National Assembly oral question and answer by the Deputy President

On plans to fast-track land reform
 
Honourable Deputy Speaker,
 
In December 2019, Cabinet adopted a report on the government’s response to the recommendations of the Advisory Panel on Agriculture and Land Reform.  Cabinet emphasised the need to move with speed in the implementation of the Panel’s recommendations to ensure that our land reform programme urgently responds to developmental imperatives of restorative justice, economic inclusion and social cohesion.
 
For us, the work of the Panel foregrounded the centrality of the three key pillars of land reform, namely restitution, redistribution and land tenure. As we implement the panel’s recommendations, we will continue to pay equal attention to these key policy instruments while ensuring that our approach to land reform does not impact negatively on agricultural production and the economy in general.
 
More significantly, the Constitutionally-defined path of our land reform programme will continue to focus on balancing the needs of reversing the legacy of land possession and deprivation, with the vision of fostering nation-building, unity and social cohesion. Access to land is an act of social justice that cannot be delayed.
 
The recommendations of the Panel covered a range of thematic areas focusing on legislative and policy interventions, integrated land administration, spatial development planning to guide land use decisions, fast-tracking outstanding land claims as well as key measures to accelerate the release of land for redistribution.
 
As government, we are on course in terms of the implementation process. The Inter-Ministerial Committee on Land Reform and Agriculture receives regular reports on the implementation of the Panel’s recommendations, and is responsible for ensuring that Cabinet is briefed accordingly. 
 
With regard to key legislative and policy interventions, some of the key achievements include, but not limited to:
 
•         The finalisation of the Expropriation Bill of 2020 which is currently going through due parliamentary processes.
•         The finalisation and submission to Parliament of the Land Court Bill to provide for the establishment of the court that will focus on land matters, set out clear dispute resolution mechanism and strengthen jurisprudence on land related matters.
•         The adoption of Beneficiary Selection and Land Allocation Policy that guides the allocation of land to different categories of beneficiaries
•         Ensuring that the Land Donation Policy is approved to guide land donation transactions by private sector players, and institutions that are keen to contribute to our land reform programme.
 
Furthermore, Cabinet has adopted a position paper on land administration and tenure reform for consultation with various stakeholders. The process of consultation with the provinces on the position paper is in progress. This will be followed by the land summit with traditional leaders, to find common ground on land tenure reform and approaches to land under the custodianship of traditional leaders.
 
Alongside land tenure reforms, the Inter-Ministerial Committee on Land Reform and Agriculture has focused on accelerating the settlement of outstanding land claims, and handing over title deeds to rightful owners of land. As part of this, we have instituted a coordinated government approach towards ensuring restituted land is coupled with a targeted package of development support to ensure that the beneficiaries of restituted land are empowered to utilise their land productively.
 
We are equally making progress on the development of an overarching land administration policy framework that prioritises the recordal of all land rights.
 
Work on the finalisation of the National Spatial Development Framework is in progress to ensure that it guides overall land use decisions across the country. It will also provide for the alignment of various planning instruments within the context of the District Development Model. Guided by spatial development needs, our land reform programme is already focusing on the release of strategically located land for human settlements, economic development and social inclusion.
 
As part of the Human Settlements Framework for Spatial Transformation and Consolidation, 136 Priority Housing Development Areas have been declared as spaces for the development of human settlements, including mixed use, high density and multiple typology housing developments. These developments will be supported with requisite infrastructure to ensure sustainability and a better quality of life for citizens.
 
The release of state owned land is in progress. The Minister of Agriculture, Land Reform and Rural Development, announced the advertisement of 529 000 hectares of land available for release as part of the 700 000 hectares announced by the President in February 2020, State of the Nation Address.
 
To date:
 
•         436,563 hectares have been released and approved for allocation under land redistribution programme, and
•         Over 5 540 hectares of the these 436,563 hectares have been approved for disposal and the remainder for leasing. 
 
Furthermore, we will be releasing state owned land to address development pressures around urban and rural human settlements, agricultural production, and industrial development. The process of releasing state land for agricultural purposes is targeted at vulnerable groups of our society, and will empower women, youth and people with disabilities.
 
To ensure that land is productively utilised by beneficiaries, government is paying attention to the provision of effective post-settlement support. We are focusing on improving coordination of integrated post-settlement packages to beneficiaries of land, including finance, infrastructure and access to water resources for development.
 
