Government

5 important things happening in South Africa today

Staff Writer

 ·20 Mar 2020

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

Load shedding: As has been the trend all week, no load shedding is expected today, but the possibility remains as the risks from the contrained and vulnerable system are ever-present.

• Most of us will get it: Health minister Zweli Mkhize says that most people in South Africa – around 60% or 70% of the population – will likely get the coronavirus, but very few will actually be serious cases – under 20% of cases. South Africa is ramping up testing capacity. The minister is expecting the number of confirmed cases to jump up to 200 by the weekend.  [Moneyweb]

• Too normal: While the rate 100bp rate cut from SARB has been welcomed, analysts say the bank is not taking the coronavirus threat seriously – and if it is, it’s certainly not showing it. Essentially, the view is that more needs to be done to contend with the coronavirus outbreak and its effect on the economy, with there being room for another cut. According to Intellidex, SARB’s revised view of -0.2% GDP growth for the year is also a ‘non-coronavirus’ outlook, with the real economic impact of the virus likely to push SA to -2.3%. [Intellidex]

• Undetected: The spread of the coronavirus in Africa appears to be low right now (600 cases), but the head of the Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention says that the continent likely has many more cases that are undetected. Confirmed cases need to be double tested at a lab, and many countries in Africa lack that capacity. Cases in South Africa have increased in line with the number of tests increasing. There are 150 confirmed cases, after 4,832 tests. [Reuters]

• Competition concessions: Government is allowing businesses in the healthcare sector to breach some of the country’s competition laws to help fight the spread of coronavirus. The laws relating to resource sharing and collective bargaining will be temporarily shelved to allow private hospitals to work together and procure necessary medicines and facilities needed to treat patients. The exemption applies to healthcare facilities, pharmacies, medical suppliers, medical specialist and radiologists, pathologists and laboratories, and funders. [Business Day]

• Markets: South Africa’s rand fell on Thursday, with even the central bank’s biggest interest rate cut since the global financial crisis unable to drag the currency back into positive territory. The South African economy is already in recession and the pandemic is expected to make matters worse by hurting tourist arrivals and commodity exports to China, an important trading partner. On Friday the rand was at R17.37 to the dollar, R20.18 to the pound and R18.64 to the euro. [XE]

Coronavirus: Global cases of coronavirus have hit 245,749, with deaths passing the 10,000 mark (10,036). 88,441 have recovered, but 147,262 remain active, with 7,378 in critical condition. There are 150 confirmed cases in South Africa.