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Brand South Africa’s acting Chief Executive Thulisile Manzini has called on South African citizens throughout the world to play their part in curbing the Coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic.

“We firmly believe that every citizen can play their part by taking preventive measures such as social distancing,” Manzini said in a statement on Tuesday.

Her remarks follow the President’s announcement of a nationwide lockdown for 21-days in order to curb the spread of the virus.

The lockdown will be effective from midnight on Thursday.

“Our President has stressed that those countries that have acted swiftly and dramatically have been far more effective in controlling the spread of the disease. Staying at home, avoiding public places and cancelling all social activities is the preferred best mechanism to defend oneself against the virus,” she said.

Manzini’s comments embody Brand South Africa’s nation-wide programme, “Play Your Part,” which was created to inspire, empower and celebrate active citizenship in South Africa.

“It aims to lift the spirit of our nation by inspiring all South Africans to contribute to positive change, become involved and start doing. A nation of people who care deeply for one another and the environment in which they live is good for everyone,” Manzini said.

South Africa is bracing for its first government-imposed lockdown as part of stringent measures to slow down the spread of Coronavirus.

On Monday night, President Cyril Ramaphosa announced government’s decision to enforce a 21-day lockdown, which will take effect at midnight on Thursday.

The televised announcement has awoken many across the Republic to the seriousness of the pandemic, which has claimed over 17 000 lives globally.

Dr Jakkie Cilliers, the Head of African Futures and Innovation Programme at the Institute for Security Studies (ISS), says the President made the right call.

“I think it is the right strategy. President Cyril Ramaphosa and the Minister of Health, Dr Zweli Mkhize, have shown exemplary leadership,” Cilliers told SAnews on Tuesday.

Cilliers said given the circumstances the country finds itself in, with 554 confirmed cases of COVID-19, there isn’t room for an alternative to the lockdown.

South Africa registered its first case of Coronavirus on 5 March 2020.

With the number of cases is expected to spike, Cilliers said the world finds itself in challenging times.

“It is going to be a challenging time for all,” he said.

The lockdown, the President said in his address, is a move aimed at saving citizens from infection.

However, Cilliers raised the concern about what would most likely happen once the lockdown ends.

“What worries me is that we will have a lockdown for 21 days and people’s lives will go back to normal. Each time they resume normal life, there will [likely] be a spike in the infection rate,” he said.

Notwithstanding, Cilliers is confident that citizens will make a concerted effort to practice good hygiene in the fight against the virus.

Cilliers commended government on the fact that the provision of services such as the payment of grants will continue.

Impact on the economy

The virus is not sparing the economy either – not at home, and certainly not elsewhere in the world.

Business Unity South Africa (BUSA), which has pronounced it supports the President’s efforts, said business recognises the need for a lockdown period.

“The country’s business leaders, who all stand firmly behind the President’s leadership at this moment of national disaster, recognise the need for the lockdown period, for social distancing and strict remote working arrangements.

“Such strong action is necessary to help bring the pandemic under control and flatten the curve of the infection rate.

“The call for immediate, swift and extraordinary action is acknowledged, and business will do everything it can to ensure the President’s appeal is implemented to full effect,” BUSA said.

Business also threw its weight behind the public health management programme, which accompanies the lockdown. The programme will significantly increase screening, testing, contact tracing and medical management of the virus.

As South Africa and many others continue to manoeuvre their way out of the grip of the virus, business bodies have endorsed the Solidarity Fund announced by the President.

“All members of the various business bodies have unreservedly endorsed the Solidarity Fund announced by the President. The nationwide call for funding will contribute in a meaningful way to support the vulnerable in this time of need.

“Funds received from corporate and other entities, like stokvels, as well as willing and able individuals, and the international community, will drive social cohesion,” said BUSA.

BUSA urged all businesses to abide by the President’s call to avoid general exploitation of the situation by way of market and price manipulation.

