Provincial & National

JOINT STATEMENT BY TERTUIS SIMMERS

WESTERN CAPE MINISTER OF HUMAN SETTLEMENTS, ALBERT FRITZ

WESTERN CAPE MINISTER OF COMMUNITY SAFETY &

ANTON BREDELL

WESTERN CAPE MINISTER OF LOCAL GOVERNMENT & ENVIRONMENTAL PLANNING

ARREST LEADERS OF LAND INVASIONS

3 August 2020

The South African Police Services (SAPS), with the assistance of the South African National Defence Force (SANDF) and all relevant Law Enforcement Agencies should immediately arrest all those who are leading the illegal land grabs that we’re currently seeing across the Western Cape.

Minister Simmers said: “It has become clear that those who are complicit and involved in these illegal events only have criminal intentions. This past weekend’s illegal invasion and subsequent damage caused at the Kraaifontein racing track is an example of this.

Between April and July this year, the City of Cape Town’s Law Enforcement had to respond to 260 incidents of illegal land invasions.

I’ve already engaged my cabinet colleagues, particularly the Ministers of Community Safety and Local Government, Albert Fritz and Anton Bredell, respectively, about what is currently plaguing the province, and more so the City of Cape Town.

We’ll have further discussions this week with the rest of the cabinet and the City of Cape Town, as it is critical that measures be found that will assist to swiftly address these issues.

In the meanwhile, SAPS must demonstrate to this province’s citizens that they will not allow these illegal acts to continue. They have a duty and more so now under the current regulations to uphold and enforce the laws of the country.

I trust our courts will take swift action against those charged. Our Courts are critical in this pipeline, as there’s an unfortunate perception that those involved in these illegal land grabs and destruction of property tends to only get a slap on the wrist, after appearing in Court.”

Minister Fritz said, “The Department of Community Safety will provide the necessary facilitation and coordination between SAPS in the Western Cape and the City of Cape Town’s law enforcement and Metro Police to address the spate of land invasions taking place in the province. The land invasions taking placing are highly coordinated and sophisticated in their execution, having already occupied large plots of land in areas such as Wallacedene, Bloekombos and Khayelitsha. In many cases the land being occupied is already designated for services aimed at developing the communities and therefore undermines the community in which it takes place.”

Minister Fritz continued, “I condemn the violent protest action surrounding many of the land invasions in the strongest terms. It is completely unacceptable that infrastructure such as roads and arterials are being damaged by tire burning and that the safety and wellbeing of residents is further being infringed on by the stone throwing, petrol bombs and other violent and dangerous behaviour. Tomorrow, I will be meeting with National Police Commissioner, Lieutenant General Khehla Sitole on the spate of land invasion and violent protest action in the Western Cape.”

Minister Anton Bredell said: “Various municipal areas across the province, in particular the City of Cape Town, are currently under huge strain from repeated attempts to invade land earmarked for housing projects, community basic services, nature conservation land or play parks for communities. This is impacting ongoing projects, service delivery and existing community facilities to the detriment of the existing communities.

In the City of Cape Town alone, more than R1,3 billion of housing projects are currently under threat from land invasions. Law enforcement actions to prevent the illegal occupations have been met in some areas with extreme violence and destruction of property and the breaking down of community facilities.

Our communities deserve to be protected and these illegal actions cannot be tolerated. The rule of law needs to be respected and enforced and the South African Police Services must step up and apply the law to serve their communities.”

Simmers added: “I urge all communities to also take a stand against these lawless activities and assist the law enforcement agencies by reporting all those and particularly the leaders who are involved in these incidents.

As the Western Cape Government, we remain committed to accelerating human settlement delivery, while promoting social inclusion through the development of integrated, resilient, safe and sustainable human settlements in an open opportunity society.”

