49m, South Africa's biggest energy saving movement, has called on all South Africans to save energy this winter.

The campaign, which is fast becoming a trendsetter by challenging citizens to live energy efficient lives, has been well received through a nationwide creative campaign reminding all of the power they have to make a difference.

The campaign now has new television and radio commercial adverts that not only emphasise the importance of saving electricity but also shows consumers that 49M is really putting its money where its mouth is.

The television commercial literally saves power by only using a black screen and uses audio to communicate the message to save energy.

The commercial opens with a black screen, with small white copy and audio telling the viewer that every little bit of saving helps. The radio commercial also calls on listeners to start saving the little they can, as it will help ease the pressure on the national grid.

The campaign can also be seen on billboards in metropolitan areas and townships across the country.

These adverts are aimed at motorists and commuters in transit. Black 49M branded taxis will also hit the streets soon - an initiative that will take the 49M brand to new heights.

"The purpose of this outdoor campaign is to remind all South Africans to do their bit to save electricity during the hardest months of the year where demand increases drastically as research has shown that for every degree the temperature drops, electricity demand increases by up to 700MW during the evenings," said Kheepe Moremi, 49M's ambassador.

A lot has been done since the campaign was launched just over a year ago. Recently, the movement called on all South Africans to participate in Earth Hour on March 31 by switching off all unused electricity appliances.

South Africans heeded the call and saved a whopping 402MW, enough electricity to power the city of Mangaung (Bloemfontein) for a day.

To date, the campaign has reached more than 40 000 South Africans in one-on-one conversations and over 7-million people through the above-the-line campaign.

Source: BuaNews

For the country to overcome inequality, South Africans must reach consensus on both workers' wages and executive pay rates, and speeding up the creation of new jobs, says Economic Development Minister Ebrahim Patel.

Speaking at the Next Economy National Dialogue on income inequality in Parliament, Cape Town on Thursday, Patel singled out figures in the 2010 household survey that revealed that the top 10% of earners in South Africa took home salaries that were 101 times higher than the bottom 10% of earners.

"When what one person takes away is so disproportionally larger than what another takes away, the social glue that holds society together weakens," he said, adding that income inequality also suppressed the market, as fewer people were able to buy goods and services.

Effective partnerships needed

What was needed were more effective partnerships between all sections of society.

"If partnership can do what it did to the Japanese economy after the end of the Second World War, or the German economy, or to a number of other successful economies, partnership needs a sense of being in something together," Patel said.

He highlighted the progress that Brazil had made in overcoming inequality since the mid-1990s, even though, between 2000 and 2008, Brazil and South Africa had grown at nearly the same rate - Brazil at 3.5%, South Africa at 3.6%.

The government was addressing inequality largely through social grants, the country's regressive tax system, and free or subsidised basic services.

New job opportunities key

However, this wasn't enough, Patel said, adding that the government alone would never be able to overcome inequality in South Africa.

"We have got to build, to a greater and greater extent, opportunities for employment, for jobs, for decent work, as the principle means out of poverty."

While over 300 000 new jobs had been added over the last 12 months, just over 400 000 new jobs had been added since the adoption of the New Growth Path 18 months ago - compared to the previous 18 months preceding the adoption of the new policy, when the country lost over 600 000 jobs.

"But not withstanding that jobs growth, we are hardly making a dent in jobs growth, we are hardly making a dent in unemployment levels," Patel said.

CEOs must disclose pay packages: Vavi

Also addressing the debate in Parliament, Congress of South African Trade Unions (Cosatu) secretary-general Zwelinzima Vavi said that at a youth wage subsidy - an idea first mooted by the National Treasury - would only address unemployment in the short term.

Vavi acknowledged that unemployment was the biggest problem the country faced, but said that at the same time, one couldn't look away from the issue of high pay, adding that the country needed a mechanism to get chief executives to disclose the level of their pay packages.

He agreed with the 2011 report and findings of the UK High Pay Commission, that shareholders should be given more power to vote on the pay packages and bonuses of top executives.

