Free State Targets Surgical Backlogs
The three-day Cataract Marathon, held over the weekend at Boitumelo Regional Hospital in Kroonstad, was a great success, with over 100 patients receiving treatment.
Screening was conducted last week Friday with cataract operations scheduled for Saturday and Su...
Education activist Hendrick Makaneta has amplified concerns about the R500 million contract for the printing and delivering of National Senior Certificate (NSC) examination papers in the North West province.
Weekend newspaper reports stated that the five-year contract with joint venture Lebone Altron DSV Consortium will cost the North West province R128 million annually.
On the other hand, the North West department of education has disputed the City Press reports, insisting that the five-year contract will cost the provincial authorities around R100 million annually.
Speaking to IOL, Makaneta who is the director of the Foundation for Education and Social Justice Africa said the contract was “too costly”.
“Spending R500 million on a contract for printing and delivering examination papers is very costly. While it is important to keep papers safe, this huge expenditure raises serious concerns about priorities and transparency. We still have shortages of textbooks and poor infrastructure,” said Makaneta.
“The North West department of education should disclose details of the contract with specific reference to a breakdown of costs, and public engagement on alternatives. Outsourcing must not come at the cost of accountability.”
Makaneta said the South African population deserves to know how learners will benefit from this whole process.
In an interview with broadcaster Newzroom Afrika, acting North West deputy director general for exams and curriculum, David Moroeng said the contract extends beyond the printing of examination papers.
“The contract that we have entered into is not only a contract for printing but it is a contract of what we call end-to-end, where we prepare question papers, we print and they are picked up and packaged. Once they are prepared (the question papers), they are going to be stored and then to the different storage points in the province under a secured environment,” he said.
“The previous service provider, that was two to three years ago, it was GPW (Government Printing Works) and we left GPW because we had a one-year SLA (service level agreement) that we had with them. We moved away and started looking for a new service provider.”
Moroeng said for the past two years, the North West provincial department was being hosted by their colleagues - the Gauteng department of education.
“We moved now, starting with our own tender process and we advertised, after advertising we got Lebone Litho consortium and also Altron DSV taking the bid,” he said.
Moroeng said the GPW contract was ranging around R27 million to 29 million but it was limited to printing.
“When we left GPW two years ago, we started paying around R80 million to R90 million in terms of printing. This year, when we started the new contract, we have added some new features that were not there, that is secured printing, secured transportation of the question papers within the province,” he said.
As part of the added services, Moroeng said the new service provider is mandated to transport answer books to the different marking venues across the province.
A nationwide petition has been launched calling on the government and retailers to intervene to bring down rising food prices as South Africans are facing a daily battle to feed their families.
The action has been brought by United Against Hunger (UAH), which hopes to collect about 100,000 signatures as part of its campaign to reduce food prices. The organisation stated that many families are no longer able to feed themselves, and children are starving.
The petition has also been linked with door-to-door campaigns, with affiliates of the union visiting homes to collect signatures and brief residents on the issues of hunger and malnutrition among children. The petition was launched as part of the World Hunger campaigns.
Mark Heywood, the leader of UAH, stated that the petition aims to encourage large retailers making significant profits to respond to the moral needs of their customers or to get the government involved in regulating food prices.
"The petition is going slower than we had hoped, but we are beginning to engage communities, going door to door in KwaZulu-Natal. Abahlali BaseMjondolo (the shack dwellers' movement) is visiting homes, collecting signatures, and engaging with communities on issues of malnutrition," he said.
The 2024 General Household Survey, which was released last week revealed that nearly 14 million South Africans, equivalent to almost a quarter of all households, faced daily hunger last year.
The data showed that 22.2% of households reported inadequate or severely inadequate access to food, with the Northern Cape (34.3%), Eastern Cape (31.3%), Mpumalanga (30.4%), and KwaZulu-Natal (23.9%) the most affected provinces. Children are particularly vulnerable. Malnutrition significantly impairs physical and cognitive development, increasing mortality risks and undermining long-term educational and economic outcomes.