Media Enquiries:

Marcellino Martin

Spokesperson for Minister Tertuis Simmers

Marcellino.martin@westerncape.gov.za

021 483 3397 (o) / 082 721 3362 (m),

Nathan Adriaanse

Director Communication & Stakeholder Relations

Tell: 021 483 2868 / Mobile: 083 2631720

Email: Nathan.Adriaanse@westerncape.gov.za

Cayla Ann Tomás Murray

Spokesperson for Minister Albert Fritz

Tel: 021 483 9217 / Cell: 064 121 7959 / Email: Cayla.murray@westerncape.gov.za   _­

31 July 2020

As of 1 pm on 31 July, the Western Cape has 10 532 active cases of COVID-19, with a total of 93 413 confirmed cases and 79 841 recoveries.

Cape Metro Sub-districts:

Sub-districts:

Unallocated: 6969 (5137 recovered)

Data note: It is not always possible to check and verify that the address data supplied for each new recorded case is correct, within the time frames required to provide regular and timely updates. This means that in some instances, cases could be allocated to the wrong sub-districts. We are working with the sub-districts to clean and verify the data and where errors are picked up locally, cases will be re-allocated to the correct areas.

More data is available here: https://coronavirus.westerncape.gov.za/covid-19-dashboard

The Western Cape has recorded an additional 31 deaths, bringing the total number of COVID-19 related deaths in the province to 3040. We send our condolences to their family and friends at this time.

Safety in the “new normal”:

The Western Cape has started to see a stabilisation in the number of COVID-19 infections, hosptalisations and deaths in certain parts of the province. I would like to thank all of our residents who have played their part in making this happen by staying at home as much as possible, wearing their masks and practicing social distancing when they go out, and keeping up with hygiene protocols like hand washing, keeping surfaces clean and coughing and sneezing into an arm or an elbow. These are small things that we can all do, which have a collective impact. We must continue these behaviours, especially now that the numbers have started to stabilise in order to ensure that we don’t see second waves of infections forming.

COVID-19 will be around for many more months to come, and adapting how we live now, will not only help us avoid becoming sick or infecting our loved ones, but will also allow more businesses to start to operate fully again, and save thousands of jobs which currently hang in the balance.

We expect that the new tourism regulations will be gazetted in the next few days, which will allow intra-provincial tourism accommodation establishments to begin operating. The tourism sector is one of the biggest job creators in the Western Cape, especially in our small towns and rural areas and we are pleased that these establishments will be able to allowed to open for business.

We still intend to engage with the national government on ways that we can support other businesses in the province that are being negatively impacted by the alert level 3 regulations.

We must put all of our energy into averting the second pandemic of unemployment. I therefore call on all of these businesses to be responsible when you re-open and ensure that you are following all of the rules and guidelines set out for safe operations. We do not want businesses to become sites of infection, putting their staff and clients at risk, and which will ultimately only further negatively impact the sector.

For those residents who will be booking trips and stays once business has re-opened, we thank you for supporting this sector at this time but urge you to travel responsibly, and to continue taking the same precautions you would at home, while on your holidays and weekends away.

30 July 2020

As of 1pm on 30 July, the Western Cape had 10 915 active cases of COVID-19, with a total of 92 845 confirmed cases and 78921 recoveries.

Cape Metro Sub-districts:

Sub-districts:

Unallocated: 6656 (5124 recovered)

Data note: It is not always possible to check and verify that the address data supplied for each new recorded case is correct, within the time frames required to provide regular and timely updates. This means that in some instances, cases could be allocated to the wrong sub-districts. We are working with the sub-districts to clean and verify the data and where errors are picked up locally, cases will be re-allocated to the correct areas.

More data is available here: https://coronavirus.westerncape.gov.za/covid-19-dashboard

The Western Cape has recorded an additional 24 deaths, bringing the total number of COVID-19 related deaths in the province to 3009. We send our condolences to their family and friends at this time.

Department of the Premier budget speech:

Earlier today, I delivered the Department of the Premier’s budget speech to the Western Cape legislature- detailing the work this department has done over the past four and a half months, and  outlining how it will use the opportunities and lessons presented by this crisis, to lead this government into the new normal.

An excerpt from the speech and a breakdown of the main expenditure are provided below:

COVID-19 has had a significant impact on the people of the Western Cape, on our economy and on how this government conducts its day-to-day business.  This crisis has required us to respond quickly, decisively and innovatively.

