Giving an overview of the power utility’s performance this year, Ramokgopa told a media briefing on Monday that South Africa had recorded 272 straight days without  load-shedding — the longest stretch of uninterrupted power supply in five years — but cautioned that the country had not yet put the rolling blackouts permanently behind it.

“We are within touching distance of the resolution of load-shedding but we are not necessarily out of the woods,” he said.

“Even though we’re seeing the kind of phenomenal performance that we’re seeing, it is important that we continue to fix our eyes on the bouncing ball, and that bouncing ball is to ensure that we end load-shedding, and then in the long term, to ensure that we are able to provide the sufficient head space for the South African economy to grow.”

“We want to make it just an abnormal conversation for us to even have a discussion about 272 days of no load shedding … It’s an expectation that there shouldn’t be load-shedding in a most industrialised economy such as ours.”

He said the country would bring on stream different types of technologies “to ensure that we are able to achieve … our decarbonisation ambitions”, noting that 80% of South Africa’s generation capacity still comes from fossil fuels.

“We’ve got a responsibility that we are able to address issues of air quality, which has got significant health implications for those people who are living within the immediate proximity … of these power stations,” he said.

“We also have a responsibility to ensure that we reduce the CO₂ (carbon dioxide) emissions as part of that global agenda of addressing the scourge of climate change.”

Ramokgopa said another key milestone for Eskom was that the utility had been able to reduce its unplanned capacity loss factor (UCLF) — essentially, the degree to which its units fail on their own and cannot perform efficiently.

“The intention there is to bring down that number. Once you bring down that number of the UCLF it means then we have more megawatts on the grid… This time last year, we were sitting at about 33.1% UCLF, now we’re sitting at 24.9 UCLF. What that means is that we’ve got generating capacity on the grid, and it’s as a result of the sterling work that the team has been able to achieve.”

He said the energy availability factor (EAF) — the efficiency of the performance of the grid in its totality — had averaged 62.55% from 1 April to 19 December, an improvement from about 55.24% last year.

“As a result of this performance, we have been able to save about R16.06 billion just from stopping us from burning diesel,” Ramokgopa said.

“This is significant, because once we are able to reduce the cost associated with diesel, it means that Eskom is becoming a more efficient generator of electricity …  If we are able to sustain this over a period of time … we’re able to pass all this benefit to the end consumer.”

“Our ambition for the EAF for the financial year 2025 (is that) we want to achieve 70%,” he said, stating that this would be achieved through new generation capacity and the recovery of some units at Eskom’s power stations that have been out.

“70% EAF is not an arbitrary number. It’s a number that is derived from … engineering science … We know that we have the skills to get it to that level, and that’s the level of confidence that we have.

Ramokgopa said one of the targets for next year would be a revised strategy to ensure that South Africa achieves its goal of providing universal access to electricity by 2030, adding that it was unacceptable that after “30 years of a democratic government, we have not achieved universal access”.

Ramaphosa did so despite earlier attempts by the Democratic Alliance and trade union Solidarity to prevent the implementation of two contentious clauses of the Act.

“The GNU clearing house participants agreed that the Act should be fully implemented. This view was endorsed by the leaders of the parties to the GNU in a meeting I held with them,” Ramaphosa said.

“I accordingly advised them that I would proceed to sign a presidential proclamation to bring the Basic Education Law Amendment Act, the BelaAct, into operation,” Ramaphosa said. 

The Act, one of the most significant changes in education law since the dawn of democracy, was initially signed into law by Ramaphosa on September 13. He its implementation was delayed by three months to allow for further discussions on sections 4 and 5 of the Act. 

Section 4 of the Bela bill gives the department of basic education greater control over admissions policy. In contrast, section 5 compels the school governing body to submit the school’s language policy to the provincial head of department for approval.

The Act, opposed by the DA and Solidarity since its draft proposal, accused the ANC of “violating the constitutional rights of parents and governing bodies in functional schools”.

The Bela Act suggests strengthening oversight of school governing bodies.

To reach a consensus on the Act, a clearing house Mechanism task team was established with GNU members – DA, FF-Plus, GOOD and the ANC. 

