Latest news with #Madiba
IOL News
4 days ago
- General
- IOL News
The Hangout: A (caring) bridge over troubled water
Today could be one of my favourite days of the year, right next to the International Day of Happiness, which is celebrated throughout the world on 20 March- but was actually established by the UN General Assembly on 28 June 2012. The International Day of Happiness aims to help people around the world realise the importance of happiness in their lives. I mean, we all know it's important, but sometimes it just feels a little harder to find- or sometimes even impossible. Sigh. It's the little things, though, and that's why today is so important too. It's World Caring Day today, and it was only made official in 2022. I know I harp on about spreading kindness pretty often, but I think it's so important- it can change lives like a domino effect. I also think that, with the amount of stress and struggle out there right now, we forget to be a bit more understanding and a little more compassionate. And honestly, that's totally understandable if you've just hit seven ginormous potholes in 300 metres, your 19th friend has emigrated, your fridge has just packed up, and your boss can't pay you on time. Stuff is hard. And it's getting harder. But that smile you share with a stranger in the grocery store, or that half a sandwich you give to the guy at the traffic light or stop street- it helps. It all helps. And we have to try to remember that, no matter what we're going through, someone else out there is going through worse. That little bit of love you give today might just come back to you like a boomerang tomorrow. I don't think you should ever give just to get something in return- but I'm pretty sure that's how karma works, isn't it? So- World Caring Day! What are you going to do today to celebrate it? I think it should be as important as any other big day. A public holiday even (haha kidding)! Do something, no matter how big or small, to brighten your own life- or someone else's. Be kind to yourself. Show yourself a little love. Or treat someone to a surprise, like it's Easter or Valentine's Day. We all try to do our 67 minutes for Mandela Day, so why not this too? I'm sure Madiba would be pretty happy to know there are even more days when people lend a helping hand and show a little extra kindness. World Caring Day traces its roots back to 7 June 1997, inspired by the brief but meaningful nine-day life of baby Brighid. Born prematurely, Brighid's journey sparked something powerful- Sona Mehring, a software engineer and family friend, created the very first CaringBridge website to keep loved ones informed and connected. Through this site, Brighid's family received not only updates but also an outpouring of love, support, and comfort when they needed it most. It was like an online support group- at a time when social media didn't even exist yet! What started as a simple act of care quickly grew into something much bigger- a global community called CaringBridge. This non-profit is all about bringing families and friends together during life's toughest health journeys, offering a space filled with love, comfort, and support. Since 2021, around 45 million people from across the globe have visited CaringBridge. Every hour, more than 1,900 heartfelt messages of hope and encouragement are shared with loved ones through the site. Maybe you're also in need of a little care, inspiration, or advice right now- so head over to Go for that meal you can't really afford. Tell the cashier she looks lovely today. Take yourself to the movies and switch off from all your problems for an hour or two. Or take a walk in the park with your phone on silent. Be kind to yourself and to others today- and maybe that kindness will catch on and carry over into tomorrow, and the next day too. Now, I'm already getting excited for National Hug & High Five Day, which is celebrated in the U.S. on 12 September… but I'll be celebrating it here anyway. Who's with me? Can I just say yay.
TimesLIVE
15-05-2025
- Entertainment
- TimesLIVE
Getting a taste of Madiba magic
A taste of Madiba magic Want to cook, eat, laugh and lunch with Xoliswa Ndoyiya? Mam' Xoli (as she is known to her many friends) was Nelson Mandela's personal chef for more than 20 years. During that time, she prepared food for South Africa's first democratically elected president, his family and an almost endless array of kings, pop stars and politicians. Our nation's founding father was a fan of Mam' Xoli's understated, classic Xhosa cooking style. When she was first interviewed for the job — by the great man himself, in his kitchen — he stressed that the mandate was to produce 'ukutya kwasekhaya' (home food). So, she did. Now there is an opportunity for others to taste some of his favourite dishes and chat to the lady who put food on Madiba's table. On May 24, Mam' Xoli is hosting a leisurely lunch at Breadbox Studio, Midrand. Guests will have the opportunity to watch, learn and chat to Chef Xoli as South Africa's queen of comfort cuisine while she cooks a generous feast.
