After Record Season, the United States Opens New Ports to South African Citrus Exports

9 November 2020

The United States government has announced the opening up of several new ports for the import for citrus products from South Africa, further facilitating two-way trade with South Africa.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service published a final notice in the U.S. Federal Register on November 5th approving the use of additional ports options for South African citrus growers. Previously, the South African citrus industry was limited to the use of only four ports and had long sought access to other U.S. ports. With this announcement, exports will be allowed to any U.S. port that has cold storage facilities, including the strategically important ports of Charleston, South Carolina and Savannah, Georgia.

South Africa joins the ASEAN family

By Salman Al Farisi

9 November 2020

South Africa and Indonesia share a long history, brought together by a common struggle against oppression. Confronted by Dutch invaders both our countries fought the viciousness of slavery, colonialism and apartheid.

History documents that since the mid-17th century, Indonesian slaves at the Cape fought shoulder-to-shoulder with other Asian and African slaves. There is also scholarly work showing how political prisoners from Indonesia may have inspired South Africans to fight against colonial and apartheid forces.

Of course, another key moment in South Africa’s relationship with Indonesia is the 1955 Bandung Conference hosted by President Sukarno. South Africa was among 29 African and Asian countries that attended. South African anti-apartheid activists Molvi Ismail Cachalia and Moses Kotane attended as observers, and presented a memorandum against apartheid, which significantly helped internationalise support for the liberation movement.

Mkhize appointed SADC Elimination 8 chairperson

5 November 2020

Health Minister, Dr Zweli Mkhize, has been appointed as the chairperson of the Southern African Development Community (SADC) Elimination 8 Ministers of Health Council.

The Elimination Eight (E8) is a coalition of eight countries working across national borders to eliminate malaria in southern Africa by 2030.

The Minister was elected as the new chair during the SADC E8 Health Ministers' meeting, which took place today.

The E8, which is the malaria response arm of the SADC, aims to end the deadly disease.

According to the E8, the attainment of malaria elimination requires bold and decisive policy action to prioritise national resources, to engage in diplomatic negotiation and negotiate terms of data sharing with neighbouring countries.

Strong Partnership between France and SA Reaffirmed

4 November 2020

French Minister for Foreign Trade and Economic Attractiveness, Mr Franck Riester, reaffirmed France’s commitment to stand by South Africa in these challenging times and to support mutual economic partnerships with South Africa during his official three-day visit.

Minister Riester was the first foreign minister to visit South Africa (2 to 4 November 2020) since the reopening of the borders.

As a key partner within the G20 and the United Nations, but also as chair of the African Union until January 2021, South Africa has been a key partner for France in the fight against the pandemic. This visit sends a strong message of support and solidarity to Africa, following the initiatives taken by President Emmanuel Macron and President Cyril Ramaphosa since the start of the crisis.

Preparation set to drive Infrastructure SA project

Photo: South African President Cyril Ramaphosa addressing the opening of the Infrastructure South Africa (ISA) Project Preparation Roundtable and Market Place at the Gallagher Convention Centre, Midrand. Seated is Patricia de Lille, Minister of Public Works and Infrastructure (Kopano Tlape, GCIS)

4 November 2020

President Cyril Ramaphosa has highlighted preparation - through the Infrastructure South Africa (ISA) project preparation roundtable - as the key to unlock South Africa’s post COVID-19 economic recovery.

“This roundtable is the beginning of a more dedicated and structured approach to project preparation. It paves the way for greater private sector participation in this crucial stage of the project life-cycle. The South African government is committed to financing project preparation,” he said.

The President delivered the opening address at the ISA project preparation roundtable at the Gallagher Convention Centre in Midrand on Tuesday.

The ISA project preparation roundtable aligns with the first priority President Ramaphosa presented last month at the joint sitting of Parliament on the South African Economic Reconstruction and Recovery Plan.

Promoting tourism within BRICS

4 November 2020

On 28 October, Zarina Doguzova, Head of the Russian Agency for Tourism, chaired the Meeting of BRICS Tourism Authorities via videoconference.

The meeting saw the presence of India’s Minister of State (Independent Charge) of the Ministry of Tourism Shri Prahlad Singh Patel, China’s Vice Minister of Culture and Tourism Zhang Xu, South Africa’s Deputy Minister of the Department of Tourism Amos Fish Mahlalela and Brazil’s Head of the International Advisory Office of the Ministry of Tourism Antonio Otavio Sa Ricarte.