Heywood said: “By the age of five, 29% of children have experienced malnutrition and are stunted as a result of not having sufficient food. We know that there are several causes of hunger, and they are complex, but one of the biggest causes is the prices and profiteering off essential foodstuffs."
He added that the organisation believes, based on studies by universities, that if food could be made available to poorer people, malnutrition could be significantly reduced. He said they wrote to the CEO of one of the major food stores, urging the company to reduce prices on essential food items for children developing in the early stages of their lives. He emphasised that big companies in the retail sector can afford to reduce prices and are currently making huge profits.
"Everyone has a right to sufficient food; that is a constitutional right. If companies that set high food prices are violating the realisation of those rights, then we say the government must regulate not just the quality of food but also the affordability of food to ensure that people in this country do not go hungry. Hunger is a human rights violation; it is not something that we should subject people to because our country produces a surplus of food," he said.
Pass legislation to prevent food waste.
Reduce food prices
Introduce legislation to prevent food wastage
Set up a National Food Security and Nutrition Council and finalise the National Plan on Food Security and Nutrition in consultation with communities.
Mervyn Abrahams, director of the Pietermaritzburg Economic Justice and Dignity Group, stated that the calls for food prices to be reviewed are genuine. The group has been assessing food affordability for the past few years.
"As we have demonstrated before through our Household Affordability Index, food prices continue to rise both on a monthly and annual basis, making it difficult each and every day for many families, especially those in the low-income bracket, to buy essential food items."
He added, "We have been consistent in calling for transparency in the food ecosystem, primarily out of concern that big business is driven by the sole desire to make profit. This concern arises from an appreciation that when profits are prioritised above everything else, families find themselves having to make difficult choices and compromises when it comes to buying food because of high prices."
"The well-being and nourishment of families should not be a matter of compromise, and that is why we would support any move to ensure food accessibility for households," he concluded.
Floyd Shivambu has officially been fired from political party uMkhonto WeSizwe and attended a press briefing to confirm what a statement from MK’s president, Jacob Zuma declared in this statement.
Zuma and the national officials of MK opposed Shivambu’s international trip to Malawi where the dismissed Secretary General visited fugitive Bishop Shepard Bushiri and his wife, Mary.The party’s statement confirmed that it was reaffirmed that that Shivambu’s trip to Malawi was not approved by the party nor its president and therefore goes against the constitution of the party.
Shivambu has been redeployed to the national assembly and mentioned that he will continue to advance the role of MK’s agenda in parliament. Shivambu fully accepted the redeployment and commented that he will continue serving with excellence and discipline.
The eThekwini Municipality will spend R10 million to repair March 2025 storm-related damage at the Bisasar Road and Buffelsdraai landfill sites.
The municipality stated that work has begun at Buffelsdraai, but none have yet begun at Bisasar Road in Clare Estate, where a contractor is being sourced by the Cleansing and Solid Waste Unit (CSW).
In a report by CSW, it stated that infrastructure has been compromised and that these landfills are required by law to have waste disposal areas operated to prevent negative impacts such as odour, toxic leachate waters being formed from rainfall infiltration, and landfill gas migration, etc.
The CSW stated that the repairs are considered critical due to the damage requiring urgent attention.
The sites sustained damage due to rapid runoff combined with saturated soils from the rains, leading to flash flooding at these landfill sites. This not only overwhelmed the infrastructure but also caused damage to leachate (toxic waste waters) systems, eroded access routes, and resulted in further harm to landfill and extraction pipework infrastructure.
The report stated that CSW engineers have conducted a due diligence assessment and classified the site as bordering on unsafe, requiring competent contractors to undertake the necessary safety work and mitigate further negative impacts. It also noted that site teams have exhausted internal options to improve areas with temporary fixes.
Other works will entail specialist works on leachate containment and landfill gas infrastructure, in which tenderers' attention to functionality will be needed.
The report stated that failure to conduct repairs will result in pollution to the environment and a reduction in the waste management service standard for the ratepayers.
