At Relocation Africa, over the years, we’ve recognized the importance of a strong recycling culture at our head office, and of motivating team members to get involved in our efforts to be kinder to the planet.
As we all know, sustainability has been a hot topic for some time now, with many companies looking for ways to put the environment higher up the priority list when it comes to operational decisions. Climate change is an ever-looming threat to the well-being of future generations, and the world as a whole is already well behind with where it should have been, with emissions targets not having been met, and waste disposal, especially of non-biodegradables, being at far too high a level for the long-term.
At our head office in Cape Town, we’ve decided to take a multifaceted approach to sustainability. This includes:
Striving towards a paperless office, be encouraging team members to use digital notes, and collaborate on documents in the cloud, rather than printing things that would waste paper.
Having dedicated recycling bins around the office, in which staff are to place recyclable items, instead of throwing them in the regular garbage cans.
Having a regular drop-off at our local recycling depot, which we have been using for years. The Oasis Association, which runs the depot, uses its income to support those in South Africa with mental disabilities, through support workshops, day centers, and group homes.
Encouraging staff members to use sustainable items.
Doing annual litter clean-ups in the area around our office, and taking the items collected off the street to our local depot for recycling.
Even though individual efforts may seem small, when they add up on a company-wide scale, they are truly impactful. And if more companies join in, we may stand a chance at reaching those elusive targets. We hope our initiatives inspire more businesses to reduce, reuse, and recycle. Let’s all join together to reduce waste, and have a positive impact on our natural environment.
Gallery
For information as to how Relocation Africa can help you with your Mobility, Immigration, Research, Remuneration, and Expat Tax needs, email info@relocationafrica.com, or call us on +27 21 763 4240.
https://www.relocationafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/05/nick-fewings-2lJGRIY5P0-unsplash-scaled.jpg17062560Andrew Stegmannhttps://www.relocationafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/09/relocationafricagroup.jpgAndrew Stegmann2020-05-15 12:26:412020-12-31 14:44:32Relo Originals: The Importance of Recycling
More than 100 South African doctors who studied overseas are in limbo because the country’s presiding medical board is allegedly preventing them from writing an exam that would allow them to practice in their home country.
As South Africa’s fight against Covid-19 intensifies, News24 can reveal that a group of qualified and trained doctors are sitting at home without work. They have turned to the courts in the hope of getting an order to allow them to take the Health Professionals Council of SA (HPCSA) board exam, which would qualify them for internships at public hospitals.
In papers filed in the Gauteng High Court, 38 foreign-trained doctors allege that the HPCSA gave an assurance more than once that they would be able take the exam, only to later renege on the basis that the medical schools they studied at – in Romania, China and Guyana – are not “recognised” by the HPCSA.
Doctors, who have been trained and qualified at foreign medical schools, have been battling with the council since at least 2018.
Memorandum
The organisation representing the doctors, South African Internationally Trained Health Professionals Association (SAITHPA), has also written a memorandum to the Presidency and the Ministry of Health to ask them to investigate allegations of corruption, racism and victimisation faced by foreign-trained doctors.
SAITHPA claims that at least 175 foreign-trained doctors are without work because of various obstacles the HPCSA has allegedly put in their way. However, interviews News24 has done with affected doctors, who are part of the court case, as well as academics involved in internship programmes, suggest the number could be higher.
The memorandum to the Presidency also contains allegations that doctors who wrote a board exam in January are still waiting for their results.
This situation is sure to cause a stir among the medical fraternity, which was recently criticised by the Department of Health for roping in Cuban doctors to aid the Covid-19 fight – an effort that apparently costs more than R400 million – while dozens of trained doctors stew at home.
Health Minister Zweli Mkhize defended the Cuban doctors’ arrangement, saying they were merely here to supplement medical efforts and not to take jobs.
‘Repeatedly failed’
The HPCSA has not responded to the allegations in court. The body was sent a detailed query, but did not respond for several days before publication.
The Department of Health referred News24 to the HPCSA, but said it was aware of “some South Africans who trained in some foreign countries but have repeatedly failed HPCSA board examinations”.
“Government cannot risk employing persons who are not duly qualified,” spokesperson Popo Maja said.
