Questions and Replies

Reply:

(1) The Modimolle Wastewater treatment plant is functional.

(1)(a) The municipality has appointed contractor to upgrade the wastewater treatment works from the initial capacity of 3.5 megalitres per day to 6.5 megalitres per day and to also repair aerators.

(2) To date two Directives dated 22 April 2014 and 21 August 2014 have been issued to the Municipality for the abattoir manhole blockages and ongoing site inspections are conducted to ensure compliance to the Directive and monitor the situation of which the latest inspection was conducted on the 06 November 2015 and it was found that the manhole was operating well and there were no blockages.

(3)(a) The anticipated completion date for Modimolle Waste Water Treatment is February 2016.

(3)(b) The capacity of the new plant will be 6.5 megalitres per day. (c) The final cost will be R43 million.

(3)(d) The budget amount for the project is R43 million.

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Reply:

1. The capacity of the water purification plant in Koppies, Free State is 3.5 Mega litres per day.
2. Yes, there are plans. Through the Accelerated Community Infrastructure Grant (ACIP), electrical and mechanical components of the plant have been refurbished at a cost of R2.5 million. The project was completed in June 2015. There will still be a need to expand the plant further because of the pending developments in Koppies, mainly of new households - a total of 5000 houses over the next 4 Years.
3. Drinking water quality status for Koppies (January 2015 – October 2015):

Colour Codes
	97-100%	Excellent
	95 - ≤ 97	Good
	90-≤95%	Satisfactory
	75 - ≤90%	Poor
	0-≤75%	Critical State

WSA	WTW	Period 2015	Chemical	Physical	Operational	Monitoring Compliance
Ngwathe LM	Koppies	January February March	77.8% 99.9% 99.9%	99.9% 99.9% 99.9%	92.9% 90% 63.2%	22.9% 15% 26.7%
		April May June	0% 99.9% 99.9%	0% 99.9% 99.9%	0% 95% 99.9%	0% 27.1% 40.4%
		July August September	99.9% 0% 99.9%	99.9% 0% 99.9%	83.3% 0% 99.9%	8.1% 0% 11.5%
		October	0%	0%	0%	0.0%

The municipality was advised to pay more attention to its operational monitoring, especially the microbiological quality to prevent water failures. Action taken by the Department for not uploading full data: non-compliance letter was issued to the Ngwathe Local Municipality.

4. The Wastewater Treatment Plant has been refurbished hence no sludge is directly flowing into the river currently. The dried sludge will be disposed (as per the normal practice) through the local and neighboring farmers.

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Reply:

In the Estimates of National Expenditure (ENE) publication of 2010 which is linked to the Medium Term Expenditure Framework (MTEF), one of the key objectives was “developing a long term national strategic plan and ensuring a common perspective on government’s policy agenda for the future, taking into account major long term and spatial trends and dynamics”. The ENE describes in detail the planned spending of all national government departments for a period of three years ahead.

(a) We have developed the National Development Plan-Vision 2030. Therefore, this objective was met. I established the National Planning Commission (NPC) to develop a long term vision and strategic plan for our country. The NPC’s mandate was given in the revised Green Paper which was released in February 2010.

After a concentrated period of consultation across the country, the NPC completed the Draft NDP which was handed to me on 11 November 2011. Following further consultations, the final version of the NDP was handed to me on 15 August 2012 at a special joint sitting of Parliament. Almost all political parties represented in Parliament articulated support for the NDP. Cabinet Lekgotla received the NDP on 6 September 2012 and acknowledged it as the strategic framework which would form the basis of future government planning.  

Government adopted the NDP as the cornerstone and blueprint for a future economic and socio-economic development strategy for the country.

Critical steps were undertaken in 2013 to facilitate implementation of the NDP.

• First, we implemented programmes that did not require additional resources and long lead times
• Secondly, we prepared the 2014-19 Medium Term Strategic Framework (MTSF) as the first five-year implementation plan of the NDP
• Thirdly, we have identified areas where implementation of existing policies needs to improve by using methodologies such as Operation Phakisa which is a results-driven approach, involving setting clear plans and targets, on-going monitoring of progress and making these results public.

(b) The National Development Plan (NDP) offers a long-term vision and perspective for the country. It defines a desired destination and identifies the role that different sectors of society need to play in reaching that goal. The NDP aims to eliminate poverty and reduce inequality by 2030. The Country can realise these goals by drawing on the energies of its people, growing an inclusive economy, building capabilities, enhancing the capacity of the state, and promoting leadership and partnerships throughout society. Substantially, the NDP addresses short-termism in planning and enable prioritisation of resources over a long term to achieve government objectives of a better life for all South Africans.

(c) To monitor the implementation of the NDP, government through the Department of Planning, Monitoring and Evaluation has established a monitoring and evaluation system. The MTSF which is the implementation plan for the NDP is regularly monitored and quarterly reports are generated and presented to Cabinet to track progress and address challenges where they occur. The MTSF contains 14 outcomes that Government seek to achieve, including identified priorities in the following areas: education, health, safety, economy, skills, infrastructure, rural development, human settlements, local government, environment, international relations, public service, social protection and nation building.

Each of the priority outcomes is coordinated by a Minister and implementation is overseen by Ministerial Implementation Forums comprising ministers who have a specific contribution to each of the identified MTSF indicators and targets. Cabinet receives quarterly reports from the Outcome Coordinating Ministers, engages with the content and provides feedback and direction to ensure implementation is ongoing and is continuously improved. Performance is then published on the Government Programme of Action website.

Through these reports, Cabinet is able to make evidence-based decisions and intervene were necessary.

Reply:

1. The capacity of the old water purification plant in Parys, Free State, is 15 Mega litres per day

(2)(a) The new purification plant will add 10 Mega litres per day.

(2)(b) The cost of the specified plant will be R34 million.

(2)(c) The new plant will be completed by the end of December 2015.

(2)(d) An amount of R34 million was budgeted for this project.

(3) Yes, it will be completed within the budgeted amount. The cost obviously differs with capacity size. The fluctuations are as a result of the dollar exchange rate, shipping conditions, and the conditions of the site where the plant is built. Such include the turbidity status of the area where the plant is drawing the water, and the overall layout and terrain of the construction area.

(4) The telemetry system is usually installed at the storage reservoirs (and not at the plant) to monitor and manage the water levels. Programmes such as Sequence Control and Data Acquisition (SCADA), is normally utilized for such functions.

The focus of the Water Services Authority (WSA) is to ensure that reservoir levels are

sufficiently filled to provide adequate pressure on the reticulation network and realized sustainable water supply.

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Reply:

 

(1) Yes, my Department has taken steps in line with the National Water Act, Act 36 of 1998 against Govan Mbeki Local Municipality in terms of Section 19 to ensure that pollution or potential pollution does not have a detrimental impact on water resources.

(1)(a) A “notice of intention to issue a directive” and a “directive” (all in terms of Section 19 of the NWA) were issued to Govan Mbeki Local Municipality for pollution incidents as per Table 1 below.

Table 1

Name	Relevant details	Date issued
A directive was issued to Bethal Wastewater Treatment Works	Sewerage spills associated with pump stations failures. A task team was established with other relevant Departments such as (Department of Corporative Governance and Traditional Affairs, Human Settlements and Gert Sibande District Municipality to monitor progress on the plan required as per the directive. Currently all the pump stations are operational.	13 January 2013
A notice was issued to Embalenhle Wastewater Treatment Works	Sewerage spills associated with pump stations failures. The plant is currently being refurbished to cater for an extra load.	01 September 2015

(1)(b) See relevant dates as provided in Table 1.

(2) My Department does not allow effluent from being discharged to the environment before being suitably treated. The water quality in the Vaal River system is slightly affected as the current infrastructure of the wastewater treatment works has aged, overloaded and there is lack of maintenance. My Department is responding to this threat by implementing programmes such as Regional Bulk Infrastructure Grant. Municipal Water Infrastructure Grant and Accelerated Infrastructure Programme. In addition, the Green Drop reports are compiled annually to provide an indication on the level of compliance of wastewater treatment works and whether conditions of authorisation are met.

(3) There are no health hazards which have been exposed to the communities of the specified towns as the sewerage spills have been localised and the areas rehabilitated speedily after the municipality was notified. In addition, no water is drawn from the adjacent rivers by the communities as potable water is provided by the municipality. Furthermore, my Department’s ongoing regulation and enforcement measures will ensure that any current and future wastewater impacts on the water resources are adequately addressed.

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Reply:

(1)(a)There are 7 boreholes used in Vaalwater in Limpopo.

 

(1)(b)(i) There are 7 equipped boreholes.

(1)(b)(ii) All 7 boreholes are functional.

 

(1)(c) The quality of water is within the required standard which is SANS 241 of 2015.

(2) The Modimolle Local Municipality (LM) is a Water Service Authority and Water Service Provider, however my Department has allocated an amount of R10 million under the Municipal Water Infrastructure Grant (MWIG) in the current financial year 2015/16 for Modimolle LM. Out of R10 million, Vaalwater is allocated R3.8 million which will be used to supplement the water supply.

(3) The Modimolle LM supplies water through water tankers at Vaalwater merely where there is no reticulation system and any affected areas within Vaalwater.

(4)(a) The cause of the leaks is dilapidated infrastructure.

(4)(b) The Modimolle LM is finalizing the procurement processes of appointing contractors to seal the leaking reservoirs/towers.

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(5)(a) Medium term solution is that the municipality is currently sourcing to explore groundwater development to supplement the current water supply to Vaalwater.

(5)(b)My Department is currently conducting the Mokolo Crocodile Feasibility Study where Vaalwater is anticipated to be covered by the outcomes.

 

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Reply:

(1) Ngwathe is currently engaged in a process of research and development on how to utilise alternative ways of sludge disposal. The Municipality is currently looking at piloting the use of sewer sludge for producing energy. This energy will drive the plant during purification process, whilst preventing pollution. The sludge is also available for Local and neighbouring farmers.

(2) Refer to the table below for the waste water quality status of Parys Waste Water Treatment Works (WWTW) (January – October 2015).

Local Municipality	WWTW	Period 2015	Chemical	Physical
Ngwathe LM	Parys	January February March	99.9% 0% 99.9%	75% 77.78% 92.86%
		April May June	99.9% 0% 99.9%	0% 0% 88.89%
		July August September	100% 100% 0%	100% 100% 0%
		October	0%	0%
Colour Codes
	95-100%	Excellent
	90 - ≤ 95	Good
	80- ≤90%	Satisfactory
	≤ 80%	Poor

(3)(a) 7.4 Mega litres of water inflow per day.

(3)(b) 7.4 Mega litres of water outflow per day.

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Reply:

The country has entered a new radical phase to implement socioeconomic transformation. The National Development Plan (NDP) is South Africa’s plan to address poverty, unemployment and inequality.

