Bloomberg reports that President Cyril Ramaphosa announced on Sunday night that SA will move to adjusted alert level 3, from alert level 4, after the country passed the peak of a third wave of Covid-19 infections.

He also unveiled a series of relief measures to help businesses and individuals recover from a week of deadly riots. The steps include reinstating a social-relief grant of R350 a month until the end of March, a R400 million government contribution to a relief fund and support for uninsured businesses. The government will also expand an employment tax incentive. “We have a duty to support those affected by this violence,” Ramaphosa said in a televised address. Since the pandemic hit in March last year, the government imposed stop-start curbs that shuttered thousands of businesses and added to already rampant unemployment. The nation’s misery was compounded by protests that erupted after former President Jacob Zuma was jailed this month on contempt-of-court charges and morphed into a looting spree in which thousands of businesses and street traders were targeted. At least 330 people died in the unrest, which the SA Property Owners Association estimated cost the country about R50 billion in lost output and placed 150,000 jobs at risk.

• Read the full original of the report in the above regard by Mike Cohen and S'thembile Cele at Moneyweb
• Read too, As SA moves to level 3, curfew eased, booze back on sale and small gatherings allowed, at TimesLIVE

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