Source: Government of Qatar
Doha, July 27, 2026
HE Minister of State for International Cooperation Maryam bint Ali bin Nasser Al Misnad met Monday with HE Ambassador of the United Kingdom to the State of Qatar Neerav Patel.
The two sides discussed bilateral cooperation between the two countries and ways to deepen and expand it, in addition to a range of matters of mutual interest.
Source: Government of Qatar
Doha – July 27, 2026
The State of Qatar strongly condemns the attacks that attempted to target oil facilities in the Eastern Province and Riyadh in the sisterly Kingdom of Saudi Arabia using drones originating from Iraqi territory.
Qatar considers these attacks a flagrant violation of Saudi Arabia’s sovereignty, a threat to its security, stability, and territorial integrity, and a flagrant violation of international law, the United Nations Charter, and the principles of good neighborliness.
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs reiterates the State of Qatar’s full solidarity with the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and its support for all legitimate measures taken by the Kingdom to preserve its sovereignty, security, and territorial integrity.
Source: APO
Clotaire Kondja, Gabon’s Minister of Petroleum and Gas, has been confirmed as a speaker at African Energy Week (AEW) 2026, bringing one of Central Africa’s foremost architects of upstream reform to the continent’s premier energy investment event. Since taking office in January 2026, Minister Kondja has accelerated efforts to attract international capital, unlock Gabon’s largely untapped offshore potential and commercialize its substantial natural gas resources.
Taking place in Cape Town from October 12‒16, AEW 2026 serves as the continent’s leading platform for energy investment, convening government leaders, operators, financiers and technology providers to drive deals across Africa’s oil, gas and energy sectors. With more than 2 billion barrels of proven oil reserves and significant untapped offshore acreage, Gabon continues to offer prolific investment opportunities that will be showcased to global investors in Cape Town.
Around 72% of the country’s deepwater acreage remains unexplored, and the government is actively opening new opportunities for investors. Speaking at the Invest in African Energy Forum in Paris in April, Minister Kondja confirmed that Gabon expected to finalize PSCs with ExxonMobil and bp, converting MoUs signed in October 2025 into active deepwater exploration licenses. The government’s modernized Hydrocarbons Code and enhanced fiscal framework are further strengthening the investment case, creating competitive conditions for companies pursuing frontier exploration, mature field redevelopment and long-term production growth.
Upstream investors are targeting frontier offshore blocks and redevelopment of mature assets, while midstream opportunities include new pipelines, storage infrastructure and refinery upgrades. At the same time, the government’s gas modernization agenda is opening investment across LNG exports, gas-to-power projects and downstream industrial gas applications as Gabon positions itself as a regional petroleum and gas hub. The government has also eliminated signature bonuses for deepwater and ultra-deepwater blocks while launching a 2026 licensing campaign covering roughly 70% of the country’s available offshore acreage.
A new investor-friendly Gas Code is under development, complemented by plans for a 130‒150-km pipeline linking Gamba to Libreville by early 2028. The strategy is supported by Perenco’s $2 billion Cap Lopez LNG project, expected to begin operations in 2026 through an FLNG facility capable of producing 700,000 tons of LNG and 25,000 tons of LPG annually while significantly reducing gas flaring.
Investment activity is gathering pace across the sector. BW Energy, Panoro Energy and Gabon Oil Company approved the $300 million Bourdon offshore development in May 2026, targeting first oil in the first quarter of 2028 from approximately 25 million barrels of recoverable reserves. BW Energy and Panoro Energy are also progressing the MaBoMo Phase 2 development, expected to deliver first oil during the first half of 2027, while Assala Energy’s Magoga-A discovery confirmed 8m of net oil play in the Gamba Sandstone formation. Meanwhile, investment continues to accelerate across the midstream segment through planned gas gathering infrastructure, expanded storage capacity and refinery modernization, supporting the government’s ambition of building an integrated petroleum industry while capturing greater value from domestic gas production.
