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The Clicks Group, owners of Clicks stores and United Pharmaceutical Distributors (UPD), has committed to increase spending on small, medium and micro enterprises (SMMEs) and support local beauty, hair care brands and other products.

Clicks Group Chief Executive Officer Vikesh Ramsunder made the undertaking during a meeting held with Small Business Development Minister Khumbudzo Ntshavheni and a senior delegation from the department.

Representatives from the Small Enterprise Development Agency (SEDA) and Small Enterprise Finance Agency (SEFA) also attended Thursday’s meeting.

The meeting follows the publication of a racially offensive advert for a hair product by TRESemme on Clicks’s digital platforms.

During the meeting, Ramsunder reiterated the Clicks Group’s apology to the Minister, noting that the material was insensitive.

“I am humbled and encouraged by our interaction with the Honourable Minister, as I believe that we can jointly find a constructive solution to this regrettable incident,” Ramsunder said.

The hair product, which originated from the supplier Unilever, the makers of TRESemme, has since been removed from Clicks shelves.

Clicks said it will now use the shelf space created by the removal of TRESemme to support more local brands.

Clicks’s preferential procurement spend currently stands at 50.2 % and in 2019, spending on suppliers stood at R26.7 billion.

Clicks has also committed to involve their supplier base to mentor SMMEs across the company’s value chain.

Ntshavheni noted that this preferential procurement spend includes spending on large, established but not fully empowered companies and does not add to building an inclusive economy.

“The department will assist Clicks to focus on SMMEs which are owned by black women, the youth and people with disabilities. We want Clicks Group to contribute to the localisation drive of government by placing more South African products on their shelves,” Ntshavheni said.

The Minister also committed her department and agencies to assist SMMEs, with potential to supply the Clicks Group, with compliance to product quality, safety standards and regulatory requirements, including assistance to upscale their manufacturing capacity.

The Department of Small Business Development and the Clicks Group have further put in place a working team to finalise the implementation plan and monitor the progress on specific focus areas.

The focus areas include both short, medium and long-term measures.

Sport, Arts and Culture Minister Nathi Mthethwa has called on all South Africans, Africans and the entire world to rally behind Caster Semenya in their quest to defeat injustice against women in sport, particularly African women.

Mthethwa’s call follows a decision by the Swiss Federal Tribunal to uphold the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) regarding the IAAF (World Athletics) regulations on female athletes with differences of sexual development (DSD).

The 800-metre Olympic champion, Semenya, approached the Swiss Federal Tribunal in May 2019 after CAS — sport’s highest court — ruled that World Athletics’ regulations were necessary for athletes with DSD in races ranging from 400 metres to a mile, to ensure fair competition.

The tribunal has found that the requirement of subjecting certain female athletes to drug or surgical interventions as a precondition to compete does not amount to a violation of Swiss public policy.

Mthethwa said the recent decision of the Swiss Federal Court is very unfortunate and offensive to the fundamental human rights of female athletes classified hyperandrogenic.

“Both the South African government and the global sporting community always held a firm view that these regulations are a gross violation of fundamental human rights of DSD female athletes and therefore rallied behind the appeal by both Semenya and Athletics South Africa (ASA) in their legal tussle with the IAAF,” Mthethwa said in a statement on Wednesday.

Mthethwa said the regulations are not only a violation of human and women rights, but their administration is considered unethical by experts in the field of medical science.

Options to be considered

“As the government of democratic South Africa, a country renowned for its tradition of promoting and protecting basic human rights, together with Athletics SA, we will study the judgment and consider various options and avenues at our disposal in our collective campaign to fight this injustice,” Mthethwa said.

During Human Rights Month in March 2019, all political parties represented in South African Parliament made unanimous and unambiguous statements condemning and classification of the regulation as violations of both women and human rights, and committed their unequivocal support for Semenya.

The support was also enhanced by the resolution of the United Nations Human Rights Council that classified them as a “contravention of international human rights norms and standards including the right to equality and non-discrimination”.

This also includes the right to the highest attainable standard of physical and mental health, the right to physical and bodily integrity and the right to freedom from torture, and other cruel, inhumane or degrading treatment and harmful practices.

The Women’s Sport Foundation further characterised the regulations as “exacerbating discrimination against women in sport, who are perceived as not prescribing to normative ideas about femininity”.

