Day: September 27, 2022

President Cyril Ramaphosa will on Thursday, 29 September 2022, update the National Assembly on key interventions of government, including the attention given to the supply of electricity to government’s development of a comprehensive response to the final report of the Judicial Commission of Inquiry into Allegations of State Capture, Fraud and Corruption in the Public Sector.

Among other responses to Members’ questions, the President will set out government’s policy and actions to alleviate hunger and malnutrition experienced by destitute children.

Turning to the fight against crime and the building of safer communities, the President will provide an overview of the performance of the Anti-Gang Unit since its formation in 2018.

The President will also brief Parliament on efforts to combat economic crimes such as theft and destruction of rail infrastructure and related economic sabotage of other public infrastructure. 

On Eskom, the President will respond on work being done to bring units at Medupi and Kusile power stations onto the national power grid.

The President will also share with the National Assembly the work being done to prepare the President’s submission to Parliament, in October 2022, of government’s position on the recommendations of the State Capture Commission.

Source: Government of South Africa

The Information Regulator in partnership with the City of Johannesburg will host the International Day for Universal Access to Information (IDUAI) community engagement session, on 28 September 2022 at the Orlando East Communal Hall, Soweto. In line with the international theme, the Regulator will host the engagement under the theme, “PAIA as an instrumental tool to promote good governance and a catalyst to respond to public protests”. The engagement is in response to the prescripts of the Promotion of Access to Information Act (PAIA) and the human right entrenched in section 32 of the Constitution.

The universal right to access information is essential for societies to function democratically and for the wellbeing of everyone. When communities have lack of information or access to information, they are denied the ability to exercise other rights which results in retaliation and subsequently communities embarking on service delivery protests.

As such the Regulator in terms of its legislative mandate seeks to focus IDUAI 2022 on educating the public on how to exercise their right of access to information and promote the Regulator’s role in assisting the public to exercise this right by lodging complaints should they be denied access to information.

The IDUAI 2022 programme will take the approach of a public engagement in the community that is relatively prone to service delivery protests. The Regulator with other public institutions and Regulatory bodies will engage with the public to educate them about their right of access to information held by both public and private bodies. There will also be information stands where various public institutions will exhibit their services and information as part of promoting access to information.

Source: Government of South Africa

Government happy with progress at titanium dioxide pigment plant in Richards Bay

The Deputy Minister of Trade, Industry and Competition (the dtic), Ms Nomalungelo Gina says government is happy with the progress made at the titanium dioxide pigment manufacturing plant based at the Richards Bay Industrial Development Zone (RBIDZ) in KwaZulu-Natal.

Gina was visiting the zone and Nyanza Lights Metals to evaluate the phase one completion of the infrastructure construction being built by the company for their chemicals plant.

According to Gina, the visit highlighted the need to support highly technical sector plants that have a potential to create sustainable jobs and train graduates in the scarce skills.

“South Africa is the second largest producer of titanium-bearing minerals in the world after

Australia, and has a potential to benefit the local industry and create much-needed jobs in the country. More than 90% of all titanium feedstock is consumed by the pigment sector, which drives demand for titanium mineral concentrates,” said Gina

Gina added that titanium dioxide was a key component in many industrial applications and consumer goods, such as paints, plastics, cosmetics, paper, rubber, ceramics, and textiles.

“Previously government had invested in initiatives that were primarily concerned with the metals beneficiation through research, so now it is encouraging to see companies willing to work with government and invest in plants and skills development,” she said.

The Chief of Executive Office of Nyanza Lights Metals, Mr Donovan Chimhandamba said when the construction of the Nyanza mineral beneficiation plant starts next year, between two and three thousand jobs will be created. He added that once the plant was fully commissioned, 1 200 direct jobs will be created.

