REMARKS BY SOUTH AFRICAN MINISTER OF HEALTH, DR ZWELI MKHIZE, AT THE GLOBAL FUND’S SIXTH REPLENISHMENT CONFERENCE
Remarks by South African Minister of Health, Dr Zweli Mkhize, at the Global Fund's Sixth Replenishment Conference
9 and 10 October 2019, Lyon
Excellencies,
I bring greetings and warm wishes from President Cyril Ramaphosa, the President of the Republic of South Africa, who sends his regrets that he cannot be with us today.
Before we had antiretrovirals many people living with HIV were hopeless and helpless. Today we have very effective medication – one tablet once a day – which enables people with HIV to live long and healthy lives. However, as it is now a chronic disease, there is huge cost of maintenance treatment for survivors. We need to ensure that people do take their medication daily and live without stigma. We need to step up the fight to ensure that people living with HIV, tuberculosis or malaria are provided with the best possible care and a supportive environment.
Like many countries, South Africa, has been a significant beneficiary of resources from the Global Fund.
We are very grateful for your support.
This has helped us deal with the epidemics:
- a large numbers of drug sensitive and drug resistant TB patients and malaria.
- 7.8 million South Africans living with HIV,
- 4.8 million on antiretroviral therapy,
- 1400 young women being infected with HIV every week
- 360 000 new TB infections annually,
- the country continues to battle a huge burden of communicable and non-communicable diseases.
Together with other donors and OUR OWN resources we are committed and determined to eliminate ALL three epidemics in the African continent and in the world within one generation!!!
Many countries with significant resource constraints make a significant effort to contribute to the Global Fund, as a demonstration of our commitment to this partnership.
We encourage donors to respect and work with country leaders to ensure that implementing countries OWN the programs and guide the prioritisation of interventions suitable for each country to achieve SDGs, the implementation of universal health coverage and strengthening of health systems.
As part of our pledge, South Africa, commits to continuing to be a donor, albeit a modest one, and will increase our contribution to $10 million (US Dollars) over the next three years.
I thank you
PRESIDENT RAMAPHOSA CONGRATULATES PRIME MINISTER ABIY AHMED ON NOBEL PEACE PRIZE
President Cyril Ramaphosa has extended his warmest congratulations to Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed Ali of Ethiopia on being awarded the 2019 Nobel Peace Prize.
Prime Minister Ahmed has been recognised by the Nobel Committee “for his efforts to achieve peace and international cooperation, and in particular for his decisive initiative to resolve the border conflict with neighbouring Eritrea”.
President Ramaphosa said: “South Africa offers its warmest congratulations to Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed on being awarded this prestigious prize. This award focuses global attention on our continent’s relentless progress towards peace and stability.
“We pay tribute to the governments and peoples of Ethiopia and Eritrea for making this achievement possible and for opening up new possibilities for cooperation, integration and development not just on the east coast of our continent but across our continent.
“The peace achieved between these neighbouring states is an important enabler of the African Continental Free Trade Area and of the many objectives of the African Union’s Agenda 2063.
“We all share in Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed’s achievement and in the future of cooperation and good neighbourliness on which the peoples of Ethiopia and Eritrea have embarked.”
11 October 2019
Issued by: The Presidency
Pretoria
ARDMORE CERAMICS SHOW AND SALE AT GALERIE ISABELLE TURQUIN IN PARIS
ARDMORE CERAMICS SHOW AND SALE AT GALERIE ISABELLE TURQUIN IN PARIS
Ardmore Ceramic Art was established in 1985 by Fée Halsted on Ardmore Farm in the foothills of the Drakensberg Mountains of KwaZulu-Natal, where she lived. Under her guidance, local artists were given training, materials, a studio and a guaranteed market for their work. Ardmore’s 25th anniversary in 2010 saw the launch of Ardmore Design Collection, which translated Ardmore’s distinctive imagery and styling into functional, superb quality ceramic and non-ceramic products including dinnerware, tapestries, furniture, fabrics for soft furnishings, and more. There are now more than 60 Zulu and Zimbabwean artists working in collaboration at Ardmore. Over the years, Ardmore’s artists have won numerous awards and exhibited widely in South Africa and around the world. Ardmore artworks feature in leading galleries and collections, including the Museum of Art & Design in New York, the Museum of Cultures in Basel, Switzerland, and the Tatham Art Gallery in Pietermaritzburg, South Africa. The acclaimed auction house Christie’s has acknowledged Ardmore artworks as “modern day collectibles”.
Galerie Isabelle Turquin, 71 rue Sainte Anne -Paris 75002. Tel : 01 47 03 02 87. From 8 to 31 October 2019, Monday:14h00-19h00, Tuesday-Friday:11h00-19h00, Saturday:11h00-18h00 www.ardmoreceramics.co.za
SA IN TOP 3 BIODIVERSE NATIONS
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We are thus one of the richest countries in terms of the diversity of plants and animals (marine and terrestrial) and levels of endemism. Although the immense contribution of our biodiversity to our economic, social and spiritual well-being is difficult to measure, it is generally accepted that this contribution is significant and essential to our health and well-being,” Minister of Environment, Forestry and Fisheries, Barbara Creecy, said.
