Questions and Replies

Reply:

1. These are some of the challenges faced by Early Childhood Development (ECD) centres in relation to the Covid-19 regulations and these are not exhaustive.

• Non-adherence to COVID 19 health and safety requirements including lack of PPEs,
• Financial constrains due to loss of income during lockdown period.
• ECD centres depend on fees paid by parents and this was not possible as the children were at home.
• COVID 19 has affected economic situation of many households and as such many children are still at home due to loss of income by parents as they cannot afford paying fees for their children.
• Some parents/caregivers are scared that their children will be infected by the pandemic and prefer keeping them at home.
• Some ECD centres might not reopen as practitioners are part of vulnerable groupings with existing co- morbidities and/or are 60 or above.

2. According to guidance from provinces there may be some challenges with ECD centres closing. It will be difficult to have accurate information in this regard due to us not having adequate data of all ECD centres in the country. The department repurposed Infrastructure Conditional Grant to prepare ECD centres for reopening, by facilitating the supply of essential equipment to meet COVID 19 health and safety measures. These include equipment that will enable temperature screening, frequent hand washing, frequent cleaning and basic hygiene to prevent the spread of COVID-19. The department is also continuing to pay subsidy to funded ECD centres.

Reply:

a) All applicants for social relief of distress as administered by SASSA must meet qualifying criteria as set in the Social Assistance Act, 2004. This means that all applicants would have met one or more of the following criteria:

• Not receiving any social grant
• Temporarily disabled for less than 6 months
• Breadwinner of the family admitted to a state institution
• Applicant affected by a disaster
• Refusal of the application would cause undue hardship

b) (i) Each approved applicant was provided with a standard food parcel at a cost of R1 200 per food parcel. Each item was not costed separately, but the food parcel contained the items as indicated on the list attached as Annexure A.

(ii) SASSA utilised the allocated budget for social relief of distress. There was no specific allocation for Ekurhuleni. The total allocation for Gauteng Province is R61 050 000 for the 2020/21 financial year.

 

Reply:

(a) & (b) The Court did not grant an order for the MEC to file a plan within five (5) days to the Court nor to the applicant no plans have thus been submitted.

(c) ECD centres were paid 60% of the subsidy from April to September 2020. The 40% of the subsidy that was not paid will be transferred to ECD centres from 18 November 2020. A total of 368 centres will be paid the backdated 40% for nutrition and the projected amount is R11 million.

Reply:

(a) It should be noted that the National Department of Social Development does note process Foster Care applications but provinces do. The following provinces have the following total number of foster care applications that are still unprocessed:

Eastern Cape: The Eastern Cape Province has a total of 665 foster care applications that have not yet been processed as at end September 2020.

Gauteng: The Gauteng Province has a total of 4025 foster care applications that are still unprocessed.

Limpopo: The new intakes that the department has to date is 1 068.

KZN: The province of KwaZulu-Natal has a total of 1637 foster care applications that are still to be processed.

Northern Cape: There are 184 applications for foster care placements under investigation.

Western Cape: The total number of foster care applications unprocessed until 30th September 2020 1900.

The reasons for deviations for non-finalisation of foster care applications are as follows:

• Challenges in tracing birth parents.
• Outstanding birth certificates from the Department of Home Affairs.
• Delayed responses from the National Department of Social Development in issuing Form 30 due to impact of lockdown.
• Outstanding school reports. We do, however, acknowledge the notable support from the WCED during the COVID-19 lockdown period.
• Await court dates from the Department of Justice & CD to finalise court matters.
• High turnover of social workers in Designated Child Protection Organisations.
• Unmanageable high caseloads of social workers.
• The safety situation in communities making it impossible for social workers to render supervision services as legally required.
• Administrative demands requiring more support staff.
• Reconsolidation/verification of information with SASSA to update orders on SOCPEN and submitting to the Provincial Office on a weekly basis.
• Foster care applications pending finalisation.

(b) by what date does she intend to have all of the specified applications processed?

The provinces are to complete processing these applications as follows:

Eastern Cape: The applications will be processed by 31 December 2020.

Gauteng: The finalization of the foster care process is dependent on other Departments and prospective foster parents. As a result, it is not possible to indicate by when the cases will be finalised. In terms of the Children’s Act 38 of 2005, the turnaround time for foster care applications is six (6) months.

KZN: The department intends to have all foster care applications processed by 30 January 2021.

Limpopo: It is difficult to anticipate the date for finalisation of cases since the Department depends on other departments to finalise but efforts are made to fast track the finalisation of cases in the best interest of the child.

Mpumalanga: The department has a turnaround time of 6 months to investigate and finalize foster care applications as per the department’s service standards. However, in cases where there are challenges (e.g. documentation, advertisements for unknown fathers etc.) the finalisation of the cases may take longer.

Northern Cape: All placements will be finalised by 30 January 2021.

Western Cape: The Department of Social Development is in the process of consulting with regions (DSD and NPOs) and the relevant stakeholders in foster care management regarding the finalisation of unprocessed foster care applications. A date for finalisation will be determined.

It is expected that the challenges presented with the inevitable lockdown period would have had a restrictive effect on operations overall in the public and private sector. Although the courts could still be accessed for urgent matters pertaining to children and specifically foster care matters, there were operational limitations caused by limited access to courts and other lockdown restrictions. Various role-players, including the state attorneys’ offices, legal advisors and counsel had to meet lockdown requirements. The co-dependent functionalities have been highlighted with the authorities concerned and redress is awaited.

Reply:

The department will employ Early Childhood Development Compliance Officers in the current financial year. R116 million has been allocated for the support of 25 500 compliance support officers, who are existing staff members at early childhood development programmes that will play a compliance support role within their ECD programmes. The Department is working with the Inter-Sectoral Forum (ISF) on the programme to make sure that the right services benefit from this grant.

Reply:

(1) The shelters in Mopani and Sekhukhune are closed

Those who wanted to be assisted with rehabilitation from substance abuse addiction were admitted at the Seshego treatment centre.

Those that wished to be with their families were assisted in tracing their families and were transported home as part of our family reunification programme. It should be noted that role of the Department of Social Development in homeless Shelters is to provide Psycho-social support services, working with other stakeholders, Cogta provided shelter, and security in some instances provided food, SAPS brought in beneficiaries collected from the streets and arrested those with outstanding criminal cases, home affairs assists with repatriation and the department of Health was responsible for the provision of health services.

(2) Reunification services were rendered and the homeless who wanted to be reunified with their families were taken home. Some were admitted at the Seshego treatment centre for substance abuse rehabilitation, most preferred to go back to the streets as they wanted to make money.

In Waterberg, Thabazimbi one shelter with nine beneficiaries is still functional. The beneficiaries are mentally challenged and the department in collaboration with the department of Health, SAPS and Home Affairs are currently assisting them.

The nine beneficiaries have been put on an advert for their families to recognise them as they don’t know who they are and where they come from.

The Vhembe shelter has also closed, beneficiaries from local areas were given money to go home. The illegal undocumented foreign nationals left the shelter to look for work in town when lockdown restrictions were eased. Department of Home Affairs could not repatriate them as the Zimbabwe borders were not open for people, they are open only for cargo.

 

Reply:

The Deputy Minister has not appointed a special advisor as it is not provided for in Ministerial Handbook.

Only the Minister has appointed a special advisor.

a) Ms ESJS Hlapolosa.

b) 1 July 2019.

c) (i) To advise the Minister on the development of policy that will promote the departments objectives;

(ii) To advise Minister on the exercise or performance of the Ministers powers and duties; and

(iii) To perform any task as may be appropriate in respect of the exercise and performance of the Minister.

d) Compensation level IV.

e) R 1 978 533.00.

f) Fixed term contract linked to the term of office of incumbent Minister, Ms Lindiwe Zulu.

g) As indicated in (c) above, to advise on the development of policy that will promote the Departments objectives.

Reply:

(1)(a) The details of the members of each of the nine workstreams (8 workstreams were initially established, with a ninth one on communication established later) that were established, numbered as Annexure A.

(b)(i) Each workstream managed its own process to achieve the objectives of a workstream, under the lead of the workstream leader. The workstreams determined their own meeting dates.

(ii) The meetings of the workstreams under the lead of each workstream leader were held virtually, and as such no signed attendance registers were kept.

(2) No, the workstream did not recommend that R1,3 billion should be used for the appointment of compliance monitors. It should however be noted that initially the Presidency approached the department indicating that the department has been allocated R1.3 billion as a stimulus relief package for early childhood development sector. The department therefore deemed it fit to appoint the compliance monitors to support the ECD sector programmes. Subsequently, national treasury indicated that the department has to bid for the funds for them to be considered for the allocation. The department therefore developed a proposal for bidding of funds. This proposal was consulted with the National Inter-Sectoral Forum for Early Childhood Development established in terms of paragraph 7.3.3.5 of the National Integrated Early Childhood Development Policy (2015) civil society secretariat regarding this programme as announced by the Minister to obtain views and inputs to complete the proposal that was submitted to National Treasury, of which ECD compliance officer is only a sub-component. National Treasury approved an allocation of R588 728 000; allocated for employment risk support that will benefit existing ECD workforce, 25 500 compliance support officers already employed in ECD centres, registration support officers who will support registration of ECD programmes recorded through Vangasali campaign and sustenance of 1 809 social workers who were appointed on contract.

(3) The workstreams were established at the meeting led by the Department of Social Development on 26 May 2020, where-after the leaders of each workstream had to take the responsibility to convene workstream meetings. The Department of Social Development invited all members of the workstreams to the general meetings where feedback was provided.

(4)(a) The below indicated the main purpose of each workstream:

Workstream 1: Data and information on the current situation and the implementation of measures.

Workstream 2: Assessment of ECD services: Covid 19 compliance before and after re-opening (including self-assessment)

Workstream 3: Support package (what is needed to support the re-opening)

Workstream 4: Protocols for re-opening;

Workstream 5: COVID-19 education and awareness as part of early childhood development programmes (for staff and children)

Workstream 6: ECD Programme Re-design (Including parent programmes), looking at adjustments in early childhood development programmes to accommodate the minimum health, safety and social distancing measures to address, prevent and combat the spread of COVID-19.

Workstream 7: Practitioner training and capacity building;

Workstream 8: Monitoring and Evaluation of implementation

Workstream 9: Communication and General COVID 19 awareness.

(b) During the meeting dated 26 May 2020 when the workstreams were established, officials were invited to volunteer to serve on the respective workstreams to facilitate representation based on interest. During this meeting participants also agreed on the leadership for each workstream.

(5) The workstreams were established for the purpose indicated above and were not permanent. The workstreams have served their purpose well and the work assigned to the workstream was concluded by mid-June 2020. The Department of Social Development is continuing to consult with the ECD sector through the civil society secretariat of the National Inter-Sectoral Forum for Early Childhood Development. The latter is the official mechanism established by policy for engagement and consultation with civil society.

