Questions and Replies

Reply:

a) To address the challenges, the Department has discussed this matter with various stakeholders including the South African Local Government Association, provincial Departments responsible for local government. A framework, including amendments to the Local Government: Municipal Structures Act No. 117 of 1998, is presently being developed to address the challenges.

b) NIn this regard various measures are in place, the Department is presently finalising the Code of Conduct for Councillors Regulations, which is aimed at addressing the issues around walk-outs during council meetings. While the matter around walk-outs are not unique to councils in coalition arrangements, this intervention will assist in ensuring that meetings proceed and council operations are not stalled. Coupled with that intervention, the Department will continue to support municipalities in terms of section 154 of the Constitution.

End.

Reply:

1. No.Item 12(b) of the Local Government: Municipal Structures Act No. 117 of 1998, as amended, (“the Structures Act”) provides that a councillor may not, except as provided in law, give or purport to give any instruction to any employee of the council, except when authorised to do so. However, the authority to take appropriate steps for the implementation of the Code of Conduct for Councillors (“the Code”) lies with the speaker, or the municipal council, and the MEC responsible for local government in the province (“the MEC”), subject to the provisions of item 15 and 16 of the Code.

Item 15 of the Code provides that if the speaker is of the opinion that a provision of the Code has been breached, then the speaker must authorise an investigation of the facts and circumstances of the alleged breach, and thereafter report the matter to a meeting of the municipal council, and also report the outcome thereof to the MEC in the province. The MEC may furthermore, in terms of item 16 of the Code, suspend the councillor for a period as may be determined by the MEC, or remove the councillor from office.

Note that the specific instance also constitutes a breach of section 173 of the Municipal Finance Management Act No. 56 of 2003 and should be dealt with in terms of that Act read with the Municipal Regulations on Financial Misconduct and Criminal Proceedings.

2. No. As indicated in response provided in paragraph (1) above, any investigations concerning an alleged breach of the Code, must be undertaken by the speaker, or the municipal council, or the MEC for local government in the province if considered necessary, subject to the provisions of items 15 and 16 of the Code.

End.

Reply:

Fixing homes and properties is not the Department of Coorperative Governance and Traditional Affairs' responsibility. The Department of Human Settlements is responsible for this. It is advised that the Ministry of Human Settlements receive the inquiry.

End.

Reply:

a) The competence for the proclamation of names of Departments and their amendments rests with the President and not individual Ministries and Departments. The Department is thus not the competent authority to amend its name.

b) The current organisational structure of the Department provides for two Branches, namely, Research, Policy and Legislation (RPL), under which the administrative support to the Commission on Khoi-San Matters (CKSM) is located, and Institutional Support and Coordination. The names of the two branches are inclusive enough to accommodate the work that is being done to execute the mandate of the Department with respect to applicable Khoi and San matters.

c) The structural arrangements of Provinces and Municipalities are not the competence of the Department. However, should the organisational structure of the Department change in future, it will accordingly be shared with the Provincial Departments of CoGTA for information in relation to the alignment of their structures.

End.

Reply:

The department of Cooperative Governanve follows a credible and transparent procurement process as it publishes all awarded bids in the eTender Portal administered by National Treasury and as well as on the departmental website. The pubilcation includes the names of successful bidders and the value of contract. 

Similarly, the procurement in the local government is guided by Municipal Finance Management Act and Procurement Regulations issued and administered by the National Treasury. It compels the Municipalities to publishing all contracts awarded, the names of the successful bidders and he value of the contract.

End.

Reply:

The Energy Action Plan was developed through extensive consultation and endorsed by energy experts as providing the best and fastest path towards energy security. Schedule 2 of the Electricity Regulation Act has been amended to remove the licensing requirement for generation projects, which will significantly accelerate private investment. Since the licensing threshold was first raised to 100 MW, the pipeline of private sector projects has grown to more than 100 projects with over 9000 MW of capacity. The first of these large-scale projects are expected to connect to the grid by the end of this year. Noting that the President on behalf of government announced the declaration of a national state of disaster to respond to the electricity/energy crisis and its effects, which was subsequently Gazetted by Minister of CoGTA. The government is in the process of developing a detailed plan on how to deal with national electricity challenge to prevent a total collapse of the grid. The government will make a pronouncement once these plans are finalised.

End.

Reply:

Designation	(a) Make	(b) Model	(c) Year of manufacture	(d) Price	(e) Purchase date
(i) Minister Dlamini-Zuma	Volvo	XC60	2020	R806 699.96	24 March 2020
(ii) Former Minister	None	None	None	None	None
(iii) Deputy Minister T Nkadimeng	Toyota	Fortuner H50 / A2X	2023	R 698 138,55	January 2023 – Purchase order issued
(iv) Former Deputy Minister	None	None	None	None	None

End.

Reply:

Given the fact that the Minister is cited or joined in court cases in her official capacity, and that capacity covers even the period before she was appointed as the Minister of Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs, it is recommended that Honourable member clarify for which period and whether he is referring to:

1. every court case that was initiated since the Ministry of Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs was established; or
2. every court case that was initiated since she was appointed as the Minister of Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs; or
3. every court case that was initiated during any other period which the Honourable member may so choose.

End.

Reply:

a) The Act in Sections 52 and 53 respectively, places explicit responsibility on all organs of state as well as all municipalities across the Republic for the development and implementation of disaster management plans. It is a legislative requirement that once developed, these plans must be submitted to the NDMC. The Minister of Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs (COGTA) through the NDMC within the Department of Cooperative Governance (DCOG) does all that she can to ensure that all municipalities have disaster management plans in place. The table below depicts the status on disaster management plans submitted to the NDMC by the Metros, Districts and local municipalities, to date:

TYPE OF MUNICIPALITY	NUMBER OF DM PLANS SUBMITTED.	NUMBER OF DM PLANS STILL NOT SUBMITTED
Metros	7	1
District	40	4
Local	68	137
TOTAL: 115	142

b) On receipt of the disaster management plans from municipalities, the NDMC performs an assessment to ensure compliance and the practicality of their implementation within the respective areas of their municipal jurisdiction. Frequently, the assessments reveal that most, if not all the plans assessed, were developed long before the guidelines on the “development and structure of a disaster management plan” were developed and published in 2017. The NDMC in its 2022/23 financial year Operational Plan, implemented jointly with the PDMCs, a project on stakeholder consultative workshops on the development and implementation of disaster management plans and guidelines on the integration of DRR measures into municipal IDPs in all 9 provinces. These workshops included sourcing of inputs from stakeholders to enhance the process to develop the Support Plan on the development and implementation of risk-informed disaster management plans by municipalities. Once approved by the Head of the NDMC, the guideline and the Support Plan will in the new financial year (2023/24) be piloted in 2 municipalities. These sessions also included a segment on Impact-Based Early Warnings to educate and remind all provincial stakeholders on the need to understand the different warnings levels and what should be done once the warnings are issued. It is about “Early Warning, Early Action” to safeguard lives and livelihoods within communities.

The NDMC continues to execute its legislative obligations by facilitating the promotion of an integrated and coordinated system of disaster management among national, provincial and local government, statutory functionaries and other role players involved in disaster management.

End.

Reply:

Below receive response for question 3522 that was published on 30 September 2022.

