Questions and Replies

Reply:

1. The steps, which are taken by the South African Police Service (SAPS), to control institutions that are accredited to issue firearm competency certificates and to ensure compliance with all requirements, are as follows:

o Conducting of annual and ad Doc compliance inspections, at non-official institutions, including firearm training providers, in terms of Section 109 of the Firearms Control Act, 2000 (Act ND. 60 of 2000).

1. The Minister of Police will decide whether he will make a statement, on this matter.

 

Reply to question 1545 recommended

GENERAL NATIONAL COMMISSIONER: SOUTH AFRICAN POLICE SERVICE
KJ SITOLE (SOEG)
DATE: 2020/08/27

Reply to question 1545 approved

MINISTER OF POLICE
GENRAL BH CELE, MP
DATE: 26/08/2020

Reply:

(1)(a) The measures, which have been put in place to protect the frontline members of the South African Police Service (SAPS), are as follows:

Putting systems and processes in place, by:
The development and implementation of SAPS Protocols on the containment and management of COVID-19, within the SAPS.
The development and implementation of training modules on COVID-19 symptoms, prevention and organisational protocols.
The implementation of the SAPS Infection Control Standard Operating Procedures.

The development of protocols for the decontamination of buildings.

The appointment of a National and Provincial Steering Committees, to oversee COVID-19 activities and implementation of the SAPS COVID-19 protocols.

The procurement of personal protective equipment (PPE), sanitisers and fogging and decontaminating equipment and chemicals for SAPS members, buildings, equipment and vehicles used by SAPS members.

Compiling a resource list of designated hospitals, to handle SAPS member referrals.

The in-sourcing of services, for the disposal of PPEs.

Empowering frontline officers, by:

Training of police officers on COVID-19 symptoms, prevention and management.

Conducting awareness and information sharing sessions at police stations,

roadblocks and other points, which are serviced by SAPS officers. o Training of police officers, on the correct use and disposal of PPEs.

Sharing of information through articles, memorandums and emails, to SAPS members and their families.

Continuous care and support of police officers:
Counselling and care of confirmed positive cases and contacts.

Counselling of family members of members, who tested positive.

Offering advisory services to members, whilst in self-isolation and quarantine.

Assisting SAPS members with placement in isolation and quarantine centres.

Identification of facilities to use as quarantine or isolation sites for SAPS members.

Debriefing of colleagues in cases of confirmed positive cases.

Answering police officers queries and questions, through the COVID-19 Call Centre.

Reasonable accommodation of “vulnerable members”, to ensure their protection and safety.

Developing a rotational schedule, to ensure social distancing and minimise member’s engagement and interaction, within SAPS buildings and workplaces.

Decontaminating of all workplaces and buildings, after confirmed cases.

Continuous sharing of new information, number of cases, new treatment and prevention methods with SAPS members and their families.

Stakeholder involvement and engagement of the following key roleplayers, with regard to SAPS members’ health and wellness, on COVID-19 related issues:

Police Medical Aid Scheme (POLMED).

Government Employee Medical Aid Scheme (GEMS).

Labour Unions- Police and Prisons Civil Rights Union (POPCRU) and the South African Police Union (SAPU).

Department of Health.

Department of Public Works.

(1)(b) An amount of R3,7 billion was allocated to the SAPS, during the 2020 Special Adjustments Estimates, to provide for additional funding for this purpose.

(2)(a) Yes, training was provided, prior to the commencement of the lockdown.

(2)(b) Yes, training was also provided during lockdown. The training was in the form of continuous training on parades and roadblocks, workshops, awareness sessions, counselling and therapy sessions, a national 24/7 operated COVID- 19 hotline and video conferencing. The training entails, inter alia, the following: o The terms of reference for Steering Committees.

Understanding COVID-19 and related terminologies.

Protocols for the containment and management of COVID-19, within the SAPS and the country.

Prevention and protection measures of COVID-19.

Requirements and usage of resources, including PPEs for the prevention and control of COVID-19.

Required registers, related to the management of COVID19 and the completion, thereof.

Precautionary measures during the prevention and control of COVID-19.

Safety Health and Environment (SHE) management:

Sanitisation and decontamination of buildings, offices, cells, etc.

Medical waste disposal.

Reply to question 1440 recommended/

GENERAL NATIONAL COMMISSIONER: SOUTH AFRICAN POLICE SERVICE
KJ SITOLE (SOEG)
Date: 2020/08/12

Reply to question 1440 approved/

MINISTER OF POLICE
GENERAL BH CELE, MP
Date: 26/08/2020

Reply:

According to the information received from Eskom:

As at 13 July 2020, Eskom appointed 139 employeessince the appointment of the Group Chief Executive, Mr André de Ruyter.

The breakdown is as follows:

• 25 external appointments, of which 18 were T-Systems employees who were transferred into Eskom in accordance to Section 197 of the Labour Relations Act, 1995. Only 7 were true external recruits.
• 114 were appointed on Fixed Term Contracts.

Annexure A provides details, according to (a) race, (b) position, (c) qualification, (d) salary level, (e) experience and (f) gender.

Reply:

(a) The National Coronavirus Command Council (NCCC) is a subcommittee of Cabinet, chaired by the President. The structuresreplicated across the spheres of government established by Cabinet. The Minister of Cooperative Governance issued directionsto ensure a well-integrated and coordinated planning and response to the COVID-19, these directions provide for the establishment of the provincial and district municipality’s institutional structures with the roles and responsibilities for the Provincial and Municipal Coronavirus Command Councils. These structures are established in line with the Directions (Gazette No. 43147) issued under the Disaster Management Act, 2002.

i/ National

The National Coronavirus Command Council is a structure that is established by Cabinet and chaired by the President. The Office of the Presidency coordinates this structure and not the Department of Cooperative Governance.

ii.Provincial

The roles and responsibilities of the Province include:

1. Establish the Provincial Command Council
2. Establish coordinating structures at provincial level to support the national institutional arrangements.
3. Support the establishment of joint operation centres per district and metropolitan municipality.
4. Avail resources to supplement the capacity of the joint operation centre or the district disaster management centres.
5. Monitor the impact of interventions and submit weekly consolidated reports to the national disaster management structures.

iii. Local

1. Establish the District Command Council with immediate effect.
2. Establish coordinating structures at municipal level to support the national and provincial institutional arrangements in collaboration with district and provincial administrations.
3. Participate in joint district and provincial disaster management structures to ensure a coordinated response to COVID-19.
4. Monitor the progress and impact of interventions in the municipality and submit weekly consolidated reports to the provincial and national disaster management structures.

(b) How do the various disaster management command councils co-ordinate measures to address a declared disaster.

The Coronavirus Command Council’s purpose is to facilitate and support implementation of the measures to combat the spread of COVID-19 pandemic across provinces and districts at political level. There are various structures at both provincial and district levels which reports to the Provincial and District Coronavirus Command Centres on the implementation of interventions and response measures to combat the COVID-19 pandemic.

End.

Reply:

(a)The reported crimes, including murder, are captured on and extracted from the South African Police Service (SAPS) Crime Administration System (CAS), using the allocated crime codes. The codes are referred to as the Daily Summary Serious Codes (DSSC) and the crime code allocated to murder, is DSSC 0001. It would be advisable that an unambiguous description of brutality in relation to murder incidents be established, in order to enable a quantitative analysis of these incidents. On registration of any reported crime, the DSSC do not allow for the capturing of additional descriptors, which requires that a qualitative analysis be done to determine the causative factors.

Regarding the crime of murder, for the period, 27 March to 2 July 2020, as extracted from the CAS and attached, as slides one and two, does not show evidence supporting the assertion that there is a spike in the reported incidence of murders across all provinces.

(a)(i)(ii) Farms and rural areas:

The National Rural Safety Priority Committee meets on a quarterly basis, to review all possible farm murders, to determine whether they meet the determined criteria, to be classified as farm murders. The above- mentioned Committee had not yet met when this response was written.

The crimes that are registered on the CAS are allocated case numbers that are specific to the police station and not necessarily to the type of the area.

(a)(iii) Gender-based violence:

Currently, there is no Act relating specifically to gender-based violence (GBV), in the Republic of South Africa, therefore, the SAPS reports on the contravention of the Domestic Violence Act, 1998 (Act No. 116 of 1998). The attached slide number three, provides a synopsis of the violation of the said Act for the period, 27 March to 21 June 2020.

(b)The reviewed Rural Safety Strategy was implemented, on 1 April 2020, with the aim to address rural safety, as an integrated day-to-day policing approach, by creating a safe and secure rural environment. The purpose of this Strategy, is to provide direction and guidelines, to create safety and security in the rural environment, in support of ensuring a better life for all.

In addition to the implementation of the Rural Safety Strategy, the Community Policing Strategy has been implemented, to ensure an integrated approach, to encourage and mobilise available resources across all sectors, including those directly involved in law enforcement and safety and security. The key feature of the Community Policing Strategy is the Community in Blue Concept, which focuses on increasing local community participation in social crime prevention and environmental design initiatives, institutionalise community participation in crime prevention, collaborate with the SAPS in increasing visibility and operational capacity and enhancing community-based intelligence. Furthermore, the Traditional Policing Concept was approved for implementation to stimulate active community involvement, in the fight against crime in rural areas.

The purpose of the Integrated Sexual Offence and Gender-based Violence Strategy, is to ensure an integrated, multidisciplinary approach to addressing GBV.

Operationally, stabilisation and high density basic policing interventions are implemented in all provinces, in accordance with prevailing crime trends. The stabilisation and high density basic policing interventions are complemented by normalisation interventions such as:

Community engagements by the Minister and police leadership, in all provinces, during the festive season.

O Community awareness programmes.

O Youth crime prevention projects.

O Implementation of the Community-in-Blue Concept (patrolling streets).

Intensified police visibility during national operations. A Reservist call-ups.

