SA News

Help at hand for small business

Pretoria - Government is forging ahead with its plans to promote more inclusive growth and an environment that enables small businesses to flourish.

These efforts have seen about 280 rural enterprises, 181 township enterprises and 147 existing SMMEs being assisted with skills and start-up support so that they can run their businesses successfully.

The Black Business Supplier Development Programme (BBSDP) has supported a further 130 SMMEs, which in turn supported 2 116 jobs, while the Small Enterprise Finance Agency (Sefa), in partnership with Coca-Cola, has committed an additional R120 million to support SMMEs in townships.

This was revealed by the Economic Sectors, Employment and Infrastructure Development Cluster during a media briefing on Tuesday on progress made in implementing the Programme of Action.

Science and Technology Minister Naledi Pandor told the media that the Cooperative Incentive Scheme also helped 44 co-operatives build their initial asset base and further supported 65 co-operatives through capacity building programmes.

The cluster also reported that in the past few months, the value of the innovative approach to competition by the Economic Development Department was demonstrated through the Coca-Cola bottling plant merger and the acquisition of SAB Miller by the world’s largest brewer, AB InBev.

Minister Pandor said between the two transactions, a sum of R1.8 billion will be set aside to promote economic activity by small-scale black farmers, black-owned retail outlets and other businesses that bring historically-disadvantaged South Africans into the economy.

AB InBev will make more than R600 million available to develop a local supply chain that will include 800 new small-scale black farmers. In addition to this funding, Coca-Cola agreed to set aside 20% of the equity in the group for black South Africans and to ensure a similar percentage of shares are set aside for BEE partners in Appletiser.

“It will also enable spaza shop owners to use 10 percent of fridge and cooler space paid for by Coca-Cola to stock rival products, particularly from small soft drink bottlers, some of which are owned by black South Africans.

“In the AB InBev deal similarly, the black-owned beer brand, Soweto Gold, will now be entitled to be stocked in SAB Miller-owned fridges and display units at taverns. Incidentally, Soweto Gold is also supported by the IDC [Industrial Development Corporation].”

Revitalisation of industrial parks

The cluster also reported that the revitalisation of industrial parks in townships is well underway.

The revitalisation of the Botshabelo Industrial Park in the Free State was completed in June, while the first phase of the revitalisation of Seshego Industrial Park in Limpopo -- which included security, fencing and electricity upgrades -- has been completed. The construction of the Makhado/Musina Industrial Park in Limpopo is in progress.

Minister Pandor said SMMEs and local communities will benefit greatly from jobs, improved infrastructure and economic opportunities unlocked by the revitalised industrial parks.

Agri-parks

Good progress was also noted in the establishment of agri-parks.

The cluster said two agri-parks are fully operational in Ncora in the Eastern Cape and Springbokpan in the North West, while six other Agri-Parks are at construction phase.

“Together with the farmers and private sector, we will unlock markets and export opportunities for agri-parks,” Minister Pandor said.

Smallholder farmers

The cluster has also helped smallholder farmers by bringing underutilised land into production. It has also helped to rehabilitate land.

Minister Pandor said 17 456 hectares of strategically located land was acquired and allocated, while 44 588 hectares of land was allocated to smallholder producers in this quarter.

About 9 155 smallholder producers were supported through various initiatives schemes.

“In the quarter, 1 134 hectares of underutilised land was brought into production. We have also empowered previously disadvantaged farm workers and farm dwellers to become smallholder producers by providing them with access to productive, arable land.

“In doing so, we have changed their living conditions, ensured security of tenure and facilitated their ability to earn an income.”

One Household - One Hectare programme

Government, through the One Household - One Hectare programme, has assisted 620 households to obtain security of tenure on land to enable them to grow their own food and participate in the local economy.

A further 22 youth co-operatives will benefit from the Fortune 40 Programme, which trains young people in agricultural activities across the value chain.

About 102 additional land reform farms are currently under the Recapitalisation and Development Programme. Thirteen sites have been approved for implementing the Strengthening of Relative Rights for People Working the Land (50/50) Programme.

107 740 hectares of land is in rehabilitation under the “Working for/on” Programmes. 13 394 hectares of land have been rehabilitated under the Land Care Programme. – SAnews.gov.za

Jacob Zuma Education Trust News

Address by President Jacob Zuma on the occasion of the Jacob Zuma Education Trust Gala Dinner marking his 68th Birthday hosted by the Leon H Sullivan Foundation Mandarin Hotel

13 April 2010, Washington

The Chairman of the Leon H Sullivan Foundation, Ambassador Andrew Young;The President and CEO of the Foundation, Ms Hope Masters;
Ministers of International Relations, State Security and Energy from South Africa,
Distinguished Guests;

Let me begin by thanking you for the very kind welcome we have received from all of you here in Washington.

