During the week, condolences have continued to pour in from all corners of the country and the world following the passing away of the Minister of Public Service and Administration, Collins Chabane.

The Minister and his two protectors, Sgt Lesiba Sekele and Sgt Lawrence Lentsoane, died in a car accident near Polokwane in the early hours of Sunday morning, 15 March 2015.

In a statement, The Presidency said Minister Chabane was a humble, disciplined, passionate and dedicated member of the Executive.

“He was truly devoted to his work of improving the lives of the people of South Africa. He was an intellectual giant with a great understanding of what we had to do to free our people from poverty. Minister Chabane was a humble person who would never put himself forward for anything as he often said ‘if I am doing something good, people will be the ones to tell’.

“He dedicated his life to liberate the people of South Africa from the evil system of apartheid. Even in democracy, he continued to play a central role in ensuring that the lives of all our people are improved for the better and that they enjoy the fruits of our freedom.”

The late Minister Chabane will be afforded an official funeral service. He will be laid to rest on Saturday, 21 March 2015, at Xikundzu Village in Malamulele, Limpopo.

A memorial service was held on Thursday, 19 March, at the Tshwane Events Centre, which was addressed by Deputy President Cyril Ramaphosa.

South Africans are invited to pay their respects and sign the condolence books placed at the following areas:

• the Union Buildings, Government Avenue, Pretoria
• Tuynhuys, Cape Town
• Parliament of South Africa, Cape Town
• the Department of Public Service and Administration, Johannes Ramokhoase Street, Pretoria
• Office of the Premier, Limpopo province.

The Minister of Arts and Culture, Nathi Mthethwa, has been appointed as the acting Minister of Public Service and Administration.

The New Partnership for Africa’s Development (NEPAD) Agency, in collaboration with South Africa’s Department of Arts and Culture, recently hosted the NEPAD Regional Conference on Arts Education in Africa for the Southern African Development Community (SADC) region.

The aim of the conference was to develop an advocacy and policy framework for Africa with specific attention to the SADC region in order to strengthen and harmonise arts education and training policies. It was regarded as an inaugural platform for African Union member states to consolidate an African Position on Arts Education that will be replicated in the other regional economic communities.

According to the Deputy Minister of Arts and Culture, Rejoice Mabudafhasi, the conference would “contribute to jobs creation, especially for youth, by bringing together regions to deliberate on the formalisation of arts education in education systems on the continent and will ultimately increase demand and consumption of cultural goods and services”.

The First NEPAD Regional Conference on Arts Education was critical as the SADC region begins the process of defining a common African position on arts education in line with the outcome of the Second UNESCO World Seoul Conference on Art Education, held in 2010, as well as other frameworks such as the African Union’s Agenda 2063 and the Post-2015 Development Agenda.

The 2015 Year of China in South Africa was officially launched at a glittering ceremony on 15 March, at the State Theatre in Pretoria.

The celebrations are a sequel to an important consensus reached by President Xi Jinping and President Jacob Zuma during President Xi’s State Visit to South Africa in 2013.

In 2014, China hosted the 2014 South Africa Year in China, during which South Africa conducted a series of activities, including cultural promotion, art shows, trade exhibitions and fairs, academic research and educational exchanges.

In return, the 2015 Year of China in South Africa events will showcase China's development journey and its achievements as well as the fruitful results of China-South Africa cooperation. The Chinese Minister of Culture, Luo Shugang, and South African Minister of Arts and Culture, Nathi Mthethwa, took part in the opening ceremony. The concert featured performances by, among others, the Shenzhen Symphony Orchestra,  the University of Pretoria Youth Choir, as well as solo performances by Chinese singer Zeng Yong and South African Ntombi Ngcobo.

The remains of one of the finest intellectuals the country has ever produced, struggle hero, Moses Kotane, was laid to rest on Saturday, 14 March, at his ancestral village of Pella in the North West province.

The mortal remains of Kotane and his fellow national liberation hero, John Beaver (JB) Marks, returned to South Africa earlier this month from the Novodevichy Cemetery in Moscow, Russia.

President Zuma said the Kotane family and the nation would now have a place to come and mourn.

“The people of South Africa and the world will now also have a monument to come and pay their respects to, and draw inspiration from the life of Moses Kotane, the fighter, teacher, commissar, administrator, intellectual, outstanding patriot, revolutionary and giant of our struggle.

“We are filled with sadness but also pride and joy, for we have the privilege of celebrating the life of this highly regarded giant of our struggle for freedom. Kotane gave his whole life to the struggle for freedom, justice and equality,” he said. – Source: SANews.gov.za

The University of Stellenbosch’s (US) Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences (FMHS) recently announced the performance of the world’s first successful penile transplant.

The US’ health faculty described the procedure as a groundbreaking transplant operation, as doctors successfully transplanted a penis to a human being at Tygerberg Hospital in Bellville, Cape Town, on 11 December 2014.

"It’s the first time success was achieved with such a procedure," the SU FMHS said.

"South Africa remains at the forefront of medical progress," said Prof Jimmy Volmink, Dean of SU's FMHS.

"This procedure is another excellent example of how medical research, technical know-how and patient-centred care can be combined in the quest to relieve human suffering.

"It shows what can be achieved through effective partnerships between academic institutions and government health services." – Source: www.news24.org.za

Scifest Africa, South Africa’s National Science Festival, is being held in Grahamstown from 18 to 24 March. The 2015 theme, “Science Alight!”, forms part of the 2015 International Year of Light and Light-based Technologies Activities and celebrates several anniversaries, including the 1 000th anniversary of the publication of the seven-volume treatise on optics by Ibn al-Haytham, the centenary of Einstein’s theory of general relativity, and the announcement last year that the 2014 Nobel Prize for Physics had been awarded to the inventors of the blue LED.

A sure highlight is the attendance of a high-level delegation from the National Aeronautics and Space Administration, whose contributions focus on the John Webb Space Telescope, Mars Exploration Programme, New Horizons Mission and Rosetta Mission, and include public appearances by astronaut, Catherine Coleman.

Other international contributions to the programme come from Argentina, China, France, Germany, Turkey, the United Kingdom and United States of America. Back by popular demand, is blind astronomer Wanda Diaz, who tells the story of how she followed a career in astronomy against all odds and how she listens to the stars.

The festival programme also places special focus on Grahamstown’s Observatory Museum, home to the only Victorian camera obscura in the southern hemisphere, and the room in which the first diamond found in South Africa, later named the Eureka Diamond, was identified in 1867.

Sponsored by the Department of Science and Technology (DST), Scifest Africa remains the largest festival of its kind on the African continent, welcoming over 68 000 visitors of all ages to Grahamstown in 2014.