While the country is breathing a collective sigh of relief that the second wave of the pandemic tailed off in February, South Africa is bracing for a third wave of Covid-19