ANSWERS TO QUESTION PAPER FOR ORAL REPLY BY PREMIER, THABANG MAKWETLA

12 September 2006

•  Does the Premier feel that it is unacceptable for municipalities to have to write of money owed to them by provincial government departments as ‘bad debt'?

The Premier is not in favour of writing off debts since they are Revenue Assets of the Municipality and this practice undermines the capacity of Municipalities to drive their development agendas.

The critical issue is that strong credit control policies and debt collection mechanisms are put in place to reduce the incidence of irrecoverable debts by municipalities in the province.

The Exco resolution requires all Departments to pay these debts, except in instances where there is insufficient information to comply with the PFMA in doing so. In these instances affected Departments have requested such information from municipalities.

2. Subsequent to the launch of ASGISA, the government through the office of the Deputy President, Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka has launched the Joint Initiative For Priority Skills Acquisition (JIPSA):

How will our Province benefit from such an initiative?

Through the Office of the Premier a funding proposal for development of scarce skills has been developed with the National Department of Labour. It has been submitted to DOL and we are awaiting final approval for the amount of R20m –R100m.

The project (called “Vula Matfuba”) has the following objectives:

•  To provide learning and employment opportunities for the unemployed, underemployed, people with disabilities, youth, unemployed graduates and women ( as per N SDS II & MPGDS ).

•  To bridge the gap between labour supply and demand for both scarce and critical skills across the growth sectors in the province.

•  The project will focus on 5 programmes which comprise training in the areas of agriculture, artisanal skills, engineering, tourism and EPWP. The training will be provided through Learnerships, Skills Programs, Bursaries, Internships and experiential training.

The plan is to align the unemployed graduates to available opportunities provided by NSF projects, bursaries for further study or retraining, Internships & experiential learning, Leanerships and Skills Programs.

In terms of data provided by the Mpumalanga Department of Education in 2004, we have 1197 unemployed graduates. This includes graduates with Certificates, Diplomas and Degrees. It must be indicated that this information is 2 years old and may have changed.

3. Mpumalanga Province has been awaiting the launch of the National Institute for Higher Education by the Provincial Government after it was agreed that it cannot launch a fully fleshed University:

Has the National Institute for Higher Education been launched as per the government plan?

The National Institute for Higher Education has not been launched as yet. It is going to be launched on the 21 st October 2006. Minister Naledi Pandor and I will attend the launch.

The National Minister had to finalize the process of appointing Board members, hence the delay. The board has now been appointed and the launch will take place on 21 October.

The consultative process started as far back as 2002 when the National Ministry of Education consulted stakeholders through a Working Group, under the chairmanship of Mr James Maseko.

In 2003 a follow-up round of consultations took place under the leadership of Prof NV Magi.

In 2004 a consultative meeting was held with South African Student's Congress (SASCO), Congress of SA Students (COSAS), South African Democratic Teachers Union (SADTU), National Union of Educators (NUE), Professional Educators Union (PEU), Suid Afrikaanse Onderwys Unie (SAOU) and Association of School Governing Bodies (ASGB). Their inputs were forwarded to the Minister of Education.

4.Do we have activities organized by our Provincial government to commemorate the 20 th Anniversary of Samora Machel?

Yes, a number of activities have been organized, including:

•  A media launch on 29 September coinciding with the programme launch and the birth date of the Late President Samora Machel. This will take place at the Monument site.

•  The Mbuzini Community Library will be officially opened by the National Minister and the MEC on 6 October 2006. This is the legacy project.

•  A new information website has been developed and has been operational and updated since 31 August 2006. The address is: www.samoramachel.info .

•  A book exhibition of books received by Madiba on African leaders and history will begin at the library at Mbuzini on the 6 October 2006.

•  A sculpture of the late President will be unveiled during the commemorations.

•  A commemorative booklet and an article in the Roots Africa Publication will pay tribute to the tragedy and give some history on the event and those who were involved.

