For Creamer Media in Johannesburg, I’m Thabi Madiba.

Making headlines: SA has 17 confirmed cases of the pandemic coronavirus; Public Protector suspends Free State head after he calls on her to resign; And, Eskom to implement 'stage 4' rolling power cuts until Friday

SA has 17 confirmed cases of the pandemic coronavirus

South Africa today announced four more cases of the pandemic coronavirus bringing the total number of confirmed cases to 17.

In a statement, Health Minister Dr Zweli Mkhize said they have detected another four cases, including a first case, in the Free State, of local transmission.

The World Health Organisation yesterday declared the virus a pandemic as the number of confirmed cases approached 120 000 worldwide.

Meanwhile, the Democratic Alliance called on Mkhize to protect the country’s citizens by instituting a mandatory self-quarantine period for all travellers from high-risk countries, whether the person was symptomatic or not.

The South African Cabinet said it will be holding a special meeting to discuss the nation's response to the Covid-19 pandemic.

Public Protector suspends Free State head after he calls on her to resign

Public Protector Busisiwe Mkhwebane has placed the head of her Free State office on precautionary suspension, just one day after he wrote an official letter calling on her to resign as the head of the Chapter 9 institution.

In a statement released yesterday, Mkhwebane said Sphelo Samuel's precautionary suspension followed "his writing and wide distribution of a disparaging letter which he addressed to the Public Protector”.

Samuel wrote the letter on the same day a full Bench of the Gauteng High Court in Pretoria delivered a scathing judgment against Mkhwebane for her report on a donation from former Bosasa chief Gavin Watson to President Cyril Ramaphosa’s election campaign, setting it aside.

And, Eskom to implement 'stage 4' rolling power cuts until Friday

South Africa's electricity utility Eskom today said it would continue implementing stage 4 rotational powercuts until Friday following a breakdown at its Koeberg station and the associated loss of generating capacity.

Koeberg is currently the only nuclear power station in Africa, located some 30 km north of Cape Town.

Eskom said it was currently utilising emergency generation reserves to supplement supply, with some generation units expected to return to service this evening, helping ease supply constraints.

That’s a roundup of news making headlines today

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