Questions and Replies

Reply:

Taxable (fringe) benefits are calculated under the Seventh Schedule to the Income Tax Act. The legislation makes provision for which benefits are taxable, how the value of the taxable benefit must be calculated, and circumstances when no value is placed on a particular benefit.

The tax consequences below are based on the benefits as granted under the Guide for Members of the Executive (Ministerial Handbook). SARS accepts that Ministers and Deputy Ministers (Members) generally utilise these benefits as prescribed in the Ministerial Handbook.

Accommodation (Paragraph 9 of the Seventh Schedule)

Ministers and Deputy Ministers (Members) are entitled to State-provided residential accommodation. They may be provided with either one or two residences (one per seat of office).

• If a member normally resides in his or her own residence, then any residence provided by the state will not attract a taxable value (no value).
• If one residence is provided by the State, and the Member relocates and resides at that residence, the Member is liable to fringe benefits tax on the rental value. The rental value is calculated in terms of a formula linked to the Member’s remuneration.
• Where two State-owned residences are provided, the Member must be taxed on the property with the highest rental value.
• Any rental payable by a Minister for a second residence, may be deducted from the taxable rental value calculated under the formula.

Electricity and Water (Paragraph 9 of the Seventh Schedule)

The Ministerial Handbook provides that Members are liable for all costs related to a private residence. However, should the State pay a member’s private residence utilities bill, a taxable benefit would arise.

Electricity, water, and other property-related utilities supplied to a member occupying a State-owned residence is included in the rental value of the taxable benefit arising from the use of the accommodation, as referenced above.

Security (paragraph 2(a) and 2(e) of the Seventh Schedule)

The State does not provide security upgrades to Members’ private homes, so no tax consequences arise.

Any security upgrades effected at State-owned residences, accrue to the State, not the Member occupying the premises, and so no taxable benefit arises.

Static security is provided to Members both at private residences designated as “official” and at State-owned residences.

• Static security at a private residence is a taxable benefit, the value is the cost to the State.
• Static security at a State-owned residence does not result in a taxable value arising.

Close security provided to a member whilst in the course of performing duties of office will not be taxable. Use of close security when the Member is off duty will be a taxable benefit, the value being the cost to the State of the private cost.

Motor vehicles (Paragraph 7 of the Seventh Schedule)

State-owned motor vehicles are made available to Members to utilise for official purposes. The nature of a member’s duties is such that he or she will perform their duties outside of normal work hours. Private use is infrequent or incidental to business use, and so a no-value rule applies to Members, meaning that no taxable amount arises.

Staff (Paragraph 2(e) of the Seventh Schedule)

Personal staff are provided to Members to assist them with their official duties. No taxable benefit arises due to staff employed to assist with official duties at an official residence.

Flights

Official flights are not subject to fringe benefits tax. Private flights are taxable unless a no-value rule applies. The no-value rule applies if the flight is for the Member’s spouse or minor child, the Member is stationed more than 250kms from his or her home, is away from home for more than 183 days in a year, and the travel is for between home and the place where the Member is stationed.

Allowances (section 8(1) of the Act)

Most allowances paid to Members are fully taxable. Certain exceptions, such as travel allowances and subsistence allowances, are treated preferentially for all taxpayers, including Members, who may all claim deductions for business expenses.

Members also by law receive a public office allowance. 50% of this allowance is taxed monthly via PAYE withholding. The full allowance is taxable on assessment when the annual tax return is submitted, unless the Member can prove that certain qualifying expenses were incurred and paid (and not recovered from the respective Departments), which may reduce the tax liability on assessment.

Reply:

Given the very tight fiscal framework in 2023/24 and current problems such as the cost of the 2023 wage agreement, central government departments are re-opening discussions around rationalization of Departments (NMOG) and public entities. Whereas this process is starting up, there is at this stage no agreed upon list of entities that should be rationalized or closed. Thus, it would be premature to name any specific entities that might be under consideration. That said, government probably has far too many public entities especially given our fiscal circumstances.

Reply:

There has been no direct request from BRICS focusing on de-dollarisation. However, there were discussions and agreement in the BRICS Payments Task Force on the following focus areas for 2023:

a) Feasibility study on the implementation of the following elements of the G20 Crossborder Payments Roadmap:

• Building Block 1: The development of common cross-border payments vision and targets.
• Building Block 10: Improving access to payment systems by banks, non-banks and payment infrastructures – broadening the range of eligible candidates for settlement accounts by changing access policies, technical standards and supervisory or oversight regimes; and
• Building Block 14: Adopt a harmonised version of ISO 20022 for message formats (including rules for conversion/mapping) – promoting the adoption of common message formats, such as a harmonised version of ISO 20022 and common rules of mapping/converting data between different data formats.

b) The sharing of information on lessons from BRICS member countries on how sandboxes were operated; the aims of the sandboxes; how sandboxes are being utilised; some lessons learned and successes; and how sandboxes inform regulatory frameworks;

c) The sharing of experiences on central bank digital currencies (CBDCs) to draw lessons across the BRICS countries, look at the different experiences and to determine how central banks could leverage from the sharing of information; and

d) The BRICS member countries to consider, bilaterally, the interlinking of payment infrastructures for settlement in their own currencies.

The South African Government has also been approached by both Russia and India on areas of possible collaboration and cooperation, including the interlinking of payment insfrastructures for settlement in their own currencies. Preliminary discussions have taken place between the South African Reserve Bank and the central banks of the two countries (with the Indian Ambassador to South Africa being part of the delegation). The discussion with the Central Bank of the Russian Federation focussed on the interlinking of both the retail instant payment systems and settlement systems, while the engagements with the Reserve Bank of India were premised on the settlement systems interlinking, using their respective currencies.

The SARB guided that the interlinking discussions be held in abeyance until after the several domestic and regional payments initiatives led by the SARB have been concluded/implemented. These include the Real Time Gross Settlement System (RTGS) Renewal, the Association of African Central Banks (AACB) and the Southern African Development Community (SADC) initiatives. Additionally, progress and development will also be driven by the market’s appetite to settle in alternative currencies.

Reply:

1. The structure of FPB has a total of 115 funded positions, 96 positions are filled and 19 are vacant. Attached is a spreadsheet of all positions.

2. a) No outstanding employee benefits

b) No outstanding PAYE

c) No outstanding statutory deductions

Thank Yo

Reply:

a) The National Treasury has engaged with the Auditor-General and considered all public comments received through Government Gazette General Notice No. 3270 of 6 April 2023 which withdrew the Government Gazette General Notice No. 3247 of 31 March 2023 and invited public comment on a proposed exemption for Eskom. In total, fifty-six (56) comments were received, with twenty-three (23) comments received in formal correspondence and thirty-three (33) comments received through emails, covering a broad spectrum of accounting and reporting, auditing, governance, legal principles, and public interest issues have been duly considered. The National Treasury also engaged with audit firms, professional auditing and accounting bodies, a rating agency, and other relevant authorities to discuss the challenges and seemingly onerous compliance reporting requirements applicable to State-Owned Entities such as Eskom.

b) The consultation methods used for the consultations were in the form of online stakeholder engagement meetings, webinars, media statements and Government Gazette Notice for public comments. Please refer to the attached media statement dated 7 June 2023, in which the Minister of Finance has determined that Eskom not be granted a partial exemption from section 55(2)(b)(i) of the Public Finance Management Act (PFMA) and Treasury Regulation 28.2.1, from disclosing irregular, fruitless and wasteful expenditure and material losses from criminal conduct in its Annual Financial Statements.

Reply:

1. The department has a birth registration campaign which requires parents to register new born babies within 30 days and it has set up birth registration offices in health facilities that have maternity wards. For those who have missed that period, we register them through the Late Registration of Birth (LRB) process. Provinces proactively run the Late Registration of Birth (LRB) initiatives in communities where unregistered children are identified.