The enforcement of the Liquor Act.

Weekly compliance inspections at liquor outlets.

Intensified social crime prevention campaigns (drugs and substance abuse, dangerous weapons, sexual offences, etc.).

(c) The Detective Service will continue to apply all relevant investigative techniques, to ens’ure that perpetrators of crime, are brought to book.

Reply to question 1446 recommended

GENERAL NATIONAL COMMISSIONER: SOUTH AFRICAN POLICE SERVICE
KJ SITOLE (SOEG)
Date: 2020/08/12

Reply to question 1446 approved

MINISTER OF POLICE
GENERAL BH CELE, MP
Date: 26/08/2020

Find here: Murder Daily Analysis

Reply:

The training of new recruits, involves extensive physical contact and with the current COVID-19 Regulations in place, such as social distancing, restriction/suspension of large gatherings/meetings, etc, it will, therefore, not be possible to subject new recruits to the basic training curriculum, without increasing the risk of exposing them to being infected with COVID-19. The South African Police Service (SAPS) Recruitment Plan is being reviewed to ensure compliance with these regulations and it will be premature at this stage to make any pronouncements, whether the recruitment/training will proceed, in the 2020/2021 financial year.

Following the declaration of a National State of Disaster and the nationwide lockdown, by the President of the Republic of South Africa (RSA), communication pertaining to the recruitment process in the SAPS, was addressed through a media briefing by the SAPS, in March 2020 and again, in July 2020. It was announced to the nation that the SAPS, 2020 Police Trainee Intake, was suspended until further notice, due to the COVID-19 Pandemic and as a result, each applicant in the process was not personally informed of any delays. The SAPS received half a million applications for recruitment and it will not be possible to inform each applicant individually.

The trainees who were recruited, in the 2018/2019 financial year, attended a passing out parade, in the 2019/2020 financial year (during December 2019) and the graduation was not affected by COVID-19.

Reply to question 1489 recommended

GENERAL NATIONAL COMMISSIONER: SOUTH AFRICAN POLICE SERVICE
KJ SITOLE (SOEG)
DATE: 2020/08/12

Reply to question 1489 approved

MINISTER OF POLICE
GENERAL BH CELE, MP
Date: 26/08/2020

Reply:

a) On 1 July 2019, the Forest High School was adopted by the Commander: Visible Policing, Booysens Police Station.

 

(b) Two members of the Social Crime Prevention: Booysens Police Station prioritise the high school with scheduled and unscheduled visits.

 

© Routine patrols are conducted daily by the Sector Manager and police vehicles are deployed, in the vicinity of the Forest High School and surrounding area, to enhance police visibility.

 

(d) The functions include, the searching of identified areas within the school premises, as well as conducting awareness programmes, which include presentations on bullying, sexual offences, as well as drug and substance abuse, with special attention given to identified learners.

 

(e) Weekly and monthly accountability sessions are held with the relevant officers.

 

(f)(i) The relevant officers report to the Station Commander and the Visible Policing Commander, Booysens Police Station.

(f) (ii) The relevant police officers report on a weekly and monthly basis, during the accountability sessions.

 

(g) The Booysens Police Station is in partnership with local security companies and patrollers, who assist with the activities, listed above.

 

Reply to question 1523 recommended

Reply:

(a)(b)(i) and (ii)

The crime, which is registered when an illegal invasion of land occurs, is "trespassing”. The South African Police Service (SAPS) systems do not contain information on whether the trespassing occurred on a private or state owned land. Therefore, the information, which is requested in this question, cannot be provided.

Reply to question 1335 recommended/

GENERAL NATIONAL COMMISSIONER: SOUTH AFRICAN POLICE SERVICE
KJ SITOLE (SOEG)
Date: 2020/08/13

Reply to question 1335 approved

MINISTER OF POLICE
GENERAL BH CELE, MP
Date: 26/08/2020

Reply:

The South African Police Service (SAPS) does not have any units, which are called “elite units”. The only Unit that is elite in nature, as per the competency profile, is the Specialised Task”Force (STF), within the Division: Operational Response Services. The STF is mandated to resolve high risk situations.

(a)(i) The STF remained fully operational during the Coronavirus (COVID-19) National Lockdown.

(a)(ii) The investigative capacity of the Directorate for Priority Crime Investigation (DPCI), remained fully operational during the National Lockdown. However, the lockdown restricted employee movement and calls for social distancing, resulted in investigating officers not being able to effectively communicate with witnesses/informers or effect arrests. The inability to access expertise, such as forensic accountants and any other evidential material, impacted on the finalisation of investigations, although courts have remained partially active, resulting in a further backlog of cases.

The DPCI embarked on the capacitation of its specialised units, but the National Lockdown initially delayed the capacitation process. With the relaxation of lockdown levels, the process to capacitate the DPCI has been reinitiated and

some of the posts are in the process of being finalised, whilst other posts are in the process of being advertised.

Protocols, to manage and contain the spread of the COVID-19 has been implemented and members are operating on a rotational basis. The STF members are continuing to respond to all requests.

In an endeavour to mitigate the time and resources lost, the DPCI has embarked on the use of virtual platforms to engage stakeholders. The staggered return of the Public Service Act (PSA) personnel, who provide administrative support to the operational environment, is being managed by the guidelines, issued by the Department of Public Service and Administration (DPSA), Circular No.18 of 2020: State of Disaster COVID-19: Public Service Return to Work Guidelines, as well as the directive issued by the Department of Health, on 25 May 2020, which guides the management of vulnerable employees and the rotation of personnel. The DPCI has put measures in place that support the implementation to curb the spread of COVID-19.

Reply to question 1622 recommended/

GENERAL NATIONAL COMMISSIONER: SOUTH AFRICAN POLICE SERVICE
KJ SITOLE (SOEDG)
DATE: 2020-08-12

Reply to question 1622 approved

MINISTER OF POLICE
GENERAL BH CELE, MP
DATE: 26/08/2020

Reply:

(a)(i)(ii) The packaging of the D1 Adult Sexual Assault Evidence Collection kits and the D7 Paediatric Sexual Assault Evidence Collections, contain different utensils, such as, evidence sealing bags, J88 forms and the collection of forensic eviclence forms, etc. The Biology Section of the South African Police Service (SAPS) Forensic Science Laboratory (FSL), receives the collected evidence with samples, for analysis purposes. The FSL does not register and keep track of the type of evidence collection kits received and thus cannot distinguish between the D1 Adult Sexual Assault Evidence Collection kits and D7 Paediatric Sexual Assault Evidence Collections.

(aa) On 20 July 2020, the number of deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) samples received and still in the process of being analysed, was as follows:

Eastern Cape: DNA Analysis Laboratory	1 079
Gauteng/Head Office: DNA Analysis Laboratory	12 030
Western Cape: DNA Analysis Laboratory	4 014
KwaZulu-Natal: DNA Evidence Recovery Laboratory	896
Total	18 019

(bb) Based on the Quality Management System, in accordance with the International Organisation for Standardisation (ISO) 17025: Quality Control Principles, a total of 52 DNA samples were identified as contaminated, during the processing of the samples, in 2019/2020.

The FSL registers a non-conformance for all samples that have been contaminated. In line with the requirements of the ISO-17025, a root cause analysis is performed and corrective action identified, to prevent or minimise possible future reoccurrence. The table below, reflects the details, with the regard to the 52 DNA samples, mentioned above:

DNA finding report issued , due to the availability of additional exhibit material

Reference	Area of contamination
No result reported in cases additional due to the non- availability of exhibit material
Ref NC 19/04/19 (two cases) Ref NC 10/06/19 (one case) Three cases involved No result could be reported	Sample submissions. The contamination was due to the manner, in which the samples were processed.
ex DNA finding report issued , due to the availability of additional exhibit material
NC 08/04/19 (two cases)
NC 13/04/19 (two cases)
NC 15/04/19 (two cases)
NC 19/04/19 (two cases)
NC 24/04/19 (two cases)
NC 02/05/19 (two cases)
NC 03/05/19 (two cases)	Sample submissions. The
NC 07/05/19 (two cases)	contamination was due to the
NC 10/06/19 (nine cases)	manner, in which the samples were
NC 01/07/19 (two cases) NC 02/07/19 (two cases)	processed.
NC 03/07/19 (four cases)
NC 09/07/19 (two cases)
NC 10/11/19 (two cases)
NC 06/02/20 (two cases)
39 cases involved
NC 11/04/19 (one case)	Evidence recovery and sample processing. The contamination was due to the ma e samples were handled.
NC 20/04/19 (one case)
NC 08/06/19 (one case)
NC 02/01/20 (one case)
Four cases involved
NC 03/06/19 Two cases involved	Tissue isolation laboratory. The contamination was due to utensils not properly sanitised.

DNA finding pending, on receiving retake of buccal samples
NC 06/06/19 (one case ) NC 07/06/19 (one case) NC 12/06/19 (one case) NC 13/06/19 (one case) Four cases involved	Collection/submission step of buccal samples. The contamination was due to the manner, in which the samples were handled.

A summary of the interventions and quality control implemented, for the 52 DNA samples that were identified as contaminated, is reflected in the table below:

Finding	Intervention	Quality control measures
In 49 of the 52 cases, additional samples (uncompromised) were available to process and provide the DNA findings.	An investigation was conducted in respect of each contamination, to determine the root causes and corrections to be made.	A risk assessment was done to determine all risks within the area where the contamination occurred. Daily monitoring of the risks has been implemented and trends in this area, is closely monitored.