Source: Government of South Africa

Address by the Minister of Higher Education, Science and Innovation, Dr Blade Nzimande, on the occasion of the 15th annual South African Innovation Summit

Programme Director;

Dr Audrey Verhaeghe, Chair of the SA Innovation Summit;

Mr Buntu Majaja, the CEO of the SA Innovation Summit;

Mr Ketso Gordhan, CEO of the SA SME Fund;

Ms Matsi Modise, Chair of the Technology Innovation Agency board;

Mr Patrick Krappie, Acting CEO of TIA;

Mr Lucky Pane Acting Executive Head of Research at the Public Investment Corporation;

Dr Phil Mjwara, Director-General of Science and Innovation;

Alderman JP Smith, City of Cape Town Councillor;

Representatives of the Embassies of Switzerland and Finland;

Early-stage funders at Newtown Partners, Tiger Brands, Imperial, and the Mineworkers Union Investment Fund, to name a few;

Founders and co-founders of various start-ups, especially Mr Lungisa Matshoba of Yoco and Mr Lyle Eckstein of Ozow;

Angel investors;

Innovation ecosystem players;

Distinguished guests;

Ladies and gentlemen:

There is a growing realisation among scientists, innovators and policy makers that innovation is a key factor in stimulating faster economic growth, industrialisation and inclusive development.

In line with the theme of this occasion, I wish to make a few brief points relating to the investments that the Department of Science and Innovation continues to make with the aim of placing innovation at the centre of our national development efforts.

The first point relates to using innovation as an instrument to address our socio-economic challenges as a country.  This means that, in the South African context, we need to view innovation through the prism of the triple challenge of poverty, inequality and unemployment.

In this sense, it is necessary for policy makers to plan and implement interventions aimed at significantly upscaling the impact of innovation in addressing these interlinked challenges, optimising innovation’s contribution to improving the quality of life of citizens.

One of the best ways to do this is by ensuring that all the key actors in our national system of innovation, such as the government, higher education, business and civil society, work together to enhance the capacity of the system to realise our socio-economic priorities.

The actors I have referred to must set a joint agenda, through which they purposefully develop synergies between programmes, pool their skills and financial resources, and evaluate progress so that, if necessary, the course of these initiatives can be corrected.

The second point relates to how our White Paper on Science, Technology and Innovation intends to enable business innovation support.  Our White Paper outlines a policy agenda in which science, technology and innovation play a catalytic role in the development of South Africa.

The White Paper emphasises the important role of the “quadruple helix” approach, involving collaboration between business, academia, government and civil society, to ensure the relevance and impact of STI interventions.

As it relates to business innovation support, the White Paper articulates the following policy intents –

•             Innovation beyond research and development to address the needs of the business sector through a demand-side focus.

•             Increased support for and collaboration with the business sector, focusing particularly on support for the private sector (business); needs-based research and development; technology development to support companies, including technology localisation; support for technology transfer and absorption; and specific support for SMEs.

•             Support for the commercialisation of publicly funded intellectual property.

•             The exploitation of new sources of growth through support for emerging industries and innovation to revitalise existing sector.

The third point I wish to highlight is the high-level conceptualisation of the innovation compact as one of the proposed Decadal Plan system enablers to support a whole-of-society approach to innovation.

As some you may be aware, the Decadal Plan is our implementation framework for the White Paper on Science, Technology and Innovation.  The plan identifies several STI priorities and system enablers aimed at improving the national system of innovation’s performance.

We believe that enhanced innovation performance, in particular, requires collaboration and synergy regarding various policy issues across departmental boundaries.

In light of the complexities associated with driving a coherent national system of innovation, our Decadal Plan puts forward the following system enablers –

•             A whole-of-society innovation compact.

•             An innovation skills compact.

•             A budget coordinating mechanism.

•             A revised strategic management model.

Of the four system enablers identified above, I would like to expand a little on the innovation compact.  At a high-level, the compact seeks to facilitate collaboration among government departments and other actors for the following reasons:

•             To ensure policy coherence and certainty related to innovation, the absence of which negatively affects business and foreign investment in South Africa.

•             To avoid the duplication of initiatives and, in particular, innovation incentives, which is a waste of resources and negatively influences the contribution of innovation to addressing South Africa’s priorities.

•             To ensure that the relevant actors are committed to working together to enhance innovation performance and therefore pool their resources (funding, knowledge and systems).

The innovation compact scope and focus areas include the following:

•             Strategies for a more innovative and entrepreneurial culture in South Africa.

•             Measures to address the leakage of intellectual property resulting from South Africa’s publicly funded research and development.

