Desiree Barnesis Crowned the 2025 Snowflake Rising Stars Winner

Desiree Barnes from Qalashe, Qonce, has been named the best up-and-coming baker in the Border Kei region at this years’ Snowflake Rising Stars Bake-Off, held on Saturday, 18 October at the Blue-Ribbon Hospitality & Cookery School of Excellence.

Impressing the judges in the colour-themed mystery box challenge, Barnes wowed them with her colourful red vanilla cupcakes, earning her the top prize of R20 000, a business toolkit, PR exposure, and Snowflake stock to grow her business, DesiB Cakes & Balloon Décor.

To showcase her talent, Snowflake will host a regional roadshow where Barnes, will present her baked creations at the following malls:

Vincent Park Mall 25 & 26 October
Hemmingway Mall 01 & 02 November
Beacon Bay Park 29 & 30 November

“I am overwhelmed with gratitude. From the moment I saw the competition advertised, I believed this was something I could win. I’m incredibly proud of myself and deeply thankful to Snowflake for this amazing opportunity. To all aspiring bakers, keep believing in yourselves and never stop working toward your dreams. With faith and passion, anything is possible,” says Barnes.

Each of the ten competition finalists presented a festive-themed cake, delivered a business elevator pitch, and completed a 90-minute mystery box challenge at the bake-off, attended by judges, local industry leaders, Premier staff, and members of the media. They were evaluated by the judges on taste, texture, creativity, visual appeal, and aroma, as well as their entrepreneurial potential – including innovation and business sustainability.

In second place, Bongiwe Ngqokola from Mdantsane, East London, received R15 000, a business toolkit worth R30 000, PR coverage and Snowflake stock. Third place went to Babalwa Motile from Queensview Park, Komani, who received R10 000, along with the same support package.

Now in its second year, the Snowflake Rising Stars competition is organised in partnership with the Border Kei Chamber of Business as part of Premier ’s commitment to nurturing local talent and supporting small business development through it’s Snowflake brand.

“Congratulations to Desiree! This initiative empowers local bakers by giving them the tools, training and exposure they need to turn their passion into successful enterprises,” said Sibongile Mooko, Marketing Executive at Premier. “The creativity and dedication shown by this year’s finalists have been truly inspiring. With the right ingredients and spirit, these bakers prove that what they make is simply Too Fresh to Flop.”

Several partners contributed to the event’s success, including the Blue-Ribbon Hospitality & Cookery School of Excellence, All Things Cake and Thee Gifted Hands.

For more information about Snowflake and upcoming events, visit www.snowflake.co.za.

Sourced With Compliments of MyZA

Khoi and San Deserve Justice at Once

The legal principle of justice delayed is justice denied is more relevant to the Khoi and San traditional leaders and their communities than ever, as they are still suffering injustice.

For three decades, the ANC government has failed to officially recognise these indigenous groups, while Nguni communities such as the Xhosa and Zulu enjoy benefits under existing legislation.

The Constitutional Court’s ruling on 14 October 2025 suspended the declaration of invalidity of the Traditional and Khoi-San Leadership Act (TKLA) for two years until 29 May 2027 – signifying regress rather than redress.

During this time, national, provincial and local governments are free to adopt legislation without guaranteeing the rights of Khoi and San communities.

In the Western Cape, where these communities are strongly represented, their unrecognised status perpetuates exclusion from spatial planning and municipal boundary demarcation.

The DA-led provincial government has, since the Traditional Leadership and Governance Framework Act took effect in 2003, failed to establish a Provincial House of Traditional Leaders. This failure deepens the marginalisation of the Khoi and San.

Meanwhile, the persistent lack of institutional capacity in the Department of Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs (COGTA) hinders any progress.

Funds annually earmarked for Khoi-San research are returned unspent, while there is still no concrete recognition.

The inequality is shocking and unacceptable: Nguni leaders enjoy full legal status, while Khoi-San leaders remain oppressed. This is a gross violation of the Constitution’s principle of equality.

