SHARING CAREER INFO: Deputy Minister of Transport, Ms Sindisiwe Chikunga interacting with learners at this year’s Transport Week Career Expo currently taking place at the Sci-Bono Centre in Newtown, Johannesburg.
Johannesburg: 26 October 2016
Early exposure of young people to possible future careers in any field of occupation in life remains key to sustainable, orderly education, training and skills development and the staging of this year’s Transport Week, currently underway at the Sci-Bono Discovery Centre in Newtown, Johannesburg; is in keeping with this truism.
TRANSPORT WEEK: Learners being taken through a stage presentation involving career exposition during this weeks Transport Week Career Expo currently taking place at the Sci-Bono Science Centre in Newtown, Johannesburg.
Transport Week 2016, held in the month of October to dovetail with South Africa’s ‘Transport Month’ is a week-long career expo and exhibition intended to share information with thousands of foundational level students on careers available in the country’s transport subsectors; rail, air, road and sea. (For video highlights Click Here)
MOVING PEOPLE: Gautrain Company, one of the transport sector companies participating at this years Transport Week at the Sci-Bono Science Centre in Johannesburg
Among key participants at the careers expo are the South African Maritime Safety Authority (SAMSA), Airports Company South Africa (ACSA), South African National Roads Agency (SANRAL), rail operator Gautrain Company and about 20 others from both the public and private sectors.
No less than 6000 pupils from Gauteng schools in an around Johannesburg – about three quarters of them being high school pupils – are scheduled to attend the event over the five days during which they will interact with as many as 40 presenters in short classes averaging 30 minutes per session on careers information.
At kick-start on Monday, Deputy Minister of Transport, Ms Sindisiwe Chikunga officiated, walking about the centre interacting with both the exhibitors as well as the first group of about 380 pupils present during the morning session.
SHAPING MINDS: Primary school pupils who are part of scheduled 6000 learners in Gauteng attending this years Transport Week Career Expo in Johannesburg, being explained the maritime sector by a SAMSA representative
According to SAMSA, organizers of the maritime sector expo section, and first time participants in the annual transport sector career expo during October; the event provides opportunity also for maritime sector key role-players to share directly with other role players in the transport sector critical information about skills development in the maritime subsector to help youths make informed decisions about their future careers.
EQUIPPED: Learners showing off bags of goodies inclusive of maritime career information booklets received from SAMSA at this year’s Transport Week Career Expo in Newtown Johannesburg.
Since 2012, the Maritime Industry Focus Week organised through a partnership between SAMSA and Sci-Bono Discovery Centre was held separately during the early part of the year.
“The main purpose of the Transport Week is to help guide the learners towards realizing the importance of various career prospects within the transport sector inclusive of information on bursaries, learnerships and employment opportunities that are available.
“It is also to raise the awareness also of educators so that they can become ambassadors and carry on instilling an interest in the learners to consider choosing a career in trasportation.”
Sharing of information with learners on the maritime sector includes aspects relating to the country’s Operation Phakisa (Ocean Economy) programme.
South Africa’s recently developed maritime research and innovation road map is anticipated to be among highlights at this year’s South Africa-Norway Science Week scheduled for Pretoria and Cape Town at month end.
The inaugural event to be held in Pretoria on Monday 31 October before moving to Cape Town from Tuesday to Friday (November 01-04, 2016), is a joint initiative between the South Africa and Norway governments. Its aim is to provide a platform for exploration of opportunities for cooperation in education, research and new business development.
This week, in the video below, Norwegian Ambassador to South Africa, Ms Trine Skymoen gave a broad, insightful overview of the event, and about which she said her country was very excited to be part of.
South Africa, a maritime country that doesn’t know it!
For South Africa which has worked closely with Norway on particularly research collaboration on a range of fields since launch of the South Africa-Norway Programme on Research Cooperation 15 years ago; the Science Week 2016 event is said set to provide opportunity for the country to share its recently developed marine and maritime sector research and innovation roadmap.