2. The statistics on late registration of birth are attached as Annexure A on this response and have been disaggregated by months and years.

(3)(a) During Covid-19 (2020/21 and 2021/22) the turn-around times could not be complied with due to the fact that some of the service/s were not rendered due to various stage restrictions and the backlog information is attached as Annexure B.

(3)(b) Bottlenecks:

• Abandoned children: The Department of Social Development (DSD), in line with their mandate on the subject matter, does not submit a complete investigation report from Social Worker to enable DHA to register birth in line with regulations and engagements with DSD are ongoing.
• Cultural practices: Naming of a child after birth is delayed by the family.
• Home births occurrences at far flung areas which are located a further distance from Health Facilities.
• Laissez faire-attitude: Mothers not taking the responsibility to register birth within 30 days until there is a social pressure to do so.
• Applicant/s change their contact details and physical addresses without notifying the Department which makes it difficult to contact them for appointments to attend Late Registration of Birth screenings.
• No shows: Clients not responding when invited for interviews.
• Evidence provided by applicant/s not sufficient to attend to and finalize Late Registration of Birth.
• Lack of supporting documents to finalise the LRB applications.
• DNA referrals - parent(s) do not have the financial means.

3(c) Plans in place to address bottlenecks:

• Committees developed a weekly schedule to adjudicate cases.
• Offices collaborate with Department of Social Development to assist with tracing and transportation of some clients.
• Intensify Community Awareness through Stakeholders and the assistance of GCIS.
• DNA Test Results to finalise LRB applications when there is a lack of supporting documents.
• DHA and DoH to enter into a MoU for waiver of payments for indigents (Parent(s) with no financial means) to pay for DNA once we have concluded discussions on the feasibility of this support.

• Clients are reminded to update DHA when their contact details have changed.
• Follow up through stakeholders when clients do not avail themselves for screening after setting up appointments.

END

 

2. a) All births 31 days upward

Annexure A

SUMMARY	ALL BIRTHS 31 DAYS AND ABOVE
2018	2018	2018	2018	2018	2018	2018	2018	2018	2018	2018	2018	TOTAL
JANUARY	FEBRUARY	MARCH	APRIL	MAY	JUNE	JULY	AUGUST	SEPTEMBER	OCTOBER	NOVEMBER	DECEMBER
17732	17821	17426	17722	18547	17688	18342	18926	17739	17823	17671	11844	209281
2019	2019	2019	2019	2019	2019	2019	2019	2019	2019	2019	2019	TOTAL
JANUARY	FEBRUARY	MARCH	APRIL	MAY	JUNE	JULY	AUGUST	SEPTEMBER	OCTOBER	NOVEMBER	DECEMBER
19876	18674	17100	16124	17817	15832	19406	18336	16255	19067	16299	11971	206757
2020	2020	2020	2020	2020	2020	2020	2020	2020	2020	2020	2020	TOTAL
JANUARY	FEBRUARY	MARCH	APRIL	MAY	JUNE	JULY	AUGUST	SEPTEMBER	OCTOBER	NOVEMBER	DECEMBER
18942	17993	14643	344	53915	28752	21575	20384	20707	21960	18568	15133	252916
2021	2021	2021	2021	2021	2021	2021	2021	2021	2021	2021	2021	TOTAL
JANUARY	FEBRUARY	MARCH	APRIL	MAY	JUNE	JULY	AUGUST	SEPTEMBER	OCTOBER	NOVEMBER	DECEMBER
20833	21659	24536	18917	20240	16600	14725	20295	21545	22527	20374	14817	237068
2022	2022	2022	2022	2022	2022	2022	2022	2022	2022	2022	2022	TOTAL
JANUARY	FEBRUARY	MARCH	APRIL	MAY	JUNE	JULY	AUGUST	SEPTEMBER	OCTOBER	NOVEMBER	DECEMBER
22653	21297	22371	16481	21079	17878	18383	19205	18668	17007	16333	11186	222541

2.(b) Statistics 31 to 364 days

SUMMARY	31 TO 364 DAYS
2018	2018	2018	2018	2018	2018	2018	2018	2018	2018	2018	2018	TOTAL
JANUARY	FEBRUARY	MARCH	APRIL	MAY	JUNE	JULY	AUGUST	SEPTEMBER	OCTOBER	NOVEMBER	DECEMBER
13990	12055	11061	12266	13077	12266	12666	12870	11776	12892	11236	7478	143633
2019	2019	2019	2019	2019	2019	2019	2019	2019	2019	2019	2019	TOTAL
JANUARY	FEBRUARY	MARCH	APRIL	MAY	JUNE	JULY	AUGUST	SEPTEMBER	OCTOBER	NOVEMBER	DECEMBER
13793	11654	10766	11158	11850	10901	12729	11130	10396	11221	10033	7040	132671
2020	2020	2020	2020	2020	2020	2020	2020	2020	2020	2020	2020	TOTAL
JANUARY	FEBRUARY	MARCH	APRIL	MAY	JUNE	JULY	AUGUST	SEPTEMBER	OCTOBER	NOVEMBER	DECEMBER
13640	11680	9385	197	53646	27028	19832	18862	17926	17780	14221	11789	215986
2021	2021	2021	2021	2021	2021	2021	2021	2021	2021	2021	2021	TOTAL
JANUARY	FEBRUARY	MARCH	APRIL	MAY	JUNE	JULY	AUGUST	SEPTEMBER	OCTOBER	NOVEMBER	DECEMBER
18471	17944	18703	14908	14901	13205	12575	16702	16652	16594	14091	10636	185382
2022	2022	2022	2022	2022	2022	2022	2022	2022	2022	2022	2022	TOTAL
JANUARY	FEBRUARY	MARCH	APRIL	MAY	JUNE	JULY	AUGUST	SEPTEMBER	OCTOBER	NOVEMBER	DECEMBER
17315	15489	15998	12621	15964	14269	15085	14644	13319	12665	11181	7735	166285

2.(c) 1 to 15 years

2018	2018	2018	2018	2018	2018	2018	2018	2018	2018	2018	2018	TOTAL
JANUARY	FEBRUARY	MARCH	APRIL	MAY	JUNE	JULY	AUGUST	SEPTEMBER	OCTOBER	NOVEMBER	DECEMBER
2489	4219	4408	3600	3753	3704	3869	4127	4490	3834	4486	2932	45911
2019	2019	2019	2019	2019	2019	2019	2019	2019	2019	2019	2019	TOTAL
JANUARY	FEBRUARY	MARCH	APRIL	MAY	JUNE	JULY	AUGUST	SEPTEMBER	OCTOBER	NOVEMBER	DECEMBER
3770	4605	4602	3256	3726	3648	4731	5033	4005	5585	4359	3558	50878
2020	2020	2020	2020	2020	2020	2020	2020	2020	2020	2020	2020	TOTAL
JANUARY	FEBRUARY	MARCH	APRIL	MAY	JUNE	JULY	AUGUST	SEPTEMBER	OCTOBER	NOVEMBER	DECEMBER
3570	4710	3584	130	226	1284	1355	1211	2218	3216	3071	2627	27202
2021	2021	2021	2021	2021	2021	2021	2021	2021	2021	2021	2021	TOTAL
JANUARY	FEBRUARY	MARCH	APRIL	MAY	JUNE	JULY	AUGUST	SEPTEMBER	OCTOBER	NOVEMBER	DECEMBER
1598	2878	4247	2866	3826	2499	1420	2483	3493	4221	4551	3102	37184
2022	2022	2022	2022	2022	2022	2022	2022	2022	2022	2022	2022	TOTAL
JANUARY	FEBRUARY	MARCH	APRIL	MAY	JUNE	JULY	AUGUST	SEPTEMBER	OCTOBER	NOVEMBER	DECEMBER
3280	4254	4512	2749	3678	2551	2457	3360	3909	2803	3744	2626	39923

