthly FBE executive summary reports which shows transactions for that particular month, quarterly reports reflecting a list of municipalities that are in arrears on their FBE accounts and quarterly reports reflecting details of access/collection of FBE tokens per municipality.

The Department works closely with Eskom (where Eskom is the licensed service provider), Provincial COGTAs and Municipalities; with the objective being to ensure that municipalities provides FBE to all qualifying indigent households receive FBE guided by the FBE Funding Agreement.

Reply:

The Tana Baru Muslim Cemetery is managed by a private entity (The Tana Baru Trust) and as such do not receive any direct financial support from the Department of Sport, Arts and Culture.

The Tana Baru Muslim Cemetery falls under the conservation framework laid out in Section 27 of the National Heritage Resources Act (Act 25 of 1999). This ensures that the site will receive support in terms of conservation and protection from SAHRA

Reply:

a) The specified assistance falls under Programme 3: Destination Development

b) This is not a formal funding programme with set qualifying criteria. The Department regularly receives requests for assistance from various organisations and entities which includes community owned facilities. Support is provided where possible provided that there is alignment with the overall strategic objectives of the Department and resource availability.

c) For the projects listed in the 2020/21 APP, a needs analysis was conducted to determine what enhancement interventions are necessary for these museums to attract more visitors. These interventions include improving exhibitions, training guides, improving signage, revamping some structures and improving the overall visitor experience.

d) Currently there is no call for communities to apply for assistance. The Department prioritised five community museums for enhancement and will review this assistance once work on these projects is concluded.

Reply:

The issues relating to relief measures to small businesses facing liquidity challenges as a result of the pandemic are managed and administered by the Department of Small Business Development. The question needs to be redirected to the relevant department.

Reply:

The Minister of Public Works and Infrastructure:

1:

a) The Small Harbours Unit has been located as a Chief Directorate within the Department’s Programme Management Office (PMO). The Small Harbours has been included as one of the 62 Strategic Integrated Projects of Government.

b) The Small Harbours portfolio of properties generated a total of R21 139 517.65 of revenue during the 2019/20 financial year.

2:

a) In the 2019/20 financial year the Small Harbours Unit applied for the Budget Facility for Infrastructure (BFI) and General Budget Support Programme (GBS) from National Treasury. The BFI approved R100 million. A total of R15 million under the GBS programme was allocated however no funding was received

The R100 million assisted the Small harbours Unit in completing the priority scope of work under the repair programme to the 13 proclaimed fishing harbours in the Western Cape. Part of the funding was directed to Saldanha and Pepper Bay harbours as the last two harbours in the programme to complete the upgrades to the slipway infrastructure, civil infrastructure upgrades, electrical infrastructure upgrades and security infrastructure upgrades.

b) The Small Harbours Unit did not apply for any funding applications in the 2020/21 financial year.

Reply:

1. (a), (b), (c )(i)(ii) Attached as Annexure A

2. Attached as Annexure A

3. Attached as Annexure A

END

Reply:

(1)(a)(i) to (iv) The number of child murders, which took place, in 2017-2018, 2018-2019, 2019-2020 and 2020-2021, is reflected in the table below:

	(i) 2017-2018	(ii) 2018-2019	(iii) 2019-2020	(iv) 2020-2021
Total	576	563	534	469

(1)(b)(i) to (iv) The number of child rapes, which took place, in 2017-2018, 2018- 2019, 2019-2020 and 2020-2021, is reflected in the table below:

	(i) 2017-2018	(ii) 2018-2019	(iii) 2019-2020	(iv) 2020-2021
Total	11 656	11 665	11 380	10 552

(2)(a)(i) to (iv) The number of investigations into the specified cases for child murders, which resulted in successful convictions, in each specified year, is reflected in the table below:

Total		(i) 2017-2018	(ii) 2018-2019	(iii) 2019-2020	(iv) 2020-2021
		251	174	95	33

Find here: (2)(b)(i) to (iv) The number of investigations into the specified cases for child rapes, which resulted in successful convictions, in each specified year, is reflected in the table below:

Reply:

(a) to (f) The information is attached, as Annexure A.

Reply to question 2007 recommended

NATIONAL COMMISSIONER: SOUTH AFRICAN POLICE SERVICE
KJ SITOLE (SOEG)
Date: 2021-09-23

Reply to question 2007 approved

MINISTER OF POLICE
GENERAL BH CELE, MP
Date: 29-9-2021

Reply:

The Minister of Public Works and Infrastructure:

1. As you may be aware that the province is under administration in terms of Section 100 of the Constitution, therefore the Minister or her department is only accountable for provincial matters requested to the extent of her or her Department’s section 100 intervention.

2. (a) and (b) Falls away.

Reply:

a) The Department of Public Service and Administration (DPSA) draws reports of employees who are alleged to have conducted business with the State from the National Treasury’s Central Supplier Database (CSD) on a monthly basis and alert their departments to take appropriate steps and provide progress reports to the DPSA on action taken.

b) At the end of March 2019, National Treasury found 1068 employees alleged to have conducted business with the State (270 from national departments and 798 from provincial departments). In April 2020, the number increased to 1539 (this number was 1544, but Department of Trade and Industry confirmed that the 5 cases identified in their departments were in fact employees officially representing that department). A total of 1111 employees, possibly conducting business with the State, were from provincial departments, whilst 428 were from national departments. At the end of June 2021, the total number of employees alleged to have conducted business with the State has drastically decreased to 118, wherein 38 employees were from national departments whilst 80 were from provincial departments. This shows the effectiveness of interventions that the Public Service has introduced to eliminate this action.

c) The DPSA is working closely with the South African Police Service (SAPS) and the National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) to assist with the investigations and prosecution of cases of employees who are criminally charged with conducting business with the State, in terms of the Public Administration Management Act, 2014. SAPS is currently investigating 17 employees who were alleged to be conducting business with the State and three of these cases have already been referred to the NPA for prosecution. One of these cases was enrolled in court. On a quarterly basis the DPSA also follows up with Departments to verify any disciplinary action taken against such employees alleged to have conducted business with the State.