“Minister Clotaire Kondja is leading a new era of investment across Gabon’s oil and gas sector through competitive reforms, frontier exploration and strategic gas development. As Gabon opens new offshore opportunities and advances major infrastructure projects, his insights at AEW 2026 will be invaluable for investors looking to participate in one of Africa’s most dynamic energy markets,” says NJ Ayuk, Executive Chairman, African Energy Chamber.
Beyond showcasing Gabon’s investment agenda, Minister Kondja’s participation will contribute to broader discussions on how African producers can remain globally competitive amid shifting capital flows, evolving energy demand and growing pressure to deliver long-term energy security. His perspective will add to high-level dialogue between policymakers, operators and financiers focused on accelerating investment and strengthening Africa’s role in the global energy landscape.
Distributed by APO Group on behalf of African Energy Chamber.
Source: APO
A new United Nations report says the world has moved past a water crisis into water bankruptcy, and Africa’s utility numbers already show what that looks like.
This is the focus of Water Security & Infrastructure Volume 2026 (https://apo-opa.co/3TrgwgU), launched by ESI Africa, part of VUKA Group, mapping the shift from water crisis to water bankruptcy and holding it against African utility data.
For years, “water crisis” has been the term used whenever a dam ran low or a city faced Day Zero. The Global Water Bankruptcy Report (2026), published by the United Nations University Institute for Water, Environment and Health (UNU-INWEH), argues that the word “crisis” no longer fits.
A crisis is a shock a system recovers from. Bankruptcy is what happens when it can’t. The report defines it as a “persistent post-crisis condition… in which long-term water use has exceeded renewable inflows and safe depletion limits, causing irreversible or effectively irreversible degradation.”
Nearly 75% of the world’s population now lives in a country classified as water insecure. The world has lost 410 million hectares of wetlands since 1970, an area the size of the European Union, at an economic cost the report puts at $5.1 trillion. Glacier mass is down more than 30% over the same period, and 70% of major aquifers are in long-term decline.
Where Africa’s utilities stand
ESI Africa’s new Water Security & Infrastructure Volume 2026 examines that global diagnosis and holds it against African utility data. The pattern repeats at a smaller scale, and it’s already visible in the numbers that regulators publish annually.
Non-revenue water, water that is produced but never billed, lost to leaks, theft or faulty metering, sits above 35% across South Africa, Tanzania and Mozambique. In Zimbabwe and among Kenya’s largest utilities, it exceeds 50%.
“Where in South Africa are we addressing non-revenue water?” asks South African Water Chamber CEO Benoît Le Roy. His own answer is that it’s nowhere close to enough. South Africa’s non-revenue water rate sits at roughly 47.8%.
The World Bank reached a similar conclusion in 2017, studying around 120 utilities across 14 African countries. Close to half couldn’t cover their own operating and maintenance costs from revenue. Government transfers filled the gap, but at a cost, because this support removed any pressure on utilities to fix their own finances.
Eight years on, the region’s own regulators confirmed the trend hasn’t reversed. ESAWAS’s 2023/24 benchmarking of 10 major utilities found average cost coverage fell from 99% to 91% in a single year. Collection efficiency dropped from 107% to 87%. In Zambia, two utilities have had tariffs frozen by government decision for more than four years.
Why doesn’t the money move?
Bothwell Manikai, DBSA Principal for Infrastructure Financing, put it directly: “I must admit that the fact that we are where we are in terms of those losses means we can all do more.”
Zakhele Mayisa, AfDB Senior Consultant for Private Sector Engagement, traced the blockage further upstream, to land tenure disputes and thin baseline data that disqualify water projects before financing talks start.
Without ring-fenced revenue, Le Roy argued, no financier can underwrite the risk. Cost-reflective tariffs matter, but they can’t fix a network that loses water before that cost is ever billed.
The next big consumer
The volume also names the sectors that will need to shrink, adapt or pay more: mining, thermal power, agriculture, and, increasingly, data centres. By 2030, AI-related water consumption could reach 9.3 trillion litres globally, enough to cover the annual domestic needs of roughly 1.3 billion people in Sub-Saharan Africa.
