Day: November 3, 2022

Cabinet has emphasised the importance of different sectors in society working together with government to tackle the scourge of gender-based violence and femicide (GBVF).

“Communities are urged to tackle the scourge of GBVF head-on by reporting perpetrators to law-enforcement agencies. Each sector of our society must play its part by creating conditions that make it difficult, if not impossible, for GBVF to thrive,” Cabinet said on Thursday.

Government hosted the second Presidential Summit on GBVF at the Gallagher Estate in Midrand, Gauteng, on Tuesday and Wednesday under the theme: “Accountability, Acceleration and Amplification, NOW!”  

“The summit was the ideal platform to engage in honest and robust discussions around successes and challenges in the fight against GBVF. It also showcased the need for collective action and how significant success can be achieved if adequate resources are provided and managed correctly.

“The agreements reached at the summit have demonstrated the importance of the partnership that government has forged with civil society, business, development partners, the faith-based sector and other sectors to work together to deal with the scourge of GBVF,” Cabinet said.

Some of the interventions agreed upon included the need to allocate adequate funding to the National Strategic Plan (NSP) on GBVF to implement consequence management mechanisms to ensure accountability, and to strengthen national, provincial and local accountability structures.

The summit reflected on progress made in the implementation of declarations proposed during the 2018 Presidential Summit, which reaffirmed the country’s commitment to a united, comprehensive and effective response to GBVF.

Participants at the two-day summit accounted for work being done towards the implementation of the NSP on GBVF, which aims to provide a multi-sectoral, coherent strategic policy and programming framework to strengthen a coordinated national response to the crisis of GBVF by the government and country as a whole.

Cabinet reiterated that all acts of violence and abuse will not be tolerated in society.

Source: South African Government News Agency

Cabinet has welcomed the Official Visit to South Africa by Spanish President Pedro Sánchez Pérez-Castejón at the Union Buildings in Pretoria, last month.

Cabinet believes that the visit solidified the already strong relations between the two countries.

The Spanish Minister for Industry, Trade and Tourism, Reyes Maroto, and a business delegation accompanied the President.

“The visit created opportunities for various South African sectors to meet with their Spanish counterparts and to deepen cooperation in trade and investment, science and innovation, arts and culture, sports and education,” the Cabinet Statement read on Thursday.

This visit, according to the Cabinet, provided another boost to the country’s investment and economic growth drive.

Ethiopia’s Tigray Peace Talks

Meanwhile, South Africa, under the auspices of the African Union (AU), hosted formal peace talks between the warring sides in the conflict in Ethiopia’s Tigray region, from 25 to 30 October 2022.

The Ethiopian government and the northern Tigray regions signed an agreement on Wednesday to end a two-year war that has claimed thousands of lives and caused many to flee.

The High Representative of the Chairperson of the AU Commission, Olusegun Obasanjo, was briefing the media in Pretoria regarding the AU-led negotiations to resolve the conflict in Ethiopia.

Obasanjo described the truce as a beginning of a new dawn for Ethiopia, and Africa as a whole.

Cabinet has since expressed its support for a peaceful and sustainable solution to the conflict, in line with South Africa’s foreign policy objectives of a secure and conflict-free continent. 

“It remains confident that there will be positive outcomes from these talks.”

Nigeria’s former President Olusegun Obasanjo, Kenya’s former President Uhuru Kenyatta and South Africa’s former Deputy President Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka facilitated the dialogue.

Source: South African Government News Agency

Cabinet has approved the National Integrated Small Enterprise Development (NISED) Strategic Framework for implementation.

“The NISED Strategic Framework provides an integrated strategy to strengthen and support entrepreneurship for small and medium-sized enterprises. It provides a structured coordination framework for all key ecosystem role players in small to medium enterprise development,” Cabinet said in a statement on Thursday.

The initial Integrated Strategy for the Promotion of Entrepreneurship and Small Enterprises (ISPESE) was adopted in 2005.

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

“In April this year, Cabinet approved the publication of the draft NISED strategic framework for public comment. Through the wide consultations, the strategy was enhanced by inputs from the public and from the National Economic Development and Labour Council, which is a forum comprising business, civil society, labour, academics and government that seeks to deal with economic, labour and development issues and related challenges facing the country,” Cabinet said.

