Category: Key Issues

Load shedding is expected to be reduced to Stage 3 from 5am Tuesday morning following the return to service of several power generating units over the course of the weekend.

The country experienced Stage 6 and Stage 5 load shedding last week.

“Load shedding will then be reduced to Stage 3 at 5am to 4pm on both Tuesday and Wednesday, while Stage 4 will be implemented during 4pm to 5am on both Tuesday and Wednesday. Eskom will publish another update as soon as any significant changes occur,” the power utility said.

By Sunday evening, Eskom was battling some breakdowns amounting to 16 870MW with a further 4757MW offline due to maintenance.

“Over the past 24 hours, a generating unit each at the Arnot, Grootvlei, Kendal, Medupi and Tutuka power stations were returned to service. Breakdowns at a unit each at Camden, Majuba and Matimba power stations caused units to be taken offline for repairs.

“The delay in returning a unit each to service at Arnot, Hendrina, Kendal, Medupi and Tutuka power stations are contributing to the current capacity constraints,” Eskom said.

Added to that, the power utility said it is also battling unavailability from its energy sources in Mozambique and the open cycle gas turbines.

“Electricity imports from the Cahora Bassa Hydro Scheme in Mozambique have been halved to 600MW due to a tower failure on one of the lines from that country.

“Four open cycle gas turbines at Ankerlig peaking station are out of service until 15 March 2023 for planned maintenance,” said the power utility.

Deputy Minister of Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs (Cogta), Thembi Nkadimeng, says the department is preparing for any eventuality ahead of the announcement that Cyclone Freddy is expected to bring heavy rains and strong winds in the north eastern part of South Africa from early Saturday morning.

Speaking to SAnews, the Minister called on communities, who may be affected by Cyclone Freddy, to heed warnings and evacuate if necessary.

“Listen more to the notices of evacuations, stay safe and don’t try to cross any streams. One of the cases in Nkomazi [Local Municipality] was a learner who was trying to cross a stream out of school and he’s still missing as of [Tuesday].

“We have had six fatalities in that area alone, and 11 in the entirety of Mpumalanga [as a result of the current flooding]. One life is one too many, so we need to stay clear of streams. Our teams are on the ground, humanitarian relief as well, readying ourselves for Friday and Saturday in any eventuality that we may need to evacuate more people,” Nkadimeng said.

She said Cyclone Freddy is expected to bring added pressure on infrastructure and homes that are already flood battered and will set back ongoing relief efforts.

“It is anticipated that it will continue pouring in Mpumalanga. We are already sitting at about 1 929 houses that must be [provided] for human settlement relief, only in Mpumalanga.

“So you can see that if we are going to combine a budget for human settlement relief and development for all the seven [affected] provinces, we are going to be ranging into serious billions of rands in terms of what we need to repair,” she said.

Turning to current relief efforts, Nkadimeng told SAnews Cogta has written to President Cyril Ramaphosa requesting the assistance of the South African army to assist in disaster relief in the flood-hit Eastern Cape.

Heavy rains have battered several provinces over the past two weeks, leading President Ramaphosa to declare a National State of Disaster to ensure an accelerated response from government to assist affected communities.

“I visited Nkomazi, which is the hardest hit in Mpumalanga. We are assessing about six municipalities there. We are estimating damages going to almost R1 billion. The Eastern Cape has already rounded up and estimated billions as well.

“We are discussing and asking for authority from the President and the Minister of Defence to dispense the army in the Eastern Cape because some of the roads are actually totally destroyed,” Nkadimeng said.

She reflected on the immense damage that ongoing flooding has caused in communities all over the country.

“Water infrastructure has been damaged and villages have not been receiving water. Roads have been damaged. Farmers have lost livestock. Just in Nkomazi alone, 5 650 cattle and goats have been lost, 119 farming equipment has been lost… and on estimation, that will cost around R200 million for the farmers to repair.

“So it’s quite [a lot] of damage that has happened and will cost us a great deal to repair,” she said.

Rand Water has scheduled a 30-hour planned maintenance, which will commence from 3am on 24 February, until 9am on 25 February 2023.

In a statement, Rand Water spokesperson, Makenosi Maroo, said the 30-hour project will entail the implementation of various cross-connections on the entity’s S1, R1 and R5 pipelines to tie-in a portion of the S4 pipeline to the existing S1, R1 and R5 pipelines.

“This is part of the previously communicated strategy to refurbish and upgrade the infrastructure for sustainability purposes,” Maroo said.

She explained that the S1 pipeline runs from the Mapleton Booster Pumping Station to Rynfield Vlakfontein Reservoir, while R1 and R5 pipelines run from Rynfield to Rietvlei Nature Reserve in Tshwane.

“The S4 pipeline that will be tied-in runs from Van Dyk Park to Rynfield where it will cross connect to S1, R1 and R5,” Maroo said.

The following municipal customers will experience water supply shortages during this period:

• Ekurhuleni Metropolitan Municipality;

• Tshwane Metropolitan Municipality, and

• Thembisile Hani Local Municipality.

Other customers who will be affected include Spoornet; Corobrick Transvaal (Pty) Ltd; Sammy Marks Museum; Savannah Country Estate Home; and Plot 7 Benoni Agricultural Holdings.

Maroo said Rand Water has formally notified all the affected municipalities and direct customers, 21 days in advance, of the planned maintenance to allow them to implement their appropriate contingency measures ahead of the planned work.

“The affected municipalities will advise consumers on the extent of the impact of water supply shortages in their respective areas,” Maroo said.

Rand Water has also urged all consumers to use water sparingly.

The National Institute for Communicable Diseases (NICD) has declared a measles outbreak in Cape Town after four cases were recorded from 24 January to 17 February 2023.

“Even though all the lab-confirmed measles were investigated, no epidemiological link could be established,” the national public health institute said.

However, according to the NICD, the cases meet the South African measles outbreak criteria based on the 2015 EPI Surveillance Manual.

A confirmed measles outbreak, according to World Health Organisation African Region, is the occurrence of three or more confirmed measles cases at least two of which should be laboratory-confirmed in a health facility in a month.

“The missing information of the laboratory-confirmed measles cases should be followed up, and all the contacts should be vaccinated against measles,” the NICD said, adding that clinicians and caregivers should check children’s road-to-health booklets to ensure measles vaccinations are up to date.

Meanwhile, the country has rolled out the National Measles Supplementary Immunisation campaign for children under the age of 15 on 6 February 2023, including the Western Cape.

The Department of Health, working closely with the sister departments of Basic Education and Social Development, provinces and various stakeholders have embarked on a nationwide child immunisation campaign to vaccinate children at schools, early childhood development centres and other public places.

The NICD said suspected measles cases should be screened using the measles case investigation form to check if they meet the suspected measles case definition before the measles samples are collected for laboratory confirmation.

According to the latest data, the NICD has recorded 506 laboratory-confirmed cases of measles since the outbreak of this highly contagious, but preventable disease caused by a virus which mainly spreads through infectious airborne respiratory droplets from infected persons when coughing or sneezing.

Measles presents with fever, malaise, cough, conjunctivitis, and a runny nose.

A maculopapular non-itchy, non-vesicular rash appears on the face, neck, trunk, and limbs, usually on day four of the illness.

Other measles complications are pneumonia, scarring of the cornea, and rarely encephalitis.

“Measles is highly infectious and spreads rapidly from person to person.”

People of any age who are unvaccinated can catch measles, while measles vaccines are given routinely at six and 12 months of age.

“It is never too late to vaccinate against measles,” the NICD stressed.

Gauteng Premier Panyaza Lesufi has placed crime fighting at the top of the provincial government’s agenda, announcing interventions aimed at strengthening efforts to deal with the high levels of crime.

“So the issue of fighting crime should be our apex priority. We should unleash all our resources at our disposal to tackle crime. To this end, we are increasing our budget of fighting crime from R750 million to multi-billion in the next three years,” Lesufi said on Monday in Johannesburg.

Delivering his State of the Province Address in the Gauteng Provincial Legislature, he said the interventions will be implemented from 1 April 2023 and 1 May 2023.

“We will start to connect suburbs, townships, business districts, schools and other public places with high tech, face and car recognition closed-circuit television (CCTV) cameras.

“We will arm our residents with e-Panic buttons that will be linked to our law enforcement agencies, CCTVs and our new state of the art Integrated Command Centre.

“We will unveil two new helicopters at the beginning of the next financial year and add four additional helicopters within the 2023/2024 budget cycle,” Lesufi said.

The private security industry has pledged to add theirs as well to the pool of helicopters for patrolling.

“To ensure that our police are not sacrificial lambs in the battles with criminals, we are at an advanced stage to procure 180 state of the art drones that will infiltrate areas that are difficult to patrol and police. These drones are equipped with technology that can capture the direction of a bullet and where they come from,” the Premier said.

The province has procured 400 new police cars, which means that from 1 May, every ward in communities will have a 24hr patrol car equipped with proper gadgets.

In addition, 6 000 young men and women have been recruited to monitor and police Gauteng 24/7 from 1 May 2023.

“The almost 10000 private security companies have agreed to combine their resources with ours under a joint command structure so that we can fight crime together in our province,” Lesufi said.

The Premier emphasised the importance of amending legislation on the registration of cars, since they are a common denominator in violent crimes; either stolen or get away vehicles, the elimination of illegal guns and the need to migrate the province to use less cash in business transactions.

“The current number plate system is running out of numerics and letters. We want to take advantage of this situation to introduce new, hard to copy and tamper with, number plates.

“As we speak, we have issued the Government Gazette on 17 February 2023 for consultation and comments on new security features. This new system will also assist in managing the abuse of temporary number plates,” the Premier said.

He called on the Southern African Development Community (SADC) to create a new database of all vehicles within the region so that a common verification platform can exist.

“We have also issued strict instructions to our law enforcement agencies to pull off those who continue to drive cars without number plates or fraudulent temporary permits. The abuse of fake blue lights are in the increase. A special unit to eliminate this phenomenon is being assembled.

“Those with illegal guns are now playing God. They decide who lives and who dies. Together with the private security industry, we have found a solution that will assist in tracking stolen guns and locate them wherever they are in our country. We will firstly migrate our law enforcement agencies guns in this system then members of the public,” Lesufi said.

In an effort to contribute towards using less cash in business transactions in the province, the Premier urged retailers and other businesses to join the hospitality industry in eliminating cash transactions.

“If we all do so, we will see less business robberies, cash heists and ATM bombings.”

Pregnant mothers living in air pollution hotspots in South Africa risk bearing a child with a congenital birth anomaly; specifically orofacial cleft lip and palate (CLP).

This is according to research done by the South African Medical Research Council (SAMRC) in partnership with surgeons, researchers and Operation Smile.

The research was presented this month at the Climate Child Health Series: The Impact of Climate Change on Newborn Health Outcomes held online by the US Child Health Task Force and United Nations International Children’s Emergency Fund (UNICEF).

According to the SAMRC, the study draws together cases of patients with CLP from 2006 to 2020.

Drawing from two databases, 2 515 cases were studied about air pollution assessed at the mother’s residence.

“The research identifies an association between the increasing trend in CLP and a mother’s exposure during early pregnancy to particulate matter (PM) air pollution, PM10 and PM2.5,” the institution explained.

The experts defined the CLP as birth anomalies that typically affect a baby’s lip or mouth and nose because these parts do not form properly during pregnancy.

“This may happen during weeks four and seven of pregnancy. When a baby is developing, body tissue and special cells from each side of the head join to make the face.”

There are several possible causes of CLP, according to the SAMRC.

These include genes, what the mother eats and drinks, whether a mother smokes, uses a certain type of medication during pregnancy and the environment in which the pregnant woman lives.

According to scientists, the environment has been less explored, which is the reason research was conducted.

Chief Specialist Scientist at the SAMRC’s Environment and Health Research Unit, Dr Caradee Wright, said: “Air pollution levels are known to be high in South Africa, coming from coal-fired power stations, traffic, domestic fuel burning, mining, industry and other sources.”

“We wanted to explore whether a mother’s exposure to air pollution affected her baby’s cleft lip and palate risk in South Africa.”

Wright said the CLP birth hotspot clusters were found in district municipalities in Gauteng, Limpopo, North West, Mpumalanga, and Free State.

The findings emphasise the need for more stringent air quality management in South Africa to protect the health of unborn children.

Researchers have also called on the National Ambient Air Quality Standards and Air Pollution Priority Areas to manage the air quality strictly.

“Information needs to be provided to mothers regarding the risks that air pollution poses to their unborn child – especially in very early pregnancy so it’s important that if someone wants to fall pregnant, they try and limit air pollution exposure.”

According to the SAMRC, this can be done by avoiding making fires indoors without adequate ventilation, and not walking or exercising on busy roads during peak traffic hours.

According to the SAMRC, CLP patients experience a higher mortality risk and deal with the adverse effects of physical challenges such as speech impediments, physical deficiencies in appearance, and psychosocial issues.

“Added to the difficulties confronted by children with CLP are nutritional problems caused by the inability to consume food. The malnutrition that is a result of CLP is not properly recorded because the death certificates list these deaths as malnutrition.”

The research found that the use of a multidisciplinary approach, where multiple disciplines collaborate and share data on all maternal information and pollutant volumes in all provinces of South Africa can prevent CLP where possible.

It also can reduce suffering and financial burden on those affected.

Employment and Labour Deputy Minister, Boitumelo Moloi, says organisations must develop mandatory systems of health and safety compliance in order to create decent workplaces post COVID-19.

Moloi was delivering the keynote address on Monday during the opening of the three-day Occupational Health and Safety (OHS) conference at Lagoon Beach Hotel in Cape Town.

The OHS Conference, which continues today, is held under the theme: “Decent work post the pandemic”.

Moloi told delegates that the COVID-19 pandemic has forced employers and workers to adapt quickly to new ways of working.

“Interestingly, many of these changes have brought unexpected benefits, such as improved productivity or working conditions. However, it is important that we not only focus on returning to work, but also take the lessons learned from the pandemic to re-strategize and prepare for future emergencies.

“We should not allow compliance to happen by accident. If you think compliance is exorbitant, try non-compliance,” Moloi said.

She said priority in the workplace should focus on the welfare of workers. Work delivery systems must also be designed to focus on outputs rather than activities.

“While the pandemic had presented us with difficult and challenging times, it has also brought some unexpected benefits, such as improvements in productivity or working conditions. In some ways, this has also improved the social aspects of workers and to enjoy a better work-life balance.

“In some cases, employers have also been able to reduce costs by adopting remote work arrangements or by introducing other new working practices,” Moloi said.

The Deputy Minister said one of the challenges brought about by the pandemic and work-from-home at policy level was the development of mechanisms to deal with an inadequate policy environment. She said the department is ill-equipped to enforce OHS in private households.

In the same breath, Moloi said the pandemic has also had a negative impact on the world of work, and it has disproportionately affected certain groups of workers in non-standard forms of employment such as those in low-paid, precarious or informal jobs.

She said during COVID-19, the department had to intervene and developed a COVID-19 Temporary Employee/Employer Relief Scheme (TERS) to provide financial relief to workers who had been affected by the pandemic.

“Overall, the post-COVID-19 labour market in South Africa remains challenging, with businesses and workers still facing a certain level of uncertainty and disruption. In the post-pandemic period, health and safety inspectors will likely play an important role in enforcing health and safety regulations and guidelines to prevent the spread of infectious diseases in the workplace.

“In addition to monitoring and enforcing health and safety regulations, health and safety inspectors can also contribute to the development of new regulations and guidelines that reflect the changing nature of work post-pandemic,” Moloi said.

North West Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs (COGTA) MEC, Nono Maloyi, has urged communities throughout the province, especially those in low-lying areas, to exercise caution as the province continues to experience above normal rains.

“The North West province, like many other parts of the country, has been receiving heavy rains in the past days, causing flooding in areas such as Tswaing, Mahikeng, Rustenburg, Moretele, Matlosana, JB Marks and Lekwa Teemane Local Municipalities.

“The most affected communities are those staying in flood prone areas, such as below flood lines, wetlands and those staying in residential areas surrounded by water dams,” Maloyi said.

Maloyi said the Department of Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs, through the Provincial Disaster Management Centre (PDMC), has activated a team of disaster management officials across all local and district municipalities to respond to incidents throughout the season, and to assist communities affected by the floods.

He said officials from the disaster management centres in the affected municipalities have been on the ground to conduct assessments to determine the extent of damage and to coordinate various interventions from stakeholders, which include the South African Red Cross Society, South African Social Security Agency (SASSA), Gift of the Givers, government departments and other social partners.

“In Lekwa Teemane in Dr Ruth Segmotsi Mompati District, all the residents, mainly business owners, have been evacuated after the Bloemhof Dam sluice gates were opened. Some residents in JB Marks Local Municipality and in Orkney Vaal in Matlosana Local Municipality were evacuated and are currently staying with friends and relatives,” Maloyi said.

In Deelpan, Tswaing Local Municipality, more than 20 people agreed to be evacuated and they will be accommodated at a local community hall.

With more rains predicted, Maloyi said the department through the PDMC, continues to monitor and coordinate interventions and recovery measures in order to avoid life-threatening and emergency cases.

He said disaster management officials remain on high alert as the heavy downpours continue.

“We would like to let communities know that our officials are on high alert and continue to monitor the situation. The roads are slippery and we therefore urge road users to drive carefully.

“Those in [close] proximity of rivers or dams must monitor water levels and must evacuate as soon as the water level rises.

“Although no major incidents have been reported since the start of heavy downpours, members of the public are urged to contact their municipal disaster management centres in case of flooding or any other incidents,” the MEC said.

The Department of Water and Sanitation has urged all communities along the Vaal Dam and Orange River to consider evacuating and move to high lying areas as water levels rise.

This as 12 flood gates were opened at the Vaal Dam, and outflow at the Bloemhof Dam has been increased to 3000 cubic metres per second.

“All residents of settlements (and in towns) along the banks of the Lower Vaal and Lower Orange Rivers should consider evacuating or moving to higher places that are at least above the 1 in 20- year flood line (a level at which people would likely be safer to be reached by water emanating from the releases).

“These communities should refer to municipal development plans, Local Authorities and Disaster Management Agencies for locations of these flood lines. The water release increases are necessitated by the continuous and intense rainfall that is causing rivers to overflow and dams to spill,” said the department in a statement.

The department appealed to all communities along the Vaal and Orange Rivers, especially those along the banks of lower Vaal and Lower Orange Rivers to remain vigilant of possible flooding and to consider evacuating and moving to high lying areas as water levels rise.

The department also urged farmers to remove livestock, movable properties and equipment out and away from the riverbanks. It further urged the general community to avoid any activity that may put their lives in harm.

“The Vaal and Orange River System is experiencing rapid rising water levels due to the heavy rains and the department continues to assess and implement measures to mitigate effects of these floods on its infrastructure and guarantee full capacity on its storage reservoirs after the rainfall season.”

To acquire reliable information about prevailing flooding status, the department said it has put in place flood monitoring and forecasting systems that provides real-time data on rainfall, river and dam levels.

