Archives

South Africa recorded 687 new COVID-19 cases on Sunday, the majority of which were reported in Gauteng.

According to the National Institute for Communicable Diseases (NICD), of the new infections, 545 were logged in Gauteng, followed by 32 in the North West, 31 in KwaZulu-Natal and 23 in the Western Cape.

The NICD said the proportion of positive new cases is 3.4%, which is higher than the 2.8% that was recorded on Saturday, while the seven-day average had also increased from the previous day.

This means there are now 2 929 862 confirmed infections since the outbreak.

In addition, two more people lost their lives to COVID-19, pushing the official death toll to 89 574 to date.

Furthermore, 13 patients were admitted to hospital on Sunday.

The recovery rate is sitting at 96.3% after 2 821 141 people beat COVID-19.

Meanwhile, the country administered 11 083 new COVID-19 vaccines on Sunday, 2 034 of which were given to children.

The data reveals that there are now 24 646 053 distributed jabs to 16 223 469 people to date.

In addition, the Department of Health has fully vaccinated 13 876 443 or 34.6% of the adult population since the start of the inoculation programme.

Globally, as of 19 November 2021, there have been 255 324 963 confirmed cases of COVID-19, including 5 127 696 deaths reported to the World Health Organisation.

Two German nationals are expected to appear in court on Monday for the alleged illegal trade and possession of reptiles and controlled substances.

“The men were nabbed while illegally catching and trading in reptiles, including Armadillo Girdled lizards which are a threatened and protected species, geckos and tortoises in the Northern Cape with the intention to smuggle them out of South Africa into the lucrative international exotic pet trade,” the department said on Sunday.

All South African tortoises and some of the lizards are listed by the Convention on the International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES), which regulates the international trade in these species. Dagga and other drugs were also confiscated during the arrest.

The men were arrested on Friday near Askam in the Northern Cape as a result of a multi-agency reptile undercover operation.

The operation comprised of the Department of Forestry, Fisheries and the Environment’s Green Scorpions and the Hawks, assisted by the Environmental Enforcement Fusion Centre, the police, South African National Parks (SANParks) environmental crime inspectors, the Northern Cape Department of environmental affairs and the private sector.

“The collaboration by all members of the multi-disciplinary team is to be commended. Without the dedication of the Green Scorpions, members of the security establishment, provincial officials and the private sector, we will not be able to win the war against wildlife crime,” the department said.

Eskom says it expects to lift load shedding from 9pm this evening with the utility moving to implement Stage 1 on Friday morning.

This was announced by Eskom Chief Executive Andre de Ruyter.

He said several generating units at the power utility’s power stations have returned to service over night with more expected to return at a later stage.

Dam and diesel levels have also been recovered.

However, de Ruyter warned that the lifting of load shedding will depend on the utility’s ability to prevent any unplanned breakdowns.

“Peak demand for evening peak is anticipated to come in at 27 908MW…with load shedding Stage Two [currently implemented], that will give us adequate supply. We will lift load shedding…[but] this is subject to the units returning that we have indicated [including] Matimba 2, Matla 6 and Tutuka 4,” he said.

Addressing the loss of at least three generating units at Matimba power station yesterday, de Ruyter explained that the trip was caused by workers at the plant.

“A team had been working on the ACC fans – the cooling fans that provide cooling to the station – [and] this team managed to drop an extensive cord onto the unit two transformer, a flash resulted which tripped the station board and shutdown all cooling…and that led to those units shutting down,” he said.

The Chief Executive said the utility will be investigating the incident.

“We have difficulty believing that this is entirely coincidental so we have despatched a forensic team on site; they will be investigating. We will also be deploying additional security on site in order to ensure that we can protect our asset

“My fundamental point of departure has always been not to attribute to malice what can be explained by incompetence. But when you have three simultaneous unit trips like this, it certainly does arouse suspicion. We have no hard evidence at this point in time but it certainly is coincidental that this incident has taken place right now,” he said.

De Ruyter revealed that yesterday evening, Eskom’s “most reliable power station”, Lethabo, suffered damage to one of its two coal conveyor lines which feeds the power station.

“At around 6pm, so immediately before evening peak, one of the towers collapsed in such a way that it fell onto the…line and thereby rendering both those lines inoperable. Again, we are investigating.

“The consequences of this disruption would have been that after about six hours, Lethabo would have run out of coal and therefore, have had to shut down,” he said.

De Ruyter said Eskom’s distribution management, a third coal supply line was devised to feed the power station.

He added that the utility is now investigating the transportation of coal to power stations.

Transport Minister Fikile Mbalula says the online booking system for drivers licences that was initially introduced in Gauteng has provided a basis for it to be rolled out nationally to deal with the license renewal backlog.

