Question no

DATE OF PUBLICATION: 9 MAY 2008

Mr L K Joubert (DA) to ask the Minister for Justice and Constitutional Development:

(1) Whether any merit bonuses were paid to officials of her department in the 2007-08 financial year; if not, what is the position in this regard; if so, what are the relevant details;

(2) (a) what amount of money was budgeted for merit bonuses for the 2007-08 financial year and (b) how much of this amount was spent?

NW1341E

REPLY

I would like inform the Honourable Member that merit bonuses were paid to officials of my department in the 2007/08 financial year. These bonuses were in relation to the 2006/07 performance cycle. The amount budgeted for this was R48 439 845 and the total expenditure was R43 341 638. The merit bonuses were paid to 3564 non-SMS (levels 1 – 12) and 106 SMS (levels 13 – 16).

Question 652

Adv H C Schmidt (DA) to ask the Minister for Public Enterprises:
(1) (a) What was the level of stockholding at all the coal-fired stations as at 1 April 2008, (b) at what rate are they being replenished by (i) road or (ii) direct supply from the mine and (c) what is the target date by which Eskom intends to have the stockpiles returned to design level;
(2) whether load-shedding will be stopped once this target date has been reached; if not, why not; if so, what are the relevant details? NW1342
Reply:

1. 
   (a-c) Eskom endeavours to keep stockpiles at each power station at a minimum of 20 days. In the last year, some station stock levels have declined. This is currently being addressed as a matter of urgency. The rate at which stockpiles are replenished is satisfactory but more is needed to improve coal deliveries on rail. The recovery plan forecast is that the targeted system stockpile level of 20 days will be achieved during October 2008.
   

2. 
   Eskom coal deliveries for April 2008 was 11,06 MT in total with :
   

(i) road deliveries 27,3%

(ii) direct supply (conveyor) 68,5%

(iii) rail deliveries 4,2%

The load shedding programme was introduced in April to address several system risks and constraints including coal stockpile levels. Scheduled load shedding was suspended at the end of April 2008.

Question no. 653

QUESTION PAPER DATE: FRIDAY, 09 May 2008

653. Adv H C Schmidt (DA) to ask the Minister of Minerals and Energy:

(1) (a) With reference to her reply to Question 376 of 2008, how many applications for (i) prospecting rights, (ii) mining rights, (iii) mining permits and (iv) conversions of prospecting and mining rights did her department receive between the promulgation of the Mineral and Petroleum Resources Development Act (MPRDA), Act 28 of 2002 on 1 May 2004 and 30 April 2008 and (b) how many of these applications were refused;

(2) how many appeals (a) has (i) she and (ii) the Director-General received from 1 May 2004 to 30 April 2008 as a result of the refusals regarding Section 96(1) of the MPRDA and (b) were (i) successful, (ii) unsuccessful and (iii) suspended pending litigation;

(3) (a) how many applications for judicial review were (i) instituted against her or her department as a result of their refusal to grant (aa) prospecting rights, (bb) mining rights or (cc) the conversion of prospecting and mining rights from the old dispensation to the current dispensation and (ii) (aa) granted, (bb) settled or (cc) refused by the High Court and (b) what was the value of the court orders made by the court against her or her department in respect of the judicial review applications that were (i) granted and/or (ii) settled;

(4) what amount has been paid by her department in legal costs since the promulgation of the Mineral and Petroleum Resources Development Act (MPRDA), Act 28 of 2002 on 1 May 2004?

Answer

(1). (i) Between 1 May 2004 and 30 April 2008 the Department received 8623 prospecting rights (ii) mining rights-1413,(iii) mining permits-4448, (iv) (aa) the period for conversion of prospecting rights expired in April 2006, a total of 378 conversions were received.(bb) mining rights conversions -592

(ii) Between 1 May 2004 and 29 February 2008 the Department refused 2227 prospecting rights (ii) mining rights-311,(iii) mining permits-888, (iv) (aa) the period for conversion of prospecting rights expired in April 2006, a total of 378 conversions were received.(bb) mining rights conversions - 0

(2) (a) (i) and (ii)A total of 523 appeals were received during the aforementioned period. As stated before, the majority of appeals were processed in terms of section 103(4)(b) of the MPRDA, as it relates to Ministerial decisions taken under delegated authority, which as a result rendered an appeal in terms of section 96 of the Act, incompetent.

(b) (i) Of the appeals received, 25 were successful and (ii) 56 unsuccessful (iii) suspended pending litigation (32) or negotiations (48)
(3) (a) The number of judicial review proceedings in respect of (i)(aa) refusals of prospecting rights is 91

(bb) in respect of mining right applications is 28 (cc) conversions is 3.

