Day: November 1, 2022

The date that appears on a status of R350 grant is not a payment date

South African Social Security Agency in Mpumalanga would like to inform R350 SRD grant beneficiaries that the date that appears on a status of R350 grant is not a payment date but it is a date where the grant was captured in the system. After the grant is captured in the system the beneficiary can receive the SMS at any time.

This is not a payment date. Beneficiaries must wait for SMS payment before they go to withdraw the grant in merchants or banks.  This caution and awareness is created to assist beneficiaries not to incur unnecessary costs and fruitless travelling which results into many complaints received to date.

The Agency is reminding the beneficiaries to check their contacts details to ensure that they are still correct.

To verify or change contact details beneficiary must login to the official website which is https://srd.sassa.gov.za.Beneficiaries

For more information contact our toll free number: 0800 60 10 11 or 013 574 9428/9363 from 07:30 – 16:00 during week days Monday – Friday.

Source: Government of South Africa

North West Premier, Kaobitsa Bushy Maape congratulates Kgosi Thabo Milton Seatlholo on his appointment as the Chairperson of the National House of Traditional and Khoi-San Leaders – NHTKL. 

Kgosi Seatlholo of Barolong Boo Rapulana at Lotlhakane village in Mahikeng, is a former Deputy Chairperson of the NHTL, a role he played for seven (7) years. He succeeds her Majesty Nkosikazi Dorothy Mhla.

Premier Maape said Kgosi Seatlholo is well deserving of this appointment as he has demonstrated dedication and commitment to issues of traditional leadership, culture and the development of rural communities. 

“We are delighted at his appointment as this is a great achievement for the province and the nation at large. We must remember that traditional leaders are custodians of our cultures and traditions. They are very important to us as government particularly in ensuring that we address a number of service delivery challenges in our communities” said Premier Maape.

Premier Maape said Kgosi Seatlholo will undoubtfully execute his new role with dedication as he continues to relentlessly serve the people of this country. 

“As the North West Provincial Government we are proud of his installation to this position. He has our full support. We wish him well in his new role” remarked Premier Maape.

Source: Government of South Africa

South Africa’s biggest science and industry gathering set to take place in Pretoria

The Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) is celebrating 77 years of touching lives through innovation. As part of this milestone, the organisation will host its 8th Biennial Conference on Wednesday, 2 and Thursday, 3 November 2022.

The two-day conference will bring together scientific experts, academia and industry leaders from around the world, and members of the public to evaluate how research, development and innovation (RD&I) can be harnessed to build a robust South African economy. This year’s conference will be held under the theme: ‘Harnessing research, development and innovation for a robust South African economy’.

The conference, which is one of the flagship initiatives to celebrate the organisation’s contribution to RD&I in South Africa, will provide a platform to showcase the CSIR’s multiple research capabilities and the continued impact of its strategy in contributing to industrial development and supporting a capable state.

Challenges such as power outages, water cuts, climate change and the high unemployment rate in South Africa, have all added enormous pressure on an already volatile economy that is slowly recovering from the effects of the Covid-19 pandemic. As such, the CSIR and its stakeholders will use this gathering to deliberate on how R&D can play a role in co-building a capable state, an inclusive economy and competitive South African industries.

The conference will also look at South Africa’s opportunity to become a significant player in the hydrogen market. The programme will include a plenary session that will feature key industry speakers. Some of the topics that will be discussed include empowering the South African workforce to embrace the fourth industrial revolution; precision medicine in Africa; the role of small, medium, and micro enterprises in growing the cannabis and hemp industry; and creating a circular plastics economy in South Africa.

The conference will have an interactive exhibition covering technologies such as Cardiflo, a point-of-care screening technology designed to detect cardiovascular risk factors to advise patients on care and preventative lifestyle changes. Technologies for precision agriculture, point-of-care diagnostic technologies to detect human, animal and zoonotic diseases and more, will also be on display.

Source: Government of South Africa

Public comment invited on the revised draft White Paper on the Conservation and Sustainable use of South Africa’s Biodiversity

The public has been invited to submit written comments on a revised Draft White Paper on the Conservation and Sustainable Use of South Africa’s Biodiversity published on Government Gazette 47378 (Notice No 688) on 28 October 2022 within 14 days from the date of publication of the Notice.

