South Africa needs to embrace the advent of the Fourth Industrial Revolution or risk being less competitive globally, says Deputy President David Mabuza.

The Deputy President said this when answering questions at the National Council of Provinces on Thursday afternoon.

He said last month, in his Capacity as the Chairperson of the Human Resource Development Council, he hosted the third HRDC Summit stakeholders, which discussed how to develop new networks, strengthen existing partnerships, and share the latest lessons through education and skills transfer.

The stakeholders, the Deputy President said, also looked at how governments can transform their economies in light of emerging trends in global economy, especially the implications of what is termed as the Fourth Industrial Revolution.

At that Summit, a point was made that the pace of change over the last few years has largely been shaped by technological disruption and innovation.

These disruptions have an equal impact on the current set of jobs in the market. This means that as we continue to focus on skills development, we must bear in mind that even jobs that were considered as vocational, are now becoming high tech and require specialised knowledge and skills.

This reality suggests that digital disruption will impact on how we do things. Therefore, as South Africa we need to embrace this global trend or risk becoming less competitive on the global stage. As part of this embrace, our training and skills development must be accelerated to keep up with the pace of change, he said.

He said that the Department of Science and Technology is currently investing in the technological building blocks of this revolution.

On this end, the department will develop a public-funded science, technology and innovation plan of action over the next 12-18 months for socio-economic impact in the context of this revolution.

Through smart investments in research and development, the Department of Science and Technology is supporting South African industry to grow and create more jobs through building scientific, technological and knowledge-based capabilities, he said.

The Deputy President also said that government needs a private sector that is engaged so that as a country, everyone involved can unlock the full potential of education and training sector.

Future value creation lies in humans and machines working together to create new user experiences, new products, new services, and new possibilities.

We must therefore put relevant programmes in place to develop the necessary skills through rethinking education systems and incentivising lifelong learning. This is why investment in early childhood development is critical.

For its part, the Human Resource Development Council has held roadshows to create awareness regarding the HRD Strategy towards 2030 with various structures, including the Provincial Human Resource Development Forums, Provincial Human Resource Development Councils, Provincial Skills Development Forums, Public Sector Trainers Forum; and Human Resource Development Provincial Coordination forums.

Source: South African Government News Agency

Cabinet has welcomed the intervention made by Public Enterprises Minister Pravin Gordhan in the wage negotiations dispute between the Eskom management and labour.

Last Friday, Gordhan convened a meeting with the Eskom board and management and the three labour unions — National Union of Mineworkers (NUM), National Union of Metalworkers of South Africa (NUMSA) and Solidarity — with the intention of getting all parties to engage on the issues around the employee salary negotiations.

Briefing the media on the Cabinet meeting on Thursday, Communications Minister Nomvula Mokonyane said a team has been assigned to deal with issues of wage negotiations, and they hope that all parties will appreciate the need to expedite the process and find an amicable solution towards the impasse at Eskom.

She said Gordhan will continue to update Cabinet, Presidency and National Treasury on any development that may arise.

Responding to criminal acts reported, including road blockades, attacks on staff, and wilful damage of electricity infrastructure, Mokonyane warned that nobody is entitled to destroy property, whether its organised workers or public.

There is a law in South Africa that has been passed in line with the Criminal Procedure Act, where there is an amendment that deals with destruction of public property as an act of crime, and it is within that, that even the destruction of property in terms of what we’ve seen at Eskom, must be deemed as an act of crime.

Nobody is entitled to destroy property It is an act of sabotage and it is going to cost the state. In this instance, it is economic sabotage and the amendment act must actually kick in and deal with these issues, the Minister warned.

She said several arrests have been made in connection with this.

Protests on highways

Cabinet also strongly condemned the recent blocking of several highways by protestors in some parts of the country, warning that criminal acts of aggression and disruptions will not be tolerated.

Highways are a critical part of our transport infrastructure that supports the transportation of goods and services of the various sectors of the economy. Our constitutional democracy provides for platforms wherein people can raise their issues without causing any disruptions, Mokonyane said.

She further called on law-enforcement officers to take the necessary steps, within the confines of the Constitution of the Republic of South Africa of 1996, to ensure that perpetrators are brought to justice.

Meanwhile, Cabinet has approved the Decommissioning and Decontamination (D&D) liabilities attached to the past Disused Strategic Nuclear Facilities (Stage 1) and current operating facilities (Stage 2) at Phelindaba site.

Currently, these liabilities reflect in the books of NECSA (South African Nuclear Energy Corporation) resulting in liabilities exceeding the assets, and project negatively on its going concern status.

Cabinet approved that the process should be taken forward in consultation with the National Treasury.

Source: South African Government News Agency

On Thursday, 21 June 2018, Minister of Defence and Military Veterans Nosiviwe Mapisa-Nqakula will attend the 20th Southern African Development Community (SADC) Ministerial Committee of the Organ (MCO) on Politics, Defence and Security Cooperation meeting in Luanda, Angola.

The MCO was preceded by numerous meetings of senior officials from the 18th to the 20th of June 2018.

The meeting will discuss, inter alia, matters relating to regional peace and security, review of elections in the region, social-economic development and share guidelines for crime prevention throughout SADC. Additionally, topping the agenda will be the security situation in Lesotho, and the Democratic Republic of the Congo respectively.

Minister Mapisa-Nqakula will be accompanied by a high level delegation of the South African National Defence Force.

Source: Government of South Africa