Day: July 22, 2022

Minister Simmers to officiate ribbon cutting of Cogmanskloof Pass in the award-winning Ashton-Montagu Infrastructure Project

On Saturday, 23 July, the Provincial Minister of Infrastructure Tertuis Simmers, will officiate the opening of the Cogmanskloof Pass, in Montagu. This comes days after the Ashton Arch bridge, which forms part of the Western Cape Government’s larger Ashton to Montagu infrastructure project, was awarded the 2022 Fulton Award for the Best Infrastructure Project. The project also received commendation for Innovation and Invention in Concrete.

Minister Simmers said: “It gives me great pleasure to officiate the opening of the Cogmanskloof Pass, a project of world class standard. I am equally delighted that our Ashton Arch bridge won at the Fulton 2022 Awards in its category. This award-winning project is not only beautifully and innovatively constructed but it is one that will leave a legacy and unlock economic activity in this region. This investment project will enable a safer pedestrian usage and improve traffic as we grow this key tourist destination.”

The entire Project has been entered into the 2022 CESA AON Engineering Excellence Awards, with winners due to be announced on Wednesday 28 September.

Minister Simmers will be joined by the Mayor of Langeberg Local Municipality at the official ribbon-cutting ceremony on Saturday.

All media are invited to attend.

Source: Government of South Africa

Opening remarks by President Cyril Ramaphosa on the occasion of the Official Talks during the State Visit by Côte d’Ivoire President Alassane Ouattara to South Africa, Union Buildings

Your Excellency, My Dear Brother, President Alassane Ouattara,

Your Excellency, Ambassador Sakaria Koné, Ambassador of Côte d’Ivoire to South Africa,

Your Excellency, Ambassador Zolani Mtshotshisa, Ambassador of South Africa to Côte d’Ivoire,

Honourable Ministers,

Senior Government Officials,

Ladies and Gentlemen,

On behalf of the Government and the people of the Republic of South Africa, I would like to extend a very warm welcome to you, Mr President, and your delegation.

Let me thank you for honouring our invitation.

Your visit to our shores is evidence of the importance we attach to strengthening our bilateral relations.

I recall with fondness my state visit to Côte d’Ivoire in December last year, which did much to deepen trade and investment relations and build a stronger bond between our peoples.

A new era of cooperation has been established between South Africa and Côte d’Ivoire.

Your visit today is an opportunity to review progress on the implementation of the Agreements and Memoranda of Understanding we signed in December, consider new Agreements to further strengthen bilateral cooperation, and review the implementation of economic projects.

Since my visit to Côte d’Ivoire, much work has been done to implement the agreements.

I have been informed that the departments of our two countries have been engaging each other constantly with a view to deepen our bilateral relations.

I am pleased to note that our Ministers of foreign affairs shared information and exchanged views on matters of mutual interest during their political consultations earlier this month.

It is a signal of our shared commitment and confidence that we will be signing a further six agreements to further strengthen our bilateral relations.

We will be signing Memoranda of Understanding in the areas of Transport, Social Development and Social Inclusion, Forestry and Wildlife, Sports, and Economic Cooperation.

We will also be signing a Memorandum of Understanding on cooperation between our respective schools of government.

We are encouraged by the fact that despite the challenges posed by the COVID-19 pandemic, bilateral trade between South Africa and Côte d’Ivoire is on an upward trajectory.

Over the last three years, the value of South African exports to Côte d’Ivoire has increased by close on 25 per cent.

The value of South African imports from Côte d’Ivoire has increased by more than 200 per cent over the same period.

While this increase is from a small base, it is clear that there is huge potential to increase bilateral trade between the two countries.

We welcome the commencement of the flights of Air Côte d’Ivoire between Johannesburg and Abidjan on the 1st of July.

This route will contribute to increase traffic between our two countries and between South and the West Africa region.

In turn this will contribute to increased trade, investment, and tourism.

With the entry into force of the Agreement on the African Continental Free Trade Area, I expect the volume of trade to further increase between our countries.

The portfolio of investments in Cote d’Ivoire by South African companies is increasing rapidly.

This includes significant investment and financing by institutions like the Development Bank of Southern Africa, Rand Merchant Bank and Nedbank.

Among others, South African companies are active in the telecommunications, broadcasting, banking and insurance sectors in Côte d’Ivoire.