The Department of Agriculture, Land Reform and Rural Development has set aside 1 billion Rands for the blended financing scheme, of which 200 million Rands was authorised to be transferred to IDC for disbursement. This support will go a long way towards supporting the commercialisation of Black producers in the agricultural value chain. The Blended Finance scheme is a combination of loans and grants to support agricultural development and improve access to affordable finance by producers.
 
We are confident that, while a lot of work still remains, we have made significant strides in implementing the recommendations of the Presidential Advisory Panel on Land Reform and Agriculture. 
 
Thank you 
 
On the Risk Mitigation Power Procurement Programme
 
REPLY:
 
As government, we acknowledge that the economic climate we are currently in as a country is challenging and impacting individuals at a household level. Unfortunately, the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic has further compounded the situation. As such, we fully understand growing calls for Eskom’s tariffs to be kept at a reasonable level of affordability, especially for the poor and marginalised communities.
 
Therefore, it must be noted that the estimated tariff increase is subject to assessment and decisions by the National Energy Regulator of South Africa. All of us should protect the operational independence of the Regulator, but still require of it to apply appropriate tariff mechanisms in the determination of tariffs associated with the type of power that is required to balance the system over the Medium-Term Expenditure Framework.
 
The Department of Mineral Resources and Energy has advised that, if based on weighted average cost per unit of about R1.57 per kilowatt an hour from the preferred bidder projects, the additional 1 995 megawatts of capacity may result in electricity tariff increase of between 3 to 5 percent. It must be noted that the cost includes both capacity and energy as per the requirements of Eskom System Operator.
 
The nature of electricity supply constraints calls for increased generation capacity across different supply options in order to alleviate current electricity the electricity demand and supply gap.
 
The 20-year commitment seeks to, amongst others, ensure reasonable electricity unit cost while taking into account the said nature of electricity supply constraints. Basing the Risk Mitigation Independent Power Producer Procurement on a 20-year Power Purchase Agreement, will ensure that the projects around this additional capacity remain sustainable. This means that costs are covered, whilst guaranteeing capacity that is available to generate electricity whenever a dispatch instruction has been activated. In this context, our generation capacity should be such that there is available energy to be reliably supplied whenever there are projected shortages in the system.
 
The need to attract long-term investments in power generation is key to ensuring the security of energy supply while also realising expected returns from such investments by the private sector.
 
These initiatives emphasise government’s commitment to ensuring energy security from a wide range of energy sources, and technologies in line with the Integrated Resource Plan of 2019. In the medium to long-term, the reduction of expensive, diesel-fired electricity generation is achieved.
 
Thank you. 
 
 
On the No-fault Compensation Scheme
 
REPLY:
 
Honourable Deputy Speaker,
 
The Covid-19 vaccine market is very different from the usual market for medicines. Globally, countries have limited options since all Covid-19 vaccine manufacturers have adopted the same approach. Therefore, countries must accept full liability for the vaccines acquired. In our case as South Africa, it was either we accept these clauses, or as a country we do not have access to any vaccines.
 
Whilst faced with these conditions, government had a further obligation of establishing a Covid-19 Vaccines Injury No-Fault Compensation Scheme. This is one of the critical components of ensuring that there are no hindrances in South Africa delivering a successful vaccination plan.
 
The scheme will be in operation for a limited time. In the main, this scheme will provide expeditious and easy access to compensation for persons who suffer harm, loss or damage as a result of vaccine injury that may be caused by the administration of a Covid-19 vaccine specified in terms of regulation, at a facility within the country. We have a responsibility to ensure that our people are protected through this scheme.
 
Manufacturers of Covid-19 vaccines will not make any contribution to this ‘No-Fault Compensation System’, as this is part of the contractual obligations for all countries that acquire Covid-19 vaccines.
 
We are learning from the recent experience of governments, who are reviewing reports of potential cases of severe side effects amongst vaccinated members of their population, that such a scheme is important.
 
The Covid-19 Vaccines Injury No-Fault Compensation Scheme will contain and minimise the effects that may arise as a response to the Covid-19 pandemic.
 
Honourable members,
 
As we take lessons from the implementation of South Africa’s Covid-19 Response Plan, we continue to forge ahead with plans of building capacity to manufacture Covid-19 vaccines locally, through harnessing our existing manufacturing capabilities in partially state owned Biovac Institute as well as research and development capabilities with partners in BRICS.
 
