Month: August 2023

The Ministry of Environment, Forestry and Tourism (MEFT) has decided to tar some gravel roads in the Etosha National Park at a cost of over N.dollars 160 million, its Executive Director, Teofilus Nghitila has said.

Speaking at the launch of the annual tourism statistical report for 2022 here on Tuesday, Nghitila said the government took a decision to find a permanent solution to gravel roads at hotspot tourist attractions in the Etosha National Park covering 229 kilometres.

The state of the gravel roads in Etosha has consistently been slammed by key tourism players as rapidly deteriorating.

Nghitila explained that the road construction project includes a low-volume seal road with financial assistance of N.dollars 160 249 317 funded by the Road Fund Administration, noting the partnership aims to make the park safe and ensure quality rides for local and international markets.

“It does not matter how much you grade… The grading only lasts for three months and during peak seasons just a month and you need to bring another grader… So we are working on a permanent solution by tarring the road,” he noted.

Further, MEFT in support of the World Tourism Organisation (WTO) has embarked on strategic spatial tourism planning aimed at identifying urgent infrastructure to accommodate tourists at Namibia’s tourism hotspot attractions.

The report indicated that Namibia received an increase of 461 027 tourist arrivals in 2022, compared to 232 756 tourists received in 2021. The increase of 98.1 per cent indicates a 28.9 per cent recovery level towards the 2019 arrival statistics.

Source: The Namibia Press Agency

Some small to medium enterprises (SMEs) of Omuthiya have expressed disappointment after the change of venue of the Heroes’ Day commemoration from Omuthiya to Windhoek, as it has negatively affected their businesses.

RESTAURANTS and GUESTHOUSES

Simon Nghipunya who owns a guesthouse in Omuthiya says he was left in debt and bankrupt after the relocation of the event.

“I borrowed N.dollars 20 000 to furnish my apartments hoping to get clients for Heroes’ Day, unfortunately the venue was then changed,” he said.

Another person who faces the same problem is Mekondjo Tuwilika, who owns a guesthouse and he already received N.dollars 26 000 from bookings.

“Unfortunately, I used some of the funds to revamp the place and now have to find ways to pay back the money,” he said.

Suama Ruben who owns Omukwa Guesthouse in Omuthiya was completely disappointed as she had clients that deposited N.dollars 13 000 and she had to refund them.

“We were busy preparing and maintaining the places because our places were fully booked by those coming for the Heroes’ commemoration,” Ruben said.

She said they were busy trying to “paint a good picture” and the cancellation came in the last minute.

“We were trying to learn how to accommodate international guests of honour, we wanted to experience the feeling,” she sighed.

“We do not know if they will let us the Oshikoto residents continue to celebrate our day in Omuthiya or we should also go to Windhoek,” shrugged Ruben.

Esther Cornelius owns a restaurant and she was awarded a catering tender. She said that she is “so disappointed” for the changing of venues because she was expecting the best from the event.

“Omuthiya residents were so very excited to be the luckiest but now things turned out bad,” she said, adding that after the cancellation of the event, they were never informed or updated about anything.

VENDORS and HAWKERS

Aina Nambahu, one of the local vendors from the supermarket said she bought enough stock to sell during the event.

“We were so happy for our government in recognising our town but now they are just letting us down at the last minute,” said Nambahu.

She said they were hoping to make a lucrative profit from the day as they were expecting an influx of people from other regions.

SPORTS

The Governor’s Cup that always takes place at the Omuthiya Stadium was supposed to take place this Saturday, 19 August 2023, but was then postponed to October due to the preparation of the Heroes’ Day commemoration.

Source: The Namibia Press Agency

On Thursday 17 August 2023, OCPOL (the Legislature’s Oversight Committee on the Premier’s Office & the Legislature) will meet with the Office of the Premier to discuss progress to-date in implementing the Tshepo 1Million project.

Tshepo 1Million is the Gauteng Provincial Government’s initiative that aims to empower young jobseekers and entrepreneurs through access to free resources, support and opportunities. The province contracted Harambe to drive the project.