(ii) (a) 14 applications were granted (b) 29 settled and (c) 1 refused
(b) With reference to the answer in (4) below, the Department is at this stage not in a position to provide accurate figures. However, in conjunction with the Office of the State Attorney, the Department is in the process of consolidating its records to determine the value of all court Orders issued in respect of litigation involving the Department.

4. 
   According to the records of the Department, the legal costs incurred by the Mineral Regulation Branch since 1 May 2004 to 30 April 2008 amounts to R8,114,131. However, as was previously indicated, the above records now reflect the totality of litigation per branch. It does not differentiate between the various decisions forming the subject of litigation, i.e. whether litigation was instituted as a result of a decision in terms of the MPRDA or not. It can therefore not be concluded from the statistical information that the total amount of R8, 114.131 was incurred as a result of the promulgation of the MPRDA. Furthermore, the State Attorney has indicated that the Bills of costs in respect of a number of cases have not been finalised as yet.
   

Question 654

Adv H C Schmidt (DA) to ask the Minister for Public Enterprises:
Following the declaration of an electricity crisis by Cabinet, what has been the (a) daily peak electricity demand for the past three years, (b) actual cost of coal per ton by station per month for the past three years and (c)(i) qualifications and (ii) details of the performance contracts of each station manager? NW1344E
Reply:
(a) The request for daily peak electricity demand for the past three years is too detailed to provide.
The maximum annual peak electricity demand (as supplied) for the past three years follows:
2007 Peak demand before adding back any reductions (either through contracted interruptible loads or through load shedding) was 36 513 MW on the 5th of July. If one adds back the interruptions of supply, the peak was on the 24th of May 2007 with a demand of 37 158MW.
2006 Peak demand before adding back any interruptions was 34 807MW on 29th June 2006. Adding the interruptions, the peak was 35 441MW on the 25th of May 2006.
The peak in 2005 was on 33 400MW on 22 June 2005.
(b) The actual cost of coal per ton by station per month for the past three years is confidential information that cannot be provided because it will prejudice Eskom’s ongoing coal supply negotiations.
(c) (i-ii) The minimum academic requirement for a station manager is a three year degree or equivalent, which can range from Bachelor of Science (B.Sc.) to National Diploma (Electrical Eng.). Whilst it would be cumbersome to furnish details of all the performance contracts, generic output indicators in the performance contracts of station managers include:

Interpreting Generation strategies and plans to ensure alignment with str ategic direction.

Networking with other Power Stations to ensure consistency and strategic alignment.

Directing and controlling all management facets of plant integrity within the Power Station. This includes: incident investigations, performance trending, contingency planning, and project identification and plant audits.

Ensuring effective plant performance in accordance with Eskom (Generation) standards, procedures and guidelines.

Adherence to Statutory Requirements.

QUESTION NUMBER 655
DATE OF PUBLICATION: 9 MAY 2008
Mr J J M Stephens (DA) to ask the Minister of Finance:

(1) (a) (i) As at 31 March 2008, how many people have invested in RSA Retail Savings Bonds that were launched in May 2004 and (ii) what total amount was invested, (b) what (i) number of people was expected to invest annually and (ii) amount was expected to be invested annually at the time the product was launched and (c) why was support for or interest in the bonds less than anticipated;

(2) whether he will make a statement on the matter? N1345E
REPLY
(1) (a) (i) As at 31 March 2008 a total number of 26 459 people invested in the RSA Retail Savings Bonds that were launched in May 2004. The total number of investments made by these is 54 325.
(ii) A total amount of R2,8 billion was invested.
(b) (i) No target was set for the number of people to invest annually.
(ii) The plan is to ensure that in future between 5% and 10% of government total debt is in the retail bonds. This will only be possible once the full range of products has been introduced and the savings message effectively communicated to all South Africans.
(c) On average R1 million to R1.5 million has been invested on a daily basis since the introduction of the RSA Retail Savings Bonds. With the current TV, radio and print campaign, it is believed that more people will understand the features and the unique benefits of the RSA Retail Savings Bonds.

Since the launch of the new Retail Savings Bond marketing campaign, the calls received by the National Treasury’s help line went from an average of 70 calls per day to between 250 and 300 calls per day.

The partnership with Pick ‘n Pay as the alternative distribution channel for the RSA Retail Savings Bonds will make retail saving bonds even more accessible to a wider range of potential investors.
(2) Yes


QUESTION NO. 657
DATE OF PUBLICATION IN INTERNAL QUESTION PAPER: 08 MAY 2008

(INTERNAL QUESTION PAPER NO. 12)

Mr J J M Stephens (DA) to ask the Minister of Health: