Minister in the Presidency, Jeff Radebe, says BRICS countries must continue to embrace innovation as a key driver for economic growth. “Innovation is a powerful engine for development and for addressing social and global challenges. “I can also affirm that innovation is centrally located in South Africa’s long term economic growth strategy, which includes a [...]Innovation key to economic growth is a post from: South Africa Business


more Business South Africa ...

Science and Technology Minister Naledi Pandor says research into the prevention of HIV is at the centre of government’s strategy aimed at ending the epidemic that has held the world hostage for many years.

Addressing the opening of the HIV Research for Prevention 2014 (HIVR4P) conference at the Cape Town International Convention Centre, the Minister said government was willing to go into more partnerships that will promote research and innovation aimed at preventing and treating new infections in HIV.

Minister Pandor said she was pleased that the conference - which brought over 1300 delegates made up of researchers, academics and scholars to Cape Town – was being held for the first time ever in South Africa.

“We believe that it is absolutely vital that more and more attention is being paid to biomedical HIV prevention research.

“As a department, we are working very hard to encourage investment in research activities by African governments themselves because we believe that as Africa we must take greater responsibility for ensuring that we have dedicated research attention to a wide range of scientific field,” she said on Tuesday.

HIVR4P 2014 is the world's first and only scientific meeting dedicated exclusively to biomedical HIV prevention research.

The conference is intended to serve as an opportunity for sharing and debating the latest advances and challenges in the field, and to promote critical discussions of the issues that will drive intervention-specific and comprehensive biomedical prevention research, discovery, development and implementation.

The conference was told that to date, 35 million people were currently living with HIV and Aids, and that most people living with the disease were in South Africa.

According to a survey by the Human Sciences Research Council, 400 000 new HIV infections occurred in South Africa in 2012, bringing to the total number of infected South Africans to 6.5 million – 1.2 million more than in 2008.

The Minister said these figures could not be ignored and said that her department in partnership with the Department of Health has prioritised research in prevention tools.

“… We believe as Africa we must take greater responsibility for ensuring that we have dedicated research attention for a wide range of scientific fields and in particular, that we must begin to assume responsibility both for researching our problem and for finding solutions to them.

“We must invest in young people, invest in young researchers, create the infrastructure and the capacity for us to be able to be a leading player in science and not be a client of others,” she said.

She said, however, that “Thirty years ago, the global picture was depressing. We were faced with increasing rates of HIV infections and there was very little hope for those infected during those years.

“Now … the overall situation has improved significantly. Today we are talking about approximately 30 drugs that have been approved for use for people living with HIV and Aids and many more are in different shapes of research”.

She said some of the prevention tools that have been created include the prevention of mother to child transmission, male circumcision, pre-exposure prevention, amongst others.

The Minister also said research has shown that early treatment of infections in HIV positive people can reduce the risk of transmission of HIV, and that the use of ARVs in HIV negative people can reduce the risk of infection.

She said it would take biomedical, behavioural and socio-economic interventions to achieve zero new HIV infections and zero discrimination.

South Africa has to date been able to put two and a half million people on ARV treatment, which has reduced the number of mother to child transmissions and brought down the number of people dying from HIV aids.

Meanwhile, the Minister said her department would soon sit down with researchers to discuss various ways in which research into Ebola can be encouraged. – SAnews.gov.za

The Department of Environmental Affairs says it has noted the indictment of two South Africans in the United States for rhino poaching related offences.

“The department has noted the indictment of two South Africans by the United States Department of Justice. The indictment of the owners of Out of Africa Adventurous Safaris is noted. We will monitor developments related to the case,” said the department’s spokesperson Albi Modise.

The Directorate for Priority Crime Investigation, also known as the Hawks, assisted the US Justice Department’s Environment and Natural Resources Division in their investigation.

Modise said the department understands that there is a criminal case against Dawie Groenewald and 10 co-accused, who are expected to stand trial in South Africa in August 2015 on 1 872 charges including racketeering, illegal trade in rhino horns, fraud, corruption, assault and illegal possession of firearms and ammunition.

Kruger National Park

Legal action by the United States Attorney General’s Office comes less than a week after the police and SANParks officials successfully apprehended 14 suspected rhino poachers in joint operations at the Kruger National Park.

“The success of the joint operations undertaken by the SAPS and SANParks is an example of the commitment of South Africa’s police and rangers to work together to eliminate rhino poaching from our country,” said the department.

The three successful operations had been undertaken in the Kruger National Park between 17 and 19 October 2014.

The arrest of the 14 suspected rhino poachers brought to 113 the number of poachers arrested in the Kruger National Park this year.

The department congratulated all those involved in the operations.

“The department is confident that joint operations such as these will send a strong message to all those intent on poaching any species, particularly rhino in our national parks, provincial reserves and on private conservation land, that they will be caught and face the full might of the law.”

The successful arrests in the Kruger National Park came as the number of rhino poached in South Africa since the start of 2014 increased to 899.

The Kruger National Park continued to bear the brunt of rhino poaching in South Africa, having lost 581 animals since 1 January 2014.

A total of 109 rhino have been poached in Limpopo, 74 in KwaZulu-Natal, 57 in Mpumalanga and 53 in North West. A second rhino has been poached in the Northern Cape.

Since January 2014, a total of 282 alleged rhino poachers have been arrested.

The department urged the public to report incidents of poaching and tip-offs to the anonymous tip-off lines 0800 205 005, 08600 10111 or Crime-Line on 32211. – SAnews.gov.za

Government will launch a fund that will support informal sector enterprises, especially in the townships, to achieve inclusive growth in the...

read more Southern Africa Business News...

