Questions and Replies

Reply:

1. The Cultural and Creative Industries Federation of South Africa (CCIFSA) has always been managed as an independent institution from DSAC given the manner in which it was formed and registered. The Companies Act provides for the business and affairs of a company to be managed by, or under, the direction of its board and the Act also puts a legal duty to Directors to keep company records. While DSAC facilitated the handing over of CCIFSA from the previous leadership, we were also mindful of the independence of the structure hence CCIFSA is not part of our declared institution and therefor did not attend the meetings of the parties to check what exactly items are being handed over, we are aware that the handover process from the previous leadership to the current CCIFSA leadership was conducted.

2. Yes, we found that the audited financial statements were satisfactory. As you are aware, the Companies Act requires all financial statements to be prepared in accordance with a particular framework, also referred to broadly as accounting standards or financial reporting standards.

As part of the requirement, independent auditors using a framework of generally accepted auditing standards which set out the manner in which audit is conducted should evaluate financial statements. The auditors are responsible for expressing an opinion indicating that reasonable assurance has been obtained that the financial statements as a whole are free from material misstatement, whether due to fraud or error, and that they are fairly presented in accordance with the relevant accounting standards.

According to the information presented, this was the case with CCIFSA and based on the auditors’ opinion, the financial statements presented fairly, in all material respects. It is upon this independent judgement that we found the statements to be satisfactory.

Reply:

Chapter 6 of the Tax Administration Act No. 28 of 2011 (the TA Act) prohibits the South African Revenue Service (SARS) from disclosing taxpayer information to any person unless specifically provided for in the TA Act, in limited circumstances.

As there is no specific provision allowing SARS to release such information, SARS is unable to provide the requested information.

It is important to note that SARS does use the legislative tools provided in the TA Act to collect tax debt without fear, favour or prejudice.

Reply:

 

1. (a) SANParks and/or Kruger National Park (KNP) receives no benefit (financial or otherwise) from the hunting at the Association of Private Nature Reserves (APNR). The APNR are responsible for costs pertaining to the safety and security functions, fence infrastructure maintenance costs, conservation management and their own socio-economic development programmes which they implement on the western boundary of the KNP.

1. The Great Limpopo Transfrontier Conservation Area Cooperative Agreement (2018) and the workplan are currently being reviewed, and a report will be submitted to the relevant Members of the Executive Committees of Mpumalanga and Limpopo Provinces, as well as the Minister of Forestry, Fisheries and the Environment. The Mpumalanga Tourism and Parks Agency (MTPA); Limpopo Department of Economic Development, Environment and Tourism (LEDET) and the Department of Forestry, Fisheries and the Environment (DFFE) are being consulted as part of the review process.

The APNR Hunting Protocol is an operational protocol, and is annually reviewed by the APNR Executive structures — with representation by the provincial conservation authorities: the MTPA, LEDET and SANParks.

1. The management functions within the protected areas are governed by the National Protected Areas Act, 2003 (Act No. 57 of 2003) (NEMPAA), including the associated Regulations, as well as Norms and Standards. The APNR structures are not contractual national parks, and SANParks is not the Management Authority of these protected areas. The provincial conservation authorities, the MTPA and LEDET are the regulatory authorities mandated with the regularisation and compliance oversight of these protected areas. The MTPA and LEDET are also the issuing authorities of the permits, and the oversight of the hunting.

The Great Limpopo Transfrontier Conservation Area Cooperative Agreement (2018) provides the umbrella mechanism for SANParks to submit recommendations for resource use on open protected areas not managed or owned by SANParks-KNP.

1. The following scientific information is presented to the APNR Joint Operational Committee, submitted to SANParks for recommendations and to the MTPA and LEDET for final approvals:
   1. Census information: demographics and animal counts for the game species within the respective reserves;
   2. Specialist studies pertaining to key species; and
   3. Post-off-take reports from the previous off-take season, including demographics.

The off-take requests are submitted annually during the last quarter of the calendar year, following post-off take committee discussions, specialist study submissions and approvals by the APNR EXCO and APNR Joint Operational Committees.