QUESTION:

3522.   Mr J N de Villiers (DA) to ask the Minister of Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs:

Whether the National Disaster Management Centre has a detailed national disaster management plan in place for the risk of a total collapse of the national electricity grid and/or a complete and/or prolonged electricity outage; if not, on what date is it envisaged that such a plan will be in place; if so, (a) what (i) are the different steps that will be taken in terms of such a plan and (ii) events will prompt each of the specified steps and (b) which role players will be responsible for each of the steps? NW4335E

REPLY:

The National Disaster Management Centre (NDMC) does not have a consolidated national disaster management plan in place for the risk of a total collapse of the national electricity grid and/or a complete and/or prolonged electricity outage on the basis that the Disaster Management Act, 2002 (Act No. 57 of 2002) (DMA) assigns the responsibility for the preparation of disaster management plans to all organs of state across the three spheres of government, which includes conducting a risk assessment for their functional area and formulating contingency arrangements to deal with the risks identified.

This includes the risk of a total collapse of the national electricity grid and/or a complete and/or prolonged electricity outage. 

The objective of the NDMC as outlined in section 9 of the DMA, is to promote an integrated and co-ordinated system of disaster management, with special emphasis on prevention and mitigation, by national, provincial and municipal organs of state amongst others. In this regard, in implementing the prevention and mitigation components, the NDMC has been working with ESKOM on the implementation of load shedding which is a highly controlled intervention made in terms of a National Code of Practice (NRS-048-9) to ensure the operability and security of the national power system from having a demand overload.

a) (i) & (ii) The respective disaster management centres established in the national, provincial and local government, in the unlikely event of a total collapse of the national electricity grid and/or a complete and/or prolonged electricity outage occurring, has the responsibility to bring organs of state of the respective sphere together to coordinate the implementation of the respective organs of states contingency plans developed in terms of the DMA. 

b) All organs of state 'have a responsibility to conduct a risk assessment for their functional area and formulate contingency arrangements to deal with the risks identified. This includes the risk of a total collapse of the national electricity grid and/or a complete and/or prolonged electricity outage.

End.

Reply:

For the reason that the question is being posed in her individual capacity, it should be aimed to the Minister in the Presidency for Women, Youth, and Persons with Disabilities.

End.

Reply:

a) There are several reasons why the Mangaung Metro has not been able to service it’s water account with the Bloem Water entity which amongst others are as follows:

The current tariffs and charges levied by Bloem Water are not affordable and the municipality is therefore not able to sustainably service the account. The current revenue collection rate for water services is not sufficient to service the Bloem Water account.  In addition, funding needs to be prioritized for operational expenditure in relation to water services provided by the Metro.

Outstanding debt from residents and underpayment by government departments. Department is assisting the municipality with cost of supply study on water services, which will assist the municipality to design tariff setting and to have cost reflective tariffs. 

The Centlec entity has continued to pay it’s Eskom current account despite the challenges of the 15 days as opposed to 30 days payment arrangement. It is worth noting that payment of the Eskom account is made beyond the 15 days due to a number of reasons viz.

Mangaung metro is a rural metro and cannot sustain 15 days payment period from Eskom.

The Eskom bill includes 24 hours billing including unserved energy which still requires payment during loadshedding.  This matter has been brought to Eskom’s attention and a request made to offset unavailability of the supply from the billing. The Centlec entity suffered from 208 days loadshedding, like all other municipalities in the country during 2022. Table 1 below shows the statistical real- time data. The technical, operational, and monetary impact of on-going loadshedding results in increased expenditure to maintain the electrical infrastructure network , despite  the increasing monthly Eskom bill Table 1 below illustrates the financial impact relating to the cost of loadshedding from January 2022 to December 2022 with a total of 497.50 hours of loadshedding which is equivalent to a monetary cost factor of R 85 754522.81.

This significant impact should be apprehended in the monthly bulk Eskom account bill, however at this stage the figures below exclude the vandalism to   infrastructure, theft of cables during loadshedding that impacts on the revenue collection.

The replacement cost of vandalism and theft to electricity infrastructure impacts on revenue collection and increases the repairs and maintenance budget which is not funded and results in prolonged outages because of loadshedding. A task team has been established between CENTLEC and Eskom to find amicable solutions towards resolving the payment of outstanding debt.  

 

7. MONTHS	LOADSHEDDING
	EVENTS (DAYS)	DURATION (HOURS)	COST (R)
JANUARY 2022	-	-	-
FEBUARY 2022	6.00	15.00	2,905,715.78
MARCH 2022	7.00	17.50	4,664,129.65
APRIL 2022	10.00	25.00	4,177,189.10
MAY 2022	26.00	65.00	8,561,435.34
JUNE 2022	11.00	27.50	9,823,477.93
JULY 2022	22.00	55.00	11,189,281.51
AUGUST 2022	7.00	17.50	2,276,111.96
SEPTEMBER 2022	24.00	57.50	14,880,366.46
OCTOBER 2022	27.00	67.50	10,837,806.41
NOVEMBER 2022	30.00	75.00	7,652,835.94
DECEMBER 2022	30.00	75.00	8,786,172.74
TOTAL FOR PERIOD	200.00	497.50	85,754,522.81

         Table 1:  Cost of Loadshedding

(b)       Due to changes in the political leadership of the Mangaung Metropolitan Municipality, the Council meeting scheduled for 31 January 2023 did not take place to approve the 2021/2022 Annual Report and Auditor General’s Report.  These reports were however tabled and approved during the Council meeting held on 13 February 2023.

End.

Reply:

The national Disaster has been declared on floods. In providing relief and support to the communities affected by floods, governmnet has activated a working Special Intergovernmental Committee on Disaster Management to provide support and relief to the affected communities. Teams comprising national, provincial and local spheres of government have been assessing the damage and providing emergency support in the form of shelter, food, blankets and other essentials.

The department is working with local communities through relevant organs of state and structures as per the existing arrangements. The department through the National Disaster Management Centre (NDMC) has activated the National Joint Floods Coordination Committee (NJFCC) for coordination and collaborative efforts by relevant organs of state with the legislated mandate to provide relief and support to the communities affected by the floods. The NDMC analyses reports received from Provincial Disaster Management Centres (PDMCs) and facilitates mobilisation of resources from relevant organs of state as well as advises on the communities where interventions and relief and support are required.

We focus on immediate humanitarian relief, ensuring that all affected persons are safe and that their basic needs are met. We focus on stabilisation and recovery, rehousing people who have lost homes and restoring provision of services. We focus on reconstruction and rebuilding. An immediate task is to house those people who have been displaced by the floods.

End.

Reply:

1. In a municipality, the salary of an engineer appointed as the municipal manager or as a manager directly accountable to the municipal manager is determined in accordance with the Notice issued by the Minister for Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs published in the Government Gazette No. 43122 on 20 March 2020. The Notice determined the upper limits of the total remuneration packages payable to municipal managers and managers directly accountable to municipal managers. According to the Engineering Professionals Competency Framework in the Local Government: Municipal Staff Regulations dated 20 September 2021 published in Gazette No. 45181 (herein after referred to as Municipal Staff Regulations), a Department Head should meet Level 5 requirements of having a relevant Bachelor of Engineering (BEng) or Bachelor of Science (BSc) Engineering Degree and be eligible for registration as a Professional Engineer.

The upper limits as determined in the Notice vary greatly from lower values for municipal categorisation 1 mainly for rural low-income municipalities to higher values for municipal categorisation 10 mainly metropolitan municipalities as shown on the Table 1 below.

Municipal categorisation	Minimum	Maximum
10	R2 055 005	R3 147 538
1	R815 063	R996 188

This leads to discrepancies of salaries earned by engineers in different municipalities with different categorisation irrespective of professional registration. A professionally registered engineer in a municipality with categorisation 1 may earn less than some senior engineers not professionally registered, but eligible, in a municipality with categorisation 10.

