Day: September 13, 2021

South Africa has received at least $2 billion in financial assistance from the New Development Bank since the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic.

The New Development Bank is an initiative of the BRICS (Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa) countries, which seeks to mobilise resources for infrastructure and development in the emerging economies of developing countries.

The financial assistance was revealed by President Cyril Ramaphosa who was reflecting on the importance of the BRICS countries’ collaboration in his weekly newsletter to the country.

President Ramaphosa said the financial injection is being used to fight the pandemic and to support the country’s economic recovery and that during last week’s BRICS summit, countries resolved to do even more to fight the pandemic collaboratively.

“BRICS countries agreed to deepen cooperation to fight COVID-19 and mobilise the political support and financial resources needed to respond to future pandemic preparedness. There has also been substantial cooperation with our BRICS partners in securing personal protective equipment and cooperation around vaccine access and distribution,” he said.

According to President Ramaphosa, the countries also agreed to establish a virtual BRICS Vaccine Research and Development Centre and a BRICS Integrated Early Warning System to “forecast future outbreaks of infectious diseases”.

The President added that during the summit, countries agreed to further deepen ties in several sectors as countries move towards economic recovery.

“BRICS partners agreed to strengthen collaboration in catalytic sectors such as energy, IT, science, technology and innovation, agriculture and the green economy.

“These are all important sectors identified in our Economic Reconstruction and Recovery Plan announced last year. Cooperation with other BRICS countries, particularly in the field of innovation research, will help to accelerate our country’s industrialisation and help us meet our Fourth Industrial Revolution aspirations,” he said.

The President reiterated that for the past 11 years, the BRICS bloc has been and remains “of immense strategic importance” for South Africa.

“Being a member of BRICS has enhanced our position as an important emerging economy. It has given us access to policy and technical expertise of larger and established economies, as well as access to the support of the National Development Bank.

“It has strengthened our activism on the global stage, particularly around reform of multilateral institutions. We have benefitted from being part of a collective voice striving to advance a world order based on mutual respect and the equal sovereignty of nations,” President Ramaphosa said.

Source: South African Government News Agency

National power utility, Eskom, says it expects two units at the Kendal Power Station to be returned to service early this week.

This comes after the power station’s Unit 1 tripped in the early hours of Saturday morning, causing Units 2 and 3 to lose vacuum and be subsequently shut down.

In a statement, the state-owned power utility said although the power station’s Unit 1 will be returned to service in November, alternate sources of energy will be used.

“While Eskom will be forced to increase diesel consumption, we do not anticipate that any load shedding will be implemented as a result of the incident. We urge members of the public to continue using electricity sparingly to assist the country.

“Eskom will keep the public informed should there be any significant change in the power system,” the statement said.

Meanwhile, Eskom has advised the Tweeling community in the Free State that the area’s current interrupted electricity supply may last until Tuesday.

Power supply to the town has been interrupted since Saturday evening due to a failure of Tweeling Transformer 11.

“A replacement transformer required for the restoration of electricity supply to Tweeling…is expected to arrive [Monday] evening. Once the transformer arrives on site, replacement will commence. If no complications are encountered, supply is expected to be restored by midday [on Tuesday],” Eskom said in a statement.

Source: South African Government News Agency

Customs officers of the South African Revenue Service (SARS) seized 67 pieces of calcium hydroxide, which is used to produce crystal methamphetamine – commonly referred to as “ice” or “tik”.

The “party drug”, weighing 132.41kg and valued at R40 million, was intercepted at a cargo terminal at the OR Tambo International Airport.

The Customs Detector Dog Unit was deployed for routine inspections on an incoming cargo flight. While observing the collection of cargo, a vehicle driver was noticed acting suspiciously. The driver was loading goods from two boxes into his vehicle.

The driver was approached and the officers requested an inspection. The officers found 67 blocks of an unknown substance that originated from Addis Ababa. A drug testing kit was used on the contents, which tested positive for crystal meth. The goods were declared as personal effects.

The South African Police Service’s Directorate for Priority Crime Investigations (Hawks) was alerted about the detection to confirm and retest the substance. The test was positive for calcium hydroxide. The importer and driver were arrested. A criminal case was registered with the SAPS for further investigation.

A previous detection at OR Tambo in June 2021 uncovered mandrax weighing 1 746kg and valued at R105 million, inbound from Kenya.

SARS Commissioner Edward Kieswetter hailed the efforts of the team that intercepted the dangerous substance.

He issued a warning that “SARS, acting in concert with other law enforcement agencies, will spare no effort in confronting those involved in these crimes and stop the supply of these harmful drugs that threaten to derail the future of our country and destroy especially our youth”.

Source: South African Government News Agency