Regards

MS B D CREECY, MP

MINISTER OF FORESTRY, FISHERIES AND THE ENVIRONMENT
DATE:

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:

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. In 2019, the Department of Science and Innovation (DSI), through the Waste Research Development and Innovation Roadmap, undertook a project aimed at reviewing the state of South Africa’s current knowledge base on marine litter. The objective of the study was to consolidate the existing scientific evidence and to assess the current gaps in knowledge. The study led to five papers published in the South African Journal of Science in May 2020, covering such topics as the sources and pathways of marine plastic litter, the transport and fate of plastic litter and its ecological impacts.

Several of the studies that have been conducted have recommended the strengthening of efforts to help reduce the leakage of plastic waste into the environment. Government aims to achieve this through a number of initiatives, some of which are summarized below.

• In September 2020, Cabinet approved the National Waste Management Strategy, 2020 (NWMS) in terms of Section 6 of the National Environmental Management: Waste Act, 2008 (Act No. 59 of 2008) (NEM:WA), which updated the 2011 strategy. The Strategy strongly advocates the notion of a circular economy in which plastics are kept within the economy as far as possible through the application of waste avoidance, recovery,” recycling and reuse to minimise waste generated. Unlike the 2011 strategy, the 2020 strategy places a stronger emphasis on supporting innovation and partnerships with the private sector, collaboration with other departments on the beneficiation of waste and supporting the provincial and local spheres of government to build their capacity in respect of waste management.

The implementation of the 2020 strategy is centred around three strategic pillars of action, namely waste minimisation, waste service provisioning, and compliance and enforcement. For each of these strategic pillars, specific objectives, actions and targets have been formulated and are being monitored in terms of performance indicators within the waste management sector.

• In April 2021 the Department published amendments to the Plastic Carrier Bags and Plastic Flat Bags Regulations in terms of the National Environmental Management Act, 1998 (Act 107 of 1998) (NEMA) and the NEM:WA. The amendments focus on promoting the circular economy and to increase the amount of recycled content or “post-consumer recyclate" material being used in the manufacturing process of plastic bags. These amendments aim to enhance the demand-side of waste management and to secure the necessary demand to drive the diversion of plastic waste from landfill.
  • In November 2020 the Department published the Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) Regulations in Government Gazette 43879 (Notice No. 1184) on 5 November 2020 for implementation. These regulations make it compulsory for producers and importers of plastic packaging to belong to an EPR scheme. In doing so, such producers and importers must demonstrate how the environmental impacts of their products are being managed throughout the products’ life-cycle, from design to the post-consumer phase.

The department is also supporting several other initiatives that are led by various other organisations (private and civil society) in the country, aimed at addressing plastic waste in
South Africa. These initiatives include, amongst others, the SA Initiative to End Plastic Waste, the National Plastics Pact and the Plastics Master Plan (led by the Department of Trade, Industry and Competition (DTIC).

The steps taken to reduce the impact of discarded nets on the Cape fur seals along the coast of the Republic are as follows:

Most fisheries sectors are required (through permit conditions) to report gear loss (including the GPS co-ordinates) to the Department of Forestry, Fisheries and the Environment (DFFE). Marking of fishing gear is not a requirement of fishing permits; however, all buoys and ropes are marked according to vessels, and traps are colour-coded specific to operators / vessels.

• There are mitigation measures in place for many fisheries as well, e.g. for the gillnet, octopus trap, and rock-lobster trap fisheries. A well-established disentanglement network of government and non-government organisations exist to deal with cetacean, shark, bird, and other entanglements, mostly due to ghost gear.
  • The department and stakeholders have been monitoring trends of plastic pollutants that entangle Cape fur seals at the Cape Town docks since 1990. The effort is integrated into disentanglement efforts where role players conduct daily visits to known hotspots to remove plastic items from seals. The Benguela Current Commission will be funding analysis and the write-up of these data in 2021/22.
  • Fishing gear may be deliberately abandoned or discarded to disguise Illegal, Unregulated and Unreported (IUU) fishing activities. South Africa has acceded to the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) Agreement on Port State Measures to Prevent, Deter and Eliminate IUU Fishing, including conditions in relation to the marking of the fishing gear. The agreement on Port State Measures is seen to be a cost effective and potent tool to combat IUU fishing.

