Questions and Replies

Reply:

1. As of the end of September 2022, the number of SMS members whose requisite qualifications are not reflected in the PERSAL has gone down to 2188 from 2349 in May 2022. This is due to the fact that most departments are now updating this data onto the PERSAL since the Director-General issued a Circular HRD0301 in this regard. The fact that it is not yet mandatory to reflect the qualifications in the PERSAL when SMS members are appointed, could be one of the reasons why the numbers may seems high in certain departments, although that may not be the case.

2. The issue of poor service delivery in the public service is multidimensional and systemic and therefore, cannot be attributed to the less than 25% of the SMS members without the required qualifications within a staff complement of 1,3 million public servants. Most of them have acquired lots of workplace experience and knowledge that is contributing to service delivery improvement. There are continuous development initiatives that are mandated for senior managers to remain relevant in their scope of practice, thereby improving service delivery.

3. The Public Service Commission (PSC) is currently investigating this issue and has written to the Acting Minister for the Public Service and Administration, requesting some additional information on the subject matter and the department have responded accordingly. The PSC findings will therefore provide a clearer picture in this regard.

End

Reply:

a)  Many of the provinces across the country have been impacted by a combination of factors including:

• Additional demand and water use owing to population growth and extension of services to previously unserved rural communities
• Prolonged droughts in certain parts of the country
• Shortage of bulk water (owing to droughts, delayed planning for and delivery of bulk water infrastructure such as dams and associated infrastructure)
• Challenges with municipal water service delivery
• Poor maintenance of municipal infrastructure that results in frequent pipe bursts and unreliable supply of water

To prevent more widespread water interruptions across the country, municipalities have resorted to water restrictions or even scheduled water interruptions to ensure that communities are able to access some water for a few hours.

b) The main challenges impacting reliability of water supply are due to:

• Demand outstripping supply due to extensive growth of urban settlements
• Extension of services to previously unserviced 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 at 45.1% (31,9 % refers to losses through physical leakages)
• The management of water treatment plants adds to the crisis as half of our treatment plants are operating below average standards and fully a third are critical based on the Blue Drop reports
• Ongoing load shedding by ESKOM during the last year has also intensified the situation by impeding the ability of Water Boards and municipalities to pump water into reservoirs. This resulted in water levels in the reservoirs being too low to gravity-feed water to high-lying areas across the country.

To address the challenges outlined above, the Department of Water and Sanitation (DWS) is in the process of:

• 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.
• Strengthening 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 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, to make it easier, quicker, and cheaper for municipalities to enter into partnerships, without having to ‘reinvent the wheel’ for each partnership. 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

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Reply:

Water supply challenges in Nkowankowa are a result of tampering with valves on the outlet of the command reservoir and the bypass line to facilitate illegal connections. This caused low pressure on the bulk pipeline resulting in supply interruptions in some areas of Nkowankowa as water could not reach the furthest points of distribution.

The Mopani District Municipality together with the Greater Tzaneen Local Municipality have identified all the valves that needed to be repaired to supply water at Nkowankowa Township and Dan village.

With the assistance of Mokgolobotho Cooperation, which is a community-led structure, all unauthorized connections to the rising main were identified and removed. Water supply to Mokgolobotho settlement has since been restored. Leakages caused by unauthorised connection were identified and repaired.

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Reply:

(1) Information pertaining to the 305 public servants who are currently on suspension in the Public Service:
Find here: (i) National Departments:

Reply:

The Department of Public Service and Administration (DPSA) and (b) the National School of Government, Centre for Public Service Innovation and the Office the Public Service Commission do not have any commercial contracts with the government of the Russian Federation or any other entities based in the Russian Federation since 1 April 2017.

(aa) N/A

(bb) N/A

(dd) N/A

(ee) N/A

End

Reply:

1. I have not appeared before or met with the Deployment Committee of any political party.
2. Not applicable

Remarks: Approved / Not Approved

Jacky Molisane Pravin Gordhan, MP

Acting Director-General Minister

Date: Date:

Reply:

a) The service provider that was appointed to conduct an investigation into DPE information and data leak on Ms Borotho’s recruitment process including matters of a personal matter to the media was Abacus Financial Crime Advisory (Pty) Ltd.

b) The report concluded that there was a concerted and intentional release and dissemination of confidential DPE information and documentation to the media.

c) R281 168.00

d) (i) Establish whether there was a concerted intentional release of secure or private/confidential information to an untrusted environment (the media);

(ii) Collect evidence to fully understand the scale and the impact of a breach;

(iii) Identify the source of the leak and identify where DPE can be assisted in respect of data and information leakage;

(iv) Whether or not any matter should be referred to the South African Police Services (SAPS) or any other law enforcement agents, and

(v) Provide recommendations on the outcome of the investigation.

2. It was recommended that disciplinary action be considered against the official who shared her password with the official who leaked the information.

The official who shared her password and against whom disciplinary action is recommended left the Department a while back and it is therefore impossible to act against her.

Remarks: Approved / Not Approved

Jacky Molisane Pravin Gordhan, MP

Acting Director-General Minister

Date: Date:

Reply:

1 a) Severe load shedding affects the ability of Water Boards and Water Service Authorities (WSAs) to pump water into their reservoirs. This resulted in the water levels in the reservoirs being too low to gravity-feed water to high-lying areas. As a result, several high-lying areas have been without water for prolonged periods.

The Department of Water and Sanitation (DWS) has not quantified the amount of production downtime across the country. However, most WSAs have a contingency plan to ensure continuity of water supply. Water Boards and WSAs experienced several electrical and mechanical failures, which also contributed to the difficulty in filling the reservoirs. Some of these failures may have been a result of damage to equipment caused by the frequent load shedding.

Using the Eskom schedule of loading shedding, Treatment Plants can be closed in phases to prevent sudden shutdown of processes at the start of loadshedding that damage infrastructure. It is also possible to store additional treated water in preparation to cater for downtime at the plant. The operating philosophy is to maintain the reservoir levels between 60-80%. This targeted range will enable the system to be resilient and respond to any challenges.

1 b) All treatment plants, rely on electricity in one way or another, and where affordable, WSAs are encouraged to ensure continuous water provision through additional storage such as reservoirs and static tanks or alternative energy supply to cater for loadshedding.

2 The Water Boards, as water service providers to various WSAs, have taken different approaches to manage the impact of ESKOM’s loadshedding on their ability to provide reliable bulk water supply services to users, including:

• Engaging with the provincial government leadership and ESKOM to negotiate and facilitate for exemption on water infrastructure from frequent load-shedding.
• Filing applications with ESKOM for exemption in terms of Eskom Regulation NRS048-9. Some applications for exemption have been successful while some have not been due to technical reasons advanced by ESKOM and some are still waiting for outcomes to the applications.
• Water Boards such as Bloem Water, Rand Water, Umngeni Water, Lepelle Water and Magalies Water are operating water infrastructure that is exempt from loadshedding and are mostly able to continue with operations during loadshedding.

• Entities such as Bloem Water, Rand Water, Umngeni Water, Lepelle Water and Magalies Water are operating water infrastructure that is exempt from loadshedding and are mostly able to continue with operations.
• Where affordable, some of the entities have procured back-up generators to continue with operations even when there is loadshedding.

Some municipalities have been able to exempt some of their water and sanitation facilities from load shedding, but this is often not possible because it would require exempting whole areas from load shedding, which in turn would result in Eskom’s load shedding requirements not being met.

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Reply:

SAA faced a myriad of challenges over the years resulting in the airline’s inability to generate enough revenue to sustain operations and relied on debt to fund operations.

SAA had been incurring losses for an extended period which resulted in the airline being placed under business rescue by the SAA Board in December 2019. The business rescue period coincided with the country being placed under lock down due to the outbreak of Covid-19 pandemic in March 2020, resulting in all airlines’ suspension of commercial flights.

The airline successfully exited the business rescue in April 2021 and subsequently resumed operations in September 2021.

Remarks: Reply: Approved / Not Approved

Jacky Molisane P J Gordhan, MP

Acting Director-General Minister of Public Enterprises

Date: Date:

Reply:

The Xikukwane village receives water from Giyani Water Treatment Works (WTW) through pipeline F1. The design capacity of the Giyani WTW is 30Ml/d.

