Questions and Replies

Reply:

The Cabinet member responsible for administering the Disaster Management Act was designated by President Thabo Mbeki on 25 March 2004 as the Minister for Provincial and Local Government.

The administration of the Act was transferred to the Minister of Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs by President Jacob Zuma on 22 June 2009.

The respective proclamations are attached.

Reply:

As I indicated in my reply to Question 419, I have not been provided with any grounds for the allegation that a certain person was taken on international trips without following standard procedure and regulations.

And as I said in my reply, if the Honourable Member or any other person has evidence of a violation of the relevant prescripts, they are requested to make such information available.

Reply:

There were people that were declared undesirable during this period. The system automatically declares an over stayer undesirable and in this instance, the manager was supposed to override the system and ensure that nobody is declared undesirable. This was an oversight which was corrected and those that were identified by the department as affected by this, have been cleared. There are others that may have been unnoticed during this exercise. They are in contact with the department and are being assisted on a case-by-case basis to remove their undesirability status on the movement control system.

END

Reply:

(1) The increased number of arrests of illegal immigrants would have resulted in releases if the deportations were not implemented;

(2) The deportations costs incurred by the department was R23,329,354.82 in 2019/20 financial year;

(3) The country’s policy position of recouping the costs incurred in returning illegal immigrants to their countries of origin is the subject of ongoing bilateral discussions led by the DHA and DIRCO. All countries have to date indicated a lack of funds in relation to this. In SADC and South America, Consular services in foreign missions such as Zimbabwe, Mozambique, Brazil and Venezuela are actively involved in assisting the deportees to source funds for self-payment from their relations. The assistance also extends to the purchase of bus and flight tickets by the Consular Officers;

(4) what are the relevant details of monies (a) paid by his department and (b) received on deportation from each country of deported immigrants for the past 12 months?

(a) Deportation expenditure amounted to R23,329,354.82.

(b) Self-deportation costs by foreign nationals were R5,634,165.20.

 

END

Reply:

1. The Integrated Programme of Action on Violence Against Women and Children (POA: VAWC) was approved by Cabinet and published on 18 September 2013.

2. The 2013-2018 Programme of Action on Violence Against Women and Children was reviewed by the Department of Monitoring and Evaluation in 2016 through a diagnostic review.

3. The Draft reviewed Programme of Action on Violence Against Women and Children is attached.

Reply:

Having a bank account is not a requirement for an application for the special relief grant. Where an applicant does have a bank account, the benefit, if approved, will be paid directly into his / her bank account.

However, where the applicant does not have a bank account, he /she will receive a money transfer through one of the banks which are supporting SASSA with the implementation of this grant. The applicant will indicate which the most convenient bank is for him / her and the money transfer will be sent to his/her mobile phone, once the necessary checks have been done to ensure that it is indeed a mobile phone belonging to that applicant. The money transfer may then be cashed at the ATM and the funds used as required.

Reply:

Around 2002 the vision for a Single Public Service was conceived and since then work has been done towards the realisation thereof. The objective of this Single Public Service (now referred to as the Single Public Administration) was underpinned by the need to improve service delivery through harmonisation of norms and standards to align human resource, Governance, Information Communication Technology and related arrangements in all three spheres of government i.e national, provincial and local government, taking into account the constitutional imperatives. To this extent the Public Administration Management Act, 2014 was enacted which, to a limited extent, addressed some of the objectives of the Single Public Administration such as-

A) The mobility of staff between the spheres of government- sections 5 and 6 of the Public Administration Management Act make transfers and secondments across spheres of government possible;

b) The provision of service centres to provide services of the 3 spheres of government at one place is provide for in section 18 of the Public Administration Management Act;

c) The creation of a common ethos and culture of public service- principles of section 195 of the Constitution is recognised in section 4 of the Public Administration Management Act;

d) The provision for an anti-corruption strategy and standards of conduct- provided for in section 15 of the Public Administration Management Act;

e) Ensuring the creation of norms and standards for e-government governance, information and communication technology throughout the public administration- section 14 of the Public Administration Management Act; and

f) Providing for the professionalisation of the public administration through training and development- Chapter 4 of the Public Administration Management Act.

We are currently focused on the full implementation of the Public Administration Management Act, which includes promulgation of relevant regulations and may include amendments to address areas where there have been challenges experienced in its implementation or where new policy is required to be introduced. Once the work required to be done to inform such an amendment is completed, we will be better placed to indicate the details thereof.

Reply:

Ga-Mohlala is a village with a population of five thousand eight hundred and twenty five (5825) and one thousand three hundred and fifty four (1354) households. The village water supply depends on eight boreholes; with five boreholes which are part of a project that was implemented in 2016 as part of the Municipal Infrastructure Grant (MIG) intervention which unfortunately was not successful. There are also three hand pumps which are not functional. Two of the hand pumps were vandalized and need to be re-drilled whilst one can be fixed.

The municipality met with the complainants on 06 May 2020 for a site inspection as part of finding a solution to the ongoing water challenges. It was agreed that the municipality will send a maintenance team to fix the hand pump that was not vandalized, as part of the short term intervention.

As part of the medium-term solution, the municipality will further intervene and refurbish the five boreholes which were part of the previous unsuccessful project so as to ensure there is water for the people of Ga-Mohlala.

The Department of Water and Sanitation has also provided 5 water tanks (2 x 10000 and 3 x 5250 litres) and 1 tanker to the Makhuduthamaga Local Municipality as part of its COVID-19 interventions to ensure access to clean water.

Reply:

(a)(i) The form submitted is part of Collective Agreement 1 of 2020 as attached.

(ii) Once the educator submits the application form and the accompanying documentation, his/her Supervisor assesses the application. Once the Supervisor is satisfied that the educator qualifies to be granted a concession, conditions of the concession are discussed and an agreement  is reached and recorded in the form. If there is no agreement, the grievance procedure in Chapter G of the Personnel Administrative Measure (PAM) document will be activated.

Reply:

According to the Children’s Act 38 of 2005; Section 151 and 152, as well as Regulation 53 (1)(a)(b) gives the authority to the designated social worker or a police official to make a decision that is in the best interest of a child to effect removal of a child and places such a child in temporary safe care for the safety and well-being of the child. Such removal can either be by means of:

• A court order (Section 151) where there is evidence given by a designated Social Worker that a child is in need of care and protection. Upon presentation of such evidence before the presiding officer; the presiding officer issues an order authoring a designated Social Worker to remove a child toa temporary safe care while the matter is being investigated.

• Without a court order, which is an emergency removal situation through Section 152 and completion of Form 36 as prescribed in Regulation 53. Emergency removal is done in instances where there are reasonable grounds that the child is in need of care and protection and delays obtaining a court order for the removal and placing the child in temporary safe care may jeopardise the child’s safety and well-being.

The completed Form 36 must be submitted to the temporary safe care person or CYCC as soon as it is practical. The clerk of the children’s court must be informed about such a removal not later than the next court day.

Province	Year	Number of children taken away from their parents
Mpumalanga		Without a court order	With a court order
	2016/2017	27	68
	2017/2018	21	95
	2018/2019	46	88
Free State	Year	Without a court order	With a court order
	2016/17	402	24
	2017/18	432	48
	2018/19	296	70
Limpopo	Year	Without a court order	With a court order
	2016/17	0	245
	2017/18	0	243
	2018/19	0	258
North West	Year	Without a court order	With a court order
	2016/17	0	46
	2017/18	0	51
	2018/19	0	66
Gauteng	Year	Without a court order	With a court order
	2016/17	25	836
	2017/18	16	788
	2018/19	26	953
Western Cape	Year	Without a court order	With a court order
	2016/17	New indicator	1 883
	2017/18	4 694	1 793
	2018/19	8 266	1 949
Eastern Cape	Year	Without a court order	With a court order
	2016/17	0	849
	2017/18	0	653
	2018/19	37	517
Kwa-Zulu Natal	Year	Without a court order	With a court order
	2016/17	112	462
	2017/18	121	658
	2018/19	97	681
Total (eight provinces)		14,619	13,324

Northern Cape:

It is impossible to provide disaggregated data on the removal of children with or without court orders in the Northern Cape. It can be confirmed that the following number of children were removed in accordance with Section 151 and 152 of the Children’s Act, 38 of 2005.

Northern Cape	Year	Number of children removed with and without court orders
	2016/17	134
	2017/18	176
	2018/19	93
Total		403

Reply:

What total amount has her department spent on (a) catering, (b) entertainment and (c) gifts (i) in the (aa) 2018-19 and (bb) 2019-20 financial years and (ii) since 1 April 2020?      Response:

	2018/19 R'000	2019/20 R'000	2020/21
Catering	25 745	22 686	795
Entertainment-	25	152	-
Gifts-	-	-	-

                                                                                                                        

Reply:

(1)(a)(i)(ii)(iii)

Crime Category	Regions
	EC	GP	KZN	LMN	FSNC	WC	Total
(Culpable Homicide and Related offences) (Murder and related offences)		3		1	1	2	7
(Culpable Homicide and Related offences) (Murder and related offences) (Offences against freedom of movement)		1	1				2
(Culpable Homicide and Related offences) (Murder and related offences) (Sexual offences)	1						1
(Culpable Homicide and Related offences) (Offences against freedom of movement) (Sexual offences)				1			1
(Culpable Homicide and Related offences) (Sexual offences)		1				1	2
(Murder and related offences)	144	338	299	118	66	41	1 006
(Murder and related offences) (Offences against freedom of movement)	7	13	8	4	3	4	39
(Murder and related offences) (Offences against freedom of movement) (Sexual offences)	3	5	2	1	2	1	14
(Murder and related offences) (Sexual offences)	8	13	11	5	5		42
(Offences against freedom of movement)		1					1
(Offences against freedom of movement) (Sexual offences)	4	3	4	2			13
(Sexual offences)	19	16	28	30	11	9	113
Grand Total	186	394	353	162	88	58	1 241

(iv)

*Note that Parole Boards only have recommendation powers in respect of lifers since the approval rests with the Minister.

