Oh yes, it’s Friday! Today Food For Mzansi serves you a helping of comforting news to carry you into the weekend. High up on our watchlist is a beer brewery in Cape Town who is feeding thousands of people, despite their own bleeding under the booze ban.
Also look out for a webinar to help agribusiness owners secure funding and restaurants get the thumbs up to operate an hour longer while agriworkers on wine farms plead for their jobs to be saved. Furthermore, the department of agriculture, land reform and rural development is extending the deadline for comments on the Upgrading of Land Tenure Rights Amendment Bill and more departmental office closures are announced.
1
Brewers feed 16 000 people daily
The ban on booze has not stopped the guys at Woodstock Brewery in Cape Town doing good. Today these beermakers will again repurpose their beer vats to make soup and feed those in need.
The brewers, with some help from chefs, a dietician and a food technologist, have been at it since the start of the covid-19 lockdown. Currently they cook about 7 000 litres of nutritious soup, feeding some 16 000 people a day. Their aim is to reach a record of 14 000 litres.
Already, over a million meals have been prepared and they are asking for people to lend a helping hand. Contact Shelley at 083 407 3972 for more info, or visit the Woodstock Brewery Facebook page.
2
Funding webinar for agribusiness
Are you tired of wasting your time submitting business finance applications that keep on getting turned down?
Today you have an opportunity to learn how you can restructure your agribusiness’ business model to make it more likely to secure financing.
In a webinar hosted by AgroMinds Africa presentations will be made on how agribusiness owners can structure or restructure their businesses to attract credit financing. The webinar will take place on Facebook Live at 16:00 SA time. Visit the AgroMinds Africa Facebook page, for more information.
3
Tourism minister adjusts restaurant curfew
Restaurants are set to take advantage of extended operating times after tourism minister Mmamoloko Kubayi-Ngubane’s decision to let the curfew on restaurants start an hour later. The curfew not starts at 22:00 to allow for uninterrupted dinner service.
Government’s covid-19 risk response measures have had a crippling effect on restaurant business operations. The nine o’clock curfew that applied until now and the prohibition of the sale of alcohol were issues recently raised by the hospitality industry. Restaurants complained that they are unable to serve dinner to their customers which means they are unable to operate at the peak of their business day.
4
More time to comment on land tenure bill
The deadline for submission of inputs on the Upgrading of Land Tenure Rights Amendment (Ultra) Bill [B6 – 2020] has been extended to Friday, 7 August 2020. This comes after the parliamentary committee on agriculture, land reform and rural development in July invited interested people and relevant stakeholders to submit comments.
The bill, available in various official languages, was introduced to the national assembly on Wednesday, 6 May 2020 and aims to amend the Upgrading of Land Tenure Rights Act, 1991, in order to:
- Provide for applications to be made for the conversion of land lease rights to ownership;
- To provide for the institution of inquiries to assist in the determination of land tenure rights;
- To provide for application to court by an aggrieved person for appropriate relief; and
- To provide for the recognition of conversions that took effect in good faith in the past.
Copies of the Bill can be obtained from Ms Phumla Nyamza at 021 403 3852, cell: 083 709 8492 or at www.parliament.gov.za. Comments must be e-mailed to pnyamza@parliament.gov.za.
5
Temporary closure of deeds and land claims offices
More departmental office closures due to covid-19 exposures have been announced by the department of agriculture.
The following offices have been closed and will undergo procedural decontamination processes:
- The regional land claims commission office at the Beacon Bay Crossing in East London;
- The Mpumalanga deeds office;
- The Johannesburg deeds office at Marble Towers;
- The Cape Town deeds office as well as the office of the surveyor general; and
- The Harvest House building.
6
Wine farm agriworkers face job loss blood bath
“Help me, I have a family to feed,” pleads farm worker as wineries face a job loss blood bath. Food For Mzansi journalist Sinesipho Tom reports that wineries are battling to stay afloat due to the alcohol sales ban instated to curb the spread of the coronavirus. Now, farm workers are turning to Food For Mzansi to have their voice heard.
Be sure to read the full story published later this morning.
