Questions and Replies

Reply:

The measure implemented to limit the numbers of beneficiaries who try to access their grants on the day the money becomes available will not be reversed and the payment dates agreed with National Treasury for the remainder of the financial year will stand. This means that SASSA will continue with the split payment files as it is believed that the numbers would have been significantly higher had this split not been done.

The measures which will be implemented to try and manage the numbers of beneficiaries who access their social grants are as follows:

• The grant payments will continue in accordance with the dates as agreed with National Treasury (namely 3rd of each month for older persons and persons with disabilities and 5th of each month for all child grants – except where the 3rd and 5th respectively fall on a weekend or public holiday, in which case that specific date will be moved forward to the next working day after the 3rd or the 5th)
• Further splitting of the file between the older persons and persons with disabilities is being considered for the July payment cycle. (This cannot be done in June, as we are still finalising the development for the payment of the care givers grants as well as the special relief grant)
• Every beneficiary has their grant paid into a bank account – regardless of whether the account is with their personal bank or the SASSA/SAPO card account. Communication to advise beneficiaries of the fact that their card is a bank account and can be used as a debit card to swipe to pay for purchases and that there is no need to withdraw cash will be strengthened. The communication will also emphasize the fact that, once the grant is paid into the account, it will not be taken back if not utilised immediately.

• SASSA is negotiating with the banking sector to introduce additional mobile banking ATMs in rural areas in an effort to limit the numbers of beneficiaries who have to travel to towns to access their money. However, issues such as the availability of the infrastructure and security still have to be finalised.
• SASSA is also engaging the retail sector to see how they can assist. However, it should be understood that the banking and retail sector are not SASSA pay points – they are access channels through which beneficiaries and all other South Africans transact. All retailers have been implementing the relevant hygiene protocols in their stores, and have also dedicated additional till points specifically for older persons on the first few days of grant payments, in an effort to manage the numbers of beneficiaries. The challenge remains outside the stores, in malls and other points which is extremely difficult to control.

• SASSA is working with other stakeholders, including local authorities, to ensure that there are marshals at the busier access points to help with queue management and the maintenance of social distancing while waiting to access the retail outlets, bank ATMS and post office premises.
• In the Eastern Cape, negotiations have been undertaken with SAPO for them to utilise community halls to distribute the cash from, rather than some of their post offices which were not designed to cater for large number of beneficiaries. These community halls are used as extensions of the post office over the counter service and has really assisted to reduce the queues outside the facilities.
• Eastern Cape has also identified specific communities where there is a concentration of infections and arranged for SAPO to go to these areas, to prevent the beneficiaries from going into the towns – supporting the need to self-quarantine

• SASSA will continue to service the 1 740 cash pay points in the rural areas. At these pay points, hygiene protocols and social distancing is managed directly by SASSA and challenges have not been experienced.

An appeal is made to all in leadership positions to support SASSA in trying to limit the numbers of beneficiaries who go to the various access channels to access their grants.

Reply:

(aa) 2017/2018

These figures show the total number of registered guides per province for the 2017/18 financial year.

PROVINCE	AFRICAN	COLOURED	INDIAN	WHITE	TOTAL
	Male	Female	Male	Female	Male	Female	Male	Female	Male	Female
1. Gauteng	610	284	14	6	12	7	1357	1193	1993	1490
2. Limpopo	244	47	0	0	2	0	572	169	818	216
3. North West	80	3	1	0	0	0	116	24	197	27
4. Mpumalanga	758	109	5	0	5	1	1126	300	1894	410
5. Northern Cape	22	22	32	27	0	1	83	52	137	101
6. Free State	26	22	0	0	0	0	20	9	46	31
7. Eastern Cape	218	103	60	19	0	1	454	181	732	304
8. KwaZulu- Natal	191	66	1	2	2	3	249	87	443	158
9. Western Cape	332	76	685	255	32	16	1414	945	2463	1292
Sub Total	2481	732	798	309	53	29	5391	2960	8723	4029
Grand Total	3213	1107	82	8351	12752
4402 Blacks	8351 Whites

(aa)2018/2019

These figures show the total number of registered guides per province for the 2018/19 financial year

PROVINCE	AFRICAN	COLOURED	INDIAN	WHITE	TOTAL
	Male	Female	Male	Female	Male	Female	Male	Female	Male	Female
1. Gauteng	614	287	14	6	12	7	1370	1197	2010	1497
2. Limpopo	244	47	0	0	2	0	572	169	818	216
3. North West	83	4	1	0	0	0	125	25	209	29
4. Mpumalanga	787	116	7	0	5	1	1152	302	1951	419
5. Northern Cape	25	23	36	33	0	1	91	60	152	117
6. Free State	26	22	0	0	0	0	23	10	49	32
7. Eastern Cape	218	103	60	19	0	1	454	181	732	304
8. KwaZulu- Natal	204	67	1	2	3	3	261	89	469	161
9. Western Cape	372	109	766	291	34	17	1528	997	2700	1414
Sub Total	2573	778	885	351	56	30	5576	3030	9090	4189
Grand Total	3351	1236	86	8606	13279
4673 Blacks	8606 Whites

(aa)2019/2020

Based on what was reported by Provincial Registrars in the last financial year, these figures show the number of new tourist guides registered monthly per province for the 2019/20 financial year.

PROVINCE	Quarter 1	Quarter 2	Quarter 3	Quarter 4	TOTAL
	APR	MAY	JUN	JUL	AUG	SEP	OCT	NOV	DEC	JAN	FEB	MAR	ANNUAL
Limpopo	14	17	29	18	16	10	10	10	4	29	17	5	179
Mpumalanga	22	18	4	9	19	8	10	8	4	9	17	5	133
Gauteng	47	7	8	20	14	9	25	5	12	13	5	1	166
KwaZulu-Natal	5	14	8	7	14	15	18	3	5	9	54	6	158
North West	9	1	2	3	1	2	1	2	0	6	0	0	27
Eastern Cape	3	0	14	21	9	3	9	12	2	9	4	3	89
Western Cape	76	56	56	65	62	45	93	46	28	25	64	46	662
Northern Cape	0	0	0	0	1	0	10	0	0	0	0	0	11
Free State	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	7	0	0	4	0	11
MONTHLY SUB - TOTALS	176	113	121	143	136	92	176	93	55	100	171	66
QUARTERLY TOTALS	410	371	324	331	1436

(bb)2020/2021

Due to the Covid-19 lockdown, no new tourist guide registrations were processed between 01 April 2020 – 01 June 2020.

(b) (i) and (ii)

The Department does not maintain records in this regard. Those who feel aggrieved by the decisions taken by the Provincial Registrars are entitled to lodge appeals with the National Registrar as outlined in PQ 1034.

Reply:

1. The costs in terms of procurement to have the system operation are:

(a) The USSD application platform was procured through the National Treasury RT 15 Transversal Contract with an estimated usage value of R15m.

SASSA has used an existing contract and service provider, Prosense Technology, to leverage and expand on existing capabilities to create and effect payments. The same contractor also effected the development of a website to receive applications and for the secure upload of banking details for the special Covid 19 SRD grant. This also included the building of Applications Programme Interface (APIs) to interface with other government datasets for the purposes of validation. It also includes API’s and other interface mechanisms to do account verification and payments. The services was procured through the variation of this existing contract with Prosense Technologies to the value of R2.9 million which includes the development work as well as monthly support and maintenance of the environment till 31 March 2021.

(b) No other costs were incurred to have the system operational to receive applications.

2. SASSA has used an existing contract and service provider, Prosense Technology, to leverage and expand on existing capabilities to create and effect payments. The same contractor also effected the development of a website to receive applications and for the secure upload of banking details for the special Covid 19 SRD grant. This also included the building of Applications Programme Interface (APIs) to interface with other government datasets for the purposes of validation. It also includes API’s and other interface mechanisms to do account verification and payments. The services was procured through the variation of this existing contract with Prosense Technologies to the value of R2 967 000.00 which includes the development work as well as monthly support and maintenance of the environment till 31 March 2021.

3. SASSA has no contract with the company Capital Appreciation and therefor there is also no costs involved.

4. The initial number was used for test/pilot purposes. It became apparent that the anticipated numbers of applications would burden and overwhelm the Covid 19 Department of Health WhatsApp Hotline. SASSA was advised to apply for its own WhatsApp line which would have taken anything between 6 weeks and possibly several months to obtain. SASSA was then offered a free WhatsApp platform by GovChat.

Reply:

1. Defence Intelligence can confirm that there is an increase of Islamic insurgency activities currently in the province of Cabo Delgado, Mozambique and these has the potential to spread to other provinces and neighbouring Southern African Development Community (SADC) states.

2. As the Islamic insurgency activities may affect some SADC states, the regional political and military approach has been recommended and to this effect plans are in place to discuss and concretize the approach.

Reply:

Yes.

(a) The Department has to date received almost 30 000 comments on the draft amendment to schedule 1 of the Meat Safety Act, 2000 (Act No. 40 of 2000).

(b) The analysis of the comments has not begun as the deadline for the comments was extended from the 30th April 2020 to the 30th June 2020 due to interruptions in communications and ability of citizens to respond due the COVID-19 lockdown.

(c) The final list will be compiled with effect from 01 July 2020 and after having looked at the comments made and consulted with relevant stakeholders.

Reply:

(a) The Department of Human Settlements in collaboration with the Social Housing Regulatory Authority (SHRA) commenced with a process to develop a policy framework on rental and social housing interventions as guided by the National Rental Housing Act (1999), the Social Housing Act (2008) and the Rental Amendment Act of (2014).

This work is aimed at addressing all other forms of rental such as backyard, private rental, large and small scale rental.

It is anticipated that the final draft of the policy framework will be concluded during the 2020/21 financial year after conducting a Socio-Economic Impact Assessment System (SEIAS) via the Department of Planning Monitoring and Evaluation (DPME).

(b) The operating business model of the Human Settlements Development Bank (HSDB) has already been concluded and approved by National Treasury.

The consolidation of National Urban Reconstruction and Housing Agency (NURCHA) and the Rural Housing Loan Fund (RHLF) into the National Housing Finance Corporation (NHFC) was finalized in October 2018, following the formal approval of the merger by MinMEC and National Treasury.

The Human Settlements Development Bank Bill is amongst the apex priorities of the Departmental 2020 Legislative Program that has been submitted to office of the Leader of Government Business.

The Office of the State Law Advisor has already been consulted on the contents of the draft HSDB Bill and a process is underway to incorporate the comments received for consideration by Cabinet. Once Cabinet approve the Bill, the next step would be to table it in Parliament for processing.

Reply:

The Honourable Member is kindly referred to the Parliament Joint Standing Committee on Intelligence (JSCI) where a reply to this Parliamentary Question has been logged.

Reply:

1. The Department of Water and Sanitation is unable to provide the detailed list of tenders and how these were awarded by different municipalities as this responsibility is the mandate of municipalities to whom the funds have been transferred in terms of the Water Services Infrastructure Grant (WSIG). My department has the list of municipalities that benefited from the drought relief funds per province and it is appended as Annexure A.

2. Procurement was undertaken by the municipalities which benefited from the drought funding, therefore, the information relating to tenders should be sourced from the municipalities through the Minister of Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs.

