Day: May 13, 2024

As thousands of delegates attending Africa’s Travel Indaba (ATI) 2024 descend on Durban, KwaZulu-Natal, emerging tourism entrepreneurs participating in the event are set to showcase their businesses and the province’s rich culture and history.

The Travel Indaba, which kicks off from 13 to 16 May 2024 at the Inkosi Albert Luthuli International Convention Centre (ICC), brings together exhibitors from various African nations and buyers worldwide to showcase a collection of products from across the African tourism sector.

The event also emphasises capacity building and knowledge sharing, benefiting all attendees, including smaller and emerging businesses in the industry.

READ | SMMEs gear up for Africa’s Travel Indaba

The Travel Indaba is expected to be attended by delegates from 26 African countries, including 120 small, medium and micro enterprises (SMMEs).

Among the KZN entrepreneur exhibitors is Nkosikhona Ndlovu, the man behind Amangonyama Tour Operator, a 100% Black-owned company in the KwaZulu-Natal M
idlands.

Ndlovu said his aim is to deliver safety, education, and unforgettable experiences for his clients attending the indaba.

‘For me, Africa’s Travel Indaba is a huge opportunity to showcase what we offer and to engage with potential buyers from across Africa. I am hoping to make valuable connections and secure future business opportunities,’ Ndlovu said.

Entrepreneur Msizeni Mngadi, who is the owner of Indlondlo Cultural Village in the Valley of a Thousand Hills, said he is passionate about introducing visitors to the Zulu culture.

Mngadi noted that Indlondlo Cultural Village is not just a destination, but a portal into the heart and soul of the Zulu people.

‘Here, visitors have the opportunity to delve into the essence of Zulu tradition through guided tours of traditional homesteads, captivating displays of dance and drumming, and interactive activities that allow for a hands-on exploration of Zulu customs,’ Ndlovu said.

IMAGES (Source: Africa’s Travel Indaba/X) | Africa Tourism Indaba BONDAY dis
cussions

BONday discussions in full swing. BONday discussions in full swing. BONday discussions in full swing.

Danica Bartho, who owns Biweda Nguni Lodge and Tandweni Villa with her mother in the heart of Zululand, Northern KZN, said they are eager to showcase their projects to the world at ATI 2024.

Biweda Nguni Lodge offers a blend of comfort and affordability, with farmhouse charm, while Tandweni Villa offers a luxurious safari experience.

With a focus on empowerment and skill development, Bartho and her team provide a safe haven for previously disadvantaged women to flourish within the tourism industry.

‘This [ATI] is not just about business, it is about forging connections, sharing stories, and opening doors to new opportunities and continuing our commitment to empowering women and promoting sustainable tourism,’ Bartho said.

The ATI event kicks off with the Business Opportunity Networking Day (BONDay) on 13 May 2024.

BONDay is tailored to foster thought leadership and share global tourism insight
s under four streams: unlimited, discover, connect, and grow.

The day is crucial for advancing knowledge and exploring new opportunities in the tourism sector, offering invaluable networking opportunities, thought leadership discussions, and insights into global trends.

Welcoming Africa’s Travel Indaba back to the province, KwaZulu-Natal Economic Development, Tourism, and Environmental Affairs MEC, Siboniso Duma, said Africa’s Travel Indaba plays a significant role in KwaZulu-Natal tourism growth and has an immeasurable impact on the province’s economy.

‘Again, this year, we will have several emerging tourism entrepreneurs participating as part of the Tourism KZN Tourism Enterprise Development Programme to afford them an opportunity to showcase their businesses and lock business deals to help them grow in the sector,’ Duma said.

EThekwini Municipality Economic Development and Planning Committee Chairperson, Thembo Ntuli, emphasised the significance of the indaba for Durban, saying it is an instrumental pl
atform for the tourism industry, which is firmly on the road to recovery.

‘The show has become synonymous with the city of Durban, as we have hosted this critical tourism showcase over many years. The city’s economy will benefit immensely from hosting this three-day long trade showcase as hotel occupancy is expected to be between 85% and 95%.

‘In addition, local tourism products and community tourism organisations are ready and eager to engage with buyers, tour operators, and travel agencies to continue selling Durban as the destination of choice,’ Ntuli said.

The 2023 edition witnessed remarkable growth, with a nearly 62% increase in attendance and over 1 033 exhibiting companies, attracting 8 688 delegates from 22 countries, and contributed R451 546 283 to eThekwini’s GDP and R597 051 772 to KwaZulu-Natal, underscoring the event’s significance.

Source: South African Government News Agency

A Civil Society Organisation, Naija Connect, has stressed the need to build a bridge between the people and government to foster national development.

Its Convener, Iretidola Ojekhoa, made the call at a news conference in Abuja on Saturday.

Ojekhoa said that the group was set to hold a 10-day programme in Abuja for Nigerians to identify various challenges facing them and articulate practical solutions to the identified problems.

