Author: svadmin

President Cyril Ramaphosa has appointed a new seven member board for the National Youth Development Agency (NYDA) to be headed up by the agency’s first female chairperson.

The appointments come after a lengthy process which kicked off with applications earlier this year, followed by public comments, considerations and interviews by Parliament’s sub-committee of the Portfolio Committee on Women, Youth and Persons with Disabilities and the Select Committee on Health and Social Services. It ended in a recommendation of 17 names to the President.

The committees received at least 1000 applications for the seven vacancies.

President Ramaphosa said the seven successful applicants now have a task ahead of them to ensure the empowerment of the youth.

“The new board of the National Youth Development Agency carries a great responsibility in the country’s drive to empower young people through skills development, employment, work experience and other opportunities.

“I see the NYDA as a vital partner in the implementation of the Presidential Youth Empowerment Intervention and ensuring that young people are prioritised as part of the Presidential Employment Stimulus,” he said in a statement on Wednesday.

The new NYDA board members are:

Asanda Luwaca (Chairperson)

Avela Mjajubana

Karabo Mohale (Deputy Chaiperson)

Lebo Mulaisi

Thulisa Ndlela

Pearl Pillay

Alexandria Procter

“The new board brings together a group of individuals with diverse expertise and experience in youth development. I have every confidence that they will ensure sound governance of the agency, and will dedicate themselves to the critical task of building a better future for the youth of South Africa,” President Ramaphosa said.

The agency’s executive authority, Minister in The Presidency for Women, Youth and Persons with Disabilities, Maite Nkoana-Mashabane, said her department will be working closely with the board to improve the lives of young people in the country.

“I congratulate each and every one of the newly-appointed Board Members and look forward to working with them to contribute to lifting the NYDA to even better heights, improved service delivery and positive impact on the lives of young people.

“I am certain that this Board understands that they need to hit the ground running. The NYDA is a critical part of the South African youth development machinery in dealing with the issues facing the youth of our country. We look forward to tapping into their individual and collective skills, passions and intellect to contribute to making our country better,” Minister Nkoana-Mashabane said.

Source: South African Government News Agency

The South African Post Office (SAPO) has warned customers against posting prohibited items overseas as it delays outgoing mail dramatically.

In a statement issued on Wednesday, the Post Office said it has recently found several incidents where customers post prohibited items overseas.

“Airlines scan all mailbags before loading them for prohibited items using an x-ray machine similar to that used to scan hand luggage.

“Should a single prohibited item be detected in a mailbag, the entire mailbag is returned to the sorting centre to be opened and searched until the offending parcel is found. All the items in the mailbag miss the flight and are delayed until the next flight departs,” SAPO said.

With parcels being loaded in bulk into the holds of planes, customers are urged to make sure that precious parcels are in a sturdy packaging, and if there is empty space, it must be filled with packaging material.

“It is best to state the contents on the parcel and to include the word ‘gift’ if it is an item sent by one individual to another. This facilitates customs clearance in the country of arrival. Write the mobile phone number of the receiver on the parcel; that allows the postal administration in the receiving country to send the receiver a text message for collecting the item,” it said.

Urgent items to other countries can be sent using the cost-effective Expedited Mail Service. These items are delivered within 24 hours of arrival in the destination country.

Items that are potentially dangerous on an aircraft may not be posted to other countries. They include the following:

Liquids, including creams and lotions. Certain explosives are produced in the form of gels or creams.

Explosives – ammunition, fireworks. These may explode in the hull of an aircraft.

Compressed gas – aerosols, carbon dioxide gas, cigarette lighters. These may also explode in the hull of an aircraft.

Flammable liquids: alcohol, thinners, varnish remover, turpentine, petroleum products.

Flammable solids: Magnesium, matches and zinc powder

Oxidising material: Bleach, some hair dyes, peroxide, fibreglass repair kits. If these items leak, they could produce lethal and explosive gases.

Poisons, including drugs and medicine. An import permit is required for all countries.

Radioactive material (including mercury-filled thermometers)

Magnetised materials. These items can interfere with the navigation system of the aircraft.

The following goods are prohibited:

Bank notes and coins. You need an import and export permit to send these items.

Jewellery, precious stones or precious metals. An import permit is also needed to these items.

Asbestos

Any animal, insect or living organism

Any biological substance

Firearms or parts thereof

Fur, ivory or any other animal product

Human remains, including ashes.

Source: South African Government News Agency

Social Development Deputy Minister Hendrietta Bogopane-Zulu is hosting a three-day series of dialogues on sexual and reproductive health and rights for short statured South Africans in partnership with the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA).

The dialogue sessions which take place in Pretoria, get underway today and will run until Friday.

The sessions follow the inaugural session in December 2019, where the Deputy Minister held a session with short statured people to deliberate on issues affecting their everyday lives.

The prevalence of short statured persons in South Africa has not been accurately documented and is estimated to be around 3 to 5% and for the prevalence of growth hormone deficiency being around one in 4,000 persons.

Currently no data exist around sexual and reproductive health and rights for short statured people.

“There is currently no data existing around sexual and reproductive health and rights for short statured people. The impact of and services on HIV and AIDS and gender-based violence and femicide is the reason for continuous engagements and dialogue with short statured South Africans. [This is] to begin to build an information hub for the sector, which will inform government’s programmes, policies and services for short statured people,” said the Department of Social Development (DSD) ahead of the start of the sessions.

South Africa has ratified the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, which has been domesticated through the White Paper on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (WPRPD).

