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South Africa’s COVID-19 statistics on Sunday rose to 1 584 064, after 1 222 new infections were recorded.

“The number of tests conducted to date is 10 699 021. Of these, 16 194 tests were conducted since the last report,” the Health Ministry said on Sunday.

In the reporting 24 hours, 11 COVID-19-related deaths were reported. Of these, 1 was in the Eastern Cape, 5 in the Free State, 1 in Gauteng, 1 in Northern Cape and 3 in Western Cape. This brought the total number of COVID-19 deaths in the country to 54 417.

“We convey our condolences to the loved ones of the departed and thank the healthcare workers who treated the deceased patients,” said Health Minister Zweli Mkhize.

Recoveries on Sunday stood at 1 507 778, representing a 95% rate.

On the vaccination rollout, Mkhize said the number of vaccinated healthcare workers on Sunday remained at 318 670 in the Sisonke Protocol.

The South African Social Security Agency (SASSA) has issued a reminder that the R350 Special COVID-19 Social Relief of Distress Grant for unemployed people, comes to an end on 30 April 2021.

“This means that no new applications will be accepted after this date. However, all applications which have been approved and who have not yet received the money will still be paid,” SASSA said in a statement.

The grant formed part of the R500 billion economic and social relief measures announced by President Cyril Ramaphosa in April last year, as part of the national response to the COVID-19 pandemic.

SASSA has urged qualifying applicants whose applications were declined for the period from February to March 2021 to appeal by going to the website at https://SRD.sassa.gov.za and follow the links for reconsideration.

“If you do not appeal, the declined application will not be reconsidered. The appeal period closes on 31 May 2021. No appeals will be considered after this date,” the agency said.

The MTN SA Foundation has unveiled a multimedia centre with 20 workstations adapted to cater for deaf, blind and partially sighted students at the Vhembe Technical and Vocational Education and Training (TVET) College in Matwarela Sibasa, Limpopo.

Launched on Thursday, in partnership with the office of Social Development Deputy Minister Hendrietta Bogopane-Zulu, the innovative facility is expected to drive scarce skills development and support.

The R1.249 million investment includes a fully refurbished lecture room; 20 workstations with a keyboard and mouse; interactive whiteboards with accessories; high-end HD web camera and stand; instructor PC; one data projector; and one multipurpose printer.

It also includes an offline digitised educational content and interactive learning content for both multimedia centres; antivirus protection; office 365; air conditioner; training on the equipment and digitised content for a minimum of 10 staff members, and a 30GB (gigabyte) data connectivity per month for a period of 24 months for each multimedia centre.

MTN SA Foundation General Manager, Kusile Mtunzi-Hairwadzi, said the foundation, through its various initiatives, aims to bring the power of technology and a connected life to the most in need, by contributing to the national quality of teaching and learning.

She said the MTN SA Foundation has worked for the past 10 years to provide information and communications technology-driven solutions to improve and uplift the lives of poor and disadvantaged communities.

“This support includes installations of multimedia centres, support of much-needed e-learning material to rural- townships, no-fee-paying, and special needs schools.

“Historically, the MTN SA Foundation programmes have been aimed at schools, universities, and nursing colleges, but the foundation has in recent years identified a need for specialised support in the TVET colleges learning environment,” Mtunzi-Hairwadzi said.

Vhembe TVET is the second college to receive a state-of-the-art multimedia centre to assist learners with their education. This as the TVET college provides holistic courses that accommodate learners, despite their physical and partially sighted limitations.

“The over-arching programmes are impressive too, catering to the needs for skilled artisans, Information Technology (IT) technicians, employees in the tourism, hospitality fields and training engineering-related studies identified by the Minister of Higher Education and Training (DHET).

“We decided to jump in and offer further specialised support for these programmes. The multimedia centre has been modified to provide computer-aligned zoom text and jaws software programmes for the partially sighted students and specialised software programmes installations for deaf students,” Mtunzi-Hairwadzi said.

