Date: 28/02/2007
Source: The Presidency
Title: Mlambo-Ngcuka: Oral reply in National Assembly
Oral reply by the Deputy President Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka in the National Assembly
Question number 1
Mr S E Kholwane African National Congress (ANC) to ask the Deputy President:
(1) (a) What is the main purpose of the National Youth Service Volunteer Campaign which was launched on 4 December 2006; (b) what are the key objectives being pursued by this initiative and (c) how does this campaign relate to the mandate of the National Youth Service (NYS).
(2) Whether this campaign will address the question of youth development and training in relation to the objectives of the Joint Initiative on Priority Skills Acquisition (JIPSA); if so, in what way?
Reply:
1(a). Honourable members let me start by explaining how the National Youth Service Volunteer Campaign differs from the National Youth Service. The main difference between the two initiatives is that the Volunteer Campaign is a short intervention which aims to get young people to participate in volunteer programmes during vocational holidays for example - engaging in developmental community activities such as crime prevention, peer education, marine and coastal management as well as support to orphans. In contrast the National Youth Service Programme is a longer-term intervention running for between 12 to 18 months which includes accredited technical training, life skills training and supervised community service.
(b) The key objectives of the Volunteers initiative are:
* to inculcate a civic responsibility culture amongst the youth in keeping with the Accelerated and Shared Growth Initiative for South Africa (AsgiSA) objective of creating caring and sharing communities
* to raise awareness and profile the National Youth Service Programme to foster co-operation among national and community stakeholders partnered with government departments
* it is our duty as government to demonstrate to everyone that, in our young people, we have productive assets that need to be nurtured. The Volunteers campaign gives us an opportunity to demonstrate this.
(c) The Volunteers Campaign which was launched in December is part of the National Youth Service Programme. For the purpose of accountability and reporting, the part-time volunteer activities have been separated from the structured fulltime community service interventions. Whereas the structured programmes are made up of accredited technical training, life skills training and supervised community service, the part-time volunteer initiatives engage youths during their spare time. 2. Honourable Kholwane, as the Volunteers Campaign is of such a short nature there is not enough time to embark on substantial skills training beyond life skills and career guidance. However it is from the pool of the volunteers that participants for the National Youth Service programmes and other development activities including Learnerships and co-operatives are recruited.
Question number 2
Dr S M van Dyk Democratic Alliance (DA) to ask the Deputy President:
Whether, in light of the World Bank's recent investment climate survey findings as well as that of Grant Thornton regarding the high crime rate as a constraint for further investment and growth (details furnished), she will add crime as the seventh binding constraint to economic growth under the Accelerated and Shared Growth Initiative for South Africa (AsgiSA); if not, why not, if so, what measures will be implemented in order to deal with this constraint?
Reply:
Honourable Members, crime is one of government's major focus areas. Its reference goes beyond AsgiSA so it is not necessary to add it as a binding constraint but what is required is to continue and intensify our fight against crime.
As has already been announced, some of the measures that are to be instituted are:
We will increase the number of police officers to over 180 000 over the next three years. In this regard, a considerable number of the new recruits will be deployed to prevent crime. The Information and Communications Technology (ICT) based forensic science laboratory for processing DNA is to be augmented by the establishment of another capacity in the Western Cape.
The capacity of the intelligence division of the police is being increased, both in terms of the number of officers and in terms of enabling technical infrastructure. The cluster intends sustaining measures intended to arrest and prosecute repeat offenders, particularly those responsible for serious and violent crimes. Similarly, operations to prevent crime at the places and the times when it mostly occurs will be sustained. In this regard, government particularly wants massively to reduce house burglaries. It is this particular crime that visits terror on most people ? the sense of insecurity people feel in their homes.
Appropriate attention is being given to organised aggravated robberies that target cash in transit heists, bank robberies and retail outlets. During the recent period, the partnership with business proved invaluable in enabling government to arrest and prosecute a large number of the criminals concerned.
