Questions and Replies

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:

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:

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 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:

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:

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:

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:

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:

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:

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:

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:

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:

(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:

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:

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

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:

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. The Presidency has not yet been approached to proclaim the Animal Health Act, Act 7 of 2002.

2. The Department has been working on the draft regulations and assessing appropriate cooperative governance structures and delegation of the veterinary authority. The Department continued this work over an extended period of time. However, a number of delays have been experienced and other processes such as the assessment of the Performance of Veterinary Services (PVS) by the World Organisation for Animal Health (OIE) have indicated conflicting and often limited legislative considerations. Based on these developments, the Department is currently consulting with Legal Services on how to further address the current challenges and could possibly consider repealing the Animal Health Act of 2002.

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. The backlog in the disability related grants is with new applications. The temporary disability grants and care dependency grants which will lapse at the end of December 2020 are all grants which were already in the system as at February 2020. The backlog of new applications reported in the response to Parliamentary question 1319 was 19 053. This has been reduced to 6 707 by end October 2020.

The provinces which still have a backlog of new applications are Gauteng with 1 282 and Mpumalanga with 277 and Western Cape with 5 148.

2. The numbers of doctors assisting with assessments is 472. This is 3 less than what was reported previously, as a result of 3 of the contracted doctors having passed away – 1 in Western Cape and 2 in KwaZulu-Natal. However, there are additional doctors from the Department of Health, particularly in the Western Cape Metro that are now assisting with assessments. Northern Cape, North West and Western Cape (for the Boland/Overberg and Eden/Karoo districts) are currently finalizing a procurement process to contract additional doctors to assist with the assessments.

Negotiations are also continuing with Provincial Departments of Health to identify additional medical officers who can assist with medical assessments. These discussions also extend to identifying facilities which can be used for assessments.

3. (a)(i) The number of temporary disability grants which will lapse at the end of December 2020 is 210 778.

(ii) The number of care dependency grants which will lapse at the end of December is 11 243.

(b) The total number of disability related grants which will lapse at the end of December is 222 021.

4. SASSA, with the Department of Social Development have been working on a plan to ensure that the beneficiaries who will be affected by the bulk lapsing have an opportunity to re-apply for the required grants by 31 March 2021.

Once care dependent children turn 18 years of age, their care dependency grants lapse, and they have to apply for a disability grant. This is because the care dependency grant is paid to a care giver of a severely disabled child, while a person over the age of 18 years is considered an adult, and must apply for the grant in his/her own name. For this reason, it cannot be an automatic conversion, but an application process.

However, in order to avoid the necessity for these young adults with severe disabilities to have to report to a SASSA office or health facility for a medical assessment and then to return at a later date to complete the application process, SASSA has developed a project plan to complete paper-based medical assessments, using the medical report already on file for the care dependency grant. The assessment will be done in the absence of the young person. This is provided for in the Social Assistance Act and can be implemented as there is a medical history for the applicant in SASSA’s possession.

Once the medical assessment has been completed, the care giver of the young person will be called in to the SASSA office on an appointment basis to complete the application as the procurator for the young person, in terms of Section 15 of the Social Assistance Act, 2004.

Measures have been put in place to manage cases where a medical report cannot be traced, or does not contain adequate information for the assessing doctor to make a recommendation, in order to manage risks associated with the process, and to ensure that SASSA can be accountable for decisions taken.

The above process will cater for the 11 243 care dependency grants which will lapse on 31 December 2020.

For the temporary disability grants, for those beneficiaries who are still unable to work as a result of the disability, assessments can start being scheduled in December already, with the application being done from January, since these can only be done once the temporary grant has lapsed. It should be borne in mind that a temporary disability grant is provided for a specific period only, because the assessment indicates that the condition can improve to the extent that it is not the disability which prevents the person from working. It is therefore not automatic that all those currently in receipt of the temporary disability grants will re-apply for the grant; or, if they apply, that they will qualify for the grant. A full application process, with a new assessment is thus required.

