The DA says Zimbabwean teachers locked out of SA due to Covid-19

 restriction should be allowed to return to SA.

According to the provincial education department, four teachers who

were locked out have since been assisted.

The department says teachers who are still outside SA's borders are

 on unpaid leave.

The DA in Limpopo is calling on Education MEC Polly Boshielo to

intervene and approach the home affairs department to help Zimbabwean

teachers return to SA.

According to the party, an education portfolio committee meeting last

week revealed that about 400 gateway subject teachers, mostly from

Zimbabwe, were unable to enter South Africa due to border restrictions.

Gateway subjects include mathematics, physical science, economics,

agricultural sciences and accounting.

"The failure of these gateway subject teachers to enter the country and

resume work will have an extremely negative effect on the preparation of

learners for their final exams and their chances to achieve good marks

for admission into institutions of higher learning.

"The impact of the failure of these teachers to resume work is further

compounded by the fact that almost half the school year has been lost

due to Covid-19," DA provincial legislature member Jacques Smalle said

on Tuesday.

According to the provincial education department, of the 379 foreign

teachers who teach maths and sciences at high schools in the province,

only 20 were locked in Zimbabwe due to the lockdown.

The Department of Home Affairs has since assisted four teachers to

return, Limpopo education spokesperson Tidimalo Chuene said.

Sixteen remain outside the country and processes are under way to ensure

they return to classes, she added.

"These educators are appointed in temporary posts due to the nature of

their citizenship. They are paid a normal educator salary through the

PERSAL system."

Meanwhile, those who remain outside of South Africa's borders are

"deemed to be on unpaid leave".

Chuene said the department stopped their salaries and substituted them.

But Smalle said the teachers should be allowed to enter the country as a

matter of urgency, given their contribution to the vital subject areas

they teach.

He added that, in the 2019 final matric exams, the province achieved

lower percentages than the national average of pupils who achieved above

30% in all 11 gateway subjects.

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  * *The National Economic Development and Labour Council has agreed on

    an action plan for the country's economic recovery.

  * *President Cyril Ramaphosa met with the council on Tuesday.

  * *Details of the plan will be announced once it is finalised by Cabinet.

The National Economic Development and Labour Council has agreed to an

economic recovery plan for South Africa.

According to a statement issued by the Presidency on Tuesday, following

a meeting between President Cyril Ramaphosa and Nedlac - a body

comprised of representatives of government, business, labour and

community - the details of the plan will be announced once it is

finalised by Cabinet.

The country's economy is set to contract anywhere between 7% and 13%

this year due to the damaging impact of the lockdown that was instituted

to curb the spread of Covid-19. Most recent data from Stats SA showed

that the economy contracted by 51% quarter on quarteron

an annualised basis as a result of the lockdown, which saw economic

activity grind to a halt for five weeks.

The country has had to borrow from multilateral institutions such as the

International Monetary Fund, the African Development Bank and the New

Development Bank, in order to fund responses to the pandemic as well as

buoy the economy.

"The social partners' action plan is founded on significant convergence

on what needs to be done to set the economy on a new, accelerated,

inclusive and transformative growth trajectory.

"Social partners have identified priority areas for rebuilding the

economy as well as structural reforms and other programmes which will

enable sustainable and inclusive growth with an intensive focus on job

creation," read the statement from the Presidency.

Notably, Nedlac agreed on a social compact to mobilise funding to

address Eskom's financial crisis "in a sustainable manner", according to

the statement. Eskom is facing a growing debt burden which currently

stands at some R480 billion. It's been battling with operational

challenges, impacting its ability to supply power with detrimental

effects on business confidence and economic growth.

Commenting on the agreement and the commitments made by social partners

to implement the plan, the president said it "is a great achievement

that rises to the challenge of the moment".

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The draft Taxation Laws Amendment Bill (TLAB), which is open for public comment, will introduce changes for South Africans looking to take their retirement funds abroad.

