Day: July 4, 2022

South Africa has administered a total of 606 COVID-19 vaccines in the last 24 hours, bringing the total number of vaccines administered to 36 861 626 to date.

According to data provided by the National Department of Health (NDoH), the highest number of vaccines administered were from the North West province with 196, followed by KwaZulu-Natal at 178 and Gauteng at 82.

As at 17:00 on Sunday, 50.61% of the adult population has been fully vaccinated.

Meanwhile, the country has recorded 226 new COVID-19 cases in the past 24 hours, bringing the total number of laboratory-confirmed cases to 3 995 291.

The department has also reported one death, bringing the total to 101 812 deaths to date.

The cumulative number of recoveries now stand at 3 883 889 with a recovery rate of 97.2%.

Source: South African Government News Agency

President Cyril Ramaphosa has called on civil society, government and communities to come together to fight the scourge of underage drinking in South Africa.

This in the wake of the tragedy in which 21 young people - some as young as 13 - died at the Enyobeni Tavern at Scenery Park in the Eastern Cape in the early hours of Sunday morning, recently.

In his weekly letter to the nation this morning, the President said the growing trend of underage drinking is not only illegal but also psychologically and physically detrimental.

"The increased social acceptability of young people drinking alcohol has become a serious problem in a country where the majority of the drinking population are already classified by the World Health Organisation as binge drinkers.

"Alcohol use amongst adolescents is associated with impaired function, absenteeism from learning, alcohol-related injuries, suicidal thoughts and attempts, and risky behaviour," he said.

Investigations into the tragedy by the South African Police Service and the Eastern Cape provincial government are already well underway.

"We must come together to combat this vice that is robbing our young people of the best years of their lives and making them susceptible to alcohol addiction.

"As families it means having open and frank conversations about alcohol and setting boundaries. Children under the age of 18 consuming alcohol is against the law.

"As adults we should refrain from practices such as sending minors to buy alcohol for us or capitulating to requests to buy these young people alcohol," President Ramaphosa said.

The President acknowledged that the abuse of alcohol by children "is a form of escapism" in communities where "opportunities for safe and age-appropriate recreation are few".

"In the wake of the tragedy, the community has pointed out that there are no viable sports grounds, community libraries or youth centres in Scenery Park.

"As government at national, provincial and local level we need to respond to the pleas of this community and those of other communities by developing more recreational spaces, facilities, programmes, and projects for our young people in disadvantaged areas in the province," he said.

President Ramaphosa reiterated his call for all South Africans to come together against alcohol abuse in children.

"As communities we must work with our Community Policing Forums, with our civic organizations and with our school governing bodies and play a more active role in the lives of our children and in ensuring their safety and well-being.

"Let us work together to protect our precious future generation from the ravages of alcohol and drug abuse and their effects.

"Let us work together to ensure that those who put profit before the lives of our children are not allowed to operate. Let us also set a positive example in our own relationship with alcohol," he said.

Source: South African Government News Agency

The Ad Hoc Joint Committee on Flood Disaster Relief and Recovery says it is satisfied with the clarification made on the R1 billion that was made available for the flood disaster in the KwaZulu-Natal.

This comes after the Ad Hoc Joint Committee held a meeting on Friday with the Minister in the Presidency, Mondli Gungubele, on behalf of the Minister of Finance, Enoch Godongwana.

The meeting included the Minister of Public Works and Infrastructure, Patricia de Lille, Deputy Ministers of Water and Sanitation, Dikeledi Magadzi, Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs (COGTA), Human Settlements, the Premiers of KwaZulu-Natal and North West, as well as the MECs of COGTA and Human Settlements from the affected provinces.

“National Treasury clarified that the money is available. However, there is a challenge with the application process for that money. The committee was also pleased with the clarification that the main challenge for National Treasury is the lack of coordination between the various spheres of government when applying for the funding,” the committee said in a statement.

The Committee said that it was briefed by the National Treasury during the meeting about the grants it has allocated thus far in response to the flood disaster.

“National Treasury informed the committee that it has approved R87.4 million provincial and municipal disaster response grants to six municipalities in KZN.