Region/Management Area/Parole Board	Number who received parole
EASTERN CAPE	186
Amathole Area	27
East London Area	11
Kirkwood Area	17
Mthatha Area	64
Sada Area	8
St. Albans Area	59
GAUTENG	394
Baviaanspoort Area	3
Boksburg Area	48
Johannesburg Area	85
Krugersdorp Area	15
Leeuwkop Area	126
Modderbee Area	20
Pretoria Area	93
Zonderwater Area	4
KWAZULU-NATAL	353
Durban Area	115
Empangeni Area	36
Glencoe Area	11
Kokstad Area	8
Ncome Area	21
Pietermaritzburg Area	146
Waterval Area	16
LIMPOPO, MPUMALANGA AND NORTH WEST (LMN)	162
Barberton Area	40
Bethal Area	10
Klerksdorp Area	9
Polokwane Area	26
Rooigrond Area	20
Rustenburg Area	28
Thohoyandou Area	22
Witbank Area	7
NORTHERN CAPE AND FREE STATE (FS&NC)	88
Goedemoed Area	1
Groenpunt Area	38
Grootvlei Area	16
Kimberley Area	10
Kroonstad Area	16
Upington Area	7
WESTERN CAPE	58
Allandale Area	1
Brandvlei Area	1
Drakenstein Area	14
George Area	10
Helderstroom Area	5
Malmesbury Area	6
Pollsmoor Area	13
Voorberg Area	2
Worcester Area	6
GRAND TOTAL	1 241

(b)

Year served by offenders serving life sentence, before released on parole	Number of offenders serving life sentence, released on parole, after serving from 13 to 33 years in a correctional facility.
13 Years	14
14 Years	54
15 Years	131
16 Years	189
17 Years	205
18 Years	184
19 Years	107
20 Years	106
21 Years	94
22 Years	58
23 Years	36
24 Years	23
25 Years	17
26 Years	11
27 Years	4
28 Years	3
29 Years	3
30 Years	1
33 Years	1
GRAND TOTAL	1 241

*Please take note: The totals in this table is for revocation, which includes offenders who committed crime and/or violated their parole conditions.

(c) LIFER REVOCATIONS
REGION	2015/2016	2016/2017	2017/2018	2018/2019	2019/2020	TOTAL
EC	2	1	2	3	1	9
GAUTENG	2	2	2		1	7
FS/NC		1			2	3
KZN					2	2
WC				1		1
LMN		2				2
TOTAL	4	6	4	4	6	24

(2) In ensuring compliance to conditions of monitoring, offenders are monitored through telephonic contact, physical visits at work if discussed and agreed upon by offender and employer and physical visit at home, during the week, weekends and public holidays (after hours visits included)

Compulsory visits by offender to the community corrections offices / sub-office /service points and where physical monitoring cannot be done due to certain circumstances; alternative measures are made or taken by the Head of Community Corrections to ensure that the offender is monitored.

All offenders placed under the system of community corrections are subjected to the Admission Risk Reclassification tool to determine the level of supervision unless stated otherwise by Court/ CSPB. Monitoring is therefore conducted in line with the offender’s categories and monitored as follows:

Condition	High Risk category	Medium Risk category	Low Risk Category
Minimum Number of contacts	Eight (08) contacts per month	Four (04) contacts per month	Two (02) contacts per month
Physical visit at home	A minimum of one face-to-face visits per week to the offender by the Reintegration Case Official	A minimum of one face-to-face visit per month	A minimum of one face-to-face visit every two months
Physical visit at work	A minimum of one monthly face-to-face visit	A minimum of one face-to-face visit every two months	Minimum of one quarterly face-to-face visit
Physical visit at community service	A minimum of one face-to-face visits per month	A minimum of one face-to-face visits per month	A minimum of one face-to-face visits per quarter
Compulsory visit by offender to the community corrections office	Minimum of one monthly face-to-face contact (office consultation)	A minimum of one face-to-face contact every two months (office consultation	A minimum of one face-to-face visit every two months (office consultation

(3)(a) The following are programmes available:

Correctional Programmes:

There are thirteen (13) Correctional Programmes aimed at addressing specific offending behaviour of offenders, aimed at creating awareness and improving the life skills of offenders. The programmes are namely:

1. New Beginnings Orientation (orientation programme to offenders newly admitted to a Correctional Centre)  
2. Anger Management
3. Cross Roads (focusing on life skills)
4. Restorative Justice Orientation
5. Sexual Offences
6. Substance Abuse
7. Behaviour Modification Programme on Gangsterism
8. Economic Crime Programme (fraud related)
9. Economic Crime Programme (theft related)
10. Programme on Murder and related offences
11. Programme on Robbery and related offences
12. Correctional Programme for Female Offenders
13. Pre-Release

Correctional Programmes are non-therapeutic in nature and are rendered in the group mode. 

 

Social Work Programmes:

The Social Workers render the following therapeutic programmes to offenders in individual or groups settings:

1. Anger Management Programme
2. Sexual Offender Treatment Programme
3. Substance Abuse Programme
4. Youth Resilience Enhancement Programme
5. Youth Resilience Enhancement Programme
6. Cool and Fit for Life (Youth Programme)
7. Elderly Offender Programme
8. Sisonke Family and Marriage Care Programme
9. Parenting Skills Programme

Psychological Services:

Psychologists render individual therapeutic services to sentenced offenders. These services are based on the offender’s risks and needs identified. A treatment plan is compiled to outline the specific intervention that will be best suited to the offender. When needed, a psychotherapeutic process will be initiated to address the identified risks and needs with the aim of developing better mental health, correcting offending behaviour, and assisting with movement towards successful rehabilitation.

Some offenders whose profiles are being compiled for parole purposes sometimes need to have a psychological report on their profile. These offenders are usually offenders who pose higher risks, offenders with longer sentences, and offenders who committed serious aggressive and sexual crimes (robbery, rape and murder).

(3)(b) For 2019/20 financial year an amount of R51, 155 mil is allocated for Community Reintegration programmes.

END

Reply:

1. CRES has seven hundred and twenty six (726) employees. Intersite has twelve (12) employees.

2. CRES is a property management division of PRASA established to oversee the entity’s property portfolio, which includes stations, workplace and land. To execute its mandate, CRES provides suitable workplace facilities, manages railway stations and rents its non-commercial space including land to the business community, students and or citizens who have accommodation needs.

Intersite is an asset investment subsidiary of PRASA established to commercialize entity assets (moveable & immovable) through third party agreements.

Reply:

SANRAL uses the Loan Supportable by Revenue (LSR) model to determine the viability of a toll scheme to support all its financial obligations through the projected revenue over the lifecycle of the toll scheme.It is a natural cycle for toll schemes to begin with negative cashflows in the initial years due to the impact of the initial capital outlay for construction works. The cashflows improve over the life cycle following a J-Curve pattern to the point of break even and subsequent positive cashflows.

(a) SANRAL currently has the following toll roads:

1. N1 Huguenot
2. N1 South
3. N1 North
4. N2 Tsitsikamma
5. N2 South Coast
6. N2 North Coast
7. N3 Mariann Hill
8. N4 Magalies
9. N17 Johannesburg
10. N17 Ermelo
11. GFIP (eToll)

(b) (i) (aa) the following toll roads are self-funding

1. N1 Huguenot
2. N1 South
3. N1 North
4. N2 Tsitsikamma
5. N2 South Coast
6. N2 North Coast
7. N3 Mariann Hill
8. N4 Magalies
9. N17 Johannesburg
10. N17 Ermelo

(b) (i) (bb) the following toll roads have shortfalls

1. GFIP (eToll)

(b) (ii) (aa) the shortfalls have increased by following amount over the past three years

1. GFIP (eToll) had operating cost shortfall of R263 million.

(c) (ii) (bb) not applicable

Reply:

a) The Department of Justice and Constitutional Development embarked on a process of reprioritizing vacant posts in line with the National a) Treasury Instruction No. 2 of 2016/17 issued on 30 September 2016 and Notice 3 of 2017/18 published on 15 May 2017 as a result of the Cost Containment Measures (reduction of wage bill). The overall vacancy rate, as at 31 March 2020, was at 14% which translates to 2 567 vacant posts. However, after the reprioritization process, the vacancy rate of critical posts stood at 6.6%, which translates to 1 118 critical vacant posts.

b) (i) Regarding the number of critical posts which are vacant, Human Resources Management indicates that there are 1 118 vacant critical posts on PERSAL.

(ii) There are 44 Senior Management Services (SMS) vacant positions, which translates to a 25% SMS vacancy rate.

(iii) The information regarding vacant Senior Management Services’ posts and where acting appointments have been made, is as follows:

• Acting Chief Master: Mrs T Bezuidenhout has been appointed until 30 June 2020;
• Acting Deputy Director-General: Corporate Services: Mr D Mpholo has been appointed until 30 June 2020;
• Acting Director: Human Resources Customer Management Centre: Ms N Jacobs until 30 June 2020;
• Acting Director: Employee Relations: Mr T Sadiki until 30 June 2020;
• Acting Director-General: Advocate JB Skosana was appointed until 31 July 2020 –
• Acting Chief State Law Advisor: Advocate SM Masapu has been appointed until 30 June 2020;
• Acting Head of Justice College: Advocate B Makhene-Gadini has been appointed until 30 June 2020;
• Acting Regional Head: Western Cape: Mr R Isaacs has been appointed until 30 June 2020;
• Acting Regional Head: Mpumalanga: Mr P M Mthimunye has been appointed until 30 June 2020;
• Acting Regional Head: North-West: Mr J Makutle has been appointed until 30 June 2020.

(iv) (aa) There are 151 vacant posts at Offices of the State Attorney, wherein 58 vacant posts have been reprioritized as critical, which translates to a 7.1% vacancy rate.

(bb) The numbers of vacancies at the Masters’ Office, are as follows:

There are currently 156 vacant posts in the Masters’ Office, 79 of which became vacant as from 1 April 2018. This translates to a vacancy rate of

12.1%.

Furthermore, the following SMS positions have been advertised for filling:

(i) Chief Master: Advertised on 29 November 2019 and re-advertised on 20 January 2020. Process to fill the post, has commenced.

(ii) Deputy Director-General: Corporate Services: Advertised on 29 November 2019. Process to fill the post, has commenced.

(iii) Director: Employee Relations: Advertised on 20 January 2020. The post has been filled by transfer from the Department of Correctional Services.

