Questions & Replies: Questions & Replies No 51 to 100

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2008-11-26

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[PMG note: Any gaps in the numbering are due to the replies not being provided yet]



QUESTION 65

INTERNAL QUESTION PAPER [NO 1-2008]

DATE OF PUBLICATION: 8 FEBRUARY 2008

65. Mr A H Nel (DA) to ask the Minister for Agriculture and Land Affairs:

(1) Whether any land restitution claims have not yet been validated and gazetted; if so, (a) how many and (b) in which (i) provinces and (ii) municipalities;

(2) when will all claims be known and gazetted? N423ENG

MINISTER FOR AGRICULTURE AND LAND AFFAIRS:

Yes.

(a) 3158 claims have not yet been gazetted.

(b)(i) North West, Mpumalanga, KwaZulu Natal, Eastern Cape, Northern Cape, Free State, Western Cape and Limpopo.

(ii) North West: Moses Kotane, Madibeng, Kgetleng River / Rustenburg, Moretele, Greater Taung and Ramotshere Moilwa.

Mpumalanga: Tabachweu, Bushbuckridge, Umjindi, Mkomazi, Mbombela, Albert Luthuli, Dipaliseng, Govan Mbeki, Lekwa, Msukaligwa, Seme, Emkhazeni, Delmas, Greater Groblersdal, Steve Tswete, Emalaheni and Thembisile.

Eastern Cape: Alfred Nzo, Amathole, Cacdu, Chris Hani, OR Tambo and Ukhahlamba.

Limpopo:Capricorn, Vhembe, Waterberg, Sekhukhune and Mopani.

KwaZulu Natal:Uthungulu, Zululand, Umkhanyakude, Ugu, Umzinyathi, Umgungundlovu, Amajuba, Ethekweni, Uthukela, Ilembe and Sisonke.

Northern Cape: Frances Baard, Pixley Ka Seme, Kgalagadi, Namakwa and Siyanda.

Free State:Motheo, Xhariep, Thabo Mofutsanyana, Fezile Dabi and Lejeleputswa.

Western Cape:Eden, Mossel Bay, Knysna, Swartland, George, Drakenstein, Matzikama, Cedarberg, Act 9 Areas Saron, Drakenstein, Lepelsfontein and West Coast District Municipality.

(2) All claims will be gazetted by the end of 2008.

QUESTION 67

WRITTEN REPLY 8 FEBRUARY 2008

67. Mr J P I Blanchè (DA) to ask the Minister of Public Works:

(a) How many Cuban (i) architects, (ii) civil engineers and (iii) lower qualified technologists is the Government planning to bring to South Africa, (b)(i) for how long and (ii) at what cost will they be employed and (c) why did her department fail to make provision for South Africans to be trained for these vacant positions? N425ENG

REPLY

(a) The provisional needs were 262 professionals. The department managed to recruit 57 Cuban Professionals.

Provisional needs Status quo

(i) Architects (60) 19

(ii) Electrical Engineers (14) 9

(iii) Civil Engineers (65) 24

(iv) Mechanical Engineers (10) 5

(b) (i) 36 Months

(ii) They are at salary level 11 which is R 311 358 per person per annum.

(c) Department has 101 young graduates some of who will be mentored by the Cuban Professionals. The programme for young graduates is aimed at training and mentoring the young graduates who will assist in filling the existing vacancies in the department.

QUESTION: NO 72

(Internal Question Paper No 1 – 2008)

Mr T D Lee (DA) to ask the Minister of Sport and Recreation:

  1. (a) What is the breakdown of the highly skilled vacancies according to post/position of his department's (i) overall vacancy rate of 46% and (ii) highly skilled vacancy rate of 47% and (b) what are the reasons for these high vacancy rates;
  2. Whether his department has taken any steps to rectify the current situation, if not, why; if so, what steps?

REPLY:

1. (a)

(i) overall vacancy rate of 46%

The departments overall vacancy rate as at 11 February 2008 is 16,88% (39 posts) of the total establishment.

(ii) highly skilled vacancy rate of 47%

Of the 39 vacancies, 8 were identified as highly skilled totalling 20,51% of the total vacancies.

(b) Some of these vacancies occurred due to staff turnaround.

2. Of the 8 highly skilled vacant positions on SRSA's establishment, 6 have been advertised and are pending shortlisting and interviews and the remaining 2 will be advertised before the end of the current financial year.

NATIONAL ASSEMBLY

FOR ORAL REPLY (written 422)

QUESTION NO. 95

DATE OF PUBLICATION IN INTERNAL QUESTION PAPER: 10 JULY 2009

(INTERNAL QUESTION PAPER NO. 6)

Questions Day: 21 October 2009

Mr M Waters (DA) to ask the Minister of Health:

(1) Whether there are any waiting lists at any of the public hospitals for (a) radiation treatment and (b) chemotherapy; if so, in each case (i) at which hospitals, (ii) what is the number of patients waiting in each case and (iii) what is the waiting time in each case;

(2) whether any of the hospitals have had their budgets cut with regard to radiation treatment in the past three financial years; if so, (a) which hospitals and (b) by what amount in each case?

