The Gauteng City-Region, South Africa's economic hub contributing 35% of the national output and housing over 15 million people, is facing significant challenges. Long seen as a land of opportunity, the region now contends with deteriorating infrastructure, unreliable service delivery, increasing crime, and governance struggles.

New findings from the Gauteng City-Region Observatory (GCRO) highlight a concerning decline in development outcomes. The GCRO, a collaboration between government and universities, produces the Quality of Life Index, combining 33 variables such as health, safety, and socio-economic factors. The 2023/24 index reveals the lowest recorded quality of life since 2009, signaling the severe impact of global and local crises, or "polycrises," compounded by governance failures.

The survey, covering nearly 14,000 respondents across Gauteng, illustrates declining satisfaction with public services, rising dissatisfaction with government, and persistent poverty. Safety concerns have also surged, with crime and feelings of insecurity worsening. Despite these issues, the data serves as a critical resource for informing policy and strategic planning.

The findings call for urgent collaboration among public, private, and civil society leaders to address these intertwined challenges and improve the wellbeing of Gauteng's residents.

Next week, South Africa will host the second meeting of the Group of 20 Health Working Group (G20 HWG) at the Capital Zimbali Resort in Ballito, KwaZulu-Natal. The three-day event, commencing on Wednesday, 26 March 2025, will center around the theme “Accelerating Health Equity, Solidarity, and Universal Coverage.”


The meeting will feature various side events, facilitating bilateral and multilateral discussions on key health issues, including strengthening healthcare systems and ensuring equitable access to health services. Topics of discussion will include financial protection for Universal Health Coverage (UHC) and sustaining health financing amid global economic challenges.


Delegates will also focus on investment strategies to advance UHC, narrowing health equity gaps to address non-communicable diseases, and responding to global health financing concerns. Additionally, a co-sponsored event dedicated to eliminating cervical cancer will take place alongside the main meeting.


Attendees will include representatives from G20 member states, invited nations, and international organizations. The G20 comprises 19 countries—Argentina, Australia, Brazil, Canada, China, France, Germany, India, Indonesia, Italy, Japan, Korea, Mexico, Russia, Saudi Arabia, South Africa, Türkiye, the United Kingdom, and the United States—along with two regional entities, the European Union and the African Union.


Minister of Health, Dr. Aaron Motsoaledi, will deliver the keynote address at the opening session on 26 March 2025. He will be joined by Deputy Health Minister Dr. Joe Phaahla, KwaZulu-Natal Premier Thami Ntuli, and KwaZulu-Natal Health MEC Nomagugu Simelane.

The Minister of Home Affairs, Dr Leon Schreiber, will this week launch a new service to reduce the turnaround times on Home Affairs services like passports and Smart IDs from over 12 months to just five weeks.

This service, which was already successfully piloted in the United Kingdom, will be launched by the Minister in Australia this week, with more locations to be announced in due course.

The new facilities in Australia will first be launched in Sydney on 16 July 2025 at 10:00 (Australian time) and in Melbourne on 18 July 2025 at 13:00 (Australian time).

The locations of these launches are as follows:

Sydney: Level 6, 88 Pitt Street, Sydney, NSW, Australia 2000
Melbourne: Level 5, 332 St Kilda Road, Melbourne, Australia 3004
All media are invited to join these events.



For media enquiries, please contact:

Duwayne Esau, Cell number: 077 606 9702

Safe passage out of and back into South Africa has been extended for those awaiting outcomes of their long-term visa applications, waiver requests or appeals. The enormous visa processing backlog in South Africa has been significantly reduced during the past months. However, some long outstanding applications remain, and the elevated rejection rate of late has led to high numbers of appeals in the system.

To accommodate those affected by these circumstances, Minister of Home Affairs Schreiber has once more extended the travel exemption until 31 March 2025. Those who applied for waivers or long-term temporary residence visas and not received an outcome by 30 November 2024, or who have appealed a negative decision, may continue their activities as per their last visas, OR leave the country by 31 March 2025without being banned from returning.

For specific and detailed information, kindly contact our office on 021 462 3184, or send an email to info@imcosa.co.za. Note our festive season office closure: 10am SAST on 20th December 2024 – 3rd January 2025, opening 6 January 2025.

By Kenny Morolong

In June this year, South Africa marked 70 years since the adoption of the Freedom Charter on 26 June 1955 by the Congress of the people. On that day, brave patriots assembled in a multiracial convention in Kliptown and adopted a document that remains the cornerstone to the founding of our Constitution and democracy.

To this day the Freedom Charter remains a concrete expression of the will and determination of the people. The values and core principles of the Freedom Charter have been incorporated into the Constitution which guides the National Development Plan, the blueprint for a society where all can flourish. The Constitution also informs the implementation of the Medium-Term Development Plan 2024-2029, which seeks to advance an all-inclusive democracy, where all have equal opportunities to a better life.

This year’s anniversary was held under the theme “70 Years of the Freedom Charter: Youth Upholding the Constitution” and coincided with the commemoration of Youth Month. The theme reinforced the importance of the youth in taking the lead in addressing pressing challenges facing our country and ensuring that our constitutional democracy lives up to the principles as espoused in the Freedom Charter. Together we must ensure that we live by its values as we work for a better life for all our people.