The Presidency did not respond to a request for comment.
Court action
In court papers, Sarvashni Chetty, a doctor who graduated at the Texila American University in Guyana, alleges in an affidavit that 12 of the applicants had applied to write the board exam in 2019, but were unable to because the exam can only take 120 applicants.
On the back of this, the Legal Resources Centre (LRC), on behalf of 111 foreign-trained doctors, threatened the HPCSA with legal action if the doctors were not able to sit the exam.
The HPCSA later allegedly allowed 60 of them to take the exam in January 2019, and the rest would take it in a slot in May that year.
But the council later allegedly reneged on this commitment for some who had applied for the board exam, on the basis that “the institution from which they obtained their basic medical degree was ‘not evaluated by the relevant Medical and Dental Board previously’.”
This effectively left foreign-trained doctors in limbo, while the HPCSA would “review the curriculum offered at the universities that the applicants graduated from”, court papers allege.
‘Unanswered’
The affidavit then lists 14 times SAITHPA or doctors wrote to the HPCSA to furnish them with the details of their qualifications or to try to come to an understanding, or to place on record exactly which medical schools it did recognise. These allegedly went unanswered.
Eventually, on 16 August, 2019, the HPCSA allegedly gave its “assurance” that those who SAITHPA represented would write “the first available examination in 2020”.
However, the following month, the HPCSA allegedly wrote to SAITHPA saying it was “unable to commit” to that arrangement.
The other 37 applicants filed confirmatory affidavits of Chetty’s allegations.
Her affidavit says the situation has left her and her fellow applicants suffering “severe emotional, financial and other prejudices”.
‘Invaluable in an emergency situation’
Meanwhile, the memorandum to the Presidency says results for a board exam that doctors took in January have still not been released, without a reason.
“Consequently, graduates who qualified to register for internship in the mid-year cycle, were unable to do so,” the letter reads.
Dr Robert Ian Caldwell, a retired doctor who was involved with foreign-trained medical students during his time at the University of KwaZulu-Natal’s School of Clinical Medicine, said he had also been alerted about these results not being released.
Caldwell said even though passing this exam would only qualify the doctors to take on internships, they would still be useful during a crisis such as the one the country currently faces.
“Even at the most junior level, they’d be invaluable at an emergency situation.”
For information as to how Relocation Africa can help you with your Mobility, Immigration, Research, Remuneration, and Expat Tax needs, email info@relocationafrica.com, or call us on +27 21 763 4240.
https://www.relocationafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/03/cdc-w9KEokhajKw-unsplash.jpg900016000Andrew Stegmannhttps://www.relocationafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/09/relocationafricagroup.jpgAndrew Stegmann2020-05-15 10:20:252020-05-28 11:44:13Foreign-trained Doctors Turn to the Courts to Be Able to Work in SA
In a televised address, Ramaphosa said the next phase of the country’s coronavirus response, as people returned to work, would “in many ways be more difficult than the present one”.
He added the coronavirus would continue to be a global health threat for some time to come, and the fight against it needed to become part of South Africans’ daily lives.
South Africa would have seen 80 000 infections already without lockdown
Without a national lockdown, South Africa would have seen 80 000 infections by now, Ramaphosa said. The national lockdown was, therefore “absolutely necessary” to help the authorities prepare.
He said while South Africa mourned the loss of 219 lives due to the virus, the number of deaths would have been eight times higher without the lockdown.
He said by the time the US had a similar stage of the disease, it had recorded 22 000 deaths and the UK more than 19 000.
Without the lockdown, Ramaphosa added, South Africa’s health facilities would have been overwhelmed and many thousands more people would have died.
Around 181 people per million have been infected by the virus
South Africa’s positivity rate, the percentage of cases identified out of all the tests conducted, had remained low, he said.
Ramaphosa added the number of confirmed infections in South Africa was around 181 people per million of the population.
By contrast, he said, countries such as the US, the UK, Spain, Italy and Singapore have between 2 400 and 4 600 coronavirus cases per million people.
“It is significant that out of the 12 074 confirmed cases in South Africa, we have recorded 4 745 recoveries.”