Reply to question 1582 recommended

GENERAL NATIONAL COMMISSIONER: SOUTH AFRICAN POLICE SERVICE
KJ SITOLE (SOEG)
DATE: 2020/08/18=9

Reply to question 1582 approved

MINISTER OF POLICE
GENERAL BH CELE, MP
Date: 26/08/2020

Reply:

The Department has commenced with the exploratory work towards a Public Transport Mobility Account that will operated with an Integrated Ticketing System based on cashless system. SANRAL is being engaged to be a lead agency to work on the modalities of this. Initial conceptualization is illustrated in the two tables below;

Diagram No.1

Diagram No.2

Reply:

There are currently 17 active legal cases currently open against the Compensation Fund for outstanding compensations due to medical service providers. The total value of the amounts payable will be determined by the courts.

Reply:

Yes. The corresponded was responded to Directly to Edenvale Child Welfare on 11 December 2018 and 1 September 2019.

The records of the Compensation Fund show that the Edenvale Child Welfare owes an amount of R34 881.29 to the Compensation Fund as at

19/08/2020. The assessments for assessment years 2011; 2017; 2018 and 2019 are paid in full.

The total outstanding balance is detailed in the table below.

Assessment Year	Invoice Amount
2009	4 771.41
2010	3 471.05
2012	3 847.01
2013	3 988.83
2014	4 316.98
2015	4 470.64
2016	4 064.72
Total penalty and interest on late payment charged	5 950.65
Total outstanding as at 19/08/2020	34 881.29

Their request to waver assessments and penalties was not approved by the CF. In the correspondence with the Edenvale Child Welfare, options for repayment of the outstanding monies are provided.

Reply:

1. The number of cases that have been detected of employers who claimed from Unemployment Insurance Fund (UIF) on behalf of employees but did not pay their employees what was due to them is 38

2. These cases were subjected to investigation. In 11 of them investigation has been completed. We also came up with the action that we termed ‘Follow The Money’ with its objective of conducting audit on all the payments. Again, the Department and UIF have worked through the Fusion Centre with other government departments, agencies and databases to close gaps and eliminate risks. The Fusion Centre is a combination of law enforcement agencies which is intended to speed up investigation and prosecution of COVID-19 related fraud and corruption cases.

1

Reply:

THE MINISTER OF AGRICULTURE, LAND REFORM AND RURAL DEVELOPMENT:

No, the Minister does not intend to introduce legislation to allow for the suspension of section 25(7) of the Constitution of the Republic of South Africa, 1996 to make provision for the dispossessed property of Khoisan communities prior to 19 June 1913. The Minister is of the view that any legislation that seeks to suspend or amend any section of the Constitution must be introduced by a committee of Parliament as contemplated in section 73(2) read together with section 74 of the Constitution. However, in redistributing land to communities in general, the Minister is not limited by the 19 June 1913 date applicable to restitution in terms of section 25(7) of the Constitution.  

Reply:

1. In respect of the intervention made at the Noord Taxi Rank, it is important that I give context to my response and to also thoroughly explain the circumstances so my answer can be appreciated within this context.

1.1 Regulation 11B(1)(a)(i) of the Disaster Management Act 2002; Amendment of Regulations issued in terms of section27(2) (the Regulations) states;

‘11B. (1) (a) For the period of lockdown-

(i) Every person is confined to his or her place of residence, unless strictly for thepurpose of the performing an essential service, obtaining an essential good or service, collecting a social grant, or seeking emergency, life-saving or chronic medical attention Emphasis added.

1.2 Category B, item 26, of Annex B to the Regulations lists as an essential service:

Services rendered by the Executive, members of Parliament, Members of the Provincial Legislature Members of Local Councils, the Judiciary, Traditional leaders, and National Office Bearers of Political Parties represented in Parliament Emphasis added.

1.3 Accordingly, during the national lockdown, I am obliged to continue rendering my services and performing my duties as Member of Parliament and of the Executive, particularly in the fight to prevent or limit infections, transmissions and the spread of the Covid-19 virus, which has been declared a global pandemic by the World Health Organization.

1.4. Consequently, on 26 March 2020, I caused to be issued Directions in terms of Regulations 10(7) of the Regulations (the Directives). Given that the COVID-19 pandemic is a moving target, the Directives were amended on 31 March 2020. The aforementioned amendment to the Directives caused much unhappiness and ructions in the taxi industry which was likely to result in nationwide protests.

1.5 As the sitting Minister of Transport, part of my duties aforesaid is educating inter alia the taxi(namely; associations, owners, drivers and queue marshals)and public commuters about the Regulations and the Directives insofar as they relate to the industry in the fight to prevent or limit infections, transmission and the spread of the COVID-19 virus. Covid-19 has been declared a pandemic by the World Health Organization. The fight against it is not only a national but global duty. The honorable member cannot deny the importance and prioritization of his fight.

1.6 It has been widely publicized that the industry, which is obviously a major risk environment for infection, transmission and spreading of the virus was at the beginning of the national lockdown and has continue to be one of the main problem industries in the adherence to the Regulations and the measures put in place by the Government in the fight against pandemic. Consequently, the persistent and continued education of the taxi industry and commuters was identified as essential and a priority by Government, in particular the Ministry of Transport, of which I’m its head.

1.7 As Minister of Transport, I was alerted to overcrowding which was taking place in and around Noord taxi rank in Johannesburg Central Business District (the Taxi Rank) in contravention of the Regulations and the Directives, and which most concerning carried the real possibility of undoing the Governments’ efforts in the fight the pandemic. In response to this emergency.I urgently attended at the Taxi Rank to inter alia investigate the situation and to inform and educate the taxi industry and commuters about the reasons and rational behind, and the actual, measures that they must adopt in terms of the Regulations and Directives in the fight against the pandemic, being the prevention or limitation of the rate of infections, transmission and the spread of the virus.

1.8 Upon my arrival, I observed, with despair and concern, a number of contraventions of the Regulations and the Directors in and around the Taxi Rank by members of the taxi industry, commuters and general members of the public.

1.9 Consequently, exercising my duties as Minister of Transport, I inter alia gave an address to inform and educate the members of the taxi industry, commuters and general members of the public about the reasons and rational bind, and actual, measures that they must adopt in terms of the Regulations and Directives in the fight against the pandemic, being the prevention or limitation of the rate of infections, transmission and the spread of the virus. It will be noted from the video footage of my address which is publically available that there were also members of South African Police Services and The Johannesburg Metropolitan Police Services in attendance. What is more, residents of the buildings in the surrounding area also came out onto their balconies to listen to my address.

1.10 Since my address, the taxi industry and commuters have significantly improved their adherence to the Regulations and Directives. I had also requested the Mayor of Johannesburg and a Member of the Executives at Local Government level who is also declared an essential worker in line with the regulations to accompany me as these commuters and residents of his city.

2.

2.1 In light of the above, it is clear that I did not, nor did I intend to, contravene the Regulations, particularly regulations 11B.(1)(a)(ii)

2.2 The Honourable member’s assertions in the question that I contravened the Regulations when he made the address in the circumstances referred to above are not only incorrect but also reflective of wrong observations.

2.3 I have remained fully committed to complying with Regulations and the fight against infection, transmission and spread of the COVID-19 virus. I’m heartened by the millions of South Africans who are complying with the Regulations

2.4 I believe that all of us will meaningfully join the Government’s efforts in the aforesaid fight spread of other members of society focusing on derailing or destructing members of our society, the South African Police Services and the Executive who are at the forefront of fighting the pandemic.

Reply:

1. To date, only one mandatory financial recovery plan has been prepared for a municipality in the Free State Province. This plan was prepared for the Mangaung Metropolitan Municipality in terms of mandatory intervention invoked in December 2019 in terms of S139 (5)(a) and (c) of the Constitution. The draft financial recovery plan has been approved by the Minister of Finance on the 6th of July 2020 and is in the process of consultation and approval as per the requirements of the Municipal Finance Management Act, 2003.

All other interventions initiated in the Free State Province have been initiated as discretionary interventions by the Provincial Executive. Details pertaining to these interventions are outlined in the table below:

Municipality	Date of FRP Adoption / Indicated on front page of FRP	Last FRP Report Date from Municipality
Masilonyane Local Municipality	December 2017	June 2020
Mafube Local Municipality	October 2017	No report
Nketoana Local Municipality	November 2016	June 2020
Phumelela Local Municipality	July 2017	June 2020
Maluti A Phofong	August 2018	Intervention has been withdrawn by Province

2. No, municipalities are not implementing financial recovery plans as required.

The nature and extent of breaches are generally consistent amongst municipalities. The most common issues identified by the Municipal Finance Recovery Service Team include:

• Poor quality and consistency of reporting;
• Non-compliance with reporting timeframes requiring consistent follow-ups before reports are submitted;
• Regression in reporting content and implementation of activities;
• Repetition of comments on the FRP status progress update;
• No progress reporting at all on some strategies;
• Key activities are not finalized even though the due dates have long passed;
• Slow implementation of activities;
• Poor accountability for the financial recovery plan by municipal officials;
• National Treasury inputs on the implementation and progress reports are generally ignored.

3. No municipality is currently under an approved mandatory financial recovery plan and therefore this is not applicable.

4. No, discussions were not held with the Minister for Cooperative Governance regarding each of the municipalities under intervention in the Free State Province. In terms of the Constitution, the Department of Cooperative Governance oversees discretionary interventions in terms of S139 (1) of the Constitution. The MFRS unit does oversee the process in terms of monitoring the financial recovery plans in place in the Province and in this way maintains oversight of the financial aspects relating to the intervention process in the Free State Province.However, in the case of the Mangaung Metro, the intervention was jointly launched by the Deputy Ministers for Cooperative Governance and Finance. A War Room jointly chaired by the National Treasury, the Provincial Department of Cooperative Governance and the Provincial Treasury oversees the process on behalf of the Provincial Executive who monitors progress on a quarterly basis and reports to the two Deputy Ministers.