The MTSF (Medium Term Strategic Framework) is government’s first five year implementation plan of the NDP, covering the financial years 2014/15 to 2018/2019. At the heart of the MTSF is the need for the radical transformation of our economy to ensure that it is more inclusive and its benefits are shared more widely. The MTSF sets out the priorities and actions that need to be undertaken. The MTSF is being implemented in line with already existing activities and programmes of different government departments and various other government agencies.

Faster economic growth is both a key objective of the NDP and a necessary condition to raise the resources needed to support social and economic transformation. As indicated in my State of Nation Addresses to overcome the difficulties we are currently experiencing, South Africa needs to reconstruct a social consensus behind a path of accelerated economic growth. This is the opportunity presented by the NDP.

Given current global and domestic economic conditions I further announced the Nine-Point Plan in my State of the Nation Address (SoNA) on 11 February 2015. The purpose is to ignite growth and create jobs. The nine point plan is about alleviating the most binding constraint to growth – inadequate electricity supply – and sets out a series of urgent economic reforms to build a more competitive economy. These include:

• Continuing to invest in economic infrastructure, especially in the transport, logistics and energy sectors (over R800 billion will be invested by government in the current MTSF period)
• Reforming the governance of state-owned entities, rationalising state holdings and encouraging private-sector participation.
• Effecting labour-market reforms that can help avoid protracted strikes.
• Expanding the independent power producer programme.
• Encouraging affordable, reliable and accessible broadband access.
• Promoting black ownership of productive industrial assets.
• Finalising amendments to the Mineral and Petroleum Resources Development Act (2002), and continuing dialogue with the industry.
• Reviewing business incentive programmes in all economic sectors to ensure that resources support labour-intensive, job-creating outcomes

Efforts to reduce the electricity constraint and improve labour relations are priorities in the short term. Alongside the structural reforms set out in the National Development Plan, this will lay the foundation for faster growth and economic transformation.

Reply:

(1) Yes, the draft Strategy to address Air Pollution is supported by my Department.

(2) Steps have been taken to address the ongoing harmful health impacts of domestic fuel burning being suffered by residents of dense low-income settlements. These include adjusting the norms and standards of building a BNG housing unit to be in line with agreement reached with the Minister of Energy. The policy and its cost implications was discussed and approved by Human Settlement MinMec in November 2013. The new norm and standard has since been implemented by all Provinces with effect from 1 April 2014. The revised standard provides for building environmental sustainable and energy efficient subsidy financed houses comprised of the installation of ceilings and above ceiling insulation, the plastering of all internal walls and rendering on all external surfaces plus the replacement of Ready Board electrical installation with a fully-fledged basic electrical installation for the whole house. All these new measures lead to a better thermal performing dwelling making it less dependent on cooling and heating and there is no more need for burning fossil fuels for cooking purposes.

The Department remains committed towards the re-development of all informal settlements and is collaborating with municipalities in providing basic services which, in collaboration with the Department of Energy includes the provision of a basic electrical installation for each household

Reply:

Refer to Annexure A for the list of WWTW where the spillages occurred, progress and additional cases reported. The Blue and Green Drop reports, is still due to be submitted to Cabinet for approval in line with the exercise of executive authority in terms of section 85 of the Constitution.

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Annexure A

 

No	Name of WWTW	Name of Municipality	Nature of Spillage	Water Use License
	Alexandria WWTW	Ndlambe Local Municipality	Untreated sewer discharged into the environment from the WWTW.	No Water Use Licence application submitted.
	Cradock WWTW	Chris Hani District Municipality	Final effluent discharged not meeting prescribed General Standard limit.	General Authorisation by the Regional Office
	Bothaville WWTW	Nala Local Municipality	Final effluent discharged not meeting prescribed General Standard limit and malfunctioning pump station causing spillage.	No Water Use Licence application submitted.
	Manhole overflow	Mangaung Metro	Spillage at the manhole due to presence of solids in system.	Not Applicable
	Deneysville WWTW and Refengkgotso Pumpstation	Metsimaholo Local Municipality	Final effluent discharged not meeting prescribed General Standards limit and malfunction at the pump station causing sewer spillage.	Not Applicable
	No WWTW linked to the sewer line.	Ekurhuleni Metro Municipality	Spillage at the manhole due to presence of solids in system.	Not Applicable
	Mokopane WWTW	Mogalakwena Local Municipality	Spillage at the manhole due to presence of solids in system.	No Authorisation
	Matibidi District Hospital WWTW	Matibidi District Hospital WWTW	Untreated sewer discharged into the environment from the WWTW.	No Authorisation
	Thabazimbi WWTW	Thabazimbi Local Municipality-	Final effluent not meeting limits prescribed in the Water Use License.	Authorised: Licence Issued for 21(c,f,g&i) 07/02/2014
	Barkley East WWTW	Joe Gqabi DM - Burgersdorp	Untreated sewer discharged into the environment from the WWTW.
	Ekangala WWTW	Tshwane Metropolitan	Untreated sewer discharged into the environment from the WWTW.
	Wemmershoek WWTW	Stellenbosch Local Municipality	Final effluent not meeting prescribed General Standards limit
	Kathu WWTW	Gamagara Local Municipality	Untreated sewer discharged into the environment from the WWTW.
	Dibeng WWTW	Gamagara Local Municipality	Final effluent not meeting prescribed General Standards limit.
	Dingleton WWTW	Gamagara Local Municipality	Untreated sewer discharged into the environment from the WWTW.
	Olifantshoek WWTW	Gamagara Local Municipality	Final effluent not meeting prescribed General Standards limit.
	Barkley West WWTW	Dikgatlong Local Municipality	Untreated sewer discharged into the environment from the WWTW.
	Warrenton WWTW	Magareng Local Municipality	Final effluent not meeting prescribed General Standards limit.
	Randfontein WWTW	Randfontein Local Municipality	Untreated sewer discharged into the environment from the WWTW.

 

No	Name of WWTW	Name of Municipality	Nature of Spillage
	Standerton WWTW	Lekwa Local Municipality	Final effluent not meeting prescribed General Standards limit.
	Bothaville WWTW	Nala Local Municipality	Final effluent not meeting prescribed General Standards limit.
	Viljoenskroon WWTW	Moqhaka Local Municipality	Final effluent not meeting prescribed General Standards limit.

Reply:

Yes, the Minister has entered into a performance agreement with the President with regard to the implementation of the Medium-Term Strategic Framework for 2014-2019.

(a) The Minister is the coordinator of Outcome 4: Decent employment through inclusive economic growth. He further supports the implementation of the following outcomes:

Outcome 2: A long and healthy life for all South Africans.

Outcome 6: An efficient, competitive and responsive economic infrastructure network.

Outcome 7: Comprehensive rural development and land reform.

Outcome 9: Responsive, accountable and efficient local government.

Outcome 11: A better South Africa, contribute to a better and safer Africa in a better world.

Outcome13: A comprehensive, responsive and sustainable social protection system.

(b) to (e) A Programme of Action is presented to Cabinet on a quaterly basis where progress is noted, bottlenecks to implementation are dicussed, and recommendations to address bottlenecks are considered and approved.

the dti further submit quarterly performance reports to DPME and NT as well as to the relevant parliamentary committees. The Annual Report of the department is tabled in Parliament. The member is requested to refer to the department’s quarter and annual reports.

Reply:

(a) We indicated that the Nelson Mandela Intervention is supported by other sector departments, namely the National Treasury, Department of Cooperative Governance & Traditional Affairs and the Department of Water and Sanitation. Further, the projected funding for the intervention will be made available over the MTEF period through various Interdepartmental Grants such as the Human Settlements Development Grant (HSDG), the Urban Settlements Development Grant (USDG), the Municipal Water Infrastructure Grant (MWIG) and the National Skills Fund.

The breakdown of the projected R4.6 billion is at as follows:

Houses (16,191) R1.806 billion

Bethelsdorp 6500 Houses R721m

Kayamnandi 7000 Houses R776m

Walmer 2200 Houses R244m

Chatty (Military Veterans) 491 Houses R65m

Serviced Sites (15,700) R785m

Bulk Infrastructure (link and reticulation) and WWTPs R1.2 billion

Planning (greenfields) R82,1 m

Programme Management R428m

National Skills Fund (Skills Training) R300m

Estimated total R4.6 billion

(b) Role of the HDA

The National Department of Human Settlements (DHS), the Provincial Department of Human Settlements (PDoHS) and the Nelson Mandela Bay Municipality (NMBM) concluded a Memorandum of Agreement (MOA) and Implementation Protocol (IP), wherein the Housing Development Agency was appointed the implementing agent to implement and manage the NMBM Integrated Human Settlements Programme for a period of 4 years (1 July 2015 until 31 March 2019).

(c) Details of Agreement between the HDA, the Municipality and the Department

A Memorandum of Agreement (MOA), underpinning the institutional, funding and implementation arrangements was signed between the Minister of Human Settlements, the MEC for Human Settlements and the Executive Mayor of the NMBM – 30 June 2015. The three parties constitute the Executive Committee that exercises oversight over the Programme.

The relevant Departmental and Entity Accounting Officers comprising of the Director General, Provincial Head of Department for Human Settlements, City Manager and the Chief Executive Officer of the HDA signed an Implementation Protocol (IP) – 2 July 2015. The IP provides for establishment of a Project Steering Committee (PSC) comprising the Director-General, the Provincial Head of Department for Human Settlements and the City Manager to oversee the implementation of the programme.

The IP stipulates that a Technical Committee be established comprising senior officials from National, Provincial, Metropolitan Municipality and the Housing Development Agency (HDA) as a preferred Implementing Agent. The Committee is tasked with the day-to-day management of the projects forming part of the Programme.

In addition, the agreements provide for the following key elements:

• The Provincial Department of Human Settlements is the developer for the housing and human settlements programme and projects with regard to construction of houses funded through the HSDG.
• The Nelson Mandela Bay Municipality is responsible for all functions relating to spatial planning, bulk infrastructure and preparation of built environment performance plans, and will ensure that the USDG will be aligned to the HSDG allocations and targets and outputs.
• As Implementing Agent, the Housing Development Agency will undertake the implementation of the Programme in line with an approved implementation plan in conjunction with the Province and Municipality.

Reply:

1. Information received from the Limpopo Department of Education is that the name of the School is Rhabela Secondary School in Malamulele West Circuit. The school was damaged by a storm in October 2010, and it was subjected to arson on 26 August 2015, The following damages were experienced:

a) 1x4 classroom blocks:

b) 1x2 classroom block; and

c) 1x1 Classroom.

2. The reason for learners attending classrooms under a tree is because of the damaged blocks of classrooms and, as a result, when learners break into streams, there is a shortage of classrooms for three subjects.

