Category: Reportage

Source: South Africa News Agency

The National Gambling Policy Council has met to discuss the Gambling Amendment Bill, which is expected to improve the regulation of gambling in the country and squeeze out illegal operators.

At its meeting in Kempton Park on Monday, the council, which is composed of Trade and Industry Minister Rob Davies as well as provincial MECs of Economic Development, discussed issues affecting the gambling industry.

“The meeting considered the draft National Gambling Amendment Bill and the two Gambling Regulations, amongst other issues discussed. The bill will be formally introduced before Parliament for the public hearings, which will culminate in changes to the bill or rejection of the bill,” said the Department of Trade and Industry (dti) on Tuesday.

The National Gambling Amendment Bill was published in October 2016. It is expected that the bill will enhance the regulation of gambling in the country.

Some of the proposals of the bill include the repositioning of the National Gambling Board (NGB) to become the National Gambling Regulator (NGR), led by the Chief Executive Office. The NGR will assume the functions of the NGB.

Enforcement capacity of the regulator will be enhanced by the inspectorate operating with the NGR to fight unlawful gambling practices, including online gambling.

The Gambling Amendment Bill also provides that the NGR should keep a register of illegal gambling operators.

“The council also noted the two Gambling Regulations that will be published for broader public comments, as required in terms of section 87 of the National Gambling Act of 2004. Regulation 2 deals with the exclusion register that will remove certain provisions, which make the registration process tedious and unnecessarily long,” said the dti. – SAnews.gov.za

Source: South Africa News Agency

The Electoral Commission’s Chief Electoral Officer, Sy Mamabolo, says the majority of the new voters, who came out in their numbers this past weekend to register to vote, were women.

“There were 490 520 voters registering for the first time. Of the new voters registrations, over 400 000, which is 82% of voters, were under the age of 30 … See more

Source: South Africa News Agency

Gauteng Premier David Makhura on Tuesday announced the appointment of Dikgang “Uhuru” Moiloa as a Member of the Executive Council responsible for Human Settlements and COGTA.

Addressing the media earlier today, Premier Makhura explained that Moiloa replaces Paul Mashatile, who has been elected to be the Treasurer General at the elective conference of the ruling party in December 2017.

“Uhuru Moiloa is a long serving member of the ANC who has a wide range of political and governance experience which will enable him to hit the ground running in this important work,” said Premier Makhura.

Moiloa is currently the Deputy Speaker of the Gauteng Provincial Legislature. He joined the Gauteng Legislature in 1999.

The swearing in of MEC Moiloa will take place on Friday 16 March 2018.

Illegal land invasions

Touching on illegal land invasions, the Premier said police across the province are on the alert.

He said land invasion is a breach of the law.

“The Prevention of Illegal Eviction from and Unlawful Occupation of Land Act of 1998 prohibits land invasion, thus making it a criminal act.

“Those who engage in land invasion must be dealt with by Law Enforcement Agencies. As I have said before, there are many factors behind land invasion, these include financial gains made by those who sell land illegally as well as politically motivated land invasion.

“We will not allow illegal occupation of land in this province. As I said in the State of the Province we need a fresh approach to resolving the land question,” the Premier said.

Premier Makhura said the provincial government is aware that people have been making calls for land to be made available so that they can build their own houses and embark on economic activities.  

“Working with municipalities, national government and state-owned enterprises, we will ensure that well-allocated land in key economic centres is to be redistributed in the public interest to further establish post-apartheid cities,” he said.

Property rates hikes

With regard to complains about the property rates hikes, the Premier said he has convened a meeting with the Executive Mayor for the City of Johannesburg, Cllr Herman Mashaba, to discuss concerns raised by the residents of Johannesburg in relation to the General Valuation Roll for 2018.

“I had been inundated with complaints raised by business people and ratepayers in the City of Johannesburg regarding over-valuation and under-valuation of their properties.

“Some of the valuations which have been identified as problematic have experienced considerable increases, in some cases by over 100%,” Premier Makhura said.

During the meeting, the City confirmed that the current model used to evaluate properties had errors and the City had received 4500 objections already.