NW390E

REPLY:

The following information has been obtained from the Provinces:

EASTERN CAPE

East London Hospital Complex

(1) (a) with regard to radiation treatment

(i) Frere Hospital

(ii) Number of patients waiting for the treatment is 60 – 70 patients.

(iii) The waiting time is between 6 - 8 weeks,

The standard norm for waiting period for Radiation treatment is 2 weeks and the standard norm for treating patient on a Cobalt Machine is 35 patients per day. There has been an increase in the number of patients that are accessing our services, currently the Radiation Clinic is treating 65 patients per day, 325 patients on a weekly basis, which amounts to 1300 per month.

The Frere Hospital Radiation Oncology department has one Cobalt Machine which is old and cannot accommodate the patient workload and this result to frequent breakdown of the machine.

As part of Modernisation of Tertiary Services in the Eastern Cape, the Frere Hospital has been identified to be the Radiation Oncology Centre of Excellence, currently a state of the art Radiation Oncology Centre is being built, two Linear Accelerators has been delivered and this will alleviate the current pressure being experienced going forward.

(b) with regard to Chemotherapy

(i) Frere Hospital

(ii) Nil number of patients waiting at any given time

(iii) The Frere Hospital waiting time for chemotherapy patients is 3 days.

(2)There has been no budget cut however, there is budget deficit.

Mthatha Hospital Complex

(1) (a) with regard to radiation treatment, Mthatha Hospital Complex refers patients to the East London Hospital Complex.

(b) There is no significant waiting periods for patients to receive chemotherapy. Chemotherapy is occasionally deferred when admission is required and no bed is available.

(2) There has been no budget cut, however there is budget deficit.

Port Elizabeth Hospital Complex

(1) (a) with regard to radiation treatment

(i) Yes.

(ii) Number of patients waiting for the treatment is 42.

(iii) Waiting time is between 2 – 3 months

There has been a long term and significant delay in commencing radiation treatment due to the following reasons:

· inadequate equipment

· inadequate radiation Therapist time and Medical Physicist support

· inadequate and insufficiently competent Medical Doctor time

· Patient and Logistics related issues

· As part of Modernisation of Tertiary Services in the Eastern Cape, the Livingstone Hospital has been identified to be the Radiation Oncology Centre of Excellence, currently a state of the art Radiation Oncology Centre is being built, one Linear Accelerator has been delivered and this will alleviate the current pressure being experienced going forward.

(b) No waiting list and no waiting periods

(2) There has been no budget cut.

FREE STATE

Bongani Hospital

(1) (a) Radiation – None. Patients are referred to National Hospital Bloemfontein

(b) Chemotherapy – No waiting times – patients are treated immediately.

(2) Not applicable.

Dihlabeng Hospital

(1) (a) The Dihlabeng Regional Hospital does not provide Radiation treatment.

(b) There are no waiting lists for chemotherapy, the treatment is co-ordinated by Universitas Academic Hospital and patients are treated as booked by the Academic Hospital

(2) (a) The Dihlabeng Regional Hospital does not provide Radiation treatment.

(b) Not Applicable

Mofumahadi Manapo Regional Hospital

(1) No waiting patient for radiation

(2) No radiation budget allocated

KWAZULU/NATAL

(1) The waiting list for Radiation treatment at Inkosi Albert Luthuli Central Hospital is into March 2010. The total number of patients booked awaiting Radiation treatment is 258. This number does not include patients who have not been booked but are awaiting treatment as the Oncologists have arranged for a course of chemotherapy and are using hormonal management to try to control the disease. Often this is also done to appease the level of anxiety in patients who are aware of the fact that there is a waiting list for radiation treatment. This management of patients awaiting radiation treatment is inappropriate and is an inferior protocol. For example, in patients with Breast carcinoma the radiation treatment should be administered 4 weeks post surgery. Radiation treatment that is administered 4 months post surgery is grossly inappropriate and inferior;

(2) Inkosi Albert Luthuli has worked with their annual budget allocation for the past 3 years with no allowances for:

(a) Referrals from Greys Hospital for Radiation treatment.

(b) Referrals from Addington hospital for Radiation treatment.

(c) This Radiation treatment requires the use of an immobilisation mask for patients with ENT carcinomas. The masks cost R1100 per patient. Greys have taken over the treatment of these patients only from 2009. The ENT patients from Addington are still referred to this institution for Radiation treatment.

There has been no added allowance to the budget with the increase in work which would be the same as a cut in the budget. This institution is struggling tofunction with an increase in the workload with no increase in the staff compliment.


