Questions and Replies

Reply:

a)  The Department carries out its regulatory function through its Dam Safety Office, which reported to Parliament that of the top 20 largest state dams, only 2 complied 100% with Dam Safety Regulations. The Department’s presentation to Parliament indicated that the shortcoming which was identified by the Dam Safety Office which prevented the other dams from being 100% compliant with the Dam Safety Regulations was that the required five- yearly dam safety evaluations were overdue.

Five-year Dam Safety Evaluations are required to be conducted by an Approved Professional Person (APP). These five-year evaluations are over and above the quarterly and annual inspections conducted by the Department’s operational engineering staff. There is a shortage of APPs in the Department, and this has led to the Department falling behind with its five- yearly dam safety evaluations.

The Department is in the process of finalising the appointment of a panel of Approved Professional Persons (APPs) which will assist to complete and review all required dam safety evaluation reports.

The department has prioritised 18 of the 20 largest dams to have compliant dam safety evaluation reports. with the intension to have the compliance issue resolved by the end of fourth quarter 2022/23 financial year. Unfortunately, contractual negotiations took longer than anticipated, implying that 25% of the largest 20 state dams will be achieved within this timeframe, and the remaining 75% by May 2023. With this additional professional engineering capacity, all outstanding and due dam safety evaluation reports will be completed within the next 18 months.

Even though there are inherent risks to not submitting 5 yearly dam safety evaluations reports on time, it does not necessarily equate to the dams being unsafe, since there are various systems and mechanisms in place to monitor the structural health and performance of our dams. These include routing inspections by dam operators and the monitoring of our dam’s behaviour by Dam Safety Surveillance through various instrumentations, some of which are communicating this data in real-time. All these measures are preventative in nature (serves as early warning) and are aimed at safeguarding our dam infrastructure as well as the public from potential harm.

In addition to general maintenance, the Department also implements a Dam Safety Rehabilitation programme which was established in 2006 to ensure that the lifespan of dam structures is prolonged and to improve the safety of these structures. Since its inception, rehabilitation projects at 43 dams have been completed. Currently, there are 6 dam safety rehabilitation projects underway with 19 projects in the design phase.

(b) The Department is finalising dam safety evaluation reports per dam, and not in consolidated fashion, because the due dates for these reports are staggard and not all due on the same date.

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Reply:

I did not receive a handover on which processes were followed in appointing the three Board members by my predecessor.

On Friday 18 April, via a Government Gazette, I will dissolve the SA Tourism Board.

In the same Gazette, I will appoint three Interim Board members in terms of Section 16 (3) (b) of the Tourism Act with experience in Finance, Governance and Tourism.

These three members will have full decision-making powers until such time that the Board is officially appointed.

Reply:

(1) and (2) According to SA Tourism, the reason for the proposed sponsorship was to market South Africa as a tourist destination, abroad.

Since receiving the report, I sought legal advice and on 22 March, I issued a letter to the Chairperson of the SA Tourism Board, requesting details of the proposed deal with Tottenham Hotspur Football Club. That letter is attached as an annexure. The Board responded on the specified deadline of 29 March, that it will no longer proceed with the transaction, nor will it seek the concomitant requisite approvals for the proposed transaction. The SAT response is attached as an annexure.

Reply:

a) The total number of parolees who violated their parole conditions annually since 01 January 2020 are follows:

Region	2020.01.01 to 2020.03.31	2020.04.01 to 2021.03.31	2021.04.01 to 2022.03.31	2022.04.01 to 2023.01.31	TOTAL
EC	941	2013	2142	2576	7 672
FSNC	277	765	1130	1185	3 357
GP	0	1555	2113	1871	5 539
KZN	810	2380	2125	2950	8 265
LMN	189	435	545	437	1 606
WC	766	2380	2125	2950	8 221
GRAND TOTAL	2 983	9 528	10 180	11 969	34 660

(b)(i) Total number of parolees re-arrested and/or taken back to jail are as follows:

Region	2020.01.01 to 2020.03.31	2020.04.01 to 2021.03.31	2021.04.01 to 2022.03.31	2022.04.01 to 2023.01.31	TOTAL
EC	215	419	531	57	1 222
FSNC	234	520	801	797	2 352
GP	0	566	945	917	2 428
KZN	84	265	458	555	1 362
LMN	179	405	525	407	1 516
WC	640	1 888	2 129	2 020	6 677
GRAND TOTAL	1 352	4 063	5 389	4 753	15 557

(b)(ii) Total number of parolees who remain out of jail are as follows:

Region	2020.01.01 to 2020.03.31	2020.04.01 to 2021.03.31	2021.04.01 to 2022.03.31	2022.04.01 to 2023.01.31	TOTAL
EC	2 481	2 451	3 473	3 882	12 287
FSNC	43	202	271	323	839
GP	0	989	1 168	954	3 111
KZN	2 650	4 120	3 525	5 004	15 299
LMN	4 649	4 639	4 502	4 323	18 113
WC	126	550	645	670	1 991
NATIONAL	9 949	12 951	13 584	15 156	51 640

(c) The percentage of absconders who remain on the run for certain Schedule 8 offences are as follows:

Region	Percentage as at 02 March 2023
EC	30,9%
FSNC	35,77%
GP	50,98%
KZN	41,36%
LMN	3,4%
WC	75.79%
GRAND TOTAL	45%

END

Reply:

1. (a) What total number of Tourism Monitors have been placed in each

I have been informed by the Department that the Tourism Monitors contracts are for a period of 12 months.

a) Province	b) Airport (please add if they are at other airports not listed)
Eastern Cape	200	East London / Port Elizabeth	0
Free State	100	Bram Fischer	0
Gauteng	230	OR Tambo / Lanseria	80
KwaZulu-Natal	460	King Shaka	0
Limpopo	0	Hoedspruit / Polokwane	0
Mpumalanga	288	Nelspruit / Kruger Mpumalanga	0
Northern Cape	100	Kimberley / Upington	0
North West	100	Mafikeng	0
Western Cape	330(Includes the airport monitors)	Cape Town / George	25

NB: All the Tourism Monitors are placed at attractions for a period of twelve (12) months

2. What total number of Tourism Monitors will be placed in the 2023-24 financial year in each

(a) Province	(b) Airport (please add if they are at other airports not listed)
Eastern Cape	100	East London / Port Elizabeth
Free State	100	Bram Fischer
Gauteng	200	OR Tambo / Lanseria
KwaZulu-Natal	170	King Shaka
Limpopo	60	Hoedspruit / Polokwane
Mpumalanga	200	Nelspruit / Kruger Mpumalanga
Northern Cape	70	Kimberley / Upington
North West	100	Mafikeng
Western Cape	230	Cape Town
ISimangaliso Wetlands	200
Ezemvelo	150
SANBI	130
ACSA	135 ACSA still to allocate the numbers are per their strategic airports with the bulk of those reserved for ORT, CTIA & Ushaka in Durban
TOTAL	1845

I am reviewing the programme and training of the Tourism Monitors.

Reply:

I have been informed that:

(a) (i) Mr. Enver Duminy resigned on 1 February 2023, while Mr. Ravi Nadasen and Ms. Rosemary Anderson resigned on 2 February 2023.

– 2 February 2023

(ii) and (b) (i) and (ii)

On Friday 18 April, via a Government Gazette, I will dissolve the SA Tourism Board.

In the same Gazette, I will appoint three Interim Board members in terms of Section 16 (3) (b) of the Tourism Act with experience in Finance, Governance and Tourism.

These three members will have full decision-making powers until such time that the Board is officially appointed.

Reply:

a)  To address governance challenges among Water Boards and enhance the role that these entities will be playing to enhance service delivery at local government level; the Department has reviewed the Water Boards in terms of financial sustainability, governance matters and extending services to areas that are not currently serviced. The review and reconfiguration of Water Boards is intended to achieve the following:

• Better economies of scale
• Enhance market capitalisation for infrastructure projects
• Increase water access to un-serviced rural areas
• Enable better cross-subsidisation and increased financial sustainability
• Facilitate differential service delivery levels and tariff modelling across the province
• Enable better working relationships with provincial governments - there has been a general effort to align water boards boundaries with provincial boundaries
• Enable Water Boards to better support Water Services Authorities (WSAs).

b) It should also be noted that non-payment of Water Boards by municipalities threatens financial viability of Water Boards. To address this, the Department of Water and Sanitation in collaboration with National Treasury has put in place the following measures to strengthen billing and revenue collection and address the escalating debt of municipalities to water entities:

• The Department of Water and Sanitation (DWS) will collaborate with National Treasury to ensure that equitable share allocations are withheld from non-paying municipalities.
• DWS will ensure that standardised credit control and debt recovery processes is in place across all the water boards. This includes consistent enforcement of water limitations/restrictions on non-paying municipalities and legal processes to attach municipal bank accounts where necessary.
• Bulk prepaid meters will be installed by water boards in municipalities with a poor payment record.
• The Minister is further consulting the 144 Water Services Authorities on the outcome of the above-mentioned workshop.

