Questions and Replies

Reply:

 

1. SAA has not provided financial assistance to SA Express (i) in the past two years; (ii) since 1 January 2019
2. Not applicable as no financial assistance was provided to SA Express.
3. Not applicable as no financial assistance was provided to SA Express.
4. Not applicable as no financial assistance was provided to SA Express.
5. Not applicable as no financial assistance was provided to SA Express.

Reply:

(a) The evidence presented when I appeared at the Commission of Inquiry into State Capture was based on information that was available to me at the time. Subsequent to my representations at the Commission, new information was brought to light by the forensic investigations completed by them estimating that R50-60 billion was stolen from them. The evidence presented before the Zondo Commission estimates the amount stolen to be within the R50-60 billion range.

(b) In my written reply to PQ No 11 that was published on 20 June 2019, I mentioned several successful civil recoveries registered by Eskom and Transnet, the amounts involved as well as the names of the companies that were ordered by the courts to return the funds stolen from the two SOCs. Therefore, in due course we will provide relevant details as some of the unfolding investigations are successfully concluded and specific companies and/or individuals held liable by the courts.

(c) Forensic reports concerning SOCs have been handed over to the Hawks and the SIU in order to determine those that must be held liable for the amounts stolen from the state.

Reply:

(a) None

(b) None

 

Reply:

(a) What is the total number of vacancies in

(i) his department

32 vacancies

(ii) each provincial departments reporting to him; and

None

(b) by what date will the vacancies be filled in each case.

The post of Director General was advertised during July 2019. Critical posts been prioritised to be filled.

Reply:

(a)	R20 717 000.00
(b)	(i)	R16 595 000.00

	(ii)	(iii)	(iv)
	Salary Level	Job Title	Qualification
	13	Private Secretary	Professional Receptionist and Personal Assistant Certificate, IMM Marketing management Diploma, Advanced Taxation Graduate Programme
	9	Assistant Private Secretary	Diploma Secretarial, Office Administration, Advanced Certificate : Office Management
	13	Senior Parliamentary and Cabinet Services	Bachelor of Commerce Degree
	13	Head: Administration	Diploma in Human Resources Management
	13	Media Liaison Officer	B. Tech Degree in Journalism National Diploma in Journalism
	12	Parliamentary and Cabinet Support Officer	Senior Certificate
	9	Administrative Secretary	National Senior Certificate
	8	Registry Clerk	Bachelor of Administration
	7	Receptionist	Diploma in Office Administration
	6	Driver/Messenger	National Senior Certificate
	6	Driver/Messenger	National Senior Certificate
	5	Food Service Aid	National Senior Certificate
	(v)	Job Description of each employee appointed in his private office since May 2019. As per the DPSA benchmark job descriptions for Ministerial Support Staff.

Reply:

The answers for the SOEs in my portfolio are as follows:

1. An application for funding to be allocated to Denel from the contingency reserve announced by the Minister of Finance during the 2019 Budget Speech has been made, with additional funding requested over the Medium Term Expenditure Framework (MTEF).

(a) Denel requires recapitalisation because of the liquidity challenges it faces.

(b) The amount of the total recapitalisation is still being considered by Government.

(2)(a) & (b) As per the South African Defence Review (2015), Denel is a national security asset, with the primary purpose of designing, developing, manufacturing and supporting defence matériel. In addition, Denel is charged with:

• • The custodianship of assigned sovereign or strategic defence capabilities, technologies and abilities, inclusive of those that may be at risk, the loss of which would threaten South Africa’s required defence capability.
  • The design, development, manufacture and support of important capabilities.

Denel is busy with the implementation of a turnaround plan.  The strategy was approved by the Board of Directors in February 2019 and is aligned with the expectations of the shareholder.  The immediate focus will be on disposing of non-core assets on an urgent basis and establishing strategic equity partnerships across the various divisions of the company.

Nevertheless, Denel is constantly exploring economically viable new revenue streams as part of its profitable growth strategy as well as new technologies to grow its business and technology base. These include both technologies adjacent to its current product portfolio technologies and new “green fields” technologies. Denel continues to and intends to further grow its collaboration with local and international Universities and research institutes. Some of the technology and expansion areas being explored include security and cyber technology solutions, system of system level integration capabilities, advanced software solutions and an enhanced offering to the South African Police Service.

Denel is one of the few, if not the only, level 5 System integration capability for Military solutions in South Africa. Denel intends to play an active role in 4th Industrial revolution solutions in South Africa.

(3) Denel’s expansion into new technology areas will be funded through a combination of self-funding projects and R&D investments. No specific additional State funding is foreseen for this technology expansion.