“While we all recognise the need to make sacrifices during this demanding time, we must stand in unity with our government and stay at home to overcome the current challenging circumstances. As businesspeople, we firmly believe that through this crisis, we will lay the basis for a stronger South Africa, taking collective responsibility for our future,” said BUSA Vice President, Martin Kingston.

During the lockdown, all South Africans will have to stay at home until midnight on Thursday, 16 April 2020. Grocery stores, medical and banking services will still be available.

While no load shedding is expected today, Eskom says the possibility that it might be implemented still remains as the power generation system is constrained and vulnerable.

“We are currently utilising minimal emergency generation reserves to supplement supply. We remind the public, however, that Eskom may have to implement load shedding at short notice should the system performance deteriorate,” Eskom said.

As of yesterday afternoon, unplanned breakdowns or outages were at 11 147M and planned maintenance outages are at 3 846MW.

“Eskom invites all stakeholders to partner with us, through co-operation and responsible management of electricity consumption, so that we may soon emerge from these difficult times of supply constraints,” the power utility said.

Customers have been requested to continue to use electricity sparingly to assist Eskom to reduce demand, by using the following tips:

– Keep morning showers short to lessen the load during morning peak.

– Take food out of the freezer for dinner and put it in the fridge to thaw. It’ll save having to use the microwave to defrost it later.

– Set air conditioners’ average temperature at 23°C.

– Switch off geysers over peak periods.

– Unplug cell phone chargers before leaving the house.

– Use the cold water tap rather than using the geyser every time.

– Set the swimming pool pump cycle to run twice a day, three hours at a time.

– At the end of the day, turn off computers, copiers, printers and fax machines at the switch.

Customers can get their load shedding schedules on the Eskom website at https://loadshedding.eskom.co.za or local municipal websites, depending on their electricity supplier, to review amendments.

South Africa will enter a nationwide lockdown for 21-days with effect from midnight on Thursday 26 March 2020, President Cyril Ramaphosa said.

The lockdown, announced in a televised address to the nation on Monday night, is part of efforts to curb the rapid spread of the Coronavirus in the country.

President Ramaphosa made the announcement following a meeting held on Sunday with the National Coronavirus Command Council.

“This is a decisive measure to save millions of South Africans from infection and save the lives of hundreds of thousands of people.”

“While this measure will have a considerable impact on people’s livelihoods, on the life of our society and on our economy, the human cost of delaying this action would be far, far greater,” said the President.

The President’s announcement of the nationwide lockdown,  comes as the number of confirmed cases in South Africa increased six-fold in just eight days from 61 cases to 402 cases.

During the nationwide lockdown, all South Africans will have to stay at home.

Under the lockdown, individuals will not be allowed to leave their homes except under strict controlled circumstances.

These circumstances include the seeking of medical care, buying food, medicine and other supplies or the collection of social grants.

Enacted in terms of the Disaster Management Act, the lockdown will end on Thursday 16 April 2020.

Travel restrictions

In a bid to contain the virus and slow down its spread, the President announced a number of additional measures that will be implemented with immediate effect to strengthen prevention measures.

These measures include the automatic placement of South African citizens and residents arriving from high-risk countries under quarantine for 14 days.

Non-South Africans arriving on flights from high-risk countries announced last week, will be prohibited and turned back.

International flights to Lanseria Airport will be temporarily suspended.

In addition, international travellers who arrived in South Africa after 9 March 2020 from high-risk countries will be confined to their hotels until they have completed a 14-day quarantine period.

To ensure that measure announced are implemented, President Ramaphosa also announced the deployment of the South African National Defence Force SANDF) to support the South African Police Service.

This nationwide lockdown will be accompanied by a public health management programme which will significantly increase screening, testing, contact tracing and medical management.

Workers exempt from lockdown

Exempt from the lockdown are health workers in the public and private sectors.

Emergency personnel, those in security services (such as the police, traffic officers, military medical personnel, soldiers), and other persons necessary in response to COVID-19 are exempt from the lockdown.

