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Covid-19

Keep calm and carry on (communicating)

By: Creamer Media Reporter 6th April 2020 During the Covid-19 crisis, it is essential for companies to keep on communicating. During the Covid-19 crisis, Creamer Media is offering companies exposure to our readership, who are decision makes in South African industry and mining. Creamer Media has invited companies and public relations... →

Deadline for public transport, automotive guideline public comment extended

By: Tasneem Bulbulia 6th April 2020 As a result of the measures implemented in South Africa to curb the spread of Covid-19, the Competition Commission has extended the closing date for public comments into the Market Inquiry Into the land-based Public Passenger Transport to June 30. Submissions had been due to close on March 31. →

Wits produces face shields for hospital staff

By: Simone Liedtke 6th April 2020 Teams at the University of Witwatersrand’s (Wits’) Digital Incubator at the Tshimologong Precinct, the School of Mechanical, Industrial and Aeronautical Engineering (MIA) along with the Transnet Centre of Systems Engineering (TCSE) and the Transnet Matlafatšo Centre (TMC), have come together to... →

Association to assist in overcoming South Africa’s water woes

By: Simone Liedtke 6th April 2020 The Association of Steel Tube and Pipe Manufacturers of South Africa (ASTPM) says it will provide assistance to and work as a strategic stakeholder with municipalities and water authorities to see to it that the urgently needed implementation of the National Water and Sanitation Master Plan’s... →

Cooperative Governance dept launches Covid-19 citizen interface portal

By: Schalk Burger 6th April 2020 The Department of Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs (CoGTA) on April 4 announced the launch of a digital communication platform, Unathi, through which, using natural language-guided questions, citizens can anonymously report Covid-19 symptoms in themselves or their family members,... →

Secure, designated digital channels important for remote work

By: Schalk Burger 6th April 2020 Flexible and remote working arrangements may pose a substantial and costly risk to employers from a cybersecurity perspective and it is imperative for business to review and adopt an information security policy that employees must adhere to, multinational law firm Cliffe Dekker Hofmeyr says.... →

M&A activity to pick up in second half of this year − EY survey

By: Tasneem Bulbulia 6th April 2020 Business leaders across the world are looking beyond the immediate impact of Covid-19 on supply chains, revenue and profitability as they expect a significant increase in mergers and acquisitions (M&A) activity in the second half of the year, the twenty-second edition of the EY Confidence... →

Global GDP to contract 1.9% this year, spark commodity oversupply, says Fitch

By: Simone Liedtke 6th April 2020 Owing to unprecedented lockdown in much of Europe, the US and across the globe, the world is currently experiencing considerably lower economic activity, which in turn significantly reduces commodity consumption, says ratings agency Fitch Ratings. As a result, it expects global gross domestic... →

Aurecon assisting government with national Covid-19 response

By: Tasneem Bulbulia 6th April 2020 Engineering, design and advisory company Aurecon is collaborating with the South African government and assisting where it can during the national lockdown as the country strives to curb the coronavirus outbreak in the country. “Over a million people worldwide have been infected with the... →

Kate Roper

Governments urged to integrate clean energy into Covid-19 stimulus packages

By: Terence Creamer 6th April 2020 Economic stimulus measures adopted in response to the Covid-19 pandemic should embrace sustainability and climate goals, International Renewable Energy Agency (Irena) director-general Francesco La Camera argues in the agency’s Renewables Capacity Statistics 2020 report. Released on April 6, the... →

Economy may shrink by up to 4% due to coronavirus – SARB

By: News24Wire 6th April 2020 South Africa's economy may contract by between 2% and 4% this year as a result of the coronavirus pandemic, the South African Reserve Bank has said. In its latest Monetary Policy Review, the central bank said there was also limited scope for an economic rebound in 2021, with growth unlikely to... →

Photo by Bloomberg
Reserve Bank Governor Lesetja Kganyago

Grindrod responds to Covid-19 pandemic

By: Tasneem Bulbulia 6th April 2020 Amid the global spread of the Covid-19 pandemic, JSE-listed Grindrod has established a task team to monitor the specific requirements and recommendations of governments and their health agencies in the countries in which it operates. The task team has developed comprehensive response plans and... →

Anglo going to great lengths to support South Africa in its Covid-19 hour of need

By: Martin Creamer 6th April 2020 Diversified mining company Anglo American is going to remarkable lengths to support South Africa through the devastating Covid-19 crisis. The London- and Johannesburg-listed company, headed by Australian Mark Cutifani, is showing far-reaching corporate humanitarianism by taking firm steps to... →

