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The Special Investigating Unit (SIU) has welcomed the conviction and sentencing of a former KwaZulu-Natal education department financial manager for Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) related crime.

The official, Lungelo Stewart Mhlongo, was recently handed a two-year imprisonment sentence by the Durban Specialised Commercial Crime Court for contravening the Public Administration Management Act of 2014.

Aphiwe Ngwani (17) from Zwelonke High School in KwaZulu-Natal is one of the learners who made the country proud when the 2022 Matric results were released.

Ngwani, who hails from Ulundi in KwaZulu-Natal, obtained a Bachelor pass with three distinctions in English, Life Orientation and IsiZulu.

She is excited about her achievement because it is key to opening doors to her future, as she will be studying towards a Civil Engineering qualification.

The Department of Home Affairs (DHA) is recruiting the second cohort of the 4 000 unemployed youth for the digitisation of civic records project, which is meant to convert over 350 million paper records into electronic format for improved service delivery.

Applications are open and will close on 2 March. This 4 000 is part of the 10 000 unemployed young people who will be recruited on a 36 months employment contract by the Department by April 2023.

The government will over the next 12 months embark on efforts targeted at improving competitiveness in police call centre operations to support the proper functioning of the 10111 helpline.

This was announced by President Cyril Ramaphosa during the 2023 State of the Nation Address (SoNA).

President Cyril Ramaphosa says South Africa will expand its vocational education and training system to produce the skills that the country needs.

According to President Ramaphosa, who recently delivered the State of the Nation Address (SoNA), this will be done through the implementation of the approved curriculum of the three-stream model.

President Cyril Ramaphosa has reiterated the government’s call to companies, departments and State Owned Entities (SOEs) to remove the work experience requirement for young people seeking entry-level positions.

“We reiterate our call to companies, departments and SOEs to remove the requirement for work experience for young people seeking entry-level positions,” he said.

Government is working on a way to develop a mechanism for targeted Basic Income Support (BIS) for the most vulnerable, within the country’s economic constraints.

“This will build on the innovation we have introduced through the Social Relief of Distress (SRD) Grant, including linking the data that we have across government to make sure we reach all those who are in need,” said President Cyril Ramaphosa during the State of the Nation Address (SoNA).

President Cyril Ramaphosa has announced funding initiatives for small businesses to create jobs and grow established small businesses.

Delivering the State of the Nation Address (SoNA) recently, the President said government plans to provide R1.4 billion to finance over 90 000 entrepreneurs.

In addition, government in partnership with the SA SME Fund is working to establish a R10-billion fund to support small, medium and micro enterprises' (SMME) growth.

The State of the Nation Address (SoNA) was recently delivered by President Cyril Ramaphosa who provided feedback on government programmes over the previous year.

The President also unveiled new plans for 2023 and beyond. Vuk’uzenzele unpacks the programmes in numbers.

Employment

• One and a half million – new jobs created in our economy between the third quarters of 2021 and 2022.

• More than one million – people provided with work and livelihood opportunities by the Presidential Employment Stimulus.

The recent announcement of an increase in electricity tariffs comes at an extremely difficult time for citizens and businesses alike, who are already contending with the high costs of fuel, food and other essentials.

It is in this context that I made a call recently for the Eskom board to consider measures that can help to mitigate the impact of the 18.65% increase from an implementation timeframe point of view.