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Comedic Genius Unveils Candid Insights on Legal Troubles, Personal Triumphs, and More HOUSTON, TX – January 10, 2024 – In a resounding testament to the magnetic allure of one of comedy’s brightest stars, Katt Williams’ recent interview with hip-hop legend and revered podcaster Willie D on the Willie D Live YouTube Channel has taken the …
Sony Corporation Announces Development of Spatial Content Creation System, Equipped with High-Quality XR Head-Mounted Display and Controllers Dedicated to Interaction with 3D Objects Metaverse Technologies and Hardware to Empower 3D Content Creators XR head-mounted display and controllers[i] South Africa, 11 January 2024 – Sony Corporation announced development of an immersive spatial content creation system, which …
More than 40 stalls and containers were demolished and removed from main road in Cacadu
Johannesburg, 10 January 2024: Mahindra is the principal sponsor of everyone’s favourite SA20 cricket team, the Joburg Super Kings. Mahindra joined the Joburg Super Kings on the eve of the second SA20 cricket series as both primary sponsor and vehicle provider. The Mahindra brand will proudly feature on the Joburg Super Kings apparel and on …
SASSA says 150,000 grants have been suspended
Dear Editor The deployment of the South African National Defence Force (SANDF) as part of the SADC’s military intervention force to the eastern DRC is a reckless decision that will potentially place the lives of our uniformed forces at severe risk. The DA is calling on President Cyril Ramaphosa, in his capacity as the Commander …
President emphasises importance of human rights
With South Africa heading to the International Court of Justice (ICJ) in The Hague for acts committed by Israel in the context of its attacks on Gaza, President Cyril Ramaphosa says the country approached the court due to its opposition to the ongoing slaughter of the people of Gaza.
“As a people who once tasted the bitter fruits of dispossession, discrimination, racism and state-sponsored violence, we are clear that we will stand on the right side of history. It is our fervent hope that just as we were able to reconcile and make peace, that the peoples of Israel and Palestine will find a lasting, just peace,” the President said on Wednesday in Johannesburg.
The ICJ in The Hague will begin hearings in the proceedings brought by South Africa against the State of Israel on Thursday.
Paying tribute to the life of globally renowned photographer, Dr Peter Magubane, President Ramaphosa called for the remembrance of the more than 100 journalists and media workers who have been killed in Israel’s genocidal war on the people of Gaza.
Magubane, who was well-known for his images that captured experiences and struggles of black South Africans during apartheid, passed away on 01 January 2024 at the age of 91.
“When we look at the world today, we see journalists being arrested, persecuted and even killed for doing their job. Indeed, bearing witness to the truth is a revolutionary act. Standing firm for justice is what must define our humanity.
“As a country we can hold our heads up high that we have come very far from the days when Magubane and other journalists were censured, arrested and persecuted for practicing their craft.
“We can be proud that our intellectual property regime is robust and protects the rights of journalists, artists, cultural workers and all South Africans and enables them to safeguard and profit off their work,” he said.
The President said in its 30th year since achieving democracy, South Africa’s media and press freedom remains strong.
“The right to a free press is enshrined in our Constitution. As a country, we can hold our heads up high that we have come very far from the days when Magubane and other journalists were censured, arrested and persecuted for practicing their craft.
“We can be proud that our intellectual property regime is robust and protects the rights of journalists, artists, cultural workers and all South Africans and enables them to safeguard and profit off their work.
“Above all, we can be proud that the South African media continues in the tradition of Magubane by bearing witness to injustice, to wrongdoing and to malfeasance.
“Just as his generation of journalists held the powerful to account, we continue to count on today’s generation of media workers to fulfil this important role without being hindered, obstructed, or censored,” President Ramaphosa said.
Magubane’s photographic career began in 1955 after he joined Drum magazine as a driver and messenger.
He soon became a darkroom assistant where his major assignment was covering the African National Congress 1955 convention.
The President affirmed the immense power of the Fourth Estate in shaping public opinion, in giving an impartial and unbiased account of the truth, and in supporting the development of a nation.
“As much as it is critical to point the lens in the direction of wrongdoing, I want to take this opportunity to call on the media to give South Africans an equally balanced view of the progress this country has achieved over the past 30 years.