Reply:

a) The Department of Cooperative Governance (DCOG) through the National Disaster Management Centre (NDMC) administers the disaster grants that are meant to provide immediate disaster relief. The department transferred the following grants to assist organs of state to combat the spread of COVID-19 pandemic:

• An amount of R466 393 000.00 (R466. 3 million) was allocated from the Provincial Disaster Relief Grant to the Departments of Health in all the nine (9) provinces to procure ventilators and personal protective equipment (PPE). The transfer of funds was undertaken between 30 March and 01 April 2020.

b) (i) and (ii)

Funds allocated through the Provincial Disaster Relief Grant to the Provincial Departments of Health

PROVINCES	PURPOSE	AMOUNT
Eastern Cape	Response measures to combat the spread of COVID-19 pandemic (Ventilators and Personal Protective Equipment)	R44 551 000.00
Free State		R12 429 000.00
Gauteng		R115 996 000.00
KwaZulu-Natal		R138 918 000.00
Limpopo		R42 449 000.00
Mpumalanga		R33 993 000.00
Northern Cape		R6 224 000.00
North West		R18 540 000.00
Western Cape		R53 292 000.00
Total		R466 392 000.00

End.

Reply:

a) The Technical Committee for SASSA was appointed by the previous Minister of Social Development to assist SASSA in implementing the Constitutional Court judgement of 23rd March 2018 and to advice on business model review of SASSA.

Various Constitutional Court judgements in the course of 2017 made it clear that there were challenges with the existing contract with service providers for cash payment, without which SASSA would not be able to execute its mandate and the extra capacity for a period of time was required.

b) The Technical Committeewas appointed from May 2018 until October 2018

c) The members of the Technical Committee were paid as follows:

Name of Committee Member	Total Amount Paid
Ms.Dipuo Peters	R468,503.05
Ms ManokoNchwe	R449,040.00
Ms.Totsie Memela	R235,592.00
Mr.SelwynJehoma	R383,466.00
Ms.ZodwaManase	R348,580.00
Mr.SiphoShezi	R649,650.00

d) The Terms of Reference is attached for ease of reference

e) The six reports from the Technical Committee are attached for ease of reference

• The project recommendations identified in the reports were implemented

• Governance and Institutional Review is underway. The new Chief Executive Officer had to be appointed to drive the review.

• The Agency is in the process of developing a business case for replacement of SOCPEN and also evaluating options and approach to replace the system depending on availability of budgetary resources.

Reply:

1. Yes, theDepartment (DSD) does not need to pre-approve plans to enable nongovernmental organisations to provide food relief to citizens in need. The DSD was rather seeking to better coordinate all food distribution activities and ensure vulnerable people receive food in a dignified manner in partnership with individuals and organizations involved in food distribution.

The permission of take away and/or disposable containers is acceptable for soup and food kitchens that can provide the specified take-away containers.

The measures introduced by DSD are not prohibitive but intended to protect the health and well-being of our people. Health inspectors had warned the food programme against use of inappropriate materials, hence the Department had provided cutlery and crockery in the centres. The take away provision was to enable centres to not have congestion whilst we striving for social distancing during the COVID-19 period.

2. No, the homeless persons are supported by the shelters and in the case where they do not have IDs and addresses our officials use their names to identify and register them. A portfolio of evidence is part of accounting for resources distributed by government and the soupkitchens and food parcel distributors providingfood to the homeless without addresses do still register the recipients using their names, surname and the centre or area they come from.

Reply:

There has been no negative impact on the Department’s ability to fill critical vacancies. The Department has been able to continue with the appointment in critical vacancies.

End.

Reply:

1. Apart from the Tourism Relief Fund what other measures, programmes and/or initiatives are being put in place to assist the tourism industry.

Apart from the Tourism Relief Fund, the Department has established a Tourist Guides ReliefFund for which a R30 million budget has been set aside to provide relief to freelance tourist guides.

The tourism sector, like all other industries and sector of the economy alsohas access to other forms of Covid-19 financial relief measures such Tax Relief fromSouth African Revenue Services (SARS), Temporary Employee Relief Scheme (TERS) or Unemployment Insurance Fund (UIF) Covid-19Relief Benefit from the Department of Employment and Labour; and the National Treasury’s R200 billon Credit Guarantee Scheme.

2. Which of these measures, programmes and/or initiatives do not have broad-based black economic empowerment accreditation requirements in order to qualify.

N/A

3. Whether the Minister will make a statement on the matter.

The Minister and/or departmenthas made public statements in relation to the relief measures that are provided by the department.

Reply:

1. No.

When a person resigns as a councillor, he or she may submit their resignation to the municipality or to the political party to which the councillor may belong, for the party to then facilitate the submission of the resignation to the municipality, where after a vacancy is declared.

End.

Reply:

When the reply to Parliamentary Question 2019/392 was submitted, responses received were from Gauteng and the North West provinces; a response from Limpopo was still outstanding. Limpopo province submitted additional information on 19th August 2019.

The Department continued to engage the Limpopo province requesting progress on all forensic investigations, including the Venda Building Society Mutual Bank (VBS) cases. The province submitted a progress report on forensic investigations in January 2020.

a) Engagements with the province and law enforcement agencies on VBS cases were executed through email and telephonic correspondence.

b) Additional information on VBS cases was provided through follow-up PQ2019/392 where progress from the province was included. Further, the progress report received from the province in January 2020 formed part of the report presented to the Portfolio Committee on Co-operative Governance and Traditional Affairs in March 2020 on forensic investigations in general.

End.

Reply:

a) The official resigned from the post of Director-General with effect from 30 December 2019.

b) No severance/ and /or settlement agreement was paid.

c) No amount was paid in lieu of the specified official serving the balance of the employment agreement.

d) No performance bonus was paid to the official.

End.

Reply:

The redesign of the implementation model for the Community Work Programme (CWP) is aimed at achieving operational efficiencies and enhance development effectiveness. The redesign will contribute towards remodelling service delivery by refocussing the nature of useful work towards economic generating activities and those with a potential to contribute to youth employment. In this instance, business models will be explored that promote small business development opportunities for the youth. Emphasis will be on the formation of Cooperatives and training them to be viable and sustainable.

Through a partnership with the Municipal Infrastructure Support Agent (MISA), the participants will conduct useful work activities supporting infrastructure maintenance with technical oversight provided through MISA engineers.

Participants will acquire critical skills that have the potential to open other livelihood opportunities as they get trained as Artisans, Plumbers, Carpenters etc. The objective is to enhance the employability and self-employment prospects for the youth beyond the CWP.

A redesigned CWP will put emphasis on value-add with regard to training and links will be established with SETAs, TVET colleges and Universities by ensuring that training provided not only assist in improving the quality of useful work performed at site level, but that it contributes towards inclusive growth by equipping participants with skills that empowers them to either enter the formal economy or to be self-employed. Preference is given to women, youth and people with disabilities.

End.

Reply:

(a)&(b) Honourable Member, my Department has informed me that it has conducted a site visit to verify the nature and extent of the damages at the said household. It is liaising with the Lekwa Local Municipality to ensure that the affected household is promptly provided with temporary shelter through its Municipal Relief Programme.

Further, upon finalization and approval processes, a house shall be allocated to the affected household on Stand No. 4607, Ext 6 Sakhile under the project (E19100002) which is currently undertaken by a contractor appointed to construct 200 housing units in the area. On approval, the contractor shall be given one calendar month to complete the house.

Reply:

1. (a) Regulations 5 and 6 of the Municipal Regulations on Financial Misconduct Procedures and Criminal Proceedings (“Municipal Financial Misconduct Regulations”)prescribe that the following processes be followed by a municipal council when investigating allegations of financial misconduct against a municipal manager:

(i) A municipality or municipal entity must develop terms of reference for an investigation within seven days of receipt of a referral from a disciplinary board for approval by council or board of directors.

(ii) A disciplinary board must conduct a preliminary investigation to determine whether or not the allegation is founded and make a recommendation to council or board of directors as to whether sufficient grounds exists to warrant a full investigation into the allegation.

(iii) If the disciplinary board determines that the allegation is founded, a full investigation must be conducted by:

a) disciplinary board;

b) provincial or national treasury;

c) appropriate specialist expertise and who is not an official of the municipality or municipal entity; or

d) an independent team of investigators appointed by council or board of directors

(iv) After completion of a full investigation, the investigator must:

a) compile a report on the investigation.

b) submit a report to the mayor or chairperson of the board of directors and the accounting officer together with its findings and recommendations regarding disciplinary steps that should be taken against the alleged transgressors, if applicable; and

b) immediately inform the speaker of council of the submission of the report and submit a copy of the report to the provincial treasury and the national treasury.

(v) The mayor, speaker, accounting officer or chairperson of the board of directors must table the report of the investigation to council or board of directors at the first sitting after the report is finalised.

(vi) If the report that is tabled before council or board is amended, the person tabling the report must provide written reasons for the amendments to council or board.

(vii) If the findings or recommendations of the report are rejected by council or board, reasons for rejection must be provided to the investigator within five days of rejection.

(viii) Where the recommendations of the report regarding disciplinary steps against the alleged transgressors are not implemented, the investigator must notify the provincial treasury and the national treasury for a possible intervention in terms of regulation 19 of the Municipal Financial Misconduct Regulations.

(ix)If the investigator recommends that disciplinary proceedings be instituted against the alleged transgressor, council or board of directors must by way of resolution institute the disciplinary proceedings.

(b) The provisions as contained in the Municipal Financial Misconduct Regulations made in terms of the Municipal Finance Management Act, 2003 take precedent in relation to investigations of serious financial misconduct.

2. (a) No. The Municipal Systems Act Disciplinary Regulations and the Municipal Finance Management Act Municipal Financial Misconduct Regulationswere enacted into law following comprehensive consultations with the provincial treasuries, provincial departments responsible for local government and municipalities and therefore there is no evidence that municipalities confuse the relationship between the two set of regulations.