3. As part of the intervention, the Limpopo Department of Education, through the Independent Development Trust, has already advertised a tender for the replacement of the damaged classrooms which closed on 16 October 2015. It is anticipated that the damaged classrooms will be operational once again in January 2016.

Reply:

1. Rand Water has 24 primary, secondary and tertiary sites with an additional 74 energy supply points which requires extensive planning for the energy matrix to complement current energy supplies. Rand Water has targeted smaller tertiary sites with smaller energy requirements for installation of mobile energy supplies. However, the larger municipalities such as Johannesburg, Tshwane and Ekurhuleni are part of a larger energy mix. Presentations by potential energy suppliers points to a requirement of between R3 and R10 per KWh which will have a knock-on effect on the potable water tariffs. It is estimated that the total matrix of energy requirements will cost an estimated R20 billion. Given the required capital injection, Rand Water’s investigation informs that it will take up to five years for energy to be produced.
2. The procurement of electricity for Rand Water’s pumping stations from Independent Power Producers has started with proposals sought for the most appropriate technology for large scale and long-term electricity generation plant, and its deployment and utilisation to cover the whole of Rand Water. The assessment has been concluded and enabling further tendering process towards the acquiring of the Independent Power Producers. The tender process will be concluded by first quarter of the year 2016.

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Reply:

(a) There are two programmes that focus on the provision of social and rental housing, namely the Social Housing Programme and Community Residential Units Programme. These have gained a measure of improved momentum since 2010 with projects being implemented in seven provinces. Planning is currently underway in the remaining two provinces for CRU. In addition, all the municipalities have approved restructuring zones for social housing developments. The Provinces and various Municipalities have projects in various stages of implementation as part of a project pipeline that extends up to 2019.

Honourable member, we have already acknowledged that we are not doing well in this area hence the current review of the social housing policy with a view to accelerating delivery in social housing.  Once the policy proposals have been agreed to by MinMEC, I will elaborate on changes we are making in respect of this matter.

 

The table below indicates the number of social and CRU units delivered since 2010:

PROVINCE	DELIVERY
	1 April 2010 to 31 March 2014	1 April 2014 to 30 September 2015
	Social	Cru	Social	Cru
EC	3 065	0	368	0
FS	3 867	1 094	315	451
GT	11 630	5 278	611	495
KZN	9 103	966	567	239
LP	197	197	0	0
MP	925	794	246	273
NC	352	332	0	0
NW	2 868	468	0	0
WC	10 964	6 096	864	1068
TOTAL	42 971	15 225	2 971	2526

 

(b) The Community Residential Units Programme is a public rental programme, which is funded by government through a subsidy, and as such private stakeholder participation is not mandatory, but is undertaken with relevant communities and stakeholders. The Department in conjunction with the Provinces and Municipalities has however facilitated number collaborative ventures, on various programmes including the Social and Rental Housing Programmes.

In the Social and Rental sector a project in the Free State is in the process of being planned, funded and implemented. It resulted in a locally based mining company (Harmony Gold Mines) donating land and buildings to the local municipality to redevelop. This will result in four hundred and sixty four (464) community residential units being developed as part of the regeneration of the buildings. A second collaborative venture was a fifty hectare land donation by Lonmin Mines in the North West Province for the development of an integrated housing project for the Marikana Community. To date, two hundred and fifty two (252) CRU units are at various stages of completion.

The Social Housing programme is designed to be a private sector driven in a joint venture with government. All social housing projects are implemented privately and/or community led Social Housing Institutions with government contributing towards the cost of the delivery of the unit via a subsidy. The private developers and private investors are encouraged and in fact participate in the programme.

(c) The location of the rental housing project is important hence the social housing projects can only be implemented in areas that have been declared restructuring zones in order to contribute to the achievement of spatial, economic and social restructuring. The restructuring area is an area that provides improved access to socio-economic amenities and transport nodes. Whilst it is not the norm, most of the rental projects form part of a mixed development of different types of human settlement typologies, in a mixed development project can comprise of social housing accommodation, subsidised housing, finance linked bonded houses, retail and commercial development.

In addition, a percentage of projects which will form part of the Catalytic Projects Programme will compromise of social and rental housing and it is pleasing to note a number of the projects will be initiated by private sector developers. At an appropriate time a more informative and comprehensive announcement will be made on the matter.

Reply:

(1)(a) The agreed mega litre to be supplied by Magalies Water is 4.5 mega litres per day.

(1)(b) Magalies Water is currently supplying an average of 2.6 mega litre per day.

(1)(c) The tariff is R5.65 per kilolitre.

(2) Magalies Water is in the process of implementing the Klipvoor scheme, which, upon completion, will augment supply to the Bela-Bela Local Municipality (LM). The scheme will comprise of a new Water Treatment Works and bulk supply mains to the 3 Local Municipalities: Mookgophong, Modimolle and Bela-Bela. The scheme is at detailed design phase and the next phase is tendering. The scheme will be funded mainly by my Department and the shortfall will be funded by the Municipalities and Magalies Water.

(3)(a) The Bela-Bela Treatment Plant is designed to produce 7 megalitres per day.

(3)(b) It is currently producing 6.8 mega litres per day.

(3)(c) The Bela-Bela LM intends to upgrade the purification works to produce 13 mega litres per day. A request for funding through Accelerated Community Implementation Programme (ACIP) and Municipal Water Infrastructure Grant (MWIG) has been submitted to my Department.

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Reply:

a) Yes. South Africa's scientific output, measured by publications in internationally accredited journals, increased at an average rate of 10% per year from 2003 to 2012, representing an average growth of 624 publications per year. This is much higher than the world average, with a steady increase in the country’s share of the world’s journal publication (from 0.49% in 2003 to 0.73% in 2012).

Several reports (Africa Innovation Outlook -2012; Global Research Report – 2010, and UNESCO Institute for Statistics Information Bulletin) confirm that South Africa leads the continent in for example, the largest proportion of researchers per employed population in Africa, spending on research and development (R&D) in US dollar terms (based on purchasing power parity, and the number of internationally recognized research outputs).

b) Yes. Trends from the National Intellectual Property Management Office (NIPMO) provide indication of progress with regard to the economic and professional exploitation of knowledge in South Africa. NIPMO has now been in place for five years and systems are in place to collect information on invention disclosures (in the form of patents, designs, copyrighted work, new software, plant breeders’ rights and trademarks) arising from scientific and technological research activities as well as formation of new enterprises and technology transfer activities.

For example, invention disclosures arising from publicly funded R&D, statistics collected by NIPMO indicate a growth in these activities with over 1000 disclosures having been reported to NIPMO since 2010 starting with 96 disclosures during 2010/11 financial year and increasing progressively to 252 disclosures during 2014/15.  During 2015/16 disclosures are on track to exceed the figures of 2014/15 financial year.  These disclosures are being tracked to monitor whether the intellectual property is being protected in terms of a granted patent, design, trade mark, etc. and the status of commercialisation/exploitation of this intellectual property. 

Furthermore, it is noted that since 2010 the number of granted patents being managed by an office of technology transfer has doubled while the number of licenses granted has almost tripled.  Over 5% of more than 1000 disclosures have been commercialised with revenue in excess of R2,5 million accruing to the institutions.  Based on an internationally accepted 5:95 rule this means that R47.5 million has accrued in terms of economic growth to the country as a whole.  These are very encouraging figures considering the early days of this piece of legislation, having only celebrated its five year anniversary in August 2015.

c) Yes. In the 2014/15 financial year, the DST was able to secure R354 600 000 of foreign funds from international partners through agreed science, technology and innovation instruments for knowledge production, technology transfer, enhance innovation, and STI human capital development.

To ensure that the DST is leveraging private sector funding for innovation, the 2015-2020 Strategic Plan now includes a specific indicator to monitor the level of investment in research, development, and innovation (RDI) partnerships by government and the private sector. Nevertheless, the current low levels of business confidence do impact on the willingness of the private sector to commit to long-term spending on RDI. The DST is however addressing this constraint in a number of ways. For example, the DST is utilising the R&D Tax Incentive, as well as the Sector Innovation Funds (SIFs) as vehicles to attract private sector investment.

d) Yes. The DST has various initiatives and programmes for strengthening knowledge generation and knowledge-exploitation capabilities of historically disadvantaged higher education institutions. For example, in the bioeconomy arena through the initiative of the DST a memorandum of understanding (MoU) between Pfizer Inc. and the North-West University (NWU) was signed for the potential use of Pfizer's genetically modified animal models for evaluations in oncology, inflammation and immunology, as well as central nervous system and cardiovascular system disorders. Furthermore, other initiatives which are meant to empower the previously disadvantaged higher education institutions include the South African Research Chairs Initiative (SARChI) indicated in the Table below. The main goal of the Research Chairs initiative is to strengthen and improve research and innovation capacity of public universities for producing high quality postgraduate students and research and innovation outputs.

Table: South African Research Chairs Initiative (SARChI)

Research Chairs awarded	Previously disadvantaged institution
Computational Modelling of Materials	University of Limpopo
Biodiversity Value and Change in the Vhembe Biosphere Reserve	University of Venda
Nanotechnology	University of Zululand
Indigenous Knowledge Systems	Walter Sisulu University
Social Change	University of Fort Hare
Nuclear Engineering	North-West University
Astrophysics & Space Physics	North-West University

e) Yes. In terms of developing and strengthening regional and provincial innovation systems and capabilities, the DST supports the establishment of Regional Innovation Forums (RIF) to promote the development of regional and provincial innovation systems through the interaction of academia, industry/business, communities and government to support Provincial Growth and Development Strategies, Integrated Development Plans and development plans of local municipalities. The most active RIFs currently are in the Western Cape and the Eastern Cape and there is effort to scale up to other provinces.

Through the RIFs, the DST has supported hosting of strategy and planning workshops that led to regional innovation interventions with regard to the development of Regional/Provincial Innovation Strategies, feasibility studies and business plans for science parks or innovation hubs such as:

• the networking, mentorship programme and innovation strategy workshops managed by the Nelson Mandela Metropolitan University (NMMU) that led to  establishment of the Propella Business Incubator at NMMU. The Propella supports technology start-ups and accelerates existing SMMEs in the areas of energy  efficiency, renewable energy technology, advanced manufacturing and supply chain optimisation;
• the Eastern Cape Provincial Innovation Strategy;
• the Free State Feasibility study for the establishment of a Science Park;
• the Science Park development in Southern Gauteng at the Vaal University of Technology (VUT);  and
• support for networking and innovation forums in Western Cape.

 

Other areas planned for  receiving DST support for RIF and Science Park development include Kwa-Zulu Natal in support of the 4 Regional Technology Hubs that are currently being implemented, and  Science Park development in one of the Gauteng SEZs in collaboration with the Chinese Government.

Reply:

(1)(a) The reasons for the water supply interruptions to Delmas is due to the following:

• Breakages of the pipeline ageing of bulk water pipe line which was made of Asbestos in Sundra, Rietkol and Eloff.
• Increasing of the pipeline size to increase the volume of water supply in Boetleng.