“In this increasingly digital world, we are pleased to expand this support to TVET colleges to do our part in ensuring that students are equipped and excited to enter the job market of the future,” Mtunzi-Hairwadzi said.

Transport Minister Fikile Mbalula has expressed concern at preliminary investigations suggesting that corruption is the reason for the unavailability of booking slots at various Driving Licence Testing Centres (DLTCs) in Gauteng.

“The difficulties experienced by citizens in booking slots through the online platform is serious cause for concern. We are gravely concerned that preliminary investigations suggest that corruption is the principal driver of lack of availability of booking slots in various DLTCs across Gauteng,” Mbalula said.

On Friday, the Minister met with authorities involved in DLTCs operations across all three spheres of government in Gauteng, following complaints about operations in the province.

The meeting was aimed at improving service delivery and enhancing efficiency in the functioning of DLTCs.

“The objectives of the meeting today is to take stock of the challenges and agree on decisive interventions that effectively address the challenges facing Gauteng and its DLTCs, managed by local authorities.

“Gauteng is the first of these engagements, as the challenges are more pronounced here, than in any other province,” the Minister said.

He said the Road Traffic Management Corporation (RTMC), working closely with provincial and local authorities, is looking into the matter.

Interventions, said the Minister, must deliver a system that improves efficiency, eliminates corruption and modernises processes so as to eliminate the need for end-users to queue at DLTCs.

“Post our engagements, we will unpack the modalities of these interventions and commit to firm timelines on the rollout.

“In addressing the backlogs arising as a consequence of the COVID-19 restrictions during different alert levels, operating hours at DLTCs occupy the spotlight, and requires our immediate attention, while remaining alive to basic conditions of employment, which includes overtime,” Mbalula said.

The Department of Transport is paying particular attention to the rollout of online services in a manner that improves efficiencies and minimises the time the end-user spends in a queue.

“The ultimate end goal is to eliminate these queues, once the full bouquet of online services has been successfully rolled out by the RTMC. Following the declaration of the State of Disaster due to the COVID-19 pandemic in March 2020, we issued directions on the operations of DLTCs in an effort to curb the spread of the pandemic through these centres,” the Minister said.

The department extended the validity of vehicle licence discs, temporary permits and roadworthy certificates that expired during the period that commenced from 26 March 2020 up to 31 May 2020 for a period that ended on 31 August 2020.

“This period has not been extended beyond this date and motorists are expected to comply with the law and renew their vehicle licence discs.

“Validity of learner’s licences, driving licence cards, temporary driving licences and professional driving permits that expired during the period that commenced from 26 March 2020 up to 31 December 2020, was extended for a further period ending on 31 August 2021,” the Minister said.

Out of the 2 465 439 vehicle licence disks that expired between 26 March 2020 and 31 August 2020, 90.3% of these have since been renewed.

This leaves a total of 239 087 vehicles without valid licence discs on the roads.

“It is important to note that the Gauteng percentage of vehicle disc renewals stands at 89.6%, below a national average of 90.6%.

“Similarly, out of the 4 856 636 vehicle licence disks that expired between 30 September 2020 and 31 January 2021, Gauteng accounts for 85.4% renewal, below the national average of 86.1%.

“In a nutshell, of the 7.1 million vehicles due for renewal between March 2020 and January 2021, 6.3 million have been renewed,” the Minister said.

Out of the 900 000 discs that have yet to be renewed, 250 000 of these are in Gauteng.

Cybersecurity experts have urged adults to play an active role in protecting youngsters from cyber bullying.

Briefing the media on Thursday, researchers of the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) put the spotlight on the negative effects of cyber bullying and provided some solutions to the problem.

CSIR Senior Researcher, Sipho Ngobeni, said many people still do not see the harm associated with cyber bullying, which takes place through online communication platforms.

He cited recent incidents such as that of Lufuno Mavhunga, 15, who committed suicide, allegedly after a video of her being grievously assaulted went viral.

