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Oral Replies by Deputy President Shipokosa Paulus Mashatile to questions in the National Council of Provinces, Parliament
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Honourable Chairperson,

Prior to responding to questions by Members of this House, let me wish all those celebrating a Happy and Blessed month of Ramadan. May it be a turning point for the people of Palestine, and the oppressed nations of the world.

On High unemployment rate among youth

Honourable Chairperson,

In October 2020, Cabinet approved the National Youth Policy (NYP) 2030, which is a cross-sectoral policy intended to redress the injustices of the past and deal decisively with new challenges affecting the youth.

As part of our commitment to reduce youth unemployment, the Minister of Finance has announced an amount of R7.4 billion set aside for the Presidential Employment Initiative for the 2024/25 financial year. 

Thus far, the Presidential Employment Initiative has assisted over 1.7 million people through a combination of job creation, job retention and income and skills support interventions.

Honourable Chairperson,

In addition, the South African Employment Services System, which serves over 7 million job seekers, provides nationwide platforms for youth to register for employment, match with employment opportunities, and receive placement counselling. 

Through public-private partnerships, government supports various internship, learnerships, and apprenticeship programmes across various government departments to provide experiential learning and facilitate entry into the labour market for young people.

By supporting the growth of Small, Medium and Micro Enterprises (SMMEs), government is playing a critical role in addressing South Africa’s youth unemployment crisis. Government is also implementing the Preferential Procurement Policy Framework Act to promote SMMEs that are key to job creation, and economic growth.

We must continue to strengthen multi sectoral partnerships to increase opportunities that promote youth empowerment and participation in the labour market. Together, we can contribute to national efforts to create employment and get South Africans working.

I thank you.

On addressing skills shortage

Honourable Chairperson,
 
After the Fourth Human Resource Development Council Summit that was held in 2021, partners who are represented in the Council, comprising government, business sector, organised labour and civil society, signed three social compacts.

The compacts are aimed at strengthening relationships and positively impacting the human development value chain in our country.

The first social compact focuses on building the foundation for a transformed economy and society. The second compact focuses on skills for a transformed economy and society, and the third one relates to the building of a capable state, and professionalisation of the public service. 

The signing of these compacts demonstrates government and social partner collaboration to address skills shortages in critical economic sectors. 

The social compacts prioritise digital skills for the 21st century, aligning them with global demands of the Fourth and Fifth Industrial Revolutions.

Honourable Chairperson, 

The Department of Higher Education and Training established a National Skills Fund that prioritises employment creation interventions through the rollout of work-integrated learning programmes designed to facilitate the transition of graduates and technical vocational education and training college students into the labour market.

This year, R800 million has been set aside for the National Skills Fund to develop skills in the digital and technology sector through an innovative model that links payment for training to employment outcomes. 

Moreover, the Human Resource Development Strategy: Towards 2030 recognises that education and skills in South Africa constitute the nerve-centre of the country’s economic growth and the national transformation goals set out in the National Development Plan’s vision for 2030.

The country’s re-conceptualised Human Resource Development Strategy and Master Skills Plan, which is currently being developed, will give further impetus to our efforts of addressing skills shortages across all sectors of our economy.

Last week, on Friday 8 March 2024, we held a Human Resource Development Council meeting, which took the form of a retreat where we reflected on both achievements and challenges relating to the shortage of skills in critical sectors of our economy.

One of the critical observations of the Council is that there is a need to improve the speed of policy execution across the state, the private sector and civil society to realise our global competitiveness.

I thank you. 

On resolving water crisis/disruptions

Honourable Chairperson,

Government is implementing improvement plans as part of its rapid response interventions to resolve the water crisis and electricity disruptions in various municipalities in the country.

Through the Service Delivery War Room, the Department of Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs, as the coordinating department, has developed a number of improvements plans to implement rapid response interventions that include the following:

• The establishment of the Results Management Office.
• The introduction of reforms in the Municipal Infrastructure Grant to fund repairs, refurbishment and renewal of their infrastructure.
• Continued deployment of technical professionals through the Municipal Infrastructure Support Agent.