Funded by the South African Maritime Safety Authority (SAMSA) under the Department of Transport, with partners inclusive of the Department of Science and Technology, and compiled by the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) in partnership with the South African International Maritime Institute (SAIMI) the roadmap document in a book format titled A Research, Innovation and Knowledge Management Road Map for the South African Maritime Sector – Charting a Road to Maritime Excellence by 2030, was published earlier this year following to a lengthy, intensive consultative process involving no less than 400 stakeholders in the country’s maritime sector.
According to editors – all researchers at the CSIR’s Natural Resources and Environment division – Nikki Funke, Marius Classen, Richard Meisser and Karen Nortjie; development of the roadmap was in response to an expressed urgent need for coordinated guidance into research needs in the country’s maritime and marine environments.
According to the researchers, South Africa has 3924 kms of coastline and a “sea-land” area – known as an Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ) – that is three times bigger than its land size (at 1.5-million square kilometers). The country is also positioned on a major shipping route and has eight commercial ports and 44 non-commercial harbours.
Currently, 58% of South Africa’s gross domestic product (GDP) is based on trade and 98% of South Africa’s trade volume moves by ships. In addition, the country generates a significant 3.5% of the world’s seaborne trade volume.
However, in spite of these impressive numbers and with 30% of South Africa’s population living on the coast, many South Africans generally do not recognise their country as a maritime nation.
“In order to provide a mechanism through which…. critical questions can be answered, SAMSA, in collaboration with the Department of Science and Technology (DST) and the South African International Maritime Institute (SAIMI), appointed the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) to facilitate the process of developing a National Research, Innovation and Knowledge Management Road Map for the South African maritime.
“The Maritime Road Map presents a vision for the maritime sector, which is for South Africa to be globally recognized as a maritime nation by 2030. The Maritime Road Map subsequently identifies eight key objectives, which, together with a set of core research, innovation and knowledge management-focused actions per objective, serve to enable the maritime sector to chart a course to maritime excellence in South Africa.
“The Maritime Road Map therefore sets the agenda for the research, innovation and knowledge management needs for the maritime sector and maps out the direction the maritime sector is required to take in order to address these needs,” so state the editors.
Funke et al further state that the Maritime Road Map is also crucially relevant to the country’s maritime economic sector rejuvenation and repositioning under the Operation Phakisa (Ocean Economy) project launched two years ago and through which the country’s oceans are estimated able to generate up to R 177 billion to the gross domestic product (GDP) by 2033 – more than three times the rate of contribution generated by the sector in 2010. As many as 22 000 new direct jobs are projected for 2019 with the figure anticipated to rise to between 800 000 and 1-million new jobs in 2033.
The Maritime Road Map according to the editors, has its scope spread between both the maritime and marine domains, with thematic areas defining the scope involving precisely shipping and transport, marine resources, coast and marine tourism and marine protection services and governance.
As many as 300 guests are expected to attend the South Africa-Norway Science Week 2016 from October 31 to November 04, with a sizeable number of these being from overseas countries including Norway and France.
Keynote speakers will include Minister of Science and Technology, Ms Naledi Pandor.
South Africa’s multi-billions rand worth maritime economic sector presents business opportunities far fewer investors globally are willing to ignore, the least among these being Norwegians, who through both their government and independent institutions, are firming their bilateral relations with the country.
This becomes evident yet again last this month when the Scandinavian country – with long experience in oceans economy and globally respected expertise on matters marine and maritime – joins the South African government in staging a week-long “Science Week” beginning on October 31 in Pretoria and winding down in Cape Town five days later.
File Photo: Earlier this year, delegates to a two-day national maritime cluster development seminar held in Port Elizabeth, among them senior government officials, maritime sector industry leaders, academics, research and business people from South Africa and Norway
Themed: “South Africa-Norway Science Week 2016”, the event – a first of its kind driven by the Norwegian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Research Council of Norway and the Norwegian Centre of International Cooperation in Education, and supported in South Africa by a host of Government departments and institutions led by the Department of Science and Technology (DST) – is billed as aimed at creating opportunity for further sharing more intensively, information on the many opportunities presented by South Africa’s oceans economy.