In an analysis of the proposed change, law firm ENSAfrica said that the changes primarily deal with formal emigration with the draft bill suggesting a much stricter process from 1 March 2021 onward.

“Members of preservation funds and retirement annuity funds may withdraw from such funds if they formally emigrate from South Africa for exchange control purposes and their emigration is approved by the South African Reserve Bank,” said ENSAfrica.

However, it was announced in the 2020 Budget Review that the concept of emigration for exchange control purposes will be phased out.

“As a result, the requirement of formal emigration will be removed and a new requirement for the withdrawal of lump-sum benefits from these retirement funds is proposed, effective from 1 March 2021 – namely, that the person is not a resident (i.e. for tax purposes) for an uninterrupted period of three years or longer.

“It appears that this requirement is intended to apply to three consecutive tax years, although the amendment refers simply to years.”

Changes 

Jean du Toit, head of Tax Technical at Tax Consulting SA, said that under the current rules taxpayers can withdraw their retirement funds prior to their retirement date, upon emigration for exchange control purposes.

This emigration process must be recognised by the South African Reserve Bank in a process known as ‘financial emigration’, he said.

Du Toit said that under the new bill, reference to the emigration process is substituted with a new test that requires a person to prove they have been non-resident for tax purposes for an unbroken period of at least three years.

“This new test will apply from 1 March 2021. How this must be proved other than ‘financial emigration’ remains unclear at this stage.

“Practically, after the effective date, your retirement benefits will be locked in South Africa for at least three years. The proposed amendment signals a big policy shift from a fiscal perspective, but this is one piece to a bigger puzzle that should have those who seek to emigrate on high alert.”

Based on daily interaction with employers, executives and expatriates, Du Toit said that the following groups of people should give this change careful consideration:

• Does it remain prudent for South African executives to keep taking a tax break and maximising their South African approved retirement savings?

• Where you have large retirement savings, the opportunity will soon be over to make best possible investment decisions – soon some will go towards cheaper access to finance.

• South Africans looking to leave in the next couple of years will benefit from at least expediting their process on retirement savings, being they are locked in for 3 years.

• South Africans who have already left, but who have not yet done financial emigration, should consider doing this within the next 6 months before the window closes.

• Those who have already financially emigrated, but left investments behind, should reconsider their position.

• South Africans with children or other foreign beneficiaries, should relook at their investments and to align with this new landscape

Transport Minister Fikile Mbalula says some airlines are not

complying with Covid-19 regulations.

He says there is no enforcement of the use of masks and sanitisers.

Mbalula says government is considering allowing international travel.

Transport Minister Fikile Mbalula says concerns have been raised

regarding Covid-19 non-compliance on certain airlines.

Mbalula was speaking at OR Tambo International Airport in Johannesburg

on Saturday where he inspected its adherence to Covid-19 regulations and

directions.

"I received a complaint that some of the airlines are not observing the

regulations on board and they have totally lapsed in relation to the

regulations.

"There is no enforcement of masks, there is no sanitising and all of

that, we want to deal with that," Mbalula said.

"We can't allow airlines to break the measures

have been set by government in relation to observing stringent measures

when it comes to safety on board."

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Citizenship as a tool of exclusion was a staple of apartheid-era oppression in South Africa. It was with this in mind that the opening words of the Freedom Charter and later the preamble of the Constitution proclaimed, ‘South Africa belongs to all who live in it’.

Unlike the US or our neighbour Lesotho, South Africa does not confer citizenship simply because you were born in its territory – there must be a further tie to the country. Children born to South African citizens (whether one or both parents) are automatically citizens, and children born and registered to foreign parents who were admitted for permanent residence qualify for citizenship when they turn 18 if they have lived in South Africa their whole life.

But what about the many children born in South Africa to parents who were neither South African citizens nor foreigners admitted for permanent residence?

www.samigration.com