Questions & Replies: Question & Replies No 801 to 825
2009-09-08
Search this file by selecting Ctrl + F on your keyboard
[PMG note: Replies are inserted as soon as they are provided by the Minister]
QUESTION NO. 825
DATE OF PUBLICATION IN INTERNAL QUESTION PAPER: 21 AUGUST 2009
(INTERNAL QUESTION PAPER NO. 10)
Mr S J Njikelana (ANC) to ask the Minister of Health:
(1) Whether a health clinic was built at Colosa in Idutywa; if not, why not; if so, (a) when, (b) how much did it cost, (c) how long did it take to build and (d) which contractors were awarded the contract;
(2) whether its construction proceeded without any problems; if not, what were the problems; if so, what are the relevant details?
NW972EREPLY:
(1) According to the Eastern Cape Provincial Department of Health, the Province has no plans to have a clinic built at Colosa and has neither received any application for the construction of a clinic in that area. Colosa is less than 5 kilometres from Idutywa Town as per set norms and standards of building clinics. There is also a Taleni Clinic which is not far from Colosa, which is located at a distance of about 2 kilometres from Idutywa District.
(2) Not applicable
QUESTION NO 824
DATE OF PUBLICATION IN INTERNAL QUESTION PAPER: 21 AUGUST 2009
(INTERNAL QUESTION PAPER NO 10 - 2009)
Date reply submitted : 4 September 2009
Mr S J Njikelana (ANC) to ask the Minister of Police:
(1) Whether there has been any progress into the investigation regarding the death of a certain person (name and details furnished) on 28 July 2000 in kwaNongoma in KwaZulu-Natal; if not, why not; if so,
(2) whether there has been any arrests made in this regard; if not, what is the cause of the delay; if so, what are the relevant details?
NW971E
REPLY:
(1) Yes.
(2) Yes, four arrests were made. The murder case Mahlabatini CAS 74/07/2000 was finalised in the Pietermaritzburg High Court on 30 August 2001. One accused was found guilty of murder and sentenced to twenty-five years imprisonment. The other three accused were found not guilty.
QUESTION NO. 821 INTERNAL QUESTION PAPER NO 10DATE OF PUBLICATION: 21 August 2009
Mr D M Gumede (ANC) to ask the Minister of Tourism:
Whether his department intends taking any steps to increase SA Tourism's comparative advantage, given the fact that other global destinations also offer attractive packages; if not, what is the position in this regard; if so, what steps?
NW967E 821. THE MINISTER OF TOURISM ANSWERS:Yes, the National Department of Tourism intends taking steps to increase South African Tourism's (SAT) comparative advantage through maximising on the destination's uniqueness and focusing on high yield markets.
QUESTION NO. 820 INTERNAL QUESTION PAPER NO 10DATE OF PUBLICATION: 21 August 2009
Mr D M Gumede (DA ) to ask the Minister of Tourism:
Whether his department has any plans in place to streamline the different efforts into a synergic approach behind the South African Tourism Board; if not, why not; if so, what actions? NW966E 820. THE MINISTER OF TOURISM ANSWERS:Yes, the National Department of Tourism is looking at plans to streamline the different efforts into a synergic approach behind the South African Tourism Board. As part of the legislative review, we will redefine the role of SAT to ensure that there is improved alignment with other marketing agencies to focus on marketing SA domestically and internationally.
QUESTION NO 818
DATE OF PUBLICATION IN INTERNAL QUESTION PAPER: 21 AUGUST 2009
(INTERNAL QUESTION PAPER NO 10 - 2009)
Date reply submitted : 11 September 2009
Mr P J Groenewald (FF Plus) to ask the Minister of Police:
(1) How many farm attacks took place in each province (a) in (i) 2006, (ii) 2007 and (iii) 2008 and (b) during the period 1 January 2009 up to the latest specified date for which information is available;
(2) how many farm murders took place in each province (a) in (i) 2006, (ii) 2007 and (iii) 2008 and (b) during the period 1 January 2009 up to the latest specified date for which information is available;
(3) whether he will make a statement on the matter?
NW950E
REPLY:
(1) to (3) The detailed information requested can only be obtained by submitting an ad hoc request to the Information and Systems Management component of the South African Police Service to obtain the Crime Administration System (CAS) numbers of the individual crimes under discussion. This entails a lengthy process, as priority is always given to information requests from operational divisions which need information to plan their day-to-day activities.
Once the above information is received from the Information Systems Management component, correspondence will have to be directed to all police stations involved country-wide in an effort to determine the status of each such case, thereby placing and extra burden on limited human and financial resources. Members will in such a case have to be withdrawn from other duties and specially allocated to peruse dockets and registers.
Even if returns are received from the provinces after such an exercise, no way exists of verifying the resultant information without physical inspection at all the affected stations.
