Daily Archives: March 16, 2016
Law enforcement gets ready for Easter weekend
Pretoria – Road safety and traffic law enforcement officers throughout the country are gearing up to monitor South Africa’s roads ahead of the Easter weekend.
The Road Traffic Management Corporation (RTMC) will deploy the National Traffic Police to work with provincial authorities to reduce crashes on identified hazardous routes.
The Quadriplegic Association of South Africa is also planning to deploy its members at filling stations located on major national routes to encourage motorists and passengers to wear seatbelts in order to reduce the number of spinal cord injuries from road crashes.
Motorists will be approached by members of the association and asked to sign a pledge to buckle up.
“Quadriplegics and paraplegics involved with this road safety campaign will be branded with bibs which identify them as campaigners and will introduce themselves in order to encourage motorists to wear their seatbelts on their journey,” RTMC said in a statement on Tuesday.
The association estimates that more than 900 people sustain spinal cord injuries in South Africa per annum and half of the injuries are from road crashes.
According to the RTMC, officers are already deployed at key points this week in preparation for the start of school holidays and Human Rights Day. Traffic leaving major centres is expected to increase in Gauteng and the Western Cape on Friday, because of the school holidays.
“This will be followed by another upsurge on Thursday when religious people travel to various places of worship,” RTMC said.
Provincial authorities will be undertaking massive public transport focused operations this week and early next week to ensure that buses and taxis that will be transporting people to different places are roadworthy and that drivers are in a fit and healthy state to drive long distances.
SOURCE: SOUTH AFRICAN GOVERNMENT NEWS AGENCY
Deputy Minister Masina to Award Certificates to Fashion Designers in Mthatha
The Deputy Minister of Trade and Industry, Mr Mzwandile Masina will award certificates to 34 Eastern Cape fashion designers in Mthatha on 24 March 2016. The event will be hosted at the Eastern Cape Arts and Craft Hub by the Department of Trade and Industry (the dti), in partnership with the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) and the Eastern Cape Department of Sport, Recreation, Arts and Culture.
The group of fashion designers, who will also showcase their designs at the ceremony, received training at the Fashion Design Innovation Centre in the use of fashion design computer-based platforms and Cut, Make and Trim (CMT). The centre, which is situated in the Hub, was opened by the then Deputy Minister of Trade and Industry, Ms Thandi Tobias-Poloko in August 2013.
“The certification ceremony and fashion exhibition by the designers mark yet another commendable milestone in the continuous efforts of government to support the clothing and textile sector. We established the centre with the aim of providing a conducive environment where creative fashion designers, particularly from the rural areas nurture talent, hone their innovative skills and acquire more expertise and knowledge. This will unleash their creative potential and enable them to compete on an equal footing with designers from other parts of the country, and the world, by the cultural richness around them that could fully be expressed into niche tradable products that appeal to local, national and international clients,” says Masina.
He adds that although identified as one of the priority sectors for economic development, the clothing and textile sector is suffering from a lack for skilled technical personnel, including fashion designers. The CSIR 2010 Skills Audit report on an assessment on the supply of Science, Engineering and Technology (SET) skills in the clothing and textile sector found that graduates from SET tertiary institutions only possess theoretical knowledge and lack technical manufacturing skills, due to lack of thorough training in the industry.
“The development and growth of South African fashion design content has the potential to contribute to the sustainability of the textile and clothing industries. But for this to be achieved, we should invest handsomely in more interventions aimed at improving the skill levels of young people in the sector. We will have achieved our objectives if fashion designers who receive training at the centre establish sustainable enterprises which contribute to creating employment for themselves and their communities thereby contributing meaningfully to eradicating poverty and growing the economy,” says Masina.
Enquiries:
Sidwell Medupe-Departmental Spokesperson
Tel: (012) 394 1650
Mobile: 079 492 1774
E-mail: MSMedupe@thedti.gov.za
Issued by: The Department of Trade and Industry
Follow us on Twitter: @the_dti
Source: Department of Trade and Industry Republic of South Africa
