Category: Republic of South Africa

Source: President of South Africa –

Headline: President Ramaphosa begins working visit to Mozambique

President Cyril Ramaphosa, in his capacity as Chair of the Southern African Development Community (SADC), has arrived in Maputo in the Republic of Mozambique on a Working Visit today, Saturday 17 March 2018.

The visit forms part of a long-standing tradition in the SADC region, whereby newly elected Heads of State pay courtesy calls to the neighbouring countries.

In Mozambique, President Ramaphosa will hold discussions with President Filipe Nyusi on cementing bilateral relations between the two countries.

South Africa and Mozambique enjoy cordial bilateral relations, underpinned by strong historical and political bonds that date back to the era of the struggle against colonialism and apartheid.

President Ramaphosa is accompanied by the Minister of International Relations and Cooperation, Ms Lindiwe Sisulu and the Minister of State Security, Ms Dipuo Letsatsi-Duba.

Following the visit to Mozambique, President Ramaphosa will depart for the Republic of Zimbabwe, where he will pay a courtesy call  on President Emmerson Mnangagwa.

Media enquiries: Khusela Diko, Spokesperson on 072 854 5707

Issued by: The Presidency

Source: President of South Africa –

Headline: President Ramaphosa and Deputy President Mabuza host Black Economic Empowerment Advisory C

President Cyril Ramaphosa and Deputy President David Mabuza attended their first meeting of the Black Economic Empowerment Advisory Council (BEEAC) in Pretoria today, Friday 16 March 2018.

The Council, which is chaired by the President, with the Minister of Trade and Industry as head of the secretariat, advises government on economic empowerment, and is focused on ensuring effective implementation of the Broad-Based Black Economic Empowerment Act (B-BBEEA), in terms of which the Council itself has been established.

The Council holds four meetings a year in line with the provisions of this Act.

The Act defines broad-based black economic empowerment as the viable economic empowerment of all black people – in particular women, workers, youth, people with disabilities and people living in rural areas – through diverse but integrated socio-economic strategies.

These strategies include, but are not limited to: increasing the number of black people that manage, own and control enterprises and productive assets; preferential procurement from enterprises that are owned and managed by black people, and achieving equitable representation in all occupational categories and levels in the workplace.

In today’s meeting, the President and Deputy President received presentations on current programmes of the Council and challenges it has identified in the implementation of the B-BBEE Act.

The Council’s current programmes address alignment between the B-BBEE Act and the Preferential Procurement Policy Framework Act; radical economic transformation, B-BBEE codes, sector charters and equity equivalents; the Black Industrialists Programme, and revitalisation of the township economy.

The Council observed significant weakness in the implementation of the Act, including the absence of adequate provincial strategies on implementation of the Act, as well as the absence of the Act from the scope of assurance providers such as the Auditor-General, internal audit in government departments and entities, and chief risk officers.

Following meetings between the Council and Premiers, most provinces are now setting up provincial B-BBEE advisory councils, while members of the national Council have been assigned to work with individual provinces to advance this work.

Inclusion of broad-based black economic empowerment compliance in the scope of the Auditor-General is currently under discussion.

On the Black Industrialists programme, the Council reported that to date, 83 black industrialist projects have been funded by the Department of Trade and Industry with a total investment of R8.3 billion. This has created over 13,000 direct jobs and 18,000 indirect jobs.

President Ramaphosa expressed government’s appreciation to the Council for its “admirable work in advancing the frontiers of broad-based black economic empowerment”.

“The existence of the Council gives credence to the relevance of broad-based black economic empowerment as an imperative, not a choice, for us as South Africans,” President Ramaphosa said.

Media enquiries: Khusela Diko, Spokesperson to the President on 072 854 5707

Issued by: The Presidency 
Pretoria  

Source: President of South Africa –

Headline: President Ramaphosa calls for plan to eradicate unsafe school ablution facilities

President Cyril Ramaphosa is appalled and saddened at the passing away of five year old Viwe Jali, who fell into a pit toilet at the Luna Primary School in Bizana.
 
President Ramaphosa has on behalf of the government and the people of South Africa expressed condolences to Viwe’s family and relatives on their devastating loss.
 
The President has also expressed his grave concern about the safety of facilities in schools, especially when it comes to a lack of decent ablution facilities.
 
President Ramaphosa has directed Minister of Basic Education Angie Motshekga to conduct an audit of all learning facilities with unsafe structures, especially unsafe ablution facilities, within a month and to present him with a plan to rectify the challenges, as an emergency interim measure while rolling out proper infrastructure, within three months.
 
 As the President committed in the state of the nation address, the plan to eliminate unsafe ablution facilities will be participatory, with civil society being consulted. To this end, he further welcomes input by civil society organizations who continue to champion the struggle for safe and decent school infrastructure.
 
The death of Viwe is devastating for her community and the country. The nation still mourns the loss of young Michael Komape under similar tragic circumstances in 2014. 
 
In memory of these young souls, President Ramaphosa has committed government to spare no effort in ensuring that our children can learn in safe and conducive facilities. 
 