The revised Draft White Paper contains a number of changes to the original Draft White Paper that was published in July 2022 for public consultation.

The revised Draft White Paper has been revised and reduced substantially in line with inputs received, some of the key elements include the following:

• Inclusion of a Preamble  (covered under policy issues identified in the revised version of the draft White Paper), in line  with section 24 of the Constitution 1996, The National Environmental Management Act, 1998 (Act No. 107 of 1998) (NEMA), the National Environmental Management: Biodiversity Act, 2004 (Act No. 10 of 2004) (NEM:BA), ratified international agreements and the National Development Plan;
• Merged the goals, from eight (8) Goals to now four (4) Goals with two cross cutting enablers;
• Definitions, Vision, Mission, Guiding principles, Problem Statement and Theory of Changer are revised; and
• Revision of the output and outcomes of the draft White Paper.

The Minister of Forestry, Fisheries and the Environment, Ms Barbara Creecy had earlier emphasized the importance of the public participation process to gain the inputs from a broad range of interested and affected stakeholders, hence the publication of the revised Draft White Paper for another round of public comments.

Written comments on the revised Draft White Paper can be made by:

Post to:The Director-General: Department of Forestry, Fisheries and the Environment

Attention: Dr Tsepang Makholela

Private Bag X447

PRETORIA 0001

Source: Government of South Africa

North West Legislature Health and Social Development Committee refuses to process an APP signed by Social Development Department HOD who allegedly lacks qualifications

The North West Legislature’s Portfolio Committee on Health and Social Development led by Hon Gavin Edwards, expressed disappointed that outstanding matters relating to the questionable appointment of the current Head of Department (HOD) for the Department of Social Development, Mr Relebohile Mafokane have yet to be addressed. This follows media articles written about Mr Mafokane’s alleged lack of qualifications and several interactions the Committee had with the Department trying to resolve the matter.

The Portfolio Committee decided to return the Department of Social Development without processing the 2021/22 Annual Performance Plan. The decision was taken based on the uneasiness of members of the Portfolio Committee to hear and deliberate on a report signed off by an HOD who’s appointment is currently is still in question.

The committee stated that there is written communication between the Portfolio Committee, the MEC, and the Premier which last received attention in June 2022.

“It has become clear that this matter has been outstanding as far back as June 2022. The matter of the legality of the HOD’s appointment has been raised by the committee during previous committee meetings and more recently in media reports,

“The lack of progress on the matter poses serious possible financial risks to tax payers funds and therefore we will not continue to deal with the HOD until the matter is resolved,” said Hon. Edwards,

 The Committee resolved to hand over this matter to the relevant Portfolio Committee overseeing the Office of the Premier, in ensuring that the Legislature carries out its mandate of oversight over the Department.  The Portfolio Committee further invited the HOD to provide his version of events before the Portfolio Committee. 

“We hope that the truth will finally come to the fore and if proven to be correct, all those involved from the accused to those who appointed him and those involved in this matter, who failed to do due diligence will be dealt with appropriately,” said Hon Edwards.

Source: Government of South Africa

Address by President Cyril Ramaphosa at the second Presidential Summit on Gender-Based Violence and Femicide

Programme Director,
Minister of Women, Youth and Persons with Disabilities, Ms Maite Nkoana-Mashabane,
Ministers and Deputy Ministers,
Premiers and MECs,
Mayors,
Speaker of the National Assembly, Ms Nosiviwe Mapisa-Nqakula,
The First Lady of Namibia, Ms Monica Geingos,
Representatives from the judiciary and the magistracy,
Representatives of civil society,
Representatives of the interfaith community,
Representatives of the diplomatic community,
Representatives of the local and international donors,
Representatives of International Bodies like the UN
Business representatives,
Fellow South Africans,
 
We are meeting here, at this second Presidential Summit on Gender-Based Violence and Femicide, exactly four years to the day since we made a pledge to each other to work together to end the violence that men perpetrate against women and children in South Africa.
 
It was at the first Presidential Summit on GBV and Femicide in 2018 that we collectively made a firm commitment to the nation to undertake a comprehensive, effective and united response to gender-based violence and femicide.
 
We agreed to develop a National Strategic Plan to guide our national response, to coordinate the various sectors involved in the fight against GBV, to strengthen the state’s response, and to align the efforts of government, the private sector and civil society.
 
