Pretoria News Weekend Saturday, September 26, 2020

President, Nehawu in high-level meeting GOVERNMENT and the National Education, Health and Allied Workers Union (Nehawu) are to continue engagement on a issues including collective bargaining and workplace conditions in the public sector, particularly in the context of the Covid-19 pandemic. This was announced in a statement following a meeting between President Cyril Ramaphosa and leaders of the public-sector trade union. The meeting followed the union’s submission of a memorandum to the president relating to, among others, service conditions and salary adjustments. The high-level meeting was chaired by Ramaphosa and the union was represented by its president, Mzwandile Makwayiba, among others. The meeting was described as frank and cordial. STAFF REPORTER…

UP gallery reopens to showcase heritage EXACTLY a year after it first opened on Heritage Day, the Javett-UP art centre has reopened after lockdown. Interim chief executive officer Dr Samuel Isaacs said the staff had been looking forward for months to reopening and it was appropriate to reopen on Heritage Day as the pieces on exhibition were “a precious part of the national heritage of South Africa”. There are thorough Covid-19 protocols in place, including a limit of 150 people in the museum at a time. Art at the Javett-UP includes modern South African and African masterpieces and ancient gold pieces from the National Treasures Gold of Africa exhibition, as well as a new temporary sculpture exhibition, Shaping the Grain. Isaacs said the drive-through sculpture exhibition with 18 pieces, curated…

International flight details still up in the air A WEEK has gone by and those wanting to travel into or out of South Africa by air are still waiting to know if it will be allowed from Thursday. The UAE’s Emirates has announced it will resume flights to Johannesburg and Cape Town on October 1, and Durban on October 4. This follows an announcement by Ethiopian Airlines Group that it would resume scheduled commercial flights to Johannesburg and Cape Town from October 1 when international commercial flights in and out of South Africa become permissible. Air France-KLM plans to resume flights to Johannesburg in October but will only resume flights from Paris to Cape Town on December 5, with KLM flights from Amsterdam due to resume on December 7. Similarly…

Law to bar foreign business Permanent residency status may be required LOYISO SIDIMBA FOREIGN nationals living in Gauteng will soon be barred by law from doing business in the province’s townships unless they obtain permanent residency status. The Gauteng provincial government wants to stop foreign nationals from operating some businesses in the townships as part of plans to revitalise the economy in a number of the region’s most densely populated areas. A proposed new law drafted by the Gauteng economic development department and premier David Makhura’s policy unit will reserve certain economic activities in townships for South African citizens and people with permanent residency status. The draft Gauteng Township Economic Development Bill released this week does not identify the specific businesses it is targeting. However, the proposed law…

Police most corrupt public servants – study POLICE are seen as the most corrupt public officials in the country, according to a new Corruption Watch report The Analysis of Corruption Trends found that bribery allegations against police account for 31% of all corruption claims against public servants. The allegations are that officers solicit bribes from suspects and victims, and sometimes from small businesses and members of the public. Corruption Watch researcher Melusi Ncala said the growing concern about corruption in the country also showed the strong will of the public to expose it and seek consequences even during the Covid-19 pandemic. Corruption Watch has seen almost 2 000 whistle blowers on corruption during the first half of 2020, an increase of more than 400 reports over the same period last…

RELIEF R350 grant goes a long way Queues increase at city central post office JAMES MAHLOKWANE james.mahlokwane@inl.co.za OUPA MOKOENA African News Agency (ANA) GOVERNMENT’S R350 may not seem like much to many people, but the value of the social relief of distress (SRD) grant is obvious if one sees the queues outside Pretoria’s central post office. A long queue formed yesterday again at the post office on Church Square, of people waiting to collect their grants. The government announced the special SRD grant for six months at the start of the lockdown and it is intended for those who are unemployed, and do not receive any other form of social grant or Unemployment Insurance Fund (UIF) payment. By August, 4.4 million people received support. This was in addition to…