As part of the Results Management Office's responsibility, the Working Group on Energy assists municipalities in advancing demand side management measures and providing alternate energy supplies. These initiatives are aimed at reducing the impact of load shedding, and its effect on substations and transformers.

Honourable Chairperson,

Last week, together with the Deputy Ministers of CoGTA and Water and Sanitation, we visited Knysna Municipality to find solutions to some of the challenges the municipality is facing. We are happy to report that with the support of Municipal Infrastructure Support Agent (MISA), the pump station that had been vandalised in the Hornlee area has been repaired, and water supply has been restored to the community. As this government, we are committed to working within the Inter-Governmental Relations Framework to ensure that we assist Municipalities in delivering services to our people. 

The Municipal Infrastructure Support Agent, continues to engage the private sector to fund bulk-water infrastructure projects. Two examples of these private sector engagements include Sishen Mine in the Northern Cape Province and the Anglo Platinum Mine in Limpopo Province. These private sector entities have stepped up to fund wastewater treatment works upgrades in the Northern Cape and Limpopo Provinces, respectively.

Furthermore, Eskom has initiated the Active Partnering Programme, which provides technical support to Municipalities through targeted interventions based on each municipality’s needs, and to strengthen the capacity of municipalities to address the high failure rate of mini sub-stations and transformers.

Parliament is currently processing the South African National Water Resources Infrastructure Agency SOC Limited Bill to establish the South African National Water Resources Infrastructure Agency as a state-owned company, and a major public entity. The Agency will enable South Africa to expand our bulk water infrastructure and improve the management of existing water assets to ensure water security over the next decade.

As the government of the African National Congress, we will continue to work tirelessly to assist municipalities who are Water Services Authorities to meet their constitutional obligation to provide reliable water and sanitation services to all South African citizens.
 
I thank you.

On the District Development Model

Honourable Chairperson,

The District Development Model (DDM) is in operation across the three spheres of government. Since assuming my responsibilities as the Deputy President of the Republic in March 2023, I have been on the ground conducting several DDM-linked outreach visits to provinces, specifically to troubleshoot service delivery hotspots at the municipal level, and implement intervention measures that are in line with the District Development Model. 

To this end, I have conducted outreach programmes to different sites in the North West, Gauteng, Free State, KwaZulu-Natal, Eastern Cape and Mpumalanga provinces. These included interactions with stakeholders that are seized with the implementation of the DDM in their localities, including; traditional leaders, government, business and community organisations.  

Honourable Chairperson,

On Thursday, 07 March 2024, President Cyril Ramaphosa led Government’s interaction in the form of a District Development Model Presidential Imbizo with communities and stakeholders in the Nkangala District Municipality in Mpumalanga.

This 12th Imbizo was part of the ongoing interactions with communities and stakeholders, aimed at enabling successful implementation of the “One District, One Plan” District Development Model. In line with the theme of, “Leaving No One Behind”, residents, Traditional and Khoi-San Leaders, Business Formations, Organised Labour, Faith- and Community-Based Organisations work with government across all phases of planning, implementation, and evaluation.

Our interactions with these partners have assisted in identifying areas of best practice and those that need strengthening in the implementation of the One Plans of municipalities. 

In particular, collaborating with the Department of Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs, we are looking into ensuring that implementation of the DDM leads to strengthening partnerships with development partners and investors underpinned by a longer term DDM Vision and One Plans.  

Through the implementation of the District Development Model, the African National Congress-led government will continue to invest in our people by ensuring that local governments deliver and provide basic services to all communities. 

I thank you.

On the transfer of agricultural land

Honourable Chairperson,

Government is accelerating land redistribution through a variety of instruments, such as land restitution and expropriation of land, in order to boost agricultural output. 

To this end, in his 2023 budget vote speech, the Minister of Public Works and Infrastructure announced that 221 land parcels measuring 148 796 hectares have been released from the Department property portfolio to the Department of Agriculture, Land Reform, and Rural Development for transfer to the approved land claimants. Approximately 1 576 hectares of land is earmarked to be released before the end of this financial year.