2. d) 16 years upward

2018	2018	2018	2018	2018	2018	2018	2018	2018	2018	2018	2018	TOTAL
JANUARY	FEBRUARY	MARCH	APRIL	MAY	JUNE	JULY	AUGUST	SEPTEMBER	OCTOBER	NOVEMBER	DECEMBER
1253	1547	1957	1856	1717	1718	1807	1929	1473	1097	1949	1434	19737
2019	2019	2019	2019	2019	2019	2019	2019	2019	2019	2019	2019	TOTAL
JANUARY	FEBRUARY	MARCH	APRIL	MAY	JUNE	JULY	AUGUST	SEPTEMBER	OCTOBER	NOVEMBER	DECEMBER
2313	2415	1732	1710	2241	1283	1946	2173	1854	2261	1907	1373	23208
2020	2020	2020	2020	2020	2020	2020	2020	2020	2020	2020	2020	TOTAL
JANUARY	FEBRUARY	MARCH	APRIL	MAY	JUNE	JULY	AUGUST	SEPTEMBER	OCTOBER	NOVEMBER	DECEMBER
1732	1603	1674	17	43	440	388	311	563	964	1276	717	9728
2021	2021	2021	2021	2021	2021	2021	2021	2021	2021	2021	2021	TOTAL
JANUARY	FEBRUARY	MARCH	APRIL	MAY	JUNE	JULY	AUGUST	SEPTEMBER	OCTOBER	NOVEMBER	DECEMBER
764	837	1586	1143	1513	896	730	1110	1400	1712	1732	1079	14502
2022	2022	2022	2022	2022	2022	2022	2022	2022	2022	2022	2022	TOTAL
JANUARY	FEBRUARY	MARCH	APRIL	MAY	JUNE	JULY	AUGUST	SEPTEMBER	OCTOBER	NOVEMBER	DECEMBER
2058	1554	1861	1111	1437	1058	841	1201	1440	1539	1408	825	16333

3.(a) Backlogs

Annexure B

2018	2018	2018	2018	2018	2018	2018	2018	2018	2018	2018	2018	TOTAL
JANUARY	FEBRUARY	MARCH	APRIL	MAY	JUNE	JULY	AUGUST	SEPTEMBER	OCTOBER	NOVEMBER	DECEMBER
3367	3443	3074	3106	3411	3569	6517	3730	3823	3658	3202	3430	44300
2019	2019	2019	2019	2019	2019	2019	2019	2019	2019	2019	2019	TOTAL
JANUARY	FEBRUARY	MARCH	APRIL	MAY	JUNE	JULY	AUGUST	SEPTEMBER	OCTOBER	NOVEMBER	DECEMBER
3675	3804	3866	3459	4012	3980	4227	4368	4374	4584	4638	3324	48216
2020	2020	2020	2020	2020	2020	2020	2020	2020	2020	2020	2020	TOTAL
JANUARY	FEBRUARY	MARCH	APRIL	MAY	JUNE	JULY	AUGUST	SEPTEMBER	OCTOBER	NOVEMBER	DECEMBER
4374	4296	4343	3928	4093	4241	4320	4365	3105	4424	4505	4681	50588
2021	2021	2021	2021	2021	2021	2021	2021	2021	2021	2021	2021	TOTAL
JANUARY	FEBRUARY	MARCH	APRIL	MAY	JUNE	JULY	AUGUST	SEPTEMBER	OCTOBER	NOVEMBER	DECEMBER
4412	4413	4906	4763	4819	4849	4128	4908	5130	5383	5377	4196	57274
2022	2022	2022	2022	2022	2022	2022	2022	2022	2022	2022	2022	TOTAL
JANUARY	FEBRUARY	MARCH	APRIL	MAY	JUNE	JULY	AUGUST	SEPTEMBER	OCTOBER	NOVEMBER	DECEMBER
4665	4098	4545	4447	4796	4785	4713	4743	4949	5311	4995	5758	57267

Reply:

The Minister of Finance is not directly responsible for managing any major infrastructure budgets, as such budgets reside within the appropriate national and provincial departmental budgets, municipal budgets or that of a public entity or state-owned entities. Each organ of state is responsible for maintaining appropriate and effective infrastructure budgets. From a national budget perspective, it is recognised that the issue of ageing infrastructure in South Africa has been a longstanding challenge, including for both rural and urban municipalities. There have been some proactive measures taken to address this issue. Here are some examples from the local government sphere:

• Since the 2013/14 financial year, the local government equitable share (LGES) includes a maintenance estimate of 10 per cent. This amounted to R5.6 billion in maintenance funding for municipalities to recover the cost of providing free basic services to indigent households in 2021/22, and it will be R7.1 billion in 2023/24. These funds are unconditional transfers, meaning that they are discretionary in nature. So, the municipality has the choice of whether to use them for maintenance or any other priority or budget commitment.

• Several reforms have been implemented following the review of infrastructure conditional grants in 2014. The Municipal Infrastructure Grant (MIG) includes provisions for infrastructure renewal and upgrades, a provision for road maintenance projects, as well as the ability for municipalities to develop Infrastructure Asset Management Plans using 5 per cent of their allocations. Small and rural municipalities are the main beneficiaries of this grant.

• The government has provided training and capacity building programs for municipal officials and staff to improve their skills and knowledge in infrastructure planning, management, and maintenance. Since 2012, we have been pioneering the development of critical infrastructure delivery skills in municipalities through the implementation of the Infrastructure Skills Development Grant (ISDG). Since its inception, more than three hundred people have been professionalised and/ or certified within the built environment. These professionals then exercise their expertise to manage, operate and maintain public sector or municipal infrastructure.

These proactive measures are aimed at improving the quality of infrastructure in rural municipalities, which is critical for the provision of basic services, promoting economic growth, and improving the quality of life for rural communities.

Reply:

Parliament approved the fiscal framework for 2023/24 on 8 March 2023. The provisional liquidation of SAPO and business rescue processes were initiated via a judicial process subsequent to the 2023 Budget and funding to support this process was not included in the approved fiscal framework. Government is responding through the judicial process, but various options are possible including reprioritisation of funds, within the approved fiscal framework. However, the Appropriation Bill has not been enacted yet and any adjustments in terms of section 6 would need to be considered for the adjustments budget later this year in October.

Reply:

The Department of Agriculture, Land Reform and Rural Development (DALRRD) has developed, consulted, and attained consensus on the Agriculture and Agro-Processing Master Plan (AAMP). The ongoing alignment process has to date shown the intent by different role players within the different sectors to achieve the set goals and a clearer picture is emerging in terms of defining targets and participation by the black producers in the value chain.

The attached Table 1, with specific reference to meat and dairy value chain implementation, depicts progress made and the envisaged increase in participation will be from 30 to 50 percent and 7 to 10 percent respectively.

Livestock
	Tons - (2010/11)	Tons - (2018/19)	Expansion 2012-2019	NDP 2030 growth target	Commercial Employment	Black farmer share current (%)*	AAMP output added (tons)	AAMP 2030 impact Real GPV	AAMP 2030 impact jobs	AAMP 2030 livelihood created	Black farmer future share (%)
Beef	628 000	763 000	135 000	282 600	18 541	34,0%	134 357	R8 175 448 721	3200	39600	50%
Dairy	2 685 302	3 341 000	655 698	522 735	33 410	7,0%	183 645	R1 396 998 405	222	16160	10%

Reply:

The Minister and the Department have not been informed of any families living in rural KwaZulu-Natal without addresses who cannot be reached through normal postal services.

However, the process of address roll-out in KZN was hampered by the South African Post Office’s (SAPO’s) lack of materials and tools of trade (paint, vehicles, and other related materials) during the 2019/2020 financial year.

To mitigate these challenges, the SAPO address rollout team provided communities with their addresses in writing and requested the community to then “put up” their addresses themselves.