Alicia Kissoon, eThekwini Ward 23 councillor, said residents surrounding Clare Estate raised concerns about the strong odours emanating from the Bisasar Road.
Following interventions from CSW, Kissoon said that the landfill gas system is operational, pipe repairs have been completed, and an internal toolbox talk was conducted to ensure that staff avoid the recently damaged area, especially during wet weather.
“The removal of standing uncovered waste and the backlog of waste cover caused by recent flood events is ongoing. The odour control spray system has been ramped up, and operational staff hours have been extended to ensure continued maintenance of control systems. I will continue to monitor the situation and maintain open lines of communication with the department to ensure further mitigation and accountability,” she said.
At a recent council meeting, Sunitha Maharaj, Minority Front councillor, said the Bisasar Road landfill site should have been decommissioned and rehabilitated as it has surpassed its lifespan.
“We support all measures to make landfill sites safe. It may or may not be common knowledge that this site poses serious environmental and health risks. Despite numerous requests from the affected community over the years to close the site, it remains open,” Maharaj said.
The Competition Commission has approved two big transactions related to Fidelity Security Services, South Africa’s biggest private security firm.
The commission has recommended that the Competition Tribunal approve the transaction whereby Fidelity will acquire SSG Holdings, with conditions.
SSG provides guarding services, technical and electronic security services, cleaning and hygiene services and facilities management – services that align with Fidelity’s offerings.
The Fidelity Group is primarily a provider of security services and ancillery services.
Its key areas of business include guarding services, technical and electronic security services, cleaning and sanitary services (including hygiene and pest control services), cash in transit services, cash processing services, cash handling devices, monitoring and response services.
The commission said that to address competition concerns, the parties have agreed that any restraints of trade implemented post-merger will be limited in duration to not more than three years and be limited to the activities conducted by SSG.
Further, Fidelity has undertaken to allow qualifying workers of SSG to participate in Fidelity’s employees share ownership scheme.
The second transaction approved by the commission was for New Seasons Security Services (NSSS) to acquire Fidelity, without conditions.
NSSS is an investment holding entity which was created specifcially for purposes of the transaction.
According to Fidelity, NSSS is a special purpose vehicle that was created as part of a “strategic simplificaton” of its shareholding structure.
“This initiative is designed to enhance liquidity for all shareholders, with particular focus on our longstanding Fidelity B-BBEE partners, who remain committed equity stakeholders in the group,” it said.
NSSS bears the namesake of New Seasons Investments, the BEE private equity partner of Fidelity which came on board during the group’s buyout in 2006.
New Seasons Investment Holdings was established in 1995 by Ashley Mabogoane and fellow founder members, Peter Vundla, Kgomotso Moroka, the late Jabu Mabuza and the late Enos Mabuza.
The group merged with Nodus Equity in 2018 to become an open-ended 51% black managed company, of which Fidelity is one of its most prominent partners.
The restructuring has again sparked speculation that the private security group is preparing for a listing on the JSE.
Talk of a Fidelity listing has been making the rounds for years, with insider reports back in 2022 saying that the firm was investigating a path to an IPO.
Fidelity told BusinessTech that, regarding a potential listing on the JSE, it “continues to explore a range of options that may facilitate capital realisation for all shareholders”.
“This process remains an ongoing priority as we assess opportunities that align with the group’s long-term growth and value creation objectives,” it said.
In the meantime, the Competition Commission has greenlit the next steps of the group’s plans to boost its business, directing the two transactions to the Competition Tribunal for approval.
The freeze in US funding has left major institutions scrambling to save critical health research programmes.
In an urgent appeal, universities, led by the University of the Witwatersrand, have approached National Treasury, requesting R2-billion in local aid to prevent a collapse in research infrastructure that supports everything from HIV and reproductive health to broader public health systems.
The freeze has already resulted in project terminations, staff retrenchments, and massive uncertainty with more cuts looming.
Professor Glenda Gray has been at the forefront of HIV Aids research for decades.
The Chief Scientific Officer at the SA Medical Research Council and professor at Wits University discussed the situation with eNCA.