• 1. The last comprehensive pup count was conducted in 2017. Based on these pup production estimates, there are at least 600 000 seals in South Africa.

The population is generally stable; however, scientists have noticed, through research and monitoring, that there are colony specific level fluctuations. A notable decrease was at Kleinsee (Northern Cape) where pup production declined by up to 50 000 between the years 2000 and 2017. Conversely, since 2006, there has been a rapid and exponential increase in the number of seals at Vondeling Island, south of Saldanha (which has now stabilised) and Robberg on the south east coast. This was not a biologically plausible increase and, as such, it is suspected that it was a result of immigration from northern colonies, most likely from Kleinsee. The increase in the south and the decrease in the north is consistent with the direction of shift in distribution of their preferred prey resources (sardines and anchovy).

Regards

MS B D CREECY, MP
MINISTER OF FORESTRY, FISHERIES AND THE ENVIRONMENT
DATE: '

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:

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:

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:

The municipality does not have sufficient bulk water infrastructure to meet the demand of the growing area. To that end it is currently supplying water through interim measures of water carting to temporal storages including water tanks which are then utilized by the community of Lerome South. These are interim measures put in place while the municipality works on a permanent solution.

Moses Kotane Local Municipality (MKLM) is a Water Services Authority (WSA) in the MKLM area of jurisdiction which includes Lerome South. The Water Services Act, 108 of 1997 defines a WSA as any municipality responsible for ensuring access to water services. In executing its functions, which include the WSA function, MKLM gets grant funding and technical support from the provincial and national government departments.

MKLM is implementing a bulk water supply project (bulk water line and reservoir) scheduled to complete by end of November 2021. The bulk water supply project is funded thorough the Water Services Infrastructure Grant (WSIG) administered by the Department of Water and Sanitation (DWS).

MKLM indicated that it has prioritised in this financial year Municipal Infrastructure Grant (MIG) Implementation Plan a project, among others, for water reticulation for Lerome South. In an effort to avoid misalignment between bulk and reticulation, the reticulation project is only under consideration this financial year when the WSIG funded bulk project is near completion. The DWS, as the responsible sector department, is currently appraising the technical report submitted by MKLM for water reticulation through the MIG funding. The MIG funding is administered by the Department of Corporative Governance (DCOG). DCOG through the Municipal Infrastructure Support Agent (MISA) is providing technical support to MKLM for both project implementation and the MIG funding application.

The estimated date to deliver the full functional water supply project to Lerome South, having completed both the WSIG funded bulk water and MIG funded water reticulation projects, is anticipated to be in November 2022.

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:

Cricket South Africa in its response indicated that;

a) The total funding received from the National Lotteries Commission between 1 January 2017 to 31 December 2020 is R2,5m.

A 100% of this funding was applied for the promotion of cricket amongst the groups designated as previously disadvantaged. The R2.5m breakdown is as follows;

(i) and (ii)

In 2017 no funds were received

In 2018 an amount of R1.5m was received for Project 96809 which covered the following;

• Rural Facility upgrades – Fort Hare University, Alice; Rabana Primary, NWP.
• Women Cricket Advancement – Equipment.
• Funding assistance to Disability Cricket Sector – National Cricket Weeks Education via Mindset TV – Hubs’ Progammes: Iqakamba broadcasts.