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Reply:

	a) Make	b) Model	c) Year Manufactured	d) Price	e) Date purchased
i) Minister	No vehicle was procured for the Minister since the period of 01 June 2019 to date.
ii) Former Minister	No vehicle was procured for former Minister since the period of 01 June 2019.
iii) Deputy Minister of Justice and Constitutional Development	Toyota Lexus	Lexus IS300 Hybrid	2020	R643 889.60	20 March 2020
	Toyota Lexus	Lexus ES250 EX	2022	R680 702.25	27 September 2022
iv) Former Deputy Minister	No vehicle was procured for former Deputy Minister since the period of 01 June 2019.

Reply:

The Department of Women, Youth and Persons with Disabilities (DWYPD) has developed a Women’s Financial Inclusion Framework (WFIF) aimed at accelerating the participation of women in the mainstream economy.

The framework serves as a guideline for the development of intervention strategies to enhance the economic empowerment and participation of women in South Africa for institutions both within government and the private sector to tailor, monitor and evaluate the following inclusive objectives in all their plans, policies, and programmes viz:

a) Promote an all-inclusive approach to women’s financial inclusion;

b) Facilitate an enabling operating environment for mainstreaming women’s financial inclusion in government and private sector institutions;

c) Promote financial inclusivity through equitable access to ownership and control of all economic activities for women;

d) Lobby the private sector, non-government organisations and international organisations to incorporate the inclusion of women in their policies, programmes, projects and products;

e) Mobilise resources to support campaigns and programmes that promote the inclusion of women in the economy;

f) Coordinate, collect and disseminate information on best practices relating to the inclusion of women across all sectors of our economy;

g) Strengthen the capacity of women in leadership, management, control and entrepreneurship;

h) Share best practices relating to the economic emancipation of women.

Following the approval of the WFIF, the DWYPD was instrumental in founding the Women’s Economic Assembly (WECONA), which is a coordination platform for the public and private sectors, civil society, business associations and women in business.

WECONA is a national programme actioning an enabling procurement environment by activating public and private sector supply value chains toward a coherent and collaborative approach to achieve women’s economic empowerment. This programme also hinges on outcome 5.1 of the National Strategic Plan on Gender Based Violence and Femicide (NSP on GBVF), Pillar 5 – Economic Power which aims to accelerate initiatives that address women’s unequal economic and social position, through enabling access to government and private sector procurement, employment, housing, access to land, financial resources and other income generating initiatives.

Reply:

Civil engineering designs for water storage infrastructure i.e. Dam Walls, are designed for a safety evaluation flood (SCF) of 1:10 000 year flood conditions to ensure that the structural integrity of the wall would not be compromised by forces anticipated to be associated with such conditions. In addition, the Department is also prohibiting the erection of permanent structures within the 1:100 flood line adjacent to the full supply level of a dam and rivers as a means to safeguard life and livelihood. Wherever water conveyance structures (i.e. large pipe-lines and canals) are elevated and exposed at stream or river crossings, the bridge structure is designed to withstand 1:100 year flood conditions.

The Department takes note of the impact the intense flooding had on trenched pipe-lines during the 2022 floods and will work with research institutions to consider an amendment to engineering design factors, as influenced by climate change.

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Reply:

a) The Department has put in place internal control processes to continuously curb underspending including:

• Increased focus on forecast controls over expenditure commitments for projects in year and over the Medium Term Expenditure Framework to mitigate risks of under expenditure.
• Stringent expenditure controls for sound financial management principles, ensuring that public resources are utilized efficiently; incurred obligations are cleared in a timely manner; and abuse/misappropriation of public money is prevented.
• Collaborative service delivery implementation plans with capacity building initiatives are also being implemented with diverse stakeholders within the water sector including Water Boards, Municipalities, Provincial Governments, Department of Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs and National Treasury.
• Regular monitoring of progress and management of areas of underperformance to proactively redirect funds to projects with capacity to absorb additional budgets.
• The Department is implementing the Infrastructure Procurement Strategy and Policies.

b) The following have been identified as root causes of underspending:

• Lack of financial governance skills amongst Water Service Authorities
• Inadequate project management capacity by Implementing Agents resulting in under-expenditure
• Court Judgement issued on 25 February 2022, which prohibited advertising of new bids for goods and services and impacted on capital expenditure for major and mega projects
• Complex public procurement system that contributed to delays in the procurement of goods and services

Implementation of these interventions by the Department has resulted in significant improvements from the last financial year expenditure to the year-to-date expenditure.

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Reply:

a) The Department of Justice and Constitutional Development (DoJ&CD) has appointed Datacentrix (Pty) Ltd on a twelve (12) months contract to maintain and support the existing Court Recording Technology (CRT) solution. However, the twelve (12) months contract with Datacentrix has ended on 25 March 2023.

Therefore, to circumvent the risk of not having CRT maintenance and support in place, the contract with Datacentrix that ended on 25 March 2023 has been extended for a further period of three (3) months ending in June 2023.

This extension is allowing the procurement of a long term maintenance and support contract by the State Information Technology Agency (SITA). SITA has published the bid, with Reference Number RFB 2713-2022, with a closing date of 31 March 2023.

b) Some CRT spare parts have been procured through the Request for Quotation (RFQ) process. The table below provides details of the spare parts:

SPARES	QUANTITY
ACR Boundary Microphones	200
ACR Cardioid Microphones	100
SOS Cable	150
20mm Coaxial cabling with XLR Connectors	80
15mm Coaxial cabling with XLR Connectors	210
10mm Coaxial cabling with XLR Connectors	105
Recording Indicator LED Light	10

The extended contract includes the provision of spares and IMACD (Installation, Moves, Additions, Changes and Decommission) to respond to any further breakdowns that may occur.

Reply:

(a) I have been informed by SA Tourism that all three members attended the Board meeting on 27 January 2023 where the Tottenham Hotspur proposal was first tabled for approval.

(b) I have been informed by SA Tourism that one board member attended the meeting and formed part of the quorum. The other two board members tendered their apologies and did not form part of the quorum.

(c) I have been informed by SA Tourism that one board member attended and recorded her dissent with regard to approval of the proposal. Another member, who tendered an apology for the meeting, formally submitted his disagreement and dissent in a letter to the Chairperson.

Reply:

(i) Minster:

(a) Make : NA

(b) Model : NA

(c) Year of manufacturer : NA

(d) Cost : NA

(e) Purchase date : NA

ii) Former Minster:

(a) Make : Audi

(b) Model : Q5

(c) Year of manufacturer : 2022

(d) Cost : R 726 469-25

(e) Purchase date : 10/01/2022

(iii) Deputy Minster:

(a) Make : NA

(b) Model : NA

(c) Year of manufacturer : NA

(d) Cost : NA

(e) Purchase date : NA

(iv) Former Deputy Minster

(a) Make : BMW

(b) Model : Sedan 12 DC, G30, 520 D

(c) Year of manufacturer : 2021

(d) Cost : R 741 044, 54

(e) Purchase/invoice date : 27/07/2021

Thank You.

Reply:

As the Department of Social Development (DSD) is mandated to provide social relief, intervention was coordinated through those departments in the respective provinces affected by the floods. The Department of Women, Youth and Persons with Disabilities (DWYPD), works with the Office on the Status of Women which is situated within the Office of the Premier in all provinces as an entry point for coordination and collaboration.

During the 2022 floods, the DWYPD through the Kwa-Zulu Natal DSD coordinated relief efforts to women, youth and persons with disabilities namely:

(i) 1 000 Sanitary Dignity Packages were distributed which comprised of 10 sanitary pads, wash cloth, toothbrush, toothpaste, roll-on and body lotion. These were donated by the Embassy of the People’s Republic of China;

(ii) 200 HappiMe sanitary pad packs were distributed;

(iii) 10 vouchers to the value of R1 000 donated by the One Africa Organisation;

Further, through support from the European Union, the DWYPD has placed technical monitors and data captures in the Offices of the Premier in KwaZulu-Natal and Eastern Cape. Their work is mainly on monitoring Gender-Based Violence and Femicide (GBVF) and the institutionalisation of the Gender-Responsive Planning, Budgeting, Monitoring and Evaluation and Auditing framework, among other matters which affect women.

Reply:

1. In the current financial year Onderstepoort Biological Products (OBP) sold 49 364 doses of horse sickness vaccine.

a) (i) In 2021, 6236 equines were vaccinated (ii) 2022, 5898 equines were vaccinated In the African Horse Sickness (AHS) surveillance zone and AHS free zone, the number of equines vaccinated is known as permission is required from the Veterinary Authority for vaccination.