The salaries of other engineers who are not accountable to the municipal manager is dealt with, as provided for under clause 59 of the Municipal Staff Regulations, in terms of the collective agreement concluded by the South African Local Government Bargaining Council (SALGBC). The three parties to SALGC are the South African Local Government Association (SALGA), the South African Municipal Workers Union (SAMWU) and the Independent and Municipal Allied Union (IMATU). The SALGBC Task Wage Rate Collective Agreement of April 2010 provided the grades, called Task Grades, as per Table 2 below.

Task Skills	Task Grades
1	Basic	1 to 3
2	Discretionary	4 to 8
3	Specialised	9 to 13
4	Tactical	14 to 18
5	Strategic	19 to 26

 

According to eThekwini Metropolitan Municipality (EMM) which is a high-capacity municipality, in EMM posts are graded and remunerated based on their job content, scope of work and grade as follows:

• Candidate Engineer as Task Grade(T) 13
• Engineer as T14
• Senior Engineer as T15
• Chief Engineer as T16

In EMM, all levels (T13 to T16 above) are required to be registered with the Engineering Council of South Africa (ECSA) with the Candidate Engineer level requiring eligibility for registering. At Senior Engineer level upwards, professional registration is a pre-requisite and a Scarce Skills Allowance is provided. Furthermore, at EMM, the term Engineer is not used generically for engineering personnel. A post designated as an Engineer is for those with a Bachelor of Science (BSc) qualification in the respective discipline and professional registration with ECSA. It is worth noting that the salary scales do overlap for example an official on T13 may earn more than another on T14, and one on T15 may earn more than another on T16 depending on their respective years of experience.

There is no uniformity across municipalities because of a number of reasons that include the different categorisation mentioned above as well as different powers and functions. As a result, engineers appointed in different municipalities will not be necessarily on same Task Grades nor same salary scales.

2. No statement will be made. The Minister promulgated the Municipal Staff Regulations setting uniform standards and guidelines for all municipal staff in the Government Gazette No. 45181. The regulations took effect on 1 July 2022.

End.

Reply:

The question be referred to the Minister in the Presidency for Women, Youth and Persons with Disabilities, precisely because it is asked on her personal capacity.

End.

Reply:

The Western Cape is home to multiple Siyahlala Informal Settlements. In order for the department to investigate and respond, it is advised that the Honourable member make it clear for which town or municipality the informal settlement in question is situated.

End.

Reply:

Municipal Infrastructure Support Agent (MISA)

a) Salary of:-

1. Chief Executive Officer (R 2 068 458)
2. Deputy Director-General: IDMS (R1 765 512)

Deputy Director-General: TSS (R1 590 747)

b) None of the above members are paid to attend meetings.

Municipal Demarcation Board (MDB)

1. Salary of:-
2. Chief Executive Officer = R1,661,293.40.
3. Chief Operations Officer = R1,518,715.20

Chief Financial Officer = R1,453,467.12

Executive Manager: Corporate Services = R1,330,516.44

1. None of the above members are paid to attend meetings.

South Africa Local Government Association (SALGA)

a) Salary of:-

1. Chief Executive Officer – Vacant
2. Chief Officer – MF FP and Economic Growth - Vacant

Chief Operating Officer – R 2 775 127.52

Chief Financial Officer – R 2 083 302.48

Chief Officer: Municipal Governance and Capabilities – R 2 255 708.40

Chief Officer: ID STS and Sustainability – R 2 166 217.56

Chief Officer: Human Capital and Corporate Services – R 2 013 400.36

Chief Digital Officer – R 1 824 597.72

b) None of the above members are paid to attend a meeting.

South Africa Cities Network (SACN)

a) Salary of:-

1. Chief Executive Officer – R 2 902 639,34
2. Executive Manager: Governance and Strategies – R 2 005 284.00

Executive Manager: Programmes and Researches – R 2 005 284.00

Executive Manager: Finance and Corporate Services – R 2 005 284,00

b) None of the above members are paid to attend a meeting.

CRL Commission

a) Salary of:-

1. Chief Executive Officer – R 1 347 606
2. Chief Financial Officer – R 1 302 102

Senior Manager 1 - R 1 226 817

Senior Manager 2 - R 1 138 800

b) None of the above members are paid to attend a meeting.

End.

Reply:

1. No, the Minister does not have the powers referred to in the question. These are competencies of the South African Police Service and the municipal police service, where applicable, as contemplated in section 205 of the Constitution read with sections 13, 14, 64E and 64F of the South African Police Service Act, 1995 (Act No.68 of 1995).
2. N/A. 

End.

Reply:

Funding for the construction of municipal roads is usually secured through the Municipal Infrastructure Grant (MIG). Fixing of roads within municipalities is generally funded through municipal own resources and the Equitable Share allocation. As the roads infrastructure asset continues to grow / increase, there is need to increase the budgeting and funding for the repair and maintenance and minor upgrades of all rural / municipal access roads and related infrastructure.

Some / most municipalities have own plant and equipment and labour to undertake most of their Operations and Maintenance (O&M) requirements. Due to limited funding and sometimes due to heavy rains the roads infrastructure deteriorates faster than planned thereby forcing respective municipalities to re-prioritise their maintenance plans and sometimes delay the same as resources would be channelled towards critical interventions. There is no reported under-expenditure of O & M funds within municipalities. Certain municipalities have even applied for re-prioritisation of capital expenditure grants to undertake urgent O & M activities to alleviate the O & M backlog challenges.

End.

Reply:

(a ) Root Cause Analysis. The root cause of the prolonged power failure in Pellissier was the insulation failure of the 3 x single core cables constituting the 11kV blue phase cables connecting the 11kV side of transformer no.1 to the 11kV switchgear. The 11kV fault on the Oberholzer feeder only aggravated the matter but it was cleared without any damage to the cable feeding Oberholzer feeder from Pellissier DC.

(b ) Steps taken to prevent a re-occurrence

The 2 x 33/11kV transformers were tested and they tested clean at Pellissier DC. The 33/11kV Transformer no. 2 was re-energized and all load was taken by 14h30 on Saturday, 11th of November 2022. This was with the exception of the faults experienced at the Bitterbessiebos substation, Vierperdewa, and Lantern miniature substations.

 

The 33kV circuit breaker on Transformer 1 at Pellissier DC was badly damaged. This circuit breaker is being replaced with the 33kV circuit breaker that was utilized for the 33kV General de Wet feeder. The cable on that feeder has been out of commission for an extended period of time. The 33kV circuit breakers are old and they will be replaced when the 33kV Switchgear bid is appointed for.

The Protection on the 33/11kV Transformer no. 1 at Pellissier DC is currently being upgraded with Numerical Protection Relays so that it can be of the same technology as the 33/11kV Transformer no. 2. This transformer will be out of commission until the upgrades are completed.

Pellissier DC is currently carried by the 33/11kV Transformer no. 2 and the loading on the transformer is in order. The damaged NER was replaced, and the replacement NER is now connected and hot commissioned. Pellissier DC is now stable, and the redundancy will be regained when the 33/11kV Transformer no. 1 is back in service.

End.

Reply:

Since the query is being posed in her individual capacity, it should be directed to the Minister in the Presidency for Women, Youth, and Persons with Disabilities.

End.

Reply:

(1)

Designation	(a) Destination	(b) Total costs	(i) Accomodation	(ii) Travel	(iii) any other cost
(i) Minister Dlamini-Zuma	Brazil, Ethopia, Benin, Angola and Botswana	R122 885,45	00	R122 145,45	R740
(iii) Deputy Minister	Indonesia,Kenya, Rwanda Malawi Germany	R527 766	R233 610	R294 156	None

(2)

Designation	Total incurred on domestic air travel
(a) Minister Dlamini-Zuma	R490 431,11
(b) Deputy Minister Nkadimeng	R340 680,40

 

End.