Reply:

(1)	(a)	As a matter of clarity, the Minister, with the concurrence of Cabinet, appoints the Board of Directors of the State-Owned Companies (SOCs). He appoints the CEOs and CFOs on the recommendations of the Boards. Only where Boards seek the Minister’s concurrence on appointments of other Executives at subsidiary level, does the Minister express a view. There are various reasons for resignations at the SOCs, such as end of contract terms, personal reasons and the difficulties posed by the damage caused in the institutions.
	(b)	The rot within SOCs is deep but can be overcome. This is demonstrated by among others, the following achievements that have been registered under the leadership of the current boards:
		(i) Eskom McKinsey repaid R902 million against a civil claim Eskom instituted against the company. Eskom successfully pursued the recovery of R600 million that was illegally paid to Trillian. A full bench of the Gauteng High Court ordered that the funds be returned to Eskom to be used for the benefit of the country’s citizenry. SIU is currently in court on behalf of Eskom to set aside the Tegeta Brakfontein coal supply agreement to the value of R2.7bn.
		(ii) Transnet China South Rail (CSR) repaid R618 million to Transnet in relation to an irregular prepayment for locomotive maintenance. Civil claims have been lodged against former Executives to recover losses that were incurred as a result of their irregular conduct.
		(iii) State Capture Inquiry The Minister, the Chairs of the Boards of Eskom and Transnet and an executive within the DPE have led evidence at the Commission in order to shed light on events that led to some of the challenges that trace their lineage to State Capture and how the department is working hard to root corruption out of all SOCs.   Eskom: The current Board, led by the Chairperson Mr Jabu Mabuza, led evidence at the Commission. Transnet:  The current Board, led by the Chairperson Dr Popo Molefe, numerous executives and senior managers led evidence covering the Locomotive deals (95, 100 & 1064) and supporting contracts, such as advisory services; loan transaction services; consulting; funding; and Treasury functions.  Denel: Submissions were made to the Commission and the Board is waiting to lead evidence. Former officials have already led evidence that shed light on some of the irregular conduct that has resulted in the challenges the company is currently facing.  SAFCOL: Officials will be leading evidence in due course. SAA: Among others, previous Ministers, the former Chairperson of the Board (Cheryl Carolus) and former CFO and CEO (currently acting CEO of SAX) have appeared and/or will be appearing before the Commission to give evidence. Alexkor: Commission is investigating matters and the Board is fully cooperating with the investigators.
	(c)	The progress highlighted above and the preparedness of the current leaders in each SOC demonstrated that: there is a plan in place in each SOC to root out corruption; each Board, supported by other officials is heavily seized with executing the plan; the plans are beginning to yield tangible results; and However, to be frank, overcoming the full impact of State Capture and corruption requires vigorous effort and courage from Boards and Management.
(2)	SOCs within DPE portfolio are experiencing financial difficulties. The process to turn-around SOCs is ongoing. This will culminate in the review of the operating models of the SOCs. Furthermore, in some SOCs Strategic Equity Partners (SEPs) will be brought in to partner with SOCs in improving some operations. In that vein, SOCs will provide the Minister with proposals on areas where private partnership are required. Denel has a few examples of this kind of partnerships

Reply:

According to the information received from Eskom

(a) The frequency of inspections of pylons varies between 3 monthly to 10 yearly, depending on the categorisation of the infrastructure.

(b) Eskom currently has 7281 inspectors.

(c) Eskom has a total of 11 599 773 pylons across the country.

(d) Eskom conducts extensive condition monitoring time based maintenance on pylons, and powerlines according to prescribed maintenance standards. Preventative maintenance includes:

• Vegetation management - monitor vegetation under or near the powerlines to ensure that safety clearances are not compromised.

• Visual aerial inspections and ground patrol - determine the physical integrity of towers, stays, foundations, insulators, conductors, shield wires and fibre optic system.

Reply:

This response is according to the information received from South African Express:

Response attached as Annexure A.

Specific details in part (c) relating to Namane Capital attached as Annexure B.

 

Reply:

The Parliamentary question has been forward to South African Airways and the Department and the Ministry of Public Enterprises awaits their response. Further information will be conveyed to Parliament as soon as the response is received.

Reply:

The Parliamentary question has been forward to Eskom and the Department and the Ministry of Public Enterprises awaits their response. Further information will be conveyed to Parliament as soon as the response is received.

Reply:

The Parliamentary question has been forward to Eskom and the Department and the Ministry of Public Enterprises awaits their response. Further information will be conveyed to Parliament as soon as the response is received.

