Category: General

Eskom and City Power have reenergised the Randburg substation following the theft of 10 000 litres of oil on the substation’s transformer.

The oil was drained from the transformer last week in what was described as an act of vandalism on the substation with cables also stolen on a second transformer.

“This momentarily affected electricity supply to the residents of Randburg. Supply to the customers was soon restored as soon as City Power was able to replace the stolen cable. Eskom has been working around the clock to repair and refuel the transformer.

“This process involves refuelling more than 10 000l of the stolen oil, circulating and purifying it so that City Power can take load,” a joint statement read.

The two power utilities noted that there has been increased incidents of vandalism to substations, “resulting in the loss of revenue and increased replacement costs for both organisations”.

“These criminal acts do not only affect the power utilities but they inconvenience law abiding, paying customers and community service points such as healthcare and education facilities, businesses and the economy at large,” the statement read.

The power suppliers called on citizens to report any criminality on electricity infrastructure.

“Members of the public are requested to partner with Eskom and City Power by reporting electricity related criminal acts such as cable and transformer oil theft, illegal connections and vandalism of electricity infrastructure.

“They are also asked to refrain from recording and sharing material that is not factual about outages as this may lead to confusion and panic amongst the affected customers. Customers are urged to use our communication platforms to obtain reliable and correct information,” Eskom and City Power said.

Source: South African Government News Agency

Minister Nzimande to launch the National Civic Education and Health Skills Programme

The Minister of Higher Education, Science and Innovation, Dr Blade Nzimande will be launching the National Civic Education and Health Skills Programme. This programme will prepare students for the job market by exposing them to the top 10 soft skills or Graduate Attributes most sought after by employers.

The National Higher Health Civic and Health Skills Programme, accredited at NQF Level 5, makes it the first civic education programme to achieve this level of recognition throughout Africa.

The National Civic Education and Health Skills Programme is developed by HIGHER HEALTH, an agency of the National Department of Education and Training, in collaboration with the Quality Council on Trades and Occupations (QCTO) and the Health and Welfare (HW) SETA.

The programme’s co-curriculum, will run across all PSET institutions in the country, and is designed to address the many personal and social challenges facing the youth today. Modules cover issues related to civic education; gender- based violence, gender diversity and equality; mental health; disability; Comprehensive Sexuality Education; alcohol, substance abuse and addiction, and building resilience in young people; and Climate Change.

The co-curriculum is expected to make a big impact on nation building through its civic education modules that build resilience to the main social and health challenges facing youth today.

HIGHER HEALTH has placed all the content for the Skills qualification, on an online platform that uses artificial intelligence and digital technology, to provide easy access to anyone who has a smartphone or a device, and is built on a Participatory Pedagogy. The content is available in all 11 languages and in sign language. The Co-Curriculum will require the students to do community service through the peer-to-peer approach.

The launch of the Co-Curriculum will be supported by the launch of HIGHER HEALTH’s “Each One Teach Ten” campaign to spread knowledge and skills among youth using 10 000 peer educators located on all university, TVET and CET College campuses.

Minister Nzimande invites members of the media to the launch of the first accredited civic education and health skills programme in Africa, pegged at NQF Level 5.

The event will take place as follows:

Date: 20 July 2023

Time: 10h00 – 12h00

Venue: Tshwane North TVET College, Mamelodi Campus

Enquiries: Ishmael Mnisi 0660378859

Source: Government of South Africa

PSC’S symposium zooms into protection of whistle-blowers

Fraud and corruption in South Africa continues to undermine the government’s efforts to deliver quality services to its citizens. Although efforts are being intensified to prevent and combat corruption in state institutions and ensure that perpetrators are brought to book, there is still concerns on the extent of the protection of whistle-blowers.

To this end, as part of safeguarding the protection of whistle-blowers and to enhance the integrity of the country, the Public Service Commission in partnership with the United Nations Development Programme will host a Whistle-blower Symposium on 21 July 2023, under the theme “the extent and nature of the protection of whistle-blowers in South Africa”.

The symposium aims to, amongst others,

Create a platform for participants to reflect on the challenges confronted by whistle-blowers;

Deliberate on tools and measures to enhance the Protected Disclosure Act of 2017 with a view to achieve an ethical and corrupt-free environment and to ensure effective and efficient performance in public administration;

Establish a whistleblowers support programme including confidentiality of whistleblowers; and to

Promote a high standard of professional ethics in the public service.

The Minister of Justice and Constitutional Development, Mr Ronald Lamola will deliver a keynote address.