It will also include those involved in the production, distribution and supply of food and basic goods, essential banking services, the maintenance of power, water and telecommunications services, laboratory services, and the provision of medical and hygiene products.

In addition, temporary shelters that meet the necessary hygiene standards will be identified for homeless people.

Sites are also being identified for quarantine and self-isolation for people who cannot self-isolate at home.

While emphasising the importance of a lockdown, the President urged that firms that are able to continue their operations remotely should do so.

The nation-wide lockdown is necessary to disrupt the chain of transmission across society.

At the stroke of midnight on Thursday, South Africa will go on a nationwide lock-down with the exception of essential services.

President Cyril Ramaphosa made this announcement on Monday evening, following a meeting held on Sunday with the National Coronavirus Command Council.

The lockdown, is government’s bid to contain and slow down the spread of the Coronavirus in the country.

The announcement comes a week after the President declared the outbreak a national state of disaster.

The nationwide lockdown comes as South Africa saw a surge in the number of confirmed cases rising from 274 on Sunday to 402 by Monday 23 March 2020.

“The nation-wide lockdown is necessary to fundamentally disrupt the chain of transmission across society,” said the President during a televised address.

Exempt from this lockdown are the health workers in the public and private sectors, emergency personnel, those in security services (such as the police, traffic officers, military medical personnel, soldiers) and other persons necessary to respond to COVID-19.

It will also include those involved in the production, distribution and supply of food and basic goods, essential banking services, the maintenance of power, water and telecommunications services, laboratory services, and those involved in the provision of medical and hygiene products.

Individuals will not be allowed to leave their homes except under strictly controlled circumstances, such as to seek medical care, buy food, medicine and other supplies or to collect social grants.

During the lockdown, all South Africans will have to stay at home until midnight on Thursday 16 April 2020.

As the country fights to contain the spread, temporary shelters that meet the necessary hygiene standards will be identified for homeless people.

The President said sites are also being identified for quarantine and self-isolation for people who cannot self-isolate at home.

With exception for pharmacies, laboratories, banks, essential financial and payment services, including the Johannesburg Stock Exchange, supermarkets, petrol stations and health care providers, all shops and businesses will be closed.

“Companies that are essential to the production and transportation of food, basic goods and medical supplies will remain open,” said the President.

A full list of the categories of businesses that should remain open will be published.

Meanwhile companies whose operations require continuous processes, such as furnaces and underground mine operations, will be required to make arrangements for care and maintenance to avoid damage to their continuous operations.

“Firms that are able to continue their operations remotely should do so,” emphasised the President.

Provision will be made for essential transport services to continue, including transport for essential staff and for patients.

SA ramps up Coronavirus screening

This nationwide lockdown, the President said, will be accompanied by a public health management programme which will significantly increase screening, testing, contact tracing and medical management.

As the country ramps up its response to the virus, community health teams will focus on expanding screening and testing where people live, focusing first on high density and high-risk areas.

To ensure that hospitals are not overwhelmed, a system will be put in place for ‘centralised patient management’ for severe cases and ‘decentralised primary care’ for mild cases.

To further mitigate the spread, emergency water supplies – using water storage tanks, water tankers, boreholes and communal standpipes – will be provided to informal settlements and rural areas.

The South African National Defence Force (SANDF) has been deployed to support the South African Police Service in ensuring that the measures announced are implemented.

South Africa has 402 confirmed cases of COVID-19, an increase of 128 from Sunday’s announcement.

On Monday, the Health Department confirmed an increase of 128 cases.

The Northern Cape has its first confirmed cases.

The announcement comes just hours ahead of President Cyril Ramaphosa’s address to the nation on measures to be undertaken to mitigate the impact of COVID-19.

The President is scheduled to address the nation this evening.

“We will thereafter engage the public to give further details and explanations on the results including the significant rise, the ongoing testing processes, each province’s progress on contact tracing efforts,” said the department.

