Reply:

Our expenditure to date indicates that we are already on par with the presidential pronouncement that expenditure to SMMEs must be at 30% of our procurement spent.

This figure is expected to increase with the finalization of all procurement contracts by the end of financial year 2015/16.

57% (R18M) of the current finalized procurement contracts are awarded to level 1 and 2 BBBEE companies, of which 55% (R10M) there-of is awarded to SMMEs.

Reply:

Presently in Graaff-Reinet. Engineering Graphics and Design is offered at Hoer Volkskool. The school has expressed an interest in other Technical subjects. At present, the school is implementing Agricultural Science due to a grant from a donor in the Agricultural Sector.

The Eastern Cape Department of Education is in a process of establishing a Technical school in Somerset East at Gill College. The subject that will be introduced is Mechanical Technology with all its specialisations (Automotive. Fitting and Machining and Welding).

Reply:

The following response is based on information on the current (2015/16) financial year's organisational structure:

There are no frozen posts on the organisational structure.

 

Reply:

Year	Salary per annum	Performance Bonus (once-off)
Eastern Cape Department of Education
(i)(aa) 2012/13	R763 776.00 Acting HOD	None
(i)(bb) 2013/14	R1 485 576.00	None
(i)(cc) 2014/15	R1 570 254.00	None
Free State Department of Education
(i)(aa) 2012/13	R1 584 756.00	None
(i)(bb) 2013/14	R 1 673 502.00	None
(i)(cc) 2014/15	R 1 768 893.00	None
Gauteng Department of Education
(i)(aa) 2012/13	R1 515 528.00	None
(i)(bb) 2013/14	R1 600 398.00	None
(i)(cc) 2014/15	R1 742 751.00	None
Kwa-Zulu Natal Department of Education
(i)(aa) 2012/13	R1 406 796.00	None
(i)(bb) 2013/14	R1 485 576.00	None
(i)(cc) 2014/15	R1 570 254.00	None
Limpopo Department of Education
(i)(aa) 2012/13	R1 406 796.00	None
(i)(bb) 2013/14	R1 485 576.00	None
(i)(cc) 2014/15	R1 570 254.00	None
Mpumalanga Department of Education
(i)(aa) 2012/13	R 1 427 895.00	None
(i)(bb) 2013/14	R 1 530 483.00	None
(i)(cc) 2014/15	R 1 617 720.00	None
Northern Cape Department of Education
(i)(aa) 2012/13	R 1 153 962.00	None
(i)(bb) 2013/14	R 1 238 040.00	None
(i)(cc) 2014/15	R 1 325 724.00	R61 902.00
North West Department of Education
(i)(aa) 2012/13	R968 028.00 (Acting Head of Department)	None
(i)(bb) 2013/14	R1 022 238.00 (Acting Head of Department)	None
(i)(cc) 2014/15	R1 570 254.00	None
Western Cape Department of Education
(i)(aa) 2012/13	R1 515 528.00	None
(i)(bb) 2013/14	R1 600 398.00	None
(i)(cc) 2014/15	R1 811 427.00	R84 581.00
Department of Basic Education
(ii)(aa) 2012/13	R1 406 796.00	R142 789.50
(ii)(bb) 2013/14	R1 153 962.00 (Acting Director-General)	R115 396.20
(ii)(cc) 2014/15	R1 238 040.00 (Acting Director-General)	R61 902.00

Reply:

With regard to the appointment of a certain company (name furnished:
Nation of Champions) to run the 2022 Commonwealth legacy project

(a) who are the directors of this company and

1. Mr Madoda Khuzwayo - CEO Nation of Champions
2. Mr Mnfve Nhlabathl·COO Nation of Champions
3. Mr Nikolaus Eberl

(b) what is the estimated budget the specified company will receive from

(i) the SA Sports Confederation and Olympic Committee and

There is no budget allocated to the Nation of Champions from SASCOC

(ii) Sport and Recreation South Africa;

The company will not receive any funding from Sport and Recreation South Africa

(2) whether this project was called on a tender before the specified company was awarded the contract; if not, why not;

This project was not put out on tender.

Open Tenders Company approached SASCOC to partner on a programme/project that wm engage the youth through social network platforms with regard to opportunities within sport and possible benefits during and post Durban 2022 Commonwealth Games. The Board of SASCOC agreed to the partnership and a decision was taken to establish a company registered as "Nation of Champions". SASCOC saw this partnership as a vehicle to achieve shared objective& pertaining to youth development aimed at nurturing globally connected and skilled youth who will be job creators of tomorrow. The company shall also seek to generate revenue through advertising and sponsorship, part of which shall be invested back into sport development programmes.
Most of the above however, has been overtaken by the CGF•s insistence that they would like to work directly on the legacy projects for the Durban 2022 Games and therefore will work with SASCOC, the CGA In the country as the custodian of the Games In the country. Maybe the above may also be overturned when an MOU Is signed by the CGF with specific areas accommodating CGF's mandate and legacy project.