The Department of Water and Sanitation (DWS) has two (2) projects funded under Regional Bulk Infratructure Grant (RBIG), which are currently under construction in the Greater Giyani Local Municipaty (LM), and the Xikukwane village is one of the beneficiaries. The projects are implemented to address bulk water challenges in the Greater Giyani LM. Lepelle Northern Water was appointed as the Implementing Agent for both projecs which are comprised of the Nandon-Nsami pipeline project; and the Giyani Water Services project.

The background and progress of the projects is indicated below:

The need for the transfer of water from the Nandoni Dam to Giyani arose because of the critical shortage of water in Giyani due to low water levels in the Middle Letaba and Nsami Dams cause by recurring drought.

The department’s intervention is meant to accelerate water services provision in the distressed area of Mopani DM by conveying bulk water from Nandoni Dam to Nsami Water Treatment Works.

Overall progress at end of (November?) 2022 is estimated to be 62,78% with a projected completion date of 22 June 2023.

The Giyani Water Services projects are intended to accelerate water services provision to 55 villages in Giyani and include:

• Overall refurbishment and upgrade of Giyani WTW.
• The Giyani reticulation and household connection project. The envisaged completion date is October 2023

The two projects will be implemented by the Mopani DM once procurement processes are completed.

 

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Reply:

The Future of Work Ambassadors Programme is an initiative championed by the Department of Public Service and Administration (DPSA) in partnership with the Public Service Sector Education Authority (PSETA) and the National Youth Development Agency (NYDA). This programme is envisioned to contribute positively towards building a leadership pipeline for realising a capable, ethical and developmental public service in line with Chapter 13 of the National Development Plan and Priority 1 of the Medium-Term Strategic Framework.

The programme is fully funded by the PSETA, with the NYDA responsible for the recruitment process; HR-related matters including administration of the stipend over the 24-month period. The DPSA is responsible for the coordination, content creation and capacity building/training activities and placement of the candidates.

(a)(i) In terms of the latest update on the Future of Work Ambassadors programme, 33 candidates were appointed for the programme, four (4) resignations were received, where 3 of them left for greener pastures and one for personal reasons. One (1) candidate is currently on maternity leave. The ambassadors are exposed to job seeking skills, effective writing of resumes and practical exposure to the workplace, which makes them effective at looking for jobs and being attractive job seekers. Additionally, the Ambassadors are currently being exposed to:

• Capacity building and training opportunities by the National School of Government (NSG);
• A 6-month digital and soft skills online course provided by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP);
• Compulsory Induction Programmes for the Public Sector by the National School of Government (NSG); and
• A structured leadership coaching and mentorship programme for 12 months run and coordinated by the DPSA.

(a)(ii) The selection process of the 33 graduates in the specified programme included the following process:

• • PSETA and DPSA defined the specific skills to be funded which were linked to the mandate of the Public Sector and PSETA;
  • Provincial and National Departments were requested through FOSAD to indicate interest and readiness to host Ambassadors;
  • All host departments were given an opportunity to select their qualification areas based on the prescribed list provided by PSETA, such as:
    • Financial and Supply Chain Management
    • Law
    • Risk Management
    • Human Resource Management
    • Communications
    • Marketing Management
    • Public Management
    • Public Administration
    • Internal Audit
  • The NYDA used the information to generate an advertisement which was posted on the SAYouth.mobi platform.
  • The candidates were then shortlisted virtually and interviewed through the NYDA with the involvement of representatives from host departments on the panel.
  • Candidates were appointed and placed based on the recommendations of the panel.

b) The 33 Future of Work Ambassadors were allocated as follows:

National and Provincial Departments	No. of Candidates
Department of Youth, Women and Persons with Disabilities	3
Department of Planning, Monitoring & Evaluation	2
Department of Cooperative Governance	2
KwaZulu-Natal Office of the Premier	2
National School of Government	4
Public Service Commission	1
Department of Public Service and Administration	5
Justice and Constitutional Development	3
Department of Public Enterprise	2
Department of Forestry, Fisheries and the Environment	2
Mpumalanga Office of the Premier	2
Limpopo Office of the Premier	3
Western Cape Office of the Premier	2
TOTAL	33

(c) A number of monitoring and evaluation tools have been put in place, including the following:

• • Regular meetings of the core partners (DPSA, NYDA and PSETA) to discuss progress of the project; key trends and emerging lessons;
  • The establishment of an interactive WhatsApp group where Ambassadors can engage the DPSA, PSETA and NYDA on issues they would like to raise and they provide peer support to each other;
  • The Ambassadors participate in bi-weekly virtual Live Learning Sessions on Fridays between 09h00 – 13h00. This allows them to receive immediate assistance should they be experiencing any challenges on the Digital Skills Platform.
  • Mentors and/or supervisors are also able to log onto the platform to track the progress of their candidates.
  • Monitored work plans guided by their Mentors and/or Supervisors that require a formal report and review every six months; and
  • Conducting regular check-in sessions with the Ambassadors; their Supervisors and/or Mentors.

The Future of Work Ambassadors Programme also features in the department’s 2022/23 Annual Operational Plan. This further enhances monitoring; ensures that the project is aligned and contributes towards the greater strategic goals of the department.

End

Reply:

The sanitation project in the Sol-Plaatje Local Municipality, Ward 17 is being implemented in Phases. Phase 1 which provided 368 toilets was completed in September 2022. The issues listed above were primarily due to theft of material. In addition, the project was also affected by poor workmanship by the contractor compounded by labour unrest during implementation. The municipality is in the process of developing a business plan for funding of further phases.

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Reply:

The Department of Public Service and Administration has developed a detailed Strike Management Plan, outlining the procedural requirements for a protected picket and strike. Picketing Rules have been concluded with organised labour. Measures to mitigate the impact of the strike have been put in place such as the establishment of the Strike Management Committees from National level and across all the departments. The Provincial Departments will be co-ordinated from the Offices of the Premiers. Reports pertaining to the strike will be collated on a daily basis and sent to the co-ordinating structure and then to the DPSA.

End

Reply:

(1) The Acting Minister of Public Service and Administration was never part of any meeting that talks about any deployment in Public Service or any entity that is involved in recruitment or placement of employees in entire Public service or state owned enterprises. 

(2) The recruitment of employees in public service is done through corporate service which reports to the Accounting Officer. (b)The Minister never attended any forum or any meetings that discussed any appointments in public service or any entities within state owned enterprises.

End

Reply:

a) The Department of Public Service and Administration is currently consulting on the amendments to the Public Service Act, 1994 and the Public Service Regulations, 2016 to augment all challenges identified in different policy areas, not only limited to recruitment. Lessons learnt have been documented and will be applied in how the amendments are operationalised. Additionally, the DPSA continues to hold advocacy with departments on the implementation of policy.

b) The Public Service Act, 1994 and accompanying Regulations, is clear that any person, not only those in senior management must be fit and proper and meet the inherent requirements of a post to be appointed. The MPSA will continue writing to Executive Authorities of entities that are implicated to hold Accounting Officers accountable for any deviations that have not been authorised.

End

Reply:

1.  The Department of Water and Sanitation (DWS) conducted the Green Drop assessment during 2021/22 which culminated in the release of the National Green Drop Report 2022. In KZN, 14 Water Services Authorities (WSAs) and 147 wastewater systems were audited with the following results

• 47 of the wastewater systems in KwaZulu Natal were found not to be measuring their wastewater inflows
• 7 wastewater systems were overloaded
• 76 wastewater systems received Green Drop Score of above 50% (meaning what?)
• 20 wastewater systems were found to be at critical state
• 3 wastewater systems received Green Drop certification (scored minimum of 90%).

To mitigate the risk, the DWS has implemented several interventions including the issuance of non-compliance letters, notices, and directives to minimize the pollution impacts on the water resources. In addition, corrective action plans and green drop improvement plan templates have been issued to the WSAs to ensure that their Councils commit funds to address the gaps identified in the assessments. The DWS is assisting the WSAs to compile corrective action plans and improvement plans which will need to be implemented within predetermined timeframe and monitored by the department.

