Dark side of Conservation – A hard-hitting new report launched by Survival International – the global movement for tribal peoples’ rights – reveals how conservation has led to the eviction of millions of tribal people from “protected areas.” Many of the world’s biggest conservation organizations, including WWF and The Nature Conservancy, are implicated in this [...] Report exposes the dark side of conservation is a post from: EconSpire
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The finalisation of financial statements and the appointment of turnaround specialists as soon as possible are some of the requirements Public Enterprises Minister Lynne Brown has put to South Africa Airways (SAA).

Addressing the full board of the national carrier, the Minister, who represents government, requested that the board meet all the requirements for holding its Annual General Meeting which needs to take place by no later than the end of April 2015.

She also called on the board to make it possible for her to table the Integrated Report in Parliament as soon as possible.

Last month, the Minister indicated that three state owned companies including SAA had delayed tabling their integrated reports.

At Monday’s meeting, Minister Brown was accompanied by Finance Minister Nhlanhla Nene.

Minister Nene briefed the Board on the state of the fiscus and government’s view that state owned companies, like SAA, needed to move rapidly to a position in which they could live off their balance sheets.

The Board’s main task was to take the airline to a position where it was financially sustainable as soon as possible.

In the second part of the meeting, the Board confirmed what it had reported in writing to Minister Brown last week “that it had lifted the suspension of Chief Executive Officer Monwabisi Kalawe retrospectively”.

Minister Brown said: “As a result, there are several consequential procedural matters that are being dealt with between the Board and the Chief Executive Officer and it will be inappropriate for me to comment until these have been concluded.”

The Board requested the Department of Public Enterprises and the National Treasury to work closely with it in order to accelerate steps it wishes to take to turn around the fortunes of the airline.

The two Ministers approved this on the understanding that the autonomy of the company and the oversight roles of the departments would not be affected in any way. - SAnews.gov.za

Government is committed to building and supporting the manufacturing sector as a key driver for inclusive growth, job creation and poverty alleviation, says Trade and Industry Minister Rob Davies.

Speaking at the launch of the Tooling Centre of Excellence at the South African Nuclear Energy Corporation (Necsa) on Monday, the Minister said that the demise of the country’s Tool, Die and Mould making (TDM) sector in the last 30 years has resulted in loss of more than 80% of its manufacturing capacity.

“The decline of the TDM sector led to the establishment of a partnership between the Department of Trade and Industry (the dti) and the Toolmaking Association of South Africa, which gave rise to a multi-stakeholder intervention known as the National Tooling Initiative (NTI) programme.

“The NTI, as a rehabilitation strategy, aims to address production and technology challenges, skills deficit and transformation in the sector,” said Minister Davies.

Minister Davies estimates that the South African economy uses on average more than R15 billion per annum of TDM equipment and maintenance services of which only 20% is provided by the local industry.

He attests that this has not only had an adverse effect on the balance of payments, but resulted in significant loss of technical and engineering skills and maintenance support. Given the centrality of the TDM sector, the broader manufacturing sector’s competitiveness has also been negatively impacted.

The shortage of toolmakers also poses a serious challenge towards achieving the goals set out in the Industrial Policy Action Plan (IPAP).

The overriding goal of IPAP is to prevent industrial decline and support the growth and diversification of South Africa’s manufacturing sector.

“Current toolmakers in SA are aging (with an average age of 55 years) and the number of properly trained toolmakers produced per year remains very low in comparison, resulting in a continuing shortage of toolmakers in a variety of manufacturing sectors,” he said.

Minister Davies added the dti understood the importance of the TDM sector in the economy and had to-date supported the NTI with over R260 million, of which R9 million had been invested to equip the Tooling Centre of Excellence at Necsa.

Supplementary funds would be earmarked for future funding in an effort to developing a state-of-the-art facility.

“This investment is necessary and will assist SA in reversing the skills deficit, close the age gap and contribute to regaining the manufacturing competitiveness.”

Addressing stakeholders at the same launch, the Chief Executive Officer of the NTI Programme, Dirk van Dyk, said the NTI needs the industry participation in order for the programme to succeed.

Van Dyk said under the programme’s skills development pilot phase, there are 1 600 learners in the pipeline at various FETs and centres of excellence undergoing training at different levels.