(iv) Director-General of the DoJ&CD: Advertised on 20 January 2020, and awaiting the Presidency’s permission to go ahead with the filling of the post.

(v) Chief State Law Advisor: Advertised on 23 March 2020.

I further wish to inform the Honourable Member that I regard the filling of these vacant senior management services’ posts as crucial. The Acting Director-General has appointed a designated official in his office to accelerate the filling of these posts and co-ordinate the process of reviewing the organizational structure of the Department, in consultation with my office, the relevant Managers of the Branches concerned, and the Human Resources Management unit. The advertising and filling of vacant posts will be done in compliance with the Department of Public Service and Administration Circular No. 19 of 2020, dated 14 May 2020.

Reply:

The parents of Learners with comorbidities have been advised to report their children to their schools or districts for documentation. The school then follows guidelines to support learners with comorbidities. This included preparing studying materials to guide learners for self-study. Parents collect these materials on behalf of learners on dates determined by the school. Parents then submit work done by learners back to school for marking. In addition to the print materials provided, Lessons are broadcast through SABC, DSTV and well as OVHD Broadcast Platforms and Radio Stations across the countries to provide lessons remotely to learners.

Reply:

I have been informed by the National Prosecuting Authority and the Department of Justice and Constitutional Development, that statistics relating to (a) cases of illegal invasion of land owned by the State which were prosecuted and (b) the number of specified successful prosecutions in each (i) province and (ii) of the past five financial years, are not kept.

Such invasion of State property would normally constitute the civil offence of trespass. Complaints in this regard, would be submitted by Municipalities. There is no record of cases opened by Municipalities against trespassers in this regard.

The usual practice is that Municipalities would initiate civil proceedings and seek a court order for the eviction of unlawful land invaders. These cases would normally be enrolled on the civil case roll in various Magistrates’ Districts.

Some of these civil cases are often also settled out of court with the result that no case is actually registered on the court roll, in such circumstances. It is for this reason that the statistics of these civil cases, are not readily available.

Reply:

a) 2017-2018 financial year

(i) allocated, (ii) transferred and (iii) spent

Municipality	ALLOCATION 2017/18	TOTAL TRANSFERS 2017/18	EXPENDITURE JUL72017 – JUNE 2018
	R'000	R'000	R’000
Buffalo City	55,869	55,868	45,597
Cape Town	999,524	999,524	786,680
Jo'burg	918,187	918,187	602,945
Tshwane	900,239	900,239	884,890
George	210,362	210,362	133,486
eThekwini	917,150	917,150	607,886
Mangaung	231,637	231,637	84,025
Rustenburg	314,156	314,156	299,792
Ekurhuleni	700,718	700,718	372,643
Mbombela	211,673	211,673	114,381
Polokwane	216,734	216,734	163,417
Nelson Mandela Bay	273,297	273,297	193,595
Msunduzi	210,014	157,512*	114,924
Totals	6,159,560	6,107,057	4,404,261

*An amount of R52, 5 million was reallocated, as per the DoRA, from Msunduzi for drought relief within the Western Cape Province.

(b) 2018-2019 financial year

(i) allocated, (ii) transferred and (iii) spent

Municipality	ALLOCATION 2018/19	TOTAL TRANSFERS 2018/19	EXPENDITURE JUL7 2018 – JUNE 2019
	R'000	R'000	R’000
Buffalo City	95,165	95,165	101,427
Cape Town	1,045,522	1,045,522	790,331
Jo'burg	1,112,936	1,066,936*	461,018
Tshwane	808,194	808,194	743,572
George	167,675	167,675	137,378
eThekwini	883,887	825,877*	516,291
Mangaung	234,831	234,831	142,194
Rustenburg	298,212	396,629*	211,084
Ekurhuleni	694,640	604,640*	425,319
Mbombela	203,454	203,454	133,407
Polokwane	205,107	330,107*	214,652
Nelson Mandela Bay	304,942	275,535*	186,127
Msunduzi	199,104	199,104	199,104
Totals	6,253,669	6,253,669	4,261,904

* Polokwane and Rustenburg received in-year adjustments from reductions in Jo’burg, Ekurhuleni,

eThekwini and Nelson Mandela Bay due to unsatisfactory performances, respectively as per the DoRA.

(c) 2019-20 financial year

(i) allocated, (ii) transferred and (iii) spent

Municipality	ALLOCATION 2019/20	TOTAL TRANSFERS 2019/20	EXPENDITURE JULY 2019 - JUNE2020
	R'000	R'000	R’000
Buffalo City	234,466	234,466	154,851
Cape Town	1,311,645	1,311,645	847,270
Jo'burg	1,187,518	1,068,766*	383,211
Tshwane	731,751	658,576*	602,919
George	163,499	245,626*	118,578
eThekwini	840,549	765,349*	717,880
Mangaung	229,596	229,596	126,703
Rustenburg	218,911	218,911	84,923
Ekurhuleni	679,153	679,153	627,610
Mbombela	198,919	198,919	159,748
Polokwane	179,433	332,433*	243,485
Nelson Mandela Bay	298,143	199,980**	93,228
Msunduzi	194,665	226,665*	133,975
Totals	6,468,248	6,370,085	4,294,381

* George, Polokwane and Msunduzireceived in-year adjustments from reductions in Jo’burg, Tshwane,

eThekwini due to unsatisfactory performances, respectively as per the DoRA.

**The DoT was instructed by the National Treasury not to transfer the balance amounting to R98, 1 million for Nelson Mandela Bay.

Reply:

The projects regarding the establishment of Sexual Offences Courts in the Regional Courts, are yielding results, as part of the mechanisms to respond to and assist victims of gender based violence, in particular sexual offences. To date, 106 Sexual Offences Courts and 55 Thuthuzela Care Centres have been established.

With regards to the implementation of the Femicide Watch, the first phase to create a Dashboard of Femicide cases which assists the Department and Justice, Crime Prevention and Security (JCPS) Cluster to have the necessary information available regarding these heinous crimes, has been completed. The subsequent phases to assist in combating these horrendous crimes, are still work in progress.

(a) Until the society deals with the core drivers of Gender-Based Violence and Femicide (GBVC), the court system might continue to fight a losing battle. The GBVF pandemic has direct bearings on strong patriarchal social norms, complex gender inequalities, socio-economic inequalities and its ailments, poor women empowerment, family dysfunction and unaccountability, and the low social value attached to female life; hence the upward spiral of femicide in the country. With the persistent downward spiral of the economy and the unemployment rate, and together with their harsh ramifications on families, efforts made by the court system may continue to struggle to reach the expected impact.

Therefore, the solution to GBVF does not lie with courts alone. It has been proven that greater incarceration and retributive justice often focus on symptomatic relief; hence the need for interventions with society at large to act collectively against the social ills that continue to breed violence against women and children. Until then, our courts may continue to fight a losing battle.

As it is said, an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure. The country needs to boost up its efforts on intervention. However, the focus on prevention cannot be placed primarily on the court system as courts are positioned in the criminal justice system to get involved after the fact.

b The Department has immensely contributed in the development of globally-competitive pieces of legislation on GBVF. These include the Domestic Violence Act, 1998 (Act No. 116 of 1998), Criminal Law (Sexual Offences and Related Matters) Amendment Act, 2007 (Act No. 32 of 2007), Protection from Harassment Act, 2011 (Act No. 17 of 2011), and the Prevention and Combating of Trafficking in Persons Act, 2013 (Act No. 7 of 2013). Despite the wealth of this legal framework, South Africa has been criticised by the United Nations for struggling to bridge the gulf between paper law and action. However, it must be noted that poor implementation is a widespread challenge that many progressive countries are battling with, but with the recent introduction of the 2019 Presidential Summit Declaration against GBVF and its National Strategic Plan, South Africa is set to change this scenario. With the request of the Presidency, the Department led the process of developing this Declaration with government and civil society.

The abuse of women and children continues to increase and there are various reasons for this. At the heart of this challenge, is the patriarchal orientation of society which is fermented by gender prejudices and other forms of gender stereotypes.

The fight against the scourge of gender-based violence and other forms of women abuse is a battle that the society as a whole must embrace. Therefore, the Department’s efforts through for example, Sexual Offences Courts and awareness campaigns, should be seen as part of a bigger societal campaign to eradicate women and child abuse.

Reply:

1. (a) SANRAL has one outstanding loan agreement in two tranches, outstanding amount R997 431 786.61 as at 30 June 2020. This is an amortising loan.

(b) Tranche 1 due date: 15 June 2034, Tranche 2 due date 15 March 2034

(c) The loan was concluded with the European Investment Bank (EIB)

(d) (i) Tranche 1 loan amount: R572 784 000.00, (ii) rate: 8.315%, drawdown date: 13 December 2010.

(i) Tranche 2 loan amount: R573 918 000.00, (ii) rate: 9.277%, drawdown date: 28 March 2011.

2. (a) SANRAL operates and finances a Portfolio of Toll Roads and does not fund these roads on a project basis. The Gauteng Freeway Improvement Project (GFIP) is part of this portfolio.

(b) The unaudited total borrowing as at 31 March 2020 is R47 755.2 million (2019: R47 451.7 million). For further details, Note 15 and 16 of the Annual Financial Statements as included in the Integrated Report provide a detail list of all bonds and loans, with interest rates and dates of maturity.

Reply:

What are the details of the joint phasing-in plan of her department working jointly with the Department of Social Development for the reopening of early childhood development programmes (ECDs) under level 3 of the risk-adjusted approach to Covid-19 within the Republic?

The Department of Basic Education (DBE) and the Department of Social Development (DSD) are still in the process of the early childhood development (ECD) function shift. To date, the ECD function has not yet been transferred to DBE by Proclamation, and the primary responsibility for the re-opening of ECD programmes, rests with the DSD.  That said, the DBE is supporting DSD in developing a plan towards the safe re-opening of ECD programmes.

The DSD, in collaboration with the DBE, Department of Health and civil society, have embarked on a process to look into the options, conditions, requirements and risks associated with the re-opening of ECD programmes.  The first engagement was on 26 May 2020, where eight workstreams (data, monitoring, assessment, support packages, protocols for re-opening, general COVID-19 awareness, programme re-design and practitioner training) were agreed upon, and immediately commenced their work.  This will provide important information regarding the measures and timing for the re-opening of ECD programmes.