Accroding to her, the programme titled ’10 day sit out’ aimed to bring together progressive minds, patriotic Nigerians for the good of our great nation.

She said that the initiative would help to collate Nigerians’ thoughts on what they actually want government to do about certain things, saying government at any time would only try, but only with the people that they are able to do what they want to achieve.

‘Nigeria is a beautiful country blessed with abundance of wealth – the people, the resources, and the diversity of thoughts through multi-ethnic groups speaking over 500 dis
tinct languages.

‘People in every corner of the world have problems they deal with on a daily basis. What determines the consistency of the problems across the lands is resilience of its people towards finding solutions and a resolve towards a common purpose.

‘Nigerians are not satisfied with a lot of things – the economy, security, food supply, inflation, exchange rate, high cost of transportation due to high pump price. Yet, they don’t have a common front to project their voices and concerns.

‘There are questions to be answered, such as: What do people want the government to do? How do they envisage solutions to the problems? What will be the people’s role in making the solutions a dream comes through and the likes?

‘To answer these questions, it has become pertinent to draw out the people to pour their energies into a constructive nation building project.

‘This project is targeted at building a bridge between the people and government. This will be a platform that acts as a bridge between government a
nd the governed,’ Ojekhoa said.

She described the initiative as non-political, non-religious, and non-ethnic based, but solely for national building.

‘The Naija Connect project and the planned sit-out is non-political, non-religious and caters to no ethnic persuasion. It is #NIGERIAforNIGERIAN.

‘The aim is to bring together progressive minds, patriotic Nigerians for the good of our great nation,’ he said.

The Head Mobilization, Naija Connect, Queen Zara Oyinye, said that whatever idea generated from the initiative would be channeled toward appropriate authorities and stakeholders in the nation building for required actions.

‘Most of the time, what happen is that after all of the advocacy, people find it difficult to take it to where it supposed to get to.

‘What makes this project different is that because we are in the game, we are in the channel, and we will be able to know that this is how things ought to have been done.

‘Then we will take it to that same place so that action can be taken in some of
the resolutions we reach at the end of the project,’ Onyinye said.

Source: News Agency of Nigeria

The Deputy Minister of Health, Dr Sibongiseni Dhlomo, is today leading International Nurses Day to recognise the tireless efforts of nurses in providing compassionate care and promoting health and wellness worldwide.

‘Nurses are usually the first primary care contact for the patients and are also responsible for recognising patients’ symptoms, taking measures within their scope of practice to administer medications, providing other measures for symptom alleviation, and collaborating with other health professionals to optimise patients’ comfort and families’ understanding and adaptation,’ said the department.

International Nurses Day is celebrated annually on 12 May in memory of the birth of the founder of modern nursing, Florence Nightingale, who was regarded as the foundational philosopher of modern nursing.

This year’s International Nurses Day will be celebrated under the, ‘Our Nurses, Our Future’, theme.

READ | Salute to nurses!

It will focus on the economic power of care, which serves as a clarion ca
ll by the International Council of Nurses to countries to address global health challenges and improve global health for all.

The Western Cape event is part of countrywide activities to honour nurses for the important role they play in saving millions of lives and raise awareness of the challenges they face.

Dhlomo will be joined by Western Cape MEC for Health and Wellness, Dr Nomafrench Mbombo; United States Consular General for Cape Town Consulate, Todd Haskell; Acting US President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (Pepfar) Country Coordinator, Saira Johnson-Qureshi; leaders of nursing trade unions, and representatives of key stakeholders.

The event will culminate with the launch of the Nursing Leadership Initiative aimed at building leadership capacity among current and emerging nurse leaders in practice, education and training to empower them with leadership skills.

The event, the department said, is a collaboration between the Department of Health and Pepfar.

The initiative forms part of a plan to el
evate the nursing profession within Pepfar-supported countries as part of a larger effort to strengthen the healthcare workforce globally and ensure HIV response gains are sustained.

Source: South African Government News Agency

The Comptroller General, Nigeria Immigration Service (NIS), Kemi Nandap, says there is need to keep adversaries in the dark in planning and launch of operations to protect troops from harm during operations.

Nandap said this at the opening of the Leadership Course in Operations Security and Force Protection 3 (LCOSFP3), organised by the Nigerian Army Resource Centre (NARC), on Monday in Abuja.

She was represented by the Deputy Comptroller General in Charge of Human Resource Management, NIS, Mr George Didel, at the event.

According to her, in today’s complex security environment, achieving those objectives is more important than ever.

She said that synergy between security agencies and the military was not just about rhetoric but recognising that their collective efforts were necessary to achieve their shared goals of protecting the nation and its citizens.

The NIS boss said the Nigerian Army and NIS have a critical role to play in the effort to secure the country and pledged the commitment of NIS to play
complementary role in securing the territorial integrity of Nigeria.