(1)(b) Remedial actions are as follows:

• With regards to the Sundra, Rietkol and Eloff areas, the Municipality has made a request to the Provincial Co-operative Governance and Traditional Affairs(COGTA) for the replacement of the Asbestos Pipeline that will be at an amount of R120000 000.
• In terms of the Boetleng area, water has been restored and the community is receiving water without any interruptions.

(1)(c) The date which water supply stabilisation in Victor Khanye will be determined by the outcome of the request submission which has been made to the Provincial COGTA.

(2) As indicated above, the temporary disruptions are an unintended consequence of government efforts to redeem the state of infrastructure within the municipality consequently reducing the risk of breakdowns in future. There is regular liaison with the residents on these infrastructure upgrades. Considering that there is no undue intention to deprive residents of their basic rights, my Department supports the infrastructure upgrades. Naturally, most major infrastructure upgrades may render temporary disruptions; these are intended for the good of all residents concerned. Other than supporting the good cause the Department of Water and Sanitation (DWS) does not deem necessary to pursue action against the municipality at this stage. The DWS will work together with the municipality to ensure that the process is carried out in a manner that will bring reduced impact to the residents.

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Reply:

(1)(a)(i)&(ii) The Lead Entity has not been appointed yet. The Department is following due process to facilitate the roll-out of broadband for Phase 1 and Phase 2 is still at a planning stage considering that the funding has not been determined.

(1)(b)&(c) Refer to (1)(a) above.

(2)(b)&(c) Refer to (1)(a) above. The scope of work will be finalised after due process for the appointment of the service provider has been finalised.

(3) The announcement of the service provider will only be done once the Department has finalised the process indicated in 1(a) above and the subsequent conclusion of the necessary agreements.

Reply:

1. The Vingerkraal Borehole will not be providing water to Bela-Bela but Vingerkraal community only. My Department and the municipality are not aware of any investigations regarding the service providers in Vingerkraal.

(1)(a) The service provider appointed for Vingerkraal is AURECON SOUTH AFRICA (Pty) Ltd employing a Turn - key implementation method to fast track the project.

(1)(b) The summary of scope is: Ground water study and borehole siting drill and equip 2 boreholes, erect 40kl storage tanks in a tank stand, reticulation pipelines and stand taps, and link the new pipelines to existing network.

(1)(c) The total project cost is R1 700 000.00 (excl: VAT) including professional fees and construction works as per (b) above.

(1)(d) The appointed service provider is in the panel of Civil Engineers appointed following the Supply Chain Regulations and policy of the municipality.

(1)(e) Currently the Geohydrology studies are complete with 3 boreholes drilled; borehole testing and quality analysis is in progress.

(1)(f) The drilled borehole will yield ±4 litres/second and will be able to provide 200 kilolitres/day to Vingerkraal community.

(2) (a) The Bela-Bela Local Municipality is busy with a demand management programme which include bulk meter installations for remote monitoring;

(b) The project is funded by Municipal Water Infrastructure Grant (MWIG) and is currently in its design phase for a remote monitoring technology.

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Reply:

1. (a) The estimated percentage of non-revenue water the Tlokwe City Local Municipality at the end of 2014/15 municipal cycle was 10,59%.

1. (b) The estimated amount of litres of non-revenue at the end of 2014/15 municipal cycle was 5.2292m/l per day

(2) (a) The estimated percentage of non-revenue at the end of 2010/11 municipal cycle was 12,9 %.

(2) (b) The estimated amount of litres of non-revenue at the end of 2010/11 municipal cycle was 5.34424m/l per day.

(3) The water demand target for Tlokwe City Local Municipality as set by my department’s Water Reconciliation Strategies is 10%

(4) Yes, the Tlokwe City Council has a Water Conservation and Water Demand Management Plan (WCWDM) in place, and the Business Plan has been submitted to my Department for the Accelerated Community Infrastructure Programme (ACIP) financial support for 2016/17 financial year. The project is also included in the Integrated Development Plan (IDP) to cover the following work:

• replacement of water meters older than 10 years
• replacement of bulk water meters
• leak detection and repairs
• replacement of old water mains

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Reply:

(1)(a) The agreed allocation with Modimolle Local Municipality is 5.3 Ml/d.

(1)(b) The supply on average is 3.8 Ml/d. The current plant upgrade at Klipdrift Water Treatment Works will help to close the supply gap and meet contractual obligations.

(1)(c) The cost is R 5.65 /kl.

(2)(a) Yes, the booster pump will be installed at Sondela.

(2)(b) Yes, currently the plant has been upgraded to a capacity of 10 megalitres per day. What needs to be upgraded is a bulk pipeline from Donkerpoort plant to the command reservoir. A technical report has been approved to an amount of R106 million through Municipal Infrastructure Grant (MIG) funding.

(2)(c) No, my Department is not assisting Modimolle municipality in cleaning the reservoirs, however, the municipality is cleaning the reservoirs once a year during winter season.

(2)(c)(i) Modimolle municipality is cleaning the reservoirs once a year during winter season.

(3)(a)(i) There are 8 boreholes in Modimolle with 2 boreholes in use.

(3)(a)(ii)(aa) There are 2 boreholes equipped.

(3)(a)(ii)(bb) There are 2 boreholes functional. The municipality is currently conducting yield tests to 6 boreholes.

(3)(b) The quality of water is within the required standard which is SANS 241 of 2015.

(4)(a) There is a standby pump at Golf Street reservoir.

(4)(b) Refer to (a) above.

(5) Yes. A telemetry system will be installed in Modimolle – the system will be installed as soon as the funding has been made available.

(5)(a) During the implementation of upgrading the bulk pipeline from Donkerpoort plant.

(5)(b) There will be a complete telemetry system from the plant to the distribution system.

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Reply:

(1) (a) & (b) Dear Honourable member, it is important that the lines of accountability, responsibility and the reporting protocols are observed. Accordingly, the South African Human Rights Commission (SAHRC) has been requested to make its report available to the Department of Human Settlements on the relevant matters as contained in the press statement released by the SAHRC.

(2) The Department already has a programme, which caters for the City of Johannesburg, which allows for the improvement of the hazardous conditions not only in the hostels but all areas where households find themselves in precarious living conditions. This will include the Madala Men's Hostel and Helen Joseph Women's Hostel in Alexandra, Johannesburg. The City of Johannesburg together with the Gauteng Department of Human Settlements have advised that they will create additional housing opportunities in and around the Alexandra area in order to accommodate families instead of individuals and also relocate individuals and families out of the two hostels mentioned, to available housing opportunities within Alexandra.    

As an interim measure the City of Johannesburg and the Gauteng Provincial Department of Human Settlements have access to relevant grants to redress the current “dangerous” conditions referred to and this includes provision of emergency housing in the form of temporary relocation areas and/or structures.

Reply:

Refer below for the supply and demand ration for each municipality supplied by each water board.

Water Board	Municipality	Supply and Demand Ratio
Amatola Water	Amathole District Municipality	6.49%
	Buffalo City Metropolitan Municipality	6.28%
	Ndlambe	6.22%
Bloem Water	MangaungMetropolitan Municipality	91%
	Naledi Local Municipality	2%
	Kopanong Local Municipality	6%
	Mantsopa Local Municipality	1%
Lepelle Northern Water	Polokwane Municipality	1:1,4%
	Mogalakwena Municipality	1:1,09%
	Ba-Phalaborwa Municipality	1,41:1%
	Greater Letaba Municipality	1: 1,7%
	Greater Tzaneen Municipality	1:1,3%
	Elias Motswaledi/Fetakgomo/Makhuduthamaga municipalities	1,1:1%
	Tubatse Municipality	1:1,75%
	Ephraim Mogale Municipality	1:0,85%
Magalies Water	Bela-Bela Local Municipality	81%
	City of Tshwane Metro	44%
	ModimolleLocal Municipality	93%
	Moses Kotane Local Municipality	132%
	Rustenburg Local Municipality	135%
	Thabazimbi Local Municipality	126%
Mhlathuze Water	City of uMhlathuze	1:1%
	UThungulu	0,1:1%
Overberg Water	The Municipalities supplied are Theewaterskloof and Hessequa in the Western Cape. % cannot be provided per Municipality as the water schemes do not only provide to Municipalities, but also for agricultural customers. Below are schemes
	Duivenhoks	63.96%
	Ruensveld East	44.21%
	Ruensveld West	61.11%
Rand Water	Johannesburg Water	1,784%
	Ekurhuleni	1,185%
	City Of Tshwane Metropolitan Municipality	864%
	Emfuleni	301%
	Mogale City Municipality	96%
	Metsimaholo Local Municipality	58%
	Rustenburg Municipality	113%
	Govan Mbeki Municipality	77%
	Midvaal	32%
	Merafong	88%
	Randfontein Municipality	32%
	Westonaria Local Municipality	51%
	Lesedi Local Municipality	22%
	Ngwathe Local Municipality - Heilbron Town Council	8%
	Delmas Local Municipality	17%
	Royal Bafokeng Nation	20%
	Madibeng Local Municipality	12%
	Thembisile Local Municipality	39%
Sedibeng Water Free State	Matjhabeng	1,79%
	Nala	1,79%
	Maquassi Hills	1,79%
Sedibeng Water Northern Cape	Dikgatlong LM	1,3%
	Tsantsabane LM	1,3%
	Gamagara LM	1,3%
	Joe Morolong LM	1,4%
	NamaKhoi LM	1,3%
	Khai Ma LM	1,5%
Sedibeng Water North West Ngaka Modiri Molema District Municipality	Mahikeng	1,10%
	Ditsobotla	1,16%
	RamotshereMoiloa	1,13%
Umgeni Water	eThekwini Municipality	99%
	Msunduzi Municipality	100%
	uMgungundlovu District Municipality	89%
	iLembe District Municipality	8%
	uGu District Municipality	100%
	Harry Gwala District Municipality	89%

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Reply:

(a) Below are amounts for each province that has been declared a drought disaster area:

Province	Budget Requested	Allocated Budget
KwaZulu-Natal	R 502 304 426.33	R 502 304 426.33
Free State	R311 843 331.00	R0
Mpumalanga	R153 710000.00	R0
Limpopo	R114 600 000.00	R0
North West	R222 211000.00	R0

(b) Funds are re-prioritised in my Department’s budget.

(c) The Municipalities in the affected provinces are paid in accordance with their approved drought intervention plans once work has been completed and on receipt of valid invoices with the necessary supporting documentation. The KwaZulu-Natal (KZN) province is the only province with allocated funds thus far. As of the 8 December 2015, a total of R 214 713 491.16 has been paid and a further R94 451 166.47 is in the process of being paid in KZN.

