Day: March 9, 2023

Through its chairship, South Africa will work with its BRICS partners to advance the African agenda for growth, development and integration and to advocate for the needs and concerns of the Global South.

President Cyril Ramaphosa echoed these sentiments while updating Parliament on state capability for economic recovery and the fight against crime on Thursday in Cape Town.

The President was responding to a question on what strategic focus areas will South Africa advance during its tenure as chair of BRICS.

South Africa is chairing the BRICS group of countries in 2023 under the theme: “BRICS and Africa: Partnership for Mutually Accelerated Growth, Sustainable Development and Inclusive Multilateralism”.

South Africa will host the leaders of Brazil, Russia, India and China at the 15th BRICS Summit from 22 to 24 August 2023.

The BRICS group brings together some 3.2 billion people. After the United Nations and the Non-Aligned Movement, BRICS is among the largest bloc of countries by total population.

“As part of our strategic intent to further advance the African development agenda within the BRICS group, we are inviting several other African leaders to the summit.

“One of the priorities during our chairship is to build a partnership between BRICS and Africa to unlock mutually beneficial opportunities for increased trade, investment and infrastructure development.

“We are focusing in particular on opportunities that will generate economic growth on the continent, particularly through the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) and infrastructure,” the President said.

The President told Members of Parliament that there are great opportunities for BRICS countries to participate in infrastructure development and the AfCFTA by locating production and services activities in the continent and partnering with local companies and entrepreneurs.

Responding to how South Africa will ensure the advancement of the South-South Agenda, President Ramaphosa said that the country’s priorities are responsive to the needs and concerns of the broader global south.

“Another strategic priority is strengthening multilateralism, including working toward real reform of global governance institutions and strengthening the meaningful participation of women in peace processes.

“Our priorities respond to challenges and opportunities that are shared by South Africa and other BRICS members. They are also responsive to the needs and concerns of the broader global South,” he said.

The President shared that one of the founding values of BRICS is the need to restructure the global political, economic and financial architecture to be more equitable, balanced and representative.

He said that BRICS countries agree that the United Nations must remain at the centre of multilateralism and be reformed to make it more effective, inclusive and representative of the global community.

“This includes reform of the UN Security Council to ensure that African countries and other countries of the Global South are properly represented and that their interests are effectively advanced.

“The BRICS relationship extends beyond the governments. Bodies like the BRICS Business Council, BRICS Women’s Business Alliance, BRICS Think Tanks Council and BRICS Civil Forum ensure that the opportunities of this association are explored across society,” President Rmaphosa said.

He added that the relationship seeks to promote people-to-people contact, including among youth formations. Among other things, he said, this person-to-person contact enhances travel and tourism between BRICS countries.

In all, there are some 190 meetings and events taking place during the course of this year.

Source: South African Government News Agency

The National Student Financial Aid Scheme (NSFAS) says it has stepped in to resolve the ongoing student accommodation crisis affecting the country’s public universities.

NSFAS on Thursday said robust consultations have been held between the scheme and the South African Union of Students (SAUS) to mitigate these challenges.

This follows countrywide protests by students at various institutions of higher learning against a new accommodation cap of R45 000 per annum.

NSFAS spokesperson, Slumezi Skosana, said during a meeting held in Gauteng on Monday, NSFAS management and the leadership of SAUS agreed that SAUS would assist the scheme in collating details of students who do not have accommodation and are allegedly sleeping in public places.

“The scheme is also engaging universities in a bid to receive credible information to fast-track the process. In the meantime, NSFAS is in the process of identifying alternative accommodation to be provided within the stipulated rate of R45 000 per annum,” Skosana said.

The priority will be the universities affected by the accommodation cap, and these include the University of Pretoria, University of the Witwatersrand, Stellenbosch University, University of KwaZulu-Natal, Rhodes University and Sol Plaatjie University.

Skosana noted that where necessary, NSFAS will have to take extraordinary measures to ensure that NSFAS-funded students are not left stranded due to skyrocketing accommodation costs.

SAUS leadership has made an undertaking to contact all SRCs in affected universities to supply the information.

Source: South African Government News Agency

President Cyril Ramaphosa says government is working to build a public service staffed by men and women who are professional, skilled, selfless and honest.

He said that this in order to build a capable developmental state for the implementation of the Economic Reconstruction and Recovery Plan (ERRP).

The President said that this includes implementation of the Professionalisation of the Public Service Framework.

The Framework proposes fundamental reforms, including a stronger emphasis on merit-based recruitment and appointments, integrity testing before recruitment, revising the tenure of Heads of Departments, and curriculum development for ongoing learning of public servants.

President Ramaphosa was responding to questions by Members of Parliament on Thursday in Cape Town.

