Author: Agency

The number of COVID-19 infections has reached a plateau, with the increase in infection rates driven by school-age children, Health Minister, Dr Joe Phaahla, announced on Friday. According to the Minister, the past 14 days have given a “confusing” picture and shown a slow drop in infections. “The picture has been that of a stalemate where there’s no serious decline and yet no worrying rise in infections. Instead of the curve flattening it has taken the shape of a plateau,” he told the media. In the past seven days, Phaahla said the number of infections decreased by 0.3%, with three provinces recording…

A Special Tribunal order compelling two Free State departments to invoke the Public Finance Management Act (PFMA) in order to recoup financial losses, suffered from officials implicated in the awarding of unlawful PPE contracts, is a deterrent for would-be errant public servants. This is according to the Special Investigating Unit (SIU). The order invalidated personal protective equipment (PPE) procurement contracts of at least 36 companies contracted to the Free State Health and Treasury departments. In her judgement, Judge Lebogang Modiba explicitly ordered the accounting officers of the two departments to “invoke section 38(1)(h) of the PFMA against the implicated…officials to…

The South African Post Office (Sapo) has launched an online service for the renewal of motor vehicle licences from any mobile electronic device. In a statement on Monday, Sapo said the full renewal process, including payment, will be done online, leaving only the last step of accessing the licence disc. The licence disc can be delivered to the customer at an affordable delivery fee or it can be collected from a post office counter. “Payment is done safely and securely through Masterpass, which the user can download from the Google Play Store for Android devices and the Apple App Store…

The COVID-19 pandemic has demonstrated that digital learning is required now, not in the future, says Basic Education Minister Angie Motshekga. Delivering closing remarks at the end of the three-day Basic Education Sector Lekgotla held at Emperors Palace in Kempton Park, Motshekga said there is a need to provide all learners with the necessary assistive devices, increased human resources and ICTs for learning, teaching, and school management. “Commission three on ICT, Digitisation, e-Education Management, Distance Learning, and Online Schools has developed a SMART Action Plan, which I fully support. As a department, we must spare neither courage nor expense in leading…

President Cyril Ramaphosa is expected to join Dr Patrick Soon-Shiong, founder of the multinational conglomerate NantWorks, LLC, in launching the NantSA vaccine manufacturing campus in Brackenfell, Cape Town, on Wednesday. The President and Dr Soon-Shiong will also launch the Coalition to Accelerate Africa’s Access to Advanced Healthcare (The AAAH Coalition). This launch comes after an announcement made by Dr Soon-Shiong in September last year of an ambitious initiative to build capacity for advanced health care in Africa. NantSA, a division of NantWorks, and The AAAH Coalition aim to accelerate domestic production of pharmaceuticals, biologics and vaccines that will reach patients…

In a first for the African continent, South Africa is expected to launch three maritime-focussed nanosatellites into orbit on Thursday afternoon. The three nanosatellites – the first to be entirely developed on the African continent – will be launched from Cape Canaveral in the United States at about 5.25pm. The three satellites form part of the Department of Science and Innovation’s (DSI) Maritime Domain Awareness Satellite (MDASat) constellation. When complete, the constellation will comprise of nine satellites which, according to the department, will “detect, identify and monitor vessels in near real-time in support of South African maritime domain awareness”. Minister…

The National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) says it has created a task force which is dedicated to the investigation and prosecution of matters arising from the State Capture Commission and the subsequent release of part one of its report. The first part of the State Capture Commission’s report dealt extensively with alleged corruption, maladministration, fraud and money laundering at, amongst others, the South African Airways and its subsidiaries, State power utility Eskom and the South African Revenue Service (SARS). In a joint statement released with the Directorate for Priority Crime Investigation (DPCI) – known as the Hawks – the NPA said…

South Africa has recorded at least 2 409 new COVID-19 cases over the past 24-hour reporting period, with 77 more deaths recorded as a result of complications caused by the virus. This is according to the National Institute of Communicable Diseases (NICD). This brings the total number of COVID-19 cases to 3 528 463, with a total of 92 530 deaths reported thus far. Hospitalisations more than doubled to 177 new admissions from about 80 over the previous reporting period. In a statement, the institute reported that the positivity rate of new cases over the past 24-hour reporting period dropped by at least…

