Author: Staff Writer

South Africa’s parliament will resume its business with immediate effect after the Presiding Officers announced on Thursday that the leave period for Members of Parliament has been cancelled. This follows the suspension of the programme of Parliament’s two Houses last month, as a precautionary measure to curb COVID-19 by drastically limiting the numbers of people at the precincts in Cape Town and at off-site parliamentary activities. Briefing the media on the resumption of the business of Parliament on Thursday, Parliament Presiding Officers — National Assembly Speaker Thandi Modise and National Council of Provinces (NCOP) Chairperson, Amos Masondo — noted that…

If you are stuck at home with a burst pipe, you can now call your plumber to come to fix it. This is just one of the changes made to regulations governing the extended COVID-19 lockdown. The announcement was made by the Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs (Cogta) Minister, Dr Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma, who was addressing the country on Thursday. “Today, we’re not coming with many new regulations. We’re extending the regulations that exist because the lockdown was extended,” she explained. This comes after President Ramaphosa extended the 21-day lockdown until the end of April to contain the spread of the…

Government has begun the process of bringing certain industries on stream in an orderly manner, including that of mining, in a phased approach to easing the nationwide COVID-19 lockdown. To this effect, government has amended the Disaster Management Regulations governing the lockdown to include a number of industries as essential trade. Through this amendment, certain sectors will return to operation under strictly controlled conditions. “I am confident that these amendments initiates and lay the foundation for the risk-adjusted measures the President announced last week.  In the coming days, the proposals already made by various stakeholders will be considered in our planning…

Work continues to map South Africa’s future – with Cabinet asking all clusters to work together to produce one consolidated document on key priorities regarding the country’s economic recovery plan that will used post the COVID-19 national lockdown. The call was made during a virtual Special Cabinet Meeting held on Wednesday to discuss the socio-economic recovery plan, post the COVID-19 national lockdown. This follows the announcement made by President Cyril Ramaphosa two weeks ago, that Cabinet have a full discussion to come up with an economic recovery plan for the country. During the meeting, five presentations were received from the…

How long has it been since you drove your car? For many South Africans during this lockdown, the car has mostly been used to go to the shop to buy groceries. Momentum Short-term Insurance (MSTI) will offer car insurance rebates to customers because fewer motorists are on the road as a result of the coronavirus outbreak. The insurer said in a statement on Thursday that it realises that clients are less exposed to vehicle accident risk during the national lockdown as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic and have therefore implemented additional measures to provide financial relief. “We acknowledge that the…

As the impacts of the Coronavirus (COVID-19) begin to take their toll on South African citizens, Vodacom has partnered with the Unemployment Insurance Fund (UIF) to zero-rate its uFiling website. The Vodafone owned company said in a statement that this will give employers and employees who have been affected by the COVID-19 lock down the ability to get information about the UIF and/or apply for UIF benefits, including the COVID-19 TERS Benefit – without incurring any charges for doing so on the Vodacom network. The UIF recently announced that it had committed R10 billion for payouts this financial year to deal…

The number of COVID-19 related deaths have risen to 34 in South Africa, with infections now at 2 506. This comes after Health Minister Dr. Zweli Mkhize on Wednesday confirmed seven more deaths. Mkhize confirmed the increase during a press briefing in which government received much-needed personal protective equipment from Multichoice, Orlando Pirates and Kaizer Chiefs. Confirmed cases overnight rose to 2 506 from the 90 515 cases since the country began conducting tests. Gauteng continues to have the highest number of infections at 930. The province is followed by the Western Cape and KwaZulu-Natal with 657 and 519, respectively.…

Government has set-up a hi-tech monitoring and evaluation platform in an effort to ramp up state capacity to monitor and respond to misinformation and fake news proliferating during the COVID-19 outbreak. In a statement, acting Communication Minister Jackson Mthembu said the intervention is being put in place to assess complaints and reports from the media, the public and other sectors of society. The platform has the ability to take down fake news items on a range of platforms and submit cases to the SAPS for investigation and prosecution. This solution is a unique collaboration between the Department, the Government Communication…

Huawei has donated high tech solutions to help South Africa’s fight against COVID-19. Health Minister Dr Zweli Mkhize received the company’s donation of four Huawei Cloud, Artificial Intelligence (AI) diagnostic systems and four thermal scanning systems at the company’s Johannesburg headquarters. The AI Cloud solution allows for fast, highly accurate diagnosis of coronavirus pneumonia by analysing CT scans of a patients’ lungs. Huawei SA CEO Spawn Fan says, “Early detection helps to reduce the spread of the virus and to flatten the curve. Speeding up diagnosis time from hours to minutes with a 98% accuracy rate is a powerful tool…

Thousands of Grade 12 pupils in the Eastern Cape will now have an opportunity to catch up on their school curriculum by using online learning platforms. Schools have been closed since the lockdown was imposed on 26 March and there is no indication yet when they will open. To help solve the problem of missed lessons, MTN Business has provided the provincial Department of Basic Education with 72 000 SIM cards preloaded with data. This move is part of MTN’s multi-pronged intervention that seeks to mitigate the negative impact of the coronavirus pandemic on communities it operates in, particularly those…

Police have arrested a 22-year-old suspect for selling fraudulent permits to informal business owners. It is alleged that the suspect from Olivenhoutbosch, Centurion in Pretoria, was selling permits to business owners who are not part of essential services. The Hawks’ Serious Corruption Investigation office was alerted. The team made contact with the suspect under the pretext of wanting to buy the permits. “The suspect met with a team member and was immediately placed under arrest after he produced a permit for a R300 payment,” Police said in a statement. The team proceeded to his house where they seized a laptop…

The Surgeon General of the South African National Defence Force says the SANDF has recorded its first four positive cases of the COVID-19. In a statement issued on Tuesday, the Surgeon General said three of the cases were in the Western Cape, while the fourth was recorded in Gauteng. “None of these members are uniformed members nor members deployed in support of the SAPS. It is imperative to note that the military community is bigger than the South African National Defence Force (SANDF),” read the statement. The military community is inclusive of dependants of the serving, retired soldiers and others…

The Google News Initiative has launched a Journalism Emergency Relief Fund to deliver urgent aid to thousands of small, medium and local news publishers globally. The funding is open to news organisations producing original news for local communities during this time of crisis, and will range from the low thousands of dollars for small hyper-local newsrooms to low tens of thousands for larger newsrooms, with variations per region. Starting Tuesday 14 April, publishers everywhere can apply for funds via a simple application form. Applications will close on Wednesday April 29, 2020 at 11:59 p.m. Pacific Time. “We’ve made this as…

Refinitiv today released the 2020 first-quarter investment banking analysis for Sub-Saharan Africa. According to the report, investment banking fees in Sub-Saharan Africa reached an estimated $128.2 million (R23.7 billion) during the first quarter of 2020, down 15% from last year’s strong start. Advisory fees earned from completed mergers and acquisitions (M&A) transactions generated US$33.5 million, down 38% year-on-year, while syndicated lending fees declined 47% to $35.7 million (R661 million).  Equity capital markets underwriting fees more than tripled to reach $36.7 million (R680 million), a first-quarter total only exceeded twice since our records began in 2000.  Bond underwriting fees increased 20%…

MTN announced on Wednesday the details of its R250 million relief package in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. Operating across 21 markets MTN Group has customised its response to recognising its responsibility to contribute both in its home market South Africa as well as in many other markets facing enormous challenges managing the pandemic. Comprising five key intervention initiatives, MTN said it has focused on employees, customers, vulnerable groups, contributions to the South African Government’s Solidarity Fund and participating in industry interventions. “We believe it is the responsibility of all organisations to assist where they can during the pandemic.  MTN…

Vodacom South Africa announced on Wednesday it has significantly accelerated investment spend in recent weeks to ensure that its network remains resilient despite increases in traffic across both its mobile and fixed networks since the start of the national emergency lockdown. The Vodafone-owned company said it expects network traffic to increase even further as customers connect for longer after it implemented price cuts of up to 40% on its 30-day data bundles and launched a range of free essential services available through its zero-rated ConnectU platform on 1 April. Over R500 million will be spent over a two-month period to…

South African government, through the National Treasury, is exploring all funding avenues to finance all COVID-19 related programmes and measures aimed at addressing the pandemic. “The funding avenues will not be limited locally, but will include exploring all global partners and international finance institutions,” Minister of Finance Tito Mboweni said. Addressing a media briefing on Tuesday, the Minister said government will revise the fiscal framework to take into account the effect of COVID-19 on the fiscus. He said there are a number of elements to the fiscal response, including putting forward clear estimates of the additional health care costs that…

The total number of confirmed COVID-19 cases in South Africa is 2 415, as of Tuesday, 14 March. Releasing the update of cases, the Health Department said the total number of tests conducted to date is 87 022. Gauteng has 909 cases, Western Cape 643, KwaZulu-Natal 489, Eastern Cape 174, Free State 98, Limpopo 24, Mpumalanga 22, North West 22 and Northern Cape has 16. There are 18 unallocated cases. Also read: Coronavirus: WHO Urges Caution in Easing COVID-19 Restrictions With the declaration that the novel Coronavirus is 10 times deadlier than the 2009 swine flu, the World Health Organisation (WHO)…

President Cyril Ramaphosa’s will on Friday, 17 April, respond to the Gauteng Liquor Forum that wants restrictions on the sale of alcohol eased during an extended lockdown. The forum threatened court action against the South African government. However, Ramaphosa’s lawyers have written to the form asking them to wait until the end of business on Friday, 17 April to respond to their letter. “The National Command Council, the Presidency and other relevant parties are meeting again this week, specifically to discuss the details of Government’s economic assistance programme. This includes assistance offered to small businesses such as those of your clients…

The Lockdown Digital Classroom is a free and voluntary virtual classroom that encourages pupils to continue learning during the lockdown, the Basic Education Department clarified on Tuesday. The initiative, which is the brainchild of Africa Teen Geeks – an organization that does work in the basic education sector, received criticism on social media with users expressing concern over the use of celebrities as opposed to qualified teachers. “The initiative was created by a Non-Profit-Organization called Africa Teen Geeks (ATG) who approached the department with an idea for an intervention to support learners during the lockdown resulting from COVID-19,” said the…

The Department of Home Affairs has outlined temporary measures that have been put in place to address immigration matters during the lockdown period. The temporary measures were introduced after President Cyril Ramaphosa declared a National State of Disaster on 15 March and subsequently a national lockdown from 27 March, extended until the end of April 2020, to contain the spread of COVID-19. These temporary measures will remain valid until 31 July 2020, unless extended officially by the department. They apply only to foreign nationals, who have been legally admitted into the country. The visa concessions are contained in the Directions,…

With the declaration that the novel Coronavirus is 10 times deadlier than the 2009 swine flu, the World Health Organisation (WHO) has called on countries to slowly lift control measures. “We know that COVID-19 spreads fast, and we know that it is deadly – 10 times deadlier than the 2009 flu pandemic,” said WHO Director-General, Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus. The WHO DG made the declaration on Monday during a virtual briefing. With some countries and communities under several weeks of social and economic restrictions in a bid to curb the spread of COVID-19, Ghebreyesus urged countries to be measured when phasing…

The South African Reserve Bank has cut the repo rate by 100 basis points, or one percentage point to 4.25%. “The committee notes that the more prolonged lockdown and slower recovery creates downside risk to inflation and allows further space for monetary policy to respond to the virus-induced demand shock to the economy. Barring severe and persistent currency and oil shocks, inflation is expected to be well contained, remaining below the midpoint of the target in 2020 and close to the midpoint in 2021,” said Reserve Bank governor, Lesetja Kganyago. “Against this backdrop, the MPC decided to cut the repo…

The number of COVID-19 cases in South Africa rose to 2 272 on Monday, with two more deaths confirmed by Health Minister Zweli Mkhize. The positive tests are an increase of 99 from the previous day. Total deaths stood at 27 on Monday. During a technical public engagement with experts dealing with the COVID-19 pandemic, Mkhize said the country has conducted 83 363 tests since the outbreak. Of these, 21 190 had been done in public sector facilities. Regarding deaths, Mkhize said the first case was of a 68-year-old male in the Western Cape while the second was that of a 57-year-old male…

Human Settlements, Water and Sanitation Minister, Lindiwe Sisulu, has reiterated her call for municipalities to suspend cutting water to residents and the eviction of residents during the lockdown period. Sisulu has held a third meeting with civil society organisations to discuss interventions in densely populated informal settlements, as part of efforts to mitigate against the spread of COVID-19. During the meeting, the recent evictions in Makhaza Informal Settlements in the Western Cape were discussed. Sisulu emphasised that everyone should adhere to the directive by government that all evictions be suspended during the lockdown period in which the nation is engaged…