Oral Replies by Deputy President Shipokosa Paulus Mashatile in the National Assembly

QUESTION: On government plans to implement measures to combat criminal activities in construction industry.

REPLY BY DEPUTY PRESIDENT MASHATILE:

Honourable Acting Speaker,

On the 27th February 2024, indeed I did address the National Conference on the Review of the Integrated Criminal Justice System. At the conference I stressed the importance of the government working together with all sectors of society to fight organised crime and corruption. 

Similarly, I urged for collective action to tackle the intricate criminal web of construction site disruptions, which pose a threat to lives, and thereby hindering economic growth, and loss of jobs.

Furthermore, when delivering the 2022 State of the Nation Address, President Cyril Ramaphosa announced that government will establish specialised multi-disciplinary units to address economic sabotage, extortion at construction sites and vandalism of infrastructure.

To this end, the South African Police Service has established 20 Specialized Multi-disciplinary Economic Infrastructure Task Teams (EITTs) throughout the country, with 18 to be established at District level and two at Provincial level. The EITT’s are established to enhance existing interventions to safeguard economic infrastructure, with a particular focus on Eskom, Transnet, PRASA, water infrastructure and as well general socioeconomic infrastructure. 

Honourable Acting Speaker, 

With specification reference to the alleged “construction mafias” Government is working with the construction industry through the Infrastructure Built Anti-Corruption Forum (IBACF) to fight crime and corruption in the construction sector. The IBACF provides a platform for strategic interventions to protect the integrity of government Infrastructure Investment Plan through detection and prevention of corrupt activities in the construction sector.

As government, we are strengthening capacity for social facilitation to manage community expectations, fight criminality in construction and other strategic sectors of our economy.

In this regard, the Department of Public Works and Infrastructure is piloting the Social Facilitation Framework which was approved by Cabinet on 12 May 2021 to ensure public participation, community involvement and local beneficiation on construction projects. 
 
I encourage South Africans to report any unlawful conduct, such as threats of violence or extortion and destruction of infrastructure that may lead to stoppages of projects to the SAPS and other law enforcement agencies. 

Together, we can do more to fight organised crime and corruption for economic growth and prosperity of our country.

I thank you.

QUESTION: On key interventions that the Justice, Crime Prevention and Security Cluster is planning to implement in order to  combat the prevailing high levels of crime in the country.

REPLY BY DEPUTY PRESIDENT:

Honourable Acting Speaker,

Fighting crime and corruption remains a top priority for the ANC-led government. We continue to implement measures to strengthen the criminal justice system, including providing support to the National Prosecuting Authority.

Hence Cabinet has adopted the Integrated Crime and Violence Prevention Strategy (ICVPS) in March 2022, which represents a “whole of government” and “whole of society” approach to addressing crime and violence.

In this regard, the South African Police Service has also developed the Increased Crime Prevention and Combating Action Plan (ICPCAP), which has been incorporated into the National Policing Strategy (NPS), which seeks to give effect to government’s commitment towards using an inclusive approach to addressing crime and violence.

The ICPCAP includes the implementation of weekly, intelligence-led high-density operations, within all prioritised station precincts, which is referred to as Operation Shanela. The Ministry of Police monitors progress through Operation Shanela, aiming to reduce violent crime and improve community safety by enhancing a multi-disciplinary approach to criminal activities.

To this end, on the 5th December 2023, this House passed the National Prosecuting Authority Amendment Bill, which, when passed by Parliament, will amend the National Prosecuting Authority Act, 1998, and provide, among others, for the establishment of an Investigating Directorate against Corruption (IDAC) as a permanent entity within the NPA. 

Honourable Acting Speaker,

We have also enacted the Prevention and Combating of Corrupt Activities Act of 2004 which enhances measures to prevent and combat corruption in both the public and private sectors. 

Furthermore, in May 2020, the Anti-Corruption Task Team (ACTT) and the National Priority Committee on Organised Crime (NPCOC) established the Fusion Centre as a multi-disciplinary and collaborative effort by all corruption-fighting agencies that are actively involved in the prevention and combating of corruption.

We remain determined to intensify our efforts to fight crime, and root out corruption, and all its causes. We do so guided by the fact that we are a constitutional democracy, and do not interfere with the constitutional mandate and laws governing the work of our law enforcement agencies. 

We expect all political parties, non-governmental organisations (NGOs) and all sectors of our society to do the same.

I thank you.    

