Presidency postpones national address

NATIONAL NEWS - President Cyril Ramaphosa’s address to the nation in which he was expected to announce measures to curb the spread of Covid-19 was postponed on Sunday evening.

The NICD confirmed on Sunday night that South Africa now had 274 confirmed cases of Covid-19, an increase of 34 from Saturday.

“The president will address the nation tomorrow [Monday],” presidency minister Jackson Mthembu told the media at the Union Buildings.

This comes as the nation waited on Ramaphosa to give updates on the virus and possibly announce new measures after he met with the National Command Council.

Mthembu, however, said the meeting was not finished yet and was expected to continue late into the evening.

“Let’s suppose the meeting ends at midnight tonight, it would be unfair for the president to address people that are sleeping,” Mthembu explained the postponement.
No time has been set for his address.

The said meeting was believed to be taking into consideration matters Ramaphosa tackled with various stakeholders such as business, political parties and church leaders.

Among others, the council meeting was set to consider whether the measures implemented to contain the spread of the virus were sufficient or not, before announcing any new measures.

“Under these circumstances, we need South Africa to work in unison,” he said.

Speaking after Mthembu, presidential spokesperson Khusela Diko again appealed to people to stop spreading fake news.

“No statements are going to be released by the presidency or government during the course of the night,” she said, urging people “to stay safe”.

Diko also said a memorandum purporting to be from the basic education department was “fake”.

“No memo or anything will be coming from government until the president speaks,” she said.

During the briefing, it was also said that Ramaphosa would be tested for the virus if the need arose.

This after he had come into contact with Reverend Kenneth Meshoe, who earlier revealed he had tested positive for the virus.

Meshoe earlier explained he was tested for the virus as he had participated in a religious gathering of more than 100 people in the days before Ramaphosa announced the ban on gatherings of that size.

Of the guests at the religious gathering, five had allegedly subsequently tested positive for the virus.

On Saturday, Diko dismissed social media reports claiming Ramaphosa would declare a national shutdown.

A week ago, Ramaphosa declared a national state of disaster in line with the disaster management act.