Business

5 important things happening in South Africa today

Staff Writer

 ·29 Mar 2021

Here’s what is happening in and affecting South Africa today:

Coronavirus: Global Covid-19 infections have hit 127.8 million confirmed, with the death toll reaching 2.8 million. In South Africa, there have been 965 new cases, taking the total reported to 1,545,431. Deaths have reached 52,663 (a daily increase of 15), while recoveries have climbed to 1,471,899, leaving the country with a balance of 20,869 active cases. The total number of vaccines administered is 231,605.

• Botched: Health economist, Professor Alex van den Heever says that South Africa’s Covid vaccine strategy has been completely botched, and someone should be fired. In a webinar this weekend, the health expert said that government’s response to the Covid-19 has proved to be costly and ineffective, with early decisions wiping billions of rands from the economy, while infections and fatalities happened anyway. He said entering 2021 without a vaccination plan was the biggest error, and that government’s target of 67% coverage by 2022 is unlikely to happen. [Daily Maverick]

• Lockdown: Religious and business groups have reached the end of their patience with government’s lockdown strategies, now threatening to go to court if more restrictions are imposed over the Easter weekend. The SA National Christian Forum says it will take government to court if Easter gatherings are cancelled, and the National Liquor Traders Council said it will not accept yet another ban on alcohol sales, daring government to “try”. [TimesLive, 702]

• Priorities: Weekend ANC NEC meetings have been described as ‘open war’ between the two most outspoken factions of the party – with party secretary general Ace Magashule’s supporters fighting president Cyril Ramaphosa’s support base over step-aside rules, which would see the SG booted from the post. The meetings will enter the third day today, with insiders saying that little has been done to address South Africa’s actual problems, like Covid-19, unemployment and the continued electricity crisis. [EWN]

• NHI: The Covid-19 pandemic has made it clear that South Africa needs the National Healthcare Insurance scheme to narrow the inequality gap in access to healthcare, but many problems persist, including questions around timelines, resources, funding, and the economic disruption for companies in the sector. Analysts have broken down where South Africa currently stands on the NHI implementation, as well as the uncertainty around it. [Moneyweb]

• Markets: After ending last week just below R15/$, in a day marked by very little data, the rand held steady over the weekend, despite the nearby unrest. Terrorist attacks in neighbouring Mozambique dominated the news over the weekend and a close eye needs to be kept on spill-over geopolitical risks for SA. We face another short week ahead with only local confidence figures due today. The rand is trading at R15.00/$, R17.67/€ and R20.67/£. [Citadel Global]