Questions and Replies

Reply:

AGRICULTURAL RESEARCH COUNCIL (ARC)

(a) Latest findings from the investigation ordered by the Auditor-General on:

(i) Serious Mismanagement

• AGSA previously reported findings of serious financial misstatement at the ARC which relates to over expenditure for the 2015/16, 2016/17 and 2017/18 financial years; this was classified as a serious mismanagement by AGSA in their management reports.
• Irregular Expenditure of the ARC for the years ended 31 March 2016 (R205 177 358), 31 March 2017(R 199 263 480.40) and 31 March 2018 (R103 810 688.60) are attributed to over-expenditure on the budget.
• Included in the irregular expenditure for the year ended 31 March 2017 of R199 263 480 is an amount of R30 642 913 taken from the Foot and-Mouth Disease (FMD) Account to finance the overspending of R168 620 567.
• For the year ended 31 March 2018, included in the irregular expenditure of R103 810 688.60 is the amount of R27 808 410.60 taken from the Foot and Mouth Disease (FMD) Account which was used to finance the overspending of R76 002 278.
• The 2017/18 calculation of the overspending was based on excess expenditure over break- even budget as advised by the AGSA and was not in line with the calculations done for the other two years.

The overspending for the 3 years was as a result of the ARC not having sufficient budget to cover their operating expenses as the former Department of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries had the Parliamentary Grant (PG). Based on the analysis of the cash balance for the 3 years under review, the reflected cash balances were not a true reflection of the cash available for the operations of the organisation as it had cash designated for conditional grants as well as deposits received as advance payments from customers.

For the year ended 31 March 2017, the ARC actually had a negative cash balance of R133 million over expenditure on the ARC’s budget that resulted in an irregular expenditure finding by the AGSA.

National Treasury’s Irregular Expenditure Framework provides that if the irregular expenditure is irrecoverable and there is no person who is liable in law, the Accounting Authority may write off the amount in line with the policies and procedures of the Public Entity.

The investigation by Internal Audit noted that:

• The Executive Management Committee (EMC) of the ARC has regularly, through quarterly performance reports, reported the financial position of the ARC to the Accounting Officer of DAFF. This was done in compliance with the PFMA.
• The ARC has through its Council Committees raised concerns about the financial situation of the entity and letters were submitted to the Executive Authority about this matter.
• The financial situation of the ARC as a going concern was raised by the Audit and Risk Committee; and Council to the Minister and to the Portfolio Committee in each of the years. This was reported in the annual reports of the ARC for the relevant years. This is indicative of prudent and responsible management pertaining to the situation the ARC founds itself in and it was recommended that cost saving measures be implemented by the office of the Chief Financial Officer, which would include monitoring of expenditure on a monthly basis.
• Details of the serious mismanagement and investigations are in Annexure A.

(ii) Findings on Irregular Expenditure.

• Irregular expenditure to the value of R2 414 755.84 was identified during the 2017/18 financial year. The matter was investigated, and consequence management was finalized against 3 employees; disciplinary hearings are continuing against the remaining 2 employees.
• During the 2018/19 financial year, irregular expenditure of R9 173 094.38 was identified by the AGSA. The irregular expenditure resulted from a misinterpretation of Treasury Instruction 3 of 2016-17 that Single Source procurements above R500 000 must be approved/supported by National Treasury; investigations have not yet been completed.

(iii) Same as (i) and (ii).

(b) Not applicable to the ARC.

(c) Please refer to Annexure B for details of COVID-19 related procurement.

ONDERSTEPOORT BIOLOGICAL PRODUCTS (OBP):

Following the Auditor General’s (AG) Report, the OBP Board requested that all tenders awarded in the past five years including the Good Manufacturing Practice (GMP) facility upgrade be investigated. Four companies were selected for the investigation viz,

• Succoth: security services;
• Hadi holdings: supply of animal feed;
• Pressure group: supply of coal; and
• DEC: GMP facility upgrade

a) The latest findings from the investigation ordered by the Auditor-General on:

(i) Serious mismanagement:

Several cases of serious mismanagement were identified and led to the following consequence management actions:

• The CFO was suspended in October 2019 for serious breach and non-compliance with supply chain policies and processes. He lodged a dispute at the CCMA against the suspension and the case was settled at the CCMA.
• Operations executive was suspended in January 2020 for gross dereliction of duties.

(ii) Irregular expenditure:

• The awarding of Development Engineering Consultant Ltd (DEC) a tender was found to be irregular because it did not comply with the definition of deviation. An application for condonation in line with National Treasury Irregular Expenditure Framework is in progress.
• Succoth was found to be irregular due to the owner being a state employee. The contract was immediately terminated. An application for condonation in line with National Treasury Irregular Expenditure Framework is in progress.

(iii) Serious supply chain irregularities that took place over the past four financial years:

• The review of the contracts with four of the above service providers found several irregularities and were terminated during the third quarter of 2019-2020, namely
  • Succoth – security services: as described above.
  • Hadi holdings – supply of animal feed: terms of the contract were crafted to be unfavourable to OBP (over-priced and over supply).
  • Pressure group – supply of coal: contract crafted in a way that encouraged delivery of non-compliant coal.
• Two procurement administrators were suspended for amongst others collusion between staff and the tenderer / sub-contractors. They were charged and eventually resigned during the disciplinary hearings.

b) Details of the refurbishment and modernisation of the existing Good Manufacturing Practice (GMP) facility.

In 2013 National Treasury approved and awarded OBP a grant of R493 million for the construction of a modern GMP compliant vaccine production facility. Upon receipt of the grant, Executive Management decided to use R130 million from the R493 Million received for refurbishment and procurement of equipment, leaving a balance of R363 million available for the GMP facility project. Later when the Executive Management established that the R363m will be insufficient for the initially planned new vaccine production facility (Green Field), they resolved to embark on the upgrade of the current facility (Brown Field Project).

The consulting engineers were then requested to drastically reduce the provisional sums, but the scope was not revised. The tender was advertised where DEC Engineering was appointed with a tender pricing of R31 million excluding value added tax, on a contract which includes a multidisciplinary team of consultants. ISF Construction was appointed for the construction and process equipment with a tender pricing of R277 million excluding value added tax.

Both internal and external audit raised a range of concerns. In November 2019, the project Manager resigned, leaving the Operations Executive as the driver. In January 2020, the Operations Executive was suspended and later charged for misrepresentation, gross dereliction of duties including lying to the Board. He resigned on mutual separation whilst the disciplinary process was in progress.

The CEO appointed a Project Manager reporting directly to his office and to a Project Steering Committee comprising of several executives and managers directly relevant to the project. The CEO and the Board resolved to commission an independent review that will provide a comprehensive status of the project including year to date variances, extrapolated expenditure, completion date and legislative impact.

