Marooned Enkovukeni community in KZN gets five boats from Govt: DoT/SAMSA

dsc_5812.jpg
Deputy Minister of Transport, Ms Sindisiwe Chikunga (Second Left) with senior officials of entities involved in the joint initiative, among them SAMSA and Amsol, to assist the marooned community of Enkovukeni at Umhlaba’uyalingana in northern KwaZulu-Natal with water transport while feasibility studies continue on the possibility of erecting a permanent bridge across the estuary on which the community is settled on an island.

Jozini: 17 July 2018

The marooned community of Enkovukeni at Umhlab’uyalingana in northern KwaZulu-Natal is finally breathing easy after receiving a total five motorized boats on Monday, handed over to the Inkosi Tembe by the Deputy Minister of Transport, Ms Sindisiwe Chikunga.

The boats – all ready to be operated by newly trained skippers from the community who were previously unemployed youths – are a product of a joint initiative between the South African Maritime Safety Authority (SAMSA) supported by the Department of Transport (DoT) and private sector companies, among them shipping group, Amsol as well as the KwaZulu-Natal Sharks Board.

It’s a joint initiative that began as the Enkovukeni Outreach Project three years ago as a gesture of goodwill in the spirit of the Nelson Mandela International Day, sparked by an outcry from the Enkovukeni community after it was trapped for months, unable to move, following heavy rains that swell waterways that make up part of the Isimangaliso Wetlands Park that is a World Heritage Site in the northern parts of KwaZulu-Natal.

The first of the five boats (in pictures above) was handed to the community in 2016, followed a while later by another, donated by the KwaZulu-Natal provincial Department of Education.

On Monday afternoon during a  very wet rainy day – and a day ahead of Tuesday’s reopening of schools towards which children from the about 250 households that make up the village have to daily wade through waist deep water – the community was handed over the last three of the five boats that are intended to assist it with water transport while broader efforts are continuing to establish the feasibility of erecting a permanent bridge in the area.

DSC_5781
Deputy Minister of Transport, Ms Sindisiwe Chikunga

According to Ms Chikunga at the ceremony on Monday, the building of a permanent bridge across the estuary would be an ideal solution but this would require extensive consultations among several government departments and other affected or interested entities.

From a financial perspective she said, current estimates indicated that it would be a highly expensive exercise largely due to the character of the landscape of the area.

She urged the community to actively engage in the exercise in two ways; first by ensuring it was represented in tasks teams shouldered with responsibility for the feasibility studies, but also in embarking on entrepreneurial initiatives that will financial support pursuit of its aspirations.

“These boats that we are handing over to you today, are not Government or anyone else’s property but your property as a community and which you must protect and preserve as best you can in your own interest. But in addition, you must find ways in which you will raise funds to maintain them with fuel as well as all other necessary repairs,” she said.

For a full address by Ms Chikunga, click on the video below.

For a full background story on the Enkovukeni project, Click Here and Here

Meanwhile, as part of the Nelson Mandela International Day celebration that begun on Sunday this week, Ms Chikunga handed the elderly in the area with blankets as well as dozens of pairs of shoes for school going children.

End.

 

 

 

Waterlogged Enkovukeni community to get more boats: SAMSA, DoT

img_2949-2
Transport Department Deputy Minister, Ms Sindisiwe Chikunga (in black outfit) and some senior government officials at provincial and local government level in KwaZulu-Natal, as well as SAMSA acting CEO, Mr Sobantu Tilayi on board a boat donated by private sector companies to the water-locked community of Enkovukeni at Umhlabuyalingana on the north coast of KwaZulu Natal on Friday

Jozini: 16 July 2018

With foundational schools opening again on Tuesday in South Africa – the day the world over will be observing the United Nation’s sanctioned Nelson Mandela Day – the water surrounded community of Enkovukeni at Umhlabauyalingana in northern KwaZulu-Natal will also be celebrating a unique event of its kind.

From about 9am on Monday, they will be receiving more boats to assist them manage their daily travels that include school children who daily have to wade through waist deep water just to get to school.

The additional boats hand-over is an initiative of the South African Maritime Safety Authority (SAMSA) that began two years ago and supported by the Department of Transport and several private sector companies in the KwaZulu-Natal province.

enkovukeni-resized0095-2
Department of Transport Deputy Minister, Ms Sindisiwe Chikunga 

On Monday morning, Deputy Minister of Transport Ms Sindisiwe Chikunga accompanied by provincial and local government officials, SAMSA and its private sector partners in the initiative, prominent among them being the Natal Sharks Board, will officially hand over two more boats to the community to complete an initiative that began in 2016 in response to pleas from the Enkovukeni community after flood rains marooned it for weeks.

This blog will capture the moment and share with its readers more detail about Monday’s event.

For a full background of the Enkovukeni initiative, Click Here.