(a) date ECDs will be allowed to open under level 3                          

The overall workplan that will be developed by the workstreams will determine this date.

(b) opening of ECDs in provinces which remain on level 4

The overall workplan that will be developed by the workstreams will determine this date.

(c) provision by the Government of personal protective equipment (PPE) to ECDs

The Support Packages Workstream is developing a basic package of support to enable ECD programmes to implement the protocols and standard operating procedures. Funding options for this are considered, including using the budget from the ECD conditional grant to provide the appropriate PPEs.

(d) total number of children that will be permitted in each ECD facility

The Protocols Workstream will develop the required protocols and standard operating procedures for ECD programmes to re-open.

(e) enforcement of social distancing and PPE regulations within ECDs and 

The Protocols Workstream will develop the required protocols and standard operating procedures for ECD programmes to re-open, whereas the Support Packages Workstream is developing a basic package of support to enable ECD programmes to implement the protocols and standard operating procedures. On 2 June, the DSD will also launch the Vangasali campaign as part of Child Protection week. The purpose of the campaign is to crowd-source information on where ECD programmes are located so that the DSD can monitor the readiness of ECD programmes to re-open.

(f) training ECD facilitators and/or practitioners will receive in preparation to receive learners?          

The workstream that focuses on practitioner training will develop a strategy to train all practitioners to prepare adequately before children return to ECD programmes. The general COVID-19 awareness workstream will also develop information packages to programmes and parents to educate them around the required measures that need to be in place.

Reply:

The Department of Justice and Constitutional Development and the National Prosecuting Authority, define backlog cases as cases being in the backlog based age analysis of the court roll. For the district courts, cases that are older than six months will be regarded as being in the backlog, while for the regional courts, cases which are older than nine months will be regarded as being in the backlog.

At the end of March 2020, a total of 194 225 cases were carried forward to the next financial year that commenced in April 2020. In addition to the cases carried forward, a total of 70 667 cases were enrolled during the lockdown period in April and May 2020, the majority of which were postponed to a date after the lockdown period.

The disruption in the optimal use of courts resulted in an increase in the number of outstanding cases in the lower courts. At the end of May 2020, compared to the outstanding roll and backlog cases at the end of March 2020, the outstanding case-loads in (a) Regional Courts, increased by 1%, and (b) in District Courts, by 18%.

A similar increase was noted in the backlog of cases. At the end of May 2020, the backlog of cases in (a) the Regional Courts, increased by 14%, and (b) in the district courts, by 63%.

END

Reply:

Special Remission refers to a reduction of the sentences of incarcerated offenders, probationers and parolees with a period as determined by the President. On
16 December 2019 the President of the Republic, Mr M.C Ramaphosa announced the reduction of sentence for all sentenced offenders including probationers and parolees by 12 months. An additional 06 months special remission was granted for categories with non-violent crimes.

The special parole dispensation due to COVID-19 means that the selected low risk offenders’ minimum detention periods were advanced for consideration for placement.

(a) None. The 14 647 inmates referred to are those whose sentences (due to the remission), expired resulting in them exiting the correctional services system.

(b) Due to long sentences imposed by the courts, a total of 9 617 offenders benefitted from the 2019 Special Remission and they did not qualify for release and placement on parole. However, the 2020 COVID-19 Special Parole Dispensation has advanced their dates for consideration of parole placement.

As indicated, only low-risk offenders who meet all the requirements and conditions for placement on parole, will be placed on parole. The requirement that only offenders who have undergone relevant rehabilitation programmes aimed at addressing their offending behaviour would qualify for placement as this would minimise the risk of re-offending.

Every qualifying sentenced offender’s profile will be assessed and considered individually by the Parole Boards before they make their recommendations for placement on parole. This will include affording victims the opportunity to make representations why an offender should not be placed on parole. All relevant factors will be taken into consideration during this process, which will include any prior convictions for violent offences committed.

END

Reply:

(a) All cases referred to the National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) are screened and if a reasonable prospect of success is determined by the screening prosecutor, the case is enrolled and registered on the Integrated Case Management System. The total number of first appearance cases relating to the contravention of regulations in terms of the Disaster Management Act and registered during the period 26 March 2020 to 30 June 2020 is indicated in the table below:

ALERT LEVEL	CASES	ACCUSED
L5 (26 March - 30 April)	12 768	27 947
L4 (May)	8 487	14 275
L3 (June)	2 837	4 590
TOTAL	24 092	46 812
Data extracted from the integrated case management system

(b) (i) The number of convicted cases per Alert Level is indicated in the table below:

ALERT LEVEL	CASES CONVICTED	ACCUSED
L5 (26 Mar - 30 Apr)	910	1 567
L4 (May)	591	899
L3 (Jun)	71	96
TOTAL	1 572	2 562
Data extracted from the integrated case management system

(ii) A breakdown of the total of 1 572 convicted cases per contravention and per Alert

Level, is tabulated below. The majority of convicted cases relate to the failure to confine to residence during the lockdown period:

ALERT LEVEL AND CONTRAVENTION	CASES	ACCUSED
Level 3 (June)	71	96
Convening a gathering or hindering, interfering with, or obstructing an enforcement officer in the exercise of his or her powers, or the performance of his or her duties for the duration of the national state of disaster in Alert Level 4	1	1
Disclosing any information contained in the COVID-19 Tracing Database or any information obtained during the duration of the national state of disaster without authority	1	1
Failure by any business or other entity other than a business or entity involved in the manufacturing, supply, or provision of an essential good or service to cease operations during the lockdown	1	1
Failure to be confined to one's place of residence for the duration of the national state of disaster in Alert Level 4	5	11
Failure to be confined to one's place of residence from 20H00 until 05H00 daily for the duration of the national state of disaster in Alert Level 4, other as permitted by law	10	10
Failure to comply with a prohibition of movement between provinces during the period of the lockdown	4	6
Failure to confine oneself to his or her place of residence during the period of the lockdown	27	36
Failure to keep closed a listed place or premises normally open to the public or where people may gather for the duration of the national state of disaster in Alert Level 4	1	1
Moving between provinces, metropolitan areas and districts of the national state of disaster in Alert Level 4, other than as provided for in law	6	14
Operating a commuter transport services, passenger rail services, bus services, taxi services, e-hailing services, maritime and air passenger transport contrary to Disaster Management Regulations	5	5
Operating a retail store or shopping mall during the lockdown period other than for selling essential goods and/or failure to comply with prescribed safety measures	2	2
Selling of tobacco, tobacco products, e- cigarettes and related products for the duration of the national state of disaster in Alert Level 4	5	5
Selling tobacco, tobacco products, e-cigarettes and related products, other than for export during the duration of the national state of disaster under Alert Level 3	2	2
Selling, dispensing and distribution of liquor during the duration of the national state of disaster in Alert Level 4	1	1
Level 4 (May)	591	899
Convene and/or attend a gathering as defined during the period of lockdown	7	7
Convening a gathering in contravention of the Disaster Management Act Regulations	15	57
Convening a gathering or hindering, interfering with, or obstructing an enforcement officer in the exercise of his or her powers, or the performance of his or her duties for the duration of the national state of disaster in Alert Level 4	5	5
Failure by a place not involved in the provision of essential goods or service to remain closed to all persons during the duration of the lockdown	6	6
Failure by an electronic communications service provider to comply with a directive by the Director-General: Health to provide information for inclusion in the COVID-19 Tracing Database	1	1
Failure by any business or other entity other than a business or entity involved in the manufacturing, supply, or provision of an essential good or service to cease operations during the lockdown	7	7
Failure to be confined to one's place of residence for the duration of the national state of disaster in Alert Level 4	92	124
Failure to be confined to one's place of residence from 20H00 until 05H00 daily for the duration of the national state of disaster in Alert Level 4, other as permitted by law	27	33
Failure to comply with a prohibition of movement between provinces during the period of the lockdown	29	43
Failure to comply with a prohibition of movement between the metropolitan and district areas during the period of the lockdown	19	23
Failure to confine oneself to his or her place of residence during the period of the lockdown	323	527
Failure to keep closed a listed place or premises normally open to the public or where people may gather for the duration of the national state of disaster in Alert Level 4	3	3
Issuing of special or events liquor licensing during the duration of the national state of disaster	1	3
Leaving one's place of residence during the duration of the national state of disaster in Alert Level 4 other than as permitted by law	11	11
Misrepresenting that one is or any other person is infected with COVID -19	1	1
Moving between provinces, metropolitan areas and districts of the national state of disaster in Alert Level 4, other than as provided for in law	9	9
Natural Persons: Failure to comply with request made by National Disaster Management Centre / Provincial Disaster Management Centre / Municipal Disaster Management Centre	1	1
Operating a commuter transport services, passenger rail services, bus services, taxi services, e-hailing services, maritime and air passenger transport contrary to Disaster Management Regulations	3	5
Operating a retail store or shopping mall during the lockdown period other than for selling essential goods and/or failure to comply with prescribed safety measures	10	10
Selling of tobacco, tobacco products, e- cigarettes and related products for the duration of the national state of disaster in Alert Level 4	15	16
Selling other goods by a retail store that are not permitted to be sold in terms of the Table 1 duration of the national state of disaster in Alert Level 4	1	1
Selling, dispensing and distribution of liquor during the duration of the national state of disaster in Alert Level 4	2	3
Transporting liquor during the duration of the national state of disaster in Alert Level 4 other than where alcohol is required for an authorised purpose	3	3
Level 5 (26 March - 30 April)	910	1 567
Convene and/or attend a gathering as defined during the period of lockdown	12	13
Convening a gathering in contravention of the Disaster Management Act Regulations	52	234
Corporation(s)/Firm(s) : Failure to comply with request made by National Disaster Management Centre / Provincial Disaster Management Centre / Municipal Disaster Management Centre	1	1
Evicting a person(s) from his/her/their formal or informal residence or a farm dwelling place of residence during the lockdown period	1	1
Failure by a place not involved in the provision of essential goods or service to remain closed to all persons during the duration of the lockdown	11	11
Failure by an electronic communications service provider to comply with a directive by the Director-General: Health to provide information for inclusion in the COVID-19 Tracing Database	3	3
Failure by any business or other entity other than a business or entity involved in the	19	22
manufacturing, supply, or provision of an essential good or service to cease operations during the lockdown
Failure by premises selling liquor which provide accommodation to implement measures to stop the spread of COVID-19	1	1
Failure to be confined to one's place of residence for the duration of the national state of disaster in Alert Level 4	2	2
Failure to close a place or premises normally open to the public where religious, cultural, sporting, entertainment. recreational, exhibitional, organisational or similar activities may take place, during the duration of the national state of disaster in	2	2
Failure to comply with a prohibition of movement between provinces during the period of the lockdown	11	11
Failure to comply with a prohibition of movement between the metropolitan and district areas during the period of the lockdown	8	10
Failure to confine oneself to his or her place of residence during the period of the lockdown	750	1 215
Misrepresentation of own or any persons infected status with COVID-19	1	1
Natural Persons: Failure to comply with request made by National Disaster Management Centre / Provincial Disaster Management Centre / Municipal Disaster Management Centre	3	3
Operating a commuter transport services, passenger rail services, bus services, taxi services, e-hailing services, maritime and air passenger transport contrary to Disaster Management Regulations	5	5
Operating a retail store or shopping mall during the lockdown period other than for selling essential goods and/or failure to comply with prescribed safety measures	27	31
Permitting more than 50 persons at premises where liquor is sold and consumed in contravention of the Disaster Management Act Regulations	1	1