The Citizen
13-05-2025
- The Citizen
The missed opportunity in South African tourism
With overpriced museums and underwhelming upkeep, South Africa's vision for tourism-led economic revival is beginning to fray. Developing a sustainable tourism economy in this country has been a buzzword forever. Everyone believes it's the silver bullet. It'll create jobs, sustain the associated industries and help transform the township economies. And it should. We are inordinately blessed with tourism drawcards from the environment to our history – basically anywhere you go in South Africa. This is an incredible country with a fantastic story to share. Gauteng, in particular, is as always unfairly blessed. There's the majesty of the Magaliesberg to hike in, game parks literally just outside the city limits, shows, world-class sport and then our wonderful, contested history. But do we really appreciate what we have? The onus is always put on us, the ordinary people, to be South Africa's greatest ambassadors, to be tourists in our land so that we can evangelise the good news to family, friends and even business colleagues – and get them to spend money on other things than the malls when they come up to the Highveld to visit. ALSO READ: The congested headache of public holidays It's a hard sell in reality. Vilakazi Street in Soweto is the most obvious tourist trap, but probably the easiest to navigate because of it. You know what's coming and you can smile, wave and walk on as the touts, the chancers and the dancers try it on with the busloads of Oriental or Nordic tourists following in your wake. You can understand – at a push – when you get to the biggest drawcard of all, Madiba's old matchbox house, just why there are entry prices for locals, that are quite brazenly doubled for foreign visitors. It's a lot to harder to justify at other venues, like the Ditsong Military History Museum in Saxonwold. It's a big enough ask to pay R60 as a local to view exhibits that haven't evolved much in the past 30 years, so R120 for a foreigner is daylight robbery. And that's the rub. It costs nothing to walk from Mandela and Tambo's old offices at Chancellor House, down past the old Randlord HQs in Main Street through to Ghandi Square and then to pop into the Rand Club – and tell a fairly comprehensive and immersive story of South Africa in less than an hour and very safely too. There are 100 different ways to tell our stories, but we're killing the golden goose before we give it a chance to start laying those eggs we keep fantasising about. NOW READ: The digital age is a minefield for the careless
IOL News
12-05-2025
- Politics
- IOL News
VAT about turn may be short-lived relief for GNU, investors
ANC MPs celebrate after having the Budget passed in Parliament. The recent VAT reversal is another first for the Treasury, which since the dawn of democracy also saw the postponement of the 2025 Budget Speech, says the writer. Mushtak Parker THE South African Constitution and Bill of Rights promulgated in 1996 by Madiba's first administration in a free country are generally regarded as two of the most progressive in the world of democracies, until of course even those were subjected to state capture during the Zuma presidency. Whether the constitutional architects ever envisaged the resort to the constitutional and supreme courts by often disgruntled, frustrated, corrupt and delusionally undemocratic politicians through their frivolous and arbitrary actions, would start to dominate the polity through the practice of lawfare seems ambivalent. There is the legitimate resort to the courts by both politicians and citizens for the independent judiciary, a prerequisite of a liberal democracy, to decide on a cornucopia of matters relating to executive powers, the role of parliament, separation of powers between church and state, freedom of speech and movement, the rights of citizens in every socio-economic activity and so on. In the latter case the lawfare playbook is unfolding in areas touching the very core of democratic governance and its potential impact on policy and society. In the US the pushback against the policy on the hoof insanity of the Trump administration which has targeted the judiciary, the media, the scientists, the supposedly impartial bureaucracy, and the global trading partners of the US, has precipitated a spate of injunctions against the President and his cabinet cabal. His disdain for the prevailing rules-based world order and the rule of law is bad enough. The fact that he insists on the various estates of a democratic polity to be subject to his dictates and policies betrays a fundamental misunderstanding of liberal democracy. The State of California is suing him for his crazy imposition of arbitrary tariffs on US trading partners. Others are suing his administration for the arbitrary sacking of hundreds of thousands of federal employees by the Orwellian Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) run by an unelected techno-oligarch Elon Musk. The irony is that this president, with plenty of delusional form from his first term, was empowered by a landslide election victory last November. In the UK the Starmer government is now dealing with the consequences of a ruling by the Supreme Court that a man and woman's gender is determined