The Department of the Premier has played a major role in our whole of government response, becoming more responsive, and leading the change across the Western Cape Government.

Since the first case of COVID-19 was detected in South Africa, our first priority has been to the people of this province- whether that is ensuring that they have access to appropriate healthcare, responding to the humanitarian crisis, or ensuring that we continue to deliver government services throughout this period.

This province took the lockdown seriously, and used the time afforded to us by the hard lockdown to prepare our systems for the peak. The DG, Dr Harry Malila and the Department of the Premier have led the way in this regard- and have continued to play an important role in overseeing our hotspot strategy to ensure that as we opened up more of our economy, we did not see a significant spike in new infections.

As a government, our response to this crisis has been world class- taking the opportunity to learn lessons from around the world, and making use of the exceptional talent that exists in departments across the public service to chart our own way forward.

We have developed innovative solutions to problems-like creating the Red Dot Taxi service to transport healthcare workers safely, and we have started delivering medicines to people’s homes rather than have them stand in long queues.

This crisis has also shown us how quickly a government can respond- we built a hospital in four weeks.

The Department of the Premier has received an additional allocation of R6.350 million from the Provincial Treasury , and has repurposed just over R72 million within the vote-R41 million of which has come from savings on compensations, achieved in part, by putting on hold all non-critical vacancies.

Some of the key expenditure items included:

• R30 million on the biggest communications campaign this province has ever undertaken- aimed at equipping residents with clear, trustworthy information that allows them to protect themselves and their families and bringing about behaviour change. This campaign flighted eight different radio adverts in over 4000 slots, on 4 regional and 29 community radio stations across the province, in three languages. It also included nearly 10 000 street pole posters, loud hailing, newspaper adverts in 34 different newspapers, SMS and please call me messages, social media messaging, posters, flyers, printable posters and material for businesses and branded taxi decals.
• R11.158 million to equip the Western Cape Government call centre to deal with increased call volumes for humanitarian food relief. When the province announced that it would be making 50 000 food parcels available to respond to the humanitarian crisis created by the hard lockdown, are call centre was inundated- receiving up to 14 000 calls a day in April. The additional funding was used to increase the available incoming lines into the call centre from 210 to 3000, and develop an online system in an effort to reduce the call drop rate.
• R6.350 million to equip the Disaster Management Centre and the Provincial Government’s Joint Operations Centre with the technology to conduct remote meetings. At the start of the pandemic, this technology enabled us to hold daily meetings to plan and measure our response in the province. We currently hold twice weekly cabinets, including district municipalities, the various hotspot and workstream teams, law enforcement and SAPS to ensure ongoing, coordinated management of all aspects of the pandemic in this province.

The full speech can be viewed on Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mC1MPUJwvW8 or on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/windealan/videos/597683821118006/?epa=SEARCH_BOX

The Western Cape releases Procurement Disclosure Report:

Today, Minister of Finance and Economic Opportunities, David Maynier published the Western Cape’s Procurement Disclosure Report which details all of the PPE procurement and expenditure undertaken in the province. The first report covers the period from 1 April 2020 to 30 June 2020, and will be published monthly, quarterly and annually.

Many South Africans are currently raising questions about how funding is being spent during this pandemic in South Africa. This report serves as a commitment by the Western Cape to operate transparently and openly, in the interests of good governance.

All spheres of government are currently experiencing a tight economic environment in which we must ensure that money is being spent appropriately and responsibly. Corruption is expensive, unaffordable and it thrives in secrecy and obscurity. By putting these reports out into the public domain, we open ourselves and our procurement systems up to the kind of public scrutiny that will not allow corruption to thrive. If, at any point, it emerges that there has been untoward behaviour in the procurement of PPE, we will not hesitate to take action.

Tourism announcements:

We welcome the announcements today by the Minister of Tourism Mmamoloko Kubayi-Ngubane,  allowing for intra-provincial leisure accommodation and extending the curfew to 10pm, allowing restaurants to trade later. The alert level 3 restrictions have placed extreme pressure on some of the leading job creating sectors in the Western Cape- including the tourism and hospitality sector. As a province, we believe that if we do not support businesses and allow them to re-open safely, we will face a second, equally serious, unemployment pandemic.

