Health • Rural Development • Employment • Safety & Security • Youth Matters • Sport Vuk’uzenzele FREE Brought to you by Government Communications (GCIS) March 2013 Basic More money education for SA's producing farmworkers results > P 4 > P 10 Special SoNA Supplement P11 President Zuma plots the way forward for SA Irene Naidoo He said that to improve these results, and are able to take care of their children.” has no place in our country,” the President President Jacob Zuma the Department of Basic Education would President Zuma also expressed concern stressed. establish a national task team to make sure about the “alarming increase” in lifestyle He called for unity from different sec- has welcomed the progress the Mathematics, Science and Technology diseases. tors to help fight the scourge and urged Strategy succeeds. The country needed to combat and lower the coordinating structure of the National made in the health and “We urge the private sector to partner the levels of smoking, harmful effects of Council on Gender Based Violence to make education sectors but called government through establishing, adopting alcohol, poor diets and obesity, he noted. the campaign aimed at fighting violence or sponsoring maths and science academies Turning to job creation, the President said against women an everyday campaign. for more to be done to fight or Saturday schools.” jobs would be created for millions of South On land redistribution, President Zuma violence against women, Reporting on progress in health, the Presi- Africans over the coming years. said government would now pursue the dent said the National Health Insurance “The National Development Plan outlines ‘just and equitable’ principle for compensa- create jobs and speed up Fund would be created by next year and the interventions that can put the economy on tion, as set out in the Constitution instead of land redistribution. Department of Health would speed up and a better footing. The target for job creation the “willing buyer, willing seller” principle, and intensify progress in the pilot districts. is set at 11 million by 2030.” which forces the state to pay more for land From next month, the first group of ap- There would be discussions with business, than the actual value. elivering the 2013 State of the proximately 600 private medical practition- labour and other social partners in an effort There were also proposed amendments to Nation Address, President Jacob ers will be contracted to provide medical to deal with the problems that need to be the Restitution of Land Rights Act, 1994 to Zuma said he was pleased with services at 533 clinics within villages and addressed so that the economy can grow and provide for the re-opening of the lodging of Dthe 2012 matric pass rate, growth townships in 10 of the pilot districts. create these jobs, he added. restitution claims by people who missed the of early childhood education programmes President Zuma welcomed studies that re- President Zuma also spoke out against deadline of 31 December 1998. and the adult education programme, Kha Ri ported a dramatic increase in life expectancy rape and violence against women, saying “Also to be explored, are exceptions to Gude, which reached more than 2.2 million from an average baseline of 56 years in 2009 strong action would be taken to tackle these the June 1913 cut-off date to accommodate people between 2008 and 2011. to 60 years in 2011. crimes. claims by the descendants of the Khoi and While the President welcomed the “Increased life expectancy is a key to the He directed law enforcement agencies to San as well as heritage sites and historical improvement in the Annual National As- country’s development. People are return- treat these cases with the utmost urgency landmarks,” he said. sessment results each year, he urged more ing to work, they are being productive, eco- and importance. For more details on the State of the Na- action to improve mathematics, science and nomically and socially. The family structure “The brutality and cruelty meted out to tion Address turn to our special supplement technology results. is increasingly stable and parents live longer defenceless women is unacceptable and from pages 11-18. ToolsSamona Murugan forment, agovernment better allocated R1 trillion to the future in 2013 Strategic Infrastructure Projects (SIPs). The SIPs Higher Education and will ensure the building of roads, schools, uni- versities, harbours, power stations and other Training Minister Dr Blade social and economic infrastructure. Minister Nzimande stressed that in order Nzimande has declared 2013 to successfully deliver on the SIPs, which are already underway, the country needed arti- as the “Year of the Artisan”. sans. The growth of industry also required a significant number of qualified and competent his comes as attempts are being made artisans, he added. to address the huge shortage of arti- The