Questions and Replies

Reply:

The Honourable Member should note that Cabinet does not have any spending authority as an entity and its activities are funded under the vote of the Presidency, so it is incorrect to suggest that Cabinet as an entity has “blown” any public funds. Any spending to support a Cabinet Minister is done under the vote of the relevant department that a Cabinet Minister is responsible for, so any spending on official vehicles or fuel for any Cabinet Minister is done through their departmental vote, and not by Cabinet.

With regard to how spending on official vehicles is regulated by the National Treasury, it should be noted that Treasury issued an instruction no 6 of 2019-2020, revising the threshold for the procurement of official vehicles for members of the executive from R700 000 to R800 000.

The National Treasury also facilitates a transversal term contract (RT57) for the outright purchase of vehicles. Participation on the contract is voluntary as provided for by Treasury Regulation 16A6.5 and purchases of vehicles on the contract takes place at an organ of state level through the RT57 transversal term contract. Organs of state are compelled by the instruction issued to adhere to the limit that was set by the National Treasury when purchasing vehicles for the members of executive, regardless of whether a department chooses to use the transversal contract.

Adherence to the instruction is monitored on an annual basis through the audit process, and non-compliance leads to an audit finding that the relevant accounting office should account for with the Auditor-General and Parliament. Given that accounting officers have discretion on the procurement approach, there is no practical arrangement in place to monitor each transaction that participating organs of state undertake at the time when each transaction takes place.

Individual departments are responsible to make decisions on replacing the Executive Member vehicle on reaching the set mileage of 120000 kilometers or 5 years or when the vehicle experiencing mechanical problems as per the provisions of the Guide.

Any additional maintenance, such as tyres, fuel, oil, toll fees and repairs should be done through a transversal contract administered by the Department of Transport for this purpose. Therefore, the Department of Transport is best positioned to answer whether systems are in place to monitor in-year compliance to the limits set in the transversal contract relating to spending on fuel.

Reply:

NW4823E

a) The National Department of Health is still consulting with Provincial Departments of Health to verify the figures in each province. This information will be furnished to the Honourable Member as soon as it is received from Provinces.

b) The table below illustrates the steps taken to address the backlog

Province	(b) What steps have been taken to address the specified backlog
Eastern Cape	Information not yet received
Free State	Increased number of days for Elective slates: from 2 days (2021) to 4 days (2022) theatre allocation. Prioritized emergency surgery within first 6 to 12 hours. Developed quality improvement plan to monitor theatre utilization and efficiency via Theatre User Committee Meeting. Expedite appointment and transfer of two Theatre trained nurses form KZN and other areas by 31 October 2022 Submission to temporarily use four agency nurses from 1 November 2022 Appoint one medical officers by 01 January 2023. All the backlog patients have elective dates for surgery. Emergencies done daily. Gynaecologist electives are reduced with seven (7) operations weekly. Obstetric electives or backlogs are reduced with ten (10) operations weekly. Electives will stop on 31 December 2022, and resume 2nd week of January 2023.
Gauteng	Procurement of Brachytherapy machines and rental of mobile units as an interim measure. Filling of critical posts at institutional level. Setting up surgical camps within clusters. Extending sessional work to private sector staff to assist to reduce surgical backlogs at public hospitals. Utilising the Public Private Partnerships to address the backlogs, depending on the budget. Working with Eskom to exempt most facilities from load shedding schedules. Working with Johannesburg water to exempt facilities from water shedding. Maximise the referral pathways and channel the patients to the appropriate level of care for surgical procedures by down referring and up referring patients. Working with Department of infrastructure to strengthen maintenance issues at facility level.

KwaZulu Natal	Catch-up has been done by increasing theatre times. Elective slates done over the weekend to catch up. Camps have also been planned. Using after-hours to reduce backlog. Elective theatre slates run after hours. Maximum utilization of theatres with added slates on weekends. An elective marathon is planned to further reduce the backlogs. Cataract camps are regularly conducted. All slates have re-commenced with increased theatre times and using after-hours to reduce backlogs.
Limpopo	The Outreach Surgical Services occur monthly rotating in the five districts to ensure that specialised clinical and surgical operations are conducted at district hospitals. Teams of specialists allocate each other for seven days a month to conduct these surgeries, thus address the backlog. Limpopo Department of Health has a Public Private Partnership with three private hospitals, wherein some of the elective surgery like hysterectomies, hip replacements, urology and general surgery cases are conducted for an agreed fee
Mpumalanga	Rob Ferreira Hospital: A sessional Orthopaedic Surgeon was appointed during the second quarter and operating days has been increased to four days in a week. Additionally, the orthopaedic team also operates in Barberton District Hospital four days in a week. Witbank Hospital: Expanded outreach to Ermelo, Evander, Middelburg and Kwa Mhlanga. Increased operating times for orthopaedics from office hours to after hours and weekends. Improved efficiencies in orthopaedics by streamlining its functions into responsible units. Theatre time during office hours, was increased. Ermelo Hospital: Appointed fulltime orthopaedic surgeon with effect from 01 October 2022. Mapulaneng Hospital: Appointed fulltime orthopaedic surgeon who conduct surgeries and does outreach to surrounding district hospitals.
	Themba Hospital: Increased theatre time by opening the 4th theatre.
Northern Cape	Information not yet received
North West	Currently Klerksdorp/Tshepong theatres are undergoing revitalisation and multiple theatres are being renovated. Most of the theatres are likely to be handed over back by the end of the year. However, all efforts are made to make theatres functioning efficiently to reduce backlog. Weekend blitz is planned next year once theatre renovations are completed. Outreach to Moses Kotane Hospital. First round started 13 October 2022. General Surgery recruited a Surgeon commencing on 01 October 2022 In Ophthalmology weekend blitz was started on 22nd October 2022 Urology specialist employed and planned outreach to start as soon as new ordered equipment is delivered In Gynaecology number of theatre days have been increased Ear, Nose and Throat Specialist was recruited starting on 01 November 2022 Daily optimization of operations thus increasing output during working hours. Doctors on call to perform minor procedures whilst on call. Every weekend, 2 doctors on call with an intern to continue with some cases from the backlog.

	First part of the recruitment of additional nursing staff required for maximum theatre utilization has been completed, and the process of other staff member is underway. Utilization of other facilities for referring minor cases such as cataracts. Planned weekend marathons have been started particularly in orthopaedic cases. Procurement of autoclave and sterilising machines underway.
Western Cape	Operations increased by dedicated budget increase and efficiency gains. Operations increased by outreach support and efficiency gains.

END.

Reply:

The implementation of the Sanitary Dignity Implementation Policy Framework (SDIP) and the Sanitary Dignity Programme is coordinated and monitored by the DWYPD. The equitable share budget allocation is given to various implementing provinces from National Treasury. At National level, the implementation of the programme is shared between Department of Basic Education (DBE) and Department of Social Development (DSD). National DSD implements the programme in four (4) provinces, which is Gauteng, Mpumalanga, Western Cape and Eastern Cape while DBE implements in five (5) provinces namely Free State, Kwa-Zulu Natal, Limpopo, Northern Cape and North West.

However, the province has strategically included the target for provision of sanitary towels in the Annual Performance Plan. Learners who are mostly vulnerable and those in quintile 1 and 2 schools in the townships and villages and farm schools are provided with dignitary packs on a quarterly basis.

The Department provides sanitary towels, on a small scale, to targeted learners from impoverished households and disadvantaged schools. Also, provision for sanitary towels is made as a form of intervention during disasters. The Department is targeting 10 000 beneficiaries to receive dignity packs in this financial year. In 2016, the

Department of Women, Youth and Persons with Disabilities scaled up the provision of sanitary towels to benefit the majority of girl-children in quintile one and quintile two schools. During this period, it was decided that the NW Department of Education is strategically positioned to roll - out the large scale provisioning of sanitary towels to beneficiaries in North West Province.

The Department of Basic Education may be in a better position to provide specifics in terms of the number of sanitary towels provided and cost implications.

Reply:

(a)(b)(i),(ii) The Department of Agriculture, Land Reform and Rural Development (DALRRD) is not in a position to indicate the extent of communal land currently not surveyed in the Republic and in each nine provinces. However, DALRRD will investigate the extent of properties falling under communal land that are still to be surveyed in the Republic and the report will be provided.

Reply:

The COVID-19 Social Relief of Distress for the period of October 2022 was assessed and paid during the month of October. SASSA is not aware of any challenge experienced by beneficiaries relating to non payment for the month in question. However, there may, be challenges with individual accounts that SASSA is not aware of. Individuals who need further clarity on their payment status for a particular month or this month in question (October 2022) can review such on the application portal or by contacting the call centre on 0800 60 10 11 or [email protected]

Reply:

South African Social Security Agency (SASSA) and the whole Department of social Development (DSD) portfolio has adopted Zero Tolerance stance on fraud and corruption.

1. Taking into account that payments of social grants is largely technology driven, various Information Communication and Technology (ICT) capabilities have been developed to prevent fraud during payment of social grants. These include interfaces with other government departments which host citizens’ databases. This will strengthen SASSA’s ability to validate information on income for applicants, and also to regularly monitor changes in beneficiary circumstances, which may not always be timeously reported by beneficiaries.

