On Government’s vaccine roll-out plan
 
Honourable Chairperson
 
It is common cause that social partners are key to effective coordination and efficient implementation of the country’s Covid-19 vaccination programme, in the same way as they have been key in the national response to the Covid-19 pandemic for the past year. 
 
Since the declaration of a state of national disaster by President Ramaphosa on the 15^th March 2020, government has been working closely with all leaders across society towards ensuring effective coordination and efficient implementation of the Covid-19 Response Plan.
 
Since the beginning of the pandemic, government held a number of engagements with social partners including NEDLAC, interfaith leaders, traditional leaders as well as leaders of all political parties represented in Parliament. We are encouraged by the wealth of advice we received from the traditional leaders on how best to respond to this pandemic in rural communities.
 
Jointly, we agreed that the balance between saving lives and livelihoods calls for a constant review of our efforts, towards ensuring that amidst the prevailing challenges, we do not lose focus on our greater responsibility as outlined in the Bill of Rights. Ours is to ensure that every citizen enjoys inalienable right to life, equality and human dignity.
 
The guiding principle of government’s vaccination programme, places emphasis on the moral responsibility to ensure allocation of the vaccines impartially, and in accordance with fair criteria.
 
In the vaccines roll-out process, we are cognisant of the critical role that traditional and faith-based leaders need to play in addressing community fears, and misinformation about the benefits of vaccines. Our approach to structured engagements with traditional leaders and faith-based leaders, has in the main focused on sharing information and raising awareness about the benefits of vaccination to protecting communities against the spread of the deadly Covid-19 disease.
 
Traditional leaders and faith-based leaders have committed to ensuring that they lead from the front by taking the vaccine jabs when the opportunity comes, as a way of demystifying some of the myths and misinformation about vaccines. At provincial and local government levels, we will continue to engage with all local structures, including traditional and faith-based leaders to ensure that there is broad-based participation and sharing of information and knowledge about the benefits of vaccination.
 
With respect to the vaccine roll-out plan, we can confirm that there is a comprehensive geo-mapping of all facilities and vaccination sites that will ensure equitable access to vaccines by everyone irrespective of where they live. The phases of the plan provide clear categorisation, and prioritisation of various population groups to be targeted over the period of the vaccination process until the country achieves the required population immunity threshold.
 
More importantly, the vaccination roll-out plan has been tailored to ensure all populations in urban and rural areas will have equal access to vaccines by offering different service delivery platforms. This includes work-based vaccination programmes for persons from rural areas, which would cover people who are working in the mining sector, for example. Further to this, we have an outreach vaccination programme, which would provide these services in old age homes and schools in rural settings. Those not covered by these programmes, get serviced through public facilities such as Primary Health Care and Community Health Centres.
 
Honourable Chairperson
 
These details are shared with communities on a daily basis through Traditional Councils and faith-based organisations. Indeed as Government we will ensure that the vaccination programme is geared towards reaching rural communities through platforms with high reach in audience share in those areas. 
 
Our plan includes communicating vaccination messages in all official languages on national, community, regional and commercial radio stations featuring dramas and generic adverts.
 
The awareness campaign will make use of outdoor platforms across the length and breadth of the country including in rural communities, which amongst others, is the use of outdoor billboards, taxis, electronic screens in public places, as well as boards in shopping malls and branding of buses, to communicate the message on vaccination. Furthermore, on a daily basis, the “My District” newsletter, which is in different languages, is used to disseminate Covid-19 pandemic related content to communities.
 
Sharing and distribution of Covid-19 vaccination information through community activations, outreach, dialogues and community media engagements is ongoing as part of the outreach campaign. Through the Government Communication and Information System, we have intensified loud haling in communities as the core activity undertaken in partnership with the local and provincial spheres of government.
 
In the course of implementing these awareness campaigns, we have witnessed the changing of attitudes by citizens towards vaccines. Indeed, we are successfully demystifying myths around vaccines through communication to citizens.
 
