President Cyril Ramaphosa will address the nation later today, Monday, 12 July 2021, on government’s response to persistent public violence in parts of the country, Acting Minister in the Presidency, Khumbudzo Ntshavheni said in a statement this afternoon. The exact time of the President’s address would be announced shortly. The address would follow the announcement by the South African National Defence Force (SANDF) that it has commenced with pre-deployment processes and procedures in line with a request for assistance received from the National Joint Operational and Intelligence Structure (NATJOINTS), Ntshavheni said. The request entailed SANDF support for police operations in parts…
Author: Staff Reporter
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Werner Pienaar, general manager at Pick n Pay, hands over two of 100 Cadbury PS chocolate bars to Department of Health Subdistrict Head Mohamed Docrat. They came with a big thank you from Pick n Pay to all our vaccinators, who are doing such a great job in our community. Photo suppliedWerner Pienaar, general manager at Pick n Pay, hands over two of 100 Cadbury PS chocolate bars to Department of Health Subdistrict Head Mohamed Docrat. They came with a big thank you from Pick n Pay to all our vaccinators, who are doing such a great job in our…
More than 250 artists from the Eastern Cape will showcase their talent at the Virtual National Arts Festival starting on Thursday 8 July, says Eastern Cape Sport, Recreation, Arts and Culture MEC, Fezeka Nkomonye. The festival which was going to be both virtual and physical will now be 100% virtual following the adjusted level 4 lockdown announced by the President. “The R2 million that we have put into the festival specifically for the Eastern Cape showcase reaffirms our commitment to supporting the sector in moving from relief to recovery,” said Nkomonye. “I’m particularly pleased with the work taking place in…
A new specimen of a South African dinosaur sheds light on how its family evolved a unique way of breathing. The scientific article describing the discovery was published in the eLife international scientific journal this week. The fossil was found in 2009 in the Eastern Cape by study co-author, Dr Billy de Klerk of the Albany Museum. An international team of scientists has used high-powered X-rays to show how an extinct dinosaur breathed. The team, led by South African PhD student Viktor Radermacher, were able to virtually reconstruct a new skeleton of the plant-eating dinosaur Heterodontosaurus tucki in unprecedented detail. They found surprising…
National Arts Festival goes fully online for second time 8-31 July The National Arts Festival’s hopes of having a live audience element at the 2021 Makhanda experience were dashed by the Level 4 Lockdown measures announced by President Cyril Ramaphosa on Sunday 27 June. The new legislation prohibits all cultural, social and political gatherings except funerals. Disappointed but undeterred, the National Arts Festival decided to host the Festival fully online and had just 10 days to get it ready. Already envisioned as a ‘hybrid event’ with both live and online shows, the Festival had planned to stage a small live…
The South African Social Security Agency (SASSA) says payments of social grants for the month of July will begin on Tuesday 6 July for old age (this includes any grants linked to these accounts) and Wednesday 7 July for disability grants age (this includes any grants linked to these accounts). Child support, foster and care dependency grants will be paid from Thursday 8 July 2021. Payments at cash paypoints will begin on 9 July 2021. SASSA’s response to Covid-19 pandemic SASSA encourages all social grants beneficiaries to adhere to non-pharmaceutical measures to curb the spread of this deadly virus. Beneficiaries…
As of 1 July 2021, public and private bodies are required to be compliant with the Protection of Personal Information Act (POPIA). The Act promotes the protection of personal information processed by public and private bodies and seeks to balance the right to privacy against other rights, such as access to information. Failure to comply with certain provisions of POPIA may result in the Information Regulator (IR) imposing an administrative penalty of up to R10 million or to imprisonment for a period not exceeding 10 years, or to both a fine and such imprisonment, the regulator warned earlier this year.…
The Electoral Commission has welcomed the decision of the Electoral Court to postpone eight by-elections scheduled for today Wednesday 30 June 2021. The Electoral Court this morning authorised the postponement of the by-elections for a period not exceeding 120 days from the date of the order. The Court also granted the Electoral Commission leave to approach the Court for further relief should it be necessary. The Electoral Commission took the decision to seek the court’s approval to postpone the by-elections this week following the implementation of level 4 lockdown restrictions which prohibit almost all public gatherings including political gatherings. The Electoral…
The Electoral Commission says it will urgently approach the Electoral Court to postpone eight by-elections scheduled for Wednesday, 30 June 2021. This follows the implementation of Adjusted Alert Level 4 lockdown restrictions, which ban all gatherings, including political ones. The Electoral Commission said it took the decision to seek the court’s approval to postpone the by-elections at an emergency meeting held on Monday, after President Cyril Ramaphosa announced additional measures to help curb the third wave currently gripping the country. “Wednesday’s by-elections were the final by-elections scheduled to be conducted prior to the cessation of by-elections ahead of the Local…
President Cyril Ramaphosa on Sunday announced the placement of the country under Adjusted Alert Level 4 for two weeks, due to the worrying increase in the numbers of COVID-19 infections in South Africa. As of Sunday, the seven-day average of new daily COVID-19 infections nationally has overtaken the peak of the first wave in July last year, and will soon overtake the peak of the second wave experienced in January this year. Gauteng now accounts for more than 60 percent of new cases in the country and with the exceptions of the Northern Cape and Free State, infections are rising…