End

Reply:

1. There were no identity documents lost in the Kwazulu-Natal and Gauteng Provinces during the unrests. However, there were death registers which were recorded on the system waiting for dispatch and archival process by Head Office which were destroyed at the Baragwanath Mall office during the unrest due to a burst water pipe which resulted in the office being flooded.

In tracing the documents, the Department has registers to record all face value documents from Government Printing Works (GPW), and in this particular case DHA-5 forms come with unique serial numbers which are recorded on a register DHA-812 form as proof of receipt. The same documents are then issued to the sections/service points/health facilities in a sequential format and those are also signed for by the supervisor acknowledging receipt.

Upon issuance to the applicant after information is printed (death certificate) there is also a register signed by the client indicating a unique serial number issued. In the event that there is an error on a certificate and the latter gets cancelled, the cancelled certificate is recorded as such and crossed as cancelled to ensure that every serial number is accounted for.

2. According to the Standard Operating Procedure of birth and death registration, the clients are issued with death certificates on the spot and if the client requires a vault copy it is upon the client to lodge a formal request. all those who made requests were issued with death certificates and if there is a need for a vault copy. In terms of section 3 of the Births and Deaths Registration Act 51 of 1992, the Director General may reproduce or cause to be reproduced any document submitted in terms of this Act, such as in this case.

END

Reply:

Financial Year	Total number of Fidelity Fund Certificates
2015/16	43 729
2016/17	48 563
2017/18	49 645
2018/19	51 430
2019/20	47 356
2020/21	51 063

Reply:

The Minister of Public Works and Infrastructure

I have been informed by the Department that the DPWI has not received any request by any client to use the property. The Department has however, offered the property to the Department of Social Development and still await their response.

If the Department of Social Department indicates that they will not need the property, the DPWI may consider other organizations.

Reply:

a) The Department has not been receiving Permanent Residence applications since March 2020. An extensive project plan to address the current Permanent Residence application backlog at all delegated approval levels was developed and implemented. Staff are currently working overtime until end of March 2022 in an attempt to address the backlog.

b) The Department is currently consulting the various Government clusters where after a Cabinet Memorandum will be presented to Cabinet for a final decision whether any further dispensation will be issued or not.

END

Reply:

1. The Department of Social Development has not conducted any study that is specific to orphan hood and therefore does not have the figures of children orphaned due to COVID-19. The causes of orphan-hood have not been tracked as yet, services are rendered to all children who are made vulnerable by different circumstances including those who are orphaned.

2. The department in collaboration with the relevant stakeholders in the children’s sector at the National Child Care and Protection Forum developed an Emergency Response Plan which is intended to ensure coordination and monitoring of services to children including the adverse consequences of the COVID-19 pandemic, which resulted in an increased number of orphanhood and caregiver deaths. The National Child Care and Protection Forum meets on quarterly basis and is a coordinated national structure to monitor implementation of services to children.

Reply:

1. The task of preventing persons who face criminal charges is overseen by the South African Police Services. They ensure that the relevant details are recorded in the various departmental systems that can detect whether a person travelling through borders is a fugitive from justice. Further departments are meeting daily over the matters relating to this incident. There are relevant resources deployed for this purpose.

2. The information mentioned is shared through daily security cluster meetings at NATJOINTS.

END

Reply:

a) The Department has developed an ID distribution strategy and the following programs have been put in place to ensure that citizens receive their Identity documents on time before the commencement of the local government elections:

The Department has undertaken to prioritize its services to those who have applied for their identity documents ahead of the general elections by issuing election enabling documents, i.e. Identity Documents, and also to issue Temporary Identification Certificates (TIC’s) on the spot to those whose identity documents are lost.

• Targeted Communication intervention on uncollected Green Barcoded Identity Books and Smart Identity Cards.
• Provinces in collaboration with stakeholder forums will embark on public awareness campaigns for the distribution and collection of ID’s.
• Communities are encouraged to collect Identity documents already received at offices.
• Collections of ID smart cards are prioritised at all offices.
• Provinces to work with Stakeholders to deploy mobile units for people to collect their Green Barcoded Identity Books.
• Mobile Offices will be deployed to service a cluster of Voter Registration stations (Green Barcoded ID Books). Mobile trucks are also deployed in cooperation with the local government office of the premier to voter education programs throughout the provinces.
• Provincial managers to make announcement making use of local media.
• Rescan all Green Barcoded Identity Books on hand on track and trace to reactivate the Short Message System (SMS) to clients informing them to collect IDs.
• A contingency plan to provide back office support services, where its front offices are experiencing problems with issuance of ID’s and TIC’s enabling documents.
• Clients to contact the Call Centre using 0800 60 11 90 to establish the status of their Identity Documents.
• Lastly, the Department plans to extend its operational hours during the Voters Registration Weekend as well as on the scheduled Election day(s). It is against this backdrop that the Department has aligned its working hours with those announced by the Independent Electoral Commission(IEC). On the weekend of the 18th and 19th September 2021, all DHA offices will be opened in order to fast track the processing of identity document applications and to ensure that all persons who are legible to vote are not excluded from participating in the next upcoming local government elections.

b) There were no identity documents that got lost during the unrest of July 2021 in both KwaZulu-Natal (KZN) and Gauteng provinces. However, in KZN only three offices were accessed during the unrest namely Vulamehlo, Eshowe and Impendle. All three offices reported that no documents of value were lost during the unrest as the areas where the documents were stored were not accessed. In Gauteng province, at Bara Mall (Soweto) office only, death registers that were already recorded on the system and ready for dispatch for archival purposes were damaged during the unrest due to burst water pipes, however all citizens who were affected applied for death certificates, and received them the same day.