He said top South African executives wanted to measure their packages with those of other developed countries, while at the same time arguing that workers had to be paid on par with other developing countries.

Vavi pointed out that top executives in South Africa earned 1 728 times the average worker in their respective companies, while this gap was only at 319 times in the US.

Business sector 'unfairly demonised'

Bobby Godsell, chairman of Business Leadership South Africa, who backed the idea of setting up a commission to examine corporate pay as the UK had done, said the business sector was often unfairly demonised.

Business owners and business leaders were not only after money when running a company, but also wanted to build good companies and make a contribution to society.

Top executives had to be remunerated accordingly, he said.

In response to Vavi's assertion that inequality was increasingly dividing the country along class lines, Nazmeera Moola, head of macro-strategy at Macquarie First South, stressed that the country needed to create more jobs, no matter the scale of remuneration.

"There is class warfare, and the warfare is between those who have formal sector jobs and those that don't," Moola said.

What would relieve unemployment and narrow the gap between the rich and poor, she said, was if the country helped smaller firms to hire more workers.

UK High Pay Commission chairperson joins debate

Joining the debate in Cape Town on Thursday, Deborah Hargreaves, chairperson of the UK High Pay Commission, said the commission had developed a 12-point plan which had subsequently been adopted by the Labour party.

Hargreaves said the plan included a call to give shareholders a binding vote on chief executives' pay or exist bonuses.

She said the UK government was currently drafting regulations around executive pay which included making allowances for more diversity on companies' remuneration committees, and the calculation of a single figure around which executive pay could be structured.

However, she said the UK government had not turned down a more controversial idea to have employee representative on remuneration committees.

She said massive distortions in pay destabilised economic growth as it drew many of the brightest minds to the financial sector, away from the industrial sector. It also demoralised those in the workforce who felt that pay rates were unfair.

There was also evidence that more equal societies attracted more entrepreneurship.

She said the top 0.1% of income earners in the UK (earning more than £500 000 and consisting of 36 000 people) saw their pay rise by 64% between 1997 and 2008, while the income of middle-income earners rose only by seven percent over the same period.

In a recent British survey that asked how much top executives should be paid, most people polled said top executives should be paid between £500 000 and £700 000 pounds - a massive contrast to the average top pay of £4.2-million, she said.

Source: BuaNews

The West African Cable System (WACS), the fifth submarine cable system to link South Africa to the rest of the world, was formally launched on Friday, promising further improved bandwidth connectivity down the west coast of Africa.

WACS was initiated by the South African government as a collaborative effort of African governments and leading telecommunications operators.

"Through Broadband Infraco, the South African government is proud to be a pioneering partner on the West African Cable System, a cable that will light up large areas of the west coast of Africa," Public Enterprises Deputy Minister Ben Martins said at Friday's launch.

"For the first time in Africa's history, open access connectivity will liberalise African ICT markets in Namibia, the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) and Togo," Martins said.

South African state company Broadband Infraco's investment in WACS entitles the company to 11.4% of the system's total capacity, which will help the country meet its target of providing broadband connectivity to all South Africans who need it by 2020.

It will also help the company's to further reduce the cost of telecommunications in the country.

One of the main objectives of the cable, Broadband Infraco said on Friday, was to "secure international connectivity and capacity in support of projects of key national importance ... being championed by various state vehicles".

Mandla Ngcobo, chairperson of Broadband Infraco's board, said broadband access and speed was crucial to the government's economic growth and job creation plans.

Source: BuaNews

Two South Africans were among five leading innovators named African Social Entrepreneurs of the Year at the World Economic Forum (WEF) on Africa in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia on Wednesday.

Paul Matthew, Africa director of innovative public-private health partnership North Star Alliance, and Andrew Muir, executive director of the Wilderness Foundation, were honoured by the Schwab Foundation for Social Entrepreneurship on the opening day of the latest WEF gathering on the continent.

The five winners received their awards from WEF chairman Klaus Schwab in the presence of the presidents of Gabon, Nigeria, Tanzania and Ethiopia.