QUESTION NO 815
DATE OF PUBLICATION IN INTERNAL QUESTION PAPER: 21 AUGUST 2009
(INTERNAL QUESTION PAPER NO 10 - 2009)
Mr V B Ndlovu (IFP) to ask the Minister of Police:
(1) How many (a) complaints have been received by each of the satellite offices of the Independent Complaints Directorate since their establishment and (b) of these complaints (i) have been investigated and (ii) led to disciplinary action;
(2) Whether more satellite offices will be established in the 2009-10 financial year; if not, why not, if so, (a) where and (b) when?
NW672E
REPLY:
(1) (a) A total of nine hundred and forty one (941) complaints were received by the satellite offices of the Independent Complaints Directorate (ICD). This figure is broken down further as follows:
| PROVINCE | OFFICE | COMPLAINTS RECEIVED |
| Eastern Cape | Mthatha | 196 |
| Free State | Bethlehem | 187 |
| KwaZulu-Natal | Empangeni | 92 |
| Limpopo | Thohoyandou | 82 |
| Northern Cape | Upington | 189 |
| North West | Rustenburg | 195 |
| TOTAL | 941 |
(b) (i) All 941 complaints were investigated and (ii) 37 led to disciplinary action;
(2) Whether more satellite offices will be established in the 2009-10 financial year; if not, why not; if so, (a) where and (b) when?
REPLY:
(2) No new satellite offices will be established during the financial year: 2009/10. The ICD's initial proposed budgetary increase of R 19 521 000 for the financial year 2009/10 was eventually cut to R 16 368 000. The 16% increase merely permitted for the full establishment of the component: Asset Management and the establishment of the Call Centre.
Funding was not made available for the opening up of more satellite offices.
QUESTION NO 813
DATE OF PUBLICATION IN INTERNAL QUESTION PAPER: 21 AUGUST 2009
(INTERNAL QUESTION PAPER NO 10 - 2009)
Date reply submitted : 14 September 2009
Mr V B Ndlovu (IFP) to ask the Minister of Police:
(1) How many reservists (a) are (i) recruited annually and (ii) currently available and (b) have been recruited during the period 1 January 2009 up to the latest specified date for which information is available;
(2) what is the optimum number of reservists needed for the 2010 Soccer World Cup Tournament?
NW670E
REPLY:
(1)(a) (i) An average of approximately 10 000 reservists are recruited annually.
(ii) The current national reservist strength, as on 31 March 2009 is 53 200.
(1)(b) The following number of reservists were recruited during the period 1 January 2009 until 31 March 2009.
| Province | January 2009 - March 2009 |
| Limpopo | 119 |
| Gauteng | 709 |
| Western Cape | 467 |
| Eastern Cape | 0 |
| Northern Cape | 205 |
| Mpumalanga | 190 |
| KwaZulu-Natal | 0 |
| North West | 0 |
| Free State | 439 |
| Total | 2129 |
(2) The optimum number of reservists needed for the 2010 Soccer World Cup Tournament is 10 000.
QUESTION 812
DATE OF PUBLICATION IN THE INTERNAL QUESTION PAPER: 21 AUGUST 2009 (INTERNAL QUESTION PAPER NO 10-2009)
"812. Mr PF Smith (IFP) to ask the Minister of Science and Technology:
(1) Whether the attempts by her department to bridge the gap between basic research and product or service commercialization by promoting local production is adequately supported by other departments with an interest in and mandate for such an outcome; if not, what is the position in this regard; if so, which departments;
(2) whether she intends taking any further steps in this regard; if not, why not; if so, what steps?"
NW669E
REPLY:
(1) Yes. There is alignment, cooperation and support from other departments along the breadth of the innovation value chain as this applies to technology commercialisation in particular. Downstream, the chain begins with a sizeable volume of basic research emanating from Higher Education Institutions (HEIs), Science Councils and other public research institutions. This research is then moved down the value chain towards product development and commercialisation. In recent months, the Department of Science and Technology (DST) has designed and implemented a number of policy and institutional instruments that are aimed at supporting this mid position of the chain. In particular, this includes the establishment of the Technology Innovation Agency (TIA), which will incorporate and expand on the broad technology commercialisation mandate of: the Innovation Fund (IF); Tshumisano; the Biotechnology Regional Innovation Centers (BRICS) and the Advanced Manufacturing Technologies Strategy (AMTS). It is the combined mandate of these instruments and the new complementary initiatives that form a foundation for TIA. The agency will offer a range of financial and non-financial support options along the middle stages of the value chain (which includes applied research, prototype development and commercialisation), with a view to connecting technology development and commercialisation initiatives with those instruments that have been created by other government departments and that are focused on the later stages of the product development chain. The late stages mostly involve full-scale production of the product, and it is at this stage that the instruments of the Department of Trade and Industry (the dti) such as SEDA and the Industrial Development Corporation (IDC) take over. Collectively these instruments are aimed at ensuring that the successful commercialization of the technologies takes place within South Africa in a manner that creates local employment opportunities and maximum return to the tax payer.