Mbalula said this when he, along with Ministers in the Economics cluster, responded to questions in the National Assembly on Wednesday.

“The online booking system that was initially introduced in Gauteng, currently managed by RTMC [Road Traffic Management Corporation], on behalf of Gauteng, has provided a good basis for the RTMC to introduce a bouquet of online services across the country,” he said.

Following the Minister’s announcement of an extension of the grace period for drivers licence renewals to March next year, Gauteng MEC for Roads and Transport Jacob Mamabolo launched the ‘Request A Slot” campaign aimed at addressing the renewal of drivers’ licences backlog.

Mamabolo shared detailed plans to deal with the backlog where motorists could request a slot online on: https://online.natis.gov.za and on Android-based APP: RenewOnline_GP.

Other interventions that the province introduced include, amongst others, renewal facilities at selected Gautrain stations and more Driver License and Traffic Centres (DTLC) with extended operating days and hours from 7am to 9pm at some, with the introduction of biometric systems to accelerate efficiency in service delivery.

“The Gauteng MEC, Mr Jacob Mamabolo, has also delegated Gautrain to render DLTC functions.

“In terms of the provisions of Section 18 of the RTMC Act, out of the 10 functional areas, driving licences is of its competencies,” Mbalula said.

Mbalula said, however, that the power vests with the MECs in the province to open DLTC or delegate municipalities or other agencies to render these services.

“I will not be in a position to give you a breakdown province by province in terms of addressing the backlog but I can tell you that we will able to meet the deadline by March and nobody will be having challenges of drivers licence renewal.

“Part of the bouquet of what we have adopted and we introduced to the public and also to the Portfolio Committee on Transport was to say that we are going online.

“In the next few weeks, watch the space, we will be launching that renewed, revamped online approach.

“We are going into spaces where you can get an opportunity to renew your licence, like at the Gauteng, all the important spaces in the community. And I can assure you, that we should be able to, statistically, either by next year, give you an update.

“Where we have got challenges, we are unlocking the bottlenecks, so that beyond March, getting a driver’s licence in the republic of South Africa should not be a nightmare and to renew a driver’s license should not be a nightmare that is riddled with corruption of [having to bribe your way up]. We are rolling out our mobile DLTCs around the country to reach our people.”

With regards to complaints that it was more expensive to renew a driver’s licence in Gauteng compared to other provinces, Mbalula said his department is working with its provincial counterparts to address some of these challenges and also policy gaps in driver’s licence regime around the country.

“So there are a whole lot of things we are working on, and standardisation is one of the things we are considering.”

Public Enterprises Minister Pravin Gordhan says the R131 billion COP26 climate financing to help SA transition from coal to low-carbon energy has nothing to do with covering Eskom debt.

Gordhan said this when Ministers in the Economics cluster responded to oral questions in the National Assembly on Wednesday.

“This finance is not for the debt of Eskom. This finance is for the transition project itself that was announced between several developed countries and our President Cyril Ramaphosa at the beginning of COP26. But let me clarify, this is an offer from the developed countries, it is not a deal.”

IFP MP Elphas Buthelezi had asked what the plans were for the climate change financing that was recently announced in Glascow during climate change negotiations.

Gordhan said one of the issues at COP26 that were quite sharply debated was who would finance the transition to lower carbon energy.

He said in South Africa’s case, 41% of the country’s emissions actually come from electricity production and therefore, on the one hand, “we have got to prepare for the transitioning of Eskom and other such equipment or facilities that we have at a national level to a more climate friendly and decarbonised state”.

He said South Africa put forward three projects for consideration for those who would be interested in financing the transition, which in the main, has to be the developed countries, through or with multilateral financial and other institutions.

“And those three projects were the Eskom just energy transition project, secondly the green hydrogen project and thirdly, transitioning SA’s automobile industry to the production of electric vehicles,” he said.

Gordhan said the just energy transition is a project that Eskom has developed at the Komati power station and once it gets the appropriate backing – financially speaking – it would have an important impact in terms of repurposing the power station, retraining workers who are currently employed at the power station and preparing new workers into the new energy situation that we would be moving to while mitigating the impact on communities that are in some relationship with the power station or the coalmines themselves.

He said negotiations will now take place at a technical level to appreciate whether these offers will be compatible with SA’s financial requirements and capabilities.

“The Eskom debt issue as we know has been very much with us. But let me emphasise that this financing has nothing to do with Eskom debt.

