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Government will hold its next Vooma Vaccination Weekend between November 12 and 14, and this time it hopes to achieve 100% success rate of vaccinating 500 000 people over three days.

In September the Vooma Vaccination Weekend achieved 75% of its target.

“This target will only be achieved if there can be even greater mobilisation across all sectors of society, hence the president has called upon all leaders across various sectors of society to join hands with government,” says Health Department spokesperson Foster Mohale.

He says this Vaccination Weekend comes at a time when the rate of new Covid-19 infections is low in South Africa, but that a Covid-19 fourth wave is expected early in the new year.

He added that while the country is unlikely to avert the fourth wave, a higher vaccination rate over the next month could substantially reduce its impact, especially if coverage among people aged 50 and older is accelerated.

“Three out of five people aged 50 and older have now had at least one dose of the Covid-19 vaccine,” says Health Minister Dr Joe Phaahla. “If we can get close to five out of five people in this age group vaccinated by the end of the year, we will crush the power of the fourth wave by substantially reducing the number of hospital admissions and deaths.”

Almost 16-million South Africans have been vaccinated to date.

Vaccination sites will be open across the country during Vooma Vaccination Weekend, and the goal is to ensure at least 95% capacity on the Saturday.

While fewer sites will open on Sunday, the focus will be on outreach to large faith-congregations willing to be vaccinated on that day, says Mohale.

Stage 4 load-shedding will start at 13:00 on Monday, Eskom has announced.

This follows a "major incident" in Zambia that affected power supply from Cahora Bassa, the power utility said on Sunday.

Stage 4 will last until Friday morning, after which Stage 2 will continue until Saturday.

Total breakdowns amount to 14 874MW and planned maintenance is at 5 579MW of capacity.

Eskom said it had become necessary to ration its reserves as load-shedding continued.

"It was anticipated that an additional seven units would have returned to service by Monday, and this has not materialised," Eskom said.

"While Eskom regrets the escalation in load-shedding, it is necessary to ration the remaining emergency generation reserves, which have been utilised extensively this morning as we are not getting the reduction in demand as expected from the implementation of Stage 2 load-shedding."

KwaZulu-Natal Premier Sihle Zikalala emphasised on Monday that until processes on co-government by different political parties have been completed and new councils are sworn in, all currently constituted structures remain in place.

Zikalala was briefing the media on recent developments in the province, saying the country’s Constitution does not allow for a vacuum and requires a smooth democratic handover from one administration to the next.

He said since last Monday’s elections a few unpleasant scenes were noted, in which certain people were seen toyi-toying and “demanding keys” to certain buildings and others engaging in other forms of provocation.

He said all these were accompanied by insults hurled at municipal officials who, he stressed, are public servants and not politicians.

“We wish to remind all citizens that public servants are employed in line with the relevant legislation governing employment in South Africa including the Labour Relations Act. Therefore, they must be allowed to discharge their duties without any interference or victimisation. Any practices to the contrary must be reported to the Department of Cooperative Governance and Traditional Leadership, so that these incidents can be dealt with immediately,” he said.

Zikalala explained that the province has 20 local municipalities and 1 metro that must be co-governed by different political parties, adding that it is not known yet which of the 10 districts will fall in this category.

He appealed to all political parties to be united and to work together, adding that political parties must never lose sight of the fact that they have a province to develop, and a country to grow.

He said that the people have spoken and declared that there should be no outright winner. This is a clear message that voters want political parties to work together, through the democratic process, co-govern KwaZulu-Natal, he added.

Zikalala explained that the Constitution envisages and demands that political transitions must always take place in a manner that is smooth, democratic and procedural.

“While it is natural for people to want to celebrate victory, none must do so by infringing on the rights of others and at the risk of polarising other sections of society. Elections are behind us. It is time for us to build unity and to recharge the institutions that are necessary for us to serve our communities better,” he said.

RE-CONSTITUTION OF NEW MUNICIPAL COUNCILS

Zikalala explained that the Independent Electoral Commission (IEC) will on Monday publish the 2021 local government election results in the Government Gazette.

As soon as political parties have concluded their processes, Department of Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs will work with all affected municipalities to reconstitute the councils and facilitate the election of office bearers, as per the requirements of the Municipal Structures Act.