Reply:

The Parliamentary question has been forward to Eskom and the Department and the Ministry of Public Enterprises awaits their response. Further information will be conveyed to Parliament as soon as the response is received.

Reply:

The Parliamentary question has been forward to State Owned Enterprises and the Department and the Ministry of Public Enterprises awaits their response. Further information will be conveyed to Parliament as soon as the response is received.

Reply:

The Parliamentary question has been returned to the Member of Parliament for clarification with regard to which scanners are being referred to. Once we receive this clarification, a reply will be sent Parliament.

Reply:

The Parliamentary question has been forward to South African Airways and the Department and the Ministry of Public Enterprises awaits their response. Further information will be conveyed to Parliament as soon as the response is received.

Reply:

The information will be provided to Parliament as soon as it has been recieved and verified by the department and ministry.

Reply:

According to the information received from Eskom

Eskom directly owns one mine, called Kilbarchan Colliery[1]. Indirectly, the utility owns some equity[2] in the cost-plus mines as a result of ownership of a portion of the mine assets through the cost-plus coal supply agreements (CSA).

Mining houses have the statutory right to mine the coal, and the statutory obligation to rehabilitate the mine. Eskom, through the CSA has the financial obligation to pay for these costs. The reserves dedicated to Eskom, can only be sold to Eskom. In a case where the mining house intends to transfer its rights and obligations, Eskom would have to provide consent. It should be noted that the CSAs do not include BEE ownership requirements as the last cost-plus agreement was signed prior to Eskom’s current BEE Policy.

Eskom does not disclose the lifespan of the cost-plus mines due to the following reasons:

• Production at some of the cost-plus mines will end before the CSA end date.
• As part of the life-extension projects, ongoing efforts to recapitalize some of the cost-plus mines will result in the stated life of the mine changing
• Some reserves in the cost-plus mine complex are not dedicated to Eskom.

1. Kilbarchan Colliery is recorded in Eskom’s balance sheet under the subsidiary Natal Navigation Colliery. It is recorded at R1, while the associated rehabilitation liability has been fully raised in Eskom’s financial statements. ↑

2. Eskom’s balance sheet does not include the cost-plus mines because the direct ownership rests with the mining houses and their balance sheets. ↑

Reply:

This response is according to information received from the SOC:

 

SAA Fleet
Aircraft Type (Model)	Number of Aircraft	Capacity of Aircraft	Ownership Status
A319	7	120 seats	7 Leased
A320	10	138 seats	10 Leased
A330-200	6	222 seats	6 Leased
A330-300	5	249 seats	5 Leased
A340-300	8	253 seats	3 Leased and 5 owned
A340-600	7	317 seats	3 Leased and 4 owned
B737-300 Freighters	3	Cargo aircraft	3 Leased

 

 

Mango Fleet
Aircraft Type (Model)	Number of Aircraft	Capacity of Aircraft	Ownership Status
B737-800	14	186 seats	14 Leased

 

Reply:

According to the information received from Eskom

(1) Yes, there has been three (3) incidents where negligible amounts of radioactivity were, or were assumed to have been released to the environment through an unmonitored pathway since 1 January 2014; May 24, October 2015 and November 2015

Releases to the environment are closely monitored and have to respect regulatory limits.Any release that is unmonitored is taken seriously and would be treated as a leak or spillage of radioactive waste.

(1)  (a) (b)

• All these incidents were reported to the National Nuclear Regulator (NNR) in the quarterly Radio Waste and Effluent Report;
• The normal radio activity levels of what was released were of such levels that there was no impact to staff, members of the public or the environment.

(2)     Assessments have conducted that the maximum amounts of radioactivity that could have been released were well below any regulatory limit and did not require a response or notification of the public.

(3)     Each incident is reportable to the regulator and is thoroughly reviewed by Koeberg to identify the causes, and to determine the appropriate corrective actions.

The following actions were taken and fully implemented in order to prevent human error from happening again when these activities are performed:

• Malfunctioning equipment was repaired as priority.  The instruction sequence for changing over between Reactor Building ventilation when connected to the plant ventilation system was improved.  Cautions and limitations were added for changing over between modes while performing Reactor Building ventilation system filter efficiency tests during outages before or after reloading fuel into the reactor core.
• A plant modification to route the water to the Nuclear Island Vents and Drains System in the event of a tank overflow was done in the next Refuelling Shutdown in 2015.
• The controlling procedure to include a description on the removal and refitting of caps and blanks (outage and non-outage periods) has been updated on any system that is being drained or vented.

Reply:

The Parliamentary question has been forward to the State Owned Enterprise and the Ministry of Public Enterprises awaits their urgent response. Further information will be conveyed to Parliament as soon as the response is received.