The team continued with community education on how to use the allocated numbers. Community leaders were also provided with the SAPO contact numbers to call should there be new houses in their areas The SAPO team experienced challenges in some areas where it was refused access by the Chief and other circumstances, and in Zululand only. The team provided the SAPO contact numbers should they require any further assistance.

Areas where access was denied include:

1. The Gcothoyi Tribal Authority Chief in Kranskop who refused to allow the address rollout because he did not agree with the pay rate for field workers.

2. At Dondotha Village, KwesakaMthethwa Tribal authority in the Empangeni area was affected by the high risk of vehicle hijackings.

The Chief was aware of the challenges, but the process could not be completed despite it already having begun.

team still attends to all address enquiries when received, however due to the financial challenges experienced at SAPO, there is no current address rollout plan. The address roll-out plan will be prioritised as soon as SAPO is stabilised and fully operational, especially in rural communities.

Thank You.

Reply:

The Department of Home Affairs offices are located in various geographical areas and all offices in both urban and rural areas will have the self-service KIOSK. Thus, there will be no reason to deny communities in rural areas access to the self-service machine as the machines will be deployed in all DHA offices. The rollout will be informed by the available budget in a phased approach and the priority will be the deployment in non-modernised offices, followed by modernised offices and other strategic points.

END

Reply:

Find here: Reply

Reply:

1. Yes, National Treasury officials within the International Development Cooperation unit of the Budget Office met with Mr Frazer Mbili on Thursday, 27 October 2022 at 14H00 to 15H00 (Ms Teams meeting).

2. Following the meeting of the 27th of October 2022, and as agreed, Mr Mbili was to send various documentation as verification of sources of co-financing (from co-financiers, UK Investment Group, the Humanitarian Forgive Loan Programme) of SOSO engagement with Government (Service Level Agreements) as well as the financing model proposed. The documentation sent by Mr Mbili of 7 November 2022 did not include any verification documentation. The National Treasury could therefore not verify the information received from Mr Mbili and he was requested to send the outstanding information.

Reply:

1. Over the medium to long term, the Department of Agriculture, Land Reform and Rural Development (DALRRD) seeks to improve its collaboration and coordination with industry organisations, through programme and project design. The Value Chain Round Tables (VCRT), which are currently being implemented, serve as platforms to forge greater collaboration and coordination between government and industry organisations, both nationally and provincially. Through the VCRT, the industry will be in a better position to identify the required infrastructure and services at local government level. These will be tabled to DALRRD by way of the District Development Model. The Integrated Rural Development Strategy addresses the challenges of rural and agricultural infrastructure such as roads, agro-processing facilities, etc.

2. Yes, the Department further aims to improve on delivery in terms of the Agriculture and Agro Processing Master Plan (AAMP) at district level, through a value chain approach, where value chain analysis will be conducted to identify the required services and infrastructure needs according to the AAMP value chain. The analysis will in turn determine required programmes and projects at the district level, and in this way contribute to the national targets for growth per value chain identified within the AAMP.

3. Implementation of VCRTs discussed above, and a value chain approach to programme and project design and selection will form the cornerstone of what DALRRD sees as the bridging strategy between the AAMP, and the challenges experienced at local government level, as identified in the Auditor-General’s report.

Reply:

1) The Public Audit Act, 2004 (Act No. 25 of 2004) as amended in section 5(1B)(b) states that the Auditor-General has the power to issue a certificate of debt, as prescribed, where an accounting officer or accounting authority has failed to comply with remedial action. The Regulations published on 1 April 2019 state in section 12 that for purposes of this Part, “accounting officer” also includes a former accounting officer, and “member of the accounting authority” also includes a former member of the accounting authority. Public officials that have left the institutions therefore can still be issued with certificates of debt.

2) and (3) The National Treasury does not maintain this information. The Auditor General of South Africa should be engaged to obtain the detailed information.

Reply:

(1)(a)(i),(ii) Table 1 below reflects the vacancy rate of veterinary doctors in South Africa per province from 1 January 2019 to 31 December 2022 and since 1 January 2023.

Table1: Approved and vacant posts for veterinary doctors

Year	STATUS	NATIONAL	GP	NW	LP	MP	KZN	FS	EC	WC	NC	TOTAL
2019	APPROVED	38	36	39	39	36	27	15	48	30	16	324
	VACANT	13	4	10	10	17	17	3	25	4	10	113
	RATE	34%	11.1%	26%	26%	47.22%	62.96%	20%	48%	13%	37.5%	35%
2020	APPROVED	38	36	39	39	36	27	15	48	30	16	324
	VACANT	13	4	10	10	15	16	5	26	5	10	114
	RATE	34%	11.1%	26%	26%	41.67%	59.25%	33%	46%	16%	37.5%	35%
2021	APPROVED	38	36	39	39	36	27	15	48	30	16	324
	VACANT	14	4	10	10	16	16	6	28	5	10	103
	RATE	37%	11.1%	26%	26%	44.44%	59,25%	40%	42%	16%	37.5%	32%
2022	APPROVED	38	36	39	39	36	29	15	48	30	16	326
	VACANT	14	4	10	10	19	16	6	38	6	11	134
	RATE	37%	11.1%	26%	26%	52.78	55,17%	40%	38%	20%	31.25%	41%
2023	APPROVED	38	36	39	39	36	29	15	48	30	16	287
	VACANT	13	4	10	10	20	18	6	31	6	11	129
	RATE	34%	11.1%	26%	26%	55.56%	62,06%	40%	35%	20%	31.25%	45%

(b) The Department advertised vacant posts of state veterinarians in line with the available budget. There has been a challenge with constant efflux of state veterinarians who are being recruited by the private sector. In addition, there are also challenges to get suitably qualified applicants.

(2) The number of registered veterinarians and veterinary nurses as per the South African Veterinary Council register of May 2023 is as follows:

- There were 3 506 registered veterinarians (excluding veterinary specialists) and 731 registered veterinary nurses as at 31 May 2023.

- As with all other agricultural and related professions, the Department doesn’t keep records of unemployed graduates as it is not the only employer and it would be impossible to maintain the records throughout the sector. Vacancies are however, advertised as soon as vacated. Recent adverts for veterinarians attracted very few applicants, suggesting that most are absorbed in the sector.

- Mpumalanga is the only province that has employed 18 veterinary nurses out of an establishment of 24 (75% filled).

(3) The following measures are in place for the Department to deal with unemployed veterinarians and veterinary nurses to provide animal health services where there is a high need:

- All bursary holders are subject to servicing the Department for a period equal to the number of years sponsored by the Department.

- Unemployed veterinary graduates are deployed in areas where they are needed the most in the provinces under the Compulsory Community Service Programme for veterinary graduates. This ensures the graduates are employed for a duration of one year. Once they complete their community service the graduates are registered as veterinarians by the South African Veterinary Council and can service their contract with the relevant departments/provinces.

- Vacant funded posts are advertised nationally and prioritise unemployed veterinarians and veterinary nurses. This has proven to be a challenge as there are very few applications. Most veterinarians and veterinary nurses are attracted to the private sector.

Reply:

(a)(i) 31 March 2021: As per the Departmental Annual Report 2021/22, the total contingent liabilities reported was: R2,358,451,000.00 of which R2,152,423,000.00 was for legal claims;

(a)(ii) 31 March 2022: As per the Departmental Annual Report 2022/23, the total contingent liabilities reported was: R2, 338,966,000.00 of which R2,107,068,000.00 was for legal claims;

(a)(iii) 31 March 2023: As per unaudited Annual Financial Statements (AFS) submitted as at 31st May 2023, the Department has re-stated its assessment of its contingent liabilities following receipt of a commissioned technical report advising the Department on how to disclose its contingent liabilities on legal matters. The Department has therefore re-assessed its disclosed contingent liability amount to R239,500,000.00 which excludes legal matters. The amount of R2,171,242,664.07 for legal claims is recognised as a note and annexure to the AFS. This amount was not included in the main total because it cannot be reliably estimated as the “possible settlement” amount.