Africa’s 360MW of existing data centre capacity already exposes the gap. “We don’t bill the customer for it,” said Nazeem Holmes, senior solutions architect at Open Access Data Centres, explaining why water efficiency lags energy efficiency on site. Power is metered and billed to the tenant. Water, shared across a facility, isn’t.
What comes next
The focus isn’t on building more dams and desalination plants; it’s a warning that doing so can deepen the overshoot by encouraging further unsustainable growth. Instead, there is a call for nature-based capital investment, water-bankruptcy risk screening by lenders, and real-time global monitoring of what remains.
ESI Africa Editor-in-Chief Nicolette Pombo-van Zyl frames the shift in her opening letter to the volume: “I’d wager the utilities that thrive over the next decade won’t be the ones that produce the most water. They’ll be the ones that lose the least of it.”
The full volume features 17 articles unpacking finance, metering and policy responses across the sector, published in partnership with Conlog and the STS Association.
Access the full volume: https://apo-opa.co/3TGzjVw
Distributed by APO Group on behalf of VUKA Group.
About ESI Africa:
ESI Africa — Africa’s trusted power, energy, water and utility multimedia platform — is positioned as an impartial industry mouthpiece, delivering the latest technical developments and analysis in both print and digital formats since 1996.
The brand’s various routes to market are expertly primed to build a bridge between readers and solution providers as ESI Africa sifts through the daily noise and delivers the tale of Africa’s energy, power, utility and water transformation to the African and global market.https://apo-opa.co/4wkq63G
About VUKA Group:
VUKA Group connects people and organisations across Africa’s energy, mining, mobility, green economy, and retail sectors through events, content, and strategic networking. Venture partners to The Global Trust Project and leaders of NPO Go Green Africa. www.WeAreVuka.com
Source: The Conversation – Africa – By Letodi Luki Mathulwe, Research entomologist, Department of Conservation Ecology and Entomology, Stellenbosch University
The African armyworm is a highly destructive migratory pest that damages maize, sorghum, millet and sugarcane. These caterpillars also cause indirect damage to livestock as they destroy grazing lands and pastures.
The last major outbreak of armyworm in southern Africa was from February to April 2025. It affected South Africa’s KwaZulu Natal, Limpopo, Gauteng and Mpumalanga provinces and neighbouring Zimbabwe.
Controlling armyworm has proved a major challenge. The most common method has been application of a pyrethroid based synthetic chemical insecticide. But the method has proved to be less effective in achieving complete control, as the insecticide is only effective against the larval instars (caterpillars) when they are about 1-5mm in length, as they are more susceptible to the poison than the grown larvae. The insect has a complete metamorphosis consisting of the egg, larvae (caterpillar), pupae and adult stage, which is a moth. The caterpillar stage is the most damaging stage.
I am an entomologist and my work focuses mainly on integrated pest management of economically important agricultural insect pests. Specifically, it looks at the use of disease-causing (entomopathogenic) fungi and nematodes as biological control agents of insects in agro-ecosystems. In a recent paper I set out my findings on a fungus that naturally infects and kills the larval instars of the African armyworm. This is the first report of the presence and successful isolation of the fungus in South Africa.
Outbreaks of the African armyworm are mainly characterised by high densities of the larval instars of the insect: they form dense armies that move across the ground together.
It feeds on plants and can completely strip the leaves of crops to ground level. Damage to kikuyu grass pastures also means there’s less for livestock to eat and they can get sick from poisoning. This is because when the larvae feed on the grass, the grass releases a cyanic chemical compound as a defence mechanism against the insect. The cyanide compound is toxic to livestock, mostly cattle.
Clinical signs of kikuyu grass poisoning in affected cattle during outbreaks of the insect include abdominal pain, dehydration, excessive drooling of saliva, sham drinking – where the affected animals fail to drink even if they put their mouth into the water – incoordination (loss of muscle control, resulting in unsteady and involuntary movements), and cardiac and respiratory distress.
When I inspected kikuyu grass pastures infested with the insect in KwaZulu Natal, I observed that something was killing the larval instars of the African armyworm. It turned out to be an isolate of the fungus Metarhizium rileyi.
