South Africa will be participating in the 2023 Russia-Africa Summit which is scheduled to take place in St Petersburg, in the Russian Federation from 26-29 July 2023.

Media who wish to attend and cover the Summit are required to apply for accreditation on the link below, by no later than 05 July 2023. 

All the information about media accreditation - https://summitafrica.ru/en/media/accreditation/


Media enquiries: Vincent Magwenya, Spokesperson to the President – 082 835 6315
 
Issued by: The Presidency
Pretoria

President Cyril Ramaphosa has expressed his condolences to the family, friends and comrades of Ambassador Moosa “Mosie” Moolla, who passed way last night at the age of 88.

Fondly remembered for his vibrancy, good humor and insight, Mosie as he was commonly known amongst his comrades, dedicated his entire lifetime to the fight for freedom and the construction of South Africa’s constitutional democracy.  

“From a very young age, Mosie’s struggle was a selfless commitment to the liberation of the oppressed and a creation of a free, democratic society, founded on the principle of equality and human rights for all. 

The pain and suffering he endured during years of detention, treason trial and exile, away from his family has not been in vain. As we conclude marking Human Rights Month, we do so in honor to the contribution of many who perished in the quest for our freedom and to the sacrifices made by activists such as Mosie”, says President Ramaphosa.

Following many years of dedicated activism against apartheid, Mosie was amongst a group of struggle luminaries that included Nelson Mandela, Helen Joseph, Ahmed Kathrada and Walter Sisulu, who were acquitted in March 1961 after five grueling years of the 1956 Treason Trial.

After the promulgation of the the 90 day detention law, Mosie was held in solitary confinement at the Marshal Square Police Station. He would later escape and leave the country to join the exile leadership of the African National Congress (ANC) in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania in 1963. He became a member of Umkhonto Wesizwe and received military training in the USSR. During his exile years Mosie represented the ANC in India, Egypt and the World Peace Council in Helsinki, Finland.

With international relations experience and contribution to the CODESA negotiations, Mosie was appointed by President Nelson Mandela to serve as South Africa’s Ambassador to the Islamic Republic of Iran from 1995 to 1999. From June 2000 until 2004 he served as High Commissioner to Pakistan.

Ambassador Moolla is survived by his children Tasneem, Azaad and Afzal.  

Media enquiries: Vincent Magwenya, Spokesperson to the President on +27 82 835 6315

Issued by: The Presidency
Pretoria

President Cyril Ramaphosa will tomorrow , Wednesday, 22 March 2023, deliver the keynote address at the first day of the three-day National Conference on the Constitution which is titled Reflections And The Road Ahead.

The event will take place at the Gallagher Convention Centre in Midrand, Gauteng, under the theme “Reflections on the Constitution: Rule of law, accountability, social and economic justice”.  

The conference gives the nation an opportunity  to reflect and engage in dialogue on the past 25 years of the Constitution, nation building, gender equality, youth economic empowerment, service delivery and social stability, with the objective of charting a way forward that builds on the gains of democracy.  
 
As a platform for deliberating on continuous, robust debate on the purpose and effectiveness of the Constitution, the National Conference on the Constitution intends to broaden the discourse on the Constitution and encourage members of the public to participate in the conversation on constitutionalism and the state of democracy in the country.
 
Some of the focus areas in the programme include: 
• Transforming and building an independent and resilient judiciary;
• Transforming and growing the economy as a constitutional imperative;
• Progress on land reform: restitution and distribution;
• Governance and electoral reform;
• Effectiveness of constitutional and independent statutory bodies in strengthening 
constitutional democracy.

The conference will be attended by prominent figures of South African society including academics, members of legislatures, constitutional and independent statutory bodies, mayors, political parties, youth, students, business leaders, religious leaders, representatives of the legal fraternity, traditional leaders, media and others.

The conference will be held as follows: 
Date:  *22-24 March 2023
Time: 08h30
Venue: Gallagher Convention Centre,  Midrand, Gauteng

Media enquiries: For enquiries on media accreditation, please contact Mr Victor Mateane Phala on 084 888 5162.

Issued by: The Presidency
Pretoria

President Cyril Ramaphosa will attend and participate in the New Global Financing Pact Summit to be held in Paris, France on 22 – 23 June 2023 at the invitation of his counterpart, the President of the Republic of France, His Excellency Emmanuel Macron. 