If so,

(a) how many other companies applied and

There was no can for tenders

(b) what are the detailed reasons for the company's successful tender bid?

Not applicable

NW517E

Reply:

The Minister of Public Works

The Department of Public Works has not bought advertising space in The New Age during the (a) 2012-13, (b) 2013-14 and (c) 2014-15 financial years.

Thus (i) and (ii) fall away.

____________________________________________________________________

Reply:

The following are the members of the Appeals Board Members and their capacity:

Mr M Msimang (Chairperson)

Mr F Hartzenburg (Member)

Adv C.O Morolo (Member)

Ms N.E Mkhwanazi (Member)

Adv M.A Tshivhase (Member)

Reply:

The responses below were received from the metropolitan municipalities:

( a ) 6 out of the 8 metropolitan municipalities operates independent fraud / corruption hotlines. The table below illustrates the response per municipality:

Metropolitan Municipality	Details regarding fraud / corruption hotline
Buffalo City	The municipality operates an independent fraud hotline.
City of Cape Town	The municipality operates an independent fraud hotline.
City of Johannesburg	The municipality operates an independent fraud hotline.
City of Tshwane	The municipality operates an independent fraud hotline.
Ekurhuleni	The municipality operates an independent fraud hotline.
eThekwini	The municipality operates an independent anti-corruption hotline.
Mangaung	The municipality does not operate an independent fraud hotline.
Nelson Mandela Bay	The municipality is finalising the Service Level Agreement (SLA) with the service provider with regard to the fraud hotline. As soon as the SLA agreed and signed by relevant parties, the hotline will be operational.

( b ) All the 6 independent fraud hotlines are not connected to the National Anti-Corruption Hotline (NACH). There is no requirement for the independent fraud / corruption hotlines to be connected to the NACH.

Reply:

The information was provided by the Gauteng Provincial Head of Department: Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs.

The 46% figure is based on a number of published studies, notably a local one published by HE Jacobs, LC Geustyn and BF Loubser in 2005 entitled "Water - How is it used at home?". The study found that water consumption through garden irrigation makes up a significant amount of water losses. Water losses attributed to garden irrigation found to be at 46% of the total residential annual use.


Recommended by:

MR M RANGATE MR T FOSI
Chief Director: Improvement Programme Deputy Director-General: LGSIM
Date: 22/02/2016 Date: 29/02/2016

RECOMMENDED/.................................


MR V MADONSELA
DIRECTOR-GENERAL
DATE: 29/02/2016


SUPPORTED/.....................

MR A NEL, MP
DEPUTY MINISTER
DATE: 2/03/2016


APPROVED/......................


DES VAN ROOYEN, MP
MINISTER
DATE: 02/03/2016
 

Reply:

1. Whether he has entered into a performance agreement with the President, Mr Jacob G Zuma, with regard to the implementation of the Medium-Term Strategic Framework (MTSF) 2014-2019; if not, why not; if so,

The Performance Management Framework for Ministers is the Medium-Term Strategic Framework (MTSF) for 2014-2019, which is the first 5-year implementation plan of the National Development Plan (NDP) 2030. The performance targets and indicators are derived from the 14 Outcomes which government seeks to achieve.

These Outcomes and targets constitute government’s Programme of Action (POA), against which performance is tracked and reported at least on a quarterly basis. POA reports are publicly available on the government’s website.

(a) Which key indicators and targets from the MTSF are reflected in the agreement?

Key targets for the MTSF include:

• Increase in the percentage of households with access to a functional water service from 85% in 2013 to 90% by 2019.
• Increase in the percentage of households with access to a functional sanitation service from 84% in 2013 to 90% by 2019, including elimination of bucket sanitation in the formal areas.
• 1.4 million Additional households to be connected to the grid between 2014 and 2019, and 105 000 additional non-grid connections.
• An increase in the level of public trust and confidence in local government from 51% in 2012 to 65% in 2019, as measured by the IPSOS survey.
• An improvement in overall municipal audit outcomes, with at least 75% of municipalities receiving unqualified audits by 2019.
• Income support to the unemployed through expansion of the Community Work Programme to reach 1 million participants in 2019.

(b) How many performance assessments has he undertaken in consultation with the President since the agreement was signed?

Cabinet closely monitors the implementation of the NDP 2030/MTSF 2014-2019 through POA reports. These reports are tabled before an Implementation Forum of a Cluster of Ministers collectively responsible for MTSF Outcomes and then submitted to Cabinet, where progress is noted, bottlenecks to implementation are discussed and recommendations to address bottlenecks are considered and approved.

(c) What progress has been made in meeting the key indicators and targets from the MTSF?

This response is based on information received from Department of Water and Sanitation, Energy, Environmental Affairs, Planning, Monitoring and Evaluation and National Treasury and Government Communication and Information Systems (GCIS). Progress provided hereunder on basic services is as at April 2015. The impact of the key indicators and targets is measured annually by sector departments. As a result, the latest measurement as at end of March 2016 on the key indicators and targets will be provided to the honourable member as soon as it has been finalised by respective Outcome 9 delivery partners.