Government announced the Economic Reconstruction and Recovery Plan in October 2020, in response to the severe health, social and economic effects of the COVID-19 pandemic.

The plan was founded on engagements among social partners, including government, labour, business and community based organisations.

“For the plan to succeed, government identified several key enablers. These include regulatory changes, a supportive policy environment and enabling conditions for ease of doing business. They also include a capable state and effective social compacts.

“In this year’s State of the Nation Address, I spoke of the centrality of a capable and effective state in addressing the country’s key challenges of poverty, inequality, unemployment, load-shedding, crime and corruption,” the President said.

Responding to what plans Government has post the audit of the civil service to build a capable developmental state for the implementation of the ERRP, he reiterated that the National School of Government will work with other organs of state to conduct skills audits in infrastructure and frontline service departments.

“The skills audits will help to accelerate the professionalisation of our civil service. It will help us determine whether critical skills do exist to effectively deliver economic infrastructure and essential social services.

“To enable departments to deliver services more effectively and efficiently and to establish a single public administration, amendments have been drafted to the Public Service Act and the Public Administration Management Act,” he said.

The President highlighted that the key infrastructure and frontline service departments that will participate in the first phase of the skills audit are Transport, Human Settlements, Water and Sanitation, Cooperative Governance, Public Works and Infrastructure, Home Affairs, Social Development, and Employment and Labour.

The Department of Public Service and Administration (DPSA) is leading the Building State Capacity Programme. This is intended to develop appropriate interventions and initiatives to enable the state to deliver efficiently, effectively and responsively.

This includes collaboration and partnerships with other departments and entities, Chapter 9 institutions, oversight bodies, academia, research organisations, civil society and the private sector.

In February 2022, the DPSA entered into an MOU with the Auditor-General of South Africa to audit compliance in areas such as filling of vacancies, performance management and institutional development.

“There are multiple plans and interventions to ensure the successful implementation of the Economic Reconstruction and Recovery Plan.

“While we face significant challenges, they are not insurmountable. With our social partners, through best practice and by replicating what has shown to work, we will succeed in overcome these challenges,” the President said.

Source: South African Government News Agency

President Cyril Ramaphosa says the fight against crime will not be advanced through the devolution of policing powers, but by mobilising all available resources and capabilities – working alongside and within communities, to improve policing throughout the country.

The President was answering questions by Members of Parliament in the National Assembly Chamber on Thursday.

President Ramaphosa said government is working to build an integrated police service to ensure effective governance and accountability optimal coordination and alignment across all the spheres of government.

He said the fight against crime will not be advanced through the devolution of policing powers but by mobilising all available resources and capabilities working alongside and within communities to improve policing throughout the country [and] “that we believe is the best way in which we can continue to bring the levels of criminality down”.

“A central pillar of our fight against crime is to ensure that communities are able to contribute to improving local safety and security through effective Community Policing Forums. In line with the recommendations of the Expert Panel into the July 2021 Civil Unrest, we have taken steps to ensure that there are CPFs at all police stations throughout the country.

“To date, a total of 1 156 police stations in the country have active CPFs. The SAPS Act is being amended to strengthen the functioning of CPFs including through the provision of adequate resources. Government does not have a policy on devolving policing powers to provinces as policing is a national competency,” President Ramaphosa said.

The President said the escalation of crime and violence is one of the greatest challenges facing the country today.

He said government takes the issue of crime very seriously and to this end, “we have for both criminality generally and also Gender-Based Violence (GBV) have been demonstrably taking action to make sure that we address this”.

“To a large extent, the President said crime and violence is rooted in the social and economic conditions that prevail in our country, which have worsened significantly as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic.

“These conditions are characterised by extreme inequality and poverty, spatial segregation and high levels of unemployment. Many of the factors that contribute to crime go far beyond the scope of the mandate of the Department of Police.

“Central to the programme of government and our ongoing engagement with social partners are measures to address the social and economic conditions that fuel crime. At the same time, effective policing is critical to curbing crime and violence,” the President said.

He said he is confident that the Minister and National Commissioner of Police are competent and able to lead the government’s collaborative approach to building a South Africa, where all people are and feel safe.

He said the Department of Police, under the leadership of the Minister, developed the Integrated Crime and Violence Prevention Strategy.

The National Policing Strategy includes an initiative to increase the number of SAPS members which will improve visibility and capacity. It also involves skilling more specialised units, such as the Family Violence, Child Protection and Sexual Offences Units, Organised Crime Units, Public Order Units, Tactical Response Teams and others.

“The police continue to undertake targeted operations in crime hotspots. These include operations to tackle cross border crime between Mozambique and KwaZulu-Natal and the deployment of multi-disciplinary teams to counter the recent gang-related shootings in Westbury and surrounding areas in Johannesburg,” President Ramaphosa said.