To date the procurement of equipment is in progress and construction of the facility resumed after level 3 lockdown. The expected date of completing construction is 1 June 2021.

However, the CEO discovered that certain critical processes at downstream level were not included during the planning and advised the Board who resolved that a revision of process flow be conducted with the involvement of the Project Engineers, Operation Management and the Quality Assurance Manager. The Quality Assurance Manager was tasked to lead the process given the vast experience and certification in GMP of the newly appointed manager. The adjusted facility plan and subsequent budget will be finalised and presented to the board.

c) Details of all procurement done for Covid-19 related purposes

Below is a table listing all Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) procured during the COVID period. On or about 22 June 2020 it was brought to the CEO’s attention that surgical masks were purchased in a period of two weeks at a unit price of R32 (while the price from most suppliers was around R7 per mask). This resulted in an investigation which led to the suspension of the Supply Chain Manager on 25 June 2020. An investigation has taken place and the charges have been drafted and sent to the Supply Chain Manager; she is now facing a disciplinary hearing for gross misconduct on three charges. The Company will soon start with the disciplinary hearing into the matter.

Company Name	Description	Quantity	Unit Price	Total
Siphumelele Industries	Surgical Face Masks	150*50(per box)	R32	R240 000
Siphumelele Industries	Surgical Face Masks	180*50 (per box)	R32	R288 000
Rashuma Consulting	Surgical Face Masks	300 * 50 (per Box)	R7,20	R108 000
ACS Promotions	99% Ethanol	160*25 Liters	R22,59	R90 390
KRU Energy	Ethanol	600*25 Liters	R69	R1 035 000
KRU Energy (Pty) Ltd	Ethanol	2 000 liters	R50,60	R105 685
KRU Energy (Pty) Ltd	Hand Sanitizer	2 000	R69	R138 000
KRU Energy (Pty) Ltd	Hand Sanitizer	7 020	R69	R484 380

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:

(1)(a),(b) As at 31 March 2020, please refer to the table below.

(a)
No. of days	Quantity	Value
30-60	98	5 615 867.06
(b)
61-90	9	1 807 241.98
91-180	24	1 496 044.94
>180	5	09.60

(2) Please refer to the table below.

Reason for non-compliance

Mitigation

The main contributor to the late payment of service providers is lack of proper internal controls which relate to the tracing of the status of a particular invoice and supporting documents as they are processed through the various verification channels within the Department including from provinces to national office.

The Department implemented the invoice tracking system which allows for more effective tracing of the status of invoices as they are processed through verification channels. The system requires that the Department has one central point for receiving invoices; this makes invoice tracking more effective and efficient. Each official on the chain is allocated a timeframe to perform the relevant function pertaining to that invoice. If there is non-compliance to timeframes, the system escalates the matter to the next level of authority. Change management sessions with all internal stakeholders will be conducted through the Corporate Services Branch. Officials’ performance agreements include the payment of invoices within 30 days as a key performance area on which performance is assessed. Officials found to be non-compliant are issued with letters of non-compliance as a punitive measure and to alert officials of their responsibility in ensuring compliance to the 30 days’ requirement.

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:

No. Some members of the Gwatyu community, acting through an attorney, submitted an application for registration of a Provisional Association on 30 July 2014. Question 992 sought information on applications for registration as communal property associations, which were outstanding. The interpretation applied to the word “outstanding”, meant an application that was in the possession of the Department of Rural Development and Land Reform and was still being processed. The Gwatyu application was not included since it was neither an application for registration of a communal property association nor an outstanding application.

Notwithstanding the above, the Department of Agriculture, Land Reform and Rural Development has since undertaken a land rights enquiry on all the farms and once finalised, the affected communities will be workshopped on various land holding arrangements and will be given an opportunity to choose the best suitable land holding structure that suits their existing circumstances taking into consideration various land rights that may exist on these farms.

If the community then chooses to register a CPA, the Department will ensure that the requirements that are set out in section 8(4) and (5) of the Communal Property Association Act, 28 of 1996 are met.

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

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. 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

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:

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:

1. Regulation 3(b) to the Social Assistance Act, 2004 confirms that a person is eligible for a disability grant if that person has attained the age of 18 years, and “the disability is confirmed by an assessment ….” The Act further defines an assessment as “the medical examination by a medical officer of a person or child in order to determine disability or care-dependency for the purposes of recommending a finding for the awarding o social grant..” and medical officer is defined as “any medical practitioner in the service of the State, or a person appointed under a contract to perform the functions or render the services of a medical officer in terms of the Act”.

Given the challenges in the Health environment with the provision of assessment services for all applicants and beneficiaries for disability-related grants, SASSA strategically decided to contract medical officers to supplement the services provided by the Department of Health by contracting doctors directly through an open tender process for a period of 36 months. A set criteria is used to select doctors who are contracted to conduct social assistance assessments, see below:

The medical doctors must:

1.1  Have a Medical Qualification or a Medical Degree;

1.2 Be currently registered with the Health Professions Council of South Africa (HPCSA) as a medical practitioner for at least 2 years;

1.3 Must demonstrate Tax compliance through the submission of a Valid Tax Clearance Certificate as issued by the South African Revenue Services;

1.4 Must be Registered with the Central Supplier Database held by National Treasury;

1.5 Have an understanding of Social Assistance issues; and

1.6 Be willing to attend induction workshops on the assessment tools and the Social Assistance Act No 13 of 2004 as amended and related Regulations. This ensures that the contracted doctors are able to comply with the requirements for the rendering of disability assessment services prior to commencement of undertaking assessments.

2. The doctors must not have:

2.1. Been convicted in any court of law for Social Grants Related Fraud; or

2.2. Been excluded or suspended from conducting medical evaluations for SASSA or any other organ of state. An affidavit is sufficient at the point of Bid submission but should any bidder fail a vetting process, SASSA has the right to terminate the services of that particular service provider.

b) There are no doctors who have had their contracts terminated because of fraudulent transactions

c) There is no loss that is attributable to fraudulent doctors over the past five financial years.

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. In an effort to encourage and assist persons and /or communities in rural areas to utilize the land for food production and food security, the Department of Agriculture, Land Reform and Rural Development (DALRRD) has developed the Agriculture and Agro-processing Master Plan which focuses on district-based commodity production schemes driven through mass production by rural communities and households within a given radius and supported by a Production Support Centre. All existing farmer support programmes of DALRRD are being aligned to this plan which should ensure that at least 1 270 340 rural households are food-secure by 2030.

