Government

After weeks of ignoring the chaos and incompetence in his own department, Minister of Transport Fikile Mbalula faced reality and granted motorists with expired driver’s licence cards another 15-day grace period.OUTA calls on the Minister to use this time to arrange a long-term solution to the licence cards problem. OUTA urges motorists with expired or expiring licence cards to make every effort to apply for renewals as soon as possible. As there may be as many as one million motorists now with … [Read more...] about Rather enable 10-year licences Minister

Chairperson of the Portfolio Committee on Mineral Resources and Energy, Zet Luzipo, says urgent solutions need to be found and implemented to mitigate the impact of rising fuel prices in the country.Luzipo was addressing the committee during the tabling of the first draft of the report on fuel price increases. The report shows an “exponential increase” in the cost of petrol – rising from at least R15.43 in December 2019 to about R20.83 currently in coastal areas. For inland provinces, the price … [Read more...] about Tackling rising fuel prices

Water and Sanitation Minister, Senzo Mchunu, has encouraged Rand Water to continue communicating planned maintenance of water infrastructure to residents.Mchunu’s call follows the allegations made by the Democratic Alliance (DA) in Gauteng which accused Rand Water of being incompetent and failing to provide water tankers during planned maintenance, amongst others. “They [Rand Water] are not incompetent, they are competent and they are efficient,” Mchunu said at a media briefing on Tuesday. He … [Read more...] about Spotlight on Rand Water competence allegations

Gauteng MEC for Roads and Transport, Jacob Mamabolo, has engaged a group representing e-hailing driver partners to discuss the protest action that was planned by driver partners against the various e-hailing companies operating in the country.The MEC, together with officials from the Gauteng Department of Roads and Transport, met with Unity in Diversity (“UID”) on Monday. “The parties had a productive meeting in which it was resolved that UID will proceed with the planned protest action on 22 … [Read more...] about About That E-Hailing Strike

STATSSA says that the number of unemployed persons in South Africa is 7.6 million.According to the Quarterly Labour Force Survey (QLFS) of the 1st quarter of 2021, young people are still struggling in the South African labour market. The official unemployment rate was 32,6%. This rate was 46,3% among young people aged 15 – 34 years, implying that almost one in every two young people in the labour force did not have a job in the first quarter of 2021. About a quarter (24,4%) of the youth have … [Read more...] about Forgive Me – 100 000 is a drop in the ocean compared to 7.6 Million

KwaZulu-Natal Water and Sanitation Department has reiterated its commitment to fast track the completion of the raising of Hazelmere Dam wall, which will increase water availability to the North Coast Region of KwaZulu-Natal.Department’s Provincial Head, Ashley Starkey, said the project is of importance, as it addresses the urgent need to augment water supply to the North Coast, which will in turn benefit areas including Verulam, Groutville, Blythedale and Ballito. “Since commencement of … [Read more...] about Hazelmere Dam wall on the Rise

As calls mount to do away with the National State of Disaster, President Cyril Ramaphosa says new health regulations that are meant to replace the lockdown regulations have been published.The President said public consultations with leaders from different sectors of society are underway and that he will address the nation on the process in the coming days. The President said this when he responded to oral questions in the National Assembly on Thursday. The Department of Health this week … [Read more...] about Are You as Excited as us to Hear; “My Fellow South Africans…” For The Last Time?

The Department of Employment and Labour has lauded its agency, the Unemployment Insurance Fund (UIF), for being at the forefront of creating jobs and preserving the ones already existing through investments made by the Public Investment Corporation (PIC) and the fund’s Labour Activation Programmes (LAP).In a statement, the Department of Labour said in March 2017, the UIF and the Industrial Development Corporation (IDC) signed the Facility and Subscription Agreement to bring into effect a … [Read more...] about UIF Creating Jobs

HUH?See: Are You Viewing South Africa and Her People Through a Western Lens? for a bit of an explanation… South African Revenue Service (SARS) Commissioner, Edward Kieswetter, has committed the organisation to promoting the use of historically marginalised official languages in the tax and customs environment. The Commissioner made the commitment while addressing the launch of the SARS multilingual tax terminology publication. The document contains 450 terms in the country’s 11 official … [Read more...] about One for the Grammar and Spelling Police on Social Media