Reply:

(1) The reasons for the increase in the number of estate agents from 22 000 in 2018 to 25 000 in the 2019 financial year is mainly attributed to the implementation of the One Learner, One Estate Agency Youth Brigade Programme, which is funded by the Services Sector Education and Training Authority (SETA). This is a programme that the Honourable Member should be familiar with having been on this portfolio for a year now and it is our response to the racially skewed nature of the industry.

The decrease in estate agency firms is due to a variety of reasons, among them being the market conditions in the property sector, the inaccessibility of markets by the smaller estate agencies and the non-compliance with the legislated requirements such as the submission of audited annual reports.

(2) There is no evidence that regulatory compliance prevents small firms from succeeding.  It would be helpful if any available report in this regard could be provided to the department.  The success of any business is informed by many factors some of which are non-regulatory.  Market conditions alone account for many of the basis for the failure of businesses of any size.  In the real estate sector for example, customer preferences are important. Many consumers view homeownership together with work mobility. This influences whether a consumer purchases or rents a home. In light of this, a proper market study can assist all of us so that we understand better the trends in our country.

Reply:

Drought Relief funding is allocated by National Treasury through the Department of Water and Sanitation in accordance with the Division of Revenue Act. The funding is then transferred to provinces and municipalities. The total amounts transferred during the 2018/19 financial year are provided in Annexure A.

 

Reply:

(a) I have been informed that in Mothutlung village, 2 X2 500 litres and 10X5 000 litres water tanks have been delivered and installed. A further 3X10 000 litre water tankers (trucks) have been deployed to assist with water provision during our Covid-19 intervention. The community is currently benefiting from these interventions.

(b) The Karee informal settlement is part of the areas where the Rustenburg Local Municipality (LM) has placed a total of 3X5 000 litre water tanks. The Department of Water and Sanitation (DWS), through the Covid-19 integrated intervention is supplying water through water tankers. As part of the medium term intervention, the municipality is planning to connect the Karee informal settlement to the Rand Water line that is serving the Marikana community and the mine.

The Rustenburg Local Municipality is monitoring the supply of water to informal settlements. The municipality has been allocated 2 additional tanker trucks through my department and Magalies Water Board in order to meet the current water demand and to ensure that communities have access to water at all times.

Reply:

(a) The posts occupied by South Africa’s Delegation to the Lesotho Highlands Water Commission are as follows:

• Chief Delegate, in an acting capacity
• Permanent Representative
• Delegate: Executive for Project Management and Implementation
• Three Alternate Delegates

Unfortunately, I am constrained and prohibited by the document titled “Guide to Parliamentary Questions in the National Assembly” from providing the Honourable Member with the names of the SA Delegates to the Lesotho Highlands Water Commission. The document referred to states that:

“Questions are to be framed as concisely as possible. All unnecessary adjectives, references and quotations are omitted. Names of persons, bodies and, for example, newspapers are only used in questions if the facts surrounding the case have been proven. As the mere mention of such names could be construed as publicity for or against them, it should be clear that this practice is highly undesirable. If a question will be unintelligible without mentioning such names, the Departments concerned are notified of the name (-s) and this phrase is used: ".......a certain person (name furnished)”

(b) The post of the Chief Delegate in the Commission is vacant.

(c) The Chief Delegate’s post has been vacant since 19 May 2019.

(d) The vacant post was advertised on 12 January 2020 and the process of filling the post is well underway.

Reply:

a) The Minister undertook to distribute masks and sanitizers to all provinces for drivers and marshals in the taxi industry to reduce infections

b) Masks, sanitisers and disinfectants have been procured and delivered in all provinces during April 2020. These materials were delivered to provincial Departments of Transport who subsequently distributed to the taxi industry in their respective provinces. The following have been delivered on 30 April 2020

Item	Quantity
Sanitizers (1 liter bottles)	160 000
Sanitizers (20 liter bottles)	2400
PPE Gear	1000
Masks	580 000
Gloves	800 000
Vehicle disinfectant spray	1200

Reply:

1. PRASA confirms that it has failed to pay R23 million towards the Transnet Retirement Fund (the Fund) benefits.

(a) The February and March 2020 membership contributions to the Fund is currently outstanding and engagements with the Fund are ongoing to agree on a payment plan to settle the outstanding amount without any risk to employee benefits.

(b) PRASA has written a letter to the Administrators of the Fund informing them of its current cash flow challenges. PRASA is yet to meet with the Administrators in order to discuss a payment plan of the outstanding amounts.

Reply:

(a) There number of trains operating between:

i. Germiston and Pretoria: - There are 12 train trips {Passenger Trains} operated via a diesel locomotive to shuttle services between Johannesburg and Elandsfontein. This then connects with an electrical Metro between Elandsfontein and Centurion – 10 trips, then connecting with another diesel locomotive between Centurion and Pretoria) 10 trips.

ii. There are 24 train daily trips between Springs and Dunswart.

iii. There are no train services running between Daveyton and Dunswart due to theft of overhead cables affecting both lines.

(b) There number of passenger trains that should be operating between

(i) Germiston and Pretoria is 42 passenger train trips

(ii) Springs and Dunswart is 24 passenger train trips

(iii) Dunswart and Daveyton is 72 passenger train trips

2. There reason why there is only one train that can operate at a time between Germiston and Elandsfontein is because during December 2019, when the train service was halted to allow for the signalling works project at Germiston, there was overhead cable theft between Knights and Germiston on one of the only two lines in this area. An alternative method of working (called Pilot working) in accordance with the Train Working Rules had to be implemented. This method ensures safety when train runs UP and DOWN using the same track.

Reply:

a) The payments deposited by agents to the Estate Agency Affairs Board (EAAB) are currently being processed manually on the Systems Application Product (SAP) software. This has resulted in a backlog and the Fidelity Fund Certificates not being issued on time. To mitigate this challenge, additional temporary employees were appointed to assist with the manual capturing of bank statements. As at 23 April 2020, all payments were allocated and 42 719 Fidelity Fund Certificates have been issued.

The current SAP software that is used by the Estate Agency Affairs Board does have shortcomings, such as the issuing of Fidelity Fund Certificates for principals linked to more than one firm. The EAAB has appointed a SAP specialist to address the software-related issues which are delaying the issuance of Fidelity Fund Certificates.

b) The Estate Agency Affairs Board acknowledges the challenges related to its portal and has accordingly developed a two-pronged approach to address this matter;

(i) To utilise its internal capacity with the assistance of a service provider to stabilise the current system, as a short term measure.

(ii) In the long term, the Estate Agency Affairs Board will overhaul its entire Information Communications Technology system. To this end, a tender, RFP – ERP/2020/009, was advertised on 28 February 2020 and a briefing session was held on 10 March 2020. The closing date for the tender was scheduled for 30 March 2020, but the National Treasury subsequently advised that it be extended to 1 June 2020 in view of the National Lockdown.

Reply:

The Eastern Cape Provincial Department (ECPDOT) of Transport has plans to build a bridge in Govan Mbeki township in the Mbashe local Municipality in the next financial year, 2020/21.

In the Current financial year, 2019/2020, an assessment was conducted and revealed the estimated cost of R 2500 000 for building of the bridge in the Govan Mbeki township. The ECPDOT also established that there’s currently a minor culvert which overflows when there are heavy rains; hence the prioritization of this project in the next financial year.

Reply:

The Honourable Member would know that Tembisa falls under the Ekurhuleni Metropolitan Municipality in Gauteng. The grant conditions determined by the National Treasury do not allow that the Regional Bulk Infrastructure Grant (RBIG) and the Water Services Infrastructure Grant (WSIG) be utilized to repair old sewage pipes in metropolitan areas.

 

Reply:

(1) Yes, Rand Water has a service level agreement with the City of Ekurhuleni. The Bulk Water Supply contract details the provision of service rendered to the City of Ekurhuleni.

(2) It would be appreciated if the Honourable Member could ask specific questions.

(3) Rand Water supplies water to Kempton Park through the City of Ekurhuleni and has confirmed that there have been no sporadic and unreliable supply from Rand Water over the past 12 months within its network in Kempton Park.

(4) If there are consumer problems within Kempton Park that have been reported within area, the City of Ekurhuleni will be in a better position to respond.

Reply:

(1) The Kgetleng Rivier Local Municipality (KRLM) recently increased the existing water supply of 1.1 Ml/d of water by drilling nine (9) boreholes in the Redirile Township. The boreholes are not yet connected to the Eskom network due to delays by Eskom. The new boreholes tested positive and will provide an additional 1.2 Ml/d as soon as they are functional. The municipality is investigating whether an additional three (3) boreholes could be drilled in the 2020/2021 financial year in order to meet the increasing water demand and mitigate water shortages in the area.

(2) The Local Municipality has appointed the Development Bank of South Africa (DBSA) to investigate possible solutions to provide sustainable water supply to the entire jurisdiction of the Kgetleng Rivier Local Municipality area. Plans are underway to consider the feasibility of integrating the systems of the neighbouring towns and to connect it to the Rand Water supply pipeline.

The current water supply by Rand Water Board is approximately 1.8 Ml/d. The new informal settlements areas in the KRLM jurisdiction are served by boreholes. The Local Municipality is currently developing a Water Master Plan that will include a practicable solution to provide bulk water to Derby and Redirile.

Reply:

1(a) SASSA, working together with SAPO, is still exploring possible alternatives to the cash pay points. No final decision has been made yet and no date has been set for implementation.

(b) All parties involved in the grant payment process agree that it is important that we move away from cash payments due to the security issues and the high cost of delivering cash to pay points. The only viable alternative that is been seriously considered is exploring the move to existing and future cashless payment platforms such as more use of cards at ATMs, Point of Sale platforms and Mobile solutions. No alternative payment channel will be introduced until it has been tested and confirmed that it is fit for purpose.

2(a) (i) and (ii) SAPO uses Fidelity Security Service (Pty) Ltd to pay beneficiaries at Cash Pay Points.

(b) Two Requests for Proposals (RFPs) were issued to appoint a service provider for the provision of cash at pay points:

Interim Solution

RFP/26/18/19/ Cash Conveyance and Handling/RA – this RFP was issued as an interim measure (using cash bags) whilst the long -time process (using cash dispensers) was in the process.

A close RFP was issued on 16 August 2018 to five companies. The close bid process was approved by National Treasury. Four of the five companies that were invited indicated that they will not participate in the RFP process some indicating that they did not have the capacity to provide the service.

Fidelity Security Services (Pty) Ltd was the only bidder that responded and the tender was awarded to them. The contract was for a period of six months commencing from 1 October 2018 up until 31 March 2019 to allow for the long-term solution to be finalised.

Long-Term Solution

RFP/18/19/36 Cash Conveyance and Handling Processing and Dispensing Service for SASSA Grant Payouts/KN .

An open tender process was advertised on the National Treasury e-Tender portal on 13 August 2018. Only two bidders submitted proposals (G4S Cash Management Solutions (Pty) Ltd and Fidelity Security Services (Pty) Ltd).

G4S Cash Management Solutions (Pty) Ltd was disqualified due to not complying fully with the tender requirements. The tender was awarded to Fidelity Security Services (Pty) Ltd for the period of two years commencing on 1 May 2019 up until 30 April 2021.