BUDGET LINE ITEM ( in line with Annexure A)	EXPENDITURE ITEMS
1. Accommodation	28 000.00
2. Car Hire	9 600.00
3. Cricket equipment	500 000.00
4. Ed: Mindset	189 600.00
5. Field Upgrades UFH	70 000.00
6. Net Upgrades (Rural)	300 000.00
7. SA Blind Cricket	120 000.00
8. SA Deaf Cricket	120 000.00
9. SASA Intellectually Impaired	120 000.00
TOTAL	R1,500,000.00

In 2019 an amount of R1,0m was received for Project M12946

• The funds were earmarked for the Advancement of Females’ in Cricket

BUDGET LINE ITEM	EXPENDITURE ITEMS
1. Clothing for Teams	R165,919.72
2. Hosting Fee (Tshwane & Cape Town)	R292,267.50
3. Accommodation	R453,744.55
4. Flights	R193,000.00
5. Meal Allowance for Supper	R49,000.00
6. Pitch Vision (Live stream of matches)	R18,930.00
7. Coach Bus	R44,610.00
8. Catering for Launch	R115,162.50
9. Deco for Launch	R34,654.56
TOTAL	R1,367,288.83

In 2020 no funds were received.

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:

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

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:

a) (i) There are four (4) districts that do not have special schools; (ii) The ECD function does not reside with the Department of Basic Education; 

b) (iii) Amathole West (EC), Chris Hani West (EC), ZF Mgcawu (NC) and Pixley Ka Seme (NC) (iv) There are no other details.

Reply:

1. The Department has;

• seconded MISA engineers to augment technical capacity in the municipality. The engineers have amongst other things developed an infrastructure master plan to inform better planning with respect to the electricity infrastructure. It is anticipated that MISA will also develop an Operations and Maintenance Plan for the municipality and continue to provide technical support, as implementation unfolds.

• Supported the intervention by the Service Delivery Task Team led by the Deputy President to fast track service delivery backlogs in Maluti a Phofung Local Municipality. Amongst the key deliverables of the intervention is the process of facilitating the partnership between Eskom and the municipality through which, Eskom will take over supply of electricity in the municipality for a specific time frame. The process towards legally concluding the partnership is unfolding and the Department is leading the application of sections 78 to 80 of the Municipal Systems Act, 32 of 2000; which is a mandatory undertaking, prior to utilizing an external mechanism to deliver services in a municipality.

Reply:

The Department was not aware of any agreement between the Department of Trade and Industry with SAMIC.

This challenge is largely due to the lack of a centralised Government wide database of defaulting beneficiaries, so that we are able to identify and isolate them until they comply with all prescripts of the contracts without fail.

Internally, the Department’s Legal Unit has initiated a recovery process and black listing of defaulters.

However, upon approving the grant, the Department entered into a contractual agreement with SAMIC stipulating terms and conditions of the funds dispersed to ensure that they will be used to achieve the intended purpose.

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:

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 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:

 

1. The South African National Parks (SANParks) Integrity Testing Policy was first approved in January 2017. Organised labour did not support the introduction of compulsory polygraph testing. The Integrity Testing Policy was subsequently revised by SANParks management for consultation with organised labour in September 2021.

It is recognised that were this policy to be implemented it would require a change to employees' conditions of employment.

2.

• 1. During 2016 and 2017, seventy-one (71) employees from the Ranger Services Leader Group and Kruger National Park MANCO underwent voluntary polygraph testing.
  2. If the policy is agreed to and approved, staff can be subject to random testing.

3.

1. The current Human Resource (HR) constraints result from severe declines associated with the Covid-19 Pandemic. Until revenues increase SANParks can only fill critical vacancies
2. SANParks uses the VIP Premier system and is in the process of upgrading to SAGE VIP 300 People.

4. Employees are qualified for the roles they are appointed to perform within the organisation.

Regards

MS B D CREECY, MP
MlNISTER OF FORESTRY,FISHERlES AND THE ENVlRONMENT
DATE:

Reply:

In our view, the conference was successful and hosted in accordance with applicable legislation based on one of the resolutions taken at an elective conference in Mpumalanga.

It was also attended by at least representatives from eight Provinces with the exception of the Free State Province.

Reply:

1. The Department approved a grant for R602 000 to SAMIC for the hosting of this conference and the funds were sourced from MGE Cultural Events budget.

2. Upon approval of the grant, the Department entered into a Memorandum of Agreement with SAMIC stipulating the conditions of the grant and deliverables as the clause of the contract.