Following the final sign off of the Act, the DA’s John Steenhuisen said the party is “satisfied” with the outcome of the negotiations.

Steenhuisen said the process agreed upon was a “a win-win compromise that enables the Bela Act to be implemented without undermining existing constitutional rights to mother tongue education.”

However, the DA  “remains determined to defend the existing right to mother-tongue education and expand it to increasing numbers of learners in South Africa”.

In a statement, basic education minister Siviwe Gwarube confirmed that her department will implement the Act with the “support of the national regulations, policy and standards [document which will be] developed, publicly scrutinised and finalised in the best interest of the learner.” 

Once the document is drafted there will be a public participation process before implementing the Act. 

The Bill was passed in the National Assembly on 16 May 2024, with 223 votes in favour and 78 votes against.

The Act introduces grade R as the new compulsory school-starting age; upholds undocumented children’s right to basic education; enhances the role of oversight by the head of the department and reaffirms the illegality of corporal punishment. 

The bill also calls for jail time — from six to 12 months — for anyone who prevents a child from attending school without good reason.

South Africa, the first African country to hold the presidency, said it will leverage its presidency at the G20 to “highlight the barriers to AI readiness and opportunities facing developing countries, including unequal, disproportionate access to digital infrastructure”. 

How have those disparities played out in a beleaguered African media environment?

In November, the German foreign office invited the Mail & Guardian on a media tour to discuss how Germany has been dealing with disinformation and how African countries, who have been holding elections this year, can better tackle the information surge. 

During the visit, hosted by the Goethe Institute, journalists and fact-checkers from Anglophone Africa, who were part of the media tour, expressed the need for African-centered solutions for African issues after a seven-day seminar from different roleplayers. 

This was a sentiment shared by colleagues facing media restrictions in Mozambique, Tanzania and Uganda, who acknowledged that first-world Germany was ahead in terms of media resilience. 

Mozambique recently faced a media blackout following its elections in October while Uganda and Ghana have been trying to fight the anti-homosexuality act. 

The media tour, which included civil society and government representatives, aimed to introduce African media practitioners to how Germany has been dealing with disinformation. The topics surrounded AI, fact-checking, funding, and newsrooms. 

The topics, however, were disconnected from the reality faced by the visiting journalists. Africa is a continent with limited access to new technologies and often fails to keep up with the rapid pace of digital advancements. 

While AI is on the rise in the West, fact-checking organisation Africa Check confirmed that South Africa’s recent elections have proved that there wasn’t as much false information powered by AI as expected.

This was not the case for German media houses like the Deutsche Welle (DW), a German state-owned international broadcaster that identified a need for a fact-checking desk following the rise of disinformation. 

Based on a presentation by the founder of the DW’s fact-checking desk, Joscha Weber, AI has caused media houses in Germany to implement additional measures to cut the supply of disinformation before it reaches the audience. 

Germany has several laws and regulations in place to tackle artificial intelligence and reflects both national and European Union frameworks including the General Data Protection Regulation and Cybersecurity Laws to monitor the use of AI and disinformation. 

The German Digital Services Coordinator said it has also been actively combating disinformation since it came into effect. 

An example of this was a video that trended on social media showing Annalena Baerbock, the German minister of foreign affairs, appearing surprised when she arrived in India to find no formal welcome. The video was found to be misleading.

During the 2017 elections, there were concerns that foreign actors, particularly from Russia, were using AI-powered bots to spread disinformation to create division within Germany’s political system.

Since then, Germany has capitalised on the use of watchdogs in the form of organisations, websites and laws to monitor the spread of information. They have begun from the starting point to dismantle disinformation through media literacy organisations like Lie Detectors, who have introduced an education programme in several schools across Europe to promote media resilience against disinformation.

But Germany’s media resilience will be put to the test during the buildup to the elections scheduled for February 2025. 

While there is a disconnect between the availability of resources between the Global South and West, African nations can learn from countries like Germany’s ability to tackle disinformation as a shield should the continent catch up, digitally. 

While Germany, like many other countries, faces issues of public trust in the media, according to experts who provided input during the tour, Germans contribute financially to its media structures. 