3. (a) All tenders above R10m falls within the delegation of the Board of Directors for approval. However on the 10 November 2017 the Board of Directors resolved that The GCEO (Mr Mark Barnes) and the GCOO (Ms Lindiwe Kwele) were duly authorised to engage, negotiate, take decisions and sign any documents relating to the provision of payment services and systems for social assistance without referring back to the Board of Directors for guidance. The appointment of the CIT Company for both Interim and Long term solutions was therefore duly approved by the two delegated officials.

3. (b) The contracts for both RFP/26/18/19/ Cash Conveyance and Handling/RA and RFP/18/19/36 Cash Conveyance and Handling Processing and Dispensing Service for SASSA Grant Payouts/KN are attached.

 

Reply:

(1) The Department of Science and Innovation (DSI), through the South African Research Infrastructure Roadmap (SARIR), established the South African Centre for Digital Language Resources (SADiLaR). SADiLaR has an enabling function, with a focus on all official languages of South Africa, supporting research and development in the domains of language technologies and language-related studies in the humanities and social sciences. The Centre supports the creation, management and distribution of digital language resources, as well as applicable software, which are freely available for research purposes through its online repository.

The resources include language datasets (for all official South African languages, including the indigenous languages) as well as high-level resources, such as natural language processing tools that are developed for use in applications, such as machine translation engines for local languages, automatic speech recognition systems, text-to-speech systems, speech-to speech translation systems, interactive communication systems, and a variety of text-related applications, such as grammar and spelling checkers, online electronic dictionaries, and so forth.

SADiLaR plays a strategic role in ensuring the constitutional imperative is achieved in the long term to ensure that the historically diminished use and status of the indigenous languages of the people of South African are redressed and positive measures are taken to elevate the status and advance the use of these languages.

The Recognition of Prior Learning is an initiative of the DSI, which through the implementation of the Protection, Promotion, Development and Management of Indigenous Knowledge Act No 6 of 2019, aims to recognise the skills of indigenous practitioners in various IKS domains. The initiative focuses on the development of a competency-based qualification to be registered on the National Qualifications Framework. The Department is currently working with IK practitioners (Traditional Health Practice IK domain), to scope their

competencies of their various cultural settings, and has so far documented competencies in isiZulu, Setswana and TshiVenda languages. The workshops with IK practitioners are conducted in the vernacular languages of the IK practitioners. To this end, the IK occupations and accompanying competencies that are documented in the vernacular languages serve as a principle and as a means to promote and preserve the languages of the knowledge systems in its own context.

The National Recordal System (NRS) of the DSI supports the Protection, Promotion, Development and Management of Indigenous Knowledge Act No 6 of 2019 (herein after referred as the IK Act) through the registration of IK. The initiative promotes the recording of IK in vernacular languages using multimedia technology (recording of audio, video, images and transcriptions of each recorded IK story), as a means to preserve IK for future generations so that the context is not lost. Further hereto, the aim is to protect the IK from biopiracy and misappropriation, and to enable the sharing of benefits to the local and rural communities who have registered such IK in the system, should the knowledge be used by any 3rd party, following the various legal prescripts of the IK Act, No 6 of 2019. A key element of the NRS in the promotion of the vernacular languages is by having IK recorders from the participating communities to implement the documentation of IK. In this way, the youth are exposed to the value of their community IK, and through using their languages they are able to capture extensions of the very rich IK that are held by their own communities. The registered IK is held in a digital repository that stores, provide access to, transmit, manage and secure the registered indigenous knowledge via the digital platform.

(2) The South African Centre for Digital Language Resources provides a digital space for language resources and tools as part of its online repository available at https://repo.sadilar.org/. SADiLaR, through its nodes, focuses on ensuring African Languages are digitised, relevant text and speech processing technologies are developed, terminology development is supported through the creation of wordnets (which are large lexical databases containing nouns, verbs, etc. and their relationships) and language testing and training projects.

SADiLaR funds and supports a range of projects related to indigenous languages in collaboration with SADiLaR’s nodes (consisting of University of Pretoria (Department of African Languages); University of South Africa (Department of African Languages); CSIR (HLT Research Group); North-West University (Centre for Text Technology); and Inter-Institutional Centre for Language Development and Assessment (ICELDA). Projects relate to digitization, semantics and terminology, language development and teaching resources, speech resources, and text resources and technologies.

Collaboration between the North-West University, University of Pretoria and the CSIR in the area of Human Language Technologies predates the establishment of the SADiLaR. The development of a Human language technologies (HLT) speech-activated multilingual service delivery platform was funded from the European Union Government Budget Support programme, between 2014 and 2017. The platform is aimed at providing technology tools necessary for delivering information and services to South African citizens in their language of choice, in an affordable and sustainable manner. The focus was on the development of core technologies in automatic speech recognition (ASR) and text to speech (TTS) using mobile phones as the primary communication channel, furthermore, providing an HLT-enabled solution for website accessibility to print-disabled and low literate end-users.

The aim of the solution was to enable access to information and promote multilingualism. The solution involved the integration of TTS voices in South African English, Afrikaans and isiXhosa with the Non-Visual Desktop Access screen reader. Cape Access (CA) of the Western Cape Government was identified as a possible government partner following a need expressed to make their websites more accessible. CA identified 11 eCentres in which to pilot this technology. A demographics survey was conducted at these eCentres to determine who the typical visitors to these eCentres are and how they operate. After this, eCentre managers were trained on how to use the technology and the technology was subsequently installed and piloted at these eCentres.

The HLT-enabled solution which was also piloted at Kaleidoscope SA (Institute for the Blind). This pilot aimed at allowing blind students to use the Non-Visual Desktop Access (NVDA) screen reader with local languages as a basis for receiving training. Kaleidoscope SA offers formal qualifications (N4 & N5) in a number of fields to blind students.

Furthermore, an activity aimed at assessing communication practices and needs of multilingual persons using augmentative and alternative communication (AAC) was undertaken. The research was undertaken in collaboration with the Centre for Augmentative and Alternative Communication (CAAC) at the University of Pretoria and entailed the integration of CSIR Text-to-Speech (TTS) voices with AAC software. Two sets of evaluations were held and the local voices evaluated were South African English, isiXhosa, isiZulu, Afrikaans and Setswana.

The DSI is also currently funding the Centre for Artificial Intelligence and Research (CAIR), which has a node at North West University. This particular node’s area of expertise is led by a Multilingual Speech Technologies (MuST) research group focused at the creation and use of speech technologies in the less-resourced languages.

SADiLaR, through its involvement with the UNESCO Year of Indigenous languages, reached more than 850 participants directly through language celebration events. These events created a space for academics, lecturers, students (undergraduates – postgraduates), broader public as well as profound contributors in the various languages to interact, and were held across South Africa at various universities in cooperation with the National Lexicography Units of South Africa. These events culminated in SADiLaR taking part in the Language Technologies for All conference with a focus on Enabling Linguistic Diversity and Multilingualism Worldwide, creating awareness of how the South African Research Infrastructure Roadmap is directly contributing toward linguistic diversity and multilingualism through SADiLaR.

SADiLaR is also brainstorming its COVID-19 response, in particular to allow for “Rapid situational awareness in emerging situations like natural disasters or disease outbreaks”. This requires availability of Human Language Technology not only for the official languages of the country, but all languages spoken in South Africa.

Reply:

Social relief of distress in the form of food parcels, provided by SASSA is distributed in accordance with the provisions of the Social Assistance Act. For every applicant who calls in, an application form is completed and approved, prior to the delivery of the support.

In addition to individual requests for assistance, SASSA has also accepted referrals from the provincial coordinating structures, NGOs and civil society organisations. Where these referrals have been received, SASSA has contacted the citizens on the lists provided and completed the application form telephonically.

The various channels through which applications can be lodged have been implemented in an effort to ensure that everyone in need has been able to apply.

Reply:

1. The foster care orders that were due to lapse on 28 November 2019 for the respective provinces are as follows:

E. Cape: 896

Free State: 2041

Gauteng: 4 281

KZN: 12 445

Limpopo: 3 051

Mpumalanga:486

N. Cape: 345

N. West: 2 045

W. Cape: 4 888

These orders are now deemed to be valid by the North Gauteng High Court Order that was issued on 26 November 2019 therefore, there is no backlog of lapsed foster care orders.

2. Foster care orders that will be completed before the new deadline of November 2020;

EASTERN CAPE:

The Eastern Cape Province will ensure extension of all foster care orders affected by the NGHCO, before it expires on 26 November 2020. As already indicated above on the interpretation and implementation of the North Gauteng High Court Order and the Eastern Cape Province intersectoral position on the management of these foster care orders so as to avoid having all the affected orders lapsing on the same day when the NGHCO expires on 26 November 2020. Intersectoral collaboration and provision of tools of trade to social workers at service offices brought about the success in relation to the 2017 Judgement. The following measures which will ensure extension of foster care orders beyond 26 November 2020 will continue:

• Case-flow Meetings with Presiding Officers and Social Workers / Case Managers.
• Monthly engagements with Department of Social Development and SASSA Senior Management as well as Judicial Cluster Heads with their Sub Cluster Heads for strategic decisions and monitoring on implementation of resolutions taken for management of foster care.
• DSD – Social Workers to approach courts with a social work report and the required documentation as provided for in the Children’s Act 38 of 2005 as amended with all the relevant parties appearing before the Presiding Officer as required.
• Allocation of court dates and issuing of orders for child protection matters
• Judiciary to prioritize issuing of court orders affected by North Gauteng High Court.
• DSD Social Workers to ensure that all orders issued by courts are collected and submitted to SASSA, captured and updated on the system by SASSA
• South African Social Security Agency (SASSA) expedite capturing and updating of all orders issued by the courts and submitted to them by DSD respectively.
• The three entities at local level will continue meeting on a weekly basis to ensure reconciliation of figures, jointly looking at the draft final report to be submitted to the Provincial Office as well as ensuring that all orders due to lapse are extended and updated on SOCPEN.
• Sharing of resources by the three entities when the need arise.
• Funding of Designated Child Protection Organisations rendering child protection services.
• Implementation of s186 of the Children’s Act (that allows long term placement until the child turns 18) which will subsequently ease the current high caseloads of orders due for extension.
• Form 30 Applications (for screening of prospective foster parents and adoptive parents against Part B of the Child Protection Register) continue to be sent to National DSD timeously to ensure a shortened response time by National DSD.
• Timeous submission of a list of all children who have applied for Unabridged Birth Certificates to National DSD for possible exemption from paying as well as expediting processing by the Department of Home Affairs.
• The Province will continuously ensure that the budget is available for advertisements in line with Regulation 56 of the Children’s Act (tracing parents of children found to be in need of care and protection which is a key requirement for all alternative care placements including foster care order extensions).
• Eastern Cape Province will continue addressing shortages of social workers and social work supervisors, filling Departmental vacant funded posts as well as funding of Designated Child Protection Organizations (DCPOs).
• The Province will continue with its efforts in providing tools of trade for social workers at service office level.

FREE STATE:

At the time of the expiry of the North Gauteng High Court Order, 2041 orders were due to lapse, but all these orders are deemed valid in line with the North Gauteng High Court Order extension. The Provincial and District Plans are reviewed to ensure the management of the extension of foster care orders in the Province.

