Author: Agency

Millions of South Africans who benefited from the R350 COVID-19 Social Relief of Distress Grant can breathe a sigh of relief as government has extended it for a further year until March 2023. Delivering his State of the Nation Address on Thursday evening, the President highlighted that since the onset of COVID-19, the Social Relief of Distress Grant has provided support to more than 10 million unemployed people who were most vulnerable to the impact of the pandemic. “Mindful of the proven benefits of the grant, we will extend the R350 SRD Grant for one further year, to the end…

President Cyril Ramaphosa says the eVisa system has been launched in 14 countries, including China, India, Kenya and Nigeria, according to government’s commitment. President Ramaphosa said government is also streamlining and modernising the visa application process to make it easier to travel to South Africa for tourism, business and work. In his State of the Nation Address delivered in Cape Town this evening, President Ramaphosa said the revised Critical Skills List has been published for the first time since 2014, following detailed technical work and extensive consultations with business and labour. “The updated list reflects the skills that are in…

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…