COVID-19

• The State of Disaster has been extended until 15 July.

• A new consolidated ministerial directive on occupational health and safety measures gazetted on 11 June:
  • replaces one issued in October 2020
  • gives employers 21 days to:
    • decide if they intend making vaccination mandatory and if so,
    • to identify employees who ‘must be vaccinated’ because of:
      • age
      • co-morbidity or
      • the nature of their work
  • includes guidelines on employer obligations in such circumstances.

• The October 2020 ministerial directive on measures to curb the spread of Covid-19 at sports events and during arts and culture sector activities was amended on 11 June to reflect restrictions imposed last month under the adjusted regulations for lockdown level two, affecting:
  • the numbers of people permitted at indoor and outdoor venues
  • closing times for certain establishments, and
  • cut-off times for sports matches.

 

EDUCATION

• A revised version of the Basic Education Laws Amendment Bill released in 2017 for public comment will make Grade R compulsory for children ‘turning six years of age’ and provide for ‘systematically’ introducing compulsory Grade RR, according to Basic Education Minister Angie Motshekga. It is still being finalised.

 

ENERGY

• The new 100 MW embedded generation licensing threshold announced by President Cyril Ramaphosa on 10 June is expected to be gazetted ‘within the next 60 days or sooner’.

 

FINANCE

• National Treasury has published a position paper on bringing crypto assets within South Africa’s ‘regulatory purview’.

• National Treasury has called for public comments on a draft green finance taxonomy.

• The Financial Sector Conduct Authority and Prudential Authority have released a draft IT risk management standard for public comment.

 

Prepared by Pam Saxby