Daily News 2024-11-14

POLITICS The racist remarks made by an eThekwini councillor against Indians must be condemned by all and sundry. Name and shame this bigot and the party they represent. If Indians must go to hell then so should they. This fool does not realise humans own nothing on earth and this earth is a temporary playground for all. Please do not get carried away by what is happening currently. In no time this MK would be forgotten and its membership dwindling. Where is Cope? What is currently happening with the EFF? This false allegation saying over 400 IFP members have joined uMkhonto we Sizwe Party is a blue lie. There is no truth to this; I dismiss it. This is a conspiracy by certain individuals whose aim is…

I would like to address some key issues affecting small businesses in South Africa. Firstly, there is a lack of training and support for South Africans to think like entrepreneurs and build a strong network of small businesses. Also, the government makes it difficult for these businesses to thrive due to excessive bureaucracy. Surprisingly, this concern has been overlooked, especially since President Ramaphosa emphasised it as an important issue. We cannot ignore the connection between inadequate training in technical skills, low levels of basic maths and literacy, and the struggle of small businesses to succeed. Accessing funding from banks or other financial organisa tions is often a nightmare for aspiring small business owners in South Africa. While it’s easy to criticize foreign spaza shops (small convenience stores), it would be…

The DA in KZN calls on national Social Development Minister, Sisisi Tolashe, to intervene and assist as some 2 600 social workers remain unemployed despite many of the province’s communities facing significant social ills. As a society, KZN is in crisis and the DA urges Minister Tolashe to assist in dealing with the backlog of social workers who remain sitting at home despite the critical role they play in the development of society. The issue is long-standing with affected social workers desperately trying to force government to hire them, even camping outside Premier Thami Ntuli’s office in Pietermaritzburg since before the May election in an attempt to be heard. The sad reality is that KZN’s Department of Social Development (DSD), under MEC Mbali Shinga, does not have the budget to…

While the Quarterly Labour Force Survey (QLFS) numbers reveal a welcome, but uptick in the employed, the Free Market Foundation (FMF) has implored the Government of National Unity (GNU) to urgently adopt structural reforms to the labour market. It argued that marginal tweaks of existing policy will also have minimal impact in addressing the enormous challenge of unemployment in South Africa, and thereby weaken the credibility of the GNU at the next election. We cannot be satisfied with meagre improvements in unemployment statistics when millions still find it impossible to enter into the labour market and hundreds of thousands are dropping out of the labour force. According to a policy paper recently published by the FMF, South Africa has one of the worst regulatory environments for wage determination in the…

ActionSA expresses outrage after an oversight visit and a follow-up question to the Minister of Correctional Services revealed that severe neglect of plumbing maintenance at Johannesburg Prison has resulted in an estimated R1.2 billion repair bill for taxpayers. During our oversight visit on 10 October 2024, we witnessed the shocking and hazardous condition of the prison’s basement kitchen – a critical area for preparing food for staff and inmates – that was completely flooded due to collapsing plumbing, posing a serious health and safety risk to everyone in the facility. The situation is dire enough to threaten the structural integrity of the prison itself. In response to our findings during our visit, we immediately submitted a question to the Minister of Correctional Services, only to uncover an even more disturbing…

THE Minister of Water and Sanitation Pemmy Majodina has expressed concerns at the high water consumption rate by eThekwini and Gauteng residents and the failure to fix leaks. Addressing a media briefing in Johannesburg on Tuesday, Majodina said water supply disruptions in Gauteng and parts of KZN were not caused by drought but by increasing leaks in municipal water distribution systems. The Minister said the leaks are in turn the result of under-budgeting for infrastructure maintenance by municipalities, partly caused by weak municipal billing and revenue collection for water services. Another problem cited was the population growth in these two provinces as they were the most populous provinces in the country. “At present, the peak demand for water in Gauteng and eThekwini is occasionally exceeding the supply available from Water…