(b) The Municipal Financial Misconduct Regulations deals with reporting and investigation of financial misconduct, including criminal offences while the Municipal Systems Act Disciplinary Regulations prescribe procedures for the institution of disciplinary proceedings against municipal managers. Therefore, the two set of regulations are complementary and applied concurrently to the extent required.

End.

Reply:

We requested the Province to investigate the matter and report back.

End

Reply:

a) Appointments of municipal staff are done within the ambit of the law. Section 82 of the Local Government: Municipal Structures Act, 1998 read together with section 56 of the Local Government: Municipal Systems Act, 2000 prescribe that a person appointed as a municipal manager and manager directly accountable to municipal manager must have the relevant skills and expertise to perform the duties associated with that post. My sentiments find expression in these legislative provisions.

b) The appointment of the candidates with the relevant skills and expertise will enable municipalities to build the requisite skills, capacity and capabilities to perform their functions, promote efficient, economic and effective use of resources and accountable local public administration in line with the democratic values and principles governing Public administration as enshrined in section 195(1) of the Constitution of the Republic of South Africa, 1996 (“the Constitution”).

c) The authority to employ personnel in local government vests in the municipal council in terms of section 160(1)(d) of the Constitution of the Republic of South Africa, 1996, but only subject to national and provincial legislation. As regards the appointments, municipalities relies on the following applicable pieces of legislation, statutory frameworks and policies governing local public administration and human resources:

(a) The Constitution of the Republic of South Africa, 1996;

b) The Local Government: Municipal Structures Act, 1998;

c) The Local Government: Municipal Systems Act, 2000 (Act (‘‘the Systems Act’’) and the following regulations promulgated in accordance with section 72 of the Systems Act:

(i) The Local Government: Regulations on Appointment and Conditions of Employment of Senior Managers, 2014 (“the Regulations”); and

(ii) The Local Government: Disciplinary Regulations for Senior Managers, 2011.

d) Regulations on Minimum Competency Levels made in terms of section 168 of the Local Government: Municipal Finance Management Act, 56 of 2003; and

e) Any other applicable labour laws and legislation.

End.

Reply:

As Honorable member would know, cinemas fall under the mandate of the Department of Sport, Arts and Culture.

As for the reopening of casinos, it was informed by the stringent preventative protocols developed by the casino industry, which were deemed adequate to prevent the spread of infections from a health point of view. These included adequate social distancing and spacing between machines, wearing of masks, frequent sanitization, different entrances for staff and patrons, screening of patrons and staff, keeping a register, arrangements for isolation room where necessary, booking of slots before arrival, and mainly working with membership based clientele amongst others.

Reply:

All Ministers and Deputy Ministers, refer to the list below.

WESTERN CAPE PROVINCE
District	Champion	Title
1	Central Karoo	Pam Tshwete	Deputy Minister
2	West Coast	Barbara Creecy	Minister
3	Overberg	Patricia De Lille	Minister
4	Garden Route	Alvin Botes	Deputy Minister
5	Cape Town	Naledi Pandor	Minister
		Bheki Cele	Minister
6	Cape Winelands	Ebrahim Patel	Minister

KWAZULU-NATAL PROVINCE
District	Champion	Title
7	Amajuba	Thulas Nxesi	Minister
		Hendrietta Bogopane-Zulu	Deputy Minister
8	eThekwini	Nocawe Mafu	Deputy Minister
		John Jeffery	Deputy Minister
9	Harry Gwala	Jackson Mthembu	Minister
10	iLembe	David Masondo	Deputy Minister
11	King Cetshwayo	Fikile Mbalula	Minister
12	Ugu	Buti Manamela	Deputy Minister
13	uMgungundlovu	Sindisiwe Chikunga	Deputy Minister
14	uMkhanyakude	Lindiwe Sisulu	Minister
15	uMzinyathi	Nathi Mthethwa	Minister
16	uThukela	Joe Phaahla	Deputy Minister
17	Zululand	Blade Nzimande	Minister

MPUMALANGA PROVINCE
District	Champion	Title
18	Ehlanzeni	Mcebisi Skwatsha	Deputy Minister
19	Gert Sibande	Thabang Makwetla	Deputy Minister
20	Nkangala	Maite Nkoana-Mashabane	Minister

EASTERN CAPE PROVINCE
District	Champion	Title
21	Alfred Nzo	Stella Ndabeni-Abrahams	Minister
22	Amathole	Hlengiwe Mkhize	Deputy Minister
		Inkosi Phathekile Holomisa	Deputy Minister
23	Chris Hani	Ronald Lamola	Minister
24	Joe Gqabi	Parks Tau	Deputy Minister
25	OR Tambo	Senzo Mchunu	Minister
26	Nelson Mandela Bay	Aaron Motsoaledi	Minister
27	Sarah Baartman	Zoleka Capa	Deputy Minister
28	Buffalo City	Cassel Mathale	Deputy Minister
		Pinky Moloi	Deputy Minister

FREE STATE PROVINCE
District	Champion	Title
29	Fezile Dabi	Pinky Kekana	Deputy Minister
30	Lejweleputswa	Lindiwe Zulu	Minister
31	Mangaung	David Mahlobo	Deputy Minister
		Dikeledi Magadzi	Deputy Minister
32	Thabo Mofutsanyana	Sdumo Dlamini	Deputy Minister
33	Xhariep	Phumulo Masualle	Deputy Minister

NORTHERN CAPE PROVINCE
District	Champion	Title
34	Frances Baard	Noxolo Kiviet	Deputy Minister
35	JT Gaetsewe	Regina Mhaule	Deputy Minister
36	Namakwa	Nomalungelo Gina	Deputy Minister
37	Pixley ka Seme	Ayanda Dlodlo	Minister
38	ZF Mgcawu	Fish Mahlalela	Deputy Minister

GAUTENG PROVINCE
District	Champion	Title
39	Ekurhuleni	Zizi Kodwa	Deputy Minister
40	Johannesburg	Nosiviwe Mapisa-Nqakula	Minister
41	Sedibeng	Angie Motshekga	Minister
42	Tshwane	Pravin Gordhan	Minister
43	West Rand	Fikile Slovo Majola	Deputy Minister

LIMPOPO PROVINCE
District	Champion	Title
44	Mopani	Thoko Didiza	Minister
45	Capricorn	Tito Mboweni	Minister
46	Sekhukhune	Thembi Siweya	Deputy Minister
47	Vhembe	Candith Mashego-Dlamini	Deputy Minister
48	Waterberg	Khumbudzo Ntshavheni	Minister

NORTH WEST PROVINCE
District	Champion	Title
49	Bojanala	Gwede Mantashe	Minister
50	Kenneth Kaunda	Nkhensani Kubayi-Ngubane	Minister
51	Modiri Molema	Obed Bapela	Deputy Minister
52	Ruth Mompati	Maggie Sotyu	Deputy Minister
		Njabulo Nzuza	Deputy Minister

 

2. The Champions will be working with the Districts, Provinces and the Local Government to implement Plans that are developed through the ordinary Planning Processes of Government.

 

3. The Champions will be working on strengthening responses to COVID – 19 and the Gender Based Violence and Femicide (GBVF).

In summary the roles and responsibilities of the Political Champions who include Ministers and Deputy Ministers are:

• To provide strategic guidance for the development and implementation of the One Plan

• To contribute towards the institutional stabilisation of the allocated district and the reprioritisation process that seek to respond to urgent institutional and governance gaps, and urgent development priorities outlined in the specific district profile.

• To facilitate the District wide adoption of the One Plan through the various Inter Governmental Relations Structures (IGR), including its sign off and implementation.

• To work in collaboration with line Ministries and provide support to unblock and bring to the surface any issues that may hinder progress in the implementation of the District Development Model.

• To collaborate with other champions and districts to maximise impact.

4. .The Champions will work with all Stakeholders in a District.

 

5.The District Development Model (DDM) provides the framework through which Section 154 of the Constitution of the Republic, 1996, will be implemented where the District Development Model brings the whole of government in a spatially targeted way to address developmental needs and opportunities of the 52 district spaces, including providing targeted support in building institutional capacity and capability of local government to perform its constitutional responsibilities.

The District Development Model – One Plan cannot and does not replace any existing prescribed Development, Departmental Strategic and Annual Performance Plans, IDP’s of Municipalities and Sate Entities. It is rather an expression of Integrated Investments Plans and clear Socio – Economic Programmes for changing the living conditions our people in the Spatially Targeted District space.

NW2074E

Reply:

a) South African Tourism has offices in 10countries globally operating as regional hubs and servicing key source markets.

b) On what date was each office opened?

AFRICA	AMERICAS	EUROPE	ASIA	AUSTRALASIA
Nigeria	US	Germany	UK	France	Netherlands	India	China	Japan	Australia
2014	1984	1960	1989	1993	1983	2004	2014	1978	2000

c) What are the monthly costs of each office?

AFRICA	AMERICAS	EUROPE	ASIA	AUSTRALASIA
Nigeria	US	Germany	UK	France	Netherlands	India	China	Japan	Australia
R1 066 796,98	R1 444 683,24	R1 196 157,23	R1 162 767,57	R1 144 239,24	R1 031 060,45	R1 313 938,18	R 866 063,72	R 534 334,97	R 868 375,25

d) What is the mandate of each office?

Each office operates as a regional hub servicing key source markets, to ensure effective marketing initiatives, support to the value chain partners and effective delegation of authority and responsibility. Mandate of each office is to drive number of international tourist arrivals into South Africa, increase tourist foreign direct spend, geographic spread, brand positivity and awareness.

(e )(i) What was the output of each office in the financial year?

The output achieved is through partnering with relevant travel trade in each of the markets that are serviced by the country offices in which it invests to maximise synergies, enhance tourist experiences and increase sales of packages to South Africa. Partnerships allow South African Tourism to reach a larger audience at a shared cost with the partner, while the partner is equipped with brand relevant content and tools.