The teenager from Mbilwi Secondary School who has been accused of assaulting Mavhunga was released on R1 500 bail on Thursday. The teen will appear in court again on 27 May.

Ngobeni also pointed out that singing sensations from KwaZulu-Natal, Viggy and Virginia Qwabe, continuously face a barrage of cyber bullying.

“They are often labelled as ugly and memes are created using their photos. Recently, someone published old pictures from when they first appeared on Idols SA and compared them to how they look now. The side-by-side pictures were captioned ‘money has power to change everyone’ and went viral on WhatsApp, among other social media platforms.”

The senior researcher called on everyone to get involved – youth, parents, educators, counsellors, youth leaders, law enforcement, social media companies, and the community – to fight the scourge.

According to Ngobeni, this is the key to dealing with this problem, adding that parents are often oblivious to their children’s online behaviour.

“In addition, educators do not know when and how to intervene in online behaviours that occur away from school, but still involve their learners. Law enforcement is often also hesitant to get involved unless there is clear evidence,” he said.

According to research, Instagram accounts for 42% of bullying that occurs online, while 37% occurs on Facebook, 31% on Snapchat, 12% on WhatsApp, 10% on YouTube and 9% on Twitter.

Meanwhile, statistics show that about 41% of kids develop social anxiety after being bullied, 37% battle with depression, 26% have suicidal thoughts and 25% engage in self-harm.

In addition, 24% stop using social media altogether, 20% start skipping classes and 14% develop eating disorders, while 9% begin to abuse alcohol and drugs.

What parents can do

Another expert, Rofhiwa Netshiya said there is a need for public education about all forms of cyber bullying.

“We need to educate children that all forms of cyber bullying are wrong and can lead to serious discipline.”

Netshiya advised parents to install internet-monitoring software on their children’s computers to be able to track their activities on social media.

“There are low-cost products that can invisibly monitor the activities of your kids and privately email you the results as often as you like. These are very important to track Internet sites visited, downloads, chat room conversations and instant messaging.”

Parents are also advised to reinforce positive morals and values and educate their children about appropriate online behaviour.

These include the use of account privacy settings, reporting the bullying to the police and providing unconditional support to children if they experience cyber bullying.

The Special Investigating Unit (SIU) will investigate allegations of corruption and maladministration in the Ekurhuleni Metropolitan Municipality and Gauteng Department of Agriculture and Rural Development.

This follows the signing of Proclamation R15 of 2021 by President Cyril Ramaphosa, authorising the SIU to investigate allegations of corruption and maladministration in the affairs of the municipality and the provincial department, and to recover any financial losses suffered by government.

In a statement on Wednesday, SIU spokesperson Kaizer Kganyago said the investigation will focus on the 9 March 2017 procurement of, or contracting for the supply of 200 portable three-wheel motorised waste collection vehicles by, or on behalf of the institutions and payments made in respect thereof.

“The tender was awarded to a company called Enviro Mobi to the value of over R27 million. Ekurhuleni appointed Enviro Mobi on 31 October 2018, to supply a further 70 three-wheel vehicles at a contract price of R7.8 million,” Kganyago said.

Kganyago said the SIU investigation is to determine whether the procurement and payments made in relation to the three-wheel waste collection vehicles tender were done in a manner that was not fair, competitive, transparent, equitable or cost-effective; or contrary to applicable legislation, guidelines issued by the National Treasury or the relevant provincial Treasury.

The SIU will also look at whether there was any related unauthorised, irregular or fruitless and wasteful expenditure, incurred by the institutions or financial losses suffered by the institutions or the government.

Furthermore, the SIU will investigate any irregular, improper or unlawful conduct by contractors, employees or officials of the institutions; or the suppliers, service providers or any other person or entity, relating to the allegations of corruption and maladministration.

“The investigation will cover transactions that took place between 1 January 2017 and 23 April 2021, and transactions that either took place before January 2017 or after 23 April 2021 but relevant to, connected with same persons, entities or contracts being investigated.

