Day: January 24, 2023

Nairobi / Johannesburg, “Today we strongly urge governments across Eastern and Southern Africa to turn high-level commitments made at last September’s Transforming Education Summit (TES) into concrete action to support the millions of children waiting for their education to be prioritized.

“We acknowledge countries progress and steady efforts to relentlessly strengthen their education systems and adjust to changing times, however the numbers are sobering; some 41 million children are out of school across Eastern and Southern Africa. For too long business as usual has prevailed, resulting in underfunded schools, underpaid and underqualified teachers, overcrowded classrooms and outdated curricula, undermining children’s ability to reach their potential.

“Not only do children need to be in school, but they need to be learning effectively when they are there. Sub-Saharan Africa has the lowest rate of reading comprehension in the world: only one in ten 10-year-olds can read and understand a simple text, with children living in emergencies and protracted crises facing the highest levels of learning poverty. Children need support to catch up on learning loss, through transforming the way and how the education system reaches them: investment in teaching innovatively, curriculum reform, digital education, early years learning and psychosocial support. Primary focus must be on building children’s foundational literacy and numeracy, making sure they actually learn how to read and write so they start their learning journey independently.

“At the TES, the international community rallied around six calls to action that each carry the potential to accelerate change on this almost silent crisis. Yet if we look at the area of foundational learning – imperative for this region given the shocking data – only four countries in Eastern and Southern Africa have formally endorsed the call to action. UNESCO and UNICEF are therefore appealing to governments to stand by their commitments and chart a way forward with practical action and the required resourcing.

“The cost of under-investment and lack of innovative approaches in education imperils our common future. We remain in a situation of colossal crisis, and one that will only be overcome by a response of equal proportion. One key action is for governments to allocate at least 20 per cent of their national budgets to education. The average allocation in the region is 16 per cent, while in fact some countries are apportioning less than three per cent. A key opportunity is next month’s African Union Summit where we hope to see Heads of States renewing their commitment to at least the minimal allocation of 20 percent to education.

“To reverse the current learning trends in the region – and to avoid the consequences of failing to educate a generation – governments must prioritise education. The skills needed to thrive in today’s economies require more of young people than ever before, but with such extreme levels of low learning, countries face a perfect storm for underachievement, unemployment and societal and economic breakdown.

“2023 marks the mid-point since the UN adopted the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. Achieving Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 4 must be prioritized as a key enabler to accelerate progress towards all the SDGs against the backdrop of a global recession, growing inequalities and the climate crisis.”

Source: UN Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization

PRETORIA, South Africa has defended its decision to hold a joint military exercise with Russia and China next month.

Foreign Minister Naledi Pandor condemned the “double-standard” which says some countries can perform such exercises but others are not.

“All countries conduct military exercises with friends worldwide,” Pandor added at a press conference with Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov in Pretoria.

The event attracted a small group of protesters outside the venue, waiving Ukrainian flags.

Pandor went on to slam the suggestion that South Africa cannot conduct the military exercises it wants to as an “abuse of international practice”.

“This is just a natural set of exercises that occur between countries,” she said.

Last week South Africa’s military announced it would hold joint naval drills with Russia and China off its coast next month.

But there has been some criticism that the exercise is not appropriate, given that it coincides with the first anniversary of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

Not much information has been given about the exercises, but the state-owned Tass news agency reports that a Russian warship armed with hypersonic cruise weapons will take part.

The Ministry of Defence has also defended the planned drills, saying that South Africa has in the past hosted similar exercises with France, the US and countries from the Western Nato military alliance.

The drills will run for 10 days from Feb 17 in the port city of Durban, and Richards Bay.

The aim is to share operational skills and knowledge, the South African National Defence Force said.

Despite pressure from Western countries to condemn the Russian invasion, South Africa has remained neutral – to the disappointment of Ukraine.

Speaking at the conference, Lavrov said he appreciated the “well balanced” and “considerate” approach of South Africa to the Ukraine war, which South Africa’s Pandor said must be resolved diplomatically and through negotiation.

Officials in South Africa have repeatedly said they do not condone the invasion but will not be forced into choosing sides and are continuing to engage with both countries in a business-as-usual manner.

Critics of South Africa’s stance have accused the country of playing coy.

South Africa’s leaders have a connection to Russian dating back to the fight against white-minority rule, or apartheid, when some members of the country’s liberation movement received military training in Russia.

In recent years that relationship has grown into business ties through the Brics bloc of emerging economies – Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa.

Lavrov was also in Africa in July 2022, when he visited Egypt, Ethiopia, Uganda and Congo-Brazzaville, and South Africa is not alone in refusing to take sides in the war in Ukraine.

Many African nations – including Nigeria and Kenya, the economic powerhouses of West and East Africa respectively – voted in favour of a UN general assembly resolution in March last year, condemning Russian “aggression” and demanding its withdrawal from Ukraine.

However, nearly half of all abstentions – 17 – were from Africa, including South Africa.

Source: NAM NEWS NETWORK

Cape Town Mayor Geordin Hill-Lewis has announced the City can now pay cash for power fed into the local electricity grid. Businesses, and in time residents, will receive cash for selling their excess power into Cape Town’s grid. This after National Treasury exempted the City from competitive bidding processes not designed for the coming energy revolution. The sale of excess power by homes and businesses with Small Scale Embedded Generation (SSEGs), among other generation solutions, will contribute to Cape Town’s goal of 4-stages load-shedding protection within three years.

‘The future is now, as we aim to immediately rollout the paying of cash for power. Payments to commercial customers will be possible before June, and within the year for any Capetonian with the necessary City-approved generation capacity. If you’re thinking of investing in a solar system, it just got more attractive.

