By Sunday Elijah

Public Service Commission (PSC) Commissioner, Anele Gxoyiya, says the Commission had up to the end of December 2021, registered 444 grievances including 158 carried over from the previous financial year.

Gxoyiya said of the 444 grievances, 109 (24.5%) were not properly referred and 335 (75.5%) were properly referred.

Addressing the media in Pretoria on Wednesday, Gxoyiya said grievances, which were not properly referred, are those that were either being dealt with elsewhere such as bargaining councils and those that were still not finalised in the departments.

“The PSC is concerned about the continued referral of grievances outside the provisions of the Grievance Rules, 2003 as a result it calls upon Labour Relations Officers within departments to ensure that on an annual basis employees are workshopped on these Rules,” Gxoyiya said.

Gxoyiya said unions are also called upon to play an active role in assisting their members in lodging grievances, and where the timeframe for lodging grievances has lapsed, to advise them accordingly.

Gxoyiya explained that of the 335 grievances that were properly referred to the PSC, approximately 95% are referred by employees and 5% are referred by Executive Authorities (EAs).

“Referral of grievances by employees is an indication that departments have failed to resolve these grievances internally within the prescribed timeframes,” Gxoyiya said.

Gxoyiya said the PSC has the mandate to investigate, either of its own accord or on receipt of any complaint, personnel and public administration practices to report to the relevant EAs and legislature.

With regard to corruption, Gxoyiya said 24 650 cases of alleged corruption were reported by callers and whistle-blowers as at 31 December 2021 since the inception of the National Anti-Corruption Hotline in September 2004.

“During the third quarter of 2021/2022 financial year, the PSC recorded a total of 347 cases. These cases are slightly higher than 337 cases received in the second quarter and 282 received in the first quarter of 2020/2021 financial year,” Gxoyiya said.

“During the first, second and third quarter of the 2021/2022 financial year, 32 feedback of alleged corruption relating to national departments were submitted to Complaints and Grievance Panel for the determination of the closure and 65 feedback of alleged corruption relating to provincial departments were presented to the provincial panels and closed through early resolution,” he said.

According to Gxoyiya, all the 65 cases relating to provincial departments were unsubstantiated.

SAnews.gov.za

By Iliya Kure

Family Planning 2030 (FP2030) has unveiled new offices in Abuja, the capital of Nigeria and Nairobi, the capital of Kenya.

FP2030 is a global partnership working with governments, civil society, multilateral organizations, donors, the private sector, and the research and development community to enable millions more women to use contraceptives no matter where they live.

The Abuja office will to serve North, West and Central Africa, while the Nairobi office will serve East and Southern Africa.

An announcement on the FP2030 website, by its Executive Director, Samu Dube states, “We’re thrilled to finally be able to announce the first two FP2030 regional hubs outside of North America: the North, West, & Central Africa Hub will be based in Abuja, Nigeria, and hosted by Population Council, Nigeria; and the East & Southern Africa Hub will be based in Nairobi, Kenya, and hosted by Amref Health Africa.”

“The statement adds, Launching these two hubs is a critical next step in building the new FP2030 Support Network. We plant to announce two additional hubs, the Latin America & Caribbean Hub and the Asia & the Pacific Hub, later this year. All hubs should be operational by the International Conference on Family Planning in November.”

In its announcement on its website, on hosting the FP2030 Office in Abuja, Population Council says it has been working with the Nigerian government and partners in the country for more than five decades in “meeting the needs of marginalized populations, including adolescent girls and young women, and to promoting access to high-quality sexual and reproductive health, maternal health, and family planning services.

“The North, West, and Central African regional hub will cover 30 countries in the region. It will provide staff expertise in country engagement, youth partnerships, advocacy and accountability, high-impact family planning practices, as well as fundraising and communications. It will support FP2030 partners in the region with regards to developing their FP2030 commitments, as well as technical support in specific topical areas across the advocacy spectrum—notably with regards to the needs of youth, humanitarian crisis services and preparation, and health integration.

“The Population Council was chosen through a rigorous and transparent selection process led by members of FP2030’s Transition Oversight Group. Population Council Nigeria is a well-established and well-respected organization with a mission that aligns with the values of FP2030. The hub based in Population Council Nigeria will empower FP2030’s regional partners to better collaborate with and access the FP2030 network and will help deepen relationships across member countries.

The website quotes its Vice President for International Programmes, Harriet Birungi, saying, “the Population Council has worked for nearly 70 years to address critical health and development issues related to family planning, reproductive health, and gender-based violence,”

“We look forward to facilitating collaboration, coordination, and engagement in the spirit of pan-African solidarity, to achieve progress for family planning in the region.”

By Sunday Elijah

South African Cabinet has concluded plans to gradually end the National State of Disaster, starting next week – other sections of the National Disaster Act would remain in place for no less than 30 days.

South Africa has been in a National State of Disaster since March 2020 when the country recorded its first case of COVID-19.

Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs Minister, Dr Nkosazana Dlamini Zuma, who announced this while interacting with journalists on Tuesday, announced the gazetting the publishing of some regulations that should remain, in accordance with Section 27 of the Disaster Management Act, which provides for the management of the post disaster management and rehabilitation.

The gazette proposes that when the National State of Disaster ends, some regulations should remain for not more than 30 days after that.

“So we publish these regulations for comments for 48 hours starting today and then we’ll analyse what they say. Then the President will announce the end of the National State of Disaster, which will be before the 15th, depending on the comments.

“It might be around the fifth of April. This was also informed by the Disaster Management Centre, which has also done its own work and they’ve advised that the classification of pandemic at this point is no longer advisable,” said the Minister.

The comments, she said, would then be analysed before the final decision was taken to end the National State of Disaster.

At that point, she said President Cyril Ramaphosa would then make an announcement on the next course of action, possibly next week.

These recommendations will consider issues such as the R350 Social Relief of Distress, the wearing of masks indoors. Currently, the wearing of the facemask is mandatory for every person in indoor public spaces, excluding children under the age of six.

“All gatherings including faith-based religious political, cultural, restaurants, you name it, in those gatherings a thousand people indoors will be allowed and 2 000 outdoors. However, if you want to go beyond the 1000, then you can go up to 50% of the venue.

“But that one has a condition that you must show that you have been vaccinated or show a certificate of a PCR test that is not older than 72 hours. But if it’s a thousand, then those conditions do not apply,” she said.

Indoor gatherings in the workplace are governed by this condition.

On regulation 75, land borders would now be fully operational.

However, the 32 borders would remain closed, “because they were not necessarily economic”.

“But the ones that are open – 21 of them – are fully operational. When you from outside (the country), you must show either a PCR test that  is not older than 72 hours or a vaccine certificate. If you have a vaccination certificate, you don’t need the PCR test,” she said.

The Minister said this would also be the requirement at the country’s international airports and the Kruger National Park.

Issues such as the payment of the R350 SRD grant would continue but would be removed from the National Disaster regulations after 30 days.

She said the same would happen with the backlog of driver’s license.

“That will continue to be addressed for that short period through the National Disaster Act, even when the National State of Disaster would have ended.

Dlamini Zuma said the No Fault Compensation Scheme would also continue when the regulations are repealed after 30 days, saying it was a post-disaster issue that needed to be addressed.

On this account, she said Cabinet on Monday and took a decision that government should move towards ending the National State of Disaster regulations but put in place those that will be in place for not more than 30 days as post-disaster rehabilitation, in compliance with the law and not stop “abruptly”.

SAnews.gov.za