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African News Agency

The African News Agency is a news and content syndication service, focusing on news about Africa written by Africans for an African and international audience.

'Sit-down' meals at restaurants and personal care services permitted in South Africa as lockdown eased

17th June 2020 South African President Cyril Ramaphosa on Wednesday announced a further easing of coronavirus (Covid-19) lockdown regulations in the country, allowing the opening of restaurants for sit-down meals, commercially licensed accommodation and personal care services, including hairdressers. “When I... →

SAA business rescue plan might not be adequate, govt says

17th June 2020 South Africa's government said it was concerned that a business rescue plan for troubled national carrier South African Airways published late on Tuesday might not be adequate. The government placed financially strapped South African Airways under business rescue last December, but efforts to... →

Covid-19 patients can only return to work after 14-day isolation, medical exam – Govt

11th June 2020 South Africa's employment and labour department on Thursday stressed that workers who had been diagnosed with Covid-19 could only return to their jobs after completing 14 days of self-isolation and undergoing a medical examination. The department issued its statement in the wake of local media... →

Cape Town dam levels dip to 54.6% of capacity

9th June 2020 Water levels at dams supplying the Cape Town metropolitan area have decreased by 0.5 percent over the past week to 54.6 percent of total capacity, the city council said on Tuesday. In a statement, the council said water consumption was at 659-million litres per day during the week of June 1 to... →

Pupils will now return to school on June 8, says basic education department

1st June 2020 Pupils will only return to school on June 8, the basic education department said on Sunday night. The Council of Education Ministers (CEM) met on Saturday to assess the state of readiness for reopening schools, the department said in a statement. →

PRASA not ready to resume commuter operations under Covid-19 level 3, says Mbalula

1st June 2020 While the Gautrain will resume its OR Tambo International Airport service when the coronavirus (Covid-19) level 3 regulations come into effect on June 1, the Passenger Rail Agency of South Africa (PRASA) is not yet ready to resume Metrorail commuter services, Transport Minister Fikile Mbalula... →

Phased reopening of air travel to start with main airports under Covid-19 regulations and directives

1st June 2020 Commercial aircraft movement, subject to the coronavirus (Covid-19) level 3 lockdown regulations as of June 1, will start with OR Tambo International Airport, Cape Town International, King Shaka International, and Lanseria International in phase 1 of three phases, Transport Minister Fikile... →

SA's economic reopening while Covid-19 numbers rise is unique – Mkhize

26th May 2020 South Africa found itself in the unique position of lifting lockdown restrictions as the national number of Covid-19 infections surged, Health Minister Zweli Mkhize told the National Council of Provinces on Tuesday. Mkhize said the government had no choice to lift confinement measures given the... →

Health Minister Zweli Mkhize

SA schools make progress in getting ready to reopen on June 1 - education department

26th May 2020 South African schools are making progress in preparations to reopen on June 1 after shutting down due to the Covid-19 outbreak, although some have not yet received their safety material, the department of education said on Tuesday. In a statement, the department said the council of education... →

Basic Education Minister Angie Motshekga

Engineers at SA's North West University develop kit to help schools screen for Covid-19

21st May 2020 Engineers at South Africa's North West University have developed a testing kit they hope will help resolve the congestion likely to occur during screening for Covid-19 when schools resume classes next month, the institution said on Thursday. South African schools and universities have been closed... →

Gordhan and SAA business rescue practitioners trade barbs over rescue plan

15th May 2020 MPs on Friday heard from South African Airways's business rescue practitioners that a lack of funding severely hampered their work, while Public Enterprises Minister Pravin Gordhan questioned their spending decisions and their future objectives for the stricken national carrier. Siviwe Dongwana,... →

Too little, too late says small business chamber on Ramaphosa's speech

14th May 2020 The National Small Business Chamber said on Thursday that president Cyril Ramaphosa's announcement that the country could move from a level 4 to level 3 Covid-19 lockdown by the end of May had come "too little, too late" for small business owners. Ramaphosa made the statement on Wednesday night,... →

President Cyril Ramaphosa

South African trade conditions slump in April due to Covid-19 lockdown

14th May 2020 Trading conditions in South Africa were badly affected during April by a lockdown aimed at limiting Covid-19 transmissions, with an index that tracks activity declining 11 points, a leading business chamber said on Thursday. The South African Chamber of Commerce and Industry said its latest... →

Mkhize salutes nurses who died of Covid-19 in International Nurses Day speech

12th May 2020 Health Minister Zweli Mkhize on Tuesday dedicated this year’s International Nurses Day to the health practitioners who died in the ongoing arduous battle against the novel coronavirus. “As a department, we recognise the need to prioritise the nursing profession along with the well-being of... →

