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Despite progress made in improving the lives of South African women, a long road is still to be travelled to free women from discrimination, violence and poverty, says President Cyril Ramaphosa.

“There has been real progress in improving the lives of South African women in the economy, in the political sphere and in public life,” said the President in his weekly newsletter on Monday.

In the newsletter, President Ramaphosa highlighted that the status and position of women in South Africa today is vastly different to that faced by mothers and grandmothers in 1956.

He said the country had come a long way in realising a South Africa that is non-racial, non-sexist, democratic, prosperous and free.

“At the same time, we know there is so much further we still have to go. Women still face discrimination, harassment and violence, and bear the greatest brunt of poverty. If we are to truly realise the promise of our Constitution we have to tackle the economic and financial exclusion that makes women more vulnerable to abuse and violence,” he said.

The President’s comments came after South Africa commemorated the 64th anniversary of Women’s Day on Sunday.

President Ramaphosa also said that South Africa has joined a ground-breaking campaign of global efforts to achieve gender equality by 2030.

“We have joined a ground-breaking campaign that links us to global efforts to achieve gender equality by 2030. Generation Equality is an ambitious and transformative agenda to end discrimination and violence against women and for their equal participation in political, social and economic life.”

Addressing GBV

As part of this campaign, South Africa has joined two ‘Action Coalitions’, one for economic justice and rights and another against gender-based violence (GBV).

“Both of these themes are critical to our own national agenda,” he said.

Eleven months since the Emergency Response Action Plan to combat GBV and femicide was implemented, government has made progress in expanding support and care to survivors, and progress is being made in legal reforms to afford them greater protection.

“This month we begin the implementation of the National Strategic Plan to combat gender-based violence and femicide,” he said.

A key aspect of the plan is on ensuring greater women’s financial inclusion. This is because economic inequality and social inequality are interconnected.

“The economic status of women in South Africa makes them more vulnerable to abuse. We must therefore scale up support for women to enable them to become financially independent,” said the President.

Commitments

In addition, a number of commitments have also been made.

“We have made a number of commitments under Generation Equality that will be given effect to through the National Strategic Plan. Firstly, we are going to drive women’s economic inclusion through public procurement. We have set the target of ensuring that at least 40% of goods and services procured by public entities are sourced from women-owned businesses,” said the President.

Government will also scale up support for women-owned SMMEs and for women who work in the informal sector or are unemployed. This will include engagement with the financial sector to make financial services accessible and affordable for women.

“Thirdly, we want to ensure more women have access to productive assets such as land. It is essential that women are beneficiaries of the accelerate land reform programme. It is significant that of the R75 million in COVID-19 relief earmarked for farming input vouchers [that]  53% of the beneficiaries will be rural women. We must ensure that women subsistence and small-scale farmers continue to receive support beyond the pandemic.”

Government will also seek to ensure that women are protected from GBV in the workplace.

“In this regard, we will be working at a national and regional level towards the ratification of the International Labour Organisazion Convention on Violence and Harassment in the Workplace,” he said.

The emancipation of women is only words on paper unless it is matched by commitment from all sectors of society,” he wrote.

Employment opportunities for women

“As we prepare for the reconstruction of our economy in the wake of the Coronavirus pandemic, we have said that we cannot simply return to where we were before the outbreak of the virus. We must build a fundamentally different economy which, among other things, substantially improves the material position of women,” he added.

South Africa’s investment in infrastructure must support not only the development of local industry, but also women-owned businesses.

“It must deliberately create employment opportunities for women in all stages of planning, financing, building and maintaining infrastructure. By the same measures, as we scale up our public employment programmes, we must ensure that young women in particular, are identified as participants.”

“In addition to an income, these programmes will provide them with an opportunity to acquire some of the skills and experience necessary to enter the mainstream economy,” he said.

The President said while it is government’s responsibility to provide economic opportunities for women and create an enabling framework for advancing gender equality, businesses must support women-owned enterprises in the procurement of goods and services.

He emphasised that women needed to be protected from harassment and discrimination.

“It is up to transport operators, university administrators, school governing bodies and religious organisations to create conditions for women and girls to travel, study and worship in safety.

We must forge ahead with our efforts to eradicate chauvinism, sexism and patriarchy. It is these attitudes that enable the oppression of women,” said President Ramaphosa.

There were 3 740 new COVID-19 cases and 213 more deaths reported on Monday.

This brings the number of confirmed cases to 563 598 since the outbreak in March in South Africa, while the death toll has risen to 10 621.

Of the additional fatalities, 64 are from Free State, 57 from the Eastern Cape, 39 from Gauteng, 30 from the Western Cape, 11 from KwaZulu-Natal, 10 from Mpumalanga and two from the Northern Cape.

