Gauteng hospitals phone lines cut
There seems to be a major problem at gauteng hospitals as residents in the province won’t be able to reach several of the facilities as phone lines had been cut due to unpaid bills. This was revealed by the da, with the provincial health department admitting that no fewer than 32 hospitals and 82 clinics have non-functional phones because they hadn’t paid the bills. The department has since apologised for the inconvenience announcing that alternative phone numbers for healthcare facilities have been provided while they try to resolve the billing crisis with telkom. The department says that it paid R4million of its bill last week, with another R3,4million still expected to be paid to telkom.
Concern around the Bela Bill
Equal Education has pointed out concerns around the Bela Bill proposing the criminalisation of parents and caregivers who prevent their children from attending school. In it the bill states that parents or caregivers could be jailed for between six months to a year for preventing their child from attending school without a valid reason. Equal Education says that this clause fails to recognise the potential harm the children may face when their primary caregiver is jailed.
Voter apathy prevalent amongst the youth
Voter apathy amongst young people in South Africa is a growing concern as the country heads to the general election in May. But discussions around voter apathy is gaining traction. One critic is now calling on voter education to be included in the school curriculum. According to an article published on the Mail and Guardian, youth have always been at the forefront of resistence and acting against injustices in South Africa. The article writer calls on youth to take the vote into their hands and to shape the future South Africa they would like to live in, with the writer calling on young South Africans to draw inspiration from youth who fought in the 1976 Soweto uprisings as well as the 2015 / 2016 Fees Must Fall movement.
Meanwhile…. A new dating app launched in Johannesburg aims to match users with political parties which align with their beliefs and values, based on a comprehensive quiz. The brain behind the Yoh Vote app says they are on a mission to tackle issues of voter apathy amongst young people. But there is also criticism about the app especially whether tech can geniunely spark long term political engagement with questions around whether novelty could wear off after the 2024 election season.
SA Enhancing its efforts to address climate change
President Cyril Ramaphosa announced that South Africa is enhancing its efforts to address climate change by introducing the Climate Change Response Fund aimed at fostering collaboration between government and the private sector to effectively tackle the effects of environmental factors. The president said that By coordinating financial mobilisation from both government and the private sector, our country will have collaborative efforts to build resilience and respond to climate change.