“These data are analysed continuously to enable the department to determine the appropriate releases from each dam”.

Since rainfall and floods are a natural phenomenon and therefore control of the events may be limited, the department advises against putting essential services and human settlements within parts of the floodplains where there is likelihood of frequent flooding that is within a 1 in 100-year flood line.

Basic Education Minister Angie Motshekga says the quality of education can only be achieved if learners and teachers are safe and healthy and if schools are free of violence, abuse and harm.

The Minster reflected on President Ramaphosa’s call during the Basic Education Lekgotla for the sector to institutionalise Care and Support for Teaching and Learning (CSTL) as a tool to improve learner outcomes.

The Minister was speaking during a Parliamentary Debate of President Cyril Ramaphosa’s State of the Nation Address (SONA) on Wednesday.

Addressing the social ills in schools, such as bullying, gender-based violence (GBV), child pregnancy, alcohol, and drug peddling, Minister Motshekga said that the National School Safety Framework remains as a strategic response.

“Our schools must be safe, weapons-free, substance-free spaces for learners and teachers, where corporal punishment, sexual abuse, gender-based violence, homophobia, racism, substance abuse and bullying are not tolerated.

“The National School Safety Framework remains our strategic response to violence, bullying and abuse in schools,” she said.

The Framework calls on all stakeholders in schools – management, teachers, unions, parents, learners, and communities to work together to make schools safe and drug-free spaces, where all learners can learn and thrive.

The Minister said the department will continue to work closely with the South African Police Services and community organisations to improve safety in all schools.

She highlighted that adolescent girls and young women remain the most vulnerable cohort in our schools and in society.

Motshekga added that girls face complex and serious challenges, including HIV/AIDS, gender-based violence, rape, abuse, and early and unintended pregnancy.

“Whilst we have significantly reduced adolescent fertility rates over the last few decades, the numbers of early and unintended pregnancies amongst adolescent girls and young women, remain unacceptably high.

“The consequences of early pregnancy to society, and the lives of young women and girls, are often devastating. About a third of girls, who fall pregnant, do not return to school; and are then vulnerable to further pregnancies; they have compromised health outcomes and higher mortality rates during childbirth; and their lack of access to education, leads to the creation of poverty traps for families and communities,” the Minister said.

She emphasised that the DBE, working with other government departments and partners, will continue to work and support young women and girls in schools.

The department will also continue to strengthen the implementation of Comprehensive Sexuality Education in all schools across the country.

The Minister said it was clear that the education system cannot survive without the direct involvement of all communities of trust, not only those who are part of the Sector, but everyone.

“There is no doubt that the Basic Education system has begun to reach the desired stability; which is healthy for a large and important system as ours. The unquestionable resilience our school community has shown, against such a devastating pandemic, the persistent loadshedding, and sporadic service delivery protests, cannot go by unnoticed,” she said.

Motshekga added that the Class of 2022 has clearly demonstrated that with all requisite support and intervention programmes, they can make it.

Closing the infrastructure gap – Progress and Challenges

Minister Mothsekga said the upgrading and maintenance of school infrastructure remain a key priority.

“For this reason, we are looking at different ways of dealing with this serious challenge which amongst others, includes changing the framework for the Education Infrastructure Grant, the delivery model for different types of structures, among others.

“We will be giving a dedicated report back on infrustructure in education, because infrastructure delivery has become one of our most seriously challenging area,” she said.

The DBE, working together with its provincial counterparts, has built 315 new schools; completed water supply projects at 1 259 schools and electricity supply projects at 373 schools.

With regard to sanitation, 2 500 schools, have been supplied with age-appropriate sanitation facilities through the Sanitation Appropriate for Education (SAFE) programme.

“But despite all these activities, just to deal with overcrowding only and not maintenance, repairs, renovations required in our schools, by last December we had estimated an urgent need for additional classrooms.

“We would also agree that class size is another important determent for quality teaching and learning; and overcrowding just simply undermines this process,” the Minister said.