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Owing to South Africa’s investment plan requiring much more money to be properly and fully implemented, President Cyril Ramaphosa on Tuesday called for reforms of multilateral development banks, international financing institutions and the mobilisation of commercial banks to meet the needs of developing economies for sustainable development and climate resilience.

Ramaphosa was delivering a National Statement, at COP27, held in Egypt.

He highlighted that African countries were losing between 3% and 5% of their gross domestic product owing to the effects of climate change.

South Africa recently endorsed the national Just Energy Transition Investment Plan as a basis for its pathway towards a low carbon, climate resilient society.

However, it will need about $98-billion over the next five years to enable a just transition and achieve the ambitious targets the country has set.

Ramaphosa explained that the plan includes a portfolio of investments across the electricity sector, green hydrogen sector and new energy vehicle sector, and also said financing mechanisms from public finance institutions and commercial institutions needed to provide good concessional loans and further stressed that more grants or non-debt instruments needed to be considered.

Ramaphosa said, at present, multilateral support is out of reach for the majority of the world’s population, owing to lending policies that are risk averse and that carry onerous costs and conditionalities.

“We have already communicated the structuring of the offer that they made to us at Glasgow, that we need to restructure and have more grants, as already we can see that our investment plan requires much more money to be properly and fully implemented,” he added.

He noted that at COP26 in Glasgow last year, France, Germany, the UK, the US and the European Union offered support in the form of a Just Energy Transition Partnership.

“It is our hope that this partnership will offer a ground-breaking approach to funding by developed countries for the ambitious but necessary mitigation and adaptation goals of developing countries,” Ramaphosa said.

He went on to say that a number of “beneficial” bilateral meetings were held, aimed at consolidating common views on climate action, on the just transition, as well as on funding processes.

“We believe that it is only with substantial support that Africa can build the resilience that is required to build, to protect itself and safeguard our economies. It is only with significant additional funding that we can ensure that future generations of South Africans and indeed Africa at large live in an environment that is clean, conducive to health and wellbeing and that has not been destroyed because of the inaction of today’s leaders,” concluded Ramaphosa.

Tania Campbell has been voted back into office as the mayor of Ekurhuleni.

Campbell received 124 votes in a special council sitting convened to elect a mayor. She was voted out during October in a motion of no confidence tabled by the African National Congress (ANC).

The ANC's Jongizizwe Dlabathi failed to garner enough votes to usher in the ANC's return to power in Ekurhuleni.

The ANC failed to reach an agreement with the Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) which would have seen the two co-govern Ekurhuleni. The EFF helped re-elect Campbell on Wednesday just as the party did in 2021.

President Cyril Ramaphosa will this week attend the 2022 United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP27) in Egypt, where South Africa will make a clear call for developed economy countries to support developing ones meet their climate change obligations.

Ramaphosa wrote in his weekly letter to the nation that seven years since the Paris Agreement was adopted at COP21, countries with developed economies have largely failed to honour their commitments to provide substantial financial support for climate actions in developing economies.

“Africa historically bears the least responsibility for climate change, but it is Africa that is feeling its effects most,” he pointed out.

Ramaphosa said South Africa will chair a high-level roundtable on the just transition at COP27, and will be going into the conference in a strong position with the recent adoption of the Just Transition Framework and the Just Energy Transition Investment Plan, which is out for public comment.

“Although South Africa is playing its part in the global climate change effort, we have been consistent in emphasising our right to development. We must ensure that the transition to a low-carbon, climate change resilient economy does not jeopardise our developmental goals. The move from fossil fuels to greener, cleaner energy sources cannot take place at the expense of economic growth and job creation,” said Ramaphosa.

At the conference, South Africa will highlight the need for multilateral financial institutions to lower the borrowing costs for developing economies to fund their climate adaptation and mitigation efforts.

