To unlock young children's' full potential, they need nurturing care across five key areas, as early as the first 1 000 days of their lives: nutrition; early learning; health; caregiving; and safety and protection. These forms of care lay an essential foundation for lifelong learning, well-being, and success. All young children have a right to access these quality services, whether at home with their families, at early learning programmes, at health clinics, or in other settings. Caring for young children is one of the most powerful investments the South African government can make. But, for too long, the government has neglected young children, and the parents, caregivers, and ECD practitioners who nurture them. The amount the government spends on young children is not enough: children aged zero to five make up 10% of the population yet, in 2021/22, less than 2% of total government spending went to early learning, family support and early nutrition interventions for children in this age group. Families who take care of children at home do not get proper support. The health sector has not fulfilled its mandate to enable parents and caregivers to provide nurturing care. Many children without birth certificates cannot access the Child Support Grant, and when children have access to the Child Support Grant, it is not enough to cover nutritious food, let alone other essentials such as clothing. Currently, only a third of children aged three to five have access to an early learning programme (such as a creche, nursery school, or playgroup). Even where children do access early learning programmes, practitioners often struggle to provide nutritious food, adequate infrastructure, and age-appropriate stimulation for learning, with the subsidy from the government frozen at just R17 per eligible child per day since 2019. This needs to change if we are committed to the just, equal, and caring society we strive to become.

As learners return to class, RISE Mzansi calls on President Cyril Ramaphosa to prioritise, among other issues, School Safety during this year’s State of Nation Address (SONA). In 2015, the National Schools Safety Framework was launched to guide the Department of Basic Education, schools, districts and provinces to ensure a common understanding of the extent of school violence and provide evidence on how to mitigate it. The plan to work with SAPS and the Department of Social Development (DSD) to protect learners and combat social ills, has had little effect as South Africans see a rise in violence at schools and teenage pregnancies which saw an increase from 90 000 in 2022 to 150 000 in 2023 [1]. From January to September 2023, there were 27 murders, 59 attempted murders, 707 assaults and shockingly 229 rapes [2] on at educational facilities, contributing to the rise in pregnancies and dropout rate for adolescent girls. If you sign this petition you are helping us get a step closer to ensuring that schools are a safe learning environment for parents and teachers. References [1] SAPS, 2023. Crime statistics. https://www.saps.gov.za/services/crimestats.php [2] SABC News, 2023. Adolescent/ Teenage Pregancy in South Africa. https://www.sabcnews.com/sabcnews/infographic-adolescent-teenage-pregnancy-crisis-in-south-africa/#:~:text=Current%20statistics%20on%20adolescent%2Fteenage,the%202022%2F2023%20financial%20year.

If the President and other politicians respect our democracy, constitution, and independence of the public broadcaster, why support this Bill? We are currently in the lead-up to elections, and media outlets will be sharing important election updates from various political parties with us. This highlights the importance of the SABC as a national broadcaster. With all these 2024 election activities set to happen, the new SABC Bill that is currently before the PPCC is being rushed to be passed into law, raising concerns. Why the rush? If the Bill is passed in its current state, the Minister will have powers to influence the news and content the SABC covers, similar to the Hlaudi era. During the Hlaudi era, we saw how the SABC news was captured. The firing of journalists, the meddling of SABC operations, and widespread censorship all affected the Public Broadcaster, causing us to lose trust in it. We, as the SOS Coalition, were at the forefront of fighting to protect the independence and integrity of the SABC then, as we are now. To opt-in to receiving more campaign information from SOS, click on this link: https://forms.gle/s775kMfwKj7epE5J9 The Bill should help with the ongoing challenges at the SABC, grant the SABC greater independence from political interference, bolster its ability to hold the government accountable and introduce a sustainable funding model. However, it has clauses which do the opposite. Given this and the rush to have the Bill passed, concerns regarding the exploitation of the public broadcaster to favour certain political parties over others in the lead-up to the elections are growing. This is why we need your help to protect the SABC from politicians with ulterior motives. We are calling for #HandsOffSABC. The public broadcaster needs to remain independent and impartial in its election’s coverage. The Bill threatens this independence and is, therefore, a threat to our democracy. To opt-in to receiving more campaign information from SOS, click on this link: https://forms.gle/s775kMfwKj7epE5J9

