30 August 2022
QUESTION 7 Mr M S Chabane (ANC) to ask the President of the Republic:
In view of the growing challenge of illegal migration, which poses an increasing security risk and the proposal to review the immigration laws considering the African Union Agenda 2063 of socio-economic integration of the continent in bringing about an environment of legality, what are the engagements he has with other leaders on the continent, especially in the Southern African Development Community region, to address the challenges of illegal migration?
NO2911E
Reply
Honourable Members,
Migration is an important developmental issue within the African Union and Southern African Development Community, and indeed across the world.
As a consequence, it features in bilateral engagements between South Africa and other African countries.
For example, in November 2021, during the state visit of President Uhuru Kenyatta, Kenya and South Africa signed a migration agreement that includes the return of third-country immigrants that passed illegally through one of our countries en route to the other country.
I also met with President Muhammadu Buhari towards the end of 2021 in Abuja, Nigeria.
Among the agreements reached is to have a Consular Migration Forum between Nigeria and South Africa, where senior officials meet twice a year to look at visa issues, illegal migration and other issues concerning either country’s nationals.
Similarly, an immigration cooperation agreement formed part of my discussions with President Nana Addo Akufo-Addo of Ghana in December 2021.
We have held bi-national commissions at Head of State level with Mozambique in March 2022 and Botswana in April 2022.
In both cases, cooperation on deportations and agreements on migration cooperation more broadly were concluded.
In the last few months, there have been engagements at Ministerial and officials level with counterparts from Lesotho, Botswana and Zimbabwe on migration issues.
During our chairship of the SADC Organ on Politics, Defence and Security over the past year, we have prioritised the Draft Regional Migration Policy Framework and Action Plan 2022-2030. The draft plan proposes principles and strategies on matters such as border governance, irregular migration, labour migration and others.
Like any sovereign nation, we have the right to implement policies and measures that guarantee the integrity of our borders, protect the rights of South Africans and provide that all who reside in our borders have a legal right to be here.
To this end, there are ongoing joint operations by South African Police Service, South African Defence Force, Department of Employment and Labour and Department of Transport to deal with illegal migration.
The first cohort of the Border Management Agency border guards has been deployed in areas where illegal entry into the country has been reported.
As we deal with the challenge of illegal migration, we must remember that we are a democracy founded on the rule of law.
Acts of lawlessness, intimidation or humiliation directed at foreign nationals, whether they are documented or undocumented, cannot be tolerated.
If migration is managed properly and occurs within the legal framework, foreign nationals can contribute positively to our society, bringing skills and resources to our economy and creating jobs for South Africans.
We have recently undertaken a comprehensive review of the policy framework for work visas to ensure that migration is managed in a way that benefits our country and supports our national interests.
We need to work together to ensure that all the country’s laws are enforced by the relevant authorities firmly and consistently.
I thank you.
QUESTION 8 – The Leader of the Opposition (DA) to ask the President of the Republic:
With reference to the commitment he made during his State of the Nation Address on 10 February 2022, that the Government would be intensifying the fight against gender-based violence and femicide through the implementation of the National Strategic Plan on Gender-Based Violence and Femicide, and in light of the fact that the number and frequency of gender-based crimes committed in the Republic have increased rather than decreased since then, what are the relevant details of the steps he will take in addition to the implementation of the specified plan to ensure that (a) women and girls are protected from gender-based violence and (b) perpetrators of gender-based crimes are prosecuted swiftly?
NO2915E
Reply
Honourable Members,
The violence perpetrated by men against women and children is a devastating social problem that can only be solved by every part of society working together.
While the latest crime statistics show a slight year-on-year decline in sexual offences, we have not yet made significant progress in reducing the appalling levels of gender-based violence.
That is why the government has been working closely with civil society, business, labour and other formations on a society-wide response that harnesses all the resources and energies at our disposal.
The National Strategic Plan on Gender-Based Violence and Femicide is the product of an inclusive social process and its implementation is our collective responsibility.
The NSP, as it is known, is a ten-year plan in its third year of implementation.
We are committed to the full and urgent implementation of the NSP.
We have started making progress in putting the necessary social infrastructure in place to respond more effectively to gender-based violence.
To this end, 23 Rapid Response Teams have been established in the Eastern Cape, KwaZulu-Natal, Northern Cape, Mpumalanga and Gauteng.
These Rapid Response Teams are multi-stakeholder structures at the district, local and ward levels to coordinate responses to gender-based violence and femicide.
The teams are comprised of senior front-line officials, such as police station commanders, senior social workers, representatives from Thuthuzela Care Centres and Victim Empowerment Centre officials.
They work with community organisations and individuals to report suspected cases, clean up unsafe spaces and act to reduce the potential for gender-based violence by, for example, ensuring that liquor outlets do not stay open after operating hours.
We have strengthened the criminal justice system by enacting the Sexual Offences and Related Matters Amendment Act and the Criminal and Related Matters Amendment Act.
Among others, these Acts strengthen the protection of children and other vulnerable persons and make vital changes to the parole system, giving complainants the right to make representations on certain parole issues.