“Many people may think that the discussions taking place in Egypt at COP27 are far-removed from their everyday lives. This is far from the case. We all have a clear stake and an abiding interest in the outcomes of COP27,” Ramaphosa stated.

He pointed to climate change activity that recently plagued South Africa, such as economically distressing floods, wildfires and a locust plague and stressed that these events had a strong likelihood of reoccurring.

He urged developed countries to meet their climate change obligations, which he said would help developing countries, such as South Africa, build the resilience needed to protect their respective economies.

“It is only with significant additional funding that we can ensure that future generations of South Africans live in an environment that is clean, conducive to health and well-being, and that has not been destroyed because of the inaction of today’s leaders,” said Ramaphosa.

A motion of no confidence in Johannesburg executive mayor Mpho Phalatse will be held on Friday.

Speaker Colleen Makhubele has called for the 12th extraordinary council meeting after minority parties in the opposition coalition were able to table the motion successfully.

The parties, led by the African National Congress, called a press briefing on Monday to announce the motion.

The African National Congress Youth League's (ANCYL's) National Task Team (NYTT) says President Cyril Ramaphosa cannot be granted a second term to govern the ANC, and further tarnish the party's image.

The ANCYL decided on its nominations for the ANC's top six, ahead of the national elective conference in December.

After a contentious debate which ended on Monday morning, the league voted to endorse former health minister Zweli Mkhize for the ANC presidency, and current treasurer-general Paul Mashatile for deputy president.

Mkhize beat Ramaphosa by a slim margin, News24 has been informed by those who attended the meeting in Birchwood on Sunday.

Ramaphosa received 16 votes, while Mkhize got 19.

Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma received the least votes - four.

Sources from the meeting told News24 that there had been fierce arguments about procedural irregularities leading up to the vote.

The ANCYL also endorsed Fikile Mbalula for the secretary-general position, Nomvula Mokonyane as deputy secretary-general, Limpopo Premier Stan Mathabatha as national chairperson, and Pule Mabe as treasurer-general.

Mashatile was unopposed in the vote, but there was a fierce contest between Mathabatha and NEC member David Masondo over the position of chairperson.

Asked why the youth league had decided not to endorse Ramaphosa for a second term, ANCYL NYTT spokesperson Sizophila Mkhize said they did not believe he had lived up to expectations.

Mkhize cited Ramaphosa's lack of "decisiveness" as the reason why he should not be given another chance to lead the party.

"We are saying he did not live up to our expectations. We believe he is really a president who is not in touch with reality. When you are not in touch with reality, you make wrong decisions. Some of the president's comments during the July unrest worsened matters. The issue of the rising unemployment rate is also a concern. The current leadership is not close to the people. There is no plan. People no longer care that the ANC went into exile. People want to put food on the table, and crime is rising every day," she added.

"Why is Pravin Gordhan still a minister? The lack of ability to take decisions also becomes a problem," the league's spokesperson said.

Mkhize said some members had supported Ramaphosa during the meeting, arguing that he deserved another chance.

But this would have further damaged the party, she said.

"If we give people more chances to ruin things, we are going to create problems for ourselves and drive ourselves out of power as the ANC. We cannot afford any more damage to the name of the ANC."

Concerning Mkhize, Mashatile and the other nominated top six leaders, the league argued that they would "complement each other".

"They can at least try and bridge the gap between the ANC and the people."

A source from the meeting, who had backed Ramaphosa, said the decision to support Mkhize was "shameful".

They said the meeting had heard that the ANC would have to "explain to the voters" how it was supporting Mkhize for the presidency.

"It was procedurally unfair. They did not apply the rules properly. We were meant to vote for a second round but they did not allow us," the source said.

ANC branches and regional youth leagues were wrapping up nominations for leadership positions over the weekend.

The final date for holding the meetings was 7 November.

A clear picture of the nominated leaders will be evident once the ANC consolidates the provincial nominations on 15 November.

