Daily news update: Disaster Management Amendment Bill, new Rea Vaya route and Bara Hospital

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Daily news update 12 March 

Parliament’s Cogta committee finalises Disaster Management Amendment Bill

Parliament has confirmed the finalisation of the proposed amendments to the Disaster Management Act of 2002.

Briefing MPs during the National Assembly’s Programming Committee meeting on Thursday, Parliament unit manager Mongana Tau indicated that the process of drafting the Disaster Management Amendment Bill has been completed.

The Portfolio Committee on Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs (Cogta) finalised the Bill on Tuesday.

This after the committee held deliberations on the Bill in February and earlier this month following stakeholder engagements.

New Rea Vaya route will remove 940 taxis off Joburg roads

The City of Johannesburg (COJ) has signed three key agreements to add new Rea Vaya bus routes from the city centre to Alexandra and Sandton.

The new route will connect Phase 1A and 1B from the Johannesburg CBD to Alexandra, Greenstone and Sandton.

The city’s new partnership with the Alexandra, Randburg, Midrand, Sandton Taxi Association (ARMSTA) and the Alexandra Taxi Association (ATA) is significant because it essentially removes 940 mini bus taxis of the roads, paving the way for new industry players.

“The agreements allow the City to remove 940 minibus taxis from the Phase 1C(a) route. Depending on their age and condition, some vehicles will be scrapped while newer vehicles will be sold,” said COJ’s MMC for transport Funzi Ngobeni.

Pfizer Covid-19 vaccines still favourable and safe to be administered – Sahpra

The South African Health Products Regulatory Authority (Sahpra) says Pfizer Covid-19 vaccines are still favourable and safe to be administered as per rollout schedule, according to the latest reported safety data reviewed by the institution.

This comes after the US Food and Drug Administration’s (FDA’s) Center for Biologics Evaluation and Research (CBER) earlier this week published Pfizer data from its clinical trials in support of a Covid-19 vaccine licence.

Gauteng Health Department denies it’s facing a financial crisis

The Gauteng Department of Health has denied that it faces a financial and food supply crisis at the province’s public hospitals, following concerns raised by staff at Chris Hani Baragwanath Academic Hospital (CHBAH) in Soweto, Johannesburg.

“Honestly speaking, the department is not in a financial crisis, and we must state that openly. The one thing we should take note of, is that funding for health is a key priority for the province,” said the department’s chief financial officer Lerato Madyo.  

She was speaking on Friday during a media briefing at CHBAH after the department met with the hospital’s management and stakeholders.

R21m in Joburg backdated ‘refuse recalculation’ bills challenged in court

The City of Johannesburg (CoJ) and its contracted refuse collector Pikitup are set to face a high court challenge to a R21 million backdated refuse recalculation bill on almost 100 accounts.

The application is to be brought by the Johannesburg Property Owners and Managers Association (JPOMA), which believes the recalculation and backdated amounts to be both invalid and unlawful in terms of the city’s own bylaws.

The punitive amount was arrived at by a recalculation of refuse backdated to 2018 on 93 different accounts.

Fake news alert: There is no nationwide fuel shortage or petrol station shutdown

A voice note doing the rounds of social media of a nationwide fuel shortage and petrol station shutdown on Friday is fake news, the Fuel Retailers Association (FRA) assured.

The FRA told Zululand Observer it would be business as usual for fuel stations.

SA Petroleum Industry Association spokesperson Cindy-Lee Maneveld told Pretoria Rekord they were not previously aware of the hoax, but that to their knowledge, it was fake news.

Automobile Association (AA) spokesperson Layton Beard told the publication they were not aware of a planned shutdown.

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