END

Reply:

The total number of school learners, in each province, who are facing criminal charges for any kind of assault that took place in school, is reflected in the table below.

Find here: Number of assault cases reported in schools, per province, in 2020/2021
 

Reply:

The Minister of Public Works and Infrastructure:

I have been informed by the Department that the term in-house workshop refers to full time employees of the Department of Public Works and Infrastructure (DPWI) housed in the Workshop Section of the Facilities Management Branch. The Workshop undertakes various routine maintenance and repair activities on various facilities.

Reply:

1. (a)The Free State Province has a total of fifteen (15) field veterinarian positions, ten (10) of these positions are filled.

(b)(i)There are five (5) positions that are currently vacant, and the department has advertised three (3) positions linked to the provincial budget.

(ii)The department plans to therefore to fill the three advertised positions as early as 1st October 2021.

2. The ratio of mature livestock unit is approximately 50000 livestock units to a veterinarian.

3. The Free State has implemented the compulsory community service with success, and the program has been running since inception in 2016. During 2021, the compulsory community service year the Free State Provincial Department is hosting 14 Veterinarians in the following eight (8) provincial clinics that are again distributed among the province’s five (5) Districts:

• a) Bloemfontein State Vet Clinic in Mangaung Metro;
• b) Thaba Nchu State Vet Clinic in Mangaung Metro;
• c) Qwa Qwa State Vet Clinic in Thabo Mofutsanyana;
• d) Kroonstad State Vet Clinic in Fezile Dabi;
• e) Ladybrand State Vet Clinic in Thabo Mofutsanyana;
• f) Fauresmith State Vet Clinic in Xhariep District;
• g) Welkom State Vet Clinic in Lejweleputswa District; and
• h) Heilbron State Vet Clinic in Fezile Dabi.

On average all the clinics are seeing an average 928 Clients per month. Each client brings to the clinics a minimum of two (2) animals. The clinics are providing assistance for both companion animals (dogs and cats) and farm animals (cattle sheep and goats). Primary animal health care remains the focus area of intervention at these clinics. Farmer extension services and farmer workshops are being offered to assist our rural emerging farmers to improve their livestock production.

4. (a) The Free State Province shares the same disease profile as the rest of the country. Bovine brucellosis, Bovine tuberculosis and Rabies continue to be recorded from time to time as a result of our field personnel performing routine disease surveillance function. The outbreaks of Highly Pathogenic Avian Influenza and African Swine Fever also spread to the Free State Province, this being a result of movement of migratory wild water birds; as well as movement of pigs and pig products between different provinces (livestock auctions as possible route).

(b) The veterinary and para-veterinary personnel continue to implement disease prevention and disease control interventions as part of their day-to-day functions linked to these diseases.

Reply:

In terms of the Disciplinary Code and Procedure, discipline is a management function, and the PSC does not have the mandate to interfere in the disciplinary process. This position was confirmed by a legal opinion obtained by the PSC from the Office of the Chief State Law Advisor.

However, as part of its monitoring and advisory mandate, the PSC held a meeting with DPSA on 28 May 2021 to deliberate on, amongst others, the issue of disciplinary management and prolonged suspensions. The DPSA indicated that they have procured a service provider to assist them to develop a strategy on how to deal with the backlog of disciplinary cases. In order to contribute to the formulation of the strategy, the PSC and DPSA explored various options, including the following:

1. The reinstatement of employees whose cases have exceeded the 90 days period where the nature of the misconduct is not of a serious nature;
2. The reassignment of employees whose cases have exceeded 90 days where the nature of the misconduct is not of a serious nature to other units within Departments or the Public Service;
3. The establishment of a pool of capacity (i.e. Labour Relations Officers) within the Public Service to deal with backlog cases within the prescribed period; and
4. The appointment of contract workers/service provides who have the required expertise to deal with some of the cases within the prescribed period.

The PSC is awaiting further engagements with DPSA on the development of the strategy and the PSC continues to urge departments to ensure that disciplinary matters are concluded timeously in the interest of sound labour relations and service delivery.

End

Reply:

The Minister of Public Works and Infrastructure:

1. I have been informed by the Department that the DPWI communicated its intention to transfer/allocate the said property to the Department of Social Development on 01 June 2021 and is still awaiting their response. The house was not placed on auction.

2. The DPWI did not sell the referenced property in an auction

(a) Not applicable;

(b) Not applicable

3. The referenced property is still under the custody of and reserved for Government purposes.

4. Not Applicable

Reply:

1. Yes, an administration plan has been submitted to Court by the Department as part of the application to place Richtersveld Sida Hub CPA under Judicial Administration, in terms of section 13 of the CPA Act.

2. Yes. Following the Northern Cape High Court order of 28 February 2020, in terms of court order number 961/2019, the Department appointed Honey Attorneys, represented by Mr Don Majiedt as the Judicial Administrator of Richtersveld Communal Property Association for a period of three (3) years. Mr Chris Viljoen has been appointed for a period of 6 months as an Accountant to do the bookings of the CPA from January 2015 to date.

3. (a),(b),(c),(d),(e),(f) Yes. It is part of the Administration Plan as per the court order number 961/2019.

4. Yes. As part of the Judicial Administration process and providing support to the CPA in terms of in terms of the CPA Act, the Department is legally obliged to assist the CPA in terms of arranging AGM and other meetings as indicated below:

Meeting	Date Scheduled
Annual General	December 2021
Others: Special General Meeting	20-23 September 2021

5. Yes. The Independent Electoral Commission of South Africa; Northern Cape office has been asked for assistance but are unable to assist due to the coming local government elections. Department has appointed an independent election agency to assist with nominations and elections.

Reply:

1. The total cost of appointment is R1 057 075.20.

2. A more information will be provided after having interacted with the Special Investigating Unit (SIU) Report on the matter.

