Day: November 30, 2021

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UnionPay International s’associe à M2M pour promouvoir la transition numérique en Afrique

CASABLANCA, Maroc, le 30 novembre 2021 /PRNewswire/ – UnionPay International (UPI) et M2M ont annoncé un partenariat visant à accélérer la transition financière numérique en Afrique. Ce projet a pour objectif de créer de nouvelles frontières en tirant parti des capacités et implantations majeures des deux entités.

Ce partenariat établit un projet ambitieux qui permet à M2M de fournir des solutions de paiement innovantes et centrées sur le client afin d’accompagner les émetteurs, les acquéreurs, les technologies financières, les processeurs et les agrégateurs dans plus de 40 pays.

« Devenir le fournisseur de services tiers certifié d’UPI est une étape importante qui souligne notre volonté d’être un guichet unique et une plateforme de paiement de services qui offre aux clients de vraies solutions couvrant l’ensemble de la chaîne de valeur des paiements, y compris l’émission, l’acquisition et le traitement des transactions croissantes d’UPI à travers le monde », a déclaré M. Rachid SAIHI, PDG de M2M Group. « Grâce à ce partenariat, M2M Group sera l’un des premiers acteurs des paiements en Afrique à proposer des solutions de traitement final pour les transactions UPI ».

« Nous sommes ravis de collaborer avec M2M pour faciliter la transition financière numérique en Afrique », a déclaré M. Luping Zhang, directeur général de la branche africaine d’UnionPay International. « UnionPay International continue d’offrir des services de paiement innovants, rentables et de haute qualité grâce à une croissance partagée dans la région et contribue à la valeur de l’écosystème mondial des paiements ».

Présent au premier rang de l’ère numérique, M2M Group met à profit plus de 30 ans d’innovation et d’expertise à l’échelle mondiale. M2M Group est une entreprise leader dans le domaine des logiciels qui fournit des solutions et des services de paiements électroniques multicanaux et de gouvernement électronique. Ces derniers offrent commodité et confiance à tout le monde, partout, à tout moment et sur n’importe quel appareil. Les solutions de M2M Group répondent à un large éventail d’applications accélérant la convergence numérique, améliorant l’expérience utilisateur et augmentant l’agilité et la rentabilité de l’entreprise. M2M Group est coté à la Bourse de Casablanca.

Avec plus de 160 millions de cartes UnionPay émises en dehors de la Chine continentale, UnionPay a étendu son réseau d’acceptation à 180 pays et régions ces dernières années. À l’heure actuelle, les cartes UnionPay sont largement acceptées en Afrique dans tous les secteurs, ce qui répond efficacement aux divers besoins d’achat des détenteurs de ces cartes visitant ou vivant sur le continent. Plus de 10 pays africains ont émis des cartes UnionPay, dont le Kenya, la Tanzanie, l’Ouganda, le Ghana, l’Afrique du Sud, Eswatini, Madagascar et Maurice. Le rapport Nilson (numéro 1154) montre que UnionPay occupe la première place parmi les systèmes de cartes en termes d’émission de cartes et de volume de transactions. UnionPay a lancé divers produits de paiement innovants en Afrique en réponse à la transition numérique mondiale et à l’inclusion financière.

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Climate change 2021: There’s no turning back now

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AFP

Paris (AFP) – Across a quarter century of UN climate conferences tasked with saving humanity from itself, one was deemed a chaotic failure (Copenhagen/2009), another a stunning success (Paris/2015), and the rest landed somewhere in between. This year’s COP26 inspired all these reactions at once. Swedish activist Greta Thunberg, leading a 100,000-strong march through the streets of Glasgow, dismissed the two-week meet as a “greenwashing festival”. But dedicated experts in the negotiating arena hailed solid — even historic — advances in beating back the existential threat of global warming. Mo… Continue reading “Climate change 2021: There’s no turning back now”

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Nelson Mandela University officially opens its medical school

The Nelson Mandela University (NMU) has officially launched its medical school, a move the Department of Higher Education, Science and Innovation has described as the realisation of a long-held dream.

To mark the occasion on Tuesday, Higher Education, Science and Innovation Minister, Dr Blade Nzimande, extended his congratulations to the university for this landmark achievement of becoming the tenth medical school in the country.

“I would like to commend the university for the continued role that it plays in this region, through its excellent teaching and learning, research and community engagement programmes.”

According to the Minister, the establishment will promote local economic development within the Nelson Mandela Bay Metro, South Africa’s fifth-largest municipality.

He told the delegates that the country should be proud of the excellent teaching and learning facility dedicated to the training of future health professionals.

Nzimande also took the time to pay tribute to the late Professor Lungile Pepeta who died of COVID-19 last year for his enormous contribution in laying a strong foundation for this medical school. “I hear you may name this after Prof Pepeta. I certainly think it would be highly appreciated.”

Although the school was launched today, Nzimande said the first cohort of students is nearing the end of their first year of study.

According to the Minister, the NMU Medical School, located at the Missionvale campus, aims to position health education to be more responsive to South Africa’s health needs by widening access to healthcare programmes.

“The school will generally add to the much-needed health professionals that our country so needs to improve our health system as a country.”

He said the establishment of the school has been long coming, dating back to 2013 when a business plan was first developed. The National Skills Fund subsequently pumped R73 million into it with the backing from the department.

“I am pleased that this new medical degree focuses on comprehensive primary health care from the first year of study.”

Nzimande said he was pleased that the school is planning to use global technological innovations to support interactive education.

“I also fully subscribe to the ethos of this medical school, which are firmly based on community and primary health care provision by developing health care professionals who are committed to providing accessible and affordable healthcare services.”

