Applications for Phase IV of the Presidential Youth Employment Initiative (PYEI) in the Basic Education sector have opened today and will close on 16 October 2022.

In a statement on Sunday, the Department of Basic Education announced that Phase IV will offer job opportunities to 255 100 youth across the nine provinces in around 20 000 public ordinary schools and schools for learners with special education needs (LSEN).

“Phase IV comes as the country‘s youth have reaped the benefits of more than 850 000 job opportunities coupled with training that was offered throughout this initiative. The applications will officially open on 26 September 2022 and close on 16 October 2022. This gives all the youth 3 weeks for applications,” the department said.

All the youth aged 18-34 years residing within a radius of 5km from a school, are requested to register on SAYouth.mobi and applyfor the Education Assistant and General School Assistant job opportunities.

“There is no cost to the youthfor accessing SAYouth.mobi, as the site is zero-rated. There will be no applications at schools,” the department said.

The opportunities have been distributed as follows among provinces:

PROVINCE	ALLOCATION OF JOB OPPORTUNITIES PER PED 2023 FOR PHASE IV
EASTERN CAPE	40 100
FREE STATE	15 500
GAUTENG	40 000
KWAZULU NATAL	58 500
LIMPOPO	35 000
MPUMALANGA	22 000
NORTHERN CAPE	7 000
NORTH WEST	16 000
WESTERN CAPE	21 000
NATIONAL TOTAL	255 100

The department has requested youth to note that, according to the new case law, any person working with vulnerable people (learners and disabled people) needs to be vetted, hence for Phase IV this is a requirement for placement.

The department said that it will communicate more information on requirements for placement in the next media statement. – SAnews.gov.za

The Department of Higher Education and Training (DHET) has advised Technical Vocational Education and Training (TVET) college students to contact the colleges where they wrote their exams regarding their certificates and diplomas.

Higher Education and Training Minister, Dr Blade Nzimande, said the certificates for students are released to colleges within 90 days after the release of results for students who meet certification requirements.

“Students who write examinations over multiple examinations to qualify for certification are expected to apply for the combination of their results at the last examination centre where they wrote their examination.  The centre will in return submit the application to the DHET for further processing.

“Students may also submit their enquiries on the eGOV portal, www.eservices.gov.za, which is monitored by a dedicated team at the DHET.  

“We, however, advise that all enquiries be lodged first with their college of registration before considering any escalations to the DHET, since feedback is always communicated to the college and not individual students,” Nzimande explained. 

Almost 100% certificates released 

The Minister said that 99.94% of certificates for the previous certification backlog (historical records) have been released to colleges for qualifying students after results combinations were processed.

The Minister said the department discourages colleges from withholding student certificates due to outstanding fees.

“Colleges must find workable solution to recover the outstanding fees,” Nzimande said.

Umalusi approves release of over 39 000 candidates’ results 

Nzimande also announced that Umalusi Council has approved the results and released the approval letter to the Department of Higher Education and Training.

This follows a meeting held by Umalusi Assessment Standards Committee (ASC) and the department on 5 September 2022 to finalise proposals to normalise the performance of candidates in four subjects, including Maths N3, Engineering Science N3, Fitting and Machining N2 and Electro-technology N3.

Nzimande said the approval letter recommended the release of 39 777 candidates’ results and the nullification of the results of 2 028 candidates, who were implicated in examination irregularities.

“The results of 39 777 candidates were processed for release by DHET on 9 September 2022. Therefore, the results of 2 028 candidates implicated in these serious irregularities remain blocked,” Nzimande explained.

He said the report was provided to the National Irregularities and Assessment Committee (NEIC), which is empowered by the National Policy Pertaining to the Conduct, Administration and Management of Examinations of Colleges as amended, registered and reported in terms of the Continuing Education and Training Act of 2006 to execute the appropriate sanctions.

“The results remain nullified, as recommended by the Umalusi Council and concurred with by the National Irregularities and Assessment Committee. 

“Accordingly, the implicated students will be allowed to register to write the end of the year examinations and if implicated again, they will be suspended for a period of three years from participating in future examinations,” Nzimande said.

The DHET condemned students who engage in irregularities, which has the effect of undermining the credibility and integrity of examinations. – SAnews.gov.za

KwaZulu-Natal Social Development MEC, Nonhlanhla Khoza, has called for a harsh sentence for the pastor who allegedly raped 13 children at Luvisi village in Nquthu, northern KwaZulu-Natal.