I have not had sufficient opportunity to personally thank all Americans, and African Americans in particular, for their support in our efforts to overcome racial tyranny and build a democratic South Africa.

I am pleased that this opportunity has arisen today, at an event held under the auspices of an institution dedicated to Reverend Leon Sullivan, a man who embodied the solidarity and dedicated action that brought about freedom in South Africa.

We are grateful that we may continue to derive benefit from his legacy through this very important foundation. I am certain that your role in encouraging dialogue with Africa will strengthen the bonds forged through the work of people like Reverend Sullivan. In career spanning a nearly half a century of activism, from the Civil Rights Movement to the United Nations, the Chairman of the Foundation, Ambassador Andrew Young, has distinguished himself as a friend of South Africa and all of Africa.

I am also proud to call him a personal friend. We are particularly grateful for what he has done to promote the Jacob Zuma RDP Education Trust and the cause of education in South Africa.

Dear friends,

Your continuing passion for South Africa and the development of its people and economy is shared by President Barrack Obama. He never ceases to emphasise his ongoing support and willingness to play a positive role in assisting the socio-economic development of the continent.




Ladies and gentlemen,

The Jacob Zuma RDP Education Trust Fund has educated more than 20 000 children, mainly from very humble backgrounds, including orphans and vulnerable children. It is a modest, but I believe important, effort to provide opportunities to poor and vulnerable children. I realise that you can hardly wait to listen to the mighty Temptations. So allow me to present you with a very short list of birthday wishes. My main birthday wish is that we achieve without delay, the goal of quality education for all the world?s children. Education is the key to genuine freedom. Education is the most tangible and sustainable form of empowerment.

That is why we have associated ourselves with the international One Goal campaign, which is using the 2010 FIFA World Cup as a means to mobilise support for a global effort to ensure education for all. We are pleased to be able to host a summit of leaders, footballers and prominent personalities to coincide with the World Cup in June. As we work to build a global campaign for education, we continue with our efforts to improve the situation of children at home.

We over the past 15 years worked hard to widen access to education, especially of the poorest of the poor. We are doing this because in building a new South Africa, our children must be one of our highest priorities. They are the foundation on which our future is being built. We had to prioritise education because of our history. It was used by successive apartheid regimes as an instrument of subjugation.

Colonialists and the architects of apartheid used education to produce people who could only undertake menial labour, who could not be decision makers in the land of their birth. As the apartheid architect, Hendrik Verwoerd said, apartheid education was designed to make black people fit to be hewers of wood and drawers of water only. We are now working to reverse that legacy through making education an instrument of liberating the mind.

It must give us scores of young men and women who would take our country to greater heights through achievements in all key disciplines - from science and technology to the humanities, agriculture, engineering, law, economics and a host of others. By investing in this campaign for quality education, you are therefore taking your role in the struggle against apartheid a step further. You are putting your money into the education of poor South African children, and helping to build a brighter future. While government is doing the best it can, and we continue to invest in education, there is still a role for our friends to work with us to expand access. We cannot do it alone.

Dear Friends,

Let me share my second birthday wish.

Fifty years ago, as other countries of Africa were celebrating their independence, South Africa was experiencing great pain. Last month, we commemorated the 50th anniversary of the Sharpeville and Langa massacres and on April 1st the banning of the ANC and other organisations. It took another 30 years of bitter struggle before we could celebrate the release of Nelson Mandela and other political prisoners, the unbanning of the peoples? organisations and the return of exiles. All of this led to the establishment, in 1994, of a free and democratic South Africa. This could not have been achieved without your principled stand and committed action.

We continue to draw strength from the selfless actions of the global anti-apartheid movement. We now look to that same spirit of human solidarity and determined struggle to complete the liberation of the continent. Let us commit ourselves tonight to draw on our shared achievements of the past to work together to build a better Africa. This year, seventeen African countries will be marking the 50th anniversary of their independence. With independence came huge challenges. Many African countries were faced with problems like civil war, famine, economic underdevelopment, and political strife.