Operations of the police to protect our people in the public transport sector ? dealing with taxi violence and deploying police in trains and on train stations ? are to be sustained and improved. Similarly, operations targeted at protecting the tourism industry are to be sustained.
Government is further intent on improving the functioning of the criminal justice system. This relates to the need to reduce the backlog of cases pending trial or finalisation, reducing case cycle times and generally making our courts more efficient.
It is the intention of government to implement the above and other measures ? such as operations directed at confiscating and destroying illegal firearms and dealing with illegal drugs and substance abuse.
Concerning all the above interventions, and where appropriate, government is committed to working in partnership with communities and organs of civil society. In this regard, the partnership with organised business and the religious leaders, among others, will have a positive impact.
Question number 3
Mr A Mpontshane Inkatha Freedom Party (IFP) to ask the Deputy President:
Whether the Government has any programmes in place to meet its targets regarding access to water, sanitation and electricity?
Reply:
Honourable Members, as you are aware, Government has set the following targets with regard to the attainment of universal access to the following basic services - water, sanitation and electricity namely:
* the eradication of bucket sanitation by the end of this year - 2007
* access to basic potable water by 2008
* access to basic decent sanitation by 2010
* and access to basic electricity by 2012.
Cabinet received a full report at the Cabinet Lekgotla last month and discussed the mechanisms put in place in order to meet these targets.
In the limited time allowed to me to answer this question, let me just detail some of the steps we are following to accelerate the provision of these basic services and to meet the set targets.
Firstly, we have increased our transfers of funds to the local sphere of government where these services are provided. Transfers to local government have grown by 19 percent a year in the current 2007/08 Medium Term Expenditure Framework (MTEF). As Honourable Members will recall, the Minister of Finance announced in his Budget Speech last week that the local government equitable share receives a further R5 billion for the delivery of free basic services, which now reach an average of about 80 percent of households. The Municipal Infrastructure Grant receives a R400 million more for a final push to eradicate the bucket system; a further R600 million for the electrification programme; R1,4 billion for bulk water and sanitation infrastructure and R950 million to deliver water and electricity to schools and clinics. The total infrastructure transfers to municipalities now total R52 billion over the next three years.
Secondly in line with Project Consolidate, we are intensifying our efforts to ensure that the expenditure levels of the Municipal Infrastructure Grant improve significantly. The introduction of project and programme management practices will enable a clear flow of information which will ensure alignment of planning, funding and budget prioritisation.
Thirdly we are endeavouring to provide more support to municipalities with critical capacity constraints and are in particular targeting municipalities with limited or no capacity; rural municipalities with backlogs exceeding 60% of the population; rural municipalities within project Consolidate and rural municipalities that are spending less than 50% of the Municipal Infrastructure Grant allocation. A major priority is schools and clinics which do not have basic services. Government, through the Department of Water Affairs and Forestry (DWAF), will assist struggling provinces and act as an implementing agent to provide infrastructure to schools and clinics. Water Boards and Non-Governmental Organisation (NGOs) will be utilised. Existing capacity within the provinces will be enhanced and allocations for this programme will be ring-fenced.
Fourthly we are endeavouring to ensure that more engineers are deployed to these programmes by the Department of Provincial and Local Government and the Development Bank of Southern Africa. Specifically, we are aiming at recruiting more engineers, target those that are retired and solicit their expertise, and in some cases solicit the expertise of engineers in our existing organs such as the Industrial Development Corporation, the Development Bank of Southern Africa, etc.
Lastly the Government through the Department of Water and Forestry will be working closer with identified municipalities to ensure speedier implementation of water and sanitation projects. This will include hands-on support to municipalities; where possible direct involvement (implementation of programmes and projects) of other government departments such as Water Affairs and Forestry, and Provincial and Local Government.
Question number 4
Ms P R Mashangoane (ANC) to ask the Deputy President:
What steps will the Government take to ensure that the public servants, in particular those in the main service delivery departments, are involved in the implementation of the key principles of the Moral Regeneration Movement (MRM)?