The State is still trying to get a mental assessment for Parliament arson-accused Zandile Mafe, after the first one was cancelled due to procedural issues.

Mafe who was arrested on 2 January while the National Assembly building was on fire, finally made it into the dock of the Western Cape High Court on Friday, after refusing to attend the last two dates.

Judge Mokgoatji Josiah Dolamo postponed the pre-trial to 27 January so that Mafe's legal team could give this some consideration and get back to the court.

They also needed a postponement to get a room to take a laptop into for consultation with Mafe on the contents of a memory stick.

His lawyer Luvuyo Godla said on the sidelines of the matter that his client received a kettle and a TV, as requested when he refused to go to court for his last appearance.

National Treasury acting director-general Ismail Momoniat said the medium-term budget made allocations to struggling parastatals to supplement infrastructure investment for growth, warning some were so dysfunctional that they were close to becoming "zombies".

Momoniat was leading a delegation that briefed a joint sitting of Parliament's Standing Committee on Finance and Parliament's Select Committee on Finance. The briefing was a response to submissions received on the Revised Fiscal Framework and Revenue Proposals.

According to Select Committee on Finance chair Yunus Carrim, 10 submissions were received by the committees in the process from institutions including unions, nongovernmental organisations, and business lobby groups.

Submissions criticised the Medium-term Budget Policy Statement's decision to take on a portion of Eskom's R400-billion debt, to allocate R2.9-billion to Transnet to return out-of-service locomotives, and an allocation of R23.7-billion to Sanral, as well as R3.4-billion to Denel.

Over the medium term, government consolidated spending on building new and rehabilitating existing infrastructure will increase from R66.7-billion in 2022/23 to R112.5-billion in 2025/26.

They were also alarmed that no relief was provided for households facing rising costs, other than a one-year extension of the Social Relief of Distress grant (SRD) to March 2024.

Decreasing fiscal space

Momoniat said there were views from institutions, but the provision of funds to ailing SOEs and remuneration often undermined allocations. He said "spending our way" out of the country's economic challenges alone would not bring growth.

"The difficulty we have, having been in a budget before, in 2008, when we were running a surplus, [was that] we had a lot of fiscal space. And in a sense, a lot of that fiscal space, then, was used over the next few years. We have had mediocre growth since say 2010 and it has reduced our fiscal space considerably," said Momoniat.

No zombie SOEs

Momoniat said while the National Treasury wanted to prioritise more spending on infrastructure, the spending on social grants and remuneration alone numbered R1-trillion. He said the special appropriations for SOEs like Transnet were there to get entities functioning to catalyse growth.

"We tend to squeeze out funds for infrastructure and maintenance, funds that are growth-enhancing. And yes. The issue of the SOEs taking money. They have almost become like a fourth sphere of government, wanting their share of the equitable share.

"And if we don't want to fund some of them, you know, we've got to take a view either some of them need to be closed down if you don't want to fund them, or you fund them so little that they become like zombie companies, they can't really do much. And that is the difficulty we face," said Momoniat.

He said it was vital to have Transnet healthy and operating at optimum levels to get the freight and logistics sector working again.

A permanent grant comes with a tax

Regarding the basic income grant proposals, Momoniat said any permanent increase in non-capital expenditure by the fiscus, like a new grant, will have to come with a tax increase in the order of R40-billion to R140-billion.

Deputy director-general in the budget office, Edgar Sishi, said Treasury understood that the basic income grant was a political decision that did not lie in its domain. He said Cabinet gave the National Treasury guidance on the decision to extend the Social Relief of Distress grant by a year.

"Our humble opinion in this regard is that the political decision needs to centre around not just what we want to do but also what the trade-offs are, because everything has trade-offs. So, for the basic income grant, there are trade-offs in respect of what that means for the taxes you have to raise, who must raise those taxes, and what the impact would be on the economy and investment," said Sishi.