GAUTENG:

Gauteng Province is committed to finalise all lapsed orders by end of November 2020. However, the extension of the foster care orders is dependent on other Stakeholders including, Department of Justice, Home Affairs, etc.

Furthermore, there are challenges experienced from some of the Stakeholders, such as:

• Different interpretation of the High Court ruling
• Requirement of a Police Clearance Certificate for extension of Orders which has cost implications for the client.
• Delay in getting court dates.
• Requirement of an Unabridged Birth Certificate which has cost implications for the client.

KZN:

The Province of KwaZulu-Natal has implemented various strategies to ensure effective implementation of the North Gauteng High Court Order Interim Regime issued 26 November 2019 in order to meet the new deadline date. The strategies include amongst others:

• Facilitation of the Foster Care Mondays by District Directors and Foster Care Fridays facilitated by the Service Office Managers that will take form of working sessions between Social Development and South African Social Security Agency (SASSA) with the following outputs at the end of each working session:
• Number of foster care orders captured
• Reconciled foster care statistics
• Weekly Report on Foster Care for onward submission at Head Office.

• Monthly foster care meetings to be facilitated by the Chief Director, Social Welfare Services to track and monitor implementation of the North Gauteng High Court Order Interim Regime issued 26 November 2019.

• Provincial Intersectoral Foster Care meetings quarterly to be facilitated by the Acting Deputy Director General, Developmental Welfare Services between Department of Justice, Department of Home Affairs for purposes of identifying challenges that might have a negative impact towards effective implementation of the North Gauteng High Court Order Interim Regime issued 26 November 2019 and development of integrated interventions to address the identified challenges.

LIMPOPO:

All the foster care cases covered by North Gauteng High Court Order will have been completed by November 2020. The Province has developed action plans in the districts which are monitored on weekly basis to ensure that the cases are attended to.

MPUMALANGA:

All court orders projected to lapse by November 2020 will be attended to before the expiry of the

North Gauteng High Court Order on Foster Care.

NORTHERN CAPE:

The Northern Cape, Department of Social Development, has systems in place to monitor the implementation of the NGHCO. There is a good working relationship between DSD, SASSA and Department of Justice. The Department of Social Development in the Northern Cape Province resolve to implement the provisions of the Children’s Act in full.

NORTH WEST:

The Province will ensure the review of all the foster care orders that are due to lapse in 2020 and extend all eligible placement s through intensifying monthly monitoring of performance at all levels and capacitating all 18 alternative care units.

WESTERN CAPE:

The North Gauteng High Court Order granted on the 26th of November 2019 deemed all foster care orders valid until 25 November 2020.

The Western Cape Department of Social Development has a provincial foster care management plan in place to manage foster care in the province to ensure that orders are extended before the termination of the current High Court Order. This plan is dependent on the other processes in collaboration with other departments namely:

a) Social workers to approach the children's coats with any timelines to obtain foster care orders for the full duration of the two years or beyond in terms of section 186 of the Children's Act 38 of 2005.

b) Regions were cautioned against issuing confirmation letters for the duration of the current North Gauteng High Court Order to prevent a repetition of a large number of foster care orders lapsing simultaneously on 25 November 2020.

c) The Department of Justice and Constitutional Development to extend foster care orders for two years or beyond.

d)Form 30 notifications are to be issued within the required timeframe by the National Department of Social Development.

e) Birth certificates of children in the alternative care system to be issued timelessly by the Department of Home Affairs.

f) Foster care orders to be submitted to SASSA timeously to ensure the continuation of the foster child grants.

The Western Cape remains committed to ensure the care and protection of children in the alternative care system

Reply:

(a) (i) Five cases of fraud involving NSFAS employees were registered with the Wynberg South African Police Services.

(ii) Following the arrest of three NSFAS employees on or about 9 October 2019, the NSFAS Chief Governance, Risk and Compliance Executive initiated a reconciliation project, which entailed extracting a history of all SBux purchases and withdrawal transactions concluded with merchants in the Western Cape specifically. The rationale being that there were no institutions on SBux in the Western Cape, yet transactions were being concluded daily, which pointed to the operation of a syndicate.

(b) The five cases registered with the Wynberg SAPS office between 2017 and 2019, were handed over to the Commercial Crimes Unit on or about 10 November 2019. A criminal inquiry under Case No: 200/08/2019 was also handed over at the same time.

(c) In the five cases of fraud involving NSFAS employees, the following progress has been made:

• Case No: 323/05/2017 – Warrant of arrest has been issued as the accused fled the province and his whereabouts are unknown.
• Case No: 80/11/2018 - Warrant of arrest has been issued as the accused fled the province and his whereabouts are unknown.
• Case No: 14/10/2019 – Allegations are being investigated.
• Case No: 200/08/2019 – The National Prosecuting Authority is negotiating a plea bargain.
• Case No: 82/10/2019 – The matter has been placed on the court roll for 7 July 2020 to view video footage obtained of the alleged fraudulent transaction.

The criminal inquiry registered under Case No: 200/08/2019 is being investigated. Given that the transactions at the Western Cape merchant stores were concluded during September 2019, and the criminal inquiry was officially opened in November 2019, the video footage at the specific merchant stores were only retained for a maximum of 14 days from the date of the incident, where after the video footage is deleted by the merchant store.

(d) In the five cases of fraud involving NSFAS employees, the total value of the suspected fraud is as follows:

• Case No: 323/05/2017 – R15 503.76
• Case No: 80/11/2018 - R86 135.41
• -Case No: 14/10/2019 – Contravening the provisions of the National Qualifications Framework Amendment Act, No. 12 of 2019
• Case No: 200/08/2019 – R3 500.00
• Case No: 82/10/2019 – R8 000.00

The reconciliation project and subsequent criminal inquiry under Case No: 200/08/2019 revealed 508 individual transactions/fraudulent transactions were concluded, amounting to R354 595.65.

(e) & (f) There are currently internal disciplinary hearings underway and subject to the dismissal of the relevant employee(s), the NSFAS management team will consider pursuing criminal charges against the employee(s).

Reply:

(1) Examples of five SMME projects that TIA funded in the 2018/19 financial year through its various funding instruments (including the Seed Fund, Technology Stations Programme and Technology Development Fund) are:

i. RIOT Network – RIOT has developed a wireless communications network technology that makes it easy for anyone to setup, operate and monetize public wireless broadband networks by agglomerating private network access devices of individuals (i.e. households) and very small businesses. The technology is useful for extending broadband coverage to underserviced areas, and it enables SMME to operate as local internet service providers (ISPs). The project is currently completing its technology development and received financial support of R3 451 700 in 2018/19.

The technology has been successfully tested and deployed in Olievenhoutbosch (an area plagues with break-ins), where a subset of the local community is using the technology to monitor theft in the area. This is achieved through artificial intelligence enabled IP cameras, that detects and alert residences of suspicious behaviour in the region. The cameras are interconnected and access through RIOT’s network infrastructure.

Currently the organisation employs ten people in high value engineering jobs. At full commercialisation the company will enable thousands of jobs as SMEs leverage the technology to set up and monetise local networks. The company has also attracted private investment that enables it to continue improving its technology and in preparation for scale. The company is 100% youth owned, 41% black owned and 18% female owned.

ii. SAMEC Engineering - TIA provided the company with an amount of R1 700 959.00 in the 2018/19 financial year out of an approved amount of R7 799 775.00 for the development of an air condition system using thermal storage to cool buildings (industrial and commercial) or temporary structures (e.g. a marquee). Thermal storage happens during off-peak periods when electricity is cheap and that energy is used to cool buildings during high peak periods when electricity is expensive. This will lead to cost savings and load reduction during peak periods.

The first tranche enabled the project to develop a demonstration unit which has been installed at Durban University of Technology and it serves as a data collection point to demonstrate the performance of the unit.

iii. AgriProtein Technologies (Pty) Ltd is a technology start-up company that successfully developed and piloted a nutrient recycling technology (converting organic waste to animal feed protein) to commercialise an insect-based protein feed in the animal feed industry. TIA, through its Bioeconomy Programme extended a loan of R11 968 573 to AgriProtein to carry out phase one of the project known as “Magmeal” as a low cost and environmentally sustainable animal feed.

To-date, AgriProtein has successfully developed an operational Generation 1 (G1) Production Facility employing a total of 141 employees, in Philippi an economically depressed area in Cape Town and has expanded to attract the international market. They secured about $105 million investment in 2018 to fund global expansion.

In a region characterised by low youth employment a total of 57% of permanent employees were under the age of 35. Over R 44 million was spent on local payroll in 2018 and directly supported a total of 139 permanently, decent jobs as December 2018, with a gender split of 30% females and 70 % males.

iv. Mkazi Concepts

TIA funded Mkazi Concepts (Pty) Ltd through the Technology Stations Programme for R502 000 towards development of a Hand-Hygiene Monitor with a RFID (radio frequency identification) badges or wrist bands that track and record on the number of times in-between user-wash per control area. The project falls within the Internet of Things (IoT); and Data Monitoring and Controls in decision making (i.e. Machine Learning) in the primary healthcare environment and other markets such hospitals, mobile health clinics, schools, food industry, etc.

The grant funding subsidised the Technology Station in Electronics hosted at Tshwane University of Technology and the Product Development Technology Station at Central University of Technology for engineering and technology support to assist the client from concept development, first-type prototype to Minimum Viable Product (MVP) with additional financial to conduct a demonstration in an open environment. This was done at a clinic in Windsor East in Gauteng, Johannesburg.

The project provided at least for job opportunities with a locally available intelligent product for the fourth industrial revolution (FIR).

The product intends to increase level of effectiveness of hand hygiene compliance which are currently at 40% nationally due to manual based hand-washing systems and lack of surveillance. In light of COVID 19 the product becomes more important for the implementation and controls of hand-hygiene intervention that are regarded by the World Health Organisation (WHO) as the lowest-costs with highest-impact for effectively preventing infections.

v. Smart Blade - SmartBlade Video

Laryngoscope is a medical device that

harnesses smartphone technology to provide

guided and more cost-effective method for

examining or inserting a tube through the

larynx. The process of inserting the tube

is called endotracheal intubation. SmartBlade

will thus enable single operators of varied skill

levels to intubate difficult airways in a cost-effective way. Currently the cost of video laryngoscopy is prohibitive to the individual clinician, small clinics and ambulance services.

TIA funded SmartBlade [http://smartblade.co.za] to the tune of R484 275 through its Seed Fund Programme for prototype development, premarket sample manufacturing and testing, market research, regulatory compliance research. This resulted in the filing of two (2) provisional patents and a design registration. Prototypes were manufactured and pre-clinical trials conducted using the SmartBlade technology and generated good results. The android app was developed and tested. The SMME managed to secure follow-on funding of R9,5 million from Savant Venture Fund in May 2019 for technology optimisation and commercialisation. In response to COVID 19 they have optimised the Video laryngoscopy technology to incorporate a disposable laryngoscope as a recommended intervention for COVID-19 patients.

