Author: svadmin

The Department of Employment and the Labour Free State will host a variety of employers to forge partnerships

During an advocacy session, the Department of Employment and Labour Free State -Public Employment Services branch will host a variety of employers from Bethlehem and the surrounding areas.

The sessions aim to forge partnerships, provide clarity on issues affecting employers, and serve as a platform for information sharing on the department’s services, which include Public Employment Services, Compensation Fund, Unemployment Insurance Fund, and Inspection and Enforcement Services.

Source: Government of South Africa

No new West Coast Rock Lobster walkouts in West Coast red tide

There have been no reports of new walkouts of the West Coast Rock Lobster in the west coast, Western Cape, since last week, 05 March 2022. However, the potential for additional lobster walkouts or marine life dying due to anoxic conditions in the water column remains high for the foreseeable future.

Satellite imagery shows that high levels of algae biomass remain between Cape Town and Paternoster, as well as along coastal regions located between Lambert Bay and Doring Bay. Warm weather and light wind predictions over the next few days will contribute to elevated risks of red tide over most the west coast.

Beach clean-up operations, involving various stakeholders, are continuing and about 30 tonnes of live lobster have been returned to the sea. These lobsters do not pose any threat to humans or sea life. Rock lobsters walk out of the water because the water is starved of oxygen and they are looking for more oxygen. Thus the rock lobsters are not toxic or ‘contaminated’ in any way, and therefore do not pose a direct threat to humans. Lobsters which have walked out and died on the beach, however, do pose a risk because they start to rot very quickly after they die and lie in the sun on the beach. This is why the public are not allowed to pick up washed up rock lobsters (or other fish).

The Department of Forestry, Fisheries and the Environment (DFFE) monitors Red Tide activity in near real time, using the Fisheries and Aquaculture Decision Support Tools available on the Oceans and Coastal Information Management System (OCIMS) web portal (www.ocean.gov.za). From about the 10th to the 28th of February 2022, satellite imagery indicated very high Algal biomass in St Helena bay and Elands. When the algae died and decomposed, the decaying process depleted the oxygen in the water, causing the water to become so low in oxygen that the animals had no choice but to leave the water or die. This resulted in a walkout of about 500 tones of west coast rock lobster as of the 1st of March.

Source: Government of South Africa

Qolweni housing dream edging closer to realisation

The first 66 qualifying beneficiaries of the Qolweni Phase 3A (169) housing project in Plettenberg Bay, can soon look forward to living in a dignified manner. This project that has been long overdue is nearing completion, with this first batch of units expected to be handed over by the end of April.

On 18 June 2021, the Bitou Municipality handed the project over to the Western Cape Department of Human Settlements (WCDoHS). Excluding professional fees, this project has an allocated budget of R33,5 million. Construction began in September 2021 and will be conducted over two phases. All 169 qualifying beneficiaries have been approved on the Housing Subsidy System (HSS).

Minister Simmers said: “I am delighted with the progress of this historic project. This development is the epitome of how swiftly housing opportunities can be delivered, when all stakeholders work towards the common goal of improving the lives of our people. This development is hugely significant and I want to applaud officials in my Department and in the Bitou Municipality, but more so community members for their patience and perseverance, along with the contractor for hitting the ground running. There are many that can learn valuable lessons from what is transpiring in this area. As construction continues, my request to all stakeholders is to ensure that we don’t allow elements to derail the progress, as this will only further delay what all of us are hoping to achieve. This update once again demonstrates our commitment to being transparent.

As the Western Cape government, we remain committed to accelerating human settlement delivery, while promoting social inclusion through the development of integrated, resilient, safe and sustainable human settlements in an open opportunity society.”

Source: Government of South Africa

WASHINGTON— South Africa is the most unequal country in the world, with race playing a determining factor in a society here 10 percent of the population owns more than 80 percent of the wealth, a

World Bank report said.

“South Africa … is the most unequal country in the world, ranking first among 164 countries,” the Washington-based institution said in a report called ‘Inequality in Southern Africa’.

Nearly thirty years after the end of apartheid, “race remains a key driver of high inequality in South Africa, due to its impact on education and the labor market,” it said.

When race is considered as a factor in income disparities, the report added, “its contribution to income inequality amounts to 41 percent, while contribution of education is reduced to 30 percent.”

“The legacy of colonialism and apartheid, rooted in racial and spatial segregation, continues to reinforce inequality.”

The country’s neighbours that make up the rest of the Southern African Customs Union — Botswana, Eswatini, Lesotho and Namibia — all finish high on the list of the most unequal countries in the world.

Gender also plays an important role.

In the region, women earn on average 30 percent less than men with the same level of education.

The pay gap between men and women reaches 38 percent in Namibia and South Africa.

The uneven distribution of agricultural land is also a factor driving inequality, especially in rural areas.

In Namibia, 70 percent of the 39.7 million hectares of commercial agricultural land “still belong to Namibians of European descent”, the World Bank said.

The report was produced before the Covid-19 pandemic and its authors used the Gini coefficient — an indicator of income inequality — to rank countries.

Source: NAM NEWS NETWORK