COUNTRY OFFICE ( and the markets it serves)	2016/17- Arrivals	2017/2018- Arrivals	2018/19 - Arrivals
Nigeria (IncludesGhana)	82 751	68 626	74 768
US ( Includes Canada)	406 192	437 903	444 671
Germany (Include Austria and Switzerland)	394 548	437 837	431 668
UK (Includes Ireland)	478 385	479 411	462 305
France ( Include Spain, Portugal and Italy)	292 494	335 666	323 641
Netherlands (Include Belgium, Denmark, Sweden, Finland and Norway)	297 152	320 275	310 258
India (IncludeTurkey, UAE, Malaysia and Singapore)	121 298	135 336	126 998
China (IncludesSouth Korea)	126 658	119 444	119 004
Japan	24 018	27 410	27 542
Australia (IncludesNew Zealand)	115 611	133 351	131 059

e (ii)Remainder of this financial year.

South Africa has a goal of achieving 21 million international arrivals by 2030. However, the COVID-19 pandemic has severely disrupted the travel and tourism sector with borders closed and flights grounded. The forecast by the UNWTO is that global tourism will decline by 20-30%.

The pandemic has rendered South African Tourism’s current market investment portfolio outdated for this year. Plans are in place to review the market investment choices by revising and updating the Marketing Investment Framework. The revision will ensure that new variables and data are considered in the framework which will reflect the future tourism state post the pandemic and will allow South African Tourism to review market investment choices based on various scenarios.

f) How is each office monitored?

Activities at all global offices are monitored and evaluated through SA Tourism Strategy, Insights and Analytics (SIA) Unit as part of the organisational performance monitoring processes and the markets performance are reported quarterly. Furthermore, the compliance and governance are maintained through policies and processes and monitored through the Internal Audit Unit.

g) To whom does each office report

Each office reports to Regional General Managers based at the South African Tourism’s Head Office in Sandton. The reporting is structured as follows:

Reporting	Regional General Manager: Africa	Regional General Manager: Americas	Regional General Manager: Europe	Regional General Manager: Asia/Australasia/Middle East
Continent	AFRICA	AMERICAS	EUROPE	ASIA	AUSTRALASIA
Country Office	Nigeria	US	Germany	UK	France	Netherlands	India	China	Japan	Australia

Reply:

(1)(a) Since the appointment of the Minister in her current portfolio, no municipality to date, has been subjected to an intervention in terms of section 139(7) of the Constitution.

(1)(b) and 2(a)(b)(c), these questions are not applicable, since section 139(7) of the Constitution was never invoked by the Minister in her current portfolio.

End.

Reply:

No, the Minister in the Presidency has not held any discussions regarding the potential candidates to be considered for appointment to the Board of the Media Development and Diversity Agency.

                                                                                                                                                                        

                  

Reply:

National Treasury has received a number of requests from industry and individuals for amendments to Regulation 28 of the Pensions Fund Act no 24 of 1956, including to specifically accommodate infrastructure assets. At the moment, infrastructure assets are spread over a number of assets classes like equity, private equity and bonds, making it difficult to quantify and identify them specifically. National Treasury is therefore considering whether the regulations should differentiate between infrastructure assets, green bonds, etc. from other assets.

The National Treasury has therefore commenced a process to review whether the current Regulation 28 of the Pension Funds Act No. 24 of 1956, adequately allows retirement funds to invest in infrastructure. Once the review is completed, the Minister of Finance will make an appropriate announcement, expected to be no later than the coming Medium Term Budget Policy Statement 2020.

(a) Current limits that apply under Regulation 28 will be part of the review, and hence any changes to current limits will only be determined after the review is completed.

(b) No. Regulation 28 places upper limits on what proportion of a portfolio may be allocated in various asset classes. There is no need to prescribe investment in any asset class because the board of directors (also known as trustees) of retirement funds have a fiduciary duty to the fund and its members and therefore, need to assess the riskiness of any asset class on their own in order meet their investment mandate to members.

Reply:

The Honourable Member to note that the Public Audit Act is administered by the Office of the Auditor-General who reports to Parliament.

a) The Office of the Auditor-General has advised that they are implementing the material irregular provisions at nine municipalities. This was published in their general report. However, none were referred to any public body for investigation.

b) No report was provided to National Treasury relating to certificates of debt issued.

c) No report was provided to National Treasury relating to binding remedial actions.

Reply:

  (a) (i) 3 241 Water Storage Tanks have been allocated to the Gauteng Province.

 (ii) 3 128 mobile toilets have been allocated to the Gauteng Province.

  (b) The provision of Human Settlements is a concurrent function between National, Provincial and Local Governments. The National Government is, amongst others, responsible for developing policies, programmes, implementation guidelines and the disbursement of grant allocations. The provincial and local spheres of government are inter alia charged with implementing human settlements programmes through targeted projects. The National Department of Human Settlements is working in close collaboration with the Gauteng Province, the Cities of Tshwane, Ekurhuleni and Johannesburg in response to the COVID-19 pandemic to ensure that urgent provision is made for the upgrading of informal settlements, which includes the de-densification and decontamination of identified overcrowded areas. The collaboration also ensures that households and individuals living in informal settlements, backyard dwellings and hostels, have access to potable water, ablution facilities, healthcare services, and are trained on maintaining the relevant hygiene practices and all other protocols related to COVID-19.

The Department of Water and Sanitation is responsible for ensuring water security for the whole country. This includes ensuring that water as a resource is allocated equitably and used beneficially in the public interest, while promoting environmental values. Schedule 4B of the Constitution places the function of provision of water services at local government (municipalities). In accordance with the Water Services Act, 1997, which regulates municipal water supply and sanitation services, municipalities deemed to be Water Service Authorities are responsible for ensuring that 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” is realised. Further, Section 11 of the Water Services Act 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.”

The City of Tshwane, like all other municipalities in the province, continues to provide rudimentary services in informal settlements and is also responsible for the delivery of:

• • 252 (10 000 litre capacity) mobile water tankers
  • 492 (5 000 litre capacity) water tanks

The National Department of Water and Sanitation provided:

• 3 (18 000 litre capacity) mobile water tankers
• 407 (5 000 litre capacity) water tanks
• 114 (10 000 litre capacity) water tanks
• 37 (2 500 litre capacity) water tanks which were distributed to various regions.

There are forty seven (47) water tanks that were distributed and are operational in thirteen schools at Hammanskraal in Region 2, Lethabong in Region 5, Kanana in Region 6 and Sokhulumi in Region 7.

In total, there are 492 operational water tanks provided by the City of Tshwane, 457 operational water tanks provided by National Department of Water and Sanitation and 18 operational water tanks donated by other organisations which make a total of 967 operational water tanks.

The City of Tshwane delivered the following sanitation services in its informal settlements:

• a total of 3 935 out of 5 128 chemical toilets have been delivered
• the balance of 1 193 will be delivered in due course

(c) It is envisaged that 16 000 households will benefit from the Upgrading of Informal Settlements Program which includes de-densification- Beneficiaries will either receive Temporary Residential Units (TRUs) or Permanent Housing Units in their current settlements or be relocated as a last resort.

(d) Informal Settlements prioritised for upgrading and or de-densification to promote social distancing practices are identified on the basis of the levels of overcrowding and inadequate provision of basic services.

The targeted overcrowded areas in the province are Alexandra, Ivory Park, Diepsloot, Zandspruit, Khutsong, Pretoria West Informal Settlements, Mamelodi Phomolong Informal Settlements and Mamelodi Hostels. Other areas are likely to be added, depending on the availability of resources.

The land earmarked for de-densification purposes is identified on the basis of proximity to the affected overcrowded informal settlements or spaces. State-owned, which includes municipal-owned land is preferred.

To date, 403 households have been relocated from Khutsong informal settlement into completed housing units at Elijah Barayi Mega Project under the Merafong Local Municipality.

Reply:

1. The total cumulative amount of money spent on state-owned entities (SOE)recapitalisations and bailouts from 2000/01 to 2019/20 is R187.4 billion. The information was derived from the ENE databases for the years where the classification was clearly indicated and is thus, at this stage, not available from 27 April 1994.Furthermore, National Treasury followed Standard Chart of Accounts (SCOA)[1] economic classifications in compiling the data and focused on the classification for “payment of financial assets”, this excludes indemnities, guarantees and other contingent support provided to SOEs during this time that may be interpreted as a bailout.

2. The breakdown of amounts spent annually on bailouts andrecapitalisations from 2000/01on SOEsis provided in annexure A. At this stage the information is not available dating back to 27 April 1994.

3. The breakdown of the total cumulative amount spent on bailouts and recapitalisations to Eskom, South African Airways, Denel, South African Broadcasting Corporation, South African Post office and South African Postbank from 2000/01 to 2019/20 is included in Annexure A.At this stage the information is not available dating back to 27 April 1994.

 

 

---

[1]Standard Chart of Accounts (SCOA) is used by departments and provinces to classify their transactions

 

Reply:

a) In total, municipalities have spent R1.2 billion on legal fees in the 2018/19 financial year.

b) On forensic investigations, municipalities spent R26.5 million, however, this R26.5 million is not necessarily on legal fees. It might just be on appointments of forensic investigators (attached to this is Annexure A which llustrateshow much was paid on Legal Fees per municipality, Annexure Bwhich illustrates how much was spent per municipality on Forensic Investigations).