•             Legislation to support South African innovation, for example, the public procurement of locally developed technologies, tax incentives, competition policy, immigration regulations, and the setting and enforcing of standards.

•             Programmes to collaborate with and support business, including small, medium and micro-enterprises and co-operatives.

As I have indicated, both the 2019 White Paper and the draft Decadal Plan provide for the establishment of high-level coordinating platforms and instruments to facilitate the required whole-of-society approach to science and innovation in South Africa.

The last point I wish to make regards some of the business support instruments that the Department of Science and Innovation is supporting, and the progress that has been made.

In line with the innovation compact strategic focus, we have developed several policy instruments over the years to support business innovation.  These include the Seed Fund, which is implemented by our entity the Technology Innovation Agency.

Let me talk about the Seed Fund first.  This is an early-stage funding instrument aimed at assisting innovation actors such as higher education institutions, science councils and small, medium and micro-sized enterprises to advance their research outputs and ideas, and to develop prototypes, proofs of concept and business cases. 

The research and development (R&D) tax incentive is another relevant Department of Science and Innovation initiative.  It is an indirect business support instrument aimed at promoting private sector investment in R&D in the country.  R&D is required in order to boost innovation in the business sector, improving South Africa’s ability to improve existing products and processes and develop new ones. 

To date, almost 3 000 tax incentive applications have been processed, and applications worth an estimated R46 billion in R&D expenditure have been supported.

The third support initiative I would like to mention is the Innovation Bridge Portal.  This is a digital innovation showcasing instrument that partners the Department of Science and Innovation with the World Bank Group and the Department of Small Business Development. 

The portal seeks to build an innovation ecosystem by providing relevant information to accelerate connections and collaboration within the national system of innovation and to encourage greater interaction between innovators, industry, and government in support of commercialisation.

The fourth initiative is the Innovation Fund.  Work towards the Innovation Fund – a separate, standalone public-private funding partnership aimed at harvesting and commercialising South African tech innovations – began in the 2019/20 financial year. 

It serves as a new national financing instrument, involving formal equity finance funded by investments from the public and private sectors to de-risk early stage technology development phases and create opportunities for later stage investments from the private sector.

What makes the Innovation Fund different from other funding instruments is its focus on supporting tech innovation and commercialisation in high-risk technology development initiatives, such as the early development and expansion stages of technology-based South African start-ups or fledgling firms, including SMMEs.

The Innovation Fund is expected to deliver on the following high-level performance indicators:

•             Products and technologies commercialised (local and exports).

•             Offtake agreements and orders.

•             Number of spin-outs created.

•             Number of jobs created.

•             Leveraging of the fund.

•             The growth in revenues and/or sales of companies supported.

The Innovation Fund is currently in the pilot phase and is being implemented in partnership with the Public Investment Corporation, the Technology Innovation Agency, the South African SME Fund and Anza Capital.

Although the Innovation Fund has been operational for less than 18 months, let me tell you about some of the progress that has been made.

•             The co-investment figures indicate that the fund has thus far leveraged three times the initial investment.  In other words, for every R1 invested by the fund an additional R3 has been leveraged from other sources.

•             Twenty-four businesses have been supported so far.  Over 50% of these projects are in the commercial stage.

•             Of the total businesses supported to date, 70,2% are black-led or owned, and of the black owners, 49,5% are women.

•             Projects have been supported in five provinces – 44% of the total in Gauteng, 22% in the Western Cape, 17% in Limpopo (17%), 13% in KwaZulu-Natal and 4% in Mpumalanga.

These are just some of the investments that we as government have made as part of developing the appropriate policy and institutional mechanisms to place innovation at the centre of our efforts to build a more equal, humane and technological advanced country.

I look forward to your ideas and suggestions on how we can improve the work we are doing as government.  I wish you a productive summit.

Thank you.

Source: Government of South Africa

The Deputy Minister of Higher Education, Science and Innovation, Mr Buti Manamela, will address hundreds of high school learners at the Health and Welfare Sector Education and Training Authority’s (HWSETA’s) Veterinary Guidance Awareness Campaign Event at Enable Community Hall, in the Hoedspruit area.

