Category: MIL-OSI

Innovation in agriculture and sustainable food production will take centre stage at the 2026 World Food Day commemoration, where government and its partners will showcase initiatives aimed at strengthening food security, improving livelihoods and combating hunger.

The event will be held at Tosca Village, in the Kagisano-Molopo Local Municipality in the North West, on 16 October 2026, in partnership with the national Department of Agriculture, the North West Department of Agriculture and Rural Development, and the Food and Agriculture Organisation of the United Nations (FAO).

Agriculture Minister Willie Aucamp and North West MEC for Agriculture and Rural Development Madoda Sambatha will lead the commemoration, which will bring together government leaders, farmers, community members, development partners and other stakeholders.

Held under the theme: “Innovate Today. Nourish Tomorrow”, this year’s World Food Day commemoration will highlight the role of innovation in improving agricultural production, building resilient food systems and ensuring sustainable access to food.

The North West province was selected to host the national event, in light of food security challenges in parts of the province, as highlighted in the Food and Nutrition Security Survey Report.

The commemoration will showcase practical interventions to increase food production, support vulnerable households and encourage communities to participate in sustainable agricultural activities, with support from government and its partners.

Several food security projects will also be launched as part of ongoing efforts to improve access to food, strengthen livelihoods and contribute to the eradication of hunger. – SAnews.gov.za
 

With brooms in hand and refuse bags at the ready, Minister in The Presidency Khumbudzo Ntshavheni has kicked off the latest event of the Love Your Street service delivery programme in Thembisa, in the Ekurhuleni Municipality.

The Minister – together with a delegation of government officials, civil society organisations and community members – rolled up her sleeves for the campaign aimed at improving cleanliness in neighbourhoods and community safety.

“It’s all our responsibility. At Brand SA we say: ‘Everyone must play their part’. To the municipality, we are saying that you have the responsibility to debush overgrown areas [trees and shrubs] and to also make sure that there are streetlights. The streetlights do not have to use great amounts of electricity; they can use solar electricity. 

“Make sure that the environment is safe, and it’s fully lit for women and children to be able to walkabout safely,” the Minister said.

Ntshavheni addressed the prevalence of illegal dumping in the area, noting that cleanliness is a collective responsibility.

“If your refuse bags are full, don’t dump them illegally. Wait for the municipality to come and pick up the refuse weekly because we want to keep our cities clean … The municipality has a refuse removal service, which is weekly. It doesn’t mean when your refuse is full, you go and dump somewhere. You wait for the municipality to come and collect.

“This is not only a call to the municipality. We are here to solicit a partnership with communities to [curb] illegal dumping,” she said.

Keeping women safe

The visit to Thembisa, in the Ekurhuleni Municipality, the site of the recent discovery of the bodies of several women, marks the Minister’s second visit to the area in the past three weeks. 

The shadow of that violence gives added impetus to the campaign’s message of safe, well-lit and clean public spaces.

READ | Ntshavheni leads Love Your Street campaign in Ekurhuleni

“This is supporting the effort of the IMC [Inter-Ministerial Committee] against GBVF [gender-based violence and femicide] in the country, because part of the programme they have adopted – as part of the National Strategic Plan against GBVF is ‘safety by environmental design’, meaning that we should be safe because our streets are safe and also clean.

“The women who were found [dead] – the majority of them were found in illegal dumping sites and some of their bodies were also in advanced stages of decomposition,” Ntshavheni noted.

Love Your Street campaigners cleaned the area next to the Thembisa South Police Station.

“We want to make sure that the police station is deemed as a safe space for women and for communities.

“We’re cleaning the area within the vicinity of the police station, and then we’ll go to the illegal dumping site because we have a clear fight against illegal dumping sites … [given that] terrible things happen there, and we want to encourage the communities not to dump illegally,” Ntshavheni said.

About the Love Your Street Campaign 

The campaign was launched by The Presidency and the Government Communication and Information System (GCIS) in the Western Cape earlier this year.

