The first African Marine Debris Summit highlighted the urgent need for a collective action to be taken against the problem of marine debris facing the continent of Africa.Â* The Summit – entitled “African lessons to inspire local actions” – took place at the SA National Biodiversity Institute at the Kirstenbosch Botanical Gardens and focused specifically [...]African Marine Debris Summit is a post from: EconSpire


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Cape Town - For a young adult, South Africa has definitely left its mark in the world. In December 2010, the then 16-year-old country was invited to join the Bric bloc, resulting in Brics. And as the country approaches its 20th birthday, it has shown that it is a powerhouse in the making.

The country’s hosting of the Fifth Brics summit in Durban earlier this year, has raised the country’s standing as an influential global leader and lifted its profile as an important investment and travel destination.

Economic growth may be slowing in the Brics, but South Africa’s membership to the bloc is likely to continue to provide the country with new market opportunities, while providing it with a platform with which to push for the reform of global governance structures such as the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the World Bank.

While a host of Brics companies already operate in South Africa, a number of Brics investors recently indicated their interest in investing in the country.

Last year South Africa’s share of trade with Brics countries stood at 18 percent, up from 10 percent in 2005, while the country’s trade with fellow Brics countries increased by 12 percent last year over 2011, against declines in trade with the country’s traditional markets of Japan, the European Union and the United States.

The country also signed a range of trade and investment agreements at the Fifth Brics summit in Durban in March, which will likely see a number of Brics companies set up in South Africa.

At the Durban summit, trade and industry ministers from Brics member states also agreed to boost complementary trade in value-added products among member countries.

In April, the Minister of Trade and Industry Rob Davies, revealed that his department was looking at ways to boost South Africa’s manufactured exports to its Brics partner countries, and is coordinating a joint research study on how to boost value-added trade amongst the bloc’s member countries.

The aim is to more than double intra-Brics trade by 2015 – from the current $230 billion to $500 billion.

The number of tourist arrivals from Brics countries is also significantly up since the country joined the bloc.

SA Tourism chief executive Thulani Nzima said though South Africa had until it joined the bloc enjoyed steady tourist growth out of China and India, arrivals from these two nations have since 2011 began showing “phenomenal growth”, while arrivals from Russia and Brazil have started showing encouraging growth, albeit off of smaller base numbers.

Last year, tourism arrivals from China and India grew 56 percent and 18 percent respectively over 2011, while those of Brazil and Russia were up 45 percent and 27 percent respectively.

Nzima believes the 2010 World Cup and South Africa’s membership status solidified already outstanding co-operative economic and diplomatic relationships between this country and its Brics partners, paving the way for even more energetic destination marketing for Brics countries.

“The formal Brics relationship has done much to ensure growth way-above-average arrivals growth from the Brics nations,” commented Nzima.

He said joining Brics has also given SA Tourism access to market decision-makers, trade and consumers that has enabled the agency to consolidate campaign efforts and maintain growth in tourism arrivals.

This year, South African Tourism will open its first destination marketing office in Brazil.

Yet, when South Africa joined the Brics bloc, there was concern from many that the country’s smaller economy and population to that of Brazil, Russia, India and China did not make it suitable to be part of the prestigious group.

South Africa has, however, argued otherwise.

In May, the Department of Trade and Industry’s Deputy Director-General of Trade and Investment South Africa (Tisa) Pumla Ncapayi told investors in Japan, during a state visit by President Jacob Zuma, that South Africa is not a member of Brics because of the size of its population but by virtue of what the country can offer in the way of meaningful discussions and participation.

Most importantly the country, with developed services and financial sectors, represents a gateway to Africa for many potential investors.

It also offers a chance for Brics countries to work more closely in developing the continent, with President Jacob Zuma pointing out in May to delegates at the World Economic Forum on Africa in Cape Town, that the country’s Brics membership represented an important turning point for Africa’s connectivity to the rest of the world.

The Brics have strong cultural and historical ties to Africa and at the Durban summit Brics leaders pledged their support to increasing co-operation with Africa and boosting investments in the continent.

Speaking at the summit, Zuma said the Brics process could play an important role in helping to bring infrastructure and industrial projects to bankability by providing technical expertise and funding for project preparation.