In a statement recently, according to ‘Team Norway’ – a Norwegian group comprising the Research Council of Norway, Norwegian Centre for International Co-operation in Education, Innovation Norway and the Norwegian Embassy in Pretoria – the event “aims to explore opportunities for cooperation in education, research and new business development.”
The group states that the event is a result of and seeks to cement already well established relations between Norway and South Africa dating back to the ‘pre-freedom years when Norway actively supported opposition to the apartheid regime.
“The 1990s initiated an era of co-operation in higher education and research (and) since 2002, bilateral research programmes have provided support for 86 projects, of which 19 are still active,” it says, adding that annual high consultations between the two countries focus on areas of common economic and political interest, including the SANCOOP programme for research on climate change, environmental and renewable energy.
In addition, focus of the annual bilateral meetings between South Africa and Norway at Ministerial level have increasingly focused on areas for co-operation on South Africa’s Operation Phakisa (Oceans Economy) programme.
The latter co-operation has since culminated in among others, the Norwegians in 2016 entering into a partnership with the Port Elizabeth-based Nelson Mandela University where they ploughed some R50-million over five years in a new academic centre to fight against illegal fishing in South Africa.
During 2016, the Norwegians were also part of a gathering of some of the country’s maritime economic sector role-players in Port Elizabeth working on a strategy for an anticipated rollout of a South African national maritime cluster.
Later this month, they will again be joining South Africans to look at and share experiences related to the country’s opportunities and challenges with regards the ocean space over the next 10 years.
FILE PHOTO: Signing a historic bilateral agreement on establishment of a centre to fight illegal fishering at the Nelson Mandela Metropolitan University in Port Elizabeth recently are (Left) Norway’s ambassador to South Africa Ms Trine Skymoen and Dr Sibongile Muthwa, acting Vice President of the NMMU
The discussion in plenary sessions will focus on among key issues; an ‘overview and strategic context to the blue economy’ dealing specifically with global trends and national strategies related to benefits of expanding bilateral cooperation in education, research, innovation and business development.
Also in focus will be South Africa’s Operation Phakisa (Ocean Economy) and how the Norwegians could contribute in its further development and advancement.
Related will be focus on global success stories and new funding opportunities for entrepreneurs, innovators, researchers and related.
Over 200 guests are already confirmed as attending the Science Week in Pretoria and Cape Town, among these being dozens of academics, specialists and innovators in the global oceans space from several universities, research institutions and business sectors in South Africa, France, and a few others countries.
South Africa’s Minister of Science and Technology, Ms Naledi Pandor
Also key participants from South Africa are Minister of Science and Technology, Naledi Pandor; National Research Foundation executive director, Dr Aldo Stroebel; The Innovation Hub CEO, Mr McLean Sibanda; South Africa Maritime Safety Authority (SAMSA) acting CEO, Mr Sobantu Tilayi and others.
From Norway the delegation is expected to include Norwegian Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs, Ms Tone Skogen; Research Council of Norway director-general, Mr Arvid Hallén, Innovation Norway director of Regions and Financing, Mr Per Niederbach; SINTEF executive Dr Karl Almås, and several others.
The South Africa-Norway Science Week 2016 begins at the Innovation Hub in Pretoria on October 31 and wraps up in Cape Town on Friday, November 4, 2016 with excursions of the Western Cape by various interest groups that may involve focused seminars, workshops and network opportunities.
For more information on the event, and an online platform to register for attendance, please Click Here.
South African maritime studies students in Vietnam (third from Left) Mthunzi Zenzele Makukula, (infront leaning forward) Mandisa Susan Mthembu, (third from Right) Kentse Sendra Matshira and (extreme Right) Mpumelelo Ndebele; with South Africa’s Deputy President, Mr Cyril Ramaphosa and members of his delegation during a stop over in Vietnam on October 4, 2016.
