Questions and Replies

Reply:

No monies have as yet been recovered from any:

a) persons or

b) companies, awarded

i) contracts.

ii) No tenders were adjudicated since the prescripts of the Public Finance Management Act (PFMA) were not applied.

This arises from the fact that legal processes to recover funds are still underway.

aa); bb); aaa); bbb) and cc) do therefore not apply.

Reply:

1. (a) The pre/post-test scores differ according to the topics handled per week

in different clusters across the provinces. There is generally improved teacher performance after the topics are discussed during the cluster sessions.

(b) The pre/post-tests are mainly targeting teachers and not subject advisors.

(2) Teachers achieving less than 80% will be identified and support will be provided during the implementation during the week. Heads of Department in schools and Subject Advisors in districts are expected to assist these teachers through Classroom Support Visits to deepen their content knowledge to be provided that week.NW4161E

Reply:

The Department of Basic Education (DBE) constantly monitors progress on the implementation of its infrastructure projects and the associated expenditure.

For projects implemented under the Accelerated Schools Infrastructure Delivery Initiative (ASIDI) Programme, the DBE Project Managers, together with the Programme Support Unit (PSU) that consists of professionals from the built environment, review performance on a monthly basis through the National Steering Committee Meetings. The PSU, via its Provincial Co-ordinators, undertakes project site visits to assess progress, to view problems and gather information. Where needed, they facilitate meetings between project partners to provide advice where possible, share experiences/good practices and provide specialist advice about contract and construction management issues.

For schools implemented by Provincial Education Departments (PEDs) utilising the Education Infrastructure Grant (EIG) Funds and their Provincial Equitable Share, the DBE receives progress reports from each PED on a monthly basis and reviews them during the Infrastructure Heads of Education Department Committee (HEDCOM) Sub-com Meetings and provides guidance and assistance to PEDs on technical and project management matters so as to ensure timeous completion of their school infrastructure projects and to improve the expenditure of their allocated budget.

Reply:

1) 

Subject	Total Re-mark	% Re-mark	Adjusted Upward	% Upward	Adjusted Downward	% Downward	Remain Unchanged	% Unchanged
Accounting	2901	2.31	1561	53.81	698	24.06	642	22.13
Afrikaans First Additional Language	3608	4.39	1973	54.68	827	22.92	808	22.39
Afrikaans Home Language	2574	5.27	1731	67.25	355	13.79	488	18.96
Afrikaans Second Additional Language	41	0.22	34	82.93	5	12.20	2	4.88
Agricultural Management Practices	18	1.11	6	33.33	7	38.89	5	27.78
Agricultural Sciences	254	0.33	178	70.08	42	16.54	34	13.39
Agricultural Technology	15	2.13	5	33.33	2	13.33	8	53.33
Arabic Second Additional Language	24	8.86	9	37.50	11	45.83	4	16.67
Business Studies	3448	1.67	2158	62.59	788	22.85	502	14.56
Civil Technology	137	1.49	74	54.01	33	24.09	30	21.90
Computer Applications Technology	864	2.18	598	69.21	124	14.35	142	16.44
Consumer Studies	576	1.51	256	44.44	155	26.91	165	28.65
Dance Studies	18	3.31	9	50.00	1	5.56	8	44.44
Design	56	2.62	42	75.00	1	1.79	13	23.21
Dramatic Arts	181	2.20	98	54.14	12	6.63	71	39.23
Economics	1494	1.09	916	61.31	390	26.10	188	12.58
Electrical Technology	79	1.48	26	32.91	5	6.33	48	60.76
Engineering Graphics and Design	974	3.67	398	40.86	184	18.89	392	40.25
English First Additional Language	3559	0.82	2344	65.86	984	27.65	231	6.49
English Home Language	5522	5.25	4355	78.87	674	12.21	493	8.93
French Second Additional Language	37	7.26	4	10.81	5	13.51	28	75.68
Geography	3144	1.34	2063	65.62	624	19.85	457	14.54
German Second Additional Language	47	8.68	10	21.28	22	46.81	15	31.91
Hebrew Second Additional Language	4	14.29		0.00		0.00	4	100.00
History	1844	1.6	1313	71.20	321	17.41	210	11.39
Hospitality Studies	144	1.71	77	53.47	19	13.19	48	33.33
Information Technology	470	10.19	257	54.68	86	18.30	127	27.02
IsiXhosa First Additional Language	16	0.78	11	68.75		0.00	5	31.25
IsiXhosa Home Language	46	0.06	19	41.30	20	43.48	7	15.22
IsiXhosa Second Additional Language	11	13.10	4	36.36	3	27.27	4	36.36
IsiZulu First Additional Language	109	0.72	64	58.72	16	14.68	29	26.61
IsiZulu Home Language	216	0.16	123	56.94	65	30.09	28	12.96
Latin Second Additional Language	1	100.00		0.00		0.00	1	100.00
Life Orientation	59	0.01	26	44.07	6	10.17	27	45.76
Life Sciences	6564	2.33	3999	60.92	1795	27.35	770	11.73
Mathematical Literacy	2059	0.66	1142	55.46	538	26.13	379	18.41
Mathematics	9223	4.10	4904	53.17	2388	25.89	1931	20.94
Mechanical Technology	91	1.43	40	43.96	8	8.79	43	47.25
Music	89	5.10	44	49.44	27	30.34	18	20.22
Nautical Science	1	5.26	1	100.00		0.00		0.00
Physical Sciences	6828	4.08	3186	46.66	2099	30.74	1543	22.60
Portuguese Second Additional Language	2	2.78		0.00		0.00	2	100.00
Religion Studies	18	0.31	14	77.78	2	11.11	2	11.11
Sepedi First Additional Language	3	0.71	3	100.00		0.00		0.00
Sepedi Home Language	11	0.02	4	36.36	6	54.55	1	9.09
Sesotho Home Language	48	0.17	39	81.25	7	14.58	2	4.17
Sesotho Second Additional Language	6	3.45	4	66.67	1	16.67	1	16.67
Setswana First Additional Language	1	0.46	1	100.00		0.00		0.00
Setswana Home Language	63	0.18	43	68.25	14	22.22	6	9.52
Sport and Exercise Science	4	14.29	4	100.00		0.00		0.00
Tourism	487	0.42	299	61.40	101	20.74	87	17.86
Tshivenda Home Language	1	0.01		0.00		0.00	1	100.00
Visual Arts	252	3.66	159	63.10	11	4.37	82	32.54
Xitsonga Home Language	9	0.05	3	33.33	2	22.22	4	44.44

Source: Education mainframe as per 2 March 2015.

2

Process	Amount
Remarking	R80
Rechecking	R18
Viewing	R160

3. According to the Regulations Pertaining to the Conduct Administration and Management of the National Senior Certificate Examination (Regulation Notice No 371 in Government Gazette NO 37651, dated 16 May 2014) it articulates the legislation regarding re-marking and it allows indigent candidates to be exempt from paying fees for remarking, re-checking and viewing of script/s.

Candidates who have been exempted from the payment of school fees or attended a no-fees school, are exempt from the payment of the re-mark, re-check or fees for viewing of scripts.

Reply:

(a) The capacity of schools to accommodate children who are (i) slow learners and (ii) mentally challenged is progressively developed across the spectrum of schools in the system without considering geographical location. However, there are 169 special schools for learners with intellectual disability in the country, to which learners in rural areas also have access, in the country.

(b) The Department of Basic Education is progressively implementing the following programmes to support learners who are experiencing barriers to learning of whatever form in schools:

• Implementation of the Screening, Identification, Assessment and Support (SIAS) Policy to scale starting from 2015 through to 2018;
• Progressive Institutionalisation of Curriculum Differentiation; and
• The implementation of the Multi-grade Toolkit which started with the training of subject advisors in February 2015 and is being rolled out by Provincial Education Departments (PEDs) going forward.

Reply:

a) No tenancy agreement was signed. This was because the Occupancy Certificate was not issued. The Occupancy Certificate was not issued by the City of Tshwane because the bulk earthworks contract was terminated as a result of the forensic investigation which demonstrated that the contract was non-compliant with the Construction Industry Development Board (CIDB) regulations. Urgent effort and a process is underway to reinstate the bulk earthworks programme and pave the way for the Occupancy Certificate.

b) i); ii); iii) and iv) do not therefore apply.

 

Reply:

(a) The Minister of Small Business Development has not had any engagement with the Minister of Labour about amendments to the Labour Relations Act, Act 66 of 1995, to alleviate burdens on small businesses in respect of exemptions from existing provisions on dismissing employees.

(b) The Minister of Small Business Development has not had any engagement with the Minister of Labour about amendments to the Labour Relations Act, Act 66 of 1995, to alleviate burdens on small businesses in respect of exemptions the extension of collective bargaining agreements to small businesses which were not party to the agreement in terms of section 32 of the specified Act.

The department, however, has established a task team at the National Economic Development and Labour Council (Nedlac) level to engage on small business policy issues. These however, are not related to the issues raised by the honourable member.

Reply:

1. (a) The number of full service schools that:

(i) have enrolled learners with disabilities and /or barriers to learning, as well as,

(ii) learners with autism, per province, per district is available in the annexure.

(b) The percentage of full service schools that:

(i) have enrolled learners with disabilities and /or barriers to learning as well as,

(ii) learners with autism, per province, per district is available in the annexure.

2. None of the Full Service Schools employ nursing sisters.

3. The (a) number of educators trained at full service schools and (b) the percentage of educators employed at full service schools who are adequately trained to teach both learners with disabilities and/or barriers to learning and learners without disabilities and/or barriers to learning in respect of each province is indicated in the table below:

Province	Number of educators at full service schools	a) Number of Educators trained	b) Percentage
Eastern Cape	279	100	36
Free State	1195	300	25
Gauteng	2027	592	29
KwaZulu-Natal	1610	646	40
Limpopo	355	75	21
Mpumalanga	2879	752	26
Northern Cape	303	200	66
North West	1760	420	24
Western Cape	2851	200	7

4. The number of full service schools that have been equipped with (a) ramps, (b) proper ablution facilities for the Blind and the Deaf in respect of each province and district is represented in the table below:

Province	Number of Full Service Schools
Eastern Cape	4
Free State	2
Gauteng	7
KwaZulu-Natal	50
Limpopo	11
Mpumalanga	1
Northern Cape	1
North West	112
Western Cape	14
Grand Total	202

c) The number of full sevice schools that are equipped with desks adapted to the needs of learners in wheelchairs in respect of each province and district is not readily available.

d) The number of full sevice schools that are equipped with assistive devices for the Blind and the Deaf in respect of each province and district is not readily available.

