13. The Leader of the Opposition (DA) to ask the Deputy President:
(1)(a) Who is the chairperson of the National Nuclear Energy Executive Coordination Committee and (b) what is the said committee's full mandate;
(2)whether the committee's mandate includes a full range of financial options for the intended programme; if not, why not; if so, what are the relevant details;
(3)whether the committee intends to refrain from procuring new power stations if the procurement is deemed cost-prohibitive; if not, on what grounds; if so, what are the relevant details?NO4349E
Reply:
Honourable Member, Cabinet recently approved the establishment of the National Nuclear Energy Executive Coordination Committee with broad terms of reference that are being refined by the Energy Ministry following due consultation with all relevant stakeholders. Membership and chairing of the Committee will be finalised along with these terms of reference.
I thank you.
14. Mr Z C Ntuli (ANC) to ask the Deputy President:
Whether departments are complying with the President's announcement in his state of the nation address that all funded vacant posts would be filled, if not, what (a) are the challenges in this regard and (b) what is the way forward?NO4261E
Reply:
In order to monitor the implementation of the President’s announcement in the State of the Nation Address, the Department of Performance Monitoring and Evaluation used an average unit cost calculation to derive funded vacancies based on unspent personnel budgets at the end of the financial year.
These calculations done by the Department of Performance Monitoring and Evaluation show that for national departments there were approximately 9 000 funded vacant posts at the end of March this year. Thus, the average rate of vacant funded posts was 2.6% by the end of the 1st quarter of 2011. This is encouraging considering that for the same period last year; the average rate was close to 4%.
Furthermore, based on average unit cost calculations, the Department of Performance Monitoring and Evaluation estimated that there is less than 1% of the total number of funded posts at provincial level at the end of March 2011.
However, the Honourable Member should note that behind these averages lie some worrying variations which need to be addressed. There are also economy-wide challenges that affect government’s ability to fill funded vacant posts. Among the key challenges experienced, departments have cited the difficulty of convening selection committees, particularly for posts at the top management level, often leading to lengthy selection processes.
They have also indicated that some of the posts involving critical skills such as financial management and engineering often have to be re-advertised, pointing to difficulties in attracting qualified candidates.
Going forward, the Departments of Performance Monitoring and Evaluation as well as Public Service and Administration have assured Cabinet that they will continue to closely monitor the situation and where possible, recommend measures that departments can employ to speed up processes.
In addition, Government continues to prioritise developing critical skills through targeted training programmes.
I thank you.
15. Mr D D van Rooyen (ANC) to ask the Deputy President:
What role will the Government play in the short- and long-term measures that are necessary to deal with the challenge of (a) slowing international economic growth and (b) the (i) implications and (ii) impact of the eurozone debt crisis with regard to the South and the Southern African economies?NO4352E
Reply:
Honourable Member, the economic slowdown in the Eurozone reduces the demand for South Africa’s exports, since Europe is one of our major trading partners. Slowing global growth also raises the prospects of weaker commodity prices and constrained government revenue. Increased risk perceptions and financial market turbulence will raise uncertainty and reduce investor risk appetite contributing to greater volatility of international capital flows and emerging market currencies, including the Rand.
This raises the potential for large-scale capital outflows and currency depreciations. There is also a risk of increased trade protectionism following a global slowdown as countries attempt to protect their own interests. This would further reduce global growth and could harm South Africa’s exports even more.
South Africa’s direct economic exposure to those countries at the epicentre of the current market turmoil is reasonably low. Although, the European Union is South Africa’s biggest trading partner, exports to Portugal, Ireland, Italy, Greece and Spain, constitute just 5 per cent of the total.
Our financial system remains relatively well insulated from the current turmoil with little exposure to foreign funding. Foreign funding accounts for only 5 per cent of overall bank funding – a small proportion by international standards.
To date, the impact on South Africa has been primarily through falling business and consumer confidence and financial market variables such as capital flows and the exchange rate.
The Medium Term Budget Policy Statement proposed an economic support package of R25 billion over the next six years to boost competiveness and promote structural change. This initiative will build on several broader programmes to support growth and employment.
The South African government will continue to:
1. Call upon European governments and authorities to act more decisively to build the necessary “firewalls” to prevent the contagion spreading even further and creating increased uncertainty and economic decline across the globe,
2. Make endeavours to diversify our trading partners and work with our businesses to promote exports to other parts of the world, and
3. Implement rigorously the plans outlines above to bolster the prospects of growth and job creation.
I thank you.
16. Mr A Watson (DA) to ask the Deputy President:
(1)Whether he has taken any action in respect of any Minister who failed to answer oral and written parliamentary questions (a) within 10 working days and (b) before the question lapses at the end of an annual session; if not, why not, in each case; if so, in each case, (i) in respect of which Minister and (ii) what action;
(2)what corrective steps have been taken to ensure that all parliamentary questions are answered (a) within 10 working days and (b) completely;
(3)whether he intends to ensure that all parliamentary questions to the executive are answered before the end of the annual session; if not, what is the position in this regard; if so, what are the relevant details?NO4350E
Reply:
Honourable Member, allow me to start by clarifying one aspect upon which your Question seems to be based.
As you should be aware the Rules of the National Assembly do not specifically require that Written Questions must be answered within 10 working days. What Rule 117 (1) does state is that a Member may request that a Question for Written Reply be placed on the Order Paper for Oral Reply if it is not answered within 10 working days.
For some reason this provision has not been used much in the past, but I notice that today this Rule is being used as there are a number of Written Questions that have been transferred as Questions for Oral Reply.
As I have stated on a number of occasions in this House, Cabinet is committed to meeting its Constitutional requirements of accountability to Parliament. Reports are given at each Cabinet meeting and Ministers are urged to answer timeously their Parliamentary Questions.
I am informed that the procedure followed regarding Questions in this Parliament is similar to other Parliaments in the Westminster tradition, namely that there is no penalty for Ministers not answering Questions although some Parliaments do require an explanation if a Question is not answered for some time.
As I have repeatedly stated, it is up to this House, not the Executive to decide whether the Parliamentary Rules need to be amended to make similar provisions.
I would like to highlight that sometimes the information that a Member requests requires a lot of preparation. In this regard I would like to draw your attention to a specific example of a Question by the Honourable Farrow to the Minister of Transport which appears on today’s Order Paper as Question Number 78. In order to prepare a Reply, the Minister has to go through all these files.
Furthermore, sometimes the information that is being asked of the Executive is freely available in annual reports or other documents already before this House, and at some other times Questions are asked about Provincial matters for which the Minster has no responsibility. For example, Questions about conditions in a school regarding teachers, or the situation prevailing at a Provincial hospital are not the responsibility of the national sphere of government but of the provincial sphere and should therefore be asked to the MEC in the relevant legislature.
I thank you.
Reference Note for second last paragraph
(■78. Mr S B Farrow (DA) to ask the Minister of Transport: [Written Question No 2828]
(1) With reference to his reply to question 1720 on 10 August 2011, (a) what international trips were undertaken which resulted in an expenditure of R9,098,761 in the 2010-11 financial year, (b) what was the purpose of the trips and (c) which (i) staff members and (ii) other officials travelled on these trips;
(2) what was the reason for the increase in budget allocation towards (a) Transport: Vehicles from R3, 824,897 in the 2009-10 financial year to R5,099,675 in the 2010-11 financial year and (b) Advertisements from R24,000 in the 2009-10 financial year to R1,022,221 in the 2010-11 financial year? NW3294E).