(b) There is no direct correlation between the recruitment of the referred 13 legal resources, and the reduction of the stated contingent liabilities. These officials were employed by the Department to handle all litigation matters emanating from the Department and their employment has no direct bearing on the reduction of the amount disclosed within the contingent liability register, as amounts disclosed are the amounts claimed by the Plaintiffs.

From April 2020 to March 2023, the Department employed one Senior Legal Administration Office who is on level 12 and 7 Legal Administration Officers who are on level 9. The cost of these officials is prescribed as per their level of appointment based on remuneration scales determined by the Department of Public Service Administration (DPSA).

END

Reply:

a) R214 million was allocated by National Treasury (NT) in the 2011/2012 financial year. In 2019 NT undertook to allocate an additional R400 million over the 2019-2022 MTEF in support of the project. With the additional allocation, the Foot and Mouth Disease (FMD) vaccine production facility project has started, and the work is projected to be completed around October 2025.

With the design phase being completed, the final estimates will guide further investment(s) to complete the facility due to the significant time lapse from the date of commissioning of the project. In the interim, R55 million has been allocated to the Agricultural Research Council (ARC) for the procurement of equipment and infrastructure to assemble an interim production system that will be used to produce antigens at a 200-liter scale (sufficient to produce 200 000 doses per annum) whilst the factory is under construction. The interim measure is expected to be ready to produce the vaccine by the middle of 2024.

b) Erecting fences in areas where the fences will obstruct established patterns of livestock and people movements are generally ineffective, due to vandalism, theft, and the inability to legally control movements on roads crossing the fences. Animal Health is, therefore, moving away from relying on fences as a first-line effective disease control measure and rather making use of alternative measures such as the use of perennial rivers, mountain ranges and adjacent lower risk establishments like farms.

The use of fences to prevent the spread of disease can only be implemented effectively where the fences also serve a purpose to the local community. For example, the fences on the western and southern boundaries of the Kruger National Park serve a disease control purpose, by preventing FMD carrier buffalo from having contact with cattle in the adjacent communal areas. It also provides a barrier to prevent dangerous animals from the Kruger National Park from roaming into the villages and hence it has value to the local community. The fences on the Kruger National Park boundary are maintained by the Department of Agriculture, Land Reform and Rural Development and SANParks. There are also fences that are used for disease control purposes, specifically FMD in specific areas of Limpopo, Mpumalanga, and KwaZulu-Natal. The repair and maintenance of these fences is the responsibility of the respective provincial departments.

Reply:

(a)(i) None. All officials of the Department are working from the office.

(a)(ii) Not applicable

(b)(i) All employees at USAASA, FPB and zaDNA are working from their offices.

SITA, SABC, ICASA, NEMISA, Sentech and Postbank indicated that they are applying a hybrid model which allows employees to combine in office and remote working, that is, 2 or 3 days working in the office and the other days working from home.

50% of the employees at BBI are allowed to work from the office at a time. SAPO has indicated that 201 of their employees are working from home.

(b)(ii) BBI stated that it moved offices from Woodmead to Radiokop and due to the office capacity only 50% of the staff complement can be accommodated at a time. All employees are fully equipped with data and laptops to work productively from home.

SITA stated that the decision for the hybrid model was based on their commitment to ensure that employees have a healthy work-life balance and excel in their performance within the organisation.

ICASA stated that an opportunity had risen to make ICASA more adaptable and find new ways to still deliver on its mandate while promoting employee wellness through creating flexible working arrangements. The employment of the hybrid work model was in line with government guidelines on managing exposure to occupational diseases in the workplace. The hybrid model is in a form of work rotation plans that is enforced for all employees. The employees are on site to ensure that customer facing services are not adversely affected in terms of service delivery.

Currently, the Postbank occupies a SAPO building that is not conducive to housing employees due to poor maintained such as lifts not functioning, poor hygiene and space constraints. Postbank is seeking its own suitable premises that are conducive to housing employees, for those who prefer working in an office.

NEMISA indicated that remote working was as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic. Subsequently, it opted to implement hybrid work requiring employees to work from the office and from home on certain days. This was done based on the observation that employees remain productive when they work either from the office or from home. NEMISA recognises that the correct use of technology enables work to be carried out at any given location. Thus, the merely availability of technology and work tools enable hybrid work.

Sentech adopted to implement a hybrid working model which is a combination of office and remote working. It determined that this was the most sufficient way in managing resources and output. Further, it found that this was the best way in creating a healthy work environment. This model will be reviewed from time to time.

With effect from November 2021, SABC employees returned to the office and implemented a new way of working wherein employees work on a hybrid model. Employees are only required to come to the office three days a week and each division utilises its own discretion to determine the rotational roaster. This is to promote a productive working environment for employees.

SAPO has provided the following as the reasons why these employees are working from home:

• • Building not hygienic (non-compliance to OHSA), presents a health risk
• • Lifts and air conditioning defective
• • Employees have tools of trade to work from home.
• • Most sites are affected by loadshedding with no alternatives available.
• • Outdated tools of trade i.e., computers, printers, etc.
• • Nature of work does not require employees to be in office to perform functions.

 

Thank You.

Reply:

Find here: Reply

Reply:

(a) Department of Communication and Digital Technologies:
(i) The percentage of SMMEs procurement breakdown for the year 2021/22 for black-owned companies was 51%. Women and youth were 31.11%.
(ii) 0%
(iii) 30%
(iv) 30%
(aa) 51%
(bb) 30%

(b) The response from the entities is attached as an Annexure.

Thank You.

Reply:

(1) (a) (i) R 5 374 133,60

(ii) Two officials did not follow the Supply Chain Management (SCM) Policy and National Treasury Instruction note and one official did not follow the Human Resources (HR) policy.

(b) One official was charged with misconduct and was issued with a final written warning. He lodged a dispute at the General Public Service Sector Bargaining Council (GPSSBC) and received an award. The Department is currently studying the award.

The second official had transferred to another Department before the investigation was concluded. The Department has since written to the Employee’s Department to inform them of the irregular expenditure, in terms of the Public Service Act No. 103 of 1994. They are now studying the documentation to determine if disciplinary action should be taken.

The third official received a verbal warning for not following HR Policies.

(2) The cases were not referred to National Prosecuting Authority or SA Police Service for investigation because it was determined by the Department that there was no fraud, corruption and/or criminal conduct perpetrated.

 

Thank You.

Reply:

(1)&(2) Mr. Krasimir Kamenov was issued with a relatives’ visa to join his spouse and subsequently obtained permanent residence in the Republic of South Africa in 2004. He was a naturalised citizen at the time of his death.

With regards to Mr. Fulgence Kayishema, upon him entering the Republic of South Africa in December 1999, he was issued with a Temporary Permit to Prohibited Persons in terms of Section 41(1) of Aliens Control Act 96 of 1991 under a different name and nationality. He then applied for asylum and was later granted Refugee status in 2002. However, it transpired afterwards that his Refugee status was granted through misrepresentation. The Department will follow legislative prescripts in dealing with misrepresentation in terms of Section 36(1)(a) and section 36(2) of the Refugees Act.

END

Reply:

Honourable member this matter was fully ventilated in a court of law. Judgement has been passed but Dr Magudumana is appealing. Hence I am not able to answer your question for now.

END

Reply:

(a)(i) The total number of retirement visa applications received 3645 from 2020 to 2022 FYs is 3645 and applications received from 1 April 2023 are 79.

(a)(ii) The total number of applications issued during 2020 to 2022 are 1645 while there is no application issued from 1 April 2023 and there are 1449 applications still pending.

(b) The applications were received from 112 countries which are listed below in Annexure A.

(c) The average turnaround time is 12 months.

(d) The total number of applications rejected is 499.

(e) The reasons for rejections vary from documents being incomplete, applicants not able to prove their net worth or pension/ retirement incomes that meet the prescribed minimum amount of R 37000.00 per month.

