Introduction

The Department of Economic Development and Tourism in partnership with Northern Cape Mine managers Association (NCMMA) and Tirisano Trust jointly worked on the SMME Procurement Portal project, The project was launched in Kuruman of 2011, This is a Public and Private Partnership.

The reviewed Mining Charter has set clear targets to be achieved by 2014, with specific reference to the Procurement & Enterprise Development section, procurement will be measured on the following categories Capital goods 40%, Services 70% and Consumables 50% spent targets from BEE entities. Access to Local HDSA suppliers becomes very vital therefore in order to achieve these targets by 2014.

As it was custom for backyard SMME’s to travel long distances to make an appointment at mines or to submit their Business Profiles but only to be met with disappointment of unavailability of mining officials in procurement and having to go through security clearance that the mines require,
SMME’s has now a convenient way of doing business with the Mines in the Northern Cape without wasting money – by just a click of a button at the convenience of their space,

Immediate key benefits to the SMME:

• SMME’S have direct access to opportunities in Mining,
• Save on travel costs
• Upload their Business Profiles on Portal
• SMS & Email Notifications of Tenders and RFQ
• Mining houses have now access to the Northern Cape Suppliers Database
• Mines receive an online Updated Report
• Enhanced or advanced Search engines

Vision

To create an enabling, transparent environment for SMME’s to access Mining Procurement information and opportunities, particularly where Mining activities are happening in towns where SMME’s stays and in order to include SMME in the mainstream mining economy.

Mission

In recognizing the inequities of the past, the mines of the NCMMA in partnership with the Northern Cape Provincial Government and district municipalities will utilize a Principle driven approach to give effect to meaningful broad based empowerment in the NCMMA region, complimented with an emphasis on local economic development (LED).

• PMPI Portal
• Portal Registration

What is an Internship? 

As contemplated by Cabinet in December 2002, internship is a public service graduate work experience programme targeting unemployed graduates. 

Internship gives students workplace experience or an opportunity to practice the work skills that they have studied and will practice in future. Internships of different kinds are common in fields including medicine, social work, and engineering. 

Internship in the public service is a planned, structured, and managed programme that provides work experience for a specific period varying from three to twelve months. A designated mentor may support an intern in the public service. In South Africa internship is a practical programme to assist with the continuous development of people for future appointment in the labour market. It is directed at young people who are completing their studies or who have completed their studies and are unemployed. 

An internship can also benefit the employer who has an opportunity to get to know the intern and to establish whether the intern is employable in the business. 

Through carefully selected practical work assignments, internships allow the intern to come to a better understanding of the public service, its values and work ethic, and the opportunities it offers. 

This guideline document is intended to support the development of public service graduate internships. This is a programme designed and coordinated by all public sector departments for unemployed graduates. 

The document does not specifically support student internships. This is because student interns are registered as students at higher education institutions and cannot be defined as ‘unemployed’ work seekers. Student internships are based on agreements between departments, higher education institutions and the student interns in question. These agreements will differ depending on the work experience specified by the higher education institution for a student to fulfil the requirements of their programme.

Background to internships in the public service 

South Africa is faced with a major problem of unemployment especially among women and the youth. While jobs are not being created as quickly as desired, the problem of unemployment is exacerbated by lack of skills and formal work experience. In addition, higher education institutions do not appear to prepare students adequately for the world of work. Thus we need to alleviate high levels of unemployment among young graduates and provide them with opportunities to gain practical work experience. 

These challenges are being addressed through a range of government programmes. One of them is the government’s Public Service Graduate Work Experience Programme. 

In 2002 Cabinet approved the Human Resource Development (HRD) Strategy for the Public Service, which included an Internship Framework and a Scarce Skills Strategy. The framework seeks to establish an effective and efficient internship programme aimed at bridging the gap between academic study and competent performance in the workplace by offering structured internship opportunities to students and unemployed youths that will enable them to gain practical work experience over a maximum of 12 months. 

The National Human Resource Development Strategy and the National Skills Development Strategy inform the HRD Strategy for the Public Service. These strategies introduce learnerships as a mechanism to address the skills shortage and unemployment. 

Cabinet decided that over a five-year period, the number of young people involved in internship and learnership programmes should reach 5% of the establishment of government departments. 

Following this decision, and in preparation for this campaign, a report on the effectiveness of learnerships and internships across government departments was submitted to Cabinet in March 2003. Cabinet approved a number of recommendations aimed at making internships and learnerships more effective in building skills and bridging the gap between work and study. 

As the single largest employer in the country the public service stands to gain directly by improving the quality of the skills pool from which it can draw future employees. Positive internship experiences will also help to create a cadre of dedicated, service-orientated potential public sector employees. 

The Department of Economic Development, Tourism & Environmental Affairs has implemented a number of programmes focused on the youth sector. These programmes are aimed at economic development (with the support of the partnership agreement with the Sol Plaatje University) in key areas, namely ICT, and culture of entrepreneurship.

A platform (NCDeev Ecosystem) was created that will keep the youth up-to-date with activities in the Tech and Entrepreneurship in the Northern Cape province. Shall take greater aim in skills development and gives an edge to outstanding individuals to showcase their skills and be exposed to the corporate world for work and collaborative opportunities.

About NCDev Ecosystem

Vision:

The Northern Cape must become one of the strong leaders in the ICT space in South Africa and be a home of Innovation, Adequate Skills Pool and drivers of the growing Tech-Enabled world. 

Mission:

Establishing a highly active Developer/Maker Ecosystem in the Northern Cape for for a Smart and Inclusive Economy while realizing a socio-economical value. 

Key Aspects

• Innovation: We tell you about all the Innovations coming from Northern Cape's Innovators
   
• Tech Events: Keep up with what the industry is up to. Get exposed and find opportunities
   
• Live by code: Tech meet-ups, codefests, hackathons, GeeksConnect and many dev sessions will get you up the game.
   
• Growth Network: We bring you a variety of opportunities for networking and connect with industry leaders for work and collaborative opportunities.
   
• Entrepreneurship: Get the right tools to kick-start your journey into Entrepreneurship and make a massive contribution to the economy and in job creation

• Join the NCDev Ecosystem 
• Public Service Internship Programme Guide

You can approach a Consumers Affairs Office to intervene in disputes over contracts, quality of products or services.

You should first complain to the branch manager or customer care office of the business concerned before asking the Consumer Affairs Office to intervene. These offices have trained staff to advise you on your rights as consumers. You may also want to contact them to find out if a company you intend doing business with has a previous history of complaints against it.

Contact details:

• Northern Cape Department of Economic Development & Tourism– 053 839 4000 (switchboard) or 053 830 4870/4854

How the CPA is being enforced

The Act gives rise to the establishment of the National Consumer Commission, a body assigned to investigate consumer complaints, as well as the National Consumer Tribunal, which is responsible for the adjudication of violations and transgressions of the Act.