Day: November 9, 2021

In an effort to improve its information and communications technology (ITC) offering to the Special Economic Zone (SEZ) tenants, as well as other companies in the Eastern Cape, the Coega Development Corporation (CDC) has re-launched the Coega Technologies and Consulting business.

In a statement on Tuesday, the CDC said ICT connectivity is essential to the growth and efficiency of any business and Coega’s one-stop-shop ICT solution can offer its growing client base peace of mind in that regard.

Coega Technologies and Consulting offers specialised ICT services and solutions, including, amongst others, hosted services, connectivity collaborative services, managed security and redundancy, advanced infrastructure, and PaaS/SaaS/IaaS.

“Specifically, the product lines include internet connectivity and telephony, two tier 3 data centres, ICT monitoring and support, ICT security and disaster recovery, equipment, space and line rentals, and software licensing.

“The Coega Technologies and Consulting two tier 3 data centres have enabled the organisation to offer ICT Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS),” the CDC said.

The 178 kilometres of fibre cabling within SEZ is currently connecting more than 40 clients consuming services both within and through the data centres.

“To maximise value for our customers, Coega Technologies and Consulting provides reliable, scalable, accessible, convenient, secure, client-centric, and cost-effective connectivity solutions to save clients time and money.

“Through its network design, Coega Technologies and Consulting has built multiple layers of redundancy, making it possible for its clients to continue operating despite disruptions caused by the vandalism and attrition of internet service provider infrastructure across the country.

This ensures uninterrupted connectivity for the CDC customers.

The CDC said plans for a network equipment upgrade worth an estimated R22 million are currently underway.

In line with the CDC’s vision to be the leading catalyst for the championing of socio-economic development, Coega Technologies and Consulting is gearing up to extend its services to the rest of the country to achieve its market development strategy.

“As an entity of the CDC, which exists to catalyse socio-economic development, Coega Technologies and Consulting places a high premium on the overall success and wellbeing of its client base through ICT,” CDC ICT Services Manager Phaphama Msimang said.

Source: South African Government News Agency

The Unemployment Insurance Fund (UIF) has commenced payments to the Workers Affected By Unrest (WABU) Relief Scheme and has so far disbursed R6.4 million to 1 402 workers that were affected by the July 2021 unrest in Gauteng and KwaZulu-Natal.

In a statement on Monday, the department said the payments were made from applications received from 10 employers whose applications were tested against stringent criteria which involves checking if workers have been registered and declared with the UIF, monthly contributions are up to date, as well as physical inspections of affected businesses.

Since the opening of the application process in August 2021, the UIF has received applications from 500 employers on behalf of close to 16 000 workers.

UIF Acting Commissioner, Advocate Mzie Yawa, said that from the 500 employer applications received, the UIF has paid 1 402 workers, which is not a great number considering that 16 000 workers have applied.

“We are however, not worried about this seemingly low number because it shows the robustness of our verification process, which ensures that only those who meet our standards are fit for payment. Due to hard lessons learned from COVID-19 TERS payments, the UIF has had to vigilantly carry out due diligence and thorough verification before making any payments,” Yawa said.

He said that already, the Fund has identified several WABU claims that have been submitted to other insurance companies where salaries are covered, some applied for and shall get help from the Industrial Development Corporation (IDC) which also covers salaries in their intervention. Yet some of these employers still applied for UIF’s WABU benefit.

“We have also noted that some employers have used false SAPS case numbers and luckily our system can pick up through checks that the cases are not genuine. We urge all to act honestly, these are hard-earned monies for vulnerable workers, not get rich quick schemes,” Yawa said.

Yawa added that some of the claims have been rejected because they have failed to meet the basic minimum requirements such as correct identity numbers, correct banking details, no UIF declarations and no UIF contributions found.

“We still have payments that bounce back due to incorrect banking details and we again appeal to employers to ensure that they supply us with correct bank accounts of their workers,” he said.

Meanwhile, the UIF recognises that some of the rejected applications are caused by genuine mistakes committed by employers and will communicate with them to make corrections for workers not to lose their benefits.

“The bulk of the applications have been picked up as beneficiaries from South African Special Risk Insurance Association (SASRIA) and Department of Trade and Industry and Competition, and the Fund is running checks if those claims cover salaries and wages – and if they do, they will be rejected to prevent double-dipping,” the statement read.

The WABU benefit is paid directly into the employee’s bank account and is calculated at a flat rate of R3 500.

The benefit is de-linked from the UIF’s normal benefits, meaning workers’ accumulated credits are not used to calculate the benefit amount payable to the beneficiary. This is to enable workers who have no credits to receive financial support whilst their workplaces are in the process of rebuilding or reopening.

Source: South African Government News Agency

The Green Hydrogen Export Special Economic Zone to be developed in the Northern Cape, with SASOL as an anchor investor, is expected to economically benefit the previously marginalised sectors in a province that is one of the poorest in terms of demographics.

“The intention is to have a dedicated green grid, electrolizer park and green hydrogen related Special Economic Zone to manufacture green hydrogen industry related goods and services in the Northern Cape,” Minister of Forestry, Fisheries and the Environment Barbara Creecy said on Monday.

Addressing the launch of the Northern Cape Green Hydrogen Strategy at the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) COP 26 in Glasgow, the Minister said local manufacturing of hydrogen products and components will contribute towards job creation and skills development as well as enhance economic transformation.

Last month, President Cyril Ramaphosa announced the Northern Cape Green Hydrogen Strategy, with the anchor investment by SASOL at the South African Strategic Infrastructure Development Symposium.

This came after a decision by Cabinet in September to approve the extension for the next 10 years of the South African Hydrogen Society Roadmap (HSRM).

“The new roadmap builds on what has been achieved in the past 10 years, and moves us from research and development to manufacturing and commercialisation. We are particularly excited by this development, which aligns with the department’s declaration of the expanded western Strategic Energy Corridor in the Northern Cape.

“Over the past few years, our department undertook Strategic Environmental Assessments to identify among others renewable energy development zones (REDZ) and strategic energy corridors, in which large scale grid infrastructure expansion could be incentivized,” the Minister said.

This was done to proactivity identify environmental sensitivities and assist in orientating infrastructure development away from areas of high environmental sensitivity, allowing for a streamlined environmental authorisation process, which speeds up development while maintaining the highest environmental protection.

“Through this process we have heeded the call from the President to cut red tape and to halve the authorisation timeframe for transmission scale electricity grid infrastructure and reduce the timeframe for electricity grid development from seven to three years by allowing a pre-negotiated route to be submitted for authorisation which significantly simplified the servitude negotiation process.

“Accordingly, we are committed to supporting this very important initiative for the country and through the department we look forward to working closely with the Northern Cape Department of Agriculture, Environmental Affairs, Rural Development and Land Reform to make it a reality,” the Minister said.

Source: South African Government News Agency