Pretoria: 11 October 2016
A stop-over in Haiphong City, Vietnam by Deputy President Cyril Ramaphosa and his government delegation a week ago brought about much joy and celebration for a group of South African tertiary level maritime education students resident in the country.
The visit and meeting with the group of four students at the Vietnam Maritime University and International School of Education – Sendra Kentse Matshira, Mpumelelo Ndebele, Mandisa Mthembu and Cyril Makukula – reportedly occurred at Mr Ramaphosa’s request during his visit of the East Asian region, including Singapore.
On Tuesday 04 October, accompanied by among others Deputy Minister of Defence and Military Veterans, Mr Kebby Maphatsoe and Deputy Minister of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries, Mr Bheki Cele; Mr Ramaphosa invited the four students for a lunch meeting and they duly obliged, with much excitement.
After the most appreciated lunch meeting, Mr Ramaphosa on a brief tour guided by Vietnamese foreign ministry directorate official, Mr Nguyen Trung Kien; tagged the group along to the Haiphong City harbour where Vietnam’s reputedly biggest shipyard, Vinashin is located. It turned out to be yet another photo shooting opportunity for the four students.
Recounting the experience shortly thereafter they described it as a great honour to have the opportunity to meet and interact with Mr Ramaphosa and his delegation.
“We were honored with an invitation to have lunch with Deputy President of South Africa and his delegation. The meeting took place at a government building in Haiphong city where our university is also located
“Firstly, when we arrived at the venue we were called in by his delegate and then we went to his
Deputy President Cyril Ramaphosa with Khentse Sendra Matshira
table to greet him. The basic questions he asked included: “What’s your name, Where (in South Africa) are you from?….. ” and then, after that we greeted his delegation with some asking us about the courses we are doing and requirements to study this course.
“Secondly, he wanted to take photos with us – one by one and then in a group.. Mr Kebby Maphatsoe the Deputy Minister of Defence Force and Military Veterans of South Africa was very happy about us. He even encouraged us to study hard because he believes we are the future solution of our country.
Deputy President, Cyril Ramaphosa with Mandisa Susan Mthembu.
“He told us he would be glad to assist with anything when we get back home. He also took photos with us. At the end of it, it was a good day. We had fun and it gave us hope that we have a bright future ahead and all we have to do is to work hard at school.” related the group afterwards.
Working hard at their studies, they are – according to their latest academic results report since joining the Vietnamese maritime university a year ago.
Deputy President Cyril Ramaphosa with Mthunzi Makukula
Makukula, Matshira, Mthembu and Ndebele joined the Vietnam Maritime University in 2015 on a Vietnamese government sponsored scholarship intended for youths interested in pursuing tertiary level maritime sector related studies.
Vietnam Maritime University, currently with about 17,000 students engaged in various study courses provided in 35 undergraduate subjects is a long established institution dating back to 1956. It is one of 17 key universities of Vietnam as well as the largest school in the Vietnamese transportation sector.
Deputy President Cyril Ramaphosa with Mpumelelo Ndebele
In terms of the South Africa deal, according to Vietnam Maritime University rector, Associate Professor Dr. Luong Cong Nho; Vietnam Maritime University grants scholarships worth approximately US$23 000 per student per whole course of study beginning in the academic year 2015 -2016.
The four South African students in Vietnam with South Africa’s Deputy Minister of Defense and Military Veterans, Mr Kebby Maphatsoe during a visit with Deputy President, Cyril Ramaphosa to Vietnam in early October 2016
However, the scholarship only covers all the tuition fees and university‘s hostel accommodation (if required), but excludes subsistence allowances and return international airfares.
South Africa’s Deputy President, Cyril Ramaphosa during a tour of the Vietnamese Vinashin Shipyard at Haiphong City’s harbour on 4 October 2016 and during which he tagged along South Africa’s four students in maritime studies based in the city.
The SA Maritime Safety Authority (SAMSA) – a government institution at the forefront of facilitating among other issues, the expansion of education, training and skills development for South Africa’s maritime economic sector – covers the extra costs excluded in the grant for three of the four students.