(b)(i)(ii) The Department does not keep records of animals vaccinated for any endemic disease in the country even though it encourages owners to vaccinate their animals. AHS is endemic in the rest of the country, no records of numbers vaccinated is kept.

(c)(i)(ii) OBP produced enough vaccine during 2020 for the market. Thereafter until 2023 disruptions due to equipment breakdown and load-shedding started which disrupted consistent production supply.

2. (a)(b) responded by in 1(c)

3. (a) OBP is currently refurbishing critical equipment and has commenced in procuring new equipment.

(b) Negotiations are currently taking place to consider contract manufacturing with the aim of increasing OBP production output.

Reply:

There are currently 6 Boards within the Department’s portfolio of State-Owned Companies, comprising 50 Board members. To date, all the Directors have been inducted.

Board induction process is undertaken jointly between the Department and the SOC when a new Board is appointed. This is not a compulsory process in that there is no legislative requirement prescribing Board induction. Rather, it is a good governance practice that has been adopted and implemented by the Department.

In addition, an introductory meeting is held with the Minister and the Board wherein key issues pertaining to inter alia Shareholder’s expectations are outlined. Moreover, the Company itself prepares and undertakes an ongoing Board training programme upon identification of individual Board members’ areas of development.

Further, the Company reports on its Board training and development to the Shareholder on a quarterly basis as part of its Quarterly Report to the Shareholder, to enable the Department to monitor both the Board and Company’s performance against set targets.

Remarks: Reply: Approved / Not approved

Jacky Molisane PJ Gordhan, MP

Acting Director-General Minister

Date: Date:

Reply:

a) Recording of animals that die because of controlled animal diseases is done at provincial level while the national Department of Agriculture, Land Reform and Rural Development (DALRRD) only records the number of outbreaks. DALRRD is however, in the process of collating and verifying data in this regard, which will be submitted once verified.

b) Below is the total amount of blood vaccines available at Ondersterpoort Biological Products as at 29 March 2023:

Blood Vaccine Type	In Packaging Department	In Distribution Department	TOTAL
Anaplasmosis	271	0	271
Redwater African	4709	849	5558
Redwater Asiatic	1480	627	2107
Heartwater	2870	163	3033

More batches of Anaplasmosis currently being tested are expected to be released at the end of April 2023 and the production of more blood vaccines is planned for April and May 2023.

Reply:

When a disaster occurs DSD partners with different stakeholders to provide humanitarian assistance to affected households and individuals, it is at the point where it is determined who will provide which assistance.

The role players that DSD partners with are provincial departments of SASSA, the National Disaster Management Committee, ProvJocs and disaster coordinating forums at provincial levels, as well as NatJoints at National level. The list of persons or households to be provided with assistance are verified by the Provincial or Local Disaster Management Response Unit.

REPLY:

Interventions that were provided by DSD during the recent floods

PROVINCE	SUITE OF INTERVENTIONS PROVIDED BY DSD/SASSA
Eastern Cape	The hard-hit area in the Alfred Nzo District is Matatiele with 77 households, followed by Umzimvubu with 45 households and Ntabankulu with 37 households.   DSD provided Psycho-social support and Trauma Debriefing services are being rendered by the Social Workers to the affected families. With integration between DSD and SASSA all families with schooling children were referred to SASSA for school uniform. A total of 1,850 people were affected, and SASSA intervened as follows: Meals were provided to 449 individuals to the value of R289, 605. School uniform applications were taken for 171 to the value of R407,800 Cash for 4 deceased victims was processed to the value of R7,960 The most affected districts were;Alfred Nzo, Amathole District Chris Hani District, Joe Gqabi District and OR Tambo District Cash SRD applications were processed for 433 affected victims to the value of R 863,670 The total assistance provided by SASSA Eastern Cape Region was to 1024 individuals at an amount of R1, 569,035.00
Gauteng	2384 people were affected and 85 people were displaced 21 Food vouchers and 2 Cash vouchers were issued to the value of R45 770.00. Most affected areas were Johannesburg, Ekurhuleni and Sedibeng
KwaZulu-Natal,	On 10 February 2023 KwaZulu Natal experienced severe rainfalls which resulted into flood disasters. A total of 84 incidents were reported with 3010 households affected.   SASSA KZN region participate in all disaster management structures both Provincial and Local. This ensures that interventions are coordinated for speedy response and prevention of duplication. Provincial Departments and municipalities are currently finalising disaster recovery plans as there was an extensive damage to the public infrastructure. SASSA, DSD, affected Municipalities and civil society organisation such as Al Imdad Foundation and Gift of the givers were able to provide immediate assistance victims. DSD conducted assessment on affected families in order to determine the social impact and in order to provide Psychosocial support such as trauma counselling and debriefing. SASSA KZN provided the social relief of distress food vouchers to 826 households to the value of R1, 635 480. SRD food vouchers was also provide to 6 households with disaster fatalities to the value of R 3960 which an amount of two older person’s grant as stipulated in the SRD policy . The total assistance to all affected families is R 23 760
Limpopo	Limpopo had 222 affected households by floods. None of the affected were displaced. SASSA provided SRD cash valued at R443 810.00.
Northern Cape	No people were displaced due to the floods.   Those that were affected by the river over-flows were provided with food and blankets by DSD and Gift of the Givers.
North-West	Floods occurred in the areas of Ngaka Modiri Molema district; Deelpan; Lombaardslaagte; Slurry and Mahikeng (extention 38), Deelpan village DSD conducted profiling within the affected community and 50 food parcels were distributed on 08 Feb 2023. 77 houses were profiled. The affected families were not relocated to temporary accommodation due to resistance. SASSA provided vanity packs as immediate intervention. The first consignment of 100 (50 males and 50 females) vanity packs valued at R 27 500. 00 were issued. Vouchers were issued as follows; 35 at Lombaartslaagte, 6 Mahikeng (extension 38) and 12 at Slurry informal settlement. Profiling continues and SASSA will provide interventions as required.
Mpumalanga	All municipal districts were affected; Ehlanzeni District: Nkomazi and Mbombela Local Municipalities the mostly affected Gert Sibande: both Lekwa and Mkhondo Local Municipalities were affected. Bushbuckridge district and Nkangala District : Dr. J.S. Moroka and Emakhazeni were reported as affected In Mbombela Local Municipality 112 households were reported to have been evacuated, however intervention disaster relief was provided form the Provincial disaster structures Gert Sibande District: SASSA and DSD participated in the coordinated interventions from Mkhondo Local Municipalities and Lekwa and Gert Sibande District, in partnership with all stakeholders provided disaster relief. Two (02) households with six (06) people were evacuated and DSD provided disaster relief. SASSA provided SRD – Disaster (cash) to 16 affected individuals to the value of R20 780.00. Nkangala District: Dr. J.S. Moroka was reported as affected by the floods, which affected the households that were already affected by rains that happened from 29th January 2023. SASSA provided SRD Disaster (cash vocher) to 23 affected individuals to the value of R45 770.00 In total SASSA provided cash vouchers to 45 clients to the value of R78 490.00 In Nkomazi Local Municipality, 1 701 households were affected and eight (08) cases of loss of life reported, and none of these families were displaced. SASSA formed part of the district and provincial disaster management structures. The other partners including Gift of the Givers, Red Cross business also provided assistance and donations consisting of food parcels, gel stoves, blankets, mattresses, collapsible structures, sponges, tarpaulins, children’s clothing and sanitary towels. SASSA is still conducting assessments of the households referred by DSD, assessments and cash vouchers issued so far at the value of R11 940.00. The households where loss of life was reported are still being assessed. The affected families were not relocated to temporary accommodation, although some houses were damaged hence the provision of collapsible structures by the Dept. Human Settlement.

Reply:

a) The allocated amount was R48 366 000 in 2022/23

b) R24 437 000 was spent in 2022/23.

c) (i)&(ii) The programme named Chronic Diseases Disabilities & Geriatrics spent R24 437 million on health promotion activities which aim to promote wellness, reduce the common risk factors underlying the priority Non-Communicable Diseases as well as to screen for these NCDs and link persons to care.

(iii) The following strides are made:

• In 2021 PRICELESS reported evidence-based gains from the Health Promotion Levy (HPL), including
  • The national urban household purchases of taxable beverages by volume fell by 51% (Kantar) with a 29 % decrease in sugar intake.