Zikalala said the province has a plan to ensure that all municipalities meet the legal deadline which requires them to reconstitute themselves within 14 days after the gazetting of election results by the IEC.

President Cyril Ramaphosa, in his weekly letter, said the fourth South African Investment Conference, which would have been held this month has been moved to March next year owing to several events, including the local government elections, the Conference of the Parties (COP26) climate conference and the Intra-African Trade Fair, which will be held in eThekwini next week.

Another important reason for holding it next year is that there will be far greater Covid-19 vaccination coverage by then, making both travelling and gathering easier, he said.

"An important part of our investment drive are the far-reaching structural reforms we are undertaking in areas such as energy, telecommunications, water and ports and rail. These reforms will improve efficiency and competitiveness, bringing down the cost of doing business in South Africa and encourage greater private investment in our economic infrastructure," Ramaphosa added.

"While the rate of investment has slowed owing to the effects of the pandemic, and several projects have been delayed, the investment drive is beginning to gather pace once again. As we make progress with the implementation of the Economic Reconstruction and Recovery Plan, with its focus on infrastructure, industrial development, employment and structural reform, the environment for investment will improve further.

"Through the investments that are now under way, through the work that social partners are doing to expand local production and through the progress we are making on key reforms, we are building a firm foundation for the success of the fourth South African Investment Conference next year.

"Most importantly, we are building a firm foundation for a sustained economic recovery that encourages further investment, creating more jobs and providing new opportunities for emerging businesses," Ramaphosa said.

Although the fourth Investment Conference has been held over by a few months, South Africa's ambitious investment drive continues. Even in the midst of the challenging economic environment caused by the Covid-19 pandemic, which was exacerbated by the violence and destruction that occurred in parts of KwaZulu-Natal and Gauteng in July, companies continue to make good on their commitments and to look for other investment opportunities in South Africa, the President pointed out.

In 2020, nearly R120-billion of investment commitments flowed into project construction or expansion. This means that about 38% of the total investment commitments, or R290-billion, have to date flowed into the economy. Some investments have been delayed owing to Covid-19, particularly in hard-hit sectors like property development and tourism, he noted.

In October, Toyota launched its expanded production line in eThekwini, which will produce South Africa’s first locally-made hybrid car. This investment was the result of a R2.4-billion commitment the company made at the 2019 South Africa Investment Conference.

Also in KwaZulu-Natal, Tetra Pak is expanding its operations through an investment of R500-million.

PHARMACEUTICALS AND ENERGY

"Aspen Pharmacare recently launched its R3.4-billion expansion, which it announced at the 2018 Investment Conference. This investment has turned Aspen’s Gqeberha manufacturing facility into one of largest global manufacturing hubs for general anaesthetics and has also provided capacity [for the production of] over 100-million doses of the Johnson and Johnson Covid-19 vaccine," Ramaphosa said.

The World Health Organisation also chose South Africa to host an mRNA vaccine manufacturing hub with the Biovac Institute, which is a public-private partnership with government.

South African-born Dr Patrick Soon-Shiong and his company NantWorks recently announced an ambitious initiative to build capacity for advanced health care in Africa. In addition to the investments they will bring, these developments will also contribute to our collective ambition for the continent to manufacture 60% of its vaccine needs by ...

More than 184 000 children have been vaccinated against Covid-19 in just over two weeks.

The vaccination programme opened to children from the ages of 12 to 17 on 20 October. In the first three days, more than 35 000 children received the vaccines.

By Thursday, 184 222 children in the age cohort had received the jab. According to the Department of Health, 13 569 vaccines were administered on Thursday alone.

Health Minister Joe Phaahla previously said administering vaccines to children would ensure that households achieve immunity against the disease and result in fewer disruptions during the end-of-year school examination period.

All children aged 12 and older are eligible to receive one dose of the Pfizer vaccine. They do not need a parent's consent to do so.

Gauteng is leading the pack with 43 127 vaccinated children, followed by the Western Cape with 31 398 vaccinated children. In KwaZulu-Natal, 21 225 children have been vaccinated, and 20 347 doses have been administered to children in the Eastern Cape.

The department hopes to vaccinate at least half of this age group by the start of the school holidays.

To date, 22 965 123 vaccines have been administered to both adults and children in the country.