Reply:

The Parliamentary question has been forward to the State Owned Enterprise and the Ministry of Public Enterprises awaits their urgent response. Further information will be conveyed to Parliament as soon as the response is received.

Reply:

The Parliamentary question has been forward to the State Owned Enterprise and the Ministry of Public Enterprises awaits their urgent response. Further information will be conveyed to Parliament as soon as the response is received.

Reply:

a) What number of (i) buildings, (ii) properties and (iii) facilities does his department currently (aa) own and (bb) rent, (b) what is the value and purpose of each (i) owned and (ii) rented property and (c)(i) for how long has each property been rented, (ii) from whom is each property rented and (iii) what is the monthly rental fee for each property?                                                                                            

(a) (i) The Department of Public Enterprises does not own any building

(ii) The Department of Public Enterprises does not own property 

(iii) The Department of Public Enterprise does not own any facility

(b) (i) Department of Public Enterprise is renting a building for monthly rental of R 902 928. The purpose of the lease is office accommodation for the Department

(c) (ii)The storage facilities is leased for monthly rental of R 12 550, the purpose     of the storage is to store excess and old furniture

(d) For how long has each property been rented and from who?

(i) The building Office Accommodation is rented through DPW for a duration of 36 Months from Delta Property Fund and Storage Facility is rented through MIJA Investment for 6 months.

This company, Delta Property Fund, has been hopelessly incompetent in providing a properly refurbished office block. Thus far, responses from the company have been less than adequate.

Reply:

The Parliamentary question has been forward to the State Owned Enterprise and the Ministry of Public Enterprises awaits their urgent response. Further information will be conveyed to Parliament as soon as the response is received.

Reply:

The Parliamentary question has been forward to the State Owned Enterprise and the Ministry of Public Enterprises awaits their urgent response. Further information will be conveyed to Parliament as soon as the response is received.

Reply:

The Parliamentary question has been forward to the State Owned Enterprise and the Ministry of Public Enterprises awaits their urgent response. Further information will be conveyed to Parliament as soon as the response is received.

Reply:

The Parliamentary question has been forward to the State Owned Enterprise and the Ministry of Public Enterprises awaits their urgent response. Further information will be conveyed to Parliament as soon as the response is received.

Reply:

According to the information received from Eskom

Enel has not been appointed as technical advisors. A team of South African engineers has been appointed to undertake a technical Review of power stations on a “Thuma Mina” voluntary basis.

(a)

Not Applicable.

(b)(i)(ii)

Not Applicable.

(c)

Not Applicable.

(d)

Not Applicable.

Reply:

1)(a)(b)(c)(d) 

Table 1 below provides responses to contracts relating to supply, delivery and offloading of industrial gasses:

Table 1: Details of gas contracts

Name of Supplier (1)(a)	Price (R) (1)(b)	Amount of gas supplying (1)(c)	Ownership structure (1)(d)	Length of contract (1)(e)
WASAA	The price is commercially sensitive, therefore cannot be disclosed.	Contracts are on an as and when required basis	Wasaa is 100% owned by Mampo Trust, with the following shareholding: N.Qonde 20%; T.Manala 20%; A.Qonde; 20%; Q.Manala 20%; P.Manala 20%	One (1) year.
African Oxygen			It’s a listed company with the following shareholding: Public shareholders 38.94% Linde Group 61.06%	Two (2) years.

 

 

Name of Supplier (1)(a)	Price (R) (1)(b)	Amount of gas supplying (1)(c)	Ownership structure (1)(d)	Length of contract (1)(e)
Air Liquide	The price is commercially sensitive, therefore cannot be disclosed.	Contracts are on an as and when required basis	99.93% owned by Air Liquide Afrique; Anne-Marie Lemaire 0,02% Martine de Royer 0,02% Gerard Delorme 0,02% Stephen Jampol 0,01% Craig Jampol 0,01%	One (1) year and six (6) months.

                                       

(2)(a)(b)(c)(d)(e)

Table 2 below provides responses relating to contracts for the supply, delivery and offloading of diesel:

Table 2: Details of deisel contracts

Name of Supplier (2)(a)	Price (2)(b)	Amount of diesel supplying (2)(c)	Ownership structure (2)(d)	Length of contract (2)(e)
PetroSA	Prices are commercially sensitive, therefore cannot be disclosed.	Contracts are as and when required basis	PetroSA is South Africa’s National Oil Company; & reports to the Department of Energy	Ten (10) year contract.
Afric Oil			71% owned by EFORA Energy and 29% owned by PIC (Public Investment Corporation).	Ten (10) year contract.
Various Emergency Supplies		Eskom was granted approval by National Treasury to source diesel from Refineries in the event that contracted suppliers (PetroSA and Afric Oil) are unable to meet Eskom’s demand.  The refineries are BP; Engen; Sasol; Astron and Shell.

