Author: Staff Writer
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…