It is important that we celebrate the great strides that we have achieved as a continent, while recognising the challenges that still remain as we strive towards the realisation of a united, peaceful and prosperous Africa. In many African countries, the guns are silent and work is underway towards a lasting peace. In many others, the attainment of peace is no longer the issue. These countries are now focused on enhancing their democratic institutions, improving the climate for investment, and boosting economic capacity. This situation gives us confidence that we are on the right path towards a better Africa. This must motivate us to make an even greater effort to resolve those conflicts that still continue.

We need to intensify our work to bring peace and lasting stability to places like Somalia, Sudan, Madagascar and the Democratic Republic of Congo. As South Africa, we have always maintained that our future is closely tied to the future of our neighbours. South Africa cannot thrive and develop as long as our neighbours in Southern Africa and further afield on the continent still struggle with poverty and underdevelopment.

That is a principle that applies to international relations more broadly. The developed nations of the North have realised that sustaining their prosperity and stability requires the improvement of the conditions of the peoples of the South.

All humanity shares a common destiny.

That is why South Africa remains deeply engaged in the political and economic revival of Southern Africa and the continent as a whole. It is also why we are keenly interested to participate in global processes around climate change, trade negotiations, financial governance reform, and nuclear security and disarmament. It is in pursuit of these goals ? on the continent and across the globe ? that we see the United States as a crucial partner.

Ladies and gentlemen,

This evening`s events are a spectacular declaration that a new alliance is in the making, to make us achieve this wish of a better Africa through working together. Eminent Americans are once more reaching out across the ocean to join hands with South Africans. I am very proud to be associated with so generous a movement, and I would like to express my heartfelt appreciation at being able to associate my birthday with these efforts. Ladies and gentlemen, I would be amiss if I were not to find time to congratulate the American soccer team and the American people for the heroic manner in which you qualified for the FIFA 2010 World Cup.

All the arrangements are in place and we are satisfied that we will delivery a successful, secure and very exciting soccer tournament. We look forward to receiving your team and supporters on our shores. With six African teams participating in this spectacle, we want to ensure that the trophy remains on African soil for the first time in history. We intend to work very hard to ensure that it happens. The American team should expect a very fierce South African side on the pitch. We have agreed with President Obama that the final will be between South Africa and the United States! My third and last wish is a simple one: it is that you and your guests enjoy this evening as much as I have.

No doubt you are aware of my love for music and dance. In truth, although it may be derived from our African music, American music has always played an important role in our struggles as well as our social lives. Music unites. It celebrates people, their diversity, and their humanity. That is why I am delighted to be able to share this evening with one of the all time greats of our time, the Temptations. That is why I am delighted to be able to share this evening with all of you, who have each played such an important role in bringing hope, music and harmony to the lives of our people. Let our joint passion for music, the socio-economic development of the African continent and for the education of the African child unite us even deeper this evening.

Before I conclude let me thank all who have made this evening possible, especially Ms Hope Masters who worked tirelessly with the Education Trust.

I thank you all for your generosity and support.

The Washington Post

Africa

Allister Sparks, dauntless 

South African journalist, 

dies at 83

Allister Sparks, center, with Archbishop Emeritus Desmond Tutu, right, his daughter Mpho A. Tutu and Irish singer Bono in Cape Town in 2011. (Nic Bothma /EPA)

By Emily Langer September 20 

Allister Sparks, a South African journalist who helped expose the brutality of the apartheid system during decades as one of his country’s most prominent — and dauntless — journalists and authors, died Sept. 19 at a clinic in Johannesburg. He was 83.

The cause was complications from pneumonia, said his son Michael Sparks.

Mr. Sparks was a fifth-generation white, English-speaking South African and grew up on a farm in a community where all of his playmates were black. Not until boarding school was he initiated into white society, an upbringing that allowed him to develop what he described as “an empathy with the black people that enabled me to go in and speak with them and find out what was happening.”

He was 15 when apartheid rule was established in 1948, codifying rigid racial segregation in South Africa and reserving political power as well as economic and educational privileges for the nation’s white minority. Shortly thereafter, fresh out of high school, Mr. Sparks entered journalism.

“I was seeing police folk beat up black folk,” he once told ­C-SPAN interviewer Brian Lamb. “And it horrified me.”

Mr. Sparks died at 83. (Family photo)

For much of the rest of his life, Mr. Sparks sought to use the power of the press to lay bare the injustices of apartheid. He wrote for years for publications including The Washington Post, the Economist and the London Observer. But he was perhaps best known as editor, from 1977 to 1981, of the Johannesburg-based Rand Daily Mail, the country’s most high-profile liberal newspaper.

