MIL-OSI Africa: McKenzie unveils R6.3 billion budget to boost local talent in sports and arts

Source: Government of South Africa

Sport, Arts and Culture Minister Gayton McKenzie has tabled a R6.3 billion budget this morning that he believes will help unlock local talent in both the sports, and arts and culture sectors.

“Change is difficult, but it’s necessary… Access and opportunity matter, and even the greatest of talents need that opportunity. That is why, to invest in all our talent, both in sport, and arts and culture, as well as preserving our heritage, the department has a budget of R6.3 billion for the 2025/26 financial year,” McKenzie said on Tuesday in Parliament.

Under Programme 2, Recreation Development and Sport Promotion, the Minister announced that the department will allocate R1.281 billion.

To continue supporting sports in the country, McKenzie said R98.5 million will be allocated toward federation support.

“One of the biggest changes coming for our federations will be the provision of an office building for them to share, as many have been running their sports out of the boots of their cars.”

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To support and develop local talent, the department has allocated over R627 million through the conditional grant for this financial year.

According to the Minister, funding will be used for the purchase of equipment and attire for schools, clubs and hubs, as well as for training individuals in coaching, technical officiating, administration courses, and employment opportunities.

Repatriation

Under Programme 4, Heritage Promotion and Preservation, the department has allocated R2.787 billion, which includes R1.6 billion for the construction, maintenance, upgrading, and operation of valued libraries.

“Following the success of our inaugural programme to return the remains of South African fallen heroes from Zimbabwe and Zambia last year, we shall continue to repatriate the human remains of freedom fighters who fell outside the country during the struggle.

“I am told that there could still be 5 000 bodies that need to be returned, and we should not rest until they are home.”

READ | Government, judiciary reaffirm commitment to justice

The Minister said they are currently negotiating with Scottish authorities to repatriate the remains of Khoi and San ancestors from the University of Glasgow’s Hunterian Museum by September 2025.

He also mentioned that government is nearing the conclusion of the reburial process for 58 ancestral remains from the Northern Cape.

This effort is guided by the Northern Cape Reburial Task Team, which includes representatives from the Nama, Griqua, Korana, and San communities.

Museums

The ministry is also driving a campaign, under the theme: “Reimagining South African Heritage for a New Era”, which is aimed at making museums relevant to a new, curious generation, ultimately increasing visitor numbers.

“One of the first projects we are focusing on is Robben Island, which is undergoing a major revamp and facelift.”

Creative arts

Under Programme 3, focused on Arts and Culture Promotion and Development, his department is allocating R1.725 billion.

To enhance skills and transform the cultural and creative industries, he stated that they will continue to recruit and place approximately 300 young people.

This initiative aims to improve their chances of gaining employment and becoming self-employed in creative fields.

Sector clusters

He announced that the interim boards for the 17 sector clusters within the cultural and creative industry are now fully operational.

These boards are responsible for organising their respective sectors, promoting collaboration, and addressing challenges such as copyright protection, fair labour practices, and equitable distribution of funding.

According to the Minister, they will receive a total budget of R34 million to support their operations.

“We understand the frustration of our creatives. For the past 30 years and the years before that, they have not seen their lives change for the better.”

In support of the preservation and development of the Khoi and San languages, the N|uu language in particular, the department is setting aside R2 million for a targeted call for proposals to preserve these languages. – SAnews.gov.za

MIL OSI Africa –

July 16, 2025

MIL-OSI Analysis: How women are trapped in years of homelessness that often begin in their teens

Source: The Conversation – Canada – By Mary Vaccaro, Lecturer in Social Work, McMaster University

Many women without children in their care who become homeless in Canada remain homeless for many years. Yet their experiences remain misunderstood and largely ignored because of the ways we define and measure homelessness in Canada.

I have worked in the women’s emergency shelter system in Hamilton, Ont., since 2012. I have met many women who have been navigating homelessness for years — with no permanent solution to their housing crisis. For my PhD in social work, I interviewed 21 women who had experienced homelessness for a year or longer in Hamilton. I asked them about their experiences, and through art-based activities, about their ideas for housing and support.