Indicator	Baseline	Target	Progress	Progress rating
Number or percentage of hhs with access to a functional service at acceptable levels as per norms and standards	Water: 85% operational service 65% reliable service as benchmarked by Census 2011 (this equates to 85% operational service)	90% by 2019	Access to Water Infrastructure increased from 96.2% in April 2015 to 96.5% in December 2015, which constitutes an estimated 85 000 households that have been served with water supply infrastructure during the first 3 quarters of 2015/16 financial year. 66% households have access to reliable services, i.e. access to water services without frequent and lengthy interruptions in supply.
	Sanitation: 84% New baseline proposed by Sanitation of 74%	90% by 2019	Sanitation delivery through the Rural Household Infrastructure Grant and Municipal Infrastructure Grant was 133 508 households served cumulatively since April 2015. This translates to a 0, 7% annual increase.
	HHs using bucket sanitation 88127 in formal areas	88127 buckets eradicated in formal areas by 2015. 32 500 buckets eradicated in formal settlements by March 2016	As at June 2015, bucket sanitation has been removed in 24 559 households over the past year against the initial target of 88 000. The Department has planned to replace 32 500 buckets by the end March 2016

Indicator	Baseline	Target	Progress	Progress rating
	Electricity: 12,8 million hhs connected to grid	1.4 million additional HHs connected by 2019	Access to electricity (grid) increased from 88.13% in April 2014 to 88.23% in April 2015. This percentage increase constitutes 233 455 households connected to grid from.
	Refuse: 72%	80% by 2019	According to the General Household Survey results, access to refuse removal increased from 74.5% in July 2013 to 74.6% in July 2014. The percentage increase constitute 162 046 households with access to waste collection services. The GHS is conducted annually and the results are release in July every year. The latest report will be released in July 2016.
Public trust and confidence in local government	51% (Ipsos 2012)	65% by 2019	Decreased from 55% in November 2014 to 49% in November 2016. This is according to a survey conducted by Ipsos.
Number of municipalities that improve their audit outcomes	20% adverse and disclaimers 25% qualified audits 50% unqualified audits (2014)	Number of municipalities with disclaimers and adverse opinions Maximum of 25% municipalities with Qualified audits At least 75% of municipalities with unqualified audit opinions by 2019	The audit outcomes for the MFMA 2013/14 Financial Year are as follows: 17% of municipalities and entities had disclaimers and adverse, which is a reduction of 6% from 23%. 22% of municipalities and entities had qualified opinions 58% municipalities and entities had unqualified opinions. As at 17% of municipalities and entities had disclaimers and adverse opinion The 2014/15 preliminary audit results for 2014/15 were released by the Auditor-General in December 2015. The final consolidated report will be released in June 2016. The improvement in audit outcomes can only be measured after the release of the consolidated AG report.
Number of participants reached	172 000 (actual participation rate end March 2014)	1 million participants by 2019	The total CWP participation rate as at end of December 2015 was 214 013 cumulatively

 

(d) What are the key obstacles to implementation?

• The provision of reliable services remains a challenge across all services due to backlogs in infrastructure refurbishment and neglect of operation and maintenance and asset management. There are no proper investments for infrastructure maintenance, which results in service interruptions.

• The challenge of connecting households in rural areas, to bulk electricity infrastructure remains an issue. Most of these connections are concentrated in remote areas far from the grid, which necessitates installation of additional bulk infrastructure to connect these households. Installation of new bulk infrastructure necessitates environmental impact assessments, acquiring servitudes and project design functions, which have long lead times, to complete leading to delays in reticulation.

(e) What is the plan to address such obstacles?

• Improving service delivery performance requires a programme management approach to proactively address the planning, coordination and institutional constraints experienced in the 27 priority districts. In this regard, a Service Delivery Business Strategy (Attached) was developed and approved by Cabinet on 02 June 2015 which entailed the establishment of a Programme Management Office (PMO) which is currently being coordinated by MISA and comprises key sector departments (DWS, DoT, DEA, DOE, NT, DCoG, & DPME).

• To date, the PMO has completed the diagnostic assessments at the Amathole District to determine and confirm the status quo of the backlogs on access to reliable services. Umzinyathi, Sekhukhune and Bojanala Districts municipalities are currently being assessed.

 

• The Department of Energy has recognized the need to enhance performance through project management of the electrification programme, to establish stakeholder forums aimed at managing expectations and to ensure alignment with planned electrification targets. Separate funding from Integrated National Electrification Programme (INEP) will be allocated to address bulk infrastructure requirements for targeted electricity connections specifically in deep rural areas.

 

Reply:

Minister has a signed performance agreement that is translated into a Medium Term Strategic Framework for a 5 years period.  This is broken down into an annual performance plan. 

These documents form the basis of the department being held accountable by Parliament on a quarterly basis and also held accountable by the public.  The performance agreement of the Minister is therefore publicly assessed through the Portfolio Committees on a regular basis. 