ANNEXURE “A”

Membership for the work streams to support the DSD Inter-sectoral ECD COVID 19 Task team

Work stream 1: Data and Information
No	Name	Name of Organisation	Email Address	Lead/ Member
1.	Sumaya Hendricks	Nelson Mandela Foundation	[email protected]	Lead
2.	Robyn Wienand	Preschools 4Africa	[email protected]
3.	Jacqueline Saaiman	Lima – Do More Foundation	[email protected]
4.	Janeli Kotzé	DBE	[email protected]
5.	Colleen Daniels	Gerards ECD	[email protected]
6.	Leonard Saul	SA Congress for ECD	[email protected]
7.	Mpho Komane	SA Congress for ECD	[email protected]
8.	Ivy Rapoo	NDSD	[email protected]
9.	Ipeleng Mohlala	Early care Foundation	[email protected]
10.	Phumzile Ndlovu	NDSD	[email protected]	Member
11.	Huldah Barnard	Custoda Trust	[email protected]
12.	Bukiwe Lupindo	DPME	[email protected]

Work stream 2: Assessment of ECD services: Covid 19 compliance
No	Name	Name of Organisation	Email Address	Lead/ Member
1.	Nabeel Bassadien	Ilifa Labantwana	[email protected]
2.	Lyndsey Petro	Innovation Edge	[email protected]
3.	Doreen Malinga	DSD Mpumalanga	[email protected]
4.	Andrea Sciarappa	Tools for Schools	[email protected]
5.	Robyn Wienand	Pre school Africa and Jam	[email protected]
6.	Rebecca Hickman	SMART START	[email protected]	Lead
7.	Justine Jowell	Smart Start	[email protected]	Member
8.	Lize Bredell	AECYC	[email protected]	Member
9.	Caroll Warmberg	NECTA EC	[email protected]	Member
10.	Tracey Collins	GROW	[email protected]	Member
11.	Kathy Rautenbach	ECD Upliftment	[email protected]
12.	Melissa Jacobs	SA Congress for ECD	[email protected]
13.	Mpho Papale	NDSD	[email protected]
14.	Ntombizodwa Sonkayi		[email protected]
15.	Natalie Gross	SAMA	[email protected] [email protected]	Member
16.	Saartjie Viljoen	AECYC	[email protected]
17.	Pheladi Makwala	NDSD	[email protected]
18.	Badi Mziwamadoda	Ubunye Foundation and NECTA	[email protected]	Member

Work stream 3 : Support Package
No	Name	Name of Organisation	Email Address	Lead/ Member
1.	Zaheera Mohammed	Ilifa Labantwana	[email protected]	Lead
2.	Patsy Pillay	New Beginnings	[email protected]
3.	Jennifer McQuillan	Preschools 4 Africa	[email protected]
4.	Jeffrey Wienand	Preschools 4 Africa	[email protected]
5.	Lisa Voortman	GROW	[email protected]
6.	Lizette Berry	Children’s Institute (UCT)	[email protected]
7.	Mpho Papale	NDSD	[email protected]
8.	Ghalieb Dawood	NT	[email protected]
9.	Yusuf Mayet	NT	[email protected]
10	Thando Ngqase	NDA	[email protected]

Work stream 4: Protocols for reopening
No	Name	Name of Organisation	Email Address	Lead/ Member
1.	Rodgers Hlatshwayo	SMART STRAT	[email protected]	Lead
2.	Jennifer McQuillan	Preschools 4 Africa	[email protected]
3.	Cathy Moore	ACSI	[email protected]	Member
4.	Nelie Viljoen-Toet	SAVF	[email protected]	Member
5.	Mziwamadoda Badi	NECTA EC	[email protected]	Member
6.	Kathy Rautenbach	ECD Upliftment	[email protected]
7.	Jabu Mthembu-Dlamini	DoMoreFoundation	[email protected]
8.	Andrea Scirappa	Tools for School	[email protected]
9.	Colleen Daniels	Gerards ECD	[email protected]
10.	Christine Radebe	SA Congress for ECD	[email protected]
11.	Bombeleni Munzhedzi	NDSD	[email protected]
12.	Natalie Gross	SAMA	[email protected] [email protected]	Member
13.	Saartjie Viljoen	AECYC	[email protected]
14.	Ntombi Mazibuko	NDOH	Ntombi.Mazibuko @health.gov.za
15.	Rebone Ntsie	NDOH	Rebone.Ntsie @health.gov.za
16.	Sebotse Ngake	NDOH	Sebotse Ngake @health.gov.za
17.	Lesley Bamford	NDOH	Lesley.Bamford @health.gov.za

Work stream 5: COVID 19 education and awareness
No	Name	Name of Organisation	Email Address	Lead/ Member
1.	Rebecca Hickman	SMART START		Lead
2.	Bonginkosi Mpinda	Preschools 4Africa	[email protected]
3.	Christine Radebe	SA Congress for ECD	[email protected]
4.	Shireen Miller	GrowEcd	[email protected]

Work stream 6: ECD Programme Re:design (Parent programmes)
No	Name	Name of Organisation	Email Address	Lead/ Member
1.	Andre Viviers	UNICEF		Lead
2.	Thandeka Rantsi	Bridge	[email protected]	Member
3.	Louise Erasmus	AECYC	[email protected]	Member
4.	Michelle Wienand	Preschools 4Africa	[email protected]
5.	Pam Picken	Do More foundation	[email protected]
6.	Lizette Berry	Children’s Institute (UCT)	[email protected]
7.	Lydia Plaatjies	SA Congress for ECD	[email protected]	Member
8.	Prof Nicky Roberts	SA Congress for ECD	[email protected]	Member
9.	Bombeleni Munzhedzi	NDSD	[email protected]
10.	Natalie Gross	SAMA	[email protected] [email protected]	Member
11.	Puleng Motsoeneng	Ntataise	[email protected]
12.	Liesel Brymmer	AECYC	[email protected]
Work stream 7: Practitioner Capacity Building
No	Name	Name of Organisation	Email Address	Lead/ Member
1.	Ruby Motaung	NECDA	[email protected]	Lead
2.	Charmaine Botha	Edu X SA	[email protected]
3.	Patsy Pillay	New Beginnings	[email protected]
4.	Sheila Drew	SAIDE	[email protected]
5.	Bonginkosi Mpinda	Preschools 4Africa	[email protected]
6.	Bonita Daniels	TEEC South Africa	[email protected]
7.	Arina Kitching	Learn2Live Community Centre	[email protected]
8.	Leonard Saul	SA Congress for ECD	[email protected]
9.	Meraldia Tape	Grassroots Training Provider	[email protected]
10.	Leanne Keet	MASIKHULE	[email protected]
11.	Nontsapo Pasiya	Early Care Foundation	[email protected]
	Puleng Motsoeneng	Ntataise	[email protected]
12.	Mr. Rex Molefe	Motheo Training Institute Trust	[email protected]
13.	Tessa Browne	Africa Reggio Emilia Alliance	[email protected]
14.	Sanny Maluleka	NDPWI EPWP Social Sector	[email protected]
15.	Roeleen Lemmer	AECYC	[email protected]

Work stream 8: Monitoring and Evaluation
No	Name	Name of Organisation	Email Address	Lead/ Member
1.	Melissa Jacobs	SA Congress for ECD	[email protected]
2.	Lydia Plaatjies	SA Congress for ECD	[email protected]	Member
3.	Prof Nicky Roberts	SA Congress for ECD	[email protected]	Member
4.	Ivy Rapoo	NDSD	[email protected]
5.	Kathy Rautenbach	ECD Upliftment	[email protected]
6.	Andrea Sciarappa	Tools for School	[email protected]
7.	Bonginkosi Mpinda	Preschools 4Africa	[email protected]
8.	Masego Maselwanyane	NDPWI	[email protected]
9.	Nkululeko Kalipa	DPME	[email protected]
10	Kaley Le Mottee	Ntataise
11	Charmaine Jooste	AECYC	[email protected]
No	Name	Name of Organisation	Lead/ Member
1.	Jeffrey Wienand	Pre Schools 4 Africa
2.	Cathy Moore	ACSI
3.	Charmaine Botha	EDUxSA
4.	Andrea Scirappa	Tools for Schools
5.	Mpho Komane	SA Congress for ECD
6.	Lydia Plaatjies	SA Congress for ECD	Member
7.	Prof Nicky Roberts	SA Congress for ECD	Member
8.	Mariette van Eeden	AECYC

General Issues

Issues:

• Will extra-mural activities continue;
• How will aftercare take place
• How will this be communicated so there is a common message?
• Suggestion to integrate parent issues across all the work streams.
• Also to integrate special needs issues across all the work streams.
• Involving municipalities
• DSD will send all documents that have been developed to date, including Overall discussion document by UNICEF for dissemination to wider sector.
• How to adapt ECD daily programmes to allow for social distancing
• How to encourage and support play under different conditions
• How to ensure that children experience all the varied play and early learning experiences to support their holistic development
• Development of play activities, stories, songs and rhymes to help children remember things like handwashing; to help them understand the changes in their daily lives; to help them develop resilience in the context of things they are hearing/experiencing
• How to fully engage and support parents to provide for their young children’s health, safety, nutrition and development, and involve them in their ECD services

Reply:

a) The offender in question qualified for remission of sentence which reduced his sentence with 01 year. He then became eligible to be considered for parole as part of the Special Parole Dispensation and his placement on parole was approved by the parole board;

b) The parole conditions such as reporting twice a week at Community Corrections Office are applicable to all. We will continue to monitor his parole conditions accordingly.

It should also be noted that the offender in question is currently under Witness Protection. We are limited by regulations to disclose information on this matter. However, we have been briefed by the Department on this matter and details will be communicated as other cases are enrolled with the justice system.

c) According to Section 299A of the Criminal Procedure Act 51 of 1977 as amended (“the CPA”) provides for the right of complainant to make representations with regard to placement on parole, on day parole, or under correctional supervision in the following cases:

1. When a court sentences a person to imprisonment for-

(a) murder or any other offence which involves the intentional killing of a person;

(b) rape or compelled rape as contemplated in sections 3 or 4 of the Criminal Law (Sexual Offences and Related Matters) Amendment Act, 2007, respectively;

(c) robbery where the wielding of a fire-arm or any other dangerous weapon or the infliction of grievous bodily harm or the robbery of a motor vehicle is involved;

(d) sexual assault, compelled sexual assault or compelled self-sexual assault as contemplated in section 5, 6 or 7 of the Criminal Law (Sexual Offences and Related Matters) Amendment Act, 2007, respectively;

(e) kidnapping; or

(f) any conspiracy, incitement or attempt to commit any offence contemplated in paragraphs (a) to (e)

Therefore, the offender’s victims were not approached to participate in the Parole Board’s meeting when he was considered for parole placement as the crimes committed by the offender do not fall within the ambit of the section stated above.

END

Reply:

(a) What measures have been put in place at each of the correctional facilities administered by his department to:

(i) isolate detainees showing symptoms of being infected with the coronavirus,

On 14 March 2020, Standard Operating Procedures (SOP) for Preparedness, Detection and Response to Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) of the Department of Correctional Services were approved and circulated to all regions for implementation. Since the lockdown, 10 035 Remand Detainees (RDs) have been admitted to Correctional Centres nationally. All RDs are screened for COVID-19 symptoms and those showing symptoms of being infected with the Coronavirus are quarantined from the other detainees for 14 days and monitored on a daily basis. A swab is collected for testing by the NICD; monitored on a daily basis in isolation area whilst awaiting the results.

(ii) isolate detainees who have tested positive for infection with the coronavirus, Detainees who test positive for COVID-19 are categorised by the health care professional as mild, moderate and severe according to the COVID-19 categories. However, the following procedures are implemented:

• Once the positive results are received, the detainees are moved from quarantine to isolation;
• A medical practitioner at the Department of Health designated Hospital will be engaged to determine the need for the detainee to be treated in the department or at the designated hospital;
• Detainees with mild and moderate symptoms will be treated at a designated treating site in the department whereas those with severe symptoms will be admitted at the Provincial Designated Hospital;
• The isolated detainees are monitored and treated symptomatically by the health care professionals;
• The Department will inform the relevant Health District and the Provincial Communicable Disease Control Directorate for support in conducting contact tracing;
• The notification of the COVID-19 positive case will be as per Department of Health and the National Institute for Communicable Diseases (NICD) prescripts;
• The Department of Health links the relevant Health District office to the centre for further monitoring.
• Remand detainees with co-morbidities, (i.e above 60, diabetics, HIV positives, TB patients, Asthmatics, cancer patient, pregnant females), are identified and are classified as per risk factors and monitoring is intensified.
• Isolated/Quarantine inmates are retested for COVID-19 before exiting out of quarantine.
• Psychological, Spiritual services care are provided to Confirmed inmates.

