Author: Staff Writer

As South Africa enters day 7 of a nationwide COVID-19 lockdown, Eskom has announced that it will double maintenance work at its plants. “With the COVID-19 national lockdown in full effect, Eskom has experienced a significant reduction in demand for electricity. Electricity usage has dropped by between 7 500MW and 9 000MW since the lockdown came into effect last week. This has allowed Eskom to operate without the need to implement load shedding,” said the power utility. The utility is making use of the low demand to carry out important short-term maintenance of generation infrastructure. In order to protect the…

First National Bank (FNB) has announced a new strategic partnership with Clicks as the exclusive health & beauty rewards partner. Members of FNB’s rewards programme, eBucks, can now earn and spend eBucks at over 650 Clicks stores nationwide and online. This partnership sees eBucks, the ‘loyalty programme South Africans can’t live without’, joining up with Clicks ClubCard, South Africa’s ‘most used’ loyalty programme, according to the latest Truth and BrandMapp Loyalty White Paper. FNB and RMB Private Bank customers will be able to earn up to 15% back in eBucks on total purchases, when they shop in-store or online at…

Transport Minister Fikile Mbalula has announced revised regulations that call on the taxi industry to among others, reduce the number of passengers ferried per ride during the 21-day nationwide lockdown, implemented to curb the spread of COVID-19. He addressed the media at the Noord Taxi Rank on Wednesday, shortly after addressing traffic officers who have been deployed to ensure compliance with the published regulations during the lockdown. Under the regulations, passenger numbers are determined according to the licensed capacity of the vehicle. During the lockdown period, the following public transport vehicles must reduce the number of maximum passengers to 70% of…

As consumers continue to weigh the impact of COVID-19 on their finances, many will be considering options to protect themselves from financial difficulties. Earlier this week, FNB announced its new set of cashflow relief measures for customers whose finances have been impacted by COVID-19 to enhance the set of measures customers would have historically relied on, like Credit Life where applicable. The Bank acknowledges and agrees with personal finance commentators that credit insurance has always provided relief to customers who qualify and should be one of the options that customers consider over the next few months. It is with this…

Vodacom and Discovery have partnered to deliver a simple but powerful online healthcare platform for the benefit of all South Africans during the COVID-19 pandemic. This platform provides easy access for all South Africans to a COVID-19 risk tool, to help understand your personal risk for COVID-19 plus, where needed, to immediately schedule virtual healthcare professional consultations and get advice. Globally, telemedicine has proved invaluable in the management of this disease, with many governments and healthcare systems advocating for digital healthcare tools and virtual consults to be the first step and primary means of healthcare support during the COVID-19 outbreak.…

Vodacom has cut data prices by up to 40% and will provide free data to access essential services through Vodacom’s zero-rated platform ConnectU with immediate effect. The value of these initiatives is some R2.7-billion over the next year. Vodacom’s various 30-day data bundle prices will be cut across all of its channels by up to 40%, providing customers with even greater value and making it more affordable to connect. 30-day bundle size New Price Reduction 50MB R12 40% 150MB R29 33% 325MB R55 33% 500MB R79 21% 1GB R99 34% 3GB R229 23% 5GB R349 14% 10GB R469 22% 20GB…

South Africa has recorded five deaths resulting from Coronavirus, with 1 353 confirmed positive cases of COVID-19. The Minister of Health, Dr Zweli Mkhize, made the announcement at a media briefing in eThekweni on Tuesday. To date, the country has conducted 39 500 tests. The first recorded death was that of a 48-year-old woman in the Western Cape, with the second being an 85-year-old from the Free State, who had attended the Divine Restoration Church Ministries conference, where a number of infections were detected. The third death was that of a Gauteng man, who succumbed to respiratory distress two days ago.…

As South Africa settles into an unprecedented 21-day national lockdown and banks look to do what they can to help ease the financial burden and very real anxiety the general public is facing, TymeBank is leading the way when it comes to offering tangible support to its customers. With the world having been forced to rapidly switch to a digital way of working, TymeBank could not be better placed. “Being South Africa’s first digital bank, we’re built for this. As other companies and banks are having to rethink and reinvent themselves to be fully functional, we’re already able to demonstrate…

Naspers has committed R 1,5 billion in emergency aid to the government’s response to the Covid-19 crisis. The group will contribute R 500 million to the Solidarity Response Fund announced by the President last week. In addition, Naspers will buy R 1 billion worth of personal protective equipment and other medical supplies in China – in partnership with the Chinese government and Tencent – to support South Africa’s health workers and fly it to South Africa as soon as possible. “By working with government and civil society we want to help our country overcome this very difficult period. We hope…

Electronic Communications, Postal and Broadcasting Directions issued under Regulation 10 (8) of the Disaster Management Act Electronic Communications Services Licensees, OTTs and ISPs that provide linear and non-linear services bears the responsibility to remove fake news related to COVID-19 from their platforms immediately after identified as such. What are Fake News? “Fake News” means statements made with the intention to deceive as contemplated in the Disaster Management Regulations, 2020 What are the types of Fake News? Disinformation: Information that is false and deliberately created to harm a person, social group, organization or country for the purposes to influence public opinion…