Germans pay a mandatory monthly fee of €18.36 known as the Rundfunkbeitrag to fund Germany’s public service broadcasters, which include ARD, ZDF, and Deutschlandradio. Something much like South Africa’s TV licence, but in Germany non-payment of the fee results in serious penalties. 

Taz, die tageszeitung, a well-known German daily newspaper that is recognised for its progressive stance on social, political, and environmental issues has been funded and owned by its readers through a cooperative since 1992. 

It is difficult to know for certain whether the funding structures indicate citizen trust in the media or a legal obligation. Either way, it has helped their media resilience. Something that African nations could learn from.

The 13th of December marks the end of the consultation period President Cyril Ramaphosa announced after he signed the Act to allow parties to find each other on contentious clauses.

This has not transpired.

Instead, ANC ministers have resisted reviewing the Act because it was passed before the May election outcome forced the party into a coalition with the DA. Some within the ANC have called for the head of Basic Education Minister Siviwe Gwarube, and her office and the presidency have accused each other of lying.

The DA said this week it hoped Ramaphosa would heed the agreement signed by  Gwarube and a deputy director-general in the presidency at the National Economic Development and Labour Council (Nedlac) in late November, when he decides whether to implement sections of the Act held in abeyance for three months.

DA spokesperson Willie Aucamp told the Mail & Guardian the text agreed on in response to a complaint lodged by trade union Solidarity offered a way out of the standoff over the effect of the legislation on language and admissions policies.

“We are waiting to see what happens but we are hoping that the president will take the agreement to heart because we are of the view that this provides a workable solution,” Aucamp said. “If what was agreed at Nedlac is implemented, it will be a win-win situation for all.”

But the presidency has repudiated the agreement, in which Gwarube undertook to advise Ramaphosa that regulations clarifying the legal import of sections 4 and 5 of the Act should be adopted first.

These should, inter alia, define the role of school governing bodies in setting admission and language policy, according to the text of the three-page agreement.

The text was co-signed by Matsietsi Mekoa, the deputy director general for corporate management in the presidency. Ramaphosa’s spokesperson, Vincent Magwenya, told the M&G that she had no mandate to do so.

Magwenya also said Gwarube should have consulted the presidency before issuing a statement about the agreement, in which she said she would impress on Ramaphosa that every child had a constitutional right to be taught in their mother tongue where possible.

Gwarube’s office denied that she had not consulted the presidency. 

“The assertion that the ministry did not consult the office of the president before issuing the Nedlac settlement statement is untrue. The presidency was aware of the statement and its general contents in advance,” her spokesperson said.

Magwenya subsequently countered: “We stand by our every word on the matter.”

Aucamp said this meant “the presidency is throwing the deputy director-general under the bus”.

Ramaphosa and Deputy President Paul Mashatile made plain, in separate statements issued a day apart, that the Nedlac process was not a substitute for ongoing negotiations in the coalition clearing house where the 10 parties in the government of national unity seek to resolve disputes.

The president stressed that he would not be beholden to the Nedlac accord when he sets commencement dates for the clauses in question. 

Sources close to the president said the political space to further extend the consultation period over clauses 4 and 5 has been eroded by the extent to which the Bela debate has been politicised.

Opposition to the Act revolves around shifting the power to set language and admissions policies from school governing bodies to provincial political authorities.

Critics of all political persuasions say in its current form the Act invites more of the political meddling that has for decades bedevilled education, a critical developmental marker. Last week, South Africa again ranked last in the Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study (TIMSS).

But trade unions, Gauteng Premier Panyaza Lesufi and the minister in the presidency, Khumbudzo Ntshavheni, have cast the criticism as proof of regressive attachment to Afrikaans instruction in schools.

The South African Democratic Teachers Union (Sadtu) said swift implementation was vital because section 4 had implications for school admissions for the upcoming academic year. 

“Schools have got to plan around the issues, and then they have got to amend their policies. So if there’s any delay, it is going to impact on the right of learners to learn,” Sadtu general secretary Mugwena Maluleke told the M&G. 