“Of the progress in terms of educational outcomes, access to healthcare, basic services, constitutional freedoms, and fulfilment of the Bill of Rights. The South Africa of today is a vastly different place to the South Africa that was the canvas for Magubane’s lens,” the President said.
He said Magubane’s work documenting apartheid helped shift global opinion against the regime.
“At a time when we strive to rebuild our country from a period of great hardship, your balanced work as men and women of the media has the potential to lift the nation’s spirits, to inspire and give us courage, and to bring us hope.
“Let us bring too to the people of South Africa the stories of lives transformed, living standards improved, and those areas where there has been positive change. We count on you to be the conscience of a nation, but also the voice of the people, as Magubane was. As journalists you should not only be messengers of doom and gloom, but guardians of our democracy and merchants of hope,” the President said. – SAnews.gov.za
nosihle
Wed, 01/10/2024 - 14:08
Dear Editor Over the past three decades, the ANC has presided over the destruction of at least 3 636 kilometres of South Africa’s railway tracks. If one laid out the full length of railway lines destroyed by the ANC, it would stretch all the way from Cape Town to Kilimanjaro. This shocking information was revealed …
Dear Editor The massive toxicology backlog at the forensic chemistry laboratories (FCLs) in Cape Town, Johannesburg and Pretoria persists with 37 962 tests outstanding as of 31 October 2023. This was recently revealed by the Minister of Health in response to a written parliamentary question by the DA. The Minister also revealed the snail’s pace …
The Intimate Evening Series, a collaboration between Liberty and leading local promoter Showtime Management are proud to host “An Intimate Evening with Lalah Hathaway”, a four-concert tour presented by Liberty at Montecasino’s Teatro begins on Friday, 19 January with two more Johannesburg concert dates on Saturday, 20 January at 8pm and a 6pm concert on …
Several Mpumalanga farm owners issued with contravention and prohibition notices for violating laws
The exploitation and ill treatment of workers, as well as disregard of South Africa’s labour laws, continues unabated in some of the agricultural sectors in Mpumalanga.
This is according to the Department of Employment and Labour Chief Inspector Milly Ruiters who led a weeklong inspection at the Ehlanzeni District.
The department said it found many employers in the agricultural sector wanting when it comes to compliance with the suite of labour legislation administered by the department.
The inspections were part of an ongoing initiative to ensure compliance with labour legislation and focused on inspections and conducting advocacy.
The inspections zoomed into the Basic Conditions of Employment Act (BCEA), the National Minimum Wage Act, the Unemployment Insurance Act, the Compensation for Occupational Injuries and Diseases Act, and the Occupational Health and Safety Act.
“The department issued a number of contravention and prohibition notices and plans to conduct follow-up inspections.”
Inspectors found several non-compliance in areas such as electrical faults, a lack of assessments, no record keeping, non-registration of workers with the unemployment insurance fund and compensation for occupational injuries and diseases acts.
The other transgressions include paying below the national minimum wage rates, non-provision of personal protective equipment, not informing workers about their rights and lack of compliance with health and safety.
According to the department, several farms were subjected to inspections and continue to fail the tests in compliance with various labour laws.
“The department’s inspections will continue until Friday and will also focus on the wholesale and retail sectors. The inspections form part of build-up activities including taking services to the people in the province.”
Meanwhile, the department will host a Jobs Fair at Thulamahashe Local Stadium in Bushbuckridge on Thursday to interact with work seekers and a Ministerial session with employers on 12 January at Southern Sun Emnotweni Hotel in Mbombela. – SAnews.gov.za
Gabisile
Wed, 01/10/2024 - 14:08
Every mother wants to know how to be a cool mom – the thing is, that most moms over-think the whole “cool mom” persona and in turn, find themselves saying and doing cringe-worthy things according to their mortified children. But being a “cool mom” isn’t as complex as you might expect! It really all comes …
President pays tribute to renowned photographer Magubane
President Cyril Ramaphosa has paid tribute to globally renowned photographer, Dr Peter Magubane, for fearlessly using his camera to capture the atrocities of apartheid while putting his life in danger.
“Despite all attempts to break his spirit and to take him away from his craft, he would not put his camera down. His work documenting apartheid helped shift global opinion against the regime. We have heard of how he would smuggle his cameras into hollowed out bread, milk cartons and I am told even the Bible, to take pictures without the notice of the authorities,” the President said on Wednesday.