(iii) Identify and isolate contacts of detainees or staff members who tested positive for the coronavirus,

• The detainees who test positive are interviewed by health care professionals to identify the possible contacts;
• The staff utilises admission registers into the cell where the positive inmate was accommodated to identify possible contacts of the detainee;
• Those detainees who shared the same cell with the positive case are identified as possible contacts;
• The contacts are quarantine and monitored for symptoms of COVID-19 for 14 days; and
• Should the contacts present with symptoms they will also be tested for COVID-19 as per DoH guidelines.

Regarding the officials the following processes are followed:

• All officials with COVID-19 signs and symptoms are identified and referred for testing;
• Presumptive cases are reported and partner Departments are contacted (SAPS, DOH, NICD etc);
• Self-isolation/quarantine forms are acknowledged and signed off by officials who are requested to isolate/quarantine;
• All Confirmed COVID-19 cases of officials and presumptive persons under investigation are self-quarantined (either home or State provided facility);
• Psychological services are provided to confirmed cases; and
• Reintegration is done upon re-test and negative confirmation.

(iv) assist members of the prison population to practice regular hand-washing and other hygiene practices recommended by the World Health Organisation

The Department is dealing with this pandemic by implementing a disaster management plan that is embedded in national government’s adopted approach of ‘prevention, containment/treatment and disaster recovery’. The Department’s Disaster Management Response Plan is designed to prevent, contain, disrupt and mitigate COVID-19 from spreading in the department’s facilities and administrative offices.

Health care professionals disseminate hand hygiene and infection control information through awareness sessions and conduct hand washing campaigns. Each inmate is provided with soap for hand washing purposes; installation of secured hand washing soap and sanitizers is done in most centres. Educational posters on hand wash are placed on all notice boards in all Correctional Facilities.

Security equipment including vehicles are being sanitised and cleaned with the necessary detergents daily before and after utilisation by Correctional Centres and Community Corrections. Scrub down of facilities continues on a daily basis to ensure that areas are scrubbed down at least once a week. Officials have been assigned to sanitise hands of officials, inmates and visitors at all entry points and exit points in Correctional Facilities. Cleaning and enforcement of sanitisation are maintained at the Correctional Centres and Community Corrections especially at the reception, admission areas and living cells.

(v) encourage social distancing

Social distancing is encouraged in all Correctional Facilities and work places by introducing below mentioned measures as a form of promoting social distancing:

• Reduce the number of offenders appearing before the CSPB for placement consideration and CMC. During these sittings social distancing must be adhered to;
• Reduce number of offenders attending group programmes;
• Reduce the number of representatives attending meeting/sessions/training/VC meetings including decreasing meeting times;
• Decreased travelling to and from or within the Management Areas;
• Reduce the movement within management areas between correctional centres;
• Encourage electronic submission of documents where facilities are available;
• Promote increased exercise for offenders in manageable groups;
• Members record on duty at the entrance gate to prevent congestion;
• Minimise congestion in the admissions areas by calling new admission one by one to admission table; and
• Reduced number of inmates in library.

Social distancing for offenders in their cells is a challenge given the limited floor space for each offender in a cell and is further exacerbated by overcrowding ,hence offenders are encouraged to implement good hand hygiene practices.

(vi) test for infection

Naso-pharyngeal or Oro-pharyngeal swabs are collected by health professionals and sent to laboratory.

(b) in each case (i) what are the full relevant details and

In each case the Naso-pharyngeal or Oro-pharyngeal swabs are collected by health professionals and sent to laboratory and the results will determine further management of the detainee per stipulations.

(ii) from what date were the specified measures implemented;

Approved 2020 DCS Standard Operating Procedures (SOP) for Preparedness, Detection and Response to Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) of the Department of Correctional Services.

(2) what number of (a) employees at the Department of Correctional Services and (b) detainees under the supervision of his department have been tested for the coronavirus to date?

(a) As at 26 April 2020, there are 536 officials who have been refereed to health care services for testing. It is important to highlight that most employees possess medical aids which they utilize for coronavirus testing. (b) To date there are 2 611 inmates that have been tested for coronavirus under the supervision of the Department of Correctional Services.

END

Reply:

1. The table below provides details on the number of incoming extradition requests are currently pending and/or under review, as well as the details on the number of cases, time it has taken thus far and progress made for each case under review

(1) (a)	53
(b) (i)	Details of cases
	Nature of offence	Number of cases
	Murder	15
	Attempted Murder	3
	Culpable homicide	3
	Assault	3
	Rape / attempted rape	2
	Robbery /armed robbery	6
	Fraud	8
	Drug related offences	4
	Hunting without permit	2
	Money laundering	5
	Corruption	3
	Terrorist activities	1
	Assault	1
	Theft	17
	Housebreaking	1
	Escape from lawful custody	1
	Sexual exploiting/neglect of children	2
	War crimes	1
	Total	74

N.B. Seven (7) countries reported more than one (1) criminal case per extradition request, which explains the total number of 74 cases versus the total number of 53 extradition requests.

(b) (ii)	Cases received from 2012 to 2017	29
	Cases received from 2018 to date	24
	Total	53
(iii)	Progress on cases
	Interpol	5
	Section 5 notifications served/submitted to Minister	15
	Extraditions to be served after sentence	2
	Requests incomplete and returned	9
	Cases before court	7
	Outgoing requests sent but no response received	15
	Total	53

 

2. The total number of extraditions and mutual legal assistance treaties that have been negotiated but not yet signed and/or ratified as at the latest specified date for which information is available and (b) are the details of the progress of the specified treaties and projected timeline of their completion?

(a)	Treaties negotiated but not yet signed	9
(b)	Country	Progress	Projected Timeline
	CUBA (Extradition and MLA)	Await comments from the Cuban authorities	Possible entry into force during the fourth quarter of 2021
	BELARUS (Extradition and MLA)	Presidential Minute for signing issued Belarus to indicate whether they are ready to sign	Possible entry into force during the third quarter of 2021
	VIET NAM (Extradition and MLA)	Minor amendments to be effected on request of Viet Nam	Possible entry into force during the fourth quarter of 2021
	PAKISTAN (Extradition)	Treaty negotiated during 2014	Pakistan yet to confirm that they will provide death penalty undertakings
	ETHIOPIA (Extradition and MLA)	Treaty negotiated during 2015	Ethiopia still to accept South Africa’s proposal regarding terrorism
	UNITED KINGDOM (MLA)	Presidential Minute already issued UK to indicate whether they are ready to sign	Possible entry into force during the third quarter of 2021
	MOZAMBIQUE (Extradition)	Treaty negotiated during 2017 OCSLA (DIRCO) requested certain amendments to comply with Article 19 of the SADC Protocol on Extradition	Possible entry into force during the fourth quarter of 2021
	BRAZIL (MLA)	A new Presidential Minute requested Brazilian Ambassador in Pretoria has been authorized to sign on behalf of the Brazilian Government	Possible entry into force during the third quarter of 2021
	BOTSWANA (Extradition and MLA)	South Africa is ready to sign await Botswana’s approval to sign	During February 2020, the office of the Director of Public Prosecutions indicated that they are still waiting for Cabinet to approve that the Amendment Treaty be signed.

END

Reply:

(1) (a) Although there were discussions to revamp the Humansdorp Magistrates Court as early as 2006 there were no formal designs and plans which were finalised at that stage. The initial plans were formally endorsed in 2013 with the submission on the needs assessment to the Department of Public Works (now Department of Public Works and Infrastructure) (DPWI). Following several interactions and consultations with various stakeholders, the revised Needs Assessment was officially signed off by the Accounting Officer on the 19th November 2019 and forwarded to DPWI to conduct a feasibility study and to prepare a detailed estimate for consideration by the Department of Justice and Constitutional Development. It appears that the project was delayed by challenges encountered by DPWI regarding the consolidation of the ERFs and rezoning of the property, which has now been resolved.

(b) Several meetings and interactions with consultants and various stakeholders were held to consider the revised needs and concept designs in through a Zoom meeting held on 14 July 2020. It was unanimously agreed that the Concept 3 (demolition and rebuild) be adopted and this has since been formalised in writing for official signing off by all stakeholders for approval by National Office before the end of December 2020. This will then result in finalisation of sketch plans for approval and for cost estimates to be determined. Construction will commence immediately after the approval of the sketch plans and it is anticipated that the project will get underway during the second half of the 2021/2022 financial year.

(2) (a) The Project is currently registered for additional accommodation and is currently in stage 4, i.e. planning stage. A decision was taken to adopt a phased approach where the project will be split into two phases to address the urgent security measures and shortage of ablutions at the facility in the first phase as follows:

1. Phase 1: Security measures i.e. installation of a perimeter fence and security gates only, minor repairs to existing ablutions and provision of a temporary ablution park home.
2. Phase 2: Demolition of the existing single storey magistrate office and construction of new court house in accordance to the approved designs. The new designs will also provide adequate undercover parking for court officials.

(b) The fence and gates will be placed within the boundary to avoid having to demolish the low boundary wall and trees on the perimeter will be cut down and removed. A temporary mobile unit accommodating additional ablutions, storage facilities, and consultation offices for prosecutors, will be placed in a position where the court can still operate when construction commences on the second phase.

(3) (a) As part of the current capital works project, the fencing and gates will be addresses as phase one of this project and the other access control measures will be addressed in the second phase of the project.

(b) The department has appointed the services from a departmental appointed security service provider to conduct security functions at the court daily. Recruitment is done by this service provider in line with the Departmental specifications and required security grading who then further receive on the job training by the employer during the induction phase and is monitored in line with the service level agreement on an on-going basis.

(4) Security problems at the court are infrastructural instead of physical in nature and therefore the concerns will be addressed under the registered Capital Works Project but done in Phases. Since the site clearance was issued and submitted to the department on 19 November 2020, the department will start making arrangements to attend to the fence and the ablutions by March 2021.

(5) (a) Based on municipal approval and site clearance, the ablution facilities will require electrical, sewerage and water connections to be fully operational. Chemical toilets cannot be considered as this is not an economically viable solution, sustainable, or hygienically suitable for this type of environment in the absence of running water. Current ablutions are maintained when the need arises through day to day maintenance on an on-going basis, but challenges are often experienced with breakages as a result of vandalism by end users.

(b) The Department is working closely with DPWI to ensure the project phase 2 is under implementation in the next financial year 2021/22.

END

Reply:

SASSA provided food parcels during the initial hard lockdown implemented as a measure to limit the spread of the virus. In excess of 147 000 food parcels were distributed by SASSA during this period.

The decision taken during the period when food parcels were provided to reduce the size of the food parcel was taken to try and standardise the support provided within the Social Development sector, and to provide support to more people.

With the introduction of the R350 relief grant, SASSA stopped the distribution of food parcels, as the qualifying citizens were effectively being supported by the special relief grant and could not benefit from both forms of relief.

SASSA is no longer distributing food parcels but is continuing to provide support in terms of the social relief of distress programme through vouchers and direct humanitarian support to citizens affected by disasters other than the pandemic, in accordance with the provisions of the Social Assistance Act.

Reply:

I was advised by the department as follows:

1. (a) No, there were no tenders awarded in the past three financial years.

(b) No. No tenders were awarded to any non-South African companies since 1

April 2020.