Under the theme “Towards More Commitments to Meet the 2030 Agenda?” the Summit aims to build a new contract between the North and the South, to facilitate access to financing by the vulnerable countries. 
 
It builds on previous and ongoing work, which includes the Review of the Capital Adequacy Frameworks of the Multilateral Development Banks (MDBs); The Bridgetown Initiative, the World Bank (WB) Evolution Roadmap; and the Vulnerable 20 (V20) Accra to Marrakech Agenda.
 
The Summit’s ambition is to bring together several agendas: (climate, development, debt) and to propose innovative solutions to address these issues. This has been unpacked into the following objectives of the Summit:

I.    Increasing fiscal space and mobilizing liquidity.
II.    Unlocking finance for the private sector in Low-Income Countries.
III.    Scaling up investment in green infrastructures.
IV.    Designing innovative financial solutions for climate vulnerability.

The Summit also aims to set a new shared agenda which will be outlined in a Heads of State and Government Vision Statement on a New Global Financing Pact as well as to deliver a set of new commitments and concrete results.
 
The Summit also intends to catalyze an ambitious agenda for upcoming 2023 international events with the aim to push for concrete results on these occasions.
 
Although not aligned with the existing multilateral processes, the Paris Summit will provide a selected group of countries a platform to reach agreements on issues that can be used to influence the outcomes of the discussions in other international and multilateral platforms, such as the Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) Summit, G20 Summit, World Bank/International Monitory Fund Annual Meetings, the 28th Conference of the Parties on Climate Change (COP 28), among others.
 
More than 30 Heads of State and Government are confirmed to attend the Paris Summit, from Brazil, Germany; The European Union (EU) - President of the European Commission; the People’s Republic of China (at Prime Minister level); Barbados; Sri Lanka and Cuba.

Other countries confirmed to attend the Summit include Benin;  Gabon; Madagascar; Mauritius; Mozambique; Senegal; Tunisia; Zambia, the Democratic Republic of Congo; the Union of Comoros, the Arab Republic of Egypt, the Islamic Republic of Mauritania; the Federal Republic of Nigeria as well as the Togolese Republic.

President Ramaphosa will be accompanied by Ministers Naledi Pandor of International Relations and Cooperation and Enoch Godongwana of Finance as well as senior Government officials.


Media enquiries: Vincent Magwenya, Spokesperson to President Ramaphosa – +27 82 835 6315

Issued by: The Presidency
Pretoria

President Cyril Ramaphosa has described the Joint Working visit between Denmark and Netherlands as very opportune and important for forging closer cooperation, especially in the energy space.
 
Yesterday, 20 June 2023, the President hosted a joint working visit by the Prime Minister of the Netherlands, Mr Mark Rutte, and the Prime Minister of Denmark, Ms Mette Frederiksen in Pretoria.
 
The visit sought to solidify South Africa’s relationship with the two countries in the areas of green hydrogen, renewable energy and just energy transition.
 
President Ramaphosa said that “Renewable energy forms an increasingly important part of our energy mix and is vital to both the achievement of a just transition and greater energy security. We hope to benefit from closer cooperation with your countries in this regard”.
 
During the joint Official Talks, memorandum of understanding were signed between the Tripartite.
 
The Memorandum of Understanding signed were:
 
• The Memorandum of Understanding in the Field of Green Hydrogen between South Africa and the Netherlands led by signatories Prime Minister Rutte of Netherlands and Acting Minister of Electricity, Mr Mondli Gungubele.
 
• Amended Agreement between South Africa and Denmark regarding Development Cooperation concerning the Energy Partnership Programme 2017 led by signatories Minister of International Relations and Cooperation, Dr Naledi Pandor and Danish Ambassador to South Africa, Mr Tobias Rehfeld.
 
The visit also brought a substantial group of investors to South Africa to reinforce the high levels of cooperation and good relations between South Africa and two important European partners.
 
President and the Prime Ministers participated in a Denmark-Netherlands-South Africa Business Forum hosted by the Department of Trade, Industry and Competition (the dtic).
 
The Business Forum was held under the theme “Green Energy Transition and Green Hydrogen Partnerships for Impact” focusing on key areas in green energy and green hydrogen.
 
The engagements at the forum focussed in the green energy sector, increasing investment as well as partnerships and a social compact emerging from business and labour on skills. These also included roundtables discussions in greening of industry, port development, industrial development support, green mobility, fuel cells and electrolysers, and green energy generation.
 