The department has also implemented measures to address pollution of water resources in KwaZulu-Natal. These include:

1. Undertaking routine inspections of sewerage infrastructure (wastewater treatment works, pumpstations and pipelines).
2. The DWS also follows up on pollution issues reported by the public.
3. In cases where pollution to water resources is observed, administrative processes are taken against the non-compliant municipalities in the form of Non-compliance Notices and/or Directives
4. The Department has also established Water Resource Protection Technical Committee Meetings to address the issues of pollution in different districts

Following the floods in April 2022, the DWS has also implemented the following interventions to support affected municipalities in KZN:

1. Availed the team of Engineers and Scientists to assist with the assessments of the damage to the water and sanitation infrastructure
2. Officials of the department participate in WAR Room meetings where repairs of infrastructure and progress thereof are discussed
3. Three (3) Directives were issued, on 13 May 2022, to the municipalities which were severely affected, namely: eThekwini Metropolitan Municipality, ILembe District Municipality (DM) and Ugu DM
4. Established the WAR Room through the Minister to address issues of water provisioning and sanitation, as well as to discuss challenges that the municipalities might be facing such as funding, human resources, amongst others

(2) The DWS assisted the Ethekwini, Ugu and Ilembe District Municipalities by reallocating R65 million funding to support immediate relief measures which included provision water tankers for 3 months. The DWS also conducted assessments of the damaged infrastructure and submitted a funding application for disaster relief funding to the National Disaster Management Centre. Damaged infrastructure can also be repaired through reprioritising of the DWS Water and Sanitation Infrastructure Grant (WSIG).

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Reply:

The Budeli village is one of the five villages that the residents were affected by the construction of the Nandoni dam. A budget of R 62milllion has been set aside to repair the defects of all the five villages for the 2022/2023 financial year and the project is set to be completed by March 2023.

There were 100 houses that were found to have defects at the Budeli Village. Progress made by the Department is indicated below:

• Sixty-six (66) houses have been repaired
• One (1) house re-built due to the extent of the defects
• Repairs to the remaining thirty-three (33) houses will be completed by 15 December 2022.

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Reply:

All the appointments of personnel in public sector positions are made in accordance with relevant legislation. No structure outside of these prescribed in legislation can determine the deployment of personnel in public sector positions. Where the legislation requires me to make an appointment, I apply myself to the requirements of the entity concerned, the legislative prescripts and the merits of candidates for the positions.

As part of building a capable state, I make all reasonable efforts to strengthen the skills mix in those public sector appointments within my remit. I therefore carefully consider the suitability of candidates on the information available to me and the need to have a diverse set of skills and experiences on an entity’s board.

Remarks: Approved / Not Approved

Jacky Molisane Pravin Gordhan, MP

Acting Director-General Minister

Date: Date:

Reply:

Recruitment and appointments of public servants is a decentralised function in the public service. The appointments of these categories including employment contracts, terms and conditions of the employment which are processed by the immediate/relevant department as an employer. Therefore, the National Departments of Health and Public Works and Infrastructure are better suited to respond to the appointments.

End

Reply:

1. The following table shows the breakdown of (a) positions and (b) salary levels of the 281 public servants who were identified as serving as councillors of municipal councils:

a) Position	b) Salary levels	Total #
Cleaner	02	4
General Assistant School	02	1
Child and Youth Care Worker Grade1	03	1
NA1 Nursing Assistant Grade 1	03	1
General Assistant	03	1
Road worker	03	2
Security guard Grade II	03	1
Security officer	03	6
Sports coordinator	03	2
Court interpreter	Not pacified	1
Intern	Not specified	1
ECD Practitioner - Public School	Not specified	1
Driver/Messenger: Circuit Management	04	1
Foreman: Ground services	04	1
NA2 Nursing Assistant Grade 2	04	1
Nutrition Advisor	04	1
Teacher	04	1
Clerk	05	1
Emergency Care Officer Grade 2	05	1
Forensic Pathology Officer Grade 1	05	1
Accounting clerk	05	1
Administration clerk	05	5
CB1Security Officer Grade 3	05	1
General Administration Clerk	05	1
Personnel Officer Grade 1 Senior	05	1
Provisioning Administration Clerk Senior	05	1
Senior Administration Clerk Grade II	05	7
Senior Personnel Officer Grade II	05	1
SN1 Staff Nurse Grade	05	2
CB 1 Security Officer Grade 1	06	1
Community Development Worker	06	1
Emergency Care Officer Grade 4	06	3
Lecturer	06	2
Malaria Surveillance Supervisor	06	1
Provisioning Administration Clerk Grade III Senior	06	1
Security Officer II Senior	06	1
Senior Administration Clerk	06	1
Teacher	06	8
CB1 3 Security Officer	07	1
Chief Admin Clerk Grade 1	07	1
Cultural Officer	07	1
Labour Relations Officer	07	1
Lecturer	07	2
Logistic Support Officer	07	1
PNA2 Professional Nurse Grade 1	07	4
Secretary Chief: MEC Support	07v	1
Supply Chain Management Practitioner	07	1
Social Worker Grade 1	07	2
Teacher	07	42
Asset Officer	08	1
CD A6 Community Development Practitioner Grade 3	08	1
Departmental Head	08	17
Employment Services Practitioner 2	08	1
Local Co-ordinator	08	1
Personnel Officer: Chief	08	1
Principal Road Safety Officer	08	1
Project Officer IASP Environment Management	08	1
Provincial Inspector Senior	08	1
Registration Clerk	08	1
Teacher	08	18
CB1 3 Security Officer Grade 1	08	2
Departmental Head	09	4
Deputy Principal	09	7
Director: Administration Assistant	09	1
Director: Assistant Gender (Siyanda)	09	1
Education Specialist Senior (FETI)	09	1
Principal P2	09	23
SW A8 Social Work Supervisor Grade	09	1
Teacher	09	4
Education Specialist (Office Based)	10	1
Education Specialist Deputy Chief (Office Based)	10	2
Education Specialist Senior (Office Based)	10	1
PNB3 Operational Manager Nursing (Speciality Unit)	10	1
Principal 2	10	11
Principal 3	10	17
Teacher Master	10	1
Deputy Director: HEST & HPM	11	1
Deputy Director: Parliamentary	11	1
Director: Administration Deputy	11	1
Portfolio Co-ordinator	11	1
Principal P3	11	3
Principal P4	11	4
Dentist Grade 3	12	1
Deputy Director	12	1
Deputy Director: Administration	12	1
Manager Information Services	12	1
Principal P4	12	2
Director: Logistics and Asset Management	13	1
Part-Time Teacher	Not specified	15
TOTAL		281

(2) (a)The Department of Public Service and Administration (DPSA) has written letters to departments with public servants employed as municipal councillors (b) in September 2022. These departments were requested to provide information by 14 October 2022 to the DPSA, through a standard reporting template, indicating the public servants in their employ who serve as municipal councillors.

(3) The DPSA has not established the number of identified public servants elected as full-time councillors who resigned from the Public Service with effect from the date immediately before assuming the position of municipal councillor. The reporting template that was shared with the affected departments did not include a request for this information.

(4) Only three departments with employees elected as municipal councillors provided information to the DPSA by the due date of 14 October 2022. The Department of Correctional Services and Gauteng Department of Human Settlements provided a nil report and the Kwa-Zulu Natal Department of Economic Development, Tourism and Environmental Affairs disclosed that two employees requested permission before assuming the position of part-time municipal councillor. One of the employees passed on.

The DPSA is monitoring all the implicated departments. The Department of Correctional Services and Gauteng Department of Human Settlements were given name lists to verify their nil reports and name lists were also shared with the following departments: Free State Department of Education, and KwaZulu-Natal Department of Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs.

The DPSA will make follow-ups with all the affected departments which have not yet provided information to the DPSA by the due date of 14 December 2022.

(5) (a) The DPSA cannot take disciplinary steps against the employees of other departments, but its own. Discipline management is a decentralised process and accordingly, each department has the responsibility to discipline its own employees. However, all relevant information was shared with the Accounting Officers of the identified employees, so that the departments can institute disciplinary action against their employees and report progress to the DPSA. The DPSA will monitor the situation and report on progress.