We decided to embark on a number of interventions to deal with the scourge of gender-based violence and femicide in our country.
 
The first step was the development of a GBVF Emergency Response Action Plan in 2019.
 
I requested Parliament’s presiding officers to call a special joint sitting of both houses of Parliament to announce the action plan.
 
The plan was embraced by members of Parliament representing all political parties.
 
This was a significant moment in that GBVF was seen as a non-partisan matter on which all political parties demonstrated their preparedness to act together to address this scourge.
 
This was followed by the release in April 2020 of the National Strategic Plan, which had been carefully drawn up together with civil society.
 
Yet, despite our efforts, violence against women and children continues unabated in our country.
 
Data from the South African Police Service shows that sexual offences and rape increased by 13 per cent between 2017/18 and 2021/22.
 
Between the first quarter of 2021 and the first quarter of 2022 there was a 52 per cent increase in the murder of women, and 46 per cent increase in the number of children murdered.
 
Not a day goes by without a story in the newspapers, on television or online about a woman or child that has lost their life or been abused in the most horrendous manner.
 
Since the rape and murder of 19-year-old Uyinene Mrwetyana in 2019 sparked mass marches around the country, there have been so many more women killed by men.
 
Since then, the nation has been horrified by the brutal violence that took the lives of Tshegofatso Pule, Nosicelo Mtebeni, Hillary Gardee, Namhla Mtwa, Dimpho Skelenge and many other women.
 
Innocents like Asithandile Same, Tshimologo Lotshabeng, Tazne van Wyk and Reagan Gertse have fallen victim to heartless criminals.
 
Just as the country was reeling from the news of a gang rape of a group of women in Krugersdorp, we were confronted with the news of the murder of 4-year-old little Bokgabo Poo, who was dismembered and her body parts thrown into a field.
 
Just as babies are not being spared, even the elderly have become targets of violent men.
 
We have in recent times seen a spate of rapes and killings of elderly women, our mothers and grandmothers that are meant to be respected and treated with dignity.
 
These horrors defy comprehension. There are really no words for them.
 
They tell a story about our society that is deeply disturbing.
 
It is a story of a nation at war with itself.
 
These barbaric acts are a shameful indictment of the men of this country.
 
It is not women who are responsible for ending such crimes; it is men.
 
As a society, ending violence against women and children cannot be anything but our foremost priority.
 
This is about the lives of our country’s women and children.
 
There can be no greater urgency.
 
That is why all of us who are attending this Summit must be focused on action and results.
 
We need to be critical about those areas of the National Strategic Plan in which there has been little or no progress.
 
We need practical plans to correct shortcomings and weaknesses.
 
This Summit must look at what is working, what is not and what is needed to make a difference.
 
This is an accountability Summit.
 
This second Presidential Summit is for us to assess progress in fulfilling the commitments we made at the first Summit in 2018 and in implementing the National Strategic Plan.
 
What we have stressed throughout this process is the importance of a collaborative and coordinated approach towards combating gender-based violence and femicide.
 
We need to plan together, implement together and account together.
 
We owe this to the women and children of South Africa.
 
We owe it to all who have been victims of this scourge, including families and loved ones.
 
We owe it to the people of this country.
 
The actions we take now will determine whether this crime forever remains a feature of our national life, or whether we can say we are the generation that ended it.
 
One of the great successes of our effort to fight gender-based violence is the extent to which social partners have rallied around the National Strategic Plan.
 
The presence here today of such a broad range of civil society organisations, public bodies and social formations is testament to this.
 
We are grateful to all those people from across society who have been involved throughout all stages of the formulation of the NSP and guided its implementation.
 
We are further grateful to all the Working Groups, co-chaired by government and civil society representatives, that have been working tirelessly to drive the implementation of the NSP.
 
To ensure that the issue of gender-based violence receives the highest attention, the responsibility for institutionalising the NSP across all organs of state was placed in the Presidency.
 
An ‘End GBV’ Collective was established as a multi-sectoral structure to drive collaborative implementation.
 
Government departments are required to submit monthly reports to the Presidency outlining their respective achievements towards the targets set in the NSP.
 
This has been key to tracking progress.
 