 

 

 

Mpumalanga to host South Africa’s 2018 celebration of the World Maritime Day

PrintPretoria: 14 July 2018

South Africa’s claim to being a maritime country and upon whose 3200km long shoreline rests only four of its nine provinces – the Northern Cape, Western Cape, Eastern Cape and KwaZulu-Natal – does not imply exclusion of the internal provinces from the country’s broad maritime sector activities.

For this and related reasons, this year’s celebration of the International Maritime Organization (IMO) driven World Maritime Day on 27 September 2018 has been officially confirmed as scheduled for Mpumalanga – one of South Africa’s five internal provinces, this one bordering two neighboring countries; Swaziland and Mozambique.

Formal confirmation of Mpumalanga’s official host status for this year’s World Maritime Day celebrations was made by Transport Minister, Dr Bonginkosi Nzimande in Britain recently.

IMG_5199
Dr Bonginkosi Nzimande. Minister of Transport

Addressing the IMO Council’s 120th Session in London held from the 02-06 July, Dr Nzimande said observation annually of the World Maritime Day by South Africa was consistent with the country’s full commitment to and unwavering support for the IMO’s activities in the promotion of maritime economies development across the world.

“We are very proud to be members of this organization and we are honoured to have served the IMO Council in the role of Vice Chair for an extended period. Our service to Council is well documented.

“My presence here represents a statement of renewal of our commitment to the IMO and I can assure you that my country and my people are highly impressed and honour many women and men who have contributed to the 70 years’ history of the IMO,” he said.

Consistent with this, Dr Nzimande noted that the IMO’s theme for this year’s celebration would be focused on the United Nations (UN) agency’s 70 year annivessary and committed that South Africa would follow suite.

“As part of South Africa’s commitment with the IMO, South Africa will host World Maritime Day 27-28 September 2018 in Mpumalanga Province.  The event will be held for two days under the theme; “IMO 70: Our Heritage – Better Shipping for a Better Future.

“During the celebration South Africa will make a career exhibition to showcase careers in the maritime sector to the young South Africans with the aim to introduce more leaners to the careers available in the maritime sector and also to showcase the milestone of the maritime sector to the rest of the local communities,” he confirmed.

Meanwhile, Dr Nzimande also outlined South Africa’s progress with revision of some of its maritime sector legislation, but precisely the Merchant Shipping Act of 1951.

He said: “Mr Chair, my country has recently adopted its Comprehensive Maritime Transport Policy (CMTP). Following the adoption of the CMTP, we are now in the process of realigning our domestic legislation in line with the CMTP and in this regard, we have made great progress in reviewing the Merchant Shipping Act of 1951.

“The Maritime Transport Strategy (MTS) is being finalised.”

Dr Nzimande said further that: “Mr Chair I am reporting on these matters firstly as a way of sharing information on the progress we have made in addressing some of the fundamentals of being a maritime nation but secondly to say that we are open to sharing our experiences through the technical cooperation programme of the organization (IMO).

Dr Nzimande also confirmed South Africa’s new approach to observing the international Day of the Seafarer as had occurred last month, where the event was staged in three of South Africa’s  major coastal cities simultaneously for the first time in the eight year history of the event.

He said: “Mr Chair like many other Member States of the IMO, South Africa celebrated on 25 June 2018, the Day of the Seafarer. This year we launched Seafarer Dialogue Platforms (SDPs) in three cities, i.e. Durban, Cape Town and Port Elizabeth. I have declared that Seafarers’ Dialogue Platforms will become the feature of the future celebrations of the Day of the Seafarer.”

During the address of the IMO Council session, Dr Nzimande also formally confirmed South Africa’s deposit of the instrument of accession to (formal ratification of) the International Convention on Standards of Training, Certification and Watchkeeping for Fishing Vessel Personnel, 1995 (STCW-F 1995) with the Secretary-General of the IMO.

Summarily, the STCW-F 1995 is an agreement binding on IMO Member States to “undertake to promulgate all laws, decrees, orders and regulations and to take all other steps which may be necessary to give the Convention full and complete effect, so as to ensure that, from the point of view of safety of life and property at sea and the protection of the marine environment, seagoing fishing vessel personnel are qualified and fit for their duties.”

Dr Nzimande described South Africa’s submission of its ratification of the convention as signifying the country’s “commitment to bettering the lives of fishing folks.”

Following to this in Cape Town on Wednesday this past week, the South African Maritime Safety Authority (SAMSA) that is responsible for ensuring implementation of the convention held a 6th session of a Fishing Indaba to share the development with domestic stakeholders.

In London, with the formal announcement, Dr Nzimande also urged IMO Member States who had not yet ratified the Cape Town Agreement on the implementation of the Torremolinos Convention to “do the right thing as immediate as possible.”