•  There would also be Radio and television interviews on the history of the events and the commemoration events planned.

•  There will be a wreath laying ceremony as part of the commemorative event on 19 October 2006. During this time the Mozambicans will be running a programme in their country and have indicated that events will culminate with the commemorations on 19 October 2006 in SA.

•  The media and publicity strategy includes print and electronic media with media releases and articles in the print media and adverts and interviews on both Radio and television. Some of this has already begun and will reach a climax from the 8 th to the 19 th October 2006.

•  While the Mayor, the municipality and the Traditional Council represented by the Chief were consulted on the Project before it commenced, the perception is that this information did not adequately reach the ordinary person in the community.

•  Work had commenced on the site and there was uncertainty as to whether local residents will be used as a source of labor for the project.

The Ward Councilor a member of the CDW and the Chief or his representative sit as permanent members of the Project Steering Committee as well as the Site Committee.

•  A Community Liaison Person (CLO) has been appointed since the commencement of the project.

•  Needs of the Contractor with regards to labour and that of the communities are reconciled via these structures and individuals.

•  Local sub- contractors have been employed to do brick work, paving, fencing and water connections.

•  In excess of 140 local people have been employed by the contractor and sub contractors since the mass earth works (usually done by Machines) commenced.

•  It is also expected that the events management companies will also be using both skilled and unskilled labour resources from the community as the preparations for the commemorations and opening of the Library unfolds.

•  A community meeting was held at the offices of the Traditional Council for the community. The MEC for Culture, Sport and Recreation, the Mayor of the Nkomazi Municipality as well as the Chief all addressed the community members. After deliberations, questions and clarities were given. The community expressed their appreciation for the project and gave it a full “Go Ahead”.

5. In a 2010 consultative workshop held in Malelane recently, Danny Jordan, the CEO of South African 2010 Local Organizing Committee was quoted having said that; Mpumalanga is way ahead in its preparations for 2010:

How far is our Province in the Preparation for hosting the 2010 world cup games?

During the 2010 Workshop held at Malelane, representatives of Provincial Government, District Municipalities, Organised Labour and stakeholders from business sectors brainstormed and consulted over a number of projects related to ensuring that 2010 is a success. The main objective of this workshop was to begin the process of gathering information in the relevant sectors in order for the Province to conceptualise a Provincial 2010 Master Plan.

Sectors covered in the Master Plan include Economic Investment and Tourism; Infrastructure; Stadium and Related facilities; Health /Disaster Management/EMS; Safety and Security; Sports Architecture; Funding and Legacy Projects.

The Provincial Master plan has served before both the Political Task Team and the Executive Council. The Plan is ready for implementation and will be distributed to all sectors in order for them to begin developing the respective implementation/roll out plans.

Whilst other Provinces are busy developing their plans, Mpumalanga's plan was ratified by the Executive Council during a sitting on 6 September. In addition I can report that the construction of the stadium is underway and is ahead of schedule.

In the Tourism Sector Plan there are a number of measures in place to expand the provision of accommodation in the Province.

In order to ascertain the precise nature of the challenges in respect of accommodation in the Province, it is necessary to gather the pertinent facts. To that end, the MTPA and the Department of Economic Development and Planning are at present compiling a database of available accommodation in the Province. In addition, the relevant institutions are also identifying temporary accommodation to address short-term demand. They also intend increasing the number of graded accommodation establishments to ensure they meet the accommodation criteria. Finally, the Department of Economic Development and Planning has already interacted with a number of hotel groups in order to encourage them to build new hotels and other forms of accommodation in targeted areas in the Province.

There are a number of infrastructure related projects that have been identified, spanning across various sectors. Some of the key projects worth mentioning are the upgrading of important public transport routes; the development of public transport (including the airport); laybyes and shelters; the Mataffin Precinct access system; pedestrian walkways and High Occupancy Vehicle traffic lanes.

