President Cyril Ramaphosa questions for Oral Reply in the National Assembly

QUESTION 

1. Dr MME Tlhape (ANC) to ask the President of the Republic: 

Considering that the land reform programme in the agricultural sector has resulted in a growth of 4,2% per annum with 985 000 persons employed in the sector, as well as an increase in employment in the last quarter of 27 000 persons, what is the integrated plan of the Government going forward to maintain growth and job creation in the agricultural sector through land reform? 

REPLY:

Honourable Members, 

Land reform is vital to the transformation of our society and to correct historical injustices.

Redistribution, restitution and the provision of secure tenure also contribute to greater agricultural activity and enable more people to earn a living off farming.

Government’s land reform programme is supported by several complementary programmes and initiatives to enable growth and job creation.

In May 2022, the Department of Agriculture, Land Reform and Rural Development signed the Agriculture and Agro-processing Master Plan with partners in business and labour.

Among many other things, the plan supports the acceleration of land reform and outlines actions that the private sector can take to support optimal use of land available to black farmers as a result of land reform projects

These actions include support to black farmers and SMMEs at the processing level to have better access to domestic and export markets.

The plan also encourages large commercial farmers to participate voluntarily in the land reform programme by donating land to historically disadvantaged farmers or participating in joint ventures to facilitate linkages between small- and medium-scale farmers operating on a commercial basis.

If the proposed interventions are implemented effectively, the social partners believe that by 2030, the agricultural sector can grow by an additional R32 billion above the ‘business-as-usual’ baseline.

Through this plan, they intend to maintain the existing jobs in the sector and create many more jobs by 2030.

For the economic potential of our land reform programme to be fully realised, we are prioritising broader rural development.

The Integrated Rural Development Sector Strategy of 2023 aims, among other things, to revitalise the rural economy through investment in, and development of, rural infrastructure.

This includes investment in roads, bridges and other transport infrastructure, water and irrigation schemes, public health and education. 

The strategy also provides for support to industries that support rural development, including agriculture and agro-processing, mining, the digital economy, the ocean economy, tourism, arts and culture.

Improvements in rural infrastructure are necessary if we are to reap the economic potential of land reform. Beneficiaries of the various land reform projects need to be able to access water resources, get their produce to market, participate in local economic activity and have ready access to funding and other support.

The land reform programme is also supported by initiatives that support skills development and employment, particularly for the youth.

Through the National Rural Youth Service Corps – or NARYSEC – government provides young people with the skills and capabilities to participate in the economy. Through such rural development initiatives more than 1,100 jobs have been facilitated in the current financial year.

Through Presidential Employment Stimulus, more than 180,000 agricultural production inputs vouchers have been issued to subsistence producers. 

The Presidential Employment Stimulus has also worked with the provincial departments of agriculture and social partners to provide support to more than 62,000 subsistence and smallholder producers to strengthen self-employment and food security. 

Through these complementary programmes and initiatives, we are working to ensure that land reform is harnessed more effectively to support the growth of agriculture and agro-processing and to expand employment and livelihoods in this vital industry.

I thank you.  


QUESTION 

2. The Leader of the Opposition (DA) to ask the President of the Republic: 

Whether, with reference to his commitment during his reply to the debate on the State of the Nation Address on 20 February 2018 that lifestyle audits will be done starting with Members of the Executive and his pledge on 31 August 2020 to conduct lifestyle audits on all public representatives in light of it becoming compulsory on 1 April 2021 for all Ministries and departments to conduct lifestyle audits and noting his reassurance in his State of the Nation Address on 10 February 2022 that lifestyle audits were already being implemented across the Public Service, the lifestyle audits on Members of the Executive have now been concluded since his reply to oral question 13 on 5 September 2023; if not, why not; if so, what are the relevant details of the outcomes of the lifestyle audits? 

REPLY:

Honourable Members, 

After several delays, lifestyle audits of Members of the Executive are underway. This process is being led by the Director-General in the Presidency and Secretary of Cabinet. 

The President, Deputy President, Ministers and Deputy Ministers are currently in the process of submitting addional information required for these audits. 

As I have indicated before, the aim of a lifestyle audit is to collect as much information as possible on an individual’s lifestyle to be able to identify when an individual’s expenditure exceeds his or her income. In itself a lifestyle audit is not conclusive, but may indicate that further investigation is required to establish if there is any wrongdoing. 