The business seminar saw announcements on investments and partnerships from business and industry leaders from South Africa, Denmark and the Netherlands to enhance and increase trade and investment relations.
 
The Heads of State and Government witnessed the announcements of investment and partnerships between the three countries, namely:
 
1. The establishment of South Africa’s first dedicated green hydrogen fund. The SA-H2 is an innovative blended finance fund that will facilitate and accelerate the development of a green hydrogen sector and circular economy in South Africa. The $1 billion Fund is supported by Climate Fund Managers and Invest International of Netherlands, Sanlam, the Development Bank of Southern Africa and the Industrial Development Corporation of South Africa.
 
2. The Public Infrastructure Fund for Water and Energy: Invest International intends to establish a concessional financing package fund for 300 million euro to finance public infrastructure projects in the water and energy sector. The fund combines loans at 200 million euro and grants of 100 million euro and will contribute to the Just Energy Transition. Jointly it offers a complete financial package to assist South Africa in the delivery of public infrastructure plans in the water and energy sector. After this announcement, concrete steps will be taken to sign an MOU to establish the fund and identify public infrastructure projects.
 
3. Climate Smart Horticulture Demo Facility (Just Energy Transition): The Just Energy Transition is an opportunity to create sustainable 21st century jobs. In addition to contributing to a climate neutral society, it will also pave the way to establish a healthy and sustainable environment for local communities. ESKOM in partnership with the Netherlands, has identified the Grootvlei Power Station and its surrounding areas as potential hubs for horticultural production, processing, packaging and distribution. The agro –hub would be just 100km south east of Johannesburg and Pretoria. Through this partnership with the Netherlands, the partnership will have the ability to produce healthy and affordable food and secure high tech jobs in the climate smart agriculture. The first phase is to establish a facility that demonstrates smart ways of farming that are immune to climate change. This climate smart Horticulture Demonstration facility is a bold first step. It can produce 50 hectares worth of food on just half a hectare of a greenhouse, creating 15-20 permanent jobs per hectare. This facility will be ready in the 4th quarter of this year.
 
4. Expansion of the South African Energy Partnership III (DEPPIII) Government Cooperation The Danish-South Africa Energy Partnership Program (DEPP) was initiated in 2011 with the aim of assisting South Africa in meeting the countries climate goals as set out in the Paris Agreement. The purpose of the bilateral cooperation is to further develop capacity in key energy areas in South Africa and contributions through Danish expertise. It has been decided to expand the current third phase of the government cooperation (DEPPIII) with an overarching structure consisting of three additional focus areas.

• Further development in the wind mapping with a particular focus on Mpumalanga.
• To support the development of offshore wind in South Africa, particularly with the modelling and ocean mapping with the opportunity to build capacity on the development of relevant industry and ports, local value chains in the offshore wind industry.
• Capacity building on electricity market structure, function, regulation, stakeholder roles and responsibilities as well as the unbundling of ESKOM and the expansion of the transmission grid.
• Copenhagen Infrastructure Investment (CIP) investment in Mulilo and the South African sustainable energy development -$200 million.

Copenhagen Infrastructure Partners (CIP) was founded in 2012 and has developed in to be one of the world’s largest fund manager of green field investments in green energy infrastructure. To date, CIP has raised 10 funds and 19 billion euro from more than 140 international institutional investors worldwide. The fund invests in greenfield renewable energy infrastructure projects. The investment in Mulilo Energy Holdings (Mulilo), a leading South African renewable energy developer based in Cape Town represents CIP New Market Funds first ever investment in South Africa.

5. Labour Market consortium on social dialogue and skills development between the Danish Confederation of Industries, 3 F workers union, NUMSA, NBI, SEIFSA, NUM, BUSA.  The purpose of this compact agreement will be to collaboratively work with the various employer and social partners in establishing a framework and approach to identify the skills that will be required to promote  a socially just and inclusive energy transition in South Africa.
 
President Ramaphosa said that he is enthused by the Netherlands and Denmark to work together with South Africa to strengthen and deepen economic relationships and become key trading partners in the green hydrogen, green energy sectors, skills development, mining and in manufacturing, advanced manufacturing, infrastructure and innovation.
 
The President has welcomed and thanked companies and institutions from the Tripartite for the investment announcements and partnerships; which will translate into economic gains and creating a business environment that is conducive to supporting trade and investment.