The Government of National Unity (GNU) has a historic opportunity to correct this injustice, but it all depends on whether the President has the political will to prioritise the rights of Khoi-San communities instead of ignoring them.

The Freedom Front Plus (VF Plus) is the only party taking a firm stand for the Khoi and San’s right to recognition and self-determination.

The party calls on these communities to intensify their activism and stand up for their cause with the Freedom Front Plus.

The Constitutional Court’s ruling, albeit in good faith, perpetuates exclusion as long as the ANC and its allies fail to take appropriate action.

Freedom Front Plus Land Reform: The FF Plus opposes land expropriation without compensation.

Sourced With Compliments of MyZA

Heading Tags

One More Way That Featured Press Releases Stand Out
MyPR’s addition of a Table of Contents Boosts Your SEO, AI and GEO Goals
ONLY Available to Featured Press Release Subscribers
Does a Table of Contents help with SEO and AI Snippets

How Do AI Bots Decide to Cite Your Content?

The current thinking around being noticed and cited by AI Bots is to ensure that they know exactly what your article is about – a no brainer as traditional SEO also demands this.

But, we need to take that thinking up a notch or two by providing a bulleted ‘Table of Contents’ (ToC) or a bulleted ‘Too Long Didn’t Read’ (TLDR) Section within each article.

Here at MyPR we are rolling out such a service (to Featured Press Releases ONLY) that only needs to to take cogniscance of the underlying structure or method of how to do so. i.e. you only have to do ONE thing to enable the ToC’s for your press release.

Does a table of contents help with SEO and AI Snippets:

According to Google AI; “Yes, a table of contents (TOC) helps with SEO and AI snippets by improving user experience and providing clear structure, which can lead to better visibility in search results. By helping users quickly navigate content and allowing search engines to better understand page hierarchy, a TOC can result in increased click-through rates, higher rankings, and a greater chance of appearing in features like AI Overviews or featured snippets.” See also screenshot below.

How Does MyPR Accomplish This?

Simply put, through use of Heading Tags (H1, H2, H3, H4, H5, H6).

Your heading tags are a signal to indexing bots (Search Engines, AI etc.) of the decreasing importance of each heading – with H1 being most important and biggest and then cascading down to H6).

As an example – in this article you are reading we encapsulated each heading in Heading tags – H3 is just the right size and bold to trigger the Table of Contents you see above.

The ToC will only be triggered for more than three H tags.

All you need to do to trigger the Table of Contents is to use ONE Header Tag as there are already three H3 headings in each article – Images, Video and Links.

Can I Cascade my Table of Contents?

The short answer is Yes – see below for the importance and above for what happens when you ‘cascade’ your titles.

Header One: An example of cascading tags

The title above is an H1 tag.

Header Two:

The title above is an H2 tag.

Header Three:

The title above is an H3 tag.

Header Four:

The title above is an H4 tag.

Header Five:

The title above is an H5 tag.

Header Six:

The title above is an H6 tag.

How do I ‘choose’ a Header Tag?

If you are using the Rich Text Editor then highlight the title you want as a heading, click on the ‘Paragraph’ setting in the top left corner of the editor and select your Header – Please do not select ALL H1 tags. If your selected titles would normally be BOLD only then please select H3 as the Heading title tag.

If you are using the code editor then I shouldn’t have to explain how at all and you could probably give us all a lesson.

Where will the Table of Contents appear?

At the top of every article submitted from your Featured Press Release submission page.

What Can You Expect?

Suffice to say – a higher probability of being cited in an AI Snippet and appearing on the first index pages of the various search engines.

REMEMBER: The possibility of being cited also heavily depends on the title keywords, subject matter and relevance to the paragraph immediately following your title. In other words don’t use a title that says; “Why MyPR Has Got Your Back” and then talk about the crazy foods you just ate in Outer Mongolia!

How Do You Start Using the ToC?

Just use Heading Tags (H3) where you would have bolded your press releases and make sure that you use at least one title to trigger it (We have three already in place in every release – Images, Video, Links).