Reply:

101 Schools were delivered in the 2014-15 financial year in the Eastern Cape. 46 Schools were delivered through the ASIDI Programme (Annexure A), and 55 (Annexure B) schools were delivered through the provincially driven programme. The delivered schools include new and replacement schools, refurbishments and additions.

Reply:

(1) (a) (i) The travel costs, between Gauteng and Cape Town, of the Minister of Small Business Development amounted to R159,353.32 in the 2014-15 financial year.

(ii) The Minister undertook 19 trips between Gauteng and Cape Town in the 2014-15 financial year.

(b) (i) (aa) The Minister’s hotel accommodation in Cape Town amounted to R47,354.20 in the 2014-15 financial year. This amount was incurred before the Minister’s accommodation arrangements, through the Department of Public Works, were finalised.

(ii) (bb) The department did not incur residential accommodation costs for the Minister in Pretoria during the 2014-15 financial year.

(2) (a) (i) The travel costs of the Deputy Minister of Small Business Development amounted to R104,937.00 in the 2014-15 financial year.

(ii) The Deputy Minister undertook 19 trips between Gauteng and Cape Town in the 2014-15 financial year.

(b) (i) (aa) The department did not incur hotel accommodation costs for the Deputy Minister in Cape Town and Pretoria during the 2014-15 financial year.

(ii) (bb) The department did not incur residential accommodation costs for the Deputy Minister in Cape Town and Pretoria amounted during the 2014-15 financial year.

Reply:

a) Mr Abdullah was initially placed at the Eastcape Midlands Technical and Vocational Education and Training College (EMC) in 2012 as a Support Chief Financial Officer by the South African Institute of Chartered Accountants (SAICA). At that stage, neither SAICA nor the Department were aware of the alleged irregularities or outstanding audit queries emanating from his previous employer, i.e. Coega Municipality.

Subsequent to his deployment, SAICA and the Department were made aware of potential contractual irregularities at EMC. SAICA, as his employer, appointed Pricewaterhouse Coopers to investigate these irregularities.

Mr Abdullah resigned from SAICA before the disciplinary process could proceed and was subsequently appointed by the former Principal of EMC as a Senior Resources Manager at the College.

This alleged irregular appointment formed part of the scope of the initial forensic investigation, but due to the court verdict indicating that the Department could not apply section 8 of the National Treasury Regulations, expenditure management, but instead had to follow section 46 of the Continuing Education and Training Act of 2006, as amended, the outcome of the irregular appointment could not be confirmed.

b) Mr Abdullah is still in the employ of the College Council as a Senior Resource Manager. His alleged irregular appointment will form part of the Terms of Reference of the new forensic investigation that is planned to be initiated with the College Council, before the end of the 2015/16 financial year.

 

 

 

Compiler/Contact persons:

Ext:

DIRECTOR – GENERAL

STATUS:

DATE:

REPLY TO QUESTION 3489 APPROVED/NOT APPROVED/AMENDED

Dr BE NZIMANDE, MP

MINISTER OF HIGHER EDUCATION AND TRAINING

STATUS:

DATE:

Reply:

The Department of Basic Education:

a) Red tape is not defined in any legislation but our understanding of Red tape is that is refers to rules, procedures and measures of a legislative of administrative nature that prevent or retard good administration, governance and service delivery.

b) The Department’s systems are fairly streamlined and there are no legislative or administrative measures that prevent or retard service delivery.

(bbb) Public Entities reporting to the Minister.

South African Council for Educators (SACE):

(a) "Red Tape", in the view of SACE, entails following rules, procedures and protocols appropriate to entities. It may, in some cases, be a time consuming process. Unless the rules are changed officially, processes cannot be speeded up. Therefore, a motivation is required for rule change consideration.

(b) (i)(aa) The Council has sub-committees which meet regularly (at least six times per annum) and make recommendations to the Executive Committee who takes decisions on behalf of the Council. The Executive decision is implemented unless revoked by Council.

(b)(ii)(bb) The Council has delegated the operational powers to the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) who has delegated approval powers to the Chief Operations Officer and Chief Financial Officer to ensure immediate processing without delay. This allows Council to process all operational matters including procurements, filling of posts and payments immediately, when the need arises.

Umalusi:

(a) Failing a definition of “red tape”, Umalusi is not in a position to respond to the parliamentary question in a definitive way.

(b)(ii)(bb) As a quality assuror, Umalusi has its own policies and systems, and where it is found that policies or systems renders work cumbersome, then those policies and systems are reconsidered for amendment to ease the flow of work.

Reply:

(1) (a) R11 061 519.27

(b) 2006

(2) (a) R6 727 497.66

(b) R3 051 216.16

Reply:

(1)(a)(i)	(1)(a)(ii)	(1)(b)(i)(aa)	(1)(b)(i)(bb)	(1)(b)(ii)(aa)	(1)(b)(ii)(bb)
R207 079.83	31	-	-	-	-
(2)(a)(i)	(2)(a)(ii)	(2)(b)(i)(aa)	(2)(b)(i)(bb)	(2)(b)(ii)(aa)	(2)(b)(ii)(bb)
R237, 593.25	52	R 6 383.79	R 153 430.59	-	-

 

 

Reply:

(1) (a) 1 062 new products were launched during the period November 2006 to February 2014. No data is available for the period before November 2006.

(b) (i) Since inception to February 2014 there were 25268 personnel directly employed by companies applying for the R&D tax incentive in conducting R&D..

(ii) Data is not available for the number of job opportunities created during the period 1st April 2005 to 31 March 2012. This is not one of the reporting parameters set by section 11D(17) whicht states that the Minister of Science and Technology must annually submit a report to Parliament advising Parliament of the direct benefit of the research and development in terms of economic growth, employment and other broader government objectives and the aggregate expenditure in respect of such activities without disclosing the identity of any person. Furthermore section 11D(13) states that a taxpayer carrying on research and development approved under subsection (9) must report to the committee annually with respect to the progress of the research and development and the extent to which that research and development requires specialized skills.

Reply:

(1) The non-functionality of Cradock Wastewater Treatment Works (WWTW) is attributed to the Water Service Authority functions transitioning from InxubaYeThemba Local Municipality to Chris Hani District Municipality, as it has been the case since 2014. This has been an inheritance of financial burdens which has adversely affected the whole operation and maintenance at the plant and at the sewage pump stations.Payments to maintenance service providers had been delayed as such some arms of the plant (motors, aerators, pumps, etc) that have since broken down and have not been repaired or replaced.

These are now attended to and the Cradock WWTWwill be fully repaired and will function at an optimum level in due course.

(2) My Department has taken steps to notify and request the Municipality to take corrective steps in rectifying the pollution of the Great Fish River water resource caused by the
non-functionality of Cradock WWTW and its associated sewer network infrastructure.

The following are amongst a number of steps taken by my Department:

• Firstly, my Department issued a non-complianceletteron 2 April 2013 informing the Municipality about the poor quality effluent discharged and the incorrect disposal of the sewage sludge from the Cradock WWTWs, copy of letter attached as Annexure A.

• Secondly, officials from my Department’s Provincial Office: Eastern Capeconducted aninvestigation on 1 August 2014 into the allegedpollution and it was revealed that pollution still persists. Therefore,myDepartment issuedanother non-compliance letter to the Municipalityon 11 August 2014 regarding pollution incidents entailing sewage spillages from manholes in Cradock, copy of letter attached as Annexure B/
• Thirdly, myDepartment also served the Municipality with non-compliance letter on 25 September 2014 following another site inspection that was conducted on
  16 September 2014 informing the Municipality about poor quality effluent discharged by the Cradock WWTWs and requesting the Municipality to submit an action plan taken by the municipality in rectifying the situation within 14 days.
• Thefourth interaction was a meeting that was held between Chris Hani District Municipality, Great Fish Water User Association,InxubaYeThemba Local Municipality and myDepartment at the Municipal Offices in Cradock on 10 February 2015 ,refer to attached Annexure C for minutes with actions and attendance register).

The aim was to further engage and persuade the Chris Hani DM as Water Services Authority to take action and correct the poor quality effluent being discharged by the Cradock WWTW into the Great Fish River. In this meeting the Municipality indicated the challenges (as mentioned in (1) above) promising to attend to the challenges with a detailed written response by 16 February 2015 as requested by myDepartment as was done even in previous communiqués, refer to attached Annexure D for the minutes of the .

It should be noted that there has not been any written response as yet from the Municipality after these engagements.

During the last inspection which was conducted on 12 August 2015, the presence of the Contractor on site was noted on site repairing some of the various arms of theWWTW.

(3) Table 1below is the summary of the effluent quality discharged by the (a) Cradock Wastewater Treatment Works and the (b) Great Fish River, downstream of the discharge point from the Cradock Works:

Table 1

Sampling Dates	Cradock WWTW	Downstream of Cradock WWTW
July 2012	0 cfu/100ml	58 cfu/100ml
August 2012	66 cfu/100ml	128 cfu/100ml
September 2012	7 500 cfu/100ml	86 cfu/100ml
October 2012	0 cfu/100ml	400 cfu/100ml
January 2013	2 cfu/100ml	7 000 cfu/100ml
March 2013	10 cfu/100ml	3 400 cfu/100ml
April 2013	0 cfu/100ml	4 400 cfu/100ml
May 2013	7 200 cfu/100ml	420 000 cfu/100ml
June 2013	520 cfu/100ml	164 cfu/100ml
May 2014	0 cfu/100ml	24 000 cfu/100ml
June 2014	0 cfu/100ml	24 000 cfu/100ml
September 2014	35 000 cfu/100ml	1 900 cfu/100ml
December 2014	37 000 cfu/100ml	40 000 cfu/100ml
February 2015	390 000 cfu/100ml	710 cfu/100ml
June 2015	4 600 000 cfu/100ml	42 000 cfu/100ml
August 2015	108 cfu/100ml	294 cfu/100ml

It should be noted my Department also done water sampling in August month for both Cradock WWTWs and the Great Fish River, downstream of the discharge point from the Cradock Works and the results are 108 cfu/100ml and 294 cfu/100ml respectively.

(4) No, the Department has not taken any plans to upgrade the WWTWs. The dysfunctional elements of the WWTWsare largely due to the lack of operation and maintenance at the WWTW and reticulation infrastructure, which if properly managed will render the works effective in its treatment of the sewage received.

The Upgrading of the WWTW would not seem to benecessary at this point unless further major developments are anticipated in the area. However, the Water Service Authority is currently attending to these repairs.

(4)(a) Falls Away.

(4)(b) Falls Away.

