Author: Agency
President Cyril Ramaphosa has called on world leaders to take “bold action” in accelerating decarbonisation of energy systems. The President made the call in a message he delivered vitually at the COP26 Energy Session on Thursday. In his message, the President acknowledged that climate change undoubtedly presented a critical and urgent threat to humanity. “This is so because it will have devastating consequences for our economies and societies if we do not take action now. “There is no longer any doubt that climate change presents a critical and urgent threat to humanity.” Accelerating decarbonisation of energy systems, he said, would…
As more results are finalised in the aftermath of Monday’s 2021 Local Government Elections, a picture of coalition local governments has begun to emerge. Vote counting is progressing at the IEC’s Results Operations Centre on Tuesday and the Electoral Commission anticipates tallying 90% of the votes by this evening. With no outright winner in the seven-seat Kannaland Local Municipality, in the Garden Route District Municipality, a coalition government would have to be formed, results show. A breakdown of the total tallied votes show that while the Independent Civic Organisation of South Africa (ICOSA) secured a majority of the cast ballots,…
Eskom says it plans to add at least 30GW of new generation capacity – mainly from solar and wind energy sources – to the system over the next 10 years. This was revealed in the power utility’s Transmission Development Plan for 2022 to 2031 which was presented to various stakeholders. Eskom said it will be building the required infrastructure to accommodate the envisioned extra capacity. “To provide for an adequate and reliable transmission system, Eskom plans to increase the transmission infrastructure by approximately 8 400 km of extra high-voltage lines and 119 transformers to bring on board 58 970 MVA…
The R350 COVID-19 Grant beneficiaries who opted to use the South African Post Office for the South African Social Security Agency (SASSA) grant payment have been encouraged to collect their R350 only after receiving an SMS informing them that their grant is available. The Post Office said beneficiaries can visit their nearest Pick ‘n Pay or Boxer supermarket or post office to collect their grant. “If you chose a bank account or cash send as your payment method, you will receive the money through the bank you chose. You cannot go to one of the supermarkets. Beneficiaries who have received…
By Oupa Makhalemele, Film and Publication Board Research, Policy and Advocacy Officer As the Fourth Industrial Revolution (4IR) continues cementing its presence in our everyday life, keeping abreast of the developments in Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) is everyone’s responsibility. There is no better time to start thinking of ways in which technology can be harnessed to improve the lot of women, especially when it comes to their safety in a predominantly misogynistic world. The more things change… The abuse of women and children, our woefully inadequate health system and our failure to bring the multitudes of marginalised people on…
Eskom Chief Operating Officer (COO), Jan Oberholzer, has assured the country that load shedding is not expected to be implemented during the upcoming Local Government Elections. He was speaking during the power utility’s state of the system briefing on Monday. The assurances from the COO come after concerns that the country may face power cuts during this weekend’s elections following two consecutive weekends of load shedding this month. This as special votes are set to be cast on Saturday and Sunday, ahead of Election Day on Monday, 1 November 2021. Oberholzer said he expects that the power utility will have…
As South Africa continues to prepare to migrate to digital broadcasting by 31 March 2022, the South African Post Office has called on qualifying households to apply for their free set-top boxes ahead of the deadline. Homes that apply before 1 November, will receive a decoder before the analogue television signal is switched off. “Those who apply after 1 November 2021 will only receive a decoder later,” the SAPO said in a statement on Thursday. Qualifying households are urged to visit their local Post Office as soon as possible to apply for a free government-subsidised decoder (set-top box). The set-top…
South Africa has now passed the 21 million mark for total COVID-19 jabs administered since the start of the country’s vaccination rollout programme. This comes after 205 253 doses were distributed in the past 24 hours, pushing the total to 21 011 187 doses administered to 14 568 927 people. The Department of Health’s data show that the Western Cape is leading the race so far, with 45.38% of its adults having received at least one dose of the jab, followed by 42.60% in Free State, 42.16% in Limpopo and 41.88% in the Eastern Cape. In addition, the latest statistics indicate…