The issue about agricultural land in communal areas fast becoming residential developments is a function that is currently being managed by traditional councils in whose area of jurisdiction the land currently falls. DALRRD stands ready to assist traditional councils and communities to develop land use schemes that will provide a legal and orderly basis on which the land use can be regulated.

2. DALRRD’s position is that no development or support can be provided on farms that are lying fallow due to land beneficiaries fighting over resources until the dispute is resolved through social facilitation.

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:

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. Quantities of Foot and Mouth Disease vaccine are procured by instruction of the Department of Agriculture, Land Reform and Rural Development (DALRRD) through the two State Owned Entities (SOEs), namely the Agricultural Research Centre (ARC) and the Onderstepoort Biological Products. These vaccines are sourced by the SOEs from the Botswana Vaccine Institute for routine vaccination and vaccination when there is an outbreak.

2. Agriculture is a concurrent function as per the Constitution of South Africa. The Provincial Departments of Agriculture are responsible for the provincial operations of veterinary services, including farm visits and schedules.

Below is the state veterinary doctor’s visitation to farmers for the financial year: 2019/20

Province	Annual Target	Pre-audited Annual Achievement ***
Eastern Cape	11 244	13 857
Free State	3 200	4 634
Gauteng	8 500	7 678
KwaZulu Natal	15 000	17 326
Limpopo	15 064	11 960
Mpumalanga	17 798	15 314
Northern Cape	6 000	6 558
North West	12 230	17 030
Western Cape	10 000	14 333
Consolidated	99 036	108 690

***Kindly note that figures are based on 2019/20 pre-audited data as reported by provinces.

Below is the state veterinary doctor’s visitation to farmers for the financial year 2020/2021

Province	Revised Annual Target	Quarter 1 achievement	Quarter 2 Achievement ***	Annual Progress to date	Annual (%) Performance
Eastern Cape	11 024	3 288	5 924	9 212	84%
Free State	2 400	547	923	1 470	61%
Gauteng	6 400	272	1 521	1 793	28%
KwaZulu Natal	20 000	3000	4 837	7 837	39%
Limpopo	3 050	1 767	2 939	4 706	154%
Mpumalanga	17 798	3 310	4 213	7 523	42%
Northern Cape	500	275	686	961	192%
North West	10 382	2 550	3 494	6 044	58%
Western Cape	10 000	1 911	3 768	5 679	57%
Consolidated	81 554	16 920	28 305	45 225	55%

*** For all figures that are highlighted in red, the data has not been verified by DALRRD

3. There is currently no strike at the ARC.

4. (a) The ARC as with many other organizations experienced delay in the procurement of laboratory reagents, mostly due to disruptions in the global supply chains of imported chemicals. (b) The ARC has made adjustments to the complement of employees as per the changes allowed in respect of managing possible impacts of Covid-19, with limited employees on site at any particular point. The ARC is now on full complement of employees to provide full services timeously.

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:

Eastern Cape:

Departmental Interventions

As part of intervention strategies, the Department of Social Development has implemented the following activities to Rural Areas and Informal Settlements:

• The Eastern Cape Department of Social Development teamed with South African Social Security Agency (SASSA) and co- ordinated the lists of destitute people from all Local Municipalities who were forced to stay at home, as per COVID- 19 Regulations and were not able to do their temporal work for their living. These lists were submitted to SASSA for assessment and received Social Relief of Distress in the form of food parcels from their budget.

 

• Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) in the form of face masks, hand gloves and sanitizers were provided by Provincial office to all Department of Social Development (DSD) offices in order for Social Service Practitioners to be able to interact with all communities in their sphere of operations and continue the services during lockdown as essential service workers.

• The Department formed part of the COVID-19 Ward-Based Rapid Response Teams which were created by Eastern Cape Provincial Government that aimed at prevention, outreach and educational programmes to the rural and informal communities through joint operations with other stakeholders such as Department of Education and Health on the learner support programmes for the Grade 12 learners (e.g. coping mechanisms and family support programmes).

 

• Community Nutrition Development Centres (CNDC) were closed as per the national directive however food parcels were provided to all 33 CNDCs in 6 District Municipalities and 2 Metropolitan through “Knock and Drop” for CNDC participants to prepare food from their homes and not eating from the centre in order to apply social distancing.
• Psycho- Social services in the form of In-Depth Telephone Interviews and Counselling Services were provided to people infected and affected by COVID- 19 living in Informal Settlements and Rural Areas including those referred by Department of Health and Department of Education. The service was later extended to contact sessions with the change of levels of lockdown.

• The Department established 19 Shelters for the Homeless People in the 6 Districts and 2 Metropolitans Municipalities for the vulnerable individuals that were found homeless around Towns, Cities and Informal Settlements. Homeless People were provided with food, accommodation and psychosocial support during their stay in the Shelters. Social Service Practitioners also unified some of the homeless people with their families after being screened for COVID-19.

• The Eastern Cape Department of Social Development has spent R5, 239, 000 from Social Relief of Distress (SRD) budget on food parcels for 3,362 households/ families who are needy especially those staying in Informal Settlements and Rural Areas. The Department has also received additional budget of R78 million on SRD to cover families in need. The Department is considering provision of food voucher or bank generated coupons amounting R750 per family and discussions are at an advanced stage between Provincial office and the bank for implementation to take place.

• Early Childhood Development Centres (ECD) centres were closed as per the national directive ever since 26 March 2020 when Lockdown started. The Department funds 2, 933 Early Childhood Development Centres from the Equitable Share amounting to R219, 704, 000 and 1310 ECD centres from Conditional Grant amounting to R123, 817, 000. Households with ECD learners within Rural Areas and Informal Settlements were prioritised for provision of Food Parcels under Social Relief of Distress. The DSD has embarked on the process of assessment and verification of ECD centres, in preparation for supporting their opening which revealed that most of them were not ready due to unavailability of PPE.

• The steep rise of Gender Based Violence statistics after the National Lockdown, necessitated the Department of Social Development to re-open Victim Empowerment Programme (VEP) Centers to back up Social Service Practitioners with all volunteers who were recruited under VEP in May 2020. Volunteers together with Social Workers were providing Psychosocial Support and Counselling to the infected and affected individuals in the rural and informal communities.

Free State:

At the time of responding to this question; the province had not yet provided their response.

Gauteng:

The Department funds NPOs across the Province. These NPOs targets risk areas with high rates of poverty, unemployment and social related issues. These areas include informal settlements and rural areas, noting that Gauteng demographics is characterized by semi-rural / urban areas.

Whilst ECDs remained closed during the Lockdown, all other NPOs rendering services to vulnerable groups were provided with 1st Quarter subsidy payment to assist the NPOs in putting the necessary safety compliance measures in place to ensure minimal disruption in service delivery and curb the spread of COVID-19.