ANNEXURES

Reply:

a) The National and Provincial Treasuries have conducted a module use verification in October and November 2019 to assess if municipalities are using the IDP, budget, billing and receipts, general ledger, SCM, asset management and inventory, payroll, debtors, creditors and reporting modules available in their core financial systems. The findings were that most municipalities have access to these modules on the core financial system or via 3rd party sub-systems. Despite this finding, a number of municipalities are still budgeting, transacting and reporting outside of the core systems in excel spreadsheets and then capture the information on the system at a later stage. Municipalities do not openly admit to these poor practices, but it is evident when the financial performance reported to Council differ from the information thatis submitted to National and Provincial Treasuries and the high levels of unauthorized expenditure reported by the Auditor-General (when budgeting, transacting and reporting are done outside of the system and captured at a later stage, the built-in controls in the core system to prevent unauthorised expenditure are not triggered).

b) The reasons whymunicipalities are not fully using their core financial systems include:

• Lack in capacity of municipal officials to use the financial system, use the mSCOA chart correctly, apply basic accounting principles and do balance sheet budgeting.
• Unwillingness of municipalities to lock the budget on the system before transactions take place and to properly close off month-end processes as changes cannot be made to the figures on the system once the budget and month-end has been locked.
• Resistance to change previous financial management practices and adopt mSCOA and its transparency.
• Deliberate circumvention of theinternal controls built-in on the systems to dodge unauthorised expenditure and commit acts of fraud and corruption.
• Budgetary constraintsto upgrade and maintain the ICT environment (servers, hardware, software, updated modules and versions of the system, and licenses).
• Connectivity problems at rural municipalities impact on the use of web-based systems and the submission of data strings to the Local Government upload portal.
• The level of customisation in the system functionality required by Metros and large secondary cities delay system development.
• Some municipalities are dependent on the system vendors and do not take ownership of their system/the data captured on it.
• Some municipalities do not perform the responsibilities required from them (i.e. data cleansing, user testing, transaction capturing, etc.) when migrating to a new system, resulting in delays to implement the core system.
• Non-payment of system vendors due to contractual disagreements result in vendors suspending support.

c) In terms of MFMA Circular No 98 that was issued on 6 December 2019, municipalities are required to submit a roadmap to the National and respective provincial treasury to indicate how the municipality will be become mSCOA compliant if the minimum level of mSCOA implementation has not been achieved as yet. The following municipalities have persistently not complied with mSCOA for the reasons stated:

Eastern Cape:

• Nelson Mandela Bay Metro: In-house system is not mSCOA enabling and requires additional development. A road map has been submitted to the National Treasury.
• Amathole Municipality: Huge investments were made to purchase a mSCOA enabling system but the previous implementing agent of the financial system did not conclude the development work, citing a lack of cooperation from the municipality to conclude user testing when required as the reason for not being able to conclude the work. The municipality has taken legal action against the previous implementing agent and appointed a new agent. A road map has not been submitted to the Provincial Treasury.

Free State:

• Kopanong Municipality: Due to server and connectivity challenges the legacy system (FMS) which is not mSCOA enabling is being used.
• Mafube Municipality: Due to budgetary constraints the municipality has server challenges and cannot migrate to EMS version of the system.
• Mohokare Municipality: Due to non-payment of the system vendor, the support to the system is suspended at times and this impacts on reporting.
• Nala Municipalityis highly dependent on the system vendor to such an extent that the vendor and not officials are capturing the information on the system.
• Tokologo Municipality is highly dependent on the system vendor to operate the system and as a result officials revert to using the legacy system (FMS) which are not mSCOA enabling.

No road maps have been submitted by any of the Free State non-complying municipalities and the Provincial Treasury is following up on this.

Gauteng:

• City of Johannesburg: Due to the required level of customisation, the system development has not been concluded as yet.
• City of Tshwane: Due to required level of customisation, the system development has not been concluded as yet.

Road maps have been submitted to the National Treasury.

KwaZulu-Natal:

• Msunduzi Municipality: Huge investments were made to purchase a mSCOA enabling system but the previous implementing agent of the financial system did not conclude the development work. The municipality has taken legal action against the previous implementing agent and appointed a new agent. A road map has not been submitted to the National Treasury. Legal action is being taken against the vendor.
• uPhongolo Municipality: Changed their financial system due to contractual disagreements and currently in process of migrating to a new system. A road map will be submitted to the Provincial Treasury once a system vendor has been appointed.

Limpopo:

• Lepelle-Nkumpi Municipality: Changed their financial system due to contractual disagreements and currently in process of migrating to a new system. A road map has been submitted to the Provincial Treasury.

Mpumulanga:

• Gert Sibande and Pixley Ka Seme Municipalities both lack internal capacity and are dependent on the system vendor to assist them to upload the data strings. No roadmaps have been submitted to the provincial treasury.

North West:

• Rustenburg, Ditsobotla, Dr Ruth SegomotsiMompati, and Greater Taung Municipalities all changed their systems and are still busy with the migration to the new system, which impacts on reporting and credibility of information.
• Mamusa – political and administration leadership challenges (municipality was recently dissolved and went to had a by-election and the CFO and MM are both suspended) and a lack of capacity in finance department impact on the implementation of mSCOA.
• Ngaka Modiri Molema Municipality is highly dependent on the system vendor to such an extent that the vendor and not officials are capturing the information on the system and generating the data strings.

No road maps have been submitted by any of the North West non-complying municipalities and the Provincial Treasury is following up on this.

Northern Cape:

• Richtersveld Municipality: Due to capacity constraints, a lack of knowledge on mSCOA and their own financial system, the budget and reports are prepared out of the system and then given to the system vendor to import on the system.
• David Kuiper Municipality: Due to system related challenges and a lack of knowledge on mSCOA and their own system, the municipality has decided to change to another system and is busy with the Section 33 process in this regard.

No road maps have been submitted by these non-complying municipalities.

Reply:

• In terms of Treasury Regulations section 6.6.3, the relevant Provincial Treasury must table an adjustments budget within 30 days of the tabling of the National Adjustments Budget. Therefore, Provinces have until the 24thJuly 2020 to table their adjustments budget, and the requested information will only be available then. This information should be obtained directly from Provinces as the responsibility to determine specific provincial allocations for quarantine and isolation sites vest with each province in terms of their own budget determination processes.

Reply:

a) The National Treasury provides support and training to both NPA and SAPS with regard to interpretation of MFMA, PFMA and related Treasury regulations through the Office of the Accountant-General (OAG). The support and training provided assistthese law enforcement agencies to develop relevant investigation plans and approaches to their cases. The OAG also provides technical expertise on the legislation and related prescripts.

b) The National Treasury already has the Specialised Audit Services unit which works in collaboration with and gives support to the law enforcement agencies on MFMA cases.

Reply:

1. The latest information provided to the National Treasury by the Banking Association of South Africa (BASA) is that, as at 25 July 2020, participating South African banks have provided a cumulative R44.85 billionin total financial relief and loan guaranteesto South African businesses and individuals who are financially distressed due to the Covid-19 pandemic and national lockdown. This includes R12,79 billion in loans extended under the Covid-19 Loan Guarantee Scheme. The balance is non-guaranteed financial relief that banks have voluntarily offered to their customers, including R19,18 billionto individuals and R12,88 billion to commercial and small and medium enterprises.

2. The initial update of the Covid-19 Loan Guarantee Scheme appeared to be slow, however it should be seen within the context of the initial relief granted by the banks (debt restructuring, repayment holidays and similar relief) before the credit guarantee scheme took effect.

3. Yes, the modifications have been considered and effected on 27 July 2020. This includes a longer payment holiday (increased to a maximum of 1 year after taking out the loan and repayment over five years) and offering business “restart” loans.The previous turnover cap has been removed and replaced with a maximum amount of R100m per loan. Previously the customer had to be in good standing with their bank on 29 February 2020 and this has been moved to 31 December 2019, which allows for more businesses to access the loan. Sole proprietors are now explicitly included. No security or suretyship was required and this was further clarified to still not be a requirement. Banks may reconsider applications declined under the first phase.The press statement that was issued by National Treasury, the Banking Association of South Africa and the South African Reserve Bank on 26 July 2020 provides more details, and can be accessed on the treasury website at:http://www.treasury.gov.za/comm_media/press/2020/20200726%20Media%20statement%20-%20Updated%20Loan%20Guarantee%20Scheme.pdf

Reply:

a) Section 33 of the MFMA requires a municipality to amongst others, solicitthe views and recommendations of the National Treasury and the relevant provincial treasury. Treasuries generally reviewmatters of compliance with the MFMA, processes followed, contents of draft contracts, supply chain management, alignment of resources and future obligations, as well as processes of consultation with the public and transparency principles. Draft contracts are reviewed to advise municipalities that contract management are aligned to the provisions in terms of section 116 of the MFMA. No adverse comments were raised on any of the draft contracts received during the 2018/19 financial year.

b) There were no adverse comments on the draft contracts. Comments were more for the municipal officials and council’s consideration prior to approval.

c) We do not maintain records of contracts entered intoafter the conclusion of the comment process.No further processes were followed, since the MFMA requires such contracts to be made public on municipal websites to maintain the accountability and transparency principles.

Reply:

1. Interventions in terms of S139 of the Constitution are invoked by the Provincial Executive and not directly by any National Government department, unless, there is a failure by the Provincial Executive to act, then the National Executive may intervene in terms of Section 139(7) of the Constitution. This subsection however, is not applicable to all interventions in terms of S139 of the Constitution.

Research into the efficacy of S139 interventions undertaken by the Public Affairs Research Institute on behalf of the National Treasury in 2018, showed that S139(1) interventions often fail to achieve their intended outcomes for a number of reasons. Amongst others, these reasons include, that interventions are often invoked using the wrong subsection of S139. In this regard, where there is clear evidence of a financial crisis and for which a mandatory intervention in terms of S139(5) is required, the Province elects to invoke a S139(1) intervention which is discretionary in nature and intended to remedy a failure to fulfil an executive obligation. The constant practice of “mismatching” interventions and problems results in failed outcomes.

Interventions, are also invoked too late, well after municipal failure is a fait accompli and are terminated too early before the intervention has dealt with all dimensions of the problem. The use of an administrator has also been found to have little effect on improving outcomes. Administrators should firstly only be appointed upon dissolution of Council; most administrators lack requisite qualifications thus incapable of solving municipal problems singlehandedly. Even where administrators may be competent and suitably qualified, a further impediment to successful outcomes are the threats that are often made by corrupt and unethical official and local politicians on the administrator’s lives.