3. N/A

Reply:

(1)(a-b) The Department does not have the records of undocumented children as the records at its disposal are of those who are documented; as such it is difficult to ascertain the number of the undocumented children being those born to South African parents or foreign nationals. Undocumented persons have to present themselves for registration on the National Population Register by the Department to achieve such.

Statistics South Africa (Stats SA) is the national statistics agency of South Africa established under the Statistics Act (Act No. 6 of 1999) with the aim to produce timely, accurate and accessible official statistics from the civil registration system. Within this system, the Department of Health is responsible for registration of births occurring in health facilities. The aim of government is to ensure that babies are registered and issued with birth certificates shortly after birth at health facilities, for collection of vital statistics which are important for planning and service delivery.

2. The Department operates within the legislative framework that prescribes registration of birth within thirty (30) days. The Department continues to conduct outreach programmes led by the Deputy Minister encouraging parents to register births of their children.

The Department of Home Affairs is in collaboration with International Social Services (ISS), which is a unit within the Department of Social Development that render inter-country social assistance, paying particular attention to destitute and vulnerable children who might have experienced social problems as a result of international migration.

The Department in its cooperation in ensuring the best interest of the child and safeguarding the smooth facilitation process during the child’s repatriation in collaboration with DSD. In the past three years the Department in co-operation with Department of Social Development facilitated repatriation of undocumented foreign children who are born to foreign nationals back to their countries of origin as follows;

Countries where foreign undocumented children repatriated to	2019	2020	2021	Total
Lesotho	1	8	6	15
Zimbabwe			28	28
Angola		1		1
Botswana	1		3	4
Nigeria			2	2
Mozambique			2	2
	2	9	41	52

3. Further modernisation and integration of systems mean the DHA will introduce the Automated Biometric identification system (ABIS) which will enable capturing of more biometrics. The current Home Affairs National Identity System (HANIS) only records two (2) biometrics; that is, photos and finger prints. The ABIS will record at least five (5) biometrics; that is, fingerprints, palm print, facial, iris and photo recognition.

4. The Department had requested the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) to look into a possible use/ introduction of biometrics associated with identity management for children. The DHA is still researching on the options such as foot/palm print, iris, DNA and fingerprint for children. However, the Official Identity Management policy which was approved by Cabinet for public consultation in the last financial year recommends that a combination of different biometric data for children should be considered with options such as the fingerprints, palm-prints and footprints. This will depend on the availability of proven technology. The policy will be submitted to Cabinet for approval by 31 March 2022. Once approved by Cabinet, the policy will be translated into a new Identification Act that will regulate capturing of personal information (biographic and biometric data) for all children born in South Africa.

5. The new legislation and ABIS will make it possible to capture biometrics of children born before the inception of the new approach to birth registration. It is envisaged that once the biometrics solution is in place, missing but found children could be easily identified through their fingerprints, and linked to their parents.

END

Reply:

1. No Department officials have been identified as aiding and abetting the escape of the identified individual.

2. Under section 49 (5) of the Immigration Act, 2002, any public servant who provides false or intentionally inaccurate or unauthorised documentation or benefit to an illegal foreigner, or otherwise facilitates such illegal foreigner to disguise his or her identity or status, or accepts any undue financial or other consideration to perform an act or to exercise his or her discretion in terms of this Act, shall be guilty of an offence and liable on conviction to imprisonment not exceeding eight years without the option of a fine: provided that if such public servant is employed by the department , such office shall be punishable by 15 years without the option of a fine.

END

Reply:

The Minister of Public Works and Infrastructure:

1. a) I have been informed by the Department that for the period from 01 April 2021 – 31 August 2021, a total of 3 466 work opportunities were reported in the EPWP Reporting System for participants who participated in various EPWP Projects implemented in the Greater Taung Local Municipality.

b) Based on the duration of work reflected as total employment days for each participant reported, participants were paid an average daily minimum wage rate of R97.50 which sums up to approximately R3 120 a month.

2. The Code of Good Practice on EPWP indicates that employers should comply with the Unemployment Insurance Act 63 of 2001. However, based on the data reported in the EPWP Reporting System of EPWP participants in Greater Taung Municipality, the DPWI has noted that only the North West - Education and Sports Development have reported the payment of UIF contribution for participants to the value of R16 051. In cases where it’s reported that UIF has not been paid, the Department will request the proof of payment from those public bodies.

a) From the public bodies that implemented EPWP Projects in Greater Taung Municipality, there were no reports of the UIF payments for the participants captured in the EPWP Reporting System. To ensure the information on UIF is reported, the Department of Public Works and Infrastructure (DPWI) will engage the public bodies who have not reported on the UIF payments for participants in the EPWP Reporting System. In the event that there is non-compliance by public bodies towards the payment of UIF for participants, the Unemployment Insurance Act provides for enforcement measures to be undertaken by a Labour Inspector.

(b) From the information required to be reported in the EPWP Reporting System, there are no other contributions reflected made by the employers. The information on any payments made to EPWP Participants by employers reside with the public bodies.

Reply:

a) The department is not aware of any South African children trafficked through adoption. Thus, there is no statistics of children trafficked through adoption. The department only have statistics of children legally adopted through intercountry adoption.

b) are three thousand three hundred and fifteen (3 315) intercountry adoptions recorded in the adoption register from 1 April 2004 – 31 March 2021. The following reflects the breakdown according to financial year:

Period	Intercountry Adoptions
1 April 2004 – 31 March 2005	239
1 April 2005 – 31 March 2006	248
1 April 2006 – 31 March 2007	256
1 April 2007 – 31 March 2008	231
1 April 2008 – 31 March 2009	218
1 April 2009 – 31 March 2010	234
1 April 2010 – 31 March 2011	200
1 April 2011 – 31 March 2012	194
1 April 2012 – 31 March 2013	177
1 April 2013 – 31 March 2014	212
1 April 2014 – 31 March 2015	250
1 April 2015 – 31 March 2016	187
1 April 2016 – 31 March 2017	149
Period	Intercountry Adoptions
1 April 2017 – 31 March 2018	153
1 April 2018 – 31 March 2019	151
1 April 2019 – 31 March 2020	156
1 April 2020 – 31 March 2021	60
TOTAL	3 315

Reply:

1. The DHA Online Verification System (OVS) was initially deployed and accessed by the Citizens for the online verification of; marital status, passport and ID application status, among others. The OVS gained popularity to the point whereby insurance companies were not using proper processes. However, insurance companies opted to use the same free service designed for individual citizens. International users were identified trying to access our National Population Register (NPR) system via the unsecured OVS.