(b) The DPSA cannot take steps to recover the remuneration received by public servants from other departments who failed to comply with applicable legal prescripts. Disciplinary processes are invoked in terms of the provisions of the Disciplinary Code, Public Service Coordinating Bargaining Council Resolution 1 of 2003. This Code does not provide for a sanction such as the recovery of monies or for punitive fines. The recovery of money can therefore only be done when departments are using permitting prescripts outside the Discipline Management process, such as to litigate.

End

Reply:

 

 

The Summit was intended to engage various stakeholders together to form partnerships and identify lasting solutions to the water and sanitation problems facing the country. Based on the outcomes of the summit, the department is working together with SALGA, NT and COGTA, DWS will lead the development and implementation of a range of inter-related and coordinated support measures and interventions. Broadly, interventions that have been identified and are being implemented include the following:

• 1. Strengthening and extending the roles, responsibilities, and capacity of water boards so that they are able to provide water and sanitation services in instances where municipalities are failing to provide the services
  2. Reviewing the geographical boundaries of the water boards to make them more sustainable, this already started with the disestablishment of Sedibeng Water
  3. Increasing involvement of private sector financing and management in municipal water and sanitation services through public-private partnerships
  4. Strengthening regulatory interventions based upon the results of monitoring mechanisms such as Blue Drop, Green Drop and No Drop
  5. Strengthening the National Norms and Standards (Water Services Act) and put in place a framework to guide the provision of sanitation services
  6. Introducing longer term interventions through WISP and the DDM programmes, through for example, taking over the management of wastewater treatment works from municipalities for a longer prescribed period where there is continued non-compliance with norms and standards
  7. More effectively link the allocation of municipal water and sanitation grants to enable support and interventions
  8. Use DWS internal construction capacity for rapid deployment to address urgent intervention needs
  9. Put in place appropriate financing frameworks and mechanisms for support and interventions
  10. Improve coordination and linkages of the interventions made in terms of sections of various legislation

Some of these measures will start to have an impact on municipal water and sanitation services in the short term (within 3 months) and others will yield results in the medium term.

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Reply:

The toll-free number for reporting corruption in Government as per Cabinet decision is 0800 701 701 and it operates from 08h00-04h30, five (5) days per week. According to the records, the toll-free number (0800 701 701) was in full service for the last three months. At least 324 complaints were registered in the past three months of the second quarter of 2022/23 financial year as indicated in the table below.

Table 1: Complaints reported through the NACH during the first and second quarter of 2022/2023 financial year

	Q1	Q2
Provinces	Apr-22	May-22	June-22	July-22	Aug-22	Sep-22	TOTAL
Eastern Cape	1	2	4	3	2	0	12
Free State	2	0	0	1	1	0	4
Gauteng	9	13	9	5	6	18	60
KZN	1	3	5	0	0	4	13
Limpopo	1	4	3	3	1	2	14
Mpumalanga	5	3	0	0	1	2	11
North West	5	2	1	1	1	5	15
Northern Cape	1	1	1	1	1	0	5
Western Cape	5	3	4	1	1	1	14
Public Entity	62	96	53	25	33	62	331
National Departments	33	52	31	20	48	75	260
Grand Total	125	179	111	60	95	169	739

End

Reply:

1 Strengthening the implementation of Batho Pele principles remains a key priority for the government in building a citizen-centric society.

(a) To ensure that the Batho Pele principles remain valid and relevant, the DPSA has developed a revised Batho Pele revitalisation strategy that Cabinet endorsed in March 2022. The strategy requires the development and implementation of context-specific Batho Pele standards. These standards will ensure that public services are rendered in a specific, effective and efficient manner

(b) Reports from the Office of the Public Service Commission, which monitors adherence to Batho Pele Policy as per its Constitutional mandate to monitor, non-implementation of the Batho Pele principles and Constitutional Values and Principles, non-implementation can impact negatively on service delivery and citizen satisfaction.

2) Quarterly reports on the implementation of Batho Pele principles across the public service are prepared internally within the Department. The Department also uses the Batho Pele Forum which meets on a quarterly basis, to monitor and report on the implementation of Batho Pele with the public service. All these culminate in an annual status report on the implementation of Batho Pele and the level of adherence to the Batho Pele principles.

Reply:

National Treasury works with departments to assist them with their budget requests and implementation of processes that will allow them to achieve their strategic plans. Departments mostly will, through the budget process, inform the National Treasury if funding is requested for a specific project. These funding requests will then be dealt with through the budget process.

In terms of the policy and implementation timelines, the Department of Home Affairs will have this information and should be requested to submit the plans and their timelines. The National Treasury has not yet received the specific funding request for this specific project.

Reply:

The National Treasury cannot certify the data provided in respect to this question, as only the accounting officer at each national or provincial department or municipality can do so. The data provided is not verified.

National Treasury Instruction Note No. 34 requires departments to submit exception reports to the relevant treasuries by the 7th day of each month with details of the number and rand value of invoices paid after 30 days and those that remain unpaid from the date of receiving invoices. Provincial departments submit information on the late payment of invoices to their respective treasuries. Information at provincial government is collated by their respective treasuries, consolidated, and submitted to the National Treasury by the 15th day of every month with information on the preceding month. Therefore, statistical information for each provincial department can be obtained from the relevant treasuries. The treasury instruction further requires the accounting officers of departments to confirm the accuracy of information reported by signing off these reports prior to its submission to the relevant treasuries.

Since the inception of the National Treasury Instruction Note No.34, the National Treasury provides progress reports on this requirement to the relevant stakeholders and continues to monitor the level of compliance with the requirement to pay supplier’s invoices within the prescribed period. Such progress reports are shared with the relevant stakeholders on a quarterly and annual basis. The information collated from departments forms the basis of compiling the quarterly and annual reports which can be located on the link below:

http://www.treasury.gov.za/legislation/pfma/Compliance%20on%20Payment%20of%20Suppliers/default.aspx

The statistics provided below provides information collated from departments for quarter 1 of the 2022/2023 financial year. The tables below contain information owed by departments to all suppliers including SMME’s for quarter 1 of 2022/2023 financial year, but we do not have a more detailed breakdown on amounts owing to SMMEs.

(a)(i)

Table 1 below provides a list of national departments that reported invoices older than 30 days and not paid at the end of June 2022.

Table 1: Total number and rand value of invoices older than 30 days and not paid by national departments at the end of June 2022

Department	Older than 30 days and not paid
	Number	Rand Value
Home Affairs	2	R14 806
Public Works and Infrastructure (Main Account)	1	R11 154
Water and Sanitation (Main Account)	3	R19 647
Social Development	4	R92 567
Statistics South Africa	6	R599 146
Forestry, Fisheries and Environment	7	R71 720
Public Works and Infrastructure (Trading Account)	23	R3 010
Tourism	149	R705 591
Water and Sanitation (Trading Account)	764	R2 590 747
Total	959	R4 108 387

(a) (ii)

Table 2 below provides statistics of provincial government on the number and rand value of invoices outstanding at the end June 2022.

Table 2: Total number and rand value of invoices older than 30 days and not paid by provincial departments at the end of June 2022

Provincial Departments Number and Rand Value of invoices older than 30 days and not paid per province
Province	Number of invoices	Rand Value of invoices
Mpumalanga	3	R 3 033 218
Western Cape	4	R31 293
Limpopo	26	R3 533 130
Kwazulu-Natal	669	R27 353 872
Free State	967	R281 492 366
Northern Cape	1 131	R233 665 843
Gauteng	3 530	R1 334 443 888
North West	3 769	R392 170 711
Eastern Cape	14 143	R2 541 533 317
Total	24 242	R4 817 257 638

(a)(iii)

The information below represents the first quarter reported to the local government data base by municipalities as per section 71 of the MFMA. It is aggregated per province for ease of reference. Unfortunately, the level of information that the question requires is not available from the reporting template and must be obtained from the municipality directly.

Information related to Municipalities may be obtained at those relevant Municipalities

(b)

The common reasons provided by national and provincial departments for late and/or non-payment of invoices during the first quarter of the 2022/2023 financial year are as follows –

• IT system issues (BAS, LOGiS, Safety web etc);
• Delay in submission of invoices for processing;
• Unresolved invoice discrepancies;
• Client departments not confirming Funds timeously;
• CSD information not updated timeously by suppliers;
• Inadequate budget; and
• Inadequate internal capacity

(b)

In addition to the response under a(iii) above, information on Municipal Finance Management Act (MFMA) can be obtained from individual municipalities as currently there is no process instituted by the National Treasury to collate and report on such information.