“The proclamation authorises the corruption busting unit to unleash all its legislative powers to subpoena bank statements and cell phone records, search and seize evidence, and interrogate witnesses under oath in an effort to hold those responsible to account for their actions,” Kganyago said.

Where criminal conduct is uncovered during investigations, he said, the SIU will bring the matter to the attention of its partners namely the National Prosecuting Authority (NPA), as well as the Hawks in the South African Police Service (SAPS) for further action.

Fraud and corruption allegations may be reported via the following platforms: siu@whistleblowing.co.za/ Hotline: 0800 037 774.

KwaZulu-Natal Social Development MEC, Nonhlanhla Khoza, has vowed to intensify efforts to protect children from neglect and abuse.

This follows an incident involving a seven-year-old boy with special needs. He was found locked up in a four-roomed house with dogs in Umlazi, south of Durban, for over a month. He had no food, water or electricity.

The boy was spotted by members of the public standing inside the locked house secured with burglar bars.

It is believed that he had been left in the care of his father by his grandmother. The father allegedly left the boy locked in the house over a month ago.

“We have been taken aback by the conditions the child was left in. We are surprised and shocked ….

“The child has been left in such a despicable condition. No child deserves to be treated like this, and there is no explanation that can be accepted from the parents of this poor child,” Khoza said.

No mercy for abusers

Khoza said she will be pushing for law enforcement agencies to have no mercy on individuals involved in any form of child abuse.

“There should be no negotiating with abusers. As the Department of Social Development, we are leaving no stone unturned in dealing with such cases in our society.

“A number of children are brought up in unsafe homes. We encourage parents to make use of government help if they find themselves unable to take care of children,” the MEC said.

She said the boy has been removed from the house and taken to a place of safety. A team of social workers has been dispatched to provide him with psychosocial support.

“It will not be enough to rescue the child. We have to ensure that both parents face [the law],” Khoza said.

A R4.8 million contract awarded by the O.R Tambo District Municipality to Phathilizwi Training Institute to conduct a COVID-19 door-to-door campaign has been declared unlawful and invalid by the Special Tribunal.

“The Special Tribunal further ordered the O.R Tambo Municipality [in the Eastern Cape] not to pay two invoices amounting to R4 857 600 for the service allegedly rendered by the training institute as part of the unlawful and invalid contract,” the Special Investigating Unit (SIU) said on Thursday.

The SIU approached the Special Tribunal to declare the contract unlawful and invalid on the basis that it was awarded without following the procurement procedure and not in compliance with the provision of section 217 (1) of the Constitution of South Africa.

Section 217 (1) of the Constitution states that when an organ of State in the national, provincial or local sphere of government, or any other institution identified in national legislation, contracts for goods or services, it must do so in accordance with a system which is fair, equitable, transparent and cost effective.

The SIU has uncovered evidence pointing to criminal action against three municipal officials.

“The evidence, as required by the SIU Act, was referred to the National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) for further attention. The SIU also made disciplinary referrals to O.R Tambo District Municipality against three municipal officials.

“The service provider, Phumza Portia Gambula, together with municipal official, Johnson Phumzile Gwadiso, were subsequently arrested, and both have been released on bail of R20 000 each,” the SIU said.

A total of 21 776 COVID-19 tests were conducted in the last 24 hours, with 880 new cases confirmed, representing a 4% positivity rate.

Meanwhile, 51 more people died on Tuesday, bringing the total COVID-19 fatalities to 54 237 to date.

According to Health Minister, Dr Zweli Mkhize, 20 fatalities were recorded in Gauteng, 11 in the Western Cape, nine in KwaZulu-Natal, six in the Eastern Cape, three in the Free State and two in the Northern Cape.

“We convey our condolences to the loved ones of the departed and thank the healthcare workers who treated the deceased patients,” said Mkhize.

The cumulative recoveries remain at 95% after 1 502 986 patients recuperated, while the country has 19 977 active cases.