This fungus lives in soil and is one of many entompathogens that infect and kill various insect pests. They are often used in agriculture to manage pests that cause severe damage to crops. Several fungus-based insecticides are commercially available and have proven to be effective.
I found that dead African armyworm larvae were covering large areas of the fields, mostly attached to blades of grass and some on the soil surface. They were infected with Metarhizium rileyi. The infection was visible as white and green conidia, which are asexual spores on the cuticle surface of the insects.
This was the first observation and report of the efficacy of this fungus against the African armyworm. Previously,the fungus was reported to be an effective biological control agent of the fall armyworm in countries such as the Philippines.
The discovery opens an opportunity to explore and develop this organism as a potential biological control agent product to be used during outbreak seasons in South Africa and in other regions globally.
Mass production of this particular fungal species on a commercial scale and registration of the fungus as a biopesticide of the insect would be the next step. It could add to the management strategies that can be effectively used during outbreak seasons of the insect.
– Can a newly discovered soil fungus stop the devastating African armyworm when chemicals have failed?
– https://theconversation.com/can-a-newly-discovered-soil-fungus-stop-the-devastating-african-armyworm-when-chemicals-have-failed-286153
Source: The Conversation – Africa – By Ezenwa E. Olumba, Leverhulme Early Career Research Fellow, Aston University
When armed groups attack a community, people often assume that everyone who can escape will leave. This belief influences news stories, public discussions and humanitarian efforts, which usually focus on those who have been forced to move.
However, while I was doing research in north-central Nigeria, also called the Middle Belt, I came across some communities that had the means to flee to safety but decided to remain, even though they faced repeated violent attacks from armed nomadic herders and got little or no help from the government.
I have been studying why people move or stay, and the violent conflicts between farming communities and nomadic herders in the Middle Belt, since 2018. I have published several studies on these issues. My research examines the history of the conflicts, what causes them to escalate, and why some people choose to remain in conflict zones. I have also studied how memories of people, places and past experiences influence decisions to remain.
In one study, my co-authors and I use the term eco-violence to describe conflicts over land and water between farming communities and nomadic herders across the dry Sahel region. These conflicts are driven partly by pressures on land and water, discrimination, and failures of government, as herders move with their livestock in search of grazing and water.
Studies show that in many crisis situations, more people stay than leave. To better understand migration and conflict, we need to ask not just why people run away, but also why some remain.
One reason is that they fear losing their ancestral land and traditional way of life.
In Nigeria’s Middle Belt, communities have faced violence and the loss of homes, farms and food stores for many years.
Thousands of people are killed every year, with many communities destroyed and others deserted. According to Amnesty International, over 6,896 people were killed between May 2023 and May 2025 in Benue state alone.
These rural communities receive little or no protection from the police or military. Sometimes, attackers even warn the communities ahead of time, but the police or military still do not step in to protect them.
Hardly a week that goes without a killing in Benue, Plateau or Nasarawa states in Nigeria.
In 2022, I spoke with 54 people living in Benue and Nasarawa states. In Benue, I spoke with people who were indigenous to the location, as well as people who had fled to nearby communities. In Nasarawa State, I spoke with members of a community who had been displaced but later returned after regaining control of their village.
Their two main reasons for staying emerged from the research, which has since been published in Mobilities.
The first was their attachment to their ancestral land and the resources it provides. Many people in the Middle Belt are farmers who cultivate land inherited through generations. The same land contains their family homes, burial grounds and sacred sites, and provides the setting for rituals and traditional festivals.
The Middle Belt is known for its fertile land. Benue State, for instance, is often described as the country’s “food basket” because much of the food grown there is supplied to other parts of Nigeria.
The second was their desire to preserve a familiar way of life that makes living meaningful to them. For these communities, home is made up of relationships, memories, traditions and identities passed from one generation to the next. Some of them put it simply: they would rather die than leave.
One of the community members said this:
This land is where I was born, and this is my father’s land. Wherever I run to, I will become a stranger and may become destitute … If I die in my house for what belongs to me, let me die. This is why I did not flee.