Meanwhile, 417 200 people have recovered which translates to a recovery rate of 74%.

The hardest-hit provinces are Gauteng with 193 561 cases followed by the Western Cape with 100 213, KwaZulu-Natal 99 386 and Eastern Cape 82 578.

The Free State has 28 909 cases, North West 21 933, Mpumalanga 19 455, Limpopo 10 711 and Northern Cape 6 802. Fifty remain unallocated.

“The total number of tests conducted to date is 3 267 494 with 16 911 new tests conducted since the last report,” Health Minister, Dr Zweli Mkhize said.

According to the World Health Organisation, there are 19 718 030 cases worldwide and 728 013 deaths to date.

The Department of Health says Minister Zweli Mkhize does not own a personal protective equipment (PPE) manufacturing company.

The department released a statement on Monday in response to messages that appeared on various threads on Twitter, Facebook and WhatsApp, claiming the Minister owns a PPE manufacturing company,

“We would like to categorically state that Mkhize does not own a PPE manufacturing company nor is he involved in any way in the manufacturing of PPE.

“In anticipation of any further emergence of fake news, we also categorically state that nobody in Minister Mkhize’s family is in the business of manufacturing, selling or distributing PPE,” the department said.

Creating or advancing fake news remains an offence under the National State of Disaster.

“The Department of Health will not hesitate to take action against those found to be creating or perpetuating fake news. This kind of content is damaging to the reputation of honest, hardworking members of the executive. It distracts from and undermines the important work of fighting Coronavirus.”

The Ministry has called on members of the public to be circumspect in their engagement with social media content and not find themselves becoming agents of fake news and misinformation.

“We are still in the midst of a pandemic and the best way to fight it is by arming ourselves with facts and sound knowledge that empowers us to defeat Coronavirus.

“We hope that this clarifies the matter and that all individuals that are either the originators of this content or those who have advanced the content by sharing or commenting will take the opportunity to immediately remove the content from their platforms and issue an apology to the Minister and to the public for advancing fake news.”

National Treasury Director-General Dondo Mogajane says an instruction will be issued to government departments across all spheres to halt the emergency procurement of personal protective equipment (PPE) as the State tightens the lid against corruption.

At a joint virtual meeting of the National Assembly and National Council of Provinces Finance Committees on Wednesday, Mogajane said the demand and supply of PPE had somewhat eased compared to the early stages of the outbreak.

“[PPE is] easily available and we have boosted local production… The local production of face shields and masks… is now in place after a few months of challenges in terms of how companies in South Africa could [participate in production],” said Mogajane.

The instruction to halt the emergency procurement of PPE comes as calls mount for all allegations of corruption, in relation to COVID-19 relief funds, be investigated and those responsible to be brought to book.

The allegations have over the past two weeks been a point of concern among many citizens, with some expressing their outrage on social media.

In his weekly newsletter on Monday, President Cyril Ramaphosa said corruption during a national disaster is a particularly heinous type of crime, and perpetrators are going to be dealt with decisively and harshly.

Mogajane said with the halting of emergency procurement, the instruction will request all departments to revert to procurement processes that are compliant with all existing instructions for procurement.

National Treasury, Mogajane said, will lock the absolute price for all PPE and listed protective clothing procurement. Permission will have to be sought for any amount above the absolute price.

Institutions will be asked to provide National Treasury with the names of all PPE and protective clothing appointed service providers for publishing on the Treasury website.

Bringing culprits to book

Finance Minister Tito Mboweni said the instruction previously issued by National Treasury in relation to all COVID-19 procurement has not been adhered to.

While it is important for accounting officers to adhere to the Treasury instruction, Mboweni said it was equally important for executive authorities – Ministers, MECs and Mayors – to hold accounting officers accountable.

He said it is now up to law enforcement agencies to follow up on companies that were awarded tenders in order to find any wrongdoing and to bring the culprits to book.

“One of the key issues is whether some of the companies, which were awarded these contracts, were properly registered with the company registration office. Were they registered with SARS? Did they go through a competitive process?

“The administrative investigation has to show us that indeed this was done and that the companies competed for these contracts, and these particular companies won the contracts on the basis of merit scores. They have to demonstrate that to us.

“In the meantime, I am having a conversation again [on Thursday] with the MECs of Finance to try to find out whether all these processes were followed or not, and if they were not followed, why they were not followed. Who broke the rules?

“In my conversation with the MECs of Finance, we are going to discuss and insist on the fact that all these contracts must be published for the public to see. In publishing who won which contract, we will also want to know who were the competitors, and on which basis did the competitors lose.

“We would be interested to know about the age of the companies. Were they formed [recently] or [have they been around for long]?”

Towards the end of July, President Cyril Ramaphosa signed a proclamation authorising the Special Investigating Unit to probe, in any State institution, allegations of corruption related to the COVID-19 national State of Disaster.