QUESTION: On partnerships between government and business in strengthening economic recovery and creating job opportunities. 

REPLY BY DEPUTY PRESIDENT:

Honourable Acting Speaker,

We are building a developmental state that has the capacity to redirect and manage resources towards resolving the challenges of poverty, unemployment and inequality. We equally believe that we need the whole of society and including the private sector to realise a society wherein we have reduced poverty and unemployment and moved towards a more equal society.

We equally believe that government and the private sector should work together to grow the economy and create employment hence we have strengthened social compacts on the various sectors of the economy. 

During my address at the 7th Annual Solutions Exchange Conference on the 12th October 2023, I emphasised the significance of fostering effective collaboration between various stakeholders.

I further emphasised that government remains committed to increasing private sector investment to promote job creation and building on the existing partnership between business and government to strengthen economic recovery that can create jobs in the network industries, that includes the energy, transport, and logistics sectors among the eleven sectors of our economy.

Equally, I stressed the importance of encouraging self-employment and entrepreneurship. Hence as government we continue to play a leading role in fostering growth by creating jobs through various means beyond the public service, and this includes supporting Small, Medium and Micro Enterprises (SMMEs) through public procurement especially in the State Owned Enterprises (SOEs).

We have also recognised that while we support economic recovery, government should continue to support the creation of short-term employment hence we have programmes such as the Presidential Employment Stimulus (PES), the Presidential Youth Employment Intervention (PYEI), and the Expanded Public Works Programme (EPWP) among others. 

The PES and PYEI have been a major success, as they managed to create over 1.7 million work and livelihood opportunities, including School Assistant positions in 23,000 schools throughout the country.

Furthermore, the SA Youth.mobi, a zero-rated platform, has engaged over 4.3 million young people and secured 1.27 million opportunities for them. Young people took up more than 84 per cent of the 1.27 million opportunities created, with women accounting for 64 per cent. 

The ANC-led government is committed to forge ahead with long term partnerships across all sectors to pave the path for a dynamic, competitive, fast-growing economy capable of competing with the best in the world while producing much-needed jobs.

I Thank You.

QUESTION: On the impact of government interventions in putting an end to the HIV/AIDS epidemic.

REPLY BY DEPUTY PRESIDENT:

Honourable Acting Speaker,

Last year, we launched the revised National Strategic Plan for HIV, TB and STIs for the period 2023 – 2028. The new NSP is a blueprint and roadmap for a multi-sectoral and people-centred approach to eliminate HIV, TB and STIs as public health threats by 2030.

Through the South African National AIDS Council (SANAC), we have implemented various interventions that have had a significant impact in addressing the challenge of HIV. 

These interventions include HIV testing services through our “Cheka Impilo” Wellness Campaign, Anti-retroviral Therapy provision, distribution of condoms, Voluntary Medical Male Circumcision programme, psycho-social support services to individuals affected by HIV, and programmes to address stigma and discrimination.

South Africa is dealing with co-infection of HIV and TB, and therefore, our interventions also focus on dealing with the TB epidemic. 

In this regard, we are implementing a TB Recovery Plan, to find undiagnosed people with TB; strengthen linkage to TB treatment; strengthen retention in care; as well as strengthening the efforts to prevent the disease. Collectively, these interventions have resulted in a continuous decline in new HIV infections in the country. In 2022, there was an estimated 164,000 new HIV infections, and this number has dropped to 146,784 new HIV infections in 2023.

Our performance towards the attainment of the UNAIDS targets of 95-95-95 is gaining momentum and the country is currently on 95-79-93. This means that 95 percent of people living with HIV know their status; 79 percent of those who know their status are on treatment; and 93 percent of those on treatment have suppressed viral loads.

On World AIDS Day, last year, we also launched the South African Chapter of the Global Alliance on Ending AIDS in Children by 2030, which will help to prevent new infections and improve treatment outcomes among children and adolescents.

As a country, we have nearly eliminated mother-to-child transmission of HIV. To ensure easy access to treatment and to foster retention in care, the Department of Health is implementing a system where clients can collect their medication at various external pick-up points, and not only at health facilities.
Linked to this innovation, is the multi-month dispensing of medication, which reduces the number of frequency of visits to health facilities by clients. These differentiated models of care also serve to decongest health facilities.