We aim to buy electricity from as many City supplied customers as are willing to sell to us. These customers may now produce as much power as they can from their approved systems and feed it into Cape Town’s grid. Under this plan, we will also pay these customers an incentive over and above the NERSA-approved tariff as they help us turn the corner on load-shedding.

As our network of home power producers grows, so will our city’s energy security. This has the potential to be a powerful force to end load-shedding over time, together with our Independent Power Procurement programme, and Power Heroes incentives for voluntary energy savings,’ said Mayor Hill-Lewis.

The National Energy Regulator of South Africa (NERSA) has approved a rate of 78,98c/kWh for this financial year for the City to pay power sellers. The City also adds a 25c/kWh incentive tariff on top of this.

We are focused on ending load-shedding over time, and the City has steadily been laying the groundwork to enable payment for excess small scale power, including:

Dropping a policy requirement for power sellers to be ‘net consumers’ of energy, which previously only allowed for municipal bills to be credited for excess power, instead of actual cash payments

Commencing a wheeling trial for commercial and industrial users which is helping to iron out technical and billing issues ahead of mass-scale rollout

Allocating R15 million budget to pay for energy generated by small-scale embedded generators for the remainder of this financial year until June

SSEG and wheeling customers who want to feed energy into the grid need to have their system approved and have an AMI (Advanced Metering Infrastructure) meter installed by the City. This is a bi-directional meter that allows accurate reporting of the amounts of energy consumed and generated. We know this meter is still too costly for many, and we are working on finding an alternative option of comparable quality and reliability. Customers who want to upgrade their systems to make use of this existing development need to have the upgrade approved by the City.

Treasury exemption

At our request, National Treasury granted the Cape Town an exemption from competitive bidding / tendering processes that may otherwise apply to this process using section 3 of the Preferential Public Procurement Framework Act (PPPFA).

The exemption is necessary because South Africa’s Public finance legislation did not foresee energy procurement from independent power producers, only from ESKOM.

The result is an insurmountable admin burden not suited to the dynamic, decentralised process of buying and selling electricity that is wheeled into the grid by a great number of small-scale generators all of whom are being paid at the same price (and at a cost that is cheaper than Eskom).

The requirement of a ‘competitive bidder / single winner for goods and services’ would make the wheeling programme a non-starter.

Aside from competitive bidding exemption, the City’s power purchases will be fair, equitable, transparent and cost-effective in compliance with section 217 of the Constitution.

The City furthermore does not envisage entering into further contracts with feed-in customers, and is instead finalising a pro forma standard agreement.

Source: City Of Cape Town

CRADOCK – Intelligence led information resulted in the speedy arrest of four suspects and the recovery of suspected stolen goods conducted by a multi-disciplinary team on Sunday, 22 January 2023 in Cradock.

It is alleged that on the mentioned date, information was received of suspects possibly involved in a business robbery in King Williams Town were spotted in Cradock. The team comprising of Queenstown K9 unit, a private security company and the Community Policing Forum members spotted the vehicle and immediately stopped it. Upon searching it, several cellphones, jewellery, laptops and batteries to the value of R500 000 were recovered.

Two firearms were also confiscated.

The four suspects aged between 28 and 38 years were arrested for possession of unlicensed firearms and suspected stolen property. They have appeared in the Cradock magistrate court and are remanded in custody.

Source: South African Police Service

The Provincial Commissioner of Mpumalanga Lieutenant General Semakaleng Daphney Manamela has vowed that nothing will stop her to arrest any person committing crime in Mpumalanga. This come after she arrested a fifth suspect (32) at Mkhondo.

The fifth suspect will appear before the Piet Retief Magistrate’s Court tomorrow, Wednesday 25 January 2023 on charges of three counts of Murder, attempted murder and theft of firearm.

He was arrested yesterday Monday 23 January at Mkhondo in relation to the murder of a ward Councillor Mr Sbonelo (Mthembu) Ntshangase (36), and his friends Mr Sandile Khumalo (51) and Mr Sizwe Mbingo (40).

The three victims were allegedly shot by armed suspects in Mkhondo, also known as Piet Retief. It is further alleged that the suspects reportedly fired multiple shots at Mr Ntshangase who was in the yard, and also shot Mr Mbingo inside a bakkie who sadly died at the scene whilst Mr Khumalo was shot in the yard as well. Thereafter the suspects fled to unknown direction.

Source: South African Police Service

Finance Minister Enoch Godongwana will this week host his United States counterpart, Secretary Janet Yellen.

The US Secretary of Treasury will be in the country for a weeklong visit, from Tuesday.

In a statement, the National Treasury said Yellen, as part of her visit, will meet Minister Godongwana in a bilateral on Thursday morning.

“Areas of cooperation and mutual benefit between the two economies will be discussed, to further the already fruitful ties between the two states,” said the department.

The visit comes four months after Presidency Cyril Ramaphosa embarked on a successful state visit to the US. The visit was at the invitation of President Joseph Biden.

During the visit, the two countries established a joint task force on trade and investment to expand bilateral economic ties.

This came as there was an agreement on the need to create a more attractive environment for American companies to invest in South Africa, where an estimated 600 US companies are already doing business in a range of sectors.

“A joint task force on trade and investment will be established to expand bilateral economic ties,” said the Presidency at the time.

In a meeting between the two in April last year, Yellen reiterated the strength of the United States’ bilateral relationship and underscored the country’s support for a Just Energy Transition that will enable South Africa to sustainably achieve its climate goals and to welcome South Africa’s leadership on responding to COVID-19.

The Secretary discussed the impact on South Africa of the commodity shock triggered by Russia’s brutal invasion of Ukraine and underscored the need for close coordination between our governments to protect our financial sectors from illicit Russian financial activities. The Secretary also commended South Africa’s leadership on debt issues through the G20 Common Framework process.

Source: South African Government News Agency