"Social entrepreneurs use innovative approaches to extend access to healthcare, education, energy and housing to marginalized populations that may not otherwise be included in the traditional markets," said Schwab Foundation chairperson Hilde Schwab.

"They ensure that growth, such as that experienced in Africa, is and will be inclusive."

Health care for Africa's workers on the move

In the 1990s, Paul Matthew witnessed the alarming impacts of HIV/Aids on long-distance truck drivers and other mobile workers in southern Africa, and realized that they lacked access to basic health care.

In 2005, Matthew co-founded what was to become North Star Alliance, a public-private partnership that provides mobile workers and related communities with access to high-quality health and safety services through a network of interlinked clinics known as "roadside wellness centres".

"Since opening its first centre in Malawi in 2005, North Star has grown to 22 centres in 10 countries," the Schwab Foundation said in a statement on Wednesday.

Conservation integrated with social upliftment

The Wilderness Foundation, founded in 1972 by Ian Player, now directed by Andrew Muir, successfully integrates conservation programmes with social and educational programmes, and has trained thousands of young people in southern Africa to be community leaders and national park rangers.

In 2006, Muir founded the South African–based Umzi Wethu programme, which targets vulnerable youth "that show resilience and ambition, but despair of opportunities to support their households", and gives them the skills and training they need to become highly employable young adults.

The Schwab Foundation commented: "Under the stewardship of the Wilderness Foundation, over 200 000 hectares of African wilderness have been rehabilitated and expanded in the interests of conservation and environmental protection.

"More than 100 000 disadvantaged/vulnerable youth have benefited from the Wilderness Foundation through its social intervention and environmental education programmes."

Africa's other three Social Entrepreneurs of the Year are: Bethlehem Alemu, co-founder and managing director of soleRebels in Ethiopia; Sameer Hajee, chief executive officer of the Nuru Energy Group in Rwanda; and Seri Youlou and Thomas Granier, co-founders of the Association la Voute Nubienne in Burkina Faso.

SAinfo reporter

South Africa may be able to tap into thousands of megawatts in renewable energy when the massive Inga hydro-electric project in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) goes live.

The Department of Energy's chief director of clean energy, Mokgadi Modise, said a treaty that would make this possible, outlining the roles and responsibilities of the different actors, was being finalised.

Modise was speaking at a media briefing during the Africa-European Union Energy Partnership's first stakeholder forum in Cape Town on Wednesday.

Potentially largest project in the world

The Inga hydro-electric project on the Congo River could become the largest hydro-electric project in the world, and is expected to generate a massive 40 000MW of electricity - more than the current electricity generation in South Africa.

Modise said the South African negotiating team was being led by the Department of International Relations and Co-operation and included the Department of Public Enterprises, the Department of Energy and the National Treasury.

She said the project would help more South Africans access electricity while significantly boosting African regional integration.

Africa-EU Energy Partnership

According to the government's Integrated Resource Plan, a 20-year projection on electricity supply and demand, about 6% of electricity generated in the country will be required to come from hydro resources.

Modise added that the Finnish and Austrian governments were funding nine energy-efficiency and renewable energy projects in South Africa.

The Africa-EU Energy Partnership, created in 2007, is a partnership between business, government and civil society to find ways of meeting sustainable energy challenges on the continent. The partnership has 54 African and European members.

In Vienna in 2010, the partners signed a declaration setting out targets, to be met by 2020, for energy access, energy security, energy efficiency and the adoption of renewable energy.

The partnership's stakeholder forums - of which the Cape Town meeting is the first - are intended to enable members to explore ways of achieving these targets.

Source: BuaNews

Mobile services company Oltio, a joint venture between Standard Bank and mobile operator MTN, is looking to change the way South Africans use their mobile phones by turning their handsets into personal point of sale devices.

Earlier this year, Oltio was nominated in the "best mobile money innovation" category at the annual GSMA Global Mobile Awards for its secure transaction authentication technology, payD.

Through the payD platform, launched in August 2011, consumers can buy products and services online, using their debit cards to pay for their purchase and their mobile phones to enter their PINs.

