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South Africa has recorded 888 new COVID-19 cases, bringing the total number of detected cases to 693 359.

“Regrettably, we report 83 more COVID-19 related deaths – 17 from the Eastern Cape, 43 from the Free State, two from KwaZulu-Natal, 11 from Gauteng and seven from the Western Cape.

“This brings the total number of COVID-19 related deaths to 17 863,” said Health Minister, Dr Zweli Mkhize.

Of the 83 deaths reported, eight occurred in the past 24 – 48 hours, with one in the Free State, two in Gauteng and five in the Western Cape.

Mkhize extended his condolences to the families of the departed and thanked the healthcare workers who treated the deceased patients.

The cumulative number of tests conducted to date is 4 418 418.

Recoveries now stand at 624 659, which translates to a recovery rate of 90%.

Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs (COGTA) Minister, Dr Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma, has called for the re-imagining of Harry Gwala District Municipality in a manner that will be beneficial to communities in the region.

The Minister made the call during the first day of a three-day District Development Model (DDM) working session in the KwaZulu-Natal district on Monday.

Dlamini-Zuma, who was accompanied by Minister in the Presidency, Jackson Mthembu, was joined by KZN COGTA MEC, Sipho Hlomuka and other provincial and local government leaders.

“Some of the low hanging fruits include the fact that the district has arable land and a scenic topography that boasts the cleanest air,” said Dlamini-Zuma.

During the first engagement with civil society representatives, amakhosi, business representatives and local government leadership, the Minister expanded on the DDM and its importance in the development of communities.

The DDM is based on a coordinated and coherent development strategy, which seeks to institutionalise long-term planning, integrate service delivery and maximise the impact of public expenditure at district and local level.

District and metro spaces are strategic impact zones of alignment for all three spheres of government, working in collaboration with social partners.

Dlamini-Zuma said the comparative advantages of the district comprise the people, and the potential that lies in forestry, husbandry, as well as eco and adventure tourism.

“As the district is being reimagined, it is important to fully exploit these latent economic opportunities. To this effect, government, in collaboration with its social partners through Public Private Growth Initiatives (PPGI), should create an enabling environment that incentivises agro-processing and tourism,” she said.

Section 152 of the Constitution enjoins local government to ensure the provision of services to communities in a sustainable manner, and promote social and economic development.

Dlamini-Zuma said a reimagined Harry Gwala District must champion local economic development by embracing gender responsive budgeting that prioritises women and youth to unleash the economic potential of the district.

Basic services

The ministerial contingent visited the Greater Summerfield Water Project. The project is part of the economic recovery and reconstruction plan, in support of the district’s vision to become a leading water service provider in KZN by 2030.

At the centre of this plan is the role played by communities as the main intended beneficiaries of this and many other projects.

The R2.8 million project aims to ensure access and supply to safe and reliable potable water to 39 007 people living in 7 813 households.

The project, which uses Umzimkhulu River water sources, is expected to benefit villages such as Madekeni, Mvolozi, KwaDayi and Thembeni, while contributing to job creation and skills development.

Minister Mthembu visited Rietvlei Hospital to assess the district’s COVID-19 response plan.

The 205-bed facility, which is the only district hospital in Umzimkhulu’s 22 municipal wards, renders services catering for HIV/Aids, TB, cerebrovascular diseases and cervical cancer.

The COVID-19 response plan has seen 123 256 people screened, 2 406 tested, 435 recoveries and 15 deaths.

The hospital has seen a decrease in maternal deaths from three in 2019/20 to one in 2020/21; a decrease in diarrhoea case fatality from five in 2019/20 to one in 2020/21, and a decrease in severe acute malnutrition case fatality from six in 2019 to 1 in 2020.

The working visit culminated in a DDM stakeholder visit to Ubuhlebezwe Municipality, which is among the top 10 poorest municipalities in the country.

The Ministers indicated that Harry Gwala District Municipality has to contribute to the skills revolution to mitigate inequality, since education is the fastest socio-economic status equaliser.

International Relations and Cooperation Minister, Dr Naledi Pandor, is expected to chair the 37th Session of the Executive Council of The African Union (AU).

The two-day session which gets underway today, is the first meeting of the AU Executive Council to be held virtually due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Minister Pandor will preside over the session in her capacity as the Chairperson of the Executive Council of AU.