South Africa now has 25 000 additional beds for quarantine
Ramaphosa said by delaying the spread of the virus, South Africa was able to strengthen the health system’s capacity by increasing the number of beds available for quarantine by 25 000.
He added the lockdown had helped the country to source and produce substantial quantities of personal protective equipment for health workers, vital medical equipment and other supplies.
Ramaphosa thanked the US for a donation of 1 000 ventilators that will assist in treating serious coronavirus patients.
Over 9 million South Africans have been screened, 370 000 tested
In what is the country’s largest and most extensive public health mobilisation, Ramaphosa said fieldworkers have screened more than nine million people, and nearly 370 000 coronavirus tests have been completed.
“It has been made possible by the hard work and dedication of thousands of community workers, nurses, doctors and other health workers,” he added. “They made enormous sacrifices to ensure the success of the lockdown.”
UIF paid out over R11bn to 2 million employees
Ramaphosa said the special Covid-19 relief fund of the Unemployment Insurance Fund (UIF) had paid out more than R11 billion to two million employees employed by over 160 000 companies in distress since it was launched.
He added the government’s various funds have supported more than 27 000 small businesses since they were launched.
The government’s R200 billion Covid-19 loan guarantee scheme, which is part of the R500 billion relief package, has also started to process applications from small- and medium-sized businesses on Wednesday.
Around 3 million South Africans applied for Covid-19 grant
Some three million people have applied for the Covid-19 grant of R350 per month for unemployed South Africans who received no other form of assistance from the government, Ramaphosa said.
He added an additional R5 billion have also been paid out to social grant recipients at the beginning of May to assist poor households.
Level 3 lockdown for most of South Africa by end of May
Ramaphosa said a consultation process would start with relevant stakeholders to place most of the country on Level 3 lockdown by the end of May.
Parts of the country with the highest rates of infection will, however, remain on Level 4 lockdown.
Infections were for now mostly concentrated in a few metropolitan municipalities and districts in the country, Ramaphosa said.
“I will repeat what I have said before: If we lift the lockdown too abruptly and too quickly, we risk a rapid and unmanageable surge in infections,” he added.
Level 3 lockdown will see the return of alcohol sales between 08:00 and 12:00 between Mondays and Wednesdays, limited domestic air travel, and all clothing and textiles sales, under draft rules.
Level 4 lockdown regulations will change
The government would in the coming days announce certain changes to Level 4 regulations to expand permitted business activities in the retail space and e-commerce and reduce restrictions on exercise, Ramaphosa said.
Some lockdown regulations have been unclear and contradictory
He added some of the lockdown regulations decided upon by the government have been unclear, some have been contradictory and some have been poorly explained.
Ramaphosa said implementation had sometimes been slow and enforcement had sometimes been inconsistent and too harsh.
“This evening, I want to reaffirm my commitment and the commitment of the government I lead to take whatever action is necessary to safeguard the life, the dignity and the interests of the South African people.
“Where we have disappointed, we will continue to make amends. Where we make mistakes, we will continue to correct them.”
View the full address below.
For information as to how Relocation Africa can help you with your Mobility, Immigration, Research, Remuneration, and Expat Tax needs, email info@relocationafrica.com, or call us on +27 21 763 4240.
https://www.relocationafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/05/Ramaphosa.png10801920Andrew Stegmannhttps://www.relocationafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/09/relocationafricagroup.jpgAndrew Stegmann2020-05-14 09:55:302020-05-14 09:55:31Main Points from South African President Ramaphosa’s COVID-19 Address
The coronavirus and the lockdown have disrupted almost all forms of daily life – and are likely to have an impact on next year’s local government elections.
While there is no formal public discussion as yet about whether the 2021 local government elections will be postponed, it is possible there will be some material disruption. The dynamics of our politics leading up to those polls will be affected by the government’s response to the Covid-19 pandemic, and how the lockdown plays out.
So far, no national government or electoral official has said that the polls will be postponed. But already by-elections for councillors in different parts of the country have been delayed.
The five-year term of the current council administration ends in early August 2021. Legally, a new election must be held within 90 days on either side of the last election date — 3 August 2016 was the last municipal poll — which takes the latest possible deadline to the start of November 2021.