Photo by Bloomberg
Mark Cutifani

Research bureau develops tool to ensure effective monitoring of local food supply chain

By: Rebecca Campbell 6th April 2020 The Bureau for Food and Agricultural Policy (BFAP), an independent research agency, has developed a web-based monitoring tool to allow key participants in the food value chain to report breakdowns and blockages within the chain. This will permit fast and applicable actions to deal with these... →

Tribunal to conduct excessive pricing hearings through audio, video conferencing

By: Marleny Arnoldi 6th April 2020 Since Trade, Industry and Competition Minister Ebrahim Patel last month issued regulations prohibiting firms from charging an excessive prices for specified foods and services necessary to minimise the spread of Covid-19, more excessive pricing regulations have been issued. The additional... →

Didiza unveils R1.2bn fund to support small-scale farmers

By: Marleny Arnoldi 6th April 2020 Agriculture, Land Reform and Rural Development Minister Thoko Didiza on April 6 said agricultural production continued to ensure food security in South Africa and reiterated that there was no need for panic buying as it only served to create shortages in the food supply chain and result in... →

Agriculture, Land Reform and Rural Development Minister Thoko Didiza

Organisation calls for companies to divert PPE stocks to healthcare sector

By: Marleny Arnoldi 6th April 2020 Business grouping Business for South Africa, through its Public Health Work Group, is calling on all companies that are not operating and in lockdown to urgently divert their stocks of personal protective equipment (PPE) for use in the national healthcare sector. The organisation – which... →

BSA's Public Health Work Group leader Stavros Nicolaou

UK government contracts charter flights to repatriate British tourists from South Africa

By: Rebecca Campbell 6th April 2020 The UK Government has announced that it has engaged airline Virgin Atlantic to carry out repatriation flights for British citizens caught in South Africa by the latter country’s current lockdown. On average, some 430 000 British tourists visit South Africa each year. The first such flight will... →

Regional African task forces tackle Covid-19

By: Thabi Madiba 6th April 2020 While the world battles with the ongoing coronavirus pandemic, the African Union Bureau’s regional coronavirus task forces, established across all five regions on the continent, will step in to tackle the crisis in Africa, which has over 7 800 confirmed cases. AU chairperson Cyril Ramaphosa said... →

President Cyril Ramaphosa

Icasa to urgently, responsibly release emergency spectrum

By: Natasha Odendaal 6th April 2020 The Independent Communications Authority of South Africa is planning to temporarily release the high-demand International Mobile Telecommunications spectrum as telecommunications demand surges amid the Covid-19 pandemic. The move aims to ease the burden of regulatory compliance for the sector... →

Denel joins campaign to develop local medical ventilator

By: Rebecca Campbell 6th April 2020 State-owned defence industrial group Denel has committed itself to assist the country in the fight against the Covid-19 pandemic in every way it can. In this regard, its top priority is to assist in the local design and development of a medical ventilator. This programme, designated Project... →

Casspir mine protected vehicles

Alibaba founder Jack Ma donates more medical supplies to Africa

By: Sane Dhlamini 6th April 2020 Alibaba founder Jack Ma has announced the donation of another batch of medical supplies to each of the 54 African countries, through the Jack Ma Foundation. The latest donation includes 500 ventilators, 200 000 suits and face shields, 2 000 thermometers, 1-million swabs and extraction kits, and... →

Alibaba Founder Jack Ma & President Cyril Ramaphosa (26/10/2018)

Almost 1 500 water tanks delivered in Gauteng to avert spread of coronavirus

By: News24Wire 6th April 2020 A total of 1 482 water tanks have been delivered in various parts of Gauteng to ameliorate protracted water shortages in water-deprived communities and avert their susceptibility to the deadly novel coronavirus. The Department of Human Settlements, Water and Sanitation (DWS) activated its... →

Both large, small markets suffering solar PV supply chain effects

By: Marleny Arnoldi 3rd April 2020 The disruption caused by the Covid-19 pandemic on Chinese solar photovoltaic (PV) manufacturing companies has prompted a major jolt in the global solar PV supply chain, says analytics and consulting company GlobalData. “The resulting shortage of PV components is disrupting the industry at a... →

Worldwide, passenger air traffic fell sharply in February, Iata reports

By: Rebecca Campbell 3rd April 2020 Global air passenger traffic in February, measured in revenue passenger kilometres, fell by 14.1% in comparison to February 2019, the International Air Transport Association (Iata) reported on April 2. This was the sharpest fall since the notorious terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001 in the... →