The Minister was delivering the keynote address at the opening of the 10th Oppenheimer Research Conference in Randjiesfontein, Midrand, taking place under the theme "Advancing Conservation Consciousness" (1-3 October 2019)
“Our National Development Plan recognises this biodiversity wealth and requires us to leave future generations an environmental endowment of at least equal value to the one we have now.
“To this end, although we are not yet meeting international targets, our conservation estate is growing, both on land and at sea,” Minister Creecy said.
A few months ago, 20 new marine protected areas were declared. These new “ocean parks" have increased South Africa’s marine ecosystem area under protection by 1 250% overnight – from 0.4% to 5.4% of the country's oceans.
“Unlike many of our game parks, these ocean parks have been identified scientifically and provide protection to an impressive 90% of our marine habitat types.
“In terms of government priorities, these ocean parks will not only protect our rich marine biodiversity, but will also contribute to the sustainability of our fisheries and our fishing industry – a perfect example of sustainable development, evidence-based policy-making, and a valuable outcome of the Operation Phakisa: Oceans Economy initiative,” the Minister said.
The 10th Oppenheimer Research Conference supported ground breaking research and key partnerships, bringing together some of the continent’s best stakeholders to support Africa-led, innovative research that will contribute to the advancement of environmental and allied sciences.
This is critical to reach the country’s objective of ensuring a prosperous environment for future generations.
Source: SAnews.gov.za
PRESIDENT RAMAPHOSA ON ‘FROM THE DESK OF THE PRESIDENT’
President Cyril Ramaphosa on ‘From the Desk of the President’
30 September 2019
Dear Fellow South African,
Welcome to the first weekly message ‘From the Desk of the President’. Each week, I will discuss some of the issues that interest and concern South Africans, and talk about the work we are doing in government to tackle these issues. I hope you will find it useful.
Almost everyone I meet in the country, whether residents of Lusikisiki or business leaders in Johannesburg, is deeply concerned about the state of the economy and the stubbornly high rates of unemployment. After a decade of low growth and deepening poverty, people are looking for signs of progress in tackling the many challenges confronting our country.
These concerns are real. This year, the economy will record growth that is lower than expected (and much lower than what we need). Government finances are stretched about as far as they can go, and several industries are looking at retrenching workers.
Much of the confidence that the country had 20 months ago has dissipated as the reality of the problems we face became clearer. This confidence was born out of the hope that we would quickly undo the damage that was done over a number of years. Implementing change does take time. The important issue is that we should move in a determined way to effect change while remaining irrevocably committed to rooting out state capture, corruption and malfeasance.
We collectively have a common task: to rebuild the confidence of our people, this time based not merely on hope and expectation of change, but on concrete things that make a difference in the economy, real actions that ‘move the needle’.
I believe this is eminently possible. Despite the difficulties, South Africans from all walks of life are still moved by the spirit of Thuma Mina to become involved in fixing our country. They want to change the narrative of doubt to a narrative of opportunity not through clever spin, but through action. South Africans are ready to rise to the challenge.
Most of the people I speak to recognise that we have made progress in turning our country around. The changes that have taken place in many state-owned enterprises and in bodies like the NPA, SARS, the police and the State Security Agency give people confidence that we can restore the credibility and integrity of the State. It shows that we are serious about tackling corruption and ending state capture.
There has also been progress on the economic front. A year ago, we announced an economic stimulus and recovery plan in response to our economy’s first recession in nine years. Since then we have embarked on several reforms to create a more investor-friendly environment. We have finalised a Mining Charter that has been broadly welcomed by the industry and finalised policy on the allocation of valuable broadband spectrum. We have and continue to make changes to our visa policies
Funds have been redirected to stimulate economic activity in areas where the majority of South Africans live. This includes finance to support black commercial farmers, the revitalisation of industrial parks in townships and the establishment of a Township Economy Fund. Government is also increasing the value of goods and services it procures from small business and cooperatives. Much work still needs to be done in many of these areas to ensure they have the effect on the economy we seek.
Building on the stimulus and recovery plan, government will finalise a clear economic growth strategy within the next few weeks. This strategy will draw on the many valuable contributions that have been made by South Africans on the discussion paper released by National Treasury.
Several parts of the growth strategy are already in place. These include how we can strengthen our reform programme, a revitalised industrial strategy in support of key growth sectors and the establishment of an Infrastructure Fund with a clear plan to revive infrastructure investment. Much work is underway to improve the ease and reduce the cost of doing business, as are efforts to restructure state owned enterprises and ensure that they perform better in meeting the country’s needs. A clear strategy to place Eskom on a sustainable path of recovery is also being finalised.
All this work is taking place at a time when government’s finances are under great strain, and there is very little room to increase spending or borrowing. This means that we need to spend our limited resources more smartly, get rid of wastage and shift more resources to infrastructure investment.
On the first Monday morning of each month, the Deputy President and I meet with the leaders of business, labour and the community sector to review the implementation of measures agreed at last year’s Jobs Summit. Our continued focus is on job creation and how we can reduce the numbers of people who are unemployed.
It is clear that, as a country, we are taking firm action to grow the economy and create jobs. But we need to do more to turn things around. We need to finalise a comprehensive growth strategy that takes all the work being done to another level. I am certain that with the active involvement of all sectors of society, this will be achieved.
South Africans are ready to rise to the challenge.
Best wishes,
Issued by: