(Cape Town, 3 December 2014) Online entries for the 2015 Old Mutual Two Oceans Trail Run will open at 10h00 on Thursday, 4 December 2014. This...

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South Africa’s premier three day stage trail run, the ProNutro AfricanX Trailrun presented by New Balance returns to Elgin Grabouw (Western Cape) the...

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Almost 700 trail runners made their way to the Pelindaba Nature Reserve this weekend to take on the final race of the Spur Gauteng Summer Trail Series™. They weren’t disappointed as the Highveld weather played along, delivering a perfect morning to kick off a typical summer Sunday. Some of the biggest names in South African [...]Sesipi wins the Spur Trail Series is a post from: Trail Running South Africa
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Ahead of the visit of the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge to the United States this week, a Botswana Bushman leader has appealed to Prince William for help in recognizing that tribal peoples who hunt for food are not poachers. The couple are scheduled to visit New York and Washington D.C., where Prince William will [...] Botswana tribes peoples hunters, not poachers is a post from: EconSpire
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The power system is expected to remain very tight over the next few days, with Eskom doing all it can to avoid load shedding.

“The system is expected to remain very tight over the next few days. While Eskom will do its best to avoid load shedding, customers can make the biggest impact by reducing their usage throughout the day, including weekends,” said the power utility on Monday.

During this past weekend, most South Africans experienced load shedding. The weekend was used to restore water and diesel reserves for the week.

Eskom said whether the reserves will last the entire week will depend on the extent that they need to be run in that week.


The utility said customers can assist by reducing the impact on the power system through the efficient use of electricity.

The Cahora Bassa plant was shut down on Sunday as per planned maintenance and returned to service yesterday evening after repairs were completed.

However, this took longer than planned and the delay resulted in the use of open cycle gas turbines on Sunday over the evening peak.

“Eskom calls on all South Africans to pull together over the next few months and use electricity sparingly by ‘living lightly’ this summer.

“Less is more this summer and homeowners and businesses can do so with just four steps: first, switching off geysers and pool pumps; second, switching off non-essential lights; third, efficient use of air-conditioners by keeping the room temperature at 23⁰C; and finally, responding to the alerts on TV each evening.” – SAnews.gov.za

The first anniversary of the death of South Africa’s first democratically elected President, Nelson Mandela, should further drive the process of nation building and reconciliation.

“In five days’ time, we will be commemorating the first anniversary since the passing on of our founding President and international icon, Nelson Rolihlahla Mandela.

“This first anniversary should add more impetus to the journey of nation building and reconciliation, which tata promoted immensely during his Presidency,” said President Jacob Zuma.

He was speaking at the South African Sports Confederation and Olympic Committee (Sascoc) 10-year celebrations on Monday.

The President thanked South Africans for the dignified manner in which Mandela was laid to rest last year, saying “he will forever remain in our hearts”.

He said while strides have been made to achieve equity and excellence in sport, there was still a great deal of work to be done to ensure the levelling of the playing field.

“Due to the history of apartheid and the segregated manner in which facilities were provided, many communities still do not have recreational or sports facilities. That is one of the priorities of this government - to build human settlements that will have all these facilities ultimately for our people,” he said.

President Zuma said another priority, which the Minister of Sport and Recreation Fikile Mbalula has actively focused on, was the promotion of women's sports. He also emphasised the need to do more to promote sports for people with disabilities.

National School Sport Programme

President Zuma singled out the National School Sport Programme as another huge area of investment and focus. He said it was at school level where future sports stars can be found.

“Our government has adopted the National Sport and Recreation Plan and we are looking forward to a funding formula that will ensure the successful implementation of the plan.

“Investing in school sports also requires a strong talent development system, structured coaching framework, vibrant academy system and adequate nutrition and scientific support.

“It is thus not a small matter and not something we can achieve overnight but we will make progress with determination and support from the sports fraternity,” he said.

The President also used the platform to congratulate the winners of the popular South African Sports Awards, which were hosted on Sunday. He saluted Joost van der Westhuizen, who has contributed immensely to the growth and success of rugby in the country.

“We urge the whole nation to support Joost and his family as he fights a big and difficult battle against motor neuron disease,” he said.

Ending 2014 on a high

With most national teams having qualified for both continental and international tournaments, the President said the country ended 2014 on a high.

“2015 will be both a busy and exciting year for the nation as we cheer our teams on. We wish the national netball team, Amantombazane, the Proteas and the Springboks well during their respective international championships campaigns next year.

“We congratulate Bafana Bafana on their qualification to participate in the 2015 Africa Cup of Nations after a long period of drought. We will all fully support the team in this campaign to bring the cup back home, just like we did in 1996,” he said.

To Sascoc, President Zuma said: “We urge you to work with us to build South African sports. It has been 10 years of hard work, 10 years of working to transform sport in our country into non-racial and inclusive sport. It has been 10 years of working towards making sport a unifying factor in our country”. – SAnews.gov.za

The price of all grades of petrol will fall by 69 cents a litre in December, said the Department of Energy (DoE) on Friday.

A litre of petrol will cost R12.47, while it cost R12.06 at the coast.