 

(2) In line with its approved Strategic Plan 2020-2025 TIA, through its Bio-economy Programme, aims to support indigenous knowledge-based innovation in targeted areas. These include African Traditional Medicines, neutraceuticals, cosmeceuticals and health infusions. In respect of specific products, these will be solicited through TIA’s Call for Proposals during the financial year, from which specific products will be selected for funding.

(3) Yes. The plan will be made available by 15 July 2020.

(4) The current models accord with international best practice in some respects, specifically, the Technology Acquisition and Deployment Fund which was adapted from the Indian model that uses a similar approach to commercialisation. Secondly, the ecosystem approach has been widely used by Innosuisse, the Swiss Innovation Agency responsible for supporting technology innovation together with other like-minded entities around the world, especially in Europe. Thirdly, the SBRI is a model that originates from the USA, subsequently adopted and successfully used by countries such as the UK, Netherlands, India, Australia, and now broadly adopted by the European Union.

The plan nevertheless is largely home-grown, based on TIA’s own understanding and knowledge of the RSA ecosystem, and specific dynamics that are peculiar to a developmental state and a maturing ecosystem.

(5) The Plan, once finalised, will be released publicly.

Reply:

The DSD has been in constant engagement with the Commission for Gender Equality (CGE) in terms of providing general the status update on the issues that were raised by the report.

The Department has developed a draft Intersectoral policy framework on the provision of sheltering services. The policy is meant to address amongst others the various roles and responsibilities of the different stakeholders in the provision of the sheltering services. The Victim Support Service (VSS) Bill and Policy that were presented to Cabinet and approved in December 2019, are part of the legislation frameworks that are key in the responding to issues of sheltering services. The VSS Bill is in progress to be published for public comments.

It is critical to highlight that the Department is continuing with the partnership forged with the Department of Public Works and Infrastructure. The partnership is meant to increase the numbers of shelters across the country. So far, infrastructures/buildings considered to be provide sheltering services for abused women and children have been identified in Gauteng and the Western Cape.

It is critical to highlight that most of the deadlines indicated in the areas forming part of the report, have been drastically effected by the COVID-19 situation that is facing the country.

The deadlines that were proposed will now be reviewed to execute this activities in 2020/2021.Below are the specifics in terms of the areas raised by the report that the Department is addressing:

The late payment of tranches severely undermines the functioning of shelters. In turn, the CGE recommends that urgent action on the part of DSD is taken to instil safeguards within its contract management system wherein it provides clear pre-warning of required payments and in turn accountability of those officials responsible for effecting the payments whom do so late. The DSD is afforded the ambit to devise its own safeguard. Although, it must be effective and able to be rolled out throughout the nine provinces. The safeguard including time frames for roll out to the nine provinces must be provided to the CGE within three months of release of this report.

The DSD has developed a draft Sector Funding Policy that is meant to provide guidance across all nine provinces in terms standardised funding and implementation of funding model that is consistence across all province.

The draft Sector Funding Policy has been presented for consideration and approval to Minister and Members of Executive Council (MINMEC) meeting that was held in the current quarter. The MINMEC will make inputs and the approval of the policy will take place in last quarter of this financial year.

The National DSD in the current 2019/20 resume the implementation of the multi-year (3yrs) contract with National NGOs of which is another way of fast-tracking payment to services provider. This approach going forward will be proposed to provinces as it will cut-down on administration burden that are often resulting in delays.

The DSD to finalise its policy regarding GBV Prevention Programme for LGBTIQA+ Persons within six months from the date of release of this report, including clear directives to shelters to comply and not unfairly disseminate against LGBTIQA+ persons, including a clearly communicated complaints process for survivors to report any discriminatory action on the part of a shelter.

DSD has conducted consultations in 2017/18 which included various stakeholders across all nine province on the development of GBV prevention guideline for LGBTIQ+ persons. The document has been presented in the first and second quarters of this financial year to the Provincial and National Task Team for LGBTI led by the Department for Justice for endorsement. In quarter three and four the document will be presented to other stakeholders for inputs and endorsement. DSD funded shelters were consulted widely on the guideline document.

An admission criteria that will be LGBTIQ+ friendly will be included on the guideline document to be finalised by 31 March 2021. Furthermore, the DSD will identify and support three Shelters that will be piloted as LGBTIQ+ friendly shelter to create a model that can be replicated across the country.

Provincial DSDs have been motivated across all nine provinces to incorporate in their funding criteria preference of funding NGOs that are prioritising services to LGBTIQ+ persons. For example, Gauteng DSD in the current financial year is funding organisation (BadumetseBatho centre) that is providing services to LGBTI community in the Sedibeng areas and the following are the components funded: 1 Social Work post, 1 Social Auxiliary Work post and 20 volunteers for the NGO.

The guideline document is in the last phase of development whereby it is presented to various stakeholders for inputs. This is done through internal DSD workforce with a number of other competing demands. Hence it has not yet been finalized as per the CGE proposed timeline of six months. It will be available a refined draft by 31 March 2020.

DSD after consulting key stakeholders to provide the CGE with:

A standardised policy detailing the manner and criteria to fulfil when survivors wish to apply for extension at a shelter. This should also include a costing analysis wherein the costs of extensions are forecast and budgeted for and a clear complaints mechanism for survivors to appeal any negative decision.

The DSD in the current financial year is developing an Intersectoral Policy on sheltering services and it will include a detailed criteria to be fulfilled in instance where a victim/survivor need to apply for an extension of stay at a shelter. A draft Policy on Sheltering service will be available for consultation by 31 March 2020.

The Department has undertaken a process of costing analysis on the implementation of the Policy and Bill on Victim Support Services and that process covers cost analysis of the shelters. Deloitte was appointed as a service provider and by 31 March 2020 a cost analysis report that covers shelters will be available.

A standardised policy detailing the monitoring of survivors after existing the shelter including clear indicators to determine if the survivor is adjusting favourably.

The DSD has developed a draft Victim Support Services Policy and Bill that were presented to Cabinet on 03 December 2019 for endorsement to gazette for public comments by March 2020. Both the VSS Policy and Bill are designed to serve the purpose of monitoring and evaluation of Victim Support Services including shelters across all nine provinces. Both documents will incorporate monitoring and evaluation of services at different levels, by district office, provinces and national office. The oversight will also be conducted by other different stakeholders including Chapter Nine Institutions and the Department of Planning, Monitoring and Evaluation (DPME). DSD provinces will be monitored through the monthly and quarterly reports on indicators that they are implementing.

The aspect of monitoring the victim/survivor favourable adjustment will be prioritised in the development of the monitoring tools.

The two policies as per recommendations 4.1 and 4.2 must be provided to the CGE within six months after release of the investigative report.

Both Policies: Intersectoral Policy on Sheltering Services and Victim Support Services Policy will be shared with CGE by 31 March 2020 as draft documents. They are both still in development phases hence and need to undergo approval processes hence the department could not share them as per the timeline of six month proposed.

DSD in consultation with key stakeholders:

1. To standardise salaries and/or stipends of persons employed by shelters, including detailing criteria. Such standardisation must be taken into account during the budget allocation provided to shelters.

2. Detail and set the educational requirements and core skills needed for the requisite job roles in shelters.

Skills Development in Provinces for Shelters are not Accredited

The Department developed the Victim Support Services (VSS) Policy and Bill which were approved by Cabinet in December 2019. The VSS Policy and Bill, amongst other elements, will be addressing the regulation of the provision of sheltering services, registration of Victim Support Services facilities and accreditation of programmes rendered in the shelters including skills development programmes in shelters.

Furthermore, the Department has embarked on the project of ensuring that skills development programmes that are rendered in shelters across all nine provinces are accredited. This exercise is conducted in consultation with various SETAs including the Department line function SETA, the Health and Welfare SETA (HWSETA). A draft capacity building plan for the sector will be in place by 31 March 2020 developed by the National VEP Technical which will cover proposed accredited training for shelters.

The deployment of 200 social workers are not recognising previous experience and not looking at unemployment of current NGO service providers

The DSD appointed in December and January 200 social workers across all nine provinces to deal with the fight against GBV. They were all provided with training on trauma debriefing and psychosocial support services. All provinces resumed the processes of permanent appointment however, some were affected by the lockdown period to conclude permanent appointments. Therefore, all 200 Social Workers appointment will be finalized post the lockdown period.

The Department failed to implement the NAWONGO judgement and an explanation needs to be provided in this regard

Post the Nawongo judgement, the Department acknowledged that it requires additional capacity to assist with implementation of the 2014 court approved policy, as the policy required a change of organisational functions, systems, processes and structures. The Free State Department therefore approached KPMG, who assisted in drafting of the funding policy and costing models in line with the 2014 court approved policy.

These were sent to court and the court accepted them as working progress. This was aimed at supporting the Department with the implementation of the policy.

There were extensive consultations between the national and provincial departments of social development, more specifically DSD Free State and National and Provincial Treasuries; as well as with the NPO sector, on how the Court approved policy will be implemented.

These reforms were prescribed around the time where provincial budgets were negatively affected by the global economic crises, resulting to no additional funds becoming available to the provinces since the 2010/11 financial year. Most provinces were affected by means of a declining budget growth rate which was more or less in line with the inflation over the years thus leaving no room for expansion or response to budget pressures. The sluggish growth of the provincial budget happened in the midst of increasing demand to fund improvement in conditions of service (annual salary adjustments) as well compensation of employees’ pressures from core service delivery departments such as Education and Health. In prior years funding for annual salary adjustments was catered for by National Treasury, however over the last few years; provinces were and are still expected to fund such adjustments within their own constrained allocations.

A case in point is with the commencement of the 2019/20 budget processes, where National and Provincial Treasuries already alluded that there will be no additional funding over the MTEF, as National Treasury indicated to the province that growth is fragile and that there is a subdued growth in tax revenue.

Given the above, the challenges that led to the Department not fully implementing the NAWONGO Court judgement are as follows:

a) Implementation of the 2014 Policy was objectively impossible without the unqualified support and financial backing of National Treasury.

b) Funding for welfare services must still take place within the budgeting process which is beyond the relevant department’s control.

c) The current NPO budget which does not cover the core costs of even one service (i.e. out of 11 statutory services and 29 other services) and

d) The NPO budget has decreased in real terms each year since the court case and therefore, the provisions of the Nawongo Court judgement could not be realized in terms of the core cost of services.

e) The costing model that was developed in partnership with KPMG was rejected by the National Treasury as it was declared to be expensive, in light of the budget constraints and therefore it could not be implemented.

Only increased funding for transfers to NPOs will ensure the full compliance with the court order. The implication is that there are other parties that are necessary to increase the funding of the Department, i.e. the Executive Council of Provinces, Provincial Treasuries, and the National Treasury.

The Commission is concerned about The Department’s ability to monitor and evaluate provinces

The Victim Support Services Policy and Bill caters for monitoring and evaluation of Victim Support Services facilities including shelters in provinces, development of monitoring tools and systems. It also includes monitoring and evaluation of these services at different levels, by district office, provinces and national office. The oversight will also be conducted by other different stakeholders including Chapter Nine Institutions and the Department of Planning, Monitoring and Evaluation (DPME). Provinces are monitored through the monthly and quarterly reports on indicators that they are implementing.

