Day: July 14, 2024

President Cyril Ramaphosa has denounced the alleged assassination attempt on former United States President Donald Trump.

Trump, who is running for re-election as President, was injured in the ear while he was delivering a speech during a rally in Butler, Pennsylvania on Saturday.

At least one person has died and two others were injured during the shooting.

The alleged shooter – who fired multiple shots towards the stage – was killed by US Secret Service personnel.

‘The attempted assassination of former President Donald J. Trump is a stark reminder of the dangers of political extremism and intolerance. Political violence is the antithesis of democracy. I wish former President Trump a speedy recovery.

‘We unequivocally denounce this political violence and earnestly hope that the citizens and leaders of America will have the fortitude and sagacity to reject violence and seek peaceful solutions,’ President Ramaphosa said on social media platform, X.

Source: South African Government News Agency

Minister of Human Settlements, Mmamoloko Kubayi, says government has been hard at work to relocate the families affected by the devastating floods in the Western Cape this week.

Thousands of people in the province have been rendered homeless after flooding destroyed their homes.

‘We’ve been able to relocate families into a building that, as government, we have leased for 30 days while we are finding a solution in terms of the informal settlement because they have submerged, whether the rain will come down and we move them back or we have to find an alternative land where we relocate them,’ she said.

The Minister added, however, that finding suitable land was proving elusive.

‘The challenge in the City of Cape Town is land availability and the requirements we have to follow in terms of our processes of approvals for land use.

‘So currently those that were affected in terms of their buildings, formal structures, the assessment has been done by the [National Home Builders Registration Council]. We have rece
ived the first report. We are hoping that by Monday, we would have that intervention as fixing those houses by our service providers that we have been able to appoint.

‘The materials for the informal settlements are starting to be delivered,’ Kubayi said.

Meanwhile, the Western Cape provincial government said it has given the green light for some households in Newton in the Drakenstein Municipality to return home.

This after 900 households in the area were evacuated when it was established that a dam wall in the area was at risk of failure due to the severe flooding.

‘Working in consultation with the Department of Water and Sanitation and a dam engineering specialist, Drakenstein Municipality’s Engineering Services Department performed another onsite inspection this morning of the farm dam above Newton and confirmed that the risk of dam wall failure has been mitigated.

‘This decision was taken in light of the fact that the water level of 150 000-cubic-meter dam in the Bo-Dal area dropped slightly since l
ast night, as well as the lighter rainfall predicted for today.

‘According to the authorities, the dam should be able to handle the flow of water that is expected to reach it today.

‘The municipality will keep on monitoring the dam closely and notify residents immediately should the situation change,’ the Western Cape government said.

Source: South African Government News Agency

Minister of Electricity and Energy, Dr Kgosientsho Ramokgopa, says South Africa will seek to build a nuclear plant for electricity generation at ‘a scale and speed that we can afford’.

The Minister was speaking to the media on the sidelines of the Cabinet Lekgotla held in Tshwane at the weekend.

President Cyril Ramaphosa lead the first Lekgotla of the Government of National Unity (GNU), which set out the programme of action government will undertake during the seventh administration.

‘In the long term, we need to ensure that we anchor the baseload and nuclear is an important part of that intervention. We are working on the framework for procurement because we don’t want to discredit the process through a procurement process that is not transparent.

‘We will do it at the scale and speed that we can afford as a country,’ he said.

Turning to issues of electricity affordability, the Minister raised his concern that poorer communities are battling to keep up with increasing costs.

‘The poor and those that ar
e located in the townships are finding it exceptionally difficult to afford the increases in electricity. The pricing and the tariff is prohibitive and a lot of our people across the length and breadth of the country are not in a position to afford electricity.

‘Those are challenges on the distribution side…and we know that over a period of time municipalities have underinvested in the maintenance, replenishment and protection of the distribution grid and of course we are paying the price now,’ he said.

Also speaking to media at the lekgotla, Minister of Trade, Industry and Competition Parks Tau assured South Africans that affirmative action policies like Broad-Based Black Economic Empowerment will not be scrapped during the seventh administration.

‘These are foundational principles to the establishment of the Government of National Unity. Included in there are priorities in relation to social justice, equity and redress. Therefore, these are parties that have come together on the basis of collectively add
ressing transformation because we have committed to redress in the foundational principles.