Their decision is not simply about whether they could survive elsewhere. It is mostly about preserving their traditional way of life, since life away from their ancestral land may no longer feel meaningful.
These communities believe they can only keep their way of life by staying on what they call their “father’s land”. Leaving would mean surrendering their land, livelihoods and communal life to live elsewhere with little or nothing.
One of the community members said:
Another factor is that the area where we are settled now belongs to our forefathers, and if we flee and abandon this place, where are we heading to? … [S]ince this is our land, we must live on it.
Remaining does not mean that they prefer violence. They know the dangers and fear further attacks. Many have lost relatives and friends. But leaving would mean losing a way of life they believe they cannot rebuild anywhere else.
Understanding this can help scholars, policymakers, journalists and humanitarian groups to work more thoughtfully with people who choose to remain in conflict, for whom leaving may carry losses they consider impossible to replace.
– Nigeria’s conflict zones: why people stay even when they can leave
– https://theconversation.com/nigerias-conflict-zones-why-people-stay-even-when-they-can-leave-287826
Source: The Conversation – Africa – By Franzisca Zanker, Senior researcher, Arnold Bergstraesser Institute
South Africa started processing undocumented migrants at a temporary repatriation centre in Musina, a border town with Zimbabwe, in July 2026. This followed weeks of intensified anti-migrant rhetoric and xenophobic violence.
The facility has raised questions about whether the country could be moving towards a more camp-based approach to managing migrants and refugees. This would mark a significant departure from South Africa’s post-apartheid refugee policy. South Africa has generally allowed refugees and asylum seekers to live, work and study in urban centres rather than confining them to designated refugee camps. As of 2025, the country hosted more than 160,000 refugees and asylum seekers from places like Zimbabwe, Malawi, the Democratic Republic of Congo and Burundi.
Franzisca Zanker and Ulrike Krause have studied refugee governance and encampment across Africa, including in South Africa. As migration becomes an increasingly charged political issue in South Africa, they examine what refugee encampment is.
Legally speaking, all refugees are migrants. But not all migrants are refugees. A refugee is someone who has crossed an international border in search of protection because they fear persecution on the grounds of race, religion, nationality, political opinion or membership of a particular social group.
International law sets out protections for people in these circumstances, most notably through the 1951 Refugee Convention with its 1967 protocol. In Africa, the 1969 Convention of the then Organisation of African Unity broadened the definition of a refugee to include people fleeing external aggression, occupation or events seriously disturbing public order.
These conventions are, however, historical documents. They were drafted largely in colonial or early post-colonial contexts, leading to several blind spots. A criticism is that they don’t adequately account for contemporary forms of displacement, such as those driven by climate change.
In reality, the definition of who is a migrant or a refugee is often blurred. Like all international legal documents, the refugee conventions should be read as “living instruments”. This means they can be reinterpreted as circumstances change.
South Africa had over 167,000 refugees and asylum seekers in 2025, mostly living in urban communities. An asylum seeker is an individual whose claim to refugee status hasn’t yet been legally processed or decided.
Asylum seekers must renew temporary section 22 permits, typically every six months, at refugee reception offices. This places a heavy burden on them.
Many asylum claims are rejected at the first stage, and the appeals process is lengthy. An audit in 2019 revealed that, at the time, it would take 68 years to clear the appeals backlog. In 2026, funding for the Refugee Appeals Authority of South Africa was cut, reducing its adjudication panel from 36 members to just nine.
Asylum seekers now wait for five to 10 years or longer for a decision. During this time, they face restrictions on work, study, movement and access to humanitarian assistance.
The legal framework around refugees and asylum seekers is also evolving.
In May 2026, the constitutional court ruled that asylum seekers whose applications, including appeals, have been rejected do not necessarily have the right to reapply as refugees. The Department of Home Affairs celebrated this as a win.
Two months later, the same court ruled that procedural failures, such as not obtaining a section 22 permit within five days of entering the country, are not sufficient grounds to disqualify someone from seeking refugee status. This time, the human rights organisation Scalabrini celebrated.