What I learned in the interviews, combined with existing research, highlights a hidden crisis. Within our current system resides a profound human cost that manages, instead of resolves, homelessness.

Many women who experience homelessness do so for far longer than the federal government’s definition of chronic homelessness, which is six consecutive months or 18 months over three years. Research from the United Kingdom that focuses on long-term and unresolved homelessness for women found that the ways women experience homelessness is to “go around in circles” without having their housing or support needs met.

Among the women I spoke with, more than half had been experiencing homelessness for 10 years or longer. Six of the the women said they have never had a safe place of their own to live for the entirety of their adult lives.

All of the women who participated in this project accessed the services offered by the homeless serving sector, including shelters and outreach workers, designed to resolve their homelessness. Yet none of these women were able to have their housing and support needs met.

This means their experience of homelessness has persisted for years, and even decades.

Homelessness often starts in their teens

More than half of the participants I spoke with first experienced homelessness before they turned 18. Their primary route into youth homelessness was gender-based violence. They ran away from home when they were teenaged girls to escape violence and became caught in a cycle of events that include: hospitalization, incarceration, staying in youth shelters, living in group homes and unsafe places.

The Pan-Canadian Women’s Housing and Homelessness Survey, as well as a study on Toronto youth, echo what the women I spoke with told me. Studies from the United States also confirm similar patterns — homelessness begins early in life for a majority of women, and is often followed by a chronic, chaotic churn of precarious housing and homelessness situations.

The women in my study described a frustrating and exhausting cycle of going among institutions such as hospitals, jails, emergency shelters, drop-in programs and transitional housing programs. They had all spent periods of time living outdoors, in encampments, in motels, with unsafe people and in other precarious and temporary housing arrangements. This phenomena is well-documented in existing Canadian research.

Better definitions, better data

The Canadian government defines those who have been homeless and using shelters for more than 180 days a year as experiencing “acute chronicity.”

Another term used by the federal government for individuals who have accessed shelters at least once in each of the last three years is “prolonged instability.”

People who meet one or both of these criteria are considered to have the highest housing needs in the country.

According to recent federal data, women and gender-diverse people across Canada experience slightly higher rates of acute chronicity than men (13.4 per cent for men, 15.4 per cent for women, and 13.9 per cent for gender-diverse people). But the real numbers for women are likely much higher due to under-reporting.

Research shows women remain invisible to official systems during periods of homelessness. For example, the available data relies solely on information about emergency shelter usage. It does not capture experiences of homelessness that occur outside of the shelter system.

Women are less likely than their male counterparts to access shelters and other formal supports. Instead, they rely on precarious, unsafe and temporary housing arrangements to navigate homelessness.

In Canada, there are also fewer emergency women-specific shelter beds than for men

Rethinking responses to long-term homelessness

For the women I spoke with, the official 180 days or three years that makes someone officially chronically homeless in Canada does not even begin to describe the length and complexity of their experiences of homelessness.

They described wanting to live in supportive, gender-specific housing programs that foster community and care. Highly supportive housing typically integrates health and social services and a range of other support services. This type of integrated housing does exist across Canada — examples are the Block Line Supportive Housing Program operated by YWCA Kitchener-Waterloo and the Women’s Building (Alpha House) in Calgary — but there is not enough of it.

The current measurements from the government of Canada fall short of capturing the complexity of the homeless experience for many Canadian women.

Government officials must therefore not only rethink their definitions of those in the most housing need, they must develop responsive housing solutions to meet the needs of women who have been homeless for many years.

Mary Vaccaro consults for YWCA Hamilton. She receives funding from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada.