Delivering the eulogy at Magubane’s Provincial Official Funeral in Johannesburg, President Ramaphosa said the apartheid regime did not care much for the lives it was extinguishing, but it cared a great deal about its image, especially about how it was portrayed to the rest of the world.
“Peter Magubane’s images, and those of his peers, upended Hendrik Verwoerd’s great lie that apartheid was benign benevolence, a system of the separate but equal, and so-called good neighbourliness. He used his camera to record the experiences and struggles of black South Africans during apartheid. These images reached the world’s media and revealed to the international community the injustices that characterised South Africa at that time.
"As The New York Times obituary put it, Peter Magubane’s images documenting the cruelties and violence of apartheid drew global acclaim but punishment at home, including beatings, imprisonment and 586 consecutive days of solitary confinement," he said.
Magubane passed away on 01 January 2024 at the age of 91. His photographic career began in 1955 after he joined Drum magazine as a driver and messenger.
He soon became a darkroom assistant where his major assignment was covering the African National Congress 1955 convention. He used his camera to record the experiences and struggles of black South Africans during apartheid.
“His archive testifies to an extraordinary range. For many years, he was President Mandela’s official photographer. Some of the most enduring images we have of Madiba were taken by his lens.
“He was there at the many turning points in the struggle against apartheid, and covered the various states of emergency during the mid 1980’s. There are his stark images that documented the aftermath of the Sharpeville Massacre in 1960, the 1976 Soweto Uprising, and the many other acts of violence unleashed by the regime.
“Later in life, he would go on to produce photography on heritage and culture. Amongst them is one of my favourite of his works, The Vanishing Cultures of South Africa. It is an extraordinary collection that documents the lives, customs and cultures of our country’s ethnic groups,” the President said.
President Ramaphosa noted that it was his depictions of everyday life for black South Africans living under apartheid for which he was best known.
“These images that he began taking in the 1960’s, appeared in distinguished publications like Drum magazine, Time magazine, the Rand Daily Mail, and others. One of his best-known images is of a black domestic worker stroking the hair of a white child seated on a Europeans Only bench.
“The photograph got worldwide attention for the power of the disturbing scene that it conveyed. That photograph also painted a vivid scene of the meaning of apartheid. It was able to transport the lived experiences of black people in South Africa to many people in distant lands.
“As important as it was to him to document the violence and bloodshed, it was equally important to bring home to readers and viewers the true face of petty apartheid with its convoluted and ridiculous laws and rules,” he said.
The President described him as a freedom fighter and one of the most fearless journalists the country has produced.
“Having read the many written tributes that have been penned over the past week by people who worked alongside him and were mentored by him, it is clear that the description of him as a legend is a fitting one,” he said. – SAnews.gov.za
nosihle
Wed, 01/10/2024 - 14:22
Nearly 500 more families to be moved in by the end of the month
Work experience opportunities for Western and Eastern Cape youth now open
The Western Cape Department of Cultural Affairs and Sport, through its Youth and After School Programme, is calling for unemployed youth, aged between 18 and 25, to apply to be part of the Year Beyond Youth Service Programme for 2024.
Applications for the education programmes are now open for youth living in the Western and Eastern Cape who meet the criteria.
All the education programmes require a matric certificate and some require minimum marks for language or maths.
The Year Beyond platform offers young people the opportunity to get a year of hands on working experience and build their work readiness competencies, while also giving back to their communities.
Commonly known as YeBoneers, successful applicants will be placed either at a school or community hub where they will assist learners and parents.
The Eastern Cape programme is run with funding from the national government and facilitated by the Western Cape Year Beyond team.
“The opportunity to provide youth in the Eastern Cape with this experience is an important part of skills development beyond the Western Cape,” the statement read.
According to the provincial department, the success of the programme is evident as seen from the feedback received from previous years.
Citing the data, the department said 96% of participants believe the experience helped them to get to know themselves better and 95% feel the programme prepared them better for the world of work and study.
Meanwhile, between 75% and 78% of YeBoneers have progressed to becoming economically active in the world of employment or study, or a combination of the two, upon finishing the programme.