“This meeting of the Executive Council is held in preparation for the 2nd Mid-Year Coordination between the AU and it’s Regional Economic Communities (RECs), which will be chaired by His Excellency President Cyril Ramaphosa on 22 October 2020,” said the Department of International Relations and Cooperation (DIRCO) on Monday.

Defence and Military Veterans Minister Nosiviwe Mapisa-Nqakula will lead the South African delegation to the meeting.

Amongst others, the Executive Council will consider the 2021 Budget of the AU; the programme of activities about the theme of the Year 2021 “Arts, Culture and Heritage: Levers for Building the Africa we Want”; and consider the Report on the financing of the AU and the Peace Fund.

Thousands of dangerous weapons have been destroyed at a smelter in the Nelson Mandela Bay District.

Eastern Cape MEC for Transport, Safety and Liaison, Weziwe Tikana-Gxothiwe, joined the Eastern Cape Provincial Commissioner, Lieutenant General Liziwe Ntshinga, to witness the destruction of the weapons today.

The destruction took place today at Agni Steel, located at the Coega Industrial Development Zone.

“Our resolve to reduce the levels of serious crime generators and proliferation of dangerous weapons resulted in a resounding success when 14 254 dangerous weapons, including knives, spears and axes, together with 354 toy pistols and homemade firearms, as well as 204 air rifles and pistols were seized from within all the clusters.

“These dangerous weapons were seized by police officials at roadblocks, special operations, routine stop and searches, liquor outlets and intensive searches in hotspot areas across the Eastern Cape from 1 October 2019 to 31 January 2020.

“From the numbers confiscated, it is clear that the proliferation of dangerous weapons was dealt a significant blow. The destruction of these weapons will definitely ensure that they will never again be in circulation,” the South African Police Service said.

Eskom has restored electricity to two Northern Cape municipalities following payments made towards settling their debt.

“After being without electricity supply since 06h00 on Tuesday, 7 October 2020, supply to the Kamiesberg and Richtersveld Local Municipalities was restored yesterday evening. This comes after both municipalities paid an acceptable portion of their electricity debt to Eskom,” said the power utility on Thursday.

The lights were restored but not without a stern warning from Eskom, which cautioned municipalities against defaulting.

“Adherence to their payment conditions will be strictly monitored and supply interruptions will be reinstated at the first sign of default,” it said.

Meanwhile, restriction of electricity supply to the Emthanjeni and Tsantsabane Local municipalities continues today.

“Should these municipalities not present suitable payments to Eskom, daily interruption to bulk electricity supply will continue from 06h00 until 20h00,” said Eskom.

The Northern Cape towns of Postmansburg (Tsantsabane), De Aar, Britstown and Hanover (Emthanjeni) are currently without electricity supply, as a result of the municipalities’ non-payment of their respective electricity debt of R154 909 143 and R90 543 096.

Eskom advised all consumers adversely affected by the withholding of electricity supply services to take all necessary precautions, and treat all electrical equipment as if it were live and dangerous, in order to prevent injury and limit damages to their equipment, operations and business.

Almost 2 million babies are stillborn every year – or one every 16 seconds, says the first-ever stillbirth report by the United Nations Inter-Agency Group for Child Mortality Estimation (UN-IGME).

The vast majority of stillbirths or 84% occur in low and lower-middle-income countries, according to the new report titled “A Neglected Tragedy: The Global Burden of Stillbirths”.

The report was conducted in collaboration with the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF), World Health Organisation (WHO), the World Bank Group and the Population Division of the United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs (EC-ESA).

In 2019, three in four stillbirths occurred in sub-Saharan Africa or Southern Asia.

The study defines stillbirth as a baby born with no signs of life at 28 weeks of pregnancy or more.

The study also warns that COVID-19-related health service disruptions could worsen the situation.

“A 50% reduction in health services due to the pandemic could cause nearly 200 000 additional stillbirths over a 12-month period in 117 low and middle-income countries. This corresponds to an increase in the number of stillbirths by 11.1%.”

UNICEF Executive Director, Henrietta Fore, has described losing a child at birth or during pregnancy as one of the devastating tragedies, a family could ever face.

“One that is often endured quietly, yet all too frequently, around the world,” Fore said.

“Every 16 seconds, a mother somewhere will suffer the unspeakable tragedy of stillbirth. Beyond the loss of life, the psychological and financial costs for women, families and societies are severe and long lasting. For many of these mothers, it simply didn’t have to be this way.”

Fore believes a majority of stillbirths could have been prevented with high-quality monitoring, proper antenatal care and a skilled birth attendant.

The Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health’s modelling predicts that 13 countries could see a 20% increase or more of stillbirths over a 12-month period.

Poor quality of care

Most stillbirths are attributed to poor quality of care during pregnancy and birth, the study found.

Also, the lack of investments in antenatal and intrapartum services and in strengthening the nursing and midwifery workforce are key challenges.

Over 40% of stillbirths occur during labour, which could be avoided with access to a trained health worker at childbirth and timely emergency obstetric care, the report added.

“Around half of the stillbirths in sub-Saharan Africa and Central and Southern Asia occur during labour, compared to 6% in Europe, Northern America, Australia and New Zealand. Even before the pandemic caused critical disruptions in health services, few women in low- and middle-income countries received timely and high-quality care to prevent stillbirths.”

Progress, however, is possible with sound policy, programmes and investment.

“Welcoming a baby into the world should be a time of great joy, but every day thousands of parents experience unbearable sadness because their babies are stillborn,” said WHO Director-General, Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus.

Investing in healthcare

“The tragedy of stillbirth shows how vital it is to reinforce and maintain essential health services, and how critical it is to increase investment in nurses and midwives.”

The report also noted that stillbirth is not only a challenge for poor countries.

In 2019, 39 high-income countries had a higher number of stillbirths than neonatal deaths and 15 countries had a higher number of stillbirths than infant deaths.

In both low and high-income settings, stillbirth rates are higher in rural areas than in urban areas, while socioeconomic status is also linked to a greater incidence of stillbirth.

Ethnic minorities in high-income countries, in particular, may lack access to enough quality health care.

“The report cites that Inuit populations in Canada, for example, have been observed to have stillbirth rates nearly three times higher than the rest of Canada and African American women in the United States of America have nearly twice the risk of stillbirth compared to white women,“ it noted.

Police Minister General Bheki Cele has welcomed the arrest of the first suspect involved in violent demonstrations by a group of farmers outside the Senekal Magistrates Court in the Free State.

This as chaotic scenes unfolded outside the court building, following a court appearance by two suspects accused of the murder of farm manager, Brandon Horner.

Cele’s spokesperson, Lirandzu Themba said the Minister is encouraged that a 52-year-old man has been arrested for his role in the demonstrations.

The man is said to be a farmer in Marquad but resides in Senekal and will be charged with malicious damage to property and public violence.

However, the Minister would like to see more action taken.

“Cele is calling for more arrests as it is clear the criminality that took place was a collective act that threatened the rule of law,” Themba added.

In Tuesday’s incident, a police van was overturned and set alight.during the protest by farmers, who gathered outside the court, demanding justice for Horner’s murder.

Two suspects had appeared in court for the brutal killing of the DeRots Farm manager.

A crowd stormed into the court building demanding the accused be handed over to them.

The farmers also vandalised the court property.

In a tweet, Themba announced that she has been receiving threatening calls since the incident.

“It is worrying that I continue to receive abusive and insulting and racist phone calls from anon[anonymous] people and some identify themselves as farmers from Senekal. These calls are being taken seriously and are being looked into by [the police],” Themba tweeted.

The suspects, Sekwetje Isaiah Mahlamba, 32 and Sekola Piet Matlaletsa, 44, remain in custody.

The Department of Environment, Forestry and Fisheries has placed eight officials on precautionary suspension following a forensic investigation into contracts allegedly irregularly awarded by the Waste Management Bureau.

The Waste Management Bureau’s mandate, among others, is to promote and facilitate minimisation, re-use, recycling and recovery of waste, and disburse of revenue collected from waste management charges.

According to the department, during the audit of the financial statements for the year ended 31 March 2019, the Auditor-General (AG) identified several tenders that were irregularly awarded.

“These included nine tenders awarded by the Waste Management Bureau, with a total multi-year contract value of R2 105 168 218.93 and expenditure for the 2018/19 financial year amounting to R337 006 699.80,” the department said on Thursday.

Minister Barbara Creecy then mandated the then Director-General, Nosipho Ngcaba, to institute an investigation.

“The investigation needed to cover areas such as whether any losses were suffered by the department; whether the department received value for money, and whether any officials or third parties had committed any acts of fraud and/or corruption,” the department explained.

The probe also had to look into whether anyone can be held liable in law for the irregular expenditure.

An independent forensic investigation company was appointed and subsequently found that there was some wrongdoing on the part of the department’s bureaucrats.

