COVID-19

• President Cyril Ramaphosa has announced that South Africa will remain under adjusted lockdown level four until 25 July.
• The regulations for lockdown level four, as amended, have since been amended again to reflect eased restrictions on:
  • restaurants and in-house dining facilities
  • gyms, fitness centres and swimming pools, and
  • agricultural and livestock auctions.
• A directive on temporary employer/employee relief scheme (TERS) benefits for sectors affected by the lockdown measures is expected to be gazetted soon.
• The President’s announcement regarding expired business licence fees and permits is also expected to be gazetted soon.
• Schools and tertiary education institutions will remain closed for contact classes until 26 July.

 

• Social Development Minister Lindiwe Zulu issued a directive on 9 July prohibiting:
  • ‘sitting and eating’ at community nutrition and development centres, and
  • visits to elderly people in residential facilities.

 

• On 5 July, Forestry, Fisheries and Environment Minister Barbara Creecy issued a directive:
  • suspending live biodiversity auctions
  • permitting inter-provincial travel to and from Gauteng:
    • ‘for hunting with the primary purpose of obtaining meat for consumption’, and
    • culling, and
  • confirming that ‘game parks, botanical gardens, zoos and aquaria are open to the public’.

 

• Sport, Arts and Culture Minister Nathi Mthethwa issued a directive on 6 July:
  • calling for ‘bio-safe environment’ proposals from sports and/or recreational body compliance officers
  • aligning directions in previous directives with the disaster management regulations, and
  • confirming that ‘international sports events involving countries with a low or medium Covid-19 infection and transmission rate are allowed’.

 

• On 7 July, Communications and Digital Technologies Minister Stella Ndabeni-Abrahams issued a directive amending the requirements of earlier directions for lockdown levels three, four and five. The new directive also affects:
  • postal, courier and broadcasting services
  • advertising agencies
  • the retail and/or franchised stores of electronic communications service licensees, and
  • operations dealing with ‘e-commerce sales’.

 

WATER AND SANITATION

 

• The Department of Water & Sanitation has issued a media statement confirming the reinstatement of its blue and green drop municipal drinking and wastewater water quality management programmes.

 

FINANCE

 

• Recently gazetted amendments to the November 2019 carbon tax offset regulations came into effect retrospectively on 1 June 2019.

 

• National Treasury has confirmed that 2021 Budget retirement annuity and UIF announcements:
  • have been formalised in the regulations concerned, and
  • have been in force since 1 March and I June respectively.

 

COMMUNICATIONS

 

• A draft revised national radio frequency plan for the 8.3 kHz to 3000 GHz bands has been released for public comment.

 

Prepared by Pam Saxby