(5)(a) The current capacity of the plant is 8.3 mega litres per day.

(5)(b) The currently inflow is 5.6 mega litres per day average.

 

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Reply:

National Treasury currently has 1.2% of employees disclosed as persons with disabilities against the total staff compliment.

In some instances, the Department is experiencing challenges with existing employees not willing to register their status, in that not every employee who is a person with a disability is comfortable to disclose such. There is an initiative in the Department to encourage disclosure and remove the stigma.

In addition, the National Treasury engages various organisations supporting persons with disabilities and has forwarded vacant positions to be included in their newsletters and / or websites to encourage applications from the target group. The Department’s engagement with tertiary institutions has also highlighted that there is a limited number of persons with disabilities studying in the fields required by the Department.

Reply:

(1) Yes ,my Department is monitoring the quality of water in the Great Fish River.

(1)(a) Through sampling of the water quality.

(1)(b) Monitoring is conducted on a quarterly basis.

(2) Yes, it is part of River Health Programme.

(3) My Department has issued a number of regulatory actions to the polluters. Action such as Non compliance notice and Pre-Directive are issued. Whilst Chris Hani District

Municipality (CHDM) did attend to some of the issues and did provide an action plan, this plan was not detailed enough to address the non compliances.

(4) The last compliance inspection was conducted on 16 September 2014 and was not in good condition. A non-compliance letter and a pre-directive were issued. Further meetings were held to discuss the status of the system.

(5) At the July 2015 site visit it was observed that repairs were being conducted to a horizontal aerator and to one of the two circular clarifiers. Two of the vertical shaft aerators were in operation and eleven of the horizontal shaft aerators were defunct and in various states of disrepair. The two inclined screw pumps were out of order and appeared to be partly dismantled or under repair. NW3823E

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Reply:

1) A floating exchange rate is an important part of the design of macroeconomic policy which allows the economy to adapt to changing global circumstances. A weaker currency can stimulate exports. The speed with which exports can grow in response to a weaker rand, however, is influenced by how high and how quickly domestic costs rise in response to the weaker rand, the pace of growth in major markets and supply side factors.

In an environment of weaker economic growth, it is imperative that policy supports the competitiveness of local business. The inflation targeting framework helps to anchor inflation expectation in the face of volatility. Continued government investment in infrastructure aims to lower the cost of doing business and increase the competitiveness of South African business. Furthermore, Government has a range of incentives in place to support economic growth and exports. The Department of Performance Monitoring and Evaluation (DPME) and / or the specific ministries involved (DTI, DMR, DAFF, EDD, DoT) can provide further details.

2) As South Africa is a price taker in international markets, there’s no evidence that the weakness of the rand has affected the terms of trade at this stage. The rand’s weakness is providing support to exports. To date, the knock-on impact of higher imported goods prices on inflation has been relatively low, although this remains a risk that the South African Reserve Bank is monitoring closely as it follows its mandate to keep inflation within the target band.

Reply:

Government has in place a clear performance monitoring system, which is headed by the Department of Planning, Monitoring and Evaluation. This system seeks to identify progress towards implementation of the NDP through the goals operationalized in the Medium Term Expenditure Framework, and the key obstacles to achieving these goals. Cabinet receives regular report backs from the Clusters in order to highlight performance against targets and where interventions are necessary.

Government also recognises the importance of consultation in order to identify policies and regulations which are negatively impacting on economic growth and job creation. The Presidential Business Working Group (PBWG), which consists of senior Government and Business representatives, to promote the identification of problems and finding solutions in areas such as: regulatory impact on investment; education and skills development; labour market; infrastructure; and inclusive growth.

The work of the PBWG has led to improved turnaround times at the Company and Intellectual Property Commissions; implementation of the Socio-Economic Impact Assessment (SEIAS), development of a set of regulatory principles, implementation of One Environmental System, alignment of water licensing regime with environmental impact assessment and mining licensing regime among other achievements.

The introduction of SEIAS, which came into effect as of 1 July 2015, will seek to proactively address problems. The SEIAS process seeks to improve the quality of legislation; reduce the unintended consequences of new laws and regulations; and better align regulations with Government’s priorities such as inclusive growth, social cohesion and poverty alleviation.

A set of regulatory principles that will define and characterise all regulations in South Africa has been developed. These will be implemented once approved by Cabinet. This would include ensuring that the objectives and purposes of regulation are clear and unambiguous, maximise efficiency and effectiveness, reduce the cost of doing business, and that regulation is administered in a manner which minimises unnecessary cost, complexity and duplication. The regulatory principles will complement the SEIAS in improving the quality and implementation of legislation.

Engagement are ongoing and concerted efforts are being put in place to address some of the key challenges affecting investors such as immigration regulations, challenges with energy supply and policy uncertainty in the mining sector. Government remains committed to ensuring that South Africa remains attractive for investment and the regulations and polices do not negatively affect the country’s developmental aspirations envisioned in the NDP.

Reply:

1. Yes, the Blue Drop System does show that during the period when InxubaYethemba Local Municipality (LM) was in control, the number of samples which were taken were higher (430 per year) than when Chris Hani DM was in control (122 samples per year). The quality compliance improved though in terms of turbidity (from 47,1% to 85,1%) and ecoli(from95% to 100%) since Chris Hani DM took over. The challenge currently is on the billing system as users have not been getting their accounts on services of the InxubaYethemba LM since Chris Hani DM took over the Water Services Provider (WSP) function. The turnaround time to repair leaks is still a challenge, but there is constant intervention from the Department through the Rapid Response Unit(RRU). Unfortunately, it cannot be said that the water service has improved since the Chris Hani DM took over.
2. There is currently no funding dedicated for the aging and inadequate infrastructure but the technical support is provided.
3. The Chris Hani DM purchased standby generators for both main water and main sewer pump stations which are currently the subject of the dispute with the service provider. According to Chris Hani DM, the dispute is on the verge of being resolved with the service provider.
4. Yes, there are ongoing interventions on a call down basis through the RRU and Operation and Maintenance O&M technical support.
5. The latest Blue Drop score is 71%.

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Reply:

1. The dti fully recognises the challenges that women face in society and in the economy. The department recognises that women tend to face more barriers that hinder them from contributing meaningfully and effectively to the country’s economic aspiration of becoming a globally competitive industrial economy. It is for this reason that one of the objectives of our industrial policy is to promote increasing participation of previously marginalised citizens and regions in the mainstream industrial economy.
2. Currently, the dti does not have any collaboration or joint projects with the Department for Women in the Presidency. The department is, however, open to such collaborations should the opportunity arise.
3. The dti continues to provide a wide range of measures aimed at supporting women entrepreneurs and increasing their participation in the economy. Our wide range of incentives provides support to entrepreneurs and industrialists, including women. These incentives include those that support women entrepreneurs (e.g. Export Marketing and Investment Assistance Scheme, National Exporter Development Programme, Film, Incubation), women students and researchers (THRIP and SPII) and job placement of women graduates (ITUKISE). Some selected achievements include the placement of 645 women graduates in jobs through ITUKISE Programme in 2015; employment of over 14 700 women through the Business Processing Services incentives in 2015; supporting 574 women-owned companies through EMIA between 2011 and 2014; supporting 351 women-owned companies through the Exporter Development Programme between 2013 and 2015. To date, THRIP has supported 585 female students and 335 women researchers. However, the dti recognises that more can be done and, indeed, more will be done.
4. When the President established the Department for Small Business Development, some of the functions of the dti were transferred to the new Department. Women and Gender Programmes, together with all responsible officials and business units, were also transferred.
5. However, the dti has since established a new Women Empowerment Chief Directorate to drive women empowerment. A Chief Director has been appointed and has started to develop women empowerment programmes and initiatives. Once these programmes and initiatives have been finalised and concretised, we will gladly share them with you and the public.

 

Reply:

(1) According to the World Investment Report released by United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) in June 2015 aggregate global Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) inflows declined by 16% in 2014 as a result of the continued uneven and weak recovery of the global economy after the 2008 Global Financial Crisis. Not surprisingly, South Africa was also impacted and FDI inflows slowed from US$8.3 billion in 2013. The fdi report 2015 by fdi intelligence which tracks investment projects also reports a decline in greenfield fdi projects globally.

Nevertheless, South Africa still attracted a substantial US$ 5.7 billion in 2014. By comparison, Nigeria attracted US$ 4.6 billion, Mozambique US$4.9 billion, Kenya US$ 900 million and Mauritius US$ 418 million. In 2014, South Africa was again the largest recipient of FDI on the African continent. South Africa remains an attractive investment destination as per the latest Ernest and Young attractive destination survey launched in June 2015. According to the EY survey South Africa remains the top destination in Africa for fdi projects. Over the past five years South Africa received twice as many fdi projects as any African country. Multinationals have affirmed South Africa as a regional manufacturing hub and have retained and expanded their investments in new plants. Companies such as Unilever have invested R 4 billion in expansions, upgrades and new plants in South Africa.

In addition to South Africa being a destination for FDI, we are now also a leading source of FDI on the African continent. As this Government has stated on many occasions, our domestic market is simply too small to – on its own – sustain high economic growth rates over the long-term. The African continent is now widely acknowledged as the next growth frontier and South Africa is in the fortunate position of having identified the growth opportunities in Africa many years ago already.

This is why our trade policy prioritises regional development through the Southern African Development Community (SADC); the Tripartite Free Trade Area (T-FTA) signed in June 2015 in Sharm el-Sheikh and the Continental Free Trade Area (C-FTA).

These Agreements do not only open the door to South African exporters. They also provide investment opportunities for companies owned by South Africans or domiciled in South Africa.

Companies such as Vodacom, MTN, SAB-Miller, Standard Bank, Pick n Pay, Shoprite-Checkers, Woolworths, Nando’s and mining companies are just a few of the many South African brands which have become instantly recognisable across Africa. These investments partly account for FDI outflows from South Africa and show the extent to which South African entrepreneurs and companies have become serious participants in the global economy. In most cases, these outward investments draw on their South African value-chains, expertise and financial resources.

These outward investments are positive and should be celebrated. Market opportunities are arising as Africa’s population urbanises and consumer demand grows off a low base in many African countries. We encourage our firms to seize these opportunities, noting that their ability to do so is precisely because they are able to leverage off the financial resources and market successes in South Africa.

Such investments by South African companies contribute to Regional Integration, Infrastructure Development and Industrialisation of the African such as Scaw Metals investment in Ghana.