• • In a self-reported Langa survey of young adults ( 18- 39 y), on taxable beverages showed a 37% reduction by volume and 31% decrease in sugar intake.
• • In a Soweto Study of teenagers, young adults, and older adults, the frequency of Sugar Sweetened Beverages intake amongst heavy consumers fell from 10 beverages per week pre HPL to 4 beverages per week one year post HPL.
• In 2022, the Department approved the National Strategic Plan for the Prevention and Control of Non-Communicable Diseases 2022 – 2027 (NSP NCDs) which adopts an integrated person centered approach and is inclusive of population level interventions.

The NSP NCDs aims to promote wellness, reduce modifiable risk behaviour, enhance management and control of non-communicable diseases in particular hypertension and diabetes and empower communities, patients and their families.

• The 2022/23 Annual Performance Quarter 1 to Quarter 4 Reports confirm increased health seeking behaviour as the total screened for diabetes for Q1 was 2 550 479 which increased to 18 838 794 in Q4. Total screened for hypertension for Q1 was 2 654 572 which increased to 19 270 634 in Q4.
• The Health Promotion Levy was implemented in 2018. Strides in terms of health outcomes manifests in the long-term (at least 10 years), since long established behavioural practices that contribute to ill-health, takes time to reverse.

END.

Reply:

The key objective of the study is to provide National Treasury with independent advisory services on the operational challenges impacting on the appropriate interventions that will turn around the operations of the entity. The service provider “will be reviewing and advising on the operational challenges being experienced at the existing power plant level, appropriateness and effectiveness of maintenance regime being implemented, the level capital expenditure required for the existing power plants”. The service provider will be required to visit all the power plants in the Eskom network and engage with various divisions within Eskom and the Department of Public Enterprises.

 

Remarks: Reply: Approved / Not Approved

Jacky Molisane Pravin Gordhan, MP

Acting Director-General Minister of Public Enterprises

Date: Date:

Reply:

(1)(a) Decisions to conduct the vaccination campaigns are based on:

• Where positive locations are well managed; fenced-in properties;
• Where there is no direct contact with animals on neighbouring farms, only the animals on the positive properties are vaccinated; and
• Where positive locations are communal areas, that are not separated by fences from other animals, then cattle in the surrounding area are also vaccinated (either based on natural geographic boundaries or large roads or based on shared grazing/water sources or set distances).

(b)(i) The vaccine used in all cases is Aftovaxpur.

(ii) More than 600 000 animals were vaccinated i.e. one dose per animal.

(c) On well-fenced properties, 100% of cattle are vaccinated. In communal areas, vaccination coverage is difficult to determine, but in most cases 80% coverage is reached.

2. Where animals are intended for slaughter, only one vaccination was done. Where animals are intended to be kept long term, a second vaccination was done. If cattle are in a permanent FMD Protection Zone with vaccination, they are vaccinated 3 times a year on a continuous basis.

3. South African Territories (SAT) FMD viruses, which cause the outbreaks in the region, are generally stable viruses. The vaccine does not necessarily need to be matched every time before animals are vaccinated.

(a)(b) The different virus strains contained in the Aftovaxpur vaccine are ones that have been shown to cause a wide spectrum of protection against most SAT viruses circulating in the region, so the vaccine matching is good.

Reply:

a) (i) Causes of death are statistically derived from death certificates. Obesity will be one of the underlying causes of a health condition that does not appear on the death certificate and therefore a distinct number of deaths caused by obesity is not available. It was observed during the COVID-19 surges that there was link between obesity and deaths.

(ii) Obesity is one of the risk factors for diabetes and hypertension and statistics for these two conditions are provided below.

b) According to the DHIS report, the total number of persons who have been diagnosed with diabetes since 1 January to 28 February 2023 is 46 330.

c) Statistics for hypertension is not collected routinely. We make use of surveys to guide planning and decision making in this regard. According to the SA Demographic and Health Survey 2016, the prevalence for males 15 years and above is 44% and for females of the same age category is 46%.

END.

Reply:

1. The Department of Agriculture, Land Reform and Rural Development (DALRRD) does not have record of the above-mentioned claim reference number. It would be appreciated if DALRRD can be provided with further details on the claim such as claimants details, claim name, property description etc.

(2)(a)(ii),(ii)(b)(i),(ii) Falls away

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

END

 

Reply:

National Development Agency (NDA)

a) (i) The annual salary for the NDA Chief Executive Officer is at P3 grade used by the NDA for employees. The total cost to company for the CEO is R2 514 176.28 for the current financial year 2022/23 and adjusted annually for inflationary related adjustments approved by the Board, Since November 2022 to date the NDA had an Acting CEO. and

b) (ii) The top executives’ positions at the National Development Agency are on P4 (Peromnes) of the NDA salary scale. The NDA uses the Peromnes job grading methodology for grading the levels to determine the salary levels. The six executives are listed below, including the current Acting Chief Executive Officer. Acting positions are paid an additional 10% of the position they are acting on.

No		Designation	Salary Grade	Total Cost to Company Earnings
1	R.L.Hlapolosa	Corporate Services Executive	P4	R 1 711 189
2	S.L.Khumalo	Chief Operations Officer	P4	R1 730 970
3	K.M.Muthen	Chief Financial Officer	P4	R1 730 970
4	B. Magongo	Acting Chief Executive Officer	P4	R1 970 279
5	H. Mansour	Chief Audit Executive	P4	R1 988 627
6	X.S.Baloyi	Acting Executive Research	P6	R1 312 094

c) The Chief Executive Officer and Executives are paid total cost to company salary packages and as employed officials they do not receive additional payment for meeting attendance.

South African Social Security Agency (SASSA)

a) (i) and (ii) The salaries of the Chief Executive Officer and the Executive Managers appointed by the South African Social Security Agency are aligned to those of the Director-General (DG) and Deputy Director-Generals (DDG) applicable to the public sector and the determination is made by the Minister of the Department of Public Service and Administration (refer to the table below for details).

No.	Designation	Salary Level	All-inclusive salary package
1	Chief Executive Officer	16	R2 650 000.00 Personal Notch
2	Chief Financial officer	15	R1 791 978.00
3	Chief Information Officer	15	R1 864 698.00 Personal Notch
4	Executive Manager: Grants Administration	15	R1 590 747.00
5	Executive Manager: Strategy & Planning Development	15	R1 791 978.00
6	Regional Executive Manager: Eastern Cape	15	R1 791 978.00
7	Regional Executive Manager: Gauteng	15	R1 713 696.00
8	Regional Executive Manager: North-West	15	R1 663 422.00
9	Regional Executive Manager: KZN	15	R1 590 747.00

b) Kindly be advised that there are no meeting allowances payable to the Chief Executive Officer and her Executives as it does not form part of their structured salary packages.

Reply:

No remedial actions have been taken at this stage. The Public Protector’s Report 44 of 2018/2019 relating to allegations of maladministration by the Free State Department of Agriculture and Rural Development (DARD) and the former Department of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries (DAFF) involving the handling of an outbreak of brucellosis on the farm of Mrs Ronel Behrens (“the Report”) was found to contain serious irregularities and material errors of law and fact, which vitiated the investigation and remedial action which form the basis of the report.

The Report is under judicial review to be set aside with case number 82234/19. The required application documents were served on the Office of the Public Protector on 8 November 2019 and on the complainant (Mrs Behrens) on 19 November 2019.

In July 2021, the Office of the Public Protector requested a settlement with the newly formed Department of Agriculture, Land Reform and Rural Development (DALRRD) and DARD in the matter. On 15 June 2022, the Office of the Public Protector agreed that the Report be set aside and the original complaint remitted back to the office of the Public Protector for an investigation de novo. The settlement is enrolled to be made an order of court in May 2023.

The Report is effectively set aside, and DALRRD has been advised to await the outcome of the review process before implementing any remedial actions, if necessary.

Reply:

a) The Land and Agricultural Development Bank (Land Bank) of South Africa is not implementing any AgriBEE programme on behalf of the Department. The Land Bank was appointed as the fund manager of the AgriBEE Fund. In terms of the Memorandum of Agreement between the two parties, Land Bank performs the following functions on behalf of the Department:

• Manage and administer the Fund which includes receiving annual allocations in respect of the Fund and keeping them in a dedicated AgriBEE Fund account.
• Conduct due diligence assessments on suitable applications received from the Department and provide due diligence reports thereof to aid the Department in the appointment of qualifying applications according to the fund criteria.
• Disburse funds to approved applications on written instruction by the Director General of the Department.