Moreover, through the Department of Science and Innovation, South Africa is strengthening partnerships with traditional practitioners. There are a number of Indigenous Knowledge Systems’ programmes in place between traditional practitioners and academic researchers, towards the implementation of the Indigenous Knowledge Act of 2019.
 
These include building a system of recognition of prior learning for traditional practitioners, and partnering with traditional health practitioners in the development of traditional medicines through bio-innovation. These efforts build on local and age-old knowledge, thus enhancing South Africa’s response to curbing calamities brought about by similar pandemics, such as the coronavirus.  
 
Honourable Chairperson and Members
 
Vaccines save lives! Vaccines will aid in reducing hospitalisations and deaths. Covid-19 vaccines will also help us to reach population immunity so that more people are immune against the virus in order to reduce the spread of the coronavirus. The virus is still spreading, and we need to use all available avenues to stop its devastation.
 
Thank you
  
 
On Government’s land reform programme
 
Honourable Chairperson
 
Land reform is one of those most complex and difficult programmes many African nations have struggled to implement. More especially in countries suffering from historical imbalances caused and perpetuated by years of colonialism, misrule and deliberate discrimination.
 
As a nation, we have a moral responsibility to end land inequities and broaden access to more land for cultivation towards food security, rural development and poverty reduction while equally responding to equitable spatial planning, and integrated human settlements. 
 
For our part as government, we have always maintained that the need to address the legacies of land dispossession and skewed patterns of land ownership, is not only a moral imperative for social justice and nation-building. It is also a necessary intervention to promote broad-based economic inclusion and access to the means of production and development.
 
 
Beyond the narrow lens of agriculture, we should be able to appreciate that more people now have houses and title deeds on the land they own. Across the country, communities whose land was taken away have successfully reclaimed the land of their ancestors, erasing the sad and dehumanising experience and indignity of forced removals and dispossession.
 
While challenges remain, our land reform programme has been impactful and effective in breaking down barriers to land access and ownership in post-apartheid South Africa. More than any other time in our history, more people have had access to land that caters for the expansion of human settlements in urban and peri-urban areas.
 
More land has been acquired and redistributed to cater for industrial development, including the targeted land for Special Economic Zones and Industrial Parks in many parts of the country.
 
Over the years various policy instruments have been employed to accelerate land reform for agriculture, human settlements and economic development in general. We are advised by the Department of Agriculture, Land Reform and Rural Development that since the inception of the land reform programme, government has acquired over 5 million hectares of land through the land redistribution programme, from over 5 500 projects that benefited hundreds of thousands of people.
 
The strategic acquisition of land by government over time has been crucial to government’s ability to make more land available for agricultural production. The process to release more state owned land to aspirant farmers for long-term leases is currently in progress.
To date, government has acquired over 2.2 million hectares of land which constitute over 1 800 farms. Government has committed to releasing state owned land for agriculture and development. The lease agreements go up to 30 years, and the lessees have options to buy the farms. Based on meeting performance and applicable policy considerations, there is no reason why ownership of these farms would not be transferred to those beneficiaries who would have demonstrated the productive and efficient use of allocated land.
 
As part of our integrated farmer support programme, the Department of Agriculture, Land Reform and Rural Development has prioritised the provision of a package of post-settlement support that includes training, as well as financial and technical support to ensure that all allocated land is productively utilised.
 
In partnership with traditional leaders, we are focusing on initiatives to ensure that communal land assets are systematically purposed to advance the development interests of communities. Within the context of the District Development Model, we will ensure that land reform programmes are integrated with the sectoral development needs of communities.
 
Honourable Chairperson
 
Notwithstanding these successes, we are concerned that a number of our land reform projects have not performed according to our expectations. Due to conflicts, inadequate skills, and limited post-settlement support, some of the restituted farms have remained unproductive.
 