(d) Funds are prioritised according to need, level of stress (criticality), expected effectiveness, viability & speed of interventions and numbers of households being affected.

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Reply:

The Department of Communications is of the view that the reply provided to Parliamentary Question 3655 is comprehensive enough, unless if the Honourable member can be more specific.

MR NN MUNZHELELE

DIRECTOR GENERAL [ACTING]

DEPARTMENT OF COMMUNICATIONS

DATE:

MS AF MUTHAMBI (MP)

MINISTER OF COMMUNICATIONS

DATE

Reply:

 

(1) Royalties, as defined in the Treaty, are paid to the Government of Lesotho for the benefit of receiving South Africa’s share of the yield from the Orange River through the Lesotho Highlands Water Project (LHWP), a gravity scheme, rather than through the least cost Orange-Vaal Transfer Scheme (OVTS), a pumping scheme wholly located within South Africa. Royalties are based on the amount of water actually delivered and correspond to 56% of the capital, operation and maintenance and pumping electricity cost savings realised by Republic of South Africa (RSA) through the implementation of the LHWP water transfer component rather than the costlier next best Orange Vaal Transfer Scheme.

In terms of Article 12, Paragraph (10) of The Treaty between Government of the Republic of South Africa and the Kingdom of Lesotho, royalties comprise of a fixed and a variable component. The cost savings on capital costs are referred to as fixed royalties since a fixed amount in real terms is paid out as royalties every month. The compensation will be for fifty years and commenced from January 1995.

The variable portion is related to the cost savings on O&M costs and amounts related to the pumping electricity cost savings and these amounts depend on water actually delivered to RSA. The variable component is based on the volume of water delivered to South Africa and is made up of the net benefit on being able to gravitate from LHWP rather than pumping from OVTS. It comprises:

• The difference in electricity costs. This component is adjusted on a monthly basis in accordance with the Producer Price Index (PPI) and corrected on a yearly basis when the Eskom selling price of electricity becomes available (usually in October of every year), and
• The difference in operation and maintenance costs, which is also adjusted on a monthly basis in accordance with the PPI.

(2) Refer to table below. Please note that the price per cm3 for both the O&M and the electricity is determined on a monthly basis due to the monthly PPI adjustments, the amounts reflected below are therefore the average price for the year.

(3) No, there is no sliding scale. The royalties are calculated as per (1) above as stipulated in the Treaty.

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Reply:

(a) Currently, my Department is implementing 329 Water Supply Projects through the Municipal Water Infrastructure Grant within the 27 prioritized district municipalities as well as 33 Regional Bulk Schemes. The 33 Bulk Schemes consist of 30 Bulk Water Supply and 3 Bulk Waste Water Schemes. Refer to Annexure A.

(b) The following projects are located in Priority District Municipalities (colour coded in yellow) and a total of 230 Sanitation Projects. Refer to Annexure B.

The Bucket Eradication (BEP) programme is aimed at eradicating the legacy of bucket toilets in use as a form of sanitation in formal areas. This programme in the main seeks to deliver water borne sanitation to peri urban and urban settlements neglected with the provision of sanitation. The programme will include the construction of water and sewer reticulation (which ever is applicable or appropriate) complimented with new Toilet structures (replacing the bucket toilet) with connections to the bulk water and sewer (Waste Water Treatment Works). Alternatively, where water availability is a challenge and bulk infrastructure (Waste Water Treatment Works) not available and or the settlement patterns (low and dispersed settlements) as well as topography does not allow, alternative sanitation solutions will be provided i.e Dry, on site sanitation.

The Rural Household Infrastructure Grant (RHIG) programme seeks to provide basic level of service to households in amongst other the 27 Priority District Municipalities in South Africa (see table). The RHIG Grant allocation takes place in two fold i.e Direct and Indirect Grant. The Division of Revenue Act defines a Schedule 5b grant (which are grants allocated to municipalities for a specific purpose) are direct transfers to District Municipalities whereas Schedule 6B (Allocations-in-kind to municipalities for designated special programmes) grants to Local municipalities. In the main, the solution provided is a dry, on-site sanitation or a Ventilated Improved Pit Latrine (VIP) toilet addressing issues of water scarcity, bulk infrastructure availability, often dispersed settlement patterns and unfavourable topography.

Both Sanitation Projects are funded through a National Treasury Grant and for the 2015/16 financial Year, a total of R975 399 000,00 million is allocated towards the Bucket Eradication Programme and R115 510 million for the Rural Household Infrastructure Grant (RHIG) of which R48 182m is for direct grant (Schedlue 5B) and R67 328m is an Indirect Grant (Schedule 6B).

-2-

With regards to Bucket Eradication Programme, the Implementing Agents in 2014/15 financial year was Public Entities affiliated to the Troika Departments and are as follows:

PROVINCE	IMPLEMENTING AGENT
Eastern Cape	Nurcha
Free State	Bloemwater
Limpopo	Lepelle Northern Water
North West	Magalies Water
Northern Cape	Municipal Infrastructure Support Agent (MISA) Sedibeng Water

However, following a recommendation from the Select Committee on Appropriations, the Department will phase out the use of Public Entities and accordingly, appointed Turnkey Contractors in the provinces where bucket toilets are still prevalent and include North West, Northern Cape, Free State and Eastern Cape.

With regards to the Rural Household Infrastructure Grant (RHIG) my Department will transfer the Direct Grant (allocation) to all Water Services Authorities (WSA’s) for implementation whereas the Indirect Grant (allocation) will see the appointment of suitable contractors by my Department for implementation. Refer to Annexure C.

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Reply:

Due to the nature of the information that is required which also involves other sections, a request is hereby made for the extension of time in order to provide a quality and accurate information as soon possible.

Reply:

(1) (a) & (b) Dear Honourable member, it is important that the lines of accountability, responsibility and the reporting protocols are observed. Accordingly, the South African Human Rights Commission (SAHRC) has been requested to make its report available to the Department of Human Settlements on the relevant matters as contained in the press statement released by the SAHRC.

(2) The Department already has a programme, which caters for the City of Johannesburg, which allows for the improvement of the hazardous conditions not only in the hostels but all areas where households find themselves in precarious living conditions. This will include the Madala Men's Hostel and Helen Joseph Women's Hostel in Alexandra, Johannesburg. The City of Johannesburg together with the Gauteng Department of Human Settlements have advised that they will create additional housing opportunities in and around the Alexandra area in order to accommodate families instead of individuals and also relocate individuals and families out of the two hostels mentioned, to available housing opportunities within Alexandra.    

As an interim measure the City of Johannesburg and the Gauteng Provincial Department of Human Settlements have access to relevant grants to redress the current “dangerous” conditions referred to and this includes provision of emergency housing in the form of temporary relocation areas and/or structures.

Reply:

Section 83(1)(b) of the PFMA states that if the accounting authority (Board) makes or permits fruitless and wasteful expenditure they may be charged with financial misconduct. It is therefore the responsibility of the accounting authority to ensure that sound controls are put in place to detect and prevent such expenditure from being incurred. The accounting authority is also required to ensure that disciplinary steps are taken against persons who have permitted or incurred fruitless and wasteful expenditure and that such is disclosed in the annual report and annual financial statement of the entity. The process for dealing with a charge of financial misconduct is outlined in the Treasury Regulations.

In this case, the accounting authority must make the determination whether expenditure incurred was fruitless and wasteful. The accountability arrangements applicable to State Owned Entities envisage that if accounting authority (the board) fails to act, then the shareholder Ministry is required to step in. It is only after all of these avenues have been explored that the matter can be investigated by the Auditor-General at the request of relevant authorities or as part of their audit.

Reply:

Yes my Department did comply with recommendations of the SA Human Rights Commission Report. During 2011/2012 financial year the Department provided training on process control to Emalahleni Local Municipality, extending to all Water Services Authority (WSA) within the Mpumalanga Province. In addition to the training provided the Department undertakes annual symposia on water quality compliance training as part of the blue drop compliance assessment process. The most recent symposium on the assessment tool were held from 30 - 31 July 2015.

As recommended by the report, the Department undertakes regular water quality compliance monitoring aimed at determining the safety of water for human use. The supply and infrastructure monitoring is carried through the blue drop assessment programme.

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Reply:

(1)(a) The previous suspended Director-General, Mr Maxwell Sirenya was appointed as Acting Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the Eastern Cape: Catchment Management Agency (CMA), in terms of the President’s Minute 45 of 2015 from 1 March 2015 until he reaches the age of 65 years.

(1)(b) Mr Maxwell Sirenya is appointed on salary level 16.

(2) Yes, the Director-General is appointed on salary level 16 and her transfer from the Office of the Premier: Gauteng Provincial Government was approved by the President of the Republic of South Africa on the 26 February 2015.

The Director-General has the following qualifications:

• Bachelor of Arts Degree (University of the Western Cape);
• Bachelor of Arts with Honours (University of the Witwatersrand);
• Higher Diploma in Education (University of the Witwatersrand);
• Master’s degree in Psychology (University of the Western Cape); and
• Advanced Executive Programme (Graduate School of Business Leadership – UNISA).

The Director-General meets the minimum entry requirements in terms of executive management experience and academic qualifications with nine (9) years of experience the public sector.

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Reply:

(1) Ngwathe Local Municipality is currently engaged in a process of research and development on how to utilize alternative ways of Sludge disposal. The Municipality is currently looking at piloting the use of sewer sludge for producing energy. This very energy will be used to drive the wastewater treatment plant, whilst preventing pollution. The Sludge is also available for Local and neighbouring farmers. Furthermore activated sludge is needed inside the aeration tanks to improve the process.

(2) The full details of the quality of the water tested from the specified plant can be provided by the specified municipalities for the period in question.

(3) The design capacity of the plant is 5.5Ml/day. Inflow and outflow readings per day can be provided by the Ngwathe Local Municipality.

(4) The sewage is no longer flowing to the oxidation ponds as the plant is operational.

(5) The project was budgeted for R17 000 000.00 and the actual cost is R16 889 500.00. The scope of work included the refurbishment of wastewater treatment works, Outfall sewer line, dry beds and three pump stations. Two main contractors were appointed.

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Reply:

(1) The Vaalwaterwastewater treatment plant in Limpopo is operational.

(2) The quality of the final effluent generally complied with the license requirements except for suspended solids and Chemical Oxygen Demand (COD) at some points. The test results of the wastewater treatment plant for the period 1 January 2014 to September 2015 are available.

(3)(a) Daily inflow is 1.0 Ml/d at average.

(3)(b) There is no discharge because the plant is designed to discharge by evaporation and irrigation from the maturation ponds.

(4) As per the design process flow, sewage should flow into the oxidation (Maturation) ponds for secondary treatment.

(5) The cost for the upgrade is R3 million.

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Reply:

1. (a) The estimated percentage of non-revenue water the Tlokwe City Local Municipality at the end of 2014/15 municipal cycle was 10,59%.

