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The Department of Health has called on South African women, especially teenage girls, to use contraceptives to prevent unplanned pregnancies.

According to the department, in the past year there were 89 000 abortions at public health facilities, while 3 200 women died during pregnancy or up to six weeks after delivery or the termination of a pregnancy.

The South African Institute of Charted Accountants (SAICA) is working with provincial education departments to increase mathematics pass rates in the country.

A massive revamp to the National Senior Certificate (NSC) examinations is on the cards following a ministerial task team report on the quality of the matric pass requirements.

Protecting the rights of people with disabilities

November is a month in which our nation focuses its attention on close to three million South Africans whose status and wellbeing in our society tell us how humane we are as a people and how we are doing in achieving equality for all.

The Transnet Foundation Orphaned Youth Education Development Programme, one of the services offered by the Transnet Foundation, is giving hope to vulnerable and orphaned high school children.

The programme currently helps 10 Grade 11 learners, who attend fiveday life skills workshops twice a year, and 20 Grade 8 learners, who attend three life skills camps in a year.

The European Investment Bank plans to fund small and medium enterprises and universities in South Africa to contribute to development.

The bank’s head of regional representation in Southern Africa and the Indian Ocean, Carmelo Cocuzza, said these were among several investment opportunities that the European Union Bank was aiming for in the near future.

The South African government will continue to work towards meeting the United Nations Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) whose 2015 deadline is fast approaching.

Petso Lesomo, owner of Lesomo Trading and Projects, is passionate about his furniture-making business, which is supported by the National Youth Development Agency.

He supplies schools with office furniture, desks and chairs and also makes kitchen cupboards and wall units.

Growing up in Tlhabane West, Rustenburg, Lesomo always wanted to start a business that would make a difference in his community.

When Matseke Maserumule, 28, left the corporate world in 2012 to follow her passion for caring for the environment, she had no idea that she would end up running a leading recycling business.

In 2010, Maserumule registered Silver Ink Environmental, Solutions and Projects CC but the company only started operating in January 2013.