the National Assembly
28 February 2007
Question number 1
Mr S E Kholwane African National Congress (ANC) to ask the Deputy
President:
(1) (a) What is the main purpose of the National Youth Service Volunteer
Campaign which was launched on 4 December 2006; (b) what are the key objectives
being pursued by this initiative and (c) how does this campaign relate to the
mandate of the National Youth Service (NYS).
(2) Whether this campaign will address the question of youth development and
training in relation to the objectives of the Joint Initiative on Priority
Skills Acquisition (JIPSA); if so, in what way?
Reply:
1(a). Honourable members let me start by explaining how the National Youth
Service Volunteer Campaign differs from the National Youth Service. The main
difference between the two initiatives is that the Volunteer Campaign is a
short intervention which aims to get young people to participate in volunteer
programmes during vocational holidays for example - engaging in developmental
community activities such as crime prevention, peer education, marine and
coastal management as well as support to orphans. In contrast the National
Youth Service Programme is a longer-term intervention running for between 12 to
18 months which includes accredited technical training, life skills training
and supervised community service.
(b) The key objectives of the Volunteers initiative are:
* to inculcate a civic responsibility culture amongst the youth in keeping
with the Accelerated and Shared Growth Initiative for South Africa (AsgiSA)
objective of creating caring and sharing communities
* to raise awareness and profile the National Youth Service Programme to foster
co-operation among national and community stakeholders partnered with
government departments
* it is our duty as government to demonstrate to everyone that, in our young
people, we have productive assets that need to be nurtured. The Volunteers
campaign gives us an opportunity to demonstrate this.
(c) The Volunteers Campaign which was launched in December is part of the
National Youth Service Programme. For the purpose of accountability and
reporting, the part-time volunteer activities have been separated from the
structured fulltime community service interventions. Whereas the structured
programmes are made up of accredited technical training, life skills training
and supervised community service, the part-time volunteer initiatives engage
youths during their spare time.
2. Honourable Kholwane, as the Volunteers Campaign is of such a short nature
there is not enough time to embark on substantial skills training beyond life
skills and career guidance. However it is from the pool of the volunteers that
participants for the National Youth Service programmes and other development
activities including Learnerships and co-operatives are recruited.
Question number 2
Dr S M van Dyk Democratic Alliance (DA) to ask the Deputy President:
Whether, in light of the World Bank's recent investment climate survey
findings as well as that of Grant Thornton regarding the high crime rate as a
constraint for further investment and growth (details furnished), she will add
crime as the seventh binding constraint to economic growth under the
Accelerated and Shared Growth Initiative for South Africa (AsgiSA); if not, why
not, if so, what measures will be implemented in order to deal with this
constraint?
Reply:
Honourable Members, crime is one of government's major focus areas. Its
reference goes beyond AsgiSA so it is not necessary to add it as a binding
constraint but what is required is to continue and intensify our fight against
crime.
As has already been announced, some of the measures that are to be
instituted are:
We will increase the number of police officers to over 180 000 over the next
three years. In this regard, a considerable number of the new recruits will be
deployed to prevent crime. The Information and Communications Technology (ICT)
based forensic science laboratory for processing DNA is to be augmented by the
establishment of another capacity in the Western Cape.
The capacity of the intelligence division of the police is being increased,
both in terms of the number of officers and in terms of enabling technical
infrastructure. The cluster intends sustaining measures intended to arrest and
prosecute repeat offenders, particularly those responsible for serious and
violent crimes. Similarly, operations to prevent crime at the places and the
times when it mostly occurs will be sustained. In this regard, government
particularly wants massively to reduce house burglaries. It is this particular
crime that visits terror on most people � the sense of insecurity people feel
in their homes.
Appropriate attention is being given to organised aggravated robberies that
target cash in transit heists, bank robberies and retail outlets. During the
recent period, the partnership with business proved invaluable in enabling
government to arrest and prosecute a large number of the criminals
concerned.
Operations of the police to protect our people in the public transport
sector � dealing with taxi violence and deploying police in trains and on train
stations � are to be sustained and improved. Similarly, operations targeted at
protecting the tourism industry are to be sustained.
Government is further intent on improving the functioning of the criminal
justice system. This relates to the need to reduce the backlog of cases pending
trial or finalisation, reducing case cycle times and generally making our
courts more efficient.
It is the intention of government to implement the above and other measures
� such as operations directed at confiscating and destroying illegal firearms
and dealing with illegal drugs and substance abuse.
Concerning all the above interventions, and where appropriate, government is
committed to working in partnership with communities and organs of civil
society. In this regard, the partnership with organised business and the
religious leaders, among others, will have a positive impact.
Question number 3
Mr A Mpontshane Inkatha Freedom Party (IFP) to ask the Deputy President:
Whether the Government has any programmes in place to meet its targets
regarding access to water, sanitation and electricity?