 

(2) President Zuma during the State of the Nation Address (SONA), 12th February 2015 announced a nine point plan to push the economy forward, ignite growth and create jobs. Government is also committed to improving the investment climate and ease of doing business. Also announced during the SONA was the establishment of a one stop Inter-Departmental Clearing House to attend to investor complaints and problems. the dti has given effect to the Inter- Departmental Clearing House and has established a dedicated division for investment promotion, facilitation and aftercare. Specialised capacity is been added that will fast track, unblock and reduce red tape in Government. Investors are encouraged to contact the dti investment unit for this clearing house service.

Reply:

(a) No, the Southern and East African Consortium for Monitoring Education Quality (SACMEQ) IV assessment report has not been received by the Minister from the SACMEQ Coordinating Centre (SCC) which manages the release of scored data for each participating country.

(b) The SACMEQ IV achievement results will be made available to the public once the SACMEQ Ministers, the managing structure of SACMEQ, have received and endorsed the assessment reports at the Tenth Session of the SACMEQ Assembly of Ministers on 27 November 2015 in Botswana.

Reply:

(1) How many applications by (a) educators and (b) non-educators employed by provincial departments of education are still awaiting processing for (i) incapacity leave and (ii) ill-health retirement in each province?

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

The table below captures the number of educator and non-educator applications for i) incapacity and ii) ill health retirement per province.

Outstanding Incapacity Leave and Ill-Health Retirement Applications- Jan 2006 - May 2015
PED	Educators	Non-teaching Staff
	Incapacity Leave	Ill-Health Retirement	Incapacity Leave	Ill-Health Retirement
EC	12 375	126	2 924	8
FS	1 682	11	577	0
GP	140	1	35	2
KZN	6 929	6	1 556	2
LIM	1 943	6	219	1
MP	3 198	96	498	5
NC	1 579	8	631	0
NW	873	5	191	4
WC	2 444	4	443	5

(2) with reference specifically to employees of each provincial department of education, what is the (a) average and (b) maximum time that lapses between the date of application and the date of processing the application for (i) incapacity leave and (ii) retirement on the grounds of ill-health;

Details on the turnaround times regarding the processing of applications are currently not available nor collected in the normal process of monitoring by the Department. This information will be requested from the provinces and will be provided accordingly.

(3) (a) why is there a backlog in respect of the processing of incapacity leave and applications for retirement on the grounds of ill-health, (b) what is being done to address the backlog in each province and (c) by when will the backlog be cleared;

(a) The processing and finalisation of an application for incapacity leave involves many steps and procedures and involves various entities, that is, the employer, the employee, the Health Risk Manager and Health Practitioners. It also involves the submission of various documentation. Delays, mainly administrative, can happen at any stage of the process thus leading to backlogs.

b) The Department of Basic Education (DBE) decided, as part of the plan to address underlying pressures that affect quality teaching and learning, that the nature and extent of backlogged PILIR cases be examined and resolved through direct involvement with Provincial Education Departments (PEDs). The DBE visited all PEDs to discuss the nature and extent of backlogged PILIR cases; discussed challenges and possible ways of resolving the blockages and formulated a management plan to resolve the backlogged PILIR cases. Subsequently, the DBE draws reports from PERSAL to monitor whether the management and administration of PILIR is improving. These reports are shared with the PEDs.

(c) The administrative and infrastructure complexities within Provinces prevent the PEDs from providing a definitive deadline as to when all backlogs will be cleared. This is a continuing process that has the commitment of all PEDs.

(4) has she made the Minister of Public Service and Administration aware of the backlogs; if not, why not;

The Minister of Basic Education has been communicating regularly with the Minister of Public Service and Administration (MPSA) since January 2013, informing her of the growing backlogs and their impact on the sector. This included explaining that, due to the imperative that there must be a teacher in every classroom, the PEDs have to appoint substitute teachers whilst teachers were sick for long periods, and this was exerting further pressure on already stretched compensation budgets.

(5) has the Minister of Public Service and Administration communicated any action that he has taken in respect of the specified backlogs; if so, what are the relevant details?

No direct response to the Minister of Basic Education has been received from the Minister of Public Service and Administration with respect to PILIR backlogs. However, the Department of Public Service and Administration communicates regularly with all government departments on PILIR matters through circulars to all Heads of Department.

Reply:

1. Whether teachers have the capacity to deal with cases of (a) gender-based violence and (b) rape in schools;

The Department of Basic Education (DBE) has several programmes that coalesce to provide a comprehensive response to gender-based violence. These programmes have been institutionalised in the Curriculum and Assessment Policy Statements (CAPS) in the Life Orientation Curriculum across all grades and bands. The Department uses a human rights-based approach to address gender-based violence. Following are some of the programmes that the Department is undertaking in its response in dealing with gender based violence:

The Bill of Responsibilities (BOR): “Building a culture of humanity and accountability in schools”

This programme, which is captured as Rights and Responsibilities in the Life Orientation Curriculum, includes gender rights. The programme is supported by a Bill of Responsibilities that is premised on the Bill of Rights that each right comes with corresponding responsibilities. The programme is further supported by a teacher training manual that provides the content and activities for teachers to teach about rights and responsibilities. The programme has been supported by other Departments and many of our partners, including Faith-Based Organisations. Thus far all provinces have received training in the Bill of Responsibility.

Training of Master Trainers on Gender-Based Violence

During 2014/15, the Department undertook a national training programme targeting master trainers. The purpose of this training was to enable them to identify and respond to Violence against Women (VAW) and Violence against Children (VAC), including Gender-Based Violence (GBV), using the revised training manual called Opening Our Eyes. About 400 master trainers were reached. The training touched on the following topics:

• Gender-based violence: an introduction;

• Dealing with hate crimes at schools;

• Responding to situations of sexual abuse;

• Recognising harassment and taking action;

• Gender and HIV – the link;

• Educators as facilitators of healing;

• A school policy on GBV; and

• A whole school approach on GBV.

Challenging Homophobic Bullying in Schools

The Challenging Homophobic Bullying in Schools guide explains what homophobic bullying is and what teachers, parents and learners can do to make schools safer for all learners. It provides clear and simple steps that teachers and learners can take in challenging homophobic bullying in schools. Distribution of the manual has been done to all provinces, with the purpose to further deliver to schools.

The Department has completed training provincial master trainers on the roll out of the National School Safety Framework. The master trainers will cascade the training to schools.

2. Whether her department has any plans in place to employ social workers in schools to deal with the learners who are the victims of gender-based violence and rape; if not, why not; if so, what are the relevant details;

Currently a limited number of social workers and psychologists have been employed by some Provincial Education Departments at district level. The Department of Basic Education is in the process of developing integrated norms for funding, staffing and infrastructure for inclusive education, including psycho-social support. These norms are aimed at ensuring an equitable distribution of these scarce resources in each district to serve the needs of learners with specialised needs in ordinary, full-service and special schools. It is recommended that support services be based at district level. These services will include support to victims and survivors of violence, including gender-based violence, in schools. The Department plans to complete the norms by March 2016 for incremental implementation up to 2019.

(3) What other mechanisms does her department have in place in order to inform learners and teachers about steps to take in instances where rape or sexual assault by a fellow learner or learners takes place?

Speak Out Against Abuse

The Department has developed an advocacy programme for learners that inform them of their rights and the course of action if they are sexually harassed or raped. The advocacy programme is supported by a comprehensive and learner friendly handbook entitled “Speak Out” Youth report sexual abuse-A handbook for learners, on how to prevent sexual abuse in public schools. The advocacy programme utilises school dialogues and role-playing to address gender-based violence in schools.

Prevent Violence in Schools Training focuses on enabling and supporting learners to take action to prevent violence in their own schools. About five hundred (500) master trainers have been trained across all provinces and they will, in turn, train learners. The following were the topics covered during training:

• Introduction to prevent violence in schools;

• Understanding violence;

• Gender Based Violence;

• Analysing violence;

• Reporting violence;

• My school, my reality; and

• Taking action.

 

Reply:

The final Regulations to the Spatial Planning and Land Use Management Act, 2013 were gazetted on 23 March 2015 as per Regulation Gazette Notice No 10397. As required in terms of Regulation 37, the commencement date for the regulations will be published in the government gazette.

 

Reply:

The Department is not involved in research regarding the new nuclear build programme in the country since the nuclear technology option/choice is yet to be decided on. However, there are existing initiatives in support of nuclear energy industry that the Department of Science and Technology (DST) is involved in for the development of know-how and technologies in the nuclear technologies fields.

These include the Nuclear Engineering Research Chair at North West University; Carbon Materials and Technology Chair at the University of Pretoria; Advanced Materials Initiative (AMI); South African Nuclear Human Asset Research Programme (SANHARP); Masters in Accelerator and Nuclear Science (MANUS) and Masters in Material Science (MatSci) programme, involving the University of Zululand, the University of the Western Cape and iThemba Labs.

The focus of the work is as follows:

• Nuclear safety, which includes radiation effects of mining and routine discharges of Koeberg nuclear power station and also radiation standards and regulations;
• Nuclear materials beneficiation;
• Carbon technologies research with emphasis on nuclear graphite technology to support nuclear power generation;
• Reactor technology research on modelling and simulation of nuclear reactors and their associated power plants and process applications. These models are applied in the analysis, design and optimisation of pressurised water reactors and high temperature reactors;
• Nuclear project management, nuclear energy economics; and
• Collaborative research on system analysis of passive safe small modular high temperature gas cooled reactors.

Reply:

1. Extrapolated from the National School Violence Study of 2012 (released in 2013) amongst randomly selected secondary schools from all provinces (of which the sample comprised of 5939 learners, 121 principals and 239 educators),

(a) 12, 2% had been threatened with violence by someone at school;

(b) 6. 3% have been assaulted;

(c) 4, 7% had been sexually assaulted or raped;

(d) in terms of the National School Violence study of 2012, an overall of 49,8% of learners claimed to have been caned or spanked by an educator or principal.

Provincial rates of corporal punishment ranged from 22.4% to 73.7%, with the highest levels of corporal punishment observed in KwaZulu-Natal (73.7%).

When assessing the rates per province, the data shows increases as well as decreases in the rates of corporal punishment by schools across the country.

Increases in the use of corporal punishment over the past four years were noted for Mpumalanga (rates increased from 43.6% in 2008 to 63.5% in 2012), the Eastern Cape (rates increased from 58.5% in 2008 to 66.9% in 2012), KwaZulu-Natal (rates increased from 48.7% in 2008 to 73.7% in 2012) and the Western Cape (rates increased from 17.1% in 2008 to 22.4% in 2012).

The most significant decrease in the rates of corporal punishment reported by learners was observed for Gauteng, with rates dropping from 61% in 2008 to 22.8% in 2012.