Provided copies of their academic progress to date show that all four are coping relatively well, with all of them notching an average B to B+ (76-80: 81-84) score marks per semester, in a range of subjects inclusive of Mathematics, Micro and Macro-economics, Oceans Politics, International Law and Relations, Global Logistics, Economic Geography, to Politics of Pacific Asia, International b+Business and Globalization.
The group is expected to complete its junior degree studies in another two to three years.
Xhariep Dam Resort (Free State): 30 September 2016
Ill-discipline by South Africa’s youth at the country’s educational institutions involving wanton violence and destruction of property is a serious threat to many gains made to improve the socio economic conditions of South Africa’s people, Free State MEC for Transport, Bhutana Khompela has warned.
ALL FOR MARITIME EDUCATION: Free State MEC for Roads & Transport, and Police; Mr Butana Khompela
The warning came during celebration of World Maritime Day 2016 held this year at the Xhariep (Gariep) Dam in the Free State. The national Department of Transport driven annual event’s proceedings incorporate a Careers Expo during which foundational students (Grade 10-12) are taken through an exposition of a variety of careers in the country’s maritime sector.
Speaking during the main event on Thursday, Mr Khompela said the Free State Province regarded education as top priority and that it led the country’s other eight provincial governments in spending the most on bursaries to support tertiary level students with their studies in South Africa and abroad.
However, he said he noted with sadness and frustration that the country’s universities had been forcibly closed down by violent students for what he described as no sensible reason.
“When we fought for the liberation of this country, we said ‘liberation first and education last’. We achieved liberation and now it is time for education. Education must come first and nothing else!” said Mr Khompela
He warned that the notion of a free education was a misnomer South Africa’s youth at universities were using based on ignorance bothering on malice, and that their violent actions to demand free education were both unreasonable and a serious threat to socio economic development gains made since 1994.
He said in full recognition of the fact that education was not free, a total 8000 bursaries were awarded students in the province by the provincial government with the ultimate objective of producing highly educated youths who would in turn contribute even better to the development of the country’s economy in a whole range of sectors inclusive maritime.
Mr Khompela said at the end of the current year, the province would be welcoming back a total 400 doctors who have completed their medical studies through support by the province and who would now contribute to uplifting the health standards of people in the province’s rural communities.
He pledged that the Free State provincial government would extend the the same financial support also to students keen on pursuing careers in the country’s maritime sector.
However, he said; those efforts would all be in vain if wayward youth at the country’s tertiary level education institutions demanding free education and bent on violence and destruction of valuable property solely to force their way, were allowed to get away with it.
“We never received free education. We were oppressed, yet we did everything possible to obtain education under the most difficult conditions. There is no such thing as free education. There is no country anywhere in the world that offers free education. Even Cuba, does not offer free education,” said Mr Khompela.
INLAND PROVINCES INVITED: The sun rising above the Xhariep Dam on the Orange River on Thursday, as the country joined global observation of World Maritime Day 2016
Bloemfontein: 30 September 2016
Exploration and responsible exploitation of maritime sector opportunities are not the preserve of only South Africa’s coastal provinces but are a multi-billion rand worth golden opportunity all people in the country should equally pursue and enjoy, speakers at this year’s World Maritime Day celebration on Thursday, 29 September 2016 emphasised.
Leading the charge at the function held this year on the west end of the Gariep Dam – South Africa’s biggest by far – situated at the Orange River, some 200km south of Bloemfontein, Free State Province – was South African Maritime Safety Authority’s (SAMSA) acting Chief Executive Officer, Mr Sobantu Tilayi, along with his counterparts in Transnet National Ports Authority (TNPA) CE, Mr Richard Vallihu and National Ports Regulator, Mr Mahesh Fakir
GAME’S ON! South African Maritime Safety Authority (SAMSA acting CEO at this year’s World Maritime Day 2016 event at the Gariep Dam in the Free State.