Recent calls to fire Gwarube plainly emanate from ANC factions hostile to the party’s coalition with the DA. Removing her from the portfolio is not on the cards and DA leader John Steenhuisen has warned that if it happened, it would spell the end of the coalition.

But the tone taken by the president and those around him — Ramaphosa warned that his resolve on the legislation “should not be tested” — is also informed by frustration with the ANC’s biggest partner in general, and with Gwarube in particular.

In ANC circles, Gwarube was seen as rudely indifferent to Ramaphosa’s efforts to shield her against Sadtu, which for decades exerted a stranglehold on the education ministry but saw its influence fade with the arrival of a minister not bound by the customs of the past.

Political analyst William Gumede said Gwarube rightly felt no need to be protected from factional interests in the ANC, and Ramaphosa would be wise to ignore them too because the multi-party coalition had given him the freedom to do so.

“ANC political culture is where the president protects you against the factions of the ANC, and the president tries to balance all the factions. In a multi-party coalition, you don’t care because they did not vote for you, they are not your thing. You are there with a mission to deliver and you are going to push back against ANC factions.

“And that is what I think Ramaphosa is struggling with and what ANC leaders are struggling with because they are used in their majority culture to deal with the factions. The non-ANC people are not interested.”

The novel reality of coalition rule meant the ANC must reconsider who it sought to please, Gumede suggested.

“The anti-GNU people are not a majority in the country, they are not even a majority in the ANC. There is no point in serving them. Focus on the country now and ignore the fringe.

“Be the grown-up and lead for the people who want this thing to succeed.”

He added that a list should have been made, almost as soon as the coalition was formed, of all new policies that its fellow partners had rejected and so that these could be reviewed. 

“That is the principle that is missing, and it is missed sadly by a lot of even pro-GNU ANC leaders. They don’t get that.”

Gumede said this included foreign policy, an area where the ANC has refused to entertain the DA’s recent criticism of the demand that Taiwan relocate its liaison office, the government’s ties with Russia and its plans for the G20 presidency.

He added that the election of Donald Trump as US president has made a recalibration of traditional ANC foreign policy all the more pressing because of the economic risks it posed.

“He is going to be South Africa’s biggest foreign policy challenge.

“If the ANC with its foreign policy, which is party-based, past-based policy, carries on as is in relation to the Trump administration, we are done economically as a country.

“So the foreign policy will have to go back to the drawing board, to say now we are all together … we have to come up with foreign policy that focuses on the interests of the country.”

ANC sources in government have vowed this will not happen.

The absence of a formal coalition agreement has made it harder for the DA to demand that its policy input or objections be taken seriously. 

It may have hoped that governance would be guided by the spirit of the hastily agreed statement of intent to form a coalition, but six months later it had learnt that “the details are being muddled by the ANC’s internal politics”, Gumede said.

This meant the same power struggles that brought the country low growth and high unemployment now threatened the GNU. 

It was unlikely that the coalition would collapse at this point, because the ANC lacked the numbers to rule without the DA and would be blamed for the failure of a project that had the support of the majority of voters.

The same blame would attach to the DA if it were to walk away.

DA sources said should the government proceed to implement the Bela Act without concessions to the party’s concerns, it will have to live with it or launch a legal challenge. 

Solidarity said it may institute a rationality review should Ramaphosa implement the Act as is, because it believed that the Constitution enjoined him to consider recommendations from the relevant minister when he exercises his power to proclaim legislation.

“But we are not sitting here wanting to go to court with papers ready, waiting on the court steps for the president on Friday,” Werner Human, the operational head of Solidarity, said

If it were to take that route, it would be on the basis that section 54 of the Act and section 101(2) of the Constitution compels him to take into account advice from the minister when determining the commencement date of sections of the legislation. 

“Where you have a provision that the president must be advised upon the readiness of certain provisions, that is actually a joint exercise with the minister in question,” Human said.

“We believe that he cannot ignore the recommendations from the minister and he cannot ignore the Nedlac agreement in the exercise of his discretion.”