For the country’s scale and scope of development and expansion in terms of agriculture, integrated human settlements, service network infrastructure provision, and   industrial development, it is clear that the demand and hunger for land surpasses the current supply of development land. Experience has indicated that the slow pace of land reform has been a source of frustration for many of those whose claims have not been finalised. It has become apparent that the cost of land reform is unaffordable and unsustainable in the context of fiscal constraints.
 
Therefore, to us the expropriation of land without compensation to advance land reform objectives, promote restorative justice, and solidify social cohesion, is a necessary route to pursue with a sense of urgency. This unfolding parliamentary process is meant to accelerate and give effect to land and spatial justice while ensuring that our Constitutional injunctions are respected. 
 
Through partnerships with the private sector, we are confident that more land will be donated to contribute to government’s land reform objectives. We have finalised the Land Donations Policy as a guiding framework for all land donation transactions.
 
We are encouraged by the expression of patriotism through the voluntary initiative to donate land by the private sector and individuals.  We are further encouraged by the willingness of some to partner in skills transfer and other forms of agricultural support.
 
We have finalised the Land Donations Policy as a guiding framework for all land donation transactions. To this end, we are confident that through initiatives like these and partnerships with the private sector more land will be donated to contribute to government’s land reform objectives.
 
To the extent that our land reform programme has been effective and impactful in driving socio-economic transformation and breaking structural barriers to economic participation and inclusion, we are confident we are on the right path, however we can admit that a lot of work still remains.
 
Thank you.
 
 
On measures to prevent acts of corruption/malfeasance
 
Honourable Chairperson
 
Part of the measures outlined in the Terms of the Reference of the Inter-Ministerial Committee on Covid-19 Vaccines is “putting in place measures to prevent corruption and wasteful expenditure in the procurement or distribution of vaccines”.
 
To this end, we wish to assure this House that indeed, we have as the IMC developed a Corruption Risk Mitigation Plan as one of the oversight mechanisms in the implementation of the Covid-19 Vaccination programme.  To give effect to this, the IMC has identified the potential risks related to the procurement of vaccines and mitigation strategies required to address such risks.
In our view, procurement risk is greater when there are multiple purchasers and suppliers, with no uniformity of quality and effectiveness of the product. The ability to monitor and subsequently address corruption and malfeasance, is difficult as we saw with the procurement of Personal Protective Equipment at the outbreak of the pandemic. In that case there were multiple purchasers, suppliers and there was no uniformity of quality or effectiveness which led to corruption. 
 
In the case of Covid-19 vaccines, this is limited by the fact that the market is highly regulated and there are only a few manufacturers.  Further to this, the product is assessed by the regulator to conform to quality standards, and the procurement is centrally done at national level, which makes it easy to monitor. 
 
Effectively, there is no room for inflating prices as a result of bribes and kickbacks, especially as we have centralised procurement to ensure fair prices in the acquisition of vaccines.
 
Provinces will have a limited function in terms of distribution as there is a national contract for vaccine distribution. Consequently, provinces would have to use the selected service provider and existing distribution arrangements for medicines which are already in place. Therefore, there is no need for any additional procurement.
 
Honourable Chairperson
 
Beyond these measures at acquisition and distribution level, we have looked at other risks and potential areas for acts of corruption in order to be comprehensive in our approach. For instance, the IMC in its Corruption Risk Mitigation Plan, identifies risks and counter measures across the entire value chain of the Covid-19 vaccination programme - from vaccine acquisition, distribution to administration.
 
Where non-disclosure agreements may be used to hide corruption, constitutional oversight bodies such as the Auditor General of South Africa will have access for probity audit, to such non-disclosure agreements that have been entered into by pharmaceutical companies, as well as by any other vaccine supplier.
 
In addition to the Auditor General, law enforcement agencies are doing their work on intelligence-driven measures of combating crime, fraud and corruption through the Fusion Centre.
 