Also at the summit, finance ministers of the bloc’s respective member countries formally agreed to set up a Brics Development Bank.

The finance ministers are now working on technical details around the setting up of the bank.

The summit also saw the launch of the Brics Business Council which Zuma said would help serve as a platform to promote trade and economic relations between the member nations and foster closer ties between the private sectors of each respective member country.

Miller Matola chief executive of Brand SA believes that through its membership to Brics South Africa would also be able to gain valuable lessons and take advantage of technological transfers, innovations and programmes to tackle unemployment, poverty and inequality.

The country’s membership to the Brics club will also help it to benchmark itself against policies and programmes of its peer nations, while being able to co-operate in various areas with these countries.

Earlier this year the Minister of International Relations and Co-operation Maite Nkoana-Mashabane said her department was looking to have sectorial meetings, taking advantage of the declarations made at the Fifth Brics Summit.

South Africa was also looking at more ways of involving civil society, labour unions and MPs in Brics sectorial meetings.

In March, the Human Sciences and Research Council (HSRC) was appointed as the incubator of the Brics Think Tank.

The idea is that the Think Tank will link with academics and policymakers to help conduct evidenced-based policy analysis aimed at informing the long term strategy of Brics.

Narnia Bohler-Muller, the HSRC’s deputy executive director of democracy, governance and service Delivery, said the HSRC is currently incubating the Think Tank and a decision on whether or not to set up a permanent South Africa Think Tank will be taken by the government based on criteria still to be developed.

Bohler-Muller added that the HSRC Think Tank will also work closely with the Brics Business Council in order to identify research areas important to advancing the Brics agenda as well as national interests.

She said the HSRC has organised a Brics internal seminar series in which five seminars, open to the public and media, will be hosted on Brics -related topics over the course of the next six months.

The HSRC is planning a launch of this book in October on the Brics and in the next two months there will also be seminars on Brics and industrialisation and the Brics development bank.

In October, South Africa will host the 3rd Brics Co-operatives Summit in Durban where delegates are expected to discuss the latest trade and economic policies on co-operatives. – SAnews.gov.za

British mining giant Vedanta Resources has been humiliated in the run-up to its London AGM on Thursday, after a series of tribal villages in India...

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Pretoria - As part of the build-up to celebrations to mark 20 years of democracy, government is to identify 20 big milestones that the country has achieved and the people collectively own - so that a sense of national pride can be built within the nation.

The announcement was made by Arts and Culture Minister Paul Mashatile at the North West Provincial Summit on Moral Regeneration and Social Cohesion in Mahikeng on Monday.

“Next year, our country will mark 20 years of liberation. Our build-up programme also includes identifying 20 big achievements that we collectively own as South Africans as a way of building patriotism and national pride.

“This historic occasion presents an opportunity for us as South Africans to reflect on how our freedom and democracy was achieved,” he said.

Mashatile said the celebrations will also be an opportunity “to look back and celebrate the progress we have made since 1994 to deepen the gains of our freedom and democracy”.

He said the celebrations were an opportunity for the nation to work together to implement the National Development Plan (NDP): Vision 2030 as basis for collective action and partnerships across society. The plan seeks to end poverty and reduce inequality by 2030.

“South Africa, despite the many challenges that we still face, has a lot to celebrate. The South Africa of today is indeed better that the South African of 1994.

“Massive progress has been made in areas such as strengthening institutions that support our democracy, improving social and economic infrastructure, expanding and democratising service provision, doing away with apartheid spatial planning and expanding the social security net,” he said.

Mashatile said the South Africa of today was a country at peace with itself and the world.

Following the resolutions of the country’s first-ever National Summit on Social Cohesion and Nation Building at the birth place of the Freedom Charter in Kliptown last year, the Arts and Culture Department appointed 56 Advocates for Social Cohesion, who have already been introduced to President Jacob Zuma.

The minister said in partnership with the Advocates for Social Cohesion, they had launched a year-long, build-up programme that will culminate in Freedom Day celebrations on April 27, next year.

“As we implement this build-up programme, we will be equally advancing some of the key resolutions of our National Summit on Social Cohesion.