Reply:
Honourable Members, as you are aware, Government has set the following
targets with regard to the attainment of universal access to the following
basic services - water, sanitation and electricity namely:
* the eradication of bucket sanitation by the end of this year - 2007
* access to basic potable water by 2008
* access to basic decent sanitation by 2010
* and access to basic electricity by 2012.
Cabinet received a full report at the Cabinet Lekgotla last month and
discussed the mechanisms put in place in order to meet these targets.
In the limited time allowed to me to answer this question, let me just
detail some of the steps we are following to accelerate the provision of these
basic services and to meet the set targets.
Firstly, we have increased our transfers of funds to the local sphere of
government where these services are provided. Transfers to local government
have grown by 19 percent a year in the current 2007/08 Medium Term Expenditure
Framework (MTEF). As Honourable Members will recall, the Minister of Finance
announced in his Budget Speech last week that the local government equitable
share receives a further R5 billion for the delivery of free basic services,
which now reach an average of about 80 percent of households. The Municipal
Infrastructure Grant receives a R400 million more for a final push to eradicate
the bucket system; a further R600 million for the electrification programme;
R1,4 billion for bulk water and sanitation infrastructure and R950 million to
deliver water and electricity to schools and clinics. The total infrastructure
transfers to municipalities now total R52 billion over the next three
years.
Secondly in line with Project Consolidate, we are intensifying our efforts
to ensure that the expenditure levels of the Municipal Infrastructure Grant
improve significantly. The introduction of project and programme management
practices will enable a clear flow of information which will ensure alignment
of planning, funding and budget prioritisation.
Thirdly we are endeavouring to provide more support to municipalities with
critical capacity constraints and are in particular targeting municipalities
with limited or no capacity; rural municipalities with backlogs exceeding 60%
of the population; rural municipalities within project Consolidate and rural
municipalities that are spending less than 50% of the Municipal Infrastructure
Grant allocation. A major priority is schools and clinics which do not have
basic services. Government, through the Department of Water Affairs and
Forestry (DWAF), will assist struggling provinces and act as an implementing
agent to provide infrastructure to schools and clinics. Water Boards and
Non-Governmental Organisation (NGOs) will be utilised. Existing capacity within
the provinces will be enhanced and allocations for this programme will be
ring-fenced.
Fourthly we are endeavouring to ensure that more engineers are deployed to
these programmes by the Department of Provincial and Local Government and the
Development Bank of Southern Africa. Specifically, we are aiming at recruiting
more engineers, target those that are retired and solicit their expertise, and
in some cases solicit the expertise of engineers in our existing organs such as
the Industrial Development Corporation, the Development Bank of Southern
Africa, etc.
Lastly the Government through the Department of Water and Forestry will be
working closer with identified municipalities to ensure speedier implementation
of water and sanitation projects. This will include hands-on support to
municipalities; where possible direct involvement (implementation of programmes
and projects) of other government departments such as Water Affairs and
Forestry, and Provincial and Local Government.
Question number 4
Ms P R Mashangoane (ANC) to ask the Deputy President:
What steps will the Government take to ensure that the public servants, in
particular those in the main service delivery departments, are involved in the
implementation of the key principles of the Moral Regeneration Movement
(MRM)?
Reply:
As Honourable members are aware the Moral Regeneration Movement is a joint
initiative between civil society and government at national, provincial and
local levels. As far as national Government is concerned, some departments are
running programmes aimed at strengthening the moral fibre of our society.
However I believe that much more can be done and that greater effort is
needed.
Honourable Mashangoane, your question relates to what Government is doing to
ensure that its employees � the public servants - are imbibed with the
principles and values of the Moral Regeneration Movement. I think that this
Question is crucial because if public servants were imbibed with these
principles, they would not be involved in corruption or poor service delivery.
So clearly we have a problem in pockets of the civil service which we need to
address.
As Honourable Members are aware, all public practitioners in the departments
are governed by the Batho Pele principles which speak directly to issues of
morality.
Whilst the Department of Public Service and Administration has programmes on
Batho Pele which have the potential to strengthen the moral values of public
servants, we are expecting departments to provide reports on what they are
doing or planning to do to instil the values of the Moral Regeneration Movement
in the employees in their departments as part of Batho Pele and as required for
overall compliance. We will be in a position to give more detailed feedback to
this House once we have received these reports.
Honourable members, the most critical intervention that can be made in
strengthening the moral fibre of our society is by families, parents and
communities because it is here that the moral values of our young people are
being shaped. This responsibility cannot be shifted to other whether it be
schools, government or organised civil society. It is particularly families
that need to instil moral values at home. So we need parents to be critical
role players in the MRM.
I would therefore like to use this opportunity to urge parents and other
family heads to ensure that moral values are instilled in our children at home.
I trust that members of this Honourable House will also play their part in
their constituencies in supporting the efforts to ensure that this takes place
and for us as members to become a positive influence.
Enquiries:
Thabang Chiloane
Cell: 082 888 8783
Issued by: The Presidency
28 February 2007