SASSA has existing interfaces with Department of Home Affairs to confirm identity and life status, as well as, Persal and Government Employee Pension Fund (GEPF) interfaces confirming employment in the public sector, and or a pension from government.

SASSA has also implemented interfaces to perform bank account verification to ensure that the account details correspond with that of the applicant.

Other interfaces which are being added in the current financial year, including Department of Correctional Services database (to validate whether the applicant is in a Correctional Services facility) and the Unemployment Insurance Fund (UIF). This is to determine whether the client is currently contributing to UIF, as this could affect the amount of the grant to which he/she is entitled. Additional interfaces will be added as they are identified and negotiated with other organisations. These interfaces already exist with the COVID SRD and will be incorporated into the existing grants as well.

These capabilities should strengthen the ability of SASSA to validate the information provided on application of a grant, and can also be used to inform the need to review existing social grants in the future.

2. SASSA’s fraud corrective mechanism is mainly on prevention capability as indicated above, however, loss recovery, disciplinary action and criminal referrals are additional mechanisms

a) When SASSA finds any person to have unduly benefitted, criminal referrals and loss recovery processes are undertaken.

b) As a mechanism of resolving cases wherein an official is suspected to have assisted such unduly beneficiary, (i) criminal referral, (ii) loss recovery as well as (iii) disciplinary actions are undertaken.

Reply:

The AGSA made the following recommendations to address the material irregularity findings, which SASSA intends to comply with:

1. Reasonable steps should be taken to implement internal controls to prevent and detect payments to ineligible beneficiaries and these should include verifying the applicants against the latest available databases, maintaining an audit trail of verifications that were performed and cancellation of further payments to ineligible beneficiaries.

a) SASSA has already implemented this at the time the material irregularity was issued. It was also found that a fair amount of the AGSA data was incorrect; thus further pointing to the reliance only on database to be insufficient.

b) As it is not possible to have every single database in the country and noting that these databases are not perfect – a further verification step was implemented in April 2022; whereby SASSA also checks funds in bank accounts against a predetermined threshold. While these have risks as well, they do provide a more reliable, real time data source than the other databases.

2. Appropriate action should be taken to recover payments made to ineligible beneficiaries that were working for the state at the time of applying for the grant. The recovery process should not be unduly delayed.

1. SASSA has written to the all the departments who have public servants that may have unduly benefited from the COVID SRD grant requesting them to verify the employment of the officials in their department; and to assist SASSA with debt recovery if employment is confirmed.
2. Many of the departments have acknowledged receipt of the request and are eager to assist.
3. The Public Service Commission will also assist the department with following up with the government departments; especially those that do not assist.

3. Appropriate action should be taken to obtain legal advice on the process to be followed to recover monies paid to ineligible beneficiaries who are not employed by the state. Based on the legal advice, the feasibility and cost effectiveness of recovering the money should be determined and if it is determined that such recovery is feasible and cost effective then such money should be recovered from the ineligible beneficiaries who are not employed by the state.

a) SASSA will undertake the investigation into determining the feasibility of recovering debt from the non-public servants.

Over and above the AGSA’s recommendations, SASSA is also working with the fusion centre as well as law enforcement agencies to investigate the criminal aspect of defrauding the state. To date, criminal referrals against these public servants is at 887. More cases will be referred during the current and next quarters respectively.

Reply:

a) The opportunities that the Department will roll out include investing in the capacities of our people and the support of the sustainable livelihood’s interventions in all nine provinces. In celebrating social development Month in October, the department promote procurement from community-based entities especially from women and youth that can participate in the value chain of delivering social development services, e.g. SRD uniforms for kids are sourced from the local cooperatives) These are used as part of empowerment and providing them with opportunities to ensure that they access economic empowerment. All these creates a market for the local producing cooperatives and SMMEs, thereby fostering local economic development through the income generated from the departmental funding.

The department also create opportunities through developing appropriate interventions at Individual, Household and Community level, as support for them through

• • Further education and training particularly for youth and women
  • Linkage with Public employment programs (CWP/EPWP)/Private.

• • Facilitating the establishment of Co-operatives and SMME (small &medium enterprises).

b) The department through provinces partners with several stakeholders and NPOs to provide sustainable livelihoods to vulnerable and poor individuals and households.

Over the next 3 years the social development portfolio, DSD, SASSA and NDA will be partnering with local NPOs, FINMARK Trust, that has received donor funds from one of the world largest development agencies, BRAC, to pilot the linking of child support grant caregivers to sustainable livelihoods.

The pilots will be conducted in three provinces, KwaZulu-Natal, Gauteng and the Free State. This will give a good break down of rural, peri-urban and urban sites.

The pilot phase is lengthy, however the goal is to not only determine feasibility of the project, but to attempt to produce a sustainable programme that is adequately quantified and that can be considered for scaling up.

Two sites have been identified in each province, with a SASSA local office being the focal point. Engagements were held with the local leadership in most of the provinces and the project has been well received. Project managers have been appointed and are expected to assume duty soon. The appointment of firms to do market and livelihood assessments are also in an advance stage.

In addition, the Department is entering into a partnership with the UNDP on the following:

• • To establish, support and strengthen an integrated Social Entrepreneurship Ecosystem in South Africa
  • To support government to provide a robust, coherent and harmonised enabling environment for social enterprises to thrive, including strengthening coordination, partnership, policy, research, advocacy and resource mobilization; and
  • To promote a culture of social entrepreneurship through capacity development

It is planned that through this partnership we will further the objective of linking beneficiaries of grants with sustainable opportunities to sustain their livelihoods.

Reply:

The figure of 761 is not the number of officials but it is the number of financial misconduct cases. These cases are not related to fraudulent activities, but to the following

• failure to prevent occurrence of irregular expenditure;
• fruitless and wasteful expenditure;
• damages and losses within SASSA.

In addressing these cases, SASSA has implemented the following disciplinary corrective actions: :

a) Disciplinary corrective measures were completed were completed against two hundred and twenty-one (221) officials . The outcomes were used to support submissions of condonation to National Treasury for irregular expenditure cases. It is a requirement that before any condonation is granted the Agency should have completed disciplinary corrective measures.

Consequence measures finalised in relation to employees are reflected in the table below:

Financial Misconduct Cases	No employees	No of cases
Damages and Losses	105	129
Fruitless and Wasteful	15	35
Irregular expenditure	101	597
	221	761

b) Recovery is largely pursued in cases of fruitless and wasteful expenditure or damages and losses.

c) R92 826.39 has been recovered to date based on the payment/recovery agreement with a particular debtor (recovery at times is based on monthly payments).

Reply:

The pandemic and the consequent lock-down exacerbated the loss of household income and increased hunger, which heightened the demand for the Department to provide food relief and Social Relief of Distress (SRD). As a result, the Department, in consultation with the Presidency, National Treasury and other relevant stakeholders, developed and implemented a social relief package for a period of six (6) months which was inclusive of the COVID-19 SRD (cSRD) and social grant top-ups.

However, most of the relief packages came to an end in October 2020 with an exception of the cSRD. It should be noted that the cSRD was initially extended by 3 months to January 2021, then by a further 3 months to April 2021. In July 2022, it was further extended to March 2022, after which it was extended for a full financial year from April 2022 to March 2023 under the Social Assistance Regulations. At its peak, the SRD grant was able to support 10.9 million beneficiaries in March 2022, but this has declined to 8.1 million people as at mid-November, due to stricter qualification criteria. The majority of beneficiaries have confirmed that they used the money primarily for food, followed by electricity and masks for personal protection during the pandemic.

The Minister of Finance in his Medium-Term Budget Policy Statement has announced a further extension of the cSRD until the end of the 2023/24 financial year, which is welcomed by the Department.

The extension of the provision until 2023/24 financial year will provide some assistance to cushion the effects of poverty, food insecurity and the high inflation rate amongst the poor, particularly the working-age population, who have been hardest hit by the pandemic, whilst a sustainable permanent intervention is being explored. Further engagement is ongoing with the National Treasury regarding longer term interventions, including other complementary measures linked to labour activation measures.

The Department also implements the Household Food and Nutrition security programme throughout nine Provinces. Vulnerable and poor individuals aged 19 -59 years are provided with cooked meals served at 282 Community Nutrition and Development Centres (CNDCs) that are spread in the most remote areas of the country.

