Category: General

President Cyril Ramaphosa says to give full expression to the legacy of stalwarts like Aziz Pahad, their teachings must not be confined to history books but they must be frequently revisited and taken into the future.

“We have lost a comrade, a friend and a patriot who dedicated his life to the liberation of our country and its people,” President Ramaphosa said on Saturday.

Delivering the eulogy at the funeral service of the former Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs, Aziz Pahad, at Westpark Cemetery in Johannesburg, President Ramaphosa described Pahad as a hardworking public servant.

“It is a sad day for the diplomatic community, particularly for the many men and women chosen to represent the country abroad, who had the privilege of being mentored, counselled and trained by our departed brother and comrade,” President Ramaphosa said.

President Ramaphosa declared a Special Official Funeral Category 2 for Pahad and ordered that flags be flown at half-mast until this evening. Former Presidents Thabo Mbeki, Kgalema Motlanthe, Gauteng Premier Panyaza Lusufi, senior government officials, politicians and members of the public attended the funeral.

“Over the past few years, we have had to bid farewell to many dear comrades, men and women who were giants of the liberation struggle,” President Ramaphosa said.

President Ramaphosa said the departed stalwarts played an important role in the history of the country.

“They were there at all the high and low points in our struggle for liberation, and remained on to shepherd us along the difficult road to democracy. At times such as this, when we lose another stalwart, we are shaken, as would a tree whose roots have been damaged or lost.

“These great men and women, of whom Aziz Pahad was one, were the roots that nourished the tree of our democracy. It feels as though a part of us has gone with them.

“And yet, such were the legacies they left behind that this great tree that is our democracy, abides. We may at times be battered by strong headwinds. Times can be hard.”

President Ramaphosa said the democracy that Aziz Pahad and his generation worked so hard to achieve remains firm, steady, well-anchored and strong.

“Aziz Pahad will be remembered for his many fine attributes and we will have reflected on some of them today.

“He was an activist who played a formative role in the liberation movement in exile in the 1960s and beyond, and was a key figure in the anti-apartheid movement in Europe and the United Kingdom.

“As Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs, he was involved in peacebuilding and mediation efforts in a number of conflicts on the continent and in the Middle East,” the President said.

Pahad passed away on Wednesday evening at the age of 82. He served as the Deputy Minister of the then Department of Foreign Affairs – now the Department of International Relations and Cooperation (DIRCO) -from 1994 to 2008.

Pahad’s passing follows that of his brother and former Minister in the Presidency, Essop Pahad, in July 2023.

Former colleagues hailed Pahad as a fine diplomat. He has also been hailed as one of the key architects of South Africa’s foreign policy.

In April 2021, the University of Pretoria conferred on him an Honorary Doctorate in Literature for his contributions to local and international peace, security, justice and international solidarity.

“Pahad’s contributions and approach to diplomacy bring strong moral convictions, careful judgement and above all, a quiet, influential determination in the search for solutions to South Africa’s challenges,” the University of Pretoria said at that time.

Years after relinquishing his role in government, Pahad remained active in civic affairs. In 2018, he chaired the Foreign Policy Review Panel appointed by then Minister Lindiwe Sisulu.

At the Ubuntu Awards organised by DIRCO early this year, Pahad was awarded the OR Tambo Lifetime Achievement Award in recognition of his contribution to a South Africa that is free and democratic, and a world that is fair and just. – SAnews.gov.za

Source: South African Government News Agency

The MEC of Local Government, Environmental Affairs and Development Planning in the Western Cape, Anton Bredell, has called for holidaymakers to plan their travels carefully as several roads remain closed following the floods.

“It is the start of the school holidays in the Western Cape, and we are asking people to consider their plans for traveling very carefully, as several roads are still closed, have only limited lane access, or stop-go arrangements in place,” Bredell said at a briefing on Friday.

Bredell said currently, there is a stop-go arrangement on the N1 in De Doorns, which will be in place for at least three months. The N2 is closed outside Botriver; the R43 is closed in the direction towards Villiersdorp; Hemel and Aarde Road is closed towards Hermanus, and the R321 is closed from Molteno in the direction of Villiersdorp.

Updates on road closures can be viewed at: https://www.westerncape.gov.za/news/latest-road-closures.

“Hermanus suffered extensive damages to water supply infrastructure during the floods, and emergency services are currently supplying water with trucks and tankers for the entire community.