Reply:
As Honourable members are aware the Moral Regeneration Movement is a joint initiative between civil society and government at national, provincial and local levels. As far as national Government is concerned, some departments are running programmes aimed at strengthening the moral fibre of our society. However I believe that much more can be done and that greater effort is needed.
Honourable Mashangoane, your question relates to what Government is doing to ensure that its employees ? the public servants - are imbibed with the principles and values of the Moral Regeneration Movement. I think that this Question is crucial because if public servants were imbibed with these principles, they would not be involved in corruption or poor service delivery. So clearly we have a problem in pockets of the civil service which we need to address.
As Honourable Members are aware, all public practitioners in the departments are governed by the Batho Pele principles which speak directly to issues of morality.
Whilst the Department of Public Service and Administration has programmes on Batho Pele which have the potential to strengthen the moral values of public servants, we are expecting departments to provide reports on what they are doing or planning to do to instil the values of the Moral Regeneration Movement in the employees in their departments as part of Batho Pele and as required for overall compliance. We will be in a position to give more detailed feedback to this House once we have received these reports.
Honourable members, the most critical intervention that can be made in strengthening the moral fibre of our society is by families, parents and communities because it is here that the moral values of our young people are being shaped. This responsibility cannot be shifted to other whether it be schools, government or organised civil society. It is particularly families that need to instil moral values at home. So we need parents to be critical role players in the MRM.
I would therefore like to use this opportunity to urge parents and other family heads to ensure that moral values are instilled in our children at home. I trust that members of this Honourable House will also play their part in their constituencies in supporting the efforts to ensure that this takes place and for us as members to become a positive influence.
Enquiries:
Thabang Chiloane
Cell: 082 888 8783
Issued by: The Presidency
28 February 2007
Source: The Presidency
Title: Mlambo-Ngcuka: Oral reply in National Assembly
Oral reply by the Deputy President Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka in the National Assembly
Question number 1
Mr S E Kholwane African National Congress (ANC) to ask the Deputy President:
(1) (a) What is the main purpose of the National Youth Service Volunteer Campaign which was launched on 4 December 2006; (b) what are the key objectives being pursued by this initiative and (c) how does this campaign relate to the mandate of the National Youth Service (NYS).
(2) Whether this campaign will address the question of youth development and training in relation to the objectives of the Joint Initiative on Priority Skills Acquisition (JIPSA); if so, in what way?
Reply:
1(a). Honourable members let me start by explaining how the National Youth Service Volunteer Campaign differs from the National Youth Service. The main difference between the two initiatives is that the Volunteer Campaign is a short intervention which aims to get young people to participate in volunteer programmes during vocational holidays for example - engaging in developmental community activities such as crime prevention, peer education, marine and coastal management as well as support to orphans. In contrast the National Youth Service Programme is a longer-term intervention running for between 12 to 18 months which includes accredited technical training, life skills training and supervised community service.
(b) The key objectives of the Volunteers initiative are:
* to inculcate a civic responsibility culture amongst the youth in keeping with the Accelerated and Shared Growth Initiative for South Africa (AsgiSA) objective of creating caring and sharing communities
* to raise awareness and profile the National Youth Service Programme to foster co-operation among national and community stakeholders partnered with government departments
* it is our duty as government to demonstrate to everyone that, in our young people, we have productive assets that need to be nurtured. The Volunteers campaign gives us an opportunity to demonstrate this.
(c) The Volunteers Campaign which was launched in December is part of the National Youth Service Programme. For the purpose of accountability and reporting, the part-time volunteer activities have been separated from the structured fulltime community service interventions. Whereas the structured programmes are made up of accredited technical training, life skills training and supervised community service, the part-time volunteer initiatives engage youths during their spare time. 2. Honourable Kholwane, as the Volunteers Campaign is of such a short nature there is not enough time to embark on substantial skills training beyond life skills and career guidance. However it is from the pool of the volunteers that participants for the National Youth Service programmes and other development activities including Learnerships and co-operatives are recruited.