In addition, the Department had firstly partnered with the Church of Scientology to decontaminate residential facilities (Old Age Homes and Homes for Disabled) and Homeless, secondly facilitated and supported NPOs with the procurement of Personal Protective Equipment, and thirdly guided and provided training on safety protocols.

In all of the above interventions, the Department targets all areas where there is a need for services whilst ensuring safety measures are in place at all times.

KwaZulu-Natal:

KwaZulu-Natal Social Development suspended operations in the ECD Centre, Community Care Centres for the elderly, rehabilitation programs for people living with disability, CND’s including youth academies operations were suspended during lockdown to curb the spread of covid19.

The Department further suspended public visits to residential facilities and gatherings targeting more than 50 people.

In the main, a large proportion of services provided by the department target communities in rural areas, per-urban areas including informal settlements and townships therefore the suspension of these services was a way of curbing the spread of covid19 in communities mentioned above.

 

Limpopo:

The Limpopo Department of Social Development has put in place the following measures to curtail the spread of COVID-19 in rural areas:

• Provision of directions prevented members of the public from visiting residential facilities and our institutions
• Psychosocial support services to the infected and affected members of the community
• Appointment of Covid-19 compliance officers in all institutions
• Training by Department of Health to the Covid-19 members of the screening committee
• PPE’s provided to our facilities and institutions
• Strategies and protocols have been developed on the management of COVID-19 in residential facilities and service points in the rural areas.
• Capacity has been built on officials working in communities such as Social Workers and Community Development Practitioners and those working in facilities of care for ability to self-protect and that beneficiaries in facilities.
• Ongoing plans in place to monitor facilities of care and to ensure that measures are in place to prevent spread of the virus in line with national regulations.

The facilities have been provided with PPE’s for all officials as well as all beneficiaries.

Mpumalanga:

• All services that required direct contact with clients were suspended to curb the spread of COVID 19.
• The Department operated as a nerve centre at Provincial, District and Local level to coordinate and provide services to clients in distress.
• The Department also opened a call centre for clients to call and or send sms and please call me for services required.
• The Department worked closely with other stakeholders to ensure proper referrals for clients who needed services.

North West:

The Department of Social Development in the North West implemented the following measures to prevent the spread of Covid-19 in rural areas:

Developed strategy and protocols on management of COVID 19 in residential facilities for older persons and Persons with Disabilities.

Training provided to 96 on the strategy and protocol to employees in the Department and those working in residential care facilities so that they protect themselves in their respective communities and the residents / beneficiaries in facilities.

61 x Residential care facilities monitored to ensure that measures are in place to prevent the spread of the virus as per the protocols.

61 x facilities provided with PPE of 2x5lt sanitizer and 2 x boxes of 50 pcs of mask per facility.

Intervened in 15 residential care facilities that had outbreaks of COVID 19 to ensure that protocols are complied with to curb the spread of the virus.

Northern Cape:

(a)(b) Rural areas and informal settlements. All officials were available to intervene in the following:

• Reported cases of Child abuse, Elderly Abuse or Neglect as well as Gender Based Violence.
• Victims were removed and placed in Child and Youth Care Centres, Old Age Homes or Shelters for Victims of GBV.
• Homeless persons were accommodated in temporary shelters and re-unified with family members as soon as possible.
• DSD took responsibility for transporting persons from these areas to the appropriate facilities and also linked with the Department of Health for assistance when needed.
• Officials received PPEs and were informed about the protocol to be followed when interacting with community members to limit the risk of infection with the Corona virus.
• Quarterly subsidies were paid for April - June 2020 to all funded organisations to pay the salaries of their professional and support staff including volunteers and caregivers and administration costs. From July 2020 the normal subsidy payment process applied.
• Monthly subsidies are paid to ECD Centres from April - September 2020 despite being closed. It is applicable to those who are subsidized, registered and submitted business plans and they receive 60% of the subsidy (40% for salaries and 20% for administration).
• Social Relief of Distress (Food Parcels and Clothing vouches) were provided to families assessed to be unable to meet their basic needs and are victims of disasters e.g. houses or belongings destroyed because of fires and floods.

• In essence the DSD services are rural biased. Out of a cohort of 143 Nutrition Centres, a total of 123 Nutrition Centres are located in rural areas and rendering food provision services in these rural areas.

• The Department took a deliberate decision not to open the Nutrition Centres, as that would have caused the convergence of people at these centres (creating a conducive environment for the spread of the virus).

• The Department instead worked with its DSD District Offices and Local Municipalities on rendering food provision services to DSD beneficiaries and indigent households on their indigent registers/beneficiary lists. The majority of the municipal indigent households are residing in rural areas and informal settlements and received food security services in the form of food parcels.

• To date 58 136 households received food parcels and to facilitate social distancing and to ensure that the poor and vulnerable are not exposed to risks associated with Covid-19, these food parcels were hand delivered/door-to-door to individual households.

• Officials from the Department were also provided with PPEs to protect themselves and household members to whom food provision services were rendered.

Western Cape:

• Protocols have been put in place between the WC provincial DSD and the Department of Health with regards to referrals of COVID-19 outbreaks at old age homes.
• Guidelines were also developed for Disabled Homes, Homeless Shelters and Shelters for Abuse Women
• Guidelines were developed for rendering statutory services related to child protection services.
• All NGOs contracted by the Department of Social Development was still paid a monthly subsidy and all NPOs received their full subsidies during the lock-down period in Western Cape. This ensured that NPOs could continue supporting vulnerable groups.
• Funds were made available to old age homes for the management of COVID19, providing of PPE, relief staff and covid 19 health training and support to the staff.
• Funds have been made available for disabled Homes for the management of COVID 19
• Funds were made available for PPE in preparation for the re-opening of ECD partial care facilities
• ECD facilities were assisted in the self-assessment of readiness for the re-opening after lockdown level 3.
• Additional masks, sanitizers, soap and hygiene products have been distributed to 117 old age homes, 40 Disabled Homes, 26 Homeless Shelter, 6 Foster Cluster Care Homes and 20 Shelters for Abuse Woman.
• Various NPOs rendering child designated work were also provided with masks for the Social Workers. The PPE’s were donations from private companies.
• Child Designated NPOs and DSD local offices continued providing psycho-social support to children and their families.
• DSD also facilitated the deployment of volunteers to deep-clean old age homes, disabled Homes, Shelters and inpatient treatment centres – with a focus on facilities in vulnerable communities, hotspot areas and rural areas
• Food parcels were distributed to communities
• WC Department of Education continued with their school feeding schemes during lockdown
• ECDs also provided food to children during lockdown
• Drop-in-centres and Isibindi Sites provided food during lockdown.