Media enquiries: Khusela Diko, Spokesperson to the President on 072 854 5707

Issued by: The Presidency 
Pretoria  

Source: President of South Africa –

Headline: President Ramaphosa commends business leadership for championing youth employment

President Cyril Ramaphosa has welcomed the commitment of the private sector to work with government under the aegis of the soon-to-be-launched Youth Employment Service (YES) to empower one million young people over the next three years to become economically active.
 
President Ramaphosa and Deputy President David Mabuza led a government delegation to a meeting today, Friday 16 March 2018, with business leaders in Sandton, Johannesburg.
 
The meeting brought together chief executives and other senior leadership from a broad range of leading corporations, state-owned enterprises and employment and skills development initiatives.
 
The meeting was a preparatory session for the launch later this month of the Youth Employment Service. The Cabinet meeting of 14 March 2018 agreed that President Ramaphosa would launch the pilot of the Youth Employment Service initiative at the Riversands Incubation Hub in Diepsloot on 27 March 2018.
 
This initiative, in collaboration with the private sector, aims to empower one million young people over the next three years through year-long paid internships in companies.
 
At today’s meeting, business leadership reiterated the support of the private sector for the YES initiative and gave examples of existing efforts to employ more young people and elevate the skills required to participate in the workplace.
 
Addressing YES partners today, President Ramaphosa thanked Stephen Koseff of Investec Bank and Colin Coleman of Goldman Sachs for leading the business community in opening the doors of opportunity for young South Africans.
 
President Ramaphosa thanked business for the considerable number of programmes in which companies were already engaged to empower young people and said YES would “lift the hope of many young people and demonstrate that we are able to achieve a great deal through dialogue.”

He assured business that Cabinet was “very enthusiastic” about the YES initiative as a means to create pathways for young people.
 
The President said government was prepared to work with the private sector as partners in creating value and solving key problems facing the country.
 

Media enquiries: Khusela Diko, Spokesperson to the President on 072 854 5707

Issued by: The Presidency 
Pretoria  

Source: President of South Africa –

Headline: Presidency Chief Operations Officer to join COGTA

The Presidency Chief Operations Officer, (COO), Ms Lakela Kaunda, is to join the Ministry of Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs, (COGTA), as COO on secondment for a period of 12 months, at the request of COGTA, with effect from 20 March 2018.
 
Ms Kaunda has been with the Presidency since 2009, first as Deputy Director-General and Head of the Private Office of the President and later as Chief Operations Officer. She had previously served the Presidency from 2000 to 2005 as Head of Communications and Spokesperson to then Deputy President Jacob Zuma
 
“We wish Ms Kaunda well during her tenure at COGTA and know that she will represent us well given her diligence, expertise and unwavering commitment to public service. We also thank Ms Kaunda for her sterling contribution to the Presidency in various roles over the years,” said the Director-General in the Presidency Dr Cassius Lubisi.
 
Ms Kaunda expressed gratitude to the Presidency for enabling her to join COGTA to become part of the coalface of service delivery.
 
“I am looking forward to becoming part of the actual building of better communities through serving in a line function department. COGTA is a huge portfolio and this will enable me to expend my energy in various fields during the duration of my secondment,” said Ms Kaunda.
 

Media enquiries: Khusela Diko, Spokesperson to the President on 072 854 5707

Issued by: The Presidency 
Pretoria 

Source: President of South Africa –

Headline: President Ramaphosa condemns attack on Prasa staff and assets

President Cyril Ramaphosa has condemned in the strongest possible terms the reported attack on a female train driver and 10 other Passenger Rail Agency of South Africa (Prasa) staff members along the Pretoria-Pretoria Pienaarspoort corridor this week.

Prasa has confirmed that the driver was stripped naked, hit with a brick and dragged into thickets as part of a sustained attack on trains along this corridor, and that a further 10 employees were attacked during this incident.

President Ramaphosa has asked Prasa for a full report on the incident no later than tomorrow.
 
At the same time, Transport Minister Blade Nzimande has given the President an undertaking that a plan outlining measures to normalise the situation around Prasa services and assets has been developed and shall be announced shortly.

The Pretoria incident is regrettably one in a series of assaults on Prasa passengers, staff and infrastructure around the country.

President Ramaphosa condemns the actions of people who destroy public assets and abuse fellow citizens who are doing their best to deliver services to communities, as in the case of the injured train driver.

“Government will not allow crime of any kind to go unpunished, and we will act particularly severely against criminals who destroy public assets or services. These criminal acts affect users of such assets and services, as well as personnel who are themselves members of our communities.

“Where grievances exist, government is always open to hearing from communities and working with South Africans to overcome any problems people may face. However, there is no grievance that justifies violence or vandalism.

“In Human Rights Month, we must again condemn violence against women, as was experienced by the train driver.”

President Ramaphosa called on law enforcement agencies and Prasa to do their utmost to bring offenders to book and called on communities to join government in efforts to sustain services, such as public transport, that benefit all South Africans.

President Ramaphosa wished the affected Prasa staff members a speedy recovery from this week’s traumatic incident.