Reply:

a) (i) The department’s call centre during the period April 2022 – October 2022 received a total number of 4148 calls average per month.

ii) Currently GBVCC does not have a system to identify prank callers, all cases are treated as real cases. It is only after many times and or months that a specific official will determine if it is a prank call. Their numbers will reflect as regular callers. Victims of GBVF can sometimes call and drop calls when facing threats, which makes it difficult to always determine prank callers. There are also regular callers who either give feedback, refer cases or need further assistance. This is an area for development.

iii) A total number of 2648 calls were received during the period April –October 2022 that are not related to issues of gender-based violence

Incident Type

Number of Calls Received: Non GBV Cases

	April	May	June	July	August	Septemb er	October	Total
Anger Management	2	3	2	2	3	2	7	21
Behavioural Problems	4	9	7	7	5	7	10	49
Child Adoption	1	4	3	0	0	1	0	9
Child Custody/Visitation	12	23	20	10	12	13	10	100
Child Maintenance	7	4	9	9	8	2	8	47
Counselling Death	1	0	1	1	3	0	0	6
Counselling Depression	7	14	17	13	21	8	5	85
Counselling Marriage & Relationships	22	44	32	18	47	35	35	233
COVID - 19	0	1	0	0	0	0	0	1
Economic/Financial Abuse	0	0	0	0	5	1	2	8
Funding	0	2	1	1	1	1	2	8
Home Affairs Related	9	3	7	2	4	1	5	31
	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
Labour Dispute	3	2	2	0	3	3	1	14
Legal Advice	6	11	7	2	12	14	5	57
Matric	0	0	0	0	0	1	1	2
Other type of Incident	241	270	218	231	384	213	232	1789
SASSA Grants	19	13	25	12	10	15	14	108
Substance Abuse	8	12	17	8	17	9	9	80
Xenophobia	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
Total	342	415	368	316	535	326	346	2648

iv) A total number of 1958 Gender-based violence cases were successfully attended to in each month through the call Centre during the period

Incident Type	Number of Calls Received: GBV Cases
	April	May	June	July	August	Septembe r	October	Total
Abandoned Children	2	3	2	0	0	0	0	7
Abduction/ Kidnapping	2	1	2	1	2	3	0	11
Assault	9	13	6	10	12	14	11	75
Bullying	2	2	3	2	6	2	4	21
Child Neglect	20	42	38	16	35	29	18	198
Child Pornography	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
Elderly Neglect	2	5	1	7	8	4	6	33
Emotional Abuse	41	33	35	37	41	49	28	264
Forced Initiation	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	1
Forced Prostitution	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
Hate Speech	0	0	0	0	0	0	1	1
Human Trafficking	0	1	0	1	0	0	1	3
Incest	0	1	0	0	0	0	1	2
Indecent Assault	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	1
Molestation	0	0	3	1	0	1	1	6
Physical Violence	155	175	113	122	158	137	125	985
Rape/Corrective Rape	16	34	29	15	23	27	22	166
Sexual Harassment	1	2	3	0	3	0	0	9
Stalking	0	2	0	2	2	2	1	9
Verbal Abuse or Intimidation	24	25	24	24	27	26	16	166
Total	276	339	259	238	317	294	235	1958

Reply:

What are the relevant details of her plans

a) For the employment of social workers who have been trained by the State, but remain unemployed.

• The Department has developed a draft sector strategy for the employment of social service professionals inclusive of social workers. This sector strategy addresses the employment of Social Service Professionals (SSPs) in Departments, Provinces, Agencies, Local Government, and the private sector.

     The plan looks at various opportunities to employ SSPs, but not limited to;

• Employment by Provinces
• Employment by Sector Departments
• Internship program targeting unemployed graduates
• Short-term contracts based on the availability of funds (Presidential Employment Stimulus)

• • • Employment through the Health & Welfare Sector, Education, and Training Agency

b) To have funds ring-fenced for the employment of Social Workers?

• • The Department is currently reviewing the request for funding bid for the employment of SSPs, to focus only on Provincial Departments for Social Development.
  • The funding bid will be submitted to National Treasury.
  • The Department is continuously engaging the provinces and other Departments such as Education, SAPS, and Defence to prioritize and fill vacant SSPs posts.

Reply:

The Department of Social Development has a National Drug Master Plan (NDMP) 2019-2024 which is a product of broad consultation with relevant stakeholders. NDMP has been endorsed by Parliament and is clarifies roles and responsibilities of different government departments and other stakeholders. The Central Drug Authority (CDA), established in terms of the Prevention of and Treatment for Substance Abuse Act (Act 70 of 2008) is responsible for the coordination and monitoring of the implementation of the NDMP. The implementation of the NDMP at Provincial and local levels is guided by the Provincial Substance Abuse Forums and Local Drug Action Committees established in terms of Act 70 of 2008. Annually CDA submits to Parliament Progress Report on the implementation of the NDMP. The following are the goals of the NDMP:

Goal 1: Demand reduction through prevention and treatment of drug use, misuse and abuse.

Goal 2: Supply reduction through multi-sectoral cooperation.

Goal 3: Ensuring availability of and access to controlled substances exclusively for medical and scientific purposes, while preventing their diversion.

Goal 4: Identify trends and control of new psychoactive substances.

Goal 5: Promote governance, leadership, and accountability for a coordinated multi- sectoral effective response, including economic development at community levels.

Goal 6: Strengthening data collection, monitoring, evaluation and research evidence for an evidence-based response.

Goal 7: Stimulate robust and sustainable economic growth aimed at reducing poverty, unemployment and inequalities.

Government developed an Integrated Anti-Drug and Alcohol Abuse Programme of Action aimed at addressing the Substance Use and Abuse at community level. The following are the Objectives of the Programme of Action:

To review and align liquor, Policy and legislations

To educate and create awareness on alcohol and substance abuse

To increase and strengthen the availability of services and resources to civil society organizations dealing with alcohol-related harm across South Africa

To review institutional mechanisms to prevent and manage alcohol and drug use in the country

Reply:

a) The Agency cannot provide an exact date on which a Fixed Service Office will be established in Knysna. The acquisition process has both Municipal and Agency dependencies. This includes the procurement process which is done through the Department of Public Works and Infrastructure.

SASSA services are currently provided on a scheduled basis in the following areas within Knysna:

1. Hornlee
2. Sedgefield
3. Rheenendal
4. Khayalethu
5. Karatara

b) SASSA met the Municipality on 20 October 2022 to enquire about the availability of government owned sites in Knysna to establish a Fixed Service Office and the following resolutions were agreed to:

• The Municipality to provide SASSA with a comprehensive list of government owned sites by 31 October 2022.
• SASSA must determine the best option and provide the Municipality with an expression of interest by the 3rd week of November 2022.

• Should there be no feasible site available, the procurement process through the Department of Public Works and Infrastructure will commence.

Reply:

Yes. The Office of the Special Master had consulted with the Minister and Director General of Agriculture, Land Reform and Rural Development (DALRRD) (DG) and obtained concurrence from Executive Management. The Court granted the Office of the Special Master permission to fill the two additional posts, but the filling of the posts is subject to the job evaluation process.

A job description was developed for the post by benchmarking against similar posts with the Department of Planning, Monitoring and Evaluation (DPME). The benchmark job evaluation process for the post of Master Data Specialist was conducted for similar posts in the defunct departments (DAFF and DRDLR) and within the DPME and the job evaluation (JE) results for both posts were salary level (SL) 13 that were approved by the Minister on 11 May 2021. However, the processes for the development of the job descriptions and the JE benchmarking took longer than anticipated and the Special Master requested that filling the position not be continued. The Special Master was seeking alternative solutions in reconfiguring the roles and the budget repurposing to rather appoint graduates intended for the research roles, and this was envisaged that post-doctoral and or post-graduate degree holders in the Humanities field will be appointed as field research leaders while the auxiliary staff will be first and honours degree holders in Geography / Survey / Agriculture/ History/ Business Administration / Economics, etc. These disciplines bear direct relevance to using innovative technological tools to build evidence and embed sustainable livelihoods in land claims resolutions. The field research leaders will be expected to participate in delivering capacity development and training workshops with the Special Master and his core staff to develop the capabilities of existing departmental staff working on labour tenant claims resolution. The Special Master was advised to seek approval from the Minister to reconfigure the roles, instead of the two approved positions, namely 1 X Research, Monitoring and Evaluation Specialist and 1 X Master Data Specialist.

To institutionalise the Office of the Special Master within DALRRRD, special focus will be given in the Fit-for-Purpose Project to restructure and repurpose current posts to support the Office of the Special Master as follows:

• Permanent establishment of a national unit with a provincial footprint (provincial and district level) that will address the labour tenant functions;

• Mapping of business process for labour tenants;
• Development of Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs); and
• Determine capacity requirements and create post establishments to address the need.

DALRRD is therefore, in the process to fill the following positions allocated to the Office of the Special Master:

• 1 x Systems and Operations Manager post filled.
• 1 x Programme Administrator and Office Manager post filled.
• 1 x Corporate Affairs and Stakeholder Manager post filled.
• 1 x Office Assistant post filled.
• 1 x National Programme Manager post. Post advertised and the closing date for the advertisement was 20221014. Filling of the post is anticipated by 28 February 2023.
• 1 x Programme Coordinator. Seconded from the DALRRD.
• 1 x Senior Administrative Officer post. Filling of the post through the Recruitment and Selection or Transfer Processes and filling of the post is anticipated by 28 February 2023.
• 1 x Messenger post. Filling of the post through the Recruitment and Selection or Transfer Processes and filling of the post is anticipated by 28 February 2023.

Reply:

a) There are two districts with no shelters in the Province, it is Namaqua and John Taolo Gaetsewe districts. The Department did not establish a shelter in Namaqua District in the past years due to the fact that there was no statistics of victims needing sheltering services in the district.

