Category: Government Opinion Pieces

The Border Management Authority (BMA) will on Thursday host a pass out parade for 400 new recruits who have completed their training at the South African Police Training College in Pretoria West.

The Junior Border Guards are to be deployed at the various ports of entry throughout the country.

They will be officially assigned as law enforcement officers with the responsibility to arrest and deport illegal migrants across all ports of entry.

“This important event comes during South Africa’s 30 years of democracy following years of struggle to curb illegal movement at ports of entry and along the borderline. In the backdrop of an ever-challenging border environment, these border guards are expected to stand firm, protecting the country’s borders with vigilance and valour,” said the BMA in a statement.

It said being a border guard in South Africa requires one to “have unwavering dedication to the nation, displaying commitment by being patriotic and having an indomitable spirit of rejecting negative persuasion”.

“Our nation’s borders are complex and therefore require discipline and courage to carry out the border management mandate. In other settings, daily you are faced with illegal migrants attempting to enter the country or smuggle illegal goods in or out of South Africa,” the BMA said.

Commissioner of Border Management Authority, Dr Michael Masiapato, said: “On the day, the nation will witness the culmination of the physical and mental training, with displays expected to be done on the ground during the event.

“We will celebrate not only their achievements but also reaffirm our steadfast support to the border guards. They are to be officially adorned not just as defenders of borders; they are the guardians of our freedom, the sentinels of our sovereignty.”

More than 100 border management response vehicles will also be displayed at the passing out parade.

President Cyril Ramaphosa officially launched the Border Management Authority in Musina last year

At the time, he said the authority will provide a sustainable solution to the structural challenges of border security, control and coordination.

The Border Management Authority is now the third armed service in South Africa after the South African National Defence Force and the South African Police Service.

Deputy Minister of Forestry, Fisheries and the Environment (DFFE) Makhotso Sotyu has handed over the management of the Mabama plantation to the beneficiary communities of Mashamba Traditional Council in Limpopo.

The handover of the 71.92 hectares plantation aims to empower communities living around the plantations, enabling them to manage the asset effectively and participate meaningfully in the forestry economy.

Addressing the handover ceremony on Tuesday, the Deputy Minister said the transfer of the management of this plantation will go a long way to improve the livelihoods of communities within Mashamba Traditional Council.

The plantation, with predominantly eucalyptus, plays a vital role in sustainable forestry management and is essential for the transformation agenda that is emphasised in the Commercial Forestry Sector Masterplan.

“The Department of Forestry, Fisheries and the Environment takes cognisance of the fact that these plantations are not necessarily in a condition that is ideal for timber production purposes and require a lot of work and resources to turn them around.

“I would like to make a commitment on behalf of the department that we will provide the community with the necessary support that is required to make these plantations productive in future.

“It must be noted that these plantations are categorised as woodlots, and the department will work with the affected communities to develop a plan that will ensure the management of these resources in a sustainable manner going forward,” she said.

The department has committed to undertaking initiatives such as site species matching to determine the ideal species that can grow well in this area, provision of technical and advisory support services and training of beneficiaries to empower them with knowledge and skills of sustainable forest management.

“Furthermore, the department can provide seedlings that will be needed to re-establish the plantations. These commitments are further outlined in the post settlement support package that is in the process of being finalised by the department.

“Where feasible, we will also try to link communities with strategic partners who will then assist with additional expertise and resources to recapitalise the plantations. The success of this project depends on the commitment of the communities in ensuring that the land is kept under forestry production,” Sotyu said.

Should a need arise for multiple land use, the department has finalised the piloting of such systems like Agroforestry, which can be employed for such a purpose without reducing the area under forestry.

Best practice guidelines are being developed in this regard for both land users and practitioners. The department has been leading a process to develop the Commercial Forestry Sector Masterplan.

“The masterplan is essentially the growth, investment and transformation plan for the sector.