The price of Diesel 0.05% Sulphur will decrease by 53.3 cents a litre, while that of Diesel 0.005% Sulphur will decrease by 54.3 cents a litre as of next Wednesday.

The price of Illuminating Paraffin (Wholesale) will decrease by 49.3 cents a litre while that of Illuminating Paraffin Single Maximum National Retail Price (SMNRP) will decrease by 66 cents.

The maximum retail price for LPGas will decrease by R1.25.

“The main contributing factor to the fuel price decreases is the continual drop in the crude oil prices, which fell to about $80 per barrel, during the period under review - 31 October 2014 to 27 November 2014,” said the department. – SAnews.gov.za

National Treasury on Friday published a multi-billion rand request for proposals (RFP) for the provision of an enterprise resource system (ERP). “National Treasury is publishing a multi-billion rand RFP for the provision of an ERP system, including on-going upgrades and support. The revised RFP is directed at bidders who are, inter alia, Tier 1 ERP [...] National Treasury publishes proposals is a post from: South Africa Business
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Basic Education Minister Angie Motshekga has commended all those involved in the delivery of a successful 2014 National Senior Certificate (NSC) examination.

Minister Motshekga thanked teachers, officials and candidates for a smooth matric exam around the country, which commenced on 27 October and ended today.

The Minister is satisfied that the examinations have been conducted with integrity and without serious problems despite the threats of protests in some parts of the country.

The department has commended the swift actions of Eastern Cape SAPS, who acted promptly three weeks ago in relocating learners from one school to another after protesters threatened to disrupt the examinations.

The examinations were conducted well with no major incidents affecting the integrity or credibility of the exams.

A total of 688 660 candidates were registered to write the exams this year, of which 550 127 were full time candidates and 138 533 were part time candidates.

These candidates wrote their exams across 6 740 examination centres where invigilation was conducted by an estimated 65 000 invigilators.

A total of 258 NSC question papers for the November 2014 and March 2015 examinations were set by the Department of Basic Education and externally moderated by Umalusi.

Marking will commence on Sunday, November 30, with 41 000 markers involved in the marking of the scripts at 118 marking venues across the country. The marking of the 2014 NSC examinations will be concluded across all provincial education departments by 18 December 2014.

All marks will then be captured on the computer system of the National Department of Basic Education in preparation for Umalusi’s standardization processes to take place from December 21 to 23.

Minister Motshekga will announce the 2014 NSC results on 5 January 2015 but learners can collect their statements of results from their various schools on 6 January 2015 at 8am. – SAnews.gov.za

The Department of Basic Education has raised the pass mark for grades 7, 8 and 9 as part of its efforts of improving the quality of education in the public school system.

The National Curriculum Statement (NCS), Grades R-12, underpinned by the Curriculum and Assessment Policy Statements (CAPS), has been implemented in 2014 in the Senior Phase (Grade 7, 8 and 9) for the first time.

The intention of CAPS was to improve the standard and quality of curriculum implementation. CAPS encapsulate the new promotion requirements which are considerably higher than the previous promotion requirements.

According to the department, this is in keeping with its plan to raise the benchmark for learning achievement.

“The changes relate to the following: in 2013, the pass requirement was that one should pass seven of the nine subjects, with the new changes in 2014, one has to pass eight of the nine subjects.

“In 2013, one has to pass one official Language at 40% and a second official Language passed at 30%, with the new changes in 2014, 50% pass requirement in Home Languages and 40% pass requirement in First Additional language.

“Also in 2013, condonation was allowed in one of the subjects. In 2014, no condonation will be allowed,” the department said.

The change relates not only to the raising of pass requirements in Language but also, only allows learners to fail one subject without a condonation dispensation.

The department has embarked on an intensive programme of teacher development and the provision of Learning and Teaching Support Material (LTSM), to prepare the system for CAPS implementation across all phases, including the implementation in the Senior Phase.

The department has also closely monitored the implementation of the CAPS across all provinces, noting the challenges associated with the initial implementation of a curriculum change.

The Acting Director-General, Paddy Padayachee, has provided the Heads of Department in the Provincial Education Department with a guideline to assist managers at the district and circuit level to ensure that the performance of schools in the Senior Phase does not deviate drastically from the historical school trend.

This entailed a closely controlled and strictly managed process, under the supervision of the District manager, who will collectively with the school principal, analyse the performance of the school in 2014 with reference to its previous performance.


Where there is a substantial drop in the school performance, the district manager will make adjustments to the results within clearly defined parameters.

According to the department, it is anticipated that overall school performance in 2014 at the Senior Phase, despite the department’s intervention, will be lower than previous years as this is the outcome of a high skills, high knowledge curriculum and improved assessment standards.

Therefore, the intervention by the department has been instituted to mitigate the major variances in learner performance that may be observed at specific schools and at specific grades.

“The current dispensation introduced by the Acting Director-General does not negate the current regulations relating to the new curriculum requirements, but is in sync with the moderation and standardisation practices that are adopted world over in large assessment systems as a quality assurance tool and also as a mechanism to manage anomalies that are the consequence of a transition,” the department said. – SAnews.gov.za