John Taolo district also does not have a shelter but has a White Door Centre to accommodate victims who need sheltering services.

b) Plans are underway to finalize the establishment of shelters in Namakwa and JTG Districts. There is a white door in Bankara Budulong in JTG District for emergency placement. Clients who prefer sheltering services are not taken to neighbouring Provinces, but are given the option to be admitted to a shelter in the Northern Cape Province.

The renovations for the shelter in Nababeep and purchasing of furniture is completed and the agreement between the Municipality and Department, must be finalized, before operationalization can occur.

The decision regarding the condition of the shelter between DSD and Kathu Solar Park, will be finalized in November 2022, which will determine the Plan of Action.

Reply:

The SASSA/SAPO card is owned and managed by the South African Postbank according to the South African Reserve Bank designation. However, the card is given to beneficiaries for the purpose of utilising the money to meet their basic needs.

SASSA has no control over beneficiaries who use their card as collateral to secure loans, nor does SASSA condone this act.

It is worth noting that the practice of exchanging beneficiaries cards for loans is a contravention of Section 20 of the Social Assistance Act 13 of 2004 (the Act) which states “a grant may not be transferred, ceded, pledged or in any other way encumbered or disposed of unless the Minister on good grounds in writing consents thereto”, and also read in conjunction with Section 133, Section 90(2) (l) and Section 91(b) of the National Credit Act 34 of 2005.

This matter is regulated by section 35 of the Act, which prohibits credit providers and other persons conducting and marketing credit provider services within areas of agency offices and pay points. Section 35 of the Act (1) Subject to the provisions of section 10(1) and (2) of the Act states; a) a person must not market or offer any form of credit , whether or not that person is registered as a credit provider, within any Agency offices or pay-point for the purpose of soliciting or enticing a beneficiary to engage in any form of credit granting, funeral scheme or life insurance scheme; b) the card must not be ceded, pledged or retained to secure a loan, repayment of loan debt or payment of a funeral or insurance premium.

Therefore, the Agency continuously communicates with social grants beneficiaries through various channels to discourage them from dealing with loan sharks. There are ongoing media awareness campaigns directed at all social grant beneficiaries not to hand over their SASSA cards to anyone.

Through these channels, social grant beneficiaries and members of the public are encouraged to report loan sharks in possession of their social grant cards and/or identity documents to curb these fraudulent acts.

SASSA also conducts awareness sessions among its employees so that they can share the information with grant beneficiaries and the broader public.

In tandem with the above measures to combat the phenomenon of loan sharks preying on social grant beneficiaries and to prevent this type of fraud, corruption and contravention of the Social Assistance Act, SASSA takes concerted steps to coordinate and approach this task, together the South African Post Office and within the ambit of multidisciplinary law enforcement agencies, which includes the National Credit Regulator and the National Prosecuting Authority to appraise them of the gravity of the moneylending activities and request that stiff sentences are meted out by the Courts.

The on-going collaborative effort has culminated in several arrests of suspected loan sharks who were found in possession of SASSA cards. In the current financial year, there were successful projects which led to the arrests and sentencing of loan sharks.

Herein below is a breakdown of the successes achieved to date:

Table: Breakdown of cases regarding possession of SASSA card(s)

No	Description of activities	No of arrested loan sharks	Date of arrest/ sentencing
1.	The Hazyview Magistrate’s Court (Mpumalanga) sentenced 1 money lender to 12 months imprisonment with an option of a fine	1	28 April 2022
2.	Masoyi Magistrate’s Court (Mpumalanga) sentenced 2 money lenders to 12 months imprisonment with an option of a fine	2	04 May 2022
3.	Three (3) suspected moneylenders arrested in KwaZulu-Natal with 50 SASSA/ SAPO cards, 20 EasyPay cards and R34,000 cash in Umkomaas	3	03 June 2022
4.	One (1) suspected moneylender arrested in Malmesbury, Western Cape for possession of SASSA/ SAPO cards)	1	27 June 2022
5.	Douglas Magistrate court in Northern Cape sentenced 1 moneylender with a fine of R10 000 and five (5) years imprisonment, wholly suspended for 3 years	1	18 July 2022
6.	31 suspected moneylenders arrested in Springs, Gauteng with 256 SASSA/ SAPO cards and 151 various bank cards. The suspects were found in possession of R100, 000 in cash.	31	04 August 2022
7.	Five (5) suspected moneylenders arrested in Bronkhorstspruit, Gauteng with 1 X SASSA/SAPO card and 6 various bank cards. The suspects were found in possession of R36,270.00 in cash	5	02 November 2022

Reply:

a) A Presidential Social Sector Summit which was held on the 4th and 5th August 2022, was physically attended by a total of 1 032 civil society organisations.

To maximise reach, various online platforms were created to ensure participation. A total of 59 251 Civil society organisations connected and provincial breakdown attendance by location was as follows:

Cape Town – 12 411

Pretoria – 11 387

Durban – 8 542

Soweto – 5 868

Johannesburg – 6 069

Port Elizabeth – 3 481

Polokwane – 3 249

Bloemfontein – 3 243

East London – 2 538

Pietermaritzburg – 2 463

Those who connected virtually were represented with gender proportion of 38.6% males and 61.4% females.

b) The Department of Social Development was a coordinating department responsible for organising the summit. A steering committee was set up consisting of Department of Social Development, Department of Planning, Monitoring and Evaluation (DPME), National Planning Commission (NPC), National Development Agency (NDA) and Civil Society represented by National Economic Development and Labour Council (NEDLAC) Community Constituency.

The Department was responsible to invite other government departments from the Social Cluster, and to invite about 406 NPOs, in addition, the National Economic Development and Labour Council (NEDLAC) Community Constituency was also allocated a responsibility to invite 50 civil society organisations from its constituency.

Reply:

(1)(a),(i) Information received from five of the Millers (Umfolozi, Malelane, Sezela, Eston and Noodsberg) indicates that the Small-Scale Growers (SSGs) deliveries against expected delivery estimates are behind the mill percentage as at the end of October 2022. Out of the five Millers, two Milling areas (Umfolozi and Malelane) have indicated that SSGs will catch-up with deliveries by the end of the season. The remaining Millers which are Sezela, Eston and Noodsberg plus Felixton, have indicated that SSGs will not deliver full season sugarcane estimates and will carryover cane into 2023/2024. Commercial growers are on track and will deliver the estimated tonnage.

(ii) The harvesting cycle of sugar cane in KwaZulu-Natal (KZN) ranges from 12 to 24 months and the main affected areas are on the 16-month cycle. It should be noted that off farm infrastructure (i.e. local roads, access roads, bridges etc) and on farm infrastructure which broadly inhibits optimal operations, will take some time to repair. The latter is further dependent on the availability of resources that its anticipated to be reprioritised based on the disaster declaration process.

(b)(i) The April 2022 report issued by the SA Canegrowers, indicates that 308 producers across five regions in KZN have been affected. The report does not indicate ceasing of operation but indicated the inability to deliver to the market due to extensive on and off farm infrastructure damage. The report further indicates that 2516.65 hectors have experienced severe root damage and thus necessitates replating of the hectors. The estimated damage for infield is R 194, 9 million while the on-farm infrastructure is R 27, 9 million.

(ii) The KZN provincial Department of Agriculture is part of the response teams that are engaged in the assessment process and further ensuring that a speedy provision of support is in place and operation. It is however noted that a ratoon programme(replanting) with an estimated amount of R 7, 5 million has been secured to assist the small-scale sugar growers in the rural parts of the province.

(2)(a) The South African Farmers Development Association (SAFDA) report of April 2022 indicates that heavy rains in the province had devastating impact on several farmers who lost both cash crops and in the main livestock and the support infrastructure. A total of 5178.53 hectors of crops were damaged costing farmers a total of R 236 979 436. Livestock farmers were faced with a loss totalling R 61 686 150.

(b) The main income generating activities are supported through the ratoon programme while activities in terms of crops and livestock, will benefit through the provincial reprioritisation of allocated funds to ensure that the food security element for affected households is maintained. The latter stems from the fact that a disaster has been declared and thus allows for the reprioritisation of interventions or reassignment of funds to be implemented.

Reply:

The Department provide funding to variety of NPOs to render Social development services in all nine Provinces. These NPOs are functional as they deliver of much needed services. Functional NPOs do receive the funding based on the amounts agreed upon the service level agreements (SLAs).

Certain processes are followed before the funds are transferred to these functional organizations including:

• Timeous submission of progress reports and relevant documents by the NPOs
• Proof that the funds are utilized for the intended purposes.
• Compliance with the registration and governance principles as stated in the SLAs and the NPO Act.

Most of the funds that were returned to National Treasury related to the ECD conditional grant and as such cannot be diverted to other programmes.

In addition, NPO’s are also exposed to capacity building programmes that empowers them on number of aspects including financial management, governance and resource mobilization. All these efforts are aimed at empowering NPOs to render quality

services and to empower them to mobilize resources from various sources thus building a sustainable NPO sector in the country.

