Sassa officials told Parliament they expect all the medical assessments to be completed by the end of March, after bringing more doctors on board to conduct them.

Lindiwe Zulu and Sassa officials briefed the committee after being called to account for the lengthy queues and violent incidents that unfolded at the agency’s offices this past week.

Police used water cannon to enforce social distancing by elderly and disabled grant recipients outside Sassa’s Bellville offices in the Western Cape on Friday while one person died while queueing in Durban.

Government has already come under fire for not engaging early enough with vaccine suppliers or planning the roll-out of its vaccination campaign properly.

National Treasury has suggested that higher taxes could be one way of financing the vaccines, which are critical for saving lives.

KwaZulu-Natal’s provincial head of health, Dr Sandile Tshabalala, spelled out some of the challenges the province is facing, including a shortage of specialist nurses and doctors to allow for more beds for patients needing critical or high care.

The video shows patients in chairs or lying on the floor, with no healthcare workers in sight despite patients calling urgently for help.

Acting deputy director general for healthcare services Dr Abrey Lekoloana said they were planning for a worst-case scenario where new cases rise to 30,000 a week.

They are Bianca Goodson, a former chief executive of Trillian, and Mosilo Mothepu, the former chief executive of Trillian Financial Advisory.

Anoj Singh was set to spend Wednesday on the witness stand, but his legal team said he wasn’t in a position yet to give evidence.

Singh was supposed to have given evidence before the commission of inquiry on Wednesday.

Singh’s legal counsel told the inquiry Singh was not able to testify on Wednesday and submitted an affidavit giving the reasons.

Former Eskom CEO Matshela Koko told the Zondo Commission that he had been given the email address by Eskom's former head of legal and compliance, Suzanne Daniels, who said that it was board chair Ben Ngubane’s personal email account.

Ayanda Nteta said Vusi Mboweni had requested weekly reports on progress with coal contracts but she did not know where the information was going to, or who had asked for it.

Economist Iraj Abedian said one problem was that divisions within the governing party, the ANC, meant it could not reach agreement on what should be done.

Iraj Abedian said even if the economic recovery plan was properly implemented, it will be a long time before things are back on track.

Much of the responsibility for ensuring that lawmakers rose to the occasion fell on the shoulders of the chief whips of the different political parties.

Veronica Mente, the EFF’s national chairperson, said that it was no ordinary year.