On the medical front, the World Medical Association (WMA) also condemned the regulations and called upon all doctors and medical scientists across the globe to take no part in their implementation.

In its statement on 29 April 2019, WMA demanded immediate withdrawal of the regulations as they constitute a flagrant discrimination based on genetic variation of female athletes and are contrary to international medical ethics.

The association also expressed fears that athletes like Semenya would be coerced to take unjustified medication not based on medical need, and further indicated that it is unethical for physicians to prescribe treatment for endogenous testosterone if the condition is not recognised as pathological.

The Department of Home Affairs has concluded the deportation process for Zivanai Katikiti, a manager for financial control and reporting at Rand West City Municipality in Gauteng.

Katikiti was arrested by Home Affairs immigration officials last week for contravening immigration laws in several respects.

He appeared in court last Friday and remained in custody until the confirmation of his deportation in court on Tuesday.

The department said Katikiti was deported to Zimbabwe through the Beitbridge Port of Entry in the afternoon of Wednesday, 9 September 2020.

“The Department of Home Affairs’ records show that Katikiti entered South Africa in May 2015 and had not applied for a work or residence permit. Katikiti is a prohibited person, who was found in possession of a fraudulent permit and other documents,” the department said in a statement on Thursday.

Minister in the Presidency Jackson Mthembu has invited the public to nominate people to serve on a statutory council that will advance transformation in the Marketing, Advertising and Communications (MAC) sector.

As the Minister responsible for the Government Communication and Information System (GCIS), Mthembu recently published Government Gazette no 43680 inviting the public and private sectors to nominate people to serve on the MAC Charter Council.

“The appointment of the MAC Charter Council is directed towards ensuring that transformation in the sector is promoted, monitored and reported on annually in line with the provisions of the Broad-based Black Economic Empowerment Act of 2003, as amended,” said the Minister’s office.

In terms of Section 21.5 of the transformative Sector Code for the marketing, advertising and communications sector, the Minister must appoint in writing, the chairperson, deputy chairperson and members to the MAC Charter Council upon nomination by the public.

Nominees must represent a broad cross-section of the population of South Africa and be committed to the objectives and principles of promoting economic transformation as espoused in the constitution.

In addition, members appointed to the council must be people suited to serve on this body by virtue of their qualifications, expertise and experience in marketing, advertising and communication.

People appointed will serve as non-executive members of the MAC Charter Council, for a maximum period of four years effective from 1 October 2020.

The constitution of the council and the Sector Code are available from the GCIS website: www.gcis.gov.za.

The following information should be supplied in respect of the nominating organisation and the person being nominated:

• Curriculum vitae
• Full name(s)
• Identity number
• Physical and postal address
• Telephone
• Email address
• Organisation being represented with the nomination
• Signature of the person nominating, and the one being nominated.
• Organisations should provide motivation for their nominations.

Nominations should be addressed to Mr. Sandile Nene, GCIS, at the address below:

Ground Floor

Tshedimosetso House

1035 Frances Baard Street (cnr Festival Street)

Hatfield, Pretoria, 0001

Email: Nominations.MACsectorCouncil@gcis.gov.za

The closing date for the nominations is 15 September 2020.

The Department of Employment and Labour in the Western Cape has closed the Oudtshoorn Magistrate Court for not complying with COVID-19 regulations.

The department said the closure of the Oudtshoorn Magistrate Court, located in the Garden Route, follows a visit by labour inspectors to the site, where they found the government facility unsafe and in contravention of the Occupational Health and Safety (OHS) Act no. 85 of 1993.

The court did not have a proper COVID-19 risk assessment in place. It is also not compliant with COVID-19 regulations in terms of the use of biometric systems, poor screening processes, no social distancing and also no procedures in place for the management of isolation and quarantine of staff, among others.

According to Provincial Chief Inspector David Esau, the employer also put staff and court visitors at risk by the lack of basic OHS protocols.

“During our inspection, we also found that the fire extinguishers were expired and there was also poor electrical wiring at the site. The Inspectorate had no other choice but to close the court, in the interest of the safety of staff and the public at large,” Esau said.

Esau said after a range of non-adherence to OHS and COVID-19 regulations were observed, the court was issued with a prohibition notice, which means that no operations will take place at the court, and that no officials and visitors to the court will be allowed at the premises.

“This notice will stand until lifted by the inspector,” Esau said.