We are encouraged by recent announcements of an anticipated waiver on intellectual property rights for Covid-19 vaccines that was proposed by South Africa and India, and now supported by the United States of America. The proposal establishes a global solution to enhance manufacturing and boost supply capacity, and enables coordination and access to information currently under patent protection.
 
For countries that do not currently have manufacturing capacity on certain medical technologies, the waiver could open up more supply options and avoid countries being reliant on only one or two suppliers. Where supply capacity currently exists, it can be repurposed to Covid-19 vaccine production, and in this way improve the supply available to all nations. South Africa and Africa as a whole stand to benefit by timely access to affordable vaccines.
 
Alongside these efforts, the South African government continues to ensure that the Covid-19 vaccination roll-out plan reaches all population groups, providing equal access to those in urban and rural areas of the country.
 
Thank you.
 
On Public Employment Programmes in alleviating poverty
 
REPLY:
 
Honourable Deputy Speaker
 
We believe that the statistics the Honourable Nkomo refers to in her question are the results of the Labour Force Survey, released by Statistics South Africa on a quarterly basis.
 
In part, these figures point to deep-seated challenges of structural employment as one of the key constraints to the labour-absorption capacity of the economy.  Structural unemployment is characterised by a mismatch between the skills that workers can offer and what the sector in fact requires. It is for this reason that the Human Resource Development Council is thus focused on ensuring that the education sector, provides the necessary skills required by the labour market.
Notably, the results of the survey show the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic on the labour market particularly affected individuals in the poorest South African households, the less skilled and low-wage workers, informal workers, those with transient employment or persistent non-employment histories, and persons living in poor, urban communities, more particularly women.
 
This is not unique to South Africa, as labour markets across the world have been heavily affected by the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic. In our case, overcoming the unacceptably high levels of unemployment and poverty requires us to respond with a range of sectoral and cross-sectoral programmes.
 
To this end, the Presidency is overseeing the implementation of the Presidential Employment Stimulus, which is focused on co-ordinating, enhancing, and upscaling a range of existing programmes across government, and through close partnerships with the private sector.
 
Amongst these are government’s Public Employment Programmes, the Expanded Public Works Programme and the Community Works Programme which have been supported to roll out public employment at a new and elevated scale.
 
In terms of the Expanded Public Works Programme, we have as government set a target of 694 155 jobs and livelihood opportunities. Thus far, we are implementing 576 674 opportunities, which is 83 percent of the programme.
 
Through these programmes, there is a concerted effort of investing in public goods and services that enhance skills and employability, and ensuring that support to livelihoods is realised while the labour market recovers from the Covid-19 pandemic,
 
Further, the Presidential Employment Stimulus is designed to effectively transition young people into the labour market, aiming to significantly reduce the high rate of youth unemployment.
 
In this regard, government has among others implemented the following interventions:
 
•         The Basic Education Employment Initiative, which has placed over 317 000 young people as school assistants since October last year. This is a massive scale of rapid rollout. These young people are earning the national minimum wage, which enhances the impact on poverty and inequality.
 
•         The Department of Public Works and Infrastructure has created 1 886 work opportunities for young professionals in the built environment. These beneficiaries were deployed and exposed to workplace experience in programmes such as the Welisizwe Bridges Programme, In-house construction projects, Water and Energy Efficiency Programme, and Facilities Management Employment among others.
 
•         Government has managed to create 865 495 work opportunities from 12 869 projects implemented across all Expanded Public Works Programme sectors in all spheres of government so far in the 2020/21 financial year.
 
In addition, the various programmes which are led by the Department of Social Development have contributed to countering the impact of unemployment and inequality at household level. For instance, the Social Distress Relief Grant is currently supporting 5 million people in South Africa, of which 2 million people are young people under the age of 35.
 
Although this expanded relief package is temporary, we have witnessed a reduction of poverty at the Food Poverty Line to 18 percent. In the medium to long-term,  such social relief assistance will need to be  supported through sustainable employment interventions, especially targeting the youth.
 
This is clear evidence of the need to expand these Presidential Employment Stimulus programmes, coupled with active labour market programmes to effectively address poverty and inequality.
 
We believe that creating employment, addressing inequality and alleviating poverty are not mutually exclusive, and they are pathways of ensuring service delivery as seen in the Extended Public Works Programme.
 
Therefore, government will continue to ensure that interventions listed earlier will continue to improve on the lives and livelihoods of South Africans.
 
Thank you.
 
