Deputy President David Mabuza Questions for Oral Reply in the National Council of Provinces in Parliament, Cape Town
Employment of one million persons
Mr S J Mohai (Free State: ANC) to ask the Deputy President:
(1)Whether the Government is meeting the targets that are set to ensure that Community Works Programme (CWP) employs one million persons by 2019; if not, why not; if so, (a) what progress has been made thus far and (b) what impact is the CWP making in assisting government’s initiatives to create jobs for our people, especially the youth and women who form a bigger part of our unemployment;
(2)whether there are any plans to expand CWP as a strategic employment safety-net, especially for the youth, women, the poor and downtrodden; if not, why not; if so, (a) what plans and (b) what are the further relevant details?
Reply
The Community Work Programme is designed to alleviate poverty through the provision of work opportunities for poor and unemployed people, who are living in socio-economically depressed urban and rural areas including those under traditional authorities. The programme forms part of the broad Public Employment Programme that is coordinated by the Department of Public Works.
The CWP has provided 729 257 work opportunities over the MTEF period. The programme has a footprint in all local and metropolitan municipalities and is being implemented in 226 sites. As at end of March 2018, the female participation rate in CWP stands at 78%, far above the set target of 55%, and the youth participation rate at 37%.
The contribution of CWP is in various sectors like agriculture, which include the maintenance of community food gardens in schools, clinics, early childhood development centres and communal lands. The produce harvested from the community gardens helped feed the elderly as well as orphaned and vulnerable children.
The second most common work output is in the environmental and community services sectors where public spaces and facilities were cleaned or maintained such as schools, hospitals, sports fields, grave yards and parks. Illegal dumping sites were cleared and recycling projects were undertaken at some of the sites. Blocked storm water drainage systems were unblocked, thus preventing potential flooding and saving lives.
For as long as our economy is not generating sufficient number of jobs to absorb the majority of the poor and unemployed, government will continue to create work opportunities for the unemployed especially the youth and women.
We are currently working on reconfiguration of our anti-poverty programme in order to improve better coordination, integration and synergies. Poor coordination and monitoring sometimes undermines the impact of this programme. The extent of upscaling this programme, will be informed by the available budget.
I thank you.
Discussions with Russian Government
Ms B A Engelbrecht (Gauteng: DA) to ask the Deputy President:
(1)What was discussed with (a) President Vladimir Putin and (b) the Russian Government regarding the nuclear deal when he visited Russia recently;
(2) Whether any current and/or future agreements were made regarding nuclear power; if not, what is the position in this regard; if so, what are the relevant details? CO363E
Reply
The Honourable Member may be having certain ideas flowing from another meeting, which is not the one that I had during our Working Visit to the Russian Federation.
The purpose of our Working Visit to Russia as appointed by the President, was to deliver South Africa’s message of congratulations to President Vladimir Putin on his re-election as well as his subsequent inauguration. We would recall that President Ramaphosa could not attend due to prior commitments.
We held a meeting with the Russian Minister of Foreign Affairs, who was assigned by the President for that meeting. In our discussions, we renewed South Africa’s commitment to further develop the good relationship with Russia guided by the 2013 Joint Declaration on Strategic Partnership. We further discussed the importance of the implementation of the provisions of the Declaration especially pertaining to the annual Political Consultations by Foreign Ministers and the biennial consultations at President’s level.
In those engagements, we expressed South Africa’s appreciation that Russia accepted the proposed dates to host the South Africa-Russia 15th ITEC Session in Moscow. Through that forum, we foster economic relations and strengthen strategic relationship between the two countries.
We also discussed the state of readiness of South Africa to host the 10th BRICS Summit of Heads of State in Johannesburg.
The final issue we discussed was reforms of the United Nations. We enlisted the support of the Russian government for South Africa’s candidature for the non-permanent seat in the United Nations Security Council. The Honourable Members would be aware that South Africa was overwhelmingly voted into the UN Security Council.
In all the issues I have referred to above, there is no mention of nuclear. As no discussions regarding the so called nuclear deal were held, no reference was made about any current and or future agreements. Having said that, our government’s position on nuclear remains that it is part of our energy mix to diversify our sources of energy. Our Integrated Resource Plan to be concluded later in the year, will determine the role of nuclear in that mix.