If an election can not be held by that time, it would be a first in democratic South Africa’s electoral history. Parliament may be asked to consider an intervention to allow for special circumstances.
While the Municipal Structures Act allows the co-operative governance minister to set an election date after consultation with the Electoral Commission of South Africa (IEC), that date must fall within the 90-day window. And although the Local Government Municipal Elections Act allows for the postponement of an election, that delayed date must still fall within that 90-day window.
Some parties may want a delay, others may not, and that could lead to more political problems and friction.
Another option is for the Constitutional Court to be asked if it can authorise an election outside the constitutional timeframe. This may be a quicker and easier option.
But it may pose a problem for the ConCourt.
Judges are not supposed to “make law” but to interpret law. To allow, or authorise a late election would surely be seen as “making law”. To postpone a constitutionally mandated election is a very significant decision. Judges may well feel that they don’t have the power to do so, as this would be Parliament’s responsibility.
A third possibility is that an application to the high court could be made.
Either way, all of the political parties registered at the IEC would get the chance to make their arguments. But if that were to happen, and just one party to the case were unhappy with the outcome, it would end up in the Constitutional Court anyway.
All of this has the potential for very real discord and multiple frictions. Other arguments could come into it, including the long-running debate in the ANC about whether local elections should become a part of the national and provincial elections.
(It’s hard to know where the ANC is on this at the moment. When he was secretary-general, Gwede Mantashe said that elections every 2½ years would help to keep the party unified.)
Current events will have an important impact on the campaigns leading up to the elections, and on the final results.
In 2016, famously, the ANC lost outright control of Joburg, Tshwane and Nelson Mandela Bay. There is enough evidence that one of the main drivers for this was not only the state of those cities (although it must have played an important role) but national politics. The figure of Jacob Zuma, as president at the time, hung over that election and its results. Who could ever forget the sight of four young women standing in front of Zuma as the results were being declared, holding up placards asking people to remember the woman he was accused (and acquitted) of raping?
The world and our politics appear to be moving faster than ever. Vladimir Lenin’s dictum that “there are decades when nothing happens; and there are weeks when decades happen” did not feel more true than, well, in decades. That said, it seems reasonable to assume that it is possible these elections will be seen as a referendum on the government’s response to the coronavirus.
They will, in some ways, be a judgment of the lockdown and whatever further transpires.
This may prove a difficult terrain for all parties. If the economic damage caused by the lockdown matches the projections (which range from the Reserve Bank’s prediction of a 6.2% contraction in GDP to Business for SA’s suggestion of a 17% contraction) everyone will be poorer. And angry. And frustrated.
The vote could turn into a protest against “all parties as we know them”.
As people become hungry, tensions between different groups will rise. There are already signs that this is happening as different views on the lockdown emerge. By then, these tensions could be much more stark.
Elections have a tendency of magnifying differences between people, and politicians tack to certain constituencies. If the middle classes continue to criticise Co-operative Governance Minister Nkosazana Dlamini Zuma, for example, the claim that these attacks are based on racism and not on her expertise/delivery could gather steam. This would make the elections more difficult than those in the past.
It is also possible that an election is held that raises social tensions and results in a very low poll. This may be legally legitimate, but not in the national interest.
At the same time, the ANC might be concerned that as the more establishment party, the one in power, it could lose the elections. The DA may feel it has not had time to fully sort out the internal differences (both its policy conference and its leadership conference have been postponed). The EFF has been almost silent during the lockdown and may believe it would struggle to regain any momentum it has lost.
Hence, the three major parties may not oppose a postponement of the polls.
However, that won’t solve many of the problems that exist in the local government sphere.
There have been moments of complete chaos in three of the big metros. Joburg is run by the ANC, but only just, after Herman Mashaba’s resignation as mayor. The ANC-governed province of Gauteng took over the DA-led administration in Tshwane, before a court overruled that decision. Nelson Mandela Bay still has an acting mayor and saw a collapse in services during the time that the UDM’s Mongameli Bongani was mayor. It is also about to run out of water.
Any delay in elections means all of those problems remain. The sooner all of this is resolved the better.