On assessing initiatives to reduce inequality in South Africa
 
REPLY:
 
Honourable Deputy Speaker
 
Every five years, government undertakes a comprehensive review and assessment of progress made to address challenges of joblessness, poverty and inequality.
 
In addition, government conducts reviews of the Mid-Term Strategic Framework, Quarterly and Annual Assessments to evaluate progress made, and challenges encountered in the implementation of varied anti-poverty programmes. Such assessments are critical instruments to gauge how far we have come to eradicate structural inequality and create an inclusive society.  
 
The 25-year review released in 2019, identified, amongst others, the following constraints:
 
•         Structural inequality, slow redress and transformation;
•         Limited state capacity resulting to inability to utilise policy and legislative framework to redress and transform. In this regard, the state has not been able to transform the growth trajectory towards inclusive growth that will create jobs for the labour force that the country has;
 
•         Corruption, real or perceived has hampered the delivery of services, further entrenching inequality of opportunity and constraining the ability of state-owned enterprises to contribute optimally to the developmental agenda; and
 
•         Inadequate and crumbling infrastructure.
 
On the contrary, the 25 year review has also indicated the following trends for our national democratic society:
 
•         Notable and quantifiable progress has been made in the provision of basic public services such as water, sanitation, electricity, employment and housing. For the millions of beneficiaries of these services, delivered by post-1994 administrations, notable progress has been observed on government efforts to change the lives of South Africans for the better.
 
•         Life expectancy has improved and infant mortality has reduced significantly whereby, for example, access to antiretroviral therapy has grown from 45 500 patients in 2004 to over 4.7 million in 2019.
 
•         The School Nutrition Programme, which feeds approximately 75 percent learners per year, has a long term impact for learners who stay in school and complete their education thus acquire qualification that increases their probability of employment and income thus escaping poverty and inequality.
 
We further observe that social grants remain the country’s largest contributor to efforts of poverty alleviation. This intervention has been able reduce poverty at the lower bound poverty line by 16.42 percentage points, from 42 percent to 25.7 percent as at the end of 2019. However, according to Statistics South Africa, as at March 2020, 20 percent of the South African population was living below the food poverty line. This would have increased to 33 percent by June 2020 as a result of the Covid-19 pandemic and the consequent lockdown.
 
Therefore, there is a huge opportunity to alleviate poverty through social grants. To ensure sustainability of such interventions, there is a need to link the provision of social grants to skills development, and creation of local economic development projects.
 
Honourable Deputy Speaker
 
There is no denying that inequality still persists. In fact, the phenomenon of the Covid-19 pandemic, like almost everywhere else in the world, has exposed and exacerbated South Africa’s structural inequality. Most worryingly, the social groups who have borne the brunt of this inequality are women and the youth.
 
In fact, government’s responsibilities have now included addressing both the inherited backlogs from colonialism, apartheid, and the cumulative impact of the Covid-19 pandemic. It is not an exaggeration that this pandemic has significantly reversed the gains we have made since 1994.
 
In this regard, government is forging ahead with the implementation of priorities identified in the National Development Plan which remains a long-term policy framework leading to 2030.
 
The anti-poverty initiatives of government that in the main focuses on the integration of our Public Employment Programmes, are bearing some positive outcomes in mitigating the current impacts of poverty and inequality, as we had mentioned in the earlier response.
 
Further, this was highlighted last week in this House by the President when he indicated that the Public Employment Stimulus is effective in protecting existing jobs and supporting livelihoods.
 
While these poverty alleviation programmes are vital, longer term solutions depend on our ability to achieve inclusive growth by among others, implementing reforms that are crucial to sustain economic recovery and to address the underlying causes of low economic growth and high unemployment.
 
In this regard, Operation Vulindlela is directly addressing reforms by reforming network industries to modernise and transform the economy,  lower barriers to entry to make it easier for businesses to start, grow, and compete in order to ensure economic inclusion resulting in higher levels of employment.
 
Linked to this intervention is the Economic Reconstruction and Recovery Plan which presents a comprehensive policy response to re-build the economy that has been negatively affected by the Covid-19 pandemic. Obviously, more needs to be done to broaden the people’s share in the country’s wealth so that we give full material meaning to building social cohesion and nation building.
 
Thank you.
 
On the impact of the Coronavirus on global health systems
 
REPLY:
 
Honourable Deputy Speaker
 
The South African National AIDS Council as a multi-sectoral structure that fosters dialogue and consensus between government, civil society, business and labour, has several governance structures including the Programme Review Committee. This structure provides technical expertise and guidance on the programmatic activities of the implementation of the National Strategic Plan for HIV, TB and STIs.
 
