Day: June 8, 2022

The Department of Health has updated the COVID-19 vaccination schedule for people aged 50 years and older, and as a result all people falling under this age category are eligible to receive an additional booster dose of the Pfizer vaccine from this week.

This additional booster is available to all people of this age group who have completed at least 120 days or four months since they received their last COVID-19 vaccination of either Pfizer or J&J.

The department said the Pfizer vaccine has shown to be safe and effective for boosting immunity in older persons who remain at highest risk of severe disease and death from COVID-19.

“Out of a total adult population of almost 20 million people who have vaccinated so far, more than 7 million of them are aged 50 years and older,” said the department.

Meanwhile, South Africa has recorded 2 062 new COVID-19 cases which brings the total number of laboratory-confirmed cases to 3 970 993.

The increase represents an 8.8% positivity rate.

The majority of new cases are from Gauteng (34%) followed by Western Cape (20%). KwaZulu-Natal accounted for 13%, Eastern Cape accounted for 11% and Free State accounted for 6%. Mpumalanga and Free State accounted for 7% each respectively. North West accounted for 6%, Northern Cape and Eastern Cape accounted for 3% each respectively and Limpopo accounted for 1%.

The department has recorded 47 deaths, and of these, 10 occurred in the past 24-48 hours. This brings the total fatalities to 101 397 to date.

There has been an increase of 56 hospital admissions in the past 24 hours.

With regards to tests conducted, 25 400 217 tests were conducted in both public and private sectors.

In the public sector, 11 556 038 tests were conducted while 13 844 179 tests were conducted in the private sector.

Source: South African Government News Agency

As the deadline for comments on the draft National Integrated Small Enterprise Development (NISED) Masterplan draws near, SAnews takes a closer look at the strategy which seeks to increase the participation of small enterprises in the formal economy, eliminate red tape and promote the ease of doing business, particularly for small entrepreneurs.

The overall objective of the NISED Masterplan is to coordinate the many actors on essential undertakings as tabled in the National Development Plan (NDP) and the new Economic Reconstruction and Recovery Plan (ERRP).

“I am confident that this NISED Masterplan will rapidly and fundamentally shift the dial on the country’s growth, unemployment and inequality crisis, and move us to a more prosperous economy for all,” Minister of Small Business Development, Minister Stella Ndabeni-Abrahams said on the final draft of the NISED.

“It is wholly understood that the development and support of small businesses is not the domain of one department but the collective action of many public and private actors.

“Coordinating the efforts of many will not be an easy task, but it must be done to ensure that we achieve our goals of a prosperous and transformed South Africa to catalyse a speedier course in tackling the triple challenges of poverty, inequality and unemployment,” Ndabeni-Abrahams said.

The NISED Masterplan intends to support and work in combination with the ERRP and various Sector Masterplans, adding value through growing the contribution of Small, Medium and Micro Enterprises (SMMEs) to national output and employment.

The initial Integrated Strategy for Entrepreneurship and Small Enterprises was adopted in 2005.

The strategy and the subsequent NISED give effect to the 1995 White Paper on National Strategy for the Development and Promotion of Small Business in South Africa.

Once adopted the NISED will replace the current Integrated Strategy for Entrepreneurship and Small Enterprises. It will provide a coordination framework for all key ecosystem role players in small enterprise development. It guides the coordinating mechanism that will guide all programmes that support small enterprises.

The NISED is the product of a wide consultation with the relevant departments in the national, provincial and local spheres of government, business, labour, academics and various relevant institutions.

Published on 10 May on the government notices by the Minister, members of the public can send their comments to nisedm@dsbd.gov.za or submit by hand to the Policy Unit, Department of Small Business Development, 77 Meintjies Street, Sunnyside, Pretoria, within 30 days of the publication of the notice.

The abridged version of the NISED Masterplan is accessible on the Department of Small Business Development website on www.dsbd.gov.za and the full version is published in the Gazette for public comment.

Source: South African Government News Agency