We set up an Inter-Ministerial Committee to coordinate the implementation of the NSP across government departments and report regularly to Cabinet.
 
The Bill that will pave the way for the establishment of the Gender-Based Violence and Femicide Council is currently before Parliament.
 
We must acknowledge that this Bill took too long to get to Parliament due to a rather long period of consultation, but we are hopeful that it has been enriched by the extensive engagements that have been undertaken.
 
To ensure that a gendered lens is applied to public finances and resource allocation, in 2019 we adopted a framework on gender-responsive planning, budgeting, monitoring, evaluation and auditing.
 
This is in the early stages of implementation and we are working to institutionalise it at local government level.
 
I said at the inaugural Summit in 2018 that we would fast-track the review of existing laws and policies to ensure that they are more effective at preventing gender-based violence, providing greater support and care for survivors, and bringing perpetrators to justice.
 
In January this year, I signed into law three key pieces of legislation, namely the Criminal Law (Sexual Offences and Related Matters) Amendment Act, the Criminal and Related Matters Amendment Act, and the Domestic Violence Amendment Act.
 
These new laws afford greater protection to survivors of gender-based violence and ensure that perpetrators are no longer able to use legislative loopholes to evade prosecution.
 
Other reforms that will strengthen the fight against gender-based violence include the Prevention and Combating of Hate Crimes and Hate Speech Bill that is currently before Parliament.
 
The Victim Support Services Bill has been approved by Cabinet and published for public comment.
 
In 2020, we also passed the Cybercrimes Act, which affords protection against sex crimes like so-called revenge porn, threats of sexual violence, blackmail and other acts that disproportionately affect women, especially young girls.
 
The Department of Justice and Correctional Services is seized with implementing reforms in the criminal justice system to ensure that the system prioritises survivors and their needs.
 
There has been particular focus on the accessibility and functioning of Sexual Offences Courts.
 
Since the last Presidential Summit, 83 courts have been upgraded into Sexual Offences Courts.
 
We have prioritised support for survivors through adequate sheltering services and one-stop services for victims of trauma.
 
Expanding the network of Thuthuzela Care Centres was one of the commitments we made at the 2018 Presidential Summit.
 
Since the National Strategic Plan was adopted, we have opened more new centres around the country. 
 
Another centre will be opened in Limpopo later this month.
 
This will add to the increase of Thuthuzela Care Centres across the country.
 
Apart from being places of refuge and support, these centres are proving effective in improving conviction rates.
 
In the last financial year, a conviction rate of 77 per cent was obtained for cases reported at Thuthuzela Care Centres.
 
As it stands, out of 52 districts across the country, 45 have at least one GBV shelter and 85 per cent of these are government funded.
 
We will do more to ensure that the remaining districts without shelters are capacitated.
 
The Department of Social Development has established a National Emergency Response Team to offer trauma debriefing in emergency situations.
 
The Gender-based Violence Command Centre has been further capacitated with a new facility that can accommodate more personnel.
 
We have been working to ensure that South Africa’s efforts to turn the tide against gender-based violence are aligned with global efforts.
 
Late last year, South Africa ratified the International Labour Organisation’s Convention 190 aimed at eliminating violence and harassment in the world of work.
 
A key aspect of the National Strategic Plan is the economic empowerment of women.
 
Since announcing our determination to direct at least 40 per cent of public procurement to women-owned businesses, we have sought to establish an enabling environment to support women entrepreneurs.
 
We have trained more than 6,000 women to prepare them to take up procurement opportunities.
 
Through the Women’s Economic Assembly, we have seen industry associations and companies committing to industry-wide gender transformation targets.
 
We can therefore say that we have made significant progress in putting the supporting architecture in place that is critical to a coordinated and collaborative fight against GBV.
 
In the Joint Sitting of Parliament in 2019, I called for government departments to allocate the necessary resources to combat gender-based violence.
 
As a result, in February 2021, government announced the allocation of approximately R21 billion over three years to implement the various components of the National Strategic Plan.
 
A significant portion of these funds has been committed to advancing the empowerment of women through procurement, business support and access to economic opportunities.
 
Funds have also been directed to expanding support to survivors, strengthening the response of the criminal justice system and undertaking prevention programmes.
 
