Question no

QUESTION 882

DATE OF PUBLICATION: Friday, 30 May 2008

INTERNAL QUESTION PAPER NO 15 of 2008

Ms H Weber (DA) to ask the Minister of Home Affairs:
(1) (a) How many burglaries have occurred in her department’s offices throughout the country in each of the past five years up to the latest specified date for which information is available, (b) how many (i) identity documents, (ii) passports,
(iii) computers and (iv) other equipment were stolen during such burglaries, (c) what was the total cost incurred by her department as the result of the burglaries and
(d) what is the total amount spent by her department on office security in each of these years;
(2) whether any of her department’s officials were implicated in these burglaries; if so, (a) how many and (b) at which offices were they based;

3. 
   whether her department has taken any action against the implicated officials; if not, why not; if so, what action?
   

NW1573E

REPLY
(1)(2(3) The Department has had a series of burglaries in some of its offices, around the country, in the past, which caused so much inconveniences. The information, the Honourable Member is looking for, requires an enduring process of accessing information, spanning so many years that may require the extensive use of resources, so dearly required for the critical advancement of the challenges, and the undertaking of the immediate tasks of the Department.

QUESTION NO. 883
DATE OF PUBLICATION IN INTERNAL QUESTION PAPER: 30 MAY 2008

(INTERNAL QUESTION PAPER NO. 15)

Mrs S V Kalyan (DA) to ask the Minister of Health:

(1) Whether radiographers in possession of an additional accredited postgraduate qualification will be required to perform mammography examinations from 1 July 2009; if not, what is the position in this regard; if so, what are the relevant details;

(2) whether any consideration has been given to persons who currently carry out this service and who have developed extensive experience in this field, but would face difficulties in obtaining the new qualification requirement; if not, why not; if so, what are the relevant details?

NW1575E

REPLY:
(1) Yes.
With effect from 1 July 2009 mammography examinations shall be performed by qualified Radiographers in possession of a recognised additional qualification (post graduate) in mammography.

In an effort to obtain mammograms of desired quality, to protect patients from exposure to unnecessary radiation and meet international norms, the Directorate: Radiation Control in consultation with the Health Professions Council of South Africa (HPCSA) has announced that Radiographers involved in mammography procedures will in future be required to hold a post graduate qualification in this field.

(2) Yes.
The Professional Board subsequently developed criteria and guidelines for the recognition of prior learning (RPL) to prove competence, skills and experience in mammography. In terms of the guidelines, examinations will be conducted by the educational institutions for Radiographers with experience in the field of mammography without having to do the formal course.


QUESTION NO. 884
DATE OF PUBLICATION IN INTERNAL QUESTION PAPER: 30 MAY 2008

(INTERNAL QUESTION PAPER NO. 15)

Mrs S V Kalyan (DA) to ask the Minister of Health:

(1) Whether guidelines relating to the accreditation of nurses in terms of section 42 of the Nursing Act, Act 33 of 2005, have been completed; if not, (a) what is the position in this regard and (b) when is it anticipated that they will be completed; if so, what is their current status;

(2) whether the SA Nursing Council has placed a moratorium on the accreditation of new nursing colleges in light of the fact that these guidelines are not yet available; if so, how many applications for the development of new training opportunities have been put on hold as a result of this moratorium?

NW1576E

REPLY:
(1) Section 42 of the Nursing Act 2005 (Act no 33 of 2005) relates to accreditation of institutions as nursing education institutions. An accreditation policy and procedure as well as accreditation criteria were developed and approved by council. Regulations relating to accreditation of institutions as nursing education institutions have been developed and approved by Council at the end of May 2008. Comments have been received from council members after the last Council meeting and are in the process of collation and finalisation. The draft regulations will be submitted to the Department of Health for further processing and publication by the Minister.

2. Yes.
114 applications were received between January 2004 and December 2007.

QUESTION NO. 885
DATE OF PUBLICATION IN INTERNAL QUESTION PAPER: 30 MAY 2008

(INTERNAL QUESTION PAPER NO. 15)

Mrs S V Kalyan (DA) to ask the Minister of Health:

Whether she has taken any steps to place the Department of Health in the Eastern Cape under administration as was done with the Department of Health in the Northern Cape in June 2007; if not, what is the position in this regard; if so, what steps have been taken?

NW1577E

REPLY:
I am sure the honorable member has already received my response on the matter, as her colleague Mr E W Trent asked me in his question 365 on 7 March 2008, to which I responded as follows:
No. I have not considered any intervention in terms of section 100 of the Constitution at this stage. I have only asked certain sections of the department to work with the province to improve certain areas. For example, our Maternal and Child Health Unit, together with the Committees I established on child deaths have been working with the province to analyse the causes of child deaths in some parts of the province and to develop steps to prevent further deaths.

QUESTION No. 887

Mr E W Trent (DA) to ask the Minister of Housing:
(1) Whether there has been a comprehensive physical inspection of housing projects by the various Provincial Authorities and/or her department to quantify accurately the number of houses with building defects; if not; why not; if so, in each province (a) how many units require repair work and (b) what is the total estimated cost thereof;
(2) whether any contracts have been rewarded for the repair of the Reconstruction and Development Programme (RDP) houses; if so, in each province (a) how many contracts, (b) what is the total number of units involved and (c) what is the estimated cost thereof;
(3) Whether there has been a comprehensive survey in each province to establish the number of persons who have taken occupation of their RDP houses, but have not yet received the deed of transfer, if not, why not; if so, how many of these transfers have been outstanding for a period (a) less than three months, (b) between three to six months, (c) between six to twelve months and (d) longer than 12 months;

(4) Whether there is a plan in place to rectify the situation; if not, why not; if so, what are the relevant details?

