Author: Staff Writer

Seacom today announced it is aware of the outage on the West coast undersea cable, WACs, that is currently affecting numerous South African ISPs. While repairs on the WACs undersea cable systems are being planned, many ISPs will need to re-route their traffic via alternative paths, such as Seacom’s East coast undersea cable or other routes. As a result of the WACs cable system issues, customers may experience increased latency as alternative routes are implemented. “Seacom is aware that due to issues on the WACs cable system on Africa’s West coast, many African ISPs and their customers could be experiencing…

A team of experts are working on creating a range of data warehouses, including the current geographic spread of the Coronavirus (COVID-19) current cases, health vulnerabilities and location of health and other facilities, among other things. This work is being done by the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) and the Department of Health. Globally there are 512 701 confirmed cases of COVID-19, 23 495 confirmed deaths and there’s 202 countries that are affected by the Coronavirus. “Through the Department of Science and Innovation…and the CSIR we have successfully commissioned and finalised the physical set-up of a core situational…

Plans to reunite the 114 South African citizens repatriated from Wuhan City in China with their families are underway, as their 14-day quarantine period has ended. Addressing a media briefing on Saturday, in Tshwane, Minister of Higher Education and Training, Blade Nzimande, said the Department of Health is working on the modalities for their release home. “The department is responsible for transporting the students to their respective provinces and to ensure that they are reunited with their families. Buses and mini vans have been secured to transport the citizens from the Ranch in Limpopo to the rest of the country.…

As South Africa enters a three-week shutdown to contain the spread of COVID-19, the National Department of Health (NDoH) has launched its COVID-19 Connect Whatsapp Helpline in four new languages. From today, the WhatsApp helpline is available in Sotho, Zulu, Afrikaans and Xhosa, in addition to English. This means that people in South Africa will be able to get vital information on COVID-19 in South Africa’s five most-spoken languages, broadening the accessibility of this service which was launched two weeks ago, and which currently has over 3 million users. Anyone in South Africa can join the COVID-19 Connect conversation by…

Justice Minister Ronald Lamola will oppose the Constitutional Court challenge launched by an undisclosed foundation which is against the 21-day lockdown, the Star newspaper reported on Saturday. 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. South Africa has 1 170 known cases of infection with the SARS-CoV-2 virus behind Covid-19, the health…

The Motsepe Family in partnership with companies and organisations that they are associated with have pledged R1 billion to assist with the current Coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic and its related challenges that are confronting South Africa and the African Continent. These companies and organisations are: • Motsepe Foundation • Sanlam • African Rainbow Capital (ARC) • African Rainbow Minerals (ARM) • and others The Founder and Chairman of the Motsepe Foundation, Dr Patrice Motsepe said: “Several hundred million rands will immediately be made available with the primary objective of saving lives and slowing and restraining the spread of the Coronavirus. “We…

A man who tested positive for the coronavirus (COVID-19) has been arrested at a village outside Tzaneen in Limpopo, SABC News reported on Saturday. Limpopo Health MEC Phophi Ramathuba says the man tested positive in Gauteng and instead of self-isolation he went back to his home village outside Tzaneen. The man is believed to have had contact with other people when he went back home. After his results came out positive, the tracer teams in Gauteng struggled to locate him until he was found in Limpopo. Health Minister Zweli Mkhize has raised concerns regarding the lack of information pertaining to…

Government has deployed a total of 22 347 traffic officers across the country, to ensure compliance with the published Regulations and Directions for the 21-day nationwide lockdown. South Africa went on lockdown on Friday in response to the ongoing Coronavirus (COVID-19) global pandemic. “Our National Traffic Police are working closely with the Defence Force and the South African Police Service (SAPS) in enforcing the law at the Beitbridge and the Lebombo border posts,” Transport Minister Fikile Mbalula said. He was updating members of the media on the first day of the lock down with Ministers who are part of the…

Government has urged all South Africans to unite, remain positive and continue to work hand-in-hand to turn the economy around. This comes after Moody’s decision to downgrade South Africa’s long term foreign and local currency debt ratings to ‘Ba1’ from ‘Baa3’ and maintain the negative outlook. South Africa’s credit ratings by Moody’s are now one notch below investment grade. “It is with a heavy heart to note that all three major credit ratings agencies currently rate South Africa at sub-investment grade. However, every crisis presents an opportunity. “The opportunity we have today is to unite and work together to…

The number of COVID-19 deaths in South Africa has been revised down from two to one mortality, after a subsequent investigation found that one patient was negative for the virus. Earlier on Friday, the Health Minister, Dr Zweli Mkhize, said South Africa had recorded its first two deaths. The cases were in private and public institutions in the Western Cape. As of Friday, South Africa had recorded 1 170 positive cases. This is an increase of 243 new cases from yesterday’s announcement. The total number of tests conducted to date is 28 537. On Friday evening, the Minister in a…