To further address the skewed patterns of land ownership, 125 land parcels, measuring 25 549 hectares of agricultural land was released to support subsistence farming and food security. This is in keeping with what we have been doing over the last 30 years.

Furthermore, the government is in the process of transferring State Agricultural Land, through which is known as FALA (Financial Assistance Land) properties, where there has been compliance with the rent-to-buy agreements. 

The Department of Agriculture, Land Reform and Rural Development is developing criteria for category 3 and commercial farmers as part of the rollout plan for the release of state land. Category 3 includes medium to large-scale commercial farmers who have already been, or intend to farm commercially at various scales, but are disadvantaged by location, size of land, and other resource constraints that are limiting their growth.

Under the land reform programme, the Department of Public Works and Infrastructure, as the custodian of national state-owned land, receives requests from the Department of Agriculture, Land Reform and Rural Development to release land to settle land claims for restitution, and for agricultural purposes.

As a government, we will prioritize providing extension and technical support in order to ensure that we distribute properties that are productive and contribute to South Africa’s food security. 

I thank you.

On the genocide case against Israel

Honourable Chairperson,

As South Africa we have no regrets about becoming the first country to file the lawsuit against the State of Israeli at the International Court of Justice (ICJ) in The Hague, to compel her government to end the deadly and relentless genocidal bombardment of Gaza.  

The UN Humanitarian Agency estimates that more than 30,000 Palestinians, including over 10,000 children, have been killed. Over 70,000 have been injured while 10,000 are missing under rubble. This brings the number of civilian casualties to about 110,000, amounting to roughly 5% of Gaza's 2.3 million population. We will not condone genocide. 

Similarly, I must reiterate South Africa’s condemnation of Hamas for the indiscriminate and wanton violence meted against Israeli civilians.
 
Honourable Chairperson,

We are mindful that not every citizen supports our government’s decision to refer the Gaza bombardment to the ICJ. We are also aware that some, here at home and abroad, started off by opposing our position. However, they have revised their view, taking into consideration the number of deaths and sheer scale of human suffering. 

We also know that there are some for whom support for the State of Israel is an ideological and, in some instances, a religious matter. They will never be swayed no matter the facts and however persuasive the argument. There are, frankly speaking, some whose idea of human pain is informed by the pigmentation of the perpetrator and the victim. Others do not so much as care about anything that happens beyond our borders and would rather that we become an insular society even as the world shrinks into a village. 

However the ANC led government will continue to engage every sector of our society especially on matters contentious. 

Honourable Chairperson,

Our country is committed to the promotion of social cohesion, which does not mean the absence of difference, but the promotion of consensus and evolution of a practical programme of action for progressive social change.

It is in the context of Ubuntu and the building a better Africa and the world that we remain committed to promoting the Bill of Rights, which enshrines the rights of all people in our country and affirms the democratic values of human dignity, equality and freedom.

We will continue to pledge of our solidarity with the people of Palestine in their struggle to end all acts of the apartheid system by Israeli government, and the genocide emanating from that evil system, and supporting their collective right to self-determination. As President Nelson Mandela emphasised that: "Our freedom is incomplete without the freedom of the Palestinians." Indeed: If I am only for myself, what am I?

I thank you.

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President Cyril Ramaphosa’s remarks on the occasion of the South Africa-Ghana Business Forum, Gallagher Convention Centre
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Your Excellency Nana Akufo-Addo, President of the Republic of Ghana,
High Commissioners, 
Honorable Ministers, 
Business Leaders,
Distinguished Guests,
Ladies and Gentlemen,
 
Let me begin by warmly welcoming President Nana Akufo-Addo and his delegation. 
 
South Africa and Ghana share a long and rich history defined by our struggle for freedom of our people.
 
This history provides a firm foundation to forge closer economic ties that can spur growth and development in both countries.
 
We are pleased to host this Business Forum to explore business opportunities that enhance our bilateral economic relations.
 
For a long time, Africa has been at the lower-end of global value chains. We have abundant natural resources, but limited productive capability to process them for higher value capture.
 