Due to cost containment measures in government, it was decided to build capacity within the Office of the Director-General to conduct these lifestyle audits.

The Office of the Director-General had to source competent and skilled personnel with experience in conducting lifestyle audits. The capacity building exercise took longer than anticipated which impacted negatively on the timelines for the audits. 

This is the first time that national government is conducting lifestyle audits of Members of the Executive, requiring new systems, processes and methodologies to be developed. 

The Director-General will decide on the most appropriate way to communicate the outcomes of the audits once completed.

I thank you.


QUESTION 

3. Mr M Nontsele (ANC) to ask the President of the Republic: 

Considering that since its implementation the Presidential Employment Stimulus has created an estimated 1,2 million job opportunities for particularly youth and women, how (a) does the Government intend to intensify the specified programme to expand public employment and (b) will the Government ensure that the programme is linked to skills development? 

REPLY:

Honourable Members, 

Between October 2020 and December 2023, the Presidential Employment Stimulus has created work and livelihood opportunities for over 1.7 million people. 

Of the participants in the various programmes, 65 percent are women and 85 percent are young people.

The Presidential Employment Stimulus has built an institutional architecture that is able to scale rapidly should the opportunity to do so arise. 

Right now, fiscal constraints mean that while the programme has been extended to March 2025, it is not currently able to expand. 

The focus in the coming year is therefore on taking the quality of outcomes to the next level, focusing on enhancing the work experience for participants as well as on the quality of the social value they create for communities. 

This includes skills development – both ‘soft’ skills derived from work experience as well as more formal skills development. 

Different programmes are able to achieve this to different extents, depending on the budgets made available. For example, in the Social Employment Fund, the skills development offered is a key criterion in the selection of implementing partners. 

Programmes such as the Basic Education Employment Initiative have also augmented what they can offer by building partnerships with the SETA system, with TVETs and also with organisations outside of the state. 

The Presidential Youth Employment Intervention’s approach to skills development focuses on demand-led skilling, which is about increasing the relevance and delivery of interventions that address current skills gaps and emerging needs. 

To take forward this work, the Department of Higher Education and Training, with the support of the Presidency, has established demand-led skilling workstreams in priority growth sectors. This is to ensure that skilling interventions respond to demand and encourage inclusive hiring for young people and marginalised communities. 

The Presidential Youth Employment Intervention’s, in partnership with the National Skills Fund, has also launched Jobs Boost, a R300 million outcomes fund that will fund implementing organisations to skill 4,500 marginalised young people and place them in sustainable, quality jobs.

The Presidential Employment Stimulus and the Presidential Youth Employment Intervention have made a real difference in the lives of millions of young people. 

Through the work already done, we have established a firm foundation for these intiatives to make an even greater contribution to addressing poverty, unemployment and inequality in our country.
 
I thank you. 
 

QUESTION 

4.     Mr V F Hlabisa (IFP) to ask the President of the Republic: 

Whether, in light of his one-month suspension of the Deputy Minister of Small Business Development, Ms E D Peters, who counts among members of his Executive that were implicated in the report of the Judicial Commission of Inquiry into Allegations of State Capture, Corruption and Fraud in the Public Sector including Organs of State (the Zondo Commission), he now intends to take action against other specified members of the Executive that were also implicated in the report; if not, how does he account for failing to act on the Zondo Commission Report into State Capture after R1 billion was spent to produce its findings; if so, when will he act? 

REPLY:

Honourable Members, 

This government has acted decisively and with purpose to respond to the findings and recommendations of the State Capture Commission.

On 22 October 2022, I submitted to Parliament my intentions with regards to the implementation of the recommendations of the State Capture Commission.

Among other things, the State Capture Commission made over 200 recommendations with respect to criminal investigation and possible prosecution of individuals, entities and named groups of people.

These recommendations were directed by the Commission to law enforcement agencies. The commission also made recommendations with respect to further investigation of and possible action by the relevant bodies against individuals and entities for disciplinary offences, tax offences, delinquency of directors and other activities.

The Presidency provided each of the bodies to which such recommendations were directed with copies of each part of the State Capture Commission Report as they were received by the Commission, so that they may act on the recommendations in line with their respective mandates.