Based on the above, evaluation and approval of applications for support through the AgriBEE Fund remains the responsibility of the Department and not that of the Land Bank.

b) Land Bank has never failed to implement AgriBEE programmes as it was never its responsibility to do so. With regard to the Blended Finance Scheme, the Land Bank has the responsibility to implement and the following has been done to ensure successful implementation:

• The Department of Agriculture, Land Reform and Rural Development (DALRRD) and Land Bank agreed on the criteria and qualifications for the Blended Finance Scheme as well as the scorecard to ensure alignment by all branches of the bank to the blended finance scheme concept document.
• DALRRD has not imposed additional processes for approval by Land Bank to ensure applications are received, analysed, processed and approved by the Land Bank within reasonable and agreed timelines.
• DALRRD convened a workshop with Land Bank on 4 April 2023 to assess the norms and standards Land Bank uses to approve applications for Blended Finance; as these must be aligned to industry technical standards to avoid deserving applications being rejected by the Bank and the objectives of the scheme not being realised. The workshop was attended by DALRRD technical experts and bankers from all Land Bank’s branches across the country to ensure alignment with Land Bank officials to agreed processes and technical standards.
• A steering committee for Blended Finance has been established to oversee performance by all participating financial institutions (PFIs) and will monitor performance by the PFIs and unlock challenges that hamper implementation by these banks.
• The Land Bank has appointed a senior manager to oversee the partnership with DALRRD and DALRRD has likewise appointed a senior manager to oversee the successful implementation of the Blended Finance Scheme.

Reply:

1 (a) In terms of Regulation 30(2) of the Social Assistance Act (Act No. 13 of 2004), SASSA may conduct a review at any time when it has a reason to believe that the beneficiary's circumstances, including financial circumstances, may have changed. These reviews are often triggered when SASSA beneficiaries are found on databases indicating that they may be in receipt of income that they’ve not declared. Similarly, a large portion of the reviews are also triggered by the the office of the Auditor General of South Africa (AGSA) audit finding, which also involves database checks.

(b) Number of clients selected for review per social grant type is reflected in table 1 below:

Table: 1 Number of Clients per Social Grant Type

GRANT TYPE	TOTAL CLIENTS
OLDER PERSON'S GRANT	42942
DISABILITY GRANT	17065
CHILD SUPPORT GRANT	8559
FOSTER CHILD GRANT	8793
CARE-DEPENDENCY GRANT	3097
DG GRANT-IN-AID	1841
GRANT-IN-AID	188
OAG GRANT-IN-AID	1904
TOTAL	84389

 

(c) (i) Number of clients that have been reviewed per Province is displayed in table 2 below:

Table: 2 Number of Clients per Province

PROVINCE	NUMBER OF CLIENTS
Eastern Cape	4531
Free State	5137
Gauteng	6868
KwaZulu Natal	20029
Limpopo	5049
Mpumalanga	4336
Northern Cape	1401
North West	3004
Western Cape	8193
Total	58548

(ii) Number of clients still to be reviewed per each Province is reflected in the table below:

Table 3: Number of Clients to be Reviewed.

PROVINCE	CLIENTS
Eastern Cape	3234
Free State	1488
Gauteng	2625
KwaZulu Natal	6871
Limpopo	2422
Mpumalanga	2236
Northern Cape	2817
North West	1892
Western Cape	2256
TOTAL	25841

d (i) Number of social grants that have been stopped since clients are not coming forward in each province:

(ii) Number of grants stopped due to clients no longer meeting the means test and qualifying criteria in each Province:

(e) SASSA uses registered mail sent via the post office as provided for in Regulation 30 of Social Assistance Regulations. By law, the onus is on the beneficiary to ensure that the contact details are up to date with the Agency.

(f ) The Regulations makes it the responsibility of the clients to notify the Agency of any changes in personal details. This will enable SASSA to share important information with the client as it uses the details captured on the application form.

The legislation follows three steps. The first is notify the client of a review. The second is to suspend their grant, if they do not respond to the review request. This caters for beneficiaries who did not get the communication, as they would / should approach SASSA if their grant is suspended, to find out why. They will then be notified of the review, and should they complete the review and still qualify for the grant, the suspension will be lifted. The third and final step is cancelling the grant if the beneficiary does not come forward for the review or approach SASSA after being suspended.

Reply:

a) Government has been unsuccessful in its attempt to increase the value of the Social Relief of Distress grant due to fiscal constraints. The Department is also concerned that since its implementation in 2020, the value has remained unchanged and is not keeping pace with inflation which directly translate to the value of the grant decreasing every year as the inflation increases. The Department approached the National Treasury with a proposal to increase the value of the grant. However, the request was not favourably considered due to fiscal constraints.

b) Yes, whilst the Department appreciates that the grant has been extended to March 2024, it remains a temporary grant. An agreement on the future of the COVID-19 SRD (cSRD) has not as yet been reached, nor what should replace the grant when the temporary arrangement comes to an end. However, the Department is currently exploring options to introduce a more sustainable permanent intervention aimed at addressing the needs of working age population.

Reply:

a) No guarantees were used by SAA for lease of aircraft since 2 September 2021.

b) No guarantees were used by SAA for purchase of aircraft since 2 September 2021.

c) No guarantees were used by SAA to acquire aircraft since 2 September 2021.

The reason guarantees were not used for any of the above is because the conditions for recapitalization of SAA requires that all government guarantees to SAA should be cancelled upon disbursement of funds from government.

Remarks: Reply: Approved / Not Approved

Ms. Jacky Molisane PJ. Gordhan, MP

Acting Director-General Minister

Date: Date:

Reply:

Yes, I have full confidence in the Board.

Eskom is currently facing very constrained energy availability:

1. Kusile units 1, 2 and 3 are not available until later in the year, due to the damaged flue. This removes 2100MW.
2. Koeberg unit 1 is offline and undergoing refurbishment to extend the life of the unity by 20 years.
3. There are a number of units on outages - both planned and unplanned (plus not being returned to service on time). This results in a total unavailability ranging between 15000MW and 18000MW.

In addition, renewable energy projects which are under construction at present do not, yet supply an adequate number of megawatts.

Nonetheless, the Board and management of Eskom have developed a Recovery Plan for the next 18 months, which will ensure incremental gains at each power station.

The public – both residential and areas and business, can also make an important and sizeable contribution to reducing demand by a careful use of geysers, lights and other water heating equipment.

Remarks: Approved / Not Approved

Jacky Molisane PJ Gordhan, MP

Acting Director-General Minister

Date: Date:

Reply:

1. Yes.

2. Yes. The contingency plan has been made available to provincial state veterinarians through the Provincial Directors.

3. The implementation of the plan differs across provinces and offices and is mainly influenced by the resources each office/province has allocated to veterinary services. The implementation of the contingency measures is also affected by the structure in the provinces where in some provinces the direct supervisors of animal health technicians have other priorities than disease control measures.

4. Yes, the process framework is already included in the general contingency plan.

(a) Chief Director: Animal Production and Health; Director: Animal Health; Provincial Directors concerned and State Veterinarian(s).

(b) Once an outbreak of national importance is notified and confirmed, the National Director: Animal Health and the Chief Director: Animal Production and Health, who is also the Chief Veterinary Officer, decide on appropriate control measure(s).

(c) In most cases, the advice given to farmers is:

• Only buy animals from confirmed healthy herds/flocks; avoid visiting and buying from auctions which have multiple unknown origin animals and therefore high risk;
• confine animals to avoid contact with other animals and possible infected material and improve biosecurity measures on the farm;
• avoid people/vehicles/equipment entering the farm as they may have been in contact with other animals or infectious material;
• for African Swine Fever: avoid feeding swill (leftovers or kitchen waste); if this is not possible ensure that the food is cooked thoroughly to inactivate the virus (the virus can remain infectious in meat for months); the added benefit is that you will be destroying other diseases with the cooking such as measles, Foot and Mouth Disease, Pseudorabies etc.

Reply:

(a)(b)(i)(ii) Public health facilities have not been routinely collecting data classified as crush injury and crush syndrome. However, the National Indicator Datasets(NIDS) started collecting information in 2020 on trauma. This data is classified as Accident and Emergency (Casualty) and Trauma unit headcount – Emergency; and Accident and Emergency (Casualty) unit headcount - non-Emergency.

Table1 below indicate overall data on Accidents and Emergency and Trauma Unit headcount for both -Emergency and Non-Emergency by Province

Table 1: Accident and Emergency (Casualty)and Trauma Unit headcount for both emergency and non-emergency from April 2020 to March 2023.