 

Reply:

1. The challenges experienced with the May payment file were as a result of multiple factors. Firstly, technical development was required to implement the decision to split the payment files to ease congestion at access points. This required the separation of grants for older persons and persons with disabilities together with the child grants that are received by these beneficiaries, from the stand alone children’s grants.

The second technical adjustment which was required was the addition of the top up amounts announced by the President in his relief package designed to provide the most vulnerable members of our society with the ability to withstand the effects of the pandemic and in particular the lockdown. The addition of the top up amounts required programmatic changes, as the system is programmed to read the means test requirements when any increase is affected. For the top up amounts, the means test requirements had to be by-passed.

Both the above changes were implemented within a relatively short space of time, and there was not sufficient time to complete the full automation of the extraction process prior to the extraction of payments.

Furthermore, the naming convention of files had to change to accommodate the split of the grant types, as well as an extraction of less than 500 000 records per file to meet the Bank transfer requirements. This resulted in some manual intervention being required with the extraction of files.

During the manual extraction, some of the files between Western Cape and KwaZulu-Natal as well as Free State and Northern Cape were mixed, resulting in 457 044 transactions for KwaZulu-Natal not being extracted; 435 004 for Western Cape being extracted in duplicate; and 165 412 transactions for Northern Cape being extracted in duplicate.

The challenge between Free State and Northern Cape records were picked up on Thursday, 30 April 2020 and the double payments were recalled through the approved banking process.

The challenge with the KwaZulu-Natal and Western Cape files was only picked up late on Sunday, 3 May 2020. While the recall files were sent to the banks through the South African Reserve Bank, not all the double payments could be reversed in time, before beneficiaries starting accessing their money.

a) The non-payments for KwaZulu-Natal were addressed through the extraction of a second file in the evening of 3 May and sent to the banks on 4 May. By 5 May all beneficiaries had access to their funds.

B) While a number of the double payments were reversed in time by the banks, some were not done in time, and the beneficiaries were able to access the double payment. The final numbers will only be confirmed after the reconciliations are complete.

2. A full investigation is underway. Given the changes in standard procedures and the manual interventions required in a usually automated environment; shortcomings of additional controls, both within the SITA and the SASSA environment, were identified. The implementation of these controls will be addressed to ensure that a similar situation does not occur in the future.

3. Since the matter is still under investigation, no disciplinary action has been taken yet. A decision as to consequences to be implemented will be made on conclusion of the investigation.

4. The affected beneficiaries will be expected to repay the amounts received in error, in terms of Section 17 of the Social Assistance Act, 2004. Immediately the error was picked up, SASSA communicated broadly, appealing to beneficiaries to return the money they should not have received, or to leave the second payment in their account. Some heeded the call and repaid the amount to SASSA, while banks were able to reverse a significant number of the double payments.

a) For those who withdrew and utilised the funds that they were not entitled to, there will be no payment of the grant in June, as they effectively received the June money in advance. Those who, on personal submission, indicate that they are unable to repay the amount in a single amount, will be allowed to sign an acknowledgement of debt and repay the amount over a 3 month period. The refund will be deducted directly from their social grant payments for the next 3 months, with their consent.

Reply:

1. The following are categories of registrations:

Area of service	Theme	2017-18	2018-19	2019-20
Family services	Including Substance Abuse, family life/parent education, family violence shelters	1107	1131	1271
Victim Support	Victim violence shelters and services	679	699	770
Services to Children		49482	50538	53761
	Adoption Services	14	18	20
	Child Protection	314	308	331
	Child welfare, child services, day care	36927	35870	37536
	Children’s Homes	863	816	860
	Community –Based Care Services for Children	1813	1885	2128
	ECD and Partial Care Centres	7818	9700	10870
	Homes for Children with Special Needs	286	320	333
	Schools of Industry/ Reform Schools	480	412	413
	Secure Care	97	129	151
	Temporary Safe Care/ Place of Safety	870	1080	1119
Services to people with disabilities	Homes, recreation and other specialized services for people with disabilities	3423	3626	4162
Services to the elderly	Elderly care; recreation, meal programs and other services geared towards senior citizens	6941	7146	7360

2. The NPO Database captures those NPOs that opt to wind up and those that opt to Voluntary Deregister. Below is a total number:

Area of service	Dissolved (wound up) in terms of section 23(2)	Voluntary Deregistered: according to section 23(1)
Family services	4	1
Victim Support	0	4
Services to Children	3	46
Services to people with disabilities	3	7
Services to the elderly	1	12
Totals	11	70

 

Reply:

The Department’s position is that agricultural exports to China will and should continue in line with the existing sanitary and phytosanitary prescripts.

COVID 19 pandemic has not affected the exports of animal and plant products to China.

• Wool exports are going according to plan and local purchases are still ongoing. The last wool auction as reported by Cape Wool industry was only 0.7% down which is normal. Because of the global uncertainties, with movement restrictions all over the world, the wool prices are expected to temporarily go down. The meat export is still going well to date.

• Exports of Apples, Table Grapes and Citrus to China is on-going in line with agreed protocols and no changes have been observed since the outbreak of Coronavirus and no restrictions to market access has been observed. Containers are cleared at the ports in China, with no hold ups or delay. All the necessary inspections for Production Units, Packhouses and Inspection Points have been done and approval has been granted by China.

• With regard to other preclearance or special programmes:

1. Japan-Exports of Citrus and Barlinka Grapes 2) Mexico - Exports of Apples 3) Taiwan - Exports of Apples 4) South Korea - Exports of Citrus – For these markets, there is a requirement for pre-inspections to be conducted in South Africa by inspectors from those countries before consignments leave the South African shores. In an attempt to adhere to the travel restrictions for incoming visitors from high risk countries, the Department proposed to those countries the following:

• Departmental inspectors who are familiar with the export programme undertake the required preclearance inspections; and
• provide the necessary reports and records to the importing country.

Feedback is awaited from the trading partners on the proposed alternative inspection protocol.

2. United States of America (USA) – Exports of Flower Bulbs, Apples, Pears, Table Grapes and Citrus- the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA). The USA Preclearance inspector who is based in Cape Town is currently inspecting Table Grapes to USA and the volume has tripled as compared to the past ten years.

With regard to field inspections for Apples, Pears and Citrus, the USDA had granted approval for exports without field inspections. The Department is also in communication with USDA with regards to the intended visit of four (04) USA inspectors who are due to come to South Africa for preclearance of consignments of citrus to be exported to the USA for the current season.

Reply:

DEPARTMENT OF HIGHER EDUCATION AND TRAINING

Entity:	(a). Was there any paid consultants used to write the;  (i) Strategic Plan, (ii) Annual Performance Plans?	(b) Amount that each consultant charge?	(c) What was the total cost to his department/entity for outsourcing the plans?	(d) What were the reasons for outsourcing?
CHE	Not applicable	Not applicable	Not applicable	Not applicable
INSETA	Not applicable	Not applicable	Not applicable	Not applicable
CHIETA	Not applicable	Not applicable	Not applicable	Not applicable
SAQA	Not applicable	Not applicable	Not applicable	Not applicable
MerSETA	Not applicable	Not applicable	Not applicable	Not applicable
FP&M SETA	Not applicable	Not applicable	Not applicable	Not applicable
CHIETA	Not applicable	Not applicable	Not applicable	Not applicable
CETA	Not applicable	Not applicable	Not applicable	Not applicable
ETDP SETA	Not applicable	Not applicable	Not applicable	Not applicable
TETA	Not applicable	Not applicable	Not applicable	Not applicable
EWSETA	Not applicable	Not applicable	Not applicable	Not applicable
SASSETA	Not applicable	Not applicable	Not applicable	Not applicable
HWSETA	Not applicable	Not applicable	Not applicable	Not applicable
FoodBev SETA	Strategic Plan - Yes for facilitation of Board strategy Annual Performance Plans - No	i. R40 250 ii. Not applicable	R40 250	There was no outsourcing of the developing of the plans however there was a facilitator who facilitated the board strategy session that led to the development of the strategic outcomes by the Board
LGSETA	The consultant was appointed and paid to facilitate the strategic planning session only for 2020/21 financial year. The development of the plans were done internally   Appointed Service provider: Simulation Consultants CC	R145 000	R145 000	The consultant was appointed for facilitation of the strategic planning session only because he/she had to give an external perspective/insight on the review of the five year plans ensuring that the session addresses the new developmental goals assigned for our sector during the strategic planning session.
AgriSETA	Strategic Plan, Sector Skills Plan, Annual Report and Annual Performance Plan	Regenesy -R93 100 Blackmoon Advertising – R283 426	R376 400	AgriSETA doesn’t appoint service provider for writing APP and Strategic plans, management write and prepare those documents    A consultant is only appointed to edit and design and layout, printing of the documents etc since we have no graphic designers internally. That part is outsourced because we have no graphic design and printing equipment to produce such documents including annual reports.
MICT SETA	Motif Capital Partner	R 66 240	R 66 240	‒      The introduction of a new framework for the development of Strategic plans was quite different from the previous framework.   ‒      The lateness of the introduction of the framework versus submission timelines.
NSFAS	YES	R490 000.00	Refer (b)	When the Entity was placed under Administration one of the major concerns and challenges was the substandard work that came from the Planning and Monitoring Unit in terms of the Strategic Plan and Annual Performance Plan. The onboarding of a specialist was to assist the Entity to meet this requirement. The mandate ranged from providing ad-hoc advice on the design of SMART indicators in relations to targets to the training of key staff on the design in order to avoid submitting a sub-standard work.
QCTO	The services of facilitators from Government Technical Advisory Centre (GTAC) was engaged for supporting the development of the strategic plans.	R 919 296.00	R 919 296.00	QCTO used GTAC as the new Framework for Medium Term Planning was introduced by DPME and the QCTO needed capacity building for management to develop plans that comply with the new framework. The process was not outsourced but GTAC facilitated and guided the process. QCTO management with full consultation of staff developed the plans across all levels of the organisation.
FASSET	Africa International Advisors	R 115 000.00	R115 000	Due to internal capacity constraints and the new framework which was introduced. This was to ensure that we were able to adhere to the requirements of this new framework.
CATHSSETA	Yes	R247  068	R247  068	1.  Due to the DPME revised framework on SPs and APPs the CATHSSETA acquired the services of an experienced and reputable company to assist in the compilation of the documents. The framework had a lot of changes that required the SETA to appoint someone who is knowledgeable about the new planning needs etc. It must be noted that Ziko Consulting played a supportive role in the process and the CATHSSETA team managed the entire consultation and approval process. 2.   The SETA is also challenged with capacity issues within the unit in terms of human resources, therefore a support structure is required for the short term to assist professional compilation of such these entity strategic do documents.
W&RSETA	W&RSETA contracted Underhill Corporate Solutions for the compilation of its Strategic Plan and Annual Performance Plan	The contracted company (Underhill Corporate Solutions) assigned 4 of its employees to the project; and the total amount charged by the company was R489 670.00.	R489 670.00.	Limited resources as the unit only had one employee responsible for strategic planning.

DEPARTMENT OF SCIENCE AND INNOVATION 

The entities reporting to the Minister did not outsource the writing of the Strategic Plans or Annual Performance Plans, and responded as follows:

(a) None. The Department of Science and Innovation, National Research Foundation, Academy of Science of South Africa, Council for Scientific and Industrial Research Council, Human Sciences Research Council, National Advisory Council on Innovation and South African National Space Agency did not pay consultants to write the:

(i) Strategic Plan; and/or

(ii) Annual Performance Plan.