The Department of Planning, Monitoring and Evaluation has been tracking expenditure of the R21 billion allocated over the medium-term.
 
It is important that this Summit assesses both the extent of funds that have been spent as well as the purposes to which these funds have been put.
 
We need to ensure that our resources are being directed to where there is the greatest need and where they have the greatest impact.
 
Last year we established a private sector-led Gender-Based Violence and Femicide Response Fund 1, which received a commitment of R162 million and has to date funded 112 grant partners.
 
We must acknowledge, however, that given the demand for services to address the many different aspects of the fight against GBV, these funds are currently inadequate.
 
I therefore call on the private sector in particular to join hands with us – as we did with the Solidarity Fund – to make more resources available where they are needed most.
 
We must accept that as individuals, institutions and leaders across society, we all must play our part.
 
This fight is about far more than ensuring that survivors of GBV get justice.
 
It is about preventing violence against women and children from happening in the first place.
 
It is in the area of prevention that we need to place greater attention, exert more effort and dedicate more resources.
 
As government we have developed a comprehensive National GBVF Prevention strategy, and in March this year, we also launched the National Integrated Prevention Strategy against Femicide.
 
But we have not mobilised the resources required for effective behaviour change programmes that link up with the efforts of social partners in communities to address the attitudes and actions of men.
 
In every part of society, in every workplace, in every school and college and university, in every government department, in every municipality, in every community, we need to be organising men’s dialogues.
 
We need to reach out to boys and young men to develop masculinities that value respect, understanding and accountability.
 
A good example of this is the project by Prime Stars, which, in collaboration with government, focuses on redefining masculinity among young men.
 
This programme needs to be rolled out to all the schools in the country.
 
We need to see the President, Ministers, Premiers, religious leaders, sports people, artists, educators, business leaders and many others participating in various dialogues, outreach and awareness-raising activities.
 
We thank our Premiers for convening Provincial GBV summits leading up to this summit.
 
Those summits have made a huge contribution in raising the level of consciousness about GBV and Femicide and helping to prepare us all for this summit.
 
We need to re-weave the social fabric, so we become a society that is nurturing, caring, respectful and in which the human rights of all are protected.
 
We must build a society in which there is no place for crimes against women, children and members of the LGBTQI+ community.
 
As we reflect on the progress of the last four years, we can count many successes.
 
We have put the issue of violence against women and children firmly on the national agenda and at the forefront of the minds of many South Africans.
 
We have established critical institutions and mobilised significant resources.
 
But there is much more that still needs to be done.
 
We are not even close to where we want to be.
 
We are confronted with an immensely difficult task.
 
The road ahead will be long and challenging, but it is a road that we must walk together.
 
It is a road that we must walk – together and with determination – so that the women and children of this country may live in safety, in peace and in happiness.
 
We want to do nothing less than fundamentally and forever change our society.
 
Working together, as we have done over these last four years, I have no doubt that we will overcome and that we will prevail.
 
I thank you.

Source: Government of South Africa

Media Address by Deputy Minister of Communications and Digital Technologies, Honorable Philly Mapulane (MP), on the occasion of launching the 2022 International Philatelic Exhibition in Cape Town

Program Director, colleagues from the various stakeholders in the global philately community, and most importantly, the people for whom we are gathered here today, the media.

Next week, from 8 to 12 November 2022, the Department of Communications and Digital Technologies will be hosting the international community of philately and philatelic material collectors and exhibitors. They will be exhibiting their collections here in Cape Town, at the Cape Town International Convention Centre. Today we have invited members of the fourth estate (the media) as a vital link between ourselves and members of the public, primarily to give you the opportunity to interact with all the important stakeholders in the hosting of this exhibition.

The international body of philately, the Federation International de Philatelie (FIP), was founded in 1926 in Zurich, Switzerland, to oversee stamp collectors and philatelists globally. This was in acknowledgement of the important role that stamp collectors worldwide play in preserving the historical and cultural heritage of nations through stamps that have been issued by Designated Postal Operators.

Since its inception in 1926, when only a small number of European federations came together to establish FIP, the Federation has worked tirelessly to promote the hobby that is sometimes called The King of Hobbies and the Hobby of Kings. Today, FIP enjoys global membership and works to promote philately and coordinates contact between philatelic organisations in different countries.