 
Media enquiries: Khusela Diko, Spokesperson to the President on 072 854 5707

Issued by: The Presidency 
Pretoria 

Source: President of South Africa –

Headline: President Ramaphosa to undertake a Working Visit to Mozambique and Zimbabwe

President Cyril Ramaphosa will undertake a Working Visit to the Republic of Mozambique and the Republic of Zimbabwe on 17 March 2018 as the Chair of the Southern African Development Community (SADC).
 
The visit forms part of a long-standing tradition in the SADC region, whereby newly elected Heads of State pay courtesy calls to the neighbouring countries.
 
During the visit, President Ramaphosa and his counterparts will discuss bilateral cooperation as well as regional, continental and global issues of mutual concern.
 
It is expected that the SADC Heads of State will pay a particular focus on the latest political and security developments in the Region including the regional economic integration agenda in the Southern African Development Community.
 
President Ramaphosa will be accompanied by the Minister of International Relations and Cooperation, Ms Lindiwe Sisulu and the Minister of State Security, Ms Dipuo Letsatsi-Duba.
 

Media enquiries: Khusela Diko, Spokesperson to the President on 072 854 5707

Issued by: The Presidency 
Pretoria 

Source: President of South Africa –

Headline: President Ramaphosa meets CEO’s of state-owned companies

President Cyril Ramaphosa held brief discussions yesterday, Tuesday 13 March 2018, with Chief Executive Officers (CEOs) of a number of state-owned companies.
 
In his February 2018 State of the Nation Address, President Ramaphosa said government would intervene decisively to stabilise and revitalise state-owned companies and would take further measures to ensure that all state-owned companies fulfilled their economic and developmental mandates as important catalysts through which government creates public value.
 
Corporate governance challenges, fragmentation of the work of the SOCs and lack of alignment between the SOCs and delivery priorities of government – these being decisively dealing with poverty, unemployment and inequality – were some of the issues raised by the President.
 
The Chief Executives have presented proposals on initiatives for economic recovery including advanced manufacturing; creating meaningful employment in the agricultural sector; monetizing digital capabilities to boost the economy, and the development of logistics systems to enable and accelerate economic growth.
 
They have further committed to key actions to leverage the power and scale SOCs as a cohesive and effective group contributing to economic growth through improved governance, economic recovery, SOC reform and transformation (encompassing procurement practices, develop finance and support for women in skills and business development).
 
President Ramaphosa has welcomed the commitment of CEOs to reposition SOCs as enablers of growth, driven by a common vision and higher levels of cooperation and synergy.
 
President Ramaphosa will meet with different SOC chief executives in due course.
 

Media enquiries: Khusela Diko, Spokesperson to the President on 072 854 5707

Issued by: The Presidency Pretoria

Source: President of South Africa –

Headline: President Ramaphosa receives courtesy call by President Lungu of Zambia

President Cyril Ramaphosa received a courtesy call by President Edgar Chagwa Lungu of the Republic of Zambia today, Tuesday 13 March 2018.

President Ramaphosa, Chair of the Southern African Development Community (SADC) hosted President Lungu in Pretoria for a meeting that formed part of President Ramaphosa’s current round of consultations with leaders of SADC member states. President Ramaphosa recently visited Angola, Namibia and Botswana.

Zambia is the incoming Chair of the Organ on Politics, Defence and Security Cooperation.

President Ramaphosa and President Lungu committed that South Africa and Zambia will continue to work together on the region’s common agenda relating to, among others, peace, security and economic integration.

Historic relations between South Africa and Zambia were concretised when the African National Congress (ANC) established its headquarters in Lusaka during our shared struggle for liberation. This led to the existing deep and solid bonds of friendship between the peoples of South Africa and Zambia.

Structured bilateral cooperation between South Africa and Zambia formerly took place under the framework of the Joint Commission for Cooperation (JCC) which was signed on 18 October 2005.

During the Second Session of the JCC held in Zambia from 9 to 11 October 2017, the two countries agreed to elevate the JCC to a Bi-National Commission (BNC) which would be chaired at the level of Heads of State.

South Africa is expected to host the inaugural session of the BNC in 2018.

 
Media enquiries: Khusela Diko, Spokesperson to the President on 072 854 5707

Issued by: The Presidency
Pretoria

Source: President of South Africa –

Headline: President Ramaphosa to account to Parliament in first question session

President Cyril Ramaphosa will account to Parliament, and the nation at large, in a question and answer session in the National Assembly tomorrow, Wednesday 14 March 2018.
 
Questions for oral reply by the President are one of the mechanisms utilised by Parliament to hold the President and the National Executive accountable and are scheduled for at least once per quarter. Tomorrow’s session will be President Ramaphosa’s first in his capacity as President of the Republic.
 
The President will update the nation on, among other issues, the social compact and economic recovery, government’s land reform programme with expropriation of land without compensation as one of the mechanisms, the process towards the review of the Mining Charter and matters relating to the National Prosecuting Authority.
 
The Replies are scheduled to take place as follows: 
Date: Wednesday 14 March 2018
Time: 15:00
Venue: National Assembly, Parliament
 

Media enquiries: Khusela Diko, Spokesperson to the President on 072 854 5707

Issued by: The Presidency
Pretoria