“The Love Your Street campaign forms part of government’s ongoing efforts to promote community pride, active citizenry, and clean and safe neighbourhoods,” the GCIS said in a statement.

“The campaign builds on initiatives such as the Clean Cities and Towns campaign, launched by Deputy President Paul Mashatile in 2025. It promotes partnerships between communities and municipalities to help keep cities and townships clean, including addressing illegal dumping and the problem of overgrown greenery.

“The Love Your Street campaign accelerates and strengthens effective, integrated service delivery interventions, including gender-based violence and femicide [GBVF] awareness by transforming neglected, poorly lit, overgrown parks and open spaces, identified as GBVF hotspots, into safe, clean community spaces, while educating community members about GBVF reporting mechanisms and available services,” the GCIS explained. 

Tree planting and teaching

The Love Your Street campaign also accelerates the Presidential 1 Billion Trees planting campaign, which promotes a collaborative and inclusive approach to environmental sustainability, greening, climate resilience and community participation across all communities.

READ | One Billion Trees campaign improves lives, empowers communities 

“We acknowledge the contribution of the Department of Forestry, Fisheries and the Environment [DFFE] … and as part of [the campaign], we are also planting trees because [the department has] a commitment of planting 1 billion trees, as tasked by the President.

“But, those trees are not just [planted] for their own sake. They are trees that show we want to have places where we gather; places that are safe and we want an environment and air that is clean,” Ntshavheni said.

Honing in on schools, the Minister emphasised that places of learning have a role to play to ensure that learners are taught to clean their own environments and keep their areas clean.

“Where I come from in the district of Vhembe, our schools have vegetable gardens. It doesn’t matter what [learners are] studying but they learn to feed themselves and to use the environment to feed themselves. They also run competitions of ‘the most beautiful flower gardens’. We want to work with the Ekurhuleni Municipality to make sure that we also get to that stage.

“In the Department of Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs, there’s a programme they run, together with the DFFE, about the cleanest towns in the country, clean cities and clean streets. That’s what we want to get our country to be – the cleanest place because when it’s clean, it’s also safe. When it’s safe, it’s conducive for women and children to thrive,” Ntshavheni said. – SAnews.gov.za

Deputy President Paul Mashatile has called on trade unions to place themselves at the forefront of the transition to artificial intelligence by championing policies that put people at the centre of technological advancement.

“The rise of artificial intelligence presents organised labour with a historic challenge and opportunity. Those who anticipate change and prepare workers with the skills, protections and voice needed in the digital economy will help shape the future,” Mashatile said on Wednesday.

Speaking at the Federation of Unions of South Africa’s (FEDUSA) 8th National Congress in Johannesburg, he stressed that failure to do so could allow technological change to deepen inequality and exclusion.

“Those who fail to do so risk allowing technological change to deepen inequality and exclusion. Subsequently, trade unions must prepare to bargain over workplace data, technological restructuring and access to upskilling and reskilling. They must be able to represent workers in informal, digital and other insecure forms of employment,” Mashatile said.

He challenged FEDUSA to consider whether the institutions established to advance workers’ interests are fulfilling their purpose, noting that, despite the country’s laws, the labour market continues to reflect deep inequalities.

FEDUSA is one of South Africa’s recognised national trade union federations and represents workers across a wide range of industries in the public and private sectors.

“Despite our progressive labour laws, the labour market still reflects inequalities of race, gender and disability, particularly at senior management levels. Legislation alone will not achieve transformation.

“Employers must address unequal recruitment, pay disparities and inadequate skills development. Trade unions must actively monitor whether employment equity plans deliver results,” he said.

The Deputy President said transformation must be evident in the structure of the economy, rather than merely reflected in formal compliance.

Cost of living

Mashatile expressed concern about the rising cost of living, noting that electricity has become increasingly expensive.

He said government is therefore reviewing the electricity pricing policy to balance the needs of vulnerable households with the sustainability of supply and industrial competitiveness.

“We are also tackling poor maintenance, theft and weak revenue management in municipal distribution so that responsible consumers do not bear the burden of avoidable losses,” he said.

