Latest news with #Fourie
The Citizen
20 hours ago
- The Citizen
Greenspark community marks Youth Day with powerful anti-drug campaign
The Greenspark community in Fochville took a firm stand against drug abuse on Youth Day, using the occasion to raise awareness and inspire change among local youth. March and sports unite youth against drugs Led by community activist Glen Fourie, the event began with a peaceful march from Greenspark Primary School to the local stadium. Once there, young people enjoyed a day of soccer and netball, promoting healthy alternatives to substance use. 'If you go to the police holding cells at Fochville, they are full of young people who stole to get money to buy drugs,' Fourie said. He emphasized the urgent need for intervention, especially in areas with limited recreational opportunities. Former addicts share their stories Community member Calvin Fourie, a recovering addict, shared his journey: 'I started using drugs because of peer pressure. I didn't know what I was getting myself into. Now, I feel sorry for the young users who have to sleep outside in the winter cold because of their choices.' Calvin is now clean and actively shares his experience to help guide others. Plans to build a safer, drug-free Greenspark Driven by concern and hope, residents are determined to change the narrative in Greenspark. Future plans include: Workshops to teach youth healthy coping strategies Collaboration with the South African Police Service (SAPS) and Departments of Health and Social Services Involvement of churches and local businesses The possible installation of boom gates at town entrances to curb criminal activity Broad support from community stakeholders The event received strong backing from various sectors. Traffic officers from Merafong City Local Municipality ensured safety during the march, and local churches and government departments pledged continued support. At Caxton, we employ humans to generate daily fresh news, not AI intervention. Happy reading!
IOL News
3 days ago
- Politics
- IOL News
Dr Pali Lehohla: Debating the labour force survey- a response to Fourie's critique
Gerrie Fourie. Image: File. When Ashraf Gadar said he sensed anger in my voice during an interview on the topical labour force survey, I said certainly there is anger in my voice. This is because if Fourie's rendition of the Labour Force is an understanding and representative of what goes on the in Boardrooms of business in South Africa then only god must help us. Through Statistics South Africa the citizens of this country have engaged in a dialogue about their lives and have made South Africa and South Africans discoverable and knowable to themselves and about themselves. Anything else equivalent to what Fourie was saying is abracadabra and can only be adjudicated by magicians. You see StatsSA runs a national statistics system which implies that it has designed a project based on systems design and driven by systems thinking. In such a system I had to listen to Tito Mboweni when he said, Statistician-General the Producer Price Index (PPI) is fine but the Consumer Price Index (CPI) does not make a lot of sense. Video Player is loading. Play Video Play Unmute Current Time 0:00 / Duration -:- Loaded : 0% Stream Type LIVE Seek to live, currently behind live LIVE Remaining Time - 0:00 This is a modal window. Beginning of dialog window. Escape will cancel and close the window. Text Color White Black Red Green Blue Yellow Magenta Cyan Transparency Opaque Semi-Transparent Background Color Black White Red Green Blue Yellow Magenta Cyan Transparency Opaque Semi-Transparent Transparent Window Color Black White Red Green Blue Yellow Magenta Cyan Transparency Transparent Semi-Transparent Opaque Font Size 50% 75% 100% 125% 150% 175% 200% 300% 400% Text Edge Style None Raised Depressed Uniform Dropshadow Font Family Proportional Sans-Serif Monospace Sans-Serif Proportional Serif Monospace Serif Casual Script Small Caps Reset restore all settings to the default values Done Close Modal Dialog End of dialog window. Advertisement Video Player is loading. Play Video Play Unmute Current Time 0:00 / Duration -:- Loaded : 0% Stream Type LIVE Seek to live, currently behind live LIVE Remaining Time - 0:00 This is a modal window. Beginning of dialog window. Escape will cancel and close the window. Text Color White Black Red Green Blue Yellow Magenta Cyan Transparency Opaque Semi-Transparent Background Color Black White Red Green Blue Yellow Magenta Cyan Transparency Opaque Semi-Transparent Transparent Window Color Black White Red Green Blue Yellow Magenta Cyan Transparency Transparent Semi-Transparent Opaque Font Size 50% 75% 100% 125% 150% 175% 200% 300% 400% Text Edge Style None Raised Depressed Uniform Dropshadow Font Family Proportional Sans-Serif Monospace Sans-Serif Proportional Serif Monospace Serif Casual Script Small Caps Reset restore all settings to the default values Done Close Modal Dialog End of dialog window. Next Stay Close ✕ I had to listen to John Stopforth of Investec when he said the housing index is wobbly. I had to listen to Trevor Manuel when he arrived huffing and puffing from Automn meetings in Washington asking about why the CPI is stubbornly on the up. Certainly, the system did not cohere then. The reason was that the national treasury had stubbornly refused to depart with a R 6 million for a general household survey that would have provided us weights for housing measurement component in the CPI. We put up a fight, they would not budge. Since 2003, StatsSA has not made any silly mistake save for a typo on the manufacturing statistics matrix over