These measures will enable us to deliver a successful vaccination roll-out plan and limit any prospects for corruption, whilst enabling South Africa to utilise this opportunity to grow local manufacturing capability, in line with the industrial policy.
 
Our government agenda has been stated right from the beginning, that we do not only want to acquire these vaccines as manufactured elsewhere, but intend to locally manufacture them. As a country, we have the necessary expertise and infrastructure, and are confident of our capability to locally produce Covid-19 vaccines.
 
For us to be successful in such aspirations, we must counter activities such as the production of sub-standard or falsified vaccines. In this regard, we have put in place the following measures:
 
·      All registered vaccine centres will be published on platforms, for all citizens to have access to this information, and we are working on increasing the number of testing labs to expedite quality assurance of all vaccines produced.
 
·      All suppliers will be requested to produce lab certificates to buyers, providing a unique identifier on delivery of the vaccines and online verification of that certificate.
 
We have through the communication workstream of the IMC, developed a public awareness campaign to conscientise the public on the dangers of utilising unregistered vaccine centres. There are also webinars and radio programmes that are being utilised to engage various stakeholders on vaccine corruption risks, as well as in how we could jointly implement mitigation measures.
 
Communication of detection and prosecution of any corruption, will be done on a regular basis to enhance transparency and public accountability.
 
Honourable Chairperson
 
Ultimately, we will move towards local manufacturing of vaccines which will offer opportunities for open contracting opportunities for limited localisation. The adverse effect may be the opening of risks for potential political compromises and manipulation of the tender process.
In this regard, we are proactively working on adopting open contracting principles, as part of ensuring transparency in the procurement of vaccines.
 
We have learnt from the procurement of Personal Protective Equipment that the ability to monitor and subsequently address corruption and malfeasance is difficult but possible, hence the adoption of comprehensive measures in the Corruption Risk Mitigation Plan.
 
For us to be able to prevent corruption in the whole vaccination programme, we must work together. That is why we have activated whistle-blowing mechanisms through the existing hotlines such as the Presidential Hotline, the Anti-corruption Hotline hosted by the Public Service Commission, and the Whistle-blowing Hotline of the Special Investigating Unit for the broader public to play their part in prevention and combating corruption.
 
In the final analysis, we are confident of the effectiveness of the measures we have put in place, and shall spare no effort in ensuring that we optimally deliver on the needs of communities and in partnership with them. Together, we must ensure that we tackle any acts of corruption that take advantage of the plight of the people. We have a duty to defeat the Coronavirus and ensure the enjoyment of life and dignity for all as outlined in the Bill of Rights. 
 
Thank you
 
 
On Eskom’s headcount reduction plan
 
Honourable Chairperson
 
We can confirm that Eskom’s headcount reduction plan was communicated to government as a shareholder, and it forms part of updates that are shared by the utility with the Political Task Team on Eskom.
 
Honourable Members would appreciate that restructuring a company of Eskom’s magnitude will not be an easy task, and may take longer, considering the potential effects thereof. Nevertheless, our position remains that Eskom must be supported to implement a comprehensive turnaround programme. This will ensure that the utility develops and enhances its requisite institutional capabilities, to meet the country’s energy needs.
To this end, Eskom and government have committed to achieve headcount reduction as part of the turnaround programme, without embarking on retrenchments. Our understanding is that Eskom’s headcount reduction, as well as the cost reduction strategy that the utility started implementing in 2016, are amongst efforts aimed at improving the utility’s financial sustainability. It is envisaged that this would increase efficiencies in capital and operational expenditure, including employee benefits.
 
Therefore, the restructuring process of Eskom into an efficient and financially sustainable entity, means that its turnaround and organisational transformation must be focused on achieving significant cost reductions and savings, while improving overall efficiencies across key cost drivers, such as expenditures on coal contracts and compensation of employees.
 
