{"id":513424,"date":"2021-08-17T08:04:25","date_gmt":"2021-08-17T06:04:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/?p=513424"},"modified":"2021-08-17T08:04:25","modified_gmt":"2021-08-17T06:04:25","slug":"5-important-things-happening-in-south-africa-today-1103","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/trending\/513424\/5-important-things-happening-in-south-africa-today-1103\/","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>: In South Africa, there have been 7,983 new cases of Covid-19, taking the total reported to 2,613,569. Deaths have reached 77,440 (+299), while recoveries have climbed to 2382809, leaving the country with a balance of 153,320 active cases. The total number of vaccines administered is 9,557,542 (+184,199).<\/p>\n<hr \/>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Over 18s<\/strong>: The National Coronavirus Command Council is expected to discuss opening up vaccines for people over 18 at its meeting today. This follows statements from new health minister Joe Phaahla about allowing the cohort to access the vaccines by the end of the week. The health department has noted a slowdown in the number of people coming for vaccines, which it said is concerning. Private vaccination centres now allow walk-ins for eligible people to get the jab, while some government-run centres also encourage people to walk in. Over 18s were initially expected to get the shot from 1 September, but Phaahla believes starting earlier will allow the vaccination programme to regain momentum. [<a href=\"https:\/\/www.news24.com\/news24\/southafrica\/news\/covid-19-nccc-to-discuss-making-vaccine-available-for-all-over-18s-sooner-20210817\">News24<\/a> &#8211; paywall]<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<hr \/>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Boots:<\/strong> President Cyril Ramaphosa says that 10,000 SANDF troops will remain deployed and on the ground until mid-September, to continue their work with police to maintain law and order and combat crime. The president initially deployed 25,000 SANDF troops and admin staff from 12 July to 12 August to help restore order in the wake of rioting, looting and arson in KwaZulu Natal and parts of Gauteng. Ramaphosa extended the deployment in the last week, but boots on the ground halved. The extension will cost just under R255 million, the president said. [<a href=\"https:\/\/www.timeslive.co.za\/politics\/2021-08-16-ramaphosa-to-keep-10000-soldiers-on-sas-streets-to-september-13-at-a-cost-of-r255m\/\">TimesLive<\/a>]<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<hr \/>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Fines:<\/strong> The efficiency of the Aarto system has come into question following reports of fine issuing and payment problems in areas where it is applied. Motorists report receiving traffic fines but being unable to pay them as they have not been loaded onto the centralised systems used by the banks or other services to make the payments. When attempting to pay the fines in person at the post office, the system was offline, as is common. The Road Traffic Infringement Agency said that load shedding could be to blame as stations become disconnected from the eNaTIS system during blackouts. The demerit system is not yet in effect; however, stories like this paint a worrying picture for when it is. [<a href=\"https:\/\/www.moneyweb.co.za\/news\/south-africa\/payment-problems-surface-with-aarto-fines-payment-system\/\">Moneyweb<\/a>]<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<hr \/>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Misinformation:<\/strong> South Africa&#8217;s medical and scientific community has widely criticised and rejected statements from a well-known heart surgeon in the Western Cape, who published a video spreading misinformation about Covid-19 and the vaccines used to combat it. The South African Medical Association said it would not defend any medical practitioner who is ultimately charged with spreading misinformation, while the South African Heart Association has also distanced itself from the messages being spread. South Africa&#8217;s medical professionals are trying to combat vaccine hesitancy and the spread of false information and conspiracy theories. [<a href=\"https:\/\/www.dailymaverick.co.za\/article\/2021-08-16-sa-medical-association-calls-for-united-pro-vaccine-message-after-susan-vosloo-video\/\">Daily Maverick<\/a>]<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<hr \/>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Markets<\/strong>: South Africa\u2019s rand was little changed on Monday. The country\u2019s newly appointed finance minister, Enoch Godongwana, on Friday said he would continue on the sustainable fiscal path laid out by his predecessor. The broad theme of US growth and monetary policy remains intact for the week ahead as investors await the Fed minutes. They are hoping the minutes will provide a clearer sense of when tapering of asset purchases will take place. On Tuesday, the rand is at R14.91\/$, R17.55\/\u20ac and R20.60\/\u00a3.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Vaccines for over 18s on the agenda of the NCCC today; Ramaphosa extends SANDF deployment to mid-September; people are already running into problems with paying Aarto fines; and SA medical associations and health experts distance themselves from Covid misinformation being spread by doctors.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":10,"featured_media":485047,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[26],"class_list":["post-513424","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-trending","tag-headline"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/513424","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=513424"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/513424\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":513488,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/513424\/revisions\/513488"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/485047"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=513424"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=513424"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=513424"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}