Thank you very much.
Persons employed through EPWP
Mr M M Chabangu (Free State: EFF) to ask the Deputy President:
What action has been taken to ensure that persons who are employed through the Expanded Public Works Programme are hired on a fair and equal basis (details furnished)?
Reply
Concerns regarding the recruitment of the Expanded Public Works Programme (EPWP) participants have been raised previously. There have been some accusations levelled against political parties on unfair recruitment processes. Let me categorically state that the abuse of recruitment of EPWP participants for narrow party political, factional, or individual reasons is unethical and unacceptable, irrespective of party-political affiliation of those involved.
In response to the concerns raised, the Department of Public Works and all other key role players, has developed the EPWP Recruitment Guidelines which were approved by the Minister of Labour in December 2017. These Guidelines are to be used by all the EPWP employing government departments to ensure the recruitment of the EPWP participants is undertaken in a fair, transparent and equitable manner; whilst also ensuring that the EPWP targeted groups are reached.
These Recruitment Guidelines have been widely workshopped with and distributed to implementing bodies, and they are also posted on the EPWP website. To follow up on this, the Minister of Public Works will on the 28 June 2018 promote the EPWP Recruitment Guidelines in KwaZulu-Natal. This will be followed by provincial roadshows to further raise awareness of these guidelines.
Where they are well-run, EPWP programs have demonstrated a clear ability to help build social cohesion in poor communities. Partisan recruitment, if and when it occurs, undermines this critical endeavor.
We do, of course, need to be aware that in communities in which there are high levels of unemployment and in which EPWP work opportunities will not be available to all, there might be an unfair impression that exclusion has been based on party political or other grounds. That is why recruitment should always occur in a transparent manner that can be verified by the community at large. This is what the Recruitment Guidelines seek to promote.
In the event that there are cases where the recruitment of EPWP participants is not undertaken in a fair, transparent and equitable manner, Members of Parliament and the broader public are requested to report this information, particularly to the Department of Public Works for further investigations.
Thank you very much.
10. Ms Z V Ncitha (Eastern Cape: ANC) to ask the Deputy President:
Whether the Government is making any progress in using the existing programmes like Operation Phakisa and other land reform initiatives (details furnished) in order to ensure the return of land to labour tenants and farm dwellers; if not, why not; if so, what are the relevant details? CO366E
Reply
The Department of Rural Development and Land Reform in partnership with the Department of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries hosted an Operation Phakisa on Agriculture and Land Reform which was launched by the President on 24 February 2017.
The Smart Agri-Villages and the Accelerated Land Redistribution and Development Initiatives are some of the initiatives prioritised by the Operation Phakisa to address the plight of labour tenants and farm dwellers. These Departments have engaged with different stakeholders to solicit their commitment and participation in the implementation of these initiatives.
Through Accelerated Land Redistribution Development Initiatives, Government will acquire agricultural land to promote smallholder production of high value horticulture and small livestock farming within 10 to 60 km rural service areas, rural towns and peri-urban areas across South Africa.
This includes the development of serviced land and provision of bulk infrastructure services in conjunction with local municipalities, commercial banks, development finance institutions and private sector land developers. The Department of Rural Development and Land Reform is piloting the Accelerated Land Redistribution Development Initiatives in 54 farms over the next three years.
With regards to Smart Agri-Villages, Operation Phakisa initiated an integrated, holistic and coordinated on or off “Farm Worker House Ownership Plan” based on a partnership between farmers, farm workers and the state. This partnership will seek to secure title deeds for farm workers in houses and on land that they own. It will be complemented by the provision of basic public infrastructure and services to create sustainable human settlements.
The partners are presently conducting research to develop best practice models for facilitation of land transfer for construction of SMART villages and housing for the benefit of farm dwellers and labour tenants.
In addition, The Department of Rural Development and Land Reform has prioritised the settlement of 8500 labour tenant applications for land acquisition, and award of 28,000 hectares of land to farm dwellers and labour tenants; and will settle 3369 land restitution claims.