Province	Item	April 2020 to March 2021	April 2021 to March 2022	April 2022 to March 2023
Eastern Cape	Accident and Emergency (Casualty) and Trauma unit headcount - Emergency	268 810	305 553	299 033
Eastern Cape	Accident and Emergency (Casualty) unit headcount - non-Emergency	241 718	972 401	263 069
Free State	Accident and Emergency (Casualty) and Trauma unit headcount - Emergency	108 553	125 891	125 269
Free State	Accident and Emergency (Casualty) unit headcount - non-Emergency	207 144	211 880	200 482
Gauteng	Accident and Emergency (Casualty) and Trauma unit headcount - Emergency	512 255	610 102	583 984
Gauteng	Accident and Emergency (Casualty) unit headcount - non-Emergency	252 813	343 101	421 900
KwaZulu-Natal	Accident and Emergency (Casualty) and Trauma unit headcount - Emergency	381 960	405 307	409 092
KwaZulu-Natal	Accident and Emergency (Casualty) unit headcount - non-Emergency	492 142	607 715	637 989
Limpopo	Accident and Emergency (Casualty) and Trauma unit headcount - Emergency	244 131	291 818	280 911
Limpopo e	Accident and Emergency (Casualty) unit headcount - non-Emergency	241 488	277 484	235 426
Mpumalanga	Accident and Emergency (Casualty) and Trauma unit headcount - Emergency	211 346	244 998	243 611
Mpumalanga	Accident and Emergency (Casualty) unit headcount - non-Emergency	121 188	173 050	146 162
Northern Cape	Accident and Emergency (Casualty) and Trauma unit headcount - Emergency	65 657	69 208	65 665
Northern Cape	Accident and Emergency (Casualty) unit headcount - non-Emergency	102 883	111 587	115 623
Northwest	Accident and Emergency (Casualty) and Trauma unit headcount - Emergency	110 555	123 935	113 856
Northwest	Accident and Emergency (Casualty) unit headcount - non-Emergency	137 592	152 883	125 648
Western Cape	Accident and Emergency (Casualty) and Trauma unit headcount - Emergency	736 083	885 693	906 388
Western Cape	Accident and Emergency (Casualty) unit headcount - non-Emergency
National Total		4 436 318	5 912 606	5 174 108

Note: data for Western Cape for non -emergency not available

(a)(b)(i)(ii) Data has been requested from the private health care facilities and is not readily available. This will be made available to the honourable upon receipt.

The NIDS has been reviewed to start collecting data from 2023 classified as:

1. Sport related trauma – new
2. Pedestrian vehicle accident – new
3. Motor vehicle accident – new

However, the crush syndrome medically defined as “the systemic manifestations” resulting from crush injury, which can result in organ dysfunction (predominantly acute kidney injury, but multisystem organ injury can also occur), or death is not included in the NIDS.

END.

Reply:

a) Yes. Updated reports on Foot and Mouth (FMD) are released on a frequent basis, depending on the stability of the situation, and the latest report is dated 28 March 2023. In the most recent report, there are 183 FMD outbreaks that are open with the World Organization for Animal Health (founded as OIE), while 12 outbreaks have been resolved and closed. Please refer to Annexure A: 2021-2023 Report on Foot-and-Mouth Disease (FMD) outbreak.

b) Biosecurity measures are applied in all cases of FMD outbreaks:

• Quarantine notices are placed on all affected premises as soon as the suspicion of FMD is notified.
• Biosecurity measures will differ, depending on the situation on the ground at a particular location, but always includes the prohibition of movement of FMD susceptible animals and unprocessed products from affected locations.

Reply:

According to the information received from Denel:

a) Mr. Ntsihlele was put on precautionary suspension with full pay as per Denel policy on 18 November 2022.

b) The cumulative salary paid from November 2022 to March 2023 is R 360 325.13.

c) Denel Dynamics is expected to conclude its disciplinary processes against Mr. Ntsihlele in May 2023.

I would like to emphasize that Denel's policy on precautionary suspension aligns with the Labour Relations Act, which mandates employees to be suspended with full pay while investigations into allegations against them are being conducted. Denel remains committed to ensuring that its disciplinary processes are carried out in a fair, transparent manner and in compliance with the law.

As the Minister of Public Enterprises, I will continue to closely monitor the situation and take appropriate action to address any concerns that may arise.

Remarks: Reply: Approved / Not approved

Jacky Molisane PJ Gordhan, MP

Acting Director-General Minister

Date: Date:

Reply:

(1)(a) The Commission on Restitution of Land Rights reports to the Land Claims Court (LCC) at six months intervals regarding the settlement of outstanding old order claims. This progress includes the backlog reduction strategy, the budget allocations and referral of cases to the LCC. The report does not include a specific date envisaged for finalisation of the outstanding claims as there are outstanding processes that require approval from dependencies which are outside the control of the Commission/Department.

(b) The total amount of R65bn will be required to settle old order claims.

2. Yes. Please refer to Annexure A.

Reply:

According to the information provided by Eskom, I can address your questions as follows:

a) Contractors: Eskom has conducted a search of their Vendor Master system and found no direct contracts between Eskom and Chancellor House. Please note that this search is limited to formal business relationships on record and does not include any informal relationships Chancellor House may have with any of Eskom's suppliers.

b) Contract: Not applicable, as there are no direct contracts between Eskom and Chancellor House according to the search conducted by Eskom.

c) Time: Not applicable, as there are no direct contracts between Eskom and Chancellor House according to the search conducted by Eskom.

d) Total amount: Not applicable, as there are no direct contracts between Eskom and Chancellor House according to the search conducted by Eskom.

Eskom has assured me that they follow proper procurement processes, in alignment with the principles of section 217 of the Constitution of the Republic of South Africa. These processes are designed to ensure transparency and prevent potential conflicts of interest. If you have any concerns and evidence. Kindly make such evidence available to me about potential indirect connections between Chancellor House and Eskom's contractors, further investigation may be necessary to identify and address any such relationships.

Remarks: Approved / Not Approved

Jacky Molisane PJ Gordhan, MP

Acting Director-General Minister

Date: Date:

Reply:

a) There are no plans to establish new shelters for family units due to the fact that shelter services are integrated. There is no separation of family and individual victims in a shelter. The Department has developed minimum norms and standards for shelters and the intersectoral shelter policy to guide provision of the shelter service. Both guideline and the policy advocates for keeping family together. The set-up of a shelter makes provision in the accommodation arrangements that families are kept together however, all other activities/services are integrated. (Please may we respond to the question-any specific dates for the establishment of the family units shelters?)

b) There is no specific criteria to establish family unit in shelters apart from the shelter minimum norms and standards;

1. The upcoming shelter establishment will focus on districts without shelters in the country (KwaZulu-Natal, Northern Cape, Limpopo and North West)
2. KwaZulu-Natal - Zululand, Northern Cape – Namaqua and John Toalo Gaetsewe Districts, Limpopo – Waterberg, Sekhukhune and Vhembe Districts and North West – Dr Kenneth Kaunda and Ngaka Modiri Molema)

 

Reply:

1. The total number of public servants that were in the employ of the Public Service as reflected on PERSAL for the 3rd quarter ending 31 December 2022 is:

 (a)  1 154 799 in 2020/21 financial year, and

(b) 1 155 203 in the 2021/22 financial year.      

2. The data of the total number of public servants as at 01 January 2023 is not yet available on PERSAL, however, the total number of public servants during the 3rd quarter ending on 31 December 2022 is 1 166 354.

End

Reply:

According to the Information received from Eskom

a) Relevant details of the 56 MW nuclear project under the private or non-DMRE REIPPP programme.

This is an Eskom Holdings Steam Generator Replacement (SGR) project. The Grid Access Unit within Distribution processed an application received from Koeberg Nuclear Power Station (KNPS) to increase its power output.

The existing KNPS operating licence expires in 2024, and its continued operation thereafter depends on critical refurbishments which include among other things, the SGR project.

The conclusion of the project will add 20 operational years to the KNPS and increase its power output by approximately 56 MW.

(b) Reason that the project is a private REIPPPP project

All projects that are not participating in the government-regulated generation capacity procurement programme managed by the IPP Office in the DMRE, are considered private REIPPPP projects.

The IPP Office is the sole procurer of generation capacity required for the growth of the economy on behalf of the government.

Therefore, the Eskom nuclear project is not part of the regulated generation capacity procurement programme under the IPP Office.  

Remarks: Approved / Not Approved

Jacky Molisane PJ Gordhan, MP

Acting Director-General Minister

Date: Date:

Reply:

Province	Number of persons benefiting from psycho-social support
Kwa Zulu – Natal	27 200
Northern Cape	211
Limpopo	103
Mpumalanga	2478
Free State	59
Total

At the time of responding to this question, Western Cape, Gauteng, North West and Eastern Cape provinces had not yet responded.

Reply:

1. Yes, the first draft of the Animals Protection Bill has been completed. The draft was considered by the Animal Welfare working group which comprises of provincial representatives on animal welfare. Due to the amount of research required to be undertaken; as well as the sensitivity around animal welfare and the need for benchmarking with the international community and practices, the Department is of the opinion that it does not have sufficient capacity and decided to place the project on tender.