Question number 2
Dr S M van Dyk Democratic Alliance (DA) to ask the Deputy President:
Whether, in light of the World Bank's recent investment climate survey findings as well as that of Grant Thornton regarding the high crime rate as a constraint for further investment and growth (details furnished), she will add crime as the seventh binding constraint to economic growth under the Accelerated and Shared Growth Initiative for South Africa (AsgiSA); if not, why not, if so, what measures will be implemented in order to deal with this constraint?
Reply:
Honourable Members, crime is one of government's major focus areas. Its reference goes beyond AsgiSA so it is not necessary to add it as a binding constraint but what is required is to continue and intensify our fight against crime.
As has already been announced, some of the measures that are to be instituted are:
We will increase the number of police officers to over 180 000 over the next three years. In this regard, a considerable number of the new recruits will be deployed to prevent crime. The Information and Communications Technology (ICT) based forensic science laboratory for processing DNA is to be augmented by the establishment of another capacity in the Western Cape.
The capacity of the intelligence division of the police is being increased, both in terms of the number of officers and in terms of enabling technical infrastructure. The cluster intends sustaining measures intended to arrest and prosecute repeat offenders, particularly those responsible for serious and violent crimes. Similarly, operations to prevent crime at the places and the times when it mostly occurs will be sustained. In this regard, government particularly wants massively to reduce house burglaries. It is this particular crime that visits terror on most people ? the sense of insecurity people feel in their homes.
Appropriate attention is being given to organised aggravated robberies that target cash in transit heists, bank robberies and retail outlets. During the recent period, the partnership with business proved invaluable in enabling government to arrest and prosecute a large number of the criminals concerned.
Operations of the police to protect our people in the public transport sector ? dealing with taxi violence and deploying police in trains and on train stations ? are to be sustained and improved. Similarly, operations targeted at protecting the tourism industry are to be sustained.
Government is further intent on improving the functioning of the criminal justice system. This relates to the need to reduce the backlog of cases pending trial or finalisation, reducing case cycle times and generally making our courts more efficient.
It is the intention of government to implement the above and other measures ? such as operations directed at confiscating and destroying illegal firearms and dealing with illegal drugs and substance abuse.
Concerning all the above interventions, and where appropriate, government is committed to working in partnership with communities and organs of civil society. In this regard, the partnership with organised business and the religious leaders, among others, will have a positive impact.
Question number 3
Mr A Mpontshane Inkatha Freedom Party (IFP) to ask the Deputy President:
Whether the Government has any programmes in place to meet its targets regarding access to water, sanitation and electricity?
Reply:
Honourable Members, as you are aware, Government has set the following targets with regard to the attainment of universal access to the following basic services - water, sanitation and electricity namely:
* the eradication of bucket sanitation by the end of this year - 2007
* access to basic potable water by 2008
* access to basic decent sanitation by 2010
* and access to basic electricity by 2012.
Cabinet received a full report at the Cabinet Lekgotla last month and discussed the mechanisms put in place in order to meet these targets.
In the limited time allowed to me to answer this question, let me just detail some of the steps we are following to accelerate the provision of these basic services and to meet the set targets.
Firstly, we have increased our transfers of funds to the local sphere of government where these services are provided. Transfers to local government have grown by 19 percent a year in the current 2007/08 Medium Term Expenditure Framework (MTEF). As Honourable Members will recall, the Minister of Finance announced in his Budget Speech last week that the local government equitable share receives a further R5 billion for the delivery of free basic services, which now reach an average of about 80 percent of households. The Municipal Infrastructure Grant receives a R400 million more for a final push to eradicate the bucket system; a further R600 million for the electrification programme; R1,4 billion for bulk water and sanitation infrastructure and R950 million to deliver water and electricity to schools and clinics. The total infrastructure transfers to municipalities now total R52 billion over the next three years.