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:

1. The National Development Plan (NDP) articulates the importance of both the domestic and exports markets towards realization of the inclusive growth of the agricultural sector. Further, the strategic plan of the Department supports cogent and sustainable agricultural business practices that will ensure economic transformation, inclusive growth and international competitiveness of the sector. Critical to inclusive growth is the participation of previously disadvantaged producers and communities in the mainstream agricultural value chains and export markets. Inclusive growth relates to creating value chain opportunities for penetration and participation by agribusinesses accompanied by growing jobs for the sector. The export of live animals from South Africa allows and provides the base for such participation. The Department only allows these exports when conducted within and in compliance to applicable legislation, including welfare legislation, the Animal Protection Act, 1962 (Act No. 24 of 1962) which regulates against cruelty to animals.

2. Inclusive economic growth is reliant on the competitiveness of the agribusinesses. Further, competitiveness of the agribusinesses drives the ability of the agricultural sector to create sustainable jobs.

3. The Department is working on a draft Animal Welfare Bill for introduction to the National Assembly in the next financial year. The department has received a positive response in the Phase 1 socio-economic impact assessment system (SEIAS) application to the Department of Planning, Monitoring and Evaluation (DPME) and has started with internal consultation (DALRRD and provincial Departments of Agriculture) on the draft.

A two-pronged approach towards addressing regulations has been adopted by the Department. Firstly, the Department is drafting regulations relating to the export of live animals under the current Animals Protection Act, 1962 as an interim measure. Secondly the Department will draft new Regulations under the intended Animal Welfare Act once the new Bill has been assented to.

4. No.

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:

There is no disproportionate secrecy applied by the State Security Agency with regard to the Joint Standing Committee on Intelligence (JSCI) which oversees the State Security Agency. Section 4(1) of the Intelligence Services Oversight Act, 1994 (Act 40 of 1994) (“the Act”) makes it mandatory that the JSCI shall, in the performance of its functions, have access to intelligence, information and documents in the possession or under the control of a Service, notwithstanding anything to the contrary contained in any other law or the common law, but subject only to the stated conditions in the Act.

Progress reports on implementation of the High Level Review Panel Report were presented to the Parliament Joint Standing Committee on Inteligence (JSCI). The Honourable D Kohler, Member of Parliament can access these progress report from the JSCI.

Reply:

Reply to this Parliamentary Question has been logged with the Parliament Joint Standing Committee on Intelligence (JSCI).

Reply:

1. (a)(b)(c) and (2) investigations are still on going.

Reply:

This Parliamentary question deal with sensitive State Security Agency operational issues, of which Joint Standing Committee on Intelligence (JSCI) in Parliament has been created to deal with. Accordinly, reply to this parliamentary question has been submitted to the Parliament’s Joint Standing Committee on Intelligence (JSCI).

Reply:

Reply to this Parliamentary Question has been logged with the Parliament Joint Standing Committee on Intelligence (JSCI), which has also received briefing on the Progress with regard to the implementation of the recommendations in the High Level Review Panel Report.

Reply:

(a) what is the status of the pilot studies on the Scripted Lesson Plans (SLPs), and (b) have the final SLPs been approved:

The Grades 4 - 12 Scripted Lesson Plans have been  piloted and approved by the DBE. These are available on the DBE website.

(c) by what date does her department intend to roll out the SLPs nationally?

The SLPs are a teacher tool used to guide the provision of CSE content in the classroom. The roll-out in high HIV burden districts was planned to start in 2020. However, this has been deferred to 2021. 

Reply:

(a) According to information received from the Eastern Cape Provincial Department of Human Settlements, there are six (6) Housing Projects outstanding since 2016.

Data on the Housing Subsidy System (HSS) captured by the Eastern Cape Province indicates that there are 72 projects within the Buffalo City Municipality, with 27 457 beneficiaries registered on them. Of these 72 projects, 27 projects have already been completed since April 2016.

A total of 45 projects have a “running” status which implies that some expenditure has been incurred. These are at various stages of progress but are yet to be completed.

A total of 17 895 housing units have been delivered in terms of the completed and partially completed (running) projects, as at 30 September 2020. This implies that 9 562 units are in projects that are to be completed in the coming years from the 45 (running) projects.

(b) The reasons for the delays in the housing projects are:

• Lack of integrated planning between the Province and Metropolitan Municipality for the provision and linking of bulk infrastructure and the top structure development;
• Delays in electricity connection leading to deferrals in occupation and sometimes illegal invasion;
• Delays in beneficiary verification in cases where the applicant is deceased and heirloom is not confirmed;
• Untraceable beneficiaries as well as illegal occupation of the completed units, especially those that are 95% completed, awaiting final inspections and electricity connection;
• Poor performance of contractors

c) The Eastern Cape Provincial Business Plan (as revised) has indicated that 1 253 houses are planned to be delivered in Buffalo City Municipality during the current (2020/21) financial year. In the financial year 2021/22, 1 377 units are planned to be built by the Buffalo City Municipality, and in the 2022/23 financial year 1 380 units are planned to be constructed.

Reply:

I have been advised by the SABC as follows:

1. Government departments owe money to two divisions of the SABC that is TV Licences and Advertising. The following is in accordance with the TV Licence database:

(1)(a) A total of 20 National departments have outstanding TV licence fees balances. 126 Provincial departments have outstanding licence fees,

(1)(b) A total of 249 municipality accounts owe television licence fees

(1)(c) A total of 57 SOEs have outstanding TV licence fees on their accounts.

The following with regard to SABC Sales (Advertising):

National Department: 3

Provincial Departments: 24

Municipalities: 6

SOEs: 8

(2)(a) National/Provincial Departments

Department	Segments	Province
Government Communications	National	National
National Department of Health	National	National
Department of Trade and Industry	National	National
Department of Education Polokwane	Provincial	Limpopo
Free State Department of Health	Provincial	Free State
KZN Department of Health	Provincial	Kwa-Zulu Natal
Department of Education and North West	Provincial	North West
Eastern Cape Provincial Legislature	Provincial	Eastern Cape
Free State Department of Provincial Treasury	Provincial	Free State
Department of Health North West	Provincial	North West
KZN Department of Transport	Provincial	Kwa-Zulu Natal
Department of Public Works Polokwane	Provincial	Limpopo
Department of Community Safety and Liaison	Provincial	Kwa-Zulu Natal
Department of Co-operative Governance - KZN	Provincial	Kwa-Zulu Natal
Kwa-Zulu Natal Education Department	Provincial	Kwa-Zulu Natal
Department of Health Mmabatho	Provincial	Kwa-Zulu Natal
The office of the Premier KZN	Provincial	Kwa-Zulu Natal
KZN Provincial Treasury	Provincial	Kwa-Zulu Natal
Premiers Office Mpumalanga	Provincial	Mpumalanga
Eastern Cape Provincial Treasury	Provincial	Eastern Cape
North West Legislature	Provincial	North West
Department Sport, Art and Culture - Mpumalanga	Provincial	Mpumalanga
Department of Human Settlements KZN	Provincial	Kwa-Zulu Natal
Department of Agriculture KZN	Provincial	Kwa-Zulu Natal
Department of Social Development KZN	Provincial	Kwa-Zulu Natal
Department of Agriculture Mpumalanga	Provincial	Mpumalanga
Department of Human Settlements Mpumalanga	Provincial	Mpumalanga