FIP promotes its goals by hosting yearly international exhibitions during which collectors of stamps and philatelic materials, apply to enter competitions to display their valuable collections. These collections represent the efforts of collectors to both collect and preserve stamps that they have collected throughout the world.

The main objectives of FIP include, among others:

• Promotion of stamp collecting and philately;
• Maintaining friendly relations and friendship amongst all collectors, and by extension, all nations;
• Establishing and maintaining close relations with the philatelic trade and postal administrations, and
• The promotion of philatelic exhibitions by granting patronage and auspices.
   

The last of these objectives, the promotion of exhibitions, is the main reason why we are here today, to announce to you that next week we will be privileged to be host to this festival of fine art as presented through stamps, and to interact with some of the most important stamp collectors from around the globe.

South Africa was granted patronage to organise the International Stamp Exhibition in 2021 during the 75th FIP Congress held on 2 December 2018 in Bangkok, under the theme “Road to Democracy”. The last International Philatelic Exhibition that was held in South Africa took place in Johannesburg in 2010.

The Department of Communications and Digital Technologies (DCDT) is the lead Department through our oversight role of the South African Post Office which, as you know, is the organisation tasked with the production and sale of stamps and philatelic material in the country.

We received correspondence from the Federation International de Philatelie (FIP), regarding the hosting of a Philately Exhibition in this country, which was planned for March 2021 in Cape Town, South Africa. This correspondence was received at a time when the global community was under the uncertainty of a threat of a potentially catastrophic pandemic, COVID-19. At the time, the full effect and extent of this threat, was not yet adequately comprehended.

For us as a country, the threat of a pandemic aside, we were glad that we were once again chosen to host the international community, under a theme that has such an emotional significance for our people, both socially and politically: The Road to Democracy.

The focus of the exhibition as contemplated in 2021, would be to promote greater investment in education on Philately in South Africa and globally. Philately, despite its long history, has enjoyed little popular attraction as a hobby. It has also faced transformation challenges especially among the majority black Africans. With this event, we also aim to demystify philately by popularizing it among the disadvantaged communities.

This will be done by, among others, hosting school children from around local townships to attend the exhibition daily. As part of the outcomes of the occasion of FIP International Exhibition 2022, we also seek to leave behind a legacy project with the establishment of the Philately Museum of South Africa (PMSA) which will be done in collaboration with the South African Post Office.

The Museum will display the philatelic development history of South Africa, since the 1800s. It will also serve as a reminder to many, of the importance of philately in preserving the social and historical journey of the country. Our hope and wish is for you members of the media, to join us on this journey of promoting philately as an important preserver of history.

We are also delighted to announce that our former President, Mr Kgalema Motlanthe, has accepted the invitation to be the Chief Patron of the 2022 International Philatelic Exhibition when the invite was extended to him. This shows that the exhibition indeed enjoys the support of government, as well as the support of the country as a whole.

In line with the theme for the 2022 exhibition, a special exhibition stall will be erected around the theme “The Road to Democracy”, providing philatelic and non-philatelic material depicting critical moments in the history of South Africa leading to democracy. This special exhibition has drawn on the knowledge and expertise of many key stakeholders, and it will form the centre of attraction at the exhibition venue.

The hosting of this year’s exhibition in South Africa is something that we take very seriously as government, and it is an opportunity to continue our efforts, since 1994, to promote social cohesion in our country. It is for this reason that we have reached out widely to the media as an important stakeholder to our efforts to build social cohesion. I want to extend a special word of appreciation to the government of the Western Cape, with whom we have partnered to host those learners from around the province at the exhibition.

Since 1994, when freedom was ushered in our beautiful Republic following the first ever democratic elections, we embarked on a journey of building a a united nation after our ugly historic past characterized colonialism and apartheid. We embarked on a journey of reconciliation which demonstrated to the world that humanity can embark on a journey of recognising that there is indeed only one race: i.e., the human race.

Since then, our country has hosted many important international events. We are glad that the international community continues to regard us as an important destination to host events that bring together people from across the world.

We therefore would like to urge you, the media, to continue your efforts in promoting this exhibition that takes place next week, and invite you and fellow South Africans, to be part of the event and to interact with the exhibitors and other important guests to the event.

I thank you

Source: Government of South Africa