Reply:

The Parliamentary question has been forward to the State Owned Enterprise and the Ministry of Public Enterprises awaits their urgent response. Further information will be conveyed to Parliament as soon as the response is received.

Reply:

According to the information received from Eskom

(1)(a)(i)(aa)(bb)(ii)

Annexure A provides group headcount per financial year including fixed-term contractors, the number and percentage of employees per occupational category by race and gender as well as the aggregated percentage of Africans, Coloureds and Indians.

Eskom Company workforce profile is for FY2005/6 to 2017/18 and subsidiary, Eskom Rotek Industries (ERI) is from FY2013/14 to 2017/18. 

Eskom is not in a position to provide data prior to the date mentioned (from 1 January 1994) due to the following reasons:

(i) Eskom submitted the first compliance Employment Equity report for FY2005/6 to the Department of Labour (DoL);

(ii) SAP was only configured in line with the DoL reporting requirements in 2006;

(iii) Eskom Rotek Industries only started using SAP in 2013.

Further, it is to be noted the variances in headcount reported in Eskom Integrated Reports vs headcount reported in Annexure A is due to definition of temporary employees in line with Section 57 of the Employment Act, Act 55 of 1998. 

According to Section 57 of the Act an employee whose services has been procured for a temporary employment service, is deemed to be the employee of the client when the employee’s employment is for three months or longer. 

To that effect Eskom started to align with the guidelines provided by Section 57 of the Employment Equity Act, Act 55 of 1998 in the FY2009/10.

(2)(a)

Eskom does not use the term ‘key strategic positions’ but instead uses the term core, critical and scarce skills.

Annexure B depicts core, critical, and scarce skills for the period 2014/2015 to 2018/2019 since these were tagged from 2014 onwards on the SAP system.  The numbers provided exclude Eskom Rotek Industries.

(2)(b) 

Annexure B depicts core, critical and scarce skills by race groups for the period 2014/2015 to 2018/2019, since these were tagged from 2014 onwards on the SAP system.  The numbers provided exclude Eskom Rotek Industries.

(2)(c)

As with all recruitment at Eskom, the appointment of individuals in possession of these skills is informed by Eskom’s Employment Equity plan, in compliance to Section 19 and 20 of the Act.

(3)

Yes, Eskom workforce profile has transformed substantially.  Between financial years 2005/6 and 2017/8 there is a 22% change on racial equity and 14% gender equity change, across senior management and professionals.  The table below provides details.

 

Measure (Unit)	FY 2005/6	FY 2017/8	Change
Racial equity in senior management (% black employees)	47%	69%	22%
Racial equity in professionals and middle management (% black employees)	54%	76%	22%
Gender equity in senior management (% female employees)	24%	38%	14%
Gender equity in professionals and middle management (%  female employees)	25%	38%	13%

 

Eskom views transformation as a strategic imperative and within this context, strives to ensure that its workforce demographics reflects the Economically Active Population (EAP) profile of South Africa. 

(3)(a)

At no stage did Eskom compromise its mandate to focus on the transformation agenda. 

Eskom is cognisant of its mandate which is to provide electricity in an efficient and sustainable manner through its generation, transmission, distribution and retail value chain.  Eskom is also mindful of its developmental role namely to promote transformation and economic development. 

Eskom remains a critical and strategic contributor to government’s goal of ensuring security of electricity supply to the country, thereby enabling economic growth and prosperity.  Eskom will always strive to ensure a balance between its core business versus the transformation imperatives of the country.

(3)(b)

Eskom continually seeks to deliver transformation through recruitment and retention using targeted employee value proposition.  Essential to this is attracting and retaining critical skills. 

Eskom uses internal talent boards at managerial and leadership levels to aid with succession planning for critical workforce segments and actively manage talent pools and careers to achieve transformation objectives.

However, there is no doubt that during the “State Capture” period, skilled professionals with integrity – both black and white, were sidelined, victimised or left Eskom. A climate of fear and intimidation was created to ensure that corrupt practices were not challenged or exposed.

This is the damage that is now being remedied. Even these efforts are being subjected to a “fightback” by a coalition of ex-employees and their fellow travelers in various organisations.

In the interest of future generations, South Africans from all walks of life must support the endeavours of the Eskom board and management to restore Eskom, in accordance with the proposed restructuring and new business model, to sustainability.