Reply:

In responding to the question, it is important to first contextualise the widespread and sometimes inaccurate use of the term municipal dysfunction. Municipal dysfunction refers to a situation where a municipality is not functioning as it is supposed to and the discharge of a municipality’s constitutional responsibilities is impaired for some or other reason. However, there are various degrees of municipal dysfunction ranging from dysfunction which is less serious or temporary in nature requiring only appropriate support to rectify and dysfunction that implies a full-blown crisis in the financial and service delivery affairs of a municipality warranting intervention. Often, the use of the term “municipal dysfunctionality” is construed to mean that a municipality is in crisis which is not necessarily the correct interpretation.

The 165 municipalities referred to by the President in his State of the Nation Address, are municipalities that the National Treasury has identified in its annual municipal financial health assessment to be in financial distress. This means that according to the 13 indicators used by the National Treasury to measure the financial health of municipalities based on their audited financial statements, these municipalities are showing signs of existing, recurring and/or potentially serious financial problems. Again, this should not be construed as a necessary crisis in the municipality’s financial affairs.

The assessment is just one of the many early warning systems developed by the National Treasury to indicate where problems are emerging in a municipality’s financial health and if used proactively as early warning systems should be, to avoid these problems from morphing into a financial crisis. This results of this annual assessment should be interpreted alongside many of the in-year monitoring systems already institutionalized by the National Treasury including the monthly S71 reporting process. The National Treasury also publishes on a quarterly basis municipal performance indicators outlined in Section 138 and 140 of the MFMA. S138 indicators are used to indicate “serious financial problems” in a municipality whilst S140 indicators refer to a “financial crisis”. Serious financial problems should ideally be addressed via a discretionary financial recovery plan prepared by the respective province whilst financial crises require that the Provincial Executive Committees institute a mandatory intervention in terms of Section 139(5) of the Constitution and imposes a financial recovery plan on the municipality.

In terms of the delegation of responsibility, the National Treasury shares the responsibility for the oversight of municipal finances with the Provincial Treasuries. The role of the National Treasury is to develop the policies, regulations, norms and standards required to improve financial management and reporting in municipalities and the National Treasury is also responsible for directly monitoring the performance of the 17 largest municipalities responsible for 80 per cent of municipal expenditure. The remaining 239 municipalities are monitored by the respective Provincial Treasuries.

The role of the Provincial Treasury is to implement S213 of the Constitution and to assist the National Treasury in enforcing compliance with the measures established in terms of S216 of the Constitution and chapter 2 of the Municipal Finance Management Act (no: 56 of 2003 as amended).

Apart from the development of early warning systems which help municipalities to identify the extent of their financial problems where they exist, there are several other support initiatives which the NT has focused on to strengthen and enforce transparency, improve fiscal discipline and promote the better use of municipal revenue. These include initiatives focused on improving budget compliance, such as the Municipal Budget and Reporting regulations which aim to standardize the format of municipal budgets, the adoption of a realistically funded and credible budgets by municipalities, integration and management of the revenue value chain, providing technical support to build municipal financial management capacity through the Municipal Finance Improvement Programme (MFIP), resolution of municipal financial problems through the development of financial recovery plans, the introduction of a Standard Chart of Accounts for municipalities (mSCOA) and processes to deal timeously with financial misconduct and consequence management.

National and Provincial Treasuries also engage municipalities annually through budget and benchmark engagements where the tabled budget is subjected to a rigorous assessment prior to adoption by the municipal council.

There are also mid-year performance assessments which provide an opportunity to assess the financial and service delivery performance of the municipality against the adopted budget and effect the necessary adjustments. National Treasury also enforces compliance in terms of s18 of the Municipal Finance Management Act by ensuring that any municipality who adopts an unfunded budget must develop a credible funding plan which seeks to gradually improve the financial position of the municipality and achieve a funded budget status. The implementation of these funding plans is monitored on a quarterly basis by the Treasuries.

End.

Reply:

a) MISA is assisting municipalities in developing or reviewing the Spatial Development Frameworks (SDFs) and Land Use Plans which incorporates the review of the high flood lines and prohibiting future construction of infrastructure in flood prone areas, and wetlands. This minimises the risks of flood damage to infrastructure.

b) The NDMC is strengthening its collaborative agreement with the South Africa Weather Service to improve on early warnings and early actions in the provinces and municipalities to safeguard communities against the recurrence of flooding incidents and damages.

End

Reply:

a) Section 154 of the Constitution provides that the national government and provincial governments must support and strengthen the capacity of municipalities to perform their functions. The Department of Cooperative Governance (DCOG), through the Municipal Infrastructure Support Agent (MISA), provides technical support and builds the capacity of municipalities to effectively plan, deliver, operate, and maintain their service delivery infrastructure. MISA has to-date deployed 5 technical professionals, that includes 4 professionally registered built environment professionals, to support Bojanala Platinum District Municipality (BPDM) together with the local municipalities under its jurisdiction, in accordance with the District Development Model (DDM).

The Lethabong Township road in question is a district road that falls under the responsibility of the North West Department of Public Works and Roads Department (hereinafter known as the Department). The North West Provincial Route Number for Lethabong Road is D1344. MISA’s technical support to BPDM includes coordinating and monitoring the Department and all other implementing agents of infrastructure in the district to ensure successful completion.

b) It is a provincial road and the province appoint contractors. The project duration is estimated to be four (4) months.

End.

Reply:

The National Treasury does not generally have any official position on specific funding requests and focuses on the process on how budgetary decisions are made as funding decisions always involve trade-offs between different priorities. Such process includes consultation with the technical Medium Term Expenditure Committee and Technical Committee on Finance processes, as well as political forums like the Budget Council, Budget Forum, Ministers Committee on the Budget, and ultimately, Cabinet.

In the 2022 Medium Term Expenditure Framework and the 2023 Medium Term Expenditure Framework, as reported on pages 72 and 60 of the 2022 and 2023 Budget Reviews, R24 billion and R20 billion respectively was added to the provincial equitable share for provinces to deal with compensation of employees in provincial education departments, which includes dealing with the learner-educator ratio.

Reply:

1. Any legitimate trader ought to be licensed with SARS in terms Sections 19 (1),27 (1), and 60 (1) of the Customs & Excise Act, No. 91 of 1964 (the Act).

As per the Customs & Excise trader register, there is total of 64 (sixty-four) licensed facilities for tobacco products as follows:

(i) Manufacturer of tobacco products is 50 (fifty) Licensees

(ii) Storage of tobacco products as per register – 14 (fourteen) Licensees

(a)(b) In terms of the section 4 (3) of the Act, the Commissioner or any officer of SARS may not disclose any taxpayer-specific information, except in the performance of his or her duties under this Act or by order of a competent court. The taxpayer confidentiality provisions of the Act therefore prevent names and addresses of licensees to be shared as requested.

2. (a) Since the 01 January 2022 a total number of licenses issued for Manufacturers of

tobacco products is 8 (eight) and Storage of tobacco products is 4 (four)

(b) Licenses were issued to traders that submitted applications and met the criteria as per Sections 19 (1),27 (1) and 60 (1) of the Act.

3. Sections 19, 27 and 60 of the Act make special provision for Customs and Excise warehouses in which Excisable or fuel levy goods are manufactured or stored. Section 19A of the Act controls the activities in and movements of goods from and between such warehouses, with the rules numbered 19A1 thereto being specifically applicable to tobacco products.