Media is invited to cover the event as follows:

Date: Friday, 21 July 2023

Venue: GCIS, Tshedimosetso House, 1035 Francis Baard & Festival Street, Pretoria

Time: 08:00 to 13:30

The keynote address will be live streamed on the PSC Facebook page on the link below:

Facebook: http://facebook.com/PSCSA(link is external)

Media RSVPs:

Themba Gadebe

Cell: 081 522 6616

Or

Zodwa Mtsweni

Cell: 076 554 8890

Enquiries:

Humphrey Ramafoko (PSC)

Cell: 082 782 1730

National Anti-Corruption Hotline: 0800 701 701

Source: Government of South Africa

The Communications Regulatory Authority of Namibia (CRAN) has announced that it will lift the stand-still period for applications of broadcasting and telecommunications services licences, on 01 October this year.

CRAN on 01 October 2022, imposed a standstill period on the consideration of applications for broadcasting and telecommunications service licences to enable it to collect data from the market to assess whether the markets are saturated.

CRAN’s Executive for Communications and Consumer Relations Katrina Sikeni in a media statement on Tuesday said after various stakeholder consultations in 2021, CRAN was implored to conduct a market study for the telecommunications and broadcasting sectors, to determine the current market level of market competition, market saturation, and any existing barriers to entry.

“It was appropriate that CRAN maintain a stable market, in terms of market players, while conducting the study,” she said.

The study, Sikeni noted, was conducted based on a fixed data set, particularly the number of telecommunications and broadcasting service licensees currently in the market, and hence the standstill period.

“The data collection has been completed, and CRAN will begin accepting new applications,” she added.

She further stated, that it is paramount that CRAN continuously studies market dynamics to align the regulatory framework to best practices and emerging trends in regulation to ensure fair competition and facilitate investments into the sector.

Source: The Namibian Press Agency

Kavango East Region Governor Bonny Wakudumo said the region’s leadership has resolved to ensure that the Divundu Village Council be upgraded to a Town Council by 2025.

Divundu was proclaimed a village council in 2015.

Wakudumo during his State of the Region Address (SORA) said the village council has attracted an investment of N.dollars 1.5 billion for the development of a blueberry farm by Blueberry Namibia, which is expected to develop a 254 hectares farm in phases in four years with plans to employ close to 700 locals.

Wakudumo also said the installation and commissioning of street lights for Divundu extension one has also been completed to the tune of N.dollars 1.3 million.

“An investment of N.dollars 31 million for the development of 90 housing units at Divundu’s extension 3 through a joint venture between Divundu Village Council and Mondjila projects will soon be realized,” the governor revealed.

While the leadership is working hard to ensure Divundu becomes a town council, it is also preparing to ensure that Ndiyona settlement becomes a village council by 2025.

It is with this reason that an amount of N.dollars 460 000 was budgeted by the Kavango East Regional Council for the development of an additional residential area at Ndiyona, he said.

Meanwhile the governor also highlighted challenging times the region was faced with such the incident where 16 people belonging to one household died last month due to alleged food poisoning.

Food poisoning, he stressed has become one of the scariest sporadic concerns in the region, and many lives are sadly getting lost as a result. “Every Namibian’s life is valuable, therefore, our deepest sympathy and empathy goes to the bereaved families and friends,” he noted.

Another concern that needs to be addressed, he said is that a number of people in Kavango East still remain stateless.

The Home Affairs and Immigration Ministry reported this year that Namibia is currently home to 141 048 undocumented and stateless persons.

Source: The Namibian Press Agency

The City of Windhoek (CoW) on Tuesday announced that it will as of next week, carry out an exercise to update the Token Identifier on electricity pre-paid metres in some parts of the city.

The areas include Windhoek Blocks/Central Business District (CBD) suburb covering Windhoek West, Windhoek North, Suiderhof, Southern Industry and CBD.

According to a media statement by the City on Tuesday, the exercise will start on 24 July until 15 September this year, noting that the current pre-paid electricity metering Standard Transfer Specification-Five (STS5) token identifier will expire on 24 November 2023 for all meters.

“Customers are therefore, urged to recharge all unused credit tokens purchased before the meter update, as they will no longer be accepted by the meter after the update,” it read.

In the event where no access is granted to the premises or when the client is not available at the premises, a notice will be left at the premises with the contact details for the customer to contact the CoW with 48 hours.

Failure to do so, will lead to the blocking of the pre-paid meters which will only be unblocked after the customer has contacted the City, the statement said.

It added that the TID Rollover officers will be identified by their CoW-branded personal protective equipment (PPE), official identity cards, and branded vehicle with City of Windhoek logo.

If customers have any suspicions about people visiting their premises with regard to the project, customers should reach out to the CoW via 061 290 2242/3777.

Source: The Namibian Press Agency