“The plan was approved for implementation during November 2022. Part of the deliverables of the masterplan is the transfer of plantation resources such that government focuses on policy and regulation, as well as creating an enabling environment for the sector to thrive,” the Deputy Minister said.

President Cyril Ramaphosa has signed into law the Divorce Amendment Bill, which amends the Divorce Act of 1979 to recognise Muslim marriages and safeguard the interests of Muslim women and children of Muslim marriages in the event that marriages are dissolved.

Currently, Muslim couples who choose to marry according to Islamic law can only be afforded the statutory protection of the South African legal system as it pertains to civil spouses if they, in addition to their marriage under Islamic law, register a civil marriage.

“The amended legislation addresses shortcomings in the Divorce Act of 1979, which differentiated between people married in terms of the Marriage Act and people married according to Muslim rites, especially women.

“The amendments enacted by the President provide for a definition of a Muslim marriage in the Divorce Act of 1979; the protection and safeguarding of the interests of dependent and minor children of a Muslim marriage; the redistribution of assets on the dissolution of a Muslim marriage and forfeiture of patrimonial benefits of a Muslim marriage,” the Presidency said on Thursday.

The new legislation is a response to an earlier Constitutional Court judgment that recognised the need for and importance of protecting Muslim women and children of Muslim marriages, particularly when a Muslim marriage is dissolved.

As South Africa enters the winter season, Gauteng Health and Wellness MEC, Nomantu Nkomo-Ralehoko, has encouraged the public, especially people at high risk of severe influenza, to visit their nearest public clinics or healthcare providers to get the flu vaccination.

Nkomo-Ralehoko urged people, especially those at high risk such as adults aged 65 years and older, people with underlying illness such as heart and lung disease, people living with HIV and tuberculosis, as well as pregnant people, to visit their nearest public clinics or healthcare providers to get the flu jab.

“Getting vaccinated is a safe and effective way to protect yourself and those around you from influenza,” Nkomo-Ralehoko said.

The MEC made the call on Sunday, as the department joined the global community in observing World Hand Hygiene Day to raise awareness about the importance of hand hygiene in preventing the spread of diseases.

World Hand Hygiene Day is observed annually on 5 May to improve hand hygiene standards at home and the workplace – thereby protecting health and care workers, as well as communities from infections and curbing the spread of harmful germs.

The 2024 World Hand Hygiene Day was observed under the theme: “Promoting knowledge and capacity building of health and care workers through innovative and impactful training and education, on infection prevention and control, including hand hygiene”.

Nkomo-Ralehoko emphasised the importance of hand hygiene to stop the spread of respiratory infections.

“It is critical that health and care workers and the public at large make hand hygiene a non-negotiable routine in their daily lives as a simple, yet powerful tool to safeguard their wellbeing. Through advocacy and education, we can foster these good habits that help prevent the spread of diseases,” Nkomo-Ralehoko said.

Nkomo-Ralehoko noted that hand hygiene has proven effective as a preventive measure during the COVID-19 pandemic and the recent Cholera outbreak.

“Hands should be washed with a soap or alcohol-based sanitiser for a at least 20 seconds, covering all surfaces of the hands, including the palms, back of hands, between fingers, back of fingers, thumbs, fingertips, and wrists.

“As we enter the winter months – which often sees an increase in cases of flu infections – the message around hand hygiene is even more urgent as a proactive measure to protect ourselves and loved ones and stop the spread of respiratory infections such as influenza,” Nkomo-Ralehoko said.

In an effort to raise awareness, the department’s health facilities will from 5 to 10 May 2024, embark on a handwashing campaign targeting healthcare workers, patients, and the public about the significance of hand hygiene.

National Student Financial Aid Scheme (NSFAS) Administrator, Freeman Nomvalo, has assigned staff to urgently address concerns around the outstanding payments for private student accommodation.

This follows complaints brought to the Administrator’s attention regarding alleged outstanding payments for private student accommodation and reports of students being locked out by landlords in some areas.