“Secondly, the Eskom debt was accumulated because a decision was made by previous governments to finance the development of Medupi and Kusile through the tariff applications to Nersa and not by any equity injections. Thirdly, there are various proposals that we will consider together with the National Treasury and other stakeholders how the Eskom debt should be dealt with and clearly, among the role-players that have to take part in this process will be government itself, the PIC…

“What we will have soon is a pro-forma balance sheet of a new Eskom with a different distribution of debt with the acceptance and buy in of the lenders that have lent money to Eskom.”

President Cyril Ramaphosa has handed four names to the Judicial Service Commission and political party leaders in Parliament for consideration for the position of Chief Justice of the Constitutional Court.

This after former Chief Justice Mogoeng Mogoeng retired as the head of the apex court in October after at least a decade at the helm.

The President appointed a Nomination Panel for the position and invited the public to comment on the candidate they most preferred.

“In September 2021, President Ramaphosa invited public nominations for the position of Chief Justice. This was in anticipation of the discharge from active service of former Chief Justice Mogoeng Mogoeng on 11 October 2021,” The Presidency said in a statement.

The President chose the four candidates after considering recommendations made in a report of the Nomination Panel which was handed to him at the end of October.

The four who will be considered for appointment are:

• Deputy Chief Justice Justice Raymond Mnyamezeli Mlungisi Zondo;
• Judge of the Constitutional Court, Justice Mbuyiseli Madlanga;
• President of the Supreme Court of Appeal, Judge Mandisa Maya and
• Judge President of the Gauteng Division of the High Court, Justice Dunston Mlambo.

Entrepreneurs have been urged to use WhatsApp for Business as a tool to grow their small businesses and communicate directly with their customers.

Experts from Digify Africa and the Government Communication and Information System (GCIS) hosted a masterclass on Wednesday to equip small business and media entrepreneurs with the skills they need to thrive in the digital economy.

The learning outcomes from the masterclass included how to create a catalogue to showcase products and services; ways to integrate WhatsApp into ads and how to craft a messaging strategy and tools to automate, sort and quickly respond to messages.

Digital Marketing Strategist, Blessing Letsoara, addressed small business owners and media entrepreneurs on how they can use WhatsApp for Business to their advantage and grow their businesses and customer base while at it.

Letsoara said WhatsApp is powerful for businesses when used intentionally and messaging has become an indispensable part of modern communication.

He said expectations for businesses have changed as people will choose messaging over picking up their phone and making a call to enquire about a product from a certain business.

He said according to research, 89% of respondents expect a brand to respond to them within 24 hours and this can be made possible if a business is utilising WhatsApp for Business.

Taking the class through steps on how to use the app to their advantage, he said: “When you download the app, you have to use a different number from your personal one.

“Insert a new sim and download WhatsApp for Business and that’s the number you will use with the app. You can have both your personal WhatsApp with your personal number and the business one with a different number on the same mobile cell phone. It is also possible to change your personal number to a business WhatsApp.

“Once the app is downloaded, you have to create a business profile where you will put in the details of the business and what you can offer to your clients. Create an automated greeting message for when your customers send an enquiry. You can also set up quick replies for frequently asked questions,” he said.

Letsoara said it is important to set up an “away” message, which can be switched on and off. This can be set up for when the business is closed so that customers receive the message when the business is not available to answer immediately.

“Another important aspect that will get you more customers is putting up a status on your business account. It is important and efficient when you have a sale or any new products you are selling. It makes communication easy for your customers. I encourage you to start using the WhatsApp business app.”

Letsoara also taught the class some of the best practices for responding to messages on WhatsApp. He said business owners must be responsive, monitor trends, set expectations and know how to answer sensitive questions.

“Another important thing, you must write the way you speak, don’t be robotic, write the way you would normally communicate with people,” he said.

Letsoara urged entrepreneurs to also craft a WhatApp strategy that will help take their businesses to greater heights, and also help in understating their target audience.

Public Enterprises Minister Pravin Gordhan says Eskom management must take strong disciplinary action against employees at the power utility who “undermine” its work.

He was speaking during a question and answer session in the National Assembly on Wednesday afternoon.

“The Eskom management must not hesitate to fire people. Employees within Eskom…[must] do their job and do their job honestly and not undermine – through their own initiative or at the behest of other people outside Eskom – the institution itself and therefore the country.

“[T]hose that are dishonest, we must say clearly to them: please go and find a job somewhere else. Eskom doesn’t need you and we don’t need the undermining [behaviour]. The country must become intolerant, as must Parliament, of anybody who wants to undermine a national asset like Eskom,” the Minister said.

Minister Gordhan was addressing the National Assembly just hours after Eskom announced the implementation of Stage 2 load shedding as a result of breakdowns at three power stations.