This imposed a risk to NPR and security of Citizen’s data. Department was then advised to temporally close the OVS and work on a solution to address all identified risks. Security of Citizen’s data is the priority of the DHA, that’s why the Department opted to temporarily close the system, until OVS is secured and is solely accessed by the authorised users. Thereafter, DHA separated OVS processes for insurance companies and Citizens, into two phases. The former is already in commission, while the latter is being planned to be released as a second phase.

Efforts are underway to provide such services in a more secure fashion. Some of the related developments are described below.

DHA continuously invests in ICT innovations that improve internal operational efficiencies and effectiveness, while also improving Citizen’s digital experiencing through deployment of innovative technologies. DHA acknowledges the adoption of digital transformation and the implementation of ICT technologies that enhance service delivery channels. That’s why there are current e-modernisation projects in place and e-home affairs digital channel. The first phase of eHome Affairs digital channel was developed to allow Citizens with access to the Internet, to apply for Smart IDs and Passports.

This first phase was further rolled-out to the participating banks to provide application of Smart ID’s and Passports. The same eHome Affairs digital channel will soon be used to allow clients to book appointments; not just with the participating bank branches, but with participating Home Affairs front offices as well, but for various services not just Smart ID and Passports. This is one of the initiatives contributing to the War on Queues, as communicated to Parliament.

(2) Emanating from the above background, DHA has embarked on the following initiatives to improve system availability and connectivity:

• • Go to Market Strategy for Access Link – The implementation of a strategy wherein DHA has access to a localised pool of pre-approved service providers wherein a procurement of a connectivity service can be expedited without the onerous procurement processes has long been awaited by DHA. SITA’s promise to implement this strategy in early 2022/23.
  • Partnership with Connectivity Equipment Manufacturers in order to improve turnaround times to replace connectivity hardware infrastructure is in progress.
  • Improve management of generators in term of maintenance together with Department of Public Works to minimise issue of power outages that affects ICT infrastructure.
  • Implemented 100 DHA Mobile trucks with VSAT connectivity and Live-Capture system that are deployed in Rural areas and also planning to procure additional 10 Mobile trucks within the current financial year.
  • Implement DHA Self-service kiosk system for collections, reprint (of birth, marriage and death certificates and re-issue applications for Smart ID’s and Passports by 2024/25 financial year in order to reduce long queues and ease access to DHA services.
  • Increase rollout of DHA services such as ID and Passports to more banks in all Provinces.
  • Implement LTE internet routers to the most of DHA branches in all Provinces to minimise service interruptions, due to cable theft.
  • Closer cooperation with other state and private entities on improving access to the internet to the areas that do not have internet connectivity.
  • Upgraded most of DHA branches across the Country to a minimum of 2MB line or higher bandwidth.

END

Reply:

(1) a. The total number of foreigners (refugees) receiving social grants as at July 2021 is 13 472.

(1) b. Table 1 shows the number of social grants by grant type per province.

Table 1: Number of social grants per province

Province	Care Dependency Grant	Child Support Grant	Disability Grant	Foster Child Grant	Grant-In-Aid	Old Age Grant	War Veterans Grant	Total
Eastern Cape	23,417	1,972,830	178,386	74,893	34,024	593,929	8	2,877,487
Free State	8,787	711,619	78,067	24,569	10,576	212,589		1,046,207
Gauteng	20,916	2,000,812	120,845	41,371	10,424	678,524	9	2,872,901
Kwazulu Natal	39,044	2,969,151	223,704	63,210	79,759	732,988	4	4,107,860
Limpopo	16,627	1,963,506	99,816	40,437	54,687	489,613	2	2,664,688
Mpumalanga	11,335	1,165,489	76,726	22,693	23,237	267,023		1,566,503
North West	9,803	903,493	64,815	26,691	17,228	277,606	1	1,299,637
Northern Cape	5,787	328,070	50,819	10,570	18,975	92,971	1	507,193
Western Cape	16,280	1,052,251	150,624	32,209	24,110	379,526	9	1,655,009
Total	151,996	13,067,221	1,043,802	336,643	273,020	3,724,769	34	18,597,485

(2) It is important to note that applicants for all social grants, except for the Foster Child Grant are means tested. In addition, SASSA checks all the applicants of social grants against the government payroll databases (Persal and Persol) in order to ensure that government employees do not unduly benefit from social grants. The fact that a government employee is benefitting from a social grant is not necessarily an indicator of fraud, as some of the lower level staff may still meet the means test thresholds.

Access to other databases that have been brought into the SASSA environment will also assist SASSA in further refining the validations processes, to ensure that the information provided by applicants on application is checked before the grant is approved. This will assist in reducing errors of inclusion.

(2) i. The total number of Social Development officials receiving social grants is 3400. Table 2 shows the breakdown by department and grant type.