“I encourage our young people to apply for this opportunity. It is a great programme for our youth which equips them with skills for entering the world of work or study. We want to give our youth a hand up to become successful and active members of society who contribute not only to the economy but also serve their communities,” said Western Cape MEC of Cultural Affairs and Sport, Anroux Marais.
Applications and further information on the education streams are now open via the website: https://www.yearbeyond.org/apply.
Applications close on 18 February 2024. – SAnews.gov.za
Gabisile
Wed, 01/10/2024 - 14:36
Public comments on White Paper on Citizenship, Migration and Refugee Protection extended
Home Affairs Minister, Dr Aaron Motsoaledi, on Tuesday announced the extension of the closing date for the submission of public comments on the White Paper on Citizenship, Immigration and Refugee Protection.
Comments on the White Paper have now been extended to 31 January 2024 from 19 January 2024.
The announcement is contained in Gazette No 49976, published on 8 January 2024.
“The department has received substantial public comments. The extension of the closing date follows requests received from various organisations and individuals for additional time due to the December holidays,” the department said.
In November last year, Cabinet announced that it had approved the publication of the White Paper on Citizenship, Immigration and Refugee Protection for public comment.
“The draft policy aims to provide a framework to guide the granting of residency and citizenship to foreign nationals, as well as the protection of refugees and asylum seekers in South Africa, cognisant of the Republic’s national security interests and in compliance with international agreements and protocols on migration that South Africa is a party to,” Minister in the Presidency, Khumbudzo Ntshavheni said at that time.
According to the department, the White Paper and the explanatory memorandum can be downloaded at www.dha.gov.za.
Written submissions should be addressed to the Chief Director of Strategy and Institutional Performance and may be forwarded to the department.
The submissions can be delivered by hand to the Department of Home Affairs, 230 Johannes Ramokhoase Street, Hallmark Building, Pretoria, for the attention of Mr Sihle Mthiyane.
They can also be mailed to the department at Private Bag X114, Pretoria, 0001 or emailed to whitepaper@dha.gov.za. – SAnews.gov.za
Gabisile
Wed, 01/10/2024 - 09:02
It has been a decade since an 18-year-old Kagiso Rabada swayed the world’s attention in the United Arab Emirates. Rabada, now the No.2-ranked bowler in the MRF Tyres ICC Rankings for Test bowlers, was making his first steps in international cricket at the time, at the ICC U19 Men’s Cricket World Cup. The exciting pacer …
The International Court of Justice (ICJ) hearings on January 11 and 12, 2024, on genocide in Gaza will include the first formal response by Israel before an independent and impartial court to allegations of atrocities against the Palestinian people since October 7, 2023, Human Rights Watch said today. On December 29, South Africa filed a case with the court alleging that Israel is violating the 1948 Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide.
On January 2, Israeli officials confirmed that Israel would be represented at the ICJ to oppose the South African government's application. South Africa contends that Israel has violated the Genocide Convention by committing genocide against Palestinians in Gaza, and by failing to prevent it, including by not holding senior Israeli officials and others accountable for their direct and public incitement to genocide. The case is not a criminal proceeding against individuals but seeks a legal determination of state responsibility for genocide.
“South Africa's case is about Israel's obligations under the Genocide Convention and puts its conduct in Gaza in sharp focus before the United Nations' highest judicial body,” said Balkees Jarrah, associate international justice director at Human Rights Watch. “South Africa has asked the World Court to issue urgent measures to protect Palestinians in Gaza who face catastrophic living conditions as a result of war crimes carried out by Israeli authorities.”
While the case may take several years to reach a final ruling, South Africa has asked the court to order provisional measures to protect the Palestinian people in Gaza from further harm, ensure Israel's compliance with the Genocide Convention, and safeguard South Africa's ability to have the case fairly adjudicated. South Africa has asked the ICJ to issue these measures “as a matter of extreme urgency,” saying that Palestinians in Gaza are in “urgent and severe need of the Court's protection.” Arguments on the request for provisional measures are the subject of the January 11 and 12 hearings.
Among the provisional measures sought are for Israel to immediately suspend its military operations in Gaza and abide by its obligations under the Genocide Convention. South Africa also seeks measures to prevent the destruction and ensure the preservation of any evidence related to the underlying case – including by giving fact-finding missions, international mandates, and other bodies access to Gaza.