(c) Not applicable.

(d) Not applicable.

MS. STELLA NDABENI-ABRAHAMS, MP

MINISTER OF COMMUNICATIONS AND DIGITAL TECHNOLOGIES

Reply:

GPW has been implementing its Integrated Marketing and Communications Strategy which incorporates its efforts to penetrate the market in the SADC region as a government printer, in order to offer Africa, solutions brewed within the Continent. GPW will continue to be supported by DHA through collaboration with SADC countries by facilitating visits by member states to view GPW facilities and service offerings, enhance business opportunities for GPW.

GPW has been visiting SADC countries to present its products and service offerings in order to expand its footprint. Engagements through various platforms like exhibitions and online meetings, have occurred with all SADC countries, but GPW has started discussions on the printing process of state security documents with eSwatini, DRC, AU Commission and Namibia.

The South African Economic Reconstruction and Recovery Plan presents an opportunity for GPW to realise its strategic intent of exploring economic opportunities outside the borders of the Republic thereby expanding its footprint into SADC and other African countries.

END

.

Reply:

Yes.

a) R519 926 531 paid to date.

b) The Department is unable to determine the number of farmers who redeemed their vouchers as one farmer might have several vouchers but not redeem them all at once.

c) R482 930 327 paid as at end of July 2020.

d) Delays are mainly attributable to the process of reconciliation of each voucher and validating that the right person has redeemed the voucher.

e) Capacity for performing verification and reconciliation of invoices and supplier statements has been enhanced within the Department. Daily reconciliation is done with all invoices submitted.

f) The Department has extended the voucher validity period from 30 September 2020 to 31 December 2020 in order to afford suppliers an opportunity to replenish their stock levels as well as to afford farmers enough time to redeem their vouchers.

Reply:

I was advised by the Department and Entities as follows:

1. (a)   No, the department did not sponsor any non-governmental organisation in the past two financial years.

• 1. Nil
  2. Not Applicable

(b) Entities:

The Postbank, South African Broadcasting Corporation (SABC), Broadband Infraco (BBI), Universal Service and Access Agency of South Africa (USAASA), State Information Technology Agency (SITA), Independent Communications Authority of South Africa (ICASA), Nemisa and South African Post Office (SAPO) did not sponsor any non-governmental organisation in the past two financial years.

Entity	Name of NGO	(i)Monetary Value	(ii)Reasons behind awarding
Film and Publication Board (FPB)	WebRangers Cyber Safety Project 2018/19:	R 346 166	The project is aligned with the Film and Publication Board’s mandate to protect the public, and especially children, from exposure to harmful content. The WebRangers project aims to create a cadre of cyber safety leaders and ambassadors amongst the youth of South Africa that are empowered on safe usage of the digital space. These youth leaders are equipped and developed during the year-long programme to bring the message of cyber security and cyber safety into their communities through peer-to-peer education. The project runs in 4 Provinces (Gauteng; Western Cape; North West and Limpopo).
	2019/20	R 395 000
zaDNA	iWeek 2018/19 and 2019/20	R 49 205.87	To enable ZADNA to market its services to the core internet audience (stakeholders) in South Africa.
Sentech	2018/19 Itlotleng Early Learning Centre and Sithandiwe Disabled Care Centre Kutlwanong Centre for Maths, Science and Technology 2019/20 1. Makana Rape Survivors Support Group 2. Cuddles and Care ECD Centre)	R 235 000 R 3 000 000 R 470 000	Charity Golf Day (Funds were raised externally and divided between the two beneficiaries). Maths and Science Centre - CSI Project Charity Golf Day (Funds were raised externally and divided between two beneficiaries each awarded R 235 000).

 

MS. STELLA NDABENI-ABRAHAMS, MP

MINISTER OF COMMUNICATIONS AND DIGITAL TECHNOLOGIES

Reply:

I have been informed by the Department and Entities as follows:

DEPARTMENT

(a)(i) Nil

(a)(ii) Nil

ENTITIES:

NEMISA, Broadband Infraco, Film and Publication Board, ICASA, Post Bank, ZADNA,

(a)(i) Nil

(a)(ii) Nil

South African Post Office (SAPO)

(a)(i) One incident of alleged corruption in relation to IT Software procurement was referred to South African Police Service

(a)(ii) No incident was reported to National Prosecuting Authority

(b) SA Police Service: 05 July 2017

(c)(i) The case is still under SA Police Service investigation.

(c)(ii) SA Police Service: Lyttleton CAS 200/07/2017

(d) There are no prosecutions as yet. The case is still being investigated by the SA Police Service.

South African Broadcasting Corporation (SABC)

(a)(i) one (1) case was referred to the SA Police Service

(a)(ii) No incident was reported to National Prosecuting Authority

(b) Brixton SAPS Case 341/11/2019, the case was transferred to the Camps Bay SAPS jurisdiction where the crime was committed on 12/12/2019, Case 69/11/2019

(c)(i) The case is still under investigation.

(c)(ii) Case 69/11/2019

(d) One (1) Case

SENTECH

There is one case referred to the SAPS in April 2020, the case is still ongoing and the Station is Honeydew. The case number is CAS 456/04/2020, the matter to be referred to the National Prosecuting Authority by SAPS for decision.

State Information Technology Agency SOC (Ltd) (SITA)

(a)(i) 2017/2018: eight (8) case investigations were referred to the SAPS

2018/2019: one (1) case investigation was referred to the SAPS

2019/2020: one (1) case investigation was referred to the SAPS

2020/2021: one (1) case in progress

A total of ten (10) cases were reported to SAPS

(a)(ii) No case was referred to the National Prosecuting Authority.

(b) Date upon which case handed over	(c)(i) status of each specified investigation	(ii) docket number for each investigation	(d) total number of cases that are being prosecuted
August 2017	Under Investigation	Brooklyn Cas 408/8/2017	No cases are currently being prosecuted
September 2017	Under Investigation	Brooklyn Cas 318/9/2017
August 2017	Under Investigation	Brooklyn Cas 359/8/2017
June 2017	Under Investigation	Brooklyn Cas 22/6/2017
October 2017	Under Investigation	Brooklyn Cas 258/10/2017
May 2017	Under Investigation	Brooklyn Cas 146/5/2017
September 2017	Unable to contact Investigation Officer to be determined	Pietermaritzburg Cas 748/9/2017
October 2017	Unable to contact Investigation Officer to be determined	Brooklyn Cas 232/10/2017
May 2017	Under Investigation	Sunnyside Cas 334/5/2018
December 2017	Under Investigation	DPCI H/O Enquiry no. 1/12/2019

Universal Service and Access Agency of South Africa (USAASA)_

1. (a) Total number of total number of investigations that were referred to the:

(i) SA Police Services	(ii) National Prosecuting Authority	Date of which each specified case was handed over	Status of each specified investigation	Docket number of each investigation	Total number of cases that are being prosecuted
USAASA is not aware of any being reported to the SAPS.	One (1)	The proclamation was dated March 2014	SIU report was dated 16 April 2018	USAASA does not have this information	USAASA is not aware of any.

MS. STELLA NDABENI-ABRAHAMS, MP

MINISTER OF COMMUNICATIONS AND DIGITAL TECHNOLOGIES

Reply:

I have been advised by the South African Post Office (SAPO) as follows:

(a) and (b)

Provinces	2015	2016	2017	2018	2019	CURRENT (from April 2020)
Eastern Cape	354	342	326	323	319	311
Free State	158	153	140	140	139	136
Gauteng	364	354	350	343	328	309
KwaZulu-Natal	329	320	310	310	307	277
Limpopo	326	324	260	259	259	255
Mpumalanga	192	194	206	207	207	205
Northern Cape	142	134	130	130	130	130
North West	262	247	209	209	207	206
Western Cape	321	300	288	288	284	279
Total	2 448	2 368	2 209	2 209	2 180	2 108

 

MS. STELLA NDABENI-ABRAHAMS, MP

MINISTER OF COMMUNICATIONS AND DIGITAL TECHNOLOGIES

Reply:

1. Yes, the Department conducted the assessment of the land in question to determine the state of occupation, immediately identifiable encumbrances and suitability for cultivation or grazing. It is through this work that about 300 000 hectares were identified for restitution, leaving about 700 000 hectares for release. This study further revealed that some pieces of land had occupiers, but the circumstances under which they had obtained possession of the land were not immediately ascertainable hence an enquiry would be necessary to establish, amongst other things, how they accessed the said land

(a),(b),(c)(i),(ii) Falls away.

2. Yes. Assessments and verification of the farms has been conducted by a team of engineers and other crop and livestock specialists. The aim is to assess the farms’ conditions in terms of infrastructure and input requirements. The analysis will be used to provide support in the form of start-up packages in accordance with available resources and in terms of each property’s needs. Support will be guided by the norms and standards for specified infrastructure on these farms. Training for successful beneficiaries is being prioritized and this will involve a skills audit which will be conducted, followed by relevant training. The Comprehensive Agricultural Support Programme (CASP) is geared to support the settled beneficiaries. There are 2 450 Extension Practitioners available in all Districts to support the settled beneficiaries with technological transfer of the latest agricultural production practices.

Reply:

Honourable Member, please note that the National Department of Human Settlements does not contract developers. The appointment of contractors are done by provinces, municipalities and entities reporting to the Department. The National Department of Human Settlements is in the process of collating this data and it will be verified before publication.

The Honourable Member will be well aware that as part of transforming the construction sector, the Department of human Settlements through the Human Settlements Development Grant (HSDG) and Urban Settlement Development Grants (USDG) has set aside 30% of the projects to be allocated to women-owned business entities and 10% to youth-owned businesses, which is being implemented by all Provinces and Metros.

We are proud to mention that the Limpopo Province and Ekurhuleni Municipality have already achieved their 30% target in this financial year. This means that they are likely to achieve the Presidential directive of 40% this year. 

I have requested my Department to work with Treasury on ring-fencing these targets to allow us to monitor our performance better.  Our entities have also aligned their procurement targets with sector charters. These targets are reflected in the annual plans and annual reports of the entities. 

Reply:

Honourable Member, the President of the Republic promised the residents of Alexandra proper and decent houses. My department, together with the Housing Development Agency are working with the Department of Human Settlements in Gauteng to realise this within available resources. More than 594 hectares of land has been identified and assembled for human settlements development within the Greater Alexandra Priority Human Settlements Housing Development Area. A preliminary allocation of R56 000 000 has been made for the planning process and the first units.

Reply:

1. (a) Total number of international hotel bookings for the:

(i) Minister: 29

(ii) Deputy Minister: 11

(b) Total number of domestic hotel bookings for the:

(i) Minister: 241

(ii) Deputy Minister: 47

2. (a) Refer to the attached document.

(b) Refer to the attached document.

(c) Refer to the attached document.

 

MS. STELLA NDABENI-ABRAHAMS, MP

MINISTER OF COMMUNICATIONS AND DIGITAL TECHNOLOGIES

     

Reply:

The Department of Social Development would not be in a position to have access of the list of the funded NPOs from Lotteries Commission.

However; in order to provide the requested information; the Department must be furnished with the information of grants paid out by Lotteries Commission.

Only on receipt of the list of beneficiaries from Lotteries Commission; the Department of Social Development will only be able to provide information about the NPOs that are registered in terms of NPO Act.