About 8000 properties were identified by the City as having been erroneously valuated.

“I will continue to engage the City and the residents of Johannesburg to ensure a fair outcome for residents,” the Premier said. – SAnews.gov.za

Source: South Africa News Agency

The Electoral Commission’s Chief Electoral Officer, Sy Mamabolo, says the majority of the new voters, who came out in their numbers this past weekend to register to vote, were women.

“There were 490 520 voters registering for the first time. Of the new voters registrations, over 400 000, which is 82% of voters, were under the age of 30 and approximately 54 percent were women,” said the CEO Mambolo.

The CEO was speaking at a media briefing on Tuesday on the outcomes of the voter registration drive, which the IEC held over the weekend.

According to the commission, over 2.76 million citizens visited their voting stations over the past weekend to either register as new voters or to update their registration.

Of the 2.76 million voters who visited their voting stations, over 1.3 million used the opportunity to re-register in their current voting district and 885 758 used the opportunity to change their registration to a new voting district.

An estimated 300 000 voters, who registered this past weekend, are said to fall in the 2.8 million whose addresses were not populated in the IEC’s records ahead of the registration weekend.

“The voters’ roll now sits at 26 250 939 voters, which is estimated to be approximately 75% of the eligible voting population based on Statistics South Africa’s voting age population estimates,” said Mamabolo.

Voter registration according to provinces 

Tallying up its numbers, the commission said Gauteng saw the majority of new registrations at 23.69%, followed by KwaZulu-Natal with 18.78% and Limpopo with 17.03.

Although Gauteng churned out the most new voter registrations, it had the lowest overall registration.

“Despite the high number of new voter registrations over the past weekend, Gauteng has the lowest overall registration at 67.3%. The Eastern Cape is the province with the highest level of registration at 87%, followed by the Free State at 82.2% and KwaZulu-Natal, Limpopo and Northern Cape at 79%,” said Mamabolo.

Online registration

 Voters are also proving to be tech savvy with the IEC reporting a spike in its online activity, with over 50 000 registered voters using the website and the IEC app to check and update their address details.

Mamabolo urged voters to continue using the app to verify whether they are correctly captured on the voters’ roll.

“The online facility at www.elections.org.za and our App remain available 24 hours a day for registered voters to check and update their address details. The average duration spent online or on the app is just less than six minutes,” he said.

The IEC thanked voters and its stakeholders who ensured that the voter registration drive was a success.  

“Our thanks especially to voters themselves, political parties, media and civil society organisations, NGOs, faith-based organisations and traditional leaders and all other stakeholders, which promoted and highlighted the campaign and provided key information to voters,” said Mamabolo.

Mamabolo assured the public that the commission would continue with its door-to-door and SMS campaigns, urging voters to visit their IEC offices to ensure they meet the 30 June 2018 deadline set by the Constitutional Court.

Eligible voters can still register to vote by visiting their nearest IEC offices. To update their address on the voters’ roll, voters can either visit the IEC offices or visit the website on www.elections.org.za.  – SAnews.gov.za

Source: South Africa News Agency

Public Service and Administration Minister, Ayanda Dlodlo, says public administration has to go beyond national boundaries and have a global reach to deal with global governance and administrative and public policy challenges.

The Minister was speaking on Tuesday at the Fifth General Assembly of the Association of African Public Services Commissions (AAPSComs), held under the theme: “Building and strengthening the capacity of Public Service Commissions to meet the challenges of public administration and service delivery in Africa.

She said the ideals of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals should inspire governments to work harder to build the credibility of state institutions, to better serve communities.

Minister Dlodlo said the AAPSComs must play an instrumental role in contributing towards the effectiveness of the public service across the continent.

“If we were to take the argument that effective service delivery is the outcome of good governance, which can best be promoted through sound oversight, we would be on the right track towards an efficient and accountable public service,” the Minister said.

The continent, the Minister said, has made significant progress in the area of good governance.

“A number of countries in Africa are also playing more important roles in the allocation of funds towards health and education and these actions are resulting in significant improvements in child mortality, primary enrolment rates and access to life-saving medicines,” Minister Dlodlo said.