The use of corporal punishment as a means of discipline was also less frequently reported in Limpopo, the Free State, the North West and the Northern Cape in the 2012 wave of the study.

While the difference between male and female learners was not significant, males (50.4%) did report fractionally higher levels of corporal or physical punishment than female (49.4%) learners

(2) The Early Warning System (currently referred to as the National School Safety Framework) was approved in April 2015 and the training of Provincial Master Trainers commenced on 1 June 2015 and was completed on 27 August 2015. The roll out of school-based training workshops by the trained Provincial Master Trainers will commence in January 2016. Therefore no statistical data is available regarding implementation in (a) provinces and (b) district.

(3) The Partnership Protocol between Department of Basic Education and South African Police Services (SAPS) is still valid and schools linked to local police stations are collaborating with police officials in terms of combatting crime and violence in schools.

(4) Training workshops conducted by Information Management Systems are currently underway (a) in provinces and (b) districts on the utilization of the South African School Administration and Management System (SA-SAMS) to report on behavioural transgressions, crimes and violence.

(5) As part of the Partnership Protocol between the Department and SAPS 16603 (verified data) schools have been link to local police stations and established School Safety Committees.

Reply:

(1) (a) Yes.

(b) 1145

(c) R57 284.34

(d) (i) 134

(ii) 0

(2)(a),(b) If persons do not meet the definition of the relevant legislation and or if they fall outside the qualifying threshold of R5000.00 gross income in terms of ESTA Regulations or a Means Test.

(3) Same response as Question 2 above.

(4) Yes.

 (a) Same response as in Question 2 above.

 (b) The Department relies on the judgement of Nkuzi Development Association and the Government of the Republic of South Africa.

(5) No.

Reply:

 

1. Training workshops for provincial master trainers on the National School Safety Framework (NSSF) have been conducted in all nine provinces in collaboration with the Centre for Justice and Crime Prevention (CJCP), supported by UNICEF. These workshops started on 27 June and were completed on 27 August 2015;

In respect of each province and each district, (a) Provincial Coordinators for School Safety were responsible for the identification and selection of the relevant trainees at provincial and district levels. The Trained Master Trainers are obligated to roll out school-based training workshops in all schools (b) starting at the beginning of 2016, which will (i) include training for school governing bodies, (ii) senior management teams and (iii) other relevant educators and support staff;

2. The NSSF is located within a range of international and national laws and policies that recognize the safety of learners and educators as a prerequisite for quality teaching and learning. In terms of provinces and districts the following minimum standards have been identified (a) minimum school-level policies and procedures are implemented and enforced; safety audits are undertaken annually; safety plans are formulated, adopted, submitted and revised annually; consistent engagement with community structures and actors; school safety teams are established and functional; Codes of conduct have been formulated, adopted and implemented; reporting and response systems are developed, utilised, and reviewed continuously; and referral systems and networks are established and functional,

3. In terms of the NSSF risk assessments have to be conducted at school-level after which school safety plans have to be drawn up and executed. As mentioned the roll out of the NSSF will commence in 2016 and with respect to provinces and districts, (a) schools must conduct risk assessments twice per annum to be used internally to identify risks and threats in terms of violence in schools and to draft a school-based Safety Plan (b) and forward these School Safety Plans (i) to the relevant district (School Safety Coordinator) and provincial (School Safety Coordinator), (ii) it is expected that from the school safety plans provinces will be able to identify the prevalence and trends of incidences of violence and work collaboratively with schools, districts and all relevant stakeholders to address violence in schools. (ii) the risk assessments implemented at a school-based level and are internally used to determine risks and threats and to develop programmes to address specific issues related to violence. .

NW4055E

Reply:

Through district offices, the Department of Rural Development and Land Reform (DRDLR) on receipt of such notifications always attempts to negotiate a settlement using internal capacity by calling upon affected parties and stakeholders such as relevant Municipalities to find a solution. If these internal interventions fail, external assistance through the Land Rights Management Facility is sought either for further mediation and or litigation. Depending on the outcome, DRDLR may negotiate an on or off farm settlement for occupiers in terms of section 4 of the Extension of Security of Tenure Act, 1997 (Act No. 62 of 1997).

Reply:

(1) and (2) After years of international isolation because of Apartheid policies, South Africa was accepted into the global community with the onset of democracy in 1994. Responding to these new opportunities was a strategic imperative of the new democratic government in order to build mutually beneficial regional and global relations to advance South Africa’s trade, industrial policy and economic development objectives. All the working visits detailed below in Annexure A were undertaken in support of this strategic imperative; which in turn yielded a number of notable outcomes.

For further detailed information regarding the working visits and these outcomes, the Honourable Member is advised to consult the dti Annual Report 2013/2014 and several previous Parliamentary Questions on the same matter.

Reply:

(a) The National Department in terms of the Constitution as well as relevant policies and legislation is not directly responsible for the programme and project planning, prioritisation and implementation of National Housing Programmes, as contained in the National Housing Code.

The mandate to plan and implement human settlements and housing projects in terms of the various National Housing Programmes vests with the nine Provincial Governments and the Municipalities. The various community organised protests, as they may be related to human settlements and housing, are therefore by and large organised and directed to local municipalities and/or the provincial departments. There are isolated cased community protests that are directed to national department offices.

(b) Each human settlement development project is unique and requires tailored and specific planning and design to meet the prevailing circumstances and housing specific needs and priorities. The Provinces and Municipalities endeavour to follow a balanced, integrated and developmental approach in the targeting of the most vulnerable households that require housing assistance. This means that projects will, where possible and required, be designed to accommodate predetermined percentages of households from the diversity of the housing backlog in an area, including households residing in informal backyard rental units, who wish to relocate to permanent ownership housing financed properties when such becomes available.

(c) The upgrading, relocation and redevelopment of informal settlements remains a priority developmental objective of Government. The Provinces allocate the majority of the annual Human Settlement Development Grant (HSDG) allocation for informal settlement upgrading projects and the Government remains committed to improve the lives of our communities who are residing in these areas on a priority basis. In the case of the Metropolitan Municipalities, the Department during the 2011/12 financial year introduced the Urban Settlements Development Grant with the object of prioritisation of funding allocations for land development and servicing aimed at households residing in informal settlements. The first phase intervention under the National Housing Programme for the Upgrading of informal Settlements is the identification of provision of emergency services needs and the design and deployment of such emergency services to curtail any health and life threatening situations.

A fundamental objective of the Informal Settlement Upgrading Programme is the participation, involvement and consultation with targeted communities in all aspects of the planning and implementation of their housing development solutions.

(d) The Department and the nine provincial human settlement departments and the metropolitan municipalities are collaborating in the planning and implementation of priority development areas. The Department is furthermore conducting quarterly performance reviews in collaboration with the provinces and municipalities to ensure that planned targets are pursued and to address any constraints where such is encountered.

(e) The Department has recently initiated an enhanced housing programme for the provision of assistance to households who are able to access mortgage finance and the rollout of the programme was aided by the important role that was fulfilled by the National Housing Finance Corporation as the National Programme Management Agent. The Department is furthermore continuously monitoring the implementation of the National Housing Programme in collaboration with the private sector and further enhancements to the programme are already in an advance stage of development.

Reply:

The Department of Human Settlements transfers the allocations for grants to nine Provinces and eight Metropolitan Municipalities. The Department does not transfer allocations for any grant to district municipalities as implied in the Honourable member’s question.

 

During the 2014/15 financial year, the department withheld the Municipal Human Settlements Capacity Grant (MHSCG) to six metropolitan municipalities until such time that Metropolitan Municipalities had demonstrated that they had spent this conditional grant for the purpose for which it was intended as envisaged in the relevant prescripts, in particular the Division of Revenue Act (DORA).

In actual fact Honourable member, the grant referred to in the question is not the only one giving my MECs and I sleepless nights. The misuse of the Urban Settlement Development Grant (USDG) is also worrisome. We need to review the grants framework to address serious anomalies. To illustrate my point, the USDG was introduced as a conditional grant to ensure the provision of bulk connector, link and internal services; well-located land and public amenities because we realised that these plagued the optimum performance of the human settlements sector. Metropolitan municipalities spend the USDG on other things such as roads, street lighting and social facilities when there are still bulk infrastructure constraints. This is frustrating to say the least.

The Honourable should be interested how this grant is used by the City of Cape Town allocated the USDG funds for 2014/15 financial year as indicated below:

Description	Allocated Budget	% Total Available Funds	Spent by Municipality	% Spent	Variance	% Unspent
	R’00		R’00		R’00
Electricity	231 698	14.1	189 286	81.7	42 412	18.3
Solid Waste Management	50 000	3.0	50 000	100.0		0.0
Water and Sanitation	195923	11.9	182 885	93.3	13 038	6.7
City Parks	30 595	1.9	24 797	81.0	5 798	19.0
Sport, Recreation and Amenities	41 636	2.5	34 423	82.7	7 213	17.3
Library and Information Services	23 644	1.4	23 644	100.0		0.0
Assets Management and Maintenance (Transport)	262 765	16.0	195 118	74.3	67 647	25.7
City Health Sub Districts	7 467	0.5	7 391	99.0	76	1.0
HS Development & Delivery	120 608	7.3	97 695	81.0	22 913	19.0
HS Planning and National Housing Programmes Development	419 900	25.5	416 727	99.2	3 173	0.8
Public Housing and Customer Services	42 674	2.6	27 853	65.3	14 821	34.7
HS Urbanisation	92 332	5.6	79 003	85.6	13 329	14.4
Disaster Risk Management	5 500	0.3	5 492	99.9	8	0.1
Spatial Planning and Urban Design	1 230	0.1	1 230	100.0		0.0
Provincial Allocation	49 048	3.0	49 048	100.0		0.0
Project Pre-Planning	68 405	4.2	24 964	36.5	43 441	63.5
Human Settlements - Title Deeds	500	0.0	343	68.6	157	31.4
Project Managemnet	1 500	0.1			1 500	100.0
VAT			72 031		- 72 031
Total	1 645 425	100.0	1 481 930	90.1	235 526	14.3

 

In summary, the table indicates the following:

• From the R1.6 billion total allocated budget, Human Settlements Planning is allocated a larger portion of R419.9 million or 25.5% whereas 99.2% of those funds were spent. The expenditure is attributable to land purchase amounting to R416.7 million.
• The second highest allocation is on Assets Management and Maintenance at R262.8 million or 16% of the total allocated budget of which only 74.3% of those funds were spent.
• At least four of the services spent 100% of their budget at year end i.e. Solid Waste Management, Library/Information Services, Spatial Planning/Urban Design and Provincial Allocations.