South Africa also asked the court to require Israel to report to it on steps taken to carry out a provisional measures order within a week of its issuance and then at regular intervals until the court issues its final ruling. In its oral arguments on January 11, South Africa could specifically ask the court to make Israel's reports public.
In its application to the ICJ, South Africa says that Israel is killing Palestinians in Gaza in large numbers, causing them serious bodily and mental harm, imposing measures intended to prevent Palestinian births, and inflicting conditions of life calculated to bring about the destruction of Palestinians as a group. South Africa cited expulsions and mass displacement; deprivation of access to adequate food and water, medical care, shelter, clothes, hygiene, and sanitation; and the destruction of the fabric of Palestinian life in Gaza.
South Africa further contends that the “acts of genocide” should be placed in “the broader context of Israel's conduct towards Palestinians during its 75-year-long apartheid, its 56-year-long belligerent occupation of Palestinian territory and its 16-year-long blockade of Gaza.”
South Africa contends that numerous statements by Israeli political and military officials amount to evidence of a clear intent to destroy Palestinians in Gaza as a group. It says that the “clear inference from the acts of the Israeli army on the ground…is that those genocidal statements and directives are being implemented against the Palestinian people.” South Africa's application refers to several statements by UN experts who have warned of a risk of genocide.
The court will hear Israel's formal response on January 12. Israel's Foreign Affairs Ministry, in a published statement on December 29, 2023, described South Africa's application as “blood libel” and that the claim “lacks both a factual and a legal basis and constitutes despicable and contemptuous exploitation of the Court.” One media report said that the Israeli Foreign Ministry instructed its diplomats to press officials in their host countries to issue statements against South Africa's case. The Israeli foreign minister has also specifically urged the United Kingdom to oppose South Africa's application. The media reported on January 9 that UK Foreign Secretary David Cameron said that he did not think the ICJ case was helpful.
The United States National Security Council spokesman described South Africa's application as “meritless, counterproductive, and completely without any basis in fact whatsoever.” The US State Department spokesman Matthew Miller said separately that Washington had not “at this point seen acts that constitute genocide” and that the ICJ case was “not a productive step at this time.”
A number of parties to the Genocide Convention have welcomed South Africa's application including Bangladesh, Bolivia, Jordan, Malaysia, the Maldives, Pakistan, Palestine, Turkey, Nambia, Nicaragua and Venezuela. The Organization of Islamic Cooperation also issued a statement in support of the case. France's UN ambassador in New York said France is a strong supporter of the ICJ and would back the court's decisions. Governments should speak out in support of ICJ proceedings and publicly commit to supporting compliance with the court's decisions, Human Rights Watch said.
Israeli authorities and Palestinian armed groups have committed serious abuses during the current hostilities. Hamas and other Palestinian armed groups deliberately killed hundreds of civilians in Israel on October 7 and took more than 200 hostages. The Israeli government then cut electricity, fuel, food and water to Gaza's population and severely curtailed life-saving humanitarian aid, all acts of collective punishment, a war crime. Israeli authorities are also using starvation of civilians as a method of warfare in Gaza, which is also a war crime, Human Rights Watch said.
Past ICJ practice suggests that a decision on provisional measures could be delivered within weeks. Though such an order would be legally binding on Israel, it would not prejudge the merits of the allegations that Israel has violated the Genocide Convention. A provisional measures order is automatically sent to the UN Security Council pending a final decision in the case.
The ICJ is composed of 15 judges elected by the UN General Assembly and Security Council for nine-year terms. When two countries have a dispute and the court does not include their nationals on the bench, the governments can appoint ad-hoc judges to hear that specific matter. In this case, South Africa has appointed Dikgang Moseneke, former deputy chief justice of South Africa, and Israel has appointed Aharon Barak, a retired Israeli Supreme Court president, as ad-hoc judges.
South Africa, which ratified the Genocide Convention in 1998, brought its case under article 9 of the convention, which allows for disputes between parties to be submitted to the ICJ. The court previously confirmed that all member states of the convention have a duty to prevent and to punish genocide. Israel has been a party to the Genocide Convention since 1951.
