Keeping it brief
Government will be focusing on achieving selected key goals during the remainder of the year. This follows the findings of the mid-year special Cabinet meeting or Cabinet Lekgotla in July. The purpose of the Lekgotla is to give government an opportunity to review its performance and the carrying out of its Programme of Action following the State of the Nation Address.
The Cabinet Lekgotla is attended by ministers, deputy ministers, directors-general, premiers and mayors. Ministers were asked to focus on government’s 12 key results which come from the five key priorities. These include education, health, crime, housing, infrastructure development and economic growth, as well as youth development. Progress reported included, among others, free basic services now reaching 74 per cent of the population and free healthcare being provided to children under six years, pregnant and lactating women and people with disabilities. The Schools Nutrition Programme is reaching 5,9 million learners in 18 000 schools and the no-school-fee policy is being implemented.
Mpumalanga
Parents in the province have been urged to register their children for the 2011 school year before the end of October this year. All schools are required by law to register learners for the 2011 school year from 1 August to 31 October 2010. This applies to both learners re-registering and new applicants. Early registration enables schools and the department to plan its programmes on time to ensure that schooling starts on the first day of school re-opening.
Western Cape
Deputy President Kgalema Motlanthe visited the Eden district in the Western Cape in August to assess progress made in lifting communities out of poverty. The visit forms part of the ongoing campaign to fast-track the delivery of social and municipal services. The campaign of lifting communities out of poverty targets the poorest areas using data from Stats SA to bring urgency and better co-ordination among national, provincial and local government poverty alleviation efforts.
Gauteng
The graves of struggle heroines Charlotte Maxeke, Helen Joseph and Lillian Ngoyi were declared heritage sites in Soweto. According to the Department of Arts and Culture, the declaration of the graves into heritage sites kick-starts a five-year project aimed at identifying sites of women who have made a cultural contribution in different spheres of the liberation struggle including the arts, business and politics.
KwaZulu-Natal
Water and Environmental Affairs Deputy Minister, Rejoice Mabudafhasi, launched the Isipingo Adopt-a-River Project. The project aims to create awareness within communities about the need and importance of protecting water resources. Communities will be empowered with knowledge and skills to enable them to participate in water resource management, make informed decisions and become water ambassadors.
Limpopo
The effects of the changes taking place in the small town of Muyexe in Limpopo through the Comprehensive Rural Development Programme (CRDP) will be felt for generations to come. Thanks to the CRDP, this rural village near the Kruger National Park now has a library, a computer centre and a community hall. The community also has 283 decent houses built specifically for people who didn’t have proper housing. The Muyexe Primary School and the Hatlani High School have also been renovated.
Northern Cape
To help women beyond Women’s month, the Department of Agriculture, Land Reform and Rural Development in the province hosted a summit to Advance Women in Rural Development in Douglas. The aim was to give women in rural areas and farms an opportunity to state what their livelihoods were and how government through its programmes of rural development could improve their status and re-build the moral values in rural and urban areas.
- Information sourced from BuaNews and provincial government websites
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