“We anticipate that these should be resolved during the course of the month of May 2024,” Nomvalo said.

To ensure that the issues do not further disrupt teaching and learning, the Administrator has urged the affected landlords to cooperate with the established NSFAS process to address all concerns.

Nomvalo said a dedicated email address has been established to process all disputes or concerns from landlords. All disputes and concerns regarding alleged outstanding payments for private student accommodation must be submitted to NSFASAccomProv@nsfas.org.za.

“All landlords are encouraged to deposit their disputes or concerns only in so far as outstanding payments are concerned. Submissions must be received not later than 10 May 2024,” Nomvalo said.

The Administrator apologised to all affected institutions, including students and landlords, and committed to a speedy resolution.

“We are committed to working with all the stakeholders to find workable solutions for the betterment of the post school education and training system,” Nomvalo said.

Higher Education, Science and Innovation Minister, Professor Blade Nzimande, has commended the crucial role played by the Sector Education and Training Authorities (SETAs) in the country’s skills development.

“As the Department of Higher Education and Training, we are proud to state that while we provide the overall strategic and policy direction, our SETAs continue to play a crucial role in implementing and facilitating skills development within their respective sectors,” Nzimande said.

Speaking at the SETA Skills Summit currently underway in Boksburg, Gauteng, Nzimande said through their sector-specific focus and experts, SETAs contribute significantly to addressing skills gaps, skills mismatches, promoting employment and enhancing productivity within their respective industries.

“Our SETAs also play a crucial role in aligning training and development efforts with the needs of employers and the labour market, thus ensuring the development of a skilled and capable workforce that can become a catalyst for economic growth and development.

“The policy context for the work that is done by our various SETAs derives from such critical policy instruments as our country’s Master Skills Plan, the White Paper for Post School Education and Training, the National Skills Development Plan, and the National Development Plan 2030,” Nzimande said.

The Minister reiterated that the policy instruments are not only critical for enabling the country to articulate and implement a coherent human resource development plan, but it also ensures that “we embrace a skills development approach that is collaborative and sustainable, as opposed to a piecemeal and competition-driven approach”.

Held under the theme, “Together, Skilling the Nation”, the two-day summit aims to provide an opportunity for the sector to reflect on its execution of the mandate of skills development.

Nzimande said the collaborative approach is important, considering the unacceptably high number of unemployed young people in the country, and the urgent challenge of people who are ‘Not in any formal Education, Employment, or Training (NEET)’.

“It is estimated that more than 3.3 million young people in our country between the ages of 15-24 are not in employment, education, and training and unemployed. This is something that must concern all of us.

“It is therefore understood that a collaborative approach will ensure a coordinated and targeted approach to skills planning, funding, quality assurance, and monitoring, resulting in a skilled and competitive workforce that contributes to economic growth and social development,” Nzimande said.

The Minister also encouraged SETAs to focus on high impact areas, including infrastructure development for the provision of service delivery; significant reduction in unemployment including graduates; sustainable entrepreneurship and cooperatives which promote elf employment; and fundamental rural development.

He also urged them to focus on digitisation and the advancement of technological infrastructure and development to benefit the country, and effective and efficient shared services on information and communications technology.

Cabinet has commended the millions of taxpayers who have filed their tax returns to help the South African Revenue Service collect tax revenue of R2.155 trillion for the 2023/24 financial year.

“This is R52 billion more than the previous year and demonstrates the robustness of the local economy, despite challenging local and international conditions,” a Cabinet statement said on Monday.

The increased revenue helps government to fund the country’s service delivery projects and other socio-economic development programmes.

Cabinet held a special Cabinet Meeting on Wednesday, 10 April 2024.

Since its inception, SARS has collected R21.6 trillion in net tax revenues. The R21.6 trillion tax collections represents a compound growth of 9.9% per year since the inception of SARS in 1997.

READ | 30 Years: reflections on SARS

This has funded the South African democracy and touched the lives of millions who would be destitute without government support and services.