“With regard to six of the nine tenders, with a combined value of R1 282 850 820.61, the investigation found prima-facie evidence illustrating irregular appointments arose as a result of negligence, misconduct and/or possible fraud and corruption by certain officials of the department,” the department said.

The department is in the process of taking disciplinary steps in respect of the misconduct identified in the report.

It said all system recommendations outlined in the report will be implemented in due course.

With regards to the three remaining tenders valued at R822 317 398.32, the investigation found no evidence to indicate wrongdoing by officials or loss suffered by the department.

“It was found that the department received value for money. As such, the department will seek condonation from National Treasury for the irregular expenditure incurred in that regard,” the department said.

In an effort to mitigate the impact of COVID-19 on the 2020 academic year, Higher Education Minister, Dr Blade Nzimande, has published a national framework to ensure that the cost for tuition and accommodation will remain the same for the 2020 academic year, regardless of its length at the different institutions.

In the Government Gazette published in June, the Higher Education and Training Department prescribes a framework for temporary payment and cash flow measures, or steps necessary to alleviate, contain and minimise the effects of the COVID-19 threat to the public higher education sector.

“The framework will also provide directives to officials of public higher education institutions to disseminate information and all applicable measures for the implementation [of the framework],” said Nzimande.

The Minister said the directives will assist to alleviate the financial strain on institutions, NSFAS [National Student Financial Aid Scheme], private fee-paying individuals and private accommodation providers, recognising that the COVID-19 pandemic affects all groups in different ways.

Higher learning institutions were forced to close with the introduction of the lockdown, which affected the set timetable. The academic programme of the institutions, therefore, will extend beyond this calendar year.

Tuition fees

In terms of the directives on tuition fees, the 2020 academic year is conceptualised as a “package”, regardless of its length.

NSFAS payment for tuition fees to institutions will be made on the basis of the originally agreed tuition fees.

Accommodation fees

The cost for university-owned accommodation remains the same for the academic year, regardless of its length, capped to the end of March 2021. This assumes that while there will be periods of non-occupation, most students will return for a period of time to complete the academic year.

NSFAS payments for university-owned accommodation will also remain at the same original level, as with tuition fees.

The cost for university-leased accommodation remains at the same level for the 2020 academic year, regardless of its length, subject to an agreement that the original fee would be paid for both the 2020 and the 2021 academic years, with an agreed inflation-linked increase for 2021.

“This means that wherever possible, the costs of both academic years would be conceptualised as a package and payments spread out over the full period,” Nzimande explained.

He said that where there are periods of non-occupation of accommodation, monthly payments can be reduced, based on a payment regime that spreads out the agreed costs over the extended 2020 academic year.

In relation to individually-based private accommodation, where students make payments themselves, the above principle will apply in respect of university accredited and registered private accommodation, as far as possible.

Nzimande said NSFAS allowances have continued to be paid to students during the lockdown period and therefore, NSFAS students are expected to continue to pay private accommodation providers in terms of their original lease agreement.

However, wherever possible, institutions should facilitate agreements with providers on behalf of students to reduce the payments for periods of non-occupation, but with the full payment spread over the extended academic year.

“It must be noted that there is currently a process underway to model and plan for any additional academic year costs for NSFAS funded students.

“Currently no funding has been allocated or approved for additional academic year costs in 2020,” said the Minister.

Media applicants looking for funding can officially submit their applications for grants to the Media Development and Diversity Agency (MDDA) from 15 October 2020.

The MDDA will officially open the 2020/21 call for grant funding applications for a six-week period commencing on 15 October 2020.

Community media projects, including radio, TV and print and digital publications, as well as small commercial print and digital publications are invited to apply.

Applications may be submitted through the MDDA website, via e-mail or a hard-copy delivery at the MDDA Offices.

“Funding is one of the central factors towards ensuring successful empowerment, sustainability, and transformation of the community media sector.

“To this end, the application process will be effected through compliant, cost-effective and transparent selection procedures, in-line with corporate governance principles and compliance with the Agency’s legislative framework,” said the MDDA in a statement on Thursday.

The qualifying criteria and online application system are obtainable on the MDDA website, www.mdda.org.za.

In an effort to secure equitable and fair geographic distribution of participating projects, the MDDA will also conduct a national outreach programme to raise awareness on media development and diversity; and assist interested parties with the completion of application forms. This outreach programme will take place from 16 October 2020.