(b) Municipalities

Department	Segments	Province
Ethekwini Municipality	Municipality	Kwa-Zulu natal
Mopani District Municipality	Municipality	Limpopo
Thabo Mofutsanyana District	Municipality	Free State
Umzinyathi District Council	Municipality	Kwa-Zulu Natal
Maluti A Phofung Local Municipality	Municipality	Free State
Nkangala District Municipality	Municipality	Mpumalanga

(c) State Owned Entities

Names	Segments	Province
Compensation Funds Pty Ltd	SOE	National
Legal Aid South Africa	SOE	National
South African Social Security Agency	SOE	National
Sassa Province of the Eastern	SOE	Eastern Cape
Western Cape Conservation Board	SOE	Western Cape
Small Enterprise Finance Agency Ltd	SOE	National
Ithala Soc Ltd	SOE	Kwazulu Natal
Auditor-General	SOE	National

3. (a) TV License

Departments	Amount Owe
National Departments	R1 688 295.30
Provincial Departments	R18 694 129.47
Municipalities	R6 302 170.10
SOEs	R1 595 601.76

 

Sales Advertising

Departments	Amount Owe
National Departments	R13,139,832
Provincial Departments	R 9,221,629
Municipalities	R 2,343,711
SOEs	R 4,535,975

(b) The debt is for TV licence and sales (Advertising)

(c) Sales Advertising

 

Department	Segment	PROVINCE	TERMS	Total Outstanding
Ethekwini Municipality	Municipality	Kwa-Zulu Natal	30 days	1,179,182
Mopani District Municipality	Municipality	Limpopo	30 days	950,000
Thabo Mofutsanyana District	Municipality	Free State	30 days	89,944
Umzinyathi District Council	Municipality	Kwa-Zulu Natal	30 days	58,538
Maluti A Phofung Local Municipality	Municipality	Free State	30 days	54,165
Nkangala District Municipality	Municipality	Mpumalanga	30 days	11,881
Total Municipality				2,343,711
Government Communication And	National	National	30 Days	12,272,622
National Department of Health	National	National	30 Days	840,823
Department of Trade and Industry	National	National	30 Days	26,388
Total National Departments				13,139,832
Department of Education Polokwane	Provincial	Limpopo	30 days	1,904,762
Free State Department of Health	Provincial	Free State	30 days	862,500
KZN Department of Health Communication	Provincial	Kwazulu Natal	30 days	708,996
Department of Education and North West	Provincial	North West	30 days	701,247
Eastern Cape Provincial Legislature	Provincial	Eastern Cape	30 days	659,749
Free State Department Of Provincial Treasury	Provincial	Free State	30 days	575,000
Department of Health North West	Provincial	North West	30 days	453,282
KZN Department of Transport	Provincial	Kwa-Zulu Natal	30 days	421,274
Department of Public Works Polokwane	Provincial	Limpopo	30 days	416,566
Department of Community Safety and Liaison	Provincial	Kwa-Zulu Natal	30 days	405,375
Department of Co-operative Governance - KZN	Provincial	Kwa-Zulu Natal	30 days	381,967
Kwa-Zulu Natal Education Department	Provincial	Kwa-Zulu Natal	30 days	373,371
Department of Health Mmabatho	Provincial	Kwa-Zulu Natal	30 days	215,296
The Office of the Premier KZN	Provincial	Kwa-Zulu Natal	30 days	186,818
KZN Provincial Treasury	Provincial	Kwa-Zulu Natal	30 days	163,254
Premiers Office Mpumalanga	Provincial	Mpumalanga	30 days	158,107
Eastern Cape Provincial Treasury	Provincial	Eastern Cape	30 days	126,500
North West Legislature	Provincial	North West	30 days	105,727
Department Sport, Art And Culture - Mpumalanga	Provincial	Mpumalanga	30 days	97,257
Department of Human Settlements KZN	Provincial	Kwa-Zulu Natal	30 days	91,931
Department of Agriculture KZN	Provincial	Kwa-Zulu Natal	30 days	82,189
Department of Social Development KZN	Provincial	Kwa-Zulu Natal	30 days	65,723
Department of Agriculture Mpumalanga	Provincial	Mpumalanga	30 days	51,957
Department of Human Settlements Mpumalanga	Provincial	Mpumalanga	30 days	12,782
Total Provincial Departments				9,221,629
Compensation Funds Pty Ltd	SOE	National	30 days	3,760,219
Legal Aid South Africa	SOE	National	30 days	359,649
South African Social Security Agency	SOE	National	30 days	172,638
SASSA Province Of The Eastern	SOE	Eastern Cape	30 days	96,773
Western Cape Conservation Board	SOE	Western Cape	30 days	56,870
Small Enterprise Finance Agency Ltd	SOE	National	30 days	36,819
Ithala SOC Ltd	SOE	Kwazulu Natal	30 days	29,360
Auditor General	SOE	National	30 days	23,649
Total SOE				4,535,975
TOTAL ALL GOVERNMENT				29,241,147

Note: For more information of sales (advertising) attached is the spreadsheet

Attached is a PDF documents with regards to how long is the TV license debt outstanding

(d) The SABC continues to follow its collection processes to collect outstanding debts by communicating these balances to the departments and SOEs. However, “special” additional campaigns commenced in the month of October with priority on SOEs. Intervention through the Group Chief Executive Officer’s communique is planned for distribution in the months to follow to all the departments and municipalities.

 

MS. STELLA NDABENI-ABRAHAMS, MP

MINISTER OF COMMUNICATIONS AND DIGITAL TECHNOLOGIES

Reply:

(1)(a) The maximum capacity of the Teebus Tunnel is 40 m3/s.

