Author: Agency

Social Development Minister Lindiwe Zulu has encouraged applicants of the COVID-19 Social Relief of Distress (SRD) R350 grant not to change their bank details frequently because every new account must be verified. “Once your bank details are loaded or updated, please wait for a response from your bank before changing your details. “With regards to payments, we are still having challenges with beneficiaries who upload incorrect bank details. We also urge all approved applicants who are not yet paid to check the status of bank verification, and if needs be, correct their banking details,” the Minister said. Minister Zulu was…

President Cyril Ramaphosa says Early Childhood Development (ECD) centres play a critical role in laying solid foundations for South Africa’s future leaders. The President was addressing the nation through his weekly newsletter just days after opening the Little Flower ECD centre in Bizana, in the Eastern Cape. The President emphasised that children in these centres must be nurtured. “The young children in these centres are the next generation of South Africans who must be able to live up to their full potential as responsible, capable and outstanding citizens. “They must be able to pursue their dreams so that we all may…

Home Affairs Minister, Dr Aaron Motsoaledi, has announced new fee amendments for South African passports and travel documents in terms of section 4(1)(e) of the South African Passports and Travel Documents Act, 1994 (Act No. 4 of 1994), and in consultation with the Minister of Finance. The amended fees, which were published in the Government Gazette No. 47256 (attached) on 06 October 2022, come into operation on 1 November 2022. Section 4(1)(e) of the South African Passports and Travel Documents Act, 1994, enables the Minister of Home Affairs to make regulations regarding the fees payable for the issuance of a…

President Cyril Ramaphosa says government will continue to build on the success of the Presidential Employment Stimulus (PES) and expand its reach, as it pursues economic growth to deliver decent and sustainable employment at a much larger scale. In his weekly newsletter to the nation, the President said that the PES is still very much needed to complement recovery efforts in the job market. The PES was launched less than two years ago to create jobs and support livelihoods, as part of supporting economic recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic. The PES has just reached a milestone of one million participants reached…

The Special Investigating Unit (SIU) welcomes the Special Tribunal order for the Systems Applications Products (SAP) to payback the Department of Water and Sanitation (DWS) more than R81 million. In March 2022, the Special Tribunal ordered SAP to repay DWS R413 million, which is the total amount paid by DWS to SAP between 2015 and 2016 for software licence and support contracts. The contracts value was over R1 billion. However, SAP disputed an amount of R83 million for third party costs it incurred. In a new order, dated 29 September 2022, the Special Tribunal ruled that SAP pays DWS the…

Special Investigating Unit (SIU) head, Advocate Andy Mothibi, says the unit has gathered enough evidence for civil, prosecutorial and disciplinary action to be taken against those who allegedly “siphoned” some R279 million from the coffers of the National Lotteries Commission (NLC). Mothibi was briefing the National Assembly’s Portfolio Committee on Trade and Industry on Tuesday. The corruption-fighting unit recently concluded the first phase of an investigation into allegations of maladministration, fraud and corruption at the NLC, which revealed how some NLC officials and board members allegedly illegally benefitted from funding grants meant for public benefit through non-profit organisations (NPOs). “This…

Applications for Phase IV of the Presidential Youth Employment Initiative (PYEI) in the Basic Education sector have opened today and will close on 16 October 2022. In a statement on Sunday, the Department of Basic Education announced that Phase IV will offer job opportunities to 255 100 youth across the nine provinces in around 20 000 public ordinary schools and schools for learners with special education needs (LSEN). “Phase IV comes as the country‘s youth have reaped the benefits of more than 850 000 job opportunities coupled with training that was offered throughout this initiative. The applications will officially open…

Eskom will continue to implement load shedding this week due to constraints from its diesel suppliers that is affecting the availability of bulk diesel to the Ankerlig and Gourikwa Open Cycle Gas Turbines, which have a combined capacity of 2 000MW. In a statement on Sunday, Eskom said Stage 3 load shedding would continue to be implemented between 00:00 and 16:00 until Thursday, while Stage 4 load shedding will be implemented daily during the evening peaks from 16:00 until 00:00. “While we expect diesel deliveries from Tuesday onwards, should this uncertainty of supply persist, higher stages of load shedding may…

The Financial Sector Conduct Authority (FSCA) has launched a seminal discussion paper on Unclaimed Assets that have accumulated to almost R90 billion across the financial sector. The authority this week said the majority of these assets are in retirement funds. In a statement, the FSCA said the discussion paper builds on work done it had done with the National Treasury to find a solution that will lead to increased disbursements of unclaimed assets to beneficial owners. FSCA Commissioner, Unathi Kamlana, said work is continuing to establish the “true value of unclaimed assets in the sector, given that these assets are…

The South African Reserve Bank’s Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) has hiked the repurchase rate (repo rate) by 75 basis points. The increase means that the repo rate will now be 6.25% per year from 23 September 2022, with prime now at 9.75%. The MPC made the decision during its meeting on Wednesday. This was the fifth consecutive increment following a two 25 basis points hike in November and in January. The repo rate was hiked by 50 basis points at the May meeting. The MPC upped the ante, with a 75 basis point rise at its July meeting. Addressing media…