For information as to how Relocation Africa can help you with your Mobility, Immigration, Research, Remuneration, and Expat Tax needs, email info@relocationafrica.com, or call us on +27 21 763 4240.
https://www.relocationafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/05/voter-registration.jpg7281200Andrew Stegmannhttps://www.relocationafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/09/relocationafricagroup.jpgAndrew Stegmann2020-05-13 10:12:162020-05-13 10:12:17COVID-19 Could Impact South Africa’s 2021 Local Elections
Relo Originals: The Importance of Recycling
At Relocation Africa, over the years, we’ve recognized the importance of a strong recycling culture at our head office, and of motivating team members to get involved in our efforts to be kinder to the planet.
As we all know, sustainability has been a hot topic for some time now, with many companies looking for ways to put the environment higher up the priority list when it comes to operational decisions. Climate change is an ever-looming threat to the well-being of future generations, and the world as a whole is already well behind with where it should have been, with emissions targets not having been met, and waste disposal, especially of non-biodegradables, being at far too high a level for the long-term.
At our head office in Cape Town, we’ve decided to take a multifaceted approach to sustainability. This includes:
Oasis Recycling Depot
From left: Tanja Glatz, Marlyse Wood, Chantelle Butcher, Lucy Smith, Joy Jackson, Eloise Williams, Inaaz Arend, Nausheena Hoosain, Rene Stegmann, Lynn Mackenzie, Quintin Coetzee
Even though individual efforts may seem small, when they add up on a company-wide scale, they are truly impactful. And if more companies join in, we may stand a chance at reaching those elusive targets. We hope our initiatives inspire more businesses to reduce, reuse, and recycle. Let’s all join together to reduce waste, and have a positive impact on our natural environment.
Gallery
For information as to how Relocation Africa can help you with your Mobility, Immigration, Research, Remuneration, and Expat Tax needs, email info@relocationafrica.com, or call us on +27 21 763 4240.
Sources: [1], [2]. Image sources: [1], [2].
Foreign-trained Doctors Turn to the Courts to Be Able to Work in SA
More than 100 South African doctors who studied overseas are in limbo because the country’s presiding medical board is allegedly preventing them from writing an exam that would allow them to practice in their home country.
As South Africa’s fight against Covid-19 intensifies, News24 can reveal that a group of qualified and trained doctors are sitting at home without work. They have turned to the courts in the hope of getting an order to allow them to take the Health Professionals Council of SA (HPCSA) board exam, which would qualify them for internships at public hospitals.
In papers filed in the Gauteng High Court, 38 foreign-trained doctors allege that the HPCSA gave an assurance more than once that they would be able take the exam, only to later renege on the basis that the medical schools they studied at – in Romania, China and Guyana – are not “recognised” by the HPCSA.
Doctors, who have been trained and qualified at foreign medical schools, have been battling with the council since at least 2018.
Memorandum
The organisation representing the doctors, South African Internationally Trained Health Professionals Association (SAITHPA), has also written a memorandum to the Presidency and the Ministry of Health to ask them to investigate allegations of corruption, racism and victimisation faced by foreign-trained doctors.
SAITHPA claims that at least 175 foreign-trained doctors are without work because of various obstacles the HPCSA has allegedly put in their way. However, interviews News24 has done with affected doctors, who are part of the court case, as well as academics involved in internship programmes, suggest the number could be higher.
The memorandum to the Presidency also contains allegations that doctors who wrote a board exam in January are still waiting for their results.
This situation is sure to cause a stir among the medical fraternity, which was recently criticised by the Department of Health for roping in Cuban doctors to aid the Covid-19 fight – an effort that apparently costs more than R400 million – while dozens of trained doctors stew at home.
Health Minister Zweli Mkhize defended the Cuban doctors’ arrangement, saying they were merely here to supplement medical efforts and not to take jobs.
‘Repeatedly failed’
The HPCSA has not responded to the allegations in court. The body was sent a detailed query, but did not respond for several days before publication.
The Department of Health referred News24 to the HPCSA, but said it was aware of “some South Africans who trained in some foreign countries but have repeatedly failed HPCSA board examinations”.
“Government cannot risk employing persons who are not duly qualified,” spokesperson Popo Maja said.