Reply:

a) Registration as a non-profit organisation is voluntary therefore any organisation that seek registration do so voluntarily. NPOs are registered in terms of the NPO Act 71 of 1997. The NPO Act does not require the organization to provide the reason why they apply for registration. Voluntary Associations are regulated under the NPO Act 71 of 1997. The NPO status provides organisations with a legal status which in turn makes them credible and accountable and gives them public confidence and easier to access funding.

b) The total number of registered voluntary associations (NPOs) in the Republic of South Africa in each province are listed below:

	Number registered	Voluntary Associations	Trusts	NPCs
EC	25 900	23 328	269	2 303
FS	13 572	12 266	87	1 219
GP	84 399	73 936	936	9 527
KZN	47 431	43 357	728	3 346
LP	26 434	24 618	95	1 721
MP	19 742	18 405	59	1 278
NW	15 389	13 668	60	1 661
NC	6 030	5 679	30	321
WC	28 162	24 085	969	3 108
	267 059	239 342	3 233	24 484

c) Section 12 of the NPO Act (Act 71 of 1997), provides for the requirements for registration. For a Voluntary Association to be registered they must submit a fully completed application form as regulated and the organization founding document, which in this instance it’s a constitution. Section 12(2) further provides, unless the laws in terms of which a nonprofit organisation is established or incorporated, the constitution of a nonprofit organisation that intends to register must comply with requirements (a) to (o) as set out. Further, Section 13 of the NPO Act stipulates that organisation may apply for registration by submitting the completed application form and copies of the constitution which met the requirements in terms of section 12 as mentioned above.

d) Section 18 (1)(a) of the NPO Act requires registered non-profit organisations to submit annual reports in the form of a narrative report in the prescribed manner and financial statements that has income and expenditure, balance sheet and accounting officer’s report. The department scrutinizes the submitted annual reports and check if the organisation carries out its activities or programmes as per its founding document and looks at the nature of expenditure incurred by the organisation.

e) Section 21 of the NPO Act provides for cancellation of registration of an organisation if it has failed to comply with the NPO Act. This means the obligation of NPOs to submit annual reports or makes material false representations in any document or a narrative, financial or other report submitted to the department. This decision is taken after an organisation would have been issued with a notice of non-compliance that would have provided the organisation with reasons for noncompliance and the steps that the organisation needs to take to address the noncompliance.

f) The Department has not undertaken any scientific study or review regarding the impact of voluntary associations in society and the lives of vulnerable groups as these organisations are funded by different government departments and independent doors.

Reply:

The following steps have been taken by the Department in an effort to reduce irregular expenditure going forward.

1. The Supply Chain Management unit has undergone internal training on fraud and corruption indicators. This training was considered essential to ensure that the unit is capacitated on these aspects.

2. The Supply Chain Management officials and Bid Committees officials continuously attend relevant training that is coordinated by the National Treasury.

2. The CFO has written a letter to the National Treasury requesting assistance with price index and Central Supplier Database (CSD) compliance issues.

4. A Contract Management unit will also be incorporated within the Supply Chain Management Unit. The Contract Management team will monitor the SITA

transversal contracts for updates and validity to ensure that all SITA transversal contracts that the department utilises are valid during the procurement process.

5. The SCM Policy will be reviewed during the month of November 2022. The irregular expenditure cases have been referred to Internal Control for investigation. The outcome of the investigations will determine if any official is liable for the expenditure and the Directorate Labour Relations will assist with the disciplinary processes.

6. Over and abovementioned preventative, detective, and corrective control measures, the SCM staff and the Finance management, in general, will attend the root cause identification training for empowering the entire SCM officials to identify any non-compliance to prevent potential irregular, fruitless and wasteful expenditure before they are realised in the departments underlying accounting records.

7. The department’s governance structures such as risk management and the internal audit units will also work closely with management to provide advisory services while internal audit will also provide assurance services.

Reply:

1. The Provincial Departments of Social Development continue to register new Child and Youth Care Centres (CYCCs) that meet the minimum norms and standard as per the relevant legislation. There is no policy

position that the department will not register or fund new Child and Youth Care Centres for 2021/2022 financial year.

The department funds CYCCs to provide residential care services to children in need of care and protection. Funding is dependent on the need and availability of budget during a particular financial year. Specific to the Gauteng Department of Social Development (GDSD), the said Provincial Department is reviewing its service delivery modalities in line with the Institutional Re-alignment Project. The said Project is informed by the approved Service Delivery Model and the Organizational Re-alignment which are aligned to the GDSD Organogram. The main aim of the GDSD Project is to build capacity of the state towards the delivery of services that are constitutional mandates. This re-alignment will take place from the 2023/2024 financial year, and, will be funded mainly from within the Department. The retrieval of services will not be considered for residential care facilities at this point due to limited capacity on the side of the Department. This includes CYCCs, Shelters for Homeless, Shelters for victims of GBV, Residential Facilities for Older Persons, Residential Facilities for Persons with Disabilities, In-patient Treatment Centres and Halfway Houses. Reference to capacity therefore relates to the Gauteng Department of Social Development and not to CYCCs.

2. Based on available funding allocated by the Treasuries, the Department will continue to fund CYCCs as well as process their registration as per the legislative prescripts

3. The Department has not explored the long-term goal to centralise funds into a central account to fund projects directly without making use of the services of Non-Profit Organisations. Specific to the Gauteng Province and in line with the Institutional Re-alignment Project (IRP), the Department will identify and retrieve services from the following organizations:

• Non-performing/dysfunctional NPOs (non-centre-based services, non-compliant NPOs or NPOs suspended from service)
• Certain statutory services (e.g., new foster care cases, adoption services, etc.)

The aim of this IRP is to ensure that funding is directed toward priority areas and programmes. This Project is a Gauteng provincial initiative and does not imply to other provinces.

Reply:

Social Development provides support in the rehabilitation phase of treatment for children referred to the Department after discharge from inpatient care as well as those referred from outpatient treatment to access various social security interventions to promote recovery. However, we support the preventative interventions to reduce malnutrition cases.

Some of the preventive interventions implemented by the Department of Social Development in collaboration with the Department of Health include: improving access to high-quality foods through food relief distribution and access to health care; improving nutrition and health knowledge through training and capacity building of practitioners and centres personnel; effectively promoting exclusive breastfeeding for the first six months of a child’s life where appropriate; promoting improved complementary feeding practices for all children aged 6–24 months — with a focus on ensuring access to age-appropriate complementary foods (where possible using locally available foods); and improving hygiene practices to protect children against communicable diseases.

Among the other key factors that contributes to deaths in children admitted in health facilities with severe acute malnutrition includes: delay in seeking care and children who present with other complications namely diarrhoea and pneumonia.

Furthermore, kindly provide us with more information regarding the assessment conducted as referred to in the question for referral to our Health counterparts to profile the affected families so that we can provide comprehensive response to the affected area.

Reply:

The Minister does not get involved in Eskom tariff decisions. This is a domain of an independent Regulator, NERSA, which is guided by a published and well consulted methodology, which is a condition of Eskom licence.

Reply:

The South African Post Office did not have an Annual General Meeting in June 2022.


Authorised for submission by _______________

MS. NONKQUBELA JORDAN-DYANI
DIRECTOR-GENERAL (ACTING)
DATE:

Recommended/not recommended

_______________________________

HON. PHILLY MAPULANE, MP DEPUTY MINISTER OF COMMUNICATIONS AND DIGITAL TECHNOLOGIES
DATE:

Approved/ not approved
___________________________________

HON. KHUMBUDZO NTSHAVHENI, MP
MINISTER OF COMMUNICATIONS AND DIGITAL TECHNOLOGIES
DATE:

Reply:

(1) (a) (i) – (ii) Marketing Events

Please refer to the SA Tourism Annual Reports for the periods stated below. For your convenience, a link to each has been provided:

• 01 April 2019- 31 March 2020

South African Tourism Annual Report tabled on 5 November 2020, ATC no 160 of 2020

https://live.southafrica.net/media/278970/sat-annual-report-2019_2020.pdf

Kindly refer to pages 43 to 56

• 01 April 2020 – 31 March 2021

South African Tourism Annual Report tabled on 30 September 2021, ATC no 133 of 2021

https://live.southafrica.net/media/290945/sat-a-report-2020-21-final.pdf

Kindly refer to pages 46 to 61

• 01 April 2021 – 31 March 2022

Annual Report tabled on 30 September 2022, ATC no 150 of 2022…, pages 47 to 54

https://live.southafrica.net/media/298986/south_african_tourism_2021_2022_annual_report.pdf

Kindly refer to pages 47 to 54

• 01 April 2022 – to date

Information will be finalised after the end of the fiscal.

(a) (iii) Criteria for Marketing events

The SA Tourism Marketing Investment Portfolio determines where market activities take place.

(b) (i)-(iv) Partners and Markets

(i) Relevant partners are detailed in the SA Tourism Annual Reports as indicated above.

(ii) Partners are selected based on criteria in the SA Tourism Partnership Policy.

(iii)- (iv) Kindly refer to the South African Tourism Annual Reports as per (1) (a) above

(c) (i) Budget and spent for each Financial Year

• 01 April 2019- 31 March 2020

Information on page 61 of the South African Tourism Annual Report for the 01 April 2019- 31 March 2020 details the budget and expenditure on Leisure Tourism Marketing for the fiscal.

