Day: May 27, 2021

His Excellency President Cyril Ramaphosa will tomorrow, 28 May 2021, host His Excellency President Emmanuel Macron of the Republic of France on a State Visit at the Union Buildings.

The two Heads of State will also pay a visit to the Vaccine Production Support Initiative for Africa at the University of Pretoria.

President Macron’s first visit to South Africa is at the invitation of President Ramaphosa.

The visit aims to:

•deepen bilateral cooperation within the framework of the Strategic Partnership between South Africa and France and within
the framework of existing bilateral agreements.

The engagement also aims to deepen understanding regarding Multilateral and Global issues of mutual concern, such as the need for reform of the United Nations Security Council.

The leaders will also discuss the establishment of a predictable framework of cooperation between Africa and the United Nations and its agencies on ensuring peace and security on the African continent.

The South African ministerial delegation includes the Minister of International Relations and Cooperation, Dr Naledi Pandor, Minister of Health Dr Zweli Mkhize, Minister of Higher Education Science and Technology Dr Blade Nzimande, Minister of Trade, Industry and Competition Mr
Ebrahim Patel, and Acting Minister in the Presidency Ms Khumbudzo Ntshavheni

The Presidents will also discuss trade and investment, including technical skills training in South Africa in collaboration with the private sector.

South Africa is France’s largest trading partner in Africa, while France is South Africa’s second largest trading partner in the European Union (EU).

France is a major investor in South Africa and a significant development partner. During the 2019 South Africa Investment Conference, French companies pledged R20 billion of investment into the country.

The leaders will deliberate on climate change and peace and security on the African Continent.

The visit will focus on issues pertaining to the global response to COVID-19 and the economic, health, research and manufacturing responses to the current pandemic and beyond.

The leaders are expected to discuss post-COVID-19 recovery, including further discussions under the ACT Accelerator, a temporary World Trade Organisation intellectual property waiver and the future manufacturing of COVID-19 vaccines and other vaccines in South Africa and the rest of the continent.

Following the programme at the Union Buildings, the leasers will proceed to the University of Pretoria where they will lead a High-Level Seminar on manufacturing vaccines in Africa.

The event will be a hybrid of a media conference and a High Level dialogue between Presidents Ramaphosa and Macron, in conversation with scientists and industry leaders.

This session will address questions such as what the experience has been in managing COVID-19 and what needs to be done to strengthen the public health system and in addressing the pandemics in Africa.

Delegates will also look at what kind of support is needed to develop the capacity of the African continent to manufacture vaccines in the short and ling term.

South Africa will articulate its campaign, shared with India, for international support and solidarity that will enhance access to vaccines and enable domestic production of life-saving pharmaceutical products.

Due to COVID-19 restrictions, a media pool has been arranged for both the Union Buildings and the University of Pretoria. No additional names can be added at this stage.

For more information on the State Visit at the Union Buildings, contact Tsakane Khambane on 082 084 5566.
For more information on the programme taking place at the University of Pretoria programme, contact Nangamso Gxaba on 072 321 6355

