The statement of policy and commitment by the department of education. The statement highlights the achievement in the education sector, as the country celebrates its first decade of freedom. The department pushes to build on the achievements; it seeks to enhance the professional status of teaching, and address infrastructural inadequacies in the education sector.

The amendment operates under the South African Schools Act of 2006. It sets out the national norms and standards for school funding, it deals with the procedures to be adopted by Provincial Education Departments (PEDs) in determining resource allocations to schools, and it replaces all previous school funding norms issued in terms of sections of the South African Schools Act. The norms and standards deal with the public funding of public schools, the exemption of parents who are unable to pay school fees, and public subsidies to independent schools. They apply uniformly in all provinces.

The Strategy forms part of the implementation of education white paper 6 – Special Needs Education: Building an Inclusive Education and Training System. The strategy allows children facing educational barriers to exercise their basic education rights, and access to support services. It introduces new roles, and responsibilities for the
education support system in the country: the district-based support teams, special school resource centers, full-service schools, and the institution-level support teams.

The equitable policy sets out to address the persisting inequality challenges and inadequacies in allocation and access to basic school infrastructure services; laboratories, computers, and classrooms. The policy seeks to fill the gap of the lack of specific national and provincial policies. It serves as a framework to guide the development of physical teaching and learning environment.

The national reading strategy has the vision to ensure every South African learner becomes a fluent reader who reads to learn and reads for enjoyment and enrichment. It underpins South Africa’s participation in United Nations development campaigns, including; the UNESCO Literacy Decade 2003-2013, and the Education for All (EFA) campaign, which aims to increase literacy rates by 50% by the year 2015.

The government is using the period covered by the strategic and operational plans to collaborate with provincial governments, NGOs, and social and private partners, to strengthen the monitoring and evaluation of education, so as to ensure that all elements of the system are subjected to rigorous scrutiny. The goals and objectives contained are anchored on the overarching goal of the department: to ensure quality education for all.

The guidelines are premised on the sixth white paper on Special Needs Education Building an Inclusive Education and Training System. They serve as steps towards making all ordinary schools, full-service/inclusive schools. The guidelines contain criteria for schools, districts, and provinces, to measure progress towards inclusion; incentives are also offered, as a form of rewarding excellence.

The strategic plan outlines the building blocks necessary to ensure a strong foundation for the educational system. It strives to ensure that the skills needed to drive South Africa’s economic growth and social development are delivered at an increasing rate for both young people and adults. The revisions apply to the sub-programmed of universities, related to their academic planning and management.

This serves as a call for comments on the Action plan for 2014. The plan is a draft document of the Department of Basic Education intended to elicit public input.

The Mini Drug Master Plan (MDMP) has an overarching goal to reduce the health, economic and social burden caused by substance abuse in South Africa, through the provision of targeted demand and harm reduction interventions provided by the National Department of Health, thereby supporting the implementation of the National Drug Master Plan.

The regulations apply to the categories of emission sources outlined in the annexure of the schedules, and data providers specified in regulation 4. There is a classification of data providers and registration procedure for the purpose of these regulations. The regulations seek to introduce a single national reporting system for the transparent reporting of greenhouse gas emissions; to maintain a national inventory, to meet international reporting obligations, and to form the basis for the formulation of legislation and policies.

The amendment of regulations in the notice relate to redefinitions, insertions, and substitutions, for textual correctness; issues on which alterations were made include: field fungi infected kernels, classes of wheat, standards for classes, and amendment of annexure contents.

The regulations, under the national water act of 1998, relates to the use of water for mining and other similar activities, for the protection of water resources. There are restrictions on locality of mine operations, use of materials, water systems, and protection of water resources among others. Persons in control of mine shall take measures to prevent waste water emanating from mine activities from entering other water resources, either by natural flow or by seepage.

The amended regulations operate under the plant breeders’ rights act of 1976. The table detailing kinds of plants and period of rights” is substituted.”””

The act provides for the protection of the sea from pollution by oil and other harmful substances discharged from ships; it gives effect to the international convention for the prevention of pollution from ships of 1973, as amended by the Protocol of 1978. The provisions of Marine Pollution Act apply to; chemical tankers carrying categories of substances specified; South African ships; other ships within the country, its territorial waters, and its economic zone.

The notice publishes the list of all protected trees belonging to particular species specified in the schedules. It further states that: no person may cut, disturb, damage or destroy any protected tree or possess, collect, remove, transport, export, purchase, sell, or donate any protected tree species or products derived from it except as approved by an authority.

This document aims to facilitate the management and control of leprosy in South Africa through internationally accepted and country appropriate means. Its objectives are to facilitate early diagnosis and management of cases; to prevent disability and ensure rehabilitation of leprosy patients; to strengthen reporting and follow up of leprosy patients; to strengthen leprosy expertise in health care facilities to which leprosy cases can be referred, and to improve access to current effective treatment.

The amendment outlines the names and dates of sectors of the food industry and food handling enterprises associated with such sectors.

The notice contains a broad specification of alien species prohibited in the Republic, and for which permits shall not be issued by the relevant issuing authorities.

The regulations are subject to the agricultural product standards of 1990. They specify classes and standards, parking and marking requirements for types and sources of meat and carcasses in South Africa. It specifically states that meat shall not be sold except standards outlined in these regulations are met. The regulations apply to; the sale of meat from animals slaughtered in abattoirs with abattoir-identification codes; meat with marks indicating quality or class; treated meats that are not correctly treated and described; and use of restricted particulars in the sale of meat.