However, the need for a global transition to a low-carbon future offers the continent new opportunities to upgrade and diversify into technology-intensive global value chains.
 
Our two countries are in a strategic position to benefit from the rapid growth of key clean energy manufacturing industries.
 
Most of the minerals critical for the manufacturing of clean energy technologies, such as battery storage and electric vehicles, are held in Africa.
 
This means that we need to improve manufacturing capacity and scale up production and export through the building of domestic and regional linkages and value chains.
 
It is important to explore practical cooperation between key players in industry to foster effective and mutually beneficial collaboration between our countries to promote green industrialisation.
 
This will help to build on the strong trade and investment links between our economies. 
 
South Africa is already the largest purchaser of Ghanaian exports in Africa, and the third largest importer of Ghana’s products globally. 
 
South Africa and Ghana have untapped economic potential and much more needs to be done, both with regards to growth of total trade and the diversification of products to high value manufactured exports. 
 
There is great potential to unlock economic opportunities through investment-led trade initiatives that are aimed at increasing trade of value-added products between our two countries.
 
As the host of the African Continental Free Trade Area Secretariat, Ghana is at the heart of Africa’s transformative regional integration. 
 
We were therefore delighted that Ghana was one of the first destinations of South African exports at the start of preferential trade under the AfCFTA on the 31st of January 2024. 
 
The AfCFTA is a critical platform to enhance both trade and investment relations with a view to promote industrialisation and build competitiveness. 
 
We need to move beyond trade in commodities and on to the purchase of job-creating agricultural goods, advanced manufactured and value-added products. 
 
The importance of Ghana to South Africa as an anchor partner country within West Africa is affirmed by the many South African trade missions to explore business opportunities in the form of investment-led trade. 
 
There have been outgoing trade missions focusing on construction, rail and others over the years. This is in addition to individual missions that have been undertaken by South African government entities, including our state-owned enterprises.
 
On the investment front, South African companies have invested in 53 projects across Ghana with an estimated value of US$ 1.4 billion in capital investment between January 2003 and January 2024. 
 
South Africa has invested in communications, financial and business services, automotive, manufacturing, metals, retail, property development, transportation and others.
 
South African firms have raised concerns regarding regulatory matters and we are keen to have these resolved so that we can increase investment from our country to Ghana. 
 
We also wish to welcome Ghanian companies to invest in South Africa and we invite the private sector in Ghana to send a delegation to the 6th South Africa Investment Conference to be held later this year. 
 
The Bi-National Commission that has just concluded its second session is mandated to give effect to the many bilateral agreements that will facilitate increased trade between the two countries.
 
The deliberations of the Bi-National Commission and the engagements at this Business Forum have provided new impetus to the growth of investment and trade between our two countries.
 
I thank you.
 

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Closing remarks by President Cyril Ramaphosa  at the Second Session of the South Africa-Ghana Bi-National Commission (BNC) held at the Department of International Relations and Cooperation
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Your Excellency, President Akufo-Addo,
Honourable Ministers,
High Commissioners, 
Senior Officials,
Members of the Media,
 
We have now come to the end of the Second Session of the BNC. 
 
 We have exchanged views on several issues affecting our continent and the rest of the world. We have reaffirmed our resolve to work together bilaterally and at the level of the African Union to contribute towards peace, security and development.
 
We have re-affirmed that the African Union remains the primary vehicle which carries our collective aspiration to build the Africa we want, a continent that is united, peaceful and prosperous.
 
We have renewed our determination to do everything within our means, working with our respective Regional Economic Communities, to contribute to peace and stability on the Continent.
 
We have also used this session of the BNC to take stock of our cooperation in all facets of our bilateral relations. We have managed to review areas of mutual bilateral cooperation and noted with great satisfaction the progress achieved to date.
 
I am pleased that we have also witnessed the signing of a number of new Memoranda of Understanding. 
 
These developments add momentum to our relations and call for a hands-on approach to achieve tangible results. 
 
It is true that our political and economic relations have strengthened, and we are more determined and committed to continue to expand our efforts towards ensuring socio-economic development for mutual benefit of our people. 
 