The Department of Employment and Labour has received over 3 000 COVID-19 related claims.

The department has received a total of 3 424 COVID-19 claims, with 2 036 of these being handed directly to the Compensation Fund (CF), while 1 314 were directed to Rand Mutual and 74 claims were handed to Federated Employers.

Rand Mutual — which operates under a licence granted by the Minister of Employment and Labour, and covers mostly workers in the mining, iron and steel industries — has paid out R3.3 million in dependent benefits, while the CF has paid R202 172 in medical aid claims for workers who have contracted COVID-19 while on duty.

Of the 2 036 claims received by the CF, 1 425 came from the Western Cape, 319 from the Eastern Cape with, 145 from KwaZulu-Natal, 69 from Gauteng, 45 from Mpumalanga, 29 from the North West, three from Limpopo and one from the Northern Cape.

The CF has accepted liability for 1 229 claims, which represents 60.4% of the claims received. The fund repudiated 193 (9.5% of claims), while 614 await adjudication, which represents 30.1% of the claims received directly.

The claims received by Rand Mutual are as follows:  949 from Gauteng, 137 from the Eastern Cape, 67 from the Western Cape, 56 from KwaZulu-Natal, 29 from the North West, 21 from Limpopo, 18 from the Free State, while 37 are unknown.

Of the 1 314 claims received so far, 1 253 (95.4%) are pending adjudication.

Federated Employers, which represents workers mostly in the construction sector, received 74 claims, 26 of which are from the Western Cape, 26 from Gauteng, nine from the Northern Cape, 8 from the North West, four from KwaZulu-Natal and one from the Free State.

CF Commissioner Vuyo Mafata said in cases where the claims have been repudiated, with better information, the claims could still be approved and the CF will accept liability.

In the meantime, the department has appealed to companies to ensure that all necessary precautions are taken to safeguard the lives of workers in the workplace.

The department encouraged all workers to do the basics like washing hands, keeping safe distances where possible and wearing the appropriate protective gear, including a mask covering the nose and mouth.

The Passenger Rail Agency of South Africa (PRASA) has welcomed the decision by the Germiston Magistrate’s Court to deny bail to Pontsho Moyo, a manager at agency’s Elsburg depot, who allegedly stole the agency’s assets.

Moyo was arrested over a week ago for alleged theft of PRASA assets from the agency’s premises.

He appeared in court on Thursday with former PRASA employee Edgar Gumede.

“Moyo allegedly ordered the assets to be taken to the premises of Gumede, a former employee of PRASA running his own rail equipment supply company,” PRASA said.

Gumede was granted bail of R40 000 with strict conditions. He has been ordered to not leave the country or interact with State witnesses.

“PRASA is pleased with the decision and that the court views the charges against the accused as very serious. The court pronounced that the attack on PRASA’s assets and infrastructure is an attack against the country and low-income earners, who rely on PRASA for affordable means of transportation,” the agency said.

PRASA said it views this judgment as an important milestone in the fight against the theft and vandalism of the agency’s infrastructure.

PRASA continues to cooperate with the South African Police Service and other important stakeholders, including the National Prosecuting Authority, to ensure that its infrastructure and network are protected from acts of vandalism and theft.

The South African government says it has noted with concern the reports related to human rights violations in the Republic of Zimbabwe.

In a series of tweets on Thursday, the Department of International Relations and Cooperation said Minister Naledi Pandor is in contact with her Zimbabwean counterpart, the Minister of Foreign Affairs and International Trade Sibusiso Moyo, on developments on the matter.

On Tuesday, the two Ministers had a telephonic conversation in which Pandor expressed South Africa’s readiness to assist if requested.

“Minister Pandor, reiterated South Africa’s commitment to peace and stability in the region and the African Continent,” DIRCO said on Twitter.

During the engagements, Pandor stated that it remains South Africa’s resolve to continue the pursuit for consultative solutions to address the existing socio-economic challenges and to contribute to the wellbeing of all Zimbabweans, the people of the SADC Region and Africans at large.

Government is serious about fighting gender-based violence (GBV) and will leave no stone unturned until every woman and child is safe in the country, says Deputy Minister in the Presidency, Thembi Siweya.

“Our systems must never subject victims to secondary victimisation or push them back to the perpetrators because the consequences will be too dire. We must be able to assist victims and help them to reintegrate into society,” said Siweya on Wednesday.

The Deputy Minister was speaking during her monitoring visit at Ikhaya Lethemba Shelter in Braamfontein, accompanied by the Gauteng MEC for Community Safety, Faith Mazibuko and MEC for Social Development, Dr Nomathemba Mokgethi.

The shelter serves as a place of hope for the abused and provides a range of services that assists them to be self-sufficient while preparing for court appearances.