It is this arduous process for asylum seekers, the changing and complex legal system, and the need for humanitarian assistance for some asylum seekers that raises the question: would camps be a better way forward while they wait?
In other words, would camps offer a solution for protection? Or would they reduce the rights of refugees and asylum seekers in a country once lauded as exemplary?
Refugee camps are humanitarian and political spaces established to provide refugees with settlement, protection and assistance, particularly following large-scale movements to host states.
Host governments decide whether to establish camps and how they operate, but they often work closely with humanitarian agencies. The UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR) is central here, given its global mandate to safeguard refugees and their rights.
In practice, governments frequently collaborate with UNHCR to manage camps and coordinate NGOs that provide services like shelter, food, water and healthcare.
Although camps are intended as temporary spaces of protection, many last years or even decades.
They remain designed as provisional structures even as they evolve into long-term infrastructures.
And despite the protection focus, camps are not safe havens. Scholars have described them as spaces of order and control, a form of “human warehousing” and “sites of non-existence”.
They are run by political actors that control refugees’ daily lives. UNHCR relies on host states for access and donor states for funding to offer protection.
The legal basis for encampment is also contested. The 1951 Refugee Convention does not require refugees to be housed in camps.
Encampment is a policy choice, not a legal obligation. Yet camps have become the default humanitarian response and often harshly limit refugees’ right to freedom of movement.
Once established, camps bring a range of difficulties for the people who live in them.
Harsh living conditions and human rights abuses are well documented. These include gender-based and sexual violence, the everyday denial of rights and limited legal support, economic marginalisation, restricted political participation and overall structural “containment”.
Living conditions are, therefore, typically difficult.
Camps are mostly deliberately located in remote areas, cutting residents off physically, socially and economically from surrounding host communities.
Livelihoods suffer as a result. Decisions about shelter and daily life are made by aid and government actors.
The Musina centre is not a UNHCR-run refugee centre. There is also no indication it’s supposed to become one.
The Revised White Paper on Citizenship, Immigration and Refugee Protection, approved by cabinet in 2026, contains no plans to establish refugee camps.
Even so, several issues deserve attention.
First, UNHCR is facing huge funding cuts, in line with humanitarian assistance more generally. It is looking to downsize rather than build up new camps. As of 30 June 2026, only 18% of its annual budget is funded for its multi-country operation covering South Africa, Botswana, and Namibia.
Second, setting up camps in impoverished contexts can always raise tensions with host communities who also need humanitarian assistance. In an environment where xenophobic violence is partly fuelled by tensions between refugees and host communities, this is far from ideal.
Third, the current trend is to move away from encampment, as seen in Kenya, for instance.
Letting the free market and self-settlement take care of refugees can be highly problematic. But it is within this space that South Africa is more likely to find a sustainable path forward – one that remains true to its protection obligations while enabling refugees to contribute to, and benefit from, the communities in which they live.
– Refugee camps explained: why South Africa has avoided them
– https://theconversation.com/refugee-camps-explained-why-south-africa-has-avoided-them-288116
Source: Government of South Africa
dtic to engage hospitality, agriculture and tourism sectors on local employment
The Department of Trade, Industry and Competition (dtic) will in the next two weeks hold discussions with the hospitality, agriculture and tourism sectors on the employment of South Africans and other issues affecting economic growth.
The planned engagements form part of government’s efforts to address migration management while also promoting economic growth and ensuring that local workers benefit from opportunities in the economy.
The announcement was made during a media briefing by the Inter-Ministerial Committee (IMC) on Migration on Sunday, held to outline progress on government’s plans to strengthen migration management, uphold the rule of law and secure the country’s borders.
“In the next two weeks the dtic will hold discussions with sectors such as hospitality, agriculture and tourism on matters of employment of locals and other issues related to the growth of the economy,” the committee said.
The discussions are expected to focus on the employment of local people and broader economic challenges facing the sectors.
The IMC said the engagements form part of its work on the “economic stream” of the government’s migration management plan.