Examples of successful collaboration with other departments to date are already evident through the National Research Foundation (NRF). The Research Chairs programme has partnerships with various National Departments to help expand the pool of researchers and PhD graduates in priority sectors of the economy throughout the country. Furthermore, collaboration on the aerospace sector sees the AMTS of the DST partner with the Aerospace Industry Support Initiative (AISI) of the dti where the two have identified parts of the value chain such as applied research (supported by the AMTS) and the supply chain as well as Aerospace Industry Development supported under the AISI.
(2) Strengthened and enhanced collaboration will continue to be sought with Government, industry, academia and international parties, through the work of the TIA. The TIA, once fully operational, will run a number of collaboration programmes, including the Centres of Competence (CoC) programme. Broadly, a CoC is intended to provide a formal physical or virtual platform upon which to establish collaborative technology development partnerships between government, industry, higher education and research institutions, with the explicit aim of technology commercialisation. A successful CoC will help build local technology development and commercialisation capacity which will translate into local production and feed into other value chains in the economy. Sector departments will be paramount in the take up of products by creating market opportunities. This will require that CoCs form strong partnerships with line departments for market uptake of such technological innovation by way of utilising the procurement muscle of government and parastatals. The Department engages other departments effectively in the economic and employment cluster on these initiatives.
QUESTION 810
QUESTION FOR WRITTEN REPLY
810. Mr P F Smith (IFP) to ask the Minister of Energy
(a) Why is Eskom's residential rebate programme (i) restricted to conventional solar heating systems, (ii) not extended to include air and ground system heat pumps and (b) when will it include air and ground system heat pumps?
REPLY
(a)(i) Eskom's Demand-Side Management Programme aims to accelerate the adoption of energy efficient appliances and equipment by customers. It is important that such products be readily available in the market and be quality tested by the SABS. In 2007 (when we launched the programme), solar water heaters met these criteria while heat pumps did not.
(ii) In particular during that time, the heat pump supplier industry was virtually non-existent in South Africa and no minimum quality standards for the product were in place. A further concern was whether heat pump technology is suited to all geographical areas in the country due to the effect which ambient conditions and altitude have on the performance of heat pump equipment.
(b) Eskom performs investigations on an ongoing basis into different energy efficient hot water technologies, including heat pumps. The aim is to identify minimum quality standards, market potential for products, maintenance requirements, and other barriers to entry to creating a sustainable market for these alternate technologies. A decision on possible inclusion of heat pumps in Eskom's Demand-Side Management Programme will be taken once the qualifying criteria have been satisfied.
QUESTION NO 808
DATE OF PUBLICATION IN INTERNAL QUESTION PAPER: 14 AUGUST 2009
(INTERNAL QUESTION PAPER NO 9)
808. Mr P J Groenewald (FF Plus) to ask the Minister of Water and Environmental Affairs:†
(1) Whether her department has been notified of the proposed construction of a mega silt dam of 1 400 ha at the Vaal River, south-east of Stilfontein in North West; if so,
(2) whether any radiological investigation into possible pollution of the Vaal River has been undertaken; if not, why not; if so,
(3) whether the proposed site of the silt dam is higher upstream than the point from which drinking water for Klerksdorp is pumped; if not, what is the position in this regard; if so, what are the relevant details;
(4) whether she will reject the environmental impact study; if not, why not; if so, what are the relevant details;
(5) whether she will make a statement on the matter? NW949E
REPLY:
(1) Yes, My Department's Regional Office: Free State has indeed been notified of the intention to establish a mega tailings facility in the area of Stilfontein. The applicant is a company called Mine Waste Solutions (MWS). This company (MWS) intends to reclaim several old tailings facilities in the Stilfontein area in order to extract gold and Uranium deposits still left in these old tailings. These old tailings facilities are currently all underlain by Dolomite geological formations. These formations are not suitable for the placement of tailings facilities due to their high permeability nature thus causing high potential for the pollution of the ground water resource. All these old tailings dams will in the end be removed, re-mined, rehabilitated and placed on the new mega tailings facility.
A comprehensive site selection process was followed by the applicant in order to identify a suitable location to establish such a facility. The general geology of the area around Stilfontein, is predominantly underlying dolomites. The focus area to establish a new mega facility was therefore identified as the only available protrusion of Karoo sediments in this area. Due to the very low permeability nature of these Karoo formations it is the logical choice. The placement and design of the new mega tailings facility was therefore carefully considered to limit the potential for water pollution to the ultimate. The Mine Waste Solutions (MWS) engaged in a comprehensive public participation process as part of their Environmental Impact Study (EIA), in order to seek the inputs of interested and affected parties. (It should be noted that the EIA process falls under the mandate of the Department of Environmental Affairs).