Section 54E of the Act makes provision for a Customs and Excise manufacturing warehouse in which environmental levy goods are manufactured. Section 54J of the Act applies these licensing provisions in respect of Health Promotion Levy on sugary beverages.

No licensee may conduct other business / manufacturing in or on the same factory / plant that is licensed as a manufacturing or storage warehouse with the SARS.

Client is required to submit application through Customs & Excise branch with all relevant supporting documents and applicable annexures for the purpose of the application.

The following additional supporting documents must be presented with the application (DA 185):

i) Registration certificate of business (as issued by the Registrar of Companies or Master of the Supreme Court in a case of a trust);

ii) Resolution / consent or other authority applicable.

iii) Site plan:

A) Must be a detailed plan of the premises but need not be a blueprint although it must be according to scale.

B) Must show the position(s) of the proposed manufacturing or storage warehouse in relation(s) to the adjoining building(s) and public thoroughfare(s);

C) Adequate office space must be provided to enable excise officers to conduct enforcement functions on the premises; and

D) Must be signed and dated by the applicant.

iv) A list of plant and machinery; and

v) Identity / passport documents of –

A) Individual.

B) Partnership, Close Corporation and Trust (All members / partners / trustees).

C) Company (All Directors, including Managing Director and Financial Director).

Once application is submitted client is subjected to below verification processes before being granted with a license:

A).Case is generated at time of submission at branch office

B). Physical inspection will be conducted to ensure client meet the requirements

C).Compliance check is conducted – and client is required to lodge a bond (surety/guarantee) to minimum value of R 2 000 000.00

D)  Once all applicable processes are conducted and client meets all criteria, license will be issued.

4. No, since licencing is a regulatory measure. [Optional: It is not a measure to allocate finite resources that are in high demand, such as radio spectrum.

Reply:

In recent years, government has proposed difficult but necessary measures to curb the growing and unsustainable public sector wage bill. Given the size and the share of the public sector wage bill to total consolidated expenditure, it is critical that the public sector wage bill is carefully monitored and managed in relation to the broader economy. A faster growing public sector wage bill in relation to economic growth, will lead to a crowding-out effect on other critical priority spending areas.

Government thus far has successfully in curbing or slowing down growth on compensation expenditure given the fiscal consolidation measures introduced in Budget 2020 and Budget 2021. This has resulted in consolidated compensation of employees’ accounting for 31.6% of total consolidated expenditure in 2022/23, which is a reduction from the 35.7% share in 2013/14. Please refer to Figures 3.5 and 3.6 in page 29 of the 2023 Budget Review for relevant details regarding growth in compensation of employees’ spending relative to other service delivery areas.

Reply:

a) The total cost of intervention projects is R4.5 billion to date. The cost for the intervention in the Mkhanyakude District Municipality is yet to be confirmed once all the planning has been finalised. The details for other interventions implemented since 2020/21 by the department is indicated below:

Number	Region	Municipality	Source of funding	Project Name	Cost R’000
1	Limpopo	Giyani Local Municipality	WSIG	Reticulation of 24 villages	400,000
2	KwaZulu Natal	Zululand District Municipality	RBIG	Mandlakazi Bulk Scheme phase 5 (Esiphambanweni phase 5 & 6)	400,000
3	KwaZulu Natal	Ugu District Municipality	WSIG	Water Demand & Water Conservation Management	150,000
4	KwaZulu Natal	uMkhanyakude District Municipality	WSIG	Water Service Projects	TBC
5	Gauteng	Mogale City	WSIG	Emergency WSIG Projects	180,000
6	Northwest	Ramotshere Moiloa (Dinokana)	WSIG	Dinokana	30,000
7	Free State	Maluti-a-Phofung Local Municipality	RBIG	Maluti-a-Phofung LM Intervention	1,837,000
8	Mpumalanga	Lekwa Local Municipality	RBIG	Lekwa Waster Services (Re-purposing/Operations)	1,016,315
9	Free State	Matjhabeng Local Municipality	RBIG	Matjhabeng bulk sewer (Welkom)	522,500
	Total	4,535,815

b) Municipalities are responsible for acting against their personnel. The department has put measures in place to ensure that interventions are implemented effectively and efficiently. Some of the Water Boards such as Umgeni water and Lepelle Northern Water have been appointed to ensure that interventions are implemented in accordance with intended outcomes. The department is continuously monitoring the progress of the implementation and the impact thereof.

Furthermore, the Department ensures the protection of water resources by serving suspected transgressors or municipalities with Notices and Directives in accordance with the provisions of the National Water Act (Act 36 of 1998) (NWA). This is to compel responsible municipalities to take rectification measures on non-compliance cases identified. These Notices and Directives instruct the identified transgressors to make representations, which may take the form of action plans in other instances. Subsequently, the Department assess the representations submitted and advise on the implementation thereof. The Department then monitors implementation of the action plans and ensure adherence to the timeframes committed in order to control the causes of pollution and remedy effects thereof.

Lastly, the Department may institute criminal charges aimed at holding a municipality liable for offenses stipulated under Section 151 of the NWA, whereby fines or imprisonment may be imposed against an offender. The Department may also institute civil action by applying for a court interdict against a municipality. The court may then order the municipality to take remedial action through a Court Order.

The table below depitcs administrative, criminal and civil actions taken to protect water resources against municipalities found to have contravened the provisions of the National Water Act.

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Reply:

1. The formation of the national orchestra was not a personal endeavour by Mr Tembe; the national orchestra was established by the Department of Sport, Arts and Culture (DSAC) as part of its responsibility to implement the Revised White Paper on Arts and Culture which was approved by cabinet in August 2018 and endorsed by Parliament in 2019. DSAC oversaw a consultative process, however, we are not going to be highlighting individual organisations whether they were consulted or not.

2. The Mzansi National Philharmonic Orchestra allocated R20 million in 2022 to more than 38 regional orchestras, youth orchestras, educational and community initiatives throughout South Africa. This list is attached herewith as Annexure A

This Ministry and its Department of Sport, Arts and Culture do not get involved into the operations of the Mzansi National Philharmonic Orchestra.

 

Reply:

(i)  The department is mainstreaming climate change and response into planning (project design), implementation, and management of water resources. The implementation of climate risk assessment and management is done through systematically assessing, addressing, and adaptively managing climate risks in new strategies, projects, and activities, thus facilitating climate resilience to both prevailing and projected future climates. This is guided by the Water and Sanitation Sector Policy which sets out principles that strive to strengthen the effective protection, conservation, and management of water resources against the impacts of climate change.

Further, the Department has and is continuously mainstreaming climate change risk and vulnerabilities, and climate responses (adaptation) into its strategies and operations such as Climate Change Response Strategy, National Water Resource Strategy-3, among others. The Department is in its final stages of updating its climate change strategy for the water and sanitation sector, this will ensure that the adaptation and responses (including updating of risk and vulnerability assessments) developed are informed by the latest and refined Global Climate Models.

(ii) The department is responsible for the development and implementation of legislation and regulatory tools to ensure that water resources are protected.

The National Water Act 36 of 1998, requires water use activities emanating from water users to be authorised. The authorization conditions imposed to users involve ensuring that negative impacts of such activities on water resources are assessed, prevented or minimised.

The quality of the water resources is also monitored through various national and regional monitoring programs to determine the status of our water resources and to ensure pollution is identified and mitigated timeously.

Compliance to the above regulatory conditions is monitored and enforced through the National Water Act 36 of 1998. During the 2021/2022 financial year, 182 pollution cases were reported to the Department which translated to 142 administrative enforcement actions and 3 criminal cases referred to the National Prosecuting Authority (NPA). A total of 40 cases were closed as they had complied with legislative requirements.