The main topic for discussion at the meeting was the impact of the current epidemiological situation on the tourism sector in the BRICS countries and in the world. The participants shared their experience in the development and implementation of anti-crisis measures, as well as support and development of the industry.

Duarte Pacheco elected IPU President

4 November 2020

National Assembly Speaker, Thandi Modise, has congratulated Duarte Pacheco on his election as President of the Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU) – the world’s oldest and largest global parliamentary forum.

Pacheco has been a member of the Parliament of Portugal since 1991 and has played an active role in the IPU for many years.

He succeeds Gabriela Cuevas Barron, a parliamentarian from Mexico, elected IPU President in October 2017 and whose term of office as IPU President has now ended.

Parliamentarians from 140 IPU member Parliaments elected Pacheco as the IPU’s 30th President through an unprecedented virtual electronic secret ballot held across different time zones.

About 40% of voting members were women MPs and 27% were younger than 45.

Previous IPU Presidents have gone on to win Nobel Peace Prizes, including IPU founders Frédéric Passy and William Randal Cremer.

The IPU President, who must be an MP for the term in office, is the political head of the IPU, chairs its statutory meetings and represents it at global events.

Modise is attending an extraordinary virtual session of the IPU’s Governing Council with a multiparty delegation of Members of Parliament (MPs).

Modise’s delegation includes Shahidabibi Shaik from the National Council of Provinces; Thlologelo Malatji, an African National Congress member of the National Assembly and the Democratic Alliance's Michael Waters, who is a member of the National Assembly.

The South African Parliament has been a member of the IPU since democracy, and hosted the 118th IPU Assembly and Related Meetings in Cape Town in April 2008.

The biannual meetings currently bring together about 1 500 parliamentary delegates from 179 national Member Parliaments and 13 regional parliamentary bodies in a world assembly.

The meetings add a parliamentary dimension to global governance, including work of the United Nations and implementing the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.

The IPU, with its permanent observer status at the United Nations General Assembly, has broadened the role of parliaments in global affairs.

SAnews.gov.za

ES Reddy hailed as brave champion for justice

4 November 2020

President Cyril Ramaphosa has hailed the late anti-apartheid campaigner Enuga Sreenivasulu Reddy as a brave champion for justice with a lifelong dedication to the cause of non-racialism.

ES Reddy passed away in the US on Sunday 1 November 2020, at the age of 96.

ES Reddy was born in India in 1924 and joined the anti-apartheid struggle while a student in the 1940s.

He would go on to play a leading role on a number of multilateral platforms agitating for an end to apartheid and for the isolation of the pariah regime.

In the early 1960s he was Secretary of the United Nations Special Committee against Apartheid and in the late 1970s he was Director of the UN Center Against Apartheid.

Launch of the 2021 SADC Media Awards

4 November 2020

The Minister in the Presidency, Mr Jackson Mthembu, is pleased to announce the launch of the 2021 SADC Media Awards competition in the four categories namely Photo, Print, Television and Radio Journalism.

The Awards were established in 1996 following a decision by the Council of Ministers to establish a sector that deals with matters relating to, amongst others, information, culture and sport. The ceremony recognises best media work in disseminating information on SADC issues to support the process of regional co-operation and integration. The launch means that journalists from the SADC Member States are now invited to enter or submit nominations for the awards.

Help or Hindrance - How Has Aid Shaped Africa's Development?

3 November 2020

The Brenthurst Foundation speaks with former President of Sierra Leone Ernest Bai Koroma about the pros and cons of aid in Africa.

Ahead of releasing 'The Asian Aspiration' we sat down and discussed where Africa might have gone wrong, and how it can better place itself to socially and economically develop sustainably in the way parts of Asia have. Here we speak with former President of Sierra Leone Ernest Bai Koroma on what role aid played in potentially slowing down Africa's development, and how in certain circumstances it supported its growth.

200 Years of the First Argentine Flag-Raising in Malvinas

by Felipe Carlos Solá, Minister of Foreign Affairs, International Trade and Worship, Argentina

2 November 2020

November 6th 2020 marks an anniversary of great relevance in the protracted sovereignty dispute over the Question of the Malvinas Islands: on this date, two hundred years ago, David Jewett took possession of the Malvinas Islands, raising the Argentine flag in the Islands for the first time.
At the time of the May Revolution, the Malvinas Islands –which had been disputed between Spain, France and Great Britain in the 18th Century- were under the sovereignty of the Spanish authorities, which had an exclusive, effective and uninterrupted possession, unchallenged by Great Britain or any other foreign power. As Successor State of Spain, those sovereignty rights passed on to Argentina.