Draft Policy on Social Development Services to Persons with Disabilities

Cabinet also approved the publishing for public comment of the draft Policy on Social Development Services to Persons with Disabilities.

“It outlines the restrictive environment and barriers that continue to marginalise and exclude persons with disabilities from mainstream society, and from participating in social and economic activities. It proposes monitoring mechanisms that will ensure closer tracking of its implementation and mainstream interventions within the relevant departments,” Cabinet said.

The policy gives effect to the White Paper on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities and the United Nations (UN) Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (UNCPRD).

Cabinet said the policy guides the Department of Social Development in the provision of its services to persons with disabilities and their respective families.

South Africa is a signatory to the UNCPRD and the African Charter on Human and People’s Rights on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities in Africa.

Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) Meeting

Meanwhile, Cabinet endorsed the nomination of Prof Debra Roberts from the University of KwaZulu-Natal for the position of new chairperson at the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC).

The IPCC Bureau will be convening its seventh assessment cycle meeting in June 2023.

The IPCC – which comprises a panel of 195-member governments under the United Nations (UN) – is responsible for assessing the available scientific, technical and socio-economic knowledge, so as to advise decision-makers about the causes, impacts and responses to climate change.

“During its meeting in 2023, the IPCC is expected to elect a new chairperson for its seventh assessment cycle. Cabinet has endorsed the nomination of Prof Debra Roberts from the University of KwaZulu-Natal for this position.

“Prof Roberts has championed increased IPCC outreach work in Africa. She is currently a member of the IPCC Bureau. If elected she would be the first woman and a person from Africa to chair this body.  Her election will send a positive message on the good work being done by female scientists from Africa,” Cabinet said.

Source: South African Government News Agency

President Cyril Ramaphosa says the new Eskom board is expected to undertake a full assessment of the efficiency of managers and operators at the power utility.

The President was speaking during a question and answer session in the National Assembly on Thursday.

The beleaguered electricity supplier has been facing serious challenges at its power stations, leading to months of load shedding, with only brief respites in between.

Answering questions on whether or not current Eskom CEO, Andre de Ruyter, should retain his position, President Ramaphosa said the new board will soon undertake an assessment of all managers at Eskom.

“The Group CEO reports to the Eskom board, which conducts performance reviews against agreed targets. The new Eskom board was appointed on 1 October (2022) and will be given the space to assess what needs to be done to improve efficiency of the existing plant and effectiveness of the management and operators at all levels.

“The new board has the skills, experience and the expertise to undertake a thorough assessment of current executive leadership at Eskom and take whatever steps they consider necessary to address areas of weaknes,s and they must be given the space to do so,” he said.

The President emphasised that allowing the board to do its assessments is critical, as the power utility has undergone a high volume of leadership change at the executive level .

“There is no State entity that has had as many CEOs as Eskom… We need to have a proper assessment of everybody at Eskom. We also need to have an assessment of our various power stations. That process is underway.

“I’d like us to allow the board to embark on this process and they will be able to brief [government] on what their assessment is, and it is then that they will propose how best the matter should be handled.

“Eskom has gone through enormous challenges and difficulties. Let us give them the support they need so that they can do their work. Where they fail, clearly action does need to be taken but that is now a board matter,” he said.

The President said plans to upskill workers and reintroduce experienced former Eskom employees is underway to address the current load shedding challenges.

Furthermore, President Ramaphosa explained these challenges have been both structural and operational.

“Among the structural challenges is the fact that there has been insufficient investment at the Eskom level in new generation capacity build that was needed two decades ago. This has resulted in a national capacity shortages of between 4 000MW and 6 000MW.

“As a result of these challenges, power stations were run very hard to their maximum capacity with poor reliability, maintenance and neglect of mid-life refurbishment.

“We need skilled people… with great knowledge and expertise. We are focusing on improving skills. We are focusing on bringing the skills in-house. There were many people who were very experienced at Eskom who left years ago and we are seeking to bring those back,” he said.

Source: South African Government News Agency