(b) The volumes being diverted vary per operational year. The table below indicates the volumes (million m3/annum) diverted over the past six years:

Year	2014-2015	2015-2016	2016-2017	2017-2018	2018-2019	2019-2020
Volume Million m3/a	757	779	756	727	774	801

(2) The maximum transfer capacity through the tunnel is only implemented when both Gariep and Van Der Kloof dams are spilling in order to maximise the use of water resources and improve the water quality. The monthly transfers are based on the water requests from the Great Fish Water Users Association (GFWUA), Lower Sundays River Water Users Association (LSRWUA) coupled with domestic water use and calculated dilution requirements to maintain the acceptable water quality provided to the LSRWUA.

(3)(a) The total volume of water from the scheme that has been allocated per annum is as follows:

• Great Fish River Water Users Association: The farms in the northern part of the valley between Teebus and Elandsdrift have an allocation of 13 500 m3/ha/a, while those between Elandsdrift and Middleton receive 12 500 m3/ha/a, with a total water allocation of 426 million m3/a for the scheduled area of 32 565 ha. The allocations apply at “farm gate”. An additional provision of 25% (106 million m3/a) has been allocated for canal distribution losses.

(b) For the Lower Sundays River Water Users Association, the current scheduled area for the LSRWUA is 18 845 ha at 9 000 m3/ha/a (170 million m3/a).

(c) For the Glen Melville Dam 1.1 million m3/a is allocated to supply Grahamstown.

(d) The Lower Fish Permit Area is part of the Great Fish River Water Users Association with the scheduled area of 32 565 ha, amounting to an allocation of 426 million m3/a.

Reply:

I have been advised by the Department as follows:-

The person in question is not an employee of the Department of Communications and Digital Technologies.

 

MS. STELLA NDABENI-ABRAHAMS, MP

MINISTER OF COMMUNICATIONS AND DIGITAL TECHNOLOGIES

Reply:

I have been advised by the Deputy Minister as follows:

a) No payments were made in the current financial year as well as in the previous financial years.

b) Not applicable.

 

 

MS. STELLA NDABENI-ABRAHAMS, MP

MINISTER OF COMMUNICATIONS AND DIGITAL TECHNOLOGIES

Reply:

(1)(a) The average percentage water loss per annum in terms of the allocation to the Great Fish River Water Users Association in terms of the allocation is as follows:

Annual allocation (Mm3 )	Average annual water loss (Mm3)	Percentage (%) water losses
426	106.5	25%

(b) The average percentage water loss per annum in terms of the allocation to the Lower Sundays River Water Users Association in terms of the allocation is as follows:

Annual allocation (Mm3 )	Average water loss (Mm3)	Percentage (%) Water Losses
170	19	11.3%

(c) The average percentage water loss per annum in terms of the allocation to the Glen Melville Dam in terms of the allocation is as follows:

Annual allocation (Mm3 )	Average annual water loss (Mm3)	Percentage (%) Water Losses
110	16.5	15%

(d) The average percentage water loss per annum in terms of the allocation to the Lower Fish Permit Area forms part of Greater Fish River Water User Association (GFRWUA), therefore GFRWUA’s water loss also incorporates the Lower Fish Permit Area.

(2)(a)&(b) The short-listed Water Use Efficiency (WUE) interventions which were identified and screened as part of Water Reconciliation Strategy for the Algoa Water Supply System - Orange River Project/Nooitgedacht Low-Level Scheme are as follows:

(b)(i) The lining of the 500 km earth canals in the GFRWUA (Intervention 1) is not recommended to be considered further for the purposes of this study, as the relative cost of water saved of this intervention is far too high. The lining of prioritised “hot spot” canal sections (about 10% of the total 500 km earth canals) is likely a more feasible option as this will potentially lead to substantial volumes of water saved at a relative lower cost. The compulsory removal of overgrown riparian vegetation in and along the GFRWUA earth canals and ongoing maintenance is recommended.

(ii) Improved measuring and monitoring in the GFRWUA and Lower Sundays River Water User Association (LSRWUA) areas of jurisdiction. Although the potential water saved as a result of the implementation of this intervention was not quantified as part of this study, this intervention will lead to improved management and operation of the system and improved compliance to water allocations and water requests made, and will potentially reduce losses in the process.

(iii) Glen Melville Dam obtains its water from the Orange Fish River Scheme. It is an off-channel storage dam. Water is diverted via the Hermanuskraal Weir via the Ecca Tunnel. When Glen Melville Dam is at 50% of Full Supply Capacity (FSC), water is released from Elandsdrift Weir on the OFS into the Great Fish River to fill Glen Melville Dam to 100% of FSC. This operational procedure occurs 2 or 3 times per annum, depending on the water usage. The GFRWUA and the LSRWUA has no inputs to the operations and maintenance of the Lower Fish Permit Area and fall directly under DWS.

(iv) The Lower Fish Permit Area forms part of Greater Fish River Water User Association (GFRWUA) and Lower Sundays River Water User Association (LSRWUA), and therefore the interventions in GRWUA and LSRWUA are applicable in Lower Fish Permit Area.

(3) The Department of Water and Sanitation, through its National Water Resources Infrastructure (NWRI) branch conducts the Water Resources upgrades in respect of infrastructure related to the Great Fish River Water Users Association, Lower Sundays River Water Users Association, Glen Melville Dam and Lower Fish Permit Area. Currently, the rehabilitation of Darlington Dam is the major project that is being planned.

Reply:

I have been advised by the SABC as follows:

The SABC confirms that Mr Manamela left the employ of the SABC in 2013. He resigned with immediate effect and stated reasons for leaving as career progression. Furthermore, the SABC confirms that no investigation was ever conducted against Mr Manamela. The SABC has no record of an allegation or complaint of the 31 ghost employees as stated in the question.

 

MS. STELLA NDABENI-ABRAHAMS, MP

MINISTER OF COMMUNICATIONS AND DIGITAL TECHNOLOGIES

Reply:

(a) The Dr JS Moroka Local Municipality relies on raw water supply from the Mkhombo Dam which is located North West of Siyabuswa. The dam level has drastically declined to approximately 2% due to severe drought being experienced in the Eland River Catchment Area. In order to assist in addressing the drought at the municipality, the following measures have been put in place and/or are proposed:

(i) As a short term relief measure, the Department has allocated 64 water storage tanks for the Dr JS Moroka Municipality. The interventions included the supply, delivery and installation of the water storage tanks in areas identified by the Municipality. However, due to inadequate sources of bulk water supply as a result of the ongoing scourge of drought in the Western Highveld, the municipality is unable to fill up the installed water storage tanks regularly.

