RW Johnson writes on how the SACP has been staking out a position against IMF-style reform.

Proponents of BEE, or any kind of race-based affirmative action, face serious challenges from the Covid-19 pandemic. In this crisis, they can insist on using race as a proxy for disadvantage and on applying race-based regulations to supply chains and procurement serving the relief effort; or they say that for now both the beneficiaries and distributors of Covid-19 relief are to be judged by means and needs alone irrespective of race, as a strictly temporary exception. Neither option is likely to work for very long.

Imperial finally released a derivative of Ferguson’s code. I figured I’d do a review of it and send you some of the things I noticed. I don’t know your background so apologies if some of this is pitched at the wrong level.

If you pay you will have a criminal record, when in many cases your legal rights have in fact been violated.

When he was diagnosed with COVID-19, Andre Bergmann knew exactly where he wanted to be treated: the Bethanien hospital lung clinic in Moers, near his home in northwestern Germany.

Some members of the council have publicly criticised the government on the continued lockdown, saying it had no basis in science and should be lifted.

Only major economic reform capable of generating investment, growth, jobs and rising living standards will save the African National Congress (ANC) from electoral defeat, writes Frans Cronje.

Please note this outrageously inflated statistical model employed by SACEMA at the time. No one has ever officially backed down from these clearly unscientific numbers that has still not been proved. Apparently this data played a significant role when our constitutionally challenged command council made their decision to shut South Africa down. Read those numbers carefully and then compare that to what Joe Public has known since late March. If the decision to shut down South Africa was really based on this, then we need to know whether the government’s position has shifted, and to where it has shifted, if it has indeed shifted. What we do know is that the government seems to cherry pick data to suit their narrative. When will we know which model they follow? In the mean time let’s find Alice in Wonderland.

Retired judge Rex van Schalkwyk, underscores in this powerful article, the actual incidence of deaths is probably a very small percentage of those infected because many people will have Covid-19, or have had it, and no-one has noticed. Van Schalkwyk looks at this figure as one of the arguments why the reasons for strict lockdown no longer hold.

This too shall pass, and when it does we need a thoughtful, rational national debate about drafting emergency powers for future crises.

Dr Glenda Gray, a member of the Ministerial Advisory Committee (MAC) and chairperson of the South African Medical Research Council (SAMRC), said the lockdown should be eradicated completely, and that non-pharmaceutical interventions (NPI), such as handwashing, wearing masks, social distancing and prohibitions on gatherings, should be put in place.

President Cyril Ramaphosa and his executive technocracy, facing off against a Soviet of Fools — is that the appropriate collective noun? — has afforded himself seven weeks to deal with steadily increasing Covid-19 infection rates. He’s done so cosseted in an atmosphere of deep secrecy and anti-democratic tendencies. Whether you’re pro-lockdown or anti-lockdown—let’s be honest, there is no actual lockdown—fear and hatred are starting to take over. Ramaphosa, who is a (sort of) elected official, needs to start answering some questions.

Sweden’s unique approach to the COVID-19 pandemic has been drawing a great deal of scrutiny for weeks, including both admiration and criticism.

Sizwe Africa IT Group, a majority-owned subsidiary of controversial businessman Iqbal Survé’s Ayo Technology Solutions, has secured a contract worth R160-million for e-learning services in the Eastern Cape. In awarding the contract, the provincial department of education side-stepped normal procurement processes and the deal is now being queried by some officials in the province.

South Africa needs to accept that it is not on a unique trajectory. The virus cannot be eliminated. The country needs to move away from a hard lockdown, writes Imraan Valodia, Alex van den Heever, Lucy Allais, Martin Veller, Shabir Madhi and Willem Daniel Francois Venter.

After filing papers in the High Court to urgently prevent the unlawful use of B-BBEE status, race, gender or age as criteria for relief or assistance at this tough time, the DA has approached the source of most of the relief funding – the International Monetary Fund (IMF).

Met die Prez en Mama Zuma wat onderling good cop, bad cop met die volk speel deur eers die verwagting van rook te skep, en dit dan net weer op te hef, raak die rooksage nou absurd. As ek nie van beter geweet het nie, sou ek gedink het dié twee is die burleske hoofkarakters in ’n swakgeskrewe klug. Maar nee; dis die realiteite van die dag.

The National Employers’ Association of South Africa (NEASA), the organisation I represent, consists of thousands of employers/businesses, all entrepreneurs. These employers are not, in any way, a burden to the state. They do not rely on you or your government for any support; they do not expect any handouts from you or your government. In fact, the notion of any form of help from government does not form part of their frame of reference. Many years of hard work and dedication, often against the odds, have taught them that.

The civil rights organisation AfriForum laid a charge of corruption at the Wierdabrug police station in Centurion today. This follows the Gauteng government awarding an unlawful contract to the IT company In2IT, with which Panyaza Lesufi, Gauteng MEC for Education, has close links.

Corruption Watch has given the National Treasury until next week Thursday to clarify several aspects of the regulatory framework and measures that have been put in place for the Covid-19 emergency procurement plan, in order to avoid corruption.