The Department of International Relations and Cooperation (DIRCO) and dtic will also convene a meeting with businesses operating elsewhere on the African continent to understand the challenges they face and assess the broader impact of the current migration situation.
The government is simultaneously pursuing policy and legislative changes aimed at addressing gaps in migration management.
These include the Citizenship, Immigration and Refugee Protection Bill, the Employment Services Amendment Bill and the Business Licensing Bill, which the IMC said seeks to reserve certain business activities and sectors wholly or partly for South African citizens.
The planned sector discussions come as government intensifies efforts to crack down on businesses employing undocumented migrants as part of its broader migration management strategy.
The IMC said multi-agency law enforcement operations were targeting illegal border crossings, human trafficking, labour exploitation, fraudulent documentation syndicates and businesses employing illegal migrants.
The IMC is expected to continue engaging stakeholders as government seeks to balance migration management, the protection of human rights and efforts to promote economic growth. – SAnews.gov.za
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Source: Government of South Africa
Nelson Mandela Bay, faith leaders strengthen partnership to improve service delivery
The Nelson Mandela Bay Municipality and leaders of the Concerned Religious Fraternity have agreed to strengthen their partnership to advance service delivery, promote meaningful public participation and tackle some of the metro’s most pressing social challenges.
The recent engagement, led by Executive Mayor Babalwa Lobishe, comes amid ongoing public consultations by the Commission for the Promotion and Protection of the Rights of Cultural, Religious and Linguistic Communities (CRL Rights Commission) on a draft self-regulatory framework for the Christian sector.
The fraternity called for broader and more inclusive engagement to ensure that the voices of faith communities are adequately heard.
While discussions included the proposed regulatory framework, the engagement extended far beyond policy matters.
The municipality and the religious fraternity reached a shared commitment to work together in addressing critical challenges affecting residents, including water conservation, the protection of municipal infrastructure against vandalism and theft, the fight against gender-based violence, youth development and strengthening social cohesion across communities.
Lobishe said the engagement demonstrated the important role that partnerships between government and faith-based organisations play in building resilient communities and strengthening democracy.
“The Constitution not only protects freedom of religion, belief and association; it also upholds the democratic principle that every citizen must have a meaningful opportunity to participate in decisions that affect them. As local government, we believe constructive dialogue remains one of the strongest foundations of democracy,” Lobishe said.
She said the municipality will engage the relevant government stakeholders to communicate the concerns raised by the religious fraternity while fully respecting the constitutional independence and statutory mandate of the CRL Rights Commission.
“Government cannot build thriving communities on its own. Lasting change is achieved when government, faith leaders, business and civil society unite behind a common purpose. Today’s engagement marks the beginning of a stronger partnership that places the people of Nelson Mandela Bay at the centre of everything we do.
“The reach of the religious fraternity, from local congregations to provincial and national leadership, provides a powerful platform to mobilise communities around responsible citizenship, safer neighbourhoods, protecting public infrastructure, promoting water conservation and confronting gender-based violence. That is a partnership we are committed to strengthening,” Lobishe said.
Lobishe further welcomed the fraternity’s willingness to work alongside the municipality in supporting service delivery initiatives and community development programmes.
Speaking on behalf of the Concerned Religious Fraternity, Pastor Lingelihle Jadezweni welcomed the outcome of the engagement and described it as an important step towards strengthening relations between local government and the faith community.
“We appreciate the Executive Mayor’s willingness to listen to our concerns and facilitate engagement with the relevant institutions. We believe meaningful consultation is essential in matters affecting churches and religious communities.
“Equally important, we leave this engagement committed to working alongside the Municipality to address the challenges confronting our communities. Together, we can make a meaningful difference in the lives of our people,” the mayor said.
The mayor reaffirmed that inclusive governance requires collaboration with all sectors of society and that faith-based organisations remain indispensable partners in promoting social cohesion, supporting vulnerable communities and advancing sustainable development.