Also, over 200 manufacturing companies have so far provided on-the-job training for the learners. – SAnews.gov.za

The long-awaited Tshwane Rapid Transit (TRT), also known as A Re Yeng, is set to hit the city’s streets on Friday.

Pretoria will be the fourth city in South Africa with a bus rapid transit system, joining the City of Johannesburg, the City of Cape Town and Nelson Mandela Bay Municipality.

Tshwane Executive Mayor Kgosientso Ramokgopa made the announcement on Tuesday when awarding certificates to 43 bus drivers.

The drivers, who were mostly taxi drivers, were awarded certificates after successfully completing a bus driver course to familiarise themselves with the new buses.

As part of their training, the new bus drivers were taught customer care, dealing with challenging situations, dealing with internal customers, preparing for performance, knowing and understanding customers and building confidence to serve, among other things.

Mayor Ramokgopa said the training was intended to produce bus driver conductors of a high calibre and standard.

“All learners were found competent in the customer care module. Certain learners will make excellent customer care officials should they be exposed to such environments,” he said.

Mayor Ramokgopa said the practical driving part revealed the learners were competent.

He said the city will continue to evaluate and monitor the drivers’ performance going forward.

“It changed the mind-set and attitude of the drivers. During training, drivers’ individual strength were highlighted which empowered all of them to do better,” he said.

One of the new bus drivers, Kleinbooi Mashiane, told SAnews that he could not wait to operate the new buses.

“I am very happy about this job,” he said. Mashiane used to be a taxi driver in the city’s city centre.

The TRT aims to provide an efficient and accessible transport system comparable to private transport.

The City of Tshwane started the construction of South Africa’s latest bus TRT system in Arcadia, Hatfield, in July 2012.

The R2.6 billion TRT system, which forms part of the city’s revitalisation project, is part of a global BRT concept, with more than 47 TRT systems operating worldwide.

Once completed, the TRT system will consist of a total of 80 kilometres of bus lines, 62 stations and will run from Mabopane through Pretoria CBD, past Menlyn and on to Mamelodi.

The system will consist of about 340 buses, some of which will be powered by gas.

The buses will travel along dedicated bus lanes in the centre of the roadway allowing passengers to avoid the traffic and get to their destinations faster, safer and on time.

The TRT buses will run from 5am until midnight at two to four minute intervals during peak periods, and seven to ten minutes during off-peak periods. – SAnews.gov.za

Ultra Trail Cape Town 2014 – I’ve been running for a few years now but havn’t run an Ultra run since 2012. Come 2014 & for some reason I find myself having run 3 in 2014, namely The Bastille 50KM, The inaugural Marloth Mountain Challenge 60.3KM over the majestic Langberg Mountains around Swellendam and then [...]Ultra Trail Cape Town by Derrick Baard is a post from: Trail Running South Africa
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A Task Team, established by Education Minister Angie Motshekga, has recommended medium to long term improvements to the standard National Senior Certificate (NSC).

The Department of Basic Education presented the Task Team’s findings and recommendations to the Portfolio Committee on the report looking into the promotion requirements for the NSC, on Tuesday.

Deputy Minister Surty told the Committee that the Minister broadly supported the recommendations, adding that the department had already commenced with the implementation of a few recommendations and others will be implemented in the short to medium term.

Some of the recommendations included the retention of Mathematics Literacy and Mathematics following concerns around the NSC.

The department said communication campaigns need to be done to explain the difference between the two subjects.

The presentation of the report also responded to proposed changes to the department.

The Chief Director for Public Examinations and Assessments, Dr Rufus Poliah, said the certificate has become the most important qualification, as it captures the performance of a learner over a 12-year period.

"The 30% pass requirement was one of a small component of the pass requirements and it does not encapsulate the standard of NSC. No learner can pass NSC if you pass all your subjects at 30%. You need at least three 30s and three 40s in order to pass. We have tried to explain this but the criticism continued which lead the Minister to establish the Task Team comprising eminent persons," he said.

Dr Poliah said that the NSC reflected an equivalent if not higher standard in certain aspects to the old Senior Certificate and that the requirements for admission to Bachelor studies were higher in the NSC than the old SC given that a candidate has to obtain a pass in four subjects at 50%.

The department said the report of the Task Team would be discussed at the meeting of Council of Education Ministers (CEM) where a way forward would be decided.

Acting Deputy Director General for Curriculum Policy and Implementation Matanzima Mweli said the department has been providing science kits to schools with no science laboratories.