by their biological sex at birth, albeit the government has stressed the importance of the rights of the trans community. It is in South Africa that the use of lawfare or at least the threat of it, has had arguably the most serious immediate impact following the legal challenge brought by the Institute of Race Relations (IRR) against the 1% increase in VAT to be implemented by two 0.5% tranches by 1 May 2025 proposed by Finance Minister Enoch Godongwana in his 2025 Budget in March. In his 51-page affidavit to a similar motion brought by the DA and the EFF as an intervention applicant in front of Western Cape Division in Cape Town of the High Court of South Africa on April 16, Godongwana robustly defended the basis of his Budget and the rationale of the decision to increase VAT by 1% increasing the overall rate from 15% to 16%. The DA's challenge, he contended, is fundamentally flawed and has no basis for contesting the constitutionality or unconstitutionality of the VAT increase provision. Similarly, the EFF's position is wholly 'unsupported,' he argued. The problem is that the modus operandi of both the ANC and the DA, the two largest parties in the GNU, are highly flawed and hostage to their respective ideological heritage and schisms. 'It (the DA),' emphasised Godongwana, 'is well resourced and has full access to the democratic process and the legislative tools available to all members of Parliament. It can seek to amend or oppose the relevant money bills, persuade other parties, and act within the bounds of parliamentary procedure.' Here's the quandary. In his virtual address to the 2023 Budget Roundtable held in Cape Town on April 23, Deputy President Shipokosa Paulus Mashatile revealed that 'following the first Cabinet meeting, during which we agreed to postpone the budget presentation, in our subsequent Cabinet meeting President Cyril Ramaphosa appointed a Cabinet Committee, chaired by myself, comprising of Ministers Gondongwana, Steenhuisen, Mantashe, Gwarube, Creecy, and Motshekga. The task of this Committee was to find a solution to the VAT increase proposal by the Minister of Finance and the National Treasury. The committee did its work and agreed to the reduced 0.5% VAT increase with the provision that we must invest in the implementation of the expenditure budget allocation so that we can address revenue constraints so that we avoid further tax increases.' And yet the DA saw fit to take Godongwana to Court on a constitutional casuistry, while its leader was privy to a due Cabinet process which, according to Mashatile, agreed on the proposed VAT hike. Godongwana argued in his affidavit that 'the courtroom should not become the arena in which political differences within the executive or legislature are to be resolved. And this should certainly not happen on an urgent basis and in a manner that risks severely disrupting government operations on important matters such as the fiscus. I respectfully submit that the Court should resist intervening in a matter that, at its core, is a political disagreement dressed in the language of constitutional litigation.' Against this, Godongwana saw fit to reverse his proposed VAT increase on April 24. 'The decision to forgo the increase follows extensive consultations with political parties, and careful consideration of the recommendations of the parliamentary committees. By not increasing VAT, estimated revenue will fall short by around R75 billion over the medium-term,' stressed the Treasury. One way of making up some of the expenditure shortfall, at least in the immediate future, could be through 'any additional revenue collected by SARS.' The dichotomy is breathtaking. Maybe the finance minister has a point. The DA comes across as an entitled opportunistic coalition participant, savvy in the language of dissent, of policies aligned to its ideological framework instead of the historical circumstances of a country that has only three decades ago emerged from the brutality of apartheid, and of populist pious platitudes. Not that the ANC is a beacon of transparency and good governance. A senior ANC official confided that since the days of the state capture, the party has struggled to articulate its policies and position on various issues. This must be considered in the context of all the other caveats – government ineffectiveness, self-enrichment, policy shortcomings and so on. The VAT reversal is another first for the Treasury, which since the dawn of democracy also saw the postponement of the 2025 Budget Speech. For investors, governments, business, and South Africans per se, the reversal and the survival of the GNU may be a sigh of relief. But how long will it be before the GNU becomes 'a Coalition of the Unwilling?' Mashatile in his Budget Roundtable admitted that the current budgetary process is not transparent and inclusive enough. His proposal however of 'returning to a People's Budget that allows for public participation, scrutiny, and informed decision-making, ultimately leading to better resource allocation and improved service delivery to the citizenry,' is as unrealistic, chaotic and economically illiterate as it is naive.' Parker is an economist and writer based
The Herald
09-05-2025
- Business
- The Herald
Jobs, inflation and growth — how do we make it work?