We believe that there is great opportunity for South African companies – both state owned and privately owned – to support the priority sectors identified in the Ivorian National Development Plan 2021-2025.

These include sectors like agriculture, mining, oil and gas, electricity, transport and logistics, and industry.

In this regard, a South African state entity, Umgeni Water, has expressed an interest in one of the Ivorian National Development Plan projects to supply drinking water to the city of Abidjan.

As Côte d’Ivoire prepares to host the 34th African Cup of Nations in 2023, South Africa is available to collaborate with Côte d’Ivoire on the required infrastructure projects, drawing on our own experience of hosting the FIFA World Cup in 2010.

South African companies could contribute to the ambition of the Ivorian National Development Plan to increase domestic agro-processing to derive greater value from the country’s substantial agricultural resources.

Mr President, we commend the progress Côte d’Ivoire has made under your leadership in nation building and reconciliation.

This makes Côte d’Ivoire a shining beacon for the region and continent on the peaceful resolution of conflict.

We have been closely following the security situation in the West Africa region.

We fully support the decisions of the 61st ECOWAS Summit of Heads of State and Government held on the 3rd of July 2022.

We share ECOWAS’s concerns on the recurrence of terrorist attacks in Burkina Faso, Mali, Niger and Nigeria and the spread of such activities to Benin and Togo.

We support the decisions of ECOWAS on the situations in Mali, Burkina Faso and Guinea.

South Africa appreciates the important role played by Côte d’Ivoire in contributing to peace and stability in West African through contributing troops and police to the Stabilisation Mission in Guinea Bissau.

South Africa is ready to provide support to Côte d’Ivoire within the framework of the Defence Cooperation Agreement signed in December 2021.

Our Ministers of Defence must urgently finalise plans on defence industry cooperation, identification of training needs and other possible areas of cooperation.

It is significant that this State Visit takes place as we mark 20 years since the African Union was formed in July 2002 in Durban.

The 20th Anniversary of the African Union presents an opportunity for a reflection on Africa’s path to prosperity and peace, and on the road ahead.

We remain firm in our commitment to unity, solidarity and cohesion as we work for a better Africa and a better world.

We must intensify our efforts to realise the Africa We Want by 2063.

Within the global governance system, South Africa will continue to defend and promote the primacy of the United Nations in resolving the many challenges facing the international community, including in the areas of peace and security, sustainable development and human rights.

Finally, I wish Côte d’Ivoire well in the upcoming 2022 FIFA World Cup in Qatar.

I also wish Côte d’Ivoire all the best with its preparations to host for the 34th African Cup of Nations in 2023.

I thank you.

Source: Government of South Africa

The KwaZulu-Natal Legislature continues to trailblaze as an effectively managed institution which abides by the highest governance prescripts.

This was evidenced by the institution again receiving a clean audit outcome from the Auditor-General for the 2021/2022 financial year.

The audit outcome means that, for two successive financial years, the Legislature has continued to prudently manage its resources and in a manner that benefits the people of KwaZulu-Natal.

Commenting on the audit outcomes, KwaZulu-Natal Legislature Speaker, Ms Nontembeko Boyce said the clean audit had been achieved because the institution’s officials had heeded the call for the legislature to lead by example.

“When we began the sixth administration in 2019, we sat with our management and emphasized that it was fundamentally important for them to exercise vigilance to ensure good governance standards were adhered to.

The political leadership did not only make a clarion for management to ensure that it handled the public purse with care and implements legislature programmes effectively, but it also ensured that it worked closely with management to ensure that our vision was implemented to the teeth,” added Boyce.

The Speaker said she was pleased that the legislature managed to execute its mandate of playing oversight over government departments and public education with distinction even during marathon Covid-19 lockdowns.

“When the pandemic struck, the legislature quickly moved towards digital platforms to ensure that the work of the legislature was not disrupted.

We organised the requisite IT infrastructure to ensure that everyone had access to virtual platforms. That meant that all management meetings, committee meetings, house meetings were done online.

We also developed ICT mechanisms which ensured that our public participation mandate was not affected. We did this by making sure that the public was able to participate in our online programmes without paying even a cent,” Boyce said.

She thanked the Office of the Auditor General for its continued support and guidance which made it possible for the legislature to achieve its set targets.

Ms Nerusha Naidoo, the Secretary to the legislature, said the institution continued to excel because the political leadership continuously encouraged management to commit themselves to high standards of integrity and ethical values.

Source: Government of South Africa