Day: July 9, 2023

Deputy President Paul Mashatile has described the late Maggie Mathabatha as someone who dedicated her life to the socio-economic development of her people.

“We are also here, on behalf of government and the people of South Africa, to pay our last respects to a daughter of the soil, Mme Matlotlo Margaret Mathabatha, a liberation fighter in her own right, who spent most of her adult life dedicated to the socio-economic development of her people in the many leadership roles that she has played before and after the attainment of freedom and democracy in South Africa,” said Deputy President Mashatile.

The Deputy President attended the funeral service of Mathabatha at the Uniting Reform Church in Southern Africa in Polokwane on Friday.

The wife of Limpopo Premier Stanley Mathabatha passed away following a short illness.

The Deputy President said the Premier and first lady of Limpopo took up arms, under the auspices of uMkhonto weSizwe (MK), the military wing of the then banned African National Congress, against an oppressor apartheid regime.

The Deputy President reflected on how she lent her voice and energies to the workers struggle waged by the Commercial and Allied Workers Union of South Africa (CAWUSA), of which she was a member and a leader in the 1980s.

While she left the retail sector, she was “never lost to the quest to build a non-racial, non-sexist, democratic and prosperous South Africa.”

She went on to become instrumental in the founding and ultimate formation of the South African Democratic Teachers Union (SADTU). Her passion for education led her to enrol at the University of the Western Cape where she obtained her first higher qualification, a Bachelor of Arts degree, in 1991.

In 1992, she enrolled at the University of Limpopo, then called the University of the North, where she obtained a University Education Diploma. She went on to graduate with a Master’s Degree in Development from the University of Limpopo’s Business School, EDUPARK in 2011.

“Mme Maggie continued to be a shining light to both students and educators alike, providing a good example to her people in the manner in which she carried herself and how she imparted knowledge to those who sought it.”

Mathabatha also became a Member of the Diplomatic Corps, representing South Africa in Ukraine, where she served as Madam De-charge in the South African Embassy until she returned to South Africa together with her husband in 2013 when he was appointed as the Premier of Limpopo.

“As we bid farewell to our sister, mother and grandmother to some and a comrade, friend and colleague to many of us here, we would like to thank the Moshoeshoe and Mathabatha families for giving their daughter to the service of the people of Gauteng where Mme Maggie grew up, the people of Limpopo where she led the revolution and the people of South Africa as a whole in the struggle to defeat apartheid and build a better life for all.

“Your loss is our loss and the country is bereft of a dedicated care-giver and nurturer of a generation of our people.

“We have no option but to pick the baton and continue on a journey you started and led, for our people to be completely and finally liberated from the clutches of poverty, unemployment and inequality,” said the Deputy President.

Source: South African Government News Agency

The City of Ekurhuleni has condemned the shooting of an on-duty electrician in Boksburg on Saturday night.

In a statement on Sunday, the City said the employee was responding to a multiple power outage in the area when he was shot and robbed at a substation in Dayanglen at around 8pm. The employee had to be rushed to hospital where he is recovering.

City spokesperson Zweli Dlamini said they were grateful the electrician survived the incident.

“This city strongly condemns the senseless attack on a man who left the comfort of his home and his family on a Saturday night to assist the community, only to be attacked by senseless thugs. These unfortunate incidents are becoming a major problem. In fact, our workers are now reluctant and even refusing to attend to power outages at night because of these acts of criminality.

“The employees’ behaviour is quite understandable because this job is turning out to be life-threatening. The unfortunate part is that this means that our customers and residents alike will now have to deal with extended power outages,” Dlamini said.

Dlamini added that the incident forced the team to withdraw from the electricity restoration process leaving Morganridge, Davanglen and Boksburg West without power for the whole of last night. ork resumed this morning.

“While we remain committed to render quality and sustainable services at all times, such incidents of criminality derail our efforts. We therefore implore our communities to assist in the protection of these employees because they are performing a critical task.

“We have people who need electricity for survival, and without it they can die. Unfortunately, the criminals care less about that,” Dlamini said.

The City has urged anyone with information regarding the shooting to forward such information to the police for further processing and investigation on 08600 10111.