While government has made important progress in stabilising electricity generation, high electricity costs continue to constrain South Africa’s economic growth.

“Electricity has become increasingly expensive, weakening energy-intensive industries such as steel, ferroalloys and chemicals, and straining household incomes. We cannot build our industry without addressing electricity affordability,” the Deputy President said.

Job creation

Mashatile emphasised that South Africa’s most urgent national task is to achieve stronger economic growth and create jobs on a scale that substantially reduces poverty and inequality.

He said this was necessary in response to an economy that contracted by 0.2% in the second quarter of 2026, with the mining, manufacturing and trade sectors under considerable pressure.

About 8.5 million South Africans are unemployed, while the official unemployment rate has risen to 33.6%.

“These figures represent people unable to provide for their families, graduates unable to enter the labour market, and communities where opportunity is limited. When a factory closes, suppliers lose business, local enterprises lose customers and entire communities decline,” the Deputy President said.

He said the congress theme: “Reclaiming and Organising the Future: Workers’ Dignity, Power, and Justice through Conscious Unionism in an Age of Crisis,” should inspire both government and business.

“For government, it requires competent administration and accountability. For business, it requires responsible investment and fair employment practices. For organised labour, conscious unionism requires democratic leadership, accountability to members and ethical conduct.

“Government must show through its actions that it takes organised labour’s concerns seriously. We must create opportunities for young people, protect existing jobs, make electricity more affordable, expand industrial production and ensure that the transition to a sustainable economy is fair.

“Our democratic settlement was built on the conviction that negotiation could resolve differences. We must renew that conviction through our actions,” Mashatile said. –SAnews.gov.za

North West Premier Lazarus Kagiso Mokgosi has called on public institutions to move beyond mere compliance and embrace accountability, ethical leadership and good governance to improve audit outcomes and strengthen service delivery. 

Speaking at the Auditor-General South Africa (AGSA) Public Finance Management Act (PFMA) Clean Audit Awards for the 2025/26 financial year in Rustenburg, Mokgosi emphasised that sustainable improvements in audit performance require strong leadership, effective oversight, timely corrective action and consequence management.

While clean audits demonstrate sound financial management and effective internal controls, Mokgosi noted that the ultimate measure of success is the impact of good governance on the lives of citizens.

“The purpose of accountability is not merely to satisfy auditors. The purpose of accountability is to improve lives,” Mokgosi said.

The Premier urged public officials and institutional leaders to take responsibility for their decisions and performance, stressing that compliance alone cannot eliminate recurring audit findings without a strong culture of accountability.

The Department of Finance achieved its 13th consecutive clean audit, while the Department of Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs obtained its first clean audit.

The North West Provincial Legislature achieved its third consecutive clean audit. The North West Gambling Board, Klein Marico Recreation Centre, and Donkervleit Recreation Centres were also among the state-owned entities recognised for their clean audit outcomes. 

Addressing the gathering, AGSA North West Business Unit Leader, Mthokozisi Sibisi, said the awards recognise institutions that demonstrate good governance while reinforcing the standards required for continuous improvement.

“We are not just recognising excellence because the journey is complete, but because there is a need to pave the way for future improvements,” Sibisi said.

Finance MEC Kenetswe Mosenogi highlighted that 10 provincial departments, five state-owned entities and three municipalities are on the Project Clean Audit, led by Provincial Treasury, as part of efforts to improve audit outcomes across the province.

“A clean audit is possible for all of us. We just need to instil a culture of discipline and decisive consequence management and pay proper attention to the right things,” Mosenogi said. 

The awards recognised and celebrated auditees that have strengthened internal controls, improved governance, and demonstrated a commitment to responsible public administration.

Mokgosi reaffirmed the importance of building transparent, ethical and effective institutions that use public resources responsibly and deliver tangible results for communities.

“The quality of our governance will determine the quality of our development. The strength of our accountability will determine the strength of our institutions. Let us lead with integrity, govern with purpose and deliver with excellence,” the Premier said. – SAnews.gov.za