As South Africa’s two-year chairship of the African Peer Review Forum came to an end over the past weekend, South Africa has received favourable reviews for the rule of law, oversight bodies like Chapter 9 institutions, the advancement of women’s rights and strong refugee protection, among others.
The Forum is one of the structures of the African Peer Review Mechanism (APRM), which aims to promote and protect human rights, consolidate democracy and advance good governance and the rule of law among African countries.
Addressing the country in his weekly newsletter, President Cyril Ramaphosa said South Africa was one of the first countries to join the APRM in 2003 and has undergone two assessments.
He said the most recent assessment was last year, where the country was assessed on democratic and political governance, economic management, corporate governance, socio-economic development and state resilience.
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Just as South Africa’s fortunes are inextricably tied to those of the continent, we are also affected by political, economic and other forms of instability in Africa. This makes our participation in the African Peer Review Mechanism all the more critical. https://t.co/bpoQL9dELtpic.twitter.com/r3tKonFE65
Cape Town police are probing the circumstances surrounding a fire in the basement of the St George’s Cathedral in Wale Street Cape Town during the early hours of this morning.
At around 01:53 a member of the public noticed the fire and alerted the security on duty. The fire was extinguished and no injuries were reported. A case of arson has been registered and arrests are yet to be made.
Hermien Grobler, snake catcher, spoke to Bible Media about a boomslang caught at Wierdepark Primary.
“So the snake was first seen on the 31st of January at the Wierdapark Primary School. I was phoned and immediately responded. At the same time the call came through on our rescue group. Three of us arrived at the school but unfortunately the snake already went up the tree.
“We confirmed that it was indeed a boomslang. Boomslang do not occur in this area, so we came to the conclusion that it must have hitched a ride in a vehicle. Due to the denseness of the tree we lost sight of the snake and had to let it be.
“On the 2nd of February I was called to say the snake was back, but now at the church opposite the school. Luckily it made its way safely over the road. I found the snake between the door and the security gate. I gently removed the snake which was not aggravated at all and safely removed it. It is now at a place of safety,” she said.
Father Justinus, of Jacob’s Well Monastery, Nablus, was beaten on 24 January by unknown assailants.
“Fortunately, suspects were arrested, and the Palestinian Authority stationed security personnel as guards in front of the monastery,” said Sauca. “No explanation has been given for this attack.”
Father Justinus has survived no fewer than 32 life-threatening attacks over the years, including one on 26 August 2021.
State power utility Eskom says it will review the possibility of lifting load shedding on Friday afternoon.
This as the power utility implemented Stage 2 load shedding from Wednesday until Monday morning, following several trips at power stations and a depletion of emergency generating reserves.
Eskom Chief Executive, Andre De Ruyter, said the power utility had made progress in replenishing these reserves, however, a decision on whether to lift power outages will be taken after careful consideration.
“It is both connected to the river delta and the ocean, which connects our islands not only to the vast blue Pacific continent of large ocean states but also by the sea to all of you,” explained Bhagwan.
The United Nations has declared 2022 as The International Year of Artisanal Fisheries and Aquaculture.
Health Minister, Dr Joe Phaahla, has warned that the COVID-19 fifth wave is likely to hit South Africa in winter or earlier, depending on the variants of concern.
“Only high coverage vaccination will reduce the emergence of more variants,” he said on Friday, during a media briefing. The Minister announced that the country has now administered over 30 million vaccine doses as of Wednesday night.
“It took longer than we had wished for but it’s a significant milestone,” he added.
As of Thursday, government has given 30 100 000 doses to 18 604 643 individuals with at least one jab. This means 46.7% of adults in the country are now vaccinated, while 41.61% are fully jabbed.
As a precaution, Nestlé South Africa is initiating a voluntary recall of a limited number of KIT KAT milk chocolate products due to the possibility that they may contain glass pieces.
To date, we have not received any complaints or reported injuries. We are taking this action out of an abundance of caution having discovered the presence of small pieces of glass during our quality and safety checks.
The affected products were produced over a limited period and this voluntary recall covers only products with specific production codes that you can find on the label.
The voluntary recall is limited to products with the production codes listed above only. No other sizes and variants of KIT KAT products (Dark chocolate and White chocolate) are affected by this recall. Milk chocolate KIT KAT products with different production codes from those listed here are not affected by this recall either.
Consumers who may have purchased the products listed above should not consume them but should instead return them to the place where they were purchased, for a full refund. To locate the production code, consumers should look on the side panel of the package.
If you are not sure how to find the production code, or how to return the product, please call or WhatsApp 0860096116 or email [email protected] or reach out to us via our social media platforms.
If you have a concern that you or one of your family might have consumed one of the affected products, please consult a medical professional who will be able to provide you with the best advice and guidance.
We are currently investigating what went wrong. Having spotted the problem, we took steps immediately to fix it. We have put in place extra measures to further strengthen our quality and safety checks to make sure it does not happen again.
The quality and safety of our products are the top priority for our company. We understand that people will be concerned and apologize unreservedly to them. We regret very much any inconvenience caused by this recall.
We are working closely with the National Department of Health – Food Control Directorate and will continue to cooperate with them fully on this voluntary recall.
South Africa has now administered more than 30 million vaccine doses, 63 390 of which were given in the past 24 hours.
According to the Department of Health’s latest data, government has now distributed 30 031 894 to illegible citizens since the rollout programme.
Meanwhile, the country has 16 533 662 or 41.54% fully jabbed adults, while 1 261 838 shots have been given to children between the ages of 12 and 17.
To date, 628 986 booster shots have been distributed, 222 069 of which were taken by men and 406 917 by women. Meanwhile, there are 39 892 people who took the COVID-19 test on Wednesday, with 4 502 new cases, representing an 11.3% positivity rate.
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#COVID19 UPDATE: 39,892 tests were conducted in the last 24hrs, with 4,502 new cases, representing an 11.3% positivity rate. Today, @HealthZA reports 175 deaths, of which 15 occurred in the past 24-48 hours. Total fatalities are 95,463 to date. More here: https://t.co/NToqSemXUSpic.twitter.com/zCYCobchbM
The Department of Higher Education and Training has proposed an increase of 4.23% for tuition fees for the 2022 academic year, and a maximum of 6.23% for accommodation at all 26 universities.
Briefing the media on the state of readiness for the Post School Education and Training (PSET) sector for the 2022 academic year on Tuesday, Higher Education, Science and Innovation Minister, Blade Nzimande, said fee increases are agreed upon in the sector as part of a social compact that has been in place since 2016, the only year when fees were not increased.