“It also includes mobilising South Africans behind the NDP Vision 2030, as an articulation of our prosperous and shared future,” he said.

Mashatile said this included acknowledging unsung heroes and heroines in the communities.

“We look forward to working with all provinces, including the North West, as we roll out our build-up programme towards the celebrations of 20 years of liberation,” he said. - SAnews.gov.za

Durban – The 19th World Transplant Games 2013 kicked off today in Durban amid revelations that some 4 000 patients face a bleak future while awaiting transplants in South Africa, as only 0.2% of the population are registered as organ donors. In his official opening address on Sunday night, eThekwini Metro Municipality Mayor James Nxumalo [...]Transplant Games in Durban is a post from: Time-4-Sport


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Report for the Antwerp Triathlon, June 23th, 2013 Since Antwerp is my home town I did not want to miss this opportunity to race on a flat course and at temperatures below the hot Lanzarote climate. When I arrived on Wednesday it was 32 degrees and super humid. So much for well planned races. But [...]Report for Antwerp 2013 is a post from: Time-to-Tri


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Pretoria – The Portfolio Committee on Sport and Recreation says it is pleased with the progress made by the Free State and Limpopo provinces in light of the development, maintenance and management of sport facilities.

The committee this week visited the two provinces, where they conducted oversight visits to various sport projects.

The committee said it was happy with the relationship between the sport councils and federations, the municipalities and the provincial Sport Departments in both provinces, which demonstrates a commitment to improving sport development.

The committee commended the emphasis placed on talent identification, but was worried about the slow pace of transformation in sport. It encouraged stakeholders to speed up transformation and development.

In the Free State, Mangaung metro has managed to rehabilitate swimming pools in Mangaung and Botshabelo, which was budgeted for under the Municipal Infrastructure Grant in the 2010/11 financial year.

The committee said having such facilities of high standard in previously disadvantages areas will ensure that children from these areas, who might not have had the privilege of accessing such facilities, will now reach their full potential.

The focus on school sport and youth development in the Free State province was encouraging, as school sport remains the bedrock of talent identification in South Africa, the committee said.

The committee is currently visiting the North West and Mpumalanga to continue assessing sport development and how municipalities have spent the 15 percent of the Municipal Infrastructure Grant that has been ring-fenced to allow for the building of sport and recreational facilities. - SAnews.gov.za

Pretoria - The Executive Mayor of Tshwane, Kgosientso Ramokgopa, has unveiled a multimillion rand youth skills development and entrepreneurship programme targeting 10 000 young people in the City of Tshwane.

The entrepreneurship programme, known as Tshepo 10 000 -- whose total value is R1.8 billion -- will be funded from the city’s operational budget.

The city anticipates to have an intake of 2 500 participants for each quarter of this financial year, totalling 10 000 youths.

The programme is aimed at eradicating youth unemployment in the city in line with its election mandate, Integrated Development Plan (IDP) and other related policies and programmes.

Tshepo means “hope” in Sesotho.

"The City of Tshwane is conscious of the three key challenges confronting our country - poverty, unemployment and inequality.

“This intervention is an innovation conceptualised by the city and our partners, acknowledging the unique nature of the challenges facing our city as it relates to skills, unemployment and the need to empower our youth with entrepreneurial skills to establish their own cooperatives. Our youth are a sizeable ratio of our city’s population," Ramokgopa said.

According to Statistics South Africa’s 3rd Quarter Labour Market Survey of 2012, about 3.3 million young people in the 15 to 34 years age group are unemployed.

"In our quest to address the scourge of youth unemployment, we deliberately adopted a programme approach with three well-thought out interventions, which are skills development, entrepreneurial assistance and job placement initiatives,” Ramokgopa said.

“This includes accelerated technical training programmes for cooperatives, offering cooperatives preferential treatment on procurement opportunities through our supply chain management, and providing mentorship to increase survival rates of cooperatives, and ensure sustainable job creation."

The city, in partnership with institutions of higher learning, will train candidates in areas where there is huge spending, such as infrastructure maintenance and services.