‘The question is what do we do going forward? Of course, we need to look at the next wave of [BBBEE]…where there are lessons to be learnt, we take those lessons into account and where there are greater opportunities to be introduced we need to be able to introduce those.

‘We have placed this firmly on the agenda of the programmes that would be driven by this administration and that is why we always say we are focussing on industrialisation, but we are equally focussing on transformation,’ he said.

The Minister emphasised that the economic growth and development of South Africa is a key priority.

A key priority for the seventh administration will be to ‘leverage off the back of Operation Vulindela as a key programme’.

‘This would be a focus on network industries amongst others…looking at energy, looking at logistics in particular, the digital economy and other areas. The fact that we’ve made significant progress in
that regard enables us to use that as a springboard to grow the economy focussed on industrialisation and re-industrialisation.

‘But also, a deliberate and conscious focus on transformation because of course, this will enable us to broaden the base of entrepreneurs in the country [and] to broaden the base of participants in the economy of this country and enable us to grow the jobs that this country so much needs,’ Tau said.

Source: South African Government News Agency

Small Business Development Minister Stella Ndabeni-Abrahams says the department she leads is ‘up to the task’ of unlocking the potential of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMMEs) in the country.

The Minister said this when she delivered the department’s Budget Vote in Cape Town on Friday.

‘One of the main contributing factors to the low [economic] growth is that too many of our citizens are unable to participate in productive economic activities.

‘So in addition to championing reforms that will address energy supply constraints, logistics and crime – which are the focus of Operation Vulindlela – we must also direct our energies to reforms that unlock the potential of SMMEs and the cooperative sector.

‘This must be the core priority of the seventh administration, and one for which we bear responsibility as the Department of Small Business Development portfolio. [We] want to assure all members and society that even though we are young and still developing, we are up to the tasks that lie before us,’ she
said.

The department has been allocated a budget of some R2.437 billion.

Priority areas for market access

The Minister said the department is focussing on five areas related to market access and localisation, which have proven to be barriers for SMMEs.

‘Firstly, we will support 200 SMMEs through our Small Business Exporter’s Development Programme to participate in ten trade events in the 2024/25 financial year. In this regard, R20 million has been allocated to exploit our AFCFTA, BRICS partnerships and various global trade agreements.

‘Second, we will enhance our Market Linkage Programme to ensure placement of SMME products in strategic warehouses of wholesalers and the shelves of retailers. Through our partnership with Proudly SA, we are developing an e-commerce platform that is likely to go live in the second of this financial year.

‘Third, we are working with the public sector in order to exploit opportunities which will be presented by the Public Procurement Bill (once signed into law). We are worki
ng with corporates through Community of Practice to influence Enterprise and Supplier Development (ESD) programmes and procurement of products from small enterprises and cooperatives,’ she said.

Furthermore, there are plans to ‘actively building supplier capacity to meet and sustain the market requirements’.

‘Here we provide quality improvement, product testing and certification, as well as productivity improvement through the Small Enterprise Development Agency (Seda).

‘Through the Small Enterprise Manufacturing Support Programme (SEMP) at the Small Enterprise Finance Agency (Sefa) we have allocated an amount of R266.8 million which deepens the black industrialist programme and ensure more participation of small enterprise in the manufacturing sector.

‘Fifth, priority is also given to new growth drivers with low barriers to entry. In this financial year (2024/25), we will focus on the energy sector and tech industry – while also implementing our Cannabis Support Programme that will look both at the indus
trial hemp value chain as well as how to mainstream small indigenous cannabis growers for lucrative markets,’ Ndabeni-Abrahams said.

Financing small businesses and cooperatives

The Minister highlighted that financing ‘remains one of the key constraints for small businesses and cooperatives’.

In this regard, the department has developed an SMME and Co-operatives Funding Policy to expand access to financing and early stage investment.

‘This policy will be a game changer as it also proposes an establishment Fund of Funds, which we are currently designing. The fund will de-risk and leverage investment from the private sector and institutional investors for start-ups amongst other things. We will also prioritise the development of a Startup Policy and legislation as required. This will be done in collaboration with relevant departments.

‘We will also continue to build on the work we have already undertaken in the previous administration to invest more in under-served SMMEs and co-operatives.

‘In this regard,
Sefa disbursed R2 billion funding facilities against a target of R2.18 billion to 80 040 SMMEs and co-operatives which led to 98 378 jobs,’ Ndabeni-Abrahams said.

Source: South African Government News Agency