The Presidency did not respond to a request for comment.
Court action
In court papers, Sarvashni Chetty, a doctor who graduated at the Texila American University in Guyana, alleges in an affidavit that 12 of the applicants had applied to write the board exam in 2019, but were unable to because the exam can only take 120 applicants.
On the back of this, the Legal Resources Centre (LRC), on behalf of 111 foreign-trained doctors, threatened the HPCSA with legal action if the doctors were not able to sit the exam.
The HPCSA later allegedly allowed 60 of them to take the exam in January 2019, and the rest would take it in a slot in May that year.
But the council later allegedly reneged on this commitment for some who had applied for the board exam, on the basis that “the institution from which they obtained their basic medical degree was ‘not evaluated by the relevant Medical and Dental Board previously’.”
This effectively left foreign-trained doctors in limbo, while the HPCSA would “review the curriculum offered at the universities that the applicants graduated from”, court papers allege.
‘Unanswered’
The affidavit then lists 14 times SAITHPA or doctors wrote to the HPCSA to furnish them with the details of their qualifications or to try to come to an understanding, or to place on record exactly which medical schools it did recognise. These allegedly went unanswered.
Eventually, on 16 August, 2019, the HPCSA allegedly gave its “assurance” that those who SAITHPA represented would write “the first available examination in 2020”.
However, the following month, the HPCSA allegedly wrote to SAITHPA saying it was “unable to commit” to that arrangement.
The other 37 applicants filed confirmatory affidavits of Chetty’s allegations.
Her affidavit says the situation has left her and her fellow applicants suffering “severe emotional, financial and other prejudices”.
‘Invaluable in an emergency situation’
Meanwhile, the memorandum to the Presidency says results for a board exam that doctors took in January have still not been released, without a reason.
“Consequently, graduates who qualified to register for internship in the mid-year cycle, were unable to do so,” the letter reads.
Dr Robert Ian Caldwell, a retired doctor who was involved with foreign-trained medical students during his time at the University of KwaZulu-Natal’s School of Clinical Medicine, said he had also been alerted about these results not being released.
Caldwell said even though passing this exam would only qualify the doctors to take on internships, they would still be useful during a crisis such as the one the country currently faces.
“Even at the most junior level, they’d be invaluable at an emergency situation.”
For information as to how Relocation Africa can help you with your Mobility, Immigration, Research, Remuneration, and Expat Tax needs, email info@relocationafrica.com, or call us on +27 21 763 4240.
Sources: [1], [2]. Image sources: [1], [2].
Main Points from South African President Ramaphosa’s COVID-19 Address
President Cyril Ramaphosa announced South Africa will be moving to Level 3 lockdown by the end of May, with certain areas most affected by the coronavirus outbreak remaining at Level 4.
In a televised address, Ramaphosa said the next phase of the country’s coronavirus response, as people returned to work, would “in many ways be more difficult than the present one”.
He added the coronavirus would continue to be a global health threat for some time to come, and the fight against it needed to become part of South Africans’ daily lives.
South Africa would have seen 80 000 infections already without lockdown
Without a national lockdown, South Africa would have seen 80 000 infections by now, Ramaphosa said. The national lockdown was, therefore “absolutely necessary” to help the authorities prepare.
He said while South Africa mourned the loss of 219 lives due to the virus, the number of deaths would have been eight times higher without the lockdown.
He said by the time the US had a similar stage of the disease, it had recorded 22 000 deaths and the UK more than 19 000.
Without the lockdown, Ramaphosa added, South Africa’s health facilities would have been overwhelmed and many thousands more people would have died.
Around 181 people per million have been infected by the virus
South Africa’s positivity rate, the percentage of cases identified out of all the tests conducted, had remained low, he said.
Ramaphosa added the number of confirmed infections in South Africa was around 181 people per million of the population.
By contrast, he said, countries such as the US, the UK, Spain, Italy and Singapore have between 2 400 and 4 600 coronavirus cases per million people.
“It is significant that out of the 12 074 confirmed cases in South Africa, we have recorded 4 745 recoveries.”