Sishi said Treasury needs to see a higher level of investment to improve growt...

President Cyril Ramaphosa will meet the deadline to respond to the independent panel probing the Phala Phala allegations.

On Friday, Ramaphosa's spokesperson, Vincent Magwenya, told a media briefing that Ramaphosa would submit his responses to the panel on time.

"The president, with respect to the inquiry panel, will deliver his submission to the panel by 6 November as per the published rules. Those rules do not provide for a direct in-person engagement, but he will comply with the ruling and the deadline. The details of the president's submission, I suppose, will be made available once the panel concludes its work," Magwenya said.

Ramaphosa has until Sunday to submit his responses.

The period 22 to 27 October was the time frame allowed for any member of the National Assembly to submit information on the issue.

Ramaphosa has been allocated the period 28 October to 6 November to respond to information and questions received.

Between 7 and 17 November, the panel will consider all information received, conduct any additional research, deliberate on the facts, and write and finalise its report.

National Assembly Speaker Nosiviwe Mapisa-Nqakula appointed the Section 89 inquiry panel following a motion by African Transformation Movement leader Vuyolwethu Zungula for Ramaphosa's removal on the grounds of "a serious violation of the Constitution or the law and serious misconduct".

Former chief justice Sandile Ngcobo chairs the independent panel, which will determine whether there is a prima facie case that requires an answer from Ramaphosa.

Following objections from the Democratic Alliance and Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) last week, legal academic and political commentator Richard Calland announced he would no longer serve on the panel. Replacing him is advocate Mahlape Sello, SC.

The third person is former judge Thokozile Masipa.

Magwenya reiterated that the matter was under investigation.

So far, only the United Democratic Movement (UDM) and EFF have made their submissions to the committee known.

UDM leader Bantu Holomisa called on the committee to look at the sources of the controversial money.

EFF leader Julius Malema asked the panel to scrutinise the constitutional rules about Cabinet members' profits from sources other than their official work.

The Phala Phala saga became a burning issue in June, after former director-general of the State Security Agency (SSA) and former correctional services commissioner Arthur Fraser opened a kidnapping and money laundering case against Ramaphosa, the head of the Presidential Protection Unit Major General Wally Rhoode, and Crime Intelligence members.

He stated that they had allegedly concealed a burglary at Ramaphosa's Phala Phala farm in February 2020.

According to Fraser's affidavit, Ramaphosa had at least $4-million in cash stashed in a couch on the game farm, and played a part in covering it up, following an allegedly illegal investigation.

Mmusi Maimane's party Build One SA has agreed to a formal partnership with the Unemployed Educators' Movement of South Africa (Uemsa).

The partnership will see the two organisations working together to bring national attention to the cause of unemployed qualified teachers across South Africa.

It is geared towards launching a programme of action to demand tangible action from the Department of Basic Education on the matter.

At a media briefing outside Parliament on Thursday, Maimane said when BOSA was launched 40 days ago, the party committed itself to offering a real alternative to the political party establishment.

"Instead of simply making empty promises, we committed to being a constructive force by working in conjunction with established role players to solve our country's core challenges. These being unemployment, education, safety, healthcare, and government efficiency," he said.

According to Maimane, Uemsa straddles with two of these core challenges – unemployment and education.

"Uemsa is currently regionally based in Gauteng, with an active membership of 1 500, and a database of almost 30 000 qualified educators who are either sitting at home unemployed or working another job while wanting to be apply their trade as educators. It exists to represent this constituency of unemployed educators and seeks to expand to all other provinces in the coming months," he said.

The signed memorandum of understanding between the two organisations will work towards:

creating public awareness and taking a stand against issues such as the teachers' intake process; the ratio of qualified teachers to pupils in the country; subject allocation to unqualified teachers; abuse of the Presidential Youth Employment Initiative; salary kickbacks; and quid pro quo assault

requesting the Department of Basic Education to conduct a third-party audit of the aforementioned issues

assisting in creating employment for members to the best of its ability

working together with the National Unemployed Workers' Union to upskill members as coaches, and

providing legal aid in the legal action to be taken against the Department of Basic Education.