(iii) The courts imposed the following sentences in the 1 572 convicted cases:

Alert Level and Sentence	Total Cases
Level 3 (June)	71
Cautioned	7
Court Fine	36
Deferred Fine	7
Fine Option	14
Imprisonment	3
Suspended Wholly	4
Level 4 (May)	591
Cautioned	58
Correctional Supervision	1
Court Fine	94
Deferred Fine	92
Diversion	1
Fine Option	202
Imprisonment	24
Sentence Postponed	3
Suspended Partially	3
Suspended Wholly	113
Level 5 (26 March - 30 April)	910
Cautioned	118
Community Service	1
Court Fine	141
Deferred Fine	91
Diversion	1
Fine Option	319
Habitual Criminal	1
Imprisonment	61
Suspended Partially	9
Suspended Wholly	168
Total	1 572

END

Reply:

(a) The Cape Flats line from Cape Town to Retreat has been severely vandalized during lockdown alert level 5. The signalling system between Ndabeni and Pinelands has been stolen and causes an extended area of Manual Authorisation increasing the risk of operations.

(b) The Cape Flats and Northern Corridor services between Cape Town – Bellville is planned for resumption on the 17 August 2020. By the end of August, the Northern Corridorservices will be extended to Eerste River. The service from Eerste River – Strand and Eerste River – Muldersvlei is planned for resumption on 1 September 2020.

Reply:

(1)(a) and (b)Total Number of mentally ill persons (inmates) and centres

(1)(a) Total Number of mentally ill persons (inmates)	(1)(b) Name of Correctional Centre
02	Fort Beaufort
03	Grahams town
33	King Williams town
19	Middle drift
25	East London (EL) Medium A
19	EL Medium B
16	EL Medium C
20	Mdantsane
18	Kirkwood
70	Mthatha medium
36	Mthatha Remand
19	Burgers Dorp
18	Butterworth
02	Dutywa
11	Middleburg
03	Ngcobo
07	Queenstown
08	Sada
01	Sturkspruit
37	St Albans Medium A
43	St Albans Medium B
63	St Albans Maximum
08	Patensie
21	Port Elizabeth
73	Grootvlei Medium A
11	Grootvlei Medium B
02	Winburg
01	Brandfort
245	Mangaung
42	Groenpunt Maximum
22	Groenpunt Medium
03	Groenpunt Youth
24	Vereeniging
11	Sasolburg
01	Heilbron
01	Frankfort
63	Tswelopele
16	Kimberley
30	BizzahMakhate Centre A
06	BizzahMakhate Centre B
41	BizzahMakhate Centre C
02	Bethlehem
03	Ficksburg
09	Harrismith
01	Hennenman
03	Odendaalsrus
06	Virginia
01	Colesberg
01	Hopetown
05	De Aar
02	Richmond
07	Victoria West
20	Upington
7	Springbok
10	Kuruman
4	Goedemoed Medium A
17	Goedemoed Medium B
03	Emthonjeni Youth
35	Baviaanspoort Medium Centre
24	Baviaanspoort Maximum Centre
55	Boksburg Centre A
06	Boksburg Juvenile
09	Heidelberg
62	Johannesburg (JHB) Centre A
94	JHB Centre B
42	JHB Centre C
60	JHB Female Centre
105	KgošiMampuru II (KM II) Central
55	KM II Local
18	KM II Female Centre
24	KM II C-Max
14	Atteridgeville
30	Odi Centre
40	Krugersdorp Medium Centre
44	Leeuwkop Medium A
22	Leeuwkop Medium B
33	Leeuwkop Medium C
61	Leeuwkop Maximum
141	Modderbee
07	Nigel Centre
74	Zonderwater Medium A
50	Zonderwater Medium B
77	Durban Medium A
97	Durban Medium B
10	Durban Medium C
7	Durban Medium D
15	Umzinto
27	Durban Female
55	Qalakabusha
1	Empangeni Medium
18	Eshowe
1	Maphumulo
1	Mthunzini
1	Bergville
1	Dundee
6	Estcourt
24	Glencoe
14	Ladysmith
9	Ebongweni
5	Kokstad Medium
2	Portshepstone
17	Ncome Medium A
25	Ncome Medium B
15	Vryheid
1	Nongoma
2	Nkandla
65	Pietermaritzburg Medium A
2	Pietermaritzburg Medium B
4	New Hanover
13	Sevontein
3	Ixopo
39	Waterval Medium A
19	Waterval Medium B
6	Ekuseni
6	Newcastle Male
2	Newcastle Female
29	Barberton Maximum
20	Barberton Medium B
4	Barberton Medium A
6	Town Youth
5	Lydenburg
23	Nelspruit
16	Bethal
20	Ermelo
5	Piet Retief
3	Volksrust
12	Standerton
23	Klerksdorp
29	Potchefstroom
02	Wolmaransstad
04	Christiaana
56	Polokwane
08	Modimolle
01	Tzaneen
28	Rooigrond Medium A
06	RooigrondMedium B
04	Lichtenburg
04	Zeerust
07	Mafikeng
24	Losperfontein
12	Mogwase
10	Rustenburg Med A
02	Rustenburg COE
46	Thohoyandou Medium A
64	Thohoyandou Medium B
12	Thohoyandou Female/Juvenile
13	Makhado
40	Witbank
12	Middelburg
172	Kutama-Sinthumule
27	Allandale
6	Hawequa
10	Obiqua
18	Paardeberg
42	Brandvlei Maximum
10	Brandvlei Medium
07	Brandvlei Youth Centre
26	Drakenstein Medium A
3	Drakenstein Medium B
63	Drakenstein Maximum
2	Stellenbosch
66	Goodwood
6	Buffeljagsrivier
2	Caledon
34	Overberg Medium
40	Overberg Maximum
89	Pollsmoor Remand Detention
50	Pollsmoor Medium A
18	Pollsmoor Medium B
4	Pollsmoor Medium C
33	Pollsmoor Female
3	Beaufort West
31	George
4	Knysna
1	Ladismith
3	Mosselbay
5	Oudtshoorn Male
11	Oudsthoorn Female
1	Prince Albert
1	Uniondale
47	Malmesbury Med A
19	Malmesbury Med B
2	Voorberg Medium A
67	Voorberg Medium B
8	Vanrhynsdorp
18	Worcester Males
38	Worcester Females
2	Robertson
10	Dwarsrivier
14	Warmbokkeveld
TOTAL: 4 453

(2) (a) Social Work Services and Psychological Services are provided on a needs basis to all inmates including the mentally ill:

• SOCIAL WORK SERVICES:NATURE OF SERVICES:
• Intake services: Mentally ill inmates participate in intake processes where a SocialWorker engages them in the initial interview to determine the need as referred or at own request.

• Assessment:Comprehensive assessments are conducted with individual mentally ill offenders to establish the real needs and for appropriate intervention plans to be compiled and implemented.

• Support services: These services are rendered to mentally ill inmates and may range from information sharing to assistance with building and or maintaining family tieswhile incarcerated.

These offenders participate in either group or individual therapeutic programmes according to theneeds. Social Workers provide on-going psychosocial support to inmates and their families.

• Referral services:These inmates are referred on a needs basis by Social Workers to other internal and or external professionals and service providers for further psychosocial assistance which includes specialized services.

• Progress reports:Progress reports in respect of individual offenders including the mentally ill who participated in needs-based therapeutic Social Work services programmes are compiled and kept in the individual files.

• PSYCHOLOGICAL SERVICES:
• All new admissions with mental illness and those diagnosed with mental illness whilst incarcerated are referred to the psychologist by nursing staff or unit managers for assessment and management.

• Psychologists assess mentally ill inmates and develop individualisedtreatment plans which may involve among others referral to other stakeholders (i.e. social workers, correctional officials, nurses and psychiatrists).

• Psychologists run support groups that address mental health issues (i.e. anxiety and depression, psychological adjustment and suicide prevention).

• Mentally ill inmates are at liberty to request for psychological services at any given time without referral.

• Inmates that are actively mentally ill are assessed by the psychologist and referred to a psychiatrist.

• Psychologists provide psycho-education to mentally ill inmates on understanding their diagnosis, treatment regime and management of their overall mental health. Psychologists provide on-going psychotherapy to mentally ill inmates.

• Psychologists provide reports to the parole board regarding offender’s mental status and risks for recidivism.

• Psychologists conduct awareness campaigns on mental health and recognize calendar events on mental health promotion (i.e. World Mental Health Day, Suicide Prevention Week and Mental Health Awareness Month).

(2) (b) Since 2019 a project was initiated by DoH (mental health unit) in collaboration with Department of Correctional Services and Justice to remove forensic cases especially state patients to designated mental health hospitals. Provincial Observation Panels, consisting of Psychologists, psychiatric nurses and mental health Social Workers have been established by the Department of Health to fast track observation processes to finalise court processes.

