• Health Minister Zweli Mkhize says there is a need for Gauteng to start ramping up screenings and testing for Covid-19. 
• Mkhize says cluster outbreaks were inevitable as the country moved to Level 3.
• The Western Cape and Eastern Cape are also being closely watched by the department, with senior managers being deployed to the Eastern Cape. 

Gauteng will emerge with the highest number of Covid-19 cases in the coming days, overtaking the Western Cape, Health Minister Zweli Mkhize said.

In a statement on Sunday, the minister announced that the latest cumulative number of cases in the country was 138 134, with 43 new deaths taking the total to 2 456. 

“We believe that within the coming days, Gauteng will emerge with the highest Covid-19 numbers. Factors contributing to this trend are inward migration, the large population (especially in metros like Johannesburg, Ekurhuleni and Tshwane), increased congregating which spurs cluster outbreaks, and the level to which people are able to adapt to new behaviours such as social distancing and the wearing of masks,” Mkhize said.

He said it was inevitable that there would be cluster outbreaks as infections spilt from communities into places where people were gathering, such as mines, factories, taxis and buses. 

GRAPHICS | Gauteng recording more Covid-19 cases a day than Western Cape has at any point

He said, when the country moved from lockdown level 4 to 3, there was a large inward movement of people as economic activities resumed. 

“The surge that has been witnessed in the past two weeks has developed due to speeding of infections carried in by members of the community as they moved back into the workplace,” he added. 

He said national government had been engaging with Gauteng Health MEC Bandile Masuku and the provincial department to ramp up capacity, adding that the testing backlog would be cleared in the next few days – which would mean the numbers would be based on shorter turnaround time.

Mkhize said in his daily update:

He said a rapid rise was starting to be seen in the cumulative number of positive cases, showing that, as expected, the country was approaching a surge during the winter months of July and August.

“It is anticipated that while every province will, unfortunately, witness an increase in their numbers, areas where there is high economic activity will experience an exponential rise – beginning with Gauteng and Western Cape and followed by Eastern Cape and KwaZulu-Natal.” 

A need to increase Covid-19 hospital beds in Gauteng had also been identified and the department would be assisting to ensure there was enough capacity to meet the rapidly rising demands. Gauteng is also being urged to strengthen its contact tracing and quarantine or isolation uptake.

Supplied Department of Health

Western Cape numbers have not yet surged as expected 

Touching on Western Cape, Mkhize said the department had received reports that  members of the public remained reluctant to subject themselves to quarantine and isolation, despite the government having secured the sites in various parts of the province.

He said they were concerned that this would help spread of infections, especially in households where it is not possible to isolate.

“Although there may be provisions for authorities to enforce law, it is important for members of the public to partner with government in its efforts. We remain committed to work together with civil society in an empowerment exercise that enables each individual to make the right decisions – decisions that allow people to protect themselves, protect the elderly, protect those with comorbidities and protect the poor and vulnerable.”

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Mkhize said, having compared the real numbers with those depicted in predictive models, the department had noticed that the Western Cape had not quite reached the surge expected by modellers.

“The consortium has accordingly reviewed their models, taking into account what has been observed in actual terms. Since we have cleared the testing backlog, the numbers attributable to those backlogged samples no longer play a role, and so the increase in new cases is reduced.” 

Senior managers deployed to Eastern Cape

Case management in the Eastern Cape had also come into the spotlight, Mkhize also noted.

He said all complaints via social media and news reports regarding situations in public health had been noted.

Experienced senior managers had also been deployed to assist the team of epidemiologists in the province to deal with overall health systems management and help with the ground response. 

Magda Wierzycka. Photo: Netwerk24

• Sygnia CEO, Magda Wierzycka has filed a R10 million lawsuit against IOL, Independent Media as well as business journalist Adri Senekal De Wet.
• In court papers, Wierzycka says an article published by Independent Media defames her personally and professionally. 
• Independent Media says it is looking forward to seeing Wierzycka in court.