Table 2: Number of DSD official receiving social grants per province

DEPARTMENT	Care Dependency Grant	Com	Child Support Grant	Disability Grant	Foster Child Grant	Old Age Grant	TOTAL
VOTE 04 - EC: SOCIAL DEVELOPMENT	18	2	103	4	91		218
VOTE 06 - GP: SOCIAL DEVELOPMENT	6	1	230	7	34	1	279
VOTE 07 - FS: SOCIAL DEVELOPMENT	7		91	2	31	1	132
VOTE 07 - WC: SOCIAL DEVELOPMENT	9	1	45	4	17		76
VOTE 11 - NC: SOCIAL DEVELOPMENT	3		41	1	13		58
VOTE 12 - LP: SOCIAL DEVELOPMENT	8		158	6	27	4	203
VOTE 12 - MP: SOCIAL DEVELOPMENT	5		42	1	31		79
VOTE 12 - NW: SOCIAL DEVELOPMENT	6		59	2	30		97
VOTE 13 - KZN: SOCIAL DEVELOPMNT	51	2	1876	101	132	79	2241
VOTE 19 - NAT: SOCIAL DEVELOPMNT	2		12	1	2		17
TOTAL	115	6	2657	129	408	85	3400

(2) ii. Table 3 shows that 153 SASSA employees are receiving social grants as at July 2021.

Table 3: Number of SASSA officials receiving social grants per province

PROVINCE	CARE DEPENDENCY GRANT	COM.	CHILD SUPPORT	DISABILITY GRANT	FOSTER CHILD GRANT	TOTAL
EASTERN CAPE	5		5		33	43
FREE STATE	3		1		6	10
GAUTENG	3		2		5	10
HEAD OFFICE			5		1	6
KWAZULU-NATAL	10		2	1	11	24
LIMPOPO	6		4		3	13
MPUMALANGA	3		1		9	13
NORTH WEST	2				7	9
NORTHERN CAPE	3	4	1		4	12
WESTERN CAPE	2		3	1	7	13
TOTAL	37	4	24	2	86	153

All social grants received by SASSA employees, except for the foster child grant and the combination grants (which is a combination of foster child grants and care dependency grants, in which case both are not means tested) have been suspended with immediate effect in accordance with Regulation 29(1)(a) of the Social Assistance Act, which allows for suspension without prior notice, in cases of suspected fraud or misrepresentation.

Processes are now underway to determine the amount paid which should not have been paid, as well as the date from which these employees started being employed by SASSA, to determine the amount to be recovered. In addition, documents are being prepared for disciplinary processes to be implemented.

As a preventive measure, all Socpen data will be checked against the SASSA salary system on a monthly basis prior to the payment extraction.

(2) ii. Table 4 shows that as at July 2021, 177108 social grants were received by employees of national and provincial government departments.

NATIONAL/PROVINCIAL DEPARTMENT	Care Dependency Grant	Com	Child Support Grant	Disability Grant	Foster Child Grant	Old Age Grant	TOTAL
EASTERN CAPE	413	47	8570	435	2063	595	12123
FREE STATE	116	8	2916	114	529	144	3827
GAUTENG	537	15	20136	460	901	221	22270
KWAZULU/NATAL	1717	74	61384	3321	3414	8449	78359
LIMPOPO PROVINCE	267	10	8577	186	826	466	10332
MPUMALANGA	224	4	7744	302	617	512	9403
NATIONAL DEPARTMENTS	630	22	10113	372	1605	522	13264
NON GOVERNMENT DEPARTMENTS			14	1	2		17
NORTH WEST	416	25	17074	579	846	246	19186
NORTHERN CAPE	127	14	3474	217	313	228	4373
WESTERN CAPE	192	3	3079	111	473	96	3954
TOTAL	4639	222	143081	6098	11589	11479	177108

Table 4: Number of National and Provincial government employees receiving social grants per province

Reply:

1. The Government of the Republic of South Africa has formally, lodged an objection to the unilateral decision by the Chairperson of the African Union Commission (AUC) to grant the State of Israel observer status to the African Union (AU).

• 1.1 Consequently, the matter has been placed on the agenda of the AU Executive Council that will convene on 13 and 14 October 2021.
• 1.2  South Africa and other like-minded countries that have lodged objections will, at the Executive Council meeting, vigorously pursue the conviction that the AU must, as a matter of urgency, rescind the decision on Israel's observer status unless and until it complies with all United Nations (UN) resolutions concerning its withdrawal from all occupied territories and give effect to the self-determination of the Palestinian People.

(2) South Africa maintains diplomatic relations with Israel and as per the Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations, Israel has an Embassy in South Africa and South Africa maintains  an Embassy in Israel. There are no plans to request the closure of the Israeli Embassy in South Africa.

Reply:

The following numbers relates to Covid-19 claims received and approved by the Compensation Fund:

Number of received claims related to COVID-19	21 219
Number of approved claims related to COVID-19	13 958
The value of benefits paid to date	R32,723,086.79

Reply:

It is important for the honourable Dr Cardo to realise that majority of the bargaining councils which is +- 85% are made up of small businesses. Furthermore, out of 46 bargaining councils, 40 are private sector bargaining councils and they employ +-950 000 employees in the economy.

Not all of these bargaining councils have concluded collective agreements and/or have extended their collective agreements to non-parties. The remaining 6 are in public sector. Given that in the public sector there is one employer, there is no need for exemption applications

In terms of the law, bargaining councils are required to annually (covering 1 January to 31 December) furnish the Registrar of Labour Relations with the information on exemptions so as to see whether they have taken the affairs of small businesses into consideration.

The Registrar of Labour Relations received reports from 22 of the bargaining councils; and only 13 received exemption applications.

A total of 1443 exemption applications were received by 13 bargaining councils IN 2020:

• A total of 660 exemptions were granted to all; and out of 660, 310 were granted to small businesses;
• A total of 715 were refused; and out of 715, 329 refusals were for small business;
• Withdrawn were 34; and 11 were for small business; and
• By end December, 34 applications were still under considerations.

The granted exemptions range from wages, conditions of employment, provident/pension fund; and medical/sick funds amongst others. When application is refused, it is because it does not comply with the requirements to be granted an exemption.