(b) Nil.

(c) Not Applicable (N/A).

(d) N/A.

Reply:

a) The appeals committee was appointed on 25 May 2019.

b) The then Minister was requested to consider and appoint an Appeals Authority.

c) (i) Adv. Zandile Gail Mpungose, (Chairperson); Adv. Sivalingam Pather; Mr James Cornwall; and Mr James Makiwane.

(ii) Adv. Mpungose – attorney in private practice;

Adv. Pather – is a Director of Labour Relations in the National Prosecuting Authority.

Mr Cornwall – retired / former chief negotiator for the employer in the Public Health and Welfare Sectoral Bargaining Council.

Mr Makiwane – Former manager of Labour Relations in the private sector.

d) The Committee considers appeals referred to the Minister and takes a final decision on whether to uphold the sanction or appeal. Such outcomes are then communicated to the appellant.

e) The Appeals Panel derives its authority from clause 8 of the Disciplinary Code and Procedures for the Public Service (Public Service Coordinating Bargaining Council (PSCBC) Resolution 1 of 2003.

Reply:

(1)(a)

The SASSA Act No 9 of 2004, Section 6.1 (a) stipulates that the CEO is responsible for the management of the Agency subject to the direction of the Minister. This in essence includes inter alia the review of the operating model to enable the efficient service delivery.

The proposed model is not yet implemented since it is still on route for approval by the three Ministers in line with section 7(2) of the SASSA Act, 2004.

Kindly note that the three Regional Executive Managers are seconded on a temporary basis to manage two additional Regions each for the period of six months which will lapse at the end of October 2020. It should be noted that the said employees are not compensated as a result of the job enlargement and consultations took place before they were seconded. The secondments are in line with the Staffing Practices Policy of SASSA.

(b)

The CEO, in consultation with EXCO, identified the need to review and streamline the current operating model, business processes and Organisational structure to ensure alignment to the strategic direction of the Agency.

The following strategic considerations were taken into account:

• The National Development Plan
• The President’s expectations, the Minister’s expectations, the CEO’s expectations and the Stakeholder’s expectations
• The strategic direction of the Agency in alignment with its Mandate
• The CEO extensively consulted with internal stakeholders through roadshows across the Provinces
• The assessment of the current operating model and the desired “future” state
• The segregation of functions between Core and Support functions
• The composition of EXCO as well as the synergy between EXCO and the Regional Executive Managers
• The rationalisation of Organisation Structure i.eSpan of control, lines of reporting, delegations of Authority, staff complement, the evaluation and grading system
• Different and yet complementary roles with respect to strategic, tactical and operational planning

(2) SASSA is in the process of obtaining the necessary approval from the Minister, in consultation with the Ministers of Finance and Public Service and Administration. At this stage there is no approval therefore implementation cannot be effected as it is depended on approval by the three Ministers.

(3) (a) The Regional Executive Manager’s positions were evaluated and graded at salary level 15. The newly proposed Cluster Head positions are not yet evaluated and graded as the said process will follow after the approval by the relevant structures.

(b) The outcomes of the evaluation and grading processes is dependent on the approval of the operating model by the Ministers. In the event that the operating model is approved, the said job will be subjected to the evaluation and grading process.

(4) The secondment of the cluster heads is in line with:

1. The current SASSA Staffing Practices Policy which states that “the secondment of a staff member from another Branch/Department/Organisation may be considered when the need exists to fill a vacant post on a temporary basis”.
2. Section 62 of the Public Service Regulations, 2016, which states that “a secondment may only take place if the employee or person being seconded has the necessary competency and the period of secondment does not exceed 12 calendar months, unless due to operational reasons determined otherwise by the Minister”.

The secondments of the Cluster Heads were approved in line with the above legislative framework, policy provision and Human Capital Management Delegations for a period of six months, effective from 01 May 2020 until 31 October 2020. The seconded employees have the necessary competencies since they have occupied the same position i.e Regional Executive Managers for more than seven years.

As already mentioned, the three Regional Executive Managers were duly consulted and they accepted additional responsibilities at no additional costs to the Agency. Whether the operating model is approved or not approved, relevant Human Resources (HR) interventions will be effected.

(5) The operating model was developed in October 2019 which was before the realisation of the COVID 19 pandemic. As a result, the proposed model did not directly address the COVID-19 pandemic, however the Agency developed a broad Risk Plan that ensured the efficient rendering of essential services during any calamity.This was based on the SWOT as well as the PESTLE Analysis deliberations conducted during the proposed operating model sessions. SASSA has subsequently adopted a Risk Plan with mitigating strategies which incorporates COVID 19 pandemic. Same will beincluded in the operating model if approved.

Reply:

The Department has not given municipal councillors any role in distributing food parcels during the national lockdown to prevent the spread of the COVID-19 pandemic.

The Department assigned Provincial, District and Local DSD officials and its Agencies to handle the food parcels distribution.

Reply:

The Department has established state treatment centres in all the nine provinces. The total number of (a)state treatment centres in the country are thirteen (13) centres. The breakdown of treatment centres in provinces is as follows: Gauteng (1) Dr FF Ribeiro treatment treatmentcentre; Limpopo (1)Seshegotreatment centre; Northern Cape (1) Northern Cape treatment centre; Eastern Cape (1) Ernest Malgastreatment centre; Western Cape (2)Denovo and Kensington treatment centres; KwaZulu Natal(2)Madadeni and Newlands Park treatment centres; Mpumalanga (2) centres Swartfointen and Nkangala treatment centres; Free State (1)Botshabelo treatment centres ; and North West (2)Taung and J B Marks treatment centres. Taung treatment centre (North West) and Botshabelo (Free State) are not yet operational.

The bed capacity in each centre (b)and the location of the centres(c)is as follows:

Province and name of the centre	Bed capacity	(c) Location
Gauteng DrFF Ribeiro centre	300	Zonderwater Cullinan, Pretoria
Limpopo Seshego centre	72	Seshego Zone 1 Polokwane, Limpopo
Northern Cape Northern Cape centre	40	R31 National road, Kimberly
Eastern Cape Ernest Malgas centre	38	New Brighton 2, Port Elizabeth
Western Cape Denovo centre	120	Old Paarl Road Kraaifontein, Cape Town
Western Cape Kensington centre	30	Kensington Road Maitland, Cape Town
KwaZulu Natal Madadeni centre	44	Madadeni Township, Newcastle
KwaZulu Natal Newlands Park centres	100	New Land West-Newlands Park, Durban
Mpumalanga - Swartfointen centre	50	R40 Road White River, Mpumalanga
Mpumalanga -Nkangala centre	Operationalisation underway it will have 50 bed capacity	Nkangala district: Blesfontein Farm Ogies
Free State - Botshabelo centre	Construction is underway: will have 40 bed capacity	Botshabelo, Bloemfontein
North West - J B Marks	40 capacity	Tlokwe-Potchefstroom
North West - Taung	Once operational it will have 20 bed capacity	Greater Taung Nr.1 Village

State treatment centres (d) have started to implementSubstance Use Disorders (SUD) treatment, in an inpatient treatment setting. The SUDtreatment include the medical and psychosocial treatment services. The treatment is also based on individual service users’ treatment needs identified during the assessment process.

The treatment modalities that are usedare individual therapeutic counselling, therapeutic group counselling and family therapy. In terms of treatment regime for specific drugs, the centres observe the Department of Health Standard Treatment Guidelines for Essential Medicines List, of South Africa.

(e).The treatment period/duration range from 6 weeks to 16 weeks based on the needs of each service user.

Reply:

a) Yes, the Gender Based Violence Command Centre compiles/records statistics. See below records of calls, USSDs as well as SMSs recorded:

(b)

All Gender Based Violence emergency calls are referred to SA Police Service. However, not all received calls are reported or referred to SA Police Service. It is dependent on the merit of case as well as the present issue of the client. The Gender Based Violence Command Centre is equipped with Social Work Practitioners who provides immediate psychosocial social support services including emotional support through trauma counselling and victim containment.

Reply:

·Provide mobile classrooms

(a) (b)The Department of Basic Education developed the Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs) for the Containment and Management of COVID-19, for childcare facilities, schools and school communities, to guide provinces in responding to COVID-19. These include, measures to enforce social distancing for learners; as well as compliance with good hygiene practices to contain and prevent the spread of COVID-19 virus amongst learners. In order to address social distancing protocols during the phasing-in and full opening of schools, provinces are providing mobile classrooms for additional spaces, as well  as identifying additional spaces like school halls to address any additional needs for space.  In addition, a vriety of options for timetabling are being considered.

Reply:

1. No. The position taken by the Department of Agriculture, Land Reform and Rural Development was to provide a COVID-19 Support Relief to qualifying Small-holder and Communal farmers. This was a grant process where qualifying farmers would be issued a voucher. The department procured Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) through either a price quotation process or Transversal Contracts in line with National Treasury Instruction Note 08 of 2019/2020 and Instruction Note 05 of 2020/2021: Emergency Procurement in Response to the National State of Disaster.

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

2. No.

(a),(b) Falls away.

3. Falls away.

4. No.

Reply:

The Department of Basic Education has not provided teachers with laptops. The Provincial Education Departments were responsible for the provision of laptops to teachers; and are therefore, the custodians of this information. The Honourable Members is also reminded that the Provincial Education Departments are the employers of educators by law.  Therefore. matters related to the provision of teaching support materials are the responsibility of the Provincial Education Departments.

Reply:

DATE OF PUBLICATION OF INTERNAL QUESTION PAPER: 29/05/2020

INTERNAL QUESTION PAPER: 18/2020

1024. Mrs D van der Walt (DA) to ask the Minister of Basic Education:

(1)       Whether her department received any funds for the Expanded Public Works Programme in the past four financial years; if not, what is the position in this regard; if so, what are the relevant details

(1) EPWP funds received are as follows:

2016/17	R369 045 000.00
2017/18	R112 997 000.00
2018/19	R0.00
2019/20	R0.00

(2) The funds were allocated for Kha Ri Gude Food handlers

(a) Not applicable

(b) Not applicable

(c) Not applicable

(d) Not applicable

 

(3) Not applicable

(4) Not applicable

(5) Not applicable                    

Reply:

In terms of current policy, as articulated in the Regulations on the Conduct, Administration and Management of the National Senior Certificate Examinations,15 (2),  the candidate, unless otherwise stated, must respond to the question paper in the language of learning and teaching. Currently, at the Grade 12 level, the learner is either taught through the medium of English or Afrikaans. Hence, provision is currently made only for learners to respond in English or Afrikaans, in their non-language subjects.

However, the Department is currently investigating the option of providing candidates with question papers that are presented both in the language of learning and teaching and in the mother tongue of the learner. This option will first be piloted in either Grade 10 or Grade 11; and based on the outcome in this pilot, it will considered for implementation in the  high stakes Grade 12 examination.                 