It is alleged that the 56-year-old reverend has been luring young girls and boys, aged between five and 17 years to watch cartoons and later play pornographic videos to watch with them.

The man was allegedly caught when a boy reported the matter to his mother, including the allegation that 11 boys and two girls, suffered at the hands of the man. 

The victim’s mother verified the information with other victims before reporting it to the local police.

It is alleged that the reverend started molesting children in 2021, with the last incident on Sunday, 18 September 2022.

Khoza has strongly condemned the rape and abuse of children by a man trusted by the community. 

The MEC said it was shocking that children were raped by the reverend over a period of one year and no one in the community was able to stop the horrendous incidents.

“It is very shocking that a man trusted by parents took advantage of children by sexually abusing them. We are very disturbed that a man, who is supposed to be helping parents in raising their children, is the one allegedly involved in such despicable cases in the community,” Khoza said.

She said religious leaders are expected to have high moral standards in building a violence-free society, where children and women are safe.

Khoza called on parents and communities to be extra vigilant and pay more attention to their children.

“We are calling on communities to support victims and their parents to build solid cases and bring the perpetrators to book. Child abuse and rape have no place in our society.

“We call on all men, women and children to stand up and make their voices heard. We cannot keep silent while our children suffer at the hands of people who are supposed to protect them. We need to work together to end these cruel and barbaric acts against children,” Khoza said.

She emphasised that it is every individual’s responsibility to protect children in society.

“As parents, we should always be on the front line in protecting our children and listen to them when engaging us. We should be friends with our children so that they can find it easy to tell us when encountering abuse,” she said.

The MEC commended the police for arresting the man, and a parent who noticed strange behaviour of her son, which led to more abused children being found.

Khoza has dispatched social workers to Luvisi village to provide psycho-social support and other interventions to the victims and families.

She has also instructed social workers to ensure that they help children to be able to give detailed statements on what happened.

The perpetrator was arrested and appeared at Nquthu Magistrate Court on Friday, where he abandoned his bail application. He will reappear in court on 14 October 2022. – SAnews.gov.za

Former Minister of Mineral Resources, Mosebenzi Zwane, has appeared in the Bloemfontein Magistrate’s Court on charges of alleged fraud and corruption related to the failed R280 million Estina Dairy Farm Project.

Zwane, who is currently a Member of Parliament, appeared in the court alongside former Sahara employee Ugeshni Govender and former director of Islandsite Ronica Ragavan.

The former minister was the MEC for Agriculture and Rural Development in the Free State at the time the project was signed off in 2012.

National Prosecuting Authority Investigating Directorate (NPA ID) head Advocate Andrea Johnson said the arrests and the appearance in court is another step in the unit’s crackdown of those accused of facilitating and participating in State capture.

“The enrolment of this case demonstrates the commitment of the ID to deal with perpetrators of State capture. This case should serve to remind the people of the Free State that this matter was not forgotten.  It does however take long to investigate and put together appropriate charges for prosecuting such complex cases.

“The Vrede Dairy Project destroyed the lives of the people and communities it was supposed to empower and uplift. The enrolment of the matter is a step closer to delivering justice to the people who were alleged to have been prejudiced by the criminal conduct of the accused,” Johnson said.

NPA ID spokesperson Sindisiwe Seboka explained that the project was aimed at benefitting emerging farmers in the Free State but investigations revealed that the entire project “was designed to extract funds from the State”.

“On 05 July 2012, Estina…entered into an agreement with the Free State Department of Agriculture to establish and implement a dairy farm project in Vrede to benefit previously disadvantaged farmers and to uplift the people of the Vrede area.  In terms of the agreement, Estina was to provide a capital injection of R228 million. Paras Dairy – a company incorporated in India – was presented as Estina’s partner in the Vrede Dairy Project.

“In the charge sheet, the Investigating Directorate  alleges that [in] terms of the agreement between the Department of Agriculture and Estina, the beneficiaries were to own 51% of the AGRIBEE entity and the remaining shares were to belong to Estina.

“The agreement further stipulated that the department was to contribute R342 million…[and] Estina received R280 million from July 2012 to April 2014.  Investigations also revealed that no proper tender procedures were followed with regards the decision to fund the proposed Vrede Dairy Project. Estina did not adhere to its obligations in terms of the agreement as only the department paid its contribution into bank accounts held by Estina,” Seboka said.

All three accused received R10 000 bail in the matter, where state prosecutors were not opposing the application. – SAnews.gov.za