In November 2019, the Department formally established the Anti-Pollution Task Team (APTT), with the aim of identifying and assessing risks that can cause pollution in water resources and finding remedies to mitigate pollution impacts on water. Some of the key tasks of the APTT are:

• development and implementation of anti-pollution management protocols and interface with other institutions (such as law enforcement agents) to ensure that polluters are brought to book,
• monitoring and implementation of the Integrated Water Quality Management Strategy (IWQMS) of 2017, which sets out strategic actions that are required to be undertaken to realise the vision and goals of water quality in South Africa,
• support and monitoring of the implementation of existing departmental functions dealing with pollution matters and improving water quality.

With support and interface with other law enforcement agencies, the department continues to implement enforcement action against polluters to ensure our water resources are protected.

(b) Other relevant steps taken by the department in these regards include:

• Continuous research in collaboration with the Water Research Commission (WRC)
• Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) monitoring and comparative analysis programs
• Participation in international water related events like the World Water Week in Stockholm and the International Commission on Large Dams (ICOLD) conferences

The aim of taking these steps is to ensure that the department has good exposure to relevant and new technologies and innovations for water resources management in general.

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Reply:

1.  The properties within the dam boundary line of the Hartbeespoort Dam were incorrectly vested in the name of the North West Province, and the province entered into long term lease agreements with an option to purchase the land with third parties around the dam. The Department of Water and Sanitation (DWS) had the properties vested nationally and instructed the province to cancel the lease agreements they concluded on national land under the DWS’ custodianship. The department developed a lease policy which was approved in April 2020. This policy guides the department when entering into lease agreements with third parties already occupying State land as well as new applicants from previously disadvantage groups.

The department has already commenced with the process to advertise all available State land under DWS custodianship for grazing and recreational purposes. The land will be leased at a market related rental determined by a Professional Valuer and guided by Treasury Regulations. The department has already identified three dams as pilot projects to advertise land at Van der Kloof Dam, Tant Malie at Hartbeespoort Dam and Lakeside in Potchefstroom.

2. (a)The department has signed lease agreements with 4 lessees and 1 permission to occupy as outlined in table below:

b) Lessees	i) Commencement Date	ii) Duration and End Date	e) Property Size
Boaters World	December 2020	5 years	1 ha
Hartbeespoort Training Academy	February 2023	9 years 11 months	5 ha
Sunshine Cruises	December 2022	5 years	1.5 ha
Caribbean Beach	February 2023	9 years 11 months	1.5 ha
Harties Foundation	February 2023	2 years (removal of Hyacinths)	1 ha

(c) All rental values were determined by a Professional Registered Valuer appointed in 2020/21 in terms of market related prices for each portion of land, taking into consideration the activities of the applicant and the land.

3. The contracts state what these properties may be used for, as well as the procedure for development of the property.

4. All contracts have lapsed except for the 5 mentioned in 2 (b) above. The process for considering new applicants is ongoing and the Department intends to finalize the current lease applications by end of 2023.

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Reply:

The Department currently has 14 large water projects running across different provinces. A total of 10 infrastructure projects are under planning, whilst 4 are in construction phase. In terms of progress, 11 projects are behind schedule. Details are tabulated below:

(1) PROJECTS PER PROVINCE	(2) PROJECT PHASE	(3) PROJECT SCHEDULE
Province	Number of Projects	Name of Project	(a) Planning	(b) Construction	(a) Behind Schedule	(b) How Far Behind Schedule
Eastern Cape	5	Gcuwa Weir	X		No	N/A
		Mzimvubu Water Project		X	Yes	N/A
		Lusikisiki Zalu Dam	X		Yes	1 Year
		Coerney Dam	X		No	N/A
		Foxwood Dam	X		Yes	1 Year
Free State	0	-	-	-
Gauteng	0	-	-	-
Kwa-Zulu Natal	4	Raising of Hazelmere Dam		X (Complete)	No	N/A
		uMkhomazi Water Project	X		Yes	4 years
		Cwabeni Off-Storage Channel Dam	X		Yes	9 months
		Stephen Dlamini Dam	X		Yes	9 months
Limpopo	4	Raising of Tzaneen Dam		X	Yes	28 months
		ORWRDP: Olifants Management Model	X		No	N/A
		New Nwamitwa Dam	X		Yes	7 Years
		Mokolo Crocodile River (West) Augmentation Scheme - Phase 2A		X	Yes	3 years
Mpumalanga	0	-	-	-
Northern Cape	0	-	-	-
Northwest	0	-	-	-
Western Cape	2	Raising of Clanwilliam Dam		X	Yes	3 years
		Berg River-Voelvlei Augmentation Scheme	X		Yes	6 months
TOTALS	14		10	4	11

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Reply:

(1) Mzansi National Philharmonic Orchestra board established an Artistic Planning Committee which advises the board on the funding of orchestral entities. The Artistic Planning Committee used their vast knowledge of the field to identify potential candidate entities for funding. It then conducted a closed call whereby identified institutions are either awarded grants or invited to apply.

(2) In terms of the contract between the National Arts Council of South Africa and Mzansi National Philharmonic Orchestra, (a) and (b) an amount, which is 25% of the budget is spent towards operations which include administration and corporate marketing.

(4) The KZN Youth Orchestra received money along with the other 38 organisations that were funded by Mzansi National Philharmonic Orchestra in various provinces of South Africa, see the attached list.

(5) Organisations do not have to be distributing agencies in order to contribute funding to artistic entities. In addition, Mzansi National Philharmonic Orchestra is distributing funds to regional orchestras, youth orchestras and educational and community initiatives as part of its agreement with the National Arts Council of SA.

The Orchestral funds are now being distributed to at least 7 provinces in SA other than just the main cities of Johannesburg, Cape Town and Durban which was the pattern before the national orchestra was established.

Reply:

(a) The letter submitted to the Speaker of the National Assembly and the Chairperson of the National Council of Provinces relates to Section 5(9) of the South African Citizenship Act 88 of 1995, which requires the Minister of Home Affairs to within 14 days after the commencement of the sitting of Parliament in each year, to table in Parliament the names of any person to whom certificates of naturalisation were granted in the preceding year, including the reasons for granting such certificate. In this regard, no application for naturalisation in terms of Section 5(9) of the Act was received which requires granting of a certificate of naturalisation.

(b)(i) and (ii)

There is currently no backlog on application for naturalisation in terms of Section 5(9) of the South African Citizenship Act.

END

Reply:

The International Labour Organisation’s Recommendation No.116 of 1962 provides that normal hours of work should be progressively reduced, when appropriate, with a view to attaining the social standard indicated in the recommendation without any reduction in the wages of the workers at the time hours of work are reduced.

Schedule One of the BCEA provides for procedures to be adopted in order to reduce working hours to the goal of a 40 hour working week.

• Firstly, through collective bargaining: a party to the negotiations can introduce the reduction of working hours and parties must negotiate on that issue.
• Secondly, the NMW Commission may investigate the possibility of reducing working hours in a particular sector and area and make recommendations to the Minister.

The Employment Conditions Commission conducted an investigation on the feasibility of reducing working hours in 2014.

The report found that progress into the reduction of working hours for the period covering 2006-2012 was evident in the following sectors:

• Textile industry;
• Glass sector, agreement for 2013-2014 working hours are 42 and most of them are already on 40 except where they are working continuous shifts;
• Construction industry;
• Sugar manufacturing and refinery industry, workers used to work 46 hours, now they work 43 hours;
• Metal and engineering industry, a 40-hour week has been in place since July 1, 2002;
• Public service, 99% of all employees perform a 40-hour week, as stated on the public service regulations.