Additionally, the Public Finance Management Act (PFMA) compels all the Executing Authorities to subject their departmental expenditure to the Auditor General. This again is a measure that ensures full accountability to the public funds. 

Reply:

I have been advised by the Department as follows:-

There are no frozen vacant positions.

a) Not applicable

b) Not applicable

c) Not applicable

Reply:

Any question which relates to the capacity or capabilities within the defence force shall not be made available to the public and therefore we are not able to answer this question.

Reply:

I have been advised by the Department as follows:-

(a) & (b) Not Applicable: The department was not in existence during the years in question.

(c) No: The department did not buy advertising space in The New Age in the year in question.

 

Reply:

I have been advised as follows:-

After considering the contents of the report and applying my mind to the matter, I notified the PSC on 23 February 2016 that I have accepted the report without any amendments. The report is available to the affected parties.

Reply:

a. Ref Par 1 (a): The intention of the SANDF is not to have contracts for servicing of military vehicles and equipment.

b. Ref Par 1 (b): First and second line maintenance and repair tasks including limited depot repairs will be performed by internal capability.

c. Ref Par 1 (c): Through Project Thusano, internal capability and capacity the SANDF will do the internal work.

d. Ref Par 1 (d): It will save cost, military vehicles and equipment will be maintained and repaired as a far less cost as it will be done internally.

It is important that the SANDF becomes self-sustainable. We are not ruling out possibilities of working with the private sector on some of our projects. However, the SANDF must develop internal capacity to deal with such matters.

Reply:

Questions (1) (a)	SAAF Response
What is the operating status of AFB Langebaanweg?	The main function of this base is to provide basic flying training to the SAAF pilots. The utilisation of the base as SAAF basic flying school is planned to continue for the foreseeable future.
Question (1) (b) (i and ii)
What are the medium and long term plans and objectives for using AFB Langebaanweg for both training and operational purpose?	To make SAAF combat ready.
Question (2)
Are there plans to commercialise the base?	The DOD (SAAF) has no intention or plans to commercialise the base.

Reply:

Below is the response regarding the advertising space bought by the Department of Cooperative Governance in the New Age during the financial years 2012-13; 2013-14 and 2014 -2015

(a) 2012 - 2013 Financial year:

The Department of Cooperative Governance participated in one business briefing organised by The New Age Media in December 2012 which provided an opportunity to the Minister to engage with stakeholders and the public on local government matters and traditional affairs, through a live TV broadcast on SABC. The cost for this initiative amounted to R 486 255 - 60.

(b) 2013 - 2014 Financial year:

The Department did not buy any advertising space in the New Age during the 2013-2014 financial year.

(c) 2014 - 2015 Financial year:

The Department did not buy any advertising space in the New Age during the 2014-2015 financial year.

Reply:

Mr KP Sithole (IFP) to ask the Minister of Sport and Recreation:

Whether his Ministry has any frozen vacant positions;

No

(a) If so, how many of the specified positions are vacant:

Not applicable

(b) what are the designations of the specified positions; and Not applicable

(c) for how long have the specified positions been vacant?

Not applicable

Reply:

Due to security reasons, the response to this question can only be presented to the closed session of the JSC on Defence.

Reply:

The Minister of Public Works

No.

Thus (a), (b) and (c) fall away.

____________________________________________________________________

Reply:

Programme classification	Goods and services	Payment for capital assets	Reasons for underspending on goods and services	Reasons for underspending on capital assets
Administration	94.3%	38.7%	The underspending was mainly because of billing not received from the Department of Public Works for infrastructure and property management	The department budgeted for furniture for the new employees but because of limited space capacity the process of purchasing the furniture was withheld.
Socio Economic Support	16.0%	29.3%	Dependency on other departments to roll out benefits	The department budgeted for furniture for the new employees but because of limited space capacity the process of purchasing the furniture was withheld.
Empowerment and Stakeholder Management	78.9%	100%	Dependency on other departments to roll out benefits	The programme spent its budget accordingly
TOTAL	51.8%	43.2%

Reply:

Question 1. Yes, Defence Intelligence is in the process of vetting the outstanding security clearance applications of members to be assigned as Senior Military Judges and Military Judges.

Question 2(a). The number of outstanding cases in military courts is 2 176.

Question 2(b). The reasons for the number of cases in arrears in the military courts are (i) unavailability of witnesses or accused and (ii) finalisation of specialised investigations. The vetting back log also causes delay. No military courts were conducted to date for the FY 2015/16.

Question 3. No.

Reply:

(i) The department reporting to the Minister awarded the contracts to companies indirectly or directly owned by furnished persons for the financial years 2012-13, 2013-14 and 2014-15 for the following number of times:

2012-2013 2013-2014 2014-2015

None 4times 2 times

(ii) The department reporting to the Minister awarded the contracts to companies indirectly or directly owned by furnished persons for the financial years 2012-13, 2013-14 and 2014-15 for the following amounts:

2012 - 2013 2013 - 2014 2014 - 2015

R0.00 R1605527.41 R1 569 408.15

Reply:

(1) According to Regulations in terms of the Military Veterans Act 18 of 2011, a bonafide registered military veteran must apply for all benefits of which healthcare is one of them. Upon application, DMV will issue a once off  authorization letter to the South African Military Healthcare Services (SAMHS) in order to capture the details of the approved military veteran. The military veteran will then have access to healthcare for life at SAMHS and SAMHS approved private facilities.