She said there were immigration personnel serving in the Joint Task Force combatting insurgency, adding that protecting the lives of the personnel was a fundamental obligation.

‘We recognise the risks they face, and are dedicated to supporting them in every way possible.

‘By keeping our borders safe from indiscriminate entry of all who may constitute adversaries and pose a threat to Nigeria, we are also protecting the lives of our personnel and ensuring that they can carry out their duties effectively.

‘We will continue to work tirelessly to prevent the influx of individuals who may seek to compromise our National Security.

‘I encourage each participant to approach this course with an open mind, willingness to learn, and commitment to excellence.

‘By the end of this course, participants will be better equipped to keep our adversaries in the dark, protect our personnel, and defend our territorial integrity and citizens,’ she said.

Dire
ctor General of NARC, retired Maj.-Gen. Garba Wahab, said the course was meant to bring practitioners from different services, agencies and organisations to understand their various strengths and weaknesses.

Wahab said the objective of the course was to ensure that when personnel from different agencies meet on the field it would be easier to collaborate, cooperate and work as a team.

According to him, it is about networking, socialising, getting to know each other, getting to know strengths and weaknesses and working as a team.

He said the large of participants in the third edition was the feedback that the previous editions had great impact on the personnel who participated.

According to him, the participants are drawn from the military and various security agencies as well as one or two private security organisation.

Source: News Agency of Nigeria

Parliament has announced that it will be concluding its work this week, with both Houses scheduled to consider various legislation, committee reports, and farewell speeches from Members.

According to a statement released by Parliament, the National Council of Provinces (NCOP) will consider the Basic Education Laws Amendment Bill (BELA) on Tuesday at 9am.

On Thursday, the NCOP will, during its plenary, consider the Railway Safety Bill, National Water Resources Infrastructure Bill, Transport Appeal Tribunal Amendment Bill, Marine Pollution Amendment Bill, General Intelligence Laws Amendment Bill, and the Electricity Regulation Amendment Bill.

The National Assembly (NA) is scheduled to also convene on Thursday at 10am to consider various bills. These include the Municipal Demarcation Authority Bill, Basic Education Laws Amendment Bill, Statistics Amendment Bill, Pension Funds Amendment Bill, and Public Procurement Bill.

Both Houses will wrap up on Thursday with Members’ farewell speeches, ahead of the Nation
al and Provincial Elections on 29 May 2024.

About seven committee meetings are scheduled this week to, among others, consider the report of the Pension Funds Amendment Bill and the General Intelligence Laws Amendment Bill.

Citizens can live stream the plenaries of the NA and NCOP on Parliament’s YouTube channel or watch Parliament TV on DStv channel 408.

Last week, Parliament’s officials handed over parts of the National Assembly and the Old Assembly buildings that were gutted in a fire in 2022 to demolition contractors to begin the project of rebuilding the historic building.

The initial phase of the rebuild project will involve the demolition of structurally unsafe sections of the building, which have been designated as the ‘red zone’ due to their instability and compromised safety.

The removal of these areas, Parliament said, requires specialised expertise and machinery, particularly given the historical and heritage significance of the building.

The damaged sections of the buildings will be cleared
this month to start rehabilitation works by August.

Source: South African Government News Agency

The Department of Development Control, FCT Administration (FCTA) has served 24-hour demolition notices to operators of illegal markets and shanties along Karmo – Dei-Dei Road corridor.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that over 500 illegal structures and shanties, sitting on the road corridor have been marked for demolition.

Mr Garba Jibril, the Sector Monitor and Assistant Director in the department who led the exercise in Abuja on Monday, said that the affected owners have been served with several notices.

Jibril added that the Director of Development Control, Mr Mukhtar Galadima, had held a sensitisation meeting with the stakeholders.

He explained that demolishing the illegal structures was necessary because they constituted nuisance on the road in addition to heavy traffic, especially on their market days.

He added that their activities were equally emitting environmental hazards, which the FCT Administration frowned at.

The team lead also disclosed that the FCTA had awarded a contract for t
he construction of Life Camp – Dei-Dei Road.

He, however, said that the traders’ continuous stay on the road corridor was preventing the contractors from moving to site.

According to him, the 24-hour notice is not to be played with and those who refused to comply will have themselves to blame.

He also said that the traders have been asked to move to the designated market called Karmo Market, adding that the market was fully developed and equipped with necessary facilities.

‘But the traders have been reluctant to move.

‘We have had several meetings with the relevant stakeholders including traditional leaders in the area to get them to move but they remained adamant.

‘We equally held a meeting with the traders and the new market operators, who promised to give the traders some incentives to be able to accommodate them in both the informal and the main shops.

‘We are hoping that after the demolition, there will be a successful relocation from the road corridor to the main market.

‘This will not only main
tain a serene environment, but also ensure free flow of traffic in the area,’ Jibril said.

Source: News Agency of Nigeria