Finance Minister Enoch Godongwana has invited public comments and written submissions on draft amendments to the Money Laundering and Terrorist Financing Control Regulations.

“The draft amendments aim to strengthen South Africa’s system to combat money laundering and terrorist financing by enhancing the reporting of the conveyance of cash or bearer negotiable instruments into or out of the Republic,” National Treasury said on Tuesday.

The invitation for comments was published on 8 April 2024 via Gazette Notice 50450 no 4712.

The draft amendments are in terms of section 77(5)(a) of the Financial Intelligence Centre Act, 2001 (Act No. 38 of 2001 – ‘the FIC Act’).

“The draft amendments are proposed to be made in terms of section 77(1) of the FIC Act, read with section 30 of the FIC Act, to the Money Laundering and Terror Financing Control Regulations.

“Section 30 of the FIC Act provides for a requirement to report the conveyance of cash or bearer negotiable instruments into or out of the Republic to the FIC,” National Treasury said.

The objective of section 30 of the FIC Act is to ensure that information relating to the cross-border movement of cash and bearer negotiable instruments is made available to the FIC.

The FIC currently receives reports on cross-border electronic funds transfers (section 31 of the FIC Act).

In addition, the FIC receives reports on large cash transactions (section 28 of the FIC Act), suspicious or unusual transactions (section 29 of the FIC Act) and property that is linked to persons or entities who are subject to targeted financial sanctions (section 28A of the FIC Act).

“The proposed draft amendments are aimed at strengthening the country’s financial system and improve its resilience against abuse by money launderers and terrorist financiers. It is critical to the effectiveness of the FIC’s operational capabilities that the information it receives concerning cross border financial flows be expanded to include cross-border movement of cash and bearer negotiable instruments.

“This is envisaged to strengthen the FIC’s ability to detect possible suspicious or unusual activity and to disseminate the relevant information to investigating and prosecuting authorities. Section 30 of the FIC Act empowers the Minister to prescribe a threshold amount that will trigger reporting under this section.

“The Minister sets this amount through regulations that will support the implementation of reporting under section 30 of the FIC Act. The Minister proposes that the threshold for reporting under section 30 of the FIC Act be set at R24 999.99,” National Treasury said.

This means that persons who convey R25 000 or more into or out of the Republic will be required to report this under section 30 of the FIC Act.

Section 30 of the FIC Act also empowers the Minister to prescribe the information that must be included in a report on the conveyance of cash or bearer negotiable instruments.

“This information must be sufficient to provide the FIC with the necessary transparency and traceability information concerning the cross-border movements of cash and bearer negotiable instruments.

“A report under section 30 of the FIC Act must be made to a person who is authorised by the Minister to receive such a report. The Minister, after consulting with the South African Revenue Service (SARS), has determined that reports under section 30 can be integrated in reporting under the Customs and Excise Act of 1964,” National Treasury said.

To this end, the Minister intends to authorise Customs Officers to receive reports on the conveyance of cash or bearer negotiable instruments, either physically at ports of entry and exit, or electronically through the traveller declarations system that SARS has developed for this purpose.

The proposed Regulations:

(a) prescribe a threshold amount that will trigger reporting under section 30 of the Act;

(b) prescribe the information that must be included in a report on the conveyance of cash or bearer

negotiable instruments; and

(c) specify the person who is authorised by the Minister to receive a report under section 30 of the Act.

A copy of the Regulations and the Explanatory Memorandum are available on the National Treasury website: www.treasury.gov.za.

Written comments and submissions may be submitted to: Commentdraftlegislation@treasury.gov.za no later than 19 April 2024.

Home Affairs Minister, Dr Aaron Motsoaledi, has moved to clarify a misunderstanding on the gazetted regulations recommendations on the Critical Skills and General Work Visas.

This comes after some media reports had stated that the department had done away with the Critical Skills Visa in favour of a point-based system.