According to the Department of Health, 12 737 665 adults are fully vaccinated – around 32% of the adult population.

Power utility Eskom has announced that load-shedding will move to Stage 4 from 14:00 on Friday to 05:00 on Saturday.

"Stage 4 load-shedding is necessary to stop the use of open-cycle gas turbines (OCGT) generators in order to preserve the remaining fuel at these power stations," it said, noting that fuel at the OCGT stations were critically low.

"It is anticipated that some generating units will return to service later today and overnight allowing a reduction to Stage 2 load-shedding for the remainder of the weekend.

"Stage 2 load-shedding is necessary to replenish emergency generation reserves particularly at the pump storage schemes for the week ahead," the utility added.

Total breakdowns currently amount to 17 437 MW, while planned maintenance is 4 361 MW of capacity.

As coalition talks take centre stage this weekend, the African National Congress (ANC) has cancelled its extended national working committee (NWC) meeting and will instead hold a special national executive committee (NEC) meeting.

ANC leaders are set to meet to discuss its coalition strategy. The meeting was expected to take place on Friday, but a special NEC meeting has now been scheduled for Sunday.

NEC member Jeff Radebe is expected to head up the ANC's coalition talks team.

The NWC is expected to get an outline of the municipal election results and the various areas where the ANC should negotiate coalition agreements, ANC deputy secretary-general Jessie Duarte said.

There are 66 hung councils across the country after the municipal elections.

Gauteng's metros will be up for grabs with Johannesburg, Tshwane and Ekurhuleni all with no outright winner.

The other metros with no outright winner are eThekwini and Nelson Mandela Bay.

This weekend, the Democratic Alliance (DA) and ANC will scramble to put together coalition agreements.

Political parties must come up with coalition agreements within 14 days of the declaration of the election results.

ANC voter support plunged

The ANC suffered huge knocks in its support in various areas, with the party's elections head Fikile Mbalula saying there was a need for introspection.

He said the ANC was open to speaking to anyone, but no mandate had been given for the party to engage with the DA.

DA leader John Steenhuisen has ruled out working with the ANC.

Mbalula said the NWC will help the ANC come up with a mandate going forward on how to deal with coalitions.

"We will work with those who want to work with us, but we have no mandate at the present moment to talk and engage with the DA. We have been talking informally with a lot of political parties, but we have not started engagements with the DA. We will discuss and approve a mandate," he said on Thursday.

ActionSA is celebrating in KwaZulu-Natal (KZN) after securing an 8.47% win in the KwaDukuza municipality, on the north coast.

This means the party has won five seats in the municipality.

Party chairperson in KZN Makhosi Khoza expressed pride in the achievement.

"From the outset of our campaign, we set out to bring the African National Congress (ANC) under 50% wherever we contested, and we are proud to have achieved that goal in KwaDukuza. We are humbled that, as a party that is just over one-year old, we have made an undeniably groundbreaking mark in the six municipalities we contested - Johannesburg, Tshwane, Ekurhuleni, eThekwini, KwaDukuza, and Newcastle,” she said.

She specifically thanked ActionSA’s mayoral candidate Nel Sewraj, and his team.

"More than our team’s efforts, however, it is the people of KwaDukuza who deserve the highest accolades for taking their power back and voting out bad, inefficient and corrupt governance."

She reiterated the party’s commitment to remove all failing local governments across the country and replace them with efficient, customer-oriented and caring governments that deliver quality basic services to all communities, especially those who need them the most.

“ActionSA’s message to the effect that we can fix South Africa by fixing our municipalities, clearly resonated with them [voters] and they took the action to vote for professional, corruption-free governance that provides to all residents and in an efficient manner,” said Khoza.

Minister in the Presidency Mondli Gungubele said on Thursday that the trends in the country’s Covid-19 cases will determine whether the National State of Disaster on Covid-19 will be extended or not.

Gungubele was briefing media on the outcomes of the Cabinet meeting held on Wednesday.

“For now all we are doing is to observe the trends, at the relevant time the President might convene the National Coronavirus Command Council to look at extending the State of Disaster. But I wouldn’t say it is going to be extended or not, the trends and situations will determine that,” he said.

Last month Minister of Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs Dr Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma gazetted the extension of the National State of Disaster until November 15.

The government first declared a National State of Disaster on March 15, 2020 in response to the coronavirus pandemic.