Department of Higher Education and sans in the country. Training has come up with various interven- T Artisans are workers who use their tions to address the shortage of skills in the hands to make things or are skilled in a par- country. One of those interventions was the ticular trade such as craftsmen, carpenters, National Artisan Development Conference mechanics and boilermakers. held in July last year. “South Africa needs more artisans as part of The Year of the Artisan will kick off with a the national strategy to deal with the shortage delegation, led by Higher Education Deputy of critical skills,” said Minister Nzimande at Minister Mduduzi Manana, visiting all nine the launch held at the Ekurhuleni West Further provinces to promote artisanry as a career op- Education and Training College’s Tembisa tion for the youth. Campus recently. The visits aim to raise awareness about pro- More artisans, such as this group in training at the Ekurhuleni West Further Education and Training College, President Jacob Zuma said in his 2012 State fessionalising artisanry by assessing and recog- are needed to address the shortage of critical skills in the country. of the Nation Address that the massive invest- nising the skills of existing artisans through the ment in infrastructure must produce more than Recognition of Prior Learning (RPL) process. the skills required by the labour market. critical skills in South Africa. We have also just power stations, railway lines, dams and They will also highlight opportunities that are “In declaring 2013 as the Year of the Artisan, invested billions into the development of our roads - it must also industrialise the country, available for the youth and unemployed adults we appeal to our critical stakeholders to work FET Colleges. Our goal is to develop them into generate skills and boost much needed job to develop skills as artisans. with us in putting into sharp focus the need institutions of choice, so that we will not have creation. It is hoped that the programme will have a for the production of artisans as part of the to import skills from other countries to deliver Heeding the call for infrastructure develop- great impact on the country’s ability to develop national strategy to deal with the shortage of on our SIPs,” said Minister Nzimande. Vuk’uzenzele is FREE . but please pass it on when you are done 2 Vuk’uzenzele March 2013 INFRASTRUCTURE Govt builds SA to improve lives Construction at the Medupi Power Station, which is expected to become the largest dry-cooled, coal-fired South Africa’s ports are being upgraded as part of the country’s massive infrastructure drive. The new Port power station in the world, is underway in Limpopo. of Ngqura in Port Elizabeth is the deepest container terminal in sub-Saharan Africa. ture Projects (SIPs) as part of the infrastructure scheduled for 2017. on port and rail projects until 2018/19. Last Albert Pule development drive, with each SIP comprising The R121 billion third station, Ingula, is year President Jacob Zuma launched the two specific infrastructure components and pro- being built on the border of the Free State and ports in Port Elizabeth and Durban. Government is banking grammes. They cover a range of economic KwaZulu-Natal. The pumped-storage scheme The new Port of Ngqura, in Port Elizabeth, is and social infrastructure initiatives in all nine project connects two dams by underground the deepest container terminal in sub-Saharan on its massive infrastructure provinces, with emphasis on poorer provinces. waterways and is made up of 10.5km of un- Africa and will accommodate the new genera- The SIPs include the building of schools, derground tunnels. tion of giant container ships that regularly visit development drive to create integrated public transport systems, construc- the country. tion of dams and pipelines, and the upgrading PUBLIC TRANSPORT For the past 12 years, Transnet has been new jobs, stimulate economic of freeways, ports, rail networks and power A few years ago, most commuters going to building the port, which forms part of the stations. work had to deal with cramped buses, taxis Coega Industrial Development Zone. In the growth, strengthen the or trains in major metros. In recent years next seven years, government plans to spend ELECTRICITY GENERATION things have improved with the introduc- R21 billion on infrastructure at the Dube Trade delivery of basic services In 2007 the country was gripped by huge tion of new, sleek trains and buses as part of Port in KwaZulu-Natal. blackouts, with power outages wreaking government’s infrastructure rollout plan. The port will be part of the KwaZulu-Natal- and support the integration havoc across the country. The blackouts were The Department of Transport is set to spend Free State-Gauteng corridor and will also assist caused by the increasing demand in electricity. R2.3 billion on the country’s bus system.