President Cyril Ramaphosa rightly stated in his letter of 11 May: “Imposing a nation-wide lockdown gave our country a strategic advantage. It bought us valuable time to prepare our health system and put in place containment measures. This has slowed transmission and saved lives.
“As the restrictions on economic activity and daily life are eased, it is vital that all South Africans maintain that firm sense of personal responsibility. In all that we do, in every sphere of life, we must take care of our own health and the health of others.”
Johan Maartens.
Also bear in mind the following statement from www.sacoronavirus.co.za under the heading ‘Don’t panic’. “There is no need to panic – 82% of Covid-19 cases are mild: patients only experience a slight fever, fatigue and a cough. Only about 6% of patients need intensive care. The vast majority of people can stay at home and get better without hospital treatment.”
As the active cases slowly increase (active = positive/recovered/died), South Africans seemed to forget all about the ‘Don’t panic’ initiative. Police, army, healthcare, and politicians seemed to jump on the panic wave and the result created visions of another failed, militant African state in the making, including our newly achieved junk status.
When any business makes rules that the employees do not understand, there is confusion and suspicion. This is true in business, in the home as well as in politics.
Suspicions about people gaining from banning the sale of certain items, government driving its political agenda, and assistance for only companies of a certain population group abound – and all because an open book policy was not followed.
The SAIMC stands firm behind the president of South Africa, but at the same time, we question why the government found it necessary to be so secretive about why certain decisions were made, other decisions were made one day and thrown out the next, etc. It creates bad impressions about the motives of people in power and the competence of those behind the decisions.
One thing that President Ramaphosa did get right though was to unite the country behind him at the start of Level 5 lockdown. Then, everything seemed to go haywire when we moved to Level 4. It seems that it is time for Mr. Ramaphosa to take back the reins of power and start leading the country again, with the authority and understanding he has shown in the past.
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When calculators were first introduced, there were several concerns, particularly in the educational sector. Many educators and parents feared that students would become too reliant on calculators and ...
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The SAIMC Johannesburg branch recently hosted the June Technology Evening. The presentation covered HVAC systems through the lens of instrumentation, highlighting how sensor technologies form the backbone of effective monitoring and control, allowing for effective energy efficiency.
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SAIMC
The SAIMC Durban Branch hosted its latest technology meeting on 4 June.The event drew a strong turnout, highlighting the keen interest in the topic ‘Understanding Level Measurement: Contact vs Non-Contact Methods’.
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The Society for Automation, Instrumentation, Mechatronics and Control Engineering (SAIMC) invites you to connect with us at the KwaZulu-Natal Industrial Technology Exhibition (KITE) from Tuesday 22 to Thursday 24 July 2025.
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SAIMC
The SAIMC User Advisory Council is proud to present the 2025 Annual Summit, formerly known as the MESA Africa Summit. The theme is ‘Mining and manufacturing in South Africa: SMART operations in a disruptive world economy’.
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The Durban branch of the SAIMC was pleased to welcome Vusi Sithole, managing member of Hybrid Control Corporation in Richards Bay, who presented\on the very pertinent topic of ‘Infrastructure monitoring and control for water loss management’.
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SAIMC
We say it every year, and we’ll say it again: May in Durban is hard to beat; but 9 May, when the Durban Golf Day teed off at Kloof Country Club, was something else. With sunny skies and temperatures in the upper 20s, it was a fantastic day, full of fun and great energy.
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SAIMC
Horst Weinert, head of Didactic at Festo Southern/Eastern Africa, will be sharing some of Festo’s Didactic experiences of working across industry and education. He will cover training for productivity and employability in the public and private sectors, discussing especially the potential for inter-company training centres.
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