(2) A military veteran has accesss to health care as outlined in the Constitution of South Africa. Military Veterans are free to access healthcare at the public institution and military hospitals.

(3) The military veteran can access private medical practice only when authorised to do so either by DMV through  SAMHS and /or authorised directly by the SAMHS.

(4) NO. Section 5 benefits are provided to registered and/or verified military veterans.

Reply:

The Department of Defence did not spend on any advertisement in the New Age newspaper during the above mentioned period.

SUBMITTED ON: 15 MARCH 2016

Reply:

(a-c) The department has not awarded any contracts indirectly or directly to companies owned by certain persons in the 2012-13, 2013-14 and 2014-15 financial years.

(i-ii) Falls away

Reply:

It must be noted that the Minister of Police was only a party to the proceedings in the matter of Democratic Alliance v Speaker of the National Assembly and Others, but not to the proceedings in the matter of Economic Freedom Fighters v Speaker of the National Assembly and Others.

The costs incurred for Advocate Mokhari SC, in the Democratic Alliance matter are as follows:

Consulting, perusing, drafting and preparation for hearing: R476 688-00

Appearance: R 24 000-00

The costs incurred for the two junior Counsel are:

Advocate Kgatla

Consulting, perusing, drafting and preparation for hearing: R189 550-00

Appearance: R 8 500-00

Advocate Slingers

Consulting, perusing, drafting and preparation for hearing: R217 948-33

Appearance: R 8 000-00

Total costs incurred for Counsel to oppose the matter of Democratic Alliance v Speaker of the National Assembly and Others amounts to R924 686-33.

No advisors or consultants were appointed.

Reply:

1. Yes, the Department has bought advertising space in The New Age in the (a) 2012-13, (b) 2013-14 and (c) 2014-15 financial years;

i) Number of times; and

ii) The amount in each specified financial years.

DEPARTMENT OF ARTS AND CULTURE

Advertisements	Date	Cost
Heritage Month	September 2012	R75 360.00
Freedom Month	April 2012	R56 520.00
Africa Month	May 2012	R42 955.20
Nelson Mandela Day	July 2012	R28 636.80
Nelson Mandela Day	July 2012	R28 636.80
Visual Arts Indaba	October 2012	R66 572 00
Advertisement	April 2013	R40 929.42
Advertisement	June 2014	R35 803.98
Advertisement	November 2014	R8 997.61
Advertisement	March 2015	R6 791.30

2. The advertisements that were placed through GCIS are as follows:

Adverts placed through GCIS:

DEPARTMENT OF ARTS AND CULTURE THROUGH GCIS

Reconciliation Month	December 2014	R31 710.00

Reply:

The National Treasury plays an oversight role with regard to levy increases / decreases for the gas and petroleum pipeline levies in terms of both the Gas Regulator Levies Act and Petroleum Pipelines Act.

The Minister of Energy’s permission is required to prescribe a levy on licensed electricity generators as per the Electricity Act of 1987.

With regards to the electricity tariff, the National Energy Regulator of South Africa, prior to making any determination, undertakes a public consultation process on any proposed adjustment of Eskom’s tariffs. As part of this process, the National Treasury provides extensive written inputs to NERSA, which amongst others, considers the long term viability of Eskom.

Reply:

(1) (a) Sebenza police station has two sectors.

(b) The following suburbs fall within the sectors:

• Sector 1: Chloorkop, Cresslawn, Esther Park, Kelvin Estates, Kempton Park West, Spartan.
• Sector 2: Croydon, Edenglen, Foundersview, Longmeadow, Modderfontein, Sebenza, Spartan Ext. 7.

(c) The population size of the policing area is 19 970.

(d) There are eight visible policing officers for each sector and one Sector Commander per sector.

(e) There are four shifts for visible policing.

(2) (a) The downward adjustment of the population since the promulgation of areas demarcated to Nokem Park and Edenvale Policing areas respectively affected the current allocation of posts to the Visible Policing environment.

The allocation/distribution of human resources is informed by a number of variables including the SAPS’s funded establishment, departmental priorities and human resource requirements of the different disciplines within the SAPS.

(b) Minimum standards for the number of sectors in relation to the population was not determined. The implementation of Sector Policing is prescribed in National Instruction 3/2013, which determines that a policing area must at least be divided into two sectors. All facets of visible policing, including crime prevention, attending to complaints as well as crime prevention operations are addressed as part of the operational deployment of members in the sectors in accordance with the Crime Pattern and Threat analysis. The main aim of Sector Policing as policing approach, is to facilitate community partcipation and mobilisation in support of preventing crime in the policing area in order to strehgthen the implementation of Community Policing.