2. (a),(b)(i),(ii),(iii) The first draft of the Bill is in place. It is anticipated that the consultant will start their work in the first quarter of 2023/24 and conclude the assignment in 6 months. The consultant will be required to consult broadly, including the gazetting of the draft document for public comments, and also arranging consultations with focus groups with expertise in animal welfare. The Bill will be submitted for public consultations a month after completion; and processed to Cabinet in the first quarter of 2024/25.

Reply:

1. There have been many initiatives in Eskom after the State Capture period to identify corrupt individuals, contracts and payments. A number of individuals and companies have been charged, dismissed or required to pay back money that was earned through illegal or improper means. Among these are ABB, McKinsey and others. The above is a result of the work of SIU, DPCI and Eskom’s own investigations.

2. In terms of section 34 of PRECCA, I am advised that:

• a) Mr De Reyter is a “person who holds a position of authority” as the Chief Executive Officer of Eskom and therefore bears a duty to report corrupt transactions to the DPCI in terms of that section; and
• b) I am excluded from the definition of such persons in section 34(4) of PRECCA.

3. In addition, the following law enforcement and other actions relating to Eskom should be noted:

a) Various measures taken by the Department of Public Enterprises and reported to Parliament regarding the implementation of the recommendations of the Zondo Judicial Commission of Inquiry into Allegations of State Capture, Corruption and Fraud in the Public Sector, including Organs of State regarding Eskom in particular;

b) The cancellation of coal supply agreements and construction contracts by Eskom with a value of approximately R11 billion ;

c) Litigation by Eskom that declared invalid coal supply agreements to an approximate value of R3.7 billion;

d) Preventing further losses of approximately R10 billion to Eskom by setting aside other coal supply agreements and constructions contracts;

e) Eskom defending arbitrations brought by contractors with an approximate value of R7.2 billion;

f) Eskom pursuing claims with a value of approximately R4.8 billion against suppliers and former directors of Eskom;

g) Eskom recovering approximately R2 billion unlawfully paid by Eskom to service providers;

h) SIU investigations and Eskom disciplinary action regarding 14 coal transportation service providers concerning payments from 01 January 2010 to 31 January 2021;

i) Ongoing internal investigations into 4 diesel suppliers to Eskom;

j) SIU referrals of 5,635 matters to Eskom for institution of disciplinary proceedings against employees for their failure to submit financial declarations, declare or get approval for doing work outside of Eskom, as a result of lifestyle audits, whistleblower reports and other internal investigations;

k) Pending criminal cases or referrals to the National Prosecuting Authority by law enforcement in at least 125 instances and a further 65 referrals to the Asset Forfeiture Unit relating to Eskom;

l) The Department of Public Enterprises finalising external advice regarding it launching applications to have several former directors of Eskom declared delinquent; and

m) The inclusion of at least 25 former senior executives at Eskom in a database of individuals dismissed for their involvement in state capture and corruption at Eskom.

4. When Mr De Ruyter advised me of this further investigation, I understood that law enforcement (specifically, the Directorate for Priority Crime Investigation) was involved in the investigation.

5. I have no additional knowledge or evidence of “criminal activities by a senior government official in relation to Eskom coal contracts” referred to in the Question.

Remarks: Reply: Approved / Not approved

Jacky Molisane PJ Gordhan, MP

Acting Director-General Minister

Date: Date:

Reply:

Yes, the Department of Agriculture, Land Reform and Rural Development, provides support for processing infrastructure through the Comprehensive Agricultural Support Programme (CASP). It should be noted that the programme is demand driven, thus the support is reliant on the number of applications received.

Reply:

1. (a)(i) and (ii) A total of 315 doctors are contracted by SASSA. Regional distribution is provided on table 1 below. Due to the limited supply of doctors, SASSA contracts all the doctors who respond to the call for services and meet the requirements of the bid specifications.

TABLE 1: MEDICAL ASSESSMENT DOCTORS PER REGION

Region	Number of Doctors 2022/23	Assessments 2022/23	Number of Doctors 2023/24	Projected Assessments 2023/24	Number of Doctors 2024/25	Projected Assessments 2024/25
Eastern Cape	30	47,677	30	47,369	30	47,369
Free State	32	48,481	32	48,168	32	48,168
Gauteng	49	76,633	49	76,138	49	76,138
KwaZulu-Natal	74	135,325	74	134,450	74	134,450
Limpopo	49	57,257	49	56,887	49	56,887
Mpumalanga	25	44,747	25	44,458	25	44,458
Northern Cape	26	59,401	26	59,017	26	59,017
North West	19	39,877	19	39,619	19	39,619
Western Cape	11	104,570	18	103,894	22	103,894
TOTAL	315	613,968	322	610,000	326	610,000

 

In the Western Cape, assessments are also done by the Department of Health through Service Level Agreements held with the District Health Systems.

The increase in the number of directly contracted assessing doctors is specifically to deal with sporadic backlog development in the Eden/Karoo areas of the Western Cape.

1 (b) There are no vacancies as SASSA does not employ doctors within their staff establishment but contracts them for a period of 3 years as service providers to conduct assessments.

2. All doctors have been paid to date for claims submitted. Table below provides details per region:

TABLE 2: PAYMENT PROFILE OF DOCTORS PER REGION

Payment Profile of Doctors Per Region Whose Invoices have not been Paid
Region	Number of Doctors	Total Number of Doctor not Paid	Total Amount Owed to Doctors	Actions to ensure that Doctors Owed are paid
Eastern Cape	30	0	0	None
Free State	32	0	0	None
Gauteng	49	0	0	R 601,854.96 worth of services rendered but not yet invoiced by the medical practitioner.
KwaZulu-Natal	74	0	0	None
Limpopo	49	0	0	None
Mpumalanga	25	0		R401,293 worth of services rendered but not yet invoiced by the medical practitioner.
Northern Cape	26	0	0	None
North West	19	0	0	None
Western Cape	11	0	0	R183 489,30 worth of services rendered but not yet invoiced by the medical practitioner.
TOTAL	315

3. Doctors are contracted and remunerated per assessment and not per hour. The total cost of assessments as at 31 March 2023 per region is detailed below:

Region	Expenditure as at 31 March 2023
Eastern Cape	9,742,460.08
Free State	9,337,308.93
Gauteng	13,414,069.13
KwaZulu-Natal	26,061,820.41
Limpopo	10,615,727.60
Mpumalanga	8,281,485.36
Northern Cape	13,388,668.93
North West	8,263,634.98
Western Cape	19,508,799.61
TOTAL	118,613,975.03

 

Reply:

The colloquium on Animal Welfare will be held once a consultant to conduct the necessary background research and develop the Bill has been appointed. This is envisaged to be facilitated within the first quarter of the 2023/24 financial year.

Reply:

The National School of Government is rolling-out the Disability Mainstreaming Course. The training materials are available in Braille and Software enabled programmes. Training and development in the Public Service is framed by a range of policy statements and legislation, particularly the White Paper on Public Service Education and Training, the White Paper on Human Resource Management, the Public Service Regulations, and the Strategic Framework on the Development of Human Resources in the Public Service.

Ultimately, through this course, we want to create a positive reaction in the Public Service, a reaction that will bring about change that will open-up a space for Persons with Disabilities to assume their rightful position in our democratic society, where there is respect for their human dignity and where they experience equality and freedom.

This course is framed in the context of the Public Service ethos and its partnership with disability movement organisations. It is designed in accordance with the objectives of the JobACCESS Strategic Framework on the Recruitment, Employment and Retention of Persons with Disabilities in the Public Service, along with its Implementation Guidelines and Plan, and the White Paper on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, (WPRPD), 2015. The strategic objective of the course is, in the main, to contribute to the transformation of the Public Service workplace, and to also impact on the social

transformation of society through appropriate service delivery, by valuing diversity, removal of discrimination against Persons with Disabilities, and contributing to the vision of universal design and access.

The purpose of this training course is to facilitate the inclusion of Persons with Disabilities in the workplace, and removing barriers that prevent their successful participation in the job market. Learners can develop presentations and raise awareness to the benefit of supporting a diverse workplace, and with benefits to the employers, employees, customers, and the community. Learners will be equipped to know what the legal requirements, the Codes of Good Practice and manuals on the employment of Persons with Disabilities are.

Qualifying learners are capable of: Communicating benefits and rights of Persons with Disabilities in the workplace; facilitating equitable representation for Persons with Disabilities in the workplace and conducting interventions to remove barriers for Persons with Disabilities in the workplace. Also, qualifying learners will be able to: Apply the DPSA Monitoring and Evaluation Framework; effectively report on disability issues in their organisations; understand the needs and challenges of Persons with Disabilities in the workplace; understand the needs and challenges of the employer (manager) appointing and managing a Person with a disability in the workplace; compile effective action plans for their organisations; advise line managers and human resource units on disability management issues in the workplace and a standardised approach and strategies aimed at organisational implementation of the Strategic Framework.