With the National Institute for Communicable Diseases (NICD) still collating and verifying information of patients, the Health Department said the graphs will be updated accordingly.

“Our priority is for provinces to be alerted of the new confirmed cases so that immediate contact can be made with these new patients and ensure that contact tracing starts,” said the department.

The provincial and age group breakdown is as follows:

Province:               Positive:

Eastern Cape         2

Free State              13

Gauteng                 207

KwaZulu-Natal       60

Limpopo                 4

Mpumalanga          9

North West             4

Western Cape        100

Northern Cape        2

Unknown                1

Grand Total            402

Age Group:            Positive:

Unknown                129

1-10years               9

11-20years             6

21-30years             52

31-40years             69

41-50years             42

51-60years             63

61-70years             20

71-80years             11

81-90years             1

Grand Total            402

The South African business community has mobilised to combine its resources as a way of limiting the economic, social and health impact of COVID-19 on the country.

This emerged at the discussions held by President Cyril Ramaphosa and the country’s business formations on Sunday.

Business Unity South Africa (BUSA), the Black Business Council (BBC) and other companies and business associations, have established a Project Management Office aimed at ensuring collaboration with government, and to use the available business resources and capacity to support public sector initiatives.

“In a unique collaboration across public and private sectors, this will see business being aligned with government in putting the needs of South Africa first,” said BUSA in a statement issued after the meeting.

Task teams are expected to proactively assess and implement business initiatives to deal with the impact of COVID-19 on health, the labour market and the broader economy — all three of which will be assisted by a communications task team.

The health work stream is focused on mobilising resources to contribute to COVID-19 tracing, tracking, testing, monitoring and pathology labs; communicating around COVID-19; hospital responses and Personal Protective Equipment (PPE), medicines and medical devices; and support the National Health Department with capabilities to enable more specific demographic resource deployment.

The economic work stream will, inter alia, identify critical sectors in the national response; help develop policy and industry specific interventions, including tax and loan relief; ensure security of critical supplies and energy; model the economic impact of COVID-19 and combat predatory pricing, rent seeking and panic buying.

To tackle the impact of the necessary quarantines and lockdowns and the subsequent substantial decline in consumer activity, other areas the team is working on, include:

• Mitigating the risks of inconsistent electricity supply and other infrastructural constraints;
• Assessing the impact on technology, media and telecommunications services and networks, given the urgency for remote working;
• Mitigating the risks from the public transport system and identifying alternative mass commuter services; and
• Identifying necessary import substitution requirements and optimising local manufacturing accordingly’.

The labour work stream will look at the impact of COVID-19 on employers and employees; developing advice on issues such as short working hours, Unemployment Insurance Fund (UIF) claims and special leave.

It will identify and address blockages such as seeking adjustments to the Disaster Management Regulations and other aspects of the regulatory framework. It will also be encouraging good practise to preserve and support employees; environment and workplace hygiene, and collaboration with regulators especially in high risk sectors.

Business unreservedly supports the Presidency and the recently established National Command Council.  It is working closely with the national Departments of Health, Employment and Labour, and Trade and Industry, as well as in the National Economic Development and Labour Council (Nedlac).

BUSA’s vice president Martin Kingston said: “Desperate times demand desperate measures. We have embarked on this major collaboration – among South African businesses and with government – to share best practice, reduce risk wherever possible, and implement practical measures to ease the hardships caused by this global catastrophe.

“We will see through this pandemic by preparing effectively, adapting where necessary and acting decisively.”

The Health Department has confirmed that South Africa now has 274 confirmed cases of COVID-19.

On Sunday, the department announced an increase of 34 new cases from Saturday’s announcement.