In May this year, HWSETA announced the launch of its Veterinary Career Guidance Awareness Campaign aimed at addressing transformation and the critical skills shortage inherent within the South African veterinary sector.

The campaign aims to focus on learners in rural communities who have limited access to resources and tertiary funding. As such, the SETA had identified rural areas in four provinces to host career guidance events for high school learners. This is the final event in the series.

Source: Government of South Africa

PSC to release the Quarterly Bulletin titled The Pulse of the Public Service for the period 01 April to 30 June 2022

The Public Service Commission (PSC) will host a media briefing on the Quarterly Bulletin titled: The Pulse of the Public Service, on Thursday, 29 September 2022. The Quarterly Bulletin will focus on amongst others, the following:

•             Building an Ethical Public Service: following the footsteps of Nelson Mandela;

•             Ethics in Recruitment and Selection Processes in the Public Service;

•             Public Participation – a key towards participatory government;

•             Non-payment of Government suppliers;

•             overall number of complaints and grievances handle by the PSC up to 30 June 2022 are also reported on;

Details of the briefing are as follows:

Date: Thursday, 29 September 2022

Time: 10:00 – 11:00

Venue: Ronnie Mamoepa Media Center, Tshedimosetso House, 1035 Francis Baard Street, Hatfield, Pretoria.

Source: Government of South Africa

First rural safety summit held in Overberg District

On 22 and 23 September Western Cape Minister of Police Oversight and Community Safety, Reagen Allen facilitated the first Rural Safety Summit and Policing Needs and Priorities (RSSaPNP) engagement in Bredasdorp, which is in the Cape Agulhas municipal area, and forms part of the Overberg District.

The RSSaPNP stems from:

•             Minster Reagen Allen’s commitment to engaging all relevant stakeholders across the Western Cape;

•             From a need for an integrated and coordinated approach to crime prevention and responding to social unrest across the Western Cape;

•             Focusing on developing an integrated communication platform (technology platform) among law enforcement role players; and

•             To assist local authorities to promote and create safer environments.

•             The findings will also contribute to the provincial Policing Needs and Priorities which are submitted annually to the Minister of Police.

The areas covered during the RSSaPNP include law enforcement, urban design and social cohesion. All information is currently being collated and a report will be drafted. This report will be used to, together with the districts ensure that the current District Rural Safety Plan is tightened and finetuned to address the specific needs highlighted during the RSSaPNP.

A strong sentiment from all attendees at the summit is that the chronic under-resourcing at SAPS remains one of the biggest challenges for the area. There is a need for greater alignment and cooperation between the various law enforcement agencies, and for other departments to play a more active role in in the prevention and combatting of crime.

Minister Reagen Allen said: “It was refreshing to have such a robust and frank engagement. Locals are fully aware of what their needs are, and this is part of the reason why policing needs to be as close to the ground as possible. It’s welcoming to note the support for our vision to halve the murder rate by 50% by 2029. The more we strategically and optimally pull and utilise resources, while incorporating technology from all partners, the more we will be effective in the fight against crime.”

Various stakeholders formed part of the RSS, and amongst others they include Overberg District Executive Mayor, Alderman Sakkie Franken, Cape Agulhas Deputy Mayor, Raymond Ross, Cape Winelands District Executive Deputy Mayor, Mrs Margaret Sampson, various senior municipal officials, SAPS, law enforcement, traffic services, Neighbourhood and Farm Watch, and Community Police Forum members, along with officials from other provincial departments.

Minister Reagen Allen continued: “I commend all the stakeholders that were present at the event, as it demonstrates how serious all participants take safety in the district. This shows why criminals should be shaking in their boots. Safety, whether it is in a rural or urban area remains a priority for the Western Cape Government, and this is part of the reason why we’re engaging relevant stakeholders throughout the province.”

Other RSSaPNP’s are currently being finalised with the next one scheduled for the West Coast District in the Saldanha Bay Municipal area on 3 – 4 October 2022.

“I’m looking forward to engaging other stakeholders in other regions. I firmly believe that with everyone’s buy-in we will be able to tackle crime head-on and overcome this evil in our society. A safer Western Cape means everyone can live in improved and dignified areas,” concluded Minister Reagen Allen.

Source: Government of South Africa