Early in Mr. Sparks’s leadership, the Rand Daily Mail weathered a government reprimand after it helped discredit official reports that Steven Biko, a 30-year-old anti-apartheid activist, had died of a hunger strike while in police custody — when in fact his autopsy showed evidence of brain damage. A pathologist had contacted Mr. Sparks and, swearing him to confidentiality, revealed to him the contents of the postmortem report.

The newspaper later uncovered a scandal in which government officials were implicated in a plan to secretly divert millions of public dollars to fund a propaganda campaign aimed at currying favor in South Africa and abroad for the apartheid system.

The scandal led to the resignation of John Vorster as prime minister in 1978 and then as president the following year. In recognition of the reportage, a media organization named Mr. Sparks an “international editor of the year” in 1979.

Two years later, the Rand Daily Mail’s leadership removed Mr. Sparks as editor in what was widely understood as an effort to tamp down the publication’s political engagement.

“They had never liked the vigor with which it exposed the iniquities of apartheid,” Mr. Sparks wrote in The Post in 1990, “nor the heat this brought from the government, and when the paper began losing money, they contended it was because it was selling too many copies to blacks, who were of little value to advertisers, and too few to the wealthy whites.”

The ownership shuttered the newspaper in 1985. By that time, Benjamin C. Bradlee, The Post’s executive editor, had hired Mr. Sparks as a special correspondent, or stringer, in newspaper jargon. He remained a regular contributor to the newspaper through the collapse of apartheid in 1994 and beyond.

Mr. Sparks tussled frequently with state authorities. In 1983, he was charged with breaching internal security laws by quoting a “banned person” — Winnie Mandela, then the wife of imprisoned African National Congress leaderNelson Mandela — and by reporting that the South African security police operated an assassination unit.

Mr. Sparks’s wife, Suzanne, an anti-apartheid activist, was charged with obstruction of justice for allegedly helping arrange the removal of documents from her husband’s office. All the charges, which carried the potential of prison time, were eventually dropped.

Throughout his career, Mr. Sparks was undeterred by threats to his safety, whether during uprisings in black townships or facing government intimidation. Glenn Frankel, The Post’s southern Africa bureau chief from 1983 to 1986, recalled in an e-mail that “there were times when there were so many wiretaps on the office phone that all we heard was click after click for the first 15 seconds of every call. No matter. He kept working.”

Allister Haddon Sparks was born in Cathcart, in South Africa’s Eastern Cape province, on March 10, 1933.

He worked for newspapers in South Africa and England before joining the Rand Daily Mail in 1958, where he was a political correspondent before ascending the editorial ranks. After a closure that lasted years, the newspaper was revived in 2014.

Mr. Sparks, who appeared frequently on U.S. television and radio, distinguished himself in the later years of his career as an author. His books included “The Mind of South Africa” (1990), which was modeled on American journalist W.J. Cash’s 1941 volume, “The Mind of the South,” and in which he explored the centuries of history that helped create the country’s entrenched psychology.

Writing in the New York Times, journalist and author Adam Hochschild described Mr. Sparks’s book “Tomorrow Is Another Country” (1995) as “a gripping, fast-paced, authoritative account of the long and mostly secret negotiations that brought South Africa’s bitter conflict to its near-miraculous end” and “the work of a fine reporter who was in the right place at the right time.”

Mr. Sparks’s other books included “Beyond the Miracle: Inside the New South Africa” (2003), “First Drafts: South African History in the Making” (2009) and “Tutu: Authorized” (2011), a biography of the Anglican Archbishop Desmond Tutu written with Tutu’s daughter Mpho A. Tutu. Mr. Sparks’s memoir, “The Sword and the Pen,” was released this year.

His first wife, Mary Rowe, whom he married in 1957, died in 1972. Sue Matthey, whom he married in 1973, died in 1999. His third marriage, to Jenny Gandar, ended in divorce.

Survivors include three sons from his first marriage, Simon Sparks of Rivonia, South Africa, Michael Sparks of London and Andrew Sparks of Kenilworth, England; a son from his second marriage, Julian Sparks of Santiago, Chile; and six grandchildren.

Mr. Sparks wrote most recently for The Post in 2004, on the 10th anniversary of Mandela’s swearing-in as his country’s first black president.

“It was the most stirring moment of my life,” Mr. Sparkswrote. “For more than 40 years as a journalist in South Africa, I had written about the pain and injustices that apartheid inflicted on people. I had been harassed and threatened by a white regime that regarded me as a traitor for doing this, and here at last was a kind of vindication or triumph.