I Don’t want to use the Table of Contents

Then simply OMMIT using any Heading Tags in your featured press release.

Can I Close the Table of Contents?

Yes, – click on the menu button to the right of the Table of Contents title. Click again to open.

What Plugin Did MyPR Use?

There are a number of WordPress Plugins available to accomplish a Table of Contents.

We wanted a plugin that was ‘popular’ and used a shortcode.

Easy Table of Contents accomplished this relatively seamlessly for us.

Visit Easy Table of Contents: https://tocwp.com/

In the video below, Stewart Gauld shows you two other methods you could use to install a Table of Contents on your WordPress site.

Gauld emphasises that a Table of Contents section does the following:

Enhances user navigation
Improves SEO
Structures Content

Images:

Example of a Table of Contents on MyPR. Photo: MyPR

Does a table of contents help with SEO and AI Snippets Photo: MyPR

Video:

Heading Tags

Links:

Boilerplate and Editor’s Notes.
More Info on Heading Tags here:
X: https://twitter.com/MyPE
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/alanstraton/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/StratonElectrical/

CLICK HERE to submit your press release to MyPR.co.za.

Sourced With Compliments of MyPR

National Bargaining Councils – Should Their Financial Performance Be Readily Available to Members?

What are Bargaining Councils:

National Bargaining Councils in South Africa are bodies established through the Labour Relations Act, consisting of employer and employee organizations within a specific industry. They negotiate collective agreements, resolve labor disputes, and establish various workplace schemes and training programs. These agreements can cover wages, working conditions, benefits, and dispute resolution procedures.

The turnover of national bargaining councils in South Africa varies widely depending on the specific council and industry. Some councils manage significant funds through levies collected from employers and employees, while others may have more modest financial operations.

There are 38 registered Bargaining Councils in South Africa:

21 National Councils
5 Provincial Councils
12 City and Town Councils

Some of the registrations of these date back to 1934. To the financially minded reading this – that means that these Bargaining Councils have benefited from nearly One Hundred years of compound interest on member’s financial contributions.

An up to date number of members of bargaining councils in 2025 is a bit of a crap shoot to determine so we can only go on what we have found online so far. In 2005 a study by UCT showed that a total of 1 091 214 employees were members of bargaining councils.

The research by the UCT DPRU demonstrated that, in the private sector, average wages for employees covered by bargaining council agreements were R2 286, while those for employees outside the bargaining council environment were R3 272. The only group that benefited from bargaining council agreements was Elementary Workers, whose average wages were R1 968 compared to R1 149 for workers outside the bargaining council environment.

In 2012 COSATU estimated that 2.2 Million workers were covered by bargaining councils.

Employer and Employee contributions to these bargaining councils vary and the fees are often on a sliding scale – one of the most quoted figures is R8.50 per employer and R8.50 per employee. Typically Bargaining Council members pay these types of fees: Holiday Fund, Pension/Provident Funds, Funeral benefit and Sick Benefit Fund. Bargaining Council staff also provide advice to employers and employees in the industry regarding a wide spectrum of Labour related issues such as: Retrenchments, Unfair dismissals, Industrial action, Contracts of employment, Training and affirmative action.

Bargaining Council Exco:

Looking at the Bargaining Councils, a number of the Bargaining Councils accredited by CCMA are headed up by Advocates, lawyers and professional persons commanding high salaries.

Now this is where the ‘GREY AREA’ comes in as oftentimes the members of a Bargaining Council have no idea of just how their money is being utilised and, in many cases, whether the Bargaining Council actually is solvent!

The Labour relations Act demands that each Bargaining Council submit it’s annual financial statements to the Department of Labour AND, in the LRA is an example constitution that specifies that Bargaining Councils must keep their members apprised of their financial results.

BUT, it is that 2.2 Million odd members number that got us to thinking that the amount of money collected on a monthly basis by these Bargaining Councils is in the tens of Millions of Rand. Add to that pension funds and other services and the motivation to start one’s own Bargaining Council increases somewhat.