• 01 April 2020- 31 March 2021

Information on page 72 of the of the South African Tourism Annual Report for the 01 April 2020- 31 March 2021 details the budget and expenditure on Leisure Tourism Marketing for the fiscal.

• 01 April 2021- 31 March 2022

Information on page 62 of the of the South African Tourism Annual Report for the 01 April 2021- 31 March 2022 details the budget and expenditure on Leisure Tourism Marketing for the fiscal.

• 01 April 2022 – to date

The Budget is reflected in the Annual Performance Plan for 2022-2023

Kindly find the link below and refer to page 67. Please note the Annual Performance Plan for South African Tourism was tabled on 18 March 2022, ATC no 42 of 2022

Please note the expenditure still needs to be audited

(2) Successes and failures

(a) Evaluation metrics for measuring successes of events and programmes are predetermined and articulated upfront in the respective Annual Performance Plans. Failures will be determined against non-achievement of these.

(b) Performance results can be found in the South African Tourism Annual Reports referred to above.

Kindly note:

1. Budgets and targets are available in the tabled Annual Performance Plans since 2019
2. Furthermore, information is also available in presentations to the Portfolio Committee by SA Tourism as well as the minutes agreed to by the Portfolio Committee on Tourism since 01 April 2019 to date.
3. Responses by the Minister to similar questions on Marketing.

Reply:

(a) The department instructed the State Attorney to recover the R50 000.00 from the business owner. Summons was issued and a Default Judgment was obtained. Currently, the State Attorney is waiting for the Court to grant the writ of execution.

(b) The independent investigation is in progress.

Reply:

(a) Events and conferences

	(aaa) 2021-22 financial year	(bbb) since 1 April 2022
(aa) Minister	74 896.07	To be audited
(bb) Deputy Minister	360 756.65	To be audited
(cc) Director General	20 848.50	To be audited

(b) Travel

	(aaa) 2021-22 financial year	(bbb) since 1 April 2022
(aa) Minister	1 552 304.13	To be audited
(bb) Deputy Minister	423 837.29	To be audited
(cc) Director General	39 329.29	To be audited

(c) Expenses for running the office

	(aaa) 2021-22 financial year	(bbb) since 1 April 2022
(aa) Minister	985 833.13	To be audited
(bb) Deputy Minister	648 598.68	To be audited
(cc) Director General	60 608.48	To be audited

(d) (i) Flowers, (ii) condolence cards

	(aaa) 2021-22 financial year	(bbb) since 1 April 2022
(aa) Minister	1 500.00	To be audited
(bb) Deputy Minister	0.00	To be audited
(cc) Director General	1 000.00	To be audited

(d) (iii) Stationery

	(aaa) 2021-22 financial year	(bbb) since 1 April 2022
(aa) Minister	3 046.70	To be audited
(bb) Deputy Minister	65 341.10	To be audited
(cc) Director General	4 240.00	To be audited

Reply:

(a) (i) No persons have applied for financial support under the Green Tourism Incentive Programme (GTIP) during Quarter One (Q1) and Quarter Two (Q2) of the 2022/2023 Financial Year as there were no GTIP application windows open during this period.

Applications for the GTIP are managed through defined application windows, during which a call for applications are published to encourage prospective applicants to submit applications for support in line with the programme guidelines.

During Q1 and Q2 of the 2022/2023 Financial Year, the GTIP team was busy processing pipeline applications including the 179 applications received during the previous application window that was open from 1 October 2021 to 31 March 2022. The next application window opened on 10 October 2022 and will close on 31 January 2023, after which the number of applications received can be reported on.

a) (ii) Not applicable

(b) &(c) Not applicable

 

Reply:

The Department of Tourism is not participating in the Conference of the Parties of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change to be held in Egypt in November 2022. The attendance and participation at Conference of the Parties of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change is the responsibility of the Department of Forestry, Fisheries and Environment.

Reply:

How is SA Tourism (a) packaging messages around incidents such as the murder of a Ukranian tourist in 2018 and the recent murder of a German tourist

a) South African Tourism has regularly kept all (domestic and international) trade partners and stakeholders up to date with regards to issues that impact on South Africa including safety and security. To this end, over the last few months, South African Tourism has participated in key trade shows in various parts of the world including IMEX America, International Golf Travel Market in Italy, participation at World Routes in the United States of America and Travel Expo in Zimbabwe and also currently at a Tourism industry leadership conference in Botswana with a constant message that South Africa remains a safe destination.

Following the incident of the murder of the German tourist, South African Tourism released a joint statement together with private sector industry partner, TBCSA, condemning the incident. This was followed by a media briefing led by Minister of Tourism Lindiwe Sisulu after having met with the affected tourists and the victim’s wife. South African Tourism has reiterated the Minister’s message that such incidents are taken very seriously as the safety of tourists and citizens alike remains key. Over and above this, in all the marketing and promotional work that South African Tourism embarks on, the message that we are a safe destination is shown through the various interactive and immersive experiences shown in the visual elements through our people.

(b) working with the (i) SA Police Service and (ii) private sector to ensure that the image of the Republic as a preferred tourist destination is not tarnished further?

b) We have a National Tourism Safety Strategy with a view to foster public- private sector partnership in addressing issues of tourism safety in a more coordinated manner to provide an enhanced visitor experience and in the long term to change perceptions of South Africa as an unsafe destination. The National Tourism Safety Strategy is centered upon three key pillars which include, Proactive measures (putting in place measures to ensure that tourists are safe before they embark on a trip), Responsive measures (mechanisms that ensure quick and effective turnaround time to attend to tourist in distress when an incident of crime occur); and Aftercare Programmes (providing care and comfort to tourist in distress immediately after an incident has occurred and beyond).

In working with the SA Police Services and the Department of Tourism, South African Tourism co-ordinates key messaging on a case by case basis with the sole aim of synchronizing messaging and efforts relating to citizen and tourists’ safety in the build up to the festive season and beyond. We continue with our efforts of working with the greater tourism sector in removing any barriers that hinder the growth of our sector.

SA Tourism, Mpumalanga Tourism and the private sector have recently collaborated to improve safety around the access routes into the Kruger National Park.

Reply:

The internal drafting of a new Green Paper for tourism has been finalised and external consultations on the draft are being undertaken. It is intended to finalise the consultations at the end of the 2022/23 financial year.

 



Reply:

(a)-(c)Tourism is a concurrent function. Bourkes Luck Potholes is site owned and managed by the Mpumalanga Provincial Government. The Department will, however, engage with the Provincial Department and offer support. The Honourable Member is requested to refer this question to the relevant authority.

 

 

 

Reply:

(1) No funds were spent on a pre-recorded video message

(2) There was no budget allocated to a pre-recorded video message

(3) It is the intention of the Department to do a pre-recorded message by the Minister as part of the Festive Season Tourism Safety Awareness campaign. This pre-recorded message will provide precautionary safety tips and advice to tourists, whilst also providing the key emergency numbers should tourists require support. The department’s tourist safety plan, emphasises “Proactive Measures” which include safety awareness messaging like the pre-recorded message. Providing pre-cautionary safety tips and advice to tourist in any form, be it through SMS notification, website posting, pamphlets or leaflets, videos clips, radio messages, etc. is always advisable. It’s a common practice in many countries where authorities use various platforms to provide generic tourist information, including messaging on safety and support.

(4) To reiterate, no money was spent on the pre-recorded message.

Reply:

Grading fees charged by TGCSA is determined by three (3) variables namely the number of units the establishment has, the category of the establishment and the average room rate. The National Grading system is a voluntary scheme and membership is reliant on members’ intention to be graded. Targets are based on the South African Tourism Annual Performance targets.

1. (a)(i)-(ii) The target for number of graded establishments for the period with accompanying budget and revenue is below:

 

Year	TGCSA Budget	TGCSA Revenue Received	Target Graded Establishments	Actual Graded Establishments	Variance	Reason for Variance
2019/20	R 58 M	R 23 M	6229	5 173	-1 056	High Cancellation Rate
2020/21	R 61 M	R 18 M	N/A (Due to Covid-19 pandemic)	5 034	5 034	No target set due to the Covid-19 pandemic
2021/22	R64 M	R 15 M	5250	4 707	-543	Limited establishments open due to Covid-19

The percentage breakdown of establishments per province is reflected below for 2019-20; 2020-21 and Year-to-date (YTD) 2021-22:

(a) (i) and (ii) The percentage breakdown of establishments per province is reflected below for 2019-20; 2020-21 and Year-to-date (YTD) 2021-22:

Province	2019-20	2020-21	YTD 2021-22
Eastern Cape	12%	13%	13%
Free State	3%	3%	3%
Gauteng	22%	21%	23%
KwaZulu Natal	13%	13%	13%
Limpopo	7%	7%	7%
Mpumalanga	7%	8%	7%
North West	5%	5%	5%
Northern Cape	3%	3%	3%
Western Cape	29%	27%	26%

(2) (a) and (b)

2020 – 2021 have been impacted by the Covid-19 pandemic as many establishments suspended trading or closed permanently. Fiscal 2022/23 has seen a return to business and many establishments re-joining TGCSA star grading system. Quality Assurance is key to the tourism sectors success, therefore TGCSA is currently reviewing the post-pandemic consumer requirements and key tourism sector changes to assess the impact of sector change on the TGCSA grading criteria. Many interventions such as workshops, training and the implementation of the Tourism Grading Supporting Program are in progress. Fiscal 2022/23 is on track for the achievement of its current targets of 5 355 Graded establishments for the fiscal.