(ii) In the medium term, there is a joint partnership intervention with the Mpumalanga Department of Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs and Nkangala District Municipality to support the Dr JS Local Municipality with the drilling of 19 boreholes through the Municipal Infrastructure Grant at an estimated cost of R12,2 million. The boreholes are expected to be completed within the 2020/21 municipal financial year.

Furthermore, there are approved interventions in place that are currently being undertaken and implemented as a matter of urgency to address the current water supply shortages in the Dr JS Moroka local municipality due to the prevailing drought that include:

• Refurbishment of the bulk pipelines from Mthombo Balancing Dam to the Weltevreden Water Treatment Plant raw water abstraction works;
• Refurbishment of the Mthombo Weireir.

These interventions will provide 6 mega litres of water per day on completion. The cost of the interventions were assessed and quantified to be R40.5 million, and were recommended by the Department of Water and Sanitation for implementation under the Municipal Infrastructure Grant. The expected completion date for these interventions is 30 September 2021.

(iii) In the long term, the bulk water requirements for the Mathanjana Cluster in the Dr JS Moroka Local Municipality shall be addressed through the Rust de Winter Bulk Water Supply Scheme. The proposed bulk water scheme project is at the Implementation Readiness Study and will be completed within the current financial year. The project implementation is expected to start in 2021/22 national financial year. The scheme is intended to serve the western part of the municipality, targeting a population of 88 000, projected over a 20-year horizon.

Reply:

I have been advised by the SABC as follows:

(1) PR WORX

(2)(a) R2,3 million including VAT

(2)(b) To further add to the SABC’s turnaround strategy, addressing and better managing its reputation and corporate image is a priority for the broadcaster. The SABC therefore sought a suitably qualified and competent firm as the reputation management; corporate image building; and market research services that the SABC required, were not available from an internal skillset and resource perspective.

(3) Proper procurement processes were duly followed to appoint the PR company. The SABC went on an open and competitive tender via the SABC website and E-tender portal. A compulsory briefing session took place with all interested agencies on 20 February 2020. The tender closed on 4 March 2020. The evaluation process commenced on 10 March 2020. All due diligence was performed and only when the SABC was satisfied that it had found a suitable service provider that understood the scope of work, and possessed the necessary experience to effectively execute the stipulated reputation mandate, was the contract awarded on 29 June 2020. The SABC then entered into an agreement with PR Worx as the agency of choice on 2 July 2020 for a 12-month period.

 

MS. STELLA NDABENI-ABRAHAMS, MP

MINISTER OF COMMUNICATIONS AND DIGITAL TECHNOLOGIES

Reply:

(1) Yes.

(2) Below is the table outlining the number of social housing units in each province and municipality since the inception of the social housing programme.

Province and District Municipality	No. of Projects Awarded	Prior to 2014*	2014/15	2015/16	2016/17	2017/18	2018/19	2019/20	2020/21
GP	30	607	423	1423	698	2198	1575	2140	278
City of Johannesburg	14	586	341	1423	267	475	981	258
City of Tshwane	8	21	82		281	853	288	822
Ekurhuleni	5				150	100	246	592
Mogale City	1					770	60	300
Merafong	2							168	278
KZN	7		520	623	888	551
Amajuba	1			253	550	149
eThekwini	6		520	370	338	402
EC	8	531	368	150	250	72	522	452
Buffalo City	2	184					102
Nelson Mandela Bay	6	347	368	150	250	72	420	452
WC	6	370	128	672	329			304
City of Cape Town	6	370	128	672	329			304
FS	4		614	82	173	250	187
Mangaung	4		614	82	173	250	187
MP	2			104				114
Nkangala	2			104				114
NW	1				720	448
Matlosana	1				720	448
Total	58	1508	2053	3054	3058	3519	2284	3010	278
Cumulative Number		1508	3561	6615	9673	13192	15476	18486	18764

Reply:

I have been advised by the SABC as follows:

(1)(a) The signed Business Case was received by SCM on the 9 March 2018. This is a date in which vests were deemed necessary equipment for staff in the SABC News Division.

(1)(b) Mayehlome Communications

(1)(c) A total of 100 vests with various sizes were purchased

(1)(d)

 

Bullet proof vest Sizes	Number	Price per Unit (Excl. VAT)	Price per Unit (Incl. VAT)	Total Price
Medium	25	R9,305.88	R10,701.76	R267,544.05
Large	25	R9,667.35	R11,117.45	R277,936.31
X-Large	25	R10,175.28	R11,701.57	R292,539.30
XX-Large	25	R10,978.53	R12,625.31	R315,632.74
TOTAL PRICE				R1,153,652.40

(1)(e) The vests are to be distributed equitably to all SABC News offices and not assigned to individual reporters.

(2) Yes, the wage bill for July 2020 was R11 million which was R9 million actual paid, plus a further R2 million for accrued expenses and not R4 million as alleged.

(2)(a) During the hard lockdown period, journalists were complemented by the independent contractors, and this is the period that more COVID-19 cases were reported in the News Division, and freelancers were utilised.

(2)(b) The nature of the SABC news operation is such that services of independent contractors are indispensable.

(2)(c) The total independent contractors spend from April to October 2020 is R58.4 million.

(3)(a) Total = R65 351 000.00

(3)(b) Total breakdown is as per attached Annexure A.

4. During the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, the SABC used the Nasrec Sentech DR site for a period of about 6 months free of charge. This was the agreement between SABC and Sentech which was extended to the end of September 2020.

5. The SABC has a Wellness Centre which conducts wellness programmes for all SABC employees.  Individual counselling is also available for employees with such needs.  An assistance programme will be rolled out for all employees affected by the Labour Relations Act section 189 process. 

 

MS. STELLA NDABENI-ABRAHAMS, MP

MINISTER OF COMMUNICATIONS AND DIGITAL TECHNOLOGIES

Reply:

(1) The South African Government remains committed to providing support to the persons and households affected by the COVID-19 pandemic and has introduced a number of measures including the declaration of a state of disaster under the Disaster Management Act, 2002, to support households affected by the negative impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, with specific reference to persons and/or households renting accommodation. The intent of the Residential Rent Relief Scheme (RRS) is to provide temporary financial relief for residential low-income tenants and landlords in circumstances where tenants have been unable and are unable to meet their rental obligations as a consequence of financial distress associated with the COVID-19 lockdown. While the assistance is targeted to the tenant, a landlord will receive a secondary benefit in the form of security of income.

(2)(a) Funds should benefit all the tenants occupying affordable rental housing whether in the unsubsidized and state subsidized rental sectors.

(b) No funds have been used to date.

(c) No allocations have been made to date. A detailed policy framework for the Residential Rent Relief Scheme Programme is currently being developed by the National Department of Human which will provide guidelines.