Reply:

(1) Whether he will furnish Inkosi R N Cebekhulu with an update on the investigation of the Public Service Commission, especially on the matter of the 2 364 senior managers who have reportedly been found not to possess the relevant qualifications for the jobs that they occupy, with 1 211 senior managers employed at the national level and 1 153 at the provincial level; if not, why not; if so, what are the relevant details;

(2) The Public Service Commission (PSC) has to date, requested information from the Acting Minister for Public Service and Administration (AMPSA) in order to be able to deal with the issue of SMS qualifications properly. The PSC will communicate its findings once information is received from the AMPSA and the analysis thereof is concluded.

End

Reply:

1. (a) There is enabling legislation which makes provision for the Minister of Finance to appoint a Tax Ombud in terms of Section 14 of the Tax Administration Act, 2011 (Act No 28 of 2011).

(b) Section 15 of the Tax Administration Act, 2011 is the enabling legislation which deals with the Office of the Tax Ombud and makes provision for the Tax Ombud to appoint the staff of the office of the Tax Ombud.

(c) The Office of the Tax Ombud has functional independence, in that the Minister of Finance and the South African Revenue Service (SARS) cannot interfere with the decision of the Tax Ombud.

2. The Office of the Tax Ombud is financed by a budget approved by the Minister of Finance, which is a ringfenced in the SARS budget.

Reply:

a) The demographic representation of the farmers whose loans have been written off by Land Bank.

In the past 3 Financial Years, there were approximately 116 matters written off. Whilst both types of write-offs were considered (i.e. full write-offs of outstanding amount and partial write-offs of outstanding amount), the bulk of the written off matters were partial write-offs (i.e. being matters written-off subsequent to Land Bank having received the maximum achievable recovery amount and thus writing off the irrecoverable remaining balance).

Of the 116 written-off matters, the demographic representation is as follows:-

46% - White Farmers

42% - Black Farmers

12% - Colored Farmers

0% - Indian Farmers

b) What adjustments is the Bank making to ensure that it provides more development finance to emerging Black farmers and beneficiaries of land reform.

The Bank has adopted a new strategy and an operating model tailored to make it more developmentally focused and financially sustainable.

A key component of the strategy is the adoption of the Blended Finance Model in which the Bank has partnered with the Department of Agriculture, Land Reform and Rural Development (DALRRD) through a 10-year Memorandum of Agreement which is effective from the current financial year (FY2023) to FY2033. DALRRD has committed a grant allocation of R325m per annum for the first three years of the agreement. Land Bank will provide an equivalent amount of funds which will be advanced as loans to the clients. The Bank is in the process to partner with provincial governments of agriculture, land reform and rural development, as well as other strategic partners to complement the grant funding from DALRRD.

The targeted clients and beneficiaries of the Bank’s Blended Finance Model are black persons and majority black-owned small and medium-scale farmers and/or entities.

The Bank will be utilising a significant part of the equity allocation from National Treasury for the next five years (FY2023 to FY2027) towards the Blended Finance Programme which will be complemented by grant allocations from DALRRD and other strategic partners. The equity allocations to the Bank will be preserved for recycling into the sector through the collection of loan repayments from clients, as well as the recovery of notional cost of funds from clients which will assist to cover for expected credit losses from non-performing loans, whilst still offering affordable financing to clients.

Resultant from this state support the bank projects that the development and transformation portfolio will shift from the current 30% of its total loan book to above 50% by FY2027.

The utilisation of equity and grant allocations is important to ensure affordable financing to the clients as the use of blended funds reduces the cost of funding and enables pricing subsidisation. The use of blended funds also enables the Bank to provide pre- and post-finance support to farmers to increase their chances of success and reduce entrepreneurial failures. The Bank would be unable to afford these pre- and post-finance support services were it not for the deployment of state allocated equity and grants from DALRRD and other strategic partners. The magnitude of the grants need to sufficiently cover for both the beneficiaries’ equity contribution and these pre- and post-finance services, which is not yet fully catered for.

It is important to note that for the Bank to meaningfully support development at affordable financing levels and still be financially sustainable beyond the five-year period its current funding model will have to change such that in the long term the Bank has an increased portion of its funding mix coming from equity, patient funds, and grants. It is for this reason that the Board has prioritized the need for a review of the Bank’s Funding Model which is a critical prerequisite for the Bank to accelerate development and transformation on a financially sustainable basis.

Note: For further details on the Blended Finance Model please see the attached brochure (Annexure A).

Reply:

1. The Department of Public Service and Administration (DPSA) has been monitoring the implementation of Regulation 13(c) of the Public Service Regulations and Regulation 8 of the Public Administration Management Act, Act 11 of 2014 since 2019. Since then, the DPSA is monitoring public service employees who are allegedly conducting business with the State, through the Central Supplier Database (CSD), on a monthly basis. The following were the outcomes of the monitoring process[1]:

• As at the end of March 2019, 1068 public service employees were flagged on the CSD to be allegedly conducting business with the State. Out of the 1068, 270 employees were from the national departments while 798 were from provincial departments.
• As at the end of April 2020, 1539 public service employees were flagged on the CSD to be allegedly conducting business with the State. Out of 1539, 428 were from national departments, whilst 1111 emanated from provincial departments.
• As at end of January 2021, 484 employees were flagged on the CSD to be allegedly conducting business with the State. Out of this number, 126 were from national departments, whilest 358 came from the provincial departments.
• As at the end of January 2022, 181 employee were flagged on the CSD to be allegedly conducting business with the State. A total of 44 employees were from national departments, whilst 137 were from provincial departments.

2. a.(i) As at 1 October 2022, a total number of 113 public servants were flagged to be allegedly conducting business with the State. When flagged by the DPSA, the information is shared with departments to verify if the identified employees are still in the Public Service and for departments to investigate if these employees are indeed conducting business with the State. As per the feedback received from departments, three (3) of these public servants are representing government in an official capacity in accordance to Regulation 13(c) of the Public Service Regulations, 2016 and one (1) individual was a part time political advisor (see Table with information obtained from PERSAL and the respective departments). Thus, only 109 public servants are considered to be allegedly conducting business with the State.

(ii) the breakdown of the specified number for each national and provincial department and salary level of each employee (position is not tracked on PERSAL) is shown on the table below:

.

National Department	(b) SALARY LEVEL	Total
Department	02	03	04	05	06	07	08	09	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	35
Trade Industry and Competition														1		1 Status provided: The employee represents the department at the COEGA.
Agriculture, Land Reform, and Rural Development																4 The employee’s salary levels are not specified.
Public Service and Administration												1				2 Status provided: One (1) employee was part-time Special Adviser to the previous MPSA with the contract linked to the term of office.
Water and Sanitation									1			1				2
Higher Education and Training				2		1		1	1		1	1				8 The salary level of one (1) employee was not specified.
Correctional Services							3	1				2		1		8 The salary level of one (1) employee was not specified.
Transport														1		1
Sport Arts and Culture												1				1
Justice and Constitutional Development										1						1
Statistical South Africa																1 The salary level of one (1) employee was not specified.
Basic Education											1					1
Science and Innovation												1				3 Status report: Two (2) of the employees were appointed as Board members of the Biological and Vaccines Institute of SA (BIOVAC).
Government Communication and Information																1 The salary level of one (1) employee was not specified.
Environment, Forestry and Fisheries														1		1
Provincial Department	SALARY LEVEL	Total
Department	02	03	04	05	06	07	08	09	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	78
Eastern Cape (10)
Cooperative Governance & Traditional Affairs							1		1							2
Education										1						2 The salary level of one (1) employee was not specified.
Health											1	2				3
Office of the Premier															1	1
Provincial Treasury												1				1
Roads and Public Works																1 The salary level of one (1) employee was not specified.
Free State (4)
Health				1							1					2
Provincial Treasury												1				1
Education							1									1
Gauteng (3)
Education								1		1						2
Health		1														1
KwaZulu-Natal (17)
Corporate Governance and Traditional Affairs							1									2 The salary level of one (1) employee was not specified.
Education					1				1							4 The salary level of two (2) employees were not specified.
Health	1							1			2					4
Transport																5 The salary level of five (5) employee were not specified.
Office of the Premier												1				1
Social Development							1									1
Western Cape (1)
Transport and Public Works											1					1
Northern Cape (16)
Education					1	1	1			1						9 The salary level of five (5) employee were not specified.
Health		1			1											2
Corporate Governance Human Settlements and Traditional Affairs							2			1						4 The salary level of one (1) employee was not specified.
Agriculture Environmental Affairs Rural Development and Rural Reform																1 The salary level of one (1) employee was not specified.
Limpopo (7)
Education						1			1	1						3
Corporate Governance Human Settlements and Traditional Affairs							1									2 The salary level of one (1) employee was not specified.
Health				1							1					2
Mpumalanga (19)
Education				2	1	2	1			1						7
Health				1												10 The salary level of nine (9) employees were not specified.
Provincial Treasury											1					1
Public Works Roads and Transport								1								1
North West (1)
Health						1										1