These Bargaining Councils manage Pension Funds on behalf of members and these funds are more often than not in the BILLIONS under management.

As a member of a Bargaining Council I, personally, would feel a great sense of comfort if my council’s financial statements were publicly available AND reflecting a healthy positive balance.

So, we embarked on a massive look at these Bargaining Councils to find Financial Statements, Fees and other relevant information on behalf of employees.

We visited the web sites of each Bargaining Council and, donning our ‘common man’ cap, checked each for a recognisable link to financial statements.

Of the 38 council web sites that we visited we found:

8 Councils with publicly available financial statements
Of those an impressive 5 councils are SA Government related

Between the 8 sets of financial statements:

The 8 councils reflect a turnover of R885 294 374
The 8 councils reflect reflect a surplus of R155 154 208.81

Bargaining Councils Annual Reports and Financial Statements:

Amanzi Bargaining Council – NOTHING

Building Industry Bargaining Council – NOTHING

Building Bargaining Council (North and West Boland) – WEB SITE UNDER CONSTRUCTION

Bargaining Council for the Canvas Goods Industry (Gauteng) – NO WEB SITE

National Bargaining Council for Clothing Manufacturing Industry – NOTHING

Bargaining Council for the Contract Cleaning Services Industry – NOTHING

Bargaining Council for the Civil Engineering Industry – We were very impressed with the web site and even more so with the council’s Annual Report which included their financial statements to be found here: https://heyzine.com/flip-book/0889b5d0d9.html#page/43 showing a healthy R15.8 Million surplus from a R61 992 000 revenue for 2024 and cash reserve of R74.772 Million. This exemplary reporting is sure to give members of this Bargaining Council comfort that their council is healthy and in a position to cover any cataclysmic events.

National Bargaining Council for the Chemical Industry – This councils financials are reported on in the AGM report as follows: A surplus of R2.4 million. Revenue of R21 345 206. The Council’s investments reached R28 186 279 – a significant increase of R8.3 million from the prior year. Levies collected totaled R21 289 949, a R1m increase compared to the previous year. Cash flow remained positive, with a year-end balance of R1 291 684. Full report here: https://nbcci.org.za/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/NBCCI-AGM-2024-REPORT.pdf

Bargaining Council for the Diamond Cutting Industry of South Africa – NO WEB SITE

National Bargaining Council for the Electrical Industry of South Africa – NOTHING

Bargaining Council for the Fishing Industry – NOTHING

Bargaining Council for the Food Retail, Restaurant, Catering & Allied Trades – WEB SITE UNREACHABLE

Bargaining Council for the Restaurant, Catering and Allied Trades – NOTHING

Statutory Council for the Fast Food, Restaurant, Catering and Allied Trades – WEB SITE UNREACHABLE

Furniture Bargaining Council – NOTHING

Bargaining Council for the Furniture Manufacturing Industry of the Western Cape – NOTHING

Bargaining Council for the Furniture Manufacturing Industry, KwaZulu/Natal – WEB SITE UNREACHABLE

Bargaining Council for the Grain Industry (National) – NOTHING

National Bargaining Council for the Hairdressing, Cosmetology, Beauty and Skincare Industry – This council makes it’s Pension Fund report available here: https://hcsbc.co.za/wp-content/uploads/2025/07/HBSI-Trustee-Report-28-02-2025-20-06-2025.pdf The monthly fee to members for 2025 is R168 per month for Active members which stood at 5 242 as at 29 February 2024. We FAILED to find the council’s financial statements.

