The Pretoria High Court ruled on Monday 6 July that private nursery schools that comply with Covid-19 safety measures can open immediately. Siphosihle Mbuli and Gamelihle Bovana speak Anton van der Merwe, who is the SA Childcare Association’s Group Managing Director. They also spoke to Tansy Venter who is a Principal at Maylill Nursery school. Venter says they have put in place measures to ensure that the children are safe at school. She said that while children under 5 are not required to wear masks, a majority of them went to school wearing the masks.

Minister of Labour and employment Thulas Nxesi told MPs on Friday that the UIF is working on detecting instances of fraud. If necessary, forensic audits will be conducted. Nxesi furthermore states that since the national lockdown started, the UIF paid out R28 million in Covid-19 TERS benefits, covering 520 000 employers and six million laid off employees and telling the MPs that June will be the last month of Covid-19 payments. We speak to Teboho Maruping, who is the UIF Commissioner speaks to us about their plans and how they will continue to support businesses during the pandemic.

As South Africa sees a surge in the number of coronavirus infections following government’s decision to ease lockdown regulations, there are warnings that Gauteng, because of the size of the population in sheets density will become an epicentre. Speaking to Gamelihle Bovana, the Department of Health in Gauteng’s spokesperson who recently contracted covid-19 says they are urging citizens to please stay at home as they continue to fight the battle. We also hear from 19 year old Nkosi Mnisi who is recovering from a Covid-19 infection and is self isolating at home.

Senior Commissioner at the Commission for Conciliation, Mediation and Arbitration, The CCMA, Mduduzi Khumalo says they have been dealing with a number of retrenchments since the coronavirus pandemic started.

Informal Settlements interview: Are the conditions in informal settlements conducive to preventing Corona? On the Covid-Report today we unpack how the pandemic affects informal settlements. Siphosihle Mbuli and Gamelihle Bovana speaks to Phumeza Mlungwana - International Budgeting Partnership SA

While the agriculture and food sector value chain were declared as essential during the lockdown, small scale farmers who sell directly to markets and consumers were adversely affected as they could not reach customers. Dr Lennox Xolile Mtshagi, President of Black Farmers Association of SA says some of the small scale farmers are not going to be able to revive their business post the Covid 19 pandemic if they do not receive any funding from government. Some farmers have had to sell some of their equipment to keep up with their monthly expenses during the lockdown period. Mtshagi says big retailers continue to sideline black farmers, making it impossible for them to grow their businesses. Another farmer, Mpho Mpfuni co-founder of Mulilo Holdings, says the have to cut down the number of employees from 15 to 8 as they could not afford to pay their salaries as the UIF and grants took long.