Honourable Chairperson
 
Eskom’s headcount reduction that the Honourable Member is referring to, is part of Eskom‘s 10 year Strategic Workforce Plan, which seeks to analyse and forecast the workforce that is required to execute the business strategy by enabling Eskom to identify, develop and sustain its workforce in support of its organisational objectives. Essentially, Eskom’s workforce will reduce from 44 929 to 40 691 by 2030, which will be achieved through natural attrition, retirements, limited replacement of attrition and voluntary separation packages.
 
This is informed by a range of factors within business categories but most importantly, it prioritises replacement of critical skills, that is, engineers, artisans, technical officials, technicians and operators, through learner intake to offset the impact of attrition. The bulk of the reduction will still be achieved through attrition with 11 percent from voluntary separation packages. Simply put, Eskom’s historical attrition is projected to remain the same over the next 3 years, taking into account replacement of critical skills in operations.
 
Honourable Chairperson
 
On the figures suggested by the Honourable Member, Eskom has provided government with an overview of net attrition since the 2019 financial year, factoring in voluntary service packages, appointments for the year 2021, and projections up to year 2024 with a total of 6 074 employees to be released through voluntary severance packages and attrition.
 
That being said, government advocates for Eskom’s headcount review to be in a manner that balances and matches business delivery outcomes, core skills and improved organisational performance. As government we will ensure that Eskom continues to invest in critical skills, as well as a long term pipeline of engineering and technical expertise. 
 
Supporting Eskom is essential towards ensuring security of energy for our country. With energy security we will restore economic growth, increase employment, and improve the quality of life for all. Therefore, let us continue to work in unison towards these aspirations.
 
Thank you
 
 
Next steps in service delivery at Emfuleni Local Municipality
 
Honourable Chairperson
 
The pollution of the Vaal River System remains a great concern to all of us, bearing in mind its hazards to health and disruption of economic activities necessary for sustainable livelihoods. We cannot express more than we have, our sincere apologies to all affected citizens for the hardships endured.
 
As government, we acknowledge the severity of the problem posed by the sewer spillages, and the time it has taken to deal with its negative impact on the people and the economy of Gauteng as well as neighbouring provinces.
 
This problem is a result of poor maintenance water and sanitation infrastructure by a number of municipalities along the Vaal River, from Mpumalanga, Gauteng, Free State, North West and Northern Cape Provinces. There is no question that the Emfuleni Local Municipality contributes a significant amount to this pollution.
 
What is worse, is that the institutional governance challenges of Emfuleni compound the provision of water and sanitation within the municipality. This, among other issues, led to the Gauteng Provincial Executive Council invoking Section 139 (1) (b) and (5) (a) intervention of the Constitution of South Africa in June 2018.
 
However, the reality is that over the past two years, the Gauteng Provincial Government intervention has not yielded the desired results in terms of sanitation management improvement. Now, the South African Human Rights Commission has issued a report recommending that government should put urgent legislative interventions in place, to correct the violations of human rights.
 
Honourable Ryder has been on this matter and will recall that in November 2020, he had called for national government to use its authority to step in for the sake of Emfuleni residents. Of course, at the time we did express our frustration at the developments, and committed that national government would step up its intervention in order to revitalise the services that have collapsed, and get the situation corrected.
 
Undoubtedly, the situation has necessitated additional intervention, as provided for by Section 63 of the Water Services Act of 1997. As part of this intervention, the Minister of Human Settlements, Water and Sanitation will be taking over the functions of the Water Services Authority as stated in Section 63 (2) of the Water Services Act of 1997. This means the Minister will assume the municipal responsibilities for a specific duration, to fix the sanitation challenges as experienced by the people of Emfuleni.
 