Addressing an audience of about 600 people, just about half of whom were high school pupils deliberately bussed in from surrounding rural schools for a career exposition, Mr Tilayi said the country’s maritime economic sector, long in the periphery of economic activity for particularly the black majority, was now an open canvass upon which talent is being be drawn from across all sectors of society for the greater benefit of all.
With South Africa’s maritime economic sector, through the Operation Phakisa initiative, projected to contribute as much as R177-billion to the country’s Gross Domestic Product and in the process creating as many as 800 000 to 1-million direct jobs by 2033, according to Mr Tilayi, it was incumbent upon leadership of inland provinces to quickly but carefully figure out how communities located here could benefit.
Part of the audience during the World Maritime Day 2016 event observed in South Africa at the Gariep Dam in the Free State on Thursday, 29 September 2016
Under Operation Phakisa (Ocean Economy), key focus areas comprised marine transport and manufacturing, offshore oil and gas exploration, aquaculture, marine protection services and governance, small harbours, maritime heritage, coastal and marine tourism involving also inland waters, skills and capacity building and research technology and innovation.
These are backed up by Government’s port and onshore infrastructure development – some with private sector investors – involving about R500-billion over the next decade spread across and in between the country’s eight major ports from Saldanha Bay in the west through to Richards Bay in the east.
In part, this was to take advantage of the business and job creation opportunities presented by the approximately 30 000 vessels (about 60% of total global fleet) passing South Africa each year, and about 13 000 of which dock at the country’s ports for a whole range of reasons – a global sea trade scenario Mr Tilayi described as positioning South Africa as the “corner café” of the global shipping industry given its equidistant location at the southern tip of the African continent between western and eastern countries.
Through this steadily increasing opportunity, previously neglected coastal cities such as Port Elizabeth in the Eastern Cape – now with the country’s deepest port, the port of Ngqurha – were benefitting by as much as R150-million per month due to recently introduced bunkering services.
Mr Tilayi, however, dismissed it as ignorance and a misconception that people in the country’s four coastal provinces stretching some 3000km from the Atlantic Ocean to the Indian Ocean – Northern Cape, Western Cape, Eastern Cape and KwaZulu-Natal – for close proximity only, were necessarily better advantaged or entitled to exploration and exploitation of maritime sector economic opportunities.
Indeed, from a maritime sector skills development perspective, he said, Limpopo – the most inland and furthest province from the oceans by more than a thousand kilometers in any direction – was proving the notion a myth as it competed equally, progressively with coastal provinces, ranking second to KwaZulu-Natal in the production of seafarers now numbering close on 12 000.
A TRAILBLAZER: South Africa maritime transport subsector pioneer, Captain Tshepo Motloutsi of Limpopo the first of three black women in the country to qualify as a ship captain, or Master Marine in 2016
In addition to an increasing number of cadets from Limpopo at the country’s maritime sector education focused institutions, Mr Tilayi said the province made maritime sector history recently as a home to one of the first ever three young black women to qualify as Master Mariners qualified to handle any type or size of commercial vessel anywhere in the world.
Stressing an importance of recognition that skills and business opportunities in the country’s maritime sector were by no means limited at all by ocean-going, but rather involving occupations also as basic as farming, manufacturing or services with no direct connection with seafaring, he said the Free State province, the most central of the country’s five inland provinces, had every reason to figure out urgently how to take advantage of its location in order to position itself as a meaningful player also in the maritime economic sector.
FOCUSED: Arzebaijan Ambassador to South Africa, Dr Eikhan Polukhov among senior officials attending the World Maritime Day 2016 at the Gariep Dam in the Free State
Mr Tilayi also urged Government and the private sector to increasingly work much closer together. He said while it was Government’s role to facilitate business investment opportunities, it was private sector investors’ responsibility to actively show appetite through direct engagement and involvement.
For Mr Tilayi’s full remarks on the subject; (Audio only: Click Here ) or for (Video; Click Here
Transnet’s National Ports Authority (TNPA) CEO, Mr Richard Vallihu
Meanwhile, Mr Vallihu of Transnet’s National Ports Authority extended an invitation to the Free State community to take advantage of the ports authority vast training programme across several interrelated transport sectors – road, rail and sea.