Reply:

a) What processes were used to appoint service providers for tourism marketing strategies in international markets in each financial year in each market?

SA Tourism followed the prescribed processes and procedures as outlined in the organisation’s supply chain procurement policy in the appointment of in-market agencies. These were appointed through a competitive bidding process.

(b) who were the appointed service providers? (c) What amount was (i) budgeted and (ii)

spent?

Most agency contracts are not retainer contracts but project-by-project basis contracts.

Services Procured	Business Unit	Budgeted and Spent Amounts
Creative Services	India- Mumbai	Rate card/Variable cost
Digital Services	India- Mumbai	Variable cost
Event Management, Activation and Brand Experience Services	India- Mumbai	Rate card/Variable cost
Media Buy	India- Mumbai	Rate Card
Integrated Marketing Services	South Europe Office	Rate card/Variable cost
Digital Activation and Creative Services	Central Europe	Rate card/Variable cost
Integrated PR & Marketing Services	Central Europe	Rate card/Variable cost
Media Buy	Australia	Rate card/Variable cost
B2C & B2B Media Strategy, planning and buying Agency	UK & IRELAND	Rate card/Variable cost
Public relations and communication services	UK & IRELAND	Rate card
Creative, digital, B2C & B2B Media Strategy, planning and buying and activation services	North Europe	Rate card/Variable cost
Integrated PR & Marketing Services	North Europe	Rate card/Variable cost
Marketing Services	Africa	Rate card/Variable cost
Media Services	Africa	Rate card/Variable cost
Digital Services	Africa	Rate card/Variable cost
Activations Services	Africa	Rate card/Variable cost
Digital Marketing Services	Africa	Rate card/Variable cost
Multi-Disciplinary 360 Degree Marketing Services	South America	Rate Card

(d) how are the (i) successes and (ii) failures of the marketing strategies measured?

Evaluation metrics for measuring successes of campaigns are predetermined and articulated upfront in the respective Annual Performance Plans in the form of Technical Indicator Descriptions. Failures will be determined against non-achievement of these.

(e) what are the results of the marketing strategies in each market in each year?

2020/21	2021/22	2022/23
Global lockdown and travel restrictions in source markets. No in-market campaigns implemented as there was no assigned investment.	Planned deal driven campaigns were executed as stated on pages 54 of the 2021/22 SA Tourism Annual Report tabled to Parliament.	Delivery on the planned campaigns for this fiscal is currently in progress.

(f) what lessons have been learnt from the tourism marketing strategies in each of the past three financial years in each case?

Having a compelling brand positioning supported by sufficient financial investment and an all of Government barrier removal approach is critical to win. This is underpinned by building strategies over a long time to create consistency and affinity in the consumer's mind whilst staying agile enough to course correct when the need arises. 

Reply:

a) The Department is currently running the Green Tourism Incentive Programme (GTIP) campaign on its social media platforms.

b) No advertising costs have been incurred on the Green Tourism Incentive Programme social media campaign including on i) Facebook ii) Instagram iii) Twitter iv) YouTube and v) LinkedIn.

c) None

 

Reply:

1. The Department has become aware through reports in the public domain of the introduction of nomad visa regimes by countries including African countries.

2 The Department of Tourism engages the Department of Home Affairs (DHA) on visa matters prioritising tourism priority markets identified in the country’s marketing investment framework.

DHA has indicated during discussions that they are considering the issuing of remote working visas. In addition, one of the five objectives of Operation Vulindlela refers to ‘A visa regime that attracts skills and grows tourism’.

Reply:

(a) The Department of Tourism has put transformation at the centre of its programmes since the promulgation of the Tourism B-BBEE Sector Code in 2015. The first Tourism Transformation Council of South Africa was formally known as the Tourism B-BBEE Charter Council, was appointed in 2012. The Council is appointed with representatives from civil society, tourism businesses and labour. In 2019/20 the name was formally changed to the Tourism Transformation Council of South Africa. A call for the nomination of new members to be appointed to the Tourism Transformation Council of South Africa (TTCSA) was issued publicly in the national newspapers on the weekend of 30 October 2022, including on 02 November 2022. The closing date for nominations was 30 November 2022.

(b) The lifespan of the TTCSA is 3 years.

(c) In accordance with the Amended Guidelines for Developing and Gazetting Sector Codes, issued under Section 9 of the B-BBEE Amendment Act, the Minister has the responsibility to appoint members of the Sector Charter Council to monitor transformation in the sector. According to Section 6 of the Act, members of the Council must represent different relevant constituencies including businesses (large and small), trade unions, community-based organisations, youth, academics and others. Criteria for nominees is published in the call for nominations. The Council should consist of not fewer than 10 and no more than 15 members.

(d) The TTCSA is mandated to:

• Provide guidance on sector-specific matters affecting B-BBEE in entities within the sector.
• Compile reports on the status of B-BBEE within the sector.
• Share information with sector members, approved accreditation agencies, B-BBEE Commission, B-BBEE Presidential Advisory Council, the Line Minister and the Minister of Trade, Industry and Competition.
• Monitor the implementation of the Amended Tourism B-BBEE Sector Code.

(e)(i). The TTCSA is appointed to encourage and support transformation in the Tourism sector in order to ensure inclusive growth. The Council monitors the implementation of the objectives of the Amended Tourism B-BBEE Sector Code. The Council also advises the Minister on transformation matters in both the public and private sectors.

(e)((ii). The TTCSA measures the state of transformation in the tourism sector by:

a) Conducting annual studies on the state of implementation of the Amended Tourism B-BBEE Sector Code in the five applicable elements including: Ownership; Management Control; Skills Development; Enterprise and Supplier Development and Socio-Economic Development.

b) Quarterly Reports submitted to the Minister on the business of the Council.

c) Hosting Transformation Dialogues and Roundtables.

d) Submission of adhoc reports as requested by the Minister

 

Reply:

a) The Department of Water and Sanitation (DWS) undertakes planning studies over different planning horizons, to develop interventions that are implemented to ensure water security for the country. These interventions comprise of enablers like governance, financing, human capacity building as well as science and innovation which facilitate implementation of water projects at National, Provincial and District and Local Municipality level.

b) The interventions implemented to ensure water security are contained in the National Water Resource Strategy (NWRS), through which the minister gives effect to the National Water Act, as well as the National Water and Sanitation Master Plan (NWSMP). Additional interventions include the following:

• Planning and implementing a range of major projects to augment national bulk water resource infrastructure and
• Establishing the National Water Resource Infrastructure Agency (NWRIA) to finance and implement the large-scale investments in national water resource infrastructure that are required to ensure that South Africa has sufficient bulk water supply now and in future.
• The department is prioritising increased but sustainable use of groundwater
• The department is also exploring seawater desalination.
• Strengthening the department’s its role in supporting and intervening in municipalities where water and sanitation services are failing, in conjunction with provinces, COGTA, National Treasury and SALGA.
• The Department is updating the National and sectoral Water Conservation and Water Demand Management strategies. This is to ensure effective performance of WCWDM practices by the sector.
• The DWS has also developed the Water Services Improvement Programme (WSIP) to strengthen its support and intervention at municipal level based on actual data or most available data. The aim of the programme is for the Department to ensure that support and intervention at municipal level is proactive, consistent, and systematic.
• In line with the WSIP, the department has further established the Water Partnership Office (WPO) within the Development Bank of Southern Africa (DBSA). The WPO has developed five standardized National Programmes for private sector participation in municipal water and sanitation services,
• One of the five National Programmes within the WPO is Non- Revenue Water (NRW) programme aimed at implementing the Water Conservation and Water Demand Management and cost recovery programme focusing on reducing losses, reducing over consumption, and improving cost recovery

The various studies that inform the NWRS are available on the DWS website, at http://www6.dwa.gov.za/iwrp/projects.aspx, and the National Water and Sanitation Master Plan (NW&SMP) is available at http://www.dwa.gov.za.

c) (i-ii) All provinces are affected by the growing demand for water due to:

• Demand outstripping supply due to extensive growth of urban settlements
• Extension of services to previously serviced rural settlements
• Poor maintenance of ageing infrastructure - at a municipal level - that has also reached the end of its lifespan
• Non-revenue water is currently sitting at 45.1% (31,9 % is losses through physical leakages)
• The management of water treatment plants adds to the crisis as many of the municipal treatment plants are operating below average standards and a third are critical based on the Blue Drop reports.
• Shortage of bulk water (owing to droughts, delayed planning for and delivery of bulk water infrastructure such as dams and associated infrastructure)

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Reply:

The Department of Agriculture Land Reform and Rural Development (DALRRD) is collating the information required and will tabled a response as soon as possible.

Reply:

The Department of Agriculture Land Reform and Rural Development (DALRRD) is collating the information required and will tabled a response as soon as possible.