Source: South African Government News Agency

South Africa’s electricity generation capacity continues to show signs of improvement and stabilisation, says Minister in the Presidency responsible for Electricity, Dr Kgosientsho Ramokgopa.

This follows work done in the past two weeks.

The Minister was speaking on Sunday during his weekly media briefing on progress made regarding the implementation of the Energy Action Plan.

Outlining the generation performance for period 3 -7 July 2023, the Minister said that Eskom has been able to maintain the increased energy availability of more than 60% resulting in lower levels of load shedding.

“The progress we’re making is tribute to the fact that we’ve stayed the course. We’ve received a number of criticism, arguing that government doesn’t have a plan and our consistent message was that we have a plan and we are going to deliver against that plan.

“We have been able to maintain the trend line, we are approximating that 60% energy availability factor. In megawatts terms, you can see the running average for the week is about 28 272,” Ramokgopa said.

The progress was on account of a number of things done over the past weeks. As a result of improved generation capacity now, there is an additional space for Eskom to do good planned maintenance.

The Minister highlighted that one of the underlying assumptions when the country entered winter, is that they were going to drastically reduce planned maintenance so that we have as many units as possible at any given time generating megawatts needed.

On Friday, they were able to take out double what had been planned because of the room that has been created by the performance of the units.

“This is planned, it is by design and voluntary. We could have chosen not to but we have chosen to take it out and you are not seeing it in the aggravation of the load shedding situation in the country.

“Load shedding is bad in all its elements but you can see that we’re able to maintain that permutation of 0 to 3 or 1 to 3.

“So either no load shedding between midnight and 4 am then we introduce it during the evening peak because it is more severe than the morning peak…or we introduce Stage 1 load shedding [at] midnight until 4 am and then we ramp it up to Stage 3 during the evening peak starting at 4pm.”

He said that for as long as planned maintenance continues, “these units won’t surprise us because we are thorough and robust in the manner in which we do it.”

When we make a promise that this unit is going to run for a certain number of hours without it failing or being taken out, we are confident that our message or promise will be kept.”

Ramokgopa said the month of July is a special one because it marks the anniversary of the Energy Action Plan which was introduced by President Cyril Ramaphosa.

The minister said the plan has made progress as they have been able to mobilise private sector players.

“In relation to the Energy Action Plan, we have been able to mobilise private sector players, over a hundred of them are working with us and that in part is to help us recover the units but also to ensure that they are able to transmit the knowledge and exchange it with some of the station managers and junior engineers so that they are able to run on their own.

“When we come out of this very difficult electricity situation, we will be more than confident that we have cadres of young engineers at Eskom, who fully understand how these machines operate,” he said.

The Minister added that they were also strengthening issues around accountability when it comes to the Energy Action Plan.

On funding to enable investment to the grid, Ramokgopa announced that Eskom has prioritised about 25 transformers that will make it possible to add 12,000 megawatts of capacity into the grid by 2028.

Source: South African Government News Agency

The Department of Social Development will host the review of the implementation of South Africa’s population policy conference.

Social Development Minister Lindiwe Zulu will address the conference that will get underway on Tuesday at the Maropeng Centre at the Cradle of Humankind World Heritage site in Gauteng.

The gathering will bring together 300 participants representing diverse sectors including young people, the LGBTQIA+ community, people with disabilities, civil society organisations and academics.

In a statement on Sunday the department said the conference aims to assess progress made in implementing the policy which was developed to include population concerns in development planning.

The conference will focus on the priorities of the Population Policy approved by Cabinet in 2015.

Held under the theme: “Unleashing the power of gender equality: Uplifting the voices of women and girls to unlock our world’s infinite possibilities”, the conference will evaluate progress made and the relevance of the policy after 25 years and make recommendations to Cabinet in 2024.

The conference will be preceded by the commemoration of the World Population Day, which is globally recognized on 11 July.

“Some of the discussions for the conference will include a panel discussion on the role of young fathers in raising children, why adolescents should be a priority and government support initiatives advancing the 1.8 billion campaign and agenda.

“The Minister will also launch the State of the World Population 2023 report focusing on the empowerment of women and girls,” the department said.

The conference will conclude on Thursday, 13 July.

Source: South African Government News Agency