Media enquiries: Vincent Magwenya, Spokesperson to President Ramaphosa – +27 82 835 6315

Issued by: The Presidency
Pretoria

Welcome to the Presidency media briefing session and update on the President’s programme of activities over the next two weeks.
 
This is a programme that supports the President’s focus on the issues that concern South Africa the most, and which the President listed as such in the State of the Nation Address on 9 February 2023.
 
Those concerns which shape the programme of the President and government are:
• Load-shedding.
• Unemployment.
• Poverty and the rising cost of living, and
• Crime and corruption
 
The deliberations of the Cabinet meeting chaired by the President just four days ago reflect government’s clarity and urgency in addressing these priorities.
 
President Ramaphosa noted progress in such areas as the opening of a bid window for a 513 megawatts (MW) of battery storage capacity as part of our response to the energy challenge.
 
The President also welcomed a regulatory exemption granted to Eskom by the Minister of Forestry, Fisheries and the Environment, Ms Barbara Creecy, that will later this year allow Kusile Power Station to resume generation capacity of 2 100 megawatts (MW) which will reduce South Africa’s exposure to load-shedding by two levels. 
 
The President has praised the signing of a memorandum of understanding between the automotive company Stellantis South Africa, the Industrial Development Corporation (IDC) and the Department of Trade, Industry and Competition (DTIC) to develop a new vehicle manufacturing facility in South Africa. Stellantis sells Jeep, Alfa Romeo, Fiat, Citroën, Opel and Peugeot brands in South Africa.
 
An investment of this nature is an acknowledgment of our country’s world-class manufacturing capacity in the automotive sector; it will deepen the industrialisation of our economy, and, most importantly, it will create more jobs.
 
The President is also encouraged by the export numbers from, Minister Ebrahim Patel when he presented the Department of Trade, Industry and Competition’s Quarter 3 report to Parliament.
 
The Minister reported that as part of the realisation of private sector pledges to invest more than One Trillion Rand in our economy, South Africa achieved R188 billion in manufactured exports in Quarter 3; in other words, close to R60 billion a month or R2 billion daily.
 
These are important examples among many of how government, social partners and the nation’s labour force are working together for inclusive and sustainable growth.
 
This is the context within which the President’s leadership and coordination plays out and a demonstration of an economy that continues to open up and seek growth.
 
THE PRESIDENT’S PROGRAMME
 
MONDAY 20 MARCH 2023
 
Mondays are normally reserved for the President to attend to his role as President of the governing African National Congress, and tomorrow will be no exception in this regard.
 
TUESDAY 21 MARCH 2023
 
The President will lead the national commemoration of Human Rights Day under the theme “Consolidating and Sustaining Human Rights Culture into the Future”. The history of Human Rights Day is grounded in the Sharpeville Massacre that took place on the 21 of March 1960, where apartheid police killed 69 anti-apartheid protesters. Human Rights Day also honours 35 people who were killed on 21 March 1985 when apartheid police targeted community members after a funeral in Langa, Uitenhage. As part of the democratic dispensation, South Africa observes March as Human Rights Month to promote respect for basic human rights for all and restore and uphold human dignity in line with the Bill of Rights. This period also honours those who fought for liberation, and celebrates the many rights guaranteed under the Constitution, and which are the basis for building a united and inclusive, non-racial, non-sexist and prosperous society. De Aar in the Northern Cape has been selected as the site for the national Human Rights Day commemoration as part of government’s rotation of national days that ensures that communities in all provinces are able to be part of such occasions.
 
WEDNESDAY 22 MARCH 2023
 
On Wednesday, the President will chair a meeting of the National Security Council as part of government’s regular cycle of assessing matters of national and international security.
 
These deliberations allow our security services to take decisions and act in ways that keep us safe in our homes, streets and workplaces, and that allow our economy to move forward in the way we illustrated earlier.
 
Wednesday will also mark the beginning of an historic State Visit with the arrival of His Majesty King Philippe and Her Majesty Queen Mathilda of The Kingdom of Belgium in South Africa.
 
This will be the first State Visit to South Africa by the Belgian monarchy.
 