South Africa now has 25 000 additional beds for quarantine
Ramaphosa said by delaying the spread of the virus, South Africa was able to strengthen the health system’s capacity by increasing the number of beds available for quarantine by 25 000.
He added the lockdown had helped the country to source and produce substantial quantities of personal protective equipment for health workers, vital medical equipment and other supplies.
Ramaphosa thanked the US for a donation of 1 000 ventilators that will assist in treating serious coronavirus patients.
Over 9 million South Africans have been screened, 370 000 tested
In what is the country’s largest and most extensive public health mobilisation, Ramaphosa said fieldworkers have screened more than nine million people, and nearly 370 000 coronavirus tests have been completed.
“It has been made possible by the hard work and dedication of thousands of community workers, nurses, doctors and other health workers,” he added. “They made enormous sacrifices to ensure the success of the lockdown.”
UIF paid out over R11bn to 2 million employees
Ramaphosa said the special Covid-19 relief fund of the Unemployment Insurance Fund (UIF) had paid out more than R11 billion to two million employees employed by over 160 000 companies in distress since it was launched.
He added the government’s various funds have supported more than 27 000 small businesses since they were launched.
The government’s R200 billion Covid-19 loan guarantee scheme, which is part of the R500 billion relief package, has also started to process applications from small- and medium-sized businesses on Wednesday.
Around 3 million South Africans applied for Covid-19 grant
Some three million people have applied for the Covid-19 grant of R350 per month for unemployed South Africans who received no other form of assistance from the government, Ramaphosa said.
He added an additional R5 billion have also been paid out to social grant recipients at the beginning of May to assist poor households.
Level 3 lockdown for most of South Africa by end of May
Ramaphosa said a consultation process would start with relevant stakeholders to place most of the country on Level 3 lockdown by the end of May.
Parts of the country with the highest rates of infection will, however, remain on Level 4 lockdown.
Infections were for now mostly concentrated in a few metropolitan municipalities and districts in the country, Ramaphosa said.
“I will repeat what I have said before: If we lift the lockdown too abruptly and too quickly, we risk a rapid and unmanageable surge in infections,” he added.
Level 3 lockdown will see the return of alcohol sales between 08:00 and 12:00 between Mondays and Wednesdays, limited domestic air travel, and all clothing and textiles sales, under draft rules.
Level 4 lockdown regulations will change
The government would in the coming days announce certain changes to Level 4 regulations to expand permitted business activities in the retail space and e-commerce and reduce restrictions on exercise, Ramaphosa said.
Some lockdown regulations have been unclear and contradictory
He added some of the lockdown regulations decided upon by the government have been unclear, some have been contradictory and some have been poorly explained.
Ramaphosa said implementation had sometimes been slow and enforcement had sometimes been inconsistent and too harsh.
“This evening, I want to reaffirm my commitment and the commitment of the government I lead to take whatever action is necessary to safeguard the life, the dignity and the interests of the South African people.
“Where we have disappointed, we will continue to make amends. Where we make mistakes, we will continue to correct them.”
View the full address below.
For information as to how Relocation Africa can help you with your Mobility, Immigration, Research, Remuneration, and Expat Tax needs, email info@relocationafrica.com, or call us on +27 21 763 4240.
Sources: [1], [2]. Image sources: [1], [2].
COVID-19 Could Impact South Africa’s 2021 Local Elections
The coronavirus and the lockdown have disrupted almost all forms of daily life – and are likely to have an impact on next year’s local government elections.
While there is no formal public discussion as yet about whether the 2021 local government elections will be postponed, it is possible there will be some material disruption. The dynamics of our politics leading up to those polls will be affected by the government’s response to the Covid-19 pandemic, and how the lockdown plays out.
So far, no national government or electoral official has said that the polls will be postponed. But already by-elections for councillors in different parts of the country have been delayed.
The five-year term of the current council administration ends in early August 2021. Legally, a new election must be held within 90 days on either side of the last election date — 3 August 2016 was the last municipal poll — which takes the latest possible deadline to the start of November 2021.
If an election can not be held by that time, it would be a first in democratic South Africa’s electoral history. Parliament may be asked to consider an intervention to allow for special circumstances.
