APO News from Africa:
Minister Davies to deliver keynote address at the buy local summit in Gauteng:
The Minister of Trade and Industry, Dr Rob Davies will deliver a keynote address on the second day of the 6th Proudly South African Buy Local Summit, that will be hosted at the Sandton Convention Centre from 3-4 April 2017.
According to Davies, the South African government has recognised promoting locally produced goods, as a stimulus for growth in the domestic manufacturing sector and job creation, and has developed and implemented a number of strategies to assist the local manufacturing industry with a renewed drive towards local procurement.
“The manufacturing sector has the highest economic and employment multipliers than any sector. Therefore, it plays a critical and indispensable role as a driver of innovation and productivity growth. It should increasingly provide the capital goods and equipment inputs required for the infrastructure which is central to the country’s growth strategy while, more generally, ‘feeding’ locally manufactured inputs,” says Davies.
He adds that the buy local message is an on-going call to action, to the entire country, from government to private companies, small and medium enterprises, big business, as well as ordinary consumers.
“Underlining all our efforts is the realisation that the growth of our economy has a direct impact on job stimulation as a result of making buy local choices at all levels. By buying locally grown, produced or manufactured goods or services, businesses grow, thereby stimulating economic growth and sustainable job creation,” says Davies.
Furthermore, he adds that strong persuasive initiatives are required to secure greater private sector support for local manufacturing, a contribution that large companies in particular are well-placed to make, given their significant procurement spend. Davies says it also includes providing further support for Broad-Based -Black Economic Empowerment (BBB-EE), and better alignment between BBB-EE and industrial development objectives.
“A sustained strategy to secure compliance with existing public procurement policies and supplier development and sourcing measures, with the overall aim of supporting the manufacturing sector to raise domestic production and grow employment should be the end result of all government efforts,” adds Davies.
Distributed by APO on behalf of The Department of Trade and Industry, South Africa.
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Source: APO – Africa-Newsroom: latest news releases related to Africa
Government on Track to Pay Social Grants:
The Department of Social Development wishes to remind South Africans especially beneficiaries of social grants that the South African Social Security Agency (SASSA) is on track with their payment of social grants.
The Minister of Social Development, Ms Bathabile Dlamini instructed SASSA to open the file to pay social grants at 11am today (31 March 2017). A limited number of messages were sent to beneficiaries notifying them that their April social grant was available for withdrawal. Within an hour of notification more than twenty five thousand (25 000) beneficiaries had withdrawn their money at ATMs around the country. At 16:00 six hundred and fifty thousand (650 000) beneficiaries had withdrawn their grants. As recipients of social grants are aware, payments are made at various channels including merchants, points of sale, banks, ATMs and Sassa cash pay points.
As part of her oversight role, Minister Dlamini will tomorrow, 1 April 2017 be visiting merchants in Burgersfort, Limpopo Province. Minister Dlamini will also be engaging beneficiaries to obtain feedback on the payment process. The Minister will start at 9am the Unitrade Factory Shop, Shop 6 Khadima Centre, Main Street in Burgersfort. Teams of managers will also be deployed around the country to provide assistance at the busiest merchants and paypoints.
MEASURES IN PLACE AS OF APRIL 1, 2017
- The SASSA call centre will be opened to assist beneficiaries with all enquiries. The contact number is 0800 60 10 11.
- Senior Officials will be deployed at the call centre to make sure that all enquiries are attended to.
- Officials will also be on standby to receive calls that may come through the switchboard.
- Arrangements have been made to ensure that SOCPEN is available for investigation and verification of the status of the grants applications.
- A letter to the Acting National Police Commissioner was sent out for a request to increase police visibility across the country.
The Department emphasises that normal business processes will continue. Any form of lapsing or suspensions that may occur may NOT imply a failure to pay grants by SASSA.
The Minister wishes to reiterate her unreserved apology for the anxiety and fear caused about the uncertainty around the payment of social grants. She wishes to express her gratitude in advance for the patience and cooperation of all South Africans especially the beneficiaries of social grants.
Distributed by APO on behalf of Republic of South Africa: Department of Government Communication and Information.
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Source: APO – Africa-Newsroom: latest news releases related to Africa
Development for everyone requires the inclusion of everyone- Global Human Development Report 2016:
Steady progress in human development cannot be achieved if half of the world’s population is bypassed, says the 2016 Global Human Development Report (GHDR). The Report was jointly launched by the Development Secretary in the Minister of Finance and Economic Development, and the UNDP Resident Representative, on March 30, in Freetown.
The Report, titled Human Development for Everyone, which was jointly launched globally by the UNDP Administrator and the Prime Minister of Sweden in Stockholm on Tuesday 21 March shows the unparalleled human development progress over the past 25 years, but says millions have not benefitted from the gains.
The report focuses broadly on the richness of human lives rather than narrowly on the strength of economies, highlights the imbalances across countries: socio-economic, ethnic and racial groups; urban and rural areas; and women and men. It explores who has been left behind, why they have been left out and the urgent steps to bring these groups on board.
The Report also stresses that millions of people are unable to reach their full potential in life because they suffer deprivations in multiple dimensions of human development. According to the Report, Sierra Leone’s ranking in Human Development Index, which measures progress in long and healthy life, knowledge and decent standard of living, declined from 176 in 2014 to 179 out of the 188 countries and territories in 2015.
Development Secretary in the Ministry of Finance and Economic Development, John Sumailah, said Sierra Leone’s decline in Human Development Index was greatly influenced by the EVD outbreak and the fall in the international price of iron ore. He stressed the Government’s commitment in addressing the recommendations raised in the report to ensure human development reaches every Sierra Leonean.
The UNDP Resident Representative, Sunil Saigal, said the 2016 Human Development Report follows the first year of the implementation of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and the theme of this year’s report was drawn from and built on the SDGs.
The Human Development Report argues that to ensure human development for everyone, merely mapping of the nature and locations of deprivations is inadequate. Deeper analysis is required, including core human development aspects, such as human rights and human security, voice and participation, collective capabilities and interdependency of choices.
The UNDP Economic Advisor, Moses Sichei, while summarizing the findings of the Report, stressed that despite the country’s declined in HDI, live expectancy at birth improved from 50.9 years in 2014 to 51.3 years in 2015. Expected years of schooling and mean year of schooling stuck at 9.5 and 3.3, respectively over the same period. However, Gross Domestic Product (GDP) Growth slowed from 4.6 percent in 2014 to negative 21,1 percent in 2015 implying a corresponding decline in the Gross National income per capita from US $ 1,960 to US $ 1,529 over the same period.
Sierra Leone’s gender inequality remains very high. The female HDI value for Sierra Leone is 0.392 in contrast with 0.451 for males, resulting in a GDI value of 0.871 which is one of the lowest in the world.
Multi-dimensional poverty which measures multiple deprivations in a household in education, health and living standards, that goes beyond the monetary aspects of people’s lives, shows that 77.5 percent of Sierra Leonean are multi-dimensionally poor.
Vice Chancellor of the University of Sierra Leone, Professor Ekundayo Thompson, said that action towards achieving a human development for all should be accelerated across all sectors particularly on improving the education indicator.
“The latest global Human Development Report is a deafening alarm bell that as a country we need to revisit the education system and make a bold decision to improve on the level of its quality,” said Professor Thompson.
The launch was witnessed by representatives of government ministries, departments and agencies, ambassadors, high commissioners, parliamentarians, development partners, policy-makers, gender activists, academicians, media, civil society and officials of the United Nations.
Distributed by APO on behalf of United Nations Development Programme (UNDP).
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Source: APO – Africa-Newsroom: latest news releases related to Africa