He said the NPA with four divisions is currently involved in an infrastructure, transport and logistics investment over 10 years since 2012 worth half a trillion rand. Since 2012 to date he said, the NPA had spent some R124-billlion on these, but also as much as R8-billion in skills development alone, leading to the graduation in 2015 of close on 4 000 trainees in various skills.
To increase public awareness of the opportunities, Mr Vallihu announced that the NPA had launched a free WiFi service in mostly disadvantaged communities of the eight port cities to enable people to fully gain access to relevant information relating to the ports’ activities.
To listen to Mr Vallihu’s full remarks, Click Here
South Africa also boasts cheapest tariffs for merchant shipping sector than any other ports in the world: National Ports Regulator
Xhariep Dam (Free State): 30 September 2016
The beefing up of ocean environmental protection, particularly pollution prevention as well improvement of labour conditions for seafarers are among a series of initiatives currently being pursued in broad efforts to enhance rejuvenation and development of the maritime esector, the Transport Department confirmed this past week during the global observation of the World Maritime Day 2016.
Speaking at South Africa’s own version of the event held at Xhariep Dam in the Free State on Thursday, and whose international theme for 2016 was: Shipping is indispensable to the World; Transport Department maritime transport branch acting deputy Director General, Mr Clement Manyungwana highlighted a series of activities the department was engaged in currently with several stakeholders – among them other Government departments, the International Labour Organization (ILO) and the International Maritime Organization (IMO) – to strengthen the country’s hold and management of its maritime sector development drive.
According to Mr Manyungwana, among the initiatives he said were closely aligned to the country’s National Development Plan (NDP) were;
development of an integrated transport strategy,
enhancement of ocean security through acquisition of additional vessels,
promulgation of legislation to advance the protection of seafarers onboard vessels, as well as
development of further maritime policy and legislation
The improvement and enhancement of ocean environmental protection regarding particularly oil pollution was in part, in recognition and appreciation of the growth in shipping traffic drawn to newly established bunkering services at the country’s newest deep water port, the port of Ngqurha near Port Elizabeth in the Eastern Cape province.
Meanwhile, National Ports Regulator CE, Mr Manesh Fakir said in efforts dedicated to attracting more global business trade vessels onto the countries’ port and to enhance local exports competitiveness, several studies had been conducted over the last year and which have led to identification of various efficiencies as well as establishment of a basket of incentives in the form of tariff reductions.
Mr Fakir said as a result, shipping liners reporting on South Africa’s ports now enjoyed lower prices of up to 50% less in comparison with comparable ports elsewhere in the world, with iron ore shipments specifically now paying less by up to 70-80% – largely due to the Rand/Dollar exchange effect.
On efforts to bolster South Africa’s export trade, he said that locally manufactured goods for export through containers also enjoyed as much as 70% lower tariffs compared containerized imports.
However, Mr Fakir warned that with global fleets increasing vessel carrying capacities leading to reduction in actual fleets, tariffs would not hold down for too long and might indeed increase over the next 10 years largely due to infrastructure maintenance and upgrading costs.
For Mr Fakir’s full remarks (Audio only), Click Here
MARITIME HERITAGE: South Africa’s National Heritage Council (NHC) CEO Advocate Sonwabile Mancotywa (seated Left) listening attentively to Commander Fanele Mbali, one of only five surviving members of the uMkhonto Wesizwe (MK) naval unit, relating the unit’s endeavors to use the seas during the liberation struggle of the 1970s. The unit’s story involving a USSR vessel known as the Aventura was shared as an aspect of the country’s Maritime Heritage initiative at this year’s observance of World Maritime Day at the Xhariep Dam in the Free State
Xhariep Dam Resort: 30 September 2016
Research into South Africa’s maritime heritage has been given a boost following a commitment by the National Heritage Council (NHC) to collaborate with the South African Maritime Safety Authority (SAMSA) in efforts that maritime heritage received priority attention for recognition in the country’s swathe of heritage records.