Since the start of the of the Covid-19 pandemic, SANAC continues to receive regular updates on the implementation of Covid-19 programmes as well as on the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic on the TB and HIV Programme.
 
These updates have specifically been on the integration of HIV, TB and Covid-19 programmes, and most importantly on the fast-tracking of HIV and TB catch-up plans by provinces. These plans are being implemented by relevant government departments such as Health, Higher Education and Social Development to make up for HIV and TB client losses due to the Covid-19 pandemic.
 
Current practice at every health facility is to screen everyone who presents any ailment for TB symptoms. However, the recently released results of the TB prevalence survey showed us that symptom screening on its own has got a low sensitivity pick up rate for TB cases. As a result, non-symptomatic patients tend to be missed.
 
To address this gap, we have introduced routine testing irrespective of symptoms for certain high-risk groups, People Living with HIV, contacts of all people diagnosed with TB and people who have been previously treated for TB in the past year. This is what we refer to as active case finding which is done to make sure that the spread of the disease is minimised at community level.
 
The Department is also running “Welcome Back to Care” campaigns that have been activated nationwide in order to bring back all those who were on HIV and TB treatment but had treatment interruptions due to the Covid-19 pandemic.
 
This will ensure that patients with TB continue with their medication until they are no longer infectious, and indeed until they are cured. For HIV infected patients, getting back on medication will make their viral load suppressed which minimises the risk of viral transmission and spread of the virus.
 
A lot of these services including testing and screening are being offered at community centres, away from hospitals, and patients are even able to collect medication at pharmacy lockers or at their local retail pharmacy and spaza shop as part of the government’s Chronic Courier Medicine Dispensing and Distribution programme, if they do not wish to visit a health facility.
 
Honourable Deputy Speaker,
 
Between June and September 2020, the SANAC Trust held a series of country dialogues with critical stakeholders to ensure that the HIV, TB and STIs response was sustained, and called for the dual testing of Covid-19 and TB. This led to resource mobilisation from both PEPFAR and the Global Fund to invest in strengthening HIV and TB programming to mitigate the negative impact of Covid-19 on health services.
 
The SANAC Inter-Ministerial Committee has since approved the integration of HIV/AIDS, TB and Covid-19 programmes, as well as the fast-tracking of HIV/AIDS and TB catch-up plans in order to make up for HIV/AIDS and TB client losses due to the Covid-19 pandemic.
 
In addition, considering the negative impact of the Covid-19 pandemic on the achievement of both national and global targets, the SANAC Plenary resolved to extend the term of the current National Strategic Plan for HIV, TB and STIs, so that it ends in 2023, and not in 2022 as initially intended.
 
This extension will allow all SANAC sectors some time to implement catch-up plans aimed at accelerating the provision of services towards the attainment of the set targets.
 
While we have surpassed the target with respect to the percentage of people knowing their HIV status, more efforts are required with respect to enrolling people on anti-retroviral treatment, and ensuring that they are virally suppressed. Even more efforts are required to help us meet our 90-90-90 targets for TB.
 
To this end, we have met with civil society to discuss these challenges, and agreed to continue working together to address the identified shortfalls. The civil society sector of SANAC responded swiftly to support the country’s health system by collaborating with other civil society formations to establish the “Community Constituency Covid-19 Front” within NEDLAC.
 
This initiative entails an integrated response to Covid-19, HIV and TB using technology, with a particular focus on advocacy, social mobilisation, public awareness, legal support and promotion of human rights, as well as contact tracing and screening.
 
Community health workers also continue to provide a vital service in support of the country’s health system, by reaching out to patients and community members who require healthcare assistance. This includes conducting household visits to monitor HIV and TB patients, and ensuring that they do not default on their treatment.
 
We commend all civil society formations and community healthcare workers for their hard work and commitment in supporting our health system. We also take this time to encourage everyone to come on board and work together to ensure that we achieve the targets that we have set for HIV/AIDS and TB screening and testing.
 
We call upon our communities to come out to screen and test to ensure that they receive assistance through our facilities. We must all take responsibility for our own health.
 
As we continue our efforts of vaccines rollout, we continue to appeal to all of us to continue observing Covid-19 protocols and employing all non-pharmaceutical interventions and behavioural change, to stem-off further infections as we confront the new wave of infections.
 
Thank you.