The Medical Research Council said that a national strategy on alcohol was needed, including stricter controls on its sale and advertising.

The bill provides for the reprioritisation of funds allocated to national, provincial and local government in response to the COVID-19 pandemic.

The South African Medical Research Council is advocating raising the legal drinking age from 18 years to 19 or 21, as well as higher prices and taxes on alcohol.

Treasury moved speedily after the hard lockdown was announced at the end of March to offer companies tax relief in various ways for a four-month period.

Shamila Batohi says the authority would like to use the skills built up in the Zondo Commission of Inquiry into State Capture– but she says the NPA lacks the budget to pay for them.

Finance Minister Tito Mboweni has called for those who steal funds intended to ease the impact of the COVID-19 lockdown to be dealt with decisively.

A sovereign debt crisis is when a country cannot afford to pay any of the interest or the capital on amounts that it has borrowed, with dire consequences for the economy.

NPA boss Shamila Batohi has questioned whether the NPA and law enforcement agencies would have enough resources to properly investigate and prosecute cases arising from the state capture inquiry’s work.

This is double the R350 million price tag that Justice Minister Ronald Lamola said the inquiry had cost as of September last year.

Chief electoral officer Sy Mamabolo told Parliament that the devices would allow electoral officials to register voters in the particular part of a ward where they lived and note their address at the same time.

Chief electoral officer Sy Mamabolo and other officials briefed Parliament's Home Affairs Committee earlier on Monday.

IEC officials briefed Parliament’s home affairs committee on the impact of an adjusted budget earlier on Tuesday.

The province has 270 learners from 154 schools affected, where 271 staff have also tested positive for the coronavirus.

The urgency of reining in the government’s spiralling debt was the overriding message from Mboweni’s special adjustment budget this week, and it was one he continued to hammer home.

David Mabuza has also told Parliament that the National Coronavirus Command Council (NCCC) has not usurped any of the powers or functions of any of the three arms of the state, including Parliament.

A significant number of departments have been affected by the new budget, a response to the social and economic impact of the COVID-19 pandemic.

ANC chief whip Pemmy Majodina said she was not attacking the judiciary but felt that the time allowed to Parliament to deal with such a complex issue was unfair.

The government is either in talks with or plans to approach the International Monetary Fund, the New Development Bank (Brics bank)) as well as the World Bank for urgent funding.