Month: September 2023

Cabinet has reiterated that measures to address the budget shortfall must not impact negatively on service delivery.

This as a Cost Containment Letter was issued on 31 August 2023 with proposals to close the fiscal gap.

“Cabinet appreciates the current fiscal constraints which are not unique to South Africa but has resulted in-her budget shortfall. The Minister of Finance will shortly issue Guidelines clarifying the unintended misunderstanding arising from the Cost Containment Letter issued on 31 August 2023.

“In addition, as part of the in-year performance review of progress in implementation priorities agreed to with Ministers, the President and Deputy President will meet with individual Ministers to ensure that fiscal management does not derail the agreed to priorities,” Minister in The Presidency, Khumbudzo Ntshavheni, said on Thursday.

The Minister made these remarks during a media briefing in Pretoria on the outcomes of a Cabinet meeting that was held on Wednesday. – SAnews.gov.za

Source: South African Government News Agency

Government and its agencies, the Postbank and the South African Social Security Agency (SASSA), have assured social grant beneficiaries that they will get their payments for the month of September 2023.

The Minister of Social Development, Lindiwe Zulu, and the Minister of Communications and Digital Technologies, Mondli Gungubele, along with Postbank and SASSA held a joint media briefing in Pretoria on Thursday where they extended their sincerest apologies to social grant beneficiaries who have encountered difficulties accessing their grants this past week.

“Government assures South Africa and social grants beneficiaries that all social grants beneficiaries that have not yet received their social grants payments will be paid their money in full.

“Postbank and SASSA staff will be in communities this entire week to assess progress in the delayed payment of grants and to assist recipients who may require further guidance and assistance,” Minister Gungubele said.

On Tuesday, 5 September 2023, and Wednesday, 6 September 2023, Postbank experienced intermittent system challenges at ATMs and retailers, leading to failed withdrawal attempts by some grant recipients for the old age and disabilities grants.

Gungubele explained that the system challenges led to the transactions of some beneficiaries resulting in ‘transaction incomplete errors’ because of the system’s communication timeouts.

He said the ‘transaction incomplete errors’ are common payments systems errors within the banking space, however, normally go by unnoticed due to automated reversal functionality.

“The system challenges that affected Postbank unfortunately impacted the availability of the auto reversal functionality. Regrettably, this resulted in some social grants beneficiaries that were due to be paid on the 5th and 6th of September 2023 not receiving their social grants payments on time.

“We would like to reassure our social grants beneficiaries, the public and all stakeholders that the system challenges were as a matter of fact resolved on the morning of the 6th of September 2023. The Postbank system has been working optimally since the afternoon of 6 September 2023,” he said.

Gungubele confirmed that the payment of all other social grants – which involves a much bigger clientele number – was concluded on 7 September 2023 without any challenges across all National Payments Systems (NPS) channels including ATMs and retailers.

He said that more than four million individuals were paid their social grants money by Postbank through the SASSA Gold Cards on 7 and 8 September 2023.

However, the Minister acknowledged that there might be a few beneficiaries who have not yet received their social grants.

“Unfortunately, though, due to the automated reversal not working on the 5th and 6th, a number of clients, mainly the elderly, were unable to access their funds for a prolonged period of time as a manual process had to be implemented to credit their accounts.

“This is what Postbank is now contending with which is the source of the understandable nationwide concerns relating to the September 2023 social grants payments and the issue that as Ministers we saw the need to address,” Gungubele said.

The Minister announced that originally this affected approximately 600 000 beneficiaries, which translates to around 10% of the 5.3 million beneficiaries that are paid their social grants via Postbank’s SASSA Gold Cards monthly.

“We would like to confirm to South Africa that the majority of these accounts have now been corrected and clients have been able to access their money,” he said.

Postbank has completed more than 500 000 funds reversals to date and the affected beneficiaries have gotten their social grants payments.

However, the Minister said it is important to acknowledge that due to the manual processes involved, the process is time consuming and has taken a longer than desirable.

Clients who are still encountering challenges with accessing their grant money and require support have been encouraged to contact the Postbank call centre on 0800 53 54 55 or email to [email protected]. – SAnews.gov.za

Source: South African Government News Agency

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