Author: Staff Writer

While South Africans face the challenge of curbing the spread of the COVID-19 pandemic, Momentum Short-term Insurance (MSTI) is determined to help alleviate the financial burden by giving clients early access to R26 million in future no claims and safety bonuses. To provide immediate financial relief, clients can now opt to take an early cash benefit from their Rewarder bonus (no claims bonus). In addition, clients can also opt to cash in early on their Safety Bonus. MSTI rewards clients with a cashback Safety Bonus of up to 30% of their annual car and home insurance premiums depending on their…

Several people have been arrested for allegedly disregarding South Africa’s lockdown rules that officially kicked in at midnight on Thursday, News24 reported. SABC News reported that the South African Police Service (SAPS) raided taverns and clubs where people were gathering and drinking in the early hours of Friday morning. Last week, President Cyril Ramaphosa announced a three-week national shutdown, as part of wide-ranging interventions to combat the spread of the novel coronavirus. 21-day lockdown begins as police patrol Johannesburg CBD SA Under Lockdown I South Africa border to Mozambique closed

Specialist transport insurance underwriting company, CTU, has announced measures to help alleviate the financial burden that the Coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic is placing upon the commuter transport industry. Following the COVID-19 update received on 23 March, from South African President, Cyril Ramaphosa, regarding the imminent 21-day Lockdown, and the clarity received through the Government Gazette, on what constitutes essential goods and services, CTU has announced that: for the month of April and potentially May, all active CTU policyholders’ insurance risk-premiums will be reduced by 35%, and in addition, no inflationary risk-premium increases will be processed for April and May but will…

Avon has offered a lifeline of much-needed sanitary amenities to shelters and institutions working with survivors of gender-based violence in Diepsloot, in the north of Johannesburg, to help them protect themselves and their families against possible infection from coronavirus. The donation is in line with Avon’s quest to complement government’s initiatives of providing support to vulnerable women during the 21-day nationwide lockdown. Abused women are often disempowered and dependent financially on their abusive spouses, including for provision of critical amenities such as soap and sanitizers. “As a company for women, we believe that we have an ethical and moral obligation…

SA Taxi today announced that it will implement interim debt repayment assistance measures to help certain of its minibus taxi operators to navigate their financial commitments during the 21-day lockdown period. SA Taxi, a vertically integrated business platform that creates a sustainable environment for the minibus taxi industry will assist clients in good financial standing by providing payment relief to minimise the negative economic impact of the Covid-19 national lockdown on their business. The payment relief for minibus taxi owners will commence on 1 April 2020 and be available for the full month. In addition, clients insured through SA Taxi…

The introduction of MTN’s 20MB daily data lifeline comes at a critical time when South Africans will depend on connectivity during the 21-day lockdown. The free daily data is available for use on Ayoba, an instant messaging app and can be used for text, video, audio and image sending and receiving – as well as for keeping up to date on the outside world via Ayoba news and entertainment channels. This home-grown instant messaging platform has functionalities similar to WhatsApp. What sets Ayoba apart, however, is that it allows users to also communicate with users who use basic and feature…

Minister in the Presidency, Jackson Mthembu, says government’s classification of media work as an essential service during the COVID-19 national state of disaster and lockdown is a measure to ensure South Africans and the international community have access to vital information during this time. “In South Africa, space, airtime and social media engagement devoted by quality journalism to the outbreak and the national response, has contributed in reducing misinformation, the negative impact of fake news and unfounded panic emerging from some social media users and other sources,” Mthembu said. He expressed government’s appreciation for the role played by media in…

President Cyril Ramaphosa has tested negative for the novel Coronavirus (COVID-19). “The President submitted for testing as a precautionary measure upon the advice of his physicians on Tuesday and received his results last night,” the Presidency said in a statement on Thursday. As Head of State and Chair of the National Command Council (NCC) the President has a rigorous public engagements schedule; and has, during the course of the last few weeks, held numerous meetings with a wide cross-section of people from all walks of life. “The Presidency has deemed it necessary to make the test results public to reassure…

“Feeling the Pinch? Buy a Business” is possibly one of the most juxtaposing statements off the back of a dismal 2019 GDP performance, the Rand’s current position, consistent rolling blackouts and now, coronavirus having hit South African shores. Yet, when asked to repeat himself, Sean Stegmann – CEO of SA’s largest second-hand retailer, Cash Crusaders confirms that “yes, this is a great time to buy a recession-proof business.” “In a pressured environment that is currently in an economic recession – the severity of which appears to shift daily, our business continues to thrive,” says Sean. “People are tired of being…

As actions are taken against the virus, customer behaviours will also adjust and this will have a huge social and economic impact. FNB CEO Lee-Anne van Zyl said over the past few days “Our customers can use our app to download bank statements and manage their debit or credit cards without going into a branch” Online financial service QuotesAdvisor.com has analyzed its website transactions and the results indicate a change in customers’ behaviour as a result of the outbreak. “In the last days we registered a slight increase in the number of online payments, and we expect this trend to…

Distell, Africa’s leading producer and marketer of spirits, fine wines, ciders and ready-to-drinks (RTDs), today announced that it will begin producing hand sanitisers and other hygienic products at its production facilities as part of its efforts to help curb the spread of the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic. “Our priority as Distell – right now and always – is the safety and well-being of our employees, our stakeholders and society at large. We are determined to support our government in its bid to halt the current rapid spread of COVID-19 and in the absence of a vaccine, good hygiene remains one of…

Short-term insurer and financial services provider MiWay has announced that it will give over R25 million in premium income back to its clients during April as a result of the twenty-one-day lockdown declared by President Cyril Ramaphosa to combat the spread of COVID-19. Most South Africans will be staying and working from home for the next few weeks and most businesses will not be running at full capacity, following the sweeping measures put in place by Government to tackle the pandemic. This means there will be far less traffic on our roads, thus reducing the risk of car accidents. MiWay…

5G can enhance the effectiveness of pandemic prevention and treatment, and drive the digital transformation of healthcare systems in response to major public emergencies, such as the current pandemic of COVID-19, a newly released Deloitte report suggests. The white paper titled, “Combating COVID-19 with 5G: Opportunities to improve public health systems,” was produced in collaboration with Huawei. During the outbreak in China, telecommunications operators collaborated with Huawei to rapidly set up a specific 5G network dedicated to COVID-19 treatment hospitals. The white paper analyses examples of COVID-19 control and treatment measures in China and identified challenges that face epidemic management…

Avon on Wednesday condemned unfounded, unsubstantiated and untrue social media allegation that the company has classified its business as an essential service. Government has stipulated which sectors of the economy it deems as essential services. “Avon takes a dim view to these unsubstantiated claims which it regards as malicious,” said Mafahle Mareletse, Managing Director: Avon Justine SA. “When the numbers of confirmed coronavirus infections steadily increased, Avon made provisions to protect its employees, suppliers and customers by instructing its employees to work from home.” As at yesterday, Avon Justine Head Office employees that been working from home since Wednesday last…

The Johannesburg Stock Exchange (JSE) will remain fully operational throughout South Africa’s 21-day lockdown which will be implemented from midnight (SA Standard Time) tomorrow, Thursday 26 March 2020. JSE Group CEO, Leila Fourie said that the bourse was constantly monitoring the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, continuously engaging with National Treasury, the Prudential Authority and the Financial Sector Conduct Authority (FSCA). The JSE had already moved close to 90% of its employees out of the exchange to work remotely. Critical staff would be able to work from the exchange should the need arise to enable the JSE to seamlessly trade,…

Shoprite, Africa’s largest food retailer, has announced a once-off R102 million appreciation bonus for its shopfloor and distribution centre employees to thank and support them for their tireless efforts to feed the nation in these unprecedented times. The largest private employer in South Africa said this follows President Cyril Ramaphosa’s call on larger businesses, in particular, to take care of their workers during this period and to marshal every resource and their every energy to fight this epidemic. Supermarket employees are at the forefront of serving and safeguarding customers by implementing the group’s strict hygiene measures while distribution centre employees are…

ISPA calls on South African ISPs and other ICT service providers to take steps to support internet users engaged in online education during the COVID-19 National Disaster period. These steps may include zero-rating educational traffic, temporarily increasing bandwidth caps for some customers, or even providing limited free “lifeline” data packages to customers. Internet Service Providers (ISPs) play an important role in keeping South Africans connected, especially during a time of crisis. Given the ongoing disruptions to schools and universities, all ISPs should zero-rate traffic to national educational learning resources, including learning management systems, institutional repositories, library services and student support…

Access to the official South African COVID-19 website has been made 100% free. Working in partnership with the Department of Health, Vodacom has zero-rated the site so that any customer with a device can have access without data or airtime. With President Cyril Ramaphosa’s 21-day national lockdown declared last night, South African citizens need a trusted, up-to-date, accurate source of information about the COVID-19 pandemic during this uncertain time. The National Department of Health‘s COVID-19 Connect WhatsApp line has provided this information to nearly 2 million people within the last week. In partnership with the NDoH, Vodacom is sending awareness…

At the stroke of midnight on Thursday, South Africa will go on a nationwide lock-down with the exception of essential services. President Cyril Ramaphosa made this announcement on Monday evening, following a meeting held on Sunday with the National Coronavirus Command Council. The lockdown, is government’s bid to contain and slow down the spread of the Coronavirus in the country. The announcement comes a week after the President declared the outbreak a national state of disaster. The nationwide lockdown comes as South Africa saw a surge in the number of confirmed cases rising from 274 on Sunday to 402 by…

In light of the Coronavirus pandemic, The National Coronavirus Command Council has decided to enforce a 21-day nation-wide lockdown with effect from midnight on Thursday, President Cyril Ramaphosa announced on Monday. In a televised address to the nation, the President announced that the lockdown is necessary in order to save lives in light of the Coronavirus. “This is a decisive measure to save millions of South Africans from infection and save the lives of hundreds of thousands of people. While this measure will have a considerable impact on people’s livelihoods, on the life of our society and on our economy,…

The South African business community has mobilised to combine its resources as a way of limiting the economic, social and health impact of COVID-19 on the country. This emerged at the discussions held by President Cyril Ramaphosa and the country’s business formations on Sunday. Business Unity South Africa (BUSA), the Black Business Council (BBC) and other companies and business associations, have established a Project Management Office aimed at ensuring collaboration with government and to use the available business resources and capacity to support public sector initiatives. “In a unique collaboration across public and private sectors, this will see business being…

South Africa has 402 confirmed cases of COVID-19, an increase of 128 from Sunday’s announcement. On Monday, the Health Department confirmed an increase of 128 cases. The Northern Cape has its first confirmed cases. The announcement comes just hours ahead of President Cyril Ramaphosa’s address to the nation on measures to be undertaken to mitigate the impact of COVID-19. The President is scheduled to address the nation this evening. “We will thereafter engage the public to give further details and explanations on the results including the significant rise, the ongoing testing processes, each province’s progress on contact tracing efforts,” said…

With the global outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic, the full economic impact on business needs to be critically considered. Especially for a country such as South Africa, that is still grappling with the effects of a recent technical recession. We are all very aware of the human toll that the virus has had on societies across the board. We have also seen the measures that various governments have put in place to try curb and gain some sense of control over the spread and intensity of the virus, by encouraging self-isolation during this pandemic. “Taking the necessary precautions is vital,…

As business and society, we are seeing a concerning increase in the transmissions of COVID-19 cases across multiple countries. The virus has had a far-reaching impact on our societies and is testing the resilience and tenacity of businesses and individuals alike. Globally, governments and companies are ramping up efforts to help mitigate the spread of the virus. In MTN’s footprint 17 of our 21 markets have COVID-19 infections. “MTN’s priority is keeping people connected during this period.  We need to play our part in the alleviation of the economic, social and educational impact through the support of key institutions such…

As South Africa and the international community continue to intensify efforts to curb the spread of COVID-19, FNB has reaffirmed its commitment to help SMEs and individual customers whose financial position is adversely impacted by COVID-19. The Bank continues to work with the Banking Association of South Africa (BASA), in engaging with the SARB and Government on a variety of solutions aimed at supporting both consumers and businesses through these difficult times. We will make further announcements on the nature of this support in the days ahead. FNB believes that SMEs and an economically viable consumer market are vital to…