The power utility has been battling to keep the lights on for the past month with several breakdowns, trips, boiler leakages and other issues hampering its ability to generate enough electricity to sustain the country.

Gordhan told the National Assembly that “malfeasance” and “mischief” both internally and externally could also be the cause of the regularity of the problems besetting the power utility.

“[There are] internal collaborators…and the law enforcement agencies need to come to the party and increase the risk of detection of malfeasance within Eskom so that there’s reorientation of behaviour according to the right values.

“[W]e’ll have to…invite the trade union leadership that is representing the majority of people working at Eskom, to work with us in this particular regard so that they must be equally committed to ensuring that any form of mischief [is] removed from Eskom itself,” the Minister said.

Gordhan explained that Eskom is working on various measures to stabilise the entity including the improvement of power stations, specialised skills being brought in, the driving down of partial energy load losses and ensuring that Eskom has the right quality of coal.

He added, however, that the process to return the power utility back to being a “well-functioning national entity” will need collaboration from all sectors.

“For Eskom to work properly, it is not just Eskom that has the responsibility, it is the entire ecosystem that supports Eskom at a policy level, at an administrative level and at a regulatory level.”

The police’s war on drugs produced positive results this week when detectives from the Northern Cape Organized Crime Unit confiscated drugs worth approximately R1 million when they pounced on an alleged drug laboratory in Kimberley.

In a statement, the Northern Cape SAPS said the team, which was assisted by the SAPS Multi Dimension Organised Crime unit, arrested a 43-year-old male for dealing and manufacturing the suspected drugs.

The house was raided at midday on Wednesday in Carters Glen.

Provincial SAPS spokesperson, Captain Sergio Kock, said police confiscated equipment and utensils used in the manufacturing process. These included pots, scales, spoons, ovens, and an assortment of chemicals allegedly utilised for the manufacturing of drugs.

He said refuse bags filled with suspected cocaine, tik and kat were seized.

The house was raided at midday on Wednesday in Carters Glen.

The Frances Baard District Commissioner, Major General Johan Bean, commended the members for the huge breakthrough and reiterated that “we will keep on squeezing the space for criminals to operate, as drugs will be one of the focus areas this festive season”.

Meanwhile, the Palm Ridge Specialised Commercial Crimes Court in Gauteng on Tuesday granted an alleged fraudster R10 000 bail for their alleged involvement in their employer’s missing R4 million.

It was alleged that between September 2019 and August 2021, Newtown’s First National Bank (FNB) Operations Manager, Zandile Sibiya (39), fraudulently processed forex payments through the International Banking Centre System and transferred approximately R4 million into her own bank account.

“Through FNB’s forensic analysis, the matter was referred to the Hawks’ Serious Commercial Crime Investigation at the Johannesburg office for further investigation,” said Hawks provincial spokesperson, Captain Ndivhuwo Mulamu.

She said an extensive investigation led to a warrant of arrest issued for Sibiya’s apprehension.

The Ormonde resident handed herself in, accompanied by her legal representative and the investigation team subsequently charged her with fraud.

She appeared in the Palm Ridge Specialised Commercial Crimes Court on the same day and was released on bail with no conditions.

The case was postponed to 18 January 2022 for docket disclosure.

South Africa now has 16 102 982 or 40.46% of its adult population who have received at least one dose of the COVID-19 vaccine since the start of the inoculation programme.

This comes as the country administered 132 316 jabs in the past 24 hours, which pushes the total number of doses to 24 346 917.

According to the Department of Health’s latest data, 13 673 027 or 34.1% over 18s are now fully vaccinated, while 319 797 or 5% of children aged between 12 and 17 have received the first shot of the Pfizer vaccine.

Meanwhile, the number of booster shots of the Johnson & Johnson given to healthcare workers under the Sisonke Study has risen to 56 881.

In addition, the National Institute for Communicable Diseases (NICD), reported 566 new COVID-19 cases that have been identified in South Africa, which brings the total number of laboratory-confirmed cases to 2 926 914.

The data shows that Gauteng accounted for the highest number of new infections after 332 people were confirmed to have contracted the virus.

The province is followed by 45 additional infections in the Western Cape, 38 in Limpopo, 37 in KwaZulu-Natal and 34 in the North West.

“This increase represents a 1.6% positivity rate,” the NICD said, adding that the seven-day moving average daily number of cases has peaked.

The NICD, referring to the Department of Health’s statistics, said 11 people succumbed to COVID-19 related complications, bringing the death toll to 89 515.

This is while the country’s hospital admissions rose by 48 since the last reporting cycle.

According to the World Health Organisation, as of 17 November 2021, there have been 254 256 432 confirmed global cases of COVID-19, including 5 112 461 deaths reported.