There are also a number of infrastructure related projects in the Health and Disaster Management Sector. These include the upgrading of various strategically placed hospitals and clinics; purchasing of additional emergency vehicles (ambulances) and medical equipment and upgrading 10 EMS stations.

As far as the legacy projects are concerned, we'll focus on the following key projects:

•  Economic Investment – The construction of an International Convention Centre.

•  Infrastructure and Technical Development – A world class international multi-purpose stadium, rail and road improvements, and multi modal interchanges in 12 towns in the Province.

6. In response to questions for oral reply in the sitting of the house on the 1 st of December 2005, the hon. Premier made a commitment that the government will make sure that rural poverty-stricken communities are assisted with all manner of means in order to increase their capacity to rely on their land for self-subsistence as part of the strategy of reducing poverty by 2014 in the province:

Rural poverty stricken communities were assisted to increase their capacity to rely on their land for self-subsistence as part of a strategy of reducing poverty by 2014 in the following manner:

MASIBUYELE EMASIMINI

In the financial year 2005/06 government introduced a pilot project called Masibuyele Emasimini to assist poor households and small-scale farmers with tractors, seeds, fertilizers to help them till the land in order to banish hunger and starvation in rural areas. This project has succeeded in increasing food production for the food insecure communities of our province. The project has registered success in providing fibre and nutrition for the vulnerable, a total of 6731 people have directly benefited from this project, the majority of them being women ( ± 75%).

The project is being continued in the 2006/07 financial year in three pilot areas namely:

Ehlanzeni - Matibidi

Nkangala - Bareki

Gert Sibande - Daggakraal.

An allocation of R21million has been made for this important project for the 2006/07 financial year, of which R15 million has already been spent.

Through the conditional grant, the capacity for self-subsistence of farmers has been enhanced. Farmers have benefited through 63 projects that stimulate agricultural productivity by increasing investment in rural infrastructure that will make farming more productive. In the Financial year 2005/06 a total of R26 million was provided for establishing on farm infrastructure such as irrigation systems, pack houses and storage facilities. For the 2006/07 year an allocation of R28 million was made to further increase public investment in rural infrastructure that unlocks development potential for the poor.

Landcare has increased the capacity of farmers by addressing soil degradation and reclaiming degraded land back into productive farming. This project has created over 2000 job opportunities for rural communities since it follows EPWP principles. An amount of R8 million was spent on 17 projects throughout the Province in the 2005/06 financial year.

Agricultural starter packs were provided to poor households who were recipients of emergency food parcels. The packs included garden tools, seeds and fertilizers to establish food gardens to produce for own consumption. Agricultural starter packs were distributed to a total of 2300 people, mainly women. An amount of R4,1 million was spent in 2005/06 financial year for this purpose.

Research, Training and Advisory services have been provided to increase the capacity of farmers for self-subsistence. This programme has reached thousands of farmers throughout the province. Government spentR180 million to roll out these essential services in 2005/06 and has budgeted R182.6 million for 2006/07.

Where it is possible to directly count beneficiaries, more than 12,000 people have been recorded to benefit from these programmes. This figure is substantially higher when the impact of landcare, the comprehensive agricultural support progamme and the provision of research, advisory and support services is included. Unfortunately, specific figures on the number of beneficiaries is not available for these programmes.

The Masibuyele Emasimini Programme was able to assist our small -farmers to harvest more than ever before. This has resulted in a demand for roll-out to many other small scale-farmers who were not part of the programme before. In fact, it has aroused interest from our youth and other farmers.

Our farmers are now putting up their own plans being assisted by government to take forward the programme on their own, bearing in mind that government is assisting them to be self-sufficient.

We believe that the systems and mechanisms that have been put in place by government for the programme to be fruitful, are now beginning to yield exciting results even though is still at a pilot stage. We are therefore confident that the programme will be sustainable because the farmers are being assisted by our extension officers and researchers who guide and advise them.

