South Africa experiencing worst livestock farming disaster ever, and 15% of learners can’t read after grade 3
Today, 8 January, the African National Congress (ANC) is celebrating its 114th anniversary. The party is celebrating the occasion in Rustenburg today, where a provincial cake-cutting ceremony will take place.
The South African Communist Party (SACP) plans to march to the US embassy in Pretoria today in solidarity with the Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro and his wife.
This is after the US Trump Administration carried out a large-scale strike against Venezuela on January 3, resulting in the capture of the President and his wife.
In the Booysens Magistrate’s Court today, a forty-seven-year-old man is expected to appear, facing human trafficking charges.
He was arrested by the Hawks and the Johannesburg Metro Police Department on Tuesday, with two half-naked teenage boys found in the vehicle he was driving.
In Johannesburg, Rand Water has announced the completion of its 52-hour maintenance exercise ahead of schedule. Maintenance was planned to conclude at 8 a.m. today, but was completed by Wednesday afternoon.
The system is already recovering, and Rand Water expects reservoirs to normalise in three to five days.
The Rand is trading at R16.45 to the Dollar today, remaining almost flat from the close of Business on Wednesday, when it stood at R16.46
Here are five other big things happening in South Africa today:
South Africa is experiencing the worst livestock farming disaster in its history – BusinessTech
Saai chairperson Theo de Jager has called the current outbreak of foot-and-mouth disease affecting cattle in South Africa the worst livestock farming disaster in the country’s history.
Survey shows 15% of South African learners can’t read after third year in school – MyBroadband
According to a survey conducted by the Department of Basic Education, only 31% of Grade 3 learners achieved minimum reading benchmarks, while 15% of learners cannot read a word after three years in school.
Ramaphosa defends surprise appointment of new prosecutions boss – EWN
President Cyril Ramaphosa has defended his appointment of Advocate Andy Mothibi as National Director of Public Prosecutions, which has received criticism because he was not one of the candidates interviewed for the position.
SARS is missing R488.53 billion in undisputed tax revenue – Daily Investor
The South African Revenue Service currently has an outstanding undisputed tax revenue debt value of nearly R488.53 billion.
Dramatic shake-up for KwaZulu-Natal’s government as kingmaker quits coalition – Newsday
The National Freedom Party (NFP), the kingmaker in the province, has announced its immediate withdrawal from the KwaZulu-Natal (KZN) Government of Provincial Unity (GPU).
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“15% of learners can’t read after grade 3”. This can be good or bad, depending on which side of the isle you sit.
In the modern day South Africa, education is not really important. It is more about being awarded a piece of paper or ‘certificate’. I can’t help but think that the government would prefer that this percentage were to increase in order to garnish more voters in time to come.
South Africa and certificates… we looooove certificates… a certificate is something with a nice logo, sometimes a crest… fancy-looking… something pretty to give you some false hope. You can show it to people, perhaps even frame it. It in itself is valuable and must be cherished as it is after all, a ‘certificate’.
In years gone by, a certificate represented an achievement being recognised by an establishment.
Now days, the concept of ‘achievement’ is not fully understood by government. The ever lowering standard of education in South Africa will mean that soon, matric certificates will be given to babies as they leave the maternity ward. As I sit here, I can visualise this scenario being presented on a large mood board in a room full of our hard-working, well-educated politicians – we of course only fill parliament with the best of the best. Outside, their blue lights warm up, waiting to take them to another very very important meeting where they can be fed… we must eat afterall.
Learning, skills and education are concepts from a bygone era. The less that people are educated, the better for the government to remain in ‘control’ (I use this word loosely). It will take a cosmic event for education to become a priority for us, after all AI will surely mean that we no longer require skills or the ability to think for ourselves?