END

 

Reply:

1. The investigation is close to completion and currently awaiting the Financial Report from the Accountant, after which the case will be referred to the National Prosecuting Authority for a decision whether to prosecute or not.

2. No, the case is still under investigation.

 

Reply to question 1949 recommended

NATIONAL COMMISSIONERGENERAL: SOUTH AFRICAN POLICE SERVICE
KJ SITOLE (SOEG)
Date: 2021/09/07
 

Reply to question 1949 approved

MINISTER OF POLICE
GENERAL BH CELE, MP

Date: 18/09/2021

Reply:

The Department has used virtual marketing tools to support local businesses to access export markets, in addition to more traditional means.

These included the following:

1. Trade Seminars

The department hosted thirteen (13) virtual trade seminars and business engagements with local and international partners.

• South Korean market initiative for the sale of South African alcoholic beverages at GS Retail Stores.
• UAE Virtual trade and investment webinar focusing on the food and beverage market.
• Inaugural South Africa – United States Black Business Summit
• Collaborated with WESGRO and the Swiss Import Promotion Programme (SIPPO) on two (2) key events:
  • Cape Agriculture Week Inward Buying Mission.
  • Biofach eSpecial (an organic virtual trade fair).
• Footwear and Leather Virtual Exhibition event, targeting the Middle East and Africa, with particular focus on UAE, Saudi Arabia, Ghana and Kenya.
• Webinar on Trade, Investment and Boat Buying Tourism Opportunities in the Boatbuilding Sector in South Africa.
• Webinar between Export Promotion: North America and USAID for funding opportunities for PDI’s, SMME and Women owned Enterprises.
• Webinar with the US Food and Drug Administration about information companies need to know to export food products to the USA.
• Brazil Agribusiness Trade and Investment webinar hosted in partnership with DIRCO.
• South African companies were introduced and received online training on a Russian e-commerce platform, OZON as a tool to further access the Russian market.
• South Africa-Argentina Webinar: Opening South-South Business Opportunities
• Undertook an outward investment mission to Côte d'Ivoire to assist a South African solar company to enter the energy sector.

2. Trade leads to businesses

It provided 122 trade leads to businesses.

To date, the Department through South African Embassies and Consulates has received and disseminated 122 trade leads linked to export opportunities in 34 territories, including China, Ghana, Tanzania, Ethiopia, UAE, Egypt, Turkey, Italy, Singapore, Russia, Saudi Arabia, India, Japan, Brazil, South Korea, Mauritius, France, USA, Thailand, Argentina and Zimbabwe

3. Assistance with market access

It assisted companies with two 2 market access interventions in terms of product certification in key markets.

• The Department intervened in assisting a BEE company to be certified for beef exports to China.
• The Department, together with the Department of Agriculture, Land Reform and Rural Development (DALRRD), assisted a company to overcome challenges related to the company’s exportation of live animals (sheep, goats and cattle) from South Africa to Kuwait.

4. Export training programmes

As part of growing and diversifying the exporter base, the department provided thirty (30) exporter awareness and capacity building sessions

• Twenty (20) Global Exporter Passport Programme (GEPP) sessions were held where 270 individuals were trained in the following districts:

City/Town	Province	GEPP Training Phase 1	GEPP Training Phase 2	GEPP Training Phase 3	Trained companies per city/town
Port Elizabeth	Eastern Cape	18	15	13	46
East London				9	9
Mbombela	Mpumalanga			5	5
Virtual Training (1)	National		11	18	29
Virtual Training (2)		32	15	25	72
Tshwane	Gauteng		16	15	31
JHB Sandton			11	8	19
JHB Constitution Hill		13	9	6	28
Tzaneen	Limpopo			11	11
Durban	KwaZulu-Natal		11	9	20
Totals		63	88	119	270

• Ten (10) Export Awareness sessions involving 224 individuals were held as follows:

Province	City/Town	Persons	Date Of Seminar	Platform
1 January 2021 – 30 March 2021
None
1 April 2021 – 30 June 2021
Gauteng	Alexandra	20	06-04-2021	Physical
	Midrand	23	21-04-2021	Virtual
	Johannesburg	17	09-06-2021	Physical
	Johannesburg	35	21-06-2021	Physical
Limpopo	Thohoyandou	9	26-05-2021	Physical
	Giyani	7	27-05-2021
	Polokwane	11	28-05-2021
Northern Cape	Kimberley	11	26-06-2021	Virtual
1 July 2021 – Current
Gauteng	Johannesburg	37	09-07-2021	Virtual
Mpumalanga	Ermelo	48	28-07-2021	Virtual
TOTAL		224

5. Incubation programmes

The Department coordinated an incubation programme for women entrepreneurs.

The Department has an agreement with the German Ministry and the German Agency for International Cooperation (GIZ) to collaborate on capacitating South African companies that wishes to do business in Germany with adequate understanding of the market and business culture. The programme is executed in a form of mentorship and incubation by German companies and is designed to assist companies to develop an in-depth knowledge of international trade, using access to the German market as a case the study.

So far in 2021, the programme has benefitted 65 South African companies (44 of which are women-owned) from the following provinces:

• Eastern Cape (6)
• Mpumalanga (1)
• North West (3)
• Gauteng (32)
• Western Cape (19)
• KwaZulu-Natal (4).

The continuing Covid-19 pandemic compelled the programme to be facilitated virtually for a period of 8 weeks. The total of 65 companies were divided into three groups which received training on the following dates:

• Group 1: 1 March 2021 until 23 April 2021
• Group 2: 2 June 2021 until 23 July 2021
• Group 3: 6 July 2021 until 27 August 2021.

6. Export marketing assistance

The Export Marketing and Investment Assistance (EMIA) funding rules were revised to support South African companies to also participate in virtual exhibitions and missions.