In addition, he announced that in the current financial year, the department has allocated R644.7 million for the clinical training of health professionals in the sector, of which R19 million will go to NMU.

“As you are aware, the country’s public hospitals are overstretched due to the scarcity of health professionals.”

In addressing these shortages, the department has been working closely with the Department of Health to equip the universities and clinical training platforms. “We are committed to continuing with this important work to strengthen our health training and education in South Africa.”

Source: South African Government News Agency

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Cash-in-transit suspect arrested

EASTERN CAPE – A 43-year-old suspect was arrested at Salsonville, Gqeberha on Monday, 29 November 2021 on allegations of a cash-in-transit robbery, possession of an illegal firearm and possession of suspected stolen property.

It is reported that a Fidelity cash vehicle was collecting money from Broadways Cash and Carry on 29 November 2021 when one of the guards was allegedly accosted by three armed men who pointed him with firearms whilst collecting cash boxes from the shop and the driver remained in the vehicle.

The trio disarmed and robbed the security guard an undisclosed amount of money before they fled the scene in a silver grey Almera sedan with a GP registration plate.

The Gqeberha Crime Combating Unit (CCU) and Mthatha National Investigation Unit (NIU) followed the lead together with Gqeberha Serious Organised Crime Investigation team about the runaway car which led to the arrest of the suspect in Salsonville.

A vehicle matching the description of the alleged getaway vehicle was spotted parked inside a yard in Salsonville. One suspect was found in the car with some of the money suspected to have been robbed from the CIT crime scene.

The suspect was arrested by the joint police team and the docket was handed over to the Hawks for further investigation. He is expected to appear in court soon and the investigation into the remaining suspects continues.

The Provincial Head Major General Obed Ngwenya commended the multi-disciplinary team for their role which led to the expeditious apprehension of one of the suspects.

Source: South African Police Service

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SA calls for lift of travel bans with immediate effect

South Africa should be applauded for having alerted the world about the Omicron variant that is now beginning to spread around the world, says President Cyril Ramaphosa.

The President has criticised countries who have imposed travel bans on South Africa, following the identification of the COVID-19 variant last week.

“We reject that in the strongest terms because to us it amounts to discrimination against a country like ours and some countries in Southern Africa, in fact we should be applauded as South Africa for having alerted the world about this variant that is now beginning to spreads around the world.”

Speaking just before taking off to Nigeria, ahead of a four-nation visit to West Africa, the President said South Africa has proven that it has got the scientific capability that is able to identify a very threatening variant of the COVID-19 pandemic.

“We have shown the world that we are transparent, it is our responsibility to the world to demonstrate and show that we have found this variant and the least we expected is to be punished by various countries.

“That to us is most concerning, that is why we have come out in total rejection of these bans that have been imposed on Southern Africa and we are also insisting that these bans must be removed and lifted, because you do not try and contain a virus through imposing bans unscientifically and indiscriminately,” he said.

The President added that the world has advanced to a point where we now know that when people travel they should be tested on departure and arrival.

“We have got the tools and means to be able to deal with this, this also goes against the G20 roam spirit where the G20 countries agreed that we must open travel because the tourism industry around the world has really been devastated – and for us the tourism industry is one of the key industries and for Southern Africa as well.

“This is unfair and discriminatory against us and they are imposing an unfair punishment and we reject it and we call on them to lift it with immediate effect,” the President said.

Speaking on travel bans by fellow African countries, President Ramaphosa said that he was deeply concerned and would like to have a discussion with them.

Source: South African Government News Agency

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Unemployment reaches 34.9%

The number of unemployed South Africans rose by 0.5% in the third quarter (Q3) of 2021, Statistician-General Risenga Maluleke has announced.

The rise saw the country’s unemployment reach 34.9%.

Releasing the Quarterly Labour Force Survey (QLFS) for the last quarter, Maluleke said during this period the number of employed persons decreased by 660 000.

Between July and September, 14.3 million people were in employment.

He said: “The number of unemployed persons decreased by 183 000 to 7.6 million compared to the second quarter of 2021. The number of discouraged work seekers increased by 545 000 (16.4%).”

The number of people who were not economically active for reasons other than discouragement increased by 443 000 (3.3%) between the two quarters resulting in a net increase of 988 000 in the not economically active population, the QLFS shows.

Maluleke said the changes resulted in the official unemployment rate increasing by 0.5 of a percentage point from 34.4% in the second quarter of 2021 to 34.9% in the third quarter of 2021.

This was the highest since the start of the QLFS in 2008.

Statistics South Africa (Stats SA) said the unemployment rate, according to the expanded definition of unemployment, increased by 2.2 percentage points to 46.6% in Q3, 2021, compared to Q2, 2021.

The statistics agency said the results indicate that the South African labour market was more favourable to men than it was to women.

“The proportion of men in employment is higher than that of women; more men than women are participating in the labour market as the labour force participation rate of men is higher than that of women; and the unemployment rate among men is lower than among women.

“The unemployment rate among women was 37.3% in the third quarter of 2021 compared to 32.9% among men according to the official definition of unemployment. The official unemployment rate among black African women was 41.5% during this period compared to 9.9% among white women, 25.2% among Indian/ Asian women and 29.1 among coloured women.”

Stats SA said employment decreased by 571 000 (5.6%) in the formal sector, by 65 000 (5.4%) in private households and by 32 000 (3.8%) in Agriculture in Q3, 2021, compared to Q2, 2021. Informal sector employment increased by 9 000 (0.3%) in the same period.

Maluleke said all industries experienced job losses between the last two quarters of 2021 except the finance industry which gained 138 000 jobs. The largest employment decrease was observed in Trade (309 000), followed by community and social services (210 000).

Source: South African Government News Agency