The new provisions tighten conditions with respect to the granting of police bail.
Courts will now impose tougher sentences in cases of murder or attempted murder of children or in femicide and domestic homicide cases.
Rape perpetrated in domestic relationships, rape of a child under 18 years, gang rape and serial rape will result in life imprisonment.
Through the Thuthuzela Care Centres, we are working quickly to ensure that GBV survivors can access efficient and sensitive criminal justice services in an accessible, responsive and gender-inclusive manner.
These centres are also proving effective in improving conviction rates.
The current conviction rate for matters emanating from these centres is 76 per cent, up from 60 per cent in 2010.
The Sexual Offences and Community Affairs unit in the NPA achieved a conviction rate of 94 per cent in femicide prosecutions and 74 per cent in sexual offences cases in the last financial year.
It is not enough to arrest, prosecute and sentence perpetrators of gender-based violence.
Our shared responsibility is to prevent such violence and build a society where women and children feel and are safe.
One of the initiatives in this respect is a national prevention GBVF programme called ‘What About the Boys?’, which is a partnership of the Department of Basic Education, the Chemical Industries SETA and the private sector.
About 10,000 boys in grades 8-12 are now part of the programme. They are encouraged to re-imagine traditional ideas of masculinity, learn how to manage their emotions and create healthy minds and bodies.
We are also working with partners to promote the economic empowerment of women and thereby reduce their vulnerability to abuse.
Our interventions include gender-responsive budgeting, preferential procurement for women-owned enterprises, promoting the participation of women in business supply chains, and ensuring that women are well represented in the labour market.
We are convening the second Presidential Summit on Gender-Based Violence and Femicide later this year to reflect on what has worked and not worked and what further actions need to be taken to accelerate meaningful change in the lives of all women and children in our country.
We know that we will not win this battle overnight.
Building a safe and violence-free country, particularly for women and children, means healing our nation.
It means restoring healthy respect for our common humanity and rooting the values of our Constitution in ourselves, in our homes and in our communities.
I thank you.
QUESTION 9 Rev K R J Meshoe (ACDP) to ask the President of the Republic:
Whether he intends to act on the concerns raised in a warning instruction by the SA National Defence Force (SANDF) (details furnished), warning that the situation in the Republic of South Africa is gradually deteriorating into unrest due to criminality that is taking place within the borders and exacerbated by a perceived lack of action from the security forces to combat criminality; if not, why not; if so, (a) does such an act include his authorization of the deployment of the SANDF to assist the SA Police Service to contain further unrest and (b) what are the further relevant details?
NO2916E
Reply
Honourable Members,
The report of the Expert Panel into the July 2021 Civil Unrest concluded, among other things, that the South African National Defence Force “did not undertake any scenario planning for a possible sudden deployment, nor put in place measures necessary to deploy, should they be called upon to do so”.
We should therefore welcome the SANDF internal warning instruction of 6 August 2022 as an indication of the readiness of the security services to respond to potential unrest should it be necessary.
In this instance, it was not necessary for the President to authorise the deployment of the SANDF to support the South Africa Police Service in managing the security situation in the country.
The relevant security and law enforcement entities continue to improve their ability to respond to criminality and instability under the overall direction of the National Security Council.
As indicated in the State of the Nation Address, government has allocated funding for the recruitment of 12,000 new police trainees, and the first cohort is undergoing basic training.
The SAPS Public Order Policing Units will receive an additional 4,000 members this financial year.
The first tranche of 2,000 new Public Order Policing members will complete their training next month, and the next tranche of 2,000 will begin training in December.
Drawing on the lessons of last July’s unrest, we are working to improve cooperation between law enforcement agencies and the private security industry in the fight against crime.
An example is the collaboration between Transnet Freight Rail and the SAPS to combat infrastructure theft and line sabotage.
This includes securing the North Rail Corridor between the highveld coal fields and Richards Bay, which has led to a significant reduction in crime and derailments.
Earlier this month, Justice and Correctional Services Minister Ronald Lamola gave approval for Transnet’s security officers to be granted peace officer status.
This means they will be allowed to make arrests and assist the National Prosecuting Authority with prosecutions.
They will also have the authority to search premises, complete dockets to ensure suspects are charged correctly and assist with basic investigations.
Another example of cooperation is between mine security, private security and the SAPS to fight precious metals theft and illegal mining.
As a result of these joint efforts, we are seeing progress in areas like Mpumalanga and Limpopo that have been flashpoints of instability as stolen metals were moved to illicit markets abroad.
Government is taking the challenge of illegal mining extremely seriously.
Last week, the National Security Council held a meeting to focus on the work being done to tackle illegal mining and related crimes.
The SAPS has established task teams to tackle illegal mining, alongside other task teams dealing with construction site extortion, copper and cable theft, and theft and vandalism of economic infrastructure.
The National Security Council agreed on further action to tackle illegal mining, and that the SANDF could be called upon to support the SAPS should it be required.