 

3. (a) 35 public servants from national departments and 126 from provincial departments were subjected to disciplinary action (based on information provided by departments to the DPSA).

b) The outcome of the disciplinary action taken in each case with regard to each of the national and provincial departments are as follows[2]:

Nationally:

• 18 final written warnings
• 4 one month suspension without pay
• 2 two months suspension without pay
• 1 deceased
• 4 under investigation
• 4 not guilty
• 1 awaiting the outcome of a hearing
• 1 hearing scheduled

Provinces:

• 1 written warning
• 5 final written warning
• 1 contract terminated
• 2 indicated as in another department
• 12 not charging
• 28 out of service
• 14 letters of intention to charge issued
• 2 deceased
• 4 not guilty
• 33 pending
• 8 withdrawn
• 4 resignations
• 1 dismissal
• 2 appointing chairpersons
• 8 under investigation
• 1 retirement

 

(4)(a) Six (06) public servants are currently being investigated by the South African Police Service (SAPS) for conducting business with the State[3].

(b) Status of investigations:

• One (1) case - 1st court appearance will be held on 24 November 2022.
• Two (2) cases were postponed to 18 November 2022 and 16 January 2023, respectively.
• One (1) case is with the Director for Public Prosecutions for decision.
• In two (2) cases, investigating officers were tasked to source more information as per the Court.

(5) A total of seven (07) public servants have been convicted for conducting business with the State as at the latest date. One of the employees were convicted on two separate cases[4].

 

 

1. Information obtained by matching PERSAL and the Central Supplier Database. ↑

2. Information were provided to the DPSA by the implicated departments. ↑

3. Information provided to the DPSA by the SAPS. ↑

4. The information was provided to the DPSA by the National Prosecuting Authority.End ↑

Reply:

(a)(i) Total Nr = 11	(b)(i) Job Titles:	(b)(ii) Annual Remuneration Package:
1	Household Aid	R130,092.00
2	Household Aid	R130,092.00
3	Food Services Aid II	R128,166.00
4	Chief Registry Clerk	R285,735.00
5	Assistant Appointment and Administrative Secretary	R578,841.00
6	Parliamentary and Cabinet Officer	R922,137.00
7	Administrative Support and Coordinator	R978,726.00
8	Private and Appointment Secretary	R1,054,356.00
9	Portfolio Coordinator	R1,070,169.00
10	Media Liaison Officer	R1,173,231.00
11	Chief of Staff	R1,308,051.00
(a)(ii) Total Nr = 9
1	Household Aid	R128,166.00
2	Household Aid	R130,092.00
3	Receptionist	R181,599.00
4	Driver/Messenger	R184,308.00
5	Chief Registry Clerk	R277,362.00
6	Parliamentary and Cabinet Support	R336,171.00
7	Community Outreach Officer	R766,584.00
8	Private and Appointment Secretary	R908,502.00
9	Head of Office	R1,105,383.00

Reply:

(a) total number of staff employed and/or provided as departmental support in

(i) Office of the Minister : 14 employees

(ii) Office of Deputy Minister 1: 9 employees

(ii) Office of Deputy Minister 2: 11 employees

(b) (i) job title and (ii) annual remuneration package of each specified person

Office of the Minister:

i) Job title	ii) Annual remuneration package
Chief of Staff	(SL14) R1 473 537 pa
Senior Secretary	(SL7) R269 214 pa
Administrative Secretary	(SL13) R1 302 102 pa
Private Secretary	(SL12) R1 070 169
Director: Media Liaison	(SL13) R1 302 102 pa
Parliamentary Liaison Officer	(SL13) R1 208 691 pa
Personal Assistant to the Chief of Staff	(SL8) R367 575 pa
Assistant Appointment Secretary	(SL10) R578 841 pa
Assistant Stakeholder Relations Officer	(SL9) R417 858 pa
Chief Registry Clerk	(SL7) R 281 514 pa
Driver/ Messenger	(SL5) R201 537 pa
Domestic Worker	(SL3) R128 166 pa
Domestic Worker	(SL3) R128 166 pa
Food Service Aid	(SL3) R128 166 pa

Office of Deputy Minister 1

Job title	Annual remuneration package
Head of Office	(SL13) R1 302 102 pa
Technical Specialist	(SL13) R1 105 383 pa
Private Secretary	(SL12) R964 257 pa
Parliamentary & Cabinet Coordination	(SL12) R1 070 169 pa
Community Outreach Officer	(SL11) R766 584 pa
Secretary	(SL7) R317 127 pa
Driver	(SL5) R207 639 pa
Domestic Worker	(SL3) R128 166 pa
Domestic Worker	(SL3) R128 166 pa

Office of Deputy Minister 2

i) Job title	ii) Annual remuneration package
Head of Office	(SL14) R1 347 606 pa
Technical Specialist	(SL13) R1 121 979 pa
Personal Assistant	(SL7) R269 214 pa
Private Secretary	(SL12) R908 502 pa
Parliamentary & Cabinet Coordination	(SL11) R766 584 pa
Community Outreach Officer	(SL11) R778 080 pa
Chief Registry Clerk	(SL7) R269 214 pa
Driver	(SL5) R181 599 pa
Domestic Worker	(SL3) R130 092 pa
Domestic Worker	(SL3) R128 166 pa
Food Service Aid	(SL2) R107 196 pa

Reply:

The Nyukela is a requirement prior to a person being appointed into a SMS post. This is as directed by the Minister for the Public Service and Administration.

a) Heads of Department are required to ensure compliance. This includes ensuring that departments indicate Nyukela on the advert as a requirement prior to the appointment of a person to a SMS post.

b) Departments are required to include the Nyukela as a requirement for appointment when advertising an SMS post. When the DPSA notes that the matter is not addressed in an advertisement that is to be placed in the Public Service Vacancy Circular, it is duly referred back to the Department to correct.

End

Reply:

The National Anti-Corruption Hotline (NACH) is operating from 08h00-16h30 from Monday to Friday. The NACH has a day shift due to capacity constraints as the call centre is manned by only five (5) call centre agents. When all the agents are busy, the other calls will be in the queue are automatically directed to the recording facility. In the month of October 2022, 4093 incoming calls were received by the NACH and 4033 were answered. This is indication that a large volume of calls are answered.

In addition, the Public Service Commission (PSC) has installed a recording facility to allow whistle-blowers to leave messages after hours and over weekends as viable alternative. The call centre agents process the messages and make a follow up where the whistle-blowers provide contact details.

Recorded messages are downloaded from the recording facility and processed accordingly. In cases where whistle-blowers provided contact details, the PSC calls back. However, many whistle-blowers are reluctant to leave their contact details.

End

Reply:

The disciplinary process is governed by the Public Service Act and not the Public Finance Management Act (PFMA). The PFMA in its current form does not provide the National Treasury with powers to institute disciplinary action against accounting officers. Information related to disciplinary action instituted in departments can be found in annual reports of those departments. The Frameworks issued by the National Treasury on unauthorised, irregular and fruitless and wasteful expenditure prescribes the process and requirements that should be followed by departments, constitutional institutions, trading entities and public entities when dealing with matters of financial misconduct linked to these expenditures.