Today’s announcements are a step in the right direction, but we will continue to engage with the national government on this issue because they do not completely address the crisis. I have already written to Ministers Nkosazana Dlamini Zuma and Zweli Mkhize to request an urgent meeting to discuss the impact of some of the alert level 3 restrictions on our major job creation sectors, and I do not intend to cancel that request in light of these new announcements.

We appeal to those tourism establishments who will be opening for trade in light of these new announcements to take all the necessary steps to ensure that they can do so safely.

MEDIA RELEASE BY DAVID MAYNIER

WESTERN CAPE MINISTER OF FINANCE AND ECONOMIC OPPORTUNITIES

Date: 30 July 2020

Release: immediately

Procurement Disclosure Report a commitment to clean governance

We are pleased to publish the first edition of the Procurement Disclosure Report by Provincial Treasury.

The Procurement Disclosure Report details all personal protective equipment (PPE) procurement and expenditure in the Western Cape in response to the Covid-19 pandemic, in a regular and standardised report that will be made available on a monthly, quarterly and annual basis to the public.

The first Procurement Disclosure Report details all PPE procurement and expenditure by Western Cape government departments from 1 April 2020 to 30 June 2020 and, on each transaction, includes details such as the name of the supplier, a description of the item, the unit price per item and the total spent.

Minister of Finance and Economic Opportunities, David Maynier, said: “We consider the Procurement Disclosure Report an excellent example of transparency, and another innovative step towards maintaining clean government in the Western Cape.

“We have invested significant amounts of money on PPE in the fight against Covid-19 in the Western Cape, and so I am pleased that this initiative by Provincial Treasury as an important measure designed to mitigate the risks in supply chain management and ensure this money is spent correctly.”

Provincial Treasury, Head of Department, David Savage, added: “The public Procurement Disclosure Report enhances transparency in our supply chains by providing procurement information that is easy to access and meaningful to all interested parties and oversight bodies. Because we use different supply chain management systems with varying lead and lag times, we hope that this consolidated report will eliminate duplication and discrepancies in reporting.”

Other pro-active support and compliance measures implemented by Provincial Treasury to mitigate procurement risks include the establishment of a Central Procurement Advisory Committee to support and advise the main procuring departments and enhanced surveillance of disaster-related procurement by internal audits of procurement transactions.

To access the first Procurement Disclosure Report visit: www.westerncape.gov.za/provincial-treasury/procurement-disclosure-report

For more information and to submit feedback or suggestion on improvements to the Public Disclosure Report please email to our Supplier Helpdesk.

Notes for media:
Please find soundbyte from Minister David Maynier attached

To read the statement online visit: https://www.westerncape.gov.za/provincial-treasury/news/procurement-disclosure-report-commitment-clean-governance

Media Queries:

Francine Higham

Spokesperson for the Provincial Minister of Finance and Economic Opportunities

(Responsible for the Provincial Treasury and the Department of Economic Development and Tourism)

Tel: 021 483 4327 / Cell: 071 087 5150 / Email: francine.higham@westerncape.gov.za

30 July

As of 1pm on 29 July, the Western Cape had 11 522 active cases of COVID-19, with a total of 92 330 confirmed cases and 77 823 recoveries.

Cape Metro Sub-districts:

Sub-districts:

Unallocated: 6689 (5118 recovered)

Data note: It is not always possible to check and verify that the address data supplied for each new recorded case is correct, within the time frames required to provide regular and timely updates. This means that in some instances, cases could be allocated to the wrong sub-districts. We are working with the sub-districts to clean and verify the data and where errors are picked up locally, cases will be re-allocated to the correct areas.

More data is available here: https://coronavirus.westerncape.gov.za/covid-19-dashboard

The Western Cape has recorded an additional 37 deaths, bringing the total number of COVID-19 related deaths in the province to 2985. We send our condolences to their loved ones at this time.