The process will be closely managed and all exceptions will be dealt with to ensure that inconvenience is limited as much as possible, and all who require access to services are attended to and people with disabilities are treated with care and respect.

Reply:

President Cyril Ramaphosa in his capacity as Chairperson of the African Union (AU), appointed former President Joaquim Chissano of the Republic of Mozambique, former President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf of the Republic of Liberia, and former President Kgalema Motlanthe of the Republic of South Africa, as African Union Special Envoys to Ethiopia in order to assist the Government and people of the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia in finding a solution to the recent conflict that had occurred in the Tigray Region of that country.

The AU Special Envoys visited Ethiopia and held meetings with a range of interlocutors from 26 to 28 November 2020, including President Sahle-Work Zewde, Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed Ali, the leaders of important Democratic Insitutions, and the leaders of opposition political parties. Subsequently, the AU Special Envoys have briefed President Ramaphosa on the outcomes of their visit to Ethiopia. The President will remain seized with the issue and future action will be decided in consultation with the Government of Ethiopia, the African Union Commission, and the AU Special Envoys to Ethiopia.

Reply:

As per the media release of 18 November 2020, the Minister of Agriculture, Land reform and Rural Development (DALRRD) Ms Thoko Didiza, MP has been made aware by the MEC of Agriculture and Rural Development in KwaZulu-Natal Ms Bongi Sithole-Moloi, MPL of the brucellosis situation in the northern parts of Kwa-Zulu Natal.

DALRRD intends to co-operate with the National and Provincial Departments in raising awareness of the impact brucellosis in humans. Brucellosis is a zoonotic disease (can be transmitted from animals to humans) and it is crucial to follow a One Health approach involving Veterinary and Health Services.

DALRRD participates in the monthly Multisectoral National Outbreak Response Team (MNORT) meetings hosted by the Department of Health, where information on zoonotic diseases is shared between stakeholders. Provincial Veterinary and Health Services are mandated to work in close communication with each other when brucellosis is diagnosed in animals or in humans.

When brucellosis infection is identified in cattle or other animals, Veterinary Services are responsible for informing the owner of the animals that the disease can also be transmitted to humans. They are advised either not to drink milk from these animals, or to boil it first. Owners are advised to consult their clinic or doctor should they show any of the following non-specific flu-like symptoms: recurrent fever, flu-like symptoms, body aches and pains, headaches and depression. The disease in humans can become chronic if medical treatment is not obtained. Other specific symptoms may be seen, depending on the organ system involved. The reproductive organs of both men and women can potentially be affected by brucellosis, which can lead to epididymo-orchitis (swollen testes) and infertility in men and in miscarriages or abortions in pregnant women.

Men and women in rural communities are vulnerable to brucellosis if their cattle or livestock are infected, especially if they consume raw milk and milk products from these animals. Unfortunately, the symptoms of brucellosis are not very specific and can be confused with many other diseases. Clinics and doctors are not always particularly knowledgeable on brucellosis and may not consider it as a potential diagnosis. It is very important that the patient informs the clinic or doctor if they work closely with livestock or if they consume raw dairy products (unpasteurised/ not boiled).

The Department fully supports improved and continuous awareness of brucellosis in humans, through the national and provincial Departments of Health. Having decided to recognise November as a national brucellosis awareness month, the South African Veterinary Council, in partnership with the South African Veterinary Association, the National Animal Health Forum, the Department of Agriculture, Land Reform and Rural Development and all their associated partners, have embarked on an extensive awareness and education campaign regarding bovine brucellosis which will continue into December. The National Institute for Communicable Diseases and the National Department of Health will be invited to participate in the awareness campaign

Reply:

(a) The temporary disability grants and care dependency grants which were due to lapse at the end of October 2020 have all been extended to 31 December 2020. The costs for this extension have been accommodated within the financial allocation for the social grants for the 2020/21 financial year.