This intervention for sanitation and water infrastructure in Emfuleni Local Municipality will be implemented through a 7,6 Billion Rands multi-pronged approach. This will be directed at operations and maintenance to be implemented by Rand Water, refurbishment and upgrade of infrastructure to be implemented by the Department of Water and Sanitation, and sustainability of water and sanitation services through the restructuring of the municipal entity responsible for water and sanitation, as well as the procurement of tools of trade. In this regard, Administrators appointed in the Municipality are working together with the Department of Water and Sanitation to resolve these challenges of Emfuleni Local Municipality.
 
The Ministers of Finance, Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs, and Human Settlements, Water and Sanitation are in continuous engagements with the intention to ring-fence financial resources and strengthen government’s response to this sanitation challenge. An amount of 1.8 Billion Rands has been budgeted in the Medium-Term Expenditure Framework to address the refurbishment and upgrade of infrastructure.
 
Furthermore, the Department of Water and Sanitation is in the process of appointing several contractors to support the efforts to stop further and continued pollution of the Vaal River. It is anticipated that appointments of these civil and mechanical engineering contractors will be made by May 2021, and work would start immediately thereafter. The completion time for most major works varies from 6 months on the refurbishment work to 3 years on the upgrade work.
 
To this end, the Department of Water and Sanitation has initiated a process of engaging with sector stakeholders and the entire community of Vaal and Emfuleni Local Municipality. These engagements will be done periodically to keep the public informed of the progress of the intervention.
It is in our collective interest that the water and sanitation problem in Emfuleni Local Municipality is resolved, as it impacts the health of the people, the environment, and the economy which is necessary for the creation of jobs and sustenance of livelihoods.
 
We encourage members of this House to continue with ensuring that we hold each other accountable in efforts of restoring governance and resolving all situations that impact on service delivery.
 
Thank you
 
 
On the Political Task Team on Eskom
Honourable Chairperson
 
The Department of Mineral Resources and Energy has started work on the implementation of the Integrated Resource Plan 2019. The Department has been providing regular updates to the Political Task Team on Eskom in this regard.
 
The work undertaken by the Department includes the procurement of additional 2 000 megawatts of generation capacity under the Risk Mitigation Independent Power Producer Programme. The Department, will announce successful bidders from this programme before the end of March 2021.
 
The Department is also working on a request for proposals for procurement of 11 513 megawatts of generation capacity from renewable energy, gas, coal and storage. We have been informed by the Department that the first request for a proposal for 2 600 megawatts from renewable energy, commonly referred to as bid window 5, will be issued to the market before the end of March 2021 and the rest is scheduled to follow in August and December 2021, respectively.
 
Honourable Chairperson
 
Our country is endowed with resource potential that positions us for energy transition to renewable power generation in a manner that does not impede socio-economic development. As the Political Task Team on Eskom, we have agreed that the just energy transition should be implemented in a phased manner over a period time with the objective of transitioning Eskom to a net zero carbon emissions by the year 2050.
 
To this end, Cabinet has approved the submission of the Gas Amendment Bill of 2020 to Parliament. The benefits of gas are that it contributes to the lowering of carbon emissions and supports renewable energy growth.
 
In the main, the establishment of a gas market helps mitigate the decrease in coal production and use, provide for the accommodation of new technologies in the market and fosters the creation of new job profiles and skills to develop, construct and manage new import, transport, storage and consumption infrastructures and tertiary sectors such as services.
 
We are of the view that the finalisation of this bill will allow for scaling up of gas exploration within manageable risk levels and unlock the country’s untapped potential in the upstream gas reserves, diversify the country’s energy mix and improve our energy security. Therefore, the exploitation of gas discoveries in our country, presents South Africa with an opportunity to transition fuel that could stimulate job creation, form the basis for new domestic industry, and reduce emissions while preserving energy independence.
 
South Africa’s economic recovery and growth path largely depends on our ability to ensure the security of energy supply. In line with our aspirations of industrialisation and job creation, we must ensure that there is no disruption to electricity supply.
 
Thank you
 

Date: 

Thursday, March 11, 2021 - 20:45

Tags: 

Deputy President David Mabuza