Section 85(1)(a) of the PFMA provides that, the Minister must make regulations prescribing the manner, form and circumstances in which allegations and disciplinary and criminal charges of financial misconduct must be reported to the National Treasury, the relevant provincial treasury and the Auditor-General including (i) particulars of the alleged financial misconduct; and (ii) the steps taken in connection with such financial misconduct.

Treasury Regulation 4.1.3 states that, if an accounting officer is alleged to have committed financial misconduct, the relevant treasury, as soon as it becomes aware of the alleged misconduct, must ensure that the relevant executive authority initiates an investigation into the matter and if the allegations are confirmed, holds disciplinary hearing in accordance with the prescripts appliable and agreement applicable in the public service. The relevant treasury may also direct that (a) an official other than the employee of the department conducts the investigation or (b) issues reasonable requirement regarding the way in which the investigation should be performed as provided in Treasury Regulations 4.1.4.

Therefore, The Frameworks can be found on the National Treasury website at the following links:

www.treasury.gov.za/legislation/pfma/TreasuryInstruction/Annexure A Irregular Expenditure Framework 20192020.pdf

http://www.treasury.gov.za/legislation/pfma/TreasuryInstruction/Annexure%20A%20Fruitless%20and%20Wasteful%20Framework.pdf

http://www.treasury.gov.za/legislation/pfma/guidelines/Guideline%20on%20Unathorised%20Expenditure%2027%20May%202014.pdf

Reply:

• The current visa categories are legislated by the Immigration Act No. 13 of 2002. In its current form the Immigration Act does not make provision for digital nomad e-Visa. Therefore, there are no plans to implement a digital nomad e-visa.

• The department has to date launched and piloted e-Visa System in 14 countries in line with the Government’s plans to streamline and modernize the visa application process to make it easier to travel to South Africa for tourism and short term business and work visits. The e-Visa System enables the prospective visitors to apply for a Visa online, while in their home countries without visiting the Mission.

END

Reply:

(a) The Economic Recovery and Reconstruction Plan (ERRP) outlines the country’s near-term growth agenda. It includes a number of structural reforms aimed at supporting the economic recovery by unlocking investment and removing barriers to growth.

(b) The National Treasury provides forecasts from the expenditure side of GDP, details of which can be found in the Budget Review 2022 and Medium Term Budget Policy Statement (MTBPS) 2022.

With regard to the estimated impact of reform implementation, this was estimated to result in a 2.3 percentage point growth above the baseline over the next ten years. The details of this work can be found in the Economic Recovery and Reconstruction Plan.

(c) The MTBPS does not make specific allocations to departments and programmes. Such allocations will be published in the 2013 Budget.

Reply:

The information below is provided by the municipality to National Treasury. It is not audited and so cannot be verified by Treasury.

1. (a) The Municipality paid an amount of R18.6 million in the month of September to the Pension Funds. That reduced the total arrear debt to R20.9 million in terms of the narrative report submitted by the municipality to both Provincial and National Treasury. It should be noted that non-payment of pension fund contributions constitutes a criminal offence in terms of Section 13(A) of the Pension Fund Act.

b) The narrative report indicates that the Medical Aids are paid up to date and there is no arrear amount on the account.

2. According to the municipality, it owes the South African Revenue Service a total amount of R30.3 million. This information is obtained from a narrative report the municipality submitted to both Provincial and National Treasury. SARS are unable to confirm with the National Treasury as they do not discuss taxpayers’ affairs of a taxpayer with third parties.

3. The National Treasury does have the power to stop the transfer of the equitable share to the municipality in terms of Section 216(2) of the Constitution and other applicable legislation in the event of persistent failure by a municipality to honor its financial commitments. National Treasury does require municipalities to report on the non-payments of its commitment to South African Revenue Service, pension and other staff benefit deducted from municipal officials to be paid over the appropriate funds and/ or institutions. Failure for municipalities to provide this evidence may result in their equitable share being withheld to influence compliance.

The onus lies with the Executive Mayor to impose consequence management to the Accounting Officer. The Executive Mayor must recommend financial misconduct proceedings against the accounting officer in line with Municipal Regulations on Financial Misconduct Procedures and Criminal Proceedings.

The other option is also for the relevant Pension Fund to implement their credit control policies to collect the monies due to their institutions. Pension Fund Administrator must also lay criminal charges against the accounting officer in terms of their own legislation.

Eastern Cape Legislature must further exercise its oversight responsibility effectively. The matter must be directed to the Provincial Legislature for the relevant committee to summon the Mayor to the Legislature to provide responses on how the municipality is planning to address the matter.

Reply:

Government is cognizant of the importance of having credible risk assessments as this enables the fight against money laundering, corruption and related financial crimes to be focused and targeted to high-risk areas and sectors. In this regard, to ensure the credibility of risk assessments, the government, including the supervisory authorities, takes into account the guidance that was issued by the Financial Action Task Force on the conducting of risk assessments, which rely on reasonably standardized methodologies that rely on analysis of existing data as well as in-depth engagement with relevant stakeholders and practitioners. The guidance can be accessed using the following link on the FATF website: https://www.fatf-gafi.org/media/fatf/content/images/National_ML_TF_Risk_Assessment.pdf.

Supervisory bodies are required to adopt a risk-based approach to supervision and effect these in line with their internally documented mechanisms. Additionally, supervisory bodies, including the Prudential Authority and the Financial Sector Conduct Authority have conducted money laundering and terrorist financing sector risk assessments. These methodologies are reasonably standardized. The second round sector risk assessments for the banking and life insurance sector have been issued by the Prudential Authority and are available at the following link: https://www.resbank.co.za/en/home/publications/publication-detail-pages/media-releases/2022/Banking-and-Insurance-sectors-assessment-reports.

The supervisory agencies have developed sectoral risk assessments for AML/CFT which have been submitted to the Interdepartmental Committee on Anti-Money Laundering and the Combating of the Financing of Terrorism (AML/CFT) for consideration.

Although the IDC-AML/CFT also comprises the investigating and prosecuting authorities, the IDC-AML/CFT does not interfere with the work of the investigating and prosecuting authorities, as they operate independently in line with their investigating and prosecutorial policies. However, the IDC-AML/CFT guides the investigating and prosecuting authorities of the improvements that are required in the anti-money laundering and related offences policy framework, and also for them to address deficiencies identified in the Mutual Evaluation report. Government is strongly of the view that considerable progress has been made in the effective use by South Africa’s law enforcement agencies of the powers provided for combating financial crimes and money laundering. While much remains to be done, substantial progress is evident in relation to “state capture” cases, the policing of PPE-related corruption, and corporate frauds.

The IDC-AML/CFT considers reports on risk assessments at regular intervals when assessments are updated, and that these are included in the IDC-AML/CFT’s formulation of AML/CFT policies. 

The IDC-AML/CFT is in the process of finalising a National Risk Assessment (NRA) for money laundering, terror financing and proliferation financing, and also a strategy for AML/CFT and the Countering of Proliferation Finance (CPF). The NRA document and the strategy document will be submitted to the FATF around end-November 2022 as part of the process of demonstrating progress in addressing deficiencies identified in the Mutual Evaluation report relating to Risk, Policy and Co-ordination (FATF Methodology for effectiveness relating to Immediate Outcome 1) (https://www.fatf-gafi.org/media/fatf/documents/methodology/fatf%20methodology%2022%20feb%202013.pdf.)

The IDC-AML/CFT will publish summarised versions of the NRA and national strategy documents as soon as they are finalised.

Reply:

The Department of Home Affairs’ Access Model has identified 778 mobile service points and the majority of them are in rural areas to service citizens; hence in the next financial year we will be buying additional mobile units to add to the current fleet and expand the footprint to ensure that citizens receive the services in their localities.

Secondly, all offices with BABS have been given tablets to assist citizens with booking and the State Information Technology Agency (SITA) is working on zero rating data requirements for government websites to enable citizens to access BABS on our website for free.

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Reply:

The Minister of Finance has commenced with the recruitment process for the appointment of the Tax Ombud in terms of section 14 of the Tax Administration Act, 2011 (Act No 28 of 2011). The advert for the position was published in the Sunday Times on Sunday, 30 October 2022 and in the Business Day on Monday, 31 October 2022. It was also published on the following social media platforms, namely Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn. The closing date for the advert was 14 November 2022. Following the closing date, the shortlisting process will commence and thereafter interviews will take place.