Celebrating more than 30 years of democracy with the marking of April 27, most South Africans would love to get a quick fix for the economy. A magic wand to reduce unemployment, poverty and inequality in the post-apartheid SA we love could bring back some of the Madiba magic from 1994. What about the relationship between inflation and unemployment? Based on the Phillips curve, an inverse relationship between inflation and unemployment, in theory could reduce unemployment and increase wages. This means that by keeping inflation low, government and monetary regulatory bodies are contributing to higher unemployment, according to the theoretical model. Can it really be that simple — create more jobs by increasing inflation? Could consumers, who breathed a sigh of relief over the VAT increase hiatus, afford higher inflation in the local SA economic climate? SA's unemployment is structural, according to local economists who along with others have debunked the Phillips curve. They argue the stubborn unemployment rate in SA makes it fairly unresponsive to monetary conditions. Employment opportunities need to be created faster than the rate at which the labour force grows to reduce our unemployment rate, which remains persistent nationally at just over the 30% mark. Can we create more jobs for unemployed graduates and matriculants in the country? Where do we find jobs for our nephews and nieces, our sons and daughters, with the cost of brown bread that was R1.95 in 1995 and in 2025, has increased about tenfold to an average of R19. While salaries may have kept up with these prices to some degree, did the job opportunities? The simple question of supply and demand becomes important when answering this question. While the youth are being educated through tertiary studies and internships, many remain unemployed. This then begs the question if these tertiary institutions are matching the skills and output of their educational organisations to the needs in the Vuca (volatility, uncertainty, complexity and ambiguity) marketplace. We live in the 21st century where big tech has disrupted the working world. The skills required from a modern-day graduate are related to problem-solving, managing and making sense of big data and operating the various technologies which have increased efficiencies in manufacturing, but have cut labour significantly. Let's consider two industries: newspapers and automakers, which are both relevant to our province and local economy. Big printing presses have over the last couple of years been made redundant or reduced, which meant job losses for printing press operators and technicians. News is consumed digitally and instantly, and therefore a new skill set is required of the newspaper editor and editorial staff. The Herald is a good example of this, having transformed over the past 180 years to remain relevant to the local community. OEMs (original equipment manufacturers) make big announcements of investments in the province and country; however, these investments do not always include huge employment figures. This is because of advanced robotics and the efficiency associated with automation in the manufacturing sector; one simply needs to visit any local factory in East London, Gqeberha or Kariega to view these giant robots building parts and vehicles. The skill set of an average blue collar worker is much more sophisticated and technical than ever before. These investments into our local economy by OEMs — both locally and internationally — are crucial and critical for securing existing labour, but may not significantly increase job opportunities. Therefore, we chip away at the block of unemployment much, much slower than before. Consider the retirement age for public servants at 65. Does this not further stagnate the job creation prospects of the youth, making it harder for first-time entrants to get a foot in the door of the job market? Perhaps the magic wand of fixing the economy is not as simple as we hoped, however, there are still decisive steps to take as a collaborative to make the Eastern Cape and SA economy stronger. Our future labour force needs to be highly skilled, and tertiary institutions must be aligned to the needs of industry. We should become innovative and not get left behind in the technology race, but lead as a province, country and continent. As a province we certainly have pockets of excellence and need to diversify and multiply these opportunities for the generations to come. Dr Luvuyo Bono qualified with a doctorate in labour law (LLD) at Nelson Mandela University in 2023, where he also holds the title of adjunct professor of law. He was admitted as an advocate of the high court in 2000 and has contributed to key labour law legislation in SA. He is the board chairperson of the Coega Development Corporation, and writes in his personal capacity. The Herald