Reply:

The Department of Water and Sanitation is funding various bulk water supply projects which benefit rural househols as well as persons with disabilities in KwaZulu-Natal. The following are the projects which are being implemented in the various municipal areas:

Project name	Municipality	Estimated project cost	No. of beneficiaries	Overall progress
Nongoma BWS	Zululand DM	R822 m	153 236	100%
Greytown BWS	uMzinyathi DM	R523.4 m	27 824	92%
Driefontein BWS	uThukela DM	R536.2 m	204 306	99%
Ngcebo BWS	iLembe DM	R1 096.7 m	585 900	100%
Greater Bulwer BWS	Harry Gwala DM	R339.6 m	113 256	80%
Maphumulo BWS	iLembe DM	R649.9 m	112 320	76%
Mandlakazi BWS Phases 5&6	Zululand DM	R2 988.0 m	279 297	61%
Middledrift BWS	King Cetshwayo DM	R290.9 m	177 576	54%
Greater Mthonjaneni BWS	King Cetshwayo DM	R2 025.5 m	99 612	65%
Greater Mpofana BWS	UMgungundlovu DM	R954.9 m	181 590	87%
uMshwathi BWS	uMgungundlovu DM & iLembe DM	R2 308.7 m	362 682	50%

Reply:

The Department of Agriculture Land Reform and Rural Development (DALRRD) is collating the information required and will tabled a response as soon as possible.

Reply:

The Department of Agriculture Land Reform and Rural Development (DALRRD) is collating the information required and will tabled a response as soon as possible.

Reply:

a)(i) The allocated budget for royalties for the period 1 Jan to 31 Dec 2022 is R 1 330 million.

(ii) Article 4 of the Treaty describes the purpose as follows: “The Project shall be to enhance the use of water of the Senqu/Orange River by storing, regulating, diverting and controlling the flow of the Senqu/Orange River and its affluents in order to effect the delivery of specified quantities of water to the Designated Outlet Point in the Republic of South Africa and by utilizing such delivery system to generate hydro-electric power in the Kingdom of Lesotho.” The water is transferred into the Vaal River system to mainly supply water users in Gauteng.

a) The implementation, operations and commitments to deliver water to South Africa from the Lesotho Highlands Water Project (LHWP) are governed by the Treaty of 1986 and its Protocols and the Phase II Agreement of 2011. The purpose of the Treaty and Agreement is to provide the legal basis for the implementation of Phases I and II of the LHWP as well as for the operation and maintenance of infrastructure.

i) There is no date by when the obligations of the Treaty in respect of water deliveries to South Africa will lapse.

ii) There are extensive programs in place as part of Phases I and II, including:

• Water supply for affected communities
• Sanitation programs for affected communities.
• Releases of water from the LHWP tunnel system for purposes of augmenting the Lesotho Lowlands Water Scheme that delivers water to Maseru and urban areas in the lowlands of Lesotho.

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Reply:

1. Part 9 of the National Water Act, Act 36 of 1998 addresses the review and renewal of licenses, and the amendment and substitution of conditions of licenses. Water treatment package plants, either for drinking water treatment or for wastewater treatment, usually have a design capacity range of between 1-2ML/day. This capacity range is small and has a low impact compared to the conventional larger water treatment plants. Lower-risk water uses are generally authorized through Part 6: Section 39 (General Authorization) of the National Water Act, depending on the sensitivity of the catchment. Licenses are issued for larger treatment plants. The table below provides a summary of regulatory requirements for wastewater treatment and drinking water treatment package plants.

Legal requirements	Wastewater Treatment Package plants	Drinking Water Treatment Package Plants
Water use authorization required	General Authorization for wastewater discharge. Most privately owned plants discharge into the municipal sewer systems and are regulated through Municipal by-laws.	General Authorization for abstraction Storage (where applicable)
Common design Capacity	1-2Ml/day	1-2ML/day
Monitoring for compliance	Part of Green Drop	Part of Blue Drop
Mandate	DWS and Water Services Authorities	DWS and Local government as Water Services Authorities

Measures taken by the Department to ensure the compliance of water treatment package plants between 2018 and 2022 include:

1. The revival of the Green and Blue Drop certification programs
2. Monitoring action plans for non-compliant systems
3. Enforcement actions
4. Review of the norms and standards for drinking water
5. Confirmation of general authorizations for new plants
6. As part of the license conditions, package plants are mandated to submit to the DWS, monthly water quality analysis which should be in line with the applicable limits for each parameter analysed.

2. (a) The Water Services Act, Act 08 of 1997 does not make provisions for penalties. However, the DWS carries out audits to monitor compliance and implements enforcement actions to rectify contraventions related to non-compliance to the conditions of authorizations.

(b) The Department is monitoring compliance of package plants as provided for by legislation. The department undertakes audits as part of regular monitoring activities and where there is non-compliance, issues Notices or Directives to the owners of the package plant. In some cases, investigations are triggered by reports of suspected cases of non-compliance which are followed up by the department. Where administrative enforcement actions are implemented, the department monitors to ensure full compliance with the conditions of authorisations.

The table below indicates instances where the Department has undertaken compliance monitoring audits and investigations triggered by complaints received and the subsequent administrative actions to address non-compliances.

Table 2: Compliance monitoring audits, inspections conducted, and enforcement actions taken

Activities and administrative action taken	Activities and administrative action taken	Activities and administrative action taken	Activities and administrative action taken	Activities and administrative action taken
2022	2021	2020	2019	2018
3x audits and 1x inspection undertaken in Eastern Cape i.e. Mzimvubu / Tsitsikamma	4x audits and 1x inspection undertaken in Eastern Cape i.e. Mzimvubu / Tsitsikamma	1x inspection and 2x audits undertaken in Eastern Cape i.e. Mzimvubu / Tsitsikamma	2x inspections and 1x audit undertaken in Eastern Cape i.e. Mzimvubu / Tsitsikamma	2x inspections undertaken in Eastern Cape i.e. Mzimvubu / Tsitsikamma
2x Notices issued	3x Notices issued	2x Notices issued	3x Notices issued	2x Notices issued
-	3x Directives issued	1x Directive issued	-	-
Complaints received and investigated
1x complaint received from Limpopo regional office (i.e. Limpopo WMA)	2x complaints received from North- West and KwaZulu Natal regional office (i.e. Pongola/Mtamvuna and Limpopo WMA)	3x complaints received from North-West and Limpopo regional office (i.e. Limpopo WMA)	-	-
1x Investigation undertaken	2x investigations undertaken	3x investigations undertaken	-	-
1x Notice issued	Both cases were recommended for administrative action	3x Directives were issued	-	-

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Reply:

(a) Fifteen (15) of the remaining 77 Water Services Authorities (WSAs) have submitted action plans since June 2022.

(b) The following fifteen (15) WSAs have submitted action plans:

• O R Tambo DM
• Sunday River Valley LM
• Kouga LM
• Beaufort West LM
• Kannaland LM
• Matzikama LM
• Prince Albert LM
• Swellendam LM
• Siyacuma LM
• Tsantsabane LM
• Merafong LM
• Lesedi LM
• Rand West LM
• Pixley Ka Seme LM
• Ngaka Modiri Molema DM

Four (4) additional WSA have requested support for the development of the action plan as indicated below:

• Msukaligwa LM
• Thaba Chweu LM
• Emalahleni LM
• Chris Hani DM

The Department is implementing the Water Services Improvement Programme (WSIP) to strengthen its support and intervention at municipal level based on actual data or most available data, the aim of the programme is to ensure that support and intervention at municipal level is proactive, consistent, and systematic. There has also been concerted effort with SALGA and MISA to assist remaining municipalities with the development and implementation of the action plans.

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Reply:

The unprofessional behaviour and conduct of Public Service officials towards persons with disabilities is unacceptable and must not be tolerated. The Bill of Rights protect our vulnerable citizens and public service officials are required to act in ways that uphold the dignity and humanity of all our citizens.

The Disability Rights Awareness Month (DRAM) 2022, was launched by the Department of Women, Youth and Persons with Disabilities on 3 November 2022. The theme for this year’s DRAM is titled “Empowering Persons with Disabilities through resourceful, sustainable and safe environments”. Government’s Disability Rights Awareness Campaign is part of the 365 days Calendar on disabilities to create more awareness about the disabilities, showcase gaps and challenges that are experienced in delivery of services for persons with disabilities, showcase inroads and achievements made to date by government in line with the MTSF priorities and forge further partnerships between persons with and without disabilities to support the social cohesion towards realization of disability inclusion in all our programs and all aspects of society.

The Department of Women, Youth and Persons with Disabilities and the National School of Government signed a Memorandum of Agreement on Disability Inclusion Training for public servants, on 3 November 2022. This training is aimed at empowering public servants in ensuring disability inclusion in their programmes and services of their departments.

The National School of Government has several training programmes in place to build awareness of these issues in public service officials. The compulsory programmes such as the “Championing Anti-discrimination in the Public Service”. The NSG has partnered with the UNFPA on “Achieving Disability Inclusiveness through Universal Access and Reasonable Accommodation” course. Furthermore, it offers “Know your Constitution” and “Ethics in the Public Service” as free courses. The NSG uses the specialised services to develop training materials that are accessible to officials who have barriers to learning.

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