Today’s Weather Forecast for South Africa
Be prepared with today’s Weather Forecast: 7 February 2022. Stay updated with the latest weather forecast and warnings across South Africa.
Call to end lockdown
Recently there have been calls from provincial governments to drop the state of emergency and lockdown restrictions. However, the Department of Health says that these calls to end South Africa’s lockdown restrictions are “premature” and there is still a risk that a fifth wave could hit the country during winter.
The Health Department has added that they would be taking advice from scientists on the matter. And Scientists have also been recommending that the lockdown restrictions be eased in order to place all emphasis on getting the country fully vaccinated.
South Africa’s audit disaster
Once again, the Auditor General is left with the mess that is South Africa’s government departments and state-owned companies. More than R2.14 billion worth of contracts is unable to be audited due to missing information. And 69% of auditees did “not comply with legislation in this regard“, with only 27% of auditees having a clean audit.
15 state-owned entities (SOEs) were audited and only one received a clean audit.
“Irregular expenditure reported in the financial statements increased to R166.85 billion, and high levels of fruitless and wasteful expenditure continue, with 224 auditees losing a total of R1.72 billion in the current year.”
South Africa’s next Chief Justice
It has been recommended by the Judicial Service Commission that Judge Mandisa Maya be elected as the next chief justice of South Africa. Now, the decision lies with President Cyril Ramaphosa.
If Maya is appointed, it will be the first time the country has a female chief justice. And she has already shared some changes she has in mind for if she should be appointed. This includes expanding the ConCourt so that it can handle the increasing number of cases and reducing the quorum of sitting judges from eight to seven. This will allow the ConCourt to “effectively double its output” since two cases can then be health with at once.