GREYS


The waiting times for Radiotherapy at Greys Oncology Department are as follows:

RADICAL

· Breast - 2-3 weeks after the last cycle of chemotherapy;

· Ca Cervix - 2 weeks after the initial consult;

· Max - 6 weeks for all radical patients

PALLIATIVE

· 8Gy &10Gy stat - 0-1 day max 1day;

· 3Gyx10 # - 1-2 weeks max 3weeks;

· 4Gyx5# - 1-2 weeks max 3weeks

· 5Gyx5# - 1-2 weeks max 3weeks

ADDINGTON HOSPITAL

Waiting list for radiotherapy

PALLIATIVE CASES

· 2 months

RADICAL CASES

· Gynae - 6 months;

· Breast - 4 months;

· ENT; GIT and General - 3 months

CHEMOTHERAPY

· 6 - 8 weeks delay waiting for chemotherapy to be approved.

MPUMALANGA

(1) The list is unknown because patients for this treatment are sent to Gauteng and do follow-ups at those hospitals.

(2) The province is not funded for radiation.

NORTHERN CAPE

(1) There are no waiting lists of patients for (a) chemotherapy and (b) radiation treatment at Kimberley Hospital. Clients that need chemotherapy are commenced immediately and a follow-up date arranged monthly or bi-monthly depending on the diagnosis of the patient. Our patients who need radiation are referred to Bloemfontein. These patients are given a date as soon as possible in Bloemfontein the longest being ± 2 weeks waiting time. In emergency cases they are assisted within 24hours.

(2) No hospitals have had their budgets cut with regard to radiation treatment in the past three financial years.

WESTERN CAPE

The situation is as follows in the Province

Groote Schuur Hospital

(1) (a) The waiting list to commence radiation treatment will vary according to the disease for clinical reasons. For some patients, it is futile to treat them if one waits too long and some patients are able to wait - either because of the nature of their disease or because they can be treated in the interim with chemotherapy, (for example patients with breast cancer). These decisions are made as rationally as possible to fully utilize the resources. Nevertheless, there are patients who would benefit from radiation therapy but who are not treated because of the limited capacity to plan the treatment or deliver it.

(i) This refers to Groote Schuur Hospital Radiation Oncology only.

(ii) Number of waiting patients- more than 1 month Breast: Radicals = 47; Palliatives = 11 (caveats above); Gynaecological : Radicals = 12; Palliatives = 4.

(iii) Patients with breast cancer at are waiting around 4 months for therapy. Those with some other cancers generally wait approximately 6 weeks.

(b) Chemotherapy cannot be administered on a waiting system for medical reasons. GSH Radation Oncology has the capacity to deliver a specific number of infusions and administration of chemotherapy is therefore rationalized according to the available resources. This number is jointly determined by the pharmacists, sisters and the treating oncologist.

(2) None has been reported.

Tygerberg Hospital

(1) (a) Yes there are waiting lists for radiation therapy at TBH,

(b) There are no waiting lists for chemo therapy, but treatments are limited by choice of drugs available and staff numbers.

(i) This is for Tygerberg Hospital

(ii) and (iii) Waiting lists are for the following:

● Gynaecology: 5 weeks with 25 patients affected

● Breast: 12 weeks with 55 patients affected

● Gastro-intestinal: 7 weeks with 21 patients affected

● Lung: 6 weeks with 18 patients affected

● Head & Neck: 6 weeks with 30 patients affected

* A total of 149 patients are affected, with an average waiting time of

6 weeks

(2) None has been reported.

QUESTION NUMBER: 99

DATE PUBLICATION: 8 February 2008

DATE REPLY SUBMITTED: 14 May 2008

MR R COETZE (DA) TO ASK THE MINISTER IN THE PRESIDENCY:

Whether all staff currently employed in the Presidency have signed performance agreements; if not, what percentage has signed;

In respect of each of the past three years up to and including 2007, how many (a) senior managers (levels 13–16) were employed in the Presidency and (b) of these senior managers signed performance agreements;

Whether all senior managers who signed performance agreements were assessed during this period; if not, why not; if so,

Whether any senior managers failed to meet the performance standards required of them; if so, what action was taken against them?

N460ENG

REPLY:

Of the 478 officials employed in the Presidency 70% signed and submitted performance agreements and or work plans for the 2007/8 financial year;

(2), (3) & (4)

2005/6

2006/7

2007/8

SMS Members Employed

47

44

57

Signed and Submitted Performance Agreements

17

37

36

Were all SMS members who submitted PAs assessed?

No - some newly appointed and / or seconded managers were not assessed

No - managers who left the employ of the Presidency during the year in question did not submit assessment reports and were not assessed.

Assessments for the 2007/8 year have not been completed

Did any assessed SMS members fail to meet required performance standards?

No

No

Assessments for the 2007/8 year have not been completed