President Ramaphosa’s invitation to His Majesty and Her Majesty underscores the strong bilateral relations that exist between the two countries. The State Visit will serve to expand and strengthen bilateral relations between the two countries and revitalise economic relations with a focus on trade, foreign direct investment, and tourism. South Africa and Belgium are also pursuing cooperation in renewable energy and in particular, green hydrogen. Belgium is one of South Africa’s most important economic partners and many of South Africa’s exports enter Europe through the Port of Antwerp, which is the second largest in the European Union. South Africa enjoys a healthy trade surplus with Belgium with organic chemicals as the key export, followed closely by diamonds and motor vehicles. Belgian companies are also significant investors in the South African economy. Belgium is traditionally among the 10 major sources of international tourists to South Africa.
 
This bilateral economic activity sustains South African and Belgian enterprises and sustains jobs and livelihoods for thousands of South Africans in sectors that produce goods and services that are of value to Belgian investors and visitors.Relations between South Africa and Belgium are managed through a Joint Commission that meets at the level of Deputy Foreign Ministers. Mr Alvin Botes, the Deputy Minister of International Relations and Cooperation hosted the Fourth Meeting of South Africa – Belgium Joint Commission in Pretoria on 8 November 2022. King Philippe’s delegation will comprise political, economic, and academic leadership including the Federal Minister of Foreign Affairs, Ms. Hadja Lahbib, as well as the Ministers and representatives of the five regions of Belgium. The programme of the monarchs will include official engagements with President Ramaphosa and members of government as well as visits to Johannesburg and Cape Town where they will engage with academia, business, and civil society, and visit historical and cultural sites.
 
THURSDAY 23 MARCH 2023
 
The official Welcome Ceremony for the Belgian State Visit will take place at the Union Buildings from 10am on Thursday 23 March 2023, while a South Africa-Belgium Business Forum will take place on the same day at the CSIR in Brummeria, Pretoria.
 
Business forums are platforms where private and public sector leaders and representatives are able to explore mutually beneficial opportunities and where – as the President and Minister Patel always say – businesses are able to advance from contact to contract.
 
The President looks forward to this Visit as an occasion for deepening strong ties between South Africa and Belgium as an important European and global economy.
 
TUESDAY 28 MARCH 2023
 
The President will on Tuesday 28 March address the Localisation Dinner function of the Proudly South African Buy Local Summit and Expo.
 
The Buy Local Summit 2023 highlights sectors that impact positively on the economy and job creation, including furniture, agro-processing, fast-moving consumer goods, clothing, textiles, footwear and leather.
 
At the dinner, the President will interact with CEOs and captains of industry who will report on existing localisation activities and pledge further escalation of localisation within their companies’ procurement choices.
 
THURSDAY 30 MARCH 2023
 
On Thursday, 30 March 2023, the President will brief the National Council of Provinces on issues raised by members in Questions for Oral Reply.
 
CONCLUSION
 
For the purpose of this briefing, we have come to the end of setting out the President’s programme for the period ahead, and I will now take questions.

Presidential Spokesperson, Vincent Magwenya will tomorrow, 19 March 2023, update the public, through a media briefing, on the President’s public programme for the week.  
 
The spokesperson also utilises the media briefing to address topical issues of public and media interest. 
 
Members of the media are invited as follows:
Date: Sunday, 19 March 2023
Time: 12:30 for 13:00
Venue: Union Buildings, Pretoria
 
RSVP: Media wishing to attend the media briefing physically are requested to submit their details to Tsakane Khambane– 082 084 5566 /Tsakane@presidency.gov.za 

A livestream link will be shared with all media who wish to follow remotely at 12:30. 
 

Media enquiries: Vincent Magwenya, Spokesperson to the President - +27 82 835 6315

Issued by: The Presidency
Pretoria

President Cyril Ramaphosa will on Tuesday, 21 March 2023, deliver the keynote address at the 2023 Human Rights Day commemoration to be held in De Aar, in the Northern Cape Province.

The theme for this first commemorative day on the annual national calendar is “Consolidating and Sustaining Human Rights Culture into the Future”.

The history of Human Rights Day is grounded in the Sharpeville Massacre that took place on the 21 of March 1960, where apartheid police killed 69 anti-apartheid protesters.

Human Rights Day also honours 35 people who were killed on 21 March 1985 when apartheid police targeted community members after a funeral at  Uitenhage/Langa.

As part of the democratic dispensation, South Africa observes March as Human Rights Month to promote respect for basic human rights for all and restore and uphold human dignity in line with the Bill of Rights.

This period also honours those who fought for liberation, and celebrates the many rights guaranteed under the Constitution, and which are the basis for building a united and inclusive, non-racial, non-sexist and prosperous society.

