Month: August 2022

Commissions that took place on the sidelines of the Presidential Social Sector Summit have called for a resourced social sector ahead of President Cyril Ramaphosa signing a framework at the Summit today.

Minister of Social Development Lindiwe Zulu officially opened the summit on Thursday at Birchwood Conference Centre in Ekurhuleni, under the theme “Fostering Social Cohesion to Enable Socio-Economic Participation in Communities.”

In the Commission on Resource Mobilisation, Andries Khoza from Mpumalanga, raised concern that there is no monitoring of public funding, and that this often leads to corrupt and unaccounted spending by organisations responsible for civil society funding.

He also indicated that there is a false notion that government has money, and this is not true as it depends mainly on budget allocations.

Another participant highlighted that the issue of a distance between non-profit organisations (NPO) and funders – such as the National Lottery – remains a challenge for most NPOs located in rural communities who need funding for their projects and programmes.

“This Commission agreed as a collective about the need for a binding funding framework and an integrated system for the entire social sector to have capacity to sustain itself and all this can be possible through an establishment of a Civil Society Committee which would assist the sector to be equally resourced and benefit.

“Participants also strongly mentioned the need for Civil Society Organisations to partner with unemployed graduates in local communities,” said the Department of Social Development in a statement.

Based on its deliberations, the Commission on Capacity Building, which intends to strengthen and capacitate civil society organisations, made recommendations that capacity building for the social sector should be mandatory.

Issues of a personnel retention strategy, financial management, skills development, and policy on a well-resourced capacity building were also raised.

Addressing delegates in attendance of the two-day summit, Minister Zulu said that the summit marks the intentions of this government to improve the interface between government and the social sector.

She said the Presidential Social Sector Summit (PSSS) also seeks to establish a formula upon which the sustainability of a longer-term people-public-private-civic-academic-multilateral partnership can be defined.

“Taking a long-range view of the challenges that government and the sector are continuously addressing in communities should amount in the effective removal of the developmental barriers that the people are unnecessarily made to navigate through in their journey to realise their respective aspirations and self-defined futures.

“Therefore, the outcomes of our improved interface and collective interventions should be the enhanced quality of active-citizenship, increased quality of the lives of majority of our people in our communities and showcase dignity in the lives of most people,” she said.

The PSSS is unfolding at the backdrop of the 2018 Presidential call for the Social Sector to convene a comprehensive social compact.

The outcomes of all Commissions will be part of the plenary today before they are presented to President Ramaphosa who is expected to close the summit.

Source: South African Government News Agency

Eastern Cape (CoGTA) MEC, Xolile Nqatha, has appealed to political parties in the Nelson Mandela Bay Metropolitan Municipality to support the proposed notice of intention to amend Section 12 of the municipality.

In a statement, the MEC on Thursday said the proposed amendment would change the existing type to a collective executive type with ward participatory system.

The intention to amend the existing type was intended to ally political instability and address the non-functionality of the mayoral committee (Mayco).

Political instability

The MEC said the unstable political climate has seeped into the sixth administration, characterised by killings and a slow pace of service delivery.

He said: “This new term is also riddled with instability as politics have spilled over to management to an extent that it has divided management and administration and created factions amongst them.

“The current coalition government has aggravated matters by creating a state of lawlessness and causing severe damage leading to the collapse of administration in the municipality. The Members of the Mayoral Committee (MMCs) see themselves as Mayors in their own right, and they do as they wish in their portfolios relying on the administration (the Executive Directors) to execute all that they want to implement.”

Non-functionality of the mayoral committee (Mayco)

Nqatha said Metro’s Mayco does not sit to consider items that should go to the council.

MAYCO members, he said, do not want to attend meetings that are called by the Executive Mayor.

“Instead they work with Executive Directors directly and want no interference by the Executive Mayor in their departments. There is basically an existence of a split municipality,” he said.

Some Section 80 Committees, he said, had not sat since the beginning of the new term.

He said Municipal Public Accounts Committee had sat only twice since its establishment in January.

“It is worth mentioning that the Council does not sit for the legislated Ordinary Council Meetings but rather considers only compliance matters through Special Council Meetings. This compromises service delivery as matters of departmental performance and service delivery are not tabled to committees and council at large,” said the MEC. “There is generally no oversight that is played by the council over administration.”

The MEC said coalition politics were affecting decision-making within the council “hence the failure to make a decision on the appointment of Executive Directors”.

Nqatha said the situation has had a negative effect on administration and service delivery. “The coalition partners always have conflicting interests because of ideological gulf as a result self-serving interests manifest themselves when decisions that relate to resources are taken. The status quo in the municipality has attracted public concern especially the business fraternity whom the economy of the city depends on.

“Notice of the municipality amended by changing the type of the Municipality from being a Mayoral Executive Type with Ward Participatory System to be a Collective Executive Type with Ward Participatory System so as to have a more inclusive government,” he said.

The MEC on 25 May held a meeting with multiparty whippery.

The Ministry said the MEC used the meeting to urge councillors to prioritise the interest of the people of the metro than their inter and intra political party interests.

“It is in this meeting that he shared his intention for a new model of governance by amending Section 12 Notice,” it said.

The meeting was attended by the ANC, DA, VF+, PA, PAC, GOOD, UDM, DOP, AIC and the NA.

The EFF, AIM and ACDP could not attend the meeting and submitted apologies.

In the same meeting all parties requested the MEC to reduce the intention in writing and he has welcomed the convening of the council to table the notice.

Source: South African Government News Agency

Eskom has welcomed the conviction and sentencing of three cable thieves, who stole at least 564kg of the power utility’s aluminium overhead conductor cable.

According to Eskom, Bafana Masilela, Antonio Munyathi and Gutu Gumba stole the cable in 2018 and were arrested following a tip-off to the power utility.

“The three were arrested… in a sting operation at a scrap yard in Boksburg, after the scrap dealer tipped off an Eskom security contractor.

“A sting operation, which led to the arrest of the three cable thieves, was set up between the scrap dealer, security contractor and the police at the scrap yard. The convicts remained in custody since their arrest and appeared 47 times in court before they were sentenced.

“[Eskom] urges all those who may be aware of any form of electricity-related criminal acts to report them by calling the Eskom Crime Line on 0800 112 722 or the South African Police Service (SAPS). The tip-offs can also be done anonymously,” Eskom said.

Masilela and Munyathi were sentenced to 12 years imprisonment, while Gumba was sentenced to 15 years.

Eskom Gauteng Safety, Health, Environment, Risk and Quality Manager, Kith Maitisa, commended the National Prosecuting Authority for netting a conviction and hefty sentence.

“Theft of cables, overhead lines, transformers and conductors costs Eskom approximately R4 billion per year. The arrests and convictions are an indication of what we can achieve if we collaborate with different stakeholders to fight electricity crime,” Maitisa said.

Source: South African Government News Agency