Category: 2021 Newsletter June

Fast-track UIF

Fast-track extensive social security coverage for workers 

Employment and Labor Minister T.W. Nxesi said that government plans to accelerate broad social security coverage for workers in a press release. He called for a swift policy and legislative review to address the shortcomings of the Unemployment Insurance Fund and workers’ social safety net – as exposed by the Covid 19 pandemic.

Minister Nxesi also said that the pandemic “Taught us the value of social dialogue”, adding that Nedlac played a critical role in uniting social partners in a joint response to the pandemic – in designing income relief measures and health and safety guidelines for workplaces.

 Lamati said the fight against Covid19 requires joint leadership with all social partners. To date, Covid-19 has resulted in 57,000 fellow South Africans citizens dying due to the pandemic. Minister Nxesi said as part of the interventions; the government has been working with the social partners.

 “We have been able to mitigate some of the effects of the pandemic and the lockouts by using our social security institutions, especially the Unemployment Insurance Fund, and working with the business community and workers to create the Covid-19 Ters benefits and build a mass network to distribute the new benefits on an unprecedented scale,” he said.

 The minister said that through social security interventions through the UIF with Ters, the ministry started paying Covid-19 benefits from April 2020. The ministry had deployed its health and safety inspectors to assist the social partners in Nedlac in drafting the Covid-19 health and safety instructions and inspecting and enforcing the new regulations alongside existing health and safety regulations. Their targets were achieved with reduced budgets as the pandemic and economic development negatively affected government revenue.

 Nxesi said after the department appointed 500 additional health and safety inspectors, as announced during the 2019 budget vote, their addition would be very useful in the fight against Covid-19 and allow for a quadrupling of the number of inspections planned for 2021/22.

(A copy of the full press release is available at info@middelburginfo.com)

How Competitive is SA

Want to hear about SA’s World Competitiveness?

The Deputy Minister of Employment and Labour, Ms Boitumelo Moloi, will address the Productivity SA Launch of  Switzerland’s Institute of Management Development (IMD) ‘s 2021 World Competitiveness Yearbook Survey (WCY).

The WCY ranking is an annual report on the competitiveness of selected countries and is recognized internationally as the leading executive opinion survey of competitiveness between nations. It rates the ability of 64 industrialized and emerging economies to create and maintain an environment that sustains the competitiveness of enterprises.

In the four competitive factors for 2020, South Africa ranked as follows:

  • Economic performance   (61st)
  • Government efficiency (61st)
  • Business efficiency (58th)
  • Infrastructure (61st)

Members interested in the link to the meeting, please contact Anna-Marth Ott at ceo@middelburginfo.com.

What can STLM learn from Clover

What Can STLM Learn From Clover

Shock waves went through the various towns around the country when they heard that Clover would be closing its cheese factory in Lichtenburg.
STLM is currently reviewing property tax rates and has already implemented price increases for waste, sewerage and electricity which will come into effect on 1 July. MCCI urges municipal decision-makers to remember that we need to fill all the empty commercial spaces in the city and not make more businesses implement work-at-home decisions or closure of branch offices due to service costs.

In Middelburg, we are fortunate that our Steve Tshwete Municipality works well and our services are up to standard. Other towns have lost manufacturing plants, such as the Nestle factories in Bethal and Standerton or other manufacturing facilities. In our region, the most significant blow to our manufacturing sector was the closure of Highveld Steel. The hardship of the plant closures has left a scar on our economy.

Commercial service providers need to keep in mind that if your services are too expensive and become too costly to run a business, they have two choices, stop using the service or cut costs. The service provider’s bill will be scrutinized, and they will look at where costs can be cut, costs in other areas or jobs will be cut. Alternatively, the business is relocated, sometimes to another country, and then we lose the jobs and all the other revenues that a business creates in the economy.

If the business remains the target for higher property taxes, refuge, electricity and sewerage costs, then the most negligible added cost could break the camel’s back. We in the Middelburg region are at risk from Eskom’s decisions on Komati and Hendrina Power Stations and the negative impact of the lockdowns since 2020. We need to attract businesses and investment and make our municipal services cost attractive to corporates to invest in the area.