The commitment – soon to be followed by ratification of a formal Memoranda of Understanding and Agreement (MOU and MOA), respectively, was made by the NHC Chief Executive Officer, Advocate Sonwabile Mancotywa at the formal launch of the initiative during the World Maritime Day observation event held at the Xhariep (Gariep) Dam in the Free State from Tuesday to Thursday this past week.
Part of the audience at this year’s launch of a Maritime Heritage initiative during observance of World Maritime Day 2016 in the Free State on Thursday
Acknowledged by both parties during the event was that South Africa’s maritime heritage was just as rich and yet lagged behind in terms of formal recognition and celebration during the Heritage Month of September.
In addition, and equally crucial, was the fact that South Africa’s history of maritime ignore or remain ignorant of historical dimensions of the country’s maritime journey which appeared limited to recognition only of European traders like Bartholomew Diaz, that rounded the Cape Point on or about the 15th century.
According to Adv Mancotywa, not only was this incorrect, but it perpetually distorted South Africa’s maritime history through a distorted perspective that effectively undermined the role others played in the development of ocean-based trade endeavours, such as Chinese explorers that reached the country’s eastern coasts several years prior.
Contemporary South African history was also oblivious or ignored the use of the country’s oceans by liberation struggle organisations during the fight against apartheid.
Veterans of the MK naval unit, Commander Fanele Mbali and former Commissar Mr Tlou Rankabele Cholo.
One such initiative occurred as recently as the early 1970s when a hitherto little known naval unit of the African National Congress’ uMkhonto we Sizwe trained in the former Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR) embarked on an ocean-based military sojourn, aboard the ANC-acquired vessel, Aventura, from Baku in Azerbaijan to South Africa, only to suffer suspected yet irreversible ‘sabotage’ while on the Indian Ocean, parallel Somalia.
Two of the five surviving members of the 30-odd member MK naval unit, Commander Fanele Mbali and Commissar Rankabele Tlou Cholo, were at the World Maritime Day function from Wednesday to Thursday to share their experiences of the mission.
Their story is also documented in their respective autobiography and bibliography published a while ago.
Mbali’s book, titled: “In Transit – Autography of a South African Freedom Fighter,” featuring among others; Dr Jean-Marie Jullienne, an academic, researcher, an honorary Colonel of the South African National Defense Force (SANDF), a recipient of the Leonardo Da Vinci Award and former Governor of the Mapungubwe Institute for Strategic Reflection; and Cholo’s bibliography, titled: “Heeding the call to fight for the Fatherland –The life and struggle of T.T Cholo (Fortune-d Publishing) by also a renowned author and academic, Dr Tlou Setumu, with the foreword by Professor Shadrack Gutto of the University of South Africa, provide a more detailed record of the MK naval unit’s ill-fated military adventure.
REMINISCE: (From Left) Arzebaijan Amabassador to South African, Dr Eikhan Polukhov having a chat with MK’s naval unit veterans of the Aventura adventure, former Commissar Mr Tlou Cholo and Commander Fanele Mbali at the Gariep Dam resort during South Africa’s observance of the World Maritime Day.
The pair and their three colleagues’ record of military exploits on a vessel known as the Aventura, somewhat fudged by fading memory – all are in their late 80s and early 90s – is to receive research support from the Government of Azerbaijan, whose ambassador to South Africa currently, Dr Eikhan Polukhov, has offered in his speech at the said World Maritime Day events at the Xhariep Dam last week..
Dr Polukhov, who attended both the launch of the SAMSA Maritime Heritage initiative on Wednesday as well as the World Maritime Day event on Thursday, also presented the group with gifts symbolic of Azerbaijan’s appreciation of strong relations between that country and South Africa since the latter’s dawn of democracy in 1994.
Meanwhile, at the SAMSA Maritime Heritage Initiative launch event on Wednesday, Adv Mancotywa said the NHC would provide some financial and other resources for the initiative that would support further research into maritime heritage.
For Adv Mancotywa’s full remarks in Audio only Click Here, and for Video, Click Here