The City of Tshwane’s Department of Economic Development, as the custodian of the programme, will induct the candidates to develop a common understanding in terms of what is expected of them. – SAnews.gov.za

Pretoria – The South African National Roads Agency Limited says that reports that it has run out of money are factually incorrect.

Sanral's head of communications, Vusi Mona, said in a statement on Thursday that Sanral operates two portfolios - toll roads and non-toll roads.

“The non-toll portfolio consists of funds from the national fiscus, received from National Treasury, to the amount of approximately R10 billion per annum. These funds are used by Sanral to manage its non-toll network, which accounts for 84% (16 584 km) of the total national road network of 19 704 km,” Mona said.

He said there were no funding challenges with the agency's non-toll portfolio. “These funds are used for non-toll roads only and the agency continues to run its business as per usual with the funds received from the national fiscus.”

The second portfolio accounts for 16% of the total road network, and constitutes of agency tolls (1 832 km) and those run by concessionaires (1 288 km). The agency tolls are financed through the capital markets by issuing bonds and the ones operated by the concessionaires are financed through private sector capital on a build, operate and transfer basis.

Mona said it was important to note that there was no cross-subsidisation of funds between the toll portfolio and the non-toll portfolio.

With regards to its toll portfolio, Sanral has almost totally depleted its available cash. Sanral is not able to fund itself through the capital markets under the present circumstances. It is for this reason that the agency has not been to the markets since October 2011.

“Notwithstanding our challenges on the capital markets we are grateful for the assistance from the commercial markets,” Mona said.

That has meant that the future growth of road networks could not be undertaken without Sanral's ability to raise third party funding. Parliament had to make a special appropriation of an additional R5.7 billion to meet Sanral’s current interest and cost liabilities.

“If Sanral is to deliver on its mandate, it is vital that e-tolling must go-ahead. It is disingenuous of OUTA [Opposition to Urban Tolling Alliance] to blame the agency of trying to use the toll portfolio's financial challenges to force the President's hand to sign the Transport and Related Matters Amendment Bill. Sanral implements government policy," Mona said.

“At this stage, Sanral is awaiting the signing of the Bill by the President. Thereafter, the Minister [of Transport] may conclude the process to publish the final regulations and notices. Once published, tolls will commence within 14 days of the date of publishing,” said Mona. - SAnews.gov.za

Pretoria - International Relations and Cooperation Minister Maite Nkoana-Mashabane will be on a diplomatic blitz in the next few days, which will see her visiting three countries.

The minister will undertake a working visit to Brazil and Argentina between 30 July and 1 August, and attend the inauguration of Iran’s new President Hassan Rouhani on 4 August.

In Brazil, the minister will co-chair the fifth session of the South Africa-Brazil Joint Commission - which manages and monitors bilateral relations between the two countries - with her Brazilian counterpart.

“The visit to Brazil will confirm our view that good bilateral relations with Brazil remain fundamental in the success of our other formations such as BRICS, IBSA and our actions in the G20,” her Deputy Minister Ebrahim Ebrahim said on Thursday.

In Argentina, Nkoana-Mashabane will co-host the 4th Session of the South Africa-Argentina Bi-National Commission (BNC) with her Argentinian counterpart, scheduled for 1 August in Buenos Aires.

The BNC presents the two countries with a platform to, among other things, share experiences in the UN Security Council, as Argentina is currently a non-permanent member for the region for the 2013/14 period.

After that, the minister will travel to Iran’s capital Tehran for the inauguration Rouhani, who was elected in presidential elections in June.

President Jacob Zuma has already sent his congratulations to Iran’s new president, and expressed the hope that bilateral relations between the two countries would be consolidated under his leadership.

In his congratulatory message, Zuma also requested Rouhani to give priority to resolving all outstanding issues with the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), as far as Iran’s nuclear programme was concerned.

Doing so, Zuma said, would not only allow Iran to reclaim its rightful place in the international community, but it would also result in the lifting of international sanctions, which have caused immense hardships on the Iranian people.

Ebrahim said Nkoana-Mashabane will use her visit to reiterate President Zuma’s messages in her engagements with the Iranian authorities, while at the same time, demonstrating South Africa’s desire to give new impetus to bilateral relations. – SAnews.gov.za