“The initiative intends to address previous concerns related to machine breakdowns, which are mostly caused by ageing equipment and inadequate infrastructure,” the National Health Laboratory Service said in a statement. The SAVP is part of the National Health Laboratory Service.

The African Snakebite Institution estimates that more than 4 000 people are bitten by snakes annually although only a quarter of them are admitted to hospital. Only 10% of those require antivenom treatment.

The institute said there was more than enough snake venom available for immunisation.

This was backed up by Jason Seale, the director of the Hartbeespoort Dam Snake and Animal Park, who said the depletion of antivenom reserves at the National Health Laboratory Service will not affect the country’s reserves.

“In South Africa, snakebites are not that regular but when they do occur they need to be treated with the correct antivenom for the best results but there are two antivenom’s which is enough for the demand,” he said.

The regions with the highest incidence of snakebites are KwaZulu-Natal and Mpumulanga, where 24 to 34 people per 100 000 are bitten annually. North West also has a high incidence of bites.

The most common snake antivenom in South Africa is the SAIMR polyvalent produced by the South African Vaccine Producers. The other antivenom — used at the Hartbeespoort Dam Snake and Animal Park — is the World Health Organisation-approved Panaf Premium, which can be used on both animals and humans. 

Seale said Panaf Premium has been proven highly effective because it can be used to treat venom from 24 different species while the SAIMR polyvalent can only be used against the venom of 10 snake species. 

“We have been using it since last year and it has proven very effective so we have started supplying it to the government agencies and hospitals,” he said. 

Panaf is a lyophilised product, a powder consistency, that does not require cold storage and has a four-year shelf life. The price per vial is just over R2 000 but the downside is that a patient requires double the number of vials compared with the SAVP polyvalent antivenom. 

According to the African Snakebite Institute, one of the biggest problems with the SAVP polyvalent antivenom is that about four out of 10 patients have anaphylaxis as a result of an allergic reaction to the horse plasma which requires urgent medical intervention. 

For this reason, the antivenom is only administered in a hospital environment by trained medical professionals. 

“To date, none of the patients treated with Panaf Premium in South Africa have had anaphylaxis. Roughly nine out of 10 snakebite victims that are hospitalised do not receive antivenom, purely because the level of envenomation does not justify its administration,” the institute said.

The National Health Laboratory Service declined to comment when asked when production of the antivenom vaccine will resume.

This is against the backdrop of the South African Medical Research Council’s gender and health research unit’s fourth annual national femicide study in October revealing that the country still has one of the highest femicide rates in the world.

“Shelters remain underfunded and overstretched, so they become unable to meet the growing demand for safe spaces and, down the line, if a lack of funding continues, it is a fear that femicide rates will continue to increase,” said National Shelter Movement of South Africa director Zubeda Dangor.

According to the crime statistics for the second quarter 2024, July to September, 957 women were murdered, 106 of them in instances of domestic violence.

The National Shelter Movement of South Africa — an umbrella organisation serving 103 shelters — says while femicide cases continue to increase, shelters have become strapped beyond capacity because of the non-payment of funding from the department of social development. 

As a result, People Opposing Women Abuse (Powa) was forced to close its 10-bed shelter on Johannesburg’s West Rand in October 2023. Earlier this year, Powa’s East Rand shelter had to close its doors for six months before receiving money from the department.

According to Powa’s counselling services manager Jeanette Sera, the department cited non-compliance with safety measures for stopping the funding. While the organisation concedes that basic standards should be maintained for the safety and security of those staying at the shelters, Sera said compliance certification comes at a cost.

“We are a non-governmental organisation — we depend on funding to take care of stuff like that … We agree that there is a standard to uphold but health certification and other compliance certification costs money. Where should we get that from?” Sera said to the Mail & Guardian.

Due to funding constraints, the organisation could not pay most of its workers’ salaries from April to June this year, Powa executive director Fatima Shaik said. This resulted in the shelter closing its counselling services. 

“Many of our employees did not get paid during those months, others took a 41% salary cut, because there was simply not enough money to take care of the needs of our beneficiaries and pay salaries,” Shaik said. 

