December 11, 2023.

For Creamer Media in Johannesburg, I’m Trent Roebeck.

Making headlines:

Post Office will no longer pay out social grants

Water consumption exceeds metros’ targets

And, WHO calls for immediate passage of humanitarian relief into Gaza

Post Office will no longer pay out social grants

Grant recipients will no longer be able to withdraw cash from Post Offices, Postbank and South African Social Security Agency announced.

Postbank and Sassa said they will phase out all physical cash payment points, including the cash withdrawal of grants within Post Offices. The process will start in January next year and end on 31 March 2024.

The announcement was initially made in 2018 and forms part of a strategy to decrease cash-in-transit heists, unfavourable conditions at cash payment points sites, as well as capacity challenges faced at the Post Office.

PostBank spokesperson Bongani Diako said Post Office branches will continue to assist Sassa beneficiaries with non-cash payments such as card reinsurances, PIN resets, printing of statements, and other such non-cash services.

Water consumption exceeds metros’ targets

Water consumption across Gauteng’s metropolitans has exceeded set targets, with Rand Water once again warning that the water systems are constrained.

Rand Water continues to produce over 5 000 megalitres a day, after having increased its maximum peak water production to 5 200 megalitres a day following the launch of Station 5A earlier this year.

Currently, Rand Water is extracting above its water licence and pumping at maximum to provide more water to municipalities.

About 80% of the water pumped by Rand Water goes to the Gauteng metropolitans, with the combined weekly water consumption, from November 27 to December 4, about 11.8% higher than the set target, implying that the metropolitans continue to consume more water than their set targets.

Technical teams from Rand Water and Gauteng metropolitans continue to collaborate in implementing interventions that strive to stabilise reservoir levels and water supply to various areas.

WHO calls for immediate passage of humanitarian relief into Gaza

The World Health Organization has agreed on a resolution, the first by any United Nations agency, calling for immediate access to vital humanitarian aid and an end to the fighting in Gaza.

The resolution – calling for the “immediate, sustained and unimpeded passage of humanitarian relief, including the access of medical personnel” – was adopted by consensus at the end of a special session of the WHO’s Executive Board yesterday.

It also called on “all parties to fulfill their obligations under international law” and reaffirmed “that all parties to armed conflict must comply fully with the obligations applicable to them under international humanitarian law related to the protection of civilians in armed conflict and medical personnel."

The special meeting of the executive board was only the seventh in the WHO’s 75-year history.

On Friday, a resolution for a humanitarian ceasefire put forward by the United Arab Emirates and co-sponsored by 100 other countries failed to pass in the United Nations Security Council after the United States vetoed the proposal.

That’s a roundup of news making headlines today.

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