(b) (i) The financial implications for the extension of the care dependency grants from October to December 2020 is R41 823 960.

(ii) The financial implication for the temporary disability grants for the period from October to December 2020 is R784 094 160.

(iii) The numbers of grants affected, should they be extended to 31 March 2021 is 11 243 care dependency grants and 210 778 temporary disability grants. To continue paying these for an additional 3 months will cost R62 735 940 for the care dependency grants, and R1 176 141 240 for the temporary disability grants (total of R1 238 877 180).

Reply:

 

a) (i),(ii) The Extension of Security of Tenure Act of 1997 does not distinguish between farmworkers and farm dwellers. All persons (whether farmworker or farm dweller) residing on farms may be evicted legally in terms of the Act ie with a court order, or illegally which is an eviction without a court order as provided in the Act.

According to the Department’s records, 1 066 households were evicted from the farms from 2007 to 2020. This figure is the number of evictions granted from 2007 to October 2020 by Magistrates’ courts throughout the country. Evictions granted by the Land Claims Court from 1994 to 2020 are not included above as the court is still compiling its statistics and such information will be made available once received on or before 18 December 2020.

It should further be noted that not all evictions are reported to the Department or brought before courts.

b) The provincial breakdown of the 1 066 households is as follows:

Province	Eastern Cape	Free State	Gauteng	KwaZulu Natal	Limpopo	Mpumalanga	North West	Northern Cape	Western Cape	TOTAL
Legal/Court Order	20	112	10	21	2	37	11	8	548	769
Illegally	33	65	27	4	11	48	9	2	98	297
Total	53	177	37	25	13	85	20	10	646	1 066

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.

Reply:

(1)(a) Gauteng Social Development scheduled the third quarter subsidy payment of Springs Child Welfare which was due end of October 2020 earlier in the same month but could not release it due to system glitches.

(b) However, once the system glitches were resolved, an amount of R 488,353 was paid on 10 November 2020 which was an advance subsidy payment for the months of October to December 2020.

(2) Yes, Gauteng Social Development was informed about the possibility of Springs Child Welfare closing its doors due to late subsidy payment and the Department urged Springs Child Welfare not to do so, as their funding delays were receiving urgent attention. The subsidy was eventually paid on 10 November 2020 which was 10 days later than the cut-off date of 30 October 2020.

With regards to the consequences of payment delays, Gauteng Social Development endeavours to minimise the adverse impact of subsidy delays by providing alternative measures to NPOs such as giving assurance letters to be utilised to access short finance/funds from the banks.

Gauteng Social Development is currently upgrading its payment system which will come into effect mid-financial year of 2021/22. The system upgrade is geared to resolve the various glitches that causes payment delays and we expect to see improvement post implementation.

Reply:

The Department of Agriculture, Land Reform and Rural Development does not have immediate intentions to proclaim the Animal Health Act, 2002. Despite the fact that the Department has continued work on the draft regulations to accompany the Animal Health Act, 2002, developments such as the assessment of the Performance of Veterinary Services (PVS) by the World Organisation for Animal Health (OIE) have indicated conflicting and often limited legislative considerations. Based on these developments, the Department is currently consulting with Legal Services on how to further address the current challenges, including the possible repeal of the Animal Health Act of 2002. Timeframes will be considered when the legal consultations have been completed.

Reply:

1. (a) 54 farms.

(b)(i),(ii),(iii),(iv),(v),(vi),(vii) Please refer to Annexure A.

2. Please refer to Annexure A.

Reply:

SASSA is not aware of any challenges with payment in Idutywa for the November payment cycle. SASSA deploys customer care officials to monitor the payment process at post offices, retailers and banking infrastructure throughout the Eastern Cape on a monthly basis. No incidents of non-payment were observed or reported for the November payment cycle, which started on 3 November.