Fourteen of the 20 shelters that form part of the Western Cape Women’s Shelter Movement also face closure imminently if they are not able to raise emergency funding, according to chairperson of the movement Delene Roberts. 

“Shelters are unable to raise sufficient funds to cover the deficit in their budgets after the allocation of funding received from the department of social development,” Roberts said.

One of these shelters might have to close at the end of December, while many of them will probably only survive for another two to three months.

The Bet Sheekoom House of Restoration for Women in Crisis in Port Elizabeth, which has been running for 20 years, has faced similar funding problems with the government which its executive director Gary Koekemoer described as “not sustainable”. 

“Most funds do not fund workers, and are only for a period of one year at a time, which makes it difficult to plan for the long term,” he told the M&G. 

According to government’s 2023 data, the department of social development was allocated more than R211 million for a period of four years towards 134 shelters rendering victim-support services across the country. 

In October, the Gauteng department of social development returned R554 million in unspent funds to the treasury, leaving gender-based violence shelters to cope on their own.

The government’s erratic payments are the reason why the Frida Hartley Shelter in Yeoville, Johannesburg, which opened in 1922, chose to remain privately funded.

“With government funding you have so many issues, from non-payment, which many shelters are struggling with, to government regulations that you have to follow — that is why we are privately funded by various corporations and churches,” the shelter’s manager Cheryl Hlabane told the M&G. 

According to Hlabane, shelters funded by the department of social services also face a skills gap with their staff. 

“They don’t have money, so you start to see that the right staff are not being employed, which can influence the quality of services being provided to the people in the shelters,” she said. 

Powa’s Shaik concurred, saying she feared the skills gap could trigger a “second Life Esidemeni tragedy”. 

Between October 2015 and June 2016, 1 711 people were relocated from mental health facilities operated by Life Esidimeni to unlicensed facilities which resulted in the death of 144 caused by starvation and neglect. 

Meanwhile, the Gauteng government is reported to provide R45 per day per beneficiary for three meals a day at shelters. This is according to the National Shelter Movement of South Africa, which represents 98 shelters across the country. 

The Nisaa shelter in Johannesburg, which receives R160 per person per day from the department of social development, previously told the M&G that it is “stretched beyond capacity” because the actual cost of catering for the needs of victims of domestic violence are approximately R320 per person.

According to Koekermoer, the Bet Sheekoom shelter has a budget of R7 500 per person a month, about R250 a day.

While the National Strategic Plan on gender-based violence and femicide is widely regarded as a crucial framework for tackling this “second pandemic”, the National Shelter Movement of South Africa said “its implementation has been insufficient, often due to funding”. 

The movement said it supports demands by parliament’s portfolio committee on social development for accountability and progress updates on the strategic plan and calls for the urgent finalisation of the National Integrated Strategy on the Prevention of Femicide.

“The lack of a national strategy on femicide undermines efforts to combat this crisis,” Dangor told the M&G. 

The department of social development had not responded to the M&G’s questions by the time of publication.

Some survivors of gender-based violence residing in shelters told the M&G that they feared the government was not making decisions that could protect them. 

“They are out of touch with victims and they don’t understand the urgency of laws implemented to assist victims like myself who faced abuse since their teenage years and we get to watch our perpetrators walk free,” said 29-year-old Mary*, who gave birth to two children while still a teenager.

“The shelters don’t make us feel as if they don’t have money, but when you hear of other shelters closing, as a woman, you wonder if your shelter will be next and where will I go? I don’t want to share a bed again with a man that took away my dignity,” 34-year-old Simphiwe* shared. 

“It is a scary thought that we, as women who faced abuse, will not have anywhere to go because the government does not find the need to assist us, but when they require votes, they rally up at the doors for a tick on the ballot,” said 27-year-old Tracy*. 

*The names have been changed to conceal their identity.

The recently released 2023 Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study (TIMSS) found that key initiatives the department of basic education has incorporated “such as no-fee schools, scholar transport, and school nutrition programmes have significantly contributed to enhancing accessibility”.

The study was conducted in the fourth and eighth grades in 64 countries. South Africa, Morocco and Ivory Coast were the only African countries to participate in the evaluation. 