Reply:

The table below shows the number of social grants paid in Johannesburg during the period March to October 2020 to;

a) Pensioners who receive the Old Age Grant or War Veterans Grant.

b) NB: SASSA does not have information on child headed households.

c) Child Support Grant

		Number of Grants in Johannesburg in 2020
Grant type	March	April	May	June	July	August	September	October
Care Dependency Grant	6,890	6,870	6,978	6,966	6,940	6,927	6,914	6,941
Child Support Grant	580,369	579,904	577,837	580,131	581,204	582,846	584,342	586,613
Disability Grant	34,570	34,365	35,678	35,563	34,270	35,089	34,899	35,008
Foster Care Grant	8,488	8,461	8,582	8,841	8,998	9,250	9,341	9,451
Grant-In-Aid	2,043	2,026	2,014	2,005	1,964	1,954	1,944	1,940
Old Age Grant	190,373	189,733	191,317	192,864	192,002	192,374	193,144	193,884
War Veteran’s Grant	7	7	7	7	5	4	4	4
Total	822,740	821,366	822,413	826,377	825,383	828,444	830,588	833,841

Please note that information on all the other types social of grants paid during the period in question has also been included in the table.

d) The table below shows the number of COVID-19 Social Relief of Distress grant recipients in Johannesburg and Gauteng during the period May 2020 until October 2020. Please note that only 7% of the Covid SRD recipients provided information on the districts in which they reside. Thus the information on the entire Gauteng Covid SRD grant recipients has also been provided. Also note that no Covid SRD grant payments were made in March and April 2020.

Table: Covid SRD grant recipients in Gauteng from May to October 2020

2020	May	June	July	August	September	October
Gauteng	961157	1088058	1180741	1253453	1261494	1270938
Johannesburg	27337	32189	35821	39169	40120	41127

Reply:

a) The Public Service Regulations (PSR), 2016, provides for the Head of Department to establish a financial incentive scheme for employees or any category of those employees.

The Department of Defence pays a Performance Bonus in terms of its Performance Management and Development System (PMDS). The Performance Bonus is a financial reward granted to eligible officials in recognition of performance that is significantly above expectations provided that the official completes a continuous period of at least twelve months in his/her salary level on 31 March of a specific year.

(b) The amounts budgeted are indicated in the table below:

FY2017/18	FY2018/19	FY 2019/20
Budget Vote	Expenditure	Budget Vote	Expenditure	Budget Vote	Expenditure
R355,996,901	R191,601,890	R277,289,665	R200,571,892	R289,517,939	R224,545,442

Reply:

1. The Department acknowledges that studies reveal that there are health effects of asbestos which are directly related to the condition of the asbestos-containing material. These studies further highlight that asbestos is dangerous when the material is broken thus increasing the amount of fibres that can be emitted from asbestos products. Whilst the need to inform the affected households exist, Section 3 of the Housing Act of 1997 differentiates the responsibility of the national and provincial government in respect of housing development. Therefore, the responsibility of developing houses and its related beneficiary administration processes rests with the provincial government.

Notwithstanding the above, I will ensure that the relevant MECs table reports on this matter at our MINMEC meetings where issues of concurrent functions are discussed. Further, it should be noted that the use of asbestos is against the norms and standards of the Department and it is also a violation of the existing government regulations, the regulation on the Prohibition of the Use, Manufacturing, Import and Export of Asbestos and Asbestos Containing Materials forms part of the Environment Conservation Act of 1989).

2. The department does not have the latest statistical data on the total number of households and residents that are experiencing health complications from long-term asbestos exposure. However, what the Honourable Member is raising is part of the joint work we are doing with the Departments of Environmental Affairs (the convenor) and Public Works and Infrastructure.

Reply:

The total amount spent on food parcels was R176 807 844. The details per province is provided below:

1. KwaZulu Natal Region

a) The South African Social Security Agency (SASSA) in KwaZulu-Natal spent R27 510 529.13 on food parcels.

b) The following are the details of each supplier and prices of each contract in KZN:

(i) Name of Suppliers:

• KTZ Trading Enterprise
• Uzimatu J Events and Communication
• Bendalo Holdings
• Full Stop Logistics
• Duma Supplier Group Pty Ltd

(ii) Price of each contract

• KTZ Trading Enterprise was awarded 5751 food parcels at a total price of R7 013 429.13
• Uzimatu J Events and Communication was awarded 5781 food parcels at a total price of R6 937 200.00
• Bendalo Holdings was awarded 5636 food parcels at a total price of R6 763 200.00
• Full Stop Logistics was awarded 1575 food parcels at a total price of R1 890 000.00
• Duma Supplier Group Pty Ltd was awarded 4089 food parcels at a total price of R4 906 800.00

REPLY: 2. Northern Cape Region

a) The South African Social Security Agency (SASSA) in Northern Cape spent R13 906 445.71 on food parcels.

b) The following are the details of each supplier and prices of each contract in NC:

(i) Names of Suppliers:

• • Mandlakomoya Trading and Projects
  • Mamonyai Consulting
  • Bompembe Trading
  • Matiko
  • Mortar Board Trading Solutions

(ii) Price of each contract

- Mandlakomoya Trading and Projects was awarded 1683 food parcels at a total price of R2 041 345.94

- Mamonyai Consulting was awarded 2 582 food parcels at a total price of R2 994 076.25

- Bopembe Trading was awarded 3 084 food parcels at a total price of R3 865 032.38

- Matiko Holdings was awarded 2 601 food parcels at a total price of R3 164 634.36

- Mortar Board Trading Solutions was awarded 1 512 food parcels at a total price of R1 841 356.78

REPLY: 3. Eastern Cape Region

a) The South African Social Security Agency (SASSA) in Eastern Cape Region spent R 47 295 882.62 on food parcels.

b) The following are the details of each supplier and prices of each contract in the Eastern Cape

(i) Names of Suppliers:

• Bendalo Holdings
• Kwasa Food Supplies

(ii)) Price of each contract

• Bendalo Holdings was awarded 20 560 food parcels at a total price of R 24 784 936.69
• Kwasa Food Supplies was awarded 18 703 food parcels at a total price of R 22 510 945.93

REPLY: 4. Mpumalanga Region

1. The South African Social Security Agency (SASSA) in Mpumalanga spent R6 546 600.00 on food parcels.
2. The following are the details of each supplier and prices of each contract in Mpumalanga:

1. Name of Suppliers:

• Machaka Harvest Enterprises
• M2R Events Management
• Molanco Trading Enterprises
• Mandlakomoya Trading and Projects

(ii) Price of each contract

• M2R Events Management 57 (PTY) LTD was awarded 1 505 food parcels at a total price of R1 757 100.00
• Machaka Harvest Enterprise (PTY) LTD was awarded 1 535 food parcels at a total price of R1 816 800.00
• Molanco Trading Enterprise (Pty)Ltd was awarded 1 013 food parcels at a total price of R1 196 400.00
• Mandlakomoya Trading and projects was awarded 1 485 food parcels at a total price of R1 776 300.00

REPLY: 5 North West Region

1. The South African Social Security Agency (SASSA) in North West spent R 6 359 392.45 on food parcels.
2. The following are the details of each supplier and prices of each contract in Mpumalanga:

(i) The details of each are:

• Kokumo Holdings
• Malakhiwe Akohlulwa Onwabo(Pty) Ltd,
• Mamonyai Consulting
• Mortarboard Trading Solutions
• Ntlhaku Traders
• Sweet Buss (Pty) Ltd

(ii) Price of each contract

• Kokumo Holdings was awarded 1 044 food parcels at a total price of R 1 251 400.00
• Malakhiwe Akohlulwa Onwabo (Pty)Ltd was awarded 6 711 food parcels at a total price of R 808 724.70
• Mamonyai Consulting was awarded 1 262 food parcels at a total price of R 1 514 400.00
• Mortarboard Trading Solutions was awarded 572 food parcels at a total price of R 686 400.00
• Ntlhaku Traders was awarded 775 food parcels at a total price of R 795 400.00

REPLY: 6 Free State Region

The South African Social Security Agency (SASSA) in Free State spent R13,286,994.16 on food parcels.

1. The following are the details of each supplier and prices of each contract in FS:

(i) Name of each Suppliers:

• Imvusa Trading 509 cc
• Mamonyai Consulting
• Soft Touch Tours and projects
• Thengokhulu Investment Group holdings
• Duma Supplier Group Pty Ltd

(ii) Price of each contract

• • Imvusa Trading 509 cc was awarded 1708 food parcels at a total price of R2,098,237.50
  • Mamonyai Consulting was awarded 1667 food parcels at a total price of R2,012,926.40
  • Soft Touch Tours and projects was awarded 1945 food parcels at a total price of R2,334,000.00
  • Thengokhulu Investment Group holdings was awarded 1904 food parcels at a total price of R2,302,362.00
  • Duma Supplier Group Pty Ltd was awarded 1896 food parcels at a total price of R2,306,036.26

REPLY: 7. Limpopo Region

1. The South African Social Security Agency (SASSA) in Limpopo Region spent R35 112 000.00  on food parcels.
2. The following are the details of each supplier and prices of each contract in LP:
3. Name of Suppliers:-

• DMB Leisure Solutions
• Mamonyai Consulting
• Kitso Projects and event management
• Mamoratwa Enterprice,Book shop,catering and Social Consultancy

(ii) Price of each contract

• DMB Leisure Solutions was awarded 8000 food parcels at a total price of R9 600 000.00
• Mamonyai Consulting was awarded 7050 food parcels at a total price of R8 472 000.00
• Kitso Projects and event management was awarded 6200 food parcels at a total price of R7 440 000.00
• Mamoratwa Enterprice,Book shop,catering and Social Consultency was awarded 8000 food parcels at a total price of R9 600 000.00

REPLY: 8 Gauteng Region

(a) The South African Social Security Agency (SASSA) in Gauteng spent R14 708 400.00 on food parcels.

(b) The following are the details of each supplier and prices of each contract in Gauteng:

(i) Name of Suppliers:-

• Kualah Investments
• Nakapedi Investments (PTY) LTD
• Ramafoko Cleaning & Projects CC
• M2R Events Management 57 (PTY) LTD

1. Price of each contract
   • Kualah Investments was awarded 2 988 food parcels at a total price of R3 585 600.00
   • Nakapedi Investments (PTY) LTD was awarded 2 972 food parcels at a total price of R3 566 400.00
   • Ramafoko Cleaning & Projects CC was awarded 3 291 food parcels at a total price of R3 949 200.00
   • M2R Events Management 57 (PTY) LTD was awarded 3 006 food parcels at a total price of R3 607 200.00

REPLY: 9 Western Cape Region

1. The South African Social Security Agency (SASSA) in Western Cape spent R12 081 600 on food parcels.
2. The following are the details of each supplier and prices of each contract in WC:
3. Name of Suppliers:-

• Ithemba Labantu
• Ciaca Primary Coorp
• Bendalo Holdings
• Mandlakamoya trading

(ii) Price of each contract

• Ithemba Labantu was awarded 2697 food parcels at a total price of R3 236 400.00
• Ciaca Primary Coorp was awarded 2458 food parcels at a total price of R2 949 600.00
• Bendalo Holdings was awarded 2414 food parcels at a total price of R2 896 800.00
• Mandlakamoya Trading was awarded 2499 food parcels at a total price of R2 998 800.00

Reply:

In terms of Regulation 6(5)(a) to the Social Assistance Act, a primary care giver applying for a child support grant for a child aged between 7 and 18 years, has the responsibility to ensure that the child is enrolled at and attends school.

Regulation 6(5)(d) requires the National Department of Social Development to notify the Department of Education, if it is aware that any child benefitting from a child support grant does not attend school, and the Department of Education has a responsibility to take steps to ensure that the child does attend school.

a) Currently, when an application is taken for a child support grant, the primary care giver is requested to provide proof that the child is enrolled at school. This is in the form of a report card or a letter from the school. If the applicant does not have the required letter, the application is still taken and processed but the letter of award, if the grant is approved, requires the care giver to submit the required proof within a period of 6 months.

b) There is no provision in the Social Assistance Act or Regulations to suspend payment of the grant if the confirmation of school attendance is not provided. This is considered a “soft” condition, as there are no consequences for failure to meet the requirement. There is therefore no enforcement of this particular provision.