The provision of agricultural infrastructure through CASP will further make the programme more sustainable for our farmers to farm productively. The programme is comprehensive in that it provides agricultural implements and inputs. These measures suggest that the programme will certainly be sustainable.

 Ehlanzeni - 4301

Gert Sibande - 1623

Nkangala - 807

7. During the state of the Province address in February 2006, the Hon Premier alluded to the fact that “The province is concerned about the 3.2% drop in Mpumalanga Grade 12 Matric results and recognizes that drastic steps need to be taken”:

  What programmes are already put into operation to address the drop in matric results in the province?

The Department of Education is currently implementing a comprehensive matric improvement programme to improve the performance of learners in school. One of the major focus areas is improving Grade 12 learner performance. The strategy for improving matric results focuses on:

•  First, implementing a high growth development path that includes a range of interventions such as the restructuring of consistently under performing schools, redeployment of underperforming teachers and managers, especially in instances where schools have achieved a 20% pass rate and below. The quest for improving performance will also focus on the restructuring of combined schools and withdrawal of subsidies to underperforming independent schools

•  Second, improving the quality of curriculum delivery and professional development with specific focus on classroom support to all schools presenting a Grade 12 class, and 157 under-performing schools.

•  Third, improving institutional support and development by enhancing governance and delivery capacity of under-performing schools. Institutional support and development includes the implementation of the following programmes

•  School Development and Improvement Planning

•  Mentoring and coaching of School Principals

•  Professional training of teachers

We can assure parents that we have designed and implemented good programmes aimed at improving the performance of learners at the end of this year. While we are very confident that the results will improve, much depend on the learners themselves and other factors beyond our control such as the difficulty of exam papers as determined by Umalusi and norms for marks standardization.

The Province has set aside an amount of R 2.5m in the form of bursaries to assist qualifying learners to enrol at tertiary institutions in 2007.

9. During the Constituency period we have experienced abject poverty particularly in the farming areas in the province, among these we have seen the following:

•  Non-availability of clean drinking water for farm tenants;

This problem exists on many farms. Since farms are private property, approval to drill boreholes should be obtained from the relevant farm owner. Approval has already been granted by some farm owners in the municipal areas of Mkhondo, Albert Luthuli, Lekwa, Nkomazi and Delmas.

Jojo Tank Water was also provided to farm workers at Cairn in the Mbombela area.

•  Non-availability of electricity for farm workers

Eskom has a farm electrification programme in place, with R1 million set aside to install connections from the farmer's house to the Labourer's quarters.

To date 17 applications have been received and are being processed by Eskom.

The challenge of implementing this programme is that few farmers are making applications on behalf of their worker. It is therefore necessary to expand the education of farmers on this issue. This will result in a budget increase for this program.

•  Farm tenants seem to be worse on provisioning of houses

The Department of Local Government and Housing has now received guidelines for the provision of housing to farm workers.

The Department is going to deliver 195 farm worker housing subsidies in the 2006/07 financial year in the following areas, namely Emakhazeni (33), Steve Tshwete (32), Nkomazi (65), Msukaligwa (33) and Albert Luthuli (32).

We will collaborate with Land Affairs in order to prioritize the 12,000 registered Labour tenants who have been assisted to acquire by the Department of Land Affairs.

What is it that could be done by the Hon Premier to address these pressing needs of our farm dwellers?

(i) Prioritize this target group and through the Director General's office we will request Departments to report back on services delivered on a quarterly basis.

A Task Team on Service Delivery on Farms is in place. It is tasked with monitoring departmental initiatives. Municipalities have been invited to make inputs into the Task Team. It is coordinated by Local Government and Housing.

Service delivery on farms is a very complex matter. It's a matter that all the three spheres of government are working to address. In seeking to achieve service delivery on farms we are guided by the Millennium Development Goals and the 2006 Manifesto of the Africa National Congress. By 2010 all communities will have access to clean water and decent sanitation. By 2012 all houses will have access to electricity.