South Africans abroad are now allowed to return home - but the how is unclear

By: News24Wire 3rd April 2020 South Africans who are abroad and want to return during the lockdown are allowed to do so, Minister in the Presidency Jackson Mthembu has said. The how, however, remains unclear. Mthembu tweeted the update on Friday morning, elaborating on remarks made by National Command Council ministers on... →

Minister in the Presidency Jackson Mthembu

South African tech community throngs to help government fight Covid-19 threat

By: Schalk Burger 3rd April 2020 Hundreds of volunteer information and communication technology (ICT) professionals have contributed data, tools and skills to develop a vulnerability map that illustrate the communities most at risk from the Covid-19 pandemic. This map has been presented to a Presidential planning meeting,... →

Steep drop in movement around SA cities during lockdown, Google data shows

By: News24Wire 3rd April 2020 South Africa has seen a steep decline in the number of people moving around cities in the wake of the announcement of a 21-day lockdown by President Cyril Ramaphosa, according to new 'mobility report' data released by Google on Friday. The data – which Google released in a bid to help officials... →

National Treasury highlights PFMA extensions

By: Tasneem Bulbulia 3rd April 2020 Following the declaration of a state of disaster and a national lockdown in the country, Finance Minister Tito Mboweni, in terms of the Public Finance Management Act (PFMA), has issued an exemption notice to institutions to which that Act applies to ensure effective financial management and to... →

M&R outlines evolving impact of Covid-19 disruptions to its projects

By: Marleny Arnoldi 3rd April 2020 JSE-listed Murray & Roberts (M&R) has noted the evolving impact of Covid-19 on its active projects in Australasia, the Americas and sub-Saharan Africa. The Oyu Tolgoi project in Mongolia, which the company’s Oil & Gas and Underground Mining platforms run in joint venture with a third partner,... →

Boeing temporarily closes its military helicopter manufacturing plants

By: Rebecca Campbell 3rd April 2020 Giant US aerospace and defence group Boeing announced on April 2 that it was, with effect from close of business on April 3, suspending production at its complex at Ridley Township (just south of Philadelphia International Airport in the US state of Pennsylvania) for two weeks, as a result of the... →

A Boeing CH-47 Chinook of the UK Royal Air Force firing flares (UK MOD)

Wine industry in bittersweet situation with harvesting allowed, but exports denied

By: Marleny Arnoldi 3rd April 2020 South Africa’s 2020 wine grape crop will still yield exceptional wines despite uncertainty at first considering South Africa’s lockdown practices, says industry body Vinpro. The industry is harvesting the last few thousand tonnes of crops across ten wine regions in the country, owing to a... →

Rand weakens to all-time low, as analysts warn it may breach R20/$

By: News24Wire 3rd April 2020 The rand hit a new all-time low on Friday morning, as it continued to battle the impact of last week's credit rating downgrade by Moody's and Covid-19 fears which have seen investors fleeing risky emerging market currencies. The local currency weakened 1.7% to R18.77/$, and it is now nearly 40%... →

Airlink working with SAA to solve re-ticketing problem for post-lockdown flights

By: Rebecca Campbell 3rd April 2020 South African private sector airline Airlink has announced that it is working with State-owned flag carrier South African Airways (SAA) to ensure a smooth process for the revalidation and re-accommodation of tickets and vouchers issued by SAA for future Airlink flights. When scheduled air... →

Broadband Infraco, ItakaneICT partner to enable cashless platforms

By: Natasha Odendaal 3rd April 2020 Broadband Infraco and ItakaneICT have partnered to deploy cashless payment platforms to rural and disadvantaged communities. The move will help in dispensing and transacting financially without using physical cash amid the Covid-19 outbreak. →

Local ventilator production could start within a month, says Naacam

By: Irma Venter 3rd April 2020 Much of the reverse engineering on the Penlon Nuffield 200 ventilator is complete, with prototype production imminent, says National Association of Automotive Component and Allied Manufacturers executive director Renai Moothilal. “If things go according to plan, full-scale volume production can... →

The Penlon Nuffield 200

Gold has a role to play in Covid-19 testing toolbox

By: Tasneem Bulbulia 3rd April 2020 Gold is being used in new Covid-19 rapid tests around the world, which identify the presence of biomarkers from the body’s immune response to Covid-19 instead of looking for the virus itself. The tests can also help detect if a person has been infected with Covid-19 even after the virus is no... →

Covid-19 SA Dashboard

By: Media Hack Collective

South Africa’s Official COVID-19 Website

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