Government, social partners and constitutional institutions such as the South African Human Rights Commission are guided by the National Action Plan 
to Combat Racism, Racial Discrimination, Xenophobia and Related Intolerance.

The National Action Plan provides the basis for raising awareness of anti-racism, equality and anti-discrimination issues and developing collective responses.

De Aar in the Northern Cape has been selected as the site for the national Human Rights Day commemoration as part of government’s rotation of national days that ensures that communities in all provinces are able to be part of such occasions.

The Human Rights Day event will take place as follows:
Date: Tuesday, 21 March 2023
Time: 11h00
Venue: De Aar West Stadium, Northern Cape

Media accreditation enquiries should be directed to Mr Madimetja Moleba (DSAC) on 066 301 4675

Media enquiries: Vincent Magwenya, Spokesperson to the President – 082 835 6315

Issued by: The Presidency
Pretoria

The Cannabis and Hemp sector is one of fourteen priority sectors that have been defined in government’s Country Investment Strategy as holding significant potential to secure investment, job creation and support for sustainable rural livelihoods, in recognition of people’s rights.
 
Given the need for more urgent implementation, under the auspices of the Department of Agriculture Land Reform and Rural Development (DALRRD) together with the Presidency, government convened a Phakisa Action Lab from 19 to 23 June 2023.
 
The Phakisa brought together more than 100 participants representing national and provincial government, business, labour, communities, traditional leaders, Rastafari leaders, scientists, legal experts, and other key stakeholders.
 
The purpose of the Phakisa was to secure much-needed policy coherence and agreement on a stronger programme of well-defined, time-bound and assigned activities across multiple government departments working in close collaboration with all stakeholders.
 
In his letter to the Phakisa participants, President Ramaphosa indicated his trust in the process:
“I am confident that the collaborative commitment to work together which characterises our society, will find expression in the Hemp and Cannabis Phakisa, leading to immediate short term regulatory reform, the adoption of a set of foundational policy principles to achieve longer term legislative reform and a detailed plan to achieve inclusive growth and investment.”
 
The Phakisa has secured important resolutions and actions in this regard.
 
Participants have collectively agreed on the regulatory reforms required to better enable the development of the hemp and cannabis sector. These reforms will unlock the potential of cannabis in African traditional medicine; pharmaceutical and complementary medicines; human and animal ingestion; and multiple industrial applications.
 
The regulatory reforms agreed to in the Phakisa include reviewing the schedules to the Medicines Act to further enable cannabis grown for non-medicinal uses, including industrial purposes. In other words, the South African Health Products Regulatory Authority (SAHPRA) will focus on cannabis grown for medicinal purposes and enable other government departments to regulate cannabis grown for industrial purposes.
 
The Phakisa further resolved to explore mechanisms to fast-track the removal of cannabis from the Drugs Act. This will be a historic achievement through which the cultivation of non-medicinal cannabis will be legal under the terms and conditions of the Plant Improvement Act, which falls under DALRRD.
 
The supply of adult-use cannabis to consumers is not yet legal. A science-based and human rights approach to how and when to do this, especially concerning the need to include Indigenous farmers, will be the subject of a further exploratory process involving all stakeholders. This will determine an optimal regulated adult-use market, based on a set of foundational policy principles, taking into full consideration the imperative to respect rights and lower societal and industry harms occurring in the existing illicit cannabis market. This process will ultimately inform government’s approach to encouraging the successful migration of existing participants from the illicit to the licit cannabis economy.
 
Tony Ehrenreich expressed his support for the outcomes by stating:
“Labour supports these Phakisa outcomes as it will speed up the industrialisation of the industry which will lead to much-needed job creation and decent work.”
 
In addition, the Phakisa resolved to reinforce previous instructions to all South African Police Services (SAPS) members to respect the privacy rights of cannabis cultivators and users, and to ensure the least intrusive measures are used when securing an accused’s court attendance. Further measures will be taken to ensure that SAPS treats cultivators, users and dealers of cannabis with respect for their constitutional rights.
 
Nhlanhla Ndlovu, a community representative supporting the Cannabis and Hemp Master Plan development within the National Economic Development and Labour Council (NEDLAC) also expressed his satisfaction with the outcomes by stating:
“The Phakisa has started the process of liberating the cannabis plant. This freeing of the plant will go a long way in improving the relationship of the state with communities. In particular, the traditional communities, the Rastafari communities, the responsible adult users, the traditional healers and their patients.”
 