The Minister of Communications and Digital Technologies, Khumbudzo Ntshavheni, has noted the new court application by Telkom to set aside the Invitation to Apply (ITA) for International Mobile Telecommunications (IMT) spectrum issued by ICASA. On 10 December last year, the Independent Communications Authority of SA (ICASA) issued the final ITA for the International Mobile Telecommunications spectrum. In a statement on Thursday, the Department of Communications and Digital Technologies said that this development happens without affording Minister Ntshavheni an opportunity to resolve whatever concerns Telkom may have with the current ITA. “The Minister reiterates that the conclusion of a process to…

President Cyril Ramaphosa will formally receive the first part of the report of the Judicial Commission of Inquiry into Allegations of State Capture, Corruption and Fraud in the Public Sector including Organs of State. A statement on the Special Cabinet Meeting that took place on Thursday said the hand-over of the first part of the Commission Report will take place on Tuesday, 4 January 2022. “The Commission Chairperson, Deputy Chief Justice Raymond Zondo, will hand over the first part of the report at the Union Buildings in Pretoria. This follows the ruling of the Gauteng High Court on 28 December…

A special Cabinet meeting has approved several changes to the Adjusted Alert Level 1 COVID-19 regulations. This follows meetings of the National Coronavirus Command Council (NCCC) and the President’s Coordinating Council (PCC), which received updates on the management of the current fourth wave of COVID-19 in South Africa, which is mainly driven by the Omicron variant. In a statement on Thursday, Minister in the Presidency Mondli Gungubele said all indicators suggest the country may have passed the peak of the fourth wave at a national level. “The information gathered through the system used by the Department of Health has reported…

Eskom has connected Unit 4 of Kusile Power Station project to the national grid. The unit was connected to the grid for the first time on 23 December. “This synchronisation milestone means four generating units of the power station are now connected to the grid, and will contribute an additional 800MW to the country’s power system once the unit is fully optimised, following a series of tests and other commissioning activities,” said the power utility on Thursday. Situated near eMalahleni in Mpumalanga, Kusile is South Africa’s largest construction project and will be the world’s fourth largest coal plant. The unit…

South Africa conducted 50 377 COVID-19 tests on Sunday, with 15 465 new cases detected. According to the National Institute for Communicable Diseases (NICD), the majority of new cases in the past 24 hours were from KwaZulu-Natal (4 135), followed by Gauteng (3 582), Western Cape (2 849), Eastern Cape (1 303) and Free State (1 104), while the rest of the provinces recorded less than a thousand new infections. The latest figures represent a positivity rate of 30.7%, pushing the total number of laboratory-confirmed cases to 3 308 074. In addition, a further three people succumbed to complications related…

Health Minister Dr Joe Phaahla has urged people to take the COVID-19 jab in their numbers during the festive season after announcing that vaccination sites will remain open over the holiday period. “We also call upon South Africans to celebrate this festive season with a lot of caution, especially with regard to alcohol consumption,” Phaahla said on Friday. “Our health facilities are already under a lot of pressure with the COVID-19 as we indicated a 70% rise in admissions and we’re least ready to handle large numbers of casualties, from motor vehicle accidents and also interpersonal violence.” He told the…

The government has noted Fitch’s decision to affirm South Africa’s long-term foreign and local currency debt ratings at ‘BB-’ and revise the outlook from negative to stable. According to Fitch, the revision of the outlook to stable reflected the “faster than expected” economic recovery, the surprisingly strong fiscal performance this year and significant improvements in key fiscal indicators following the rebasing of national accounts, said National Treasury in a statement. Treasury said Fitch warned that the pandemic continued to weigh on economic performance and remained a source of downside risk for public finances. “However, the likelihood of severe negative effects…

Former SABC Chief Operations Officer Hlaudi Motsoeneng has been ordered to pay back at least R11.5 million “success fee” paid to him by the broadcaster’s Governance and Nominations Committee in 2016. The decision to pay Motsoeneng the fee was reviewed and set aside by the Gauteng Local Division of the High Court sitting in Johannesburg on Wednesday. In the judgement, the court found that Motsoeneng had accepted the fee knowing that no South African Broadcasting Corporation (SABC) policies allowed for such. “Motsoeneng was not an innocent bystander in all of this, he set out to obtain a benefit that he…

The South African government, through the African Renaissance Fund (ARF), has signed an agreement with the African Vaccination Acquisition Trust (AVAT) to donate 2 030 400 doses of Johnson & Johnson COVID-19 vaccines, valued at R288.6 million, to African countries. AVAT was formed following the establishment of the African Union’s COVID-19 African Vaccination Acquisition Task Team (AVATT) in November 2020 by President Cyril Ramaphosa, as the then Chairperson of the AU. In a joint statement issued on Friday, the South African government and AVAT said the main purpose of the task team is to secure the necessary vaccines and financing…