We are required intervene to ensure that we provide the much needed houses for our people. I will certainly not abdicate my responsibilities by not acting when funds are not spent in line with the DORA. Not a cent from the USDG should be used for amenities or stadium construction while housing infrastructure is lacking or in some cases is non-existent.

Reply:

(i) & (ii) The Department and the entities who report to the Minister of Human Settlements define red tape to, inter alia, include:

• Excessive regulation or rigid conformity to formal rules that are bureaucratic, and hinder or prevent action or decision-making. This includes the collection or sequence of forms and procedures required to gain bureaucratic approval for something, that is complex and time-consuming, to be addressed as per prescribed procedures
• Series of actions or complicated tasks that seem unnecessary but that a government or organization requires you to do in order to get or do something;
• Processes that are onerous to navigate when one is trying to get some service, usually from Government.
• Certain legislative and policy compliance aspects and processes being too excessive when dealing with various compliance matters which are aligned to and is complemented by founding legislation and organisational policies governing specific processes of Government.

(b)(i)(aa) &b (ii)(bb) The following specific interventions and/or systems have been implemented to identify and reduce red tape in the department and the entities reporting to the Minister and include:

• The Department and entities interact with officials and have meetings with those especially involved in transactions. The minutes are kept of these meetings as a record of discussions and resolutions taken; when excessive problems are apparent they are escalated to senior management or even to board members;

• Entities including NHFC utlilize their own internal qualified personnel, but also has access to external resources when required. They have efficient administrative processes to avoid delays; they also communicate with the officials within the Department and National Treasury to get clarity on what is required (where applicable) if there is uncertainty; others utilise processes that are prescribed in terms of the Public Finance Management Act, 1999 (Act No. 1 of 1999) and the Treasury Regulations to address matters if they are unnecessarily protracted;

• The CSoS utilizes a dispute Resolution Model to receive and resolve complaints on an end-to-end basis. They also make use of an Enterprise Resource Planning system which includes facilities for self-service / self-tracking of complaints lodged. This system allows citizens to keep track or the progress on their particular cases and complaints, monitor the turn-around times, as well as register and escalate complaints where the service provided is slower than promised;

• The EAAB continuously embarks on stakeholder awareness activities and educational programmes, they have optimised certain processes by creating online options and electronic means for stakeholders to use in their interactions with the entity; other processes employed to protect the interests of the consumer, include internal control measures, regulations, policy and other procedures as defined by legislative and policy prescripts;

• The SHRA support in capacitating Social Housing Institution’s and making social housing projects ready for awarding the Restructuring Capital Grant is regarded as an intervention in identifying and reducing red tape.

• The HDA has all the necessary policies and procedures in place to ensure the smooth, complaint and on-going delivery of targets, systems as envisaged in the Public Finance Management Act and complementary legislation are employed.

 

Reply:

1. (a), (b) and (2)

The categories of nurse and midwife specialists and production is covered in the template provided below depicting Universities and Public Colleges that offered such specializations.

UNIVERSITIES
NURISNG EDUCATION INSTITUTIONS	PROGRAMME	YEAR OBTAINED
		2010	2011	2012	2013	2014	TOTAL
CPUT	Clinical Nursing Science, Health Assessment,	15	12	1	12	1	41
	Treatment and Care	0	0	0	0	0	0
	Occupational Health Nursing	28	21	28	21	0	98
	Oncology	12	6	0	12	6	36
	Nursing Administration	39	20	0	20	39	118
UNIVERSITY OF PRETORIA	Nursing Education	6	10	19	10	19	64
	Nursing Administration	8	23	84	25	78	218
	Community Nursing	28	43	117	28	100	316
	Operating Theatre Nursing	10	3	14	3	12	42
	Nursing Science: Neonatal Nursing	0		27	0	0	27
	Advanced Psychiatric Nursing	7	3	8	9	8	35
UNIVERSITY OF STELLEBOSCH	Advanced Psychiatric Nursing	14	13	14	12	13	66
	Nursing Administration	8	61	18	12	25	124
	Clinical Nursing Science, Health Assessment,	58	142	58	34	45	337
	Treatment and Care	0	0	0	0	0	0
	Nursing Education	42	26	59	42	36	205
TUT	Occupational Health Nursing	62	99	25	35	24	245
	Oncology	23	10	14	13	20	80
							0
	Nursing Administration	54	25	46	34		159
UNIVERSITY OF VENDA	Nursing Administration & Community Health	23	16	15	23	26	103
	Psychiatric Nursing	15	31	73	34	13	166
UNISA	BA Cur Health Science Education & community	18	63	164	45	32	322
	Specializing in Occupational Health
	BA Cur Health Science Education & Health Service	7	36	42	48	23	156
	Management
	Health Science Education, Community Health Nursing	58	48	36	40	41	223
WITS UNIVERSITY	Nephrology Nursing	6	10	13	10	8	47
	Nursing Education	1	2	10	5	7	25
	Nursing Administration	5	1	8	5	6	25
	Trauma & Emergency Nursing			1			1
	Occupational Health	11	4	0	0	0	15
KZN UNIVERSITY	Clinical Nursing Science, Health Assessment,	3	24	70	68	73	238
	Treatment and Care
	Nursing Administration	55	42	25	38	40	200
DURBAN UNIV OF TECHNOLOGY	Clinical Nursing Science, Health Assessment,	3	1	1	7	8	20
	Treatment and Care
NELSON MANDELA METROPOLITAN	Nephrology Nursing	9	11	15	14	19	68
UNIVERSITY	Nursing Education	0	3	0	0	0	3
	Critical Care Nursing	4	5	7	6	3	25
	Advanced Midwifery& Neonatal Nursing Science	4	8	7	9	5	33
	Clinical Nursing Science, Health Assessment,	2	5	8	9	9	33
	Treatment and Care
	Advanced Psychiatric Nursing	1	3	5	2	1	12
	Nursing Administration	5	8	9	5	12	39
UNIVERSITY OF FREE STATE	PSYC (880)	6	5	6	6	6	29
	PSYC (212)	3	7	3	2	3	18
	Occupational Health Nursing	32	26	29	24	23	134
	Clinical Nursing Science, Health Assessment,	80	25	44	45	40	234
	Treatment and Care
	Child Nursing Science	12	14	2	8	12	48
	Critical Care	8	4	4	6	5	27
	Advanced Midwifery& Neonatal Nursing	7	17	9	9	6	48
	Operating Theatre	17	14	5	7	9	52
	Nursing Administration	81	15	22	26	23	167
	Nursing Education	10	15	10	15	17	67
POTCHEFSTROOM UNIVERSITY	Nursing Management	50	141	21	34	22	268
	Nursing Education	82	23	23	26	25	179
UNIVERSITY OF JOHANNESBURG
	Diploma: Clinical Nursing Science, Health Assessment,	13	10	9	13	15	60
	Treatment and Care
	Advanced Midwifery & Neonatal Nursing Science	2	14	7	3	6	32
		12	35	26	19	20	112
	Occupational Health Nursing	22	35	31	25	32	145
	Nursing Administration	13	38	16	17	20	104
	Nursing Education	12	14	15	18	16	75
	Community Health Nursing	5	6	1	8	5	25
	Medical & Surgical Nursing Science Critical care	1	1	5	7	6	20
	Psychiatric Mental Health Nursing Science	2	1	1	3	4	11

NURSING COLLEGES

NURSING EDUCATION INSTITUTIONS	PROGRAMME	YEAR OBTAINED
		2010	2011	2012	2013	2014	TOTAL
NET CARE EDUCATION	Critical Care Nursing: General	12	6	7	13	10	48
	Operating Room Nursing	8	9	11	11	14	53
	Trauma and Emergency Nursing	14	17	4	4	18	57
SG LOURENS NURSING COLLEGE	Psychiatric Nursing Science	15	17	19	32	10	93
	Clinical Nursing Science, Health Assessment	32	29	28	89	45	223
	Treatment & Care
BARAGWANATH NURSING SCIENCE	Nephrology Nursing Science	12	10	3	25	15	65
	Child Nursing Science	12	12	6	30	30	90
	Critical Care Nursing: General		35	8	43	34	120
	Ophthalmic Nursing Science	16	13	5	34	15	83
	Trauma and Emergency	21	13	3	37	22	96
	Oncology Nursing Science	6	12	2	20	13	53
	Operating Theatre Nursing Science	17	20	2	39	17	95
	Orthopeadic Nursing Science	17	10	6	33	28	94
	Clinical Nursing Science, Health Assessment	45	23	5	73	56	202
	Treatment & Care
	Advanced Midwifery & Neonatal Nursing	35	25	16	76	23	175
FREE STATE COLLEGE	Critical Care Nursing	11	12	10	15	15	63
MCCORD HOSPITAL SCHOOL OF NURSING	Clinical Nursing Science, Health Assessment	45	38	43	42	36	204
	Diagnosis, Treatment & Care
LILITHA COLLEGE OF NURSING	Ophthalmological Nursing Science	9	12	10	10	16	57
	Orthopeadic Nursing Science	12	8	13	11	14	58
LIFE COLLEGE	Operating Theatre Nursing	6	4	9	13	8	40
	Emergency Nursing	19	13	10	29	12	83
	Critical Care Nursing: General	5	14	10	19	13	61
KZN COLLEGE OF NURSING	Critical Care Nursing Science	15	15	15	15	15	75
	Child Nursing Science	14	14	14	14	14	70
	Orthopeadic Nursing Science	15	15	15	15	15	75
	Midwifery & Neonatal Nursing Science	24	24	24	24	24	120
	Child Nursing Science	16	16	16	16	16	80
	Ophthalmic Nursing Science	15	15	15	15	15	75
ANN LATSKY NURSING COLLEGE	Clinical Nursing Science, Health Assessment	61	59	44	53	41	258
	Treatment & Care
GA-RANKUWA	Midwifery & Neonatal Nursing Science	35	32	36	23	20	146
	Child Nursing Science	30	21	20	12	23	106
	Operating Theatre Nursing	20	18	12	12	16	78
	Critical Care Nursing: General	18	12	12	16	15	73
	Clinical Nursing Science, Health Assessment	18	16	27	30	23	114
	Treatment & Care

