Making headlines: Ramaphosa urges South Africans to promote gender equality; Sassa and Post Office to give briefing on progress in social grant payments migration; And, Mnangagwa frets over Mugabe links to new political party

For Creamer Media in Johannesburg, I’m Sane Dhlamini.

Ramaphosa urges South Africans to promote gender equality

President Cyril Ramaphosa today called on South Africans to use International Women’s Day to decide what they could do in their personal lives, communities, businesses and organisations to advance all aspects of gender equality.

Ramaphosa said South Africans should dedicate this year’s International Women’s Day to the memory of Albertina Sisulu, whose centenary is being celebrated this year. He said she was a courageous leader during the struggle for national liberation and a leading activist for gender emancipation.

The president said South Africans had a responsibility to the memory of Ma Sisulu and to the many women who walked alongside her to intensify the struggle for gender equality in all areas of life.

Sassa and Post Office to give briefing on progress in social grant payments migration

The South African Social Security Agency and the South African Post Office are today expected to brief the media on the progress they've made towards the payment of social grants.

Sassa has less than a month to fully migrate core components of the grants scheme from Cash Paymaster Services, as ordered by the Constitutional Court, to the Post Office, as agreed in December 2017.

The Constitutional Court heard on Tuesday that Sassa did not have alternative plans if the court refused to extend the CPS contract by another six months. The contract expires on March 31.

The agency had argued that about 2.8-million beneficiaries would not get their grant payments if the contract with CPS was not extended.

And, Mnangagwa frets over Mugabe links to new political party

President Emmerson Mnangagwa has told Zanu PF youths that he was not happy with reports that his predecessor, Robert Mugabe, was linked to a new political outfit, National Patriotic Front.

The NPF is led by retired brigadier Ambrose Mutinhiri, a former Zanu PF legislator, ambassador and Mashonaland Easts provincial affairs minister.

Mnangagwa said this while addressing Zanu PF youth national assembly at the party’s headquarters in the capital on Wednesday.
Yesterday’s Zanu PF national youth assembly is the first since Mnangagwa took over from Mugabe, who resigned under pressure from the military.

Also making headlines:
President Cyril Ramaphosa yesterday, held discussions with Moody’s Investors Service on the various initiatives underway to accelerate economic growth, create jobs, and he also reaffirmed that land reform would unfold within clear legal framework and would not affect economic growth, the Presidency said.

That’s a roundup of news making headlines today
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