Butjwana Seokoma's blog

Minister of Higher Education and Training, Dr. BE Nzimande's statement on Government's 2017 fee support to students from poor, working and middle class families Good morning ladies and gentlemen of the media, and thank you very much for making time to be here for this important announcement.

Our public universities are a significant national asset. They empower the next generation with skills and knowledge, and contribute significantly to the ability of our economy to compete globally through innovative and appropriate research.

The Right2Know Campaign (R2K) launched in August 2010 and is growing into South Africa’s first post-Apartheid movement centred on freedom of expression and access to information. The R2K is a democratic, activist-driven campaign that strengthens and unites citizens to raise public awareness, mobilise communities and undertake research and targeted advocacy that aims to ensure the free flow of information necessary to meet people’s social, economic, political and ecological needs and live free from want, in equality and in dignity.
 

This one is for board members. It is easy to say “Yes, thanks, I accept nomination to your Board”, but board positions come with a lot of responsibility that many of us may not know about. Here is a quick quiz for you and your fellow board members - you should at least know the answers to these questions below. In fact, all organisational staff and board members should know the answers - and there are many more that could be added.

Use these questions to hold a quick quiz with your board and with the organisational staff team:

University of Pretoria, South Africa

17 July 2016

Well, thank you. Good evening, ladies and gentlemen. Graça Machel, Professor Ndebele, Vice Chancellor de la Rey, members of the Mamelodi families, friends and dignitaries. 

I can’t think of a greater honour than giving a lecture named after Nelson Mandela. 

I’m also thrilled that the theme of this lecture this year is ‘Living Together’. 

It’s truly fitting because in many ways, ‘Living Together’ was also the theme of Nelson Mandela’s life. 

The National Development Plan (NDP): Vision 2030 set a target of training 100 000 PhD students by 2030. South Africa’s annual output stood at a mere 1 800 in 2014. In August 2015, the Department of Higher Education in South Africa introduced the Staffing SA Universities Framework (SSAUF), which aims to train a new generation of younger academics, and to address the current shortage of Black academics, specifically Black female academics. The Department outlined its goal of increasing the PhD output in South Africa to 7000 PhDs annually by 2019.

Honourable Deputy President,
Honourable Speaker of the National Assembly,
Ministers and Deputy Ministers,
Honourable Members of Parliament,
The Dean of the Diplomatic Corps,
All Excellencies Ambassadors and High Commissioners,
Captains of industry,
Fellow Africans and friends,
 
We are delighted to share this 2016 celebration of Africa Day with all of you.
 
Today marks 53 years since the establishment of the Organisation of African Unity (OAU).
 

The World Humanitarian Summit in Istanbul is fast approaching, and we’re preparing to participate in what could be the most important conversation about humanitarian funding yet. But there’s still a high risk that the summit will fail to address key drivers for change laid out in the High Level Panel on Humanitarian Financing report, ‘Too Important to Fail: Addressing the Humanitarian Financing Gap’.

Storytelling is increasingly relevant to the strategic communication and awareness-raising activities of nonprofit organisations (NPOs) in Africa.
 
Stories help people to better remember specific experiences. Stories shape our identities. With a great story, you can ensure that donors and supporters understand your work.
 
But how does your nonprofit tell its story? When you upload a video, a photo, or a blog post about your work, whom are you trying to reach with it? What do you expect the audience to do after they see or read the story?
 

Deputy President Cyril Ramaphosa,
His Majesty King Mphephu Ramabulana,
Ministers and Deputy Ministers,
Premier of Limpopo and his provincial executive council,
Members of the national and provincial legislatures,
Members of the National and the Provincial Houses of Traditional Leaders,
Executive Mayor of Mopani District Municipality,
Executive Mayor of the Greater Giyani Local Municipality,
Heads of Chapter 9 institutions,
Members of the diplomatic corps,
Ladies and gentlemen,
Fellow South Africans,
 

A report published by the Institute of Race Relations (IRR) today notes that very few South Africans benefit from current empowerment polices. Since these policies have failed to benefit the poor and disadvantaged, few people support them either. The IRR report calls on lawmakers to take their responsibility to empower the poor more seriously and to adopt new empowerment policies that will be far more effective.