While the Municipal Structures Act allows the co-operative governance minister to set an election date after consultation with the Electoral Commission of South Africa (IEC), that date must fall within the 90-day window. And although the Local Government Municipal Elections Act allows for the postponement of an election, that delayed date must still fall within that 90-day window.
Some parties may want a delay, others may not, and that could lead to more political problems and friction.
Another option is for the Constitutional Court to be asked if it can authorise an election outside the constitutional timeframe. This may be a quicker and easier option.
But it may pose a problem for the ConCourt.
Judges are not supposed to “make law” but to interpret law. To allow, or authorise a late election would surely be seen as “making law”. To postpone a constitutionally mandated election is a very significant decision. Judges may well feel that they don’t have the power to do so, as this would be Parliament’s responsibility.
A third possibility is that an application to the high court could be made.
Either way, all of the political parties registered at the IEC would get the chance to make their arguments. But if that were to happen, and just one party to the case were unhappy with the outcome, it would end up in the Constitutional Court anyway.
All of this has the potential for very real discord and multiple frictions. Other arguments could come into it, including the long-running debate in the ANC about whether local elections should become a part of the national and provincial elections.
(It’s hard to know where the ANC is on this at the moment. When he was secretary-general, Gwede Mantashe said that elections every 2½ years would help to keep the party unified.)
Current events will have an important impact on the campaigns leading up to the elections, and on the final results.
In 2016, famously, the ANC lost outright control of Joburg, Tshwane and Nelson Mandela Bay. There is enough evidence that one of the main drivers for this was not only the state of those cities (although it must have played an important role) but national politics. The figure of Jacob Zuma, as president at the time, hung over that election and its results. Who could ever forget the sight of four young women standing in front of Zuma as the results were being declared, holding up placards asking people to remember the woman he was accused (and acquitted) of raping?
The world and our politics appear to be moving faster than ever. Vladimir Lenin’s dictum that “there are decades when nothing happens; and there are weeks when decades happen” did not feel more true than, well, in decades. That said, it seems reasonable to assume that it is possible these elections will be seen as a referendum on the government’s response to the coronavirus.
They will, in some ways, be a judgment of the lockdown and whatever further transpires.
This may prove a difficult terrain for all parties. If the economic damage caused by the lockdown matches the projections (which range from the Reserve Bank’s prediction of a 6.2% contraction in GDP to Business for SA’s suggestion of a 17% contraction) everyone will be poorer. And angry. And frustrated.
The vote could turn into a protest against “all parties as we know them”.
As people become hungry, tensions between different groups will rise. There are already signs that this is happening as different views on the lockdown emerge. By then, these tensions could be much more stark.
Elections have a tendency of magnifying differences between people, and politicians tack to certain constituencies. If the middle classes continue to criticise Co-operative Governance Minister Nkosazana Dlamini Zuma, for example, the claim that these attacks are based on racism and not on her expertise/delivery could gather steam. This would make the elections more difficult than those in the past.
It is also possible that an election is held that raises social tensions and results in a very low poll. This may be legally legitimate, but not in the national interest.
At the same time, the ANC might be concerned that as the more establishment party, the one in power, it could lose the elections. The DA may feel it has not had time to fully sort out the internal differences (both its policy conference and its leadership conference have been postponed). The EFF has been almost silent during the lockdown and may believe it would struggle to regain any momentum it has lost.
Hence, the three major parties may not oppose a postponement of the polls.
However, that won’t solve many of the problems that exist in the local government sphere.
There have been moments of complete chaos in three of the big metros. Joburg is run by the ANC, but only just, after Herman Mashaba’s resignation as mayor. The ANC-governed province of Gauteng took over the DA-led administration in Tshwane, before a court overruled that decision. Nelson Mandela Bay still has an acting mayor and saw a collapse in services during the time that the UDM’s Mongameli Bongani was mayor. It is also about to run out of water.
Any delay in elections means all of those problems remain. The sooner all of this is resolved the better.
For information as to how Relocation Africa can help you with your Mobility, Immigration, Research, Remuneration, and Expat Tax needs, email info@relocationafrica.com, or call us on +27 21 763 4240.
Sources: [1], [2]. Image sources: [1], [2].