Issued by: Office of the Deputy President
Tuesday, 3 April 2001
DEPUTY PRESIDENT JACOB ZUMA ANSWERS QUESTION AT THE NCOP
NATIONAL COUNCIL OF PROVINCES
QUESTION FOR ORAL REPLY
QUESTION NO. : 1
DATE: 3 APRIL 2001
Mr P A Matthee to ask the Deputy President
(1) With reference to the views expressed by the Premier of the Eastern Cape Province in respect of the composition, powers and functions of provincial legislatures and executives, as reported in a certain media report (copy furnished), (a) what is the vision of the Government in respect of the composition, powers and functions of provincial legislatures and executives and (b) what are its plans, linked to time-frames, in this regard;
(2) whether the Government is contemplating any amendments to the Constitution in respect of the composition, powers and functions of the provincial legislatures and executives as currently provided for in the Constitution; if not, what is the position in this regard; if so, (a) what amendments and (b) when?
REPLY:
1(a) The composition, powers and functions of provincial legislatures and executives are defined in our Constitution. As members are aware, considerable debate on these issues took place during the Constitution making process. The Constitution, however, is a living document and will from time to time be subject to vigorous debate in line with the changing needs our society. We need to be open to such debates. It is only once such debates are concluded, and if there are agreements on changes that we can then look at specific proposals on amending the constitution.
(b) and (2) therefore fall away
NATIONAL COUNCIL OF PROVINCES
QUESTION FOR ORAL REPLY
QUESTION NO. : 2
DATE: 3 APRIL 2001
Mr. P A Matthee to ask the Deputy President: Whether a meaningful debate on the budget votes for (a) Safety and Security, (b) Justice and (c) Correctional Services can be held without crime statistics in respect of the most serious crimes; if so, what are the relevant details?
REPLY:
(a)-(c) Yes.
Although crime statistics can support discussions on the budget votes, a meaningful debate on the votes of the Departments of Safety and Security, Justice and Correctional Services can still take place. The President informed this House of the reasons for the moratorium in his State of the Nation Address on 9 February this year. These were that the statistics were inaccurate and therefore made it difficult to design accurate and optimal plans in the fight against crime. This response was also given by the Minister of Safety and Security, in answer to written Question Number 14, put by the Honourable member. The Minister also set out the primary steps being taken to rectify the situation. The respective departments, and the departments as a cluster, have based their planning and expenditure on a Medium Term Strategic Framework (MTSF) over the period 2000 - 2003. They are following an integrated approach, based on the known fact that serious crimes are at unacceptable levels and cannot be eradicated in the short term.
NATIONAL COUNCIL OF PROVINCES
QUESTION FOR ORAL REPLY
QUESTION NO. : 3
DATE: 3 APRIL 2001
Mrs C-S Botha to ask the Deputy President:
(1) Whether The Presidency has taken any steps to reverse the outflow of internet technology skills from the Republic; if not, why not; if so, what steps (2) whether any steps have been taken to assess the cost to the country in terms of the loss of (a) skills and (b) investment in education and training; if not, why not; if so, what were the findings (3) whether this matter has been or will be discussed by the President's Information Technology Advisory Council; if not, why not; if so, when?
REPLY:
1) The global shortage of IT professionals makes it very difficult to prevent the poaching of our IT professionals. The Government has however, embarked on various programmes to develop IT skills in South Africa. These programmes are aimed at creating a reservoir of IT skills able to meet the needs of the country. I wish to name a few of these initiatives: (i) The Institute of Space and Satellite Applications in Grabouw, Cape Town is providing for the training of previously disadvantaged students in satellite and software development skills; (ii) The Department of Communications Web Internet Laboratories located at various previously disadvantaged tertiary education institutions provides training for students in the fields of IT and provides these students with access to the required resources. (iii) The Department of Education is in the process of establishing specialised schools for science and mathematics that will increase the number of students able to move into the field of IT. (iv) The Department of Arts, Culture, Science and Technology is promoting research projects in this field. It is also conducting a technology scan of the Information and Communication Technology field.
2) Monitoring the brain drain and associated costs is a difficult task internationally partly because people have the option to leave the country without declaring that they intend to immigrate. In order to alleviate the problem, the South African Network of Skills Abroad (SANSA) has been established with the endorsement of the Department of Arts Culture Science and Technology. SANSA identifies skilled people abroad who wish to make a contribution to South Africa’s economic and social development. The Human Resource Development Strategy which has recently been approved by Cabinet will be launched later this month and contains proposals for dealing with scarce skills in our economy.
3) The Presidential National Commission on Information Society and Development and the Presidential International Task Force on Information Society and Development are still to meet. The matter could be discussed by these bodies once they do so.