Over 500 students of the Central University of Technology who are due for graduation in the 2023 Spring Graduation Ceremony won’t be graduating. On the 10th of August 2023, the institution released a graduation list that has only 29 students, leaving over 500 other students behind. The university claims that these students were excluded from the list due to them not submitting certified copies of their identity documents and matric certificates. The university usually publishes a preliminary list that informs with outstanding documents to upload them, well this time it wasn’t done. The very same institution that was quiet about the graduation until 10 August, is not willing to update the list or even guide its students on what to do. It is surprising that documents like IDs and Matric certificates are among the outstanding documents at final year, whereas they are a requirement when applying to the institution. It matters not to the institution that the excluded students, who are the majority by the way; worked hard to get to this moment. These are students whose families are eagerly waiting for their qualifications to better their livelihoods. This act by the Central University of Technology doesn’t favour a poor black young person whose only hope at a better life is their qualification. On the same day, the graduation date was published. Majority of the institution’s students are from low-income communities and studied using NSFAS funding, the 1st of September 2023 is a ridiculous date. How are black students from poor families expected to prepare for graduations within 21 days? Instead of celebrating this well deserved moment, students that are eligible for graduation are in distress due to the institution’s incompetence and financial constraints that come with the graduation ceremony. A number of students have taken to the university’s student-created Facebook group to voice their dissatisfaction about this. Some say they won’t be able to attend the ceremony because they won’t be able to afford the graduation regalia at such a short notice, most want to know what is going to happen with them because they are not on the graduation list, students of the Welkom campus are complaining about the distance and costs involved in getting to the venue. Who is this graduation actually for if it is inconvenient for graduating students to attend? As a student of the institution affected by this, I’m convinced that the university does not care about its students and alumni. This is a call to all CUT registered students to disrupt this ceremony and the students who are on the list to boycott this graduation. No student should be left behind. If they can do it to these students, they can do it to you too. Sign this petition and give a black student from a low-income community a chance to attend their graduation ceremony. References [1] https://www.cut.ac.za/events/cut-spring-graduation-ceremony-2023 [2] https://www.cut.ac.za/graduate-list [3] https://southafricaportal.com/cut-graduation-ceremony/ [4] https://www.facebook.com/groups/28278289488/

Converting IThala Building into a skills development institution will not only fix the issue of the abandoned building but it will empower the youth with various skills that will equip them for entrepreneurship or job market. Revamping and repurposing of the building will be executed by a team of students as part of their Work Integrated Learning and Leanership programme which will be mainly funded by various SETA’s, thus cutting down the labour costs significantly.

To civil society organisations and individuals across the country, The Enyobeni Tavern tragedy doesn’t just affect the families, friends and communities of the 21 young people who died in the early hours of 26 June 2022. It affects all of us because it could have happened anywhere in the country – in alcohol outlets in cities, towns and villages across all provinces, in rich or poor areas, in suburbs, townships or informal settlements. It’s easy to point a finger at the adults responsible for running the tavern. Some people even blame the parents, the children themselves. But where does the real responsibility lie? We elect local, provincial and national governments to serve us, to ensure our health, safety and wellbeing, to protect us from harm. We expect government to put in place laws that set guidelines for what can and can’t be done and to ensure that those laws are enforced. We expect government to identify challenges in society and to address them. We expect government to be responsive, to listen to us, the people who voted them into service. Please sign this petition and share it with others. We need to speak with a loud voice to call on the President to ensure there is a proper inquiry into the Enyobeni Tavern tragedy and that effective steps are taken to make sure it never happens again. The lives of the Enyobeni 21 can never be brought back, but we can make sure that their deaths are not in vain, that they can lead to the creation of an alcohol-safer South Africa going forward. Sign the petition now and share with everyone you know! Issued by the Southern African Alcohol Policy Alliance in SA (SAAPA SA), supported by the Scenery Park 21 Families Support Organisation and the South African Council of Churches (SACC), Eastern Cape

This contract extension will help thousands of youth and their families struggling as it is to make ends meet. Some employees have started going to school and pursuing Education due to the opportunity that was given by the Basic Education programme. Some families depend on us, and some of us have children. This programme has made a massive difference in our lives. Please extend our contracts Mama Angie. Youth unemployment rate in South Africa has increased to 64.4% in the second quarter of 2021 from 63.3% in the first quarter of 2021 [1]. [1] South Africa Youth Unemployment Rate: https://tradingeconomics.com/south-africa/youth-unemployment-rate