National Assembly Written Reply: 2786 of 2020

________________________

Approved by the Minister of Social Development

Date……………………….

Possible follow up questions from the ANC:

Question

What is the current position regarding school attendance by children in South Africa?

Response

School attendance, particularly for children younger than 16 years of age is relatively high. Generally, where children are not attending school, it is because there is no school available within their vicinity. The challenge with school attendance is generally with children older than 16 years, where attendance is not compulsory.

Question

Is there any incentive for care givers to keep their children in education?

Response

The Department of Social Development, working together with SASSA, has signed an agreement with the Departments of Basic and Higher Education to identify all children who benefit from social grants, to ensure that they are the first priority for funding from NSFAS for their further education and training. This project has yielded very positive results, with some of our grant beneficiaries doing extremely well in both the matric examinations as well as in the higher education environment.

It is believed that this is the first step towards breaking the cycle of poverty – through education, children who benefitted from grants are able to compete on an equal footing with their more privileged peers.

Possible questions from the opposition

Why is the requirement in legislation if it is not enforced?

Reply

The inclusion of school attendance in the Social Assistance Act was to raise the profile of the importance of school attendance in ensuring that all care givers are aware of the importance of creating a solid foundation for children. The linking of child support grant beneficiaries to NSFAS funding is a further incentive for care givers to keep children in school, and then to get financial support for their further education and training.

Despite the obligations which are placed on the Department of Education, this cannot be managed through the Social Assistance Act, 2004.

Reply:

According to the KwaZulu Natal Provincial Department of Health, the following tables reflects the details in this regard:

(a)

Mortuary	number of (i) women admitted	number of (ii) men admitted	number of (iii) children admitted
	Jan-Dec 2019	Jan-June 2020	Jan-Dec 2019	Jan-June 2020	Jan-Dec 2019	Jan-June 2020
(i) Pinetown,	263	94	1 148	542	134	45
(ii) Gale Street,	452	74	1 872	340	129	36
(iii) Phoenix,	256	159	1 265	652	121	70
(iv) Park Rynie	92	34	426	196	41	9

(b)

Mortuary	number of (i) women admitted
	African	Asian	Coloured	White	Other
	Jan-Dec 2019	Jan-Jun 2020	Jan-Dec 2019	Jan-Jun 2020	Jan-Dec 2019	Jan-Jun 2020	Jan-Dec 2019	Jan-Jun 2020	Jan-Dec 2019	Jan-Jun 2020
(i) Pinetown,	221	70	23	10	3	2	16	11	0	1
(ii) Gale Street,	338	55	41	8	20	2	31	4	22	5
(iii) Phoenix,	190	124	49	30	3	2	14	3	0	0
(iv) Park Rynie	89	30	2	2	0	0	1	2	0	0

Mortuary	number of (ii) men admitted
	African	Asian	Coloured	White	Other
	Jan-Dec 2019	Jan-Jun 2020	Jan-Dec 2019	Jan-Jun 2020	Jan-Dec 2019	Jan-Jun 2020	Jan-Dec 2019	Jan-Jun 2020	Jan-Dec 2019	Jan-Jun 2020
(i) Pinetown,	986	464	116	45	4	9	41	24	1	0
(ii) Gale Street,	1 563	292	135	25	65	8	93	15	16	0
(iii) Phoenix,	1 031	536	193	83	11	5	30	28	0	0
(iv) Park Rynie	403	189	9	4	0	0	14	3	0	0
Mortuary	number of (iii) children admitted
	African	Asian	Coloured	White	Other
	Jan-Dec 2019	Jan-Jun 2020	Jan-Dec 2019	Jan-Jun 2020	Jan-Dec 2019	Jan-Jun 2020	Jan-Dec 2019	Jan-Jun 2020	Jan-Dec 2019	Jan-Jun 2020
(i) Pinetown,	132	43	1	2	0	0	1	0	0	0
(ii) Gale Street,	120	35	8	1	0	0	1	0	0	0
(iii) Phoenix,	106	62	12	6	1	1	2	1	0	0
(iv) Park Rynie	35	9	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0

(c)

Mortuary	number of (i) women admitted with gunshot wounds	number of (ii) men admitted with gunshot wounds
	Jan-Dec 2019	Jan-Jun 2020	Jan-Dec 2019	Jan-Jun 2020
(i) Pinetown,	31	13	292	160
(ii) Gale Street,	42	3	391	82
(iii) Phoenix,	26	12	320	133
(iv) Park Rynie	9	2	76	65

(d)

Mortuary	total number of victims admitted with (i) stab wounds	total number of victims admitted with (ii) soft tissue injuries suggestive of trauma inflicted and
	Jan-Dec 2019	Jan-Jun 2020	Jan-Dec 2019	Jan-Jun 2020
(i) Pinetown,	157	59	181	91
(ii) Gale Street,	282	33	223	73
(iii) Phoenix,	188	81	148	104
(iv) Park Rynie	68	24	69	44

(e)

Mortuary	total number of victims of motor vehicle accidents
	Jan-Dec 2019	Jan-Jun 2020
(i) Pinetown,	232	67
(ii) Gale Street,	490	80
(iii) Phoenix,	280	136
(iv) Park Rynie	130	27

END.

Reply:

(a) Honourable Member, three (3) Water Boards were dissolved during the current financial year and these are: Sedibeng Water, Amatola Water and Umgeni Water.

(b) The process of appointing the Boards for these water entities is currently underway.

(c) I am not aware of any instability in the water boards.

Reply:

a) Malaria is a seasonal disease, transmission increases during the summer months, and is exacerbated when there is higher rainfall. The COVID-19 pandemic started in March and peaked in July this year- when the malaria transmission period was waning.

There was a timely start of the Indoor Residual Spraying (IRS) programme this year despite the COVID-19 pandemic. Spraying started as planned in September 2020 in each of the malaria-endemic provinces. As 18 November 2020, a total of 1,112,637 structures (624,365 structures in Limpopo; 410974 in Mpumalanga and 77298 in KwaZulu-Natal) have been sprayed of the targeted 2 059 979 structures for the 2020/2021 financial year. The current national spray coverage is 54% (51.94%, 54.29% and 76.53% in Limpopo, Mpumalanga and KZN provinces respectively), noting that spraying will continue into the early part of the new year.

Community testing and treatment was adopted as part of the malaria elimination strategy for South Africa and cross-border collaboration with eight malaria eliminating countries (E8) that form the SADC Elimination 8 countries. It mostly targets the border districts to prevent secondary transmission from malaria cases imported from the high malaria-endemic countries bordering the Republic of South Africa. The screening process was slow with only a few cases reported during the initial days of the COVID-19 pandemic due to level 5 Lockdown and border closures when travel was limited. The screening gradually improved and will continue in the border areas over the festive period. During the 2020/2021 financial year a total of 66 162 people suspected to have malaria have been tested in the community and a total of 517 have been found to be positive through active case detection. All the positive cases were treated with the recommended treatment for malaria.

b) The holiday season (Christmas and New Year) coincides with the malaria transmission season hence the Malaria programmes embark on spraying in September 2020 to protect the communities at risk in the three malaria-endemic provinces of Limpopo, Mpumalanga and KwaZulu-Natal. The provincial Malaria Programmes have updated their Epidemic Preparedness Plans to ensure that there are adequate stocks of diagnostics, treatment and insecticides.

In addition, health promotion and awareness campaigns are essential interventions for the prevention of malaria morbidity and mortality and were enhanced during the first week of November 2020 when the SADC Malaria Day was event was commemorated in the endemic provinces. These interventions will continue during the peak season covering December to April.

END.

Reply:

1. The approved Health Compact raised a pillar that required the execution of an infrastructure plan to ensure “adequate, appropriately distributed and well maintained” health facilities. The Public Health Infrastructure Refurbishment Programme identified as the vehicle to do so and executed within the legislative framework of government facilities. This framework guides the maintenance of government faculties that includes health facilities and infrastructure as guided by strategies and guidelines driven from the national department of public works as the mandated department for all public properties in the country.

The National Department of Health (NDOH), together with National Treasury (NT) implemented a system which requires Provincial Departments to develop and submit what is called an User Asset Management Plan (U-AMP). This plan details the condition of each health infrastructure asset per province and their equipment. From the U-AMP, provinces are required to draw a three-year priority plan called an Infrastructure Programme Management Plan (IPMP). This is the plans that are submitted to the Implementing Agents (i.e. Public Works, Development Bank of Southern Africa (DBSA) etc.), who should provide the Provincial Health Departments with an Infrastructure Project Implementation Plan (IPIP). The IPIP indicate the readiness of the Implementing Agents to execute the projects listed and all of these plans are submitted to NDOH and NT for review and approval.

Provinces are allocated three-year Medium-Term Expenditure Framework (MTEF) budget based on the needs identified and the money available and required to adjust their plan to fit within the approved budget. These adjusted plans are presented to Provincial Executive Committee (EXCO) for endorsement and implementation.

From a systems perspective thus, strides have been made to ensure that the programme is well executed and prioritised facilities where refurbishment is most needed. In addition to this, the National Department in partnership with the various Provincial Health departments and supported by DBSA, initiated not only the development of a Health Maintenance Strategy, but also appointed contractors to develop a 10-year Infrastructure Plan.

The Maintenance strategy developed under the aegis of the Department of Health, seeks to establish a consolidated maintenance management approach, that is specific to health infrastructure and includes the specialist field of health technology equipment that is vital for the effective and efficient health services across the country. On the other hand, the 10-year infrastructure plan aims to provide a development window to ensure that the distribution and planning of infrastructure refurbishments are in alignment with the needs of the provinces as identified through the various communities they serve.

2. COVID-19 has elevated the need for properly maintained and adequate health facilities and have thus contributed towards a reprioritisation of projects in order to facilitate the curbing of the spread. Towards this end the various maintenance projects related to oxygen and ICU wards were brought forward and expedited.

In the Eastern Cape for example eighty-five (85) contract awards, amounting to R578,902,253 million have been made to contractors for refurbishment of 67 Health Facilities across the province for COVID-19 purposes. Of these 85 projects, forty-eight (48) have now been completed at a total cost of R123,809,915.06 and have yielded 1259 Covid-19 isolation beds. A total of thirty-seven (37) projects are currently at advanced stages of construction within the province with a combined cost of R466,618,721.25. Upon completion, these projects will yield a total of 1179 Covid-19 isolation beds. The total cumulative expenditure to date on the 85 projects is R248,507,116.

For the primary health care facilities in terms of clinics and community health centres, various movable units were targeted for space augmentation to improve service delivery as part of the COVID-19 Treatment Surge and Resurgence. Post COVID-19 the units will be utilized for the HIV Treatment Surge in line with the project identified during the 2018/19 financial year under the auspices of the PEPFAR Facility Infrastructure Improvement Project.

In the hospitals, these units will be used to complement the screening and testing spaces needed during this COVID-19 Surge and Resurgence. Post COVID-19, the units will be mainly utilized for records storage. Currently patient files and general records are highly paper driven resulting in volumes of files that need to be appropriately kept for ease of retrieval and maintenance.

In Gauteng a Rapid intervention programme was launched to assess 32 hotspot facilities in the province to increase its COVID-19 surge capacity. This included the provision of P1, P2 and P3 level care related to administration of oxygen, especially high flow oxygen, provision of beds in terms of high and critical care beds and to identify problems in dealing with capacitation at these sites. As a result of these assessments, various projects were identified and now in planning, procurement and implementation to facilitate the improvement and refurbishment of surge capacity at these priority facilities.