The Nelson Mandela Bay Municipality will continue strengthening partnerships with religious organisations, civil society, business and communities as part of its commitment to building a capable, responsive and developmental local government that delivers for all residents. – SAnews.gov.za
GabiK
Source: Government of South Africa
Self-vaccination portal to strengthen fight against Foot and Mouth Disease
The Department of Agriculture has launched an online self-vaccination application portal that will allow livestock owners to apply for authorisation to vaccinate their own animals against Foot and Mouth Disease (FMD), in a move aimed at streamlining the country’s response to the disease.
Agriculture Minister Willie Aucamp said the new system will enable cattle owners and managers to perform voluntary vaccination of their livestock against FMD.
“This step is only the beginning, and I can assure all stakeholders that the Department of Agriculture is committed to enabling the private sector to help tackle this FMD outbreak,” Aucamp said.
The online portal enables livestock owners to register on the FMD Reporting site and apply to become an authorised person to administer FMD vaccines. The system has been designed in line with biosecurity requirements, legal prescripts, and traceability measures, and reporting on vaccinations that were applied.
The application process is divided into three parts:
a) Application to be an “Authorised Person”
Livestock owners and managers must apply through the FMD Reporting System to be approved as an “Authorised Person” permitted to administer FMD vaccines.
b) Notice of Intention to Vaccinate
Once approved as an “Authorised Person”, they will be required to give notice of their intention to vaccinate, to the Provincial Director of Veterinary Services or the applicable State Veterinarian for the area concerned. This notification needs to be submitted online or in writing, at least five days prior to administering the vaccine. After the authorised persons have given notice of their intention to vaccinate, they will be able to procure the required vaccines directly from their authorised veterinarian in their area.
c) Submit a vaccination report
Following vaccination, authorised persons must submit a vaccination report within 14 days, with the required feedback (as per the online feedback system on the vaccines that they have administered). This feedback report will include various details of the animals vaccinated, as well as the vaccine used and the location of the farm where the vaccine was administered.
The department said livestock owners and managers may also use approved third-party digital platforms, including those operated by Red Meat Industry Services (RMIS), Southern African Agri Initiative (SAAI) and Buffalo Analytics, to complete the notification and reporting process.
The information submitted through approved private-sector platforms will be shared with the Department of Agriculture and uploaded to the department’s system. Livestock owners are advised to confirm that their chosen platform has been approved for use by the Director of Animal Health.
Aucamp said the information gathered through these report-back systems will enable government to monitor progress of the vaccination programme.
“It will also enable us to efficiently provide up-to-date information on the success of South Africa’s vaccination programme to the World Organisation for Animal Health when we are in a position to apply for FMD-free status with vaccination once again,” Aucamp said.
The Minister reiterated the department’s commitment to strengthening relations with the sector and that he will chart a unified way of working which welcomes support and collaboration from all stakeholders.
He also encouraged organised agricultural organisations to liaise with approved vaccine importers, on behalf of their members, on the number of vaccines required by their members.
This, he said, will assist importers in determining the number of vaccines that they need to procure and distribute to veterinarians all over the country.
Vaccine importers have also been urged to work with veterinarians to determine the number of vaccines that the veterinarians want to order for their clients in a specific area.
Farmers participating in the voluntary vaccination programme will be responsible for the cost of vaccines administered to their livestock. However, government will continue providing vaccines in areas where new FMD outbreaks are detected, as well as to farmers who cannot afford to purchase them.
“I want to thank all farmers, organised agriculture organisations as well as the Department of Agriculture officials, who have worked tirelessly to get these systems up and running shortly after reaching the settlement,” the Minister said.
For general queries and questions regarding the FMD Reporting system, please contact: Dr Rachel Welsh – 012 319 7460 or RachelW@nda.gov.za
Link to FMD Reporting System: https://fmd.nda.gov.za/ Link to step-by-step guidelines:https://www.nda.gov.za/images/outbreaks/Foot%20and%20Mouth%20Disease%200
Outbreak/Reports/2026/request-for-authorisation-notification-and-reporting-for-fmd-vaccination 24jul2026.pdf
FMD WhatsApp Channel: https://whatsapp.com/channel/0029Vags5R83gvWWZOhk9946 – SAnews.gov.za
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