Whereas government is making progress within the existing framework to address land reform, we do acknowledge that it is not enough. That is why, the Report of the High Level Panel on the Assessment of Key Legislation and the Acceleration of Fundamental Change, recommended slight amendments to the Extension of Security Tenure Act (ESTA) and the Labour Tenants Act (LTA). These amendments included a special focus on their redistributive aspects in order to address land ownership for labour tenants and farm dwellers.
Thank you very much.
Introduction of draft Communal Land Tenure Bill
11. Ms C Labuschagne (Western Cape: DA) to ask the Deputy President:
In light of his remarks in the National Assembly on 29 May 2018 regarding the introduction of a draft Communal Land Tenure Bill, what steps will the Government take to provide direct ownership of land to communal residents who have insecure rights?
Reply
The Honourable Member should remember that Communal land refers to land inhabited by African communities in former homelands, which according to apartheid laws could not be registered in the South African native’s name and continues to be held by the State in the democratic era.
Let me restate that land in traditional communities, belongs to the people. Therefore, the objective of the Communal Land Bill is to clarify in detail, how security of tenure is addressed and to remove any confusion around land ownership and use as prescribed under customary law.
However, there has been a distortion of customary law that at times affect security of tenure of people living in communal land. To address this, the Department of Rural Development and Land Reform has published the Communal Land Tenure Bill for public comment.
The Bill provides for the transfer of ownership of communal land to communities that occupy such land. It further provides for the transfer of ownership of residential portions that are currently occupied by community members to such community members. It is therefore envisaged under this Bill that communities will have tittle deeds for their communal land, and members of communities will have title deeds for their residential and business portions.
The process of soliciting public comments has been concluded. The Department is currently considering all comments put forward as we work towards the finalisation of the Bill. It would thus be premature to speculate on the outcomes this process.
Thank you very much.
Engagements between Government/HRDC
12. Dr H E Mateme (Limpopo: ANC) to ask the Deputy President:
Whether there are any engagements between the Government and the Human Resource Development Council of South Africa to look at leveraging potential economic benefits of the 4th Industrial Revolution, especially in assisting with government efforts to rebuild and reengineer the economy in order to create more work opportunities (details furnished); if not, why not; if so, what are the relevant details?
Reply
On 10-11 May this year, we hosted a third Human Resource Development Council Summit that was attended by similar institutions from elsewhere in the region with an intention to develop new networks, strengthen existing partnerships, and share the latest lessons on how through education and skills transfer, we can transform our economies in light of emerging trends in global economy especially the implications of what is termed as the Fourth Industrial Revolution.
At that Summit, a point was made that the pace of change over the last few years has largely been shaped by technological disruption and innovation. These disruptions have an equal impact on the current set of jobs in the market. This means that as we continue to focus on skills development, we must bear in mind that even jobs that were considered as vocational, are now becoming high tech and require specialised knowledge and skills.
This reality suggests that digital disruption will impact on how we do things. Therefore, as South Africa we need to embrace this global trend or risk becoming less competitive on the global stage. As part of this embrace, our training and skills development must be accelerated to keep up with the pace of change.
For our part as government, the Department of Science and Technology is currently investing in the technological building blocks of this revolution. To this effect, it will develop a public-funded science, technology and innovation plan of action over the next 12-18 months for socio-economic impact in the context of this revolution.
Through smart investments in research and development, the Department of Science and Technology is supporting South African industry to grow and create more jobs through building scientific, technological and knowledge-based capabilities.
We need a private sector that is engaged so that as a country, we can unlock the full potential of education and training sector. Future value creation lies in humans and machines working together to create new user experiences, new products, new services, and new possibilities.
We must therefore put relevant programmes in place to develop the necessary skills through rethinking education systems and incentivising lifelong learning. This is why investment in early childhood development is critical.
For its part, the Human Resource Development Council has held roadshows to create awareness regarding the HRD Strategy towards 2030 with various structures, including the Provincial Human Resource Development Forums, Provincial Human Resource Development Councils, Provincial Skills Development Forums, Public Sector Trainers Forum; and Human Resource Development Provincial Coordination forums.
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