In addition to the existing EMIA support measures, the following support measures were approved for virtual exhibitions and missions:

• Procure and funding 100% digital platform (virtual space/ digital exhibition/ Virtual B-B platform, listing/registration).
• Procure and fund physical stand in a case of hybrid missions and complement with relevant ICT infrastructure, gadgets and related data.
• Assist with digital marketing content/profile development (Digital videos, Digital Profiles, Digital Catalogues, Destination advertising / material / branding and Website) limited to R5, 000 per company participating.
• Transportations of material and samples.
• Procure and provide translators for virtual Group Missions.
• Air time/ mobile data for internet access to qualifying companies (based on need assessment) limited to R200 per event.
• Digital sales lead management and tracking.

7. Unblocking obstacles for investors

Invest SA assisted with the following:

• BMW: Facilitated the unblocking of port clearance procedures that affected the production of the BMW X3 which is destined for the Domestic and Export Market. Due to the challenges at ports, an urgent shipment containing parts were delayed at the Cape Town Harbour. BMW were notified that a Detention stop has been put on these containers by Customs Border Control. The net impact of this would have been the shutdown of the plant which would have impacted their export commitments. InvestSA intervened by escalating the matter to Transnet and had the matter resolved.
• AMKA: Invest South Africa facilitated port clearance for raw materials required for the production of cosmetics for domestic consumption and for exports to markets in Africa.
• LULU Group: Facilitated the shipment of Lulu Groups, buying office containers which were delayed in the port of Cape Town with export products destined for Middle East market.

8. Sector support

The following are highlights of the assistance to local businesses in Footwear & Leather Goods sector through South African Footwear & Leather Export Council (SAFLEC) to access the export markets since 1 January 2021:

The exports Footwear & Leather exports by value to Middle East increased from R 1.5m value to over R 14 million, to USA by 20% and to UK by 6%. New Markets accessed in Poland, Rumania and Russia brought additional R 1.2m export revenue. Setting up of a New Virtual Show room on SAFLEC website and development of New Virtual Trade Platforms. Launch of new virtual platform for Trade promotion. Addition of 10 more companies to SAFLEC virtual show room. Conversion of 31 companies to virtual platform. This resulted in an increase in exports by 63% in comparison to the 2020 exports largely affected by Covid-19.

Due to the restriction on physical trade promotion resulting from COVID, SAFLEC continues to prioritize Africa, Europe, America’s as well as Australia as markets for South African footwear through virtual platforms to retain the awareness of South African manufacturers. Africa was prioritized as the low hanging fruit. Asia and Europe markets are looked at for Handbags and Leather Goods.

9. Industrial funding and support

The Industrial Financing Branch (IFB) has taken the following actions over the last few months to assist South African exporters:

• Twelve companies that received support from January to July 2021, reported export sales of R542 million. Seven of these companies are Black Industrialists, one is involved in the processing of oysters and is supported by the Aquaculture Development and Enhancement Programme and the other four are beneficiaries of the 12I Tax Allowance Incentive. Two of these 12I companies are operating in the food and beverage industry, one in the home and personal care products and the other in pharmaceuticals.
• On 26th August 2021, IFB through a SEDA online platform, conducted a virtual national SMME exporter development briefing session with SMME’s located across the country. Over 400 SMME across different economic sectors were invited.
• On 26th May 2021, the Branch in partnership with Wesgro conducted a briefing session on export incentive offerings.
• In September 2021, a digital export event support component for emerging exporters was introduced in the revised Sector Specific Assistance Scheme (SSAS) guidelines.

In addition. To the above, there are a number of projects supported y the NEF, IDC and ECIC which assist SA-based companies to increase their exports to the rest of the continent. To illustrate this, the ECIC is providing support to SA companies linked to the Amandi Rail Ghana and Amandi Hospital Ghana projects. This includes exports by Macsteel an SA supplier on the project. The involvement of Macsteel in this Project will advance the objectives of the Steel Master Plan of the dtic. The exports sourced from the South African exporters will have an impact on the South African economy.

10. Regulator efforts

The International Trade Administration Commission (ITAC) issues permits for exports of Covid-related products. This included

• Hand sanitisers
• Vaccines
• Face-masks and shields

ITAC assists SA exports by issuing rebate and drawback certificates based on the value of imported inputs to final export products. The main users are the agriculture and agro--processing, clothing and textiles, chemicals and plastics, and metals and machinery industries.

Rebate item 470.03 provides for rebate of customs duty upon importation of components and materials specified in the permits and are intended for use in the manufacture, processing, finishing, equipping or packing of goods exclusively for export:

• 98 certificates issued from January to August 2021, covering a wide variety of products.

Drawback item 521.00 provides for drawback of customs duty that was paid on imported components and materials used in the manufacture, processing, finishing, equipping or packing of goods already exported:

• 117 certificates issues from January to August 2021, covering a wide variety of products.

-END-

Reply:

The revenue losses suffered by SANRAL due to traffic reductions during lockdown, is estimated around R650 million. However, SANRAL continued to apply frequent user discounts of 20% to 40% (Class 1) and local user discounts of 40% to 90% (Class 1) on all its routes, regardless of this loss in revenue. SMME’s therefore continue to benefit from these discounts all over the country. Details of the discounted rates are available on SANRAL’s website and in the published Gazette of 11 February 2021 – Vol 668.

It must be emphasised that by awarding contracts SANRALs contribution to SMMEs is far more significant and sustainable. Therefore, SANRAL endeavoured to ensure it continues to contribute significantly to the recovery of the country’s economy by continuing to speed up its construction programme. This was done despite challenges in the changing procurement environment to adjust to lockdown regulations. To this end, SANRAL awarded 64% more construction projects in 2020/21 financial year than in the prior year. More details of SANRAL’s contribution to SMMEs, such as the Supplier Development Desk, is published in the Integrated Report of 2021 and on SANRALs website.