SUMMARY PRODUCTION OF SPECIALIST NURSES: NURSING COLLEGES

PROGRAME	2010	2011	2012	2013	2014
Advanced Midwifery& Neonatal Nursing Science	94	77	76	123	67
Advanced Psychiatric & Mental Health Nursing Science	15	17	19	32	10
Child Nursing Science	72	63	62	54	62
Clinical Nursing Science Health Assessment Treatment & Care	201	165	147	287	201
Community Nursing Science	0	0	0	0	0
Critical Care General	61	94	69	121	108
Critical Care Trauma	0	0	0	0	0
Critical Care Trauma & Emergency	14	17	4	4	18
Nephrology Nursing Science	87	36	16	81	55
Nursing Administration	0	0	0	0	0
Nursing Education	0	0	0	0	0
Occupational Health Nursing Science	0	0	0	0	0
Oncology Nursing Science	6	12	2	20	13
Operating Theatre Nursing	51	51	34	86	100
Ophthalmological Nursing Science	24	27	25	25	72
Orthopaedic Nursing Science	27	23	28	26	73

SUMMARY PRODUCTION OF SPECIALIST NURSES: UNIVERSITIES

PROGRAME	2010	2011	2012	2013	2014
Advanced Midwifery& Neonatal Nursing Science	13	39	50	21	17
Advanced Psychiatric & Mental Health Nursing Science	48	63	110	68	48
Child Nursing Science	12	14	2	8	12
Clinical Nursing Science Health Assessment Treatment & Care	169	219	182	238	176
Community Nursing Science	62	73	136	84	126
Critical Care General	13	10	16	19	14
Critical Care Trauma	0	0	0	0	0
Critical Care Trauma & Emergency	0	0	1	0	0
Nephrology Nursing Science	15	21	28	24	27
Nursing Administration	290	366	260	225	263
Nursing Education	162	125	218	139	136
Occupational Health Nursing Science	155	185	113	105	79
Oncology Nursing Science	35	16	14	25	26
Operating Theatre Nursing	27	17	19	10	21
Ophthalmological Nursing Science	0	0	0	0	0
Orthopaedic Nursing Science	0	0	0	0	0

(3) (a) Yes, the University of Johannesburg and University of Pretoria;

(b) A total of 310 since 1 January 2009, however, this programme has been discontinued after it was identified that there were no Regulations related to the offering of such programme. It should also be noted that candidates who underwent such training were duly registered based on Council resolution.

END.

Reply:

1. (a) In the NHI Pilot Districts 16 clinics and 5 CHCs will be built in accordance with the relevant infrastructure plan.

(b) The clinics are located as follows: Limpopo Province (Magwedzha, Makonde, Mulenzhe, Thengwe and Kutama), Free State Province (Borwa, Clocolan and Lusuka) and Eastern Cape Province (Lusikisiki, Sakhele, Nolita, Genqe, Lutubeni, Maxwele, Lotana and Nkanga). The CHCs are located in Mpumalanga (Mkhondo, Msukaligwa, Nhlazatshe 6, Vukuzakhe, Balfour).

(c) Relevant timeframes for building clinics range from 12 to 18 months.

2. (a) The Department of Health is busy with the repair and upgrade of Primary Health Care (PHC) facilities in the Pilot Districts of the NHI programme. The first phase currently of the programme includes the implementation of a multi-disciplinary building condition technical assessment and to establish the status-quo of the relevant services and installations, recommend appropriate remedial interventions, where required, prioritise these in terms of criticality, and determine the associated cost estimates. This will put the Department in a position to appoint contractors to do repairs to PHC facilities and to plan any facility upgrades and/or replacements within annual allocated funding.

(b) The Department intends to repair and upgrade all the health facilities in the NHI pilot districts to a set standard.

(c) Relevant timeframes for the refurbishment of each clinic can range from 1 to 12 months.

END.

Reply:

1.  Ms. Joyce Mogale was appointed as the full-time CEO of the NHLS on the 28th of August 2015.

2.  Three officials were involved with the recruitment process, namely Mr Andre Venter and Dr Devanand Moonasar – in their capacity as Members of the Board of the NHLS, and Ms Malebone Precious Matsoso in her capacity as an independent technical expert;

3.  Ms. Matsoso attended the second round of interviews, but provided no instruction to the Selection Panel. Ms. Matsoso as the Director-General: Health did not participate in any discussion or process that resulted in a preferred candidate being identified.

The process of appointing the CEO of the NHLS was as follows:

The NHLS placed an advert in the Mail and Guardian for a CEO on a 5-year contract in November 2015. The NHLS board determined that a selection panel would oversee the recruitment process, from the short-listing through to interviews and making a recommendation to the NHLS board on a preferred candidate. Mr. Andre Venter as the chair of the Finance Committee of the NHLS and a NHLS Board member was appointed as a member of the selection panel.

Both Mr. Venter and Dr Moonasar participated in the shortlisting process. During the shortlisting 8 candidates were identified as meeting the requirements as advertised.

A first round of interviews was conducted. The panel established constituted the selection panel as well as any other board members who were available. Both Mr. Venter and Dr Moonasar participated in the first round of interviews.

The result of the first round of interviews was that the top 4 candidates were called in for a second round of interviews. In addition to the selection panel members, any NHLS board member who was available was invited to participate in the interviews.

In the second round, the Director-General: Health (Ms MP Matsoso) was the only official from the NDOH that participated. Mr Venter (due to ill health) and Dr Moonasar (prior commitments) did not attend.

Ms Matsoso’s role was only to provide an external assessment of the candidates, and upon completion of the interviews she excused herself from the process. The Selection panel, after the departure of Ms Matsoso, consolidated the scores of each candidate.

The selection panel made a recommendation to the NHLS Board, that the top 2 candidates are subject to a proficiency assessment. Following which, a teleconference was convened to inform all those present during the second round interviews of the outcome of the proficiency testing. Ms Matsoso and Mr. Venter participated in this teleconference.

Following the disclosure of the results of the proficiency test, Ms. Matsoso informed the NHLS chairperson, that her role was complete and asked to be excused. The Chairperson thanked Ms Matsoso for her contribution and confirmed that she was excused. Once Ms Matsoso was excused, the selection panel deliberated on the interview and proficiency results. A recommendation was then drafted and tabled to the NHLS board at the meeting held on the 29th of July 2015. Mr. Venter participated in the in drafting of the recommendation.

The NHLS board mandated the NHLS Chairperson to inform the Minister of Health of the outcome of the selection process. Both Mr. Venter and Dr Moonasar participated in the Board meeting in their capacity as Board Members of the NHLS.

The Minister of Health duly noted the outcome and was satisfied that the Board had followed a fair and rigorous process. As such, the Minister supported the recommendation of the NHLS Board to appoint Ms. Mogale as the CEO of the NHLS on a 5-year contract.

END.

Reply:

1. (a) A total of 127,830 tests were conducted from October 2013, the time the Department of Health got involved with the management of TB in Correctional Services, until August 2015. Those confirmed with TB were 6,273 (4.9%) of whom, 263 (4.2%) had MDR-TB. The yearly breakdown is indicated in the Table below.

(b) There are 8 Management Areas with the highest number of inmates with TB disease. The list of these management areas by region are shown in the table below.

Region	Department of Correctional Services Management Areas with highest number of inmates infected with TB
Eastern Cape	St Albans
	Mthatha
Free State	Groenpunt
Northern Cape	Kimberly
Gauteng	Kgoši Mampuru
	Johannesburg
KZN	Durban Westville
	Pietermaritzburg
Western cape	Pollsmoor
	Allandale

(2) The Department of Health, in collaboration with the Department of Justice and Correctional Services, has conducted infection risk assessments in selected correctional facilities to determine the risk for the spread of TB infection. There is routine screening of inmates for TB. Inmates with TB are isolated until they are non infectious. Inmates are also provided with education/information about TB, including information on how TB is spread and the symptoms of TB.

(3) Information about inmates with TB is contained in relevant TB registers kept at the respective correctional facilities.

(4) The National Department of Health developed “Guidelines for the Management of Tuberculosis (TB), Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) and Sexually Transmitted Infections (STIs) in Correctional Facilities” and were launched by the Deputy President in March 2013.

(5) The following interventions are implemented in correctional facilities to combat tuberculosis and MDR-TB:

1. Infection control measures;
2. Preventive therapy is provided to inmates who are at high risk of developing the TB disease, especially those living with HIV;
3. Screening all inmates for TB at least twice a year and testing those with TB symptoms using GeneXpert;
4. All inmates with TB are retained on treatment until completion;
5. Inmates living with TB and HIV are initiated on ARVs.

END.

Reply:

Patients with Tuberculosis are diagnosed and started on treatment in all public sector hospitals and clinics as well as 154 facilities in the private sctor and 243 owned by the South African Military Health Services and NGOs. Patients with MDR and XDR TB are treated in 9 specialised central hospitals and 298 decentralised sites and 272 satellite sites. There are also 150 injection teams that manage some of the patients at home (on an ambulatory basis).

END.

Reply:

(a), (b), (c) and (d) Honourable Member, the final target for MDGs is end of September 2015. The United Nations General Assembly is meeting then to finalise and release the final results for each country. You may have to be a bit patient until that final moment. But generally the United Nations is of the view that MDGs 4, 5 and 6 are going to be included in the new Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

END.

Reply:

1.  Public Hospitals use the following regulations as stipulated in the National Health Act No. 61 of 2003 to dispose of foetuses:​

(i)   ​R. 177 Regulations relating to the use of human biological material Section 2. In terms of section 68 of the Act, - regulates who should remove human biological material from health institutions.

(ii)   R. 180 Regulations regarding the general control of human bodies, tissue, blood, blood products and gametes, Section 68(1) – regulates handling of deceased bodies/human biological material.

(iii)  R. No. Regulations relating to health care waste management in health establishments – the Environmental Health Directorate within the National Department of Health has developed the above mentioned regulation and it has just been approved.

2.  (a)-(b) Contracted companies for disposal of foetuses in both public hospitals and abortion clinics are:

Province	Company
Eastern Cape	Compass Waste Management Services
Free State	Solid Waste Management Services
Gauteng	Buhle Waste Management Services
KwaZulu-Natal	Compass Waste Management Services
Limpopo	Buhle Waste Management Services
Mpumalanga	Buhle Waste Management Services
North West	Buhle Waste Management Services
Northern Cape	Tshenolo Waste Management Services
Western Cape	Solid Waste Management Services

3.   (a) The Department of Health is currently guided by the following regulation:

• R. 180 Regulations regarding the general control of human bodies, tissue, blood, blood products and gametes section 68 (1) in conjunction with section 90 of the National Health Act stating

“Any person who acquires the body of a deceased person or any tissue, blood or gamete by virtue of any provision of the Act and these regulations, shall, subject to any restrictions in terms of the Act or any other law and provided she or he uses the body, tissue, blood or gamete for the purposes for which it has been donated, handed over or supplied to her or to him, on receipt of that body, tissue, blood or gamete acquire exclusive rights in respect thereof.”