Magda Wierzycka, CEO of JSE listed company Sygnia, has filed a defamation lawsuit for an article published on IOL which, she says, attacks her personally and professionally.

Included in the lawsuit is Independent Online, Independent Media and the author of the article, Adri Senekal De Wet.

According to Wierzycka, the article, published on 18 May 2020 entitled “Magda Wierzycka should mind her own dirty laundry before launching dirty tricks” makes various false character judgments and accusations against her.

READ | Independent Media ordered to remove defamatory articles, pay R300 000 in damages

According to court papers, Wierzycka says the article is defamatory because it paints her as “dishonest” and “not a fit and proper person to occupy the position of [CEO] of the second plaintiff, or any other company”.

She says the article alleges that she “promoted, and continues to promote, the interests of the second plaintiff in a manner that is dishonest, and with the intention to mislead the general public” and “is of low moral character by engaging in an extra-marital affair”.

Wierzycka is suing for R10 million which, she said, will be donated to charity.

She also wanted the article to be taken down.

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This is the third defamation lawsuit Wierzycka has filed against the company and Iqbal Surve, chairperson of Independent Media and Sekunjalo Investments.

Takudzwa Hove, COO of Independent Media, told News24 they had not yet received the court papers but that Independent Media, IOL and Senekal De Wet “will defend the suit and are confident the courts will find no merit in the suit brought against us”.

“Independent Media stands by its journalists and by what has been published,” Hove said.

According to Hove, the lawsuit is an attempt by Wierzycka to deflect attention and prevent the publication from writing about her.

“It is a media’s inalienable right to report on the news and share information that is considered in the public interest. This, we believe, has been done with the information we published.

“We therefore look forward to meeting Ms Wiercycka in court to prove there is freedom of media in this country and that what was published was and is, correct,” said Hove.

• A lecturer at UCT will be probed after a sexual assault allegation was made against him on social media. 
• The allegation was made after the university shared a post honouring the lecturer’s work.
• The matter has been reported to the university’s Office for Inclusivity and Change and the authorities.

A lecturer at the University of Cape Town will be the subject of an investigation after a sexual assault allegation was made against him on social media, the university has said.

The sexual assault allegations came after the university shared a post, honouring the lecturer’s contribution to the Actuarial Science department on Wednesday.

The moment took a sharp turn when a Twitter user shared a thread on how the lecturer had allegedly sexually assaulted her in 2012.

In her post, she shared how she became acquainted with the lecturer through a mutual friend at the university.

On this particular day, the lecturer offered to give her a lift home as they were heading in the same direction.

READ | Dozens of girls at India abuse shelter contract coronavirus

The lecturer allegedly did not stop at her destination, but drove straight to his home, where he allegedly locked the door and forced himself on her.

She said that she was able to get away and called for help.

UCT has since removed the post, because of the allegations made against the lecturer, as it institutes a probe.

“The University of Cape Town is investigating allegations of gender-based violence made on social media against a lecturer”, UCT spokesperson Elijah Moholola said in a statement. 

The university said the incident was reported to their Office for Inclusivity and Change and that relevant authorities are in contact with the woman.

“UCT reiterates that the principle of ‘innocent until proven guilty’ is applicable in this matter”.

“All staffing matters must be managed through fair processes in accordance with the university’s policies and legislation,” said Moholola.

Finance Minister Tito Mboweni says South Africa is on the brink of a sovereign debt crisis (Gallo Images, Brenton Geach)

• South Africa’s debt levels are breaking historical records.
• Director-General Dondo Mogajane said that debt levels risked breaching the 100% mark in 2023/24 if no changes were made.
• A zero-based budget will help government contain spending, but it has its drawbacks.

South Africa’s total debt is approaching R4 trillion, a first in its history, and Finance Minister Tito Mboweni is fast running out of options to turn the country’s fortunes around.

The supplementary budget tabled by the minister on Wednesday – which modifies the February budget to make provision for Covid-19 relief measures – indicated that SA is teetering on the edge of sovereign debt crisis, with little room to manoeuvre.