Health Minister Zweli Mkhize

SAA failing to pay tax deducted from staff salaries to Sars

12th May 2020 South African Airways has not paid over the income tax the company deducted from its employees to the South African Revenue Service and is therefore in breach of the bailout conditions imposed on it by the National Treasury, the Democratic Alliance said on Tuesday. The stricken airline's failure... →

South African universities isolate SA’s first novel coronavirus lab culture

12th May 2020 Collaborative efforts by the University of the Western Cape (UWC) and Stellenbosch University (SU) have yielded South Africa's first isolated novel coronavirus culture. Dr Tasnim Suliman from UWC managed to isolate the culture. →

Dangote Cement supports Cameroon's fight against Covid-19

12th May 2020 Nigerian cement-manufacturing company Dangote has handed over personal protection equipment (PPE) kits worth 100-million CFA francs to Cameroon’s ministry of public health to support health-care workers on the front line in the country's fight against Covid-19. Cameroon has been fighting the... →

WHO lists three criteria before schools are reopened

12th May 2020 The World Health Organisation (WHO) on Monday, called on decision makers to reflect on a number of key factors when deciding on whether and how to reopen schools. "First, a clear understanding about current Covid-19 transmission and severity of the virus in children is needed. Second, the... →

SA statistics agency to collect labour data telephonically due to Covid-19

7th May 2020 Statistics South Africa said on Thursday it would collect second quarter data for its labour force survey over the phone, due to restrictions on face-to-face collections imposed by a nationwide lockdown to contain the Covid-19 pandemic. In a statement, statistician-general Risenga Maluleke said... →

Air transport, tourism bodies appeal for urgent support to Africa's travel industry

7th May 2020 Five international air transport and tourism bodies have launched an appeal to international financial institutions, country development partners and international donors to support Africa’s travel and tourism sector which has been brought to a virtual standstill due to Covid-19. The industry... →

Gordhan voices criticism of SAA business rescue effort

7th May 2020 Public Enterprises Minister Pravin Gordhan on Wednesday has told MPs every effort is being made to resolve the desperate situation surrounding South African Airways (SAA) and has suggested the carrier's business rescue practitioners have fallen short of government's expectations. Gordhan, in a... →

Photo by Reuters
Public Enterprises Minister Pravin Gordhan

Eskom reports lost income of R2.5bn in April

7th May 2020 Eskom's income has shrunk by about R2.5 billion in April as energy demand plummeted due to the country's national lockdown in response to the Covid-19 pandemic, the power utility's CEO Andre de Ruyter said on Wednesday. "We have seen a reduction in cash-generation for April of some R2.5 billion.... →

Eskom CEO Andre de Ruyter

Mboweni says he remains committed to 2019 blueprint for reform and growth

6th May 2020 South Africa's finance minister Tito Mboweni on Tuesday told members of parliament he remained committed to the structural reforms mooted in a blueprint for economic growth released by the National Treasury last year to a less-than-enthusiastic response from government's alliance partners.... →

Finance Minister Tito Mboweni

Mboweni calls for Covid-19 support for companies across race lines

5th May 2020 Finance minister Tito Mboweni on Tuesday said companies affected by the Covid-19 crisis should receive support regardless of the race of their owners and hinted he was challenging minister of tourism Mmamoloko Kubayi-Ngubane on the matter. "Race is a very vexing question," Mboweni told a meeting... →

Photo by WEF
Finance Minister Tito Mboweni

SA takes joint first place in 2019 open budget survey

5th May 2020 South Africa has once again come joint first with New Zealand in the 2019 Open Budget Index conducted by the International Budget Partnership through an Open Budget Survey. The win is in recognition of the country’s commitment to a transparent budget process. This is a repeat of the result from... →

S&P Global rating downgrade disappointing – SA government

30th April 2020 South Africa's government said it was disappointed by S&P Global's decision to lower its long term foreign and local currency debt ratings further into non-investment grade to ‘BB-’ and ‘BB’ respectively due to Covid-19 related pressures. In its review published late on Wednesday, the ratings... →

SA unions vow to work with government to save SAA, SA Express

29th April 2020 The National Union of Metalworkers of South Africa and the South African Cabin Crew Association said they had had constructive discussions with the government on ensuring the continued existence of troubled national carrier South African Airways and fellow state-owned airline SA Express. The... →

SAA left with choice between wind-down or liquidation, say business rescue practitioners