He said during a briefing session with the Area Court Manager, Department of Public Works and the Chief Magistrate, the employer would need to provide sufficient evidence that processes have been put in place to address all the concerns raised.

“As part of reversing the prohibition notice, the employer must attend to all areas of non-compliance listed in the notice. The court will also need to establish a Health and Safety Committee,” Esau said.

A follow-up visit will be conducted by the OHS inspector once the employer has confirmed that all minimum standards have been put in place to ensure the safety of both employees and the public.

“If the inspector is satisfied with the efforts of the employer, the prohibition notice will be lifted. It is expected that labour inspectors will now also inspect the courts in Beaufort West, Calitzdorp, Ladismith and Prince Albert in an attempt to ensure compliance with the OHS Act,” Esau said.

OHS inspectors will continue to visit workplaces to monitor compliance, act on tip-offs and implement the necessary actions where required.

Eskom says the possibility of load shedding has increased, as a belt that feeds the Medupi units snapped on Wednesday.

“Last night [Wednesday], a conveyor belt feeding coal into the Medupi generation units failed, increasing the risk of load shedding. This means the four generations units in service are able to take in the requisite amount of coal to generate electricity. This puts further strain on Eskom’s ability to fully supply electricity over the next 24 hours,” Eskom said in a statement.

While Eskom teams are working round the clock to repair the conveyor belt, which is expected to take the part of the day, the utility warned that any further breakdown elsewhere in the generation fleet would necessitate the implementation of stage 2 load shedding at short notice.

“Eskom will continue to communicate should there be any further changes, as the system remains unreliable and vulnerable. We urge the people of South Africa to continue using electricity sparingly in order to assist Eskom to avoid the implementation of load shedding,” Eskom said.

The African Development Bank board has approved $27.33 million in grants to boost the African Union’s efforts to mobilise a continental response to curb the COVID-19 pandemic.

In a statement, the AfDB said the approval follows a meeting of the extended Bureau of the Conference of Heads of State and Government with Africa’s private sector on 22 April 2020, chaired by President Cyril Ramaphosa, chairperson of the AU, at which the Bank’s President Akinwumi Adesina pledged strong support for the AU’s COVID-19 initiative.

The AU Bureau meeting called for contributions to the African Union’s COVID-19 Response Fund established in March by the AU Commission chairperson, Moussa Faki Mahamat.

Speaking after the board approval of the operation, Adesina said the Bank will strongly support the continent to get through the pandemic and build back – strongly and smartly.

“The Bank’s financial support to the Africa Centres for Disease Control, reaffirms our strong commitment to regional efforts to tackle the pandemic being coordinated by the African Union. Africa needs a well-financed Africa Centres  for Disease Control, today and for the future,” he said.

The Bank’s grant financing will support the Africa Centres  for Disease Control and Prevention (Africa CDC) in providing technical assistance and building capacity for 37 African Development Fund (ADF) eligible countries, particularly the Transition States, to combat the COVID-19 pandemic and mitigate its impact. The ADF is the Bank’s concessional window.

Sourced from the ADF’s Regional Operations/Regional Public Goods envelope and the Transition Support Facility, the two grants are expected to support the implementation of Africa CDC’s COVID-19 Pandemic Preparedness and Response Plan through strengthening surveillance at various points of entry (air, sea, and land) in African countries; building sub-regional and national capacity for epidemiological surveillance, and ensuring the availability of testing materials and personal protective equipment for frontline workers deployed in hotspots.

The operation will also facilitate collection of gender-disaggregated data and adequate staffing for Africa CDC’s emergency operations centre.

At the beginning of February 2020, only two reference laboratories – in Senegal and in South Africa – could run tests for COVID-19 on the continent.

The Africa CDC, working with governments, the World Health Organisation, and several development partners and public health institutes, have increased this capacity to 44 countries currently. Despite this progress, Africa’s testing capacity remains low, with the 37 ADF-eligible countries accounting for only 40% of completed COVID-19 tests to date.

“Our response today and support to the African Union is timely and will play a crucial role in helping Africa look inward for solutions to build resilience to this pandemic and future outbreaks,” said Wambui Gichuri, Ag. Vice President, Agriculture, Human and Social Development.

The Bank said the support will complement various national and sub-regional operations financed by the African Development Bank under its COVID-19 Response Facility to support African countries to contain and mitigate the impacts of the pandemic.

The Limpopo COVID-19 Command Council has urged law enforcement and social workers to play their part in helping to prevent gender-based violence.

