Communications Minister, Nomvula Mokonyane on Thursday held a post cabinet briefing which saw amongst others being discussed Mandela Month, the issue of social grants payments and the women’s month theme.
The Nelson Mandela Foundation and the South African Clothing and Textile Workers Union (Sactwu) will launch a locally made Nelson Mandela t-shirt in Durban on Friday as part of the annual Mandela Month as declared by the government.
Proceeds from the sale of these special t-shirts will go to the Nelson Mandela foundation to help fund activities consistent with Madiba’s vision and life.
Mokonyane made the announcement in Pretoria. “The Minister of Economic Development will address guests on behalf of government. Cabinet urges all South Africans to support the local buy campaign and to wear locally made clothing with pride. Cabinet calls on all people to become part of the movement for change by working together as united, non-racial and non-sexiest society; we can uphold the legacy of Madiba. Cabinet calls on all South Africans to dedicate their 67 minutes of their time on 18 July to contribute to making change for the needy.”
SASSA crisis
Mokonyane says her Social Development counterpart, Susan Shabangu, has briefed the cabinet on the backlog plaguing social grants pay-outs. She says according to Shabangu, the delays have been caused by technical glitches in the transitioning of payments from the old to the new SASSA-Post Office managed system.
“Cabinet appreciates that social grants are a lifeline to the most vulnerable members of our society and therefore such inconvenience is very much regrettable. An experience that we’ve seized to see over years is something that we must all humbly apologise to those who have highly been affected and hope that both Post office and SASSA and all other parties would make sure that this does not actually repeat itself.”
Women’s Day theme
Mokonyane says the cabinet has decided that the theme of this year’s National Women’s Day on August the 9th and the entire month be “100 years of Albertina Sisulu: Women United in moving South Africa forward.”
This program will include the triple centenaries of the birthdays of Nelson Mandela, Albertina Sisulu and the formation of the first women’s origination in South Africa, the Bantu Women’s League.
“ The Women’s Month activities will mobilise society and build partnerships to decisively address key issues facing women and girls, particularly gender based violence, women’s economic empowerment, access to land, harmful practices and other sectorial issues in the context of the National Development Plan (NDP) and South Africa’s international commitments.”
