Author: Gugu Lourie

The South African Social Security Agency (Sassa) may not be able to deliver the six-month coronavirus grant known as COVID-19 Social Relief of Distress Grant, NGOs and academics warned. Under the grant, jobless South Africans will each receive R350 monthly for six months. Last week, Lindiwe Zulu, Minister of Social Development, announced that the grant will be paid from the 15th of May. The unemployed are expected to apply for the COVID-19 Grant by sending a WhatsApp message to 0600 123 456 and selecting Sassa or an email to [email protected]. The department and Sassa are also finalising additional access channels…

The South African government has vowed not to back down on its decision to ban the sale of cigarettes. “We are not going to change our approach,” Minister for the Presidency Jackson Mthembu, told the Sunday Times. “There is no possibility of a midway agreement that accommodates them and us. We believe that it is the right thing to do. I don’t see any of us agreeing on the measures the other party has taken.” Mthembu added that the government will make its case in court. “We believe we have very good reasons.” As part of South Africa’s lockdown regulations…

The South African National Treasury presented bleak scenarios on the impact of COVID-19 on Thursday, in a briefing in which it outlined the government’s approach to rebooting the economy and detailed its R500 billion stimulus package. As many as 7-million South Africans could join the ranks of the jobless if large swathes of the economy remain shut until the end of the year, according to a report in the Sunday Times. In order to curb the spread of COVID-19, the country imposed a 21-day lockdown that was extended by two weeks to the end of April. However, last week President Cyril Ramaphosa…

All road-based public transport services will from 1 May 2020 be permitted to operate from 5am until 7pm, with a grace period of one hour in the afternoon to complete their trips and drop off passengers. This includes minibus-taxis, buses, metered taxis, e-hailing services, charter and shuttle services. This as the country on Friday began its first day of Alert Level 4 of the Risk-Adjusted Strategy to combat the COVID-19 pandemic. Announcing the directions that affect transport operations at a media briefing in Pretoria on Friday, following the publishing of the new regulations this week, Transport Minister, Fikile Mbalula emphasised…

As of today, the total number of confirmed COVID-19 cases in South Africa is 5647, an increase of 297 cases from yesterday. The total number of tests conducted to date is 207 530 of which 10 403 were done in the last 24 hours. The provincial breakdown is as follows:

While campus-based learning has been put on hold as the country prepares to move to Level 4 of the national COVID-19 lockdown, interventions have been put in place for the post-school education and training (PSET) sector. Higher Education, Science and Innovation Minister, Dr Blade Nzimande, on Thursday, said the government has decided not to resume with campus-based academic activity throughout the PSET sector. “Guided by the work and decisions of the National Command Council (NCC), we have decided not to resume with campus-based academic activity throughout the PSET sector, including all universities and TVET [ Technical and Vocational Education and…

South Africa’s food delivery service, Mr D Food announced today that the service will open to restaurant food deliveries from Friday 1 May. On 29 April 2020, the relaxation of regulations relating to restaurants during the national lockdown was announced. Mr D Food said in a statement on Thursday that it was ready to deliver from restaurants across the country. This means customers can stay home, stay safe and still support much-loved local hot spots. Ensuring driver and customer safety is Mr D Food’s foremost priority. Contactless delivery has now been implemented, with drivers instructed not to make physical contact…

Three-quarters of South African consumers (75%) say they are now using contactless payments, citing safety and cleanliness as key drivers during the COVID-19 lockdown, new research reveals. In order to curb the spread of COVID-19, the country imposed a 21-day lockdown that has since been extended by two weeks to the end of April. However, on Thursday President Cyril Ramaphosa announced five-level plan to ease lockdown. Perceptions of safety and convenience have spurred a preference for contactless cards and reminded consumers of the convenience of tapping, according to consumer polling by Mastercard. It further states that nearly half (47%) of South African respondents have…

Suspended communications and digital technologies minister Stella Ndabeni-Abrahams says a video shared on social media of her dancing next to a new car is “old, malicious and mischievous.” The video, in which Ndabeni-Abrahams is seen singing and dancing next to a brand new black BMW, has angered Twitter users. This photo & that video should be looked at together … The long suffering selfless loyalty of our #ANC members, compared to displays of conspicuous consumption & arrogance of some of our leaders is shameful. The time for self-correction, & ending this nonsense is long overdue! pic.twitter.com/83K5hj1XK4— Carl Niehaus (@niehaus_carl) April…

A South African innovator in Internet of Things (IoT) technology, IoT.nxt, has developed a solution that will make it possible for companies to manage social distancing and control the number of people at a facility in real-time. The product, known as Covision, is currently being tested at various supermarkets in Pretoria. Furthermore, IoT.nxt’s office in The Netherlands is in discussion with a retailer in The Hague for a test site in that city. Since the introduction of social distancing requirements for varied facilities all around the world, many companies have experienced challenges with the management of this. In South Africa,…

MTN has asked a United States court to scrap the case filed against it on 29 December 2019, asserting claims for civil monetary relief under the U.S Anti-Terrorism Act. The lawsuit was lodged by more than 143 families of American troops and contractors killed by the Taliban and Al-Qaeda in Afghanistan. They alleged that MTN, along with five other Western businesses, paid the Taliban for protection, providing the insurgency with money that was used to attack and kill U.S. troops. The Taliban then used the money, according to the lawsuit, to fund attacks on other companies that didn’t make payments…

As of today, the total number of confirmed COVID-19 cases in South Africa is 5, 350, an increase of 354 cases from yesterday. “This is the highest number of cases in a 24-hour cycle recorded to date and represents a 73% increase relative to the day before COVID-19,” said Minister of Health, Dr Zweli Mkhize. The total number of tests conducted to date is 197 127, of which 11 630 were done in the last 24 hours. “This is the highest number of tests done in a 24 hour period, representing a 66% increase relative to the previous day’s tally,”…

Matus was fined R11 million for inflating prices of essential hygienic items during the COVID-19 disaster. The face mask distributor inflated prices of dust masks (FFP1 and FFP2 masks. The Competition Commission announced late on Wednesday that it has found that Matus unreasonably increased the prices of dusk masks resulting in excessively inflated gross profit margins. The country’s competition watchdog said this was in contravention of the Competition Act and Regulation 4 of the Consumer Protection Regulations. “Matus has agreed to pay an administrative penalty of R5.9 million after it admitted to inflation of its gross profit margins with regards…

As the coronavirus becomes more widespread and deadly, South Africans are being encouraged to stay at home to weather the deadly COVID-19 storm. However, besides the fear of catching the highly infectious COVID-19, there’s little incentive to remain caged at home. A new chatbot, developed in Stellenbosch, South Africa, is hoping to change that by incentivising users who check their COVID-19 status. Concorona, developed by Kyle Ueckermann, is a chatbot that incentivises users to track their symptoms through a daily check-up. By completing the check-up, users earn points that they can redeem in partner stores. The chatbot also offers different…

South Africa’s government will start paying COVID-19 Social Relief of Distress grant on May 15, Lindiwe Zulu, Minister of Social Development, said. Zulu was speaking at a media briefing on Wednesday to elaborate on the socio-economic relief interventions on COVID-19. In order to curb the spread of COVID-19, the country imposed a 21-day lockdown that has since been extended by two weeks to the end of April. However, on Thursday President Cyril Ramaphosa announced five-level plan to ease lockdown. South Africa’s COVID-19 cases are nearing 5, 000 with 93 deaths. Last week, President Cyril Ramaphosa announced a special COVID-19 Social Relief of…

South Africa’s fuel prices are expected to drop significantly in May 2020, according to the Automobile Association (AA), which was commenting on unaudited month-end data released by the Central Energy Fund. Petrol is set to drop by around R1.74 a litre in May, with diesel falling by R1.56 and illuminating paraffin by a whopping R2.18. Seen in context, the predicted decreases will result in a fall of R3.84 a litre to 93 unleaded petrol inland since January, and R4.00 to 95 petrol over the same period. Diesel users are also benefiting with the predicted price now around R3.49 a litre…

Seacom has launched its fibre service, WonderNet which the company believes introduces a new level of customer experience in the home fibre market. WonderNet is Seacom’s play for a stake in the growing fibre-to-the-home (FTTH) market. It offers a range of uncapped, unthrottled packages starting from 10Mbps through to 1Gbps. All packages include a standard Wi-Fi enabled router, without upfront costs and which can be purchased on a month-to-month option. There is also no Fair Usage Policy (FUP), and, as customers have come to expect from Africa’s leading network provider, no contention ratios. “Consumers require a simple, fast and effective…

To avoid being labelled a financial conglomerate, PSG is considering unbundling part or all of its stake in Capitec Bank. PSG owns 30.7% shareholding in Capitec Bank, which is valued at R46 billion. The shareholding represents more than two-thirds of PSG’s assets. PSG informed investors on Wednesday morning that it is investigating, and is seriously considering, the potential unbundling of some or all of its shareholding in Capitec “The rationale for the potential unbundling is that: certain new legislation may potentially deem PSG Group (as a material shareholder in Capitec) to be a financial conglomerate, which will substantially increase the…

Openserve is launching a new product that allows customers to directly obtain broadband service from their ISPs and will no longer be required to obtain a copper line from Telkom Retail. Openserve is the wholesale division of Telkom and South Africa’s largest telecommunications infrastructure provider. The product is known as Openserve Pure Connect product across multiple speeds and is clearly a “Naked ADSL” service. Naked DSL is the practice of providing users with only an ADSL connection which isn’t tethered to a landline number or voice connection. It’s a more cost-effective way for users to connect to the internet without…

MTN Nigeria, MTN Group’s biggest operating subsidiary, diversification from its voice telephony business into digital and FinTech space has been gaining traction and is a boon for its earnings. Profit before tax increased by 8.9% to 76.3-billion naira (R3.6 billion) during the quarter, year on year. Nigeria is MTN’s most profitable market and on Wednesday the operator said it would continue to gain market share, with the addition of 4.2 million subscribers to the network, representing a 6.5% increase in the quarter to 68.5 million. The operator said in the three months ended 31 March 2020, active data subscribers rose…

As of today, the total number of confirmed COVID-19 cases in South Africa is 4, 996 cases. “We have a burden of hypertension, over 4.5 million people in South Africa have diabetes. Such diseases factor in COVID-19 infection,” says Dr Zweli Mkhize, Health Minister. Currently, in South Africa, we have seen an increase in COVID-19 deaths.  We had 203 cases today and 3 more deaths. “There are now 93 deaths,” says Mkhize. All three deaths were in the Western Cape. “We convey our condolences to the families and friends. Physical distancing remains one of the key strategies to curb this…

The South African National Treasury is replacing measures relating to the COVID-19 Disaster Management Central Emergency Procurement Strategy. The replacement follows concerns about the procurement process, stating that the approach adopted has excluded a number of domestic suppliers and has covered an array of goods especially goods that can be manufactured locally. On Sunday, Sunday World reported that the massive treasure trove of R20 billion set aside for the Department of Health to help South Africa weather the deadly COVID-19 storm could trigger a war among businesspeople. Black businesses allege that they have been sidelined in the allocation of multimillion-rand…

The South African Social Security Agency (Sassa) says it has completed testing its WhatsApp registration system to payout the six-month coronavirus grant known as COVID-19 Social Relief of Distress grant.   Under the grant, jobless South Africans will each receive R350 monthly for six months.   Sassa says on its Twitter page: “The WhatsApp application system for #COVID-19 Social Relief of Distress grant opened only for testing over the weekend and it’s closed now. We’ll announce the official opening date”. The WhatsApp application system for #COVID-19 Social Relief of Distress grant opened only for testing over the weekend and it’s…

As of today, the total number of confirmed COVID-19 cases in South Africa is 4, 793. The total number of tests conducted to date is 178 470, of which 9 827 were done in the last 24 hours. The provincial breakdown is as follows: Reported Deaths “We regret to report a further three deaths: two from the Western Cape and one from KZN,” said Dr Zweli Mkhize, Health Minister. “This brings the total cumulative COVID-19 related deaths to 90.” The cases were: A 79-yr-old-male who presented with shortness of breath&chest pain. His co-morbidi- ties included diabetes, hypertension, chronic kidney disease&cardiac…

Fake COVID-19 officials in Mpumalanga were arrested on their way to a marijuana import deal. The three suspects, aged between 31 and 35 were arrested at Ekulindeni in Mpumalanga in the early hours of today for using COVID-19 to cover their ploy. Mpumalanga police spokesperson Brig Leonard Hlathi said a team of police officials received information about two vehicles which were branded with COVID-19 insignia allegedly participating in criminal activities. “They (police) followed up on the information and noticed a VW Polo Sedan as well as a Toyota Hilux Bakkie, which both matched the description given,” said Hlathi. Upon stopping…