Department of the Premier budget speech:

This morning, at 10am, Premier Alan Winde will deliver the Department of the Premier’s budget adjustment speech in a hybrid sitting of the Western Cape Legislature. Premier Winde will detail the work the Department has done in leading the Western Cape’s whole of government response to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Members of the media can follow the speech and debate here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mC1MPUJwvW8

 29 July 2020 

“All indications are that the Western Cape Covid-19 pandemic is stabilizing & starting to decline in some areas – but we must be vigilant”  

At today’s digitial press conference, the Western Cape Government provided an update on our health response to the Covid-19 pandemic.

Our teams have been working around the clock to ensure that our health systems are prepared to provide care to every single person, should they need it.

From the very beginning, we understood that the Hard Lockdown was necessary to buy us time to do this. We have not taken this responsibility for granted, and I am extremely grateful to every single person who worked with determination and speed to ensure we could provide the best possible services to all our people.

Evidence-based, data-led approach to the pandemic

The Western Cape has adopted an evidence-based, data-led approach to this unprecedented health emergency. Following top scientific advice, and using provisioning scenarios, we have planned for the worst, but intervened to ensure the best possible outcome. This is the responsibility of a caring government.

Part of this process is to continuously assess the data to ensure that we are on the right track, and that we have all the resources needed to provide the care needed.

A stabilization of the pandemic, with a decline in some areas – but extra vigilance now needed to prevent new flare-ups

Our Western Cape Department of Health has been studying a number of indicators available to us, including the positivity rate of Covid-19 tests, the number of new Covid-19 deaths, the number of Covid-19 hospitalisations in both the public and private sector, and the number of infected healthcare workers to ascertain trends in the pandemic.

All indications (from this data) are that the pandemic has started to stabilize in the Western Cape, with a decline in some areas being experienced (we are noticing different paces in different areas).

While this is good news, it does not mean that we can rest on our laurels. On the contrary, it means we must be even more vigilant. We must keep our curve moving in the right direction, in all areas – downwards. If we let our foot off the pedal now, and don’t continue to change our behaviour, then we risk new flare-ups and an acceleration of cases in the future. We cannot allow this to happen.

My message to our residents is therefore to take hope from this latest data and use it to be more determined than ever before to change your behaviour. We can all make a real difference by following the golden rules at all time, including:

• Wearing a mask whenever in public
• Washing your hands regularly with soap and water, or by using hand sanitizer
• Keeping a good distance from others, of at least 1.5 metres
• Cleaning surfaces in your home and workplace
• By not touching your face, nose and mouth with unwashed hands
• By staying home when sick and calling our hotline (021 928 4102) for advice (those with difficulty breathing and diabetic residents must seek medical care immediately).

The Western Cape Government will continue to intervene to slow the spread of the virus, using our All-of-Government, Hotspot Containment Strategy. The fight is not over: it must continue with the same rigour and determination as before.

Update on Testing

As a result of the Western Cape Government’s targeted testing strategy focussed on vulnerable groups, we have been able to prevent a backlog of tests at the NHLS. This has meant that there has been quick turnaround of test results.

The average turnaround times are as follows:

• 46 hours at a clinic
• 41 hours at a Community Development Centre
• 27 hours at a Community Healthcare Centre
• 23 hours at our hospitals

This turnaround time is allowing our health experts to intervene quicker and provide life-saving treatment where necessary.

I want to extend a thank you to the teams at the NHLS and other labs for their contribution to the fight against Covid-19.

The Western Cape’s Diabetes Action Plan – early results are promising 

As a type 2 diabetic, who has also been infected with Covid-19, the Western Cape’s Diabetes Action Plan has been very close to my heart. I am therefore very pleased to report that early results from the project are promising.

Diabetic patients who test positive for Covid-19 are contacted by our teams, and where necessary, hospitalised at the Hospital of Hope before their condition worsens. This allows for our healthcare workers to monitor their condition and ensure life-saving care is provided should they deteriorate.

