1. PCR tests and travel issues: South Africa’s coronavirus-induced state of disaster has ended, but some transitional regulations remain, including rules on entering the country, which could complicate family holidays. This new phase sees an end to the state of disaster, announced on Monday night, and a transition to legislation within the National Health Act that deals […]
News in South Africa 5th April: 1. State of disaster over: On Monday night, co-operative governance minister Nkosazana Dlamini Zuma terminated South Africa’s national state of disaster on Covid-19, fulfilling the promise made by President Cyril Ramaphosa in an address to the nation just hours before. In a notice in the Government Gazette, Dlamini Zuma said she […]
News in South Africa 4th April: 1. Petrol hike lower than feared: A stronger rand exchange rate and the government’s decision to intervene on higher costs means South Africa’s ‘record’ petrol price hike this week will be comparatively muted, say economists at the Bureau for Economic Research (BER). The government’s intervention to reduce the general […]
News in South Africa 31st March: 1. Motion of no confidence fails: The Democratic Alliance (DA)’s motion of no confidence in President Cyril Ramaphosa’s Cabinet has failed in the National Assembly. After a lengthy roll-call voting process, members of Parliament completed voting with more than half of those present voting against the motion. Deputy Speaker […]
News in South Africa 30th March: 1. Covid-19 deaths under-reported: The national Department of Health, in what appears to be a significant departure from its previous position, admitted this week that government may be under-reporting deaths from Covid-19. Previously, the department was apparently dismissive of compelling research that showed significant excess deaths – a higher […]
News in South Africa 29th March: 1. Moving away from Eskom: The National Energy Regulator of South Africa has awarded a private electricity trading licence for the first time in over 12 years, as the country looks to move away from Eskom’s power monopoly. The license enables Enpower Trading to source competitively-priced, predominantly renewable power […]
News in South Africa 28th March: 1. Costs of living soaring: The costs of the Ukraine war have started to hit closer to home in South Africa. Workers are spending more on transport, food and electricity to make it through the month. Spiralling international oil prices, largely on the back of the Russia-Ukraine conflict, have […]
News in South Africa 10th March: 1. State of disaster continues: The South African government is considering extending the country-wide state of disaster, which was imposed in mid-March 2020 in response to the Covid-19 pandemic, regulating the movement of people, the size of social gatherings, curfews and introducing mandatory mask-wearing in public. Sources involved in […]
News in South Africa 9th March: 1. Stage 4 load shedding: Eskom has announced that it will move to stage 4 load shedding at 09h00 on Wednesday (9 March) due to a further breakdown in units. The power utility said stage 4 load shedding will continue until 05h00 on Friday (11 March), thereafter load shedding […]
News in South Africa 8th March: 1. R40 petrol price unfounded: Fears that SA’s petrol price could double to R40/l in the short term are unfounded, but the country can still expect some economic pain as long as the Ukraine crisis continues, say economists. This was in response to media reports which shared comments that […]