SA-UK trade – South Africa and the United Kingdom have extensive trade and economic relations, which continue to strengthen despite the global economic challenges. Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) from the United Kingdom stood at R60 billion for the period January 2009 to April 2014 – the highest from Europe in this period and creating 19 [...]
The post SA-UK trade appeared first on InterTrade.


more RSA-UK Trade ...

The Department of Trade and Industry (dti) has released the Broad-Based Black Economic Empowerment (B-BBEE) Amendment Act No. 46 of 2013.

The act was assented by President Jacob Zuma and published for general information in Government Gazette No. 37271 (Notice No. 55) of 27 January 2014.

The amendment act aims to strengthen the implementation of B-BBEE and its reporting across the economy, as well as to put in place mechanisms to deal with non-compliance.

The act has several objectives, including aligning it with other legislation that deals with B-BBEE and the Codes of Good Practice. It also seeks to establish the B-BBEE Commission to create an institutional environment for monitoring and evaluating B-BBEE.

The gazetted proclamation notice for the commencement of the B-BBEE Amendment Act No. 46 of 2013 has now been released in the Government Gazette.

The commencement of the amendment act is from the date of gazette and is now enforced as law, said the dti.

The operation of the act, said Minister Rob Davies, was necessary to enable the department to perform some of the functions embedded in the act.

He said it was also imperative for the development of subordinate legislation, and to ensure the effective implementation of the Codes of Good Practice.

Minister Davies said some of the key material amendments in the act refer to the following:

- Aligning the act and the codes, which comprises an interpretation clause extended to include a trumping provision that stipulates that the B-BBEE Amendment Act will trump any law that was in force prior to the commencement date of the act.
- The establishment of the B-BBEE Commission, which will be created as an entity within the administration of the dti, headed by a Commissioner appointed by the Minister. The commission will be responsible for overseeing, supervising and promoting adherence to the act, as well as the monitoring and evaluation of B-BBEE.
- Offences, penalties and prohibitions in relation to fronting practices and misrepresentation of the B-BBEE status of an enterprise. The amendment act sets clear penalties, which include a minimum penalty of 10 years imprisonment (and/or a fine) or if the offender is not a natural person, a fine of 10% of its annual turnover.

Minister Davies said with the gazetting of the proclamation notice, these key material amendments will come into immediate effect. – SAnews.gov.za

It is with great sadness that Athletics South Africa (ASA) has come to learn of the untimely passing of one of its greatest athlete, Mbulaeni Mulaudzi. Mr. Mulaudzi, born on 8th September 1980 tragically passed away on the 24th October 2014. Born inÂ*Muduluni,Â*Gauteng , he became South Africa’s first black athlete to be ranked number [...]The Passing of Mbulaeni Mulaudzi is a post from: Time-to-Run South Africa


more Running South Africa ...

Unemployment Insurance Fund (UIF) Commissioner Boas Seruwe says he is pleased with the financial standing of the fund, with payments of up to R5.7 billion having been made to beneficiaries in the 2013/14 financial year.

“The fund has built an asset base valued at R102 billion and has over the past five successive years posted clean audits. We do not think the fund will in the foreseeable future will go and ask government for bail out,” Seruwe said at 4th Annual UIF Seminar held in Pretoria on Friday.

The UIF seminar was a platform to encourage employers to comply with the Unemployment Insurance Act by registering employees and making contributions to the fund every month.

The seminar also sought to get employers to use the new and already active uFiling system that was introduced to make life easier for employers when registering and declaring their employees.

Seruwe said the number of registered employees has increased from 8.3 million in April 2013 to 8.5 million by March 2014. The number of employers registered with the fund stands at 1.5 million.

The total number of people who accessed the UIF’s range of benefits has increased in the financial year 2012/13 from 731 131 to 762 654 in 2013/14. The number of women claiming for maternity benefits has increased from 72 000 in 2004/05 to 105 021 in 2013/2014.

Seruwe said the fund’s claims turnaround time was five weeks and the organisation always strives to improve. He said the target was to finalise 85% of claims within five weeks of receipt. For the year under review, however, they achieved 86%.

“To improve service delivery, we have developed an online system where clients can declare at the comfort of their offices,” Seruwe said.

Training lay-off scheme

Turning to companies in distress, Seruwe said the UIF was contributing to training lay-off scheme to help companies in the process of retrenchment.

The commissioner was disappointed that the scheme was not being used by companies to the level of their expectation.

He said in 2010 when the training lay-off scheme started, the UIF budgeted R248 million and only R21 million was utilised. However, there were signs that this was picking up in this current financial year.

“Of the R150 million allocated, R52 million has been paid to companies in distress,” said Seruwe.

The auto sector was a leading user of the scheme. Seruwe said there were other companies in other sectors that were retrenching but were not making use of the scheme.

Gauteng based companies account for a large number of organisations using the scheme.

The UIF, a public entity of the Department of Labour, has increased contributions revenue from R13.6 billion in 2012/13 to R15.3 billion in the 2013/14 financial year.

Seruwe encouraged millions of employees, who are still not registered with the fund, to register. – SAnews.gov.za

Specialist energy management company RUMM, has been shortlisted for the ‘Technology’ category in the Insider Made in Wales Awards 2014. The...

more Environment news ...

Energy management company RUMM, has appointed behavioural specialist, Phil Griffiths, as the company’s low carbon psychologist – the first appointment of its kind in the UK. The appointment follows on from Mr Griffiths conducting academic research on behalf of RUMM with the University of South Wales. The study formulated an intervention by which behaviour can [...]RUMM appoint low carbon psychologist is a post from: EconSpire
The post RUMM appoint low carbon psychologist appeared first on EconSpire.


read more Eco News ..