South Africa – Taung Agricultural College in the North West has received a donation of US $1 million from Danish company Haldor Topsøe, which specialises in research and technology. Speaking at the donation handover ceremony, Deputy President Kgalema Motlanthe said the college must use the funds not only to produce brilliant students, but teachers who [...]

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Tzaneen – A group of school children from Morutsi Primary School in Limpopo has been recognised for playing a role in saving water in their communities.

The Grade 6 learners put their school and village on the national map when they emerged victorious at the Baswa Le Meetse (Youth in Water) competition during the annual South African Youth Water Summit held in Johannesburg last year.

The school received a R6 000 cash prize and a media classroom, sponsored by the MTN Foundation. Water and Environmental Affairs Deputy Minister Rejoice Mabudafhasi recently handed over the media classroom to Morutsi Primary.

Through the project, Grade 6 pupils convey health and hygiene messages through arts media such as drama, music, poetry, praise singing and posters.

Morutsi Primary School learners did the school proud when they performed a drama highlighting the importance of water conservation and awareness.

“The contribution they made in their community towards changing the lives of our community for the better must not be forgotten," said the deputy minister at the official handover ceremony.

"Indeed, through their contribution, the people of Morutsi village must proudly say that South Africa is a better country to live in now and their school will now have computers.”

The media classroom has an interactive whiteboard, a multipurpose printer, data projector, internet service and 21 computers.

“As we are approaching the third decade of freedom in South Africa and while the majority of our people appreciate the work we have done in the past 20 years to lift them out of dehumanisation and indignity, poverty remains a bigger development challenge ahead of us,” Deputy Minister Mabudafhasi said.

She said one of the challenges facing South Africa was educating communities to protect and respect community assets such as schools and libraries.

"These are the reservoirs of wealth for the generations to come," she said.

Baswa Le Meetse is one of the projects of the 2020 Vision Programme aimed at educating pupils about water resource management and the promotion of water sector careers to address the challenge of scarce skills.

“I am very proud to be part of the team that has made the school a better learning environment. Now pupils will be able to go digital and learn more about technology,” said learner Pretty Makhela. – SAnews.gov.za

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While the country has made strides in women empowerment, government says it would like to see more being done in the judiciary and the private sector.

“To date, we have very few women judges - one judge president and only two women judges in the Constitutional Court,” said Social Development Minister Bathabile Dlamini.

Addressing a post-State of the Nation (SONA) Social Protection and Community Development Cluster briefing on Monday, the minister noted that generally, South Africa’s performance on gender equality was commendable.

She cited the Social Institutions and Gender Index of the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development, which ranked South Africa fourth out of the 87 countries in the 2012 index. SA was the top ranked country in Africa.

“On the SADC Gender and Development Index, South Africa was ranked second in 2012, with a score only slightly lower than that of the top performer, Seychelles.

“On the World Economic Forum Gender Gap Index, South Africa has consistently remained in the upper levels, reaching sixth position in 2011,” Minister Dlamini said.

Before 1994, the South African Parliament had a mere 2.7% representation of women. Today, the number of women representation has increased to 44% in Parliament and 42% in Cabinet.

The country has also adopted significant legislation reforms and has developed policies that seek to promote and protect women’s rights in the home, community and in the workplace.

The Domestic Violence Act; Prevention of Family Violence Act; Promotion of Equality and Prevention of Unfair Discrimination Act; 200 and the Criminal Law (Sexual Offences and Related Matters) Amendment Act are some of the laws the country has put in place to protect women.

To provide relief to victims of crime and violence, government introduced the Integrated National Policy Guidelines for Victims Empowerment Programme (VEP) in 2009. The VEP forms an integral part of government’s goal of protecting the rights of women and children.

The VEP focuses on programmes and services that protect, support and care for victims of crime and violence.

The department, in partnership with the Vodacom Foundation and other stakeholders, has launched a 24-hour Command Centre as a pilot project to assist victims of gender-based violence. – SAnews.gov.za

Entries for the much anticipated 2015 ProNutro AfricanX Trailrun presented by New Balance, South Africa’s premier three day stage trail run, will open on Monday, 07 April 2014. “The ProNutro AfricanX Trailrun presented by New Balance continues to grow from strength to strength each year,” says Nicola Collins, Event Manager ProNutro AfricanX Trailrun.Â* “With the [...]Entries open for AfricanX Trailrun 2015 is a post from: Trail Running South Africa


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Social Development Minister Bathabile Dlamini says government has made an important contribution to overcoming the triple challenge of poverty, unemployment and inequality.

Statistics South Africa released the Poverty Trends Report (2006-2011) last Thursday, which showed that poverty levels have dropped since 2006, reaching 45.5% in 2011 when applying the upper-bound poverty line.

The country has a set of three national poverty lines, namely the food poverty line (FPL); the lower-bound poverty line (LBPL) and the upper-bound poverty line (UBPL), which are used to measure poverty.

The FPL is the level of consumption below which people are unable to buy enough food to provide them with an adequate diet.

The LBPL includes non-food items, but requires that individuals sacrifice food in order to obtain these, while individuals at the UBPL can purchase both adequate food and non-food items.

Addressing the media on Monday during a post-State of the Nation Address (SONA) Social Protection and Community Development Cluster briefing, Minister Dlamini said interventions such as increasing the number of grant beneficiaries, rolling out the food and nutrition security campaign and the War on Poverty campaign were bearing fruit.

Minister Dlamini said that today, the majority of South Africans, notably the most vulnerable, have access to basic services such as housing, water, sanitation, electricity and social security, which are government’s most effective poverty-alleviation interventions.

“This democratic government inherited a divided nation, with high poverty levels and inequitable distribution of income. In 1994, government started transforming policies and programmes from a racially based welfare system of apartheid, to the one that is now inclusive of all people.

“This deliberate agenda to transform the social protection framework has contributed to equitable access to basic services and community-based programmes. Looking at the significant political and socio-economic strides we have made since 1994, indeed we have a good story to tell,” Minister Dlamini said.

Expansion of social security coverage

Since 1994, the number of grant beneficiaries has increased from 2.7 million people to more than 16 million people by 2013. Eleven million of these are children, while more than 2.8 million are older persons.

Another achievement was the extension of the Child Support Grant until the age of 18.

In an attempt to ensure that poor and vulnerable households have access to food, government has rolled out the campaign on Food and Nutrition Security. Through these interventions, support has been given to small scale farmers to boost their productive capacity.

“As part of the War on Poverty campaign, the department has been able to create profiles of households in poverty and to make interventions at household and community levels.

“The provision of immediate poverty relief in the form of food parcels and soup kitchens or nutritional centres continues to provide relief to households,” Minister Dlamini said. – SAnews.gov.za

The South African economy needs to undergo a significant structural change if it is to create jobs and employment, Trade and Industry Minister Dr Rob Davies said on Monday. The minister was speaking at the launch of the sixth iteration of the Industrial Policy Action Plan (IPAP) in Johannesburg. “Most of the document is an [...]Structural change needed in SA economy is a post from: South Africa Business

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