3. To our knowledge, no formations or individuals indicated any intention to contest the outcome of SAMIC elective conference. The Department has since received the SAMIC close out report as per the contractual obligation.

4. SAMIC was funded like the other sector organisation in the arts and culture sector with the objective of building capacity and creating a platform for engagements to strengthen their programmes and operations.

Reply:

1. According to the Maluti-a-Phofung (MAP) Local Municipality the water situation in the municipality has improved significantly from last year. The major cause of water problems in QwaQwa was the drought. Following the recent rains, the main Fika Patso dam supplying QwaQwa is now at 75% full capacity. The other major problem is old infrastructure being mainly AC pipes that are constantly bursting causing intermittent cuts in water supply.

2. In accordance with the District Development Model (DDM) that ensures integrated service delivery by government and non-government stakeholders, the Department of Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs (COGTA) through the Municipal Infrastructure Support Agent (MISA) is supporting Maluti-A-Phofung (MAP) Local Municipality to monitor interventions and the implementation of projects aimed at proving electricity among other services.

3. According to MAP Local Municipality, the interventions and projects mentioned above include the following:.

i. In the wards in question the MAP Local Municipality is undertaking repairs to burst pipes, which are common in all wards due to aged infrastructure. ii. MISA supported the Municipality to develop a Water Conservation and Demand Management Plan and to draft a Water O&M plan to improve the operations and maintenance regimes for all wards in MAP Local Municipality. iii. In ward 10, Tseki area some 2 boreholes were drilled and equipped with solar pumps, 5 000 litre tanks and stand pipes and security fencing with funding from DBSA in partnership with MISA (as part of the COVID-19 interventions) for a total cost of R762 427,78. These were handed over to the community.

4. COGTA, with provincial counterparts and MISA, led a rigorous process of assessing the state of local government (SOLG). The assessment included all service delivery issues including the provision of electricity in MAP. A process is underway to address basic service delivery issues and the target date to complete the municipal intervention and support plans (MISP) for high priority municipalities like MAP is the end of September 2021. This MISP will include plans to address the water challenges mentioned above.

5. The compilation of MISP brings together all sector departments as advocated for by the DDM.

Reply:

1. The Department was not aware of any agreement between the Department of Trade and Industry with SAMIC.

This challenge is largely due to the lack of a centralised Government wide database of defaulting beneficiaries, so that we are able to identify and isolate them until they comply with all prescripts of the contracts without fail.

SAMIC is national, legal and autonomous body, comprised of members from music industry organisations that represent different constituencies. It is the sole voice and umbrella body for the entire South African music industry role-players, Established in 2014. The South African Music Industry Council (SAMIC) aims to transform protect and preserve the South African music market, assets and legacy.

a) The Department agreed to fund the recent SAMIC Conference held in April 2021. The decision by the Department to provide financial support was due to the following:

• The fragmentation within the arts and culture sector has contributed to its underdevelopment in terms of unified policy development and direction.
• The sector has not realised its full potential to effectively contribute to social development and initiative
• The music industry in particular has evolve as a result of fourth industrial revolution and its impact has affected the South African music industry,
• The legislative framework governing the music industry is out dated and requires to be updated in order to respond to the demands of the digitalisation in the industry.

The initiative by SAMIC to position itself as an umbrella body within the music industry is commendable and it is in line with the overall mandate of the Department.

b) SAMIC approached the Department requesting funding to host a national conference in January 2021 and provided a project proposal, a compliancy documents namely; company registration, tax certificate, entity form with a certified bank stamp,

2. The Department is able to provide all documents received from SAMIC,

a) The Department funded SAmic with the Registration Number: 150-953 NPO. -Registered in terms of the Non-profit Organisation Act, 1997, Act no 71 and we are not aware of another SAMIC formed in 2015.

b) Attached as (Annexure A) are documents received from SAMIC as per the question request.