“The number of tests conducted to date is 10 567 593,” the Minister added.

Globally, as of 27 April 2021, there have been 147 539 302 confirmed cases of COVID-19, including 3 116 444 deaths, reported to the World Health Organisation (WHO).

Global view

Globally, new COVID-19 cases increased for the ninth consecutive week, with nearly 5.7 million new infections reported in the last week – surpassing previous peaks.

Meanwhile, according to the WHO, the number of new deaths increased for the sixth consecutive week, with over 87 000 new fatalities reported.

“This week, all regions are reporting decreases in case incidence apart from the South-East Asia and Western Pacific regions.”

While a number of countries in the region are reporting upward trends, the WHO said India accounts for the vast majority of cases from this regional trend and 38% of global cases reported in the past week.

“Similarly, all but two regions, South-East Asia and Eastern Mediterranean reported declines in new deaths this week.”

The highest numbers of new cases were reported from India (2 172 063 new cases, 52% increase), the United States (406 001 new cases, 15% decrease), Brazil (404 623 new cases, 12% decrease), Turkey (378 771 new cases, 9% decrease), and France (211 674 new cases, 9% decrease).

An online furniture portal which will showcase the sector’s capabilities, has been launched.

The portal which is hosted on Proudly South African’s website www.proudlysa.co.za is a collaboration between the Department of Trade, Industry and Competition (dtic) and Proudly South African.

This, according to Proudly South African, is in response to the growing demand for locally manufactured furniture items and this is in order to make the sourcing of genuine local producers easier.

The site is currently being populated with qualifying local furniture companies and will be a listing where retailers, architects, property developers and consumers can find what they are looking for.

Speaking at Wednesday’s virtual launch, the dtic’s Tsholofelo Motaung said the department has developed policy and programmes to enhance the furniture industry. This said Motaung, is to raise and nurture design capabilities as well as raise the image of South Africa in the furniture industry.

“This is to address the skills shortage in the industry and attract designers to the furniture industry and promote use of local products, this is also to provide solution to consumer’s changing needs,” Motaung said.

Motaung also said this is to ensure market access and competitiveness.

Twenty years ago, the furniture sector in South Africa was an employer of 50 000 people in 3 500 manufacturing plants. Today it supports around 20 000 direct jobs in just over 1 000 factories.

Raw material inputs provide indirect jobs to many more thousands of people, from fabrics, wood, steel, paint and much more.

Eustace Mashimbye, Chief Executive Officer of Proudly South African said the success of the portals that we introduced in 2020 primarily in response to COVID-19 requirements of masks and personal protective equipment (PPE), highlighted the importance of having one central database of suppliers and how this can make buying local much easier.

“The value of the furniture industry in South Africa is enormous, and we want to tap into the procurement of furniture especially by corporate South Africa, and this portal will be a place to which we can drive demand,” Mashimbye said.

“It is evident that selling and shopping online has been accelerated by the COVID-19 pandemic, and has now changed consumer behaviour. What we saw in 2020 is only going to continue post-pandemic,” said dtic Deputy Minister Nomalumgelo Gina.

“These changes aren’t a way simply to make it through, they’re permanent and are redefining what a meaningful retail experience could look like,” she said.

Gina said the benefits of the online furniture portal will allow shoppers to peruse products and make buying decisions at any time, day or night.

“This will make shopping easier for customers, and that kind of accessibility will be a huge competitive advantage.

“Many e-commerce websites extend businesses to people all over the country or around the world, vastly expanding their customer base and potential revenue.

“Selling online also offers the ability to broaden or increase catalogue, the number of items a business can sell online doesn’t need to be limited in the same way as a physical store, which might be a consideration to increase cash flow,” Gina said.

The furniture industry is set to benefit from the Furniture Industry Master Plan which was launched recently.

The Furniture Industry Master Plan was established to set clear guidelines and targets for the furniture manufacturing industry as well as guide public sector procurement as part of government’s efforts to support and stimulate the industry.