Initial feedback from this project is as follows:

• 152 diabetic patients have been contacted by the clinical team
• 63 diabetic patients have then been hospitalised
• 40 of these patients have been discharged (63%), with 3 of the patients dying (4,7%)
• None of the 20 patients currently admitted are in clinical distress

This is extremely promising. Our initial data suggested that 42% of all diabetic patients admitted to hospital died. This data therefore suggests that early diagnosis and healthcare does make a big difference for this high-risk group.

The Western Cape Department of Health will publish a detailed report on these findings in due course.

Healthcare system platform update

The early indication that the pandemic is starting to ease in some areas of the Western Cape is reflected in our healthcare services platform capacity.

• The Hospital of Hope (862 beds), has admitted 1366 patients to date, and currently has 139 patients admitted. There have been 1150 discharges, and 77 deaths at this field hospital to date.
• The Brackengate Intermediate Care Facility (338 beds) has admitted 82 patients, and currently has 17 patients admitted. There have been 65 discharges and no deaths to date.
• The Thusong Centre, Khayelitsha (60 beds) has admitted 234 patients, with 21 currently admitted. There have been 176 discharges and 31 deaths to date.
• Our fourth facility, Sonstraal Hospital, should start accepting patients by 10 August 2020.
• In the Metro, the public health platform for all patients (Covid-19 and non-Covid-19) is currently at 71%.

While the platform has pressures, it is coping with the demands on it.

The Western Cape’s second “unemployment” pandemic

During today’s press conference I made clear that the Western Cape Government is committed to fighting the second, equally serious unemployment pandemic taking root in our province.

From the very beginning, I have argued that we should not treat our Covid-19 response as a zero-sum game. We can save lives now and do so in a way that will also save lives in the future.

The reality is that we are facing a serious humanitarian crisis in the Western Cape, as tens of thousands of people lose their jobs, and access to income. A job is not a ‘nice-to-have’: it is the difference between putting food on the table and starving.

We have to work with the private sector and businesses to ensure that they open safely, to slow the spread of the virus. And where they can open safely, we must allow them to do so.

For this reason, I have written to the Minster of Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs, Nkosazana Dlamini Zuma, and Minister of Health, Dr Zweli Mkhize, to request a meeting to discuss the impact of regulations on the Western Cape’s economy and dire consequences it is having on our most vulnerable communities.

– ENDS –

28 July 2020

Tomorrow, Western Cape Premier Alan Winde will hold a digital press conference over Microsoft Teams which will provide an update on the Western Cape’s health response to Covid-19.

Premier Winde will be joined by Health Minister Nomafrench Mbombo and Health HOD, Dr Keith Cloete.

Date:  29 July 2020

Time:  12 pm

Digital platform: Microsoft Teams

Please confirm your attendance by 9am tomorrow and provide your name, surname, the name of your publication and your email address to be added to Microsoft Teams.  We will provide you with a meeting invite to the briefing, upon your confirmation. Only those who have confirmed attendance will be admitted.

27 July 2020

As of 1pm on 27 July, the Western Cape has 12 688 active cases of COVID-19, with a total of 91 180 confirmed cases and 75 595 recoveries.

Cape Metro Sub-districts:

Sub-districts:

Unallocated: 6552 (5084 recovered)

Data note: It is not always possible to check and verify that the address data supplied for each new recorded case is correct, within the time frames required to provide regular and timely updates. This means that in some instances, cases could be allocated to the wrong sub-districts. We are working with the sub-districts to clean and verify the data and where errors are picked up locally, cases will be re-allocated to the correct areas.

More data is available here: https://coronavirus.westerncape.gov.za/covid-19-dashboard

The Western Cape has recorded an additional 35 deaths, bringing the total number of COVID-19 related deaths in the province to 2897. We send our condolences to their loved ones at this time.

Four months of lockdown and how the Western Cape Government has responded:

Today marks four months since South Africa went into Lockdown, in order to slow the spread of the virus and to buy us time to prepare our health and other government systems for the peak of infections that were to come. Our responsibility was to ensure that every person received the care they need, when they needed it.