In addition to these interventions, the country is working with academic and research institutions in an endeavour to eventually find a cure for HIV, despite it being a complex process.
We continue to educate and sensitise communities against stigma and discrimination, which have been proven to be barriers in accessing treatment and health-seeking behaviour by our communities.

Honourable Acting Speaker,

Earlier this week, on Sunday, 24 March 2024, under the auspices of SANAC, we launched the Situation Room, which is a state-of-the-art data consolidation and visualisation hub built at the SANAC offices in Pretoria.

This platform can be accessed virtually from anywhere in the world. This is one other measure that will further strengthen our response through evidence-based decision making. 

We will continue to ensure that communities are at the centre of our interventions, because it is communities themselves who must play a leadership role in the sustainability of our HIV response programmes.

I thank you.

QUESTION: On the role of the Leader of Government Business in strengthening executive accountability to Parliament.  

REPLY BY DEPUTY PRESIDENT:

Honourable Acting Speaker,

Since I assumed my responsibility as the Leader of Government Business (LoGB), I have been working very well with the Presiding Officers of Parliament to ensure that Cabinet Ministers attend to their constitutional responsibilities to Parliament.

This is because Section 92 of the Constitution stipulates that Members of Cabinet are accountable collectively and individually to Parliament for the exercise of their powers and the performance of their functions. The collective responsibility of Cabinet implies that Ministers are jointly responsible for the conduct of government, and must fully account to Parliament as provided by the constitution.

Hence in my capacity as the LoGB I report to Cabinet on the status of unanswered questions for oral and written reply in the National Assembly and the NCOP, amongst other matters. This is one of the most effective tools we are utilising to hold individual Cabinet Ministers to account.

Through this mechanism, Cabinet Ministers with more than ten outstanding Parliamentary questions are required to inform the LOGB in writing about:

• The reasons for the Unanswered Questions; and
• Remedial actions to be taken to address this matter.

In September 2021, the Rules Committee of this August House adopted the new Mechanisms on Delayed Replies to Parliamentary Questions. Amongst other things, the adopted mechanisms enable the Speaker to write to affected Cabinet Ministers, on a quarterly basis, requesting reasons for failure to meet the deadlines of all questions that are late or not replied to.

Furthermore, the Speaker writes to the Leader of Government Business, informing us about outstanding replies and correspondence sent to the affected Ministers. As a last resort, the Speaker may escalate the matter of unanswered Parliamentary questions, through a formal complaint to the President.

Through the enforcement of these, and other mechanisms, we have observed a tremendous decline on the number of lapsed questions where only one question lapsed in the National Assembly during the 2023 Parliamentary session as compared to 83 lapsed questions in 2022.

Moving forward, we will continue to encourage Cabinet Ministers, not only to respond to Parliamentary questions within stipulated timeframes, but to ensure that the responses are based on commitments made through Government policies, Cabinet decisions, Departmental Strategic Plans, Annual Performance Plans (APPs), Budgets, and to ensure that responses adequately address the genuine concerns of the people.

I thank you.    

QUESTION: On government rapid response nterventions to address service delivery hotspots in the country.

REPLY BY DEPUTY PRESIDENT:

Honourable Acting Speaker,

The Department of Water and Sanitation is intervening in municipalities experiencing water challenges. The Ministry of Water and Sanitation continues to mobilise Water Boards to assist affected municipalities to implement improvement plans.

In Moqhaka Municipality, the Department of Water (and Sanitation) is implementing phase 2 of the project which commenced in April 2023. On completion, this project will enable the Kroonstad Water Waste Treatment Plant to function optimally, thus prevent pollution of the Vaal River. The anticipated completion date is 15 December 2024.

Honourable Acting Speaker,

Government continues to support municipalities to address water infrastructure backlogs through Regional Bulk Infrastructure Grant (RBIG) and the Water Services Infrastructure Grant (WSIG).

During the 2023/2024 financial year, the Department of Water and Sanitation allocated R10.1 billion to municipalities through the Regional Bulk Infrastructure Grant (RBIG) and R4.6 billion through the Water Services Infrastructure Grant (WSIG).

 An additional budget of R1.4 Billion has been allocated under the Municipal Disaster Recovery Grant for the 2024/2025 financial year, to fund the repair and reconstruction of the municipal infrastructure damaged by floods in 2023.

As part of our outreach programme, we continue to visit communities around the country to assess service delivery challenges with an aim of finding lasting solutions, particularly with regard to upgrades of water infrastructure, and provision of basic services to the people.

I thank you.