“It is a terrible thing to feel alienated from one’s own people,” he continued. “. . . I could not identify with the land of my birth because it stood for things I abhorred; I felt no sense of patriotism when I heard my national anthem or saw my national flag. But on that day in 1994, as I stood before a new flag, listening to a new anthem, watching a new president being sworn in, I felt, yes, my very first twinge of national pride.”

The Southern Times

GENERAL

The other side of Jacob 

Zuma

By Southern African News on 8th June 2015

Jacob Gedleyihlekisa Zuma was elected president of South Africa in 2009. This came
after he won the presidency of the African National Congress (ANC) in 2007,
during the organisation’s national elections, which are held every five years in the
month of December.

The ANC, South Africa’s National Liberation Movement, which established in 1912
is the oldest surviving freedom movement in Africa and probably in the world. It
has been in power since the country gained independence from colonial rule in 1994.
Zuma, born in INkandla Zululand of theNatal Province, now called KwaZulu-Natal
Province in South Africa, on April 12, 1942, has had to overcome so many
hard blockages in the road to the highest office in South Africa.

Zuma had served as deputy president of South Africa from 1999 to 2005, before he was
unceremoniously sacked by then President Thabo Mbeki, due to his association with his old time
Comrade and financial advisor, Schabir Shaik who had been found guilty of corruption by the
Durban High Court. But most importantly to note though, is that the road to the ANC presidency started a long ago for Zuma.  He became politically active at a young age. When Zuma’s father died at the end of World War II, after which his mother took up employment as a domestic worker in Durban, the young Jacob spent his childhood moving between Zululand and the suburbs of Durban. 

With little time for school, he taught himself how to read and write. It has been established that he could only go as far as Standard 3, now Grade 5.  And by age 15, Zuma took on odd jobs to supplement his mother’s income. His triumph over his early struggles has been linked before to Zuma’s popularity with the masses of his country. He is certainly an appealing figure to many South Africans. Zuma was influenced by a trade unionist family member, before he joined the ANC, which stood against the country’s practice of Apartheid, or racial segregation and separate development, and other discriminatory policies under colonial rule.

Forced to go underground after the 1960 bannings, the ANC, which had long been a non-violent group, developed a militant wing in the early 1960s. Known as Umkhonto we Sizwe (Spear of the Nation), the new militant group undertook acts of sabotage against the oppressive Apartheid government. Zuma joined the group in 1962 and was arrested the next year with 45 other members in Zeerus, North West Province. He was soon convicted of conspiracy. Also in 1963, Zuma joined the South African Communist Party (SACP).

Sentenced to 10 years in prison, Zuma served his time in the infamous Robben Island prison where Nelson Mandela, the country’s future president, was also imprisoned for 18 years with other struggle stalwarts. Mandela spent the rest of his 27 year term in other prisons. Whilst imprisoned, Zuma showed character, discipline, hard work among many other qualities he still possesses. He was to benefit enormously from the experience of the senior comrades like Nelson Mandela and Walter Sisulu, to name a few. Also, while on Robben Island, Zuma served as a referee for prisoners’ association football games, organised by the prisoners’ own governing body, the Makana Football Association. Before the 2010 Soccer World Cup in South Africa, FIFA officially honoured and recognised the Makana Football Association as one of its structures.

On his release in 1973, Zuma continued fighting for freedom and his political commitments to the ANC. He was to play an essential role in building the underground organization’s infrastructure in the KwaZulu-Natal Province. After the Apartheid government beefed up its security programmes on the liberation movements, Zuma left South Africa in 1975 and landed in Swaziland. He then proceeded to Mozambique, where he dealt with the arrival of thousands of exiles in the wake of the Soweto Uprisings of June 16, 1976.

He also went for formal military training and travelled across the breath of the continent executing his ANC assignments. Zuma was elected to the ANC’s National Executive Committee in 1977. Holding a number of ANC posts over the next decade, he established a reputation as loyal and hardworking cadre. He also served as Deputy Chief Representative of the ANC in Mozambique, a post he occupied until the signing of the Nkomati Accord between the Mozambican government and the ANC in 1984. After signing the Accord, Zuma was appointed as Chief Representative of the ANC.

