Here are five news-related events and occurrences in SA today, 7 October:
Cosatu strikes
The Congress of South African Trade Unions (Cosatu) embarks on a national strike today. The goal of the strikes is to apply pressure on the government and private sector to “fix the economic mess” SA finds itself in.
Cosatu said it wants the “reversal of budget cuts that have led to an unacceptable wage freeze in the public service, the disintegration of the Commission for Conciliation Mediation and Arbitration, and retrenchments in state-owned companies”.
SA to be moved off of UK’s red list
The United Kingdom is set to cut its travel red list to about a dozen countries. However, plans for replacing the required negative PCR test with a lateral flow one are still not yet confirmed.
Countries including South Africa, Brazil and Mexico are expected to be removed from the red list today. This means that passengers returning from these countries to the UK will no longer need to isolate in a hotel for 11 nights. This procedure is reported to be at a cost of R40 000.
Police Commissioner gets suspended
Khehla Sitole, National Police Commissioner, has reportedly been served with a notice of intention to suspend him. The reason for the suspension is based on the fact that in January 2021, a court ruled that he ad his deputies had “breached their duties”. They had done so by not providing and declassifying documents to the Independent Police Investigative Directorate.
Mandatory vaccines
Private hospital groups, Mediclinic and Life Healthcare, are the latest SA based businesses to introduce mandatory Covid-19 vaccination policies for staff and service providers.
Mediclinic’s policy came into effect on 1 October and requires all to be fully vaccinated by February 2022. Life Healthcare informed staff last week that it would introduce a compulsory vaccination policy. This policy requires all head office employees to be fully vaccinated by 1 December 2021.
What’s happening in the Markets?
The South African Rand retreated on Wednesday as it was pressured by a firmer dollar and rising US Treasury yields. With nervousness surrounding surging energy prices and the possible stoking of inflation and interest rate hikes, investors were driven towards safe-haven assets. The rand was trading R14.98/$, R17.32/€ and R20.36/£ today.