News in South Africa 28th January: 1. Vaccines due to arrive Monday: South Africa’s first batch of COVID-19 vaccines are set to arrive in the country on Monday. Health Minister Zweli Mkhize made the announcement on Wednesday, saying that work would now begin to vaccinate the country’s more than 1,25 million health workers first. The Serum Institute of […]
News in South Africa 27th January: 1. Eskom debt repayments difficulties: Two recent court rulings have made it much more difficult for Eskom to leave paying municipal customers in the dark when cutting or restricting electricity supply to delinquent municipalities. While this will hinder Eskom’s efforts to collect more than R30 billion in outstanding municipal […]
News in South Africa 18th January: 1. Tax hike for vaccination funding: South Africa’s National Treasury is considering raising taxes as one of several possible mechanisms to fund the vaccination drive against Covid-19 it was reported. The government viewed the vaccines as a public good and was committed to financing their rollout, with or without […]
News in South Africa 15th January: 1. Calls for Level 5 in hotspots: Health experts have called on Gauteng residents to put themselves voluntarily into lockdown level five, warning that the peak of the second wave was still to come. Experts also called on government to introduce online learning until there’s a clear downward trend […]
News in South Africa 14th January: 1. Wasteful expenditure in hospitals: Investigations are raising questions around possible wasteful spending or corrupt spending regarding Gauteng’s field hospitals and building capacity for Covid-19 patients – which has simply not materialised. Gauteng Premier David Makhura has reported that since June 2020 Gauteng has created 2,419 new critical-care and […]
News in South Africa 12th January: 1. Schools still to open?: Cyril Ramaphosa offered little clarity on Monday evening on whether schools would open on January 25, as concerns remain about the Covid-19 second wave, hinting that an announcement was imminent. “As schools and other educational institutions prepare to begin the new academic year, there […]
News in South Africa 8th January: 1. Oxford-AstraZenica delivery vaccines: As the country recorded yet another “grim milestone” on Wednesday night – 21 832 new Covid-19 infections – the highest daily increase to date, there is finally a glimmer of hope at the end of the tunnel for exhausted and mentally strained healthcare workers. Health […]
News in South Africa 7th January: 1. Lockdown Level 4 a possibility: South African government officials have called for stricter measures to curb soaring coronavirus infections at a meeting to discuss the state’s response to the pandemic. President Cyril Ramaphosa is hosting a meeting of the National Coronavirus Command Council on Wednesday to assess the […]
News in South Africa 6th January: 1. NCC meeting not urgent: Government communications said there was nothing urgent about Wednesday’s national coronavirus command council (NCCC) meeting. GCIS director general on Tuesday has announced that members of the joint operations centre will report to the president. This after rumours were spread that President Cyril Ramaphosa was […]
News in South Africa 4th January: 1. Government aims for herd immunity: At least 67% of South Africans will need to be vaccinated against Covid-19 to ensure herd immunity, health minister Zweli Mkhize has announced during a public briefing. On Sunday, Mkhize unveiled the government’s strategy to secure vaccines and roll them out to two-thirds […]