Source: The Presidency Republic of South Africa

Government embarks on nationwide anti-bullying intervention drive in schools
The Department of Basic Education is embarking on a nationwide multi-sector, inter- departmental annual School Safety and Violence Prevention drive to raise awareness on the distressing impact of bullying and violence reported in and around our schools.
The Department is pleased to partner with sister departments, social partners and key stakeholders for this anti-bullying intervention initiative, in an effort to curb bullying often involving learners, teachers and sometimes community members.
The nation appreciates that education is a societal matter; hence the Basic Education Deputy Minister, Dr Reginah Mhaule, together with her counterparts from the Department of Communication and Digital Technologies, Ms Pinky Kekana; the Department of Home Affairs, Mr Njabulo Nzuza; Department of Justice and Constitutional Development, Mr John Jeffrey; Department of Social Development, Ms Hendrietta Bogopane-Zulu and the South African Police, Mr Cassel Mathale will commence the anti-bullying roadshow at Tshepana Primary School, in Orange Farm, Gauteng on 28 May 2021.
The roll-out of the campaign, themed “School Safety – Violence, and Bullying Prevention Initiatives,” aims to mobilise learners, parents, teachers and key stakeholders in promoting a safe learning environment for quality education, and galvanise constructive community involvement in schools to curb incidents of bullying and violence. Bullying, which often leads to depression, anxiety, low self-esteem, suicide, low academic performance, absenteeism and school dropout, can have a direct impact on educational outcomes.
The programme entails engagement with the School Management Teams and SGBs on reporting, and taking proactive steps to manage disruptive incidents, as and when they emerge; a meeting with parents on the importance of playing an active role in school activities and equipping them with tools for effective monitoring and management of bullying, as well as an engagement with Grade 10 – 12 learners.
Government Departments and key stakeholders have converged to bring services such as psycho-social support, health screening, career guidance, ID registration for eligible learners, and many more, in an effort to support learners in Orange Farm, as part of the Government-wide strategy ahead of Child Protection Week.
Two-hundred and fifty learners and their parents from neighbouring schools, will benefit from the programme, while School Management Teams (SMT) of schools within the vicinity will form part of the programme.
For a list of upcoming activities focused on child protection and school safety, see broader programme of activities below.
Members of the Media are invited to attend the Roadshow as follows:
Date: Friday 28 May 2021
Time: 10:30 for 11:00
Venue: Tshepana Primary School, 12655 Stretford Road, Orange Farm
Broader Programme of Activities:
Activity Date Department/ Stakeholder
Webinar on bullying – legal responses, support services to victims, prevention, why children bully and protection online 31 May 2021 Department of Justice and Constitutional Development
Child Protection Week: Webinar – The role of fathers in raising children Webinar 31 May – 6 June Department of Social Development – in partnership with UNICEF

Source: Government of South Africa

The Minister of Forestry, Fisheries and the Environment, Ms Barbara Creecy, will on 28 May 2021, officially release South Africa’s second national report on biological invasions.
The report is the only country-level assessment worldwide that focuses specifically on biological invasions. It places South Africa in a global leading position on the issue.
The Status of Biological Invasions and their Management in South Africa in 2019 provides a comprehensive national-scale assessment of the status of biological invasions in the country and captures the effectiveness of the country’s response to this issue. It collates information from foundational research and on-going monitoring programmes and interprets it in order to help policy-makers and managers improve how biological invasions are managed.
Biological invasions pose a major threat to South Africa’s unique biodiversity, and to the livelihoods and health of the country’s people.
Since the adoption of the Working For… programmes in 2005, the government has been relentless in its efforts to effectively manage alien and invasive species in the country. To address the problem, over a billion Rand has been spent a year on projects to control biological invasions and create jobs by the Department’s Environmental Programmes.
Media are invited to attend the release of the report.

Source: Government of South Africa

Department of Community Safety to reward tipoffs on gang-related cases
The Minister of Community Safety, Albert Fritz, hereby announces that as of today his Department of Community safety will reward citizens up to R5000 for information which leads to the arrest and successful conviction of perpetrators in gang-related killings.

Minister Fritz said, “The Department of Community Safety will provide rewards of up to R5000 to anyone who provides information which leads to the arrest and successful conviction of perpetrators in gang related fatalities.”

Information can be given confidentially to the Department at 021 483 5220. Alternatively, members of the public can also email Police.Oversight@westerncape.gov.za(link sends e-mail). The information will then be passed on to the South African Police Service.

This initiative will further support the Province’s response to the scourge of gangsterism facing our vulnerable communities.

On Tuesday, the Department of Community Safety and the South African Police Service jointly hosted a workshop on the Provincial Response to the National Anti-Gang Strategy.

The Western Cape Safety Plan and the Recovery Plan already incorporates elements of the Provincial Response, and this is currently being implemented through the Area-Based Team approach in priority police precincts. There is also much synergy with the Safer Cities Initiative currently underway.