The functions of the disbanded Employment Conditions Commission have since 2019 been taken over by the National Minimum Wage Commission, so there might be a need to conduct another research in order to check the progress that has been made in the reduction of working hours since the last report and also to establish the feasibility of reducing hours of work and the unintended consequences that may result thereof, particularly for those sectors that are earning the minimum wage e.g. domestic and farm workers sectors.

Furthermore, the item forms part of the proposals currently under discussion at the NEDLAC’s Labour Law Reform Task Team.

END

Reply:

(a) According to the National Arts Council (NAC), the law firm was chosen from the legal panel, which has already been appointed by NAC to deal with PESP matters in 2021.

Legal firms are used on a rotational basis for other legal matters of NAC. It was not cost efficient to rotate legal firms with PESP matters. PESP matters were numerous and complex. The firm had to be retained for continuity purposes in dealing with PESP issues.

(b) The firm was appointed by management

Reply:

According to the information at my disposal at the moment: During the 2017-2018 financial year, the Minister of Sport, Arts and Culture met with the CEOs of the 3 established South African orchestras in his Parliamentary office in Cape Town.

(1) The Cape Town Philharmonic Orchestra was represented by its CEO, Louis Heyneman.

(2) The KZN Philharmonic Orchestra was represented by its board member, the former Judge President, Mr Vuka Tshabalala.

(3) and Mr Tembe the CEO who also represented the Johannesburg Philharmonic Orchestra.

At this meeting, the Minister thanked the 3 orchestras for their work but underscored that the National Government is committed to broadening the orchestral music experience throughout the country, not just limiting it to the main urban centres of Johannesburg, Cape Town, and Durban. He proceeded to say that government will stop directly funding the regional orchestras and will channel ring-fenced orchestral funds which are housed at the National Arts Council of SA to the national philharmonic orchestra which was at the time still to be formed.

The national orchestra which is called Mzansi National Philharmonic Orchestra has indeed been formed, and its mission, in a nutshell, is:

To play a significant role in the cultural life of South Africa’s vibrant and diverse communities, and to transform lives through the power of music, by:

(i) Creating world class orchestral music experiences and touring events, nationally and internationally, thus strengthening cultural diplomacy and branding South Africa favourably.

(ii) Creating job opportunities in the orchestral music sector and identifying highly talented young musicians and nurturing their skills; and

(iii) Transforming the orchestral music sector in South Africa and contributing to a socially cohesive society with a common national identity.

Based on the orchestra’s activities and programmes highlighted in the 2022 annual report, Mzansi National Philharmonic Orchestra is fulfilling its mission. For example, it has allocated R20 million to regional orchestras, education and community initiatives in 7 provinces (before this process, orchestral funding ringfenced at the NAC was only limited to 3 provinces – so this is indeed growth in the sector).

Reply:

The wooden floors were procured by the Netball World Cup 2023 Local Organising Committee.

(1) (a) Wooden floors will be assembled at three venues as follows:

(i) At CTICC1, two floors will be assembled by the 10th July 2023

(ii) At CTICC2, two floors will be assembled by the 15th July 2023

(iii) At the military base, only one floor will be assembled by the 17th July 2023, and

(iv) At the University of Cape Town, two floors will be assembled by the 15th July 2023

(b) The following is the breakdown of the costs;

(i) 4 x Competition floors : R14,000,000 (R3,500,000 per floor)

(ii) 9 x Training floors : R15,750,000 (R1,750,000 per floor)

(iii) Import duties : R4,388,000

(iv) Total : R34,138,000

(2) (a) Total number of thirteen (13) floors have been secured for the legacy project

(b) Total cost of the wooden floor is R34, 138, 00 including shipping

(3) (a) Provinces will advice on the woodman including the storage and maintenance of these floors

(b) (i) The supplier was appointed by the Netball World Cup 2023 Local Organising Committee. Mveledzo Sports Facilities (PTY) Ltd, was appointed to supply the wooden floors.

(ii) They are based in Lourie Park, Bloemfontein, 9301.

(4) There are no suppliers of wooden sprung floors in South Africa and Africa.

Reply:

(a)(i) The system for processing of IDs and Passports was upgraded on 03-05 February 2023.

(a)(ii) The release was introducing the web based system for processing of ID Cards and Passports and doing bug fixes.

b) The quantity of documents transferred into digital format is 3 175 442.

c) The Department has implemented the Biometric Access Control Management (BACM) to control access to sensitive transactions and are stored in aforensic vault. The NPR, ABIS and HANIS have several security measures implemented to protect citizen data. These are the main systems that citizen’s data are stored. Regular Vulnerabilities and Penetration tests are performed to identify possible vulnerabilities and fix them. A project has been initiated to review the current enterprise architecture and introduce the necessary improvements.

(d)(i) The downtime stats report from SITA is attached as Annexure A.

(d)(ii) The main cause of system downtime currently, is power failure / load shedding. Whilst there is effort to ensure that generators and UPS are working at the offices during power outages, there are instances where the generators and or UPS are in need of maintenance.

END

Reply:

Thank you for the questions Honourable Denner.

1. Indeed research has been conducted annualy for the past three years, assessing the impact of the national minimum wage on employment, hours of work and wages;

a) The following sectors were studied: Agriculture, Mining, Manufacturing, Construction, Trade, Transport, Finance, Community and Social Services and private households (for example domestic workers and gardeners).

b) The recent research focused on the wage adjustments that took place in 2021 and 2022:

• The study did not observe any major shifts in aggregate employment following the NMW increases in 2021 or 2022.
• Where significant variation is observed in 2021, the effects of COVID-19 and the country’s lockdown policies are likely to be a more direct driver at the aggregate level than NMW changes, which were small for most covered workers.

2. With regards to the question on whether research has been done specifically with regard to the impact of the NMW on employment of domestic workers:

a) The study singled out the following sectors: Agriculture and Domestic Work, where national minimum wage increases have been unusually large due to equalization of these sectors to the national minimum wage

b) The study did not observe significant changes in employment during the periods driven by the increases in the national minimum wage.

END

Reply:

According to the information at my disposal at the moment:

(1) The three arts and culture policy experts/ academics that were appointed by the Department of Sport, Arts and Culture were Professor Andries Olifant (University of South Africa), Ms Avril Joffe (Witwatersrand University) and Professor Muxe Nkondo (former Vice Chancellor and Principal, University of Venda).

(2) The assignment of this panel was to solicit input into the Revised White Paper on Arts and Culture from artists, arts managers, arts organisations and other stakeholders throughout the country. They undertook and completed the extensive work of consultations with the creative sector in South Africa. This consultative process culminated with the approval of the Revised White Paper on Arts and Culture by the Cabinet in August 2018 which was endorsed by Parliament in February 2020.

Reply:

According to the information at my disposal at the moment:

(1) The Department did not fund the memorial and funeral of the late musician Mampintsha.

(2) Falls away

Reply:

The Honourable Member will recall that the Department did on 22 February 2022 brief the Portfolio Committee on Home Affairs regarding the Department’s implementation report in respect of the Budget Review and Recommendations Report 2021/22 of the Portfolio Committee on Home Affairs. Your attention is drawn to item 6.2.5 of the Department’s implementation report (Annexure A) which I tabled on 5 February 2022 in the National Assembly.

END

Reply:

According to the information at my disposal at the moment:

a) The COVID-19 pandemic hit hard on the Arts, Culture and Heritage sector. Most practitioners lost their jobs as their activities were grounded due to the restrictions that through the government regulations in order to curb the further spread of the virus. The Department acted swiftly to lessen the blow of the pandemic to the sector by utilising the MGE funding towards the relief fund to sustain the livelihoods of artists. The intervention ensured that many of the sector practitioners do not lose their assets and most importantly sustained them during the period. It is also important to note that the MGE funds were not adequate to address the massive challenge of meeting the needs of the sector halfway due to the limited resources that were available.