(2) No radiological investigation was done by the Department. It was emphasized by the applicant that the process they will be using in reclaiming the old tailings will remove the Uranium, which is associated with radio-activity. The final product deposited on the new mega tailings facility without Uranium should not be causing radiological pollution of the Vaal River.
(3) The proposed site of the mega tailings facility is approximately 5 km up-stream of the extraction point of Mid-Vaal Water Company that supply drinking water to the Klerksdorp, Orkney, Stilfontein and Hartbeesfontein (KOSH) area. Should best practice for the construction, design and management of the new tailings facility being followed, and if the facility is lined with and approved liner, the slimes dam should have no detrimental effect on the quality of the water in the Vaal River.
(4) The Environmental Impact Study (EIA) process is a separate process facilitated by the Department of Environmental Affairs to authorize a listed activity in terms of the National Environmental Management Act, 1998 (Act No. 107 of 1998). The deposition of slimes on the new proposed mega tailings facility also requires a Water Use License under Section 21 of the National Water Act, 1998 (Act No.36 of 1998) and an application for a Water Use License application will thus be considered by the Department (of Water Affairs). The EIA is indeed part of the supporting documentation that will serve as motivation for the Water Use License to be considered. However, My Department will follow a very stringent approach in considering this Water Use License application. My Department will ensure that best practices in the design, construction and operation of such a facility will be followed.
Due to the high probability of such tailings facility to cause water pollution, the Department will make it very clear that this mega tailings facility must be lined to ensure the maximum protection of the environment. The application for a Water Use License is currently with My Department's Regional Office: Free State for consideration. After all relevant specialists have scrutinized the application and supporting documentation, the draft license will be forwarded with a recommendation or a non-recommendation to the Chief Director: Water Use at the National Office for her approval or non approval. Only upon granting of a license can the applicant proceed with the deposition of slimes on the new mega tailings facility.
(5) Once all the processes are in line My Department will be in a position to make a statement on the matter.
QUESTION NO 807
(Internal Question Paper No 9 - 2009)
Mr P J Groenewald (FF Plus) to ask the Minister of Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs:
(1) (a) In how many municipalities (i) have qualified engineers been appointed in the works department and (ii) have no engineers been appointed and (b) why no engineers have been appointed:
(2) Whether he will make a statement on the matter?
ANSWER
(1) (a) (i) In 244 municipalities qualified engineers have been appointed.
(ii) About 33 municipalities currently do not have qualified engineers.
(b) There is a general lack of technical skills in the country. This is further exacerbated by the fact some Engineers join the consulting industry. However, municipalities are engaged in a process of recruiting and attracting qualified engineers.
(2) Since the Minister took over, he has identified the challenge of attracting scarce professional skills as fundamental towards strengthening service delivery capacity. The Minister has engaged other line ministries in order to coordinate programmes and resources in particular, Department of Water Affairs and Environment. National Treasury, Human Settlements, Public Works etc. the Local Government Recovery Plan to be informed by current assessment of the state of local government in South Africa shall provide a structured and sustainable strategy to address this matter.
DATE OF PUBLICATION: 21 August 2009
Mr D M Gumede (ANC) to ask the Minister of Tourism:
(1) Whether there has been an exploitation of tourists in the past during major events like the Rugby World Cup by those offering accommodation at very high prices; if not, what is the position in this regard; if so,
(2) whether he has put measures in place to curb this during the 2010 Soccer World Cup Tournament; if not, why not; if so, what are the relevant details?
NW965E
819. THE MINISTER OF TOURISM ANSWERS:(1) The National Department of Tourism is not aware of the exploitation of tourists in the past during major events like the Rugby World Cup by those offering accommodation at very high prices. It is our position that exploitation in this regard will harm the reputation of South Africa as a destination.
(2) Those accommodation establishments that signed a contract with Match signed an agreement with regard to the prices for their accommodation establishments. In addition the Department made its position very clear that an exploitation of the prices asked for accommodation establishments will harm the reputation of South Africa as a destination.
NATIONAL ASSEMBLY
FOR WRITTEN REPLY
QUESTION NO 809
DATE OF PUBLICATION IN INTERNAL QUESTION PAPER: 14 AUGUST 2009 (INTERNAL QUESTION PAPER NO 09)
809. Mr N J J v R Koornhof (Cope) to ask the Minister of Water and Environmental Affairs:
Whether her department has any plans in place to test the quality of water for cholera of all perennial rivers flowing into the Kruger National Park; if not, why not; if so, what are the relevant details?
REPLY:
Yes, My Department does monthly Water Quality testing in all perennial rivers flowing into the Kruger National Park.