The minimum standards utilised to calculate the human resource requirement in the visible policing environment, with specific reference to sector policing at police stations, utilises the following determinants which were taken into consideration to determine the number of theoretical personnel for crime prevention activities: reported crimes, population density, social and economic factors, contingency allowances and environmental factors.

Therefore, to build the methodology on population only can never be utilised because it ignores the basic principles of organisational design/strategy.

Reply:

a) The Department is not in a position to determine the number of young South Africans who are not at university and fall into the group of the so-called “missing middle” that cannot afford to finance their studies and do not qualify for financial assistance from the National Student Financial Aid Scheme (NSFAS). The number of students who apply to NSFAS for financial aid and fall into the missing middle category, and subsequently do not qualify will be captured in future as NSFAS migrates to the new student-centred model. The new model allows students to apply for funding directly from NSFAS where eligibility is determined through the NSFAS Means Test. All income information of parents, legal guardians and household members who are contributing to the income of the household will be reported and used in the financial means test. It is important to note that the availability of data is dependent on those students who have applied for funding.

b) Not applicable.

c) Not applicable.

 

Compiler/contact persons:

Ext:

DIRECTOR – GENERAL

STATUS:

DATE:

REPLY TO QUESTION 515 APPROVED/NOT APPROVED/AMENDED

Dr BE NZIMANDE, MP

MINISTER OF HIGHER EDUCATION AND TRAINING

STATUS:

DATE:

Reply:

Disposal

a) No

b) No

Government had the necessary expertise to dispose of the shareholding in line with its intended strategy without requiring the services of either consultants or financial intermediaries. In order to implement the package of support announced by Cabinet in September 2014, the National Treasury engaged in a market sounding between 1 and 2 October 2014. Financial institutions and primarily banks were invited to present their ideas around strategies for funding the allocation to Eskom through the sale of non-strategic government assets. Approximately 20 institutions presented a range of possible strategies for executing the disposal as well as providing indicative pricing. These possible strategies, along with other options identified independently by government, were all extensively analysed before deciding on the most appropriate approach to be adopted by government. However, no advisors were appointed and no costs were incurred in this regard.

Settlement

As a result of the PIC being a financial services provider, registered with the Financial Services board, government was required to appoint a broker to establish a brokerage account through which settlement would be effected.

a) No

b) Yes.

(i) Based on a closed Request for Proposal (RFP) issued on 10 July 2015, the National Treasury in cooperation with the Department of Telecommunications and Postal Services (DTPS) appointed Rand Merchant Bank (RMB) as government’s broker.

(ii) RMB did not charge government for their brokerage services, but government was responsible for all regulatory costs.

Reply:

No, the National Treasury does not have any frozen vacant positions on its staff establishment.

a) Not applicable

b) Not applicable

c) Not applicable

Reply:

(1)(a)(i) and (ii) and (b)(i) and (ii). The current assets and liabilities for the metropolitan municipalities for 2013/14 and 2014/15 is contained and presented in the link below:

http://www.pmg.org.za/files/RNW311-160314A.docx

(2) The liquidity position is measured using current ratio which assesses the municipality’s ability to pay back its short-term liabilities with its short-term assets. From the table above, it can be seen that all the metropolitan municipalities with the exception of City of Tshwane have current assets that exceed the current liabilities (current ratio larger than1:1). This indicates that they are able to meet their current obligations.

The case with the City of Tshwane is that the cash and cash equivalents at year end were R600 million and was not sufficient to pay current commitments. The reasons for this are: The realised consumer collection rate of 94 per cent is not sufficient to pay for all commitments. The outstanding debtors has increased year-on-year showing that the city is not collecting long outstanding debtors at an increasing rate. The possible solutions are: The municipality must decrease commitments to the maximum income realised and /or must recover more than 94 per cent in order to meet its commitments.

Reply:

1. The Technical and Vocational Education and Training (TVET) college system, including individual institutions such as Western TVET College, uses the criterion-referenced system of student performance measurement and evaluation, i.e. Internal Continuous Assessment (ICASS) and Integrated Summative Assessment Tasks (ISATs), which are designed to measure student performance against a fixed set of predetermined criteria, learning performance standards and outcomes. This system of student performance measurement and evaluation is critical for the TVET system as it reveals what each student can or cannot to do against a set standard in the classroom, workplace, workshop or trade test centre. It is an appropriate system for determining the levels of individual student competence and provides information about areas where each student can be supported to ultimately be successful in their studies. At the level of the national quality assurance system executed by Umalusi, the Quality Council for General and Further Education and Training, a norm-referenced system of student performance evaluation is applied. This type of student performance evaluation yields an estimate of the position of the tested individual in a predefined population, with respect to the trait or level of knowledge being measured. To determine the validity of all performance measurement results, a standardisation process is used to mitigate the effect of factors other than students’ knowledge and aptitude on their performance, as well as other sources of student performance variations stemming from the difficulty of question papers, undetected errors, and student interpretation of questions.
2. The Bell Curve grading system is neither applied nationally nor at Western TVET College. Given the apartheid legacy of this country, it is not and would not have been in the best interest of this country’s education system to apply the Bell Curve theory in the measurement and evaluation of student performance in the TVET college system or any other part of our education system.