South Africa together with Bangladesh, Bolivia, the Comoros, and Djibouti also referred the Palestine situation to the International Criminal Court prosecutor in November 2023. South Africa asked the prosecutor, Karim Khan, to investigate the crime of genocide among other grave abuses in Palestine with a view to charging the individuals responsible. Khan confirmed that his office has been conducting, since March 2021, an investigation into alleged atrocity crimes committed in Gaza and the West Bank since 2014, and that he has jurisdiction over crimes in the current hostilities between Israel and Palestinian armed groups that covers unlawful conduct by all parties. He visited Israel and Palestine in December.
In a related matter, in December 2022 the UN General Assembly requested an advisory opinion from the ICJ on the legal consequences of Israel's prolonged occupation of the West Bank and Gaza. The General Assembly first asked the ICJ for an advisory opinion related to the Occupied Palestinian Territory 20 years ago. In 2004, the ICJ's advisory opinion found that the route of Israel's separation barrier violated international law and that it should be dismantled. The December 2022 request is wider in scope. South Africa, among other countries, filed a written statement in the proceeding. The ICJ will convene public hearings on the request starting on February 19.
“How many more alarm bells have to ring and how many more civilians must unlawfully suffer or be killed before governments take action,” Jarrah said. “South Africa's genocide case unlocks a legal process at the world's highest court to credibly examine Israel's conduct in Gaza in the hopes of curtailing further suffering.”
Distributed by APO Group on behalf of Human Rights Watch (HRW).
Minister Lamola to lead South Africa’s delegation to the Hague
Minister of Justice and Correctional Services Ronald Lamola will lead South Africa’s delegation to the Peace Palace, which houses the United Nations International Court of Justice, in the Hague.
South Africa has approached the International Court of Justice, under the Genocide Convention, with respect to acts committed by Israel in the context of its attacks on Gaza.
“We are determined to see the end of the genocide that is currently taking place in Gaza. We are most encouraged by leaders of the world who have not blunted their consciousness and have stood on the right side of history by supporting a case that seeks to protect the rights of human beings, regardless of their nationality or ethnicity,” the Minister said on Tuesday.
The South African delegation comprises South Africa’s diplomats and officials, including the Director General in the Presidency Phindile Baleni; Director General of the Department of International Relations and Co-operation Zane Dangor; and Director General of the Department of Justice and Constitutional Development and former Deputy Ambassador for South Africa to the United Nations, Advocate Doctor Mashabane.
Special Advisor to President Cyril Ramaphosa, Advocate Nokukhanya Jele, is also part of the delegation.
Joining the South African delegation at the International Court of Justice will be senior political figures from progressive political parties and movements across the globe, which include among others Jeremy Corbyn, the Former leader of the opposition in the United Kingdom.
The Ministry will update media activities in the course of the week. – SAnews.gov.za
nosihle
Wed, 01/10/2024 - 09:32
Since 1994, South Africa has emerged as an African economic powerhouse with a healthcare system that was once the envy of the continent. However, the country is facing a significant medical brain drain at a time when there is clear evidence that South African medical professionals possess some of the best skills in the world …
Borrow money wisely this January, National Credit Regulator advises
January can be a difficult month, especially for those who did not budget and/or spend wisely over the festive season.
According to the National Credit Regulator (NCR), many people are paid earlier in December and they wait long until the next payday in January.
“This long wait leads to very empty pockets and many unpaid bills, as these consumers start the year on a tough note. Consequently, many are being forced into taking excessive credit as the only option to pay for necessities like rent or mortgage, food, school fees, stationery and so on,” the regulator said.
The NCR’s Education and Communications Manager, Poppy Kweyama, said in addition to the high cost of living, consumers might need to borrow excessively at this time of the year because of poor budgeting and last year’s reckless spending.
Citing the NCR’s statistics for the quarter ended September 2023, Kweyama said there has been an increase quarter-on-quarter of impaired accounts.
To avoid an impaired credit record, consumers are advised to borrow wisely and responsibly and restrict credit to only what is necessary.
She added that during this time of the year, some consumers are desperate for financial assistance and may take out loans recklessly, even from unscrupulous credit providers.
The NCR has implored consumers who find themselves in this situation to be credit-smart and avoid resorting to unregistered credit providers.
She advised consumers to borrow only from registered credit providers and only as much as they need and only when they need to.