Inmates with acute mental health conditions are referred to Department of Health facilities for management and decision for admission to Mental Health institutions or returned to Department of Correctional Services.

Inmates with stable mental health conditions are managed by Department of Correctional Services in terms of the Mental Health Act 17 of 2002 which constitute the 4,453 inmates in Correctional Sentences

END

Reply:

During the period of the lockdown, both at Risk Alert Levels 3, 4 and 5, courts dealt with a minimal number of trials. Most cases were postponed in order to limit the number of people going to courts and thereby risking the spread of the virus. Such postponements led to further increases in the already existing criminal case backlogs.

A case backlog is a case which has remained open on the roll:

(a) in case of a district court case, for a period in excess of six (6) months or more; and

(b) in case of a regional court, a case which has been on the roll for nine (9) months or more.

The statistics for backlog cases as verified with the NPA for both (a) and (b) above, are as follows:

DISTRICT COURTS		District Courts		REGIONAL COURTS		Regional Courts
EASTERN CAPE		6 796		EASTERN CAPE		2 148
FREE STATE		1 715		FREE STATE		1 086
GAUTENG		6 451		GAUTENG		6 339
KZN		4 815		KZN		3 205
LIMPOPO		3 216		LIMPOPO		1 404
MPUMALANGA		2 876		MPUMALANGA		1 816
NORTH WEST		2 081		NORTH WEST		1 800
NORTHERN CAPE		1 083		NORTHERN CAPE		685
WESTERN CAPE		10 733		WESTERN CAPE		3 912
TOTAL BACKLOG CASES		39 766		TOTAL BACKLOG CASES		22 395

There are continuous engagements between the Department and Regional Court Presidents as well as Chief Magistrates to develop mechanisms to address the escalating backlogs. The engagement has led to the establishment of the Integrated Case-Backlog Plan through which cases are being arranged for trial in terms of their priority.

It is however difficult to effectively implement the plan at this particular time due to the spikes in COVID-19 infections, which in turn lead to constant closure of courts due to positive cases of infections being confirmed randomly. The implementation of the plan will become more effective once the country has reached its peak and subsequent decline in the infection number.

Reply:

(1) (a) Which unions are conducting training of teachers on behalf of her department?

The DBE in collaboration with five teacher unions to provide teacher training namely:

1.  National Teacher Union (NATU)
2. National Professional Teacher Organization of South Africa (NAPTOSA)
3. Professional Educators’ Union (PEU)
4. South African Democratic Teachers’ Union (SADTU)
5. SuidAfrikaanseOnderwysersUnie (SAOU)

(b) What are the details of the training with which each union have been tasked?

The training agenda for each financial year is determined on yearly basis through processes detailed in the Teacher Union Collaboration (TUC) memorandum of agreement (MOA). For example in 2018/19 it was NCS support in Accounting, Foundation Phase Mathemathics. In 2019/20 it was Primary School Reading Improvement Programme

 (c) Who are the target trainees?

The target depends on the agreed programme or intervention designed to support poor performing districts or PEDs for example

In 2018/19 – NSC Accounting support- the target was the grade 10 to 12 teachers

In 2018/19- Foundation Phase Mathematics- the target was the Foundation Phase teachers

In 2019/20- Primary School Reading Improvement Programme (PSRIP) - the target was Foundation and Intermediate Phase teachers (EC, KZN and LP)

(2)       What are the details of the payments that were made to each union involved in training?

(i) In the past six financial years

Teacher Unions are allocated funding with particular target of teachers to be trained. They only claim against their allocation only if they produce invoices with accompanying attendance registers.

2019/20

PARTIES	ALLOCATION	SPENDING
NATU	2,000,000.00	1,999,500.00
NAPTOSA	2,000,000.00	1,999,500.00
PEU	2,000,000.00	1,906 500.00
SADTU	5,400,000.00	5,499,000.00
SAOU	2,000,000.00	1,995,000.00
DBE	1,600,000.00	1 613 694.38
TOTAL	15,000,000.00	R 15,013,194.38

 

2018/19

PARTIES	ALLOCATION	SPENDING
NATU	R1 000 000.00	R981 000.00
NAPTOSA	R1 000 000.00	R633 750.00
PEU	R1 000 000.00	R999 000.00
SADTU	R4 000 000.00	R3 946 500.00
SAOU	R1 000 000.00	R946 621.00
TOTAL	R9 000 000.00	R7 506 871.00

 

EU

2017/18

PARTIES	ALLOCATION	SPENDING
NATU	R1 100 000.00	R1 278 450.00
NAPTOSA	R910 000.00	R817 500.00
PEU	R780 000.00	R748 800.00
SADTU	R3 900 000.00	R3 822 000.00
SAOU	R1 100 000.00	R1 098 500.00
TOTAL	R7 790 000.00	R7 765 250.00

 

Voted

2017/18

PARTIES	ALLOCATION	SPENDING
NATU	R3 240 000.00	R2 827 500.00
NAPTOSA	R2 928 000.00	R2 509 500.00
PEU	R2 499 000.00	R2 499 000.00
SADTU	R12 820 500.00	R8 991 000.00
SAOU	R3 249 000.00	R2 247 000.00
TOTAL	R24 736 500.00	R19 073 500.00

 

2016/17

PARTIES	ALLOCATION	SPENDING
NATU	R6 000 000.00	R1 278 450.00
NAPTOSA	R5 000 000.00	R3 338 800.00
PEU	R2 970 000.00	R1 815 000.00
SADTU	R18 000 000.00	R12 805 415.77
SAOU	R6 000 000.00	R3 753 600.00
TOTAL	R37 970 000.00	R23 001 265.77

 

2015/16

PARTIES	ALLOCATION	SPENDING
NAPTOSA	R5 000 000.00	R4 614 500.00
NATU	R6 000 000.00	R5 718 300.00
SADTU	R18 000 000.00	R12 640 101.51
SAOU	R6 000 000.00	R3 376 800.00
PEU	R2 970 000.00	R2 140 000.00
TOTAL	53 197 000.  00	28 489 701

 

2014/15

No funding was availed

(i) No payment has been made to teacher unions during this period

 (ii) earmarked for each union for the 2020-21 financial year;

No funding was earmarked for 2020-21 as normally funding is requested during the budget adjustment process in the second quarter

(3)       Whether any quality assurance with regards to the training is conducted; if not, why not; if so,

The following stakeholders conduct monitoring visits to support training sessions and compile reports and recommendations:

1. DBE design the monitoring instrument, conduct monitoring visits, draft monitoring reports, provide feedback during scheduled Programme Operational Committee meetings (POC) and compile a comprehensive annual report.

 2. Provincial Departments of Education (PED`s) conduct their own monitoring

3. SACE also deploy officials to monitor training sessions

4. All teacher union officials do monitoring of training and marked scrips of pre and post- test, and compile reports

(b) What are the relevant details?

The DBE conducts monitoring visits using agreed monitoring tool with details about training logistics, training content and the facilitation. Once DBE gets to the venue they administer the monitoring instrument and compile a monitoring report. From the reports from DBE monitors, teacher union reports a comprehensive TUC implementation report is compiled.

The report is approved by the Director-General and shared to stakeholders. During implementation DBE monitors provide necessary feedback to teacher unions to improve their future training sessions

In a schedule meeting by DBE, feedback are provided to all stakeholders and inputs, suggestions and recommendations are used to improve follow up training session if and when funding is available

(4)       Whether all unions conducting training have been accredited as training providers by the SA Council for Educators; if not, what is the position in this regard; if so, what is the scope and conditions of the accreditation for each union?   

Yes NATU, NAPTOSA, SADTU, SAOU have Professional Development Institutes (PDIs) which are approved as training providers by the SACE and each training programme is submitted  to SACE for endorsement.   The endorsement process is detailed in the SACE CPTD management system.  PEU does not have a PDI, but is also registered with SACE as a training service provider.                                             

Reply:

The table below reflects:

a) all retail and commercial opportunities currently available at stations and;

b) the total rental per year for these opportunities.

The data excludes rental on other categories such as bus billing, residential and properties not situated on a station.

Number of retail/commercial activities at PRASA stations	Rental Generated per period
	Financial Year 2017/2018	Financial Year 2018/2019	Financial Year 2019/2020
493	R124,146,942-07	R133,491,335-56	R143,539,070-50

Reply:

(1)(a)(b) Yes, profile reports submitted to the Head of Correctional Centres (HCC) or Correctional Supervision and Parole Board (CSPBs) have to meet the requirements of sections 42(2)(d) and 42(2)(e) of the Correctional Services Act, Act 111 of 1998.

Remarks and orders given by sentencing court are adhered to, it is however worth mentioning that there are challenges in obtaining documents such as sentence remarks, SAP62 and SAP69 in some cases from courts and SAPS.

Sentence remarks are mandatory in determining an effective intervention and treatment plan targeting offending behaviour based on accurate assessment of individual offender risks and needs. In the absence of sentence remarks the documents, reports by professionals are to a larger extent one sided and based on known events leading to misdiagnosis that doesn’t target offending behaviour. Reporting and management of risks can be compromised by non-availability of the same sentence remarks and previous convictions which inform the risk reports.

Where these documents were not provided by the abovementioned stakeholders, a report is attached on the profile report explaining attempts made to obtain the documents and the courts as well as SAPS response thereto. The implementation of the Integrated Criminal Justice System (ICJS) by the JCPS cluster value chain will ensure this is avoided.

It is also important to mention that upon admission offenders are assessed, Correctional Sentence Plans are compiled and updated during the serving of sentence. The Correctional Sentence Plans prescribe programmes that offenders must be subjected to and whether such programmes are to be offered by Correctional Intervention Officials, Social Workers or Psychologists. Therefore, some profile reports will not have a report of Psychologist if there was no need identified; in particular offenders serving short sentences and non-violent offences and this does not mean that the profile report is incomplete.

As prescribed by Section 42(2) (e) of the Correctional Services Act, Act 111 of 1998 (‘the CSA”), the Case Management Committees (CMCs) do submit reports as contemplated in paragraph (d) to the Head of Correctional Centre in respect of any offenders sentenced to incarceration for 24 months or less. The submission is a short version of a profile report due to short period of time to be served. In this category, offenders can only be exposed to life skills programmes and pre-release programmes depending on the length of sentence, meaning not all information per reports may be available and this does not mean that the profile report is incomplete.