(b)(i) The Department is engaging the sector as guided by the revised white paper on capacity building initiatives. The initiatives are also aligned to the Creative Industry Master Plan that also focuses on the synergies of the sector with various partners in order to achieve the common goal of growing the Cultural and Creative Industry (CCI),

(ii) The Department is part of the process that is led by the DTIC of processing the Copyright Amendment Bill and the Performers Protection Amendment Bill that is yet to be signed by the President. The Performers Protection Amendment Bill prioritises royalty payment wherever the work of performers is played/broadcast, as well as protection and promotion of performers’ moral and economic rights for performers in audio-visual fixations. The bill has to be read together with its ‘’sister’’ Copyright Amendment Bill. The Copyright Amendment Bill provides for, amongst others:

• Protection of copyright in craft work

• Accreditation and registration of collecting societies

• Provide for the requirement for standard contracts;

• Intellectual Property Tribunal that will settle royalty disputes efficiently

• Easy access to copyright for persons with learning disabilities

• Fair use of copyright work

• Protection of Orphan works by the State

• Resale rights from art work (royalty for author whenever there is a resale)

• Prohibited conduct in respect of technological protection measures

• Management of digital rights

• Promotion of broadcasting local content

The inclusion of standard contracts in the South African Copyright law will potentially advance the protection of many artists who have in the past lost their rights and thus provide a uniform and transparent framework for the negotiation and enforcement of copyright agreements. Without standard contracts, artists and creators may be at a disadvantage when negotiating the terms of their agreements. This can lead to agreements that are unfair or heavily weighted in favor of the other party.

Reply:

The Department is awaiting response from the South African Sports Confederation and Olympic Committee (SASCOC).

Reply:

(1) The Mzansi National Philharmonic Orchestra Board meets about 3-4 times a year as per the Memorandum of Incorporation of the National Orchestra.

(2) The Board of Mzansi National Philharmonic Orchestra is chaired by Justice Theron, and she is not allowed to accept board fees. The other Board Member of the National Orchestra has offered not to accept Board fees but will do this as part of Member’s service to the nation. Only one Board member accepts board fees which are as follows: R3,782 per sitting and R2,382 for preparations.

(b) The board of Mzansi National Philharmonic Orchestra is comprised of highly regarded South Africans with deep experience in a number of fields. These board members are well known and respected in South Africa and throughout the world.

Reply:

According to the information at my disposal at the moment:

a) The success of Women’s teams such as Banyana Banyana in the African Cup of Nations competition and the Proteas during the International Cricket Council Women’s T20 World Cup can be attributed to collaborative efforts, plans and interventions between the Department and the National Federations. Subsequent to the National Sport and Recreation Indaba held in 2011 and the publication of the resultant National Sport and Recreation Plan (NSRP), the Department identified core federations to focus on in terms of promotion of Women Sport. Netball was the first sport code that the Department focused on as part of the Intensive Support Programme. Through this initiative the Netball League was established. The plan was to provide this support for three consecutive years after which the initiatives should be self-sustainable.

Similar approach has been adopted with Women’s Football with the establishment of the National Women’s Football League. This league has progressed to acquire a title sponsor hence it is now called the Hollywoodbets Super League. The Department also identified Women’s Cricket and Women’s Rugby as codes to focus on. It is for this reason that the Departmental funding to these codes is primarily for women’s programmes. The Department will continue with this focused intervention to target identified codes.

b) The Department is working with the South African Sports Confederation and Olympic (SASCOC) in ensuring that all codes have programmes aimed at development and promotion of Women Sport. These initiatives/programmes are supported by provision of sport facilities through a ring-fenced Municipal Infrastructure Grant (MIG) allocated to municipalities following DSAC’s selection process and transferred by the Department of Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs (COGTA) as the custodian and transferring department of this Grant. By design, MIG is biased towards rural and/or disadvantaged communities and for this reason most of the facilities built through it are in such areas, and the department will continue to prioritize them in the future.

Currently the department has two main programmes that support the development of women in sport and in particular, football:

(i) School Sport Programme: Through this programme, all 16 priority codes that participate at the Championships, have a 50/50 representation of women. This is to ensure that there is an equal platform to participate and develop women. At the National School Sport Championships, provinces have been able to send at least 3 categories of participants which include male and female.

(ii) Club Development Programme: The programme has concluded the pilot study in Kwazulu-Natal and Limpopo, which has among other Netball, Athletics, and Football clubs. The Club development programme is a dedicated programme to ensure the development of sport, including the participation of women in sport. This project is extended to rural areas through the Rural Sport Development Programme that currently focuses on organizing leagues and structures in rural areas.

Reply:

a) n terms of clause 11.2 (read with clauses 13.1 and 13.2) of the Lease Agreement between the Department of Public Works and the landlord, the landlord at Byron’s Place is responsible for the normal maintenance and repairs of both the interior and exterior of the premises. To this end, the landlord carries out inter alia the following maintenance, repairs and servicing, at the following intervals:

1. Maintenance, repairs and servicing of all air-conditioning units (monthly);
2. Maintenance, repairs and servicing of the generator (annually);
3. Servicing of the electrical transformer (annually);
4. Infra-red testing of all the DB boards (annually);
5. Inspect, clean, test and maintain all the DB boards (annually);
6. Maintain and inspect all electrical equipment (monthly);
7. Lighting inspection (weekly);
8. Annual Service - extinguishers, hose reels & hydrants (annually);
9. Servicing of lifts (monthly)
10. Annexure B inspection of lifts (once every two years);
11. Cleaning of common areas (daily);
12. Pest control (monthly).

The ceiling on the ground floor of the office at Byron Place, corner of Nana Sita and Sophie de Bruyn streets collapsed during the afternoon of Thursday, 16 February 2023. As a result, services at this office were interrupted on Friday, 17 February 2023. The Office Manager immediately informed the landlord (Zambli 216 (Pty) Ltd) of the damages. The ceiling was repaired by the landlord over the weekend of 18 and 19 February 2023 and the office resumed operations on Monday, 20 February 2023.

b) Maintenance-related complaints regarding leased properties are managed at office level. Office managers have been provided with the contact details of their respective landlords. The office manager will first report the maintenance matter directly to the landlord and should there be no resolution, the matter is then escalated to Property Management at Head office who in turn escalates to the Department of Public Works and Infrastructure. Maintenance matters escalated to the Department of Public Works & Infrastructure are tracked via an EXCELL Spreadsheet where all matters are recorded.

END

Reply:

A notice of birth can be submitted by a social worker within 60 days of obtaining a court order in terms of section 156 of the Children’s Act and must be accompanied by the following:

• A court order issued by the Children’s court
• A certified copy of identity/valid passport or permit of the social worker
• A certified copy of the identity document or passport or visa or permit of the parent(s) of the child
• A certified copy of death certificate of the parent(s) of the child (if applicable)
• A social worker’s report that was presented to the Children’s court
• If a child whose birth is sought to be registered in terms of a court order is a non-South African citizen, the Director-General may deal with the notice as contemplated in Regulation 8 and inform the relevant Children’s court accordingly
• Where applicable, a court order indicating the age of the child
• The social worker who submits a notice of birth must give a name and surname, to that child if no names were given to the child before the registration can take place
• A birth certificate issued in terms of section 12 of the Act must contain the particulars of the parent(s) of the child where such particulars are known.
• Officials must sign on behalf of the Director-General

END