(f) There were applications rejected from 62 countries. The countries are as reflected in the table below in Annexure A.

(g) The average time between the date on which the application is received and the date on which rejection letters are issued is currently 12 months. There is currently none of the applications received from 01 April 2023 that have been finalised.

 

END

ANNEXURE A

The table below reflects the number of applications received, approved, rejected and pending for each country that were received from 2020 until 2022. Applications not assigned are pending applications that are not assigned for adjudication.

Applicants nationality	Approved	Not Assigned	Pending	Rejected	Grand Total
Afghanistan	4	3	1	1	9
Algeria	8	12	2	5	27
Angola	12	10	2	5	29
Argentina	2			2	4
Australia	17	6	4	3	30
Austria	4	3	1		8
Bangladesh	82	33	91	36	242
Belgium	30	19	4	8	61
Benin	1	4		2	7
Bosnia and Herzegovina	1				1
Botswana	1			1	2
Brazil	6	1	2	2	11
Bulgaria	2		1	1	4
Burundi				1	1
Cameroon	4	1		1	6
Canada	6	10	7	1	24
Central African Republic	1				1
Chad	1	1			2
China	250	142	27	89	508
Colombia		1			1
Cote DIvoire	1			1	2
Croatia	1				1
Cyprus	1		1		2
Czech Republic	2				2
Denmark	2	8	4		14
Egypt	8	5	4	10	27
Eritrea	1	2		1	4
Ethiopia	8	12	3	17	40
Finland	1	2		1	4
France	35	19	10	11	75
Gabon	2	2		2	6
Germany	162	80	23	22	287
Ghana	3	7	1	3	14
Greece	2		1	2	5
Guernsey and Alderney	1				1
Haiti	1				1
Honduras	1				1
India	39	43	15	31	128
Iraq			1		1
Ireland	18	6	2	2	28
Israel	4	4		1	9
Italy	25	12	3	3	43
Jordan	1			3	4
Kenya	3	10	2	6	21
Latvia	3				3
Lebanon	5	1		1	7
Lesotho			1		1
Libyan Arab Jamahiriya	1				1
Luxembourg	1			1	2
Madagascar	2				2
Malawi	2	4			6
Malaysia	1	2			3
Mali		1			1
Malta			1		1
Mauritania	1				1
Mexico				1	1
Mongolia	1				1
Morocco		1		1	2
Mozambique	4	10	1	2	17
Nepal	2	2			4
Netherlands	72	31	13	8	124
New Zealand	1				1
Niger	1				1
Nigeria	43	38	21	36	138
Norway	8	6	3		17
Pakistan	30	60	35	34	159
Palestinian Territory		1			1
Philippines	3	3			6
Poland	5	2	1	1	9
Portugal	1	1			2
Republic of South Africa	71	47	11	27	156
Reunion (FR)		2			2
Russian Federation	5	5	2	1	13
Rwanda		2			2
Saint Kitts and Nevis	1				1
Saudi Arabia	1				1
Senegal	1				1
Sierra Leone	1	1		1	3
Singapore	2	1	1	1	5
Slovenia		1			1
Somalia			1	1	2
Spain	5	1			6
Sri Lanka	1	1			2
Sudan		2	1		3
Swaziland	2	1			3
Sweden	10	11	5	1	27
Switzerland	72	56	9	13	150
Syrian Arab Republic		1			1
Taiwan	2	3		1	6
Thailand	5	2		3	10
Democratic Republic of the Congo	16	24	1	9	50
The Islamic Republic of Iran	4	2	2	5	13
Republic of Korea (South Korea)	25	17	1	14	57
Republic of the Congo	2	5	1	1	11
United Republic of Tanzania		1		3	4
Togo	1		1		2
Trinidad & Tobago	1				1
Commonwealth of the Bahamas				1	1
Tunisia	1				1
Turkey	5	4		3	12
Uganda	4	1		1	6
Ukraine		2	1		3
United Kingdom	330	148	42	49	571
United States of America	121	58	20	17	216
Uruguay	1				1
Uzbekistan		1			1
Vietnam	6	1	1	2	11
Zaire				1	1
Zambia	1	3			4
Zimbabwe	7	29	6	33	75
Grand Total	1645	1055	394	499	3645

*The table below reflects the number of applications and nationalities of the applicants whose applications were received from 01 April 2023 to 31 May 2023

Applicants nationality	Applications received from 01 April 2023
Australia	1
Belgium	1
Brazil	1
Cameroon	2
China	4
Denmark	1
France	2
Germany	9
India	1
Ireland	1
Israel	1
Italy	3
Netherlands	3
Nigeria	3
Pakistan	1
Philippines	1
Poland	1
Republic of South Africa	2
Russian Federation	1
Swaziland	2
Sweden	2
Switzerland	6
Islamic Republic of Iran	1
Republic of South Korea	3
Togo	1
Turkey	1
Uganda	1
United Kingdom	18
United States of America	3
Zimbabwe	2
Grand Total	79

Reply:

a) A total of 9.2 million accounts has outstanding balances valued at R44.2 billion. These balances comprise of unpaid invoices and penalties levied for non-payment over several years. At least 5.6 million accounts have been handed over for external debt collection.

b) In terms of the South African Broadcasting Corporation SOC Ltd Bill 2022 that was approved by Cabinet on 29 November 2022 for the submission to Parliament for processing, the DCDT is proposing that the television licence model be replaced with the household fee model. Pending the legislative changes, the DCDT will continuously engage with the SABC and Treasury to examine the options for the necessary reform and enhancement required of the current TV licence system to properly provide for the funding requirements of SABC and the most appropriate collection, enforcement systems and a timeframe for implementation.

Thank You.

Reply:

Honourable member, we initially experienced technological challenges with the roll out of the e-visa system during 2021. However, towards the end of 2022, we successfully completed a series of 34 enhancements to the e-visa system. Currently, there are no technological challenges with the e-visa system. Honourable member, I also wish to inform the house that we have added 20 more countries on the e-visa system bringing it to a total of 34 countries that can now use our e-visa system for tourism purposes.

END

Reply:

1. The 10-point strategy was adopted by the Council of Education Ministers on 5 May 2023.

2. The convenors of the various workstreams have been appointed.

3. Operational plans are being developed in June 2023.

4. A detailed presentation on the challenges, strategy and tactics is attached.  

Reply:

1. There are no plans to establish a task force to address food shortages. According to the Crop Estimates Committee (as per publications reflected on https://www.dalrrd.gov.za / crop estimates), South Africa is not experiencing any food shortages. South Africa is able to meet food demand both through imports and local production.

Furthermore, the government has established a multi-sectoral and multi-stakeholder institutional structure called the National Food and Nutrition Security Plan comprising of the core social cluster and economic cluster departments such as National Treasury and Small Business Development departments. The structure addresses food and the food system inclusive of the food value chain across the continuum from severly inadequate to self sufficiency. At its core the National Food and Nutrition Security Plan address the pillars on which the policy is based namely access, availability, utilisation and stability.

(2),(3),(4) Falls away.

5. The Department established a Sector Energy Crisis Task Team comprised of government, industry, research institutions and sector entities. The work of the Task Team, engaging with Eskom looked at immediate, short- and long-term contingency plans to protect the sector against the negative impact of load shedding. The interventions will cover the sector at large including all categories of farmers. The interventions are also being aligned to the pronouncements delivered by the Minister of Finance during his budget speech.

The proposed interventions are:

• Customers with dedicated supply infrastructure should apply for load curtailment.
• Customers supplied by the same feeder/ substation can group together and apply for load curtailment.
• Review the schedule (duration and or time) where possible, to accommodate the needs of the majority of customers (the criteria will be based on impact/number of commercial customers).
• Customers in municipal supply areas where switching is done by Eskom and where possible, to exempt/curtail, municipalities to be allowed to do own switching to accommodate customers.
• Reconfigure the network to allow possible isolation where possible.
• Install micro grids, PV’s and battery containers for critical loads especially during critical times such as harvesting, irrigation and refrigeration; this will require customers to identify the essential load.