The country’s net enrollment ratio is 93% at primary school and 92% at secondary school level. The study did not reveal a student-teacher ratio for primary schools, but in secondary schools it noted a 28% ratio. 

According to the latest data released by education institution Mancosa, the average student-to-teacher ratio in South Africa is 32:1 — with an even higher ratio in provinces such as the Eastern Cape.

The study found that learners who speak one of the nine indigenous African languages at home have a twofold disadvantage. 

“Not only do they start studying in an unfamiliar language in fourth grade, usually English, but they also tend to come from socio-economically disadvantaged homes with lower incomes,” it said.

Upon review of the school system, using English or Afrikaans to teach maths and science in upper primary and lower secondary grades “complicates matters when the learner is not used to speaking either of those languages”. 

This has contributed to a barrier to understanding complex concepts in a second language, “which historically has been identified as a factor contributing to low academic performance in South Africa”.

Based on the newly signed Basic Education Law Amendment (Bela) Act, more control of school language policies could shift from school governing bodies to provincial education departments, to promote multilingualism and inclusivity. 

The study said South Africa’s introduction of literacy programmes that align with the needs of the 21st century workspace is a significant manifestation of the Integrated National Mathematics, Science and Technology Strategy — expected to be phased out between 2019 and 2030. The strategy includes a coding and robotics curriculum that has been developed and is being implemented for grades R to 9.

Marine sciences, a subject integrating oceanography, marine biology, environmental

science, and the relationships between humans and the ocean, was introduced in

2019 and has seen a twelvefold increase in learner participation at grade 12 since 2021.

Education activist Hendrick Makaneta has commended South Africa for demonstrating a commitment to improving maths and science education. 

“While South Africa still ranks near the bottom compared to other participating countries, the department of education’s proactive stance on using these results to shape a targeted program of action is commendable,” Makaneta told the Mail & Guardian. 

South Africa’s education system has been ranked low in international comparisons.

In 2023, the country placed 41st in the world in the Best Countries education system report on 78 countries.

In 2015, the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development reported that South Africa’s maths and science education was among the worst in the world.

“No legal basis currently exists to terminate the BNC [Blue Network Consortium] contract … Therefore the [department] will continue to honour the contract unless and until valid and substantiated reasons exist to take steps to set the contract aside,” the Western Cape government’s legal adviser, Ian Steyn, told parliament’s portfolio committee on basic education. 

The tender was for work to expand internet services in Western Cape schools.

In March 2023, the Sita wrote to the Western Cape education department recommending that the tender be awarded to Blue Networks Consortium. According to Steyn, the department then conducted an internal process and awarded the tender bid to the consortium on 19 May 2023 for a maximum of R900 million.

But, five months after the contract was awarded, the Sita provided the department with a copy of a report by forensic law firm Cliffe Dekker Hofmeyr (CDH) into irregularities in the Sita procurement process.

The department appointed senior counsel to consider the findings, who said “none of the conclusions in the CDH report demonstrated any reviewable irregularities in the procurement process”.

The Cliffe Dekker Hofmeyr report flagged irregularities such as the submission of two pricing options by Blue Networks Consortium and the disqualification of Dimension Data and the Sita board’s process for approving the recommendation for tenders.

“The decision to evaluate both price proposals submitted by Blue Networks and Infrastructure rendered the tender process unfair, as the Request for Bid was unclear on whether bidders were allowed to submit more than one pricing option,” said Tendai Jangara, a director and lead of the corporate investigations team at the law firm.

Cliffe Dekker Hofmeyr concluded that the process and awarding of the tender was “unfair and uncompetitive” because bidders were not evaluated on an equal footing. 

The provincial government has rejected the findings and said it had “no adverse implications” on the education department’s mandate. 

But the Sita’s Luvuyo Keyise called for the intervention of the Special Investigating Unit (SIU) to dig deeper into the matter. 

“It might be best that the SIU looks deeper into this because the current contract is continuing and one would not be surprised if anything around 50% of the contracted value would have been paid by now,” said Keyise.

But, in response to the application, the Gauteng education department said it had “no duty” to provide early childhood development centres to underage children.