2. No, incomplete profile reports are not considered. Offenders do not apply for parole as the parole consideration process is initiated by the Case Management Committees (CMCs) by compiling profile reports about 6 months before offenders reach their legislated minimum detention periods. The Heads of Correctional Centre (to whom the National Commissioner has delegated his powers consider offenders serving 24 months or less) or Correctional Supervision and Parole Boards (CSPBs) quality check profile reports received from the CMCs and those with short comings are referred back to the CMCs for rectification.

Where documents such as sentence remarks cannot be provided by some courts, a report is attached to the profile reports explaining attempts made to obtain the sentence remarks and courts’ response thereto. Where a CSPB approves placement on parole based on an incomplete profile report or before an offender attends a prescribed programme, such a decision will be subject to review by the Correctional Supervision and Parole Review Board.

END

Reply:

1. The Department of Justice and Constitutional Development has informed me that no tender was awarded since procurement of Personal Protective Equipment (PPEs) was lower than the tender threshold of R500 000.00. Senior Managers and Court Managers use their existing delegations to procure PPEs from the service providers already in the Central Supplier Database.
2. Falls away, due to the response above.
3. Falls away.
4. Falls away.

Reply:

(1) The NPA, in line with the modernization approach enunciated by the Minister of Justice and Correctional Services, monitored the enrolment of all Covid-19 cases from the integrated electronic case management dataset. During the lockdown period up to 9 June 2020 (date of response), the courts dealt with 18 355 first appearance cases related to Covid-19 contraventions, with 39 089 accused.

(2)(a) A total of 776 cases were withdrawn during the said period, which represents 4% of the total first appearance cases.

(2)(b) A total of 12 354 (67.3%) cases are still open and postponed for future date. Further investigation is directed by the prosecutors to ensure that the case may be finalised on the next court appearance date.

3(a) A total of 18 355 first appearance cases were enrolled. The integrated system only includes cases enrolled. Cases referred for decision are not yet electronically recorded but this model is being developed. The data relating to decision dockets is therefore not yet available from the said integrated system.

However, during the Lockdown Alert Level 5 period (27 March 2020 – 30 April 2020), a manual collation process of information pertaining to Covid-19 contraventions indicated that almost 25% of first appearance cases were not enrolled, due to insufficient evidence. These dockets were referred for decision and further investigation, where applicable.

3(b) The majority of Covid-19 related cases (99%) were enrolled in the district courts and only one percent was directly enrolled in the regional courts.

Reply:

(1) Yes.

(a) Offender was serving a sentence of imprisonment for kidnapping, child molestation and culpable homicide.

(b) He was sentenced on 07 April 2008.

(c) He was sentenced for the crimes as follows:

• count 1: 2 years imprisonment
• count 2: 6 months imprisonment
• count 3: 10 years imprisonment

The court ordered that sentences on counts 1&2 to run concurrently with the sentence on count 3. Therefore he is serving an effective sentence of 10 years imprisonment.

(d) He was placed on parole on 3 April 2013. On 18 November 2013 he was declared an absconder and re-admitted on 12 August 2015 after being arrested for driving without drivers’ licence and possession of stolen goods.

The offender received a suspended fine on both charges. He was again placed on parole on 17 October 2016 until18 May 2019 wherein he absconded again on 6 February 2019.

(e) The offender was subjected to the following parole conditions in line with section 52 of the Correctional Services Act, 1998 (Act 111 of 1998):

• Monitoring – high risk
• Placed under house detention;
• Restricted to magisterial district;
• Reside at a fixed address which has been approved after consultations with the Head Community Corrections;
• Refrains from using alcohol or illegal drugs;
• Refrains from committing a criminal offence;
• Refrains from visiting a particular place;
• Refrains from making contact with a particular person or persons or threatening a particular person or persons by word or action.

(2) No, the offender attended restorative justice programme but victims were not invited to participate in the Parole Board meeting when the offender was considered for placement. Victim/offender dialogue was not compulsory in 2013 April when the offender was released on Parole, thus was not done. In October 2016, the offender was placed on parole for the second time and thereafter treated as a parole violator which led to his parole being revoked.

(3)(a) Yes, he violated his parole conditions by absconding from the system of community corrections and driving without drivers’ licence as well as possession of stolen goods after he was placed on parole on 3 April 2013. He absconded again on 6 February 2019 after he was placed on parole on 17 October 2016. He is also alleged to have kidnapped and killed an 8 year old girl from Ravensmead.

(b) After he was re-arrested on 12 August 2015 for absconding, he was denied parole for a period of 1 year and 2 months and was again placed on parole on 17 October 2016.The Goodwood Management Area revoked his parole and he is currently serving hundred and twenty seven (127) days which was the remainder of the ten (10) years sentence he was initially serving on 07 April 2008. He started serving the hundred and twenty seven (127) days on 21 February 2020.

A high risk profile assessment will be conducted to determine the placement of the offender in the facility as well as to determine the risk that he still poses.

A psycho- social assessment will also be conducted to determine further rehabilitation. If found guilty with the new crime, previous sentence and new sentence will it be concurrent or separated? This office is not in a position to respond to this question as the court will determine how the sentence should be served.

END

Reply:

The total CRES capital expenditure for the past three (3) years for the identified six (6) stations is summarised in the table below;

Financial Year	Cape Town	Nasrec	Rhodesfield	Moses Mabhida	Pretoria
2017/18	6, 058,386-31	0-00	0-00	0-00	1,057,718-93
2018/19	5,171,807-14	0-00	0-00	0-00	320,560-00
2019/20	17,733,512-93	0-00	0-00	0-00	266,267-50
2020/21	770.700-03	0-00	0-00	0-00	0-00
Total	29,734,406-41	0-00	0-00	0-00	1,644,546-43

Reply:

Directions issued in terms of Regulations 10(7) of the Directions made in under Section 27(2) of the Disaster Management Act,2002(Act No.57 of 2002. Measures to address prevent and combat the spread of Covid-19 in the Sea Ports, the Minister of Transport Hon FA Mbalula approved the

directions on how the Commercial Ports of South Africa would operate during the lock down and

The purpose of the Directions were to:

(a) The prohibition of the cruise ships calling at any of the seaports(expect the cruise ships that were already on the radar of Marine Security Coordination Centre-MSCC) and those that were solely calling to take bunkers and consumables and lastly the cruise ships that were coming disembark South Africans)

(b) To improve hygiene control sterilization facilities on ships, port facilities operated by licensed operators, off-shore cargo handling facilities, ship repair facilities, provider the port services, port terminal operators and licensed port operations

(c) Implementation of a tracking, tracing and monitoring system at sea ports and reporting.

During the lock down all commercial ports remained opened for commercial purposes and only two ports that remained closed for the purposes of disembarkation of South Africans and crew change and those two ports were Port of Mossell Bay and Port Saldanha. All goods on board the ships were discharged in an in-discriminatory manner for both essentially and non-essential goods. Once the goods were on the port terminals they would then be sorted in terms of essential would stacked at the Customs approved warehouse and shipping line’s warehouses in order to make way for the essential goods.

(2) There were no commercial ships that were denied entry into the commercial ports of South Africa except for the crew change and even the cruise ships were allowed to call in for bunkering services and disembarkation of South Africa that were returning home. The imports and exports remained opened during the hard lock down and goods as such were allowed to be discharged at the ports of discharged throughout the country.

(3) The above response answers the question adequately and a member statement in this regard is not deemed necessary

Reply:

(1) The decision to go on a school break was taken by the Cabinet. The decision was announced by the President. In the Basic Education Sector there were extensive consultations with more than 60 organisations. The process was initiated after a sudden spike in the rate of infections in communities. This resulted in fear and anxiety among parents, teachers and learners. 

(2) Stakeholders made their inputs during our consultation; including stakeholders in the independent schooling sector, also made their inputs and spelt out the implications for the closure of schools.  They indicated that their schools were not covered in the relief funds, and that some of their schools had closed down permanently due to the dire financial situation; and learners had been displaced and teachers lost jobs.  It was therefore, determined as not serving the best interest of anybody to ask private schools to go on a break.  Independent schools use a trimester system; whereas public schools use quarterly terms.  Their schools are also following the Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs) and have submitted their records of compliance to all health and safety protocols as well as social distancing to the district offices before being approved to reopen.

Reply:

The Settlement agreement 01 of 2016 on OSD for Correctional officials was concluded on 21 November 2016 and had a life span of three (03) years for implementation.

All serving officials on the system of Correctional Services were paid on the agreed preventatives measures for each specified year.

The status of payments to officials whose services were terminated through resignation or a dismissal are as follows:

• Officials who resigned and were reappointed as ex officials in terms of the special recruitment became active on the system i.e. Persal and as such all outstanding monies owed to the officials were accordingly paid.
• Partial payments have been finalised in respect of audited cases of terminated officials;
• Approximately two thousand (2000) cases remain and payments are made when relevant documents have been received, captured and audited.

END

Reply:

(1) As at the end of June 2020, there were 21 066 permanently appointed principals of public schools in the basic education sector.

(2) (3) In terms of section 3(1)(b) of the Employment of Educators Act, 76 of 1998, the Head of the Provincial Education Department is the employer of all educators employed at the provincial level, and therefore the requested information on (2) and (3) is kept by the Provincial Education Departments.

Reply:

Department of Basic Education (DBE) has received responses from six (6) Provincial Education Departments (PEDs). Gauteng PED reported that there is no expenditure at the moment reported against the COVID 19 fund as provided by National Treasury and still investigating if expenditure has been incorrectly captured on the system based on the work already done. DBE will make follow-up with three (3) PEDs, namely, Eastern Cape, Northern Cape and North West.

Reply:

No. The MEC of the North West Education Department has not informed me.

No. I will not engage her as there is no need to do so. The procurement of COVID19 essentials has been done by respective Provincial Education Departments (PEDs), so is the distribution of such to schools and learners. Therefore, this matter does not fall within the work of the Department of Basic Education (DBE) and as such; such information should be requested from the Member of the Executive Council (MEC) in the  North West Education Department. 