Reply:

This response is according to information received from the SOC:

(1)(a) The companies in the Department of Public Enterprises portfolio have requested the following financial assistance for consideration during the 2018 Adjustments Budget and 2019 Budgeting process:

	Alexkor	Denel	Eskom	Safcol	SAX	SAA	Transnet
Requested financial assistance	R100 million	R2.8 billion	R100 billion	R0	R1.74 billion	R15.5 billion	R0

The SOCs, with the support of government, are in the process of negotiating the rollover and refinancing of existing debt as well as seeking to secure additional funding to meet the companies’ liquidity requirements. The exact amount, or even whether assistance will be forthcoming from government will be determined by the National Treasury, after consultation with the department of Public Enterprises, and subject to approval of cabinet.

(b) The National Assembly and the National Council of Provinces (NCOP) recently approved the Adjustments Appropriation Bill and the Special Appropriation Bill, which included amongst others an appropriation of R1.249 billion for South African Express SOC Limited (SA Express) and R5 billion appropriation for South African Airways SOC Limited (SAA) respectively.

As the 2019/20 budgeting process has still to be concluded, there is no clear indication of further funding to be provided to the SOCs.

(c) In line with conditions set by the Minister of Finance, these amounts allocated to SAA and SA Express will be used exclusively to settle the airlines’ guaranteed debt.

 (2)   Based on the information received from Transnet, the settlement discussions between the legal representatives of the pensioners and Transnet are continuing and it is hoped that these will be concluded early in 2019. At this stage, due to the confidential nature of the discussions, it would not be in the best interests of any of the parties to disclose the details, until a decision is taken on the proposed offers and counter offers.             

(3)    No further statement is required at this point

Reply:

DPE RESPONSE

(a) For all the tenders invited in 2018, there we no tender briefing for them.

 

ESKOM SOC

This response is according to information received from Eskom

(a)(ii) and (b)

Eskom complies with its Procurement and Supply Chain Procedure (32-1034) which prescribes the process of managing tenders including records required.  Although Eskom maintains records of tenders issued, our reports are not configured to provide records of which tenders had briefing as well as which briefings were compulsory.

Eskom has records of tenders issued, however to check each and every record of the approximately 1974 tenders advertised for the period 01 January 2018 to 31 December 2018 is an extensive manual exercise which will take several weeks to conclude and verify.

TRANSNET SOC

This response is according to information received from Transnet:

Time Period: January 2018 to December 2018
Operating Division	1.(a) How many tender briefing sessions were held	1. (b) How many of these briefing session were compulsory
Transnet Freight Rail	502	493
Transnet Port Terminals	51	41
Transnet Group Capital	91	91
Transnet National Ports Authority	260	207
Transnet Engineering	82	81
Transnet Pipelines	15	15
Group Strategic Sourcing	6	6
Transnet Corporate Centre	99	17
Transnet Property	90	60
Total	1196	1011

 

This response is according to information received from South African Airways:

a) Number of tender briefings held in 2018

1. GSM001/18 -  Auditor General South Africa finding and recommendations
2. GSM050/18 – Recycling and Waste Disposal
3. GSM051/18 – Catering related services
4. GSM048/17 -  Design, Publication and Production of In-flight Magazine (Sawubona)
5. RFQ186/18 –  Office furniture for SAAT and SAA
6. GSM022/18 – Fixed Asset ManagementRFQ147/18   –WATER Proofing (A  Block )
7. GSM022/18 – Fixed Asset Management
8. GSM047/18 – National Aviation and security services
9. GSM049/18 -  Chauffer Services for Voyager member in RSS, Germany, UK and USA

(b) Number of compulsory tender briefings held in 2018

1. GSM001/18 -  Auditor General South Africa finding and recommendations
2. GSM050/18 – Recycling and Waste Disposal
3. GSM051/18 – Catering related services

4. GSM048/17 -  Design, Publication and Production of In-flight Magazine (Sawubona)

5. RFQ186/18 – Office furniture for SAAT and SAA
6. RFQ147/18 – Water Proofing (A Block)

This response is according to information received from SA Express:

SA Express did not hold any tender briefings in the 2018/19 financial year

Reply:

According to information received from Eskom

(a)

As at 1 February 2019 Eskom Company had 3570 Engineers[1].

(b)

As at 1 February 2019 Eskom Company had 382 engineering vacancies[2].

 

 

 

---

[1] An Eskom Engineer is defined as an individual who possesses: (i) an Engineering Degree i.e. BEng or BSc degree or BTech Eng or MTech Eng (ii) is currently doing the work of an Engineer in Eskom, and is employed in Operations, i.e. Generation, Group Capital , Distribution and Transmission.

