South Africa: Today’s latest news and headlines, Monday 16 March
Stay informed and up to date with the latest news in South Africa – review all major headlines on Monday 16 March 2020.
The novel coronavirus continues to dominate news headlines across the world and South Africa is no exception, with President Cyril Ramaphosa declaring a national state of disaster in terms of the Disaster Management Act on Sunday. Probably one of the only silver linings of the COVID-19 pandemic is that the petrol price is set to fall by more than R1/litre and at least we will have some reprieve from load shedding on Monday.
In sports news, the Blue Bulls have become the first South African team to self-isolate after returning from Australia and to be honest, not much is left of global sports fixtures after the threat of the coronavirus has snowballed to pandemic proportions.
Coronavirus measures: SA’s ‘Most definitive Thuma Mina moment’
On Sunday evening, the nation waited with abated breath for President Cyril Ramphosa to emerge from an emergency Cabinet meeting with all relevant stakeholders at the Union Buildings in Pretoria. When the president finally made his appearance after running more than an hour-and-a-half late for the scheduled address, it was with grave news indeed.
In a matter of mere hours, the number of infected South Africans has climbed from 51 to 61 on Sunday. Previously those tested positive for the virus had all travelled overseas, but according to Ramaphosa, local transmission is now also starting to take its toll.
“Never before in the history of our democracy have we been confronted by such a severe situation. The SA government has put measures in place to treat those infected. We now have 61 people confirmed positive with the disease in South Africa. Initially, it was people who had travelled from abroad. But we are now dealing with internal transmission of the virus.”
President Cyril Ramaphosa
The number of infections more than doubled over the weekend with 37 new cases announced.
As part of the government’s drastic measures to curb the rapid spread of the pandemic in our country, travel bans to and from high-risk countries will be imposed from Wednesday 18 March.
Visas will be refused to anyone who has visited a high-risk country in the last 20 days, and 35 of the country’s 53 land ports will also be shut as of Monday.
Get the list of high-risk countries on which South Africa’s travel ban will be imposed, here.
Among the other major announcements that the president made, include a three-week closure of schools from Wednesday 18 March until the end of the Easter holidays; no gatherings of more than 100 people and and mass celebrations cancelled to limit contact. All non-essential travel for all spheres of government is also prohibited.
Sub-Saharan Africa has so far escaped the worst of the pandemic, which has infected more than 160 000 people worldwide and killed over 6 000.
No load shedding predicted for Monday
After hitting the nation hard with several bouts of Stage 4 load shedding last week, our embattled power utility has announced on Sunday evening that it did not expect to implement load shedding on Monday.
However, it added that the possibility of load shedding for the rest of the week remained high, so don’t get your hopes up just yet.
The Stage 4 load shedding was implemented after a pump at the Koeberg Nuclear Power Station reportedly tripped after “marine life” clogged an inlet.
The pump, which has since been repaired, was not damaged as initially feared, according to Eskom.
On Sunday, Eskom was able to suspend load shedding altogether by 12:00 noon as a result of low demand and improved system capacity.
“Following improvements in the generation system during the weekend, no load shedding is expected tomorrow [Monday].
“The much-improved generation system performance, coupled with low weekend demand, has allowed for sufficient recovery of emergency generation reserves,” the update said.
The power utility said unplanned breakdowns or outages were at 10 292 MW at 16:10 and planned maintenance outages were at 6 552 MW.
Parole reconsideration for Jalusz Walus briefing cancelled
On Monday, Justice and Correctional Services Minister Ronald Lamola was due to announce his decision on the parole reconsideration for Jalusz Walus as directed by the Gauteng High Court.
Walus is currently serving a life sentence at the Kgosi Mampuru II Correctional Centre for the assassination of former South African Communist Party (SACP) leader Chris Hani outside his Boksburg home in 1993.
Former Conservative Party MP Clive Derby-Lewis, who supplied the weapon Walus used to kill Hani, was sentenced to death for the murder in October 1993, along with the Polish immigrant. Their death sentences were commuted to life imprisonment in November 2000.
Derby-Lewis was later released on medical parole due to lung cancer. He passed away in November 2016.
However, the press conference was cancelled on Sunday evening after Ramaphosa’s announcement of stringent measures in the wake of the coronavirus. A meeting of ministers from his Cabinet is now set to take place on Monday at the same time the parole announcement was due to be made.