which I tendered my resignation in 2005, but the resignation was not processed. The typo in a thousand cells is a discussion for another day, suffice to say yet again there, the 2005 typo emerged from a 2003 dossier alleging corruption and theft of money and the process I intended to implement to avoid such was sabotaged internally. It is a topic for another day. There was an arduous process of reengineering the CPI which included direct price observation in outlets by data gatherers instead of telephone based surveys which could run the risk of the Portuguese pyjama CPI syndrome. One is mindful of the fact that citizens inform themselves by freely providing their most precious of themselves to Statistics South Africa in the firm belief that society cares and those to whom society has entrusted with the care will respect their trust which is the result of what they have provided for policy attention. StatsSA processes the responses dutifully following acclaimed standards. The United Nations Statistical Commission convenes annually in New York to address methods. Over five days the bean counters of the world prepare and present methodological programmes on population, economic and social statistics. They interrogate geospatial data and now the focus is on information technology and the world of data and how statisticians lead in this role. The World Data Forum which Statistics South Africa had the benefit of hosting as an inaugural programme of the commission in 2017 shows where Statistics South Africa ranks in the world. Whilst questioning and contesting is not a problem by itself, but failure to inform oneself before contesting can be a source of great anger to the listener, especially when the soliloquy becomes equivalent to somnambulism. Reading Fourie's soliloquy was annoying because it showed that he did not bother to read the methodological notes because if he did, he would have answered himself. But more irritating and annoying were the ANC MPs in the portfolio committee and Minister Tau who amplified Fourie's soliloquy and resisted to pay attention to the MKP and EFF MPs who actually understood and explained in detail not only the numbers but expatiated on the context of their meaning and implications. As though it was not enough my brother Siyabonga Radebe has amplified the debate and I thought I should shed light on this before it goes out of hand based on misinformation and speculation. You see Bungani I have to provide history to the QLFS. I may appear abrasive but I am actually factual and the concerns and comparative analysis is all answered in a report that prompted StatsSA to adopt a quarterly labour Force survey. In 2004 government was concerned that despite rise in fixed capital formation and growth in the economy, there was no corresponding growth in jobs. Then we were conducting the Labour Force Survey twice in a year. Given the concern, I roped in two experts who provided a critique on the labour force survey and one of them was from Brazil. They made a number of observations and recommendations that we adopted. These included amongst others line of questioning but the most fundamental recommendation was to run a quarterly labour force survey to capture seasonality. We then roped in two Canadian experts from Statistics Canada who helped us to answer and implement the recommendations and their counterpart group was under the leadership of a formidable Yandi Mpetsheni who ran with the ball over the four years of implementation of methods. A parallel survey of the old method and the new method was conducted throughout and a major one for implementation was in 2007. Linking factors for the old and new survey were implemented and in 2008 the new quarterly survey was implemented after a four year period of careful work. Bungani's balancing act from interesting corners of the mouth is appreciated. However, if he read the expert critique and recommendations, as well as the report on implementation of the recommendations which considered especially comparisons with Brazil and other countries, he will discover that he has no case to argue. There is no legacy to protect on my part Bungani nor language to polish. When a lie is told there is no reason to give it a different word. It is simply a lie and when an argument does not make sense it is called nonsense in the English language and when nonsense is given wheels and wings to fly it is called rubbish. Those who wish to opine should do so from research rather than from a hailer. Two issues stood out in the expert report, the question of agricultural activity linked to land ownership and high levels of concentration answers Bungani's balancing and supposition act. That is why South Africa is unique and an outlier. The land question is not just a fleeting imagination by the EFF and other parties in Parliament. It is at the core of differentiated employment status with all other countries referred to. South Africa Land Act systematized impoverishment of skill, practice, participation and empowerment. So, it is not surprising that its unemployment is an outlier, it is an outlier in land ownership too. All the other speculations have no room to sleep in this debate. Closed case. If there is anything important that Fourie's provocation elicited in this debate is the land question and parliament should engage fully if it wants unemployment of South Africa to be in line with that of other comparable countries. Dr Pali Lehohla is a Professor of Practice at the University of Johannesburg, a Research Associate at Oxford University, a board member of Institute for Economic Justice at Wits and a distinguished Alumni of the University of Ghana. He is the former Statistician-General of South Africa. Dr Pali Lehohla is a Professor of Practice at the University of Johannesburg, among other hats. Image: Supplied BUSINESS REPORT Visit:
The Citizen
6 days ago
- Business
- The Citizen
Minister agrees unemployment statistics should include work in informal sector
The question is whether Statistics SA calculates the unemployment rate correctly and if it is really around 10%. Minister of Trade, Industry and Competition, Parks Tau, said this week that he agrees with Capitec CEO Gerrie Fourie that unemployment statistics should include work in the informal sector. However, not everybody agrees. Fourie said this week that Statistics SA should rethink how it measures unemployment, arguing that when the vast informal sector is considered, the unemployment rate of 32.9% could be closer to 10%. 'We talk about an unemployment rate of 32%, but Statistics SA does not count self-employed people. I think that is an area we must correct. The unemployment rate is probably actually 10%. Just go look at the number of people in the township informal market who sell all sorts of stuff and have a turnover of R1 000 per day.' This week in parliament, Tobias Chance, a DA MP, asked Tau for his comments as he was not sure whether Fourie's claim was accurate. He also wanted to know whether it was true that not enough attention was paid to supporting the informal economy. Chance emphasised that the informal sector in South Africa supported fewer people in work compared to other similar countries, particularly elsewhere in Africa. ALSO READ: Is South Africa's unemployment rate really only 10%? Minister Tau agrees Tau acknowledged that the point had been raised by various quarters concerning what was calculated and what not. He admitted he did not read the article with Fourie's statements, but said he believes there was significant undercounting, particularly when the informal sector was considered. 'This is an issue that everyone should collectively engage with to both acknowledge the informal sector and reinforce the support mechanisms for what was a major contributor to employment in the country. 'The informal sector is not only about self-sufficiency. There were instances when, according to my understanding, the ratio was one-to-one, meaning that for each informal sector operator, there was at least one additional employee. The number of employees per company would always differ.' Tau said there was an argument to be made in that regard and that Fourie's comments regarding South Africa's statistics needed to be considered. 'This has implications for how the country responded in terms of public policy and interventions.' ALSO READ: A VIEW OF THE WEEK: Taking unemployment lessons from a bank boss who can't count? Research institution says there is nothing wrong with calculation However, Trade and Industrial Policy Strategies (TIPS), an independent, non-profit, economic research institution based in Pretoria, established in 1996 to support economic policy development, with an emphasis on industrial policy, does not agree with Fourie. Senior economist at TIPS Dr Neva Makgetla says their own research shows that claims by a few business leaders and researchers that the informal sector has been neglected in both official data on unemployment and in government strategies to address joblessness are at best overdrawn and at worst simply false. 'Our substantial analytical work into the quality of official employment statistics, as well as the substantive factors behind persistently high joblessness and the obstacles facing small businesses, including the informal sector, shows that: The official Quarterly Labour Force Survey (QLFS) adequately defines and assesses employment, self-employment, unemployment and the informal sector. It is not true that the official data ignores informal employment and self-employment, which would result in exaggerated estimates for the unemployment rate. In 1994, self-employment in South Africa was already much lower than the norm for upper-middle-income countries due to the dispossession of black business owners under apartheid. The QLFS findings reflect South Africa's unique history, not methodological flaws. A key question is why the transition to democracy has done little to overcome the deficit in small businesses that originated under apartheid. The main reason is that the destruction of small and especially family-owned businesses under apartheid inevitably also destroyed their ecosystem. Most private and public services, infrastructure and resourcing of all kinds are still designed to meet the needs of large established producers, which often differ from those of small and especially informal enterprises. By extension, effective policies to expand small businesses, including in the informal sector, cannot rely narrowly on reducing regulatory burdens. Instead, South Africa needs to develop new systems in both the private and the public sector to support emerging and informal businesses on a mass scale.' NOW READ: This is where we would be if SA sustained an economic growth rate of 4.5%
The Citizen
7 days ago
- Entertainment
- The Citizen
Lowveld baker takes on The Taste Master SA