[2] A vacancy at Eskom is defined as on the approved structure and funded or budgeted for.  Therefore if an vacancy is on the approved structure but not funded is not considered a vacancy.

Reply:

The Parliamentary question has been forward to the State Owned Enterprise and the Ministry of Public Enterprises awaits their urgent response. Further information will be conveyed to Parliament as soon as the response is received.

Reply:

The Parliamentary question has been forward to the State Owned Enterprise and the Department and the Ministry of Public Enterprises awaits their urgent response. Further information will be conveyed to Parliament as soon as the response is received.

Reply:

The Parliamentary question has been forward to the State Owned Enterprise and the Ministry of Public Enterprises awaits their urgent response. Further information will be conveyed to Parliament as soon as the response is received.

Reply:

The Parliamentary question has been forward to the State Owned Enterprise and the Ministry of Public Enterprises awaits their urgent response. Further information will be conveyed to Parliament as soon as the response is received.

Reply:

According to the information received from Eskom

1. Eskom cannot provide a financial estimate for the cost of load shedding. The last relevant study was conducted in 2008, where Deloitte was commissioned by Eskom to look at the economic impact and how to reduce the short-term economic losses. Various key assumptions used in this study are no longer applicable e.g. GDP contributions by various industries have changed drastically. The study indicated that the cost of load shedding was R9 515/MWh for all industries. However, this study is outdated and cannot be used to estimate financial impact of load shedding in 2019. The 2008 study is provided as Annexure A.

Eskom can confirm that for the period 01 January 2018 to 12 February 2019 there was a total of 316 030.33 MWh (over certain periods of the day over 18 days) that were impacted by load shedding.

Reply:

DPE response

a) The Department has decided to grant the request by Mr IE Lebelo for a copy of the Sale and Purchase Agreement.

b) No provision is made for Aventura employees to receive shares in the agreements entered into between the Department, Aventura and Forever Resorts Siyonwaba Consortium.

Reply:

According to the information received from Eskom

Yes, Eskom has measures in place to address non-payment of electricity by municipalities.

Eskom has an electricity supply agreement (ESA) with each of the municipalities that it supplies electricity to in bulk. This agreement specifies the terms and conditions and obligations of the parties. On 01 July 2017 Eskom implemented a concession to the municipalities that allows them to pay their Bulk electricity account in 30 days from the date that it becomes due and no longer 15 days as per the original agreement (except for Metro’s). This was done in an attempt to allow the municipalities more time to collect their revenue from their customers before they have to pay Eskom.

Should the municipality not pay their account on time Eskom implements credit control measures that could end up in the municipality’s electricity supply been disconnected. The Eskom process also makes provision for negotiations to enter into a repayment plan over a period of time.

Should the municipalities fail to enter into such an agreement and/or fail to honour the terms of such agreement Eskom initiates an administrative process in line with the Promotion of Administrative Justice Act (PAJA) before the supply to the municipality can be terminated.

In terms of the ESA Eskom may disconnect the supply to the municipality completely however due to the impact to the customers and the economy Eskom opted to interrupt supply for limited hours of the day only.

Unfortunately, municipal customers, customer groupings, business chambers or even the municipality are getting interdicts against Eskom that prevents Eskom from interrupting the supply and thus from implementing its credit control measures. An escalation of the debt is very noticeable when this happens as the municipalities seem to take a payment holiday as soon as the interdict application is successful.

Notwithstanding the above, government continuous, through the Inter-Ministerial Task Team, Chaired by Minister Mkhize, developing and implementing plans to increase the capacity of municipalities to collect revenue.

Reply:

According to the information received from Eskom

(a) and (b)

The smart meters installed do allow for checking when not being used and whether these are being bypassed.

The details are:

Fully-fledged smart meters (but not all functions are enabled, as the system to manage these will only be finalised during the course of the next financial year) are installed in Sandton and Midrand and split meters with communication are installed in Soweto.

The fully-fledged smart meters do provide a signal when bypassed but these meters go offline and staff are then sent out to investigate, as there is no real time monitoring systems.

The installations in Soweto only provides a signal if there is tampering with the meter but the system has to be interrogated on a regular basis to check for tampering as there is no real time monitoring.

Meters in Soweto are installed in cubicles however these are continuously vandalised and in many cases, staff are not allowed/prevented to attend to the repair of the faults. This then prevents information been sent via the communications network to the system for fraud detection.

