Month: February 2023

Higher Education, Science and Innovation Minister, Dr Blade Nzimande, has called on all institutions of higher learning, together with Higher Health, to continue working collectively to stem GBV.

“This includes ensuring the provision of safe workplaces, learning spaces and residences for all staff and students in our institutions,” Nzimande said on Monday.

The call follows the gruesome murder of a Tshwane University of Technology (TUT) student, Ntokozo Mayenzi Xaba, whose murder is believed to be a gender-based violence (GBV) crime.

Xaba, a third-year student who was studying towards a National Diploma in Integrated Communication at TUT, was found last Thursday with multiple stab wounds at her off-campus residence in Pretoria Gardens, after she was last seen with her ex-boyfriend the night before.

Nzimande said Higher Health must also ensure that all institutions work collaboratively with the established multi-sectoral PSET [post-school education and training] Gender-Based Violence Technical Task Team.

Nzimande has strongly condemned the incident and passed his condolences to the Xaba family, friends and the entire Tshwane University of Technology corp.

He has since directed Higher Health to join in efforts with the TUT wellness team to provide the necessary psycho-social support to the family.

Nzimande said GBV and violence against women and girls (VAWG) is a global pandemic that affects 1 in 3 women in their lifetime.

“These numbers are staggering, with global figures indicating that as many as 38% of murders of women are committed by an intimate partner, and 35% of women worldwide experience physical and/or sexual intimate partner violence or non-partner sexual violence.

“This issue is not only devastating for survivors of violence and their families, but also entails significant social and economic costs, and has dire implication to the PSET sector,” Nzimande said.

Transforming MENtalities

As part of dealing with GBV in the country’s institutions, Nzimande said he will launch the “Transforming MENtalities Initiative,” which is a multi-stakeholder partnership within the PSET sector, with a particular focus on mobilising men to be part of championing a world free of gender biases, stereotypes, violence and discrimination.

The Minister said he will soon release the Ministerial Task Team (MTT) report on sexual harassment and GBV in the university sector.

Gender Commission seeks meeting with TUT management

Meanwhile, the Commission for Gender Equality (CGE) said it will reach out to the leadership of TUT following the brutal killing of Xaba.

CGE CEO, Phelisa Nkomo, said the Commission has in the past three years conducted investigations to assess gender transformation and GBV at public universities and Technical and Vocational Education and Training (TVET) colleges to ascertain the safety of women on campuses and residences.

Nkomo said more than 15 Vice-Chancellors appeared before the commission to help the commission understand gender related problems at their institutions.

“One of the numerous recommendations we made was for the Department of Higher Education and Training to institute policies and procedures to deal with the scourge of gender-based violence at institutions of higher learning.

“We urge the department to speedily ensure the implementation of our recommendations in this area.

“We implore the criminal justice system to speedily process all GBV related cases, deny perpetrators bail and ensure a high number of convictions,” Nkomo said.

Source: South African Government News Agency

President Cyril Ramaphosa has moved to assure investors that government is addressing the challenges facing the country to ensure that South Africa reaches its full mining potential.

The President was speaking at the Investing in African Mining Indaba held at the Cape Town International Convention Centre on Tuesday.

“We have a responsibility as government, industry, labour and communities to ensure that our mining industry is able to grow, to become more globally competitive and to be a pioneer in the global drive towards sustainable development.

“To realise these objectives, we need to… [f]irstly, achieve a secure supply of electricity. Secondly, accelerate economic reforms to improve the operating environment. Thirdly, tackle illegal mining and damage to infrastructure. Fourthly, improve the regulatory environment,” he said.

Honing in on energy, the President told investors that government has already introduced the Energy Action Plan to improve “performance of our existing power stations and to add new generation capacity to the grid as quickly as possible”.

“Eskom has assembled experienced technical teams to improve performance and recover capacity at power stations, with an initial focus on the six least reliable stations. Through a regional power pool arrangement, we have already imported 300 MW of capacity from neighbouring countries and are working to increase this by an additional 1000 MW.

“The successful renewable energy programme is being strengthened. In the last six months, we have signed agreements for 25 projects representing 2800 MW of new capacity. These projects will soon be proceeding to construction.

“We are facilitating investment in new generation capacity by private producers by, among other things, removing the licensing threshold for embedded generation projects,” President Ramaphosa said.

Furthermore, he said, Eskom is also looking to “purchase surplus power from companies with available generation capacity” to further strengthen the grid.

President Ramaphosa said another area earmarked by government is reform in logistics.

He highlighted that last year coal exports dropped by at least 50 million tonnes – the worst performance in some 30 years.

Coupled with that, infrastructure inefficiencies effected a 15% decline in mineral sales.

“We therefore welcome the partnership announced late last year between the Minerals Council of South Africa and Transnet to stabilise and restore the operational performance of our rail lines and ports.

“The reforms we announced to improve the state of freight rail are moving ahead. One of these – opening key routes to third party operators – will bring much-needed investment for upgrading, maintenance and rehabilitation.

“A new policy framework for rail sets out actions to modernise the rail network, enable private investment, improve regulation and restore rail as a competitive mode of both freight and commuter transport. Similar efforts are underway to enable private investment in our ports and certain container corridors,” he said.

