Ministers leading the multidisciplinary teams in the government responsible for the national response to recurring instances of food-borne illnesses, which have claimed the lives of 22 children, will lead a media briefing to outline the plan to manage the incidents this week.
President Cyril Ramaphosa announced an ambitious plan on Friday for all spaza shops to be register in 21 days or face closure.
He called for spaza shops implicated in the deaths of children to be immediately shut down, adding that there were 90 reported cases, which have left 22 children dead to date.
The president addressed the nation after a rise in reported cases of food-borne illnesses and deaths.
This week, the national joint operational and intelligence structure will closely monitor the deployment of 1,100 SA National Defence Force members across the country to help police to fight against illegal mining and related criminality in SA.
Last week the police were in a standoff with hundreds of illegal miners believed to be underground in a disused shaft, a day after a cabinet minister said the government was trying to “smoke them out”.
Police have been trying for weeks to empty the abandoned gold mine in the North West province as part of a crackdown on illegal mining, which has plagued SA for decades through small-time pilfering and organised criminal networks.
Illegal gold mining costs the government and industry hundreds of millions of dollars annually in lost sales, taxes and royalties, according to an estimate by a mining industry body.
The government will also this week focus on ensuring all necessary planning is in place for SA to successfully host the Group of Twenty (G20) summit next year.
The government of national unity (GNU) wants SA’s trade agreements with the country’s biggest trading partners — including China, the EU and US — to be reviewed so that they are more mutually beneficial, high-level department of trade, industry & competition and international relations & co-operation sources have told Business Day.
That agenda is expected to be pushed by international relations & co-operation minister Ronald Lamola, who since his appointment this year has strongly advocated economic diplomacy. It is also understood to be high on trade, industry & competition minister Parks Tau’s list of priorities as he pushes an African economic agenda through the African Continental Free Trade Area.
SA wants much stronger diplomatic, bilateral and trade relations with its trading partners to jump-start the country’s economic growth, which President Cyril Ramaphosa believes could reach 3% by the end of 2025.
The government’s push for economic diplomacy — with SA being central to the rest of Africa — is expected to peak during the G20 summit next year.
SA will use its permanent seat in the G20 to showcase Africa’s economic potential when the country hosts the meeting of heads of state in 2025, Lamola told Business Day last month.
“We will have to be engaging. We will be doing so in SA’s national interest. Economic diplomacy is the focal point. There is a big interest in future investments in SA and we are working hand in glove with the department of trade, industry & competition to try to achieve 2% economic growth in SA by 2025,” Lamola said.
But before the political year ends, South Africans are expected to closely watch the EFF’s national conference scheduled for December. The EFF is SA’s fourth largest political party.
Last week EFF leader Julius Malema rubbished claims he is a “dictator” amid reports that some party leaders, such as Mbuyiseni Ndlozi, had been banned from the elective meeting.
“A dictator will have all the reasons to say ‘no, let’s not go to a conference and see how this thing goes about’. You can just defy by using the dynamics,” Malema said, as more EFF members reportedly wait to see if they will secure leadership positions before deciding whether to leave the party.
“We are the most democratic organisation, but very decisive and that doesn’t allow ill-discipline... When you say [I am] outgoing president you are right. We are the only organisation, after the ANC, which goes to a conference and the president gets to be told ‘your term of office has ended, leave the stage to join [the] others’, [from there] anything can happen,” Malema said. /With Reuters
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