Bargaining Council for the Laundry, Cleaning and Dyeing Industry (KwaZulu Natal) – WEB SITE UNREACHABLE and DEREGISTERED

National Bargaining Council of the Leather Industry of South Africa – DOMAIN HOLDING PAGE

Bargaining Council for the Meat Trade, Gauteng – NOTHING

Metal and Engineering Industries Bargaining Council (National) – NOTHING

Motor Industry Bargaining Council (National) – NOTHING

Motor Ferry Industry Bargaining Council of South Africa (National) – NOTHING

Bargaining Council for the New Tyre Manufacturing Industry (National) – NO WEBSITE

National Bargaining Council for the Private Security Sector – NOTHING

National Bargaining Council for the Road Freight and Logistics Industry (NBCRFLI) – The latest financial reports are in a DATED Annual Report from 2020 here: https://www.nbcrfli.org.za/Annual%20Reports/2020%20NBCRFLI%20ANNUAL%20REPORT.pdf – This council reported a R103 945 668 surplus for 2020 from a top line revenue of R604 250 817. Giving a total surplus of R636 830 916 as at 29 February 2020. Financial Statements for the subsequent years are not available at time of publication.

South African Road Passenger Bargaining Council (SARPBAC) – NOTHING

National Bargaining Council for the Sugar Manufacturing and Refining Industry – WEB SITE UNREACHABLE

National Textile Bargaining Council – NOTHING

Transnet Bargaining Council (National) – WEB SITE UNREACHABLE

National Bargaining Council for the Wood and Paper Sector – REPORTS AVAILABLE ON REQUEST – https://www.nbcwps.org.za/reports.html

Education Labour Relations Council – Colour us impressed – a well laid out web site with direct links from the front page to Annual Reports – https://elrc.org.za/docs/annual-report-2023-2025/ – The ELRC reported a R29 910 428 surplus off of Revenue of R106 192 887 leaving an accumulative surplus of R291 308 370

General Public Service Sectoral Bargaining Council – This council reported a loss for the year of R508 707 off of a revenue of R55 794 947. This left a total cash surplus of R10 556 058. See: https://gpssbc.org.za/download/51/annual-reports/1279/gpssbc-annual-report-2022-2023

Public Health and Social Development Sectoral Bargaining Council – One more council with easy to navigate and find Annual Reports, see: https://www.phsdsbc.org.za/wp-content/uploads/2024/12/FINAL-2023-24-Annual-Report.pdf – Revenue for the years was R44 782 669 with toal operating costs at R40 788 919 all contributing to a retained reserve of R62 964 946

Public Service Co-ordinating Bargaining Council – This council made their annual reports available under a Media Tab here: https://pscbc.org.za/index.php/docman/annual-reports/2358-pscbc-2022-2023/file – The turnover for the year was R48 647 684.81 and expenses R49 034 614 leaving a loss for the year of R386 930.81. No retained surplus or management accounts were provided.

Safety and Security Sectoral Bargaining Council – Anther easy to find Annual Report here – https://sssbc.org.za/wp-content/uploads/2024/10/158706SSSBCAR2024WEB-1.pdf – this council reported turnover of R30 909 090, expenses of R27 276 929 for a surplus of R2 576 261 after adding investment and other revenue for the year.

South African Local Government Bargaining Council – NOTHING

Statutory Council for the Squid and Other Fisheries of South Africa – WEB SITE UNREACHABLE

Statutory Council of the Printing, Newspaper and Packaging Industry of South Africa – NOTHING

Bargaining Councils Serve Different Industries such as:

Building Industry
Canvas Goods
Clothing Manufacturing
Cleaning Services
Chemical Industry
Civil Engineering
Diamond Cutting
Electrical Industry
Fishing Industry
Food, Retail, Restaurant, Catering and Allied Trades
Furniture
Grain Industry
Hairdressing, Cosmetology, Beauty and Skincare Industry
Laundry, Cleaning and Dyeing Industry
Leather Industry
Meat Trade
Metal and Engineering
Motor Industry
New Tyre Manufacturing Industry
Private Security
Road Freight and Logistics Industry
Road Passengers
Sugar Manufacturing and Refining
Textiles
Transnet Bargaining Council
Wood and Paper
Education
Public Service
Public Health and Social Development
South African Local Government
Squid and Related Fisheries
Printing, Newspaper and Packaging Industry

Bargaining Councils, just like any public facing business, should be subject to unfettered scrutiny by members first, regulators second and the general public third.