Survivors are equipped with skills to assist them to be self-sufficient and care for their children, including sewing, beading and printing. Some have been armed with professional skills that have landed them formal employment opportunities.

The Early Childhood Development programme at the centre also helps children who have been alienated from home by their perpetrators and ensure that they are prepared to testify in court.

“The model might have challenges, but it is an ideal intervention in the fight against gender-based violence. It emphasises the victims’ rights and prioritises their protection and recovery. It would be ideal if similar institutions could be replicated in all the districts where there are reported high levels of GBV,” the Deputy Minister said.

Several stakeholders, including the police, non-governmental organisations, Health and Justice Departments, as well as the private sector have been mobilised to ensure an integrated approach in supporting victims.

The Gauteng MEC of Community Safety made an undertaking that no victim in need will be turned away at the centre.

Siweya said as the country marks Women’s Month, they will be going to all the centres to monitor their effectiveness and the impact of COVID-19 on their operations.

“We want to make sure that these centres continue to operate even during this pandemic. At times, we will just arrive at the centre unannounced for us to get an unfiltered picture. Our officials at the Department of Planning, Monitoring and Evaluation are ready to unearth the challenges and assist with the solutions,” Siweya said.

The Deputy Minister’s visit follows a recent frontline monitoring programme at a Sexual Offences Court in Nebo Magistrate’s Court in Limpopo, where she intervened in finding a medium-term solution to the water crisis, which was affecting the running of the court.

The Portfolio Committee on Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs (COGTA) has resolved to call all municipalities and provincial governments to appear before the committee in order to deal decisively with corruption and mismanagement of municipalities.

Committee chairperson Faith Muthambi said the committee will start with municipalities whose executive leaders currently serve on the national leadership of the South African Local Government Association (SALGA).

Muthambi emphasised that committee members, including provincial MECs and senior managers of the national Department of COGTA, must be present when the municipalities appear before the committee.

“We will start with the national leadership of SALGA, who also serve as mayors of various municipalities. It is clear that some executive members of SALGA have not complied with legislative requirements to submit financial and other reports on behalf of their municipalities,” Muthambi said on Wednesday.

Muthambi bemoaned the fact that municipalities led by mayors and senior executives, who are members of SALGA, fail to comply with basic finance and governance legislation.

“This contradiction must be exposed,” she said.

Muthambi has also requested the Department of COGTA to provide the committee with a list of dysfunctional municipalities.

She said the municipalities will be prioritised and called to appear before the committee.

Oversight visits to municipalities

Meanwhile, Muthambi said the committee will seek permission from the House chairperson to be allowed to continue with its oversight work during the current constituency period.

She said the committee will be divided into two groups to conduct physical and virtual oversight visits to the provinces.

“We need to strengthen monitoring, evaluation and oversight over all the municipalities in the country and to restore public confidence in municipalities. The committee will not allow the rot to continue or the status quo to worsen under its watch,” the chairperson warned.

Muthambi said the recent Auditor-General report exposed the state of municipalities. She warned that any departmental official found lying to the committee will be charged and possibly imprisoned.

“The committee believes that individuals reporting to us must do so with due respect for Parliament, as any report submitted to the committee is a report which is submitted directly to Parliament,” she said.

The committee will call the Ministers and MECs to account on the interventions already undertaken in the provinces and municipalities placed under administration.

The number of new COVID-19 cases identified on Wednesday is 8 686, bringing the number of infections since the outbreak to 529 877.

With 414 new fatalities reported in the last 24 hours, the death toll now stands at 9 298.

Of the additional deaths, 135 were recorded in the Eastern Cape, 122 from Free State, 62 from KwaZulu-Natal, 45 from Gauteng, 34 from the Western Cape and 16 from Mpumalanga.

The hardest-hit provinces are Gauteng with 185 282 cases, Western Cape 98 031, KwaZulu-Natal 87 798 and Eastern Cape 80 400.

The Free State has 25 232 cases, North West 20 686, Mpumalanga 17 135, Limpopo 9 625 and Northern Cape 5 638.

Fifty cases have still not been allocated.

“The number of recoveries currently stands at 377 266, which translates to a recovery rate of 71%,” Health Minister, Dr Zweli Mkhize, said.

A total of 3 113 191 tests have been conducted, with 34 989 new tests conducted since the last report.

In his update address on Wednesday, the Minister said while he is cautiously optimistic about the decrease of infections, it is still too early to make definite conclusions regarding the observed decline.

“We need to continue to track all these indicators and ensure that our testing capacity reflects a realist picture of our epidemiological status. We will therefore only know for sure when there is a consistent decline over a period,” Mkhize said.

According to the World Health Organisation, there are 18 354 342 cases and 696 147 deaths worldwide.