With regards to a “family meeting”, Gungubele said the President will decide when to call a meeting, adding that for now government is excited about the positivity rate, which stands at 2.6%.

“Infection rate is at its lowest. We just appeal that our people should not be tempted by the rate going down and stop using masks, and execute the non-pharmaceutical and pharmaceutical measures, because we are where we are because of adherence to those principles,” he said.

Meanwhile, Cabinet applauded South Africans that have vaccinated.

The country has so far administered over 22-million vaccine doses.

“Three out of every five people aged over 50 years in our country are now vaccinated. We need to get to five out of five [for this] age group by the end of the year to kill the power of the anticipated fourth wave,” Gungubele said.

Government will host another Vooma Vaccination Weekend from November 12 to 14.

Cabinet also reminded people to ensure that they take a second dose of the Pfizer vaccine to be fully protected, saying vaccines help prevent serious illness, hospitalisation or death from Covid-19.

Informal coalition talks in the Western Cape took centre stage on Thursday as political parties considered the idea of getting in bed with each other.

Backroom talks, behind-the-scenes telephonic discussions, WhatsApp chats and even social media conversations have started in earnest, with mainstream parties wooing the new kingmakers in several councils.

While bigger parties were waiting for the go-ahead from their national offices, others had already started testing the waters.

The Patriotic Alliance (PA) turned out to be a crucial kingmaker in the political arena, having secured nearly 50 seats nationally.

Leader Gayton McKenzie said the PA had been approached by various parties.

"Many political parties have approached us and we told them we are no position to talk coalition politics and we told them what we stand for.

"We told them that we are still waiting for the final results and then we will await a decision from the coalition advisory committee. We will continue to be transparent," said McKenzie - a reformed bank robber and author of A Hustler's Bible.

The Freedom Front Plus (FF+) managed to secure votes in the hung councils in Oudtshoorn and Langeberg. The party garnered 177 seats nationally, eating into the Democratic Alliance's (DA's) traditional support bases.

Western Cape FF+ leader Corné Mulder said the party was not in talks with other parties.

"We are waiting for the final results, and the results will influence whatever discussions there may be because it involves the big metros, and the big metros will also play a important role in any coalition talks or negotiations," he said

"What we have on a informal level are talks about talks, but all unofficial," he added, borrowing an expression used during negotiations with the African National Congress (ANC) when the apartheid era drew to a close.

The Independent Congress of SA (Icosa) once again had a strong showing at the polls, securing more than 45% of the vote in the Kannaland municipality. The ANC and DA secured 21.5% and 20.5% respectively. Icosa secured three wards.

Icosa president Jeffrey Donson told News 24 that his party was willing to work with anyone who has the interests of the community at heart.

"Icosa will work with any political party to take the community forward. In local government, we focus on bread and butter issues," he said about the party which Truman prince initially formed when he was expelled from the ANC.

Provincial DA leader Albert Fritz maintained that it was premature for them to enter into coalition talks.

"We are awaiting the final results and from there on, our national and provincial leadership will make a decision," he said.

The GOOD party also managed to score votes in the Theewaterskloof, Witzenberg and Saldanha Bay municipalities. Nationally, the party has 34 seats.

General secretary and former DA ally, Brett Herron, said GOOD was not engaged in any coalition discussions.

Economic Freedom Fighters leader Julius Malema held a media briefing at the IEC's headquarters in Pretoria on Thursday. "We are not going to approach anyone. Those who come to us will find our door open," he said.

The ANC's provincial interim working committee held a special meeting on Wednesday to consider the party's preliminary results.

"We have noted that the DA has lost its majority in no less than 15 municipalities in the province that they won outright in 2016," Western Cape NAC spokesperson Sifiso Mtsweni said.

"We are beginning to see a shift in terms of electoral support for the ANC in those municipalities."

Mtsweni said the party won 12 new wards directly from DA strongholds - Cederberg, Breede Valley, Knysna, Delft and Oudtshoorn, among others.

The ANC said coalitions were possible in several hung councils, including Saldanha Bay, Kannaland, Cederberg and Prince Albert.

The ANC mandated a delegation, led by provincial convenor Lerumo Kalako, to broach possible coalitions. The party structure in the province is in an interim phase as it moves to...