Reply

1. 
   Yes, Provincial Housing Departments did initiate a process to determine the number of housing units with building defects. Various methodologies such as surveys and requests for beneficiary applications were utilised to determine the projects and number of units with defects that have to undergo rectification. The services of the NHBRC are utilised to ensure that the same contractor who initially built the units, is not appointed to do the rectification and that contractors appointed adhere to the necessary requirements.
   

In terms of the information received from the Provincial Housing Departments, the Rectification Programme has been implemented in all nine provinces. Detail of the status quo in each Province is set out in the table below:

Province	Number of units	Total estimated costs - R’ million	Status
Eastern Cape	19 953	99,7	Currently 150 units are at various stages of completion.
Free State	-	-	In a process of appointing a service provider to do a survey to identify the number of units to be rectified.
Gauteng	3 440	N/A	Rectification process in progress
KwaZulu-Natal	839	N/A	Rectification process in progress
Limpopo	2000	N/A	Rectification process in progress
Mpumalanga	9 701	N/A	Survey has been done and the appointment of contractors for the first 300 units is receiving attention through the normal procurement process
Northern Cape	1341	12,4	Currently 554 housing units have been rectified and the balance is in process.
North West	600	2,3	Programme is still in the planning stage and a contractor has not yet been appointed.
Western Cape	2473	82,4	Applications has been received for 2705 and are in process of being evaluated.

2. 
   The following provinces have already appointed contractors, namely: Eastern Cape, Mpumalanga, Northern Cape and Western Cape.
   

PROVINCE	HOW MANY CONTRACTS	TOTAL NUMBER OF UNITS INVOLVED	ESTIMATED COST R’ MILLION
Eastern Cape	26	5,145	99,7
Mpumalanga	3	N/A
Northern Cape	1	1341	12,4
Western Cape	6	2473	82,4

3. 
   Yes, various initiatives have been undertaken or are in the process to verify whether beneficiairies ocuppying their houses have received deed of transfer. Details of the status quo in the various Provinces are as follows:
   

Eastern Cape:

The survey is under way. A service provider has been appointed to conduct a door to door verification exercise of all people that received a subsidised house. The objective of the survey is to verify whether the occupant is the approved owner of the property and whether he/she has received a title deed. The survey only commenced in April 2008 and has not yet been finalised. Some of the transfers have been outstanding for longer than twelve months due to certain municipalities not having finalised the township establishment process.

The Eastern Cape Provincial Housing Department is in the process of appointing town planning experts to assist with the fast-tracking of the township establishment process in projects where this is an inhibiting factor. The latter projects have been identified. The Provincial Department is also currently beefing up its contract management capacity to assist municipalities to deal with slack conveyancers. In terms hereof, monthly meetings are held with the relevant municipalities and their conveyancers to iron out issues that have blockages.
Gauteng:

The Gauteng Provincial Housing Department has appointed a service provider, namely Servcon to undertake an audit of occupation of the housing subsidy scheme houses. Servcon has been instructed by the Provincial Housing Department to visit houses built by the province and ascertain whether the approved beneficiary is in occupation of the house. Servcon established to date that 25 053 beneficiaries are in occupation of their housing subsidy scheme house but have not received their title deeds. The Provincial Housing Department has mandated Servcon to regularize instances where the beneficiaries have not received their title deeds and to ensure that these beneficiaries are registered at the Deeds Office.

Limpopo:

According to a survey conducted, a total number of 10 473 beneficiaries have taken occupancy of subsidised houses without deeds of transfer being issued. The Provincial Department is planning to register 3000 of these properties during the current financial year, 4000 in 2009/10 and the balance of 3475 in the 2010/2011 financial year.
Mpumalanga:

The Provincial Housing Department is aware of the occupants of subsidised houses without title deeds. Problems are being experienced with registering title deeds because most of the townships were not proclaimed and developments are located in rural areas. As a result, conveyancers are struggling to register deeds. The Provincial Housing Department has initiated a process to proclaim all townships in order to be able to register title deeds which will assist in preventing beneficiaries from selling subsidised houses unlawfully. A service provider has been appointed to take the necessary steps and some documentation has already been submitted to the Office of the Registrar of Deeds.

Northern Cape

A total number of 2628 beneficiaires without title deeds was identified during an investigation in October 2007. Of this number 1136 registrations have already taken place and the particulars of the other have been forwarded to the relevant conveyancers for the necessary attention. Investigations are continuing and the number of registrations is updated every two weeks.

Western Cape

The Western Cape Provincial Housing Department has commenced with some surveys in this regard but no information is yet available of the extent or number of beneficiaries that occupy subsidised housing units which are not yet transferred to their names.

4. 
   As indicated in paragraph (3) above, most Provinces have already put some initiatives in place to address this matter. In addition, the National Department of Housing is also in the process of considering various options in this regard to assist Provincial Housing Departments in their efforts.