The Equal Education bid is the second part of an application against the department over its failure to provide school placements for learners affected by the fire that engulfed the Usindiso building in Marshalltown, Johannesburg, last year, killing 77 people. 

A commission of inquiry launched to establish the cause of the fire found that the relocation of many families forced children to leave their school. Sixty learners remain in limbo in that regard.

The first part of the application — which Equal Education launched in October and is being supported by the parents of affected children — was heard last week in the Johannesburg high court. It seeks to declare the Gauteng education department’s failure to place the learners into school as “unconstitutional”. 

“In the Constitution, it says that everyone has a right to a basic education. And our argument now with these circumstances [is that] that this basis should mean or extend to be inclusive of early childhood development,” Equal Education Law Centre attorney Yolisa Piliso told the Mail & Guardian with regard to the second part of the application.

Responding to the court application, the Gauteng department said its education MEC “has no duty to place children who are below the compulsory school-going age”.

“As such the parents of children below school-going age are encouraged to enrol their children at any registered ECD centre,” the department’s response to Equal Education’s court application dated October 2024 reads.

It added that in South Africa “the provisioning of early childhood education is done by private providers, government’s role is to coordinate, regulate and support”.

The department said of the 17 families that the Equal Education Law Centre application makes mention of, “parents were not keen to place their children in ECD centres”.

Piliso said Equal Education would challenge the department’s decision on the basis that early childhood development “benefits the child”.  

“We understand the importance of access to any childhood development [centre] as part of the biggest milestone, or a cornerstone of access to learning,” he said.

In 2022, the government transferred responsibility for all ECD functions to the national department of basic education to try to strengthen the early childhood development system which “encompasses the critical period from birth to five years of age”. 

In its application the Equal Education Law Centre also seeks to amend the Gauteng admission regulation and the national admission policy to make provisions for learners to access education in times of emergencies, again using the example of Usindiso.

“Despite knowing children were out of school, the Gauteng government has failed to create any meaningful plans to address this crisis,” Piliso in a statement. 

The Gauteng department’s admissions regulations make no mention of emergency provisions for learners. 

Piliso said the court had given the department 60 days to “report on the progress that they have made around the placement”. 

Responding to queries from the M&G, the Federation of Governing Bodies of South African Schools (Fedsas) said it empathised with the Usindiso learners and that case law would determine the outcome of the case.

“There is no right to attend an ECD centre, but if promises were made, then there is an obligation to fulfill them,” Fedsas chief executive Jaco Deacon said.

The Gauteng department had not responded to questions from the M&G by the time of publication.

The planetarium is now a high-tech immersive auditorium, with 10 digital projectors to give a full dome resolution. The sound in the Digital Dome has also been upgraded to an 8.2-channel audio system.

“We have created a high-tech 360 immersive experience,” said Moumita Aich, the head of the dome. 

“We don’t just want it to be used for astronomy — humanities students can use it for their projects and tech companies can show us their innovations, so that’s the goal once it’s opened.”

The dome, which was opened in 1960, has over the years projected significant historical events, including being the first venue in South Africa to screen footage of the Apollo 11 moon landing in 1969. It also introduced the annual “Star of Bethlehem” show in 1974. 

When the planetarium was built, it housed a Zeiss projector, which was used to train pilots and sailors in celestial navigation before and during World War II.

The revamped dome will serve as a visualisation theatre, laboratory, teaching venue and collaborative research space for various scientific disciplines. It will also host public shows including scientific documentaries to 360-degree animated shows to entertain adults and children.

It is expected to open to the public in February 2025 after a pilot phase with Wits students and staff from November to January.

South Africa is home to the biggest planetariums in Africa such as the Iziko Planetarium and the Digital Dome in Cape Town’s Company Gardens. The Cape Town planetarium has a 15.2 metre dome and can seat 144 people.  In 2017, it underwent an R30 million upgrade after 31 years to keep up with the rapid growth of technology. 

The Naval Hill Planetarium in the Franklin Game Reserve in Bloemfontein is the first digital planetarium in sub-Saharan Africa.