This is an issue that affects everyone in our society - learners, educators, school admin staff, and anyone who has, or will have, a child in the school system. There is a saying that 'it takes a village to raise a child'. Well, it takes a caring society to protect its children from exposure to the risk of harm. Alcohol use is already a major problem in our country. Schools in some communities already face the challenge of having large numbers of liquor outlets around them and very close to them. Some already have problems with alcohol being used on their premises. Making it possible for schools to have liquor for the purpose of fund-raising simply increases the risks for all of those at schools - learners, educators, admin staff, and even family members who interact with the school. If schools have a problem raising funds, government and society must work with them to address it in other ways - allowing schools to raise money through liquor is not the answer. We should be better than that as a society, as South Africans. We call on you to join us in urging the government to scrap the sections in the BELA Bill which will allow liquor on school premises and at school events. Support the call for a complete ban on liquor on school premises (except for personal use by staff who live on school property). Demand better funding models for our schools so that all children have access to quality education in a safe and protected environment. Fly a blue ribbon at your school in support of the campaign; wear blue ribbons as a group as you participate in school activities. Write to the Minister at [email protected] to tell her what you think of the alcohol clauses in the BELA Bill. Write to the Portfolio Committee in Parliament by 15 June to register your opposition to the alcohol clauses in the Bill - Mr Llewellyn Brown, the Committee Secretary via email: [email protected] or online at https://forms.gle/MoC6AdbdQyYPk3Y49 or via WhatsApp: +27 60 550 9848. Mr Llewellyn Brown can be reached on 083 709 8450 for enquiries. Download the BELA Bill from https://www.parliament.gov.za/storage/app/media/Bills/2022/B2_2022_Basic_Education_Laws_Amendment_Bill/B2_2022_Basic_Education_Laws_Amendment_Bill.pdf Together we can win this one!

The delays in payment have resulted in hundreds of ECD centres buckling under the strain of Covid-19 and closing down as they cannot afford rent, electricity, nutrition for the children in their care, or staff salaries. Many staff members have had little to no income for almost two years, since the initial nation-wide lockdown in March 2020, and are struggling to put food on their tables and pay for basic needs – they truly require emergency relief funding.

We have elected leaders and bestowed on them the responsibility to govern, to enable us to achieve a better life for all – not themselves. We, as people of South Africa, have a right to know in whose interests’ decisions – supposedly in "our” name – were and continue to be made. The culture of secrecy and impunity must come to an end if our democracy is to thrive. Transparency and accountability are non-negotiable, as too are the requirements for transformative actions to address the injustices that remain embedded in our social, economic and political systems. Our constitution is revolutionary in its design, but the values and vision that it prescribes can only materialise if embraced by the state through which it is enacted. As people of this country, we all support the value and vision in the Constitution which protects the rights of the people in our country, it is the bedrock of our democracy and foundation of the rule of law. We, the undersigned, support/endorse this open letter to raise our voices in solidarity against state capture and impunity, and to say now is the time for us to be heard. The realities of the current moment cannot be met with silence and complacency. #ThePeopleSay #Wake-Up SA! Civil Society endorsements: Alternative Information and Development Centre (AIDC) Centre for Applied Legal Studies (CALS) Council for the Advancement of the South African Constitution (CASAC) Corruption Watch (CW) Dullah Omar Institute (DOI) Equal Education (EE) Freedom Under Law (FUL) Legal Resources Centre (LRC) My Vote Counts (MVC) Open Secrets Organisation for Undoing Tax Abuse (OUTA) Public Affairs Research Institute (PARI) Section27 (S27) Southern African Faith Communities’ Environment Institute (SAFCEI) Right2Know (R2K)

Because of the disruptions to the 2020 school year, these Second Chance opportunities are going to be more important than ever to help young people to achieve the very valuable matric qualification. Learners in the Class of 2020 must be given every chance of successfully registering for these opportunities. It is unacceptable that the registration date for Second Chance mid-year examinations has not been changed to accommodate the later than usual release of the matric results. The Class of 2020 faced an immensely challenging school year. Let us not further disadvantage them. We, therefore, call on the Department of Basic Education to extend the registration deadline for the Second Chance May/June 2021 examinations. This request has precedent. In 2019, when the Class of 2018 received their matric results on 4 January, the Department of Basic Education extended the registration deadline – from 31 January to 18 February [3] – for those who wanted a second chance to write matric exams. We call on the department to do so again in 2021. [1] https://www.education.gov.za/Curriculum/SeniorCertificate/SCRegistration.aspx [2] https://www.eservices.gov.za/ [3]https://www.education.gov.za/Newsroom/MediaReleases/tabid/347/ctl/Details/mid/8128/ItemID/5986/Default.aspx

For an example chapter 9 of the NDP articulates our weakness by global standards in relation to national research and innovation systems, revealing amongst other things that there has been little increase to public research workforce, PhDs and research outputs. The honourable Minister will be acutely aware that the country’s global competitiveness requires drastic improvement and presently the distribution of research capacity in higher education institutions of learning is still skewed towards white institutions. We recognize that the racial history affected most facets of life, including but not limited to the labour market and education system. As result, the democratic government had a responsibility to reconcile the racial divide in relation to education and training system and labour market. It had to usher a wide scale of reforms of public policies meant to redress the racial past which characterised what scholars called ‘low skills regime’. Thus, we believe that the age restriction imposed on the NRF will have far reaching for South Africans especially the black who aspire to study up to doctoral level.