{"id":479411,"date":"2021-03-30T08:00:58","date_gmt":"2021-03-30T06:00:58","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/?p=479411"},"modified":"2021-03-30T08:00:58","modified_gmt":"2021-03-30T06:00:58","slug":"5-important-things-happening-in-south-africa-today-1008","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/government\/479411\/5-important-things-happening-in-south-africa-today-1008\/","title":{"rendered":"5 important things happening in South Africa today"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Here&#8217;s what is happening in and affecting South Africa today:<\/p>\n<hr \/>\n<p><strong>Coronavirus<\/strong>: Global Covid-19 infections have hit 128.2 million confirmed, with the death toll reaching 2.8 million. In South Africa, there have been 548 new cases, taking the total reported to 1,545,979. Deaths have reached 52,710 (a daily increase of 47), while recoveries have climbed to 1,472,645, leaving the country with a balance of 20,624 active cases. The total number of vaccines administered is 239,665.<\/p>\n<hr \/>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Third wave:<\/strong> While South Africans are gearing up for tighter lockdown restrictions this coming Easter, 50 of 52 districts in the country are not yet showing any signs of increased rates of infection. Two outliers, in Gauteng and Limpopo, have shown slight increases in infections over the last few days. However, the concern from health experts is that this will change, rapidly, if people flock to religious gatherings over the weekend. Tighter lockdown would be a precautionary move. [<a href=\"https:\/\/www.news24.com\/news24\/southafrica\/investigations\/covid-19-as-sa-fears-stricter-lockdown-over-easter-key-data-yet-to-show-first-signs-of-third-wave-20210330\">News24<\/a>]<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<hr \/>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Land expropriation<\/strong>: Clarity around the exact nature of land expropriation without compensation is expected to be coming, following a week of debate in parliament about the proposed changes to the Constitution. The main point of contention around the policy is in the wording &#8211; where it needs to be made clearer who will determine when land is expropriated without compensating the owners. ANC MPs argue it should be in government&#8217;s hands, but opponents want the courts involved, as government has proven ineffective and corrupt. [<a href=\"https:\/\/www.moneyweb.co.za\/news\/south-africa\/greater-certainty-on-expropriation-imminent\/\">Moneyweb<\/a>]<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<hr \/>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Ace must go<\/strong>: The ANC NEC has resolved that members charged with wrongdoing must step aside within 30 days, or face suspension from the party. This includes the party&#8217;s secretary general, Ace Magashule, who has been charged with corruption. The party said that this is in line with the party&#8217;s previous resolution to clamp down on corruption within its ranks. Magashule and his support base in the party spent the weekend fighting against the move. The SG will need to step aside by the end of April. [<a href=\"https:\/\/www.businesslive.co.za\/bd\/national\/2021-03-29-anc-members-charged-with-wrongdoing-have-30-days-to-step-aside-or-face-suspension-ramaphosa-says\/\">BusinessLive<\/a>]<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<hr \/>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Ivermectin:<\/strong> Health regulator Sahpra says that the approval of a topical cream containing ivermectin for use in South Africa is not the wholesale approval of ivermectin in the country. It stressed that the only way doctors can prescribe the medicine is through the compassionate programme, which requires them to apply for permission, and to report on the condition of people they prescribe it to. It reiterated that ivermectin has not been recommended for the management or treatment of Covid-19. [<a href=\"https:\/\/www.dailymaverick.co.za\/article\/2021-03-29-approval-of-ivermectin-cream-is-not-a-licence-to-use-the-drug-to-prevent-or-treat-covid-19-sahpra\/\">Daily Maverick<\/a>]<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<hr \/>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Markets<\/strong>: The rand hovered around the pivotal R15.00\/$ level yesterday but gained almost 1% on the news that local manufacture of the Johnson &amp; Johnson vaccine had begun, with 30 million doses to become available for South Africa. ANC infighting over Ace Magashule&#8217;s future, was overshadowed by President Ramaphosa&#8217;s announcement that Aspen Pharmacare is producing the vaccine at its Gqeberha plant with a total of 250 million doses, 220 million of which will go into Africa. The rand is trading at R14.88\/$, R17.51\/\u20ac and R20.50\/\u00a3. [<a href=\"https:\/\/www.citadelglobal.co.za\/\">Citadel Global<\/a>]<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>No signs of the third wave ahead of the Easter weekend; expect more clarity around land expropriation without compensation, following a week of debate; the ANC NEC resolves that members charged with wrongdoing must step aside in 30days; and Sahpra says Ivermectin is still only allowed with special permission.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":10,"featured_media":144959,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[23],"tags":[26],"class_list":["post-479411","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\/479411","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=479411"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/479411\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":479447,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/479411\/revisions\/479447"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/144959"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=479411"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=479411"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=479411"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}