The DSD is responsible for developing policies, services and programmes to promote the rights of vulnerable people and persons with disabilities.

“Persons of short stature still experience discrimination, exclusion and compounded marginalisation, as part of an under-represented disability group.”

South Africa commemorates National Disability Rights Awareness Month (DRAM) annually between 3 November and 3 December and the Deputy Minister has chosen to focus on short statured people.

This year the month is commemorated under the theme: ‘The Year of Charlotte Mannya Maxeke – Create and Realise an Inclusive Society Upholding Rights of Persons with Disabilities.’

Source: South African Government News Agency

The South African Revenue Service (SARS) collection rates have once again recorded positive growth, collecting a gross R1.55 trillion in the past year.

Addressing Parliament on Tuesday, SARS Commissioner Edward Kieswetter that this comprised of a net of R1.25 trillion of the revenue estimate and that is R38 billion more than the revised estimate.

Refunds paid amounted to R300.6 billion, which is R20 billion more than 2019/2020.

He said: “Our specific compliance interventions to detect and deter non-compliance yielded R172 billion, which shows room to improve compliance levels across all tax types”.

This dovetails with SARS’ strategic objective of making it costly for those who are willfully non-compliant.

He said SARS was encouraged by the measured progress in rebuilding SARS as an institution transforming itself into a SMART Modern SARS.

In addition, R38.9 billion had been granted in COVID-19 relief measures and trade to the value of R2.6 trillion had been facilitated in accordance with the SARS mandate.

He confirmed that tax compliance levels were under strain, with a composite compliance level of 62.61%, compared to the previous year of 65.05%. The Public Confidence Survey point to favourable preference of tax morality but that has not seen an appreciable rise in compliance.

He said the tax base was broadening with 1.6 million taxpayers added to the SARS tax register that resulted in R4.6 billion added to the net collections for the year under review.

“Our strategic objective to make it easy and simple for taxpayers to comply has also yielded impressive results: 86.3% of SARS interactions done through digital channels such as eFiling and the MobiApp”.

The Commissioner warned however that the impact and prevalence of corruption and waste was not helpful in enhancing tax morale within society.

“In addition, 83.2% of standard taxpayers (3.4 million taxpayers) had received auto-assessments based on third party data available to SARS. All taxpayers needed to do was to click accept or edit.

“The effectiveness of these channels are also indicated by the fact that R1.55 trillion was collected via eFiling,” he said.

Accredited Economic Operator (AEO) programme

The SARS Commissioner said that in the Customs space the Accredited Economic Operator (AEO) programme granted 132 participants Preferred Trader status.

“Frontline interventions for Preferred Traders dropped by 22% in this period; 5.6 million Customs declarations were processed under 10 seconds which is 95% of declarations; while inspection times were reduced from 109 hours to 44 hours. Customs seizures amounted to R2.7 billion.”

SARS’ said its enforcement efforts were also yielding results in a difficult and challenging terrain.

“These efforts recovered R147 million from PPE fraud and there was a conviction rate of 96% rate through collaboration with the NPA. The organization is also working with all other enforcement agencies as well as other government agencies,” the revenue collector said.

High Wealth Individual Segment

It said its newly launched High Wealth Individual Segment had written 1400 direct letters to wealthy individuals and 275 had already been reviewed.

“Equally, SARS has also detected 26 000 unregistered taxpayers who have financial assets with economic activity in excess of R1m,” SARS said.

A focus area has been the compliance levels of the various segments, such as Employers; SMME; Large Businesses & International and High Wealth Individuals. In addition, compliance levels of tax products such as PAYE, CIT has been a concern, and SARS has embarked on focused programmes to address this trend.

Modernization programme

The Commissioner said “in order to deliver on its comprehensive programme and despite the financial constraints, SARS is investing 3% of its budgeted resources in its modernization programme so that it can remain abreast in a fast changing technology space”.

Kieswetter expressed his heartfelt appreciation to SARS staff for their “inestimable support in discharging the organisation’s mandate”.

He apologised to taxpayers who may have been unable to transact with the organization due to system challenges.

Source: South African Government News Agency

President Cyril Ramaphosa will on Friday lead a District Development Model (DDM) visit to the Ugu District, in KwaZulu-Natal.

In a statement on Wednesday, the Presidency said the visit would focus on the development of the Eastern Seaboard traversing the KwaZulu-Natal and Eastern Cape provinces along a 600km stretch between the eThekwini and Buffalo City Metros.

The Eastern Seaboard Development spans two provinces, four districts and 17 municipalities situated along the 600km coastline.

The Presidency said the development constitutes one of the DDM flagship projects that are aimed at building inclusive local economies through leveraging district endowments, comparative advantages and optimising industrial structures.

The President will be accompanied by the Minister of Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs (COGTA) Dr Nkosazana Dlamini Zuma; the Premiers of KwaZulu-Natal and Eastern Cape; the Executive Mayors of Ugu, Harry Gwala, O.R. Tambo and Alfred Nzo Districts as well as Mayors of local municipalities.

“During this visit the President will engage with traditional leadership and business and government representatives in joint plenary discussions. The visit is part of a phased systematic process of institutionalising the DDM in practice,” it said.

The DDM methodology seeks to address better planning and integration within government and between government and social partners, with a view to enabling inclusive growth and development.

The President launched the DDM approach in 2019 to facilitate cooperative governance through sound inter-govermental planning, budgeting, implementation and monitoring.

The Eastern Seaboard Development will be pursued under the theme #BuildingTogether in keeping with the principles of the DDM approach.

Source: South African Government News Agency