Province of Mpumalanga starts annual Cultural Festival

The Mpumalanga government has started its festive season with a festival in the streets of Mbombela. The festival aims to unite the diverse province of Mpumalanga. The province has a wide diversity of people and the festival means a lot to the people attend it. Norah Mahlangu, the MEC for culture, sports and recreation said "As you know that we are the custodians of social cohesion and nation building this festival aims to unite the people of Mpumalanga as the province is very diverse”(SABC News). The festival brings people together with the fun activities that take place. For example, some of the activities include a music extravaganza or a comedy show. These are just a couple of the events that take place during the festival.

Here is the festival taking place in the streets of Mbombela

Overall, the festival is a great way to unite the people of Mpumalanga and to also uplift the spirits of the people in the community. The Government of Mpumalanga plans on making the festival an annual event.

Here is a news clip talking about the new festival.

I think that the cultural festival is a great way to bring a community together and show people who they are and where they come from. It is a great idea to bring different ethnicities together and learn about one another. Perhaps places all over the world should think of some type of way to bring their communities together.

http://www.sabc.co.za/news/a/e5723e804f2bac7eb065b7b03a0594d1/Mpumalanga-launches-cultural-festival-20160112

People of Grabouw march for better Health Services

A group of people who live in Grabouw, South Africa have marched for better Health Services in their community. The group of people who participated in the march are known as the South African Communist Party or the SACP. The group was marching to the Grabouw Health Clinic to demand better Health Services due to the lack of staff and privacy at the clinic. Barry Mitchell, the Spokesperson of the SACP reported that the clinic that the community goes to only has one doctor working a day when their are thousands of patients to attend (SABC News). Mitchell said “The deplorable conditions or worsening conditions in Grabouw made us embark on this march. As it stands, there is only one doctor that only works on a half day shift. There’s also a massive lack of trained nursing staff and practitioners at the health care centre. There is also a lack of privacy for the patients that attend this health care clinic.”  Although some places in South Africa do have an adequate amount of doctors on hand every day, there are also places like Grabouw that do not. Every community should have an efficient amount of doctors in order to treat the ill. I think the March that the SACP did was very beneficial toward the community and its people. The March to the Health Clinic brought a community together to fight for what is right.

Group members of the SACP who marched for better Health Services in Grabouw


SABC News

Knysna expands Llifesavers club before Holidays

Due to the drowning incidents that Knysna has seen over the past holidays, the town has decided to recruit more people from different communities to the Lifesavers club in order to relieve some of the workload for other rescue services. Knysna also has six beaches that people attend to so the Lifesavers will be spread out across all the beaches this Holiday season. Another reason why Knysna decided to recruit more Lifesavers is because the past drowning incidents at the beaches have involved children. They Mayor of Knysna believes that children knowing how to swim is a priority. In one statement by the Mayor, Eleanor bow-spies expressed how sad it is that children have so much opportunity to learn to swim but don't. In her statement she said "It’s just sad that you stay in a lovely coastal town that has so many places to swim and beaches and lakes and kids still can't swim. I think if we started there we would be doing our kids justice but also, the fact that our town is a town of water and beautiful resources." I also think that every kid should learn how to swim that way drowning incidents can be avoided. What Knysna is doing is very good for the safety of the public over the holidays.

Here is a picture of one of Knysna's Beaches along the Garden Route

http://www.sabc.co.za/news/a/67a2c7804f1f52c2920bd770ce873b7f/Knysna-launches-lifesavers-club-ahead-of-holidays--20161127

Parys uses Flower Festival to boost Economy

The free state town of Parys, located in northern South Africa, started their annual flower festival over the weekend. During the festival, the streets came alive with love and hope. A total of 150,000 flowers were displayed on the floats used in the parade. Their were five different floats that represented the five districts of the province (SABC).

Here are one of the floats decorated with many flowers

The idea of boosting the economy through the flower industry came from the Madeira flower festival. Madeira has been hosting their annual flower festival for over 20 years. Madeira's flower festival also accumulates over 7 million tourists annually(SABC.com). The flower festival brings in much success for the economy of Madeira. By seeing how beneficial the flower festival is for Madeira, the Free State Town of Parys wants to use the flower industry to boost their own economy. Ace Magashule, the Free State Premier, says that "plans are afoot to create opportunity in the local flower industry." I believe that the expansion of the flower industry in Parys will create more revenue for the economy and overall become very beneficial. For example, more jobs will be created for the economy. Not only does this economically benefit Parys, but it also benefits the peoples well being. The flowers are used to express love which many of the townspeople love and enjoy. The townspeople talk about the festival in the video below.

-Kurtis

SABC News

South Africa wants to improve Economy

South Africa is not in a good economic situation and needs to provide more job opportunities to its citizens if they want to improve their economy. Deputy President Cyril Ramaphosa said "efforts to improve the countries economic situation are continuing to receive urgent attention from the government and its institutions."

Deputy President Cyril Ramaphosa briefing legislators on issues facing the country

South America faces a number of issues although its biggest issue is improving the economy. For example, one issue that Ramaphosa briefed legislators on was attracting direct foreign investment in order to help bring money in to the economy. Ramaphosa stated that he believes that South Africas weak economy can still come back. The projected growth for South Africas economy for 2016 is just 0.5 %.

I think that the creation of jobs and wealth by the South African government could be very profitable for the countries economy, although economists say that at this rate, the chances that the government and other institutions can create much needed jobs are zero. Ramaphosa also addressed that South Africa is not operating its State-Owned businesses to their fullest potential. In order to get South Africa back on track, Ramaphosa urged that the government needs to make progress in the governments State-Owned enterprises.



http://www.sabc.co.za/news/a/2ed724804ee8689f9f0fbf750db21813/Efforts-to-improve-SA-economy-underway:-Ramaphosa-20160911

New Buisnesses in South Africa to boost Economic growth

New industries are being added to towns in Africa, which is known as the "Revitalization of Industrial Parks Programme." This program is designed to benefit the citizens in these towns and provide jobs. For example, the Komani Industrial Park was the latest revitalization project which marked the fourth industrial park to be launched this year.

The increase of industrialization is going to give many more local citizens jobs and overall help the economies of these towns like Komani Industrial Park in Queenstown. Minister Davies stated that the 4 launched parks will employ 40,000 people. If more parks are to be added, many more job opportunities await South African citizens. The increase of manufacturing jobs is being highly stressed in South Africa right now due to the lack of jobs in local areas. Not only is the industrialization creating more jobs, but it is also boosting the economy, which Minister Davies believes is the reason that South Africa is not in recession. I believe that the expansion of jobs in South Africa is very beneficial for the locals in small towns that are in need of job opportunities. A provincial chairperson, Mfundo Tsheketshe, said "We welcome the initiative because it inspires hope for the local people as this will create jobs and boost our local economy.”


http://www.polity.org.za/article/dti-revitalisation-of-industrial-parks-programme-creating-more-jobs-2016-11-07