We have identified a pipeline of bankable infrastructure development projects in Ghana, which our development finance institutions are ready to finance. These projects cover rail networks, airports, roads and ports, amongst others.
 
The decline in total trade between our two countries is a reason for us to be concerned, and we should use the opportunities presented by the African Continental Free Trade Area to substantially expand trade between Ghana and South Africa.
 
Our companies in South Africa have requested me to assure you of their desire and commitment to expand their businesses in Ghana. They appreciate the many opportunities which are available, especially in the development of infrastructure.
 
In conclusion, let me once again thank our Ministers and Senior Officials for all their hard work over the past few days. Our task now is to work together to implement the progressive decisions taken during this session of the BNC.
 
I thank you.
 
 

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Opening remarks by President Cyril Ramaphosa on the occasion of the second Session of the South Africa - Ghana Bi-National Commission (BNC) held at the Department of International Relations and Cooperation (DIRCO), OR Tambo Building, Pretoria
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Your Excellency, President Nana Akufo-Addo of the Republic of Ghana; 
Honourable Ministers;
High Commissioners;
Senior Officials;
Ladies and Gentlemen;

Good Morning.

Welcome to the Second Session of the Bi-National Commission (BNC) between the Republic of South Africa and the Republic of Ghana.

It is an honour, my dear brother, to receive you and your delegation in this most auspicious year for South Africa, when we mark 30 years since the birth of our democracy.

We know that our freedom would not have been possible without the support and encouragement of the Ghanaian people. 

In 1998 President Nelson Mandela affirmed the deep fraternal bonds between our two countries when he said:

“The history of South Africa’s struggle, our current day thinking and even our plans for the future have many links with Ghana. On gaining its own independence, Ghana provided much strength and great inspiration to the liberation movements of Africa. We were deeply inspired by the ideas emanating from Ghana, through the person of that noble visionary, Kwame Nkrumah.” 

This Second Session of the South Africa-Ghana Bi-National Commission is an opportunity to affirm our friendship once more, to deepen our bilateral ties and to strengthen the noble cause of African economic integration as espoused by the African Union’s Agenda 2063.

As home to the Secretariat of the African Continental Free Trade Area, which brings together the 55 countries of the AU and the eight Regional Economic Communities, Ghana is a leading force in the economic integration and development of our continent. We thank you, Mr President, for lending your support to the Secretariat and to the AfCFTA Secretary-General Mr Wamkele Mene.

We meet at a time when the state of peace and security is fragile, not just in Africa but across the globe.

Internal strife, conflicts and wars, compounded by terrorism and violent extremism, are a major obstacle to peace, security and stability. They threaten to constrain our developmental efforts and our recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic.

The situations in Sudan, Somalia, Libya and the Sahel, among others, are of grave concern, as are the armed hostilities in the eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo and the extremist insurrection in northern Mozambique.

We have to redouble our efforts to Silence the Guns in Africa, and to capacitate the African Union and our Regional Economic Communities to do more in pursuit of peace and stability.

This will be an important year for democracy in Africa, with 19 African countries – including South Africa and Ghana – holding presidential or national elections in 2024. These elections are important for the quality of governance and the strength of democracy on our continent.

We must however be concerned that in several parts of the continent, unconstitutional changes of government, particularly through military coups, are on the rise.

Global developments, such as the ongoing war between Russia and Ukraine, continue to threaten food and energy security in Africa. 

As African nations, with our own bitter experiences of colonial occupation, we are extremely concerned by the terrible events in Palestine and the suffering unleashed on the people of Gaza. 

On our own continent, the matter of Western Sahara remains unresolved.

As we pursue our own developmental goals, we stand in solidarity with all who continue to suffer the effects of occupation and dispossession.

Mr President, we inaugurated this BNC when you hosted me in Accra in 2020.

There are 24 agreements and memoranda of understanding between South Africa and Ghana covering various areas of economic, technical, scientific, social and cultural cooperation.

We have to accelerate implementation of these agreements and finalise discussions on additional agreements.