Major partners, vendors on board

The technology is used by Oltio parent company MTN for its Eazi Recharge pre-paid airtime top-up service, which has nearly 140 000 users.

Other partners include MasterCard, through its recently launched MasterCard Mobile payment platform; PayU, which currently processes 65% of all online payments in South Africa; and Vodacom's new Express Recharge pre-paid airtime top-up service.

In addition, payD has more than 200 vendors on board, including 1time Airline and online retailer TakeAlot, and Oltio is pushing to grow the number of merchants offering payD to its customers.

"The MasterCard Mobile platform enables millions of South Africans to make secure purchases using their PIN-based bank cards," Oltio CEO Terry Timson said in a statement last week.

'Convenient and cost-effective'

"It's a convenient and cost-effective payment mechanism that lets customers make use of their existing bank accounts, credit and debit cards, if issued by Standard Bank, Absa or Nedbank.

"This use of our pioneering technology means consumers can benefit from the competitive prices, convenience and variety associated with buying online, simply by registering their MasterCard or Maestro PIN-based credit or debit card to transact."

payD is also available to PIN-based Visa debit and credit cards issued by Standard Bank, Absa or Nedbank. PostBank customers can also use payD to make payments on their mobile phones.

According to Timson, this means "we are, in effect, enabling the vast majority of the more than 30-million South African debit card users to join the e- and m-commerce revolution, many for the first time."

SAinfo reporter

South Africans will move one step closer to having smart card IDs when the Department of Home Affairs launches the pilot of its smart ID project, which promises to speed up government services while cutting down on crime and corruption involving identity documents.

Briefing journalists in Pretoria last week, Home Affairs Director-General Mkuseli Apleni said the pilot - to be launched within the next six months - would involve the issue of 2 000 smart IDs to allow for the testing of the smart cards' systems, hardware and software.

"It will also enable the government to procure the required machinery to produce the volume of cards that will be required, so that we eventually completely phase out the current green bar-coded ID."

Old IDs to be phased out over four years

Home Affairs Minister Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma said last month that the roll-out of the smart IDs - their issue to new ID applicants - would begin in 2013.

Apleni said that, once all the systems were tested and in place to produce the smart cards, all new ID applications would be treated as applications for smart IDs - at which point the minister would promulgate the costs of the smart IDs for citizens.

These are expected to be similar to the current costs for documents.

It was possible that the green bar-coded ID could eventually be phased out over about four years, Apleni said.

One card fits all?

Apleni said the government was looking at having South Africans use just one card for all their official documentation requirements - identities, licences, National Health Insurance, social grants.

He said the departments of transport, health and social development were wanting to be involved in the project, adding that Home Affairs would look into how it could upscale the chip on the cards in order to accommodate these departments.

BuaNews and SAinfo reporter

Tourism Minister Marthinus van Schalkwyk has called on South Africans to explore their own country and experience the variety, beauty and world-class service that draws millions of international tourists here every year.

Van Schalkwyk was speaking in Cape Town on Wednesday at the launch of his department's new domestic tourism growth strategy, which includes South African Tourism's new domestic marketing campaign under the tagline, "Whatever you are looking for, it's right here in South Africa".

'It's right here in South Africa'

"Here in South Africa, we have breathtakingly beautiful scenery, a treasure trove of cultures to explore, and fascinating people to meet," Van Schalkwyk said. "We have wonderful cities, which offer some of the best urban leisure experiences in the world.

"We have variety and diversity. We have outstanding and capable tourism infrastructure. The rest of the world comes to enjoy the offerings that are available to us on our doorstep," the minister said.

"Our message to South Africans who seek world-class destinations to relax in, have an adventure in and to explore is that they will find what they are looking for 'Right here in South Africa'."

Aiming to double domestic travel by 2020

The department has set itself the ambitious target of 54-million domestic trips by 2020, in an attempt to grow domestic tourism's contribution to the country's gross domestic product (GD) to 60 percent of tourism's overall contribution.

The minister said a total of 26.4-million domestic trips were taken in 2011, against 29.7-million in 2010. However, the number of adult South Africans who travelled domestically grew to 13.9-million in 2011, three percent more than the 13.5-million who took domestic trips in 2010.