• As announced during the DALRRD Budget Vote Speech, the Department is establishing the Agro-Energy Fund at the Land Bank. This is a blended finance instrument where the state will provide a grant on a sliding scale per producer category combined with a loan from the Land Bank. The focus of the Agro-Energy Fund is on energy intensive agricultural activities. These include irrigation, intensive agricultural production systems, and on-farm cold chain related activities. The blended thresholds and caps per category of producer are:

• a large-scale producer will receive 30% grant funding to be matched with a 70% loan portion, where the grant amount is capped at a maximum of R1.5 million;
• a medium-scale producer will receive a 50% grant to be matched with a 50% loan portion, where the grant is capped at a maximum of R1 million; and
• a smallholder producer will be supported by a grant portion of 70% to be matched with a 30% loan. For this category, the maximum grant funding is capped at the maximum of R500 000.

Table 1: Grant Limits

Farmer Categorization	Large Scale Farmer	Medium Scale Farmer	Small Scale Farmer
Turnover	>R10m <R50m	>R1m-R10m	>R50k -R1m
% Grant of the Cost (valid Quotation)	30%	50%	70%
Land Bank Loan Component	70%	50%	30%
Grant Caps	R1.5m	R1m	R500 000

• Grant caps will be according to Table 1 above; however, the cost of the infrastructure needed by the farmer will be informed by the farmer’s farm energy requirements assessment based on the kilowatts. The pre-assessment by a competent expert registered with the South African Photovoltaic Industry Association (SAPVIA) will be key so that the correct fit for purpose system is installed.

• The Blended Agro-Energy facility will be used by qualifying producers for the purchase of Capital Equipment and Infrastructure (CAPEX) for alternative energy sources directly linked to energy-intensive farming operations.

Table 2: Common high energy consuming activities at farm level

Dairy Farming	Piggery	Poultry	Field Cropping	Horticulture including (Greenhouse)
Milk cooling machinery	Heating	Lighting	Cold Storage	Cold Storage
Lighting	Ventilation	Feeding machinery	Tilling	Irrigation
Milking machinery	Lighting	Ventilation	Irrigation	Ventilation
Feeding machinery	Feeding machinery	Heating		Lighting

NB: the list is not exhaustive

Reply:

In terms of the Government Gazette Notice No 3247 of 31 March 2023, the Minister of Finance granted a partial exemption from section 55(2)(b)(i) of the Public Finance Management Act, 1999 (Act No. 1 of 1999 – the Act) and Treasury Regulation 28.2.1 to ESKOM Holdings SOC Ltd in respect of the 2022/2023, 2023/2024 and 2024/2025 financial years. In terms of Government Notice No. 3270 of 6 April 2023, this exemption was withdrawn in its entirety, covering the 2022/2023, 2023/2024 and 2024/2025 financial years. The exemption would have applied and be still in be place had it not been withdrawn prior to the submission of the Annual Financial Statements to the auditors of Eskom and the National Treasury, i.e., two months after the end of the financial year as per section 55(1)(c) of the PFMA. For the 2022/2023 financial year, the date of submission was the 31 May 2023. Therefore, the withdrawal of the exemption on the 6th of April 2023 was possible.

After considering all public comments on the matter, the Minister of Finance has determined that ESKOM Holdings SOC Ltd not be granted a partial exemption from section 55(2)(b)(i) of the Public Finance Management Act (PFMA) and Treasury Regulation 28.2.1, from disclosing irregular, fruitless and wasteful expenditure, and material losses from criminal conduct in its Annual Financial Statements. Please refer to the attached media statement dated 7 June 2023 covering the Minister of Finance’s decision on the ESKOM Holdings SOC Ltd PFMA exemption.

Reply:

1) To address the digital divide in the Republic, the Department is driving implementation of the SA Connect Phase 2 programme aimed at ensuring affordable and universally accessible broadband nationally to meet the diverse needs of public and private users, including consumers and citizens. The SA Connect Phase 2 programme comprises three connectivity streams:

• Community and Household connectivity.

Broadband Infraco and Sentech will deploy core and access network infrastructure (840 Open Access Base stations, 33 539 community Wi-Fi hotspots and 1 600 VSAT connections in mountainous areas in Eastern Cape, KwaZulu-Natal, and Northern Cape provinces. Local Small Medium Micro Enterprises (SMMEs), Internet Service Providers (ISPs) and Mobile Virtual Network Operators (MVNOs)

will lease capacity from BBI and Sentech and provide connectivity to targeted 5 830 208 households and through 33 539 Community Wi–Fi hot spots, with the applicable metering and support.

• • Government Connectivity

SITA is responsible for connecting at a minimum of 10Mbps (total of 14 742 government sites) utilizing existing budgets from line departments for maintenance and the extension of services provided by SITA.

• • Universal Service Obligations connectivity.

Mobile Network Operators (Telcos) who received IMT spectrum through the recent auction are responsible for the deployment of the USO as per the ITA (Invitation to Apply) conditions. Telcos are required to connect the following facilities:

• • 18 520 schools
• • 1764 hospitals and 3967 clinics
• • 567 libraries and Thusong centres
• • 8241 traditional and tribal authority centres

(2) As part of their capabilities to deliver, the entities will use existing and new SMMEs and empower new sub-contractors for the programme. Sub-contractors will be sourced from the local communities where the construction will take place. Opportunities exist in route survey, network design, wayleaves, quantity surveys, fibre installation, last mile connections, points of presence (pop) construction, satellite equipment and service provisioning.

The project is estimated to provide employment opportunities for skilled professionals and semi-skilled labour.

The estimated number of SMME opportunities required for the programme are 75 companies for Core Network build, Access Network Service Providers, and Internet Service Providers (ISPs) / Mobile Virtual Network Operators (MVNOs).

Reply:

a) The Department has increased the rollout of the e-visa system to 34 countries. All countries that the Republic has diplomatic relations with, can now apply for a tourist visa on the e-visa system or are exempted from visa requirements for short-term visits.

b) All technological challenges associated with the rollout of the e-visa system have been resolved. The e-visa system has been successfully enhanced and is fully operational.

END

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Reply:

The Department of Water and Sanitation has held numerous engagements with Rand Water and the municipalities within Gauteng, wherein municipalities were requested to present their plans to mitigate against the water supply challenges in the province and to implement turn-around strategies.

The DWS has advised Rand Water and municipalities to develop projections of future demand and implement infrastructure development programmes to cater for growing demand. The following will be prioritised by all municipalities in Gauteng to mitigate water supply challenges:

• Reduction of water losses by addressing illegal connections in formal settlement areas where water theft is occurring
• Regularisation of authorized unbilled consumptions in areas such as informal settlements
• Reduction and control of unplanned human settlements in various municipal areas.
• Implementation of Water Conservation and Demand Management (WCDM) measures to reduce demand.
• Construction of additional spare storage capacity through construction of additional reservoirs.

The DWS has undertaken the implementation and acceleration of the Lesotho Highlands Water Project II to augment water supply to the Gauteng Province through the Integrated Vaal River System (IVRS). The target date for completion of this project and associated infrastructure is December 2027

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Reply:

1. No, implementation of the money order was directed to Ingonyama Trust Board and not the department. ITB has decided to appeal the court’s decision and the application (appeal) by the Ingonyama Trust Board is still to be heard by the Supreme Court of Appeal.

2. Yes, the Minister files a report to the court every 3 months on the steps taken to comply with the two court orders.

Reply:

No. The Department of Agriculture Land Reform and Rural Development has not launched any investigation into the ITB Holding company since the holding company is not part of the Ingonyama Trust Board as per the KwaZulu Ingonyama Trust Amendment Act, No. 9 of 1997. However, the Ingonyama Trust Board, in its response to the matter raised at the Portfolio Committee briefing on 2 May, has committed to look into the alleged misappropriation and take appropriate action.