 

Reply:

1)

• 1. The Kruger National Park (KNP) no longer conducts culling operations to control animal population numbers to a predetermined stable state, as was done historically with many species including elephants, hippo and buffalo.
  2. The following table provides a list of animals that were lethally managed in the KNP in the past three years. It must be noted that the table below excludes offtake numbers that were processed through the Skukuza Abattoir. These animals are euthanised for a range of reasons such as for bait, being alien species or the animal being injured. The carcases are either left in the veld or used for research and scientific purposes.

Table 1: Lethal Animal Management numbers in the KNP from 2019-2021, excluding offtakes that were processed through the Skukuza GPP

	2019	2020	2021
Alien species	33	45	8
Bait for predator capture	7	23	25
Animal Welfare	30	56	14
Problem Animals	310	329	127
Self Defence	23	22	8
Internal events eg Anti- poaching success, long-service,	30	5	4
TOTAL	433	480	186

• 1. SANParks does not use the “landscape of fear” as a management concept.

2)

1. Our management decisions are based on the carrying capacity of land in different biomes and related animal censuses to ensure sustainable species conservation.

1. The following species and numbers were processed through the Skukuza Game Processing Plant (GPP) for the past three years:

Table 2. Animals Processed through the Skukuza GPP (2019-2021)

	2019 offtake	2020 offtake	2021 offtake
Warthog	56	0	0
Impala	236	888	0
Elephant	7	3	8
Buffalo	90	0	0
Hippo	0	13	0

It is important to note that the elephants in the table were euthanised because they were classified as damage causing or problem animals who regularly caused damage to infrastructure and showed signs of aggressive behaviour which posed a danger to human life. In line with SANParks Wildlife Management Policy, lethal management was recommended in order to mitigate risk to human life.

3)

1. To offset costs, some animal products were sold to staff, 90% of which come from the neighbouring communities adjacent to the KNP.

1. Animal products that become available as a result of animal offtakes in the KNP include meat, hides and bones. Of these, a portion of the meat is donated to communities living adjacent to the KNP. This is done in the spirit of sharing the benefits of biodiversity within the context of moral obligation, historical redress, relationship building and in the longer term, building protected area relevance – an important component of overall sustainability. However, it is important to acknowledge that meat donations are merely one of many tools in the large benefit sharing basket.

• 1. Beneficiaries from meat products vary, but broadly include the following:
     • Local schools (there are more than 400 local schools adjacent to the KNP);
     • Local traditional council community events (Ummemo days, chief inaugurations and certain annual meetings);
     • Issue-based community campaigns (such as those linked to rhino anti-poaching); and
     • Community forum meetings (there are seven community forums adjacent to the KNP, namely the Nkomazi Forum, Lubambiswano Forum, Ntirhisano Forum, Mahlamba Ndlopfu Forum, BaPhalaborwa Forum, Hlanganani Forum and the Makuya Forum. Each forum represents in the region of between 20 and 50 villages, each with at least one school, but in some cases more than four schools per village).

Donations to local schools form the bulk of the donations. SANParks utilises the existing government feeding schemes as a vehicle to implement the donations as there are already structured setups at the schools to handle the safe cooking and serving of the protein.

• 1. The schools are primarily selected by the relevant community forums, where possible, together with the social outreach officers from the KNP. This is done on a rotational basis with the objective that no school receives a “second” donation until all other schools in the forum have received their first donation. Records of these donations are kept, including the names of the recipients, the amount of the donations and details of the contact persons in each case. This is done specifically to ensure fairness, transparency and to enable an adaptive management approach to the strategy.

Owing to legislative prescriptions, such as the Protection of Personal Information Act, 2013 (Act No. 4 of 2013) on privacy, SANParks is not at liberty to share personal details of the individuals who receive these donations, as consent will have to be requested from individuals.

Regards

MS B D CREECY, MP
MINISTER OF FORESTRY, FISHERIES AND THE ENVIRONMENT
DATE: 23 September 2021

Reply:

1)

• 1. SANParks does not set rhino poaching targets. SANParks sets annual targets to systematically reduce poaching at Kruger National Park (KNP). The setting of the target to reduce poaching takes into account current poaching trends, the poaching compound effect, birth disruptions, diseases and droughts. Ultimately, we aim to eliminate rhino poaching in KNP and other national parks.