He served on the ANC’s political and military council when it was formed in the mid-1980s, and was elected to the politburo of the SACP in April 1990. In January 1987, Zuma was forced to leave another African country this time by the government of Mozambique – due to security concerns. Zuma then moved to the ANC Head Office in Lusaka, Zambia, where he was appointed Head of Underground Structures and shortly thereafter Chief of the Intelligence Department of the ANC. Following the end of the ban on the ANC in February 1990, Zuma was one of the first ANC leaders to return to South Africa to begin the process of negotiations. He headed the first ever official meeting between the ANC and the Apartheid Regime at Grotte Schuur on May 4, 1990 in Cape Town, in what went on to be called the ‘The Grotte Schuur Minute’.

Also in 1990, Zuma was elected Chairperson of the ANC for the Southern Natal region. He further took a leading role in fighting political violence in the region between members of the ANC and the Inkatha Freedom Party (IFP). Zuma was elected the Deputy Secretary General of the ANC in 1991 at the ANC December National Conference (the ANC’s first national conference on homes soil since its banning in 1960), and in January 1994, he was nominated as the ANC candidate for the Premiership of KwaZulu-Natal.

At the ANC’s national conference in December 1994, which the organization felt was needed to patch up on the decades on its banning, Zuma was elected National Chairperson of the ANC. Of course, by this time Zuma had had experience in national leadership, as he had served in the National Executive committee of the ANC in 1977 when the party was still a guerrilla movement. By the time he became its president in 2007 he had served the ANC for 30 years. 

After the 1994 general election, with the ANC becoming a governing organisation but having lost KwaZulu-Natal province to the IFP, Zuma was appointed as Member of the Executive Committee (MEC) of Economic Affairs and Tourism for the KwaZulu-Natal provincial government. After being elected National Chairperson of the ANC and chairperson of the ANC in KwaZulu-Natal in December 1994, and re-elected to the latter position in 1996, it was becoming clearer to many that Zuma would play a leading role in the future of the ANC and that of South Africa. The striking sign that Zuma would one day be the leader of his country was when he was elected Deputy President of the ANC at the National Conference held at Mafikeng in December 1997. And consequently he was appointed executive Deputy President of South Africa in June 1999, under Thabo Mbeki’s Presidency.

In terms of ANC tradition, as the deputy president of the ANC, Zuma was already in line to succeed Thabo Mbeki. After Mbeki fired Zuma in 2005, many thought it was the end of the road for Zuma, at least politically. But as we now know, fate had other ideas. Zuma fought for his political survival and garnered enough support of the alliance partners of the ruling ANC, the Congress of South African Trade Unions (Cosatu) and the South African Communist Party (SACP), with the ANC Youth League being another structure that would totally devote its energy to the political ‘come back’  of Zuma.

Zuma was cleared by courts of law of any allegations levelled against his during his political career. ANC structures held their nominations conferences in October and November 2007, where Zuma appeared favourite for the post of ANC President, and, by implication, the President of South Africa in 2009. With then-incumbent ANC- and South African President Thabo Mbeki as his opposition, Zuma was elected President of the ANC on 18 December 2007. After the general election in 2009, Zuma became the President of South Africa. And at the December 2012 National Conference, Zuma was re-elected as President of the ANC.

Zuma has proven indeed that he is not just a politician but also a man of the people throughout his various foundations. In keeping with the results-driven approach of its Patron, the Jacob Zuma Foundation strives to respond effectively, efficiently and within its valued accountability, to the needs of beneficiary communities.

“A hungry child cannot be expected to concentrate and do well in class,” says Jacob Zuma

The Jacob Zuma Foundation prides itself on its ethics, integrity and credibility and is respected both locally and internationally for its commitment to the socio-economic upliftment of the poor. The Foundation is committed to broadening its network of donor partners to enable life-changing upliftment of impoverished South Africans. Meanwhile, the Jacob G Zuma RDP Education Trust was formed in 1995 by its Patron, President Zuma, who was a Member of the Executive Council (MEC) of the Province of KwaZulu-Natal at that time.

Using an RDP Discretionary Fund of R500 000, which was provided to each MEC to establish a project of his/her choice, Zuma opted to focus his attention on providing access to education for the most disadvantaged and vulnerable children and youth in society.  This focus on education was as a result of his firm belief in education being the most real and sustainable form of empowerment.

The Jacob G Zuma RDP Education Trust started its work in KwaZulu-Natal, and has since extended its footprints to the Eastern Cape and the Limpopo Provinces.  It strategic objective is to extend its reach to the rest of South Africa within the next three to five years. The Jacob G Zuma RDP Education Trust is governed by a Board of Trustees comprising representatives from the private sector, former beneficiaries of the Trust and academics.  The day-to-day operations are managed by a team led by the Chief Executive Officer, with offices in Durban, Inkandla, East London, Polokwane and Johannesburg.