The 70th anniversary of the Freedom Charter was an opportunity to celebrate the strides we have made in building our democracy based on the Constitution. Since 1994 we have worked to undo the many evils of the past. Over the years Parliament passed legislation to support our democracy and to ensure that all people are treated justly and fairly.

It also repealed several laws that sought to denigrate black people and replaced them with those that reflect the values of our new democratic dispensation. We should never forget that the apartheid government was systematic in their approach, passing law after law intended to restrict the freedoms and aspirations of black people.

The Population Registration Act of 1950 formalised racial classification and introduced an identity card for all persons over the age of eighteen, specifying their racial group. The infamous Group Areas Act of 1950 decreed that only people of the same race could live side by side.

Things that we now consider normal such as marrying the love of your life were banned under the Prohibition of Mixed Marriages Act of 1949, which prohibited marriage between persons of different races.

Simple daily activities such as boarding a bus to go to the park, or the beach were banned under the Reservation of Separate Amenities Act of 1953, which reserved most public amenities for a particular race. In 1953, the Bantu Education Act was also passed, which crafted a separate and unequal system of education for African students, which aimed to limit their educational opportunities and reinforce apartheid policies.

All these laws have been replaced and today we live in a country where all are equal before the law. No one can be discriminated against because of race, culture, language, gender, sexual orientation, religion, or any other ground.

Furthermore, Chapter 9 institutions continue to function without fear or favour to safeguard our democracy and ensure that organs of state are held to account for their actions or inactions. Alongside Chapter 9 institutions, we have the separation of powers which allows each branch of government - the executive, the legislature and the judiciary - to scrutinise the acts of another branch to prevent one branch from acting unilaterally.

Over our 31-years of democracy, we have also transformed the lives of people through the provision of basic services such as improving access to education, healthcare, houses, water, electricity, roads, social protection initiatives and wage increases. These successes are reflected in both the 30 Year Review Report and Census 2022. Both of these paints a picture of a society on the move and reflect improvements across most indicators.

Although we have made progress, we are mindful that we must do more to substantially transform our nation and the economy. We are committed to speeding up transformation across society by strengthening partnerships with civil society to ensure that we address the many challenges faced by the most vulnerable including the youth in our country.

All of these changes and milestones are a testament that we have a lot to be grateful for as we mark 70 years since the adoption of the Freedom Charter. South Africans from all races are encouraged to reflect on the 70th Anniversary of the Freedom Charter and find ways to build on the gains we have made to improve the lives of people.

With the use of sophisticated drones, the Border Management Authority (BMA) in collaboration with the SAPS and SANDF, successfully intercepted more than 1,000 undocumented migrants attempting to enter South Africa illegally and confiscated illicit goods over the Easter period, BMA Commissioner Michael Masiapato told Eyewitness News after the long weekend.

“Without drones, this work becomes very expensive and ineffective. We would be patrolling blindly, not knowing if we would encounter people,” Masiapato said during a media briefing at Beitbridge Border Post between South Africa and Zimbabwe and the busiest the busiest border crossing into South Africa.

The BMA, a single integrated authority mandated to secure and manage South African borders, officially deployed the drones during the busy Easter period after a successful pilot project over the 2024/2025 festive season. The pilot project resulted in a 215% increase in the successful prevention of illegal border crossings during the period.

The drone roll-out as part of the Easter Operational Programme, was done in collaboration with the DHA. The department, in its capacity as the custodian of South African citizens’ identities, plays a crucial role in the BMA’s operations, especially in areas like immigration and border security.

Dr Leon Schreiber, Minister of Home Affairs, said at the launch of the BMA’s Easter Operational Plan earlier in April 2025 the new devices is concrete proof of the fruits that follow when DHA commits itself to using technology in smarter and more effective ways.

He said the cutting-edge new drone and body worn camera technology, which feeds to the BMA Operational Centre, is a revolutionary development in border control, helping to prevent illegal crossings and corruption.

According to the Scalabrini Institute for Human Mobility in Africa (SIHMA) the South Africa-Zimbabwe corridor is one of Africa’s busiest. The most common route from Zimbabwe to South Africa leads from Zimbabwe’s southern Matabeleland region through Beitbridge.

SIHMA says smugglers often exploit migrants, charging exorbitant fees ranging from $100 to $300 for an illegal crossing, often with no guarantee of the migrants’ safety.

‘Eyes in the Sky’

The Minister described the drones as among the most advanced in the country, calling them the BMA’s “eyes in the sky” for day and night surveillance.

The drones can launch in 15 seconds, reach a speed of 43 km/h, has thermal visual detection, long range zoom capabilities enabling the drone to see almost 2 km into the distance, are capable of operating under all weather conditions, and the advanced camera can detect and record movement. It also boasts autonomous pathfinding, meaning it can navigate its own environment despite obstacles. Artificial Intelligence (AI) is used to programme the devices to, for instance, look for a certain kind of vehicle or group of people.

“We can now do surveillance we were not able to do before, even if we had more human resources. This is how digital technology helps us tackle our challenges,” Schreiber said.

Unwavering commitment to digital transformation

This is yet another step in the DHA’s digital transformation journey.

In the past few months, the department upgraded its digital verification system which it believes will dramatically reduce waiting times whenever a client needs to verify their identity with the department to obtain a social grant or open a bank account.

The DHA also launched of a dedicated eRecruitment platform and instituted a new rule to deliver the outcomes of visa waiver applications digitally via email to applicants.