By Lehlohonolo Lehana.
Cabinet held its first physical meeting since the Covid-9 lockdown began last year, where President Cyril Ramaphosa and his executive were briefed on a broad range of issues, including the state of the fight against Covid-19 and numerous other local and global issues.
They were firstly briefed on why the Johnson and Johnson (J&J) Sisonke Vaccination Programme was temporarily suspended, but welcomed the plan to start vaccinating people aged 60 and older from May 17 once it had been confirmed that no South Africans had suffered blood-clot side effects.
Cabinet spokesperson Phumla Williams said the successful negotiation of an additional 10 million doses of the Pfizer vaccine brought the total doses of the Pfizer vaccine to 30 million.
“This means South Africa will be able to vaccinate 15 million people with the Pfizer vaccine instead of just 10 million.”
To prepare for Phase 2 of the vaccination roll-out programme starting on 17 May 2021, Cabinet encouraged people aged 60 years and older to register on the Electronic Vaccination Data System: https://vaccine.enroll.health.gov.za.
People without access to the internet can register in person at over 3,338 vaccination sites across the country. Mobile teams will also be deployed to assist the elderly, the homeless and people living in rural areas.
There had been a slight increase of 4.9% in persons testing positive for Covid in the past 14 days by 18 April, which was attributed to cluster resurgences in the Free State and Northern Cape, “and rapid response teams have been activated to conduct contact tracing”.
Economic recovery
Cabinet received the welcome news from the Annual Front Office Business Process Outsourcing (BPO) Omnibus Survey that ranked South Africa first in the world as a destination for BPO.
“The survey extended to over 600 executives from eight key sourcing markets, including Australia, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Spain, the United Kingdom (UK) and the USA.
“Strong growth in call centres, technical support and back and front office services for major multinational and South African firms,” was behind this achievement.
“The country’s sophisticated digital infrastructure, skilled workforce, knowledge in technology and financial services, and proficiency in English, continue to make it an attractive destination for BPO.”
Job creation
There was also evidence that employment prospects have been improving, including for young people.
“The Presidential Employment Stimulus that was launched in October 2020 to respond to the economic impact of Covid-19 created or retained 360,010 jobs by the end of February 2021, mostly for unemployed youth. In addition, the employment stimulus has supported the livelihoods of 60,539 beneficiaries through the transfer of support, including production vouchers for subsistence farmers.
“Over 300,000 of these opportunities came from placing young people as assistants in schools across the country, through the Basic Education Employment Initiative. These school assistants have played an important role in strengthening the learning environment at schools during a difficult time.”
Cabinet was also pleased that the “implementation of the Economic Reconstruction and Recovery Plan is making noticeable impact in South Africa’s recovery”.
Infrastructure development
Progress has, according to Cabinet, been made in enhancing the efficiency and competitiveness of the Port of Durban.
“The Small Harbours Repairs and Maintenance Programme, which is a Strategic Integrated Project as part of the Infrastructure Investment Plan approved by Cabinet in May 2020, is currently 77% complete. It has created a total of 611 job opportunities and various local small, medium and micro enterprise businesses have benefited to the value of R55 million. The project is expected to be completed in March 2022.”
Bullying at schools and hate crimes
Cabinet expressed concern about the prevalence of bullying in schools, and called on authorities to speedily investigate the death of Lufuno Mavhunga (15) from Mbilwi Secondary School in Thohoyandou, Limpopo, and “ensure effective justice”.
They also “strongly condemned” the recent rise of LGBTIQ+ hate crimes that resulted in the deaths of Andile Ntuthela, Siphamandla Khoza and Nathaniel Mbele.
Other issues that Cabinet focused on included the outbreak of African Swine Flu on a farm in Potchefstroom in North West as well as Avian Influenza (bird flu) on a commercial farm in the East Rand in Gauteng; the Charlotte Maxeke Academic Hospital and Cape Town fires; the efforts to deal with insurgency groups in Mozambique; the recent “senseless killing of two brothers, Zenzele and Amos Coka, on a farm in Mpumalanga”; and resolving the issue relating to protests by refugees from primarily the DRC in Cape Town.