24th April 2020 The business rescue practitioners (BRPs) appointed to implement a rescue plan for national carrier South African Airways (SAA) have announced on Thursday that without further government funding they will not be able to comply with their mandate and that their only options would be to either wind... →

South Africa’s Covid-19 death toll rises to 65

23rd April 2020 The death toll from the coronavirus pandemic in South Africa has increased to 65, according to figures released by Health Minister Zweli Mkhize on Wednesday. “Today, we regrettably report seven more Covid-19 related deaths. Five of them occurred in the Western Cape and two in KwaZulu-Natal. This... →

Health Minister Zweli Mkhize

SA unions reject mass retrenchment proposals at national carrier SAA

20th April 2020 The National Union of Metalworkers of South Africa (Numsa) and the South African Cabin Crew Association (SACCA) said they had rejected a retrenchment proposal from the business rescue practitioners at financially-strapped national carrier South African Airways (SAA). The government placed SAA... →

Lockdown: agricultural sector identified as essential service

17th April 2020 The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, the African Union and international partners have joined hands in efforts to mitigate the consequences of the coronavirus lockdown on Africa's most vulnerable. Recently, the World Health Organization conveyed its concern about the... →

ANC thanks China as South Africa receives donation of medical equipment

15th April 2020 The African National Congress (ANC) on Tuesday welcomed the donation of “much-needed” medical supplies and personal protective equipment (PPE) from the People’s Republic of China to help the South African government’s ongoing efforts to combat the Covid-19 outbreak in the country. “The ANC... →

Mboweni says he is talking to global finance institutions on SA funding needs

14th April 2020 The National Treasury is talking to all international financial institutions as it explores ways of meeting South Africa's funding needs stemming from the Covid-19 pandemic, finance minister Tito Mboweni said on Tuesday. "The National Treasury is exploring all funding avenues to fund all Covid-19... →

Finance Minister Tito Mboweni

SARB cuts rates in latest response to Covid-19

14th April 2020 South Africa's central bank on Tuesday cut interest rates by 100 basis points for the second time in three weeks, taking its key repo rate down to 4.25 percent in the latest move aimed at mitigating the negative impact on the economy of the global Covid-19 pandemic. After an emergency meeting of... →

Photo by Bloomberg
SARB governor Lesetja Kganyago

Ramaphosa extends national lockdown till end of April, takes a pay cut

9th April 2020 President Cyril Ramaphosa on Thursday announced a two-week extension of South Africa's current national lockdown to slow the spread of the Covid-19 outbreak, warning that ending it too soon would see the disease "consume" the country. The lockdown, which was initially set to end at midnight on... →

President Cyril Ramaphosa

Stellenbosch University researcher makes sanitiser from stale bread

1st April 2020 Researchers at Stellenbosch University say they have discovered how to make hand sanitiser using stale bread crumbs. An experiment conducted by SU food scientist Dr Stefan Hayward, using the university's in-house fermentation tank, yielded 18 litres of alcohol-based sanitiser which could come in... →

Ramaphosa says screening for Covid-19 to be rolled out at 'huge scale'

31st March 2020 South African President Cyril Ramaphosa is hopeful the country will overcome the coronavirus outbreak despite the country recording its third Covid-19 death and confirmed cases increasing to 1,326. In a televised speech on Monday, Ramaphosa called on residents to adhere to the lockdown regulation... →

Photo by Creamer Media
President Cyril Ramaphosa

SA Treasury introduces tax subsidies among measures to mitigate impact of Covid-19

30th March 2020 South Africa's Treasury announced a tax subsidy for some employers, among measures to mitigate the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic on the economy. In a statement on Sunday, the Treasury said the measures, effective from April 1, were over and above the tax proposals made in the 2020 budget review... →

Finance Minister Tito Mboweni

Train services suspended for duration of lockdown - Mbalula

25th March 2020 All commuter rail services will shut down for the duration of South Africa's national lockdown, transport minister Fikile Mbalula said on Wednesday. "All long-distance passenger rail services, both public and private, will stop operations for the duration of the lockdown. Services of Shosholoza... →

SA manufacturing sector has small window to safeguard itself against Covid-19

25th March 2020 While the containment of the coronavirus (Covid-19) remains the biggest priority of governments and health organisations, its effects on businesses are starting to take their toll, a South African based management consulting firm says. Principal at Kearney, Sujeet Morar, says as cities start to... →

SAA to suspend all domestic flights from Friday as SA goes into lockdown

25th March 2020 National carrier South African Airways said it would suspend all its domestic flights from Friday until April 16 in compliance with a 21-day government lockdown announced by President to curb the spread of Covid-19. It said it would provide support to passengers intending to change their travel... →

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