The average spend per domestic trip grew to R780 per trip in 2011, from an average of R710 per trip in 2010.

Source: BuaNews

The National Treasury has allocated R800-million over the next two years for South Africa's Green Fund, which aims to provide finance for high-quality, high-impact, job-creating green economy projects around the country.

Water and Environmental Affairs Minister Edna Molewa made the announcement in Cape Town on Wednesday ahead of her department's budget vote in Parliament.

Molewa said the money represented a critical mechanism for achieving a just transition to a low-carbon, resource-efficient and job-creating green economy growth path in South Africa.

"The primary objective of the Green Fund is to provide catalytic finance for high-quality, high-impact green economy projects and mainstreaming activities which would not have been implemented without fiscal support," Molewa said.

'Myth' that green management hinders development

She said it was up to South Africans to debunk the myth that environmental management hindered development, by positioning the sector as a major contributor to job creation and the fight against poverty.

"The transformation of our industries towards the building of a green economy has many facets; [it is mainly] about creating new labour-absorbing industries that also mitigate impacts on the environment.

"This green economy offers substantial opportunities for job creation and development in the environmental goods and services sector, particularly in biodiversity, waste and natural resource management services."

Last year, the department committed to implementing a green economy plan through local and international partnerships with green investors, supported by funding from the Treasury's Green Fund, as well as international funding through facilities such as the World Bank Clean Technology Fund and the newly established Green Climate Fund.

Biodiversity jobs for 800 graduates, school-leavers

Molewa also announced on Wednesday that up to 800 unemployed school leavers and graduates, mostly from rural areas, would be hired in biodiversity jobs for a period of two-and-a-half years.

Molewa said the department would manage the placement of the candidates through the South African National Biodiversity Institute (Sanbi).

"Sanbi's application to the jobs fund, titled 'Catalysing access to employment and job creation in ecosystem management', was approved by the Development Bank of Southern Africa to the tune of R300-million," Molewa said.

Source: BuaNews

South Africa plans to recruit up to 10 000 service providers over the next three years while expanding early childhood development centres as the government moves to assist child-headed households in the country.

Speaking to BuaNews in Cape Town on Wednesday ahead of her department's budget vote in Parliament, Social Development Minister Bathabile Dlamini said the child and youth care workers would care for those orphans of up to four-and-a-half years old, noting out that the first 1 000 days of a child's life were crucial in their development.

The Department of Basic Education would be responsible for assisting orphans older than four-and-a-half years.

Her department had been allocated an additional R1.4-billion over the next three years to help cover the recruitment of services provided as well as the expansion of early-childhood development centres, with most of this amount to be channelled through the provinces.

She appealed to provincial departments to focus on disbursing as much of their budgeted allocations as possible to orphans.

'We must create a more caring community'

Dlamini said South Africa had more than a million orphans and the country needed to break the stigma of child-headed households. Some children were orphaned when, for example, one parent died after contracting HIV and another was killed in a road accident, while others were abandoned.

The minister said South Africans needed to create a more caring community, in which everyone's child was theirs too, so that extended family members could take care of orphaned family members.

Other South Africans could become foster parents and adopt children, she added.

Support from family and community members was important for those sidelined in society, such as orphans and those who were physically challenged, she said.

She pointed to a fellow pupil she grew up with, who had down syndrome yet would pass with the same marks as she got, thanks the support she received from her family.

'There is no dustbin for orphans'

At a breakfast function earlier on Wednesday, attended by about 50 orphans of child-headed households, mostly from rural areas and townships, Dlamini applauded her deputy minister, Bongi Ntuli, who is an orphan herself.

Ntuli became emotional as she described how department officials had picked up a newborn child yesterday.

"There is no dustbin for orphans", she said, adding that, thanks to those that had taken care of her, she had become the person that she was today.

"I am what I am because somebody took care of me," she said, telling the orphans that if they wanted to be someone in life, having the right attitude was necessary.

Source: BuaNews