Chevonne Fourie, a passionate upcoming baker is competing in the sixth season of The Taste Master SA cooking competition. The show is already airing on SABC 2 and is presented and judged by the renowned chef, Zola Nene. Each episode has a new baking or cooking challenge, which gets judged by a rotating panel. These include Nene's mother, Chef Anwar Abdullatief, as well as Daniel Blignaut, Nathan Clarke, Justin Barker and other guest judges. ALSO READ: Mbombela boy bakes banana bread for trip to the seaside With two challenge wins to her name, Fourie has already proved herself a force to be reckoned with. She won the judges over with a mouth-watering orange and poppy seed cake in the Mother's Day challenge, and followed it up with a winning mushroom fagottini – an Italian-inspired stuffed pasta dish. All her recipes can be found on The Taste Master SA's website for viewers and foodies to try out. Fourie grew up in the Lowveld and began cooking and baking with her grandmother at just five years old in their family-owned hotel, the Böhm Zeederberg Country House in Hazyview. 'I remember preparing snacks for the guests with my grandmother in the kitchen and enjoying the new things I learnt from her,' Fourie shared. She also learnt to cook in her mother's restaurant, the Bohemian Groove Cafe, situated in her hometown, Kaapsehoop. She was a learner of Hoërskool Nelspruit and competed in a few cooking competitions. In Grade 11 she won her first cooking competition, 'Skole Kook' in Mpumalanga with her team in 2017. ALSO READ: No-Bake Macadamia Millionaire bar After finishing school, she was awarded a scholarship at the Capital Hotel School in Pretoria and pursued her dreams of becoming a pastry chef. She has her own patisserie called Botter is Liefde, where she makes custom cakes and pastries. Through The Taste Master SA competition, she hopes to improve her cooking skills and expand her network in the culinary industry. 'Of course winning would be the icing on the cake, but I'm here for the experience,' Fourie admitted. Viewers can watch new episodes every Tuesday at 19:30 on SABC 2. Missed an episode? Catch up on The Taste Master SA's YouTube channel and follow the journey to the next winner. At Caxton, we employ humans to generate daily fresh news, not AI intervention. Happy reading! Stay in the know. Download the Caxton Local News Network App Stay in the know. Download the Caxton Local News Network App here
The Citizen
13-06-2025
- Business
- The Citizen
Taking unemployment lessons from a bank boss who can't count?
There is no way that SA's unemployment rate is only 10%. More than 8.2 million people were unemployed in the first three months of this year, 237 000 more than the three months before. But if Capitec CEO Gerrie Fourie is to be believed, most of those don't count. Fourie said this week that the unemployment crisis, which swallows more than one in four people in this country (43.15%), is being inflated and 'is actually around 10%'. He claimed this is because official government statistics exclude those who sell amagwinya and others who rent out their backrooms to put food on the table. He said these hustles are comparable to employment and encouraged entrepreneurship. While most observers will tell you that small and medium business development should be the priority and entrepreneurship is essential to our economic future, surely we shouldn't be encouraging bylaw violations in our grand quest to create jobs? Is suburban decay just job creation? Both townships and suburbs are battling mushrooming land grabs and room renting as the demand for housing in urban areas continues to grow. Away from official statistics, just driving down the road or turning on the tap will show you how much of a strain this has on already frail infrastructure. Illegal connections are found on many streets, hastily built rooms are erected without plans, approvals, or necessary skill, and spaza shops are opened with little regard for food safety. If the millionaire rode down the same street, he might have to dodge the unroadworthy school transport drivers who pack the future generation into a taxi like sardines to maximise profit. We have laws that prohibit these kinds of 'hustles' to protect infrastructure and people's lives. Such criminality should be policed, not encouraged. ALSO READ: A VIEW OF THE WEEK: So what if there is a shack in the back? Making the informal formal Fourie has repeated the call for the unemployment stats to include the informal sector, like other developing nations have. This has been on the request list for 30 years and has been blue-ticked by the government because the sector is so fluid. Defining what sector falls under the informal economy is also problematic and requires regulations. But where do we start regulating and enforcing rules on the taxi industry, or on Tannie Marie selling doilies on Facebook? And what about those in the illicit market? If the person begging for money at a robot is employed, then does that make the drug dealer sharing the corner employed too? Giving government a pass The problem with watering down the definition of employment is that it downplays the government's failures in addressing inequality and job creation. There are dedicated ministries to labour, employment, and small businesses, and yet the scourge of joblessness continues. Instead of holding the government accountable, it gives the impression that SA's job market is far better than it actually is. This may help corporates like Fourie sell a good image when trying to secure international deals, but it invalidates and silences the poor in the country that these businesses are built on the back of. Allowing a corporate bigwig to tweak what employment means is as concerning as sending a billionaire to the White House to present government policy. Sadly, like when Johann Rupert went to visit Donald Trump last month, that has already happened. NOW READ: A VIEW OF THE WEEK: Don't give BEE bully Musk your lunch money