Reply:

Questions 1 and 2

According to information received from National Treasury the salary adjustments granted to members at the various salary levels of the Senior Management Service (SMS), in real and nominal terms, between the 2009/10 and 2019/20 financial years, are reflected in the table below. No final decision on salary adjustments for the SMS for the 2020/21 financial year has been taken yet.

	2009/10	2010/11	2011/12	2012/13	2013/14	2014/15	2015/16	2016/17	2017/18	2018/19	2019/20	Total
Consumer Price Index	6,5%	3,8%	5,5%	5,5%	5,8%	5,6%	5,2%	6,3%	4,7%	4,6%	4,2%	57,7%
Cost of living adjustment (COLA)	Nominal salary growth (COLA)
Salary Level 13	10,5%	6,0%	5,0%	5,0%	5,6%	6,2%	5,5%	4,0%	5,5%	6,0%	5,2%	64,5%
Salary Level 14	10,5%	6,0%	5,0%	5,0%	5,6%	5,7%	5,5%	2,5%	5,5%	5,5%	5,2%	62,0%
Salary Level 15	10,5%	6,0%	5,0%	5,0%	5,6%	5,7%	5,5%	2,5%	5,5%	5,5%	5,2%	62,0%
Salary Level 16	10,5%	6,0%	5,0%	5,0%	5,6%	5,7%	5,5%	2,0%	5,5%	5,5%	5,2%	61,5%
	Real salary growth
Salary Level 13	3,8%	2,1%	-0,5%	-0,5%	-0,2%	0,6%	0,3%	-2,2%	0,8%	1,3%	1,0%	6,5%
Salary Level 14	3,8%	2,1%	-0,5%	-0,5%	-0,2%	0,1%	0,3%	-3,6%	0,8%	0,9%	1,0%	4,1%
Salary Level 15	3,8%	2,1%	-0,5%	-0,5%	-0,2%	0,1%	0,3%	-3,6%	0,8%	0,9%	1,0%	4.1%
Salary Level 16	3,8%	2,1%	-0,5%	-0,5%	-0,2%	0,1%	0,3%	-4,0%	0,8%	0,9%	1,0%	3,7%

Question 3

The number of Senior Management Service employees in the Public Service as on 30 June 2020, per salary level, is reflected in the following table:

Salary level	Number
13	6 805
14	2 173
15	503
16	126
Total	9 607

Data source: PERSAL

Excluding Defence and State Security Agency

Excluding resignations up to 30 June 2020

Reply:

(1) Yes.

(1)(a)(i) The mentioned official was suspended on 16 August 2019 for unrelated misconduct and re-instated on instruction of the Minister after PSC recommendation in November 2019. The mentioned official was again suspended on 02 December 2019.

(1)(a)(ii) The official was suspended due to him being implicated in investigations conducted by the Special Investigations Unit (SIU) under Proclamation10of2018. The Department received multiple disciplinary referrals from the SIU with regards to the official.

(1)(b) The cost to the State in terms of remuneration since the person was suspended is R528367.50

(2) Yes

(2)(a) MrJ.G Smalberger is the name of the official appointed to act in this capacity.

(2)(b) The cost of the post to the Statefrom01November2019todateisR1 014 393.92

(2)(c) The specified official has been employed in the specified post on contract basis since 01 November 2019.

(3) Yes, however due to the fact that the official is implicated in multiple disciplinary referrals the date of conclusion cannot be determined at this stage.

Reply:

In exercising its mandate, the Commission on Gender Equality (CGE) recently requested the Department to respond to a set of questions on the implementation of targets on the GBVF Emergency Response Action Plan (ERAP); and processes followed regarding the development of the Gender-based Violence and Femicide National Strategic Plan (GBVF-NSP) and the establishment of the National Council for Gender-based Violence and Femicide (NCGBVF).

The Department provided a comprehensive response to the CGE.

Furthermore, the Department popularises the hot line number 0800 007 709 on GBV for the CGE during the Covid-19 lockdown. This intervention allows the commissioners at provincial level to respond in line with Pillar 4: Adequate Care, Support and Healing.

Also, the CGE and the Department are collaborating in the following ways:

• Both share each other’s statements with various stakeholders.
• Share calendar of activities and concept papers.
• Exchange reports and utilise our reports in particular on GBV areas and made referrals on cases.
• The CGE participated in the civil society (CSO) webinar on “The Roadmap to the establishment of the National Council for Gender-based Violence and Femicide” held on 13 June 2020.

The CGE is currently involved and participating actively in the NSP Pillar Interim Task Teams (ITTs) working sessions set up to develop the implementation plans for the popularisation and roll-out of the NSP during the lockdown period.

Reply:

At this point in time, the Department has not received any confirmation from universities of projects that may be slowed down or postponed as a result of the cuts and reprioritisation of funding. A large amount of the reprioritised funds comes from interest accrued on earmarked grants that had not yet been specifically allocated to any projects. No currently approved projects have been stopped. 

All infrastructure projects that were approved during previous infrastructure cycles that are not yet finalised will continue to be supported. In the 2020/21 financial year, R750 million will not be transferred as originally planned to fund some approved projects at specific institutions. The transfers for these projects will be delayed into the 2021/22 financial year. This will have a knock-on effect in that there will be less funding available in the first year of the next infrastructure cycle for new projects and will result in the slowing down and stretching out of infrastructure development across universities. The 6th infrastructure and efficiency cycle commences in April 2021, and planning for the new cycle will start soon so that the new projects can be implemented early in April 2021.

Reply:

The report by the Commission on Gender Equality (CGE) was released in February 2020 and I immediately responded with a media statement. I expressed my deep concern at these human rights violations and reproductive injustices committed against women living with HIV through these acts of forced sterilisation. The South African Constitution guarantees the rights of all women the right to dignity, life and bodily integrity. The Sterilisations Act of 1998 provides for the protection of rights of women to make informed choices about sterilisation and the responsibility of health professionals in this regard. Therefore, I called for urgent redress to be afforded to these women whose rights were violated.

At the same time, I also applauded the recommendations of the CGE report that the National Department of Health must facilitate dialogue between themselves and the complainants in order to for them to find ways of providing redress to the complainants.

 

The Department of Women, Youth and Persons with Disabilities calls upon medical professionals to work with the Department to protect and uphold the rights of all women including women living with HIV in South Africa.

Reply:

The COVID-19 pandemic has already had an impact on normal university expenditure, allowing for substantial savings due to the postponement of a range of activities, especially due to cancelled conferences, and limited travel and accommodation being undertaken. In addition, general savings on services (electricity and water) have also been experienced. Many institutions at the same time, recognising the context, have made decisions not to fill vacant posts unless they were essential positions, thus ensuring that they are better able to manage the highly uncertain fiscal climate.

Immediately after the Presidential announcement declaring a national disaster, the Department embarked on a consultative process and engaged with all universities regarding the system’s needs to ensure the successful completion of the academic year and the need to operate differently. This process involved the development of costed remote multi-modal teaching, learning and assessment plans.

Considering all of these aspects, including the funding required to assist the National Student Financial Aid Scheme (NSFAS) funded students to acquire laptops, the total financial impact is R3.8506 billion. This is funded partially by institutions’ own internal reprioritisation (R749 million), through reprioritising unspent earmarked grants and interest on earmarked grants at institutions (R1.332 billion), as well as funds made available by NSFAS for advances on allowances to fund laptops (approximately R2.5 billion for both university and TVET college students).

In addition, institutions estimated that they would require R1.821 billion for ensuring that their campuses are compliant to health and safety protocols when they reintegrate staff and students in line with their return-to-campus plans. Some plans had unnecessary high cost items and the Department has indicated that it could not support those items. The Department has identified R608.249 million (made up of R398.249 million from 2020/21 ad-hoc earmarked funds, together with the R210 million returned from the R750 million suspension on the 2020/21 infrastructure and efficiency grant), subject to Ministerial approval, to support institutions to implement their return to campus plans. 

The suspension of R2.5 billion from the block grant, and the reallocation of R2.117 billion has resulted in a net cut of R382.596 million (1.07%) from the block grant. The transfers of the subsidy will continue as expected to institutions to fund their operations. Institutions will need to ensure that they create efficiencies to deal with the real shortfall of 1.07% on their block grants, ensure prudent expenditure and manage the additional costs related to dealing with the COVID-19 pandemic within their available budgets. While no programmes funded though the earmarked grants have been stopped, the original plans have been slowed down, or redirected, to deal with the challenges brought to the fore by the pandemic. 

Reply:

(1)        In November 2019, an allocation of R170.293 million was made from the 2019/20 budget to the Centre of Specialisation students for the year 2020. 

             This comprised of:

• 1 210 returning students from 2019 (1stcohort)           =-    R 84 million 
• 840 new enrolments for 2020 (2ndcohort)                   =       R 86 million

The Centres of Specialisation were unable to realise the new enrolments for 2020 given the disruptions caused by the COVID pandemic, largely due to uncertainty in employer commitments and as a result, no new enrolments will take place in 2020. This accounts for R86 million of the R170 million which colleges will carry forward into the new financial year. Three colleges started their second intake in 2020 and as such will not be allowed to start a third intake in 2021.

New allocations will be made in March 2021 and the second cohort will be able to start the programme, if employers are ready. The timing of the payment from November 2020 to March 2021 will therefore ensure minimum further disruption of the programme.

(2) (a) There will be no third intake in 2021.

(b) No other costs have been cut as student fees are paid to colleges for the different cohorts.

Reply:

1. Defence Intelligence assessment indicates that in the short and medium term the Islamic insurgents activities are expected to continue and extend particularly to areas with gas exploration site.

2. No other details.

Reply:

1. In terms of the Sub Program Support to the People, as alluded to by the Secretary for Defence on several occasions, the appreciated force level requirement for border line control is to have 22 Sub-units instead of 15, however due to budgetary constraints it has been difficult to deploy the additional sub-units.

2. Should funds be made available the SANDF may prepare and deploy additional sub-units for the total border safe guarding effort and not only for countering potential movement of terrorist elements in the region.

Reply:

The Department did not assist farmers to curb the spread of Covid-19.However, the Department provided the following Personal Protective Equipment and hygiene products to farm workers to help curb the spread of COVID-19.

• 400 000 disposable face masks.
• 400 000 bars of soap.
• 200 000 reusable cloth masks.