Briefing the media on the Second Amendment of the Immigration Regulation 2014 on Tuesday, Motsoaledi pointed out that section 19(4) of the Immigration Act states that a Critical Skills Work Visa may be issued by the Director-General to an individual possessing such skills or qualifications determined to be critical for the Republic from time to time by the Minister by notice in the gazette.

However, section 19(2) of the Act states that a General Work Visa may be issued by the Director-General to a foreigner not falling within the category contemplated in sub-section 4 and who complies with prescribed requirements.

“Sub-section 4 is the one dealing with critical skills [and] this means general work is anything that is not covered in the critical skills list. The prescribed requirements mentioned in the Act are found in regulation 18 (3) of the previous regulation before the amendments.” Motsoaledi said.

He emphasised that the department has not cancelled the Critical Skills Work Visa but has changed the manner in which the visa was previously operating.

“In the past, a critical skills list visa was issued every four years, and the Minister of Home Affairs is supposed to gazette skills that are critical to the economy of the country. But Home Affairs does not have the capacity, nor the knowledge, nor the skills to know what is required.

“What Home Affairs does is go to the Department of Higher Education and Training (DHET). The DHET usually asks the Human Sciences Research Council (HSRC), and the council will work with other institutions, including labour market surveys, to put up a list of skills which they think are critical for the economy of the country,” Motsoaledi explained.

The Minister also noted that critical skills are not necessarily referring to important skills or prestigious skills like some people believe.

“A critical skill is that which is critical for the functioning of the economy but there are few South Africans who can do that work, and so we are forced to go beyond the borders of this country to look for those people with such skills.

“Once the profession we have got appears on that critical skills list, which would have been gazetted by the Minister of Home Affairs, you get a letter of employment, then Home Affairs is forced to give you a Critical Skills Work Visa,” Motsoaledi explained, adding that the visa is one of the easiest to give, as it only requires a profession.

On the General Work Visa amendment, Motsoaledi said employers are no longer required to go to the Department of Employment and Labour, but the visa would be approved through a point-based system.

“We are going to give you points, and on the basis of that point you have to reach a particular mark, then you get your visa,” the Minister said.

The Minister said the point-based system will consider at least six criteria, including age; qualifications; language skills, work experience; offer of employment; and the ability to adapt within the Republic.

However, Motsoaledi said the department is considering replacing the ability to adapt within the Republic with income or salary being offered to an individual.

New work visa regulations withdrawn

Meanwhile, Motsoaledi announced the withdrawal of the new work visa regulations, which were gazetted on 28 March 2024 for public comments, a day before the closing date for public comments on the draft policy.

This follows the National Economic Development and Labour Council (NEDLAC) meeting held last week, where the process was questioned and NEDLAC demanded the withdrawal of the regulations.

“These regulations are being withdrawn in the government gazette, simply to rectify this small error, not that we are going to change them. In the process we will change other smaller issues which we have picked up which may not [have] been understood,” he said.

The South African National Defence Force (SANDF) has refuted reports claiming that two South African soldiers deployed as part of the Southern African Development Community Mission in the Democratic Republic of Congo (SAMIDRC) have surrendered to M23 rebels.

According to a statement released on Wednesday, this misinformation was found in various media reports, including the National Security News.

The same publication went further to report that the SANDF soldiers are now being held as hostages by M23.

“We want to state categorically that all SANDF members deployed in the DRC have been accounted for.

“The convoluted article published by the faceless Washington correspondent is dismissed with the contempt it deserves. This is not the first time such unfounded and baseless news articles have been written about the SANDF since its deployment in the DRC under SAMIDRC,” the SANDF said.

The SANDF soldiers are part of SAMIDRC deployed to support and assist the government of Africa’s second-largest country to restore peace, security and stability.

“We view such attempts to discredit the Defence Force in the most serious light by faceless people, and will not stand and allow its good name to be tarnished.

“The SANDF, as the authority for the deployed members, shall at all times inform the South African public about the situation and safety of its members in the DRC,” the SANDF said.