“… This to ensure that concepts are not only dealt with in theory but also in practice,” he said.

Mweli said, in terms of providing libraries, the department had moved from centralized libraries to classrooms.

He said the country should focus on the objectives of the curriculum and not the numbers as a way of assessing the performance of the education system.

“The department is currently in the process of planning the policy and organizational changes that must happen before recommendations with far reaching implications are implemented,” the department said. - SAnews.gov.za

Government continues to set education as an apex priority, said President Jacob Zuma at the launch of the Thusanani Foundation at Wits University on Monday night. “We do this because of our conviction that education remains a pillar of development for our society,” he said. The Thusanani...

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President Jacob Zuma will lead a South African delegation to the G20 Leaders’ Summit to be held in Brisbane, Australia, on 13-16 November 2014. ...

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The City of Tshwane on Sunday reconnected all the schools whose electricity supply was cut-off last week, after the Gauteng Department of Education made a financial commitment to pay for the schools’ municipal debt by end of next week.

The city said last week it took some drastic and unprecedented action to disconnect services to all accounts that are in arrears in a bid to recover R6.5 billion of outstanding debt owed to the municipality.

The municipality is owed money from residences, government entities, schools, Embassies and businesses in the city.

“When the response to our request for payment was not satisfactory, we began the disconnection process and started with 38 of the 140 schools whose accounts are in arrears,” the City of Tshwane said.

The City Manager Jason Ngobeni said he had received a written commitment from the Department of Education in Gauteng to settle schools accounts that are in arrears.

“I have instructed that all the disconnected schools be reconnected by 3pm today after receiving a commitment from the Head of Department and the Chief Financial Officer that the money will reflect in our account by next Friday. I trust their word that the payment will be made.

“Disconnecting schools was the most difficult and painful decision we had to take bearing in mind that the schools are busy with the exams, but we had to bite the bullet and disconnect all the entities that owed us,” Ngobeni said.

Ngobeni said he hoped that there would be no recurrence of a situation which forced the city to disconnect services at schools.

“It’s not a nice thing to cut off anyone, whether it’s a school, residential customers, businesses or government departments, embassies or schools. However, disconnecting electricity seems to be the only viable method to recoup our money,” Ngobeni added.

He added that the city have had a series of engagements with various government departments, entities, other municipalities, businesses and residential consumers weekly, monthly and quarterly through the Government Debt Forum with a view to get them to settle their accounts.

The city said it has so far issued 182 623 green notices and 3 548 red notices across all sectors whose accounts are in arrears, reminding them of their debt and informing them of the disconnection process that would follow suit.

Paid debts

Meanwhile, the city said the Department of International Relations and Cooperation (Dirco) kept their payment promise, paying a total amount of R2.2 million in the last ten days.

“The city is pleased to announce that there has been an increase in terms of enquiries from entities wanting to have their disconnected power supply restored, settling their arrears and making arrangements, where necessary,” it said.

Warning to owing customers

The city warned that the Madibeng Local Municipality, other government departments, businesses and residential customers are lined up for future disconnections.

It said it had increased manpower on the ground by appointing 30 companies to execute disconnections and reconnections.

“We have also put our debt collectors on terms to fast-track legal actions. Further, we have issued 481 summonses to top 1000 owing accounts.

“We simply can’t continue to efficiently and sustainably administer the capital city of South Africa if the customers do not pay for the services which they consume,” the city added.

The city said, since the Post Office strike, customers claim that they have not been paying their municipal bill because they have not received their accounts.

It advised that customers use the following ways to get information about their latest account:

· Registering online on eTshwane;
· Submitting cellphone details to receive the account via SMS;
· Visiting any of our customer care walk-in centres, and
· Calling the customer care centre on 012 358 9999.

The city said some of the benefits of registering on eTshwane include receiving statements via the upgraded MMS functionality and allows you to pay your account directly from your smart phone. - SAnews.gov.za

Author Jonathan Laithe’s thriller, SPIDER 2-3, is published in Hardback in the UK on Monday 24 November 2014. A murder in Berlin… A kidnapping in the Caribbean… A girl held hostage forced to reveal vital details. The terrorist Barakah Malekka has joined forces with a Russian traitor from the upper echelons of power in the […]SPIDER 2-3 by Jonathan Laithe is a post from: BooknSpire


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