As has been reported on several occasions to this Parliament and to the public more broadly, these recommendations are currently receiving attention from law enforcement agencies and the other bodies.

Therefore, as regards the recommendations with respect to criminal investigation and possible prosecution and other actions against individuals, the President has fully acted upon the recommendations of the Commission.

As I indicated in a written reply to this House on 17 November 2022, any actions that I take with respect to members of the executive about whom the Commission made findings will be informed by the outcomes of the processes undertaken by the relevant entities.

The extensive actions that this administration has taken on the recommendations of the State Capture Commission – including the introduction of draft legislative changes that are currently before this House – have been detailed in several public reports.

The most recent comprehensive report was published in November 2023, and there is a searchable online database that enables members of the public – and indeed Members of Parliament – to track progress. 

The report and the database may be found at: www.stateofthenation.gov.za.

I thank you.

QUESTION 

5. Dr PJ Groenewald (FF Plus) to ask the President of the Republic: 

In most democracies that place a high premium on good governance, members of the Executive lose their positions as holders of a public office once they undermine the public’s trust through their actions and conduct, as established by Parliament’s Joint Committee on Ethics and Members’ Interests in the matter of the then Minister of Transport, now the Deputy Minister of Small Business Development, Ms E D Peters, why would he therefore suspend the Deputy Minister, Ms E D Peters, for only one month instead of removing her from Office as would be the ordinary democratic practice commensurate with good governance and his sworn fight against corruption? 

REPLY:

Honourable Members, 

This administration places a premium on good governance, due process and the rule of law. 

This House made certain determinations in relation to Deputy Minister Peters. 

I have sanctioned her in relation to these. In my view the sanctioned imposed on her was commensurate with the breaches this House found her to have committed, over and above the sanctions imposed by this House.

Other current Members of the Executive implicated by the State Capture Commission have not been charged or found wanting in terms of ethical breaches by any body at this stage. 

As I have said before in this House, any actions that I take with respect to members of the executive about whom the Commission made findings will be informed by the outcomes of the processes undertaken by the relevant entities.

It is important to note that Parliament itself has an important role in combatting corruption and state capture through its own Committees, for instance, through the Ethics Committee and the Powers and Privileges Committee.

I thank you.

 
QUESTION 

6. Ms GK Tseke (ANC) to ask the President of the Republic: 

What is the comprehensive strategy for social infrastructure that the Government is implementing to increase the capacity for planning, project preparation, as well as project implementation to address the low level of planning and budgeting for infrastructure maintenance? 

REPLY:

Honourable Members,

One of the most important pillars of government’s economic recovery plan is a significant increase in infrastructure investment. This has meant that we have had to give specific attention to effective project preparation and the mobilisation of funding on a far larger scale.

We have amended the Division of Revenue Act to provide for the pledging of future infrastructure grants to crowd-in private sector finance and to leverage external technical capacity.

This will facilitate integrated planning and implementation. It will also enable the development of a funded maintenance programme, a monitoring and evaluation framework, and a governance structure to manage the programme delivery.

I previously spoke about the Northern Cape and Eastern Cape as pilot provinces to address the social infrastructure backlog in schools as well as in housing.

Infrastructure South Africa is making use of its project preparation facility to support the two pilot provinces to develop quality business cases for submission to the Treasury Loans Coordinating Committee and the Budget Facility for Infrastructure. 

Through this mechanism we will ensure that social infrastructure, particularly health and education infrastructure, is delivered in a manner that is cost-effective. It will also help to increases the participation of the private sector, both in terms of financing this build programme and also drawing on its expertise and capabilities.

As part of capacity building, the Municipal Infrastructure Support Agent – MISA – is developing guidelines for municipalities to use for project scoping and packaging. Importantly, the Municipal Infrastructure Grant makes provision for a portion of the grant to be utilised for refurbishment.

Through these efforts, the infrastructure build programme is starting to gain momentum.

Infrastructure projects worth over R230 billion are currently in construction, including in energy, water, roads, rural bridges, human settlements and student accommodation.

These projects are contributing to greater economic activity and creating employment while improving the lives of South Africans and expanding the capacity of our economy.

I thank you.