THE LAST NEWS WORD
OMICRON, SABOTAGE AND 2021 IMPACTED A “Perfect Storm” is not an inappropriate description for the events that have taken place in the weeks prior to writing this article.
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By Peter Bagshawe ollowing the municipal election results and the establishment of committees, the effect of the changing political landscape was followed by the Rand dipping below R16/US$1; the South African Human Rights Commission hearing into the July insurrection, which revealed ineptitude; and the imposition of international travel restrictions following the identification of the Omicron Covid-19 variant locally, which has decimated the tourism industry’s bookings. As an aside, the juxtaposition of the letters in the new variant’s name adequately describes the reaction of many to the travel restrictions internationally. Of equal concern are reports of alleged sabotage within the Eskom Group that have been linked to loadshedding, theft of spares from power stations and the acknowledgement of
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the impact of strong-arm tactics on the construction industry. Turning away from the political side of the elections, the drop in the value of the Rand was exacerbated by the high pricing levels of Brent crude oil, with projections of R20 per litre for petrol in December being mooted. Given that this comes into effect at midnight on 30 November, the lead into the Festive Season will be tempered by increased costs of transport impacting on inflation and holiday plans at the end of a particularly hard year domestically. The festive season was viewed as a potential high point for the tourism and hospitality industries that have been hard hit over the past 20 months, with job losses and closures of businesses and hotels leading to extensive job losses within both industries as well as their associated supply chains. Data released
SECURITY FOCUS AFRICA NOVEMBER 2021
on the evening of 28 November 2021, quoting the South African Tourism Services Association and the Federated Hospitality Association of South Africa, indicates that South Africa has lost in excess of R1 billion in bookings for the period December 2021 to March 2022 as a direct result of the international travel bans imposed on Southern Africa. The Omicron variant was first identified in South Africa via the genomic sequencing work of local epidemiologists who reported this on 24 November 2021 to the World Health Organisation (WHO), which identified it as a variant of concern. Factually, however, Omicron is not a South African variant and the first case was identified on 9 November 2021. The World Health Organisation warned against the hasty imposition of travel restrictions and urged for a risk-based and scientific approach; this approach
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