“If you are planning to visit, please be considerate to water trucks on the road. Please bring water along for your own needs, and it would be much appreciated if you could also bring a few litres extra for someone in the affected community,” Bredell said.

The City of Cape Town has updated its numbers of communities in need. Bredell said 21 011 people and 6 906 structures have been confirmed as impacted. Assessments are still outstanding for Covid Settlement, LA Burundi, and Strongyard in Mfuleni.

The MEC said relief efforts continue to reach rural communities still cut off due to roads being washed away.

“We are concerned about farm worker families, especially in the Breede River Municipality, and are doing everything in our power to connect and support everybody in need.”

Bredell said the severe storm has kept 16 Western Cape schools closed, down from 39 closed on Tuesday and 21 closed on Wednesday. We are pleased that the recovery effort is proceeding quickly, allowing schools to reopen successfully.

“Our officials are working with schools to ensure that all can reopen as soon as possible, and we encourage parents to keep in contact with their school for updates regarding closures.

“We thank the emergency services, our government and NGO partners, and our schools for the assistance they are rendering to our teachers, learners, and parents as we recover from this devastating storm,” said David Maynier, the Western Cape MEC for Education.

Bredell thanked Eskom for working 24/7 to rectify faults and repair damaged infrastructure caused by the severe weather.

“We know there are still problems in the system, but we were assured by Eskom that they are working as fast as possible under difficult conditions to address these outstanding problems,” Bredell said.

Local disaster centres

To stay up to date with events in your immediate area, Bredell gave out the following contact details:

Cape Winelands: 021-886-9244 / 021-8874446

Eden District: 044 805 5071

Central Karoo: 023 449 8000

West Coast: 022 433 8700

Overberg: 028 4251690

City of Cape Town: 107 landline or 021 480 7700 and 080 911 4357 (City of Cape Town Disaster Management Centre).

NGOs, including the SA Red Cross Society, Gift of the Givers, Islamic Relief, and Mustadafin are providing support in the Cape Winelands District Municipality, Overberg District Municipality, Breede Valley Municipality, Drakenstein, and towns in the Langeberg Municipality, such as Ashton and McGregor.

This includes support extended to agri-workers and their families:

186 families, and 741 individuals in small towns and farms have been reached with aid.

In the City of Cape Town, 10 282 people were provided with meals.

Social workers and community development workers are conducting outreaches with local municipality officials.

Donation drop-off points

Donations required include blankets, water, dry and non-perishable food, baby food, toiletries and dignity packs.

If you would like to drop off donations, please feel free to contact the following SA Red Cross Society offices:

1.Wynberg Provincial Office

21 Broad Road, Wynberg

021 7975360 / 0609037473

2. Greyton

11 Pointers Weg, Heuwelkroon, Greyton

028 254 9378 / 0761335777

Charanine Cupido

3. Hermanus Office

2A Aberdeen Street,

Hermanus

072 609 8655

Angela Heslop

4. Knysna Office

25 Trotter Street, Knysna

044 382 1244

Tania Cole

Source: South African Government News Agency

The Lagos State government on Saturday began clearing shanties and reclaiming Right of Way (RoW) of the Red Rail project corridor from Agbado, Ogun, to Ebute Metta, Lagos.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the enforcement team was led by the Commissioner for Physical Planning and Urban Development, Dr Oluyinka Olumide.

Olumide was accompanied by the Special Adviser, e-GIS and Urban Development, Dr Olajide Babatunde; General Manager, Lagos State Building Control Agency (LASBCA), Mr Gbolahan Oki and senior directors of both the agency and ministry.

LASBCA is an agency under the Lagos State Ministry of Physical Planning and Urban Development.

NAN further reports that the enforcement started from the Lateef Jakande Station, Agbado, on the Lagos-Ogun boundary and continued through Iju to Babatunde Fashola Station, Agege.

All makeshift stalls along rail lines were removed; permanent structures including four new generation churches were partially demolished and other encroachments were removed.

Two new churches under construction were sealed and marked with quit notices while traders hurriedly removed their wares from makeshift stalls as they knocked down.

Members of the demolition team sensitised traders at various locations on the danger of trading on the new train corridor.

They spoke to traders in both English and Yoruba warning of consequences of returning to rail tracks, which included outright arrest and prosecution.

The LASBCA boss, Oki, insisted that the lives of residents of Lagos were “more important than any business,” as such the operation must be seamless.

