The Leader of the Opposition (DA) to ask the President of the Republic:
Which meetings were (a) scheduled for his planned trip to London in the United Kingdom on 27 October 2014 and (b) still to be scheduled at the time of the cancellation of the trip?
Reply:
The key engagements in London included the following on 27-28 October 2014;
- Keynote address at the 3rd innovaBRICS innovation conference
- A roundtable dinner with captains of commerce and industry
- Breakfast meeting with business community hosted by Brand SA and the South African Chamber of Business in the United Kingdom
- Roundtable discussion on infrastructure, energy and financing
- Meeting at the Royal Institute of International Affairs
All the meetings and interactions took place successfully. The country was ably represented by the following high level delegation;
- Minister in The Presidency for Planning, Monitoring, Evaluation and Administration, Dr Jeff Radebe
- Minister of Finance, Mr Nhlanhla Nene
- Minister of Trade and Industry, Dr Rob Davies
- Minister of Communications, Ms Faith Muthambi.
The visit by the Ministers was a success. The country's international marketing agency, Brand South Africa, has been a lead partner with innovaBRICS, a business networking forum, since its inception in 2012. The forum is an important marketing platform South Africa and Cabinet Ministers attend sessions on behalf of the country each year.
The visit helped to raise awareness levels and the understanding of the National Development Plan and our policies such as black economic empowerment including our new delivery model, Operation Phakisa aimed at cutting red tape in service delivery to fast-track the implementation of aspects of the National Development Plan.
There was enough time dedicated to conversations and unmediated dialogues with business which helped a great deal to spread the message that South Africa is open for business.
The Leader of the Opposition (DA) to ask the President of the Republic:
a) How many times since the beginning of 2013 did he, in his capacity as chairperson, attend meetings of the National Nuclear Energy Executive Coordination Committee, (b) (i) on what dates and (ii) at which venues were these meetings held and (c) what are the (i)names (ii) designations and (iii) nationalities of all the persons who attended the specified meeting? NW2798E
Reply:
I have attended and chaired the total number of five meetings of the National Nuclear Energy Executive Coordination Committee.
I was joined in the meetings by members of the committee: the Minister of Energy, Minister of Public Enterprises, Minister of Finance, Minister of State Security, Minister of Defence and Minister of International Relations and Cooperation.
Dr MJ Cardo (DA) to ask the President of the Republic:
a) How many monitoring visits did he undertake, b) which communities did he visit and c) what follow-up procedures were instituted to address the concerns of the specified communities in each calendar year since he launched the Presidential Siyahlola Monitoring Programme in 2012?
Reply:
I have undertaken 15 Siyahlola Presidential Monitoring Programme visits since the first visit on 6 June 2011 to two schools in Mdantsane and King William's Town in the Eastern Cape. The communities visited were from different provinces. In the 2011/12 financial year communities of Vhembe, Lebowakgomo, Mthatha and Maluti-A-Phofung municipality were visited.
In the 2012/13 financial year Ngobi village in the North West Province was visited, as well as Soweto, uMzimkhulu, Sweetwater in Gauteng, Nelspruit in Mpumalanga and Khayelitsha in the Western Cape.
In the 2013/14 financial year, communities of Eldorado Park in Gauteng, Muyexe village in Limpopo and uMthatha were visited. While in the 2014/15 financial year Port Elizabeth in the Eastern Cape and Giyani in Limpopo have been visited as part of Siyahlola Presidential Monitoring Programme. Many more communities have been visited to launch various infrastructure projects to provide essential services to citizens.
After each visit to a community, the Department of Planning, Monitoring and Evaluation in the Presidency, working together with relevant departments at a national, provincial and local level, meet on a quarterly basis to monitor the implementation of commitments made during visits and also ensure that matters raised by communities are attended to.
Mr G G Hill-Lewis (DA) to ask the President of the Republic:
How many times has he met with Ms Ellen Zandile Tshabalala in the past five years in (a) her capacity as member of the Broad Based Black Economic Empowerment Advisory Council and (b) any other official capacity.
Reply:
Ms Tshabalala was appointed in 2009 in terms of section 6 of the Black Economic Empowerment Act, Act no. 53 of 2003. The BEE Advisory Council (the "Council”) has held seven general meetings since inception until the 21st October 2014. Ms Tshabalala attended all the meetings. The meetings were chaired by either the President or the Minister of Trade and Industry in the absence of the President.
Ms Tshabalala is no longer a member of the BEE Advisory Council. Her term of office having expired at the end of October 2014.