“It has also approved R325.8 million in provincial emergency housing grant in KZN and R16.6 million in municipal emergency housing grant for Alfred Nzo municipality to fund the provision of temporary shelters for 258 destitute households.

“R8.3 million has been transferred and the municipality will be required to spend at least 80 per cent of this amount before the second tranche can be disbursed,” the committee said.

The committee was also informed that approved reprioritisation of conditional grants included for immediate response included R65 million for water services infrastructure for hiring of water tankering in EThekwini, Ugu and iLembe district municipalities.

The committee said that R41.3 million was also approved for the reprioritisation of the municipal infrastructure grant in KZN.

“Other initiatives to provide immediate relief funding include R189 million for an Informal Settlements Upgrading Partnership Grant to KZN, R105.7 million in Human Settlements Development conditional grant payments to the Eastern Cape and R733 million in Human Settlements Development conditional grant payments to KZN,” the committee said.

The committee has further asked all three spheres of government to provide metrics of how government is responding to the disaster on all levels to mitigate silos approach to the work, which has contributed to the confusion on funding.

The committee said that it plans to finalise its preliminary report in order to assist in the challenges it has seen after it visited all three affected provinces and engaged all relevant stakeholders.

After the finalisation and tabling of the preliminary report, the committee will then request progress reports from the affected provinces to ascertain their response to the disaster after the committee’s intervention.

Thereafter, the committee said it will also invite the Auditor-General to present reports on the special audit it is conducting on the flood disaster of which the information will form part of the committee’s final report.

Source: South African Government News Agency

The task team investigating complaints about the stench experienced over parts of Gauteng and North West in June 2022 has determined that a combination of weather events and emissions from industry were probably responsible for the sulphurous smell.

The task team comprised environmental and air quality officials from the Department of Forestry, Fisheries and the Environment and the provincial departments in Mpumalanga, Gauteng, North West and the Free State.

The task team’s interim internal report, handed to Forestry, Fisheries and the Environment Minister, Barbara Creecy, reflects that the sulphur smell may have emanated from industry operations in the Secunda and Mpumalanga regions and as a result of unusual air circulation patterns that saw the smell being blown over Gauteng and parts of the North West during the week of five to 12 June 2022.

The task team’s investigations are ongoing to determine whether there was an industrial emergency that could have contributed to the malodourous smell that many people had detected and to determine the possible role that the prevailing meteorological conditions could have played in this regard.

“At this juncture, the interim investigations show that a low-pressure system in the north of the Mozambique channel caused a relatively unusual circulation pattern over the region during the days on which the public raised complaints about the strong sulphurous odour,” the Department of Forestry, Fisheries and the Environment said in a statement.

According to the department, these conditions may have created prevailing south-easterly winds that transported air pollution from Mpumalanga into Gauteng and the North West, particularly over Ekurhuleni, Johannesburg and Pretoria.

Ambient air quality monitoring observations reflected on the South African Air Quality Information System (SAAQIS) show that despite industry complying with air quality standards in Gauteng and Mpumalanga, ambient levels of sulphur dioxide were higher than usual during the period in question.

The interim investigation reflects that no emergency incident (upset conditions, start-ups or shut-downs) were reported by any facilities in Mpumalanga, North West, Gauteng and the Free State with the potential to release large quantities of sulphur dioxide and/or hydrogen sulphide in the week of seven to 12 June 2022.

Some of the public complaints about the sulphurous odour coincided with incidents when sulphur dioxide was higher than usual during the period in question.

However, the elevated readings were unlikely to have caused any health effects on the surrounding communities.

“The Task Team is to investigate and recommend possible policy interventions to further reduce hydrogen sulphide pollution and address concerns around public safety and the possible long-term health effects of exposure in order to improve the management of sulphur dioxide and hydrogen sulphide emission sources beyond the responses triggered by public complaints.

“The ongoing investigation will include engaging with industries from identified areas where hydrogen sulphide is of concern, to discuss short-term and long-term management of sulphurous odorants,” the department said.

Source: South African Government News Agency