Oki who supervised the removal of obstructions on the RoW insisted that houses whose fences encroached road setbacks must be removed.

Speaking on the exercise, Olumide said the enforcement would continue along the entire train corridor.

He said the exercise would be sustained to keep the Red Rail Line project corridor safe for all Lagos residents.

Olumide advised traders and other business owners to relocate to the markets, while instructing his team to inspect the corridor every Tuesday and Thursday to apprehend defaulters and charge them to court.

“What we are doing is a clean up of the corridor along the Red Rail Line because the train that is coming is going to be a very fast train.

“It is not advisable for pedestrians to be along the corridor basically for their lives. Life is much more important to the state government. And in that regard we have to clear up all that the corridor.

“We will continue to clean up this corridor from the beginning up till the end along the Red Line.

“People must desist from putting up any structure along this corridor. They just must comply because their lives more important to us.

“Go online and check all rail stations in the world. It is not a place for people to walk, trade or carry out businesses,” he said.

The Red Line Rail project is a 37 kilometre North-South rail route proposed to run from Agbado to Marina, with 13 stations.

The station are: Agbado, Iju, Agege, Ikeja, Murtala Muhammad International Airport, the Domestic Airport, Oshodi, Mushin, Yaba, Ebute Meta, Iddo, Ebute Ero, and Marina.

Source: News Agency of Nigeria

Hoteliers in Kwara appealed to Gov. Abdulrahaman Abdulrazaq on Saturday to save them from harassment, coercion, intimidation, extortion and unlawful locking up of their facilities by the state’s revenue agency.

They alleged that officials of Kwara Internal Revenue Service (KWIRS) regularly locked up their hotels without court order and that the action could lead to a collapse of the hospitality industry in the state.

President of the Association of Hotel Owners in Kwara, Alhaji Dauda Akande, and its General Secretary, Mr Babatunde Oladunmoye, represented the hoteliers in making the appeal.

They alleged that KWIRS regularly used the police to harass, intimidate, arrest, detain and charge members with criminal offences.

They alleged also that there was complete lack of synergy between KWIRS and the ministries, departments and agencies responsible for fixing and negotiating taxes and levies.

They stated that the lack of synergy had resulted in the serving of “crazy bills’’ on hoteliers as demand notices.

“Our members are not in the position to pay the huge bills under the current national economic situation.

“Currently our members pay more than 20 different taxes and levies to the federal, state and local governments.

“Over regulation and multiplicity of taxes is currently a huge disincentive to investments in Kwara’s hospitality and tourism industry,’’ they stated.

The officials stated also that association members were regularly served inaccurate demand notices that included bills dating back to the Covid-19 era when the pandemic demanded the shutting of all hotels.

“The collapse of the hotel business in Kwara will result in job losses and an increase in crime rates.

“We request that commercial properties paying commercial land charges to Kwara State Geographic Information Service should be exempted from business premises levy because this amounts to double taxation on the commercial property.

“Agencies established for social services like Kwara Environmental Protection Agency, and the Fire Service should be well-funded by government and not be converted to revenue-generating agencies with yearly revenue targets.

“Business associations should be allowed to pay taxes and levies from their members directly to government revenue accounts.

“This is to prevent extortion and diversion of percentages of the taxes and levies to private pockets through collusion and conspiracies,’’ the association stressed.

It warned KWIRS to stop locking hotels without court order since it could not be the judge in its own case, adding that the agency should follow due process in all tax matters.

“Our association may have no other choice than to approach a court of competent jurisdiction for redress if the locking up of our hotels without due process continues,’’ the association also warned.

Responding to the allegations, however, Head of Corporate Affairs at the KWIRS, Mrs Titi Ogunwale, explained that both parties had been engaged in series of dialogues and discussions.

She expressed surprise at the hoteliers’ allegations and explained that meetings were held and resolutions were made on how to resolve issues.

“I am surprised to see this coming up again; we have had continuous collaborations with all associations in the state.

“If they are not happy, they can invite us or we invite them for discussion, which we have been doing.

“We held meetings two weeks ago and resolution was made by both parties. I do not know where all these claims they are making are coming from,’’ she said.

Ogunwale explained that KWIRS had already explained the legal procedure on what should be done to the hoteliers.

She observed that the association’s allegations would not help matters and that KWIRS would continue to educate relevant stakeholders on the issue of taxation.

She stressed that the position of the law was that anyone engaged in business activities in the state and was making profit, must pay taxes.

