In light of the current severe drought in the maize belt where a lack of rain has caused a crop failure rate of more than 50%, how does he intend to (a) assist farmers to be able to deal with this situation in the affected areas and avoid further crop failure and (b) address the issue of drought overall, which affects all farming communities, in order to ensure that the effects of future dry seasons are not felt as severely?

Does his department have the capacity to (a) enforce compliance and (b) regulate illegal, unreported and unregulated (IUU) fishing in South African waters; if not, what is being done to bring it up to standard; if so, what are the relevant details?

Does his department maintain an updated asset register; if not, why not; if so, whatis the (a) total number and (b) value of all motor vehicles recorded on such register?

Will his department contribute towards the establishment of Agri-parks, if so (a) what are the relevant details and (b) how much will his department contribute financially?

(a) Who are the current chief financial officers of (i) his department and (ii) the entities reporting to him and (b) what is the qualification of each chief financial officer?

Since 1 January 2015, has his department installed generators at any of (a) its offices or (b) the offices of the entities reporting to him as a result of load shedding; if so, what is the total cost of the (i) installation and (ii) running of these generators?

With reference to the protest action that was embarked on by staff members of the Fisheries sector of his department at the beginning of May, has a memorandum of grievances been handed over to his department; if so, (a) what are the relevant details of their grievances, (b) which grievances have been attended to, (c) what actions were taken when attending to each grievance and (d)(i) which grievances have not yet been attended to and (ii) why have they not been attended to?

Is the Director-General of his department due to retire later this year; if so, (a) does his department have a succession plan in place, (b) what are the relevant details of the succession plan and (c) what effect will the departure of this senior staff member have on the functionality of his department?

Has the Deputy Director-General (DDG) of Fisheries resigned; if so, (a) who is the acting DDG, (b) when will the process to find a replacement commence and (c) what effect will the departure of this senior staff member have on the functionality of his department?

Have service providers been appointed for the implementation of his department’s Small-Scale Fisheries Plan; if not, when will this appointment be made; if so, (a) who has been appointed, (b) what are the details of their specific role and (c) what is their allocated budget?