The workshop brought together key criminal justice and provincial role-players and included senior representatives from the SAPS, the National Prosecuting Authority, the Department of Justice, the City of Cape Town (Metro and Law Enforcement), the South African National Defence Force, the Department of Correctional Services and the provincial departments of Health, Education, Human Settlements, Transport and Public Works, Cultural Affairs and Sport, and Economic Development and Tourism.

The workshop supported an integrated response involving key stakeholders, including civil society and the business sector. The approach aims to deal with gangsterism through effective criminal justice and law enforcement, as well as focusing on community upliftment, social cohesion, urban and environmental planning and design.

Minister Fritz concluded, “the time for us to come together as a whole of society is now. We need to fight this scourge of gangsterism and violence together. I appeal to anybody with information that will assist the SAPS to please come forward.”

Source: Government of South Africa

North West SCOPA resolves to call former administrators to account on Naledi Local Municipality’s poor state of governance
The North West Provincial Legislature’s Standing Committee on Provincial Public Accounts (SCOPA) chaired by Hon. Job Dliso has resolved to compel former Administrators at Naledi Local Municipality who were appointed as part of various interventions by provincial government to account on continued poor performance on governance at the municipality.
This follows a meeting with the municipality to account on non-compliance on the tabling of the 2017/18 and 2018/19 annual reports in the Legislature.
Hon. Dliso said although there has been various interventions from 2017/18 financial year by both the Department of Cooperative Governance, Human Settlements and Traditional Affairs, and Department of Finance but the municipality’s performance on finances and service delivery is continuing to deteriorate. “We need to interrogate close-up reports of various Section 139 intervention teams that were sent there because there are no positive results. There is no value for money yet taxpayers money is spent.
“We have also witnessed political and administrative instability in the municipality as at some point it was closed and intervention teams could not do their job. Council could not even process various reports such as annual and oversight reports or even close-up reports of such interventions,” said Hon. Dliso.
He further said there has been a tendency of both departments to second officials who are either incompetent or failed in previous municipalities thus rendering their services impractical.
The Acting Municipal Manager, Mr. Sello Nelson Mongale said many intervention teams that were previously deployed in the municipality have never submitted and presented a single close-up report to Municipal Council for consideration. “There were many acting personnel who were seconded here but didn’t bother to present any report to Council. We do admit that there has been disruptions in the past financial years which affected municipal operations at large,” said Mr. Mongale.
Head of Department at Provincial Treasury, Mr. Ndlela Kunene said the department continues to capacitate the municipality on how to prepare for annual financial statements and other technical matters. “We have moved away from appointing consultants who prepare the financial statements on behalf of the municipality as we feel that we need to train the officials at the beginning of the financial year so that they can have knowledge on the process. They need to do the actual job themselves because if we appoint consultants, it will be duplication of the job and wasteful expenditure,” said Mr. Kunene.
The Cooperative Governance department representative, Ms. Elisabeth Mmutle said the intervention didn’t yield any results due to instability within the municipality. “Our officials could not do their work due to many issues such as protracted strikes. On the 12 months that they were supposed to be there, they could only work for less than 3 months. There is no institutional arrangements as different Portfolio Committees could not even sit to process various reports. We needed them to comply with various legislation and oversight processes but it did not happen,” said Ms. Mmutle.
Hon. Dliso said the Committee will also meet both departments to assess the process of interventions. “We want to see if these interventions are really working because many municipalities in this province are in dire state,” said Hon. Dliso.
He said the municipality should submit various reports which include transactions on various projects conducted and a list of senior appointments made during those years to check for accountability and value for money. “We also require Municipal Public Accounts reports on all challenges faced and how they have tabled unauthorised, irregular and fruitless and wasteful expenditure reports. We will also summon all consultants which were assigned to assist the municipality on compilation of annual financial statements. All reports must be submitted within 7 days,” said Hon. Dliso.
He said the municipality should also submit its Post Audit Action Plan that respond to issues raised by the Office of the Auditor-General. The Standing Committee will also conduct an oversight at the municipality to assess value for money and service delivery.

Source: Government of South Africa