Crime is like the black plague in our region

Crime is like the black plague in our region

The price tag of crime cannot be measured in the immediate cost of losses or property damage, but businesses and the national economy bear the brunt of the costs associated with crime and crime prevention.

Whether at work or home, the consequences of the negative psychological impact of exposure to crime must also be considered.

Since the COVID Level 5 Lockdown, authorities have focused on areas not associated with traditional crime in our urban areas.

The idea of the new normal of working “remotely” seems to me to have opened the floodgates for criminal activity. When you try to have a

conversation with officials, you often get the same response, “I work from home and can’t take care of the problem right now,” or the Police Station is closed for COVID.

After a quick review of the most recent South African Police Crime statistics publication compiled from 1,154 Police Stations,

I noticed that Middelburg was mentioned. Further analysis of the data showed that Middelburg was mentioned 12 times as one of the

30 Police Stations most involved with the 17 serious crimes and categories reported by the community. In the past,

Middelburg Police Station has received awards for the best run Police Station.

The Highveld Region of Mpumalanga, Middelburg, Witbank and Vosman Police Stations were mentioned in fourteen of the seventeen categories.

As a business community, we do not live on an island and only do business with ourselves; we trade with our neighbouring towns, we use the N4 and N12 regularly,

and the criminal acts such as the spikes on the highway have a direct impact on the sustainability of our business, the safety of our employees and the cost of securing our trading activities.

A summary of where our regional Police Stations was mentioned and rated out of 30:

  Police Stations rated out of 30
Crime Middelburg Witbank Vosman
All Theft Not Mentioned Elsewhere 23 10  
Arson   14  
Burglary At Non-Residential Premises 12 24  
Burglary At Residential Premises 12 Witbank 12 26  
Carjacking     15
Commercial Crime   20  
Common Robbery 26    
Community-Reported Serious Crimes   9  
Driving Under The Influence Of Alcohol And or Drugs 20    
Kidnapping 15    
Other Serious Crimes   14  
Property Related Crimes 12 10  
Robbery With Aggravating Circumstances   22  
Theft Out Of Or From Motor Vehicle 18 13  

Middelburg’s business community wants to hear from the Station Commander what the problem is and what needs to be done. We want to work more closely with everyone involved,

and the relationship needs to be rebuilt. There are so many different factors that influence the success of a business, and businesses

cannot reach their full potential if funds have to be used for security purposes instead of capitalizing in areas that would grow their business.

MCCI has invited the Station Commander to attend our Business Middelburg meetings so that we as a collective can address issues that affect our city.

MCCI supports, hosts the Community Police Forum meetings, our members attend, but we as a city need to step forward and turn the

clock back to the early 2000s when our city was a much safer place to live.

The future of Botshabelo?

The future of Botshabelo?

Botshabelo was an integral part of Middelburg’s history and tourism. From a world-historical village that attracted hundreds of local and international tourists, sometimes daily.

Now Botshabelo has become a ghost village.

Botshabelo Mission Station was an essential and quite influential centre where the gospel was widely preached among the black community.

It became a place where people received education and training. Founded in 1865, Botshabelo was converted from Mission Station into a historical site for tourists visiting Middelburg.

On June 23, the Local Economic Development (TRAC committee) held a meeting with the interim board members of Botshabelo to discuss the future of the historic village.

The various interventions and plans have not succeeded in reviving the tourist attraction part of Botshabelo. The various representatives of the Botshabelo committee

said that the main stumbling block was the interdict served on the previous board. The new provisional board was working to meet the requirements of the interdict.

The TRAC committee urged the beneficiaries to finalise their governance requirements.

At the meeting, the TRAC committee said it would like to present a solution to Steve Tshwete Municipality for revising that portion linked to our tourism industry.

TRAC presented two proposals; a buyout or a long-term lease. Interim board members were asked to discuss the proposals with beneficiaries and provide feedback in the coming months.

As a community, we need to find practical solutions to revitalise our economy and tourism industry on the N11 towards Loskop Dam.

 

For more information about the meeting, you can contact the Information Centre on 013 243 2253.