– ref. How women are trapped in years of homelessness that often begin in their teens – https://theconversation.com/how-women-are-trapped-in-years-of-homelessness-that-often-begin-in-their-teens-259239

MIL OSI Analysis –

July 16, 2025

MIL-OSI Security: Defendants Sentenced for Trafficking Methamphetamine in Middle Georgia

Source: US FBI

Investigation Began Following 11-Kilo Meth Seizure in Macon; Fentanyl Mixtures Seized

MACON, Ga. – Four defendants involved in a methamphetamine trafficking conspiracy in Macon responsible for pushing kilogram quantities of the illegal drug into the community were sentenced to federal prison today for their crimes.

Denzelle Diangelo Willis, 34, of Macon, was sentenced to serve 278 months in prison to be followed by five years of supervised release. Willis previously pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to possess with intent to distribute methamphetamine on March 24.

James Richard Fuller, 33, of Macon, was sentenced to serve 181 months in prison to be followed by five years of supervised release. Fuller previously pleaded guilty to one count of possession with intent to distribute methamphetamine on March 24.

Julio Cesar Mendez, aka “Migo,” 29, of Macon, was sentenced to serve 135 months in prison to be followed by five years of supervised release. Mendez previously pleaded guilty to one count of distribution of methamphetamine on March 24.

Deion Jocoley Howard, 31, of Macon, was sentenced to serve 53 months in prison to be followed by five years of supervised release. Howard previously pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to possess with intent to distribute methamphetamine on March 24.

The sentencing hearings occurred on July 10 before U.S. District Judge Marc Treadwell. There is no parole in the federal system.

“All those associated with these criminal organizations pushing large quantities of the most deadly and addictive drugs into the Middle District of Georgia will find their cases in federal court,” said U.S. Attorney William R. “Will” Keyes. “Our office is working closely with our local, state and federal law enforcement partners to make our communities safer.”

“This case represents the continued commitment of the DEA to identify and hold accountable those who engage in the distribution of dangerous drugs,” said Jae W. Chung, the Acting Special Agent in Charge of the DEA Atlanta Division. “These defendants had total disregard for their actions that far too often have tragic consequences.”

According to court documents and statements made in court, Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) agents, with assistance from the Bibb, Peach and Monroe County Sheriff’s Offices, began investigating a drug trafficking organization operating in Macon in November 2022, after FBI agents seized nearly eleven kilograms of methamphetamine resulting from a separate investigation into Julian Coker’s drug trafficking organization (for more information about this case, please visit https://www.justice.gov/usao-mdga/pr/leader-armed-drug-trafficking-organization-sentenced-28-years-prison). DEA agents learned that Willis and Mendez sold methamphetamine and heroin throughout the Macon area. Between February and March 2023, agents used Confidential Informants (CI) to conduct three methamphetamine buys from Mendez and two heroin buys from Willis; the substances were later tested and contained fentanyl.

Using court-authorized wiretaps and surveillance, agents discovered Mendez maintained a stash house on Melbourne Street in Macon and supplied ounce quantities of methamphetamine and marijuana to a network of street-level dealers. Howard was a freelance illegal drug broker in Macon who facilitated drug transactions between mid-level dealers and upper-level suppliers. Howard connected Mendez with Willis’s methamphetamine supply. Willis obtained kilogram quantities of methamphetamine from a source in the Atlanta area for distribution in the Macon area. Fuller was Willis’s courier for resupply trips and deliveries to mid-level dealers.

This case is part of Operation Take Back America, a nationwide initiative that marshals the full resources of the Department of Justice to repel the invasion of illegal immigration, achieve the total elimination of cartels and transnational criminal organizations (TCOs) and protect our communities from the perpetrators of violent crime. Operation Take Back America streamlines efforts and resources from the Department’s Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Forces (OCDETFs) and Project Safe Neighborhood (PSN).

The case was investigated by the DEA with assistance from the Bibb County Sheriff’s Office, the Monroe County Sheriff’s Office and the Peach County Sheriff’s Office.

Criminal Chief Leah E. McEwen prosecuted the case for the Government.