Over the years, the Jacob G Zuma RDP Education Trust has benefited over 20 000 young people.  Currently, it is supporting 1 200 young people at tertiary and basic education levels. 

The Trust depends, mainly, on donations and sponsorships to advance its objectives. It has forged strategic partnerships with organizations such as Cipla South Africa, Camac International Corporation and MerSeta on educational matters of common interest.  The Trust has a policy of utilizing a least 80% of all money raised towards its core business and 20% or less towards its operations.  On a yearly basis, it is audited by PriceWaterHouseCoopers (PWC).

Since coming into office in 2009 President Zuma has created key programmes, policies and enjoyed a fair amount of successes, including South Africa’s inclusion in the group of the fastest growing economies of the world, BRIC, now known as Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa (BRICS).

The Zuma government has also initiated the New Growth Path (NGP), a new framework for economic policy and the driver of the country’s jobs strategy. Others are the Industrial Policy Action Plan (IPAP). IPAP is predicated on the need to bring about significant structural change to the South African economy; and the big one, the National Development Plan (NDP), Vision 2030, the NDP offers a long-term perspective. It defines a desired destination and identifies the role different sectors of society need to play in reaching that goal.

“The NDP aims to eliminate poverty and reduce inequality by 2030. According to the plan, South Africa can realise these goals by drawing on the energies of its people, growing an inclusive economy, building capabilities, enhancing the capacity of the state, and promoting leadership and partnerships throughout society.”

The NGP, IPAP and National Infrastructure Development Programme among others have been included in the National Development Plan.

The following universities have awarded Zuma honorary degree: University of Zululand Awarded in 2001 Honorary Doctor of Administration; University of Fort Hare Awarded in 2001, Honorary Doctor of Literature/Letters; University of  Medicine of South Africa Awarded in 2001, Honorary Doctor of Philosophy and Peking University Beijing, China, Awarded in July 2012 Honorary Professor of International Relations.

Achievements & Awards include the King Hintsa Bravery Award in 2012; Jose Marti Award in 2010, Cuba’s highest award; African President of the Year by the African Consciousness Media and the Kenneth Kaunda Foundation in 2009; and the Nelson Mandela Award for Outstanding Leadership in 1998.

Activities & Memberships include Umkhonto We Sizwe Active Member, 1962 – 1990;  African National Congress

Member, 1959 – present; Albert Luthuli Education and Development Foundation as Patron; Peace and Reconstruction Foundation as Patron; Jacob Zuma Bursary Fund at Patron, 1998 – present; and the Moral Regeneration Movement as Patron.

Currently, Zuma’s focus is to successfully implement the NDP for the sake of his legacy, it seems.

By Thandisizwe Mgudlwa

AfricanBrains

SA: Education an important tool for empowerment

Marc Mcilhone February 17, 2016 Education, Featured, Government Leave a comment

• inShare

By – SAnews.gov.za

Cape Town – President Jacob Zuma says education is an important tool to empower people and this is the reason he decided to establish an education trust to increase access to educational opportunities for disadvantaged children, particularly in rural areas.

The Jacob Zuma RDP Education Trust, which depends mainly on donations and sponsorships, also offers opportunities in higher education to promising youth from rural areas, with a passion for self and community development.

The trust has paid for the education of more than 20 000 children and youth since its inception.

Speaking at the Presidential Golf Challenge Gala Dinner at the Century City Hotel on Friday, President Zuma said he was not fortunate enough to receive formal education at an early age.

Therefore, when he was still an MEC in KwaZulu-Natal he decided to start a trust that did not only focus on giving bursaries to matric graduates, but to orphaned and poverty-stricken children at lower grades.

A decision was taken that a fund of R500 000 would be given to MECs who were then expected to decide how they would spend it to stimulate service delivery.

At the time, the democratic government had just initiated what was called the Reconstruction Development Programme (RDP), a socio-economic policy framework aimed at tacking the massive shortfalls in social services in the country and a tool to alleviate poverty brought about by apartheid.

The President said when the funds were given to him, he felt many people had been excluded from the economy by the apartheid regime through Bantu education. He believed education to be the ultimate equaliser.

“If you are not empowered by education, your life will not be easy. But once you are empowered, you can manage life easily.

“I then felt that it is very important that we should help those who are unfortunate, and that is what led to my establishing the trust,” he said.

He said by educating people you are making a contribution.