Turning to illegal mining and infrastructure damage, President Ramaphosa said specialised law enforcement teams are on the ground to tackle that criminality.

“The South African Police Service has established multi-disciplinary Economic Infrastructure Task Teams that are operational in 20 identified hotspots. In the last six months, these teams have conducted around hundreds of operations and made a significant number of arrests.

“Transnet has developed partnerships with the industry and private security to address cable theft and vandalism on the freight rail network through advanced technologies and additional security personnel,” President Ramaphosa said.

According to the President, government is working with the sector to reduce the backlog of prospecting and mining applications and to improve the industry’s regulatory environment.

“I understand that over the past 18 months we have reduced the backlog of applications by 42 percent and plans are in place to eliminate the backlog in the short to medium term.

“The Department of Mineral Resources and Energy has indicated that the process for procuring an off-the-shelf cadastral system, which can be customised to South Africa’s needs, is underway. This is essential for the operation of a modern mining rights administration system, which in turn is vital for the growth of the industry.

“These are some of the efforts we are undertaking as South Africa to improve the business operating environment for a sector that is the lifeblood of our economy and that of the continent,” he said.

The President insists that although South Africa faces several challenges, “investors will find South Africa as an attractive destination for miners and associated sectors”.

“This is a challenging time for mining, both in South Africa and across the continent.

“However, we have the means to overcome our difficulties and forge a brighter future for this industry. As the world changes, mining is changing with it and the industry stands ready to seize the opportunities that the future presents,” President Ramaphosa said.

Source: South African Government News Agency

The Department of Employment and Labour has extended the deadline for written submissions on the protection of Community Health Workers (CHWs) in South Africa.

The submissions on the protection of CHWs were made to the National Minimum Wage (NMW) Commission in line with the National Minimum Wage Act.

The initial deadline for submissions was 31 January 2023.

The Commission has published a notice on Monday, extending the period for submission of written inputs after it announcement in December 2022 that it had started an investigation into the wages and conditions of employment in the Community Health Workers sector.

NMW Chairperson, Professor van der Walt said the Commission resolved to extend the deadline to 28 February 2023.

“The terms of reference of the investigation are to investigate the wages and conditions of employment of the Community Health Workers in the health sector, with a view to establish a sectoral determination prescribing minimum wages and conditions of employment. The NMW Commission is conducting the investigation in terms of Section 52(3) of the Basic Conditions of Employment Act (BCEA), No 75 of 1997,” Van der Walt said.

The Community Health Worker Programme (CHWP) means:

A programme to provide public or community services through a labour-intensive programme initiated by the government and funded by public, private or donor resources;

All projects and programmes accessing public funds, including those implemented by Non-Governmental Organisations (NGOs) and Community Based Organisations (CBOs), Faith Based Organisations (FBOs) and private companies; and

Any other programme deemed to be part of the CHWP as determined by the National Department of Health or a provincial Department of Health.

“CHW usually includes among others adult community nursing, therapy services, specialist nursing, preventive services such as sexual health and smoking cessation clinics, and child health services including health visiting and school nursing,” Van der Walt explained.

Interested parties are given another opportunity to send their comments to the Directorate: Employment Standards, Department of Employment and Labour, Private Bag X117, Pretoria, 0001 or to [email protected] (link sends e-mail).

Source: South African Government News Agency

Social Development Minister, Lindiwe Zulu, will today meet with social grant beneficiaries who passed last year’s Grade 12 National Senior Certificate (NSC) examination in Cape Town.

According to the department, social grant beneficiaries who wrote the 2022 National Senior Certificate examination recorded an improved performance (which) proved the important role played by the country’s social protection system.

“The social grant beneficiaries showed an impressive increase from 0.2% to 8.7% in 2022, as compared to the previous year. The class of 2022 also saw more female learners (256 902) sitting for their Grade 12 examinations when compared with the 191 490 male counterparts, and the higher pass rate registered by male beneficiaries, which was 72.5% and 70.39 % females.

“The results also showed that the learners who were receiving the grant in their matric year registered better results than those whose grant had discontinued due to their age. Inactive social grant beneficiaries achieved an overall pass rate of 75.22 %, while learners who were getting the grant in their matric year got 87.20%,” the department highlighted.

The department said these findings may be demonstrating that the impact of social grants is likely to be greater the longer the transfer duration, especially, if child-specific grants are kept until the learner completes their Grade 12.

“Statistics released by the Department of Basic Education showed that 39 724 of the social grant beneficiaries passed with distinctions in critical subjects such as Accounting, Business Studies, Economics, Mathematics and Physical Science. This academic performance reflects the significant role played by pro-poor policies in addressing intergenerational poverty and child wellbeing for children living in poor households,” the department said.

During a meeting with beneficiaries in the late afternoon, Zulu will encourage learners to work harder as they move to the next chapter of their education.

The Minister will be joined by National Student Financial Aid Scheme (NSFAS) CEO, Andile Nongogo.

“The department and NSFAS have been working together to make sure that social grant beneficiaries who are accepted at institutions of higher learning are not means tested as they have been receiving the grant from the South African Social Security Agency (SASSA),” the department said.

Source: South African Government News Agency