The Omicron variant has thrown the spotlight on the COVID-19 vaccine shortfall in Africa, with the continent remaining the worst hit by inequitable access to safe and effective vaccines. Poorer countries continue to scramble to get their hands on the lifesaving jabs, with less than 10% of Africa’s 54 nations projected to reach the year-end target of fully vaccinating 40% of its population. However, this could be a thing of the past, as Africa forges ahead to develop its first vaccine manufacturing capacity, to ensure viable vaccine security. Mid-year, the World Health Organisation (WHO), together with the South African and…

The South African Revenue Service’s (SARS) efforts to increase and expand the use of data to improve the integrity of outcomes and enhance its capability to detect instances of non-compliance is beginning to bear fruit. This much was evident in the agency’s recent notable successes in this regard, the revenue collector said on Thursday. In a statement, it said: “Using the data from various domestic and international sources, as input into  machine learning models, risk profiling and case selection, a number of trends have already been observed with positive outcomes in a number of instances, some of which were previously…

South Africa has recorded 22 391 new COVID-19 cases, representing a 29.8% positivity rate. This means there are now 3 093 452 laboratory-confirmed cases since the outbreak, the National Institute for Communicable Diseases (NICD) said on Thursday. This as there has been19 988 045 tests conducted. Gauteng recorded the highest number of infections after 11 791 people tested positive. The province is followed by 2 756 cases in KwaZulu-Natal, 2 194 in the Western Cape, 1 308 in the North West, 1008 in Free State and 1 055 in Limpopo. The rest of the provinces recorded less than 1 000 additional infections. In…

South Africa’s COVID-19 cases jumped by 19 842 on Wednesday, pushing the total number of laboratory-confirmed cases to 3 071 064. According to the National Institute for Communicable Diseases (NICD), this increase represents a 26.8% positivity rate, with Gauteng continuing to record the highest daily infections. The latest data shows that Gauteng registered 11 703 additional infections, followed by 1 989 in KwaZulu-Natal, 1 899 in the Western Cape and 1 103 in Mpumalanga. Meanwhile, 36 more people lost their lives to the virus, bringing the death toll to 90 038 since the outbreak. In addition, South Africa recorded 374…

Justice and Correctional Services Minister Ronald Lamola has welcomed the coming into operation of certain sections of the Cybercrimes Act, with effect from 1 December 2021. In a statement, the Minister said it was necessary to align the country’s law with international trends and best practices. He said: “Another consideration is the evolving nature of cybercrime. The methods of committing cybercrimes change rapidly and our laws need to keep pace with the more intrusive and complex investigative measures which are needed to investigate cybercrime. “Various countries, including other countries on our continent have enacted or are in the process of…

Customers of the South African Post Office (Sapo) have one week left to renew their post box rental for 2022 at this year’s rate. In a statement on Thursday, the post office said the early bird special for post box renewals expires on 30 November 2021. “Post boxes can be renewed at any post office nationally or on line 24/7 by clicking on https://www.virtualpostoffice.co.za/. At bigger post offices, we have introduced a separate queue for customers who are collecting their COVID-19 Social Relief of Distress Grant (SRD) grant. “This ensures that customers who visit the post office for a regular transaction…

Gauteng accounted for 605 of the 868 new COVID-19 infections that were recorded on Tuesday. This comes as the National Institute for Communicable Diseases (NICD) flagged a peak in the seven-day moving average in new COVID-19 cases in the province. According to the NICD, the second hardest-hit province is the Western Cape with 52 cases, followed by 47 in Mpumalanga and 43 in the North West. The increase represents a 2.1% positivity rate, pushing the total of laboratory-confirmed cases to 2 948 760 since the outbreak. As of Tuesday, the rapid antigen tests have been included in the country’s official…

The National Institute for Communicable Diseases (NICD) has noted an increase in the seven-day moving average in new COVID-19 cases in Gauteng. According to the NICD, the peak has been detected in Tshwane among those who are aged between 10 and 29 over the past week. Also, the NICD said it has recently identified cluster infections amongst the 20 to 44 age group at the Tshwane University of Technology. According to the latest data, the country recorded 312 new COVID-19 infections on Monday, which brings the total number of laboratory-confirmed cases to 2 930 174. The highest number of additional…