Other reasons for failure include municipal officials who are often unwilling to cooperate with the intervention teams, the terms of reference for the administrator are often not specified upfront making it difficult to determine whether or not the objectives of the interventions were attained, the interventions generally lacked substantive-ness and in many cases the root cause of the problem is never dealt with adequately. A number of municipalities met the criteria for S139(5) – financial crisis intervention - but these interventions are seldom invoked by Provincial Executives.

In summary, the history of interventions to date point to a number of failures – people, process, political, timing related and therefore interventions have not been successful in addressing municipal dysfunction. However, the experience of the Oudtshoorn Municipality in the Western Cape is an exception in this regard and is due to a concerted effort on the part of senior managers in the municipality to repair the institution.

No intervention in terms of S139(7) of the Constitution has been invoked yet and therefore National Treasury has not had the mandate to intervene directly in a municipality.

2. As indicated in the above response, S139 interventions are invoked by the Provincial Executive and records of interventions of these interventions should be maintained nationally by the Department of Cooperative Governance. National Treasury does not have detailed records of these interventions but can furnish copies of financial recovery plans prepared for those municipalities where the Municipal Finance Recovery Service unit has rendered assistance in this regard. We will provide copies upon request of all active financial recovery plans that the MFRS unit is currently monitoring on a monthly basis.

Reply:

1. The Honourable member to note that the numbers quoted also contain historical amounts that have not been dealt with effectively by Municipal Councils as prescribed. The irregular expenditure for the 2018/19 financial year was R21.5 billion and is concerning. Our analysis points to the main cause for irregular expenditure being non-compliance with Supply Chain Management (SCM) processes and procedures. The National Treasury has issued MFMA Circular 81, which introduced the Central Suppliers Database that requires all suppliers to be registered on the database. The database interfaces with the South African Revenue Services, the Companies and Intellectual Property Commission and government’s payroll system.  The system verifies supplier’s tax and BEE status, and enable public sector officials doing business with the state to be identified. Thus, if used correctly, these proactive measures will contribute to the reduction of incidencesof irregular expenditure.

Moreover, the National Treasury in conjunction with the Department of Cooperative Governance developed the Municipal Public Accounts Committee (MPAC) Guideline and Toolkit which aim is to amongst others, assist MPACs to perform their oversight responsibilities in relation to irregular expenditure and make appropriate recommendations to the municipal council for resolution either to write-off or recover such expenditure, based on investigations. This guide was supported by MFMA Circular 92 which assists in effective functioning and decision-making by councillors serving on MPAC. This will assist municipalities to correctly address the irregular expenditure consistent with section 32 of the MFMA. In addition to this, the National Treasury also issued MFMA Circular 68 which further seeks to guide MPACs on the procedural aspect in relation to processing irregular expenditure.

2. (a) It has become apparent that some municipalities did not have the appropriate capacity, process or procedures to attend to the requirement as regulated. Some did not properly constitute its bid adjudication committee (BAC) as required in terms of regulation 29 of the Municipal SCM Regulations, which contributed to the root causes, besides internal control weaknesses.Inotherinstances, municipalities’ organisational structures were not appropriately established.After considerable engagements, a ministerial exemption was granted to municipalities that allowed for theco-optingof officials from neighbouring municipalities to assist with the compositionof the BAC. This measure will contribute to reducing the irregular expenditure in the coming financial years.

In recognising the capacity challenges, the National Treasury is currently finalising a project on the standard operating procedures for SCM which will provide step-by-step assistance to SCM officials to perform recurring activities through execution of specific tasks.

(b) The National Treasury and provincial treasuries will continue to support and capacitate municipalities in improving its internal control measures;however, it is the responsibility of municipalities to prevent and thus curb irregular expenditure by implementing corrective actions.

Reply:

1. Yes.

a. Since 2017.

b. The Exercise has been taking place for over four (04) years.

c. EXERCISE MAFADI is the official Field Exercise after at the end of the Battle Handling Course for Military Law Practitioners (MLPs). It is also Combat Readiness Exercise for the Defence Legal Service Division (DLSD) in order to prepare MLPs to provide legal support to operations in terms of the Legal Support Doctrine.

d. The primary objective of the EX MAFADI is to prepare Military Law Practitioners to support internal and external operation in terms the Operations Legal Support Doctrine. To teach them their role during Joint Military Operations with other state departments, Peace Keeping Missions and during War.

The aim is also to enhance their leadership skills and to teach them other important military skills such as Navigation, Map work and Radio communication. Thereby MLPs that took part in EX MAFADI are deemed and certified Combat Ready by the Division.

e. EX MAFADI alone is not a prerequisite for promotion; Military Law Practitioners are required to attend their respective Service Promotional Courses before they can be promoted to the next rank. However, EX MAFADI is the Practical Part of the Joint Battle Handling Course (JBHC) for Junior Military Law Practitioners. Military Law Practitioners must have successfully completed the JBHC (including Ex MAFADI) before they can be considered for promotion.

2. a. (i) On 28 June 2020 a South African Air Force, Oryx helicopter from 15 Squadron, Durban was dispatched to rescue a member who had taken a fall and could not continue with the exercise. The member was airlifted taken to Greys hospital in Pietermaritzburg where she was treated for minor injuries. She has since recovered. The cost of the Oryx deployment was R 163.582.00 (R71, 123/ hour for two (2) and half hours).

On 01 July 2020 an Oryx was dispatched again to conduct a Search and Rescue Mission for members from 7 Medical Battalion Group, who were also conducting a Military Exercises in the area. (b)The Mountain Club of South Africa members were involved because of their familiarity with area. The cost of the Oryx deployment was R 284,492. (R71, 123/ hour for four hours).

3. a. EX MAFADI is a Divisional exercise therefore the Head of the Division must either command the exercise personally or delegate command to other duly qualified Officers. In this case the Adjutant General appointed all other relevant commanders such as the Exercise Commander, Company Commander and Platoon commanders and he was also present as the overall overseer to ensure that the objectives of the exercise were achieved.

b. EX MAFADI is a not a hike but a Military Exercise authorised by Defence Legal Services Division. An exercise scenario is developed to simulate a certain military problem and the exercise is conducted accordingly. All military exercises are conducted at state expense. EX MAFADI was conducted over the following time periods.

- EX MAFADI I- 15 till 21 October 2017 (Reconnaissance).

- EX MAFADI II- 27 December 2017 till 03 January 2018.

- EX MAFADI III- 28 January till 08 February 2019.

- EX MAFADI IV- 26 June till 03 July 2020.

4. EX MAFADI is the Combat Readiness Exercise for DLSD and the training at Port St Johns is the Mission Readiness Exercise for Joint Operations Division.

Reply:

1. The Director-General of the National Treasury wrote to SALGA on 10 May 2020 and noted that “In terms of the South African Local Government Bargaining Council circular number 02/2020, dated 6 March 2020, the salary and wage increase in terms of sections 6.6 and 6.8 of the Collective Agreement will be 6.25 per cent from 1 July 2020. Clearly, this is no longer affordable considering the current economic environment. The local government collective agreement further provides, in Clause 11, for applications for exemptions from any provision of the collective agreement should the agreement be unaffordable or in cases of unexpected economic hardship.” The Director-General then said that, “It is National Treasury’s view that SALGA should urgently lodge an application for exemption on behalf of all municipalities who are party to the agreement to allow for consideration before the municipal financial year commences. The specific provisions from which the municipalities should be exempted should be agreed with affected municipalities.”

(2)(a) The letter was sent to SALGA on 10 May 2020. SALGA took up the issue in the South African Local Government Bargaining Council (SALGBC) and National Treasury was subsequently invited to provide a briefing to the SALGBCon 17 June 2020. National Treasury provided the briefing as requested.

3. SALGA is the employer representative in the SALGBC and are taking the issue forward through that structure. National Treasury respects the process in the SALGBCand has no role in the process unless we are requested to provide further information or support.

Reply:

1. It is not clear what the “Disaster Management budget” being referred to is. In the last quarter of the 2019/20 financial year, a total of R150.2 million was transferred to municipalities from the Municipal Disaster Relief Grant (the amount per municipality is shown in Annexure A). In addition to this, an amount of R4 billion was reprioritised for disaster response within other conditional grants already transferred to municipalities in the 2019/20 financial year. This information is also described on page 20 of the Supplementary Budget Review tabled on the 24thJune 2020.

In the 2020/21 financial year, funds are made available to municipalities to respond to the COVID-19 pandemic through an addition of R11 billion to the local government Equitable Share, and an estimated R9 billion is available to be spent on COVID-19 response activities within conditional grants. Details of this are set out in the Division of Revenue Amendment Bill, 2020, tabled on the 24thJune 2020.

(2)(a) The 2019/20 financial year only ended at the end of June 2020. Municipalities have not yet reported on their expenditure for that financial year, and audited financial information will only be available once the Auditor-General has completed their processes in auditing municipal financial statements. For amounts allocated for the current financial year, municipalities should be given an opportunity to spend the funds before they can be expected to report on how much was spent.

(2)(b) Conditions for the Municipal Disaster Relief Grant were gazetted in the Government Gazette No. 42464. The National Disaster Management Centre (NDMC) approved that receiving municipalities could spend these funds on particular activities included in the business plans submitted to them by municipalities. In approving the reallocation of funds from conditional grants to be used to respond to the disaster, National Treasury also approved specific conditions for the use of those funds that were prescribed by the Transferring Officer of each grant. Conditions of the use of grant funds in 2020/21 were gazetted in Government Gazette No.43495.

(2)(c) The same constraint in terms of the timing of expenditure information described in response to question (2)(a) applies to this question.