The plans of the Department of Correctional Services in so far as the management of COVID-19 is concerned, would be outlined at the Cabinet meeting. (Source: ANA)
Good news at the petrol pumps in April
The slump in crude oil’s value due to the coronavirus pandemic has massively outweighed the weak performance of the rand, which is good news for South African motorists.
The current data shows petrol costs are set to fall by up to R1.11 a litre in April. Diesel is likely to decrease by more than R1.10, and even illuminating paraffin is forecast to plummet by R1.18. However, taxes on fuel will be added on to the final totals.
This will translate in consumers having to fork out another 25 cents per litre, which takes a chunk out of the forecasted price drops. However, as the coronavirus continues to spread – and the oil crisis stagnates – even the additional fuel levy may not be able to keep the decreases below the R1 mark.
Prasa state capture hearings set to continue
Not even the coronavirus can halt the Zondo Commission of Inquiry into State Capture which is set to continue on Monday with Passenger Rail Agency of South Africa (Prasa) legal risk and compliance group executive Martha Ngoye taking the stand to testify.
According to the testimony of Transnet chairperson Popo Molefe on Friday, former president Jacob Zuma in 2015 tried to intervene to ensure that Lucky Montana stay on as CEO of Prasa despite a raft of corruption allegations against Montana.
The entity is currently under the care of an administrator as it struggles to overcome the loss of billions of rands in the rent-seeking scandal. Montana resigned under a cloud five years ago after he was implicated in procurement irregularities. (Source: ANA)
Blue Bulls meet their match
The Bulls had to cut short their overseas tour after the Super Rugby season was suspended due to the coronavirus.
Members of the Bulls squad, along with officials, who travelled to Australia last week will self-isolate on their return to South Africa.
The men from Pretoria are due back in the country on Monday after the Sanzaar announcement that the ongoing Super Rugby season has been suspended in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic.
The southern hemisphere championship, which features 15 teams across five countries, was halted after the weekend’s round seven when New Zealand imposed travel restrictions from midnight on Sunday that demand that all inbound travellers self-isolate for 14 days.
Cancellation of Two Oceans Marathon, Ironman postponed
This year’s Two Oceans Marathon in Cape Town has been cancelled because of the coronavirus.
“Following an emergency meeting of board members of The Two Oceans Marathon NPC on Saturday, it was unanimously decided that all Two Oceans Marathon events scheduled for [8 to 11 April] would be cancelled amid the COVID-19 pandemic and the global spread of the coronavirus,” the organisers of the popular event said in a statement released on Sunday.
The organisers of the Ironman African Championship has also confirmed the postponement of the event to November 2020 due to the coronavirus pandemic.
In a statement on the website, organisers said: “In alignment with the provincial Department of Health, and due to the force majeure COVID-19 pandemic, Ironman race officials in conjunction with local authorities have decided to postpone the 2020 Ironman African Championship in Nelson Mandela Bay, originally scheduled for 29 March, to 15 November 2020”.
Over-50s Cricket World Cup in SA cancelled
The Over-50s Cricket World Cup in and around Cape Town has been cancelled with immediate effect because of the coronavirus, the organisers said on Sunday.
“The organising committee took the decision during the course of the third round of matches which were then abandoned after the first innings,” the committee said in a statement.
“It is a public health risk decision,” tournament medical committee head Dr Parag Pandya said. “The decision was taken for the protection of the players, given their age demographic, but also for the local population, given that 95% of known cases in South African have come from travellers.”
Seven of the 11 visiting teams had been staying in the same Cape Town hotel where appropriate precautions had been taken, and they would remain there until arrangements could be made for their repatriation. (Source: ANA)
Shadow of doubt hanging over PSL fixtures
Upcoming Premier Soccer League (PSL) fixtures will at the very least be played behind closed doors, following the national state of disaster declared by Ramaphosa on Sunday.
The ongoing league season was set to continue largely unaffected by the pandemic, with the most notable change being the suspension of pre- and post-match handshakes.
In light of the government’s ban of public gatherings of more than 100 people, the PSL has revealed that it will hold an emergency executive committee meeting on Monday morning, with the outcome set to be communicated at noon.
Latest weather forecast, Monday 16 March
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