She noted that where business owners were running at a loss, they were not required to pay any tax as long as they present their evidences to the service.

The KWIRS spokesperson explained that the agency only collect taxes based on assessment by relevant ministries and does not generate the bills.

Ogunwale stressed that the agency was not rigid and explained that where there were complaints, “business owners can reach out to the relevant ministry, which will in turn communicate decisions to KWIRS’’.

Source: News Agency of Nigeria

The Confederation of All Progressives Congress (APC) Support Groups has called on the Federal Government to diversify the nation’s economy from oil to agriculture revenue earnings.

It urged the government to go back to 1960s, where government invested heavily in agriculture and used its earnings to finance the national budget in the first Republic.

The Director-General of the group, Dr Kailani Muhammed, gave the advice in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on Saturday in Abuja, in commemoration of the 63rd independence of the country.

Muhammed recalled that in the 60s, the country produced rice to feed Nigerians and people in West Africa and earned foreign exchange from agriculture, particularly rice from Niger State.

He added that Kaduna for instance, produced maize that fed the country and West Africa.

According to him, Nigeria needs to shift from oil earning because, corruption in the sector, has destroyed all the strata of the economy.

“After first Republic, those our grandfathers in the likes of Chief Obafemi Awolowo, Sir Ahmadu Bello, Tafawa Balewa and others, what they had in their minds, I think, was the country itself and not about materialism.

“From 1983 when the military took over till date, it has not been well because corruption has destroyed all the strata of the economy.

“There is no reason why Nigerians should be poor. I don’t want to say the oil that we have is a curse on us,” he said.

He expressed optimism that the present administration, with its “Renewed Hope Agenda” would bring back the agriculture sector to boost the nation’s economy.

“With all indications President Bola Tinubu is willing to do that, as he continues the implementation of agricultural policy of the past administration, particularly now that he has declared the state of emergency in the agriculture sector.

“So, we hope that with all things being equal, it will work well for us, so that we will not depend on oil,” Muhammed said.

The director-general also urged Nigerians to borrow a leaf from an American man who was willing to die holding America’s flag because of patriotism and nationalism.

“This man believes in his country, what about us?. Unless we are able as a people to come together, to know that this country belongs to all of us and we don’t have any other country apart from Nigeria,” he said.

Source: News Agency of Nigeria

The Federal Competition and Consumer Protection Commission (FCCPC) says it has opened investigation into an alleged healthcare neglect by Maitama District Hospital, Abuja, which led to the death of one Ms Greatness Olorunfemi.

FCCPC, in a statement by its Executive Vice Chairman, Mr Babatunde Irukera, on Saturday, said the investigation was to find out if Olorunfemi’s death was on account of failure implicated in the commission’s Patients’ Bill of Rights (PBoR).

Irukera said the investigation was also to know other enforceable legal instruments regarding attention and care to patients generally, especially in emergency situations where victims of criminal conduct required medical attention.

He said the commission welcomed the statement of the Office of FCT Secretary for Health Services and Environment, announcing a transparent broad investigation including a Coroner’s Inquest into the matter.

”FCCPC commiserates with Ms. Greatness Olorunfemi’s family, friends and associates who are affected by this tragic loss.

”There are disputed accounts of whether she received appropriate care, or delay pending production of a police report, or was brought in Dead on Arrival (DoA).

The commission has opened an investigation accordingly.

”Particular concern is if Olorunfemi died on account of failures implicated in the commission’s Patients’ Bill of Rights (PBoR) or other enforceable legal instruments regarding attention and care to patients generally.

”More specifically, in emergency situations where victims of criminal conduct require attention.

”Considering the facility concerned is a government institution and the commission’s determination to progress a limited inquiry into the consumer protection aspects of the events, the commission immediately engaged relevant stakeholders,”he said.

The executive vice chairman said the commission was looking forward to participating, supporting and collaborating with the FCT administration in the investigation.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that Olorunfemi was reportedly thrown from a moving vehicle along the Maitama-Kubwa highway.

She was said to be a member of the Young African Leaders Initiative (YALI) Network.

Moyosoluwa Oladayo, the YALI Network Abuja coordinator, said the deceased died due to delay by healthcare workers at the Maitama District Hospital.

“There is a viral video of her when she was thrown out of the vehicle.

She was unconscious and was reportedly taken to Maitama District Hospital where they kept asking for a Police report till she gave up twenty minutes later,” she said.

Source: News Agency of Nigeria