Yes, the target to reduce poaching is considered acceptable given the current realities and has helped to direct and better coordinate our anti-poaching efforts.

1. There is no target for criminal activity. There is a target to reduce criminal activity.

Yes, the targets are continuously reviewed and revised and using new information to adapt management responses for improved performance outcomes. See attached annexure A, detailing the decline in rhino poaching in South Africa between 2014 and 2020.

Regards

MS B D CREECY, MP

MINISTER OF FORESTRY, FISHERIES AND THE ENVIRONMENT
DATE: 23/09/2021

Reply:

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

a) Not applicable.

b) Not applicable.

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:

The Minister of Public Works and Infrastructure:

I have been informed by the Department that the R60 million received under the General Budget Support Programme (GBS) was over the 2019 MTEF period and not solely for the 2019/20 financial year.

a) Identification of existing data and studies was the first step under the GBS programme and has been completed. With the existing data, the Department intends on focussing the funding on actual maritime infrastructure and therefore did not commence with the development of spatial and economic development frameworks (SEDF). Should saving be realised from the construction process, the spatial and economic development frameworks will be developed as long-term development guides for the three respective sites.

•  

(i) Port St Johns has an existing feasibility study for the development of a small harbour and the Department intends on implementing the recommendations of the feasibility study to repair the existing slipway. The process of obtaining a Procurement Instruction is currently underway.

(ii) Port Nolloth has an existing jetty which is in a dilapidated state and has been prioritised to be refurbished to ensure the safe use of the jetty. A concrete slipway has also been proposed for the Port Nolloth site. The process of obtaining a Procurement Instruction is currently underway.

(iii) Port Edward forms part of the Ugu South Coast Masterplan and can currently accommodate thirty (30) launches per day from the beach area. The formalisation of the launching from a concrete slipway is currently under review due to the hydrographic conditions of the site being extremely rocky.

b) No funding has been withdrawn from the General Budget Support Programme as all the current work has been completed in-house by the Small Harbours directorate in conjunction with the respective coastal regional offices. Upon completion of the planning phase, including the Environmental Impact Assessments, the relevant funding allocations will be requested from National Treasury. It should be noted that the allocation has not been lost and is carried forward until the funding is requested by the Department.

c) The Department, guided by DIRCO, has received technical grant funding from the People’s Republic of China for the development of economic and feasibility studies which will utilise a nodal approach for the Northern Cape, Eastern Cape and KwaZulu-Natal. The matching South African team comprising of DPWI and ISA officials, has been formed and an introductory session was held on 6 September 2021. As a Strategic Integrated Project (SIP) the Small Harbours programme has also been proposed for the upcoming SIDS Symposium. The Small Harbours Unit is also working closing with ISA to develop a project pipeline.

d) The Department is responsible for the capital works in the harbours. The removal of sunken vessels is solely the responsibility of the Department of Forestry, Fisheries and the Environment (DFFE) however was executed under the repair programme as the Department would be unable to conduct capital dredging where sunken vessels would provide a blockage. The capital dredging has been completed within all the harbours where they were required.

(i) The operational/maintenance dredging and removal of sunken vessels is a function of the DFFE. The Department will assist the DFFE in completing the User Asset Management Plan (U-AMP) to ensure that the budgeted amounts for maintenance dredging and removal of sunken vessels are within the market prices and not under budgeted for.

(ii) The Department is responsible for the security of infrastructure i.e. security fencing, gates, booms and CCTV apparatus which has been completed under the current repair and maintenance programme to the proclaimed fishing harbours. The only two remaining harbours are Saldanha Bay and Pepper Bay where the work is expected to be completed by the end of the current financial year. The actual warm bodies for security is the responsibility of the DFFE as they manage the operations within the harbour precincts and generate revenue from such activities taking place from the use of the marine infrastructure

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:

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:

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 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 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:

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)(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:

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:

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

2. Attached as Annexure A

3. Attached as Annexure A

END