Reply:

5G is the fifth generation of wireless technology network adopted by 3rd Generation Partnership Project (3GPP), a standards organisation which develops protocols for mobile telecommunications. 5G is a new globally accepted standard of technology after 3G, 4G and LTE/LTE advanced. 5G is identified by the following use cases: enhanced mobile broadband communications, massive machine type communications, ultra-reliable and low latency communications, and Internet of Things that virtually connects everything and everyone.

 

MR J MTHEMBU, MP

ACTING MINISTER OF COMMUNICATIONS AND DIGITAL TECHNOLOGIES

Reply:

The Minister of Public Works and Infrastructure:

a) Department of Public Works and Infrastructure (DPWI) informed me that the matter of security on all material remained the responsibility of the contractor and the contractor covered the costs. The South African National Defence Force (SANDF) remains responsible for securing the border.

b) The Department further informed me the mitigating measure was premised on the fact that the tender went through a competitive bidding process. With reference to the published tenders on the DPWI website, the tender for Beitbridge land port of entry (WCS052500) was awarded in October 2016. The costing was also premised on 2016 baseline. The rates are complex as they are inclusive, and the contractor covered the costs.

Reply:

I was advised by the Department and entities as follows:

(a)& (b) The Department and entities did not sponsor any political parties in the 2018/19 financial year.

1. None
2. None
3. None

(aa) N/A

(bb) N/A

MR J MTHEMBU, MP

ACTING MINISTER OF COMMUNICATIONS AND DIGITAL TECHNOLOGIES

Reply:

The Department did not for see the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic at the commencement of the previous financial year and had therefore not budgeted for the pandemic. The department has however approached the National Treasury to solicit an approval for the reprioritization of the budget to provide for the non-pharmaceutical interventions to respond to the pandemic and to mitigate the spread of the Coronavirus. Approval is awaited for the request from the National Treasury

Reply:

1. It is unquestionable that the Covid-19 pandemic has brought about and at some point exacerbated the challenges faced by the country and the world in totality. Thus, it is necessary that integrated solutions are found and implemented to navigate through the Covid-19 virus and its impact to the overall society. As such the South African Government is providing leadership by putting in place the integrated mechanisms to help to directly and indirectly deal with this unprecedented pandemic and its impact to the economy. This is exhibited by stimulus package announced by our President and is further unpacked below.

In general and currently, the Department is not intending to create a special Covid-19 financial relief fund for small businesses in the transport sector because these entities registered through the Companies and Intellectual Property Commission (CIPC) are eligible and qualify to apply to existing Government Covid-19 relief programmes. However, the Government will, through the Department of Small Business Development (DSBD) provide relief to all SMMEs. This financial relief is provided through the R500billion Covid-19 relief financial interventions highlighted in the preceding paragraph. It is intended to provide business owners particularly of small enterprises with funding or payment relief and opportunities to help them navigate and thrive through this tough time.

These programmes are and not limited to:

• Unemployment Insurance Fund (UIF) Covid-19 relief fund is to benefit all employees and employers including small enterprises functioning within the transport sector. This is an emergency relief for employers to be able to pay employees who have been temporarily laid off as a result of the COVID-19 lockdown measures;
• The Department of Small Business Development (DSBD) Covid-19 relief fund is for businesses, which are negatively affected, directly or indirectly, due to the Coronavirus pandemic. It is important to note that the creation and existence of this Department is to put in place mechanisms that will create an environment in which small enterprises across the economy of South Africa inclusive of the transport s sector operate in a fair and conducive environment;
• The DSBD Business Growth Resilience Facilities is for enterprises geared to take advantage of supply opportunities resulting from the Coronavirus pandemic or shortage of goods in the local market.
• SMME Relief Finance Scheme. This is a soft-loan funding for businesses negatively impacted by the COVID-19 virus for all businesses with a turnover of less than R300 million; and
• Small Enterprise Finance Agency (SEFA) Debt Restructuring is for businesses that are currently Sefa-funded are able to apply for a moratorium on loan repayments if the COVID-19 virus has negatively affected them.

An exception is with the Taxi Industry as you are all aware that it provides public transport for approximately 60% of passengers. As part of the relief measures for small businesses in distress, taxis financed by the National Taxi Finance administered by SEFA will be granted a 3 months repayment holiday. The dire effects of the lockdown on the taxi industry is noted and intergovernmental consultations on a Taxi Industry Relief Efforts are at an advanced stage. The Departments of Transport, Small Business Development, Employment and Labour, Trade Industry and Competition as well as National Treasury have agreed to support the industry and are currently looking at various modalities of assistance. At the time the lockdown was declared, we were in the process of finalizing our plans for the hosting of the National Taxi Indaba, which will be held sometime later this year. The aim is to address a number of critical economic issues confronting the industry. Among the key issues to be considered by the Indaba is a sustainable economic empowerment model for the taxi industry. This will include a public transport-funding model, which must include a possible subsidy regime, in which the taxi industry is a full participant. It is of paramount importance to note that the SANTACO, the governing structure of the taxi industry in the country under the governance of the Department, announced a R3.5 billion relief funds to help cushion the industry through the Covid-19 pandemic.

In view of the above Government interventions, it is important for Government to pool limited resources to ensure most enterprises are cushioned through these tough and unprecedented times. All Government interventions should aim towards providing integrated Covid-19 financial reliefs. In addition, it is vital to avoid duplicating efforts and ensure that double dipping by individuals and enterprises is avoided at all cost. Secondly, the Department will continue to support efforts of creating a conducive environment for small enterprises in the transport sector. Thus, the legislation of Government including the Broad-Based Black Empowerment (B-BBEE) Act 53 of 203 as amended will be applied to help small enterprises and to facilitate transformation of the transport sector. I must acknowledge that not all these Covid-19 virus relief funds may be enough. In the next phase, Government must look at options to increasing these financial support mechanisms to rebuild and stimulate the economy.

(2) whether the Covid-19 financial or other relief will only be allocated to qualifying small businesses according to the Broad-Based Black Economic Empowerment Act, Act 53 of 2003, as amended; if not, what is the position in this regard; if so, (a) on what statutory grounds and/or provisions does he or his department rely to allocate Covid-19 financial or other relief only to small businesses according to the specified Act and (b) what form of Covid-19 financial or other relief, if any, will be made available to other small businesses?

Response

For more details, see question 1 response above. Of course, my Department would like to emphasize that the Constitution of the Republic of South Africa and supported by laws such the B-BBEE Act will be implemented to create an inclusive growing economy and to transform the transport sector particularly the aviation, road freight and maritime industries. The Covid-19 crisis provides an opportunity for the Department to work towards speeding-up the process to re-instituting the Transport Sector B-BBEE Council to facilitate transformation of the transport sector so that equal opportunities are created for black women, black people with disabilities and black youth. The process to re-institute the Council is at the advance stage. The Council will spearhead the implementation, monitoring and evaluation of B-BBEE and transformation in the transport sector. It is important to note that Government will not compromise the provision of the constitution and will continue to ensure compliance to relevant legislation.

Let me take this opportunity to provide my total support to my colleague, the Minister of Tourism, Ms Mmamoloko Kubayi-Ngubane in support of the Black Business Council for implementing the B-BBEE Act 53 of 2003 as amended even though there are some distractors in the country. The intention of this Government is to achieve the envisioned 2030 goals set by the National Development Plan that 9 out of 10 new jobs will be generated by micro, small and medium businesses. Hence, all our efforts should make use of every opportunity inclusive of the Covid-19 crisis to transform the overall economic society of South Africa and create a conducive environment for micro, small and medium enterprises to help or economy.

Reply:

The Department did not foresee the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic at the commencement of the previous financial year and had therefore not budgeted for the pandemic nor planned for any tenders in the Annual Procurement Plan related hereto. However, the department had followed all the available prescripts by the National Treasury in the COVID-19 procurement processes.

Quotations were sourced in line with the provisions of the relevant Treasury Instructions and a process of a multiple award approach was utilised to meet the necessary volumes requested in the distribution for Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) and Wear. Accordingly the following suppliers were part of the multiple award total R24 731 292.41

i. Ecko-Green Environmental Services

ii. C Square Consumer Connectedness

iii. Mistralog

The following Products were supplied by the companies in this award:

i. PENDO-FOG disinfectant fogging machine;

ii. 20/25 Liter Disinfectant refil for the PENDO-FOG

iii. 1 Liter Sanitizers bottles

iv. 20 Liter Sanitizer refill

v. PPE Disposable Coveralls

vi. Surgical Masks

vii. Surgival gloves (only in round 1)

(2) There was no deviation made on the standard Emergency Procurment Prescripts

a) He reason for acquisition of the products was that an urgent intervention was required to assist in providing the taxi industry (driver’s and Marshall) with COVID-19 related goods, to curb the spead of the virus in the Public transport environment.

b) Quotations were sourced from multiple companies, evaluated in terms of normal procurement prescripts relating to CSD registration, tax compliance etc, and awarded as a multiple award to curb cost. There has been full compliance with the National Treasury Prescripts in terms of National Treasury Instruction Note Nr.3 of 2016/201/Section 8.1 and 8.2

(3) Companies first had to comply with prescribed procurement processes, including registration on CSD and tax compliance. Qualified bidders were then evaluated on price, per specific item.

(4) If deemed necessary by the house.

Reply:

The Minister of Public Works and Infrastructure:

(1)(a) My role was limited to issuing a directive for the emergency securing of the South African Border to the Director General, Chief Financial Officer and the Deputy Director General: Construction Management. The first focus was on the Beitbridge Border Post and identified hotspots at this borderline between South Africa and Zimbabwe.

(b) The delegated authority for tender approval was the National Bid Adjudication Committee (NBAC).

(2) I received regular updates on the construction until completion. I also requested the Auditor-General of South Africa to do an independent audit and also asked the Department of Public Works and Infrastructure’s Internal Anti-Corruption Unit to do an investigation.

Reply:

1. The Department did not award any tenders connected to the Covid-19 pandemic. Items procured such as masks, gloves, hand sanitisers and decontamination of premises (office buildings) were below R500 000 and supply chain processes were followed.

(a) None

(b) N/A

(c) N/A

2. No deviations from the standard supply chain management procedures.

(a) None

(b) N/A

3. N/A

4. N/A

MR J MTHEMBU, MP

ACTING MINISTER OF COMMUNICATIONS AND DIGITAL TECHNOLOGIES

Reply:

The Minister of Public Works and Infrastructure:

a) The Department of Public Works and Infrastructure, including its Property Management Trading Entity (PMTE), collectively referred to as “the Department”, has incurred, and continues to incur, both ordinary and extraordinary expenditure in line with its mandate the provision of Personal Protection Equipment (PPE), the cleaning of its facilities, decontamination of facilities (including Presidency and courts) and quarantine facilities as requested by Department of Health (DOH). To date, an amount of R 47 049 676 has been spent.

b) The money was sourced from various line items of the budget after taking into consideration the lower expenditure on items due to the lockdown. These included budget items on travel, recruitment, goods and services and infrastructure projects due to low or no expenditure due to lockdown. The funds were shifted in terms of the Disaster Management Act and its Regulations.

c) The expenditure was authorised in line with the Department’s finance delegations of authority at various branches at Head Office and the eleven (11) Regional Offices.

d) The impact is negligible, if any, as funds were shifted from programmes that had no activities due to inter alia the restrictions imposed by the national lockdown.