Added to that, BOSA said it would work to advocate for pressing issues that include dropping the 30% pass mark for subjects.

It is also looking at ways to introduce an independent education ombudsman, incentivising pupils during the academic year and implementing tighter security at all schools.

Other plans include expanding extended programmes for underperforming pupils; reprioritising funds for digital learning and infrastructure; higher pay for performing teachers; a nationwide skills audit for teachers; and addressing the disproportionate power trade unions wield over teachers and the functioning of the education system.

Maimane also said parents must be given a far greater choice in how and where their children were schooled and educated.

City of Johannesburg Mayor Mpho Phalatse said on Thursday that there is anecdotal and documented evidence that the African National Congress’s (ANC’s) only ploy is to corrupt, capture and collapse the municipality.

Phalatse held a media briefing, where she stated that should the ANC get the keys to the City, the municipal bank account would be emptied out like never before.

“Much was said about the finances of the City, because of course that is where the attention of the corrupt is focused. There was little to no truth about what was said, in the main because the figures are unaudited. We have nothing to hide because the audited figures will be presented before Council, as per legislation,” she said.

A motion of no confidence was meant to be tabled on Thursday against Phalatse, however, Joburg council speaker Colleen Makhubele withdrew the notice on the basis that the motion was inadmissible.

Phalatse highlighted that what was of concern, was how “nonchalant” former Joburg Mayor Dada Morero was about the delayed R2-billion short-term loan from the Development Bank of Southern Africa.

She explained that a report was supposed to have been revealed at the last Council sitting but was blocked, and had been kicked further down the road due to the cancellation of Thursday’s Extra-Ordinary Meeting of Council.

This showed that the ANC is willing to collapse the City in order to grab power, she said.

She noted that while its finances were not in the best position, the municipality was taking active steps to rectify this.

Phalatse highlighted that the notion that there was anxiety about the payment of salaries was a fabrication and claims that the municipality cannot meet its financial obligations were a lie.

She said the City of Johannesburg was in fact one of the few municipalities across the country that does not owe Eskom or Rand Water.

“In the less than 30 days that the illegally elected government was in office, we began to see and hear of the tearing down, bit-by-bit, of the foundations and structures of good governance and the effects thereof that we had established,” said Phalatse.

REPAIRING JOBURG

She said while another motion of no confidence against her was staved off, Phalatse said she was aware that another motion was already in the works.

She added that data showed that the Multi-Party Government were beginning to repair Joburg.

“Residents have shared their experiences of the rebuild of Joburg. Indeed, the City was starting to gradually look and feel better. The Multi-Party Government is not claiming to have done a perfect job, but we had only just begun,” she said.

The already set out budget of the Multi-Party Government has allocated R795-million to water supply infrastructure, and an additional R600-million for sanitation infrastructure.

Phalatse explained that many of these projects are on the go, and will see completion between 2023 and 2024. Some storage and distribution projects were delayed because the scope of the projects had to change to accommodate the inclusion of back-up power generation, she added.

Joburg Water has made steady progress in replacing Johannesburg’s old sewage and water piping infrastructure, and in completing road reinstatements following emergency and scheduled maintenance.

In the final quarter of the 2021/22 financial year over 100 km of water piping, and just under 70 km of sewage piping, was replaced against the targets of 26 km and 15 km respectively.

Rolling blackouts having tragically becoming part and parcel of everyday life, with deep and negative effects on the economy and people’s way of living. The Multi-Party Government, through City Power has partnered with the Department of Mineral Resources and Energy to procure 15 000 solar water geysers at no cost.

City Power will develop the criteria for the beneficiaries who need them the most such as orphanages, hospices, old age homes and animal shelters.