1. (b) The estimated amount of litres of non-revenue at the end of 2014/15 municipal cycle was 5.2292m/l per day

(2) (a) The estimated percentage of non-revenue at the end of 2010/11 municipal cycle was 12,9 %.

(2) (b) The estimated amount of litres of non-revenue at the end of 2010/11 municipal cycle was 5.34424m/l per day.

(3) The water demand target for Tlokwe City Local Municipality as set by my department’s Water Reconciliation Strategies is 10%

(4) Yes, the Tlokwe City Council has a Water Conservation and Water Demand Management Plan (WCWDM) in place, and the Business Plan has been submitted to my Department for the Accelerated Community Infrastructure Programme (ACIP) financial support for 2016/17 financial year. The project is also included in the Integrated Development Plan (IDP) to cover the following work:

• replacement of water meters older than 10 years
• replacement of bulk water meters
• leak detection and repairs
• replacement of old water mains

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Reply:

(1)(a) My Department in collaboration with the City of Cape Town Metropolitan Municipality piloted a full water borne sanitation solution in the form of communal toilets in the Khayelitsha township (Site C - Section BM and Site B – Section BM). This was provided for in May 2015.

(1)(b) The pilot project saw 10 Communal water borne toilets constructed per site respectively.

(1)(c) The toilets are a full water borne toilet system and will flush into the city’s sewer reticulation network. These toilets will only experience blockages if and when “foreign objects” such as plastic bags, hard papers etc are flushed into the network. The City of Cape Town will service these toilets as part of the reticulation network.

(1)(d) Refer to (1)(c) above.

(1)(d)(i) Both systems (sites) are serviced by the municipality.

(1)(d)(ii) None.

(2) This information is available from the Department of Human Settlements.

(3) The communal toilet facility will accommodate 1:50 households (a single ablution facility will service some 50 households). Informal Settlements are serviced by municipalities with interim services and may differ from one settlement to another but also depending on the density of the settlement.

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Reply:

(a) There are two programmes that focus on the provision of social and rental housing, namely the Social Housing Programme and Community Residential Units Programme. These have gained a measure of improved momentum since 2010 with projects being implemented in seven provinces. Planning is currently underway in the remaining two provinces for CRU. In addition, all the municipalities have approved restructuring zones for social housing developments. The Provinces and various Municipalities have projects in various stages of implementation as part of a project pipeline that extends up to 2019.

Honourable member, we have already acknowledged that we are not doing well in this area hence the current review of the social housing policy with a view to accelerating delivery in social housing.  Once the policy proposals have been agreed to by MinMEC, I will elaborate on changes we are making in respect of this matter.

 

The table below indicates the number of social and CRU units delivered since 2010:

PROVINCE	DELIVERY
	1 April 2010 to 31 March 2014	1 April 2014 to 30 September 2015
	Social	Cru	Social	Cru
EC	3 065	0	368	0
FS	3 867	1 094	315	451
GT	11 630	5 278	611	495
KZN	9 103	966	567	239
LP	197	197	0	0
MP	925	794	246	273
NC	352	332	0	0
NW	2 868	468	0	0
WC	10 964	6 096	864	1068
TOTAL	42 971	15 225	2 971	2526

 

(b) The Community Residential Units Programme is a public rental programme, which is funded by government through a subsidy, and as such private stakeholder participation is not mandatory, but is undertaken with relevant communities and stakeholders. The Department in conjunction with the Provinces and Municipalities has however facilitated number collaborative ventures, on various programmes including the Social and Rental Housing Programmes.

In the Social and Rental sector a project in the Free State is in the process of being planned, funded and implemented. It resulted in a locally based mining company (Harmony Gold Mines) donating land and buildings to the local municipality to redevelop. This will result in four hundred and sixty four (464) community residential units being developed as part of the regeneration of the buildings. A second collaborative venture was a fifty hectare land donation by Lonmin Mines in the North West Province for the development of an integrated housing project for the Marikana Community. To date, two hundred and fifty two (252) CRU units are at various stages of completion.

The Social Housing programme is designed to be a private sector driven in a joint venture with government. All social housing projects are implemented privately and/or community led Social Housing Institutions with government contributing towards the cost of the delivery of the unit via a subsidy. The private developers and private investors are encouraged and in fact participate in the programme.

(c) The location of the rental housing project is important hence the social housing projects can only be implemented in areas that have been declared restructuring zones in order to contribute to the achievement of spatial, economic and social restructuring. The restructuring area is an area that provides improved access to socio-economic amenities and transport nodes. Whilst it is not the norm, most of the rental projects form part of a mixed development of different types of human settlement typologies, in a mixed development project can comprise of social housing accommodation, subsidised housing, finance linked bonded houses, retail and commercial development.

In addition, a percentage of projects which will form part of the Catalytic Projects Programme will compromise of social and rental housing and it is pleasing to note a number of the projects will be initiated by private sector developers. At an appropriate time a more informative and comprehensive announcement will be made on the matter.

Reply:

(1)(a) Bela-Bela Waste Water Treatment Plant in Limpopo is installed with three Biofilters, two are fully functional and one is not in working order due to a faulty pump. This process is followed by two humus tanks, both are operational however there is a standby pump that is faulty, thus reducing standby capacity of the plant should the pump in duty fail. The two anaerobic digesters installed are both blocked and non-functional.

(1)(b) The municipality has appointed a service provider to maintain the non-functional components of the waste water treatment plant and the contractor is on site and is anticipated to complete work by end of February 2016.

(2)(a) Yes the plant will be upgraded (b) the municipality has developed a Business Plan to source funding under Accelerated Community Infrastructure Programme (ACIP) for the upgrade of the plant. The Business Plan is still under evaluation.

(3) The capacity of Bela-Bela Waste Water Treatment Plant is 5 mega litres /day.

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Reply:

1. (a) SAA had previous submitted an application in terms of Section 54(2) of the Public Finance Management Act (PFMA) for approval to amend the A320 purchase
   agreement with Airbus to enter into a lease of 5 A330 aircraft from Airbus. This was approved by the Minister in July 2015. Subsequently, SAA have submitted a further application as required in terms of Section 54(2) of the PFMA to amend the original Section 54(2) approval to provide for amendments to structure of the swap transaction. National Treasury (NT) issued a statement clarifying the outcomes in respect of this application on 3 December 2015. NT is not aware of any
   cancellation by Airbus. To the contrary, NT is aware that Airbus have extended the period for concluding the transaction.

(b) No request for funding has been received by National Treasury from SAA.

(c) NT has been informed that the SAA Board is still consulting on aspects of the
proposed expansion of the existing partnership with Emirates.

2. The question regarding the R2.59 billion loss in 2013/14 should be referred to the Minister of Public Enterprises who was the Executive Authority responsible for SAA over that period.

In total R14.4 billion of guarantees have been provided to SAA and a total of R2.293 billion
in funding has been transferred to SAA since 2007. This information is reported in the
Estimates of National Expenditure and the Budget Review.

Oxford Economics under took a study on the economic benefits arising from SAA’s long-haul international routes during 2014. According to the study, there was a direct contribution of
R350 million to South African GDP, around R800 million extra was generated in tax revenue and 5000 jobs were supported. In addition, the study estimated that, through SAA’s international operations, R5.9 billion was added to GDP in the tourism sector supporting 27000 jobs. The study did not estimate the further positive benefits arising from SAA’s operations for trade, nor did it look at the impact of SAA’s domestic and regional operations.

Reply:

According to Information provided by the Public Investment Corporation (PIC):

(1) The PIC is legally authorised to make investments in terms of the mandates granted by its various clients. These mandates allow the PIC to invest in companies that are listed on the Johannesburg Stock Exchange and the investment in Lonmin is in alignment with these mandates. The investment case for investing in Lonmin at this time is threefold, namely:

• The long-term fundamentals for the Platinum Group Metals (PGMs) support higher prices than what is currently prevailing. These metals will be playing a key role in emissions control measures around the world.

• Lonmin has a sound asset base whose performance has been impacted by the short-term dip in commodity prices. However, based on the PIC’s outlook for PGM prices, value can be restored.

• Management has come up with a plan of action that has been reviewed by independent external experts, for the company to be able to withstand the current low price environment.

It is worth noting that the company held a general meeting for shareholders to vote on the rights issue and 88%of the shareholding represented at the meeting, which included the PIC (on behalf of the GEPF and the Unemployment Insurance Fund (UIF), voted for the company to proceed with the rights issue. The outcomes of the voting is a clear indication that other shareholders see the long-term value of the company. Lonmin is a going concern and has neither been declared bankrupt nor has it applied for business rescue.

(2) The PIC invests and manages funds for various clients and this is done in line with mandates granted by various clients. GEPF Trustees are not exposed to direct liability for investing on the JSE. The accountability, legal or otherwise, for these investments and their management is regulated in terms of the mandates. As the investment manager, the PIC takes full accountability for the performance of any such investments once made in terms of the mandate.

(3) Rights issue is a common method through which JSE-listed companies raise funds for various business initiatives. For an example, companies such as Naspers and PSG have recently gone out to the market to raise capital to fund their strategic business initiatives. In the same way, Lonmin approached all the shareholders, including the PIC about the rights issue, whereupon the PIC considered following its rights. The PIC was approached by Lonmin in early November. Following Lonmin’s approach, the PIC subjected the proposal to the internal investment processes, which entail conducting a thorough due diligence on the company and obtaining approval by the relevant committees within the PIC.

(4) The PIC, like all other shareholders, gets approached from time to time by companies with similar requests. However, as a responsible investor we are not at liberty to disclose whether any such transactions are currently being considered as this could be market sensitive information. In instances where we agree to follow our rights and agree to underwrite the rights issue, these companies would publish information in the notices for meetings. The PIC can disclose that it has expressed support for the ArcelorMittal’s rights issue, which will be voted for on the 11th of December 2015. Details of this rights issue is contained in the notice for the ArcelorMittal General Meeting of shareholders.

Reply:

(1)(a) My Department has a total of one hundred and seventy seven (177) positions, forty two (42) of these posts are within the Chief Directorate: Compliance Monitoring at National Office based in Pretoria; forty two (42) of these posts are within the Chief Directorate: Enforcement at National Office based in Pretoria; twenty two (22) of these posts are dedicated to Compliance Monitoring in the Provincial Operations; fourteen (14) of these posts are dedicated to Enforcement in the Provincial Operations; and fifty seven (57) of these posts are performing dual functions (Compliance and Enforcement) within Provincial Operations. Officials use section 124 of the Act to perform Compliance Monitoring and Enforcement mandate of the National Water Act. No officials as yet have been designated as Environmental Management Inspectors (EMIs) in terms of National Environmental Management Act (NEMA) (Blue Scorpions).

(1)(b) Eighty nine (85) of the specified posts are currently filled.