The President further noted that the turnaround of the DNA backlog has almost been concluded and capacity at the Forensic Science Laboratories has been enhanced.

He said government has also seen the value of cooperation between the police and other law enforcement entities through the Fusion Centre.

“By the end of 2022, 193 people had been charged in COVID-related corruption cases, 42 court cases had been finalised with 40 convictions, [and] this represents a 95 percent conviction rate.

“Ultimately, crime is not just a policing issue but also a societal issue. That is why the strengthening of Community Policing Forums and other community-based initiatives is an essential part of an effective response to crime.

The fight against crime and violence requires great effort and focus. It needs an integrated strategy that harnesses all the capabilities of the police and criminal justice system, alongside the efforts of broader society,” the President said.

Meanwhile, the South African Police Service has also developed a National Policing Strategy, which was approved in September 2022 and is currently being implemented.

Source: South African Government News Agency

President Cyril Ramaphosa will tomorrow, Thursday 09 March 2023, engage with the National Assembly on South Africa’s year-long chairing of the BRICS group of countries, combating crime in communities and how government is building the capability of the state in line with the Economic Reconstruction and Recovery Plan.

The President will elaborate on these issues when he replies to questions by Members of Parliament at 14h00 tomorrow.

The President will also outline his approach to the Expropriation Bill, and touch on the reconfiguration of state-owned enterprises.

Questions for Oral Reply is one of the mechanisms Parliament uses to hold the Executive to account and this will be the President’s first questions session following the February 9 State of the Nation Address.

Source: Government of South Africa

Minister in the Presidency for Electricity, Dr Kgosientsho Ramokgopa, says collaboration between government, business and society is imperative if South Africa is to overcome the current electricity crisis gripping the nation.

The Minister was speaking during the launch of the Resource Mobilisation Fund (RMF) on Thursday afternoon.

The RMF is a collaborative effort between government and Business Unity South Africa (BUSA) to provide resources and expertise that will assist government to fully implement the Energy Action Plan.

“The establishment of the Resource Mobilisation Fund is a significant step in this regard. It is only through a collective national effort that we will be able to end load shedding and enable our economy to grow.

“The RMF is an example of the collaborative approach between government and social partners which the President has always prioritised. Most importantly, it shows what we can achieve if we roll up our sleeves and go beyond debate and discussion to engage in real, practical action on the issues that confront our society,” he said.

Ramokgopa explained that the fund is expected to play a critical role in assisting government to implement government’s Energy Action Plan (EAP) with more drive.

“The RMF will provide crucial expertise and resources to turbocharge the work of NECOM [National Energy Crisis Committee] and ensure that we put the best minds in our country and indeed across the world to work on this problem.

“The tremendous support which this initiative has already received from businesses and philanthropies alike is evidence that we can work together as Team South Africa to get our country back on track. We look forward to a strong partnership with the RMF as we move to ensure swift and full implementation of the President’s plan,” he said.

Minister Ramokgopa said although the RMF comes as a boon for turning around the current energy crisis, government has already been hard at work to bring more urgently needed megawatts onto the power grid.

Some of the work done includes:

Eskom is implementing a detailed Generation Recovery Plan to improve its performance, focusing on six power stations that contribute the most to load shedding.

The licensing threshold for embedded generation projects has been removed which has opened the way for private investment in electricity generation.

A new determination for close to 15000 MW of new generation capacity from wind, solar, and battery storage has been published and project agreements for 2800 MW from bid windows 5 and 6 have been signed.

A Request For Proposals for 513 MW of battery storage has been released which will be followed shortly by the release of Bid Window 7.

The Minister of Finance has announced significant debt relief for Eskom totalling R254 billion, as well as a substantial fiscal support package, which includes tax incentives for businesses and households to invest in rooftop solar.

Red tape has been cut and the regulatory requirements for energy projects has been streamlined to reduce the time that it takes for new generation capacity to the grid

Source: South African Government News Agency

The Minister of Agriculture, Land Reform and Rural Development, Ms Thoko Didiza (MP) will on Saturday 11 March 2023 hand over title deed to beneficiaries of Izinini community at a handover ceremony that will take place at Izinini Village in Bizana under Alfred Nzo District Municipality, Eastern Cape Province.

Izinini Community was dispossessed of their rights to an agricultural land after 19 June 1913 to further the objectives of the then racially discriminatory practices. The land contained numerous important natural resources.

The Commission on Restitution of Land Rights will restore 1272.3381 hectares of land to Izinini Community that will benefit 1279 households and a total of 1 300 beneficiaries.

Source: Government of South Africa