Day: September 14, 2023

President Cyril Ramaphosa will deliver the eulogy at the special official funeral of the late Prince Mangosuthu Buthelezi in Ulundi, KwaZulu-Natal on Saturday.

Presidential spokesperson Vincent Magwenya confirmed this during a press briefing with media houses to update them about the President’s diary at the Union Buildings on Thursday.

Buthelezi passed away on 9 September 2023, at the age of 95.

President Ramaphosa has honoured Buthelezi by declaring his funeral a special official funeral category 1.

“In accordance with the state, official, and provincial official funeral policy of the government, a special official funeral category 1 is a recognition reserved for individuals of extraordinary distinction as designated by the President of the Republic of South Africa,” Magwenya explained.

The funeral, according to the President’s spokesperson, will include elements of military honours.

“The President has directed that flags be flown half-mast at flag stations around the country until the evening of Saturday, which is the day of the funeral,” he added.

G77+China Summit

The First Citizen has delegated International Relations and Cooperation Minister, Dr Naledi Pandor, to lead South Africa’s delegation to the Summit of Heads of State and Government of the Group of 77 and China.

The gathering, which will be held on 15 and 16 September, will focus on the role of science, technology and innovation.

“President Ramaphosa values the importance of the Group of 77 and China as the largest intergovernmental organisation of developing countries in the United Nations (UN).”

The platform, according to Magwenya, is where Global South countries can articulate, promote collective economic interests and enhance their collective negotiating capacity.

“This capacity is brought to bear on global issues that are deliberated within the UN system and on the advancement of South-South cooperation for development.

“The President welcomes the opportunity for South Africa to contribute to the Group’s debates, analysis and consensus on the main challenges facing the South,” he added.

UNGA78

Meanwhile, it was announced that President Ramaphosa will lead South Africa’s delegation to the General Debate of the 78th Session of the UN General Assembly (UNGA78) which takes place from 18 to 26 September 2023 in New York, in the United States.

The President will deliver the South Africa statement to the UN General Assembly on Tuesday, 19 September 2023.

A number of high-level engagements will precede the address to the UN General Assembly.

These include summits on Partnership for Maternal, Newborn and Child Health; Sustainable Development Goals; a High-Level Dialogue on Financing for Development; Pandemic Prevention, Preparedness and Response; and Climate Ambition to be hosted by the UN Secretary-General.

President Ramaphosa will also lead discussions during the Presidential Roundtable that will hosted by the United States Chamber of Commerce and the US-Africa Business Centre.

His programme will also include several bilateral meetings on the sidelines of UNGA.

South Africa’s participation at the UN, Magwenya said, is directed by its international relations policy objectives, among others. – SAnews.gov.za

Source: South African Government News Agency

President Cyril Ramaphosa’s spokesperson Vincent Magwenya has responded to the United Democratic Movement (UDM) and other applicants abandoning their load shedding court case.

The UDM and its co-applicants, which included the National Union of Metalworkers of South Africa (Numsa) and Build One South Africa, had taken government to court on an urgent basis, on an issue that required government to coordinate numerous department responses in relation to the “very complex matter” of load shedding.

“This legal challenge questions the lawfulness and constitutionality of the Just Energy Transition Investment Plan,” said Magwenya.

He was speaking on Thursday during a regular press briefing with media houses to update them on the President’s diary.

Magwenya said the process to coordinate government’s response required government to “spend a great deal of energy, time and money to respond in detail, as it always does on any matter before the courts”.

“This process has cost taxpayers money and to some extent taken attention away from the urgent related issues to which government has to attend operationally.”

He said the UDM, Building One SA, Numsa and others made government spend public funds and time on this gathering of information before suddenly withdrawing the application.

Government, according to Magwenya, always approaches such matters with a view that it is not only responding to the applicants, but it is responding to the public, while attending to the underlying issues in the normal course of the administration.

“Therefore, for all these applicants to take up time and taxpayers’ money to then simply walk away because they finally appreciated the detailed substantive and indisputable response submitted by government is in fact an insult to both the court and the South African public.

“In particular, the UDM is well represented in Parliament where government continuously accounts to elected representatives of the people in work in progress and challenges faced,” he said. – SAnews.gov.za

Source: South African Government News Agency