 

Office/ Provincial Operation	Number of Compliance Monitoring posts	Number of Enforcement posts	Number of posts performing dual functions (CME) at regional level since the function has not been split yet
	Filled	Level	Filled	Level	Filled	Level
National	33	8-12	16	6-13	0	0
Limpopo	0	8-12	0	0	0	0
North West	0	0	0	0	2	12;13
Northern Cape	3	8-12	0	0	0	0
Western Cape	2	8-12	2	8-12	1	8-12
Eastern Cape	0	0	0	8-12	0	7-12
Gauteng	14	8-12	0	0	1	12-13
KwaZulu-Natal	0	0	0	0	2	10;12
Mpumalanga	0	0	0	0	2	8-10
Free State	0	0	0	0	7	8-12
Total	52		18		15

(2) Refer to Annexure A for the qualifications of each Blue Scorpions currently employed.

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Annexure A

Provincial Operation Regulation/ CD: Compliance Monitoring/ CD: Enforcement	Management/ Compliance Monitoring/ Enforcement	Post description	Qualifications
Head Office (CD: CM)	Management	Acting Chief Directorate	B.Sc, M.Sc and LLB (Not designated as EMI – Blue scorpion)
Head Office (CD: CM)	Compliance Monitoring	Deputy Director	Nat Diploma & B-Tech (Not designated as EMI – Blue scorpion)
Head Office (CD: CM)	Compliance Monitoring	Chief Engineer	B.Eng (Hons) Civil, B.Sc (Hons) Information Systems (Not designated as EMI – Blue scorpion)
Head Office (CD: CM)	Compliance Monitoring	Scientific Manager	B.Sc, B.Sc (Hons), M.Sc, EMI basic training course (Not designated as EMI – Blue scorpion)
Head Office (CD: CM)	Compliance Monitoring	Candidate Scientist	B.Sc Environmental Management and post graduated diploma in Integrated Water Resource Management (Not designated as EMI – Blue scorpion)
Head Office (CD: CM)	Compliance Monitoring	Candidate Scientist	B.Sc Geology, B.Sc (Hons) Geohydrology (Not designated as EMI – Blue scorpion)
Head Office (CD: CM)	Compliance Monitoring	Candidate Scientist	N.D and B-tech in Environmental Science (Not designated as EMI – Blue scorpion)
Head Office (CD: CM)	Compliance Monitoring	Candidate Scientist	B.Sc Geology, B.Sc (Hons) Geohydrology (Not designated as EMI – Blue scorpion)
Head Office (CD: CM)	Compliance Monitoring	Candidate Scientist	B.Sc Microbiology & Biochemistry, B.Sc (Hons) (Med) Mibrobiology and M.Sc Microbioloty (Not designated as EMI – Blue scorpion)
Head Office (CD: CM)	Compliance Monitoring	Scientist Manager	B.Sc, B.Sc (Hons) and M.Sc (Not designated as EMI – Blue scorpion)
Head Office (CD: CM)	Compliance Monitoring	Scientist Manager	B.Sc, M.Sc (Not designated as EMI – Blue scorpion)
Head Office (CD: CM)	Compliance Monitoring	Production Scientist	B.Sc and B.Sc (Hons) (Not designated as EMI – Blue scorpion)
Head Office (CD: CM)	Compliance Monitoring	Graduate Trainee	B.Sc and B.Sc (Hons) (Not designated as EMI – Blue scorpion)
Head Office (CD: CM)	Compliance Monitoring	Candidate Scientist	B.Sc and B.Sc (Hons) (Not designated as EMI – Blue scorpion)
Head Office (CD: CM)	Management (Compliance Monitoring)	Acting Director	B.Sc and MMP & DM (Not designated as EMI – Blue scorpion)
Head Office (CD: CM)	Compliance Monitoring	Candidate Scientist	B.Sc Hons (Not designated as EMI – Blue scorpion)
Head Office (CD: CM)	Compliance Monitoring	Deputy Director	BA Environmental Science (Not designated as EMI – Blue scorpion)
Head Office (CD: CM)	Compliance Monitoring	Control Environmental Officer	Nat Diploma in Nuclear (Not designated as EMI – Blue scorpion)
Head Office (CD: CM)	Compliance Monitoring	Environmental Officer Specialised Production	BA Environmental Management (Hons): Waste Management (Not designated as EMI – Blue scorpion)
Head Office (CD: CM)	Compliance Monitoring	Environmental Officer	BA: Environmental Management (Not designated as EMI – Blue scorpion)
Head Office (CD: CM)	Compliance Monitoring	Candidate Scientist	B.Sc, B.Sc (Hons), M.Sc (Not designated as EMI – Blue scorpion)
Head Office (CD: CM)	Compliance Monitoring	Act Deputy Director	M.Sc
Head Office (CD: CM)	Compliance Monitoring	Production Scientist	B.Sc Chemistry, B.Sc Geohydrology (Hons)
Head Office (CD: CM)	Compliance Monitoring	Candidate Scientist	B.Sc (Hons)
Head Office (CD: CM)	Compliance Monitoring	Candidate Scientist	M.Sc degree
Head Office (CD: CM)	Compliance Monitoring	Act Director	ND: Chemical Engineering
Head Office (CD: CM)	Compliance Monitoring	Specialist Engineer	B.Sc (Eng)(Civil), B.Sc (Hons) (Eng)(Civil), M.Eng Structural Engineering
Head Office (CD: CM)	Compliance Monitoring	Specialist Engineer	M.Eng: Water Resource Engineering
Head Office (CD: CM)	Compliance Monitoring	Chief Engineer	B.Sc (Eng)(Civil), B.Eng (Hons) (Civil), M.Eng (Civil)
Head Office (CD: CM)	Compliance Monitoring	Acting Deputy Director	ND: Human Resource Management
Head Office (CD: CM)	Compliance Monitoring	Candidate Engineer	B.Eng: Civil Engineering
Head Office (CD: CM)	Compliance Monitoring	Graduate Trainee	ND: Civil Engineering
Head Office (CD: CM)	Compliance Monitoring	Graduate Trainee	ND: Civil Engineering
Head Office (CD: Enforcement)	Enforcement	Regulatory Inspector	B.Sc (Information Technology Management)
Head Office (CD: Enforcement)	Enforcement	Regulatory Inspector	B.Com (Information Management): Diploma in Execution Information Technology)
Head Office (CD: Enforcement)	Enforcement	Chief Development Expert	B.Uris, LLB
Head Office (CD: Enforcement)	Enforcement	Regulatory Inspector	Grade 12
Head Office (CD: Enforcement)	Enforcement	Regulatory Inspector	ND in Law; Diploma: Criminal Justice and Forensic Investigation
Head Office (CD: Enforcement)	Enforcement	Assistant Director	B.Sc; BA (Hons) Criminology, Diploma: Criminal Justice and Forensic Investigation
Head Office (CD: Enforcement)	Enforcement	Regulatory Inspector	Bachelor of Earth Science in mining and environmental Geology
Head Office (CD: Enforcement)	Enforcement	Deputy Director	B.Tech: Water care
Head Office (CD: Enforcement)	Enforcement	Regulatory Inspector	ND: Human Resources, B Tech: Business Administration
Head Office (CD: Enforcement)	Enforcement	Regulatory Inspector	BA (Police Science)
Head Office (CD: Enforcement)	Enforcement	Regulatory Inspector	BA, Higher Education Diploma, National Certificate: Policing
Head Office (CD: Enforcement)	Enforcement	Regulatory Inspector	Bachelor of Earth Sciences in Hydrology and Water Resource
Head Office (CD: Enforcement)	Enforcement	Regulatory Inspector	ND: Biotechnology, B.Sc (Hons) Environmental Management
Head Office (CD: Enforcement)	Enforcement	Assistant Director	B.Sc: Water and Sanitation, enrolled for Hons in Environmental Monitoring and Modelling
Head Office (CD: Enforcement)	Enforcement	Regulatory Inspector	Studying towards B.Com
Head Office (CD: Enforcement)	Enforcement	Chief Development Expert	LLB
North West	Compliance Monitoring & Enforcement	Deputy Director	ND: Water and Environmental Management
North West	Management (Compliance Monitoring & Enforcement)	Management (Director: Regulation)	B.Sc Chemistry, MBA
KZN	Compliance Monitoring & Enforcement	Deputy Director	B.Sc: Pure & Applied Chemistry, B.Sc (Hons) Environmental Monitoring & Modelling
KZN	Compliance Monitoring & Enforcement	Assistant Director	B.Sc: Environmental Management
Free State	Compliance Monitoring & Enforcement	Control Environmental Officer	ND: Civil Engineering
Free State	Compliance Monitoring & Enforcement	Environmental Officer	ND: Civil Engineering (ECSA)
Free State	Compliance Monitoring & Enforcement	Environmental Officer	M.Tech: Environmental Health
Free State	Compliance Monitoring & Enforcement	Environmental Officer (Production)	B.Sc Environmental Science
Free State	Compliance Monitoring & Enforcement	Biodiversity Officer	B.Sc: Environmental Science
Free State	Compliance Monitoring & Enforcement	Environmental Officer	Diploma in water care
Free State	Compliance Monitoring & Enforcement	Environmental Officer	B.Sc (Hons) Environmental Monitoring and Modelling
Mpumalanga	Compliance Monitoring & Enforcement	Control Environmental Officer	B.Sc (Hons)
Western Cape	Compliance Monitoring & Enforcement	Deputy Director	B.SocSc & LLB
Western Cape	Compliance Monitoring	Assistant Director	BA-Geography & (Hons – IWRM)
Western Cape	Compliance Monitoring	Graduate Trainee	ND: Environmental Management & (final B.Tech Environmental Management year)
Western Cape	Enforcement	Regulatory Inspector	ND: Marketing, Policing and Environmental Management Inspectorate
Western Cape	Enforcement	Regulatory Inspector	ND: HR, Certificate in Policing, Certificate in Forensic Examination
Northern Cape	Management (Compliance Monitoring)	Director	M.Sc
Northern Cape	Compliance Monitoring	Environmental Officer	B.Tech Nature Conservation, EMI
Northern Cape	Compliance Monitoring	Graduate Trainee	B.Sc
Gauteng	Compliance Monitoring & Enforcement	Deputy Director	B.Sc (Hons), Environmental Management, Inspector Profession registered with SACNAPS
Gauteng	Compliance Monitoring	Environmental Officer	B.Sc: Community water service and sanitation
Gauteng	Compliance Monitoring	Environmental Officer	B.Sc: Community water service and sanitation
Gauteng	Compliance Monitoring	Environmental Officer	BESHWR = Honours: Hydrology and Water Resources
Gauteng	Compliance Monitoring	Environmental Officer	PGD = Honours: Integrated Water Resources Management
Gauteng	Compliance Monitoring	Environmental Officer	PGD = Honours: Integrated Water Resources Management
Gauteng	Compliance Monitoring	Environmental Officer	B Tech: Water Care
Gauteng	Compliance Monitoring	Candidate Scientist Technician	ND: Water Care
Gauteng	Compliance Monitoring	Candidate Scientist Technician	ND: Water Care
Gauteng	Compliance Monitoring	Candidate Scientist Technician	B.Sc: Environmental and Water Science, Post graduate Diploma in Integrated Water Resource Management, B.Sc Hons Hydrology
Gauteng	Compliance Monitoring	Scientific Technician	B Tech: Water Care
Gauteng	Compliance Monitoring	Scientific Technician	B Tech: Water Care
Gauteng	Compliance Monitoring	Scientific Technician	B.Sc: Biological Science
Gauteng	Compliance Monitoring	Deputy Director	B Tech: Water Quality

Reply:

(1) Yes. There are currently 306 Ethics Officers either appointed or designated in the public service.

