GETTING THE FACTS RIGHT, GETTING THE STATS DEFINED
By Steuart Pennington
I was interested to see that Minister Dlamini-Zuma is reported as saying “credible statistics are necessary to ensure a better life for all South Africans” when tabling her budget vote for Stats SA “because policymakers and implementers use the data produced to inform decisions, without good statistics the policy development, planning and decision-making process is a blind one. We cannot learn from our mistakes and the public cannot hold us accountable. Statistics allow us to understand and learn from the past.”
I agree, but in the absence of definitions we still won’t know what we are talking about.
For example, Government constantly raises the challenges of poverty, inequality and unemployment.
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The apps that are shaping the business world
By Jessica Foreman
Not long after Apple’s first iPhone made its way to the market the Silicon Valley tech giant began using the marketing slogan ‘there’s an app for that’, extolling the virtues of the ways in which smartphones could cater for just about every part of our lives. As a slogan it worked and as a mantra it has definitely come to pass. Now, whether you’re banking, shopping, playing games, working or even trading on the MT4 platform, there’s an app to cater for your needs.
It’s a world that has been good to South Africa too, as the continent’s most advanced centre for IT and technology. Companies such as Port Elizabeth-based Axxess or Johannesburg’s Wanititall and Parcelninja are great examples of pioneering companies making the most of the digital economy, while Mark Shuttleworth and Elon Musk are inspirational South African born world leading digital entrepreneurss
But, while the age of the app is not even a decade old, things continue to move on at a rapid pace. From a business perspective, the best apps are those that can save time, money or – preferably – both. So, which apps have the power to do just that?
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CELEBRATING THE FREEDOM TO LEARN, THIS AFRICA DAY!
On 25 May 2018 we celebrate Africa Day; a day marking the independence of 28 African countries from European colonisers. While South Africa only became part of the original organisation in 1994, our country became the founding member of the African Union, officially launched in 2002.
For READ Educational Trust, a non-profit organisation promoting literacy amongst the poorest of the poor for nearly 40 years, this day is about far more than liberation. It’s about the freedom to learn; the freedom to explore and be educated, and at the very core, it’s about access to reading and literacy.
READ’S reason for being has always been to bring change to the lives of disadvantaged children in South Africa through education. Sadly, after 38 years since the organisation’s inception, we still see the majority of young learners being negatively impacted by a range of social and economic inequalities. These children in predominantly rural areas face a childhood of adversity.
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THIS WEEK'S FAST FACT
Literate:
The General Household Survey tests the ability to read by asking respondents to indicate whether they have any difficulty reading a newspaper, book or magazine. 1.44 million South African adults (4%) say they are unable to read and a further 490,000 (1% of adults) say they ‘have a lot of difficulty’. For woman aged 60 or more, 20% say they are unable to read and a further 5% have a lot of difficulty reading
Source: Eighty20
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