Secondly in line with Project Consolidate, we are intensifying our efforts to ensure that the expenditure levels of the Municipal Infrastructure Grant improve significantly. The introduction of project and programme management practices will enable a clear flow of information which will ensure alignment of planning, funding and budget prioritisation.
Thirdly we are endeavouring to provide more support to municipalities with critical capacity constraints and are in particular targeting municipalities with limited or no capacity; rural municipalities with backlogs exceeding 60% of the population; rural municipalities within project Consolidate and rural municipalities that are spending less than 50% of the Municipal Infrastructure Grant allocation. A major priority is schools and clinics which do not have basic services. Government, through the Department of Water Affairs and Forestry (DWAF), will assist struggling provinces and act as an implementing agent to provide infrastructure to schools and clinics. Water Boards and Non-Governmental Organisation (NGOs) will be utilised. Existing capacity within the provinces will be enhanced and allocations for this programme will be ring-fenced.
Fourthly we are endeavouring to ensure that more engineers are deployed to these programmes by the Department of Provincial and Local Government and the Development Bank of Southern Africa. Specifically, we are aiming at recruiting more engineers, target those that are retired and solicit their expertise, and in some cases solicit the expertise of engineers in our existing organs such as the Industrial Development Corporation, the Development Bank of Southern Africa, etc.
Lastly the Government through the Department of Water and Forestry will be working closer with identified municipalities to ensure speedier implementation of water and sanitation projects. This will include hands-on support to municipalities; where possible direct involvement (implementation of programmes and projects) of other government departments such as Water Affairs and Forestry, and Provincial and Local Government.
Question number 4
Ms P R Mashangoane (ANC) to ask the Deputy President:
What steps will the Government take to ensure that the public servants, in particular those in the main service delivery departments, are involved in the implementation of the key principles of the Moral Regeneration Movement (MRM)?
Reply:
As Honourable members are aware the Moral Regeneration Movement is a joint initiative between civil society and government at national, provincial and local levels. As far as national Government is concerned, some departments are running programmes aimed at strengthening the moral fibre of our society. However I believe that much more can be done and that greater effort is needed.
Honourable Mashangoane, your question relates to what Government is doing to ensure that its employees ? the public servants - are imbibed with the principles and values of the Moral Regeneration Movement. I think that this Question is crucial because if public servants were imbibed with these principles, they would not be involved in corruption or poor service delivery. So clearly we have a problem in pockets of the civil service which we need to address.
As Honourable Members are aware, all public practitioners in the departments are governed by the Batho Pele principles which speak directly to issues of morality.
Whilst the Department of Public Service and Administration has programmes on Batho Pele which have the potential to strengthen the moral values of public servants, we are expecting departments to provide reports on what they are doing or planning to do to instil the values of the Moral Regeneration Movement in the employees in their departments as part of Batho Pele and as required for overall compliance. We will be in a position to give more detailed feedback to this House once we have received these reports.
Honourable members, the most critical intervention that can be made in strengthening the moral fibre of our society is by families, parents and communities because it is here that the moral values of our young people are being shaped. This responsibility cannot be shifted to other whether it be schools, government or organised civil society. It is particularly families that need to instil moral values at home. So we need parents to be critical role players in the MRM.
I would therefore like to use this opportunity to urge parents and other family heads to ensure that moral values are instilled in our children at home. I trust that members of this Honourable House will also play their part in their constituencies in supporting the efforts to ensure that this takes place and for us as members to become a positive influence.
Enquiries:
Thabang Chiloane
Cell: 082 888 8783
Issued by: The Presidency
28 February 2007
Advertisement
EMAIL THIS ARTICLE SAVE THIS ARTICLE FEEDBACK
To subscribe email subscriptions@creamermedia.co.za or click here
To advertise email advertising@creamermedia.co.za or click here