Compiler/contact persons:

Ext:

DIRECTOR – GENERAL

STATUS:

DATE:

REPLY TO QUESTION 267 APPROVED/NOT APPROVED/AMENDED

Dr BE NZIMANDE, MP

MINISTER OF HIGHER EDUCATION AND TRAINING

STATUS:

DATE:

Reply:

a) To promote mining and investment opportunities in South Africa

b) Minister was accompanied by an official from the department.

c) R347 000, 00.

 

Approved/not approved

Mr MJ Zwane

Minister of Mineral Resources

Date Submitted:-……………/………………/2016

Reply:

(a) The effect of a rating downgrade will depend on:

• How many rating agencies put South Africa in a junk status;
• How the market have priced in the junk status rating; and
• How persistent is the shock, reflected in the continued fall in the yields.

(b) In general, the effect of a lower credit rating could result in the weakening of the exchange rate; capital outflows; and high borrowing costs. However, the focus of government is not to let South Africa go into junk status, by implementing:

• Structural reforms to boost growth;
• Faster fiscal consolidation; and
• Resolving the governance issues in the State Owned Companies.

(c) Further details are included in the 2016 Budget.

If we were to go into junk status and the impact last longer, it would mean that government has to look at its policies and demonstrates faster implementation of the National Development Plan.

Reply:

(1) Yes, the details are as follows:

• Negative impact on sustainable livelihoods due to livestock death and lower crop yield;
• Environmental degradation (topsoil loss, drying of dams, no grazing land and difficult rehabilitation);
• Reduction in income;
• Threatened food security;
• High risk of animal diseases spreading;
• Low water dams levels expected to take 3-5 years to recover;
• Water restrictions and penalties on over usage of water will also have a negative impact on livestock, crops and humans, in terms of accessibility and financial implications.

(2) Yes.

(a) More than 1049 land reform farms were visited and assessments were conducted by the provincial offices of Rural Development and Land Reform and the provincial offices responsible for agriculture.

(b) Based on the farms assessed to date, findings include the following:

• Limited drinking water for human and livestock consumption;
• Limited crop yield;
• Overgrazed areas and dry land;
• In some areas there is a high fuel load posing a risk of veld fires;
• Livestock loss;
• Need for more infrastructure upgrades or establishment to be used for providing feed requirements (cattle handling facilities, feed mills and feedlots);
• Unavailability of land for relocation of livestock in KwaZulu-Natal (KZN) and Free State (FS).

The above-mentioned findings are being addressed through the following interventions:

• 4100km of fire breaks to be created through grading for 260 farms in Free State and Mpumalanga Provinces (MP), a total of 3400 km is already completed.
• Communication and awareness campaigns were conducted in conjunction with the National Disaster Management Centre (NDMC) in KZN.
• Feedlots in KZN, MP and North West (NW) are being repaired and upgraded. In KZN the areas are: Tangeni, Manyiseni, Jozini, Umhlabawalengana and Bambanana. In MP the areas are Middelton, Mjindi and a 6000 ha PLAS farm in Gert Sibande District has been identified. In NW a feedlot has been upgraded at Bojanala District, a feed mill expansion in Rustkraal farm, and a fodder bank creation under Taung irrigation scheme is underway.
• The NW Province has state land in the Dr Ruth Mompadi District used by communal farmers and can produce 50 000 weaners per year. There will be no relocation of livestock but the 150 farmers will be producing 30 000 tons of livestock feed under 1500 ha irrigated of the 3 500ha Taung irrigation scheme to support these animals. A fodder bank will be established and feed to the value of R14, 5 million will be purchased for these farmers. Communal farmers will have an opportunity to take their cattle for backgrounding and then selling to the auction.
• Provision of fencing and animal handling facilities: 9km fencing has been completed at Driekoppies and Mount Sheba in MP;
• Auction sales support in Free State (FS),KZN, Limpopo (LP) and MP;
• 251 projects for the drilling and equipping of boreholes are being implemented in FS, KZN, LP, MP and NW.
• Provision of animal feed;
• Planting of fodder and lucerne under irrigation schemes in KZN (Ndumo & Nsuze) and NW (Taung);
• Financial support to land reform lessee sugarcane farmers; and.
• Financial support to proactive land acquisition strategy grants recipients, land redistribution for agricultural development, restitution and communal and state-land beneficiaries.

DRDLR is working together with other relevant departments to avoid duplication of efforts, coordinated by NDMC.

Reply:

The National Treasury has bought advertising space in The New Age as detailed below:

RSA Retail Savings Bonds
Financial years	Number of times	Amount in each specified financial year
(a) 2012-13	4	R218 150.40
(b) 2013-14	0	-
(c) 2014-15	2	R 92 232.00
TOTAL	R310 382.40

Reply:

(a) The Bedfordview policing area has three sectors.