Ras Gareth Prince, an activist in the cannabis sector, echoed support for the Phakisa process:
“The Phakisa showed what we can accomplish if we work together in a spirit of recognition and reconciliation. We remain committed to restoring the dignity and economic culture of our community and the rest of society in a renewable and reliable manner. We trust that the government will work with us more progressively and we will hold them to the resolutions of the Phakisa.”
 
Agreement was also reached in the Phakisa for a detailed set of measures, supported by the regulatory reform process, to better enable investment in the sector. This is important as previously constrained investment in the primary agricultural sector has not taken sufficient account of final product market development and demand.
 
The detailed programme of action will therefore include
• Scaling up support for the existing catalytic projects put in place by the Department of Science and Innovation (DSI) and the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) to support and enable private sector investment in product aggregation, processing, and manufacturing technology for end-user demand.
• Securing an optimal financing framework which enables private sector investment with some public sector financing support, targeted at Black farmers and SME entrants in the emerging market and where appropriate, assisting to de-risk private sector investment.
• Deploying a set of pragmatic interventions concerning investment promotion, export support and standards and conformity assessment.
• Working with all provinces to further the activities currently underway and ensure alignment across government.
 
Business representative, Ayanda Bam praised the action of social partners:
“The Phakisa created a platform for the collaboration and co-ordination that has long been missing from the hemp and cannabis sector development and is evidence that when commitments are backed by action, it is possible to progress. What we need now is accountability to ensure that that progress translates to tangible outcomes. Business is committed to being a trusted partner and contributor to prosperity, innovation, and resilient livelihoods.”
 
The General Secretary of CONTRELESA, HRH Zolani Mkiva was also pleased with the progress made in the Phakisa, saying:
“We realise the need for progress in unlocking the potential embedded in the cannabis sector and the Phakisa is a critical step forward in our efforts to harness the unexplored sacred natural resources of our country.”
 
The Phakisa Action Lab has produced a solid and constitutional foundation for more urgent implementation of the Cannabis Master Plan. Most importantly, a programme of detailed, assigned and time-bound activities has been agreed on, with stronger implementing institutional arrangements across National and Provincial government departments and in collaboration with business, labour, communities, traditional leaders, Rastafari leaders, scientists and legal experts.


Media enquiries: Vincent Magwenya, Spokesperson to President Ramaphosa – +27 82 835 6315 or Reggie Ngcobo,Department of Agriculture, Land Reform and Rural Devleopment – +27 83 625 3446

Issued by: Government, business, labour, communities, traditional and Rastafari leaders

President Cyril Ramaphosa is deeply saddened by the passing of veteran activist and Esteemed Member of the Order of the Baobab Mam Sally Motlana.

Mrs Motlana passed away on Saturday, 24 June 2023, at the age of 96.

President Ramaphosa offers his deep condolences to the Motlana and Maunye families who share this loss, as well friends and comrades of the late community leader.

Born in Pilgrim’s Rest in the then Eastern Transvaal, Mrs Motlana lived in Sophiatown, Johannesburg, from an early age.

She studied at Fort Hare and - in addition to being elected Secretary of the African National Congress Youth League in 1951 - worked as a teacher until 1954, when she resigned from her post as part of the Defiance Campaign’s rejection of the newly introduced Bantu Education.

She was instrumental in the South African Council of Churches’ adoption of a public stand against apartheid and went on to serve as President of the Black Housewives League for 20 years.

Under Mam Motlana’s leadership the League undertook a number of development projects in education and food security in communities around Limpopo and Soweto.

President Ramaphosa said: “We are mourning the loss of a stalwart whose extended lifetime is a canvas of the history of our Struggle.

“Mam Sally Motlana was a fearless and resolute opponent of oppression, and a deeply spiritual and empathetic builder and organiser of communities who suffered under apartheid.

“Mam Sally endured arrests and harassment from a system that reserved the greatest disadvantage and dehumanisation for black women but remained steadfast in her belief that apartheid would be overcome.

“Today, as we continue to confront the legacy of the system she fought against, we should emulate Mam Motlana’s dedication to building self-sustaining and caring communities.”


Media enquiries: Vincent Magwenya, Spokesperson to President Ramaphosa – +27 82 835 6315

Issued by: The Presidency
Pretoria