The Western Cape Government has taken this responsibility very seriously, and our teams have worked around the clock to make sure that this happened. This was made clear in our special budget tabled last week, where R3.05 billion was allocated to the fight against Covid-19 in the Western Cape. This included:

• R1.8 billion to the Department of Health for personal protective equipment, temporary field hospitals, testing and screening, and additional bed capacity;
• R400 million to the Department of Transport and Public Works for the hiring of venues and the purchase of services for quarantine and isolation facilities;
• R310 million to the Department of Education for personal protective equipment, and the sanitisation of schools;
• R84 million for humanitarian relief including inter alia:

o   R25.9 million to the Department of Social Development for an emergency food relief programme;

o   R18 million to the Department of Education for an emergency school feeding scheme; and

o   R17.8 million to the Department of Local Government for an emergency food relief programme;

• R27 million to the Department of Local Government for the coordination and implementation of the response to the pandemic in hotspots;
• R14 million to the Department of Economic Development and Tourism to support small businesses, workplace safety, and screening passengers at the George Airport; and
• R12 million to the Department of Social Development for personal protective equipment and operational support to Old Age Homes and Early Childhood Development Centres across the Western Cape.

More detailed information on the tabled budget and relevant documents, can be found on  https://www.westerncape.gov.za/provincial-treasury/news/special-adjustment-budget-address-budget-beat-covid-19-western-cape

I want to thank every person in our government for working so hard to make this happen. We are still in the midst of a serious pandemic, and we have a lot more work to do. But your hard work, and continuous dedication to saving lives has inspired me. Thank you!

To our residents: I know that you are tired, and that you wish this was all over already. I also do. The reality is that the virus is going to stay with us for some time still, as there is still no vaccine.

So we need to carry on changing our behaviour every day so that we keep ourselves, and our loved ones safe. I want to say a very big thank you to every single person who is doing so already. Millions of people across our province are following the golden rules and playing their part.

To those of you who are not yet, now is the time to join in. Wear your mask, wash your hands, keep a distance, avoid touching your face, and sneeze and cough into a tissue or the corner of your arm. If we all do this, we can keep safe, and we will save lives.

Webinar series launched to support tourism sector:

I am very concerned by the second unemployment pandemic taking shape in our province and country. We need to fight this pandemic with the same determination as we have Covid-19.

That is why I am pleased that our Western Cape Minister of Finance and Economic Opportunities, David Maynier today announced a five-part weekly webinar series for the tourism sector that aims to provide support and advice on opening safely during the Covid-19 pandemic.

This tourism webinar series is one of the many ways we are working hard to support the tourism sector, which has been hard-hit by the Covid-19 pandemic and the Alert Level 3 restrictions and is facing significant job losses in the Western Cape.

The launch of the tourism webinar series follows the announcement on the 15 July of the Tourism Product Development Fund which commits a total of R5 million to support new or existing tourism products and experiences in the Western Cape.

For further details on registering for the tourism webinars, kindly follow https://www.westerncape.gov.za/news/webinar-series-launched-support-tourism-sector

Call for minute of remembrance in honour of all those who have gone before us:

Today our Western Cape Minister of Cultural Affairs and Sport, Anroux Marais, with the support of our Faith Based Organisations (FBO) Network and various stakeholders, called for a minute of silence every Wednesday at 12h00 in which we light a candle in remembrance of those who have lost their lives to Covid-19.

As we understand that many feel overwhelmed with emotions of sadness, depression and/or anxiety with the increasing loss felt during this difficult time, we remain committed to the mental and physical wellbeing of all those we serve because it is only with compassionate will and collaborative efforts, that we will beat this pandemic.

The Western Cape Government, together with our FBO Network offer bereavement and psycho-social support through our Departments of Social Development and Health across the province. If psycho-social support is needed, please do not hesitate to contact us on our hotline number 0800 220 250 to be connected to your nearest local office or visit https://www.westerncape.gov.za/dept/social-development. For additional support, kindly contact the bereavement helpline on 082 925 5938 or 079 872 6408 or your local faith based organization for counselling as is needed.