Cabinet approves Draft Policy on Women in Sport

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Minister in the Presidency Khumbudzo Ntshavheni announced this during a media briefing on Thursday in Pretoria, while outlining decisions taken at Wednesday’s Cabinet meeting.

The policy outlines a set of measures that will promote and support women in sport and ensure programmes are in place to address gender disparities in sporting codes and structures.

It also addresses barriers to entry by women in sport such as lack of funding, sponsorship and inadequate remuneration.

“The proposed policy intends to promote increased active participation of women in sport and leadership roles such as coaching and officiating.

“The policy recognises that increased participation of women in sport and leadership positions will drastically reduce and finally eradicate gender inequality and various forms of discrimination against women. It also seeks to promote equity and ensure women receive respect or recognition on the professional front, including equal remuneration as their male counterparts,” Ntshavheni said.

Hosting of the International Maternal and Newborn Health Conference - 2023

Cabinet has granted approval for South Africa to host the International Maternal and Newborn Health Conference in Cape Town from 8 to 11 May 2023.

The conference will see more than 1,000 stakeholders from around the world gather to accelerate solutions to improve maternal and newborn survival, and prevent stillbirths.

“South Africa has made great progress towards achieving the United Nation’s Sustainable Development Goals targets for maternal and newborn health, and prevention of stillbirths. The country will also benefit immensely as conference delegates will share, among others, their effective strategies and innovations on maternal and newborn health issues,” Cabinet said.

Resistance and Liberation Heritage Route (RLHR) project

Cabinet said that it has received a detailed progress report on the implementation of the RLHR project.

It has approved that the Ministers of International Relations and Cooperation and Justice and Correctional Services form part of the Inter-Ministerial Committee (IMC) on the RLHR.

The RLHR is a national memory project aimed at commemorating and celebrating South Africa’s road to freedom. Cabinet established the IMC to oversee this project and provide political leadership.

The project seeks to include various forms of memorialisation of the sacrifices freedom fighters made for South Africa to become free and democratic. It also allows for the construction of a museum, monuments, library and archives and aims to recognise the spirit of solidarity and cooperation amongst Africans. It has been endorsed by the UN and has the potential to strengthen people-to-people cooperation using culture and heritage across the continent.

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A number of activities that took place in 2022 included Ministerial visits to Botswana and Zimbabwe as well as planning meetings with Angola and Tanzania.

“Activities around this project aim to connect all Southern African countries and educate young people about the struggle against colonialism and racism.

“The policy similarly makes allowance for the repatriation of the remains of South African liberation fighters who are buried in foreign countries. About 11 graves that are known to belong to South Africans have been identified in Zambia, including that of Struggle stalwart Mr Duma Nokwe,” Cabinet said.

National Policy on the Digitisation of Arts, Culture and Heritage

Cabinet has also approved the National Policy on the Digitisation of Arts, Culture and Heritage for implementation.

The policy gives further effect to the National Policy on the Digitisation of Heritage Resources that was development by the then Department of Arts and Culture in 2011. The policy focuses on the digitisation of heritage resources for the purpose of preservation, access and management of ownership.

“Although digitisation is a process of converting analogue content into digital content, including paper records, microfiche and non-digital tape recordings, the policy has extended this definition to born-digital resources such as information produced digitally, which may never be converted into physical form.

“Digitisation will have immense benefits for the country as it will provide easy access to information resources, particularly those held by archives, libraries and museums. The policy will be implemented across government and society,” Cabinet said.

Judicial Matters Amendment Bill of 2023

Cabinet has approved the submission of the Judicial Matters Amendment Bill of 2023 to Parliament. The Bill aims to amend numerous Acts administered by the Department of Justice and Constitutional Development by addressing technical issues and matters that affect the practical application of the Acts.

The Bill contains 37 clauses that propose amendments to correct the constitutional defects of the various Acts.