(b) The following suburbs fall within the sectors:

• Sector 1: Senderwood,Essexwold,Morning Hill,Bedford Gardens and Oriel Park.
• Sector 2: Wilbart and Bedfordview central business development.
• Sector 3: Meadowbrook,Meadowdale,Tunney,Elandsfontein,Kruinhof, Rastvia, Harmelia Ext 1 and Klopperpark.

(c) The population size of the policing area is 14 000.

(d) There are two visible policing officers and one Sector Commander per sector.

(e) There are four shifts for visible policing.

S

Reply:

(a) No

(i), (ii) and (iii) Falls away

(b) No

(i), (ii) and (iii) Falls away

(c) No

(i), (ii) and (iii) Falls away

 

Approved/not approved

Mr MJ Zwane, MP

Minister of Mineral Resources

Date Submitted:-………………/………………/2016

Reply:

The purchasing of books and subscriptions to journals for university libraries are operational activities performed by individual institutions. As the Minister, I am not involved in the operational activities and budgeting processes of institutions.

 

Compiler/contact persons:

Ext:

DIRECTOR – GENERAL

STATUS:

DATE:

REPLY TO QUESTION 333 APPROVED/NOT APPROVED/AMENDED

Dr BE NZIMANDE, MP

MINISTER OF HIGHER EDUCATION AND TRAINING

STATUS:

DATE:

Reply:

a) Norkem police station has four sectors.

b) The following suburbs fall within the sector:

• Sector 1: Birchleigh and Esselen Park.
• Sector 2: Norkem Park and Birchleigh North.
• Sector 3: Birch Acres extentions 1, 2, 3 , 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27 and 28.
• Sector 4: Kempton Park West, Van Riebeeck Park and Terenure.

c) The estimate population size is 73 249.

d) There are four policing officers per sector and one Sector Commander per sector.

e) There are four shifts for visible policing.

Reply:

According to the Government Employees Pension Fund:

1. Mr Vorster did not retire within the fund but resigned.
2. The pension application was successfully processed as per the choice that he had made, he received a resignation benefit. Due to the fact that some of the requested information is personal, it cannot be made available to third party without the written consent of the person involved.

Parliament should be aware that members of the GEPF should utilise the call centre or walk in centre facilities provided by the GEPF to its members to deal with general enquiries rather than approach it for such operational queries.

Reply:

1. Corruption is identified as a separate crime within the department’s records, but it is reported under the broader crime category of commercial crime.

Corruption figures
Financial year	Figure
2006/2007	99
2007/2008	90
2008/2009	124
2009/2010	81
2010/2011	83
2011/2012	60
2012/2013	78
2013/2014	123
2014/2015	58

2. Does not apply.

Reply:

(a)(i) 231

(a)(ii) 640

(b) There was no negative effect on the deployment of members at police stations in the Metropoles.

Reply:

a) Primrose police station has three sectors.

b) The following suburbs fall within the sectors:

• Sector 1: Makause, Marathon, Delport and Rasta informal settlements, Primrose East, Woodmere, Marlands and Primrose central business districts.
• Sector 2: Activia Park, Homestead, Sunnyridge, Solheim, Fishershill, Symhurst and Primrose central business district.
• Sector 3: Dawnview, Simmerfield, Primrose Hill, Wychwood, Malvern East and Creston Hill.

c) The estimated population size is 71 000.

d) There are four visible policing officers per sector and one Sector Commander per sector.

e) There are four shifts for visible policing.

Reply:

1. No  (i) Falls away   (ii) Falls away
2. No  (i) Falls away   (ii) Falls away
3. No  (i) Falls away   (ii) Falls away

 

Approved/not approved

Mr MJ Zwane, MP

Minister of Mineral Resources

Date Submitted:-………………/………………/2016

Reply:

a) Yes, the Office of the Minister received a letter from MrGreville Wood dated 5 January 2016. The letter requests the Minister to start a debate in government on "developing an engineered rollout plan that poverty cannot treat with contempt that could address unemploymentcountrywide, as the 1984 and 2011 proofs demonstrated”.

b) In addition, Mr Greville Wood sent a letter to the Director-General of the DST requesting financial support for 3 projects. A formal response was sent to MrGreville Wood on 15 December 2015 indicating that the funding support requested does not fall within the mandate and funding priorities of the DST. A formal response was also sent on 3 March 2016 to the letter received by the Minister. In the letter, the Minister highlighted that the DST is playing a role in encouraging the use of innovative building technologies. We do not fund projects such as requested by Mr Woods.

Further relevant details:

bb) In his letter dated 5 January 2016 addressed to the Minister of Science and Technology, Mr Wood acknowledged previous DST funding of an innovative building technology proof of concept project. The DST had appointed its entity; the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research’s Built Environment unit to work with MrWood and the project was completed on 31 October 2012. The project close out report was submitted by the CSIR to the DST and based on this report; the CSIR highlighted the need for GWD to secure Agrément SA approval. Agrément SA is responsible for innovative construction product assessment and certification in South Africa.