There are plans to install a Meter Data Management System (MDMS) that will have full control of the smart meter that will allow the customer to purchase electricity online, customers to view their usage, enable Eskom to see usage patterns, disconnection for non-payment and notification to the customer to reduce usage in case of low capacity. This system will provide real time monitoring.

Reply:

The Parliamentary question has been forward to South African Airways and the Ministry of Public Enterprises awaits their urgent response. The information will be conveyed to Parliament as soon as the response is received.

Reply:

According to the information received from Alexkor

(1) The PSJV agreement is still operational and adhered to within the law.

(2) (a) On average the PSJV’s operational costs are R152m per annum;

(b) The Initial Capital Contribution of R200m as a loan and a short-term loan of R4.8m was provided to the PSJV. The loans were provided in terms of the Deed of Settlement.

(3) Alexkor has not withdrawn any funds from the PSJV;

(a) The only amounts paid by the PSJV to Alexkor was R11m in 2017/18 financial year as repayment of a portion of the Initial Capital Contribution loan and R4.6m in 2017 as profit share contribution.

Reply:

The expenditure incurred by the Ministers, Deputy Ministers and their spouses in relation to the travel privileges contained in the Ministerial Handbook is as follows:

UNIT	2013/14	2014/15	2015/16	2016/17	2017/18	2018/19
MINISTER	2 138 218.88	729 629.20	440 533.08	372 689.32	706 540.29	1 400 826.41
DM	877 493.70	609 614.22	747 054.59	803 611.07	2 861 619.29	0.00
TOTAL	3 015 712.58	1 339 243.42	1 187 587.67	1 176 300.39	3 568 159.58	1 400 826.41
UNIT	2013/14	2014/15	2015/16	2016/17	2017/18	2018/19
MINISTER	1 977 244.49	726 936.05	440 533.08	372 689.32	706 540.29	1 176 109.62
SPOUSE	160 974.39	2 693.15	0.00	0.00	0.00	224 716.79
DM	359 238.73	520 610.20	607 131.48	640 361.46	2 506 030.87	0.00
DM SPOUSE	518 254.97	89 004.02	139 923.11	163 249.61	355 588.42	0.00
TOTAL	3 015 712.58	1 339 243.42	1 187 587.67	1 176 300.39	3 568 159.58	1 400 826.41

Reply:

According to the information received from Eskom

(1)(b) Eskom has never had a contract with Bosasa (now known as Africa Global Operations) for the period in question.

(2) Due to Eskom not having a contract with said company no verification is

Reply:

According to the information received from Eskom

(a)

Eskom Group, which includes Eskom Rotek Industries (ERI), as at the end of September 2018 had a headcount of 47 972.

(b)

Annexure A provides each person’s position.

Reply:

According to the information received from Eskom

(a)

As at September 2018 there have been 1067 disciplinary cases initiated since the tenure of the new Eskom Board of Directors.

(b)

Of the 1067 disciplinary cases, 977 have been finalised.

The outcome of the finalised disciplinary cases is as follows: 64 Dismissals; 288 Suspension without pay; 233 Final warning; 321 written warning; 69 not guilty and 2 Counselling.

Reply:

DPE response

a) There were in total fourteen (14) public resorts that were managed by Aventura. Six of those resorts, which were seriously loss making were the first to be disposed of to different purchasers.

Then the remaining and better performing eight (8) situated at Badplaas, Blydepoort, Loskopdam, Swadini (Mpumalanga) Tshipise, Warmbath (Limpopo), Plettenburg Bay (Western Cape), Gariep (Free State) were sold to a single purchaser named Forever Siyonwaba Consortium.

b) Government had in 2001 as part of its restructuring policy taken a decision to dispose all the Aventura resorts. Hotel and leisure was regarded as non- core to Government. The decision to dispose was further underpinned by the fact that some of the resorts were seriously loss making. Aventura was disposed through a normal purchase and sale process however difficulties were encountered in concluding the process all together. The process was beset by land claims in some of the areas (e.g Blydepoort, Swadini and Tshipise) where the resorts were situated, incorrect description of the Aventura properties, e.g there were discrepancies in Aventura property description set out in the Deeds office and the inventory/schedule of those properties laid out in the Overvaal Resorts Limited Act 127 of 1993. These difficulties caused the disposal of Aventura to be protracted. Thus, against the background that the Aventura resorts were already sold even though difficulties in transferring some of them were encountered, in 2013 an optimal route to bring closure to the purchase and sale process was considered and liquidation was found to be appropriate. The Shareholder (Minister of Public Enterprises) then passed a resolution to liquidate Aventura.

(c) (i) the eight(8) resorts were sold to a company called Forever Siyonwaba Consortium

(ii) the Purchase Price for the eight was R200m.