Eight foreign nationals, aged between 33 and 52, were on Tuesday morning arrested for their links to an alleged R100 million internet scam during a large-scale operation in Cape Town. The group was arrested in a joint operation led by the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), United State Secret Service (USSS) Investigations, Interpol and with assistance from the Hawks Serious Commercial Crime Investigation unit. Also assisting in the operation was Crime Intelligence (CI), K9, National Intervention unit, Special Task Force (STF), Tactical Operations Management Section (TOMS), Criminal Record Centre and Cape Town Metro police. The suspects are alleged to have…
Since the beginning of lockdown last year, the Unemployment Insurance Fund (UIF) has disbursed R63 billion, bringing relief to about 5.4 million workers across the country. It has been 17 months since the COVID-19 Temporary Employer / Employee Relief Scheme (TERS) was introduced to save jobs and ease the financial burden on businesses, and most importantly, their vulnerable workers who lost income during the lockdown. In a statement on Thursday, the Employment and Labour Department said the money paid out is the largest sum that has been paid by government to help workers, businesses and the economy mitigate the impact of the lockdowns. “Considering…
National Treasury has published an updated version of its “Financing a Sustainable Economy” document as part of efforts to encourage more long-term investments in sustainable economic assets, activities and projects. The technical paper was first published in May 2020. In the updated paper published on Friday, Treasury said while financial institutions previously only focused on the return on investment of projects, the focus on sustainable finance encourages them to also be cognisant of how their investment decisions impact the environment. “It is envisaged that this will assist in reducing pressures on the environment, including supporting the transition to a low…
The Department of Health on Friday announced that children aged 12 to 17 years old are next in line to receive the COVID-19 vaccine from next week. “We are now ready to start vaccinations for this group of young people from the age of 12 to 17 years,” said Health Minister, Dr Joe Phaahla, during a media briefing on the national vaccination rollout programme. He told journalists that this follows a recommendation received from the Ministerial Advisory Committee (MAC) on COVID-19 Vaccines this week. “This recommendation was also supported by Health MECs when we met on Tuesday afternoon during our…
South Africa is home to over 10 million adults who are now fully vaccinated as of Monday. This comes after 139 899 either received the one dose of the Johnson & Johnson or two-dose Pfizer vaccine. This means there are now 10 059 118 eligible citizens who are fully jabbed, which translates to 25.28% of the country’s adult population. According to the Department of Health, the country distributed 189 528 new COVID-19 doses in the past 24 hours, pushing the total to 19 242 116. Meanwhile, the cumulative number of COVID-19 cases identified in South Africa is 2 912 346…
President Cyril Ramaphosa says the country must urgently reduce its carbon and greenhouse gas emissions or risk experiencing negative social and economic consequences. The President was addressing the nation through his weekly newsletter. Carbon and greenhouse gas emissions are a product of the burning of fossil fuels such as oil and coal, which contribute to global warming and changes in the Earth’s climate patterns (climate change). President Ramaphosa said the impact of climate change is already felt in some South Africans’ quality of life through drought and flooding. “Several communities in Mpumalanga, for example, are affected by high levels of…
South Africans can now download their digital COVID-19 vaccination certificate following the official launch by the Minister of Health, Dr Joe Phaahla. Addressing a media briefing on government’s efforts in the fight against COVID-19 and the national vaccination rollout programme on Friday, the Minister said the certificate could be used for travel and tourism, sport and recreation events, music festivals, shops that are providing discounts and prizes for people who are vaccinated. “Our role is to make this tool available to the nation to provide people with the proof of vaccination so they can have access to many the amenities and…
A Financial Action Task Force (FATF) report has identified significant weaknesses in parts of the anti-money laundering, counter financing of terrorism and counter financing of proliferation (AML/CFT/CPF) systems. Released on Thursday, the National Treasury and the Financial Intelligence Centre (FIC) said in a joint statement that the Mutual Evaluation Report was an assessment of South Africa’s AML/CFT/CPF systems. They said the mutual evaluation of South Africa was conducted by an assessment team led by the International Monetary Fund and included officials from the Eastern and Southern Africa Anti-Money Laundering Group and the FATF member countries. According to the statement, South…
President Cyril Ramaphosa says one of the key drivers of infrastructure development is green energy, which has the potential not only to drive industrialisation but to establish a whole new industrial reality. The President was delivering the keynote address on the second day of the Sustainable Infrastructure Development Symposium South Africa (SIDSSA) hosted by the Presidency on Thursday. President Ramaphosa said the Green Hydrogen Export special economic zone to be developed at Boegoebaai in the Northern Cape, with Sasol as an anchor investor, is a major step towards realising South Africa’s potential to be a global leader in green hydrogen.…