Overall, the 5-day training will result in enhanced skills, knowledge and abilities of disability programme managers. Specific outcomes as outlined in the Unit Standard from which the course credits are derived are as follows:

1. Communicate benefits and rights of Persons with Disabilities in the workplace (Specific Outcome 1).
2. Facilitate equitable representation for Persons with Disabilities in the workplace (Specific Outcome 2).
3. Conduct interventions to remove barriers for Persons with Disabilities in the workplace (Specific Outcome 3).

The National School of Government participates in the Disability forums convene by the Department of Women, Youth and Persons with Disabilities. The National School of Government signed a Memorandum of Agreement with the Department of Women, Youth and Persons with Disabilities for the implementation of a customised Disability Mainstreaming Course. The Agreement is funded by the United Nations Population Fund aimed at capacitating officials in the mainstreaming of disability into operations.

The NSG also offers Championing Anti-Discrimination in the Public Service as a free, online course. This Course has been specifically developed for public servants to intervene in, and ultimately to end, discrimination in the public service, amongst public servants, and by public servants against the public. The public sector is an extension and reflection of society. Yet, it is this very public sector that is compelled to uphold, promote and protect a legislative and ethical higher ground. The public servants are responsible for implementing the National Development Plan (NDP) 2030 and Medium-

Term Strategic Framework (MTSF) 2019-2024, which are based on promoting and protecting the South African Constitution and Bill of Rights, in addition to meeting continental (AU Agenda 2063) and international (UN SDGs) obligations.

The Course includes the complexities of difference, power and privilege, the need to claim agency rather than victimhood, to routinely and safely intervene when witnessing discrimination, and to act as allies to the marginalised. In this way, the public sector will contribute significantly to building a society in which everyone’s rights are realised, a public sector that is compassionate, just and ethical, for a capable, developmental state. The purpose of this Course is to examine our beliefs, attitudes, thinking and behaviour to strengthen public sector officials to be capable of combatting discrimination wherever they may find it. This Course provides information on the key concepts, principles and application of Championing Anti-Discrimination in the Public Service. The participants are encouraged to continue with conversations about this programme content with peers, colleagues, friends and family, privately and in public. It is designed to be accessible for all public servants. Throughout the course participants do ‘Knowledge Checks’ facilitated by the NSG on-line system. They are only deemed to have succeeded at the course, and so to be eligible for a certificate of completion once they have achieved 75% at the Knowledge Checks. Participants will be awarded a Certificate of Completion after completing the programme, which they can print out for themselves online.

End

Reply:

Yes. The Department is concerned that since the inception of the COVID-19 SRD (cSRD) the value of the grant has never increased resulting in the purchasing power of the grant diminishing and not keeping pace with inflation. Food inflation is likely to increase the vulnerability of the poor and further compounding the triple challenge of poverty, inequality and unemployment. The research and modelling work conducted by the Department in 2021 and 2022 supported a proposal to increase the value of the provision. Subsequently, the Department made a request to National Treasury for an inflationary increase to the value of the grant from R350 to R420 with the next iteration (2023/24), but the proposal was not approved by the National Treasury. The Department will continuously engage with the National Treasury to consider the inflationary increase to the cSRD grant.

It must be understood that DSD is implementing a decision of government as announced by the President during SONA in February 2023 based on the resources that have been allocated by NT.

Reply:

1. The work done since 2018 to date to address corruption within Eskom is as follows:

a) Contracts cancelled by Eskom because of SIU’s investigations:

• Coal Supply Agreement (CSA) - R6.955 bn.
• Build contracts – R4.128 bn.
• Total – 11.083 bn.

b) Contracts declared invalid by the courts.

• Tegeta – Brakfontein/Majuba Coal Supply Agreement - R3.7 bn.

c)  Savings/Losses Prevented

• CSA: Setting aside Brakfontein CSA – R2.684 bn.
• CSA: Cancellation of Koorfontein CSA - R5.550 bn.
• Build Contract matter before Dispute Arbitration Board - R400 m.
• Prevention of future losses – R1.45 bn.

d) Evidence referred to assist Eskom in the defence of five contractors' claims of R7.2 bn before the Dispute Arbitration Board.

e) Approximately R4,8 bn is being claimed against suppliers and former directors of Eskom.

f) Eskom and SIU successfully recovered R2 bn unlawfully paid to Trillian, Deloitte, ABB, and Meagra Transport CC.

g) SIU launched investigations into 14 coal transportation service provider concerning payments from 01 January 2010 to 31 January 2021.

• Five employees were suspended, one resigned during the interview with the investigating team and one resigned prior to commencement of the investigation.
• The official who resigned during the interview received R3.1m from one of the vendors under investigation.
• The SIU Tribunal granted an order in October 2021 to freeze R11.5m held in a bank account of an entity, which a senior Eskom official was a signatory, and the official was dismissed.
• 15 criminal cases are being investigated in relation to coal transport contracts.

h) Four diesel suppliers implicated in potential wrongdoing are under investigation.

i) SIU has referred the following 5620 matters to Eskom for institution of disciplinary proceedings:

• 5464 for failure to submit financial declarations that are integral in preventing and detecting conflict of interest concerning the management of Eskom's resources.
• 135 for failing to declare or get approval for doing work outside of Eskom.
• 11 officials were red flagged through lifestyle audits.
• 10 officials referred through whistle blower reports.
• 14 officials referred concerning findings from build contract investigations.
• 1 official in relation to coal transportation contract.

j) Eskom officials who failed to declare their conflict of interest and/or who conducted business with Eskom:

• 334 officials have been identified who are potentially linked to entities that are Eskom’s vendors with 161 of them potentially linked to entities that received payment from Eskom.

k) Total of 134 officials were referred for disciplinary proceedings relating to conflict of interest. 116 cases have been finalised as follows:

• 67 guilty.
• 18 not guilty.
• 19 resigned.
• 4 retired.
• 8 withdrawn.
• All cases are being evaluated to determine the prospects of civil recoveries.

l) 11 Eskom officials were red flagged through lifestyle audits and referred for disciplinary proceeding. The cases were finalised as follows:

• 7 guilty.
• 2 not guilty.
• 1 resigned.
• 1 retired.

m) Eskom has opened 11 criminal cases for investigation by law enforcement agencies with the view to ensure that perpetrators of state capture are prosecuted.

n) 2 cases of corruption are before the courts, one relates to ABB and another one relates to former Acting GCE Mr. Koko.

o) The SIU has recommended the restriction of 76 vendors who are linked to Eskom officials.

p) A total of 112 referrals have been made to the NPA.

• Conflict of interest: 14 matters referred.
• Build contracts: 73 matters referred.
• Coal procurement/transportation: 15 matters referred.
• IT contracts: 10 matters referred.

q) A total of 65 referrals have been made to the Asset Forfeiture Unit.

• Build contracts – 61 matters referred with restraint orders totalling R1.48 bn obtained.
• Coal procurement/transportation – 15 matters referred.
• IT contracts – 10 matters referred.

r) The DPE is currently finalising consultations with CIPC with the view to imminently launch director delinquency proceedings against 13 former directors of Eskom.

s) 25 names of former senior executive of Eskom have been identified for inclusion into a centralised database of individuals dismissed for their involvement in state capture or who resigned from Eskom to avoid accountability for state capture. The database will be used to monitor those individuals who abused their positions of authority in one sphere of government and/ or entity, do not resurface in another.

Remarks: Reply: Approved / Not approved

Jacky Molisane PJ Gordhan, MP

Acting Director-General Minister

Date: Date:

Reply:

There is no reluctance on the side of the Department Agriculture, Land Reform and Rural Development (DALRRD) to take advantage of indigenous plants in the Republic. This position is demonstrated through DALRRD’s support of research on several indigenous plants which have actual or potential use in agriculture and agro-processing. This includes research on a number of indigenous plants (such as African Ginger, African wormwood); the research focus include, amongst others:

• development of suitable or optimal cultivation practices to prevent harvesting of plant material from the wild;
• phytochemical analyses of active ingredients of the plants to elucidate or confirm potential useful characteristics;
• collection, storage and characterization to maintain its genetic diversity; and
• product development and value-adding.

It should be noted that bioprospecting (which cover commercial application) of indigenous plants is subject to the National Environmental Management: Biodiversity Act (NEMBA), 2004 (Act No. 10 of 2004). This requires complex compliance conditions which hinders commercial exploitation of indigenous plant and investment. Plants used traditionally in agriculture (such as maize, wheat, etc.) are excluded from the provisions of NEMBA.

DALRRD is currently developing the Cannabis Master Plan, which aims to unlock the economic potential of the Cannabis sector.