The provincial and age group breakdown is as follows:

Province                      Positive      

Eastern Cape             2

Free State                  9

Gauteng                     132

KwaZulu-Natal            36

Limpopo                     1

Mpumalanga              6

Western Cape            88

Grand Total               274

Age group     Positive    Grand Total

1-10years        9                      9

11-20years      6                      6

21-30years      52                    52

31-40years      69                    69

41-50years      42                   42

51-60years      63                   63

61-70years      20                   20

71-80years      11                   11

81-90years      1                     1

age unknown  1                     1

Grand Total    274                  274

The Presidency has welcomed the announcement by the African Christian Democratic Party (ACDP) leader, Reverend Kenneth Meshoe, that he has been tested for Coronavirus (COVID-19).

Meshoe was among the leaders of political parties represented in Parliament, who met President Ramaphosa in Cape Town on Tuesday, 17 March 2020.

On Sunday, Meshoe confirmed publicly that in the days before the meeting with the President (before the prohibition of public gatherings numbering more than 100 people), he had participated in a religious gathering in the Free State.

Five international guests, who had attended the gathering, subsequently tested positive for the virus.

“Reverend Meshoe, who has been asymptomatic since his participation in that gathering of approximately 200 people, announced on social media this afternoon, Sunday, 22 March 2020, that he had been tested.

“The Presidency welcomes Reverend Meshoe’s adherence to the testing protocol and wishes him well as he awaits his results,” said Presidency spokesperson Khusela Diko.

Meanwhile, Diko said President Cyril Ramaphosa himself is in good health, and is observing the announced protocols as stringently as he can, while performing his duties.

This follows on the President’s announcement of COVID-19 as a national disaster

“At this point in time, there is no cause for concern about the President’s health or reason for the President to be tested. To the best of the President’s knowledge, no person with whom he has recently had contact – including Rev Meshoe – has symptoms of, or tested positive for the virus,” said Diko.

The International Labour Organisation (ILO) and Productivity SA have signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) to collaborate on productivity and employment promotion in South Africa.

With South Africa’s unemployment rate sitting perilously at 29%, the MOU is a partnership to support the 2018 Presidential Job Summit commitment to build more inclusive and cooperative workplace engagements between workers and management to solve workplace problems.

Productivity SA Chief Executive Officer (CEO), Mothunye Mothiba, in a statement said the goal of the partnership is to promote a productivity and entrepreneurship culture and consciousness to create decent employment and sustainable enterprises.

“The MOU will result in interventions within a host of South African companies. The programmes will be implemented in these companies to enhance productivity and operational efficiency of enterprises, with a focus on Small, Medium and Micro Enterprises (SMMEs) and Cooperatives to adopt world-class productivity enhancement practices,” reads the statement.

Mothiba said SMMEs are targeted because of their tremendous potential to make an impact on Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) through job creation, their business practices and the sectors in which they operate.

“The ILO’s global Sustaining Competitive and Responsible Enterprises (SCORE) programme will be implemented in the companies. Through the signing of this MOU, workers who have been retrenched will be assisted to transit into other occupations and/or self-employment through re-skilling and up-skilling training,” it reads.

The programmes will be implemented in key sectors that need productivity and competitiveness enhancement assistance and the Industrial, Agriculture and Oceans Economy sectors.

ILO Director Joni Musabayana says the ILO-Productivity SA partnership hinges on the support provided to the Bargaining Council on Textile and Manufacturing, under the auspices of the Pan African Productivity Association (PAPA), of which Productivity SA is the secretariat.

The collaboration is expected to build on South Africa’s experiences in relation to the commitments made in the 2015 African Union Declaration and Plan of Action on Employment, Poverty Eradication and Inclusive Development (Ouagadougou + 10) and African Union Agenda 2063.

The partnership will further provide support to the African Union and the Regional Economic Commissions (RECs) in promoting a culture of productivity; developing a productivity and competitiveness index for Africa or for selected RECs, based on their interests, and strengthening the institutional capacity of PAPA to assist national productivity organisations.

A mapping exercise of productivity initiatives and institutions across Africa to better understand the productivity movement across Africa is also a key aspect of this partnership.