The South African Revenue Services (SARS) has welcomed an eight year sentence handed to a Bloemfontein businessman for fraud. MJ Ntabe of Ntabe Trading & Projects CC was recently found to have used false tax invoices in the calculations of VAT Output and Input tax. The Bloemfontein Regional Court this week sentenced Ntabe to five years direct imprisonment for the crime. The court heard that Ntabe and his company provided the revenue collector auditors with false supporting documents to substantiate the VAT calculations. It said: “SARS Audit raised additional assessments, which resulted in a total prejudice of R1-million to SARS.…
The Department of Health has confirmed that its currently testing South Africa’s digital COVID-19 vaccine certificate to “troubleshoot” all possible glitches ahead of the official launch. This comes after the South African COVID-19 Vaccine Certificate System portal went live on Tuesday. The system will allow users to create a QR code showing their COVID-19 inoculation status and will be available to adults who are fully vaccinated. However, the department explained that the system is not officially functional in a live environment, which will enable vaccinated individuals to access and download certificates. “We had to build a lot of security into…
Mineral Resources and Energy Minister Gwede Mantashe has announced a marginal decrease in the prices of petrol, while the price of diesel is expected to increase. Motorists are expected to pay four cents less per litre for 93 octane petrol, one cent less for 95 octane petrol per litre and at least 22 cents more per litre for both grades of diesel. The wholesale price of illuminating paraffin has increased by 22 cents per litre, while the single maximum retail price (SMNRP) for illuminating paraffin has increased by 43 cents per litre. The maximum retail price for gas has decreased by…
South Africa has now crossed the 18 million mark for administered COVID-19 vaccine doses. This comes after government distributed 184 324 in the past 24 hours. According to the Department of Health, this means the country has now given 18 073 784 vaccines since its rollout programme. Meanwhile, as of Monday, the number of fully vaccinated adults now stands at 9 213 503, of which 129 539 people were jabbed by Johnson & Johnson’s single-dose vaccine or the two-dose series made by Pfizer in the last 24 hours. The dashboard also shows that 57.16% of vaccinees are females, while 42.84% are males. Meanwhile, the National…
South Africa is now home to over 8.8 million fully vaccinated adults, as President Cyril Ramaphosa leads the inaugural Vooma Vaccination Weekend to push more people to receive the COVID-19 vaccine. According to the Department of Health, the country on Thursday administered 146 190 vaccines, bringing the total doses to 17 505 358. In addition, the latest data shows that 92 320 people were fully vaccinated in the past 24 hours. This means the country now has 8 819 130 adults who have either received the single-shot Johnson & Johnson or the second dose of the Pfizer vaccine since the start of the inoculation programme. In…
President Cyril Ramaphosa has announced that the Department of Health will soon roll out the vaccine certificate as proof that residents have been vaccinated against COVID-19. In a televised address to the nation, the President said the digital pass system could be used to show vaccination status to facilitate travel, access to establishments, gatherings and other forms of activity. “Our approach is informed by World Health Organisation guidelines and is in line with international best practice. Streamlining and standardising proof of vaccination will also go a long way towards getting a number of international travel restrictions both from and into…
Gauteng Premier David Makhura says more than a million people in Gauteng have not gone back to receive their second jab of Pfizer’s COVID-19 vaccine. He was speaking during a visit to the newly opened pop-up vaccine site at Khutsong in the Merafong municipality in the province’s West Rand on Wednesday. Makhura highlighted that receiving the second jab of the vaccine gives you even more protection from getting severely ill if you contract COVID-19. “We have over a million people who have taken their first dose of Pfizer whose days have come and passed for their second dose and they…
Mineral Resources and Energy Minister Gwede Mantashe says the mining industry is playing a critical role in “saving” the economy during the country’s ongoing COVID-19 induced lockdown. Mantashe was speaking during the opening of the two-day Mining Investment Conference held in Limpopo. The Minister said the decision to allow mining to continue during different phases of the COVID-19 induced lockdown is proving to be decisive in the recovery from the devastating impact the virus has had on the economy. “Mining is doing well…and has played a very important role in saving the economy. The commodity prices are expected to do…