She said in moving forward, focus lies in the building of capable states, endowed with transparent, accountable political and economic systems, and efficient public institutions to provide an enabling environment for all stakeholders to play their respective roles in efforts to consolidate the foundations of sustainable development.

AAPSComs was established on 9 April 2008 at the Speke Resort and Conference Centre in Kampala, Uganda.

The purpose of the Association is to collaborate, share experiences and best practices among Public Service Commissions in order to promote good governance and improve service delivery in the public services of the continent. – SAnews.gov.za

Source: South Africa News Agency

A new date for the signing of 27 renewable energy projects will be announced following a court decision later this month, Energy Minister Jeff Radebe said on Tuesday.

The Minister’s comments follow a decision by the National Union of Metal Workers of South Africa (NUMSA) and non-governmental organisation Transform RSA’s decision to approach the High Court in Pretoria. The urgent court application brought by the two organisations on Monday night were to interdict and restrain Eskom from concluding the 27 renewable energy projects, which include power purchase agreements – pending the finalisation of the case.

Both Minister Radebe and Eskom opposed the application, which was argued until after 11pm.  

After arguments were concluded, the court refused to grant an interim interdict against Eskom or the Minister but instead postponed the matter to 27 March 2018, with the responding parties to file their answering papers by 20 March 2018 and the applicants’ parties to file their replying papers by 22 March 2018.

Minister Radebe was due to hold a signing ceremony at the Depart of Energy’s Independent Power Producers (IPPs) office in Centurion, Tshwane, on Tuesday morning. The signing ceremony was meant to be for Bid Window 3.5 and Bid Window 4 of the department’s Renewable Energy Independent Power Producer Procurement (REIPPP) Programme.

Media had reported that an interdict would prevent the signing ceremony from going ahead. In his response, Minister Radebe said nothing prevented Eskom and IPPs from signing the agreements.

“In the absence of an interdict, and with the court having expressly informed the parties in court that it would not grant such an order, nothing prevented Eskom and IPPs from signing the agreements, as scheduled by me for Tuesday, 13 March 2018.

“However, counsel for the Minister informed the court that while there is no interdict granted, the signing will, however, be postponed until 27 March 2018 when the matter is finally disposed of in court.

“This undertaking was made voluntarily on behalf of the Minister in the spirit of constitutionalism and the rule of law. As a result, the signing will proceed on a date to be announced immediately after the 27th of March 2018. The reports in the media that an interdict was granted are therefore not true,” Minister Radebe said.

He added that the department will continue to defend the right of consumers to have access to cost efficient clean energy that will bring much needed investment in South Africa, as well as jobs and small business entrepreneurial opportunities in rural communities.

“This will also ensure opportunities for economic transformation and access to the mainstream economy.”

Deals important for economy

Minister Radebe said the signing of the 27 projects will enable R56 billion of new investment in the economy over the next two to three years. This will contribute to growth in the economy supporting the already positive achievement of 3.1% Gross Domestic Product growth in the fourth quarter of 2017.

“This programme, as well as the proposed future initiatives, will have a significant contribution in job creation across the energy value chain, including the reestablishment of industrial development and support to the technical training of young people to be absorbed in the labour market.”

Minister Radebe said the usage of different types of energy supply, which includes renewable forms of power generation, is in line with the energy policy. 

“In a nutshell, these projects will provide 61 600 full-time jobs, of which 95% is for South African citizens, mostly during plant construction specifically with a focus on youth employment.  Northern Cape will have 59% of the jobs created, followed by Eastern Cape with 15% and North West 13% of jobs created.”

At a media briefing announcing the signing ceremony last week, Minister Radebe said South Africa had reached a milestone following a protracted period of uncertainty. At the time, he said the signing of the agreements would be re-confirming government’s commitment not only to renewable energy, but also to a solid partnership with the private sector in pursuing government’s energy transition objectives for the future.

“The government of South Africa reconfirms its commitment to a solid public-private partnership as we pursue our energy transition objectives of the future as well as a better life for all,” he said. – SAnews.gov.za