END.

Reply:

1. According to the KwaZulu Natal Provincial Department of Health, there is a total of 153 Nurses which is inclusive of nurses employed on contract basis and permanent employees. Nurses were from the following sites:

• Inkosi Albert Luthuli Central Hospital
• Greys Tertiary Hospital
• King Edward Hospital
• Prince Mshiyeni Memorial Hospital
• RK Khan Regional Hospital
• Mahatma Gandhi Regional Hospital
• Port Shepstone Regional Hospital
• Newcastle Hospital
• Madadeni Hospital
• Addington Regional Hospital
•  Ladysmith Regional Hospital
• General Justice Gizenga Memorial Regional Hospital
• Ngwelezane Tertiary Hospital

2. These nurses have been employed on contract up until 31 March 2021. No decision has been taken regarding the retention of these healthcare personnel on permanent basis after Covid-19 pandemic. The decision will be based on need and availability of budget.

3. The Department intends to prioritize appointing post-community service personnel into permanent existing posts of clinical psychologists and physiotherapists. Plans are also in place to advertise more bursaries in these professional categories. The Department also intends to target students who are pursuing Honours and Master’s Degree to address the shortfall.

END.

Reply:

The information requested by the Honourable Member is provided in Annual Reports tabled yearly in Parliament by departments and public entities.

Reply:

1a)  Actions and/or measures has he and/or his department taken to address the

 

(i) Availability of PPEs

The National Department of Health developed an Infection Control and Prevention (IPC) Guideline that identifies in detail what PPEs are required in by health care and support personnel require in the different health care service delivery settings. This document formed the basis of determining what PPE’s and in what quantity each health care worker and support personnel will require.

(ii) Quantity of PPEs

The IPC Guidelines informed the PPE demand forecast, initially projected for a 6-month period and subsequently the PPE forecast was projected until March 2021. The PPE demand forecast projections are utilised to identify resources required to procure PPEs, finalise transversal contracts with National Treasury, secure and negotiate availability of PPEs with suppliers.

A PPE module was also added to the stock visibility system (SVS) used to monitor medicines. This enabled health facilities and depots in provinces to report PPE stock on hand against forecasted demand and identify shortfalls and surpluses. The SVS system is used by provinces to monitor PPE availability and to address shortfalls at a health facility level.

(iii) Quality of PPEs

The National Department of Health in collaboration with South African Bureau of Standards (SABS) the South African Health Products Regulatory Authority (SAHPRA), the National Regulator for Compulsory Specifications (NRCS) sets the quality standards for the various personal protective equipment items. Each province is responsible for ensuring that the quality standards of PPE’s procured are maintained.

The National department of Health has also supported the provinces with availing a Policy on Respiratory Protective Equipment and a list of PPE specifications that provinces can utilise to guide the PPE procurement process. In addition, PPE quality assurance training was conducted for provinces. The Department of Trade and Industry also provides support to local manufacturers and distributors in respect of compliance with applicable standards and conformity assessments to assist them to prepare for the licensing and approval process.

Meetings with provincial PPE coordinators, depot managers and PPE supply chain officials are convened bi-weekly to monitor and address availability, security of supply and quality assurance of PPE.

b) The labour unions participate in the weekly Project Management Office meetings chaired by the Director-General where updates are given on personal protective equipment (PPE) availability and quantity at facility level through analysis of data on the Stock Visibility System (SVS). The SVS also allows for access to trade union representatives to sign-off on the quantity of PPE at the facility level. I have convened meetings with the trade unions to update them on PPE availability and quantity. In addition, PPE and Occupational Health and Safety are standing agenda items on the Tech-NHC and NHC meetings.

END.

Reply:

According to the Provincial Departments of Health, the responses to these questions are as follows:

1. Eastern Cape

The Eastern Cape Department of Health does not have a hospital administrator (CEO) that is currently under investigation leading to temporal suspension. In 2018, the CEO of Livingstone Hospital was suspended and subsequently resigned and left the service. He was on a precautionary suspension and investigated on allegations of fraud and corruption.

2. Free State

NAME OF EMPLOYEE	RACE	SALARY LEVEL	GENDER	NAME OF THE INSTITUTION	DATE OF THE SUSPENSION	DATE SUSPENSION LIFTED	REASON FOR SUSPENSION	TYPE OF TRANS-GRESSION	REASON FOR DELAY / FINALISATION	HIGHLIGHTS / CHALLENGES OR TRENDS
Noge SR	A	7	F	Bongani Regional Hospital	27 March 2019	10 May 2019	Misconduct	Irregular Expenditure	Charge sheet is complete the role players to be appointed	N/A
Tau LW	A	11	M	Bongani Regional Hospital	27 March 2019	10 May 2019	Misconduct	Irregular Expenditure	Charge sheet is complete the role players to be appointed	N/A
Mfanta X	A	12	M	Pelonomi Regional Hospital	27 April 2019	23 October 2019	Misconduct	Sexual Harassment and Irregular Expenditure	The case was set down for the first time on the 27th November 2020.	N/A

NAME OF EMPLOYEE	RACE	SALARY LEVEL	GENDER	NAME OF THE INSTITUTION	DATE OF THE SUSPENSION	DATE SUSPENSION LIFTED	REASON FOR SUSPENSION	TYPE OF TRANS-GRESSION	REASON FOR DELAY/ FINALISATION	HIGHLIGHTS/ CHALLENGES OR TRENDS
Kgaile P.I	A	11	M	Mangaung Metro	20 May 2019	30 August 2019	Misconduct	Irregular Expenditure	Investigations has been Finalized and the charge sheet is still being Formulated	N/A
Christou A	W	10	F	Mangaung Metro	30 May 2020	30 August 2020	Misconduct	Irregular Expenditure	Investigations has been Finalized and the charge sheet is still being Formulated
Ramodula BS	A	14	F	Pelonomi Regional Hospital	31 March 2020	29 May 2020	Misconduct	Failure to put measures in place for management of COVID-19 ward	Case Finalized and Final Written Warning issued on the 29 May 2020.	N/A
Molefe M	A	11	F	Pelonomi Regional Hospital	31 March 2020	29 May 2020	Misconduct	Failure to put measures in place for management of COVID-19 ward	Case Finalized and Final Written Warning issued on the 29 May 2020. The appeal of the Final Written Warning was upheld.	N/A
Seboko JM	A	13	F	Free State Psychiatric Hospital	16 May 2019	19 July 2019	Misconduct	Gross negligence	Waiting for the Investigations to be finalized.	N/A
Marefeka MJ	A	12	F	Free State Psychiatric Hospital	16 May 2019	19 July 2019	Misconduct	Gross negligence	Waiting for the Investigations to be finalized.	N/A
Moshao IN	A	11	F	Free State Psychiatric Hospital	16 May 2019	19 July 2019	Misconduct	Gross negligence	Waiting for the Investigations to be finalized.	N/A

3. Gauteng

INSTITUTION	FINANCIAL YEAR	DATE OF THE INCIDENT	SURNAME & INTIALS	JOB TITLE	SALARY LEVEL	RACE	GENDER	TYPE OF MISCONDUCT	SANCTION	STATUS
Dr Yusuf Dadoo	2018/2019	19/02/2018	Maanwane KM	Session Doctor	Session	African	male	Rape	contract expired	Closed- the perpetrator left the Department

4. Kwa-Zulu Natal

There are no investigations that are currently being conducted on hospital administrators for alleged maladministration.

5. Limpopo

There are no investigations that are currently being conducted on hospital administrators for alleged maladministration.

6. Mpumalanga

1. The Mpumalanga Department of Health has not experienced any case of violence and or rape between patients and therefore, there are no Hospital administrators who are being investigated or temporarily suspended regarding this matter.
2. As stated in paragraph (a) above, none of the Hospital Administrators are under investigation nor suspended, therefore there are no investigators taking place for the past five years up to the current financial year.

7. North West

 

The North West Department of Health does not have such cases. The only CEO currently under investigation and on suspension has not relationship whatsoever with security concerns, violence and/or rape.

8. Northern Cape

The Northern Cape Department of Health does not have CEOs that are currently suspended from the hospitals for any of the allegations as contained in this question.

9. Western Cape

The Western Cape Department of Health does not have such cases for the last five years neither do we have current or pending cases.

END.

Reply:

No, there is no duplication. The Terms of Reference for the person referred to by the Honourable Member are specific and indicate that those cases investigated by the SIU will not be included in his scope of work.

A joint media statement was issued by the Department of Water and Sanitation and the Special Investigation Unit (SIU) on 26 November 2020. It highlighted all the work that the Department and the SIU are doing related to the fight against fraud and corruption as well as the outcomes of some of the investigations.

The joint statement referred to above is attached for the Honourable Member’s ease of reference.

Reply:

a) (i) The model that South Africa used to determine the red list of high risk countries from where persons are permitted to travel to the Republic is based on a scientifically robust and tested approach that was benchmarked with other countries. The benchmarking process assisted the country to understand how best other countries are implementing interventions to enable proactive risk categorisation processes. The model and the criteria applied were based on globally accepted standards taking into consideration the guidelines as set by the World Health Organisation.

(ii) Several criteria and scientific data are utilised to design, develop and refine the RSA risk categorization model. The primary considerations include the following:

(1) the number of new cases per 100,000 persons over 14 days;

(2) the number of new deaths per 100,000 persons over 14 days; and

(3) the total number of accumulated cases in the given country since the first case.

Furthermore, the model also considers sensitivity analyses to assess the tolerance level rate to the RSA baseline. Other parameters such as testing data and active cases are considered. However, due to the absence of sufficiently updated data across different countries, it was recommended that these factors are not significantly relied upon. Based on all these factors, countries were classified according to three distinct categories: “Low Risk”, “Similar Risk” and “High Risk”. The “High Risk” category is what is used to create the red list of high risk countries.

b) The list was updated fortnightly, that is, every 14 days. Given the nature of the pandemic and the evolving data dynamics in every country, the model that was utilised could not be static as the baseline was expected to change over time. The considerations include the 10% tolerance level on the South African baseline which are used to compare against other countries. Countries with an estimated baseline of +/-10% to South Africa were considered “Similar Risk”; those with a score that was higher than the baseline + 10% were classified as “High Risk”; and all other countries with a population of less than 1 000 000 people were classified as low risk (or ignored). All countries in Africa were classified as low risk (or their high scores are ignored).

c) Taking into account recent global developments and trends, the Cabinet resolved that the strategy of using the red list of high-risk countries should be changed and instead use the 72 hour PCR test and the screening of incoming passengers to determine if they should be allowed into the country.

END.

Reply:

a) The emergence of the COVID-19 pandemic necessitated the need for a concerted societal response to design and implement innovative, quick and practical solutions to address the impact of the pandemic on the national health system. A key element of this response was the interactions between the public and private sector stakeholders of different kinds (most importantly private healthcare professionals) to collaborate with Government at various levels. This collaboration and open engagement allowed for some innovative solutions, such as the Private Laboratory network (22 Laboratories) agreeing to work with the National Health Laboratory system (27 Laboratories) to scale up testing capacity; the private health facilities availed their beds and ICUs for the management of cases; as well as establishing platforms for the coordination and sharing information with the private sector which was essential in monitoring ICU capacity and where additional patients could be referred particularly during periods of the pandemic peaks in some provinces.

b) The National Department of Health continues to cooperate and regularly engages the private health sector on a variety of matters pertaining to priority programmes for the sector. This engagement and cooperation will continue to be followed through as we make progress towards the implementation of National Health Insurance (NHI), through ensuring a coherent and sustainable plan as outlined in the White Paper on NHI and the NHI Bill. Some of the core areas for continued engagement with the private sector include how best to incorporate the skills and clinical insights of the private sector into both the primary and hospital-based health care services, the role to be played by the multidisciplinary district health teams; and the development and implementation of alternative reimbursement strategies. Equally important is the aspect of digital integration of private health information platforms into the Health Normative Standards for Interoperability with the systems that are being designed and implemented as part of the NHI Fund’s information system.