This comes after a recent spate of killings of young women, reportedly by their lovers.

“A young woman, aged 17, was laid to rest this morning in Mokopane after allegedly being killed by a 19-year-old boy,” the provincial government said on Wednesday.

According to reports, the Grade 12 learner from Ebenezer High School was discovered in a pool of blood on [3 September] after being stabbed several times.

The suspect has since been arrested for murder.

The Command Council has committed to continue to monitor these incidents and has offered to support those in distress. President Cyril Ramaphosa has described the incident of GBV as the “second pandemic” South Africa has to deal with in the face of the COVID-19 pandemic.

School absenteeism

Meanwhile, the Limpopo Department of Education says while schools are running smoothly after the recent recess to prevent the further spread of Coronavirus, it is still experiencing absenteeism due to the fear of contracting COVID-19, anxiety and other health challenges.

According to the provincial COVID-19 Command Council, all grades are attending classes, in line with the differentiated timetabling model adopted by schools.

Grade 12 learners are scheduled to sit for the National Senior Certificate preliminary exams from this month until the first week of October, while the finals are expected to be written from 5 November to 15 December.

“The department is busy communicating all these adjustments to parents, school governing bodies and schools,” said the council.

COVID-19

The council said it was pleased that the daily COVID-19 infection rate is steadily declining. As of Wednesday, there had been 13 900 cases, with 12 989 patients who have recovered.

Limpopo has 499 active cases and 257 deaths since the outbreak.

“We must clarify the fact that as a province, we did not register 43 deaths in the past 24 hours, as reported elsewhere. The province has actually registered one death in the past 24 hours,” the council said on Wednesday.

The National Department of Health registered 43 cumulative deaths on Monday, which happened over a period, the province clarified.

Meanwhile, the province said it recently received death statistics registered at Home Affairs for 2019, which show a decline from 16 638 to 15 265 this year.

“This is indeed a positive indication that our death rate as a province due to COVID-19 is still low,” the province added.

However, the province is pleading with the community not be complacent, as there is a possibility of a new wave of infections.

National Hawks head Lieutenant-General Godfrey Lebeya has welcomed the arrested of three suspects found transporting heroin worth R87.5 million in Hluhluwe in KwaZulu-Natal on Wednesday.

In a statement, officers from the Richards Bay Serious Organised Investigation, in collaboration with their Mpumalanga Crime Intelligence counterparts, discovered the 342.5kg consignment when they intercepted a truck.

The powder, reads the statement, was inside what they believed to be a purpose built hide-in a truck, which was coming from Mozambique via Swaziland to KwaZulu-Natal.

“The truck was intercepted in Hluhluwe and the team immediately started with the search.  Almost 250 packets of heroin were found hidden in a false partition, which was newly painted.  Members had to cut open the compartment in order to access the drugs,” said the Hawks in KwaZulu-Natal.

The driver and two passengers were immediately placed under arrest. They will appear in court soon.

Welcoming the arrests, Lebeya said arrest and seizure of the drugs, which would have generated a hefty amount of profit for criminals who are involved in the drug supply.

“It is worrisome to imagine how many lives were going to be wasted through addiction and crime triggered by the use of these hard core dependence producing substances,” he said.

The African Union Chair and President of the Republic of South Africa, Cyril Ramaphosa, will today co-chair the World Health Organisation’s first high-level meeting of the Facilitation Council of the “Access to COVID-19 Tools Accelerator” (ACT-A).

President Ramaphosa will co-chair the virtual high-level meeting at 12h30 alongside Ema Solberg, the Prime Minister of the Kingdom of Norway.

The meeting will formally launch the ACT-A Facilitation Council, which is an international collaboration among a diverse representation of global leaders and partners to accelerate the development, production and equitable deployment of vaccines, therapeutics and diagnostics for COVID-19.

ACT-A was launched on 24 April 2020 and provided with political and financial support through global pledging events on 4 May and 27 June 2020.

ACT-A has already established a dynamic portfolio of vaccine candidates, launched a global facility to optimise vaccine development and use, and started a rollout of the first proven therapy for severe disease.

This collaboration has also identified a potentially game-changing rapid test and established a framework for equitable allocation of these products globally.

The Facilitation Council, which is expected to be formally established today and adopt Terms of Reference, will work to address key challenges and galvanise global leadership to enable for access to COVID-19 tools for all countries.