This followed after the department was asked to account for the findings and recommendations in two of the Auditor-General’s (AG) special reports on the financial management of government’s Covid-19 initiatives. MPs and members of the committee were unanimous in describing the department’s response as vague, fluff, and an insult. Findings in this report include vouchers given to applicants who are government employees or not South African citizens. In some instances, purchasing was done for commodities unrelated to farming activities.

Statistics South Africa’s latest update on agriculture's real GDP for quarter four of 2021, shows an impressive rebound of a 12.2% quarter-on-quarter growth, adjusted after surprising on the downside by 1.5% quarter-on-quarter in the third quarter of 2021. Dawie Maree, Head of Information and Marketing at FNB, says that the country’s overall real GDP grew by 1.2% in the fourth quarter of 2021, underpinned by gains in trade, manufacturing, personal services, and agriculture.

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The Minister of Agriculture, Land Reform, and Rural Development, Thoko Didiza, will host an interactive engagement session with rural female farmers across the value chain in Mahikeng, at the Kgora Training Centre in North West, on Friday. The department says in a statement that the purpose of this engagement session is for the minister to interact with rural women with the view to identify and address their challenges in advancing the focus areas of the 66th Commission on Status of Women. The engagement coincides with the 66th Session of the United Nations Commission on the Status of Women, which is scheduled to take place at the UN Headquarters in New York from 12 to 23 March.





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