Pretoria - With South Africa due to celebrate Worker’s Day tomorrow, Cabinet has called on all workers to unite and build South Africa’s economy and contribute to the continent and the world.
“Since 1994, government has advanced workers’ rights which resulted in workers benefitting from the generation of progressive labour and social protection benefits,” said Minister in the Presidency for Performance, Monitoring and Evaluation Jeff Radebe.
The Minister was briefing media on Thursday, following Cabinet’s fortnightly meeting.
Anniversary of the victory of the Great Patriotic War
Meanwhile, President Jacob Zuma will attend the 70th Anniversary of the victory of the Great Patriotic War (World War II) at Red Square in Moscow on 9 May.
President Zuma will also have a bilateral engagement with Russian President Vladimir Putin.
“This visit will build on our current bilateral relations with the Russian Federation to further advance cooperation in a number of fields,” said Minister Radebe.
Budget votes
As of next week, national departments will present their budget votes to Parliament between 5 and 21 May 2015. This will be to highlight their priority activities for the current financial year.
“Cabinet calls on South Africans to follow the budget votes on various media platforms to better understand when Ministers outline plans for Government’s Programme of Action (PoA),” said Minister Radebe.
Indaba 2015
The Department of Tourism and South African Tourism will hold Indaba 2015 from 9 to 11 May 2015 at the Inkosi Albert Luthuli International Convention Centre in Durban.
Cabinet said that this Pan-African event is a critical platform to promote tourism products to the international market.
It also supports the strategic vision of the National Tourism Sector Strategy to grow international arrivals to 15 million by 2020 and therefore create 225 000 new jobs.
5th Gender Summit Africa
Additionally, Cabinet welcomed the 5th Gender Summit Africa, the first to be held on the African continent. The summit, which kicked off on Tuesday and concludes today, is taking place at the Cape Town International Convention Centre.
The summit is a platform for groups and organizations across all levels of scientific research to address gender issues of mutual concern.
“The summit hosted by the Human Sciences Research Council strengthens Africa’s research agenda so that science, technology, infrastructure, capital, skills and data can better support the development of the continent,” explained Minister Radebe.
Sanitation and Hygiene Week
The Department of Water and Sanitation will mark Sanitation and Hygiene Week from 11 to 15 May 2015 under the theme “It’s not all about flushing”.
The week, which was first introduced at the Global WASH Forum held in Dakar, Senegal in 2004, aims to raise awareness on the importance of sanitation and promotes sanitation best practices.
Cabinet said that since 1994 government has made great strides in the provision of access to water and sanitation.
“Since September 2013, the Department of Water and Sanitation has eradicated the use of 14 386 buckets countrywide. Government remains committed to completely eradicate the backlog of the bucket system in our communities,” explained the Minister. - SAnews.gov.za