The Premier’s Office will present its performance report for the first quarter of the 2023/2024 financial year, and a comprehensive report regarding the contract with Harambe. It is envisaged that the report will reflect on the contracted targets, achievement, and expenditure to-date, as well as plans to improve the youth upskilling programme going forward.

Tshepo 1Million can be access through a data-free mobile site: tshepo.datafree.co

Members of the media are invited to cover the event on:

Date: Thursday, 17 August 2023 – postponed

Time: 10h00

Livestream: GPL YouTube Channel – https://youtube.com/live/Zrygqyev-dY?feature=share(link is external)

For more information and documents log on to https://www.gpl.gov.za/oop-plans-on-improving-youth-capacitation-program/.

Source: Government of South Africa

UIF pays out R9.3 billion in KwaZulu-Natal Province to sustain 774370 workers during and after the covid-19 pandemic

The Unemployment Insurance Fund (UIF) has since March 2020 date paid out an amount of R9.3 billion to 774370 workers in KwaZulu-Natal province as part of its Covid-19 Temporary Employer-Employee Relief Scheme (Covid-19 TERS).

A separate R2.4 billion was disbursed by the UIF to 272 889 workers and their beneficiaries as normal benefits, including unemployment, maternity, illness and death, in the 2022/2023 financial year.

Furthermore, to this the UIF also paid out an amount of R17.7 million to 5571 workers in the province through the Workers Affected by Unrest (WABU) temporary financial relief scheme.

Details of the various payments to KwaZulu-Natal based clients were revealed today, 16 August 2023, by UIF Commissioner, Teboho Maruping at a media briefing that took place at the Royal Hotel in Durban Central.

The R9.3 billion disbursed to workers arose from 34 840 Covid-19 TERS applications the UIF received from employers, according to Maruping.

The Commissioner said the top 10 sectors that received the lion’s share of the R9.3 billion are Trade, Personal, Construction, Iron, Professional, Textile, Air, Entertainment, Food and Education.

The UIF has to date paid out an overall R64 billion to at least 5 million workers across the country through Covid-19 TERS.

Mr Smiso Nkosi, a Manager in the UIF Commissioner’s office, informed journalists that Forensic Auditors of the UIF are continuing to audit companies in the province as well as around the country, to ensure that the correct amounts of Covid-19 TERS monies were paid over to workers at the right time.

A total of R2.6 billion has been recovered by the UIF through phases one and two of the Fund’s “follow the money” project which is auditing companies that benefited from Covid-19 TERS. The audits have found various instances of fraud related to employers who applied for ghost employees, had applications with inflated salaries, who made applications for terminated employees and who made applications whilst being allowed to operate as essential services during the Covid-19 lockdowns.

Nkosi said measures are being implemented to deal with employers who refused to cooperate with “follow the money” auditors. These include:

Referral of cases to the Special Investigating Unit and Directorate for Priority Crime Investigation (HAWKS) for criminal investigation;

Refunding of all Covid-19 TERS funds;

Blocking of employers from the UIF’s service offerings; and

Blacklisting of employers from doing business with the UIF.

Monwabisi Mangcotywa from the UIF’s Risk and Fraud Unit in KwaZulu-Natal province revealed that more than 20 suspects had been arrested through joint investigations for Covid-19 TERS-related fraud. Mangcotywa said the matters are all still before the courts.

According to Mangcotywa, the UIF is taking disciplinary action against officials who are implicated in fraud cases as well as those who are alleged to have solicited bribes from clients to expedite claims at labour centres in the province. A total of officials were undergoing disciplinary cases for fraud in KwaZulu-Natal. Of that, four officials were dismissed, while another two were arrested. The remaining cases are still pending.

Clients or members of the public can report any corrupt activities or fraud on the UIF Fraud Hotline: 0800 601 148 or to the Department of Employment & Labour hotline: 0860 666 883.

With regards to job creation and preservation UIF Commissioner Teboho Maruping said 7 564 jobs were preserved by the UIF in quarter 1 during the 2023/2024 financial year through the Labour Activation Programme (LAP).

The UIF is an entity of the Department of Employment and Labour, mandated to provide short-term financial relief benefits to qualifying and contributing workers and their beneficiaries.