END.

Reply:

The Honourable Member is referred to the reply I provided to her question, number 657. Further, there are no bonuses payable to the members of the Advisory Panel in the Department of Human Settlements and the Advisory Committees in the Department of Water and Sanitation.

Reply:

1. The model that South Africa used to determine the red list of high-risk countries from where persons are permitted to travel to the Republic is based on a scientifically robust and tested approach that was benchmarked with other countries. The benchmarking process assisted the country to understand how best other countries are implementing interventions to enable proactive risk categorisation processes. The model and the criteria applied were based on globally accepted standards taking into consideration the guidelines as set by the World Health Organisation (WHO). Several criteria and scientific data are utilised to design, develop and refine the RSA risk categorization model. The primary considerations include the following:

a) the number of new cases per 100,000 persons over 14 days;

b) the number of new deaths per 100,000 persons over 14 days; and

c) the total number of accumulated cases in the given country since the first case.

Furthermore, the model also considers sensitivity analyses to assess the tolerance level rate to the RSA baseline. Other parameters such as testing data and active cases are considered. However, due to the absence of sufficiently updated data across different countries, it was recommended that these factors are not significantly relied upon. Based on all these factors, countries were classified according to three distinct categories: “Low Risk”, “Similar Risk” and “High Risk”. The “High Risk” category is what is used to create the red list of high-risk countries.

Therefore, the methodology outlined above is what was used to determine (a) China as a low-risk country and (b) the Maldives as a high-risk country. It must be noted that due to recent global developments and trends, the Cabinet resolved that the strategy of using the red list of high-risk countries should be changed and instead use the 72-hour PCR test and the screening of incoming passengers to determine if they should be allowed into the country or not.

 

Based on recent global developments and trends, the Cabinet resolved that the strategy of whether (a) non-residents, (b) persons employed abroad and (c) persons who will be relocating will be allowed to travel to identified high-risk countries should be based on the use of the 72-hour PCR test and appropriate screening interventions at both the departing border and those implemented in the destination country to which all individuals are expected to comply as per those countries’ COVID-19 prevention and screening protocols. This decision takes into consideration the WHO’s guidelines on public health considerations while resuming international travel as published in June 2020 and subsequently updated advisories.

END.

Reply:

1. Yes, the costs in question were incurred by Department, however it serves to be mentioned that the total cost of R 5000.00 was incurred by the Department as a result of Chapter 8 paragraphs 2.9 and 7 of the Guide for Members of the Executive that came into effect on the 20th of November 2019 which states that:

2.9 “Where a Member moves from a State-owned Residence to a Private Residence to be used for official purposes in the same seat of office, personal effects may be packed and transported at the expense of the relevant Department. This is a non-recurring concession and cannot be utilised more than once during the Member’s term of office”.

7. “The relevant department shall be responsible for the costs of installation and maintenance of fax, internet/wifi facilities, computer equipment and relevant television subscription services for official use by the Member at the Official Residence”

2. The service in question was initiated and sanctioned by the support staff in the Office of the Minister and it took place based on the call out fees and diagnostic services. Once the service provider has submitted the invoice, proper procedures will have to be undertaken through Supply Chain for the purpose of processing the payment. It also serves to be mention that services of this nature are not easy for three (3) quotations to be sourced due to the fact that a diagnosis to determine the nature of work to be done must be concluded prior to rendering a service. Sourcing three (3) quotations will require that three providers must go on site of which they will all charge a call out and diagnostic fees which may result to fruitless and wasteful expenditure, hence one (1) quotation was sourced.

3. Based on Chapter 8 paragraphs 2.9 and 7 of the Guide for Members of the Executive, the Minister is not liable for the cost but it for the account of the Department.

Lastly, this transaction has to be subjected to a determination process which includes an investigation to determine the cause, the impact of the transgression and who must be held accountable in terms of Irregular Expenditure Framework issued by National Treasury.

END.

Reply:

a) 946 hours over 6-month period.

b) R1,740,632.26 over 6-month period.

c) R13,234.26 as reimbursement for use of private vehicle to and from the airport at a rate of R3,61 per km over a 6-month period.

d) A departmental tender (NDoH20/2019/2020) was awarded to the supplier.

END.

Reply:

1. (a) 120

(b) Please refer to Annexure A.

2. (a),(b),(i),(ii) Please refer to Annexure A.

It should be noted that criminal action is not recommended where the investigation’s findings and conclusions could not reveal any element of criminality by all involved in the transaction, being officials or third parties; and disciplinary action is not recommended where no fault or culpability could be found on the part of any official of the Departments.

3. The investigation reports of the Department are confidential in nature and where there is some further action that needs to be taken, release of the reports can jeopardise these actions. The forensic reports are generally not shared, unless a request for access to the reports is made in terms of the applicable law, notably Promotion of Access to Information Act 2 of 2000.

Reply:

a) Yes. The focus was on underutilized and vacant land; productivity of the land was not the determining factor for advertisement.

b) Yes. On 1 October, the Minister informed the public through a briefing that was streamed live on SA Government Facebook page, Twitter and You Tube channels about the whole process before any advertisement.

c) Yes. There was no intention from Government to advertise a farm with a current and legal lease agreement in place; if this was done, it can be regarded as an error. Details should be brought to the attention of my office to resolve the matter.

d) No. The farms that were listed for advertisement were those that were vacant or underutilised or were without any valid agreement with the state in place regarding their occupancy. A Land Rights Enquiry will determine each case and the rights of those that are on the farms will be protected through formalization and regulation of their occupation. Land that was abandoned or vacant will be allocated and land that is underutilised will be assessed and each case will be treated according to its own circumstances.

Reply:

(1)(a) (i) The basic footprint of the Berg River Dam falls on Farm 1716 (SG No. 447/2007) and is unregistered. There is also a subdivision of the above farm, being Portion 1 of Farm No. 1716 (SG No. 1628/2007).

(ii) The following farms surround the Farm 1716. It appears that many of the farms and portions are not yet registered.  All unregistered land belongs to the State.

Property Description	Ownership	Zoning (according to Stellenbosch Zoning Maps)
Farm 1145	Unregistered	Agriculture and Rural Zone (Still part of Farm 1716/0 on Zoning Map)
Remainder Farm 1339	Unregistered	Agriculture and Rural Zone (Still part of Farms 1339/8, 1339/5, 1339/6, 1339/1)
Remainder Farm 1619 (SG No. 3436/1999	Unregistered	Agriculture and Rural Zone
Farm 1235 (SG No. 1052/1974):	Republic of South Africa	Agriculture and Rural Zone
Portion 1 of Farm No. 1339 (SG Mo. 3423/1999)	Unregistered	Agriculture and Rural Zone
Portion 1 of Farm No. 1147 (SG No. 3421/1999	Unregistered	Agriculture and Rural Zone
Farm No. 1150 (SG No. 204/1831)	Islanmore Estates Pty Ltd	Agriculture and Rural Zone
Farm No. 1151 (SG No. 249/1880)	Islanmore Estates Pty Ltd	Agriculture and Rural Zone
Remainder Farm No. 1659 (SG No. 6211/2001)	unregistered	Agriculture and Rural Zone
Portion 5 of Farm No. 1339 (SG No. 3427/1999)	unregistered	Agriculture and Rural Zone
Portion 8 of Farm No. 1339 (SG No. 9216/2006)	Unregistered	Agriculture and Rural Zone
Farm No. 1023	Republic of South Africa  unalienated state land	Agriculture and Rural Zone (still part of Farm 1618/0 on Zoning Map)
Farm No. 1712 (SG No. 1627/2007)	unregistered	To be confirmed with Municipality
Farm No. 1711 (SG No. 1626/2007)	unregistered	To be confirmed with Municipality
Portion 3 of farm No. 1145 (SG No. 9215/2006)	unregistered	Agriculture and Rural Zone
Portion 1 of Farm No. 1629 (SG No. 9217/2006)	unregistered	Agriculture and Rural Zone

(b) Unregistered Farm No. 1716, Paarl Division is deemed to be zoned a natural environmental zone in terms of the Stellenbosch Municipal Zoning Scheme By-law, 2019 - [Source: NGMS]. Please refer to page 118 of the Zoning Scheme By-law which is attached.

“Natural Environment (natuurlike omgewing) means an area which is undeveloped, not necessarily restricted to wilderness or mountain areas and primarily consists of vegetation in a natural state. Vegetation may be indigenous or alien, the area may be rehabilitated to its indigenous state for the purpose of preserving the biophysical characteristics of the area, including flora and fauna living in the area, and may include river corridors, wetlands, water bodies, man-made dams, proclaimed nature areas, biosphere reserves, undeclared conservation or critical biodiversity areas, and may be in public or private ownership or managed under stewardship and it includes buildings which are reasonably connected with the management and maintenance of the area;”

(2) The Branch Deeds Registration is unable to determine the ownership of the dwellings surrounding the dam. The details of the dwellings are with the local municipality. Ownership information on the land can only be provided once the dwellings are identified which information can be obtained from the local municipality. The two identified private properties are owned by Islanmore Estates Pty Ltd

Reply:

a) As a Member of the African Union (AU), South Africa respects the sovereignty of AU Member States as enshrined in Article 4 of the Constitutive Act of the AU. South Africa also encourages Member States through, inter alia, the AU and its Organs, to adopt a culture of human rights as a prerequisite to achieving the Africa We Want, envisaged in Aspiration 3 of Agenda 2063 which envisions “An Africa with good governance, democracy, respect for human rights, justice and the rule of law.”

b) In November and December 2020, South Africa participated in the 67th Ordinary Session of the African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights (ACHPR), in

Reply:

1. May the Honourable member please advise which scandal is he referring to.

2. The department completed its bid evaluation process and after finalising outstanding matters with selected bidders, such as confirmation of price and costs as well as any sub-contracting arrangements the preferred supplier may have, realised that the costing methodology in the bid did not allow for an equitable evaluation process of the pricing by the bidders, and as a result no appointment could be made by 30 November 2020. The department therefore extended the current contract by one month from 1 to 31 December 2020.

2. On 9 December 2020, the Bid Adjudication Committee (BAC) approved the cancellation of Bid DHA10-2020. It is therefore necessary to extend the existing service provider’s contract from 1 to 31 January 2021. This is a provisional arrangement during January 2021 to allow engagement with National Treasury so as to provide for an implementable timeframe allowing the department to re-advertise the Bid using a different costing method.

END

 

Reply:

a) An Animal Welfare Bill is being drafted which will repeal the Animals Protection Act, 1962 and the Performing Animals Protection Act, 1935.

b) The drafting and consultation towards the Animal Welfare Bill is currently limited to structures within the Department of Agriculture, Land Reform and Rural Development. A phase 1 Socio-Economic Impact Assessment approval for the development of the Animal Welfare Bill was granted in 2019.

c) There are no specific dates that have been set yet for the gazetting and/or release of the documents for public consultation. However, consultation with stakeholders on the Bill will be undertaken during the 2021/2022 financial year.

d) Please refer to (c) above.

e) The Department is not working on any draft amendment in relation to the subject matter. The response in (a) above clarifies that new legislation is being drafted.