Together, all these efforts should steadily reduce the prevalance of criminality and combat attempts to undermine public order.
However, it is important that all our security forces remain alert and ready to act if needed.
I thank you.
QUESTION 10 – Ms N Q Mvana (ANC) to ask the President of the Republic:
In light of the rising levels of social ills and violence, such as the recent tragic death of 21 teenagers in the Eastern Cape, the eight women who were raped after a media shoot and the gang rape incident in Kagiso, how will the outcomes of the Presidential Social Sector Summit (a) propel efforts to forge a social compact that negate social ills and (b) promote shared values in the family unit and broader society?
NO2912E
Reply
Honourable Members,
It will take an effort by all of us in this country to overcome the many social ills that confront our people.
In recognising the critical role that civil society plays in tackling poverty, inequality and related social problems, I announced in the State of the Nation Address in February this year that a Social Sector Summit will be convened in 2022.
We recognised that government needs to create an enabling environment for civil society organisations to be effective in undertaking their work.
The Presidential Social Sector Summit held on the 4th and 5th of August this year grappled with the challenge of poverty, unemployment and inequality, recognising that they lead to increased levels of desperation, social problems and violence in our communities.
To promote positive social values, we need to tackle poverty.
The provision of the social wage is an effective intervention to support and protect households living below the poverty line.
As of November 2020, over 18.2 million citizens were accessing social grants, with the child-specific grants reaching over 13.2 million children monthly, representing over 72% of the total grants distributed.
The old age pension is an effective instrument to support elderly persons, together with other social services such as education, health and food distribution programmes.
For unemployed South Africans, the R350 SRD Grant has provided valuable support since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic.
The Expanded Public Works Programme is one of the government’s key programmes to provide temporary work for the unemployed.
The programme offers an essential avenue for income transfers to poor households in the short to medium-term.
In the last financial year, almost 1 million work opportunities were created.
The Presidential Employment Stimulus, seeking to mitigate the devastating economic challenges brought about by the COVID-19 pandemic, has provided work and livelihood opportunities for nearly a million people since it was started less than two years ago.
The Presidential Social Sector Summit produced a Framework Document highlighting two critical strategies to address social ills in South Africa: firstly, implementing development interventions with civil society and, secondly, strengthening civil society as a delivery agent for development interventions.
The Social Sector Summit Framework document is aligned with the vision of the National Development Plan to eradicate extreme poverty by 2030 and further reduce inequality and unemployment.
This means that programmes to address poverty and inequality must be accelerated, recognising that the state and private sectors often rely on civil society organisations to deliver essential services to communities, especially those in hard-to-reach areas.
The Presidential Social Sector Summit laid the basis for more responsive and effective collaboration to deliver on the promise of a better life for all South Africans by ensuring that commitments are clear and that they strengthen existing initiatives to promote shared values within families and communities.
Civil society is a critical stakeholder in our country as we seek to deepen democracy and improve the quality of life of our people.
The call for partnership with the civil society sector is premised on the acknowledgement that government alone cannot address the developmental challenges South Africa face.
Central to the partnership between government and civil society is the joint commitment to pursue matters of national interest such as fostering shared positive family values, promoting social cohesion within communities, nation building and ensuring communities’ responsibilities in protecting citizens.
We agree that our developmental interventions therefore must be structured in a way that promotes strong family values and strengthens diverse family units and households.
Some priority areas already exist and include social ills like gender-based violence and alcohol and drug abuse, to name a few.
By signing the framework agreement, civil society committed to ensuring that society takes joint responsibility in dealing with communities’ pathologies by combating all forms of crimes, addressing social ills, providing youth and women empowerment initiatives, care and support for persons with disabilities and older persons, and crime and corruption.
I thank you.
QUESTION 11- Mr V Zungula (ATM) to ask the President of the Republic:
(1) Whether, notwithstanding the ongoing investigations by the Hawks and the Acting Public Protector, he has considered it prudent to take the nation into his confidence on the serious allegations surrounding his Phala Phala farm (details furnished), by accounting to the people of South Africa and speaking on the specified issue in the National Assembly, where the elected representatives of the people can engage him on the scandal that has divided the country and caused immeasurable harm to the reputation of the Republic;
(2)whether with the benefit of hindsight, he has found that he could have responded differently to the serious allegations surrounding him with regard to the entire saga around his Phala Phala farm?
NO2917E
Reply
Honourable Members,
As I have indicated before – in written replies to Members of this House, in the debate on the Presidency Budget Vote and in statements on various public platforms – I stand ready to cooperate with any investigations on this matter.
I have responded, and will continue to respond, to all the questions that have been put to me by the relevant authorities.
While there are clearly individuals and organisations that seek political mileage on this issue, the most appropriate response is for the law to take its course.
It is vital that due process is followed, including the Section 89 process that Parliament itself has initiated.
I thank you.
Source: REPLIES BY PRESIDENT CYRIL RAMAPHOSA TO QUESTIONS FOR ORAL REPLY IN THE NATIONAL ASSEMBLY