According to the expert, it is also crucial to plan how to repay the loans, and most importantly determine whether they can afford the repayments.
The NCR also encourages consumers to understand their credit agreements and the terms and conditions (Ts and Cs) before signing.
“Don’t sign if you don’t understand the Ts and Cs. Always ask for clarity and never pay an upfront fee.
“Never leave your ID or bank card with a credit provider in exchange for a loan. Not only is this practice illegal, but remember, to register and exercise your vote in the 2024 elections, you need to have your ID,” Kweyama cautioned.
Credit is expensive, said the NCR, and it advised people to familiarise themselves with the fees associated with the credit.
According to the National Credit Act (NCA), consumers can only be charged the following fees when taking up credit:
• Initiation fees – This is a fee that a credit provider charges a consumer for entering into a credit agreement. The credit provider must give the consumer an option of paying this fee separately and once off. In doing so, no interest may be charged on the fee. Initiation fees are regulated by the NCA. Standard initiation fees for credit facilities, short term credit transactions and unsecured credit transactions, per the NCA, is R165 per credit agreement plus 10% of the amount over R1 000 but the maximum initiation fee should not exceed R1 050.
• Interest rate – Interest is the amount that a credit provider charges a consumer on the outstanding balance of a credit agreement and is regulated by the NCA.
• Service fees – The fee that a credit provider charges for servicing and administering or maintaining the credit agreement. The credit provider can charge this fee monthly. Service fees can also be charged per transaction. The maximum monthly service fee under Section 105 of the NCA is R60.
• Credit Life Insurance – This is insurance which can be required by the credit provider when a consumer applies for credit. The insurance covers the debt due to the credit provider in certain cases such as retrenchment, disability or even death of the consumer. The insurance cover taken may not exceed the outstanding obligation to the credit provider.
• Other costs will depend on what you are purchasing as the consumer such as delivery costs. – SAnews.gov.za
Gabisile
Wed, 01/10/2024 - 09:39
The last century saw few changes to trucks; their appearances were unchanged, and they were all powered by internal combustion engines fuelled by diesel. However, this century has witnessed impressive change! The transport industry is enjoying one innovation following the next; anything and everything from electric trucks to those with fuel cells and even those …
Dear Editor While more than 70 000 beneficiaries are still waiting to receive their January social grants from the South African Social Security Agency (SASSA), the Agency has blamed this failure on yet another glitch – the alleged misinterpretation or failure to verify beneficiary banking details. In September last year, another glitch left hundreds of …
Poppy Khoza returns as Director for Civil Aviation Authority
Director of Civil Aviation, Poppy Khoza, will lead the South African Civil Aviation Authority (SACAA) into a new chapter after being re-appointed to serve another five-year term at the regulator.
“Khoza is an aviation trailblazer who is internationally recognised and supported. It is through her work that our South African aviation sector continues to hold a critical voice on global aviation dialogues,” SACAA Board Chairperson Ernest Khosa said on Tuesday.
Her term in office is effective from 1 December 2023 until 30 November 2028. This will be her third term at the helm of the aviation regulator.
Khoza carries extensive experience and knowledge in aviation since being first appointed to this pivotal role in an acting capacity in October 2012 and then on a 5-year fixed term basis from December 2013.
Outside of being the first black female DCA, she was also the first woman globally to be elected to preside over the General Assembly at the ICAO’s 41st Assembly Session in 2022.
Some of SACAA's achievements under Khoza’s tenure at the Authority include:
This appointment was approved by Cabinet on 20 November 2023.
“As the SACAA Board, we see this as a vote of confidence for the exemplary leadership the DCA has demonstrated over the past 11 years being at the helm of the organisation. I would like to extend my message of support following this announcement from Cabinet.
“The stability we see at SACAA is testament to her great leadership which has equally received positive cheers from staff, the aviation industry, and international counterparts, when we first made this announcement on 20 November 2023,” Khoza said.
Khoza said she is deeply honoured and grateful for this opportunity to again serve as the Director of Civil Aviation.
“It is an exciting time for me personally and I pledge my commitment once again to drive positive change and promoting safety, efficiency, gender equality and innovation in our skies.” –SAnews.gov.za
nosihle
Wed, 01/10/2024 - 09:51