“So this was an opportunity that was very important for me, to do something to help one or two kids,” said President Zuma.

The trust started its work in KwaZulu-Natal, and has since extended its footprints to the Eastern Cape and the Limpopo provinces. It is intended that within three to five years, learners from all nine provinces will benefit.

The President officiated at the Presidential Golf Challenge fundraising dinner on Friday, an annual event hosted by the Department of Public Service and Administration, following the State of the Nation Address.

The Jacob Zuma RDP Education Trust was the beneficiary of the proceeds of the funding.

The golf event and dinner affords the President an opportunity to emphasize the role of business in economic development and growth using education as a tool for sustainable development and economic growth.

The networking opportunity between decision makers in the private sector and government also allows for corporate social event alignment that seeks to make education for the poor a reality.

Trust sponsors 20 000 children

To date, the trust – with sponsors like Transnet and Cell C, among others – has helped children achieve their dreams against all odds.

Public Service and Administration Deputy Minister Ayanda Dlodlo said the fund aimed to raise R9 million this year.

Last year, the Presidential Golf Challenge managed to raise R8.5 million.

“This enabled the trust to take 272 children to school, and in the system currently, there are about 1200 students. In total, President Zuma has taken to school 20 000 children since 1995.

“If this isn’t a good story to tell, I don’t know what is,” said the Deputy Minister.

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Tobeka Madiba Zuma Foundation

World TB Awareness Day 2016

Posted on March 24, 2016 by TMZ Foundation

WHAT ARE CO-INFECTIONS?

Tuberculosis (TB) and hepatitis are common in people who also have HIV. These are diseases that can have an effect on HIV and can also be affected by HIV. They are sometimes referred to as co-infections.

Hepatitis B and C are more infectious than HIV, but are transmitted in similar ways: by contact with infected body fluids like blood, semen and vaginal fluid, and from a mother to her baby during pregnancy or delivery.

Both these types of hepatitis can cause serious liver damage, and liver disease is a major cause of serious illness and death in people with hepatitis co-infection.
There is a vaccine against hepatitis B. It works well in people with HIV, and it is recommended that people who have HIV receive it.

There is no vaccine against hepatitis C. Hepatitis C can be cured, with treatment which needs to be taken for up to a year, but treatment can be complex and deciding on the best time to start treatment is not straightforward.

Tuberculosis, or TB, is one of the most common AIDS-defining illnesses.
The bacteria that cause TB can pass from one person to another through the air. When someone who is ill with TB in the lungs or throat coughs or sneezes, TB bacteria are released into the air.

TB doesn’t always cause someone to be ill, but if the immune system is weakened it is more likely. The symptoms of active TB include a cough lasting more than three weeks, fever, loss of appetite, night sweats, tiredness and weight loss. It mostly affects the lungs but can affect other parts of the body.

TB is treated with a combination of antibiotics, normally taken for six months. In some cases, it may be necessary for treatment to last longer.

Many cases of TB go undiagnosed, untreated or are not cured. It is a chance to engage with National TB Programme Managers and other stakeholders to improve the quality of existing programmes and the access to care and services.

The Tobeka Madiba Zuma Foundation sees the importance of eliminating access barriers to all recommended TB diagnostics and drugs and addressing TB as national health security threats will also be highlighted, along with the fact that TB needs to be everyone’s business and the urgent need to therefore involve everyone in the fight against the disease.

When a person has been diagnosed as suffering from TB, all children under five years of age that have been in close contact with that person should be examined, so that if necessary they may also receive treatment.

TB can be cured with little or no complications, Medication must, however, be started as soon as possible and it must be taken regularly according to the instructions given at the clinic. It takes 6 months for TB to be cured completely, but within 2 weeks of starting treatment, the person will no longer spread the disease. Intensive phase medication is given for the first 2 months, 4 or 5 tablets (depending on body weight) are taken Monday to Friday. Continuation phase medication is given for the next 4 months, 2 or 3 tablets (depending on body weight) are taken Monday to Friday.

It is a mistake to stop taking medicines when a person feels better. All treatment / medicine must be taken for the full 6 months. If treatment / medicine is missed, the risk of a drug resistant strain of TB is possible. This TB is very difficult to treat and needs more than 18 months of treatment / medicine, with a long stay in hospital. It takes a long time for TB germs to be destroyed. If medicines are stopped too soon and without instructions of the nurse or doctor the disease may start all over again.

Partner with the TMZ Foundation in the Fight against TB.

Posted in Hoping & Coping