“A sovereign debt crisis is when a country can no longer pay back the interest or principal on its borrowings. We are still some way from that. But if we do not act now, we will shortly get there. The results are devastating,” Mboweni warned.

“We have been there before: in its closing days, the Apartheid government had to declare a debt standstill,” he added. 

Cause for concern

Director-General Dondo Mogajane told journalists during a briefing after the tabling, that debt levels risked breaching the 100% mark in 2023/24 in a “passive” scenario if no changes were made.

A more “active” approach sees debt stabilising to around 87.4% in 2023/24, he said.

A sovereign debt crisis will become critical once investors start pulling out capital, or start demanding “buffers”. But SA is luckily not at that stage yet, as we are in a pandemic like the rest of the world, she added.

Elephant in the room

Treasury noted that the Covid-19 pandemic had exacerbated an already weak economic environment, revising its February projection of debt-to-GDP ratio of 65.6% to an unprecedented 81.8% or R4 trillion.

Stanlib chief economist Kevin Lings said that debt levels north of 80% of GDP would be something he had never seen in South Africa. 

“That is the highest debt level SA faced at a government level,” he said. With debt becoming the fastest-growing area of government spending, resources would rapidly be diverted that should be available for government to deliver decent services. Lings added:

This has warranted the need for urgent structural reforms.

Leoka believes that government has been “dancing around the elephant in the room” in terms of tackling debt.

There are already sufficient funds in the system, which arguably haven’t been tapped into, she said. Some departments have not been working optimally, and government will have to cut spending from these departments – substantially more than it has already done.

When it comes to containing expenditure, Mboweni said in his speech that government will have to implement spending adjustments of R230 billion over the next two years.

Additionally, tax measures of R40 billion will have to be implemented over the next four years. Government had to revise the tax revenue target lower – this as SA will miss it February target by over R300 billion. Treasury recorded a R63.3 billion revenue shortfall in the previous tax year.

Gaping revenue shortfall

Liberty executive for channel support in customer and advisory experience Tendani Mantshimuli said the R300 billion revenue shortfall is serious and we have to borrow in order to fill critical gaps.

Deputy Finance Minister David Masondo echoed views that public debt was one of the bigger problems SA is challenged with, apart from unemployment. Part of the efforts in addressing debt will require evaluating whether some state-owned enterprises – which are increasingly becoming liabilities for the state – are growth enhancing or if they are “just a burden” on the fiscus, he said.

A zero-based budget

Mboweni believes that a zero-based budget will be instrumental in curtailing government spending, in that all expenditure items will have to be justified in terms of whether they are necessary. Mboweni said that growth-enhancing expenditure would be prioritised.

There are pros and cons to a zero-based budget, argued Momentum Investments economist Sanisha Packirisamy.

“They’re more costly and need more skills to carry it out. It will complicate the internal process from Treasury’s side. It’s more time consuming, more complex and it needs more people to be involved,” Packirisamy said.

It might be difficult for some departments to prove why they need funding, she added.

But it allows for an “active management” of expenditure items. It could even be more efficient, especially when it comes to funding projects that span across several departments. “The biggest positive is that we do see more transparency in a process like this,” said Packirisamy. “It leaves departments with a high sense of accountability.”

During a press briefing, Mboweni said that Treasury would be capable of coping with a zero-based budget system. “Is there capacity for it, yes there is,” he said. He added: 

Lings said that if government does indeed implement the zero-based budget it would signal that it is is able to make “the right type” of changes and that there is political will.

Efficient Group economist Dr Francois Stofberg said overall, while Mboweni made all of the right sounds in this emergency budget, there was still no real action in terms of partnering with the private sector, or tackling the fate of underperforming state-owned entities or cleaning up spending and governance.

“They were clever about where to get the money from in the budget. They reallocated spending. It only increases by R36 billion. They have had to borrow because the revenues are under pressure. There will be spending and activity, so revenue should recover,” Stofberg said.

“I think it is important to understand that this is a rescue budget and we cannot read too much into it or expect too much,” Stofberg added.