(b) Appointments are made in terms of the prescribed public service procedure, with regard to designation, existing employees in their respective departments are assigned a new or additional functions in line with the responsibilities attached to the post of an ethics officer.

(c) (i) Departments follow an open recruitment process to identify and appoint appropriate officials. The grade of the post is determined using the approved Job Evaluation process and System. Departments currently utilise the job description as contained in the Public Service Integrity Management Framework.

(ii) All employees, prior to appointment to the public service, are subject to a background checks, which include credit and criminal record, verification of qualification, disciplinary record, etc.

The DPSA has initiated a process of amending the Public Service Regulations, 2001. One of the objectives is to formalize and standardize the designation and / or appointment of Ethics Officers and provide for more functions relating to the management and promotion of ethics in the public service. This process will be finalised early in 2016.

(iii) The Department of Public Service and Administration together with the National School of Government have development a set of new ethics courses. These courses were finalised and are being rolled-out. These courses include the following:

• • • • Ethics Management for Local Government
      • Ethics Management Workshop for National and Provincial Government
      • Ethics Module to use in senior management induction
      • Ethics Workshop to use for Ethics Officer Training
      • Ethics Module to use in Compulsory Induction Programme for Public Service

Furthermore, all designated Ethics Officers have been trained on the Financial Disclosure Framework and the use of the e-Disclosure system.

(2) (a) Departments currently utilise the job description as contained in the Public Service Integrity Management Framework. The following functions are performed by ethics officers:-

• Promote integrity and ethical behaviour in departments;
• Advise employees on ethical matters;
• Ensure integrity of organisational policies, procedures and practices;
• Identify and report unethical behaviour and corrupt activities to the head of department;
• Manage conflicts of interest, including:
• Financial disclosures of employees;
• Application for external remunerative work; and
• Departmental gift registers.
• Develop and implement awareness programmes to educate officials on ethics, good governance and anti-corruption measures; and
• Keep a register of all employees under investigation and those disciplined for unethical conduct.

(d) The job grade is determined using the approved Job Evaluation process and System. Where Ethics Officers are appointed (and not designated), whether in the national or provincial department, the size, risk profile, budget, qualification requirement, etc of the post will determine the job grade.

(d) Ethics officers are generally appointed under programme 1 (administration), and report to the head of Corporate Services or the Director’s-General head of office. However, going forward, ethics officers will report to the Head of the Department (HoD) in terms of the proposed Public Service Regulations.

Reply:

(a) We indicated that the Nelson Mandela Intervention is supported by other sector departments, namely the National Treasury, Department of Cooperative Governance & Traditional Affairs and the Department of Water and Sanitation. Further, the projected funding for the intervention will be made available over the MTEF period through various Interdepartmental Grants such as the Human Settlements Development Grant (HSDG), the Urban Settlements Development Grant (USDG), the Municipal Water Infrastructure Grant (MWIG) and the National Skills Fund.

The breakdown of the projected R4.6 billion is at as follows:

Houses (16,191) R1.806 billion

Bethelsdorp 6500 Houses R721m

Kayamnandi 7000 Houses R776m

Walmer 2200 Houses R244m

Chatty (Military Veterans) 491 Houses R65m

Serviced Sites (15,700) R785m

Bulk Infrastructure (link and reticulation) and WWTPs R1.2 billion

Planning (greenfields) R82,1 m

Programme Management R428m

National Skills Fund (Skills Training) R300m

Estimated total R4.6 billion

(b) Role of the HDA

The National Department of Human Settlements (DHS), the Provincial Department of Human Settlements (PDoHS) and the Nelson Mandela Bay Municipality (NMBM) concluded a Memorandum of Agreement (MOA) and Implementation Protocol (IP), wherein the Housing Development Agency was appointed the implementing agent to implement and manage the NMBM Integrated Human Settlements Programme for a period of 4 years (1 July 2015 until 31 March 2019).

(c) Details of Agreement between the HDA, the Municipality and the Department

A Memorandum of Agreement (MOA), underpinning the institutional, funding and implementation arrangements was signed between the Minister of Human Settlements, the MEC for Human Settlements and the Executive Mayor of the NMBM – 30 June 2015. The three parties constitute the Executive Committee that exercises oversight over the Programme.

The relevant Departmental and Entity Accounting Officers comprising of the Director General, Provincial Head of Department for Human Settlements, City Manager and the Chief Executive Officer of the HDA signed an Implementation Protocol (IP) – 2 July 2015. The IP provides for establishment of a Project Steering Committee (PSC) comprising the Director-General, the Provincial Head of Department for Human Settlements and the City Manager to oversee the implementation of the programme.

The IP stipulates that a Technical Committee be established comprising senior officials from National, Provincial, Metropolitan Municipality and the Housing Development Agency (HDA) as a preferred Implementing Agent. The Committee is tasked with the day-to-day management of the projects forming part of the Programme.

In addition, the agreements provide for the following key elements:

i) The Provincial Department of Human Settlements is the developer for the housing and human settlements programme and projects with regard to construction of houses funded through the HSDG.

ii) The Nelson Mandela Bay Municipality is responsible for all functions relating to spatial planning, bulk infrastructure and preparation of built environment performance plans, and will ensure that the USDG will be aligned to the HSDG allocations and targets and outputs.

iii) As Implementing Agent, the Housing Development Agency will undertake the implementation of the Programme in line with an approved implementation plan in conjunction with the Province and Municipality.

Reply:

The Department of Science and Technology’s (DST) Strategic Plan (2015-2020) outlines what the DST will do to help achieve this target. For the year 2015/16, for instance, the DST has a budget of R7 482 billion, of which 92,2% (R6,9 billion) is allocated to entities that report to the Minister of Science and Technology. Key funding priorities for the DST over the medium term include developing human capital, creating new knowledge, growing research infrastructure, and encouraging innovation by funding marketable products emerging from research and incubation. All these are essential elements of a policy framework to encourage other actors in the system of innovation to contribute to increasing the investment in R&D at appropriate levels.

The DST is working closely with National Treasury on plans on how the target can be achieved. Across government, there are a number of avenues for investment in science, technology and innovation activities through various departments, their entities as well as work they do with the higher education institutions. Another major part of the effort involves building partnership arrangements with the private sector and international partners that will help leverage further resources for R&D investment.

 

 

Reply:

(a)(i)August 2015	(a)(ii) September 2015	(a)(iii) October 2015	(b) November 2015	(b)(aa) days where power outages experienced	(b)(bb) length of time of each power outage	(b)(cc) pump stations affected	(b)(dd) effect on the supply of water to Ekurhuleni
None	None	Power outages occurred	None	None	135 minutes	Mapleton Pump station.	None

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Reply:

(1) Yes, the draft Strategy to address Air Pollution is supported by my Department.

(2) Steps have been taken to address the ongoing harmful health impacts of domestic fuel burning being suffered by residents of dense low-income settlements. These include adjusting the norms and standards of building a BNG housing unit to be in line with agreement reached with the Minister of Energy. The policy and its cost implications was discussed and approved by Human Settlement MinMec in November 2013. The new norm and standard has since been implemented by all Provinces with effect from 1 April 2014. The revised standard provides for building environmental sustainable and energy efficient subsidy financed houses comprised of the installation of ceilings and above ceiling insulation, the plastering of all internal walls and rendering on all external surfaces plus the replacement of Ready Board electrical installation with a fully-fledged basic electrical installation for the whole house. All these new measures lead to a better thermal performing dwelling making it less dependent on cooling and heating and there is no more need for burning fossil fuels for cooking purposes.

The Department remains committed towards the re-development of all informal settlements and is collaborating with municipalities in providing basic services which, in collaboration with the Department of Energy includes the provision of a basic electrical installation for each household

Reply:

My Department is currently undertaking a comprehensive functional assessment of the 850 waste water treatment plants for South Africa.

The immediate priority and intervention is that my Department has appointed a professional service provider under its Regional Bulk Infrastructure Grant (RBIG) programme to deal with the 26 plants in the Vaal River System. This is in line with my Department’s National Campaign entitled War on Water Pollution.

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Reply:

(a) The municipalities in Mpumalanga that are at risk are located within Ehlanzeni, Gert Sibande and Nkangala District Municipalities. Intervention put in place by my Department are as follows:

• Training on Blue drop compliance;
• Bulk infrastructure and Water Treatment plant upgrades were necessary;
• Technical Support;
• Water Quality Monitoring programme;
• Development to incident Management and response protocol.

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Reply:

(1) There are a total of companies appointed as Professional Service Providers.

(2)(a)(i) The Department has evaluated all the proposals submitted by the Professional Service Providers in terms of the preferential procurement policy regulations, 2011 pertaining to the Preferential Procurement Policy Framework Act no.5 of 2000 (PPPFA). All invited bids were evaluated on the basis of functionality as a criterion taking into account quality, reliability, viability and durability of a service and the bidders’ technical capacity and ability to execute a contract.

(2)(a)(ii) When the bids were invited, the following aspects were clearly specified in the bid documents:

• Evaluation criteria for measuring functionality

The evaluation criteria may include criteria such as the consultant’s relevant experience for the assignment, the quality of the methodology, the qualifications of the key personnel, transfer of knowledge etc.

- Weight of each criterion

The weight that is allocated to each criterion was not generic but determined separately for each bid on a case by case basis.

- Applicable value

The applicable values that were utilized when scoring each criterion were objective. As a guide, values ranging from 1 being poor, 2 being average, 3 being poor, 4 being very good and 5 being excellent, were utilized.

- Minimum qualifying score for functionality

The minimum qualifying score that was obtained for functionality in order for the bid to be considered further was not generic but specific for each bid. It was determined separately for each bid on a case by case basis. The minimum qualifying score was not prescribed so low that it jeopardized the quality of the service required nor so high that it was restrictive to the extent that it jeopardized the fairness of the SCM system.

(3) Responded to in (1) above.

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