(b)  The National Health Research Ethics Council (NHREC) is a statutory body established in terms of The National Health Act (NHA) to set norms and standards for conducting research on humans, to monitor and institute appropriate disciplinary actions in cases of violation of ethics and human rights. It monitors ethical conduct in research, including the use of fetuses for experimental purposes. Section 72(7) particularly makes provision for “clinical trials” which includes experiments involving human subjects for research purposes. (NHA s 73(1)) requires that every organisation/institution, health agency and health establishment at which health and health-related research involving human participants must have access to a registered Human Research Ethics Committee (REC) that review research involving human participants must be assessed and register with the NHREC (NHA s 73(1)). The NHA (s 72(1)) requires that proposals to conduct ‘health research’ must undergo independent ethics review before the research is commenced.

• Section 3.3.5 of the 2015 Ethics Guidelines relates to Restrictions on collection of biological materials. The document highlights certain persons who are specially protected. The guidelines explains that without Ministerial permission, biological materials may not be taken from mentally ill persons; biological materials that are not naturally replaceable may not be taken from a minor; no gametes may be taken from a minor; and no fetal biological material except for umbilical cord progenitor cells may be collected from anyone. These restrictions are absolute which means that research with the categories of person mentioned requires special permission. RECs must satisfy themselves that the necessary special permission has been obtained, where appropriate.

Furthermore, the Department has established a National Health Research Database (NHRD) to register and monitor all research being conducted in the country. All research studies have to be approved by the Ethics committee and registered in the database before commencement.

END.

Reply:

The Southern African Large Telescope (SALT) is an international facility with South Africa holding a 33% share. In 2012, the SALT Board resolved to start a R75m Development Fund for the purpose of providing the resources necessary for continued development of the telescope and its instruments. Each of the partners in the telescope consortium had committed to pay a pro-rata share of the fund in proportion to its shareholding in the telescope and the contributions are meant to be made by May 2016. South Africa’s contribution amounts to R25m and this amount has already been paid. To date approximately R33m, both in-kind and in cash, has been received from the SALT partners, and this matter is raised at each meeting of the SALT directors. The DST is using its bilateral inter-governmental engagements with the relevant countries to solicit higher levels of government support to the respective consortium partners so that they may contribute their outstanding share to the development fund. In addition, the DST and NRF are actively seeking new partners to extend and recapitalise the consortium.

Reply:

1. (a)-(c) The latest data for maternal mortality ratio was published in 2013, by the Medical Research Council in the Rapid Mortality Surveillance Report. The maternal mortality ratio in 2011 was estimated to be 197 per 100,000 live births.

The National Committee on Confidential Enquiries into Maternal Deaths monitors maternal deaths that occur within health facilities. The most recent data from this Committee is reflected below.

Institutional Maternal Mortality Ratio (Saving Mothers report 2011-2013)

	PROVINCE	2011	2012	2013
	Eastern Cape	164.74	153.71	172.73
	Free State	246.84	149.34	185.08
	Gauteng	136.44	163.67	114.99
	KwaZulu-Natal	197.60	170.19	146.54
	Limpopo	196.40	192.89	201.21
	Mpumalanga	199.74	177.39	150.25
	North West	173.05	164.80	168.48
	North West	193.62	166.53	158.32
	Western Cape	62.64	81.81	83.91
	South Africa	174.56	157.81	153.50

2. Yes the causes are known through the work done by National Committee on Confidential Enquiry into Maternal Death (NCCEMD) established by the Minister of Health.

a) The main causes of Maternal Mortality according to the latest NCCEMD triennial, 2011-2013 report are as follows:

• HIV/AIDS which accounts for 50% of the deaths;
• Obstetric Hemorrhages;
• Hypertension;
• Health professional training;
• Health system strengthening

(b) Interventions to address the main causes of maternal deaths being implemented include:

(i) Option B plus to eliminate mother to child transmission of HIV

This policy was adopted and implemented from 01 January 2015. The policy stipulates that all HIV pregnant and breastfeeding women must be initiated on lifelong antiretroviral treatment (ART) for the prevention of mother to child transmission of HIV and their own health regardless of CD4 count and on diagnosis.

(ii) Essential Steps in the Management of Obstetric Emergencies (ESMOE) and Emergency Obstetric Simulation Training (EOST)

• ESMOE are trainings for doctors and midwives to improve their skills to manage, among others, hemorrhage and hypertension and are currently being done in all facilities rendering maternity care;
• EOST are fire drills to simulate the real obstetric emergency situations to refine and reinforce the clinical skills;
• To date, 1937 doctors and 5110 professional nurses have been trained on ESMOE. This has led to a 30% decline in maternal mortality due to improved health care providers’ skills in the management of mothers, neonates and children in the districts that we have conducted ESMOE training in;

(iii) Community mobilization efforts

• Mom-Connect services which is an electronic cellular system to give health messages to pregnant women to help them access care early in pregnancy as well as post delivery. Currently over 508 000 women have been registered and receive weekly messages about their pregnancy and care for the infant post delivery;

(iv) Efforts of Health System Strengthening

• The District Specialist Teams (DCST’s) include specialists in maternal, newborn and child care, have been appointed in all 52 districts. This team is responsible for clinical governance within all public facilities and specifically focusing on Maternal Neonatal and Child Health;

​(v) Efforts to address access to services

• Maternity waiting homes: Currently there are 81 maternity waiting homes + 18 on site beds nationally;
• Nationally there are 241 dedicated obstetric ambulances to improve access to health facilities;

(vi) Family planning

The launching of the family planning campaign in 2014 and introduction of sub-dermal implant as a long term method of family planning had a positive impact on family planning practices. The Couple Year Protection Rate has improved from 37.7% in F/Y 2013/2014 to 52.7% in F/Y 2014/15. Improvement of family planning strategies assists in preventing unwanted pregnancies as well as teenage pregnancies which may lead to maternal mortality.

END.

Reply:

We are indeed aware of the findings. This investigation was in fact initiated by the National Department of Health. The investigations you refer to forms part of a more holistic assessment of the project. The initial phase of the investigation, focussed on technical issues, has been concluded. The team is now busy with an assessment of procedural and contractual issues. For obvious reasons, we cannot at this stage discuss the detail of the findings, as this will jeopardise the balance of the investigation.

END.

Reply:

1. (a) ADVANCED QUALITY ONE STEP ANTI-HIV (1&2) Test (InTec Products Inc): Used for screening;

          (b) ABON HIV 1/2/O Tri-Line Human Immunodeficiency Virus Rapid Test (ABON Biopharm Hangzhou Co., Ltd): Used for confirmatory;

     2. No, the specified test kits are not from the same manufacturer as specified below:

ADVANCED QUALITY is used for screening and ABON is used for is used for confirmatory. ADVANCED QUALITY is supplied by 2 suppliers because it is used for screening and needed in large quantities, while ABON is supplied by another different supplier and is from a different manufacturer.

END.

Reply:

a)  A total of 309 Xpert instruments of varying sizes (GX4: 110; GX16:190; GX48: 3; GX80:8) have been placed in 221 sites. The placement includes seven Correctional Service facilities and six mobile vans.

b)  The Table 1 below reflects the details in this regard

Province and District	GX4	GX16	Infinity GX48	Infinity GX80	Total
Eastern Cape	15	27		2	44
Alfred Nzo		4			4
Amathole	3	6		1	10
Cacadu	3	1			4
Chris Hani	3	5			8
Nelson Mandela Bay Metro		2		1	3
O.R Tambo	3	4			7
O.R. Tambo		3			3
Ukhahlamba	3	2			5
Free State	8	10		1	19
Fezile Dabi		2			2
Lejweleputswa	6	1			7
Motheo	2			1	3
Thabo Mofutsanyane		6			6
Groenpunt Correctional Facility		1			1
Gauteng	12	28		2	42
City of Johannesburg	5	8		1	14
City of Tshwane	3	8			11
Ekurhuleni	2	3		1	6
Sedibeng		3			3
West Rand		6			6
Westrand	2				2
Kwazulu-Natal	34	49	1	1	85
Amajuba	1	2			3
eThekwini	9	13		1	23
iLembe	2	4			6
Sisonke	4	3			7
Ugu		4			4
uMgungundlovu	1	6			7
Umkhanyakude	4	4			8
Umzinyathi		4			4
Uthukela	3	3			6
Uthungulu	8	2	1		11
Zululand	2	4			6
Limpopo	15	25			40
Capricorn	1	7			8
Greater Sekhukhune	1	5			6
Mopani	3	4			7
Sekhukhune	2				2
Vhembe	2	5			7
Waterberg	6	4			10
Mpumalanga	4	14		1	19
Ehlanzeni	2	6		1	9
Gert Sibande	2	3			5
Nkangala		5			5
North West	6	16			22
Bojanala Platinum	3	4			7
Dr Kenneth Kaunda (Southern)	2	5			7
Dr Ruth Segomotsi Mompati (Bophirima)	1	3			4
Ngaka Modiri Molema (Central)		4			4
Northern Cape		3			3
Frances Baard		2			2
John Taolo Gaetsewe (Kgalagadi)		1			1
Nothern Cape	2	3			5
Namakwa	2				2
Pixley ka Seme		1			1
Siyanda		2			2
Western Cape	16	13		1	30
Cape Winelands		4			4
City of Cape Town	11	5		1	17
Eden	3	3			6
Karoo		1			1
West Coast	2				2
Grand Total	112	188	1	8	309

END.

Reply:

(1) The Department has identified 17 districts as TB hotpsots for enhanced intervention (See Table 1).

Table 1: TB hotspots

Province	TB Hotspots Districts
Eastern Cape	Buffalo City
	Cacadu
	Chris Hani
Free Sate	Lejweleputswa
Gauteng	Johannesburg Metro
	West Rand
KwaZulu Natal	eThekwini
Limpopo	Sekhukhune
	Waterberg
Mpumalanga	Ehlanzeni
North West	Bojanala
	Dr Kenneth Kaunda
Western Cape	City of Cape Town
	West Coast

(2) The following criteria were used to identify TB hotspots:

1. Number of people diagnosed with TB (exceeding 5,000 per year);
2. Treatment success (below 80%);
3. Defaulter Rate (exceeding 6.2%);
4. Death Rate (exceeding 5.6%);
5. Transferred Out Rate (exceeding 2.4%);
6. Drug resistant TB burden;
7. High concentration of (especially gold) mining

END.

Reply:

Advanced Quality met all the specifications for award as per the advert. This included two pre-qualifications by the World Health Organisation (WHO).

END.