MIL Security OSI –

July 16, 2025

MIL-OSI Africa: Select Committee on Education Notes Policy Framework on Internationalisation but Calls for More Information

Source: APO

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The Select Committee on Education, Sciences and Creative Industries has noted the Policy Framework on Internationalisation of universities as presented by the Department of Higher Education and Training on Tuesday.

The Chairperson of the committee, Mr Makhi Feni, called on the department to provide updated statistical information, that will help the committee to act from an informed perspective on issues in the sector. He said: “We appreciate this initiative but we call on the department to ensure that it empowers black South Africans, the previously disadvantaged and other vulnerable groups.

“Keeping up with international standards is ideal but such move must empower South Africans. We must not be swallowed up in convenient phrases, but we want South Africans to equally influence the world through research output that does not regurgitate international models.”

Minister Nobuhle Nkabane led the departmental delegation in the meeting with the committee this morning. She informed the committee that the policy will serve as a guideline to South Africa’s institutions of higher education.

Mr Feni said the policy is urgent and that in the era of indigenous knowledge systems and decolonised knowledge, we should be able to make conditions conducive for black South African scholars at home and abroad. “But in the absence of relevant and reliable information, we are unable to do anything. Even the swirling complaints about foreign nationals uprooting Black South Africans from their system will continue,” Mr Feni said.

Mr Feni said the development of a policy framework must not be delayed as Black South Africans legitimately feel they are being substituted by foreign nationals. “There will be claims of xenophobia, when in fact this was something that could have easily been avoided.”

Distributed by APO Group on behalf of Republic of South Africa: The Parliament.

MIL OSI Africa –

July 16, 2025

NHAI releases second sustainability report, showcases green milestones

Source: Government of India

Source: Government of India (4)

The National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) has released its second consecutive Sustainability Report for the financial year 2023–24, reaffirming its strong commitment towards environmental sustainability and responsible infrastructure development.

The report, launched by Union Minister for Road Transport and Highways Nitin Gadkari, highlights NHAI’s integrated framework for Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) practices and its alignment with India’s global commitments under the Mission LiFE (Lifestyle for Environment) initiative and the vision of Hon’ble Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi for a sustainable future.

Despite a 20% rise in National Highway construction in FY 2023–24, NHAI has successfully reduced its Greenhouse Gas (GHG) Emissions Intensity from 1.0 MTCO2e/km to 0.8 MTCO2e/km, indicating a clear decoupling of construction growth from emissions.

Promoting a circular economy remains central to NHAI’s efforts. In the reporting year, more than 631 lakh metric tonnes of recycled and reused materials — including fly ash, plastic waste, and reclaimed asphalt — were utilized in highway construction.

Afforestation and plantation have also received a major push. Over 56 lakh saplings were planted in FY 2023–24 and 67.47 lakh saplings have already been planted in 2024–25, taking the total tree plantation count to over 4.69 crore since the rollout of the Green Highways Policy, 2015. This large-scale plantation has helped create substantial carbon sinks and enhanced the environmental balance along India’s highways.

The report also documents NHAI’s conservation initiatives under the Amrit Sarovar Mission, with 467 water bodies rejuvenated across the country. These efforts have revitalised local water resources and supplied nearly 2.4 crore cubic metres of soil for road construction, yielding estimated savings of around ₹16,690 crore.

Water use intensity in water-stressed regions has dropped by 74% compared to previous levels. Additionally, the authority has implemented best practices to mitigate the impact of highways on wildlife and minimise man-animal conflicts.

On the social front, NHAI has reinforced inclusive and safe work practices. All direct employees and contract workers are now covered under the Occupational Health and Safety (OHS) Management Framework. The organisation also recorded zero instances of workplace discrimination, underlining its commitment to diversity and equity.

Technology has played a crucial role in these achievements. The AI-driven Data Lake 3.0 platform has streamlined project management and helped resolve 155 conciliation claims, resulting in an estimated saving of about ₹25,680 crore. The widespread adoption of FASTag, with a penetration rate of 98.5%, has further reduced congestion at toll plazas, cutting vehicular emissions and the overall carbon footprint.