Reply:

The available data is of communal land comprising traditional council areas, as derived from proclamations defining the areas of jurisdiction of traditional councils. Such traditional council areas are situated on the underlying surveyed farms and farm portions. Traditional council areas have not been surveyed for purposes of regularisation of communal land rights.

(a) (i) 96 percent of communal land is currently not surveyed in South Africa.

(b) (i) 13 420 197.89 hectares of communal land is currently not surveyed in South Africa.

(a)(ii),(b)(ii) Please refer to the table below.

Provinces	(a)(ii) Percentage	(b)(ii) Hectarage
Eastern Cape	90.1	3 533 227.74
Free State	97.1	137 955.91
Gauteng	93.2	7 466.36
KwaZulu Natal	99.5	3 353 136.65
Limpopo	98.8	2 839 458.40
Mpumalanga	97.3	655 812.14
North West	99.7	1 983 864.31
Northern Cape	99.9	909 276.38
Western Cape	0	0

Reply:

a) Onderstepoort Biological Products (OBP) purchases Foot and Mouth Disease (FMD) vaccine from Botswana at an average price of 1,201.73(Pula) per unit which is an average of R1563.42 in South African rands, excluding freight costs (@2,9% = R45,33), import duties (@29% = R453.33), inventory and handling costs (@3,69% = R60,44), onsite costs (@4,6% = R72,54) and transport and logistics (@32% = R501.20). The inbound-landed cost per unit, therefore, is approximately R2696,26. The unit price is volume dependent on and influenced by currency fluctuation. Price changes per order depending on these two variables.

b) OBP sells the FMD vaccine to SA Government at R3 022,21

All these depend on the total of the vaccine. OBP has not increased FMD vaccine price in the past two years.

Reply:

a) The total number of state-owned farms acquired for redistribution is 3 708 farms for which the Department has lease agreements with the tenant farmers occupying them.

b) 30 years.

Reply:

1. African Swine Fever (ASF) historically only occurred in the northern parts of Limpopo, Mpumalanga, Gauteng and North West, due to infected ticks carried by warthog that came into contact with domestic pigs. The epidemiology of the disease has changed in the past few years. Outbreaks started to occur in domestic pigs without proof of direct contact with warthog and the disease spread to areas where it was never detected previously. ASF has now been detected in domestic pigs in all provinces.

2. The total number of outbreaks is 110.

• Eastern Cape –25
• Free State–17
• Gauteng–13
• Mpumalanga–12
• North West –6
• Western Cape –35
• KwaZulu-Natal – 2

3. Yes.

(a) All properties where ASF is detected are placed under quarantine, with movement control and biosecurity measures put in place. ASF is a controlled and notifiable disease and pig owners are required by law to report any suspicion of ASF.

All suspicions of ASF (including all reported significant increases in pig mortalities) will be investigated by the local state veterinarian and appropriate samples taken for confirmation. While the results of tests are awaited, pre-emptive quarantine will be placed on affected holdings and the focus of this quarantine placement will be to prohibit movement off the farm.

Once the diagnosis is confirmed, quarantine will be confirmed. In addition to placing the affected property under quarantine, the risks for the area must be considered by the local state veterinarian, as well as forward and backward tracing to determine properties possibly at risk and possible sources of infection.

Surveillance activities must be implemented at high-risk properties, by means of clinical inspection and sample collection in the event of any sick or dead pigs. For the prevention of further outbreaks and the spread of ASF, the selling of live pigs at auctions in affected areas may be suspended if deemed necessary to prevent the mixing and distribution of infected pigs.

Movement controls (where movements require certification) and movement restrictions (where movements are not allowed) may be implemented in specified areas, as determined to be required.

Awareness campaigns on biosecurity (safe buying, safekeeping, and safe feeding) and other disease risks will be undertaken jointly with other roleplayers. Awareness is always done in affected areas to advise pig owners on the minimum biosecurity standards that will prevent ASF introduction into their farms.

The various control protocols and specified guidelines assist with infection control and prevention. Recording, analyses and reporting of clinical trials and sample collections assist to determine and monitor the effectiveness of the control protocols.This may be followed by self-audit and protocol adjustment.

(b) Monitoring of all disease control measures is done by the provinces.

4. The Department, together with the South African Pork Producers Organization, constantly issues media statements advising pig owners on biosecurity measures to empower owners to prevent the introduction of the disease onto their properties. Since ASF causes high mortalities in pigs, the disease generally does not go unnoticed. It is not expected or perceived that there are deliberate attempts to underreport ASF, once the disease is diagnosed. However, some farmers have the attitude of selling or slaughtering animals quickly, if they perceive that there might be an infectious disease in their herds. This undesirable behaviour is not limited to pigs and ASF, but applies to all livestock and different diseases.

Reply:

The reference to “increased Foreign Direct Investment into Africa on terms defined by Africans….”, addressed the notion of “Conditionalities to Aid”, underlining the imperative for Africa to focus on the continental challenges of poverty, low skills levels and weak industrial capacity “on its own terms and not through the terms defined by someone else. In this context, the African Continental Free Trade Agreement (AfCFTA) is considered as one of the key tools to address these continental challenges.

The remarks further contextualised the fundamental principle of “African Unity” and most importantly underlined the need for the 9th Pan-African Congress to take a “thematic approach” to guide its outcomes, including the following:

• Promoting Foreign Direct Investment on Africa’s own terms;
• Increased market access for African products and strong implementation of the AfCFTA;
• Enhanced and qualitative change in agriculture and food security for Africa;
• Decisive Transfer of technology and of innovation that Africans must play a role in;
• Affirm Africa’s need for Investment in infrastructure, including health infrastructure, in order to address the shortcomings that became evident during the pandemic period;
• Courageous in ensuring that Africa builds and strengthen democratic institutions; and
• Africa and its Diaspora should not neglect the development of its people through quality education, capacity-building and the right skills to pursue, human resource development, research and innovation.

Reply:

There have been numerous projects over the last few years to investigate the feasibility of utilising Acid Mine Drainage (AMD) as a possible source of potable and/or grey water to add to the current water available to the Gauteng Province.

The objective, and one of the recommendations from the report: “Feasibility Study for a Long-Term Solution to Address the Acid Mine Drainage Associated with The East, Central and West Rand Underground Mining Basins, 2013" completed by Trans-Caledon Tunnel Agency, was to utilise the partially treated AMD from the three basins to potable standard to supplement the Vaal System.

Various technologies as well as alternative uses for AMD have been scrutinised and a report detailing the outcome and recommendations on how the Long-Term Solution should be implemented has been reviewed and will be released in the current financial year. Some of the options being considered include

1. Treating AMD effluent to potable standard and irrigation with mine water (treated and untreated).
2. Irrigation of crops using gold mine impacted waters as a Long-Term sustainable solution for mine water from the Witwatersrand Basins. In terms of this, a pilot project is being implemented under the guidance of the Water Research Commission and run by the University of Pretoria, is currently underway in the East Rand (Springs) and the results thereof will be released in due course.

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Reply:

The eThekwini Metropolitan Municipality has reported that it is providing communities the in Cato Crest informal areas with different types of sanitation services. In the informal settlement areas, the municipality is providing communities with Community Ablution Blocks (communal ablution facilities providing full waterborne sanitation) as well as portable chemical toilets in areas where CABs cannot be constructed due to there being no water borne wastewater infrastructure or when the relocation of families to formal housing structures is imminent.

Further to this, the eThekwini Metro has reported that the municipality is not aware of the 30 families that are sharing one pit toilet in the Cato Crest informal area. However, should the municipality be assisted to identify the families mentioned in the question, they can be assisted through the municipality’s existing programmes for sanitation services for informal settlements areas in the form of chemical toilets as a short-term intervention and Community Ablution Blocks as a medium-term solution that can be completed within a period of six months.

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