Andrew Stegmann

Where are the jobs?

Cape Town – South African employers report cautiously optimistic hiring intentions for the next three months, according to the Manpower Employment Outlook Survey for the fourth quarter of 2016.

Of the 755 employers surveyed, 15% expect to increase staffing levels, 6% forecast a decrease and 78% anticipate no change. Once the data is adjusted to allow for seasonal variation the outlook stands at +9%. Hiring plans are 2 percentage points stronger when compared with the previous quarter and improve by 3 percentage points year-on-year.

“As we move into the last quarter, certain industries experience an expected spike in business associated with the holiday and festive season, possibly allowing for increased employment. This, of course, relies on many factors, including the state of the economy and the strength of the rand,” said Lyndy van den Barselaar, managing director of Manpower SA.

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Andrew Stegmann

‘Pastor of hate’ not welcome in SA, says home affairs minister Malusi Gigaba

“Kill the gays” pastor Steven Anderson and his church have been prohibited from entering South Africa, home affairs minister Malusi Gigaba said on Tuesday.

The minister made the announcement during a media briefing at Parliament this morning.

 In his address, Gigaba said: “South Africa has to work towards reaching its constitutional goals … It is a constitutional imperative for organs of state and society at large to protect and jealously defend the rights of all people.”

Gigaba added that the Immigration Act of 2002 “prohibits the admission of foreigners likely to promote hate speech or advocate social violence”.

Anderson is known for being virulently homophobic – his comment about the Orlando Massacre (“The good news is that there’s 50 less paedophiles in this world”) caused particular outcry from LGBTI and human rights activists.

On Monday September 5, the minister had met with representatives of LGBTI organisations who collected 60 000 signatures in support of blocking Anderson’s upcoming scheduled visit to South Africa.

A task team, made of representatives of South African LGBTI organisations and department officials, was set up during this meeting.

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Andrew Stegmann

Univisa delays cost Zambia revenue, says trade

The KAZA univisa, which allows travellers to enter both Zimbabwe and Zambia on a single visa, remains suspended despite appeals from the Zimbabwean travel trade to reinstate the visa.

“Zambian authorities maintain that they have run out of paper allocated for Immigration by the UN,” explains Emmanuel Fundira, Group CE of Astoc Leisure Group. However, he adds that the industry view is that it is “a lame excuse”. There has been loss of revenue to Zambia in terms of net tourism inflows resulting from cross-border pick-ups, according to Fundira.

The CEO of the Zimbabwe Council for Tourism,Paul Matamisa, also told Tourism Update that the univisa had been suspended for a few months due to non-availability of forms on the Zambian side. “We understand from Zimbabwean officials that negotiations have been in progress for reconvening the system.”

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Andrew Stegmann

Ethiopia blames ‘outside forces’ for protest death toll

The Ethiopian government has hit back after the international outcry over the rising death toll from protests in the country, blaming “outside forces” for fomenting the trouble.

More than 500 people have now been killed since November 2015, according to Human Rights Watch and other activist bodies, and several thousand detained – largely following protests by the Oromia and Amhara people.

It has also raised questions in the EU, where Ethiopia is one of the largest recipients of development aid, and also a beneficiary of the bloc’s new Emergency Trust Fund for Africa, aimed at mitigating migration flows from Africa.

Now Addis Ababa has hit back, admitting “bystanders” had died during the protests, and that the government had blocked internet access, but claiming “a group of people living inside and outside of the country” were behind the protests.

That seems to be a reference to the Ethiopian diaspora, concentrated in the US, who have often complained they are the subject of bugging by the government in Addis.

State Minister of Foreign Affairs, Ambassador Taye Atske-Selassie admitted that “the government has accepted most of the issues of concerns that broke out in different parts of the country as consequences of bad governance, unemployment and the likes.”

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