Reply:

According to Information Received from Eskom:

a) The total cost associated with the activities needed to support the licence application for long-term operation is projected to amount to an estimated R21 billion.

b) The installation schedule of the specific project to replace the steam generators has moved to coincide with the outage starting in December 2022 for Unit 1 and the outage for Unit 2 starting in October 2023. This change to the installation of the steam generators still aligns with the overall schedule and the milestones associated with the Eskom licence application to operate Koeberg for an additional 20 years. This schedule has not changed.

 

 

Remarks: Approved / Not Approved

Jacky Molisane Pravin Gordhan, MP

Acting Director-General Minister

Date: Date:

Reply:

It is envisaged that the Public Service Amendment Bill will be tabled in Parliament in the 2022/2023 financial year.

The delay in processing the Public Service Amendment Bill was due to the fact that the Bill was extensively consulted, including consultations with organised Labour in the relevant bargaining councils. The Bill is currently at NEDLAC.

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Reply:

Circulars are issued based on the provisions of an Act for a number of purposes including issuing instructions’ providing clarifications; information; guidance; rules; and/or background information on legislative or procedural matters. As Circulars are issued under the statutory power, they are binding, usually from the date of issue. As Circulars serve different purposes, there will be those with timeframes and those without. In the event where it is a requirement for timeframes, the circular/communication does indicate for the purposes of accountability and commitment. Those without timeframes are often about clarifications or for information sharing.

As mentioned in (a) above Circulars serve different purposes, and sufficient measures are put in place to ensure adherence, accountability and commitment from all those that they are the target audience.

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Reply:

Find here: Reply

Reply:

a) Africa Public Service Day (APSD) event was celebrated under the stewardship of the African Union with the theme: “Building resilience in nutrition and food security on the African continent: Accelerate the human capital, social and economic development”.

The comment made by the Deputy Minister during APSD was referring in general to uneven public service delivery in remote rural areas in provinces compared to service delivery in urban and more populated areas of the country. There was thus no specific reference made to any specific service delivery area.

b) The District Development Model (DDM) is one of the initiatives that is used to ensure that public service delivery is prioritised in the areas that are lagging behind in public service delivery. The DDM is an intergovernmental and cooperative governance model, launched by the President in September 2019. The DDM is anchored in the development of a “One Plan” which aims to translate development priorities and objectives into spatial locations (district & metropolitan areas). The plan aims to provide synchronisation and alignment of strategic projects across all spheres of government, organs of state and the private sector, by prioritizing catalytic projects. Through this initiative plus the application of many other service delivery mechanisms (such as the Batho Pele standards, specific support interventions and operations management initiatives) the “almost forgotten” areas of service delivery will be prioritised.

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Reply:

Border Management have identified the management of trucks along the highways, national roads and corridors towards the ports of entry as one of the factors affecting the operational dynamics in the legitimate facilitation of persons and goods.

The following planned responses as contingences were developed:

1. The establishment of the integrated traffic management plan with all transport and traffic authorities in the respective corridors to ease traffic movements;
2. Collaborating with stakeholders in the freight industry regarding the utilisation of truck holding areas and the diversion of trucks to these areas;
3. The utilization of single lane processes towards the weighbridges for some controlled movements; and
4. The deployment of dedicated traffic officers along the routes and corridors by Provincial and Local traffic authorities to ensure compliance and enforcement of traffic laws.

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Reply:

The Minister of Finance does not generally make tax announcements in the Medium-Term Budget Policy Statement (MTBPS). However, the 2022 MTBPS did state that efforts to expand generation capacity would include “facilitating investments in rooftop solar by developing a feed-in tariff for small-scale embedded generation projects, and investigating the expansion of tax incentives for commercial installations”.

This is in line with what the President stated in the July 2022 announcement that a feed-in tariff would be developed by Eskom to incentivise greater use of rooftop solar.

To quote the President:

“Fourth, we intend to enable businesses and households to invest in rooftop solar. South Africa has a great abundance of sun which we should use to generate electricity. There is significant potential for households and businesses to install rooftop solar and connect this power to the grid.

To incentivise greater uptake of rooftop solar, Eskom will develop rules and a pricing structure – known as a feed-in tariff – for all commercial and residential installations on its network. This means that those who can and have installed solar panels in their homes or businesses will be able to sell surplus power they don’t need to Eskom.”

Reply:

The Agri-Parks Initiative falls under the domain of the Minister of Agriculture, Land Reform and Rural Development and not the Minister of Finance. I will, however, deal with some of your queries as related to the National Treasury.

a) According to the Department of Agriculture Land Reform and Rural Development, Agri-Parks entails the creation of a nexus of rural agricultural businesses across South Africa to serve as primary vehicles of agrarian transformation and comprehensive rural development in order to:

• • Enhance agricultural production and efficiency;
  • Promote household food security and national food sovereignty;
  • Engender agrarian transformation through rural enterprise development and employment creation; and

b) The AgriParks therefore aims to grow rural economies by facilitating the efficient movement of rural produce to markets. They support smallholder farmers by providing capacity building, mentorship, farm infrastructure, extension services, and the production and mechanisation inputs.

At conception the department has committed R2 billion per annum (this was part of the existing budget and no specific budget line was established for Agri Parks), for establishing and operationalising the Agri-Parks in all 44 Municipal Districts. However, this has been scaled down to 9 Agri-Parks.

Agri-Parks programme does not have a specific dedicated programme and budget item in the department, but is implemented through all the departmental programmes.

To maximise value for money and address inefficiencies in departmental spending, the department is embarking on the review of programmes, with Rural Infrastructure Programme as the first programme to be selected.

National Treasury does not intend to do a policy review. The programme falls under the oversight of Minister of Agriculture, Land Reform and Rural Development, the department is therefore mandated to undertake a policy review and financial cost benefit.

Reply:

(1) The department’s inspectorate is fully engaged in immigration operations and inspections. Areas such as Hillbrow and other communities are regularly visited by immigration officials who conduct compliance. The Inspectorate unit deployed a dedicated team to Diepsloot from 6th April 2022 to 8th July 2022 where 1910 arrests were made for illegal migration. The department also conducts its own multi-stakeholder operation called “Operation Siyasibenta” on a monthly basis. On 11 November 2022 Siyasibenta operations were focused on farming areas around country with a total of 111 foreign nationals arrested for being undocumented.

(2) The department does not believe that figure is accurate as we have not been provided scientific evidence that it is so. The most credible source the department is aware of is the figures given by the Statistician General Risenga Maluleke where a figure of 3.95 million foreign nationals are said to be in South Africa according to their mid-year population estimates in 2021.

(3) The department will continue with its enforcement activities within the country as well as the deployment of the newly formed Border Guard of the Border Management Authority to the borders.

(4) The prevalence of undocumented migrants is a global due to push factors relating to either economic and environmental. The department is able to implement its legislation and has been doing so. In addition to this the department co-operates with other departments and foreign governments to tackle the problem.

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Reply:

1. It should be noted that majority of senior managers were appointed prior to the implementation of the Public Service Regulations, 2016. As of 30 September 2022, the number of SMS members who were appointed on or after 1 August 2016 and who do not have the requisite qualifications for the positions that they are occupying is 599. Whilst qualifications are critical to the recruitment and selection of senior managers, these alone are insufficient because they cannot be used to infer competence

2. PERSAL is specifically designed for payment of employees’ salaries. It should be noted that although qualifications are captured on PERSAL system, this system does not verify the authenticity of the qualifications.

3. (a) In terms of Regulation 67 (9) (a and b) of the Public Service Regulations, before making a decision on an appointment or the filling of a post, an executive authority shall satisfy herself or himself that the candidate qualifies in all respects for the post and that his or her claims in his or her application for the post have been verified as directed by the Minister, and record that verification in writing.

b) Verification of qualifications is one of the selection process which is done before finalising the appointment. The National Qualification Framework Act imposes a duty on employers to verify any qualifications by submitting to SAQA before appointing prospective employees. It is therefore, the responsibility of Accounting Officers in the departments to verify, through the National Learner Database if the qualifications of SMS members they are appointing are authentic as PERSAL is not the system that verify the authenticity of the qualifications.

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