“In conclusion, permit me Mr Chair to thank the IMO for putting its trust on South Africa by allowing us to host the 2020 IMO World Maritime Day Parallel Event. We are exactly 791 days from today to October 2020 when we will welcome many of you to witness the progress we would have made by that time.

“This being the Centenary of two of our liberation heroes, Mr Nelson Mandela and Mrs Albertina Sisulu, let us lead by the example they left for us by being steadfast in our search for solutions to challenges facing shipping today,” he said

See also: Maritime World University post graduate qualifications get South Africa’s nod: Dr Nzimande confirms.  

End

SAMSA Cape Town fishing indaba delves into safety matters

IMG_4369aPretoria: July 12 2018.

Safety on board South Africa’s fishing industry sea going vessels is among key operations aspects of the sector that can never be left to chance, delegates to the South African Maritime Safety Authority (SAMSA) hosted ‘Fishing Safety Indaba‘ held in Cape Town heard on Wednesday.

According to SAMSA in statement ahead of the event Wednesday,  held at the Lagoon Beach Hotel in Milnerton, the Fishing Safety Indaba is a part of a series of engagements by SAMSA with its core stakeholders.

662A5691Wednesday’s event – the 6th in the series – was hosted by SAMSA’s dedicated Centre for Fishing  and whose aim according to the agency, is “to promote the updated fishing safety legislative, technical, operational and financial issues and engage the fishing industry on development issues and growing the blue economy.”

662A5669 (2)
Ms Nondumiso Mfenyana, Manager: SAMSA Centre for Fishing

Ms Nondumiso Mfenyana,  a Manager in the SAMSA Centre for Fishing,  said the Cape Town Indaba was a continuation of a SAMSA’s aim to engage with all sectors of the fishing industry to mainly address issues such as safe fishing.

“The fishing industry is SAMSA’s largest commercial customer, a major employer and contributes both to export earnings and to the GDP of the country. It is important that we ensure regular sittings of this nature in order to keep the industry abreast of developments thereof,” said Ms Mfenyana.

The SAMSA Centre for Fishing is also the secretariat of the National Fishing Forum (NFF) which was established in 2011.

The NFF was initiated to create a platform for stakeholders to share knowledge on common areas of interest, improve collaborations and decision making to avoiding duplication. The forum’s mission is to grow, develop and ensure a competitive South African Fishing industry.

Provisional members were nominated to partake in the steering committee, which was later endorsed as a fully fledges forum at the South African Maritime Industry Conference (SAMIC 2012). In turn, the forum has achieved some of its objectives; although still have some challenges that include the funding of its action plan.

Ends

Eleven escape drowning after leisure vessel capsizes in Southern Cape: SAMSA

Rescue effort

(File photo)

Pretoria: 05 July 2018

The South African Maritime Safety Authority (SAMSA) will launch an investigation into the capsizing of a leisure vessel in Knysna on Wednesday with eleven people on board.

According to SAMSA in a statement in Pretoria on Thursday, the incident reportedly occurred shortly after lunch on Wednesday when the boat, with eleven people on board, including the skipper, capsized.

All the people on board the vessel – described as a 9 metre RIB  “adventure harbour cruise” boat with twin 300HP engines known, and named the MOONRAKER – escaped without injury except for shock and suffering cold, said SAMSA.

The organization reported: “At approximately 1300 local time today (4 July 2018), MRCC Cape Town received an initial report via Cape Town Radio informing that NSRI Knysna had launched to assist a small boat that had capsized in Knysna area leaving unknown number of people in the water – all wearing lifejackets. The weather conditions experienced was waves of up to 4 metres and wind speeds of up to 10 knots.

“MRCC Cape Town immediately initiated a MAYDAY relay broadcast for vessels in the area to assist.

“Subsequent reports indicated that the charter boat SPIRIT OF KNYSNA had sighted the capsized Rigid Hull Inflatable Boat (RIB) and had called NSRI Knysna to assist. The radio call was intercepted by Cape Town Radio.

“MRCC informed Mossel Bay Port Control, SAMSA Mossel Bay and NSRI Mossel Bay to activate and assist.

“SAMSA Mossel Bay established that the name of the capsized RIB was the MOONRAKER (a 9 metre RIB with twin 300HP), a private “adventure harbour cruise” boat operating from Knysna. There had been 11 persons on board and all had been rescued.  SAMSA had made contact with the owner of the vessel to confirm information.

“NSRI Mossel Bay confirmed that all of the persons from the MOONRAKER were safe ashore at the rescue base and that there were actually 11 people on board – 10 passengers plus 1 skipper.  The survivors were suffering from shock and cold but no injuries. Upon arrival back at the NSRI Knysna additional medical support was provided by the ambulance on-scene. The boat was not recovered.

“Since then NSRI Knysna have relaunched two boats and are attempting to retrieve the capsized boat and debris.”

Ends.