Media enquiries:

Trevor Hattingh

UIF Director: Communications

Cell: 067 410 4099

E-mail:[email protected]

Source: Government of South Africa

The Specialised Commercial Crimes Court finds Dr Dion Theys guilty of contravening PFMA processes

The Specialised Commercial Crimes Court in Kimberley has sentenced Dr. Dion Theys, Head of the Department of Health in the Northern Cape after he was found guilty of contravening Section 86(1) of the Public Finance Management Act (PFMA). Theys was the Acting HOD and accounting officer during the commissioning of the crime, is accused of having concluded three lease agreements with JP Hugo Trading, amounting to more than R13 million, without following proper PFMA prescripts and procurement processes.

The trial which started on 29 March 2022, and concluded on 16 August 2023, saw the prosecution led by Senior Advocate Isaac Mphela, from the Specialised Commercial Crimes Unit(SCCU), calling on several witnesses, to come and testify during the trial against the accused. One of the first witnesses called was the Director-General of the Northern Cape Provincial Government Justice Bekebeke, who outlined the processes of PFMA and how government personnel should toil when utilising the public purse, specifically applying the procurement processes. The accused was out on bail of R30 000, and one of the bail conditions was that he should surrender his passport.

The trial which took more than a year, details the seriousness the prosecution team took in ensuring that it prosecutes the case successfully, was finalised when the court sentenced the accused to a fine of R150 000 or three years imprisonment, of which R100 000 or two years imprisonment is suspended for five years, on condition that the accused is not found guilty of the same offence during the time of suspension. The fine is payable as follows to the Clerk of the Court, R10 000, should be paid before or on 07 September 2023, and after that R2 000 should be paid before or on the seventh of each consecutive months until the fine is fully paid up.

The Director of Public Prosecution in the Northern Cape (DPP), Livingstone Sakata applauds the prosecution led by Head of the SCCU Advocate Brian Mdlalose and Senior State Advocate Isaac Mphela, and our colleagues in the DPCI(The Hawks) in getting a conviction on this complicated matter. The DPP hopes this sentence will send a clear message to other perpetrators of corruption and fraud, that indeed the NPA and law enforcement agencies are serious about fighting crime.

Enquiries:

Mojalefa Senokoatsane

NPA Regional Spokesperson

Northern Cape Division

E-mail: [email protected](link sends e-mail)

Cell: 073 423 3539

Source: Government of South Africa

The Minister for Small Business Development, Ms Stella Ndabeni-Abrahams to lead the small business development portfolio Imbizo in Umhlabuyalingana, KwaZulu-Natal Province

Minister Stella Ndabeni is scheduled to lead the delegation of senior officials at the upcoming Ministerial Imbizo in Umhlabuyalingana, Kwa-Zulu-Natal province, to commemorate 2023 Women’s Month under the theme “Women’s Empowerment Week – Breaking Barriers, Inspiring Change” in line with the National Theme “Women’s Socio-Economic Rights, Empowerment and Resilience.”

The Imbizo will be preceded by an inspection in loco of the Shared Economic Infrastructure Facility (SEIF) built for the micro and informal traders from Umhlabuyalingana and the surrounding areas.

The Department and its entities Seda and sefa as well as external partners will focus on activities designed to introduce transformative concepts that will shift the focus from a one-day celebration of Women’s Day to a comprehensive and empowering “Women’s Empowerment Month.”

This eventful day will also introduce a variety of meaningful activities and initiatives that will be undertaken to address women’s issues, promote gender equality, instigate positive societal changes, strengthen women’s resilience in business, and highlight the department’s significant contributions to business development across the country.

In addition, the Minister will also be handing out machinery and equipment to informal traders from Umkhanyakude District and Umhlabuyalingana Municipality.

This occasion will be dedicated to celebrating the remarkable achievements and progress made by the portfolio whilst making a clarion call to speedily provide services to communities, aspiring and existing entrepreneurs.

Members of the media are invited to cover the event as follows:

Date: 18 August 2023

Time: 09h00

Venue: Tembe Tribal Hall

Enquiries:

Moira Mogomotsi

Cell: 082 749 1558

E-mail: [email protected](link sends e-mail)

Noko Manyelo

E-mail: [email protected]

Source: Government of South Africa