I would respectfully request the Honourable Member to provide more specific information, to enable SASSA to investigate the complaint and implement corrective actions.

Our Team from SASSA on the ground, in the Eastern Cape will keep vigilance and engage with the Post Office to ensure that we avoid interruptions to systems as grants recipients collect their grants.

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:

The Department of Water and Sanitation has allocated R53 million to the Sekhukhune District Municipality for the 2020/21 financial year through the Water Service Infrastructure Grant (WSIG) for the implementation of the following projects to ensure access to clean water in the Makhuduthamaga Local Municipality:

• Mogoroane Water Supply Project
• Uitspanning Water Supply Intervention
• Tukakgomo Water Supply Intervention Phase 3
• Mapodile Water Conservation and demand Management
• Rutseng Water Intervention Phase 2
• Construction of VIDP Toilets in Legolaneng
• Brooklyn (Phokwane) Water Intervention
• Maebe (Mohlaletsi) Water Supply Phase 3
• Nkosini Water Supply & Package Plant
• Laersdrift Water Supply
• Mashamthane Water Intervention

It should be noted that legislative mandate of the Department of Water and Sanitation is to ensure that the country’s water resources are protected, managed, used, developed, conserved and controlled in a sustainable manner for the benefit of all people and the environment.

The Water Services Act, 1997 refers to municipalities as Water Service Authorities (WSAs) responsible for distribution (reticulation) of water and to supply sanitation services. The Water Services Act in section 3 outlines the right of access to basic water supply and sanitation which mandates that “everyone has a right of access to basic water supply and basic sanitation” and places the responsibility on Water Services Authorities to ensure that they develop a Water Services Development Plan (WSDP) to ensure the realisation of this right.

Section 11 of the Water Services Act, 1997 mandates that “every Water Services Authority has the duty to all consumers or potential consumers in its area of jurisdiction to progressively ensure efficient, affordable, economical and sustainable access to water services.”

Reply:

The temporary Homeless Shelter at Paint City in Bellville are managed by an NPO funded by the City of Cape Town and not by the Western Cape Provincial Department of Social Development. The City of Cape Town’s forensic unit is investigating the allegations.

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:

The care dependency and temporary disability grants which would have lapsed at the end of October and November have already been extended to 31 December 2020. The cost for this extension has been accommodated within the budget allocation provided for these grants for the current financial year.

We are now working on a plan to address the significant number which will expire at the end of December, costing approximately R1.2 billion. This estimated cost cannot be accommodated within the existing budget, so we are considering alternatives to prevent bulk lapsing on 31 December 2020 by introducing staggered dates for lapsing between December 2020 and March 2021 to manage the influx for citizens who may wish to reapply for the disability grant.

Reply:

(a) There are ninety-four (94) police stations around KwaZulu-Natal that have had Social Workers placed in their services since March 2020.

(b)(i) There are fifteen (15) Thusong Centre that have had Social Workers placed on specific days of the week

(b)(ii) There are eight (8) Thuthuzela Care Centres around KwaZulu-Natal that have had Social Workers placed in their services since March 2020.

Reply:

The Gauteng Department of Social Development does not have a registered treatment centre called “Gauteng Drug Abuse and Rehabilitation clinic” on its database.

The Department is kindly requesting the Member to provide more details.

Reply:

The NIDS-CRAM Wave 2 Reports[1] provided insightful information to the Department of Social Development. The Department of Social Development appreciates that national surveys and studies assist with strategic decisions, while it is always important to interpret the findings of any study with rigour. However, the following needs to be noted with regard to findings and the generalisation thereof.

1. The NIDS-CRAM Wave 2 data was collected through telephone interviews from a total sample of 5,676 individuals (80% of the original wave 1 sample), of which only 2,722 individuals (48% of the sample) indicated that they are in a household with children age birth to six years (sub-sample)[2].

