{"id":443984,"date":"2020-10-28T08:07:14","date_gmt":"2020-10-28T06:07:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/?p=443984"},"modified":"2020-10-28T08:07:14","modified_gmt":"2020-10-28T06:07:14","slug":"ramaphosa-on-south-africas-biggest-issues-including-a-second-coronavirus-lockdown-fraud-and-security-drones","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/government\/443984\/ramaphosa-on-south-africas-biggest-issues-including-a-second-coronavirus-lockdown-fraud-and-security-drones\/","title":{"rendered":"Ramaphosa on South Africa\u2019s biggest issues \u2013 including a second coronavirus lockdown, fraud and security drones"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>President Cyril Ramaphosa has spoken on a number of key issues facing the country right now, including corruption allegations that have been levelled against government officials and the country&#8217;s public transport system<\/p>\n<p>Speaking to parliament in an oral Q&amp;A on Tuesday (27 October), the president also flatly dismissed rumours that South Africa is returning to a hard lockdown, but said there are worrying trends related to Covid-19 infections.<\/p>\n<p>On Sunday, KwaZulu-Natal premier <strong><a href=\"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/government\/443252\/premier-warns-of-another-hard-lockdown-for-south-africa\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Sihle Zikalala<\/a><\/strong>\u00a0said that a return to a hard lockdown is on the cards, unless the country sees a decline in the number of daily coronavirus cases.<\/p>\n<p>However, Ramaphosa said that no decision on a stricter lockdown has been made, although the issue was not completely off the cards. The president said he received a report on Tuesday on Covid-19 infections, but still has to study it.<\/p>\n<p>He said after he studies the report, he will address the nation \u2013 most likely next week \u2013 about the situation and the way forward.<\/p>\n<p>Ramaphosa highlighted that government is starting to see signs which are of concern, including super spreader events.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cAs South Africans we need to adhere to the measures that have been put to us by the medical advisory committee,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIn the coming days, possibly next week, I will be able to address the people of South Africa about what we now need to do in the light of what we are going through,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI don\u2019t want to be alarmist. The rumors that we are going to level 3 is simply not true. If we ever get there, I will be the one to advise the nation where we are, and where we are going to.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/brFLWLPALaU\" width=\"640\" height=\"430\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen=\"allowfullscreen\"><span data-mce-type=\"bookmark\" style=\"display: inline-block; width: 0px; overflow: hidden; line-height: 0;\" class=\"mce_SELRES_start\">\ufeff<\/span><\/iframe><\/p>\n<hr \/>\n<p><strong>Lockdown fraud\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Ramaphosa was asked to speak on how the government was dealing with various reports of corruption and procurement irregularities surrounding the country&#8217;s coronavirus lockdown.<\/p>\n<p>In response, the president said that the government has established a &#8216;fusion centre&#8217; which brings together nine law enforcement agencies to share information and resources and ensure a coordinated response.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;On 23 July 2020, I issued a proclamation to the Special Investigating Unit (SIU) to investigate Covid-related maladministration and unlawful conduct in any state institution during the national state of disaster.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;The SIU is currently looking into 932 matters under the issued proclamation, and all these matters are at different stages of investigation.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>Ramaphosa said that the\u00a0SIU has, to date, provided two interim reports, which outline progress in the investigations, including where investigations have been finalised.<\/p>\n<p>The reports of SIU investigations will be made public once all the necessary process have been completed and there is no risk of jeopardising ongoing investigations, he said.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;On 5 August 2020, Cabinet set up a ministerial team to compile and publish details of all Covid-related contracts awarded by the state.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;These have now been published on the National Treasury website and will be updated monthly. The South African Revenue Service has established a Covid-19 Project Team to investigate and audit cases.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>Ramaphosa said that some of its reportable outcomes highlight that, as at end of September 2020, there were 307 cases with an estimated tax revenue loss of R300 million.<\/p>\n<p>There are 139 companies referred for potential tax evasion investigation, he said.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;The rise in serious commercial crimes and incidents of Covid-19 procurement corruption have meant that we are fast-tracking the establishment of additional Special Commercial Crimes Courts and increasing capacity of existing ones.&#8221;<\/p>\n<hr \/>\n<p><strong>New district model\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Ramaphosa said that the Department of Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs (Cogta) and National Treasury are working on a strategy to jointly support dysfunctional municipalities across the country.<\/p>\n<p>He added that all of the country&#8217;s municipalities will be aligned under the new District Development Model which is being steered by Cogta minister Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;This approach ensures that the district municipalities and their local municipalities receive evidence-based support programmes that focus on critical areas of performance, such as financial management, service delivery and infrastructure, governance and administration,&#8221; he said.<\/p>\n<p>Ramaphosa said that this new model, combined with other interventions such as a &#8216;municipal systems improvement grant&#8217;, will make an important contribution to resolving some of the key capacity challenges that confront many municipalities.<\/p>\n<hr \/>\n<p><strong>Public transport\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Ramaphosa acknowledged that the country&#8217;s public transport system, specifically its rail infrastructure, was in bad shape and that government was working to address this.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;The continuous damage, sabotage, theft and vandalism of rail infrastructure is one of the worst forms of economic crime in this country,&#8221; he said.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;It has a direct impact on the lives of the millions of South Africans who rely on commuter rail services to travel to work or to study.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>Ramaphosa said that rail forms a key part of the country&#8217;s new economic recovery plan and that government will be taking decisive measures to improve security on these lines.<\/p>\n<p>The National Treasury has granted approval of R900 million for the implementation of the PRASA Security Plan to combat theft and vandalism of the rail infrastructure.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;Part of the plan is to immediately appoint security personnel and to deploy <strong>remotely piloted aircraft systems<\/strong> to conduct virtual patrols of high-risk infrastructure. This capability will work together with specialised investigations and armed response.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;The plan will also involve the creation of an internal security capability for armed response, control room operations and increasing the number of physical security officials,&#8221; he said.<\/p>\n<p>Ramaphosa said that an e-guarding solution will also be introduced for the protection of mission-critical assets \u2013 such as substations, relay rooms and communication sites \u2013 with early warning security technology and defensive security systems.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;The plan will also introduce specialised investigations with legal support and access to criminal laboratories,&#8221; he said.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;We believe this capability will improve the quality of investigation reports leading to an improved prosecution rate.&#8221;<\/p>\n<hr \/>\n<p><strong>Read: <a href=\"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/government\/443952\/government-dismisses-talk-of-harder-lockdown-for-south-africa\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Government dismisses talk of harder lockdown for South Africa<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>President Cyril Ramaphosa has spoken on a number of key issues facing the country right now, including corruption allegations that have been levelled against government officials and the country&#8217;s public transport system<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":10,"featured_media":408855,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[23],"tags":[26],"class_list":["post-443984","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-government","tag-headline"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/443984","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/10"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=443984"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/443984\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":444036,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/443984\/revisions\/444036"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/408855"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=443984"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=443984"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=443984"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}