One of the recent highlights in our bilateral relations was the signing of the reciprocal visa exemption for ordinary passport holders for a period of 90 days per annum, which entered into force on the 1st of November 2023. 

This has resulted in a considerable increase of travellers between our two countries; contributing not only to tourism but towards enhancing business-to-business links, educational and scientific exchanges, and people-to-people ties.

In addition to the many areas of cooperation that the BNC covers, it is important that we explore how best both countries can increase trade and investment among ourselves. 

The purpose of the Business Forum that will take place on the margins of this BNC is to expand trade and investment between our two countries.

Ghana is host to several South African companies. Our companies are keen to expand their investments in Ghana and look to us to work together to improve the business environment. We invite investors from Ghana to look at opportunities in our country

Collaboration between our private sectors and state-owned entities is particularly important.

Bidding for procurement contracts in each other’s countries, instead of sourcing from outside the continent, would be desirable and commercially viable.

South African companies, including several in the banking sector, have expressed interest in exploring opportunities in line with your country’s investment plans.

There is also scope for collaboration in infrastructure between our two economies, particularly in the building of dry ports, railway networks, airports and hospital facilities. There are also opportunities to be explored in the pre-chemicals sector.

As we are both coastal countries, maritime shipping and the related economy holds potential for us and opportunities should be explored further in this regard.

We need to work together to reverse the decline in trade between our countries over the past four years.

The implementation of preferential trading under the African Continental Free Trade Area is a game-changer and likely to fundamentally transform trade relations on the continent.

On the 31st of January 2024, South Africa sent its first shipment to Ghana and other countries under the AfCFTA Agreement. This is an important first step. 

For many African countries, the start of preferential trade will create great opportunities for growth and development. 

I therefore look forward to our deliberations today and to the opportunities that it will bring for the people of Ghana and South Africa.

I thank you.

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Deputy President Shipokosa Paulus Mashatile to deliver the keynote address at the Global Entrepreneurship Congress
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Deputy President Shipokosa Paulus Mashatile will tomorrow, Wednesday, 13 March 2024, deliver the keynote address at the Global Entrepreneurship Congress (GEC+Africa) scheduled to take place at the Cape Town International Convention Centre.

GEC+ Africa is a gathering of entrepreneurs and leaders from more than 50 African nations committed to advancing entrepreneurial activity throughout their own countries in Africa.

Hosted by the Department of Small Business Development, the two-day event will include other international thought leaders and practitioners who have become a part of the Global Entrepreneurship Network’s (GEN) movement that advances entrepreneurship as a means of building economies and expanding human welfare.

The Deputy President is expected to highlight progress made by the South African Government in overcoming structural factors and producing some of the continent's most innovative and successful entrepreneurs.

Details of the the event are as follows:

Date: Wednesday, 13 March 2024
Time: 09h00
Venue: Cape Town International Convention Centre

 

Media enquiries: Mr. Keith Khoza, Acting Spokesperson to Deputy President Mashatile on 066 195 8840

Issued by: The Presidency
Pretoria

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Minister of Electricity to participate at ninety one annual Infrastructure Forum
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Minister in The Presidency responsible for Electricity, Dr Kgosientsho Ramokgopa, will this morning, 12 March 2024, participate at Ninety One’s annual Infrastructure Forum in Johannesburg.

The platform spotlights the critical need of investing in public infrastructure and how the savings industry can contribute to South Africa’s infrastructure build.

The Minister will be participating in a keynote panel, where he will share insights on collaboration and reforms in the energy sector. 

Members of the media are invited as follows: 

Date: Tuesday, 12 March 2024
Time: 10:00 
Venue: The Houghton Hotel, Lloyds Ellis Ave, Houghton Estate, Johannesburg 


Media can rsvp by sending their details to Kotie Basson on 082 375 1317

 

Media enquires: Tsakane Khambane, Spokesperson in the Ministry of Electricity |Cell: 082 084 5566 | tsakane@presidency.gov.za

Issued by: GCIS on behalf of the Ministry in The Presidency for Electricity
Pretoria

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