2. Furthermore, the data indicated that of this sub-sample 950 individuals (35% of sub-sample and 16.7% of total sample) indicated that their child(ren) aged birth to 6 years attended and early childhood development programmes “such as a pre-school, creche, playgroup or day-mother”. The questionnaire explicitly excluded attendance of Grade R in primary schools, where a large majority of 5 and 6 years find themselves2.

3. NIDS-CRAM Wave 2 data, most likely due to the design of the questionnaire, does not differentiate between attendance of registered and unregistered early childhood development programmes2, which is an important factor to be considered in the understanding and interpretation of data and trends, especially under the national state of disaster, for some of the following reasons:

3.1 ECD programmes are legally required to be registered in terms of the provisions of the Children's Act 38 of 2005 as to operate as a legal entity under the law passed by the Legislature and to be eligible for funding from government. Thus, a disaggregation in this study (and other studies by civil society) will be of value to indicate whether the impact of the minimum health, safety and social distancing measures to address, prevent and combat the spread of COVID-19 has affected and is comparable between registered and unregistered ECD programmes similarly or not.

3.2 ECD programmes that are registered generally have the capacity to meet the minimum norms and standards prior to the onset of the national state of disaster, which could have made them more resilient towards re-opening. Furthermore, lumping registered and unregistered ECD programmes together as one homogenous sample excludes a number of critical variables that differentiate these two groups significantly, while it prevents an analysis to determine whether there is bias in the finding towards unregistered or registered early childhood development programmes. Thus, it is not sure whether the findings of the NIDS-CRAM Wave 2 data are skewed towards the one or the other.

3.3 Registered ECD programmes are eligible to be funded by the provincial Departments of Social Development in accordance with section 93(1) of Children's Act 38 of 2005 should they meet the necessary requirements and subject to availability of funding. A disaggregation in such data will also assist in determining the different experiences between registered and unregistered early childhood development programmes.

3. At the time of the survey (July/August 2020), shortly after the re-opening date of all early childhood development centres on 6 July 2020, only 127 (13% of 950 individuals responded) of children attending an ECD centre in March 2020 had return to that ECD centre2. In this respect the following:

a) This was a relatively short time after the date of re-opening and as the NIDS-CRAM Wave 2 data confirms1 the reports that the Department of Social Development received from the field is that significant numbers of ECD centres, especially in in under resourced and rural areas, did not re-open2 (NIDS-CRAM Wave 2 data indicates that 55% of the respondents cited this as a reason)2.

b) Furthermore, 5.6% of the respondents indicated that they did not return their children due to the fact that they believe that the ECD centre is not prepared for COVID-19, while a third (33.1%) cited fear of their child contracting COVID-19 at an ECD centre as the reason for not returning a child to an ECD centre1;2.

4. The findings of the NIDS-CRAM Wave 2 data should not be compared with other historic data as the methodology and sample sizes differs significantly, i.e. “attendance dropped to just 13% from July 2020 to mid-August 2020, which is the lowest rate of attendance in 18 years”. Firstly, it compares historic data with an extraordinary time in South Africa. Secondly, the GHS of 2002 (18 years ago) was based on a different sample size and methodology, while it confirmed the findings of the 2000 ECD audit was done with 22,256 ECD sites across the country of 16% attendance of ECD programmes for children aged to birth to 6 years, which was also prior to the introduction of Grade R.

5. ECD programmes have not been determined to be an essential service, though it is regarded as an invaluable part of young children’s growth, development and early learning. Other than with schools, attendance of early childhood development programmes is not compulsory and remain the choice of the parent at any time (before the national state of disaster and there-after). The closing of ECD programmes, however, did follow roughly the same timelines of closure and re-opening as schools. During the same period of the NIDS-CRAM Wave 2 cited by the Member, the attendance if schools showed a similar trend, with return to school at 37.3% (for open grades) at that time1, while it is currently still well below the percentage of attendance in March 2020.

6. At the time of the NIDS-CRAM Wave 2 (July/ August 2020) on which the question is based:

Part (a) of question

6.1 the Minister of Social Development has issued Directions that directed the Provincial Departments of Social Development to continue paying subsidies to early childhood development programmes (see Government Notice 517 published in Government Gazette No 43300 of 9 May 2020 and Government Notice No. 762 in Government Gazette No. 43520 of 10 July 2020), which was executed by the Provincial Departments of Social Development in accordance with section 93(1) of the Children’s Act 38 of 2005 as provincial competency (see responses to Question NW1318).

6.2 The payment of social relief in distress grants during this time is believed to also indirectly benefitted children birth to 6 year old in households (see response to Questions NW2068 & NW1853)

6.3 Minister announced on 30 July 2020 the Department of Social Development’s contribution in relation to the Presidential Employment Stimulus (South Africa’s Economic Reconstruction and Recovery Plan) towards the early childhood development workforce. Since the following was approved by the national Treasury for the National and Provincial Departments of Social Development to continue to mitigate the impact of the national state of disaster on ECD programmes and to facilitate the continues re-opening of ECD programmes:

a) R380 million was allocated for unemployment risk support that will benefit 83 333 existing ECD related workers

b) R116 million was 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, contributing to mitigating a second wave of COVID-19

c) R16.5 million was allocated for registration support officers who will assist in scaling up registration as part of Phase 2 of the Vangasali campaign

d) The Department of Social Development engaged with experts from UNICEF and the Nelson Mandela Foundation as well members of the Inter-Sectoral Committee for ECD to develop an implementation plan for the implementation of this grant as part of the ECD stimulus package.

Part (b) of question

6.4 Funding was repurposed from the existing conditional grant allocation to provide PPE’s to qualifying ECD programmes (see responses to Questions NW1318; NW1578 & NW1652)

6.5 The Department distributed food parcels since the beginning of the lockdown to curb the spread of the coronavirus to indigent persons and those whose income was affected, which is believed to also provided support households with children birth to 6 years (see responses to Question NW1561)

6.6 The National and Provincial Departments of Social Development continued to provide advice and guidance to early childhood development programmes regarding re-opening, which include information on how to re-open safe and in the best interest of children (see responses to Question NW1652)

1. Spaull et al. NIDS-CRAM Wave 2 Synthesis Findings. ↑

2. Wills, G., Kotze, J., Kika-Mistry, J. (2020) A Sector Hanging in the Balance: ECD and Lockdown in South Africa (National Income Dynamics Study-Coronavirus Rapid Mobile Survey (NIDS-CRAM) 2020, Wave 2) ↑

Reply:

Yes. The land rights enquiry has already been conducted and priority will be given to the current occupiers (black communities) confirmed to be having land rights for occupancy and land use formalization.

Reply:

1. The drought relief funds were transferred to the provinces in July 2020. Due to Covid-19 restrictions, progress in implementing the required interventions has been low. Verification of the affected farmers was also impacted. The Northern Cape Province distributed drought relief vouchers from 9th November to 4th December 2020 to qualifying farmers.

2. The Department of Agriculture, Land Reform and Rural Development will visit the Northern Cape Province in January 2021 for monitoring purpose.

Reply:

The Children’s Act and regulations outlines the general norms and standards for all ECD programmes wherever they are. The Act also prescribes that ECD services can be registered conditionally. To address this, the department developed the registration framework which gives effect to the registration of the services conditionally. The framework recommends registrations in three levels, that is bronze, Silver and gold. The bronze and silver level gives programmes the opportunity to register even when they do not comply with all the norms and standards. This is a developmental approach that has been taken to assist the programmes for the department to assist them to ultimately move to full registration (gold). This quality standards apply to all programmes whether in urban, settlements, rural and farm areas.

Reply:

(a), (b), (c) Yes. The Department has appointed service providers to conduct a full assessment of all farms acquired since the inception of the Land Reform Programme in 1994 which will determine the production levels. The drafted terms of reference confirm that the study will cover the level of productivity of each farm, the reason for the productivity problems of each farm where there is no productivity and the required targeted approach to address issues faced by each farm and the beneficiaries

To date, the Department has conducted a study on PLAS farms to determine the assets verification and suitability, post-acquisition support and enable monitoring of progress of these farms. Although the study did not focus exclusively on productivity, the variables within the questionnaire triggered the response on the actual productive status of the farm to provide a baseline performance statistic.

Reply:

The information provided for NA Question No 2991 is sufficient for response to this Question as well.

Reply:

(a) Honourable Member, the Department of Water and Sanitation allocated R88 million through the Water Services Infrastructure Grant WSIG), to the Rustenburg Local Municipality as the Water Services Authority to implement water infrastructure projects within the jurisdiction of the municipality. The R88 million was not only allocated for the Marikana Project. Of the total allocation of R88 million, the Marikana Project was allocated R12 513 355.

(b) The Marikana Project is being implemented by the Rustenburg Local Municipality and is currently at 90 % completion. The Department of Water and Sanitation is monitoring the project through site visits and receives progress reports for its provincial office on a monthly basis. The projected completion date provided is March 2021.

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:

1. Yes, the DCS centres have been affected by water shortages.

1.1 The following are the centres under OR Tambo District Municipality

• Lusikisiki;
• Flagstaff;
• Mqanduli; and
• Ngqeleni.

The major challenge is the capacity of water treatment plants that cannot cope with the demand. However, the Department has bought water tankers for those centres to augment when there is no municipal supply.

1.2 In addition, the following centres under Chris Hani District Municipality:

• Sada;
• Queenstown;
• Dordrect;
• Cofimvamba;
• Lady Frere;
• Engcobo; and
• Middelburg

The biggest challenge in this District is the high demand versus the capacity of the plant and ageing municipal infrastructure.

1.3 Furthermore, the following are the centres under Amathole District Municipality

• Idutywa
• Butterworth
• Middledrift

The biggest challenge is drought (drying up of dams which causes silting). DCS has also bought water tankers for those centres to augment when there is no municipal supply.

1.4 The following are centres under Nelson Mandela Metro:

• St Albans Medium A;
• St Albans Medium B; and
• St Albans Maximum;

The main challenges are lack of rainfall and this started beginning of this year. DCS is procuring Jojo tanks and 3 water tankers and is in talks with the municipality for alternative ways of supply.

(2)

(a) The immediate intervention undertaken by the Department is procurement of storage tanks and water tankers for various areas;

(b) Medium to long term plans are to survey ground water availability in order to drill boreholes. The process of surveying has started at St Albans.

Municipalities, as water services authorities, need to upgrade their water treatment plants to be in line with the population demand and maintenance of plants thereof.

(3) 

(a) Discipline

Offenders were addressed regarding the problem of water in the Nelson Mandela Bay Metropolitan (NMBM), and how this problem will affect the normal running of the activities in the Correctional centre. They were also alerted of attempts that were being made to mitigate the risk of no water. The briefing made offenders not to revolt or be aggressive as they see that even though there is no running water is provided for drinking and bathing.

(b) Operations

Water shortages in centres compromises security and the entire operations of a centre due to the following reasons:

• No steam to prepare food for offenders;
• No hot water generation for bathing;
• The hygiene of offenders is severely compromised. The security of the centres is also at risk.

END

Reply:

The Department of Home Affairs has already approved a waiver of visa requirements for diplomatic and official/service passport holders of Palestine. Currently the necessary protocols are being applied in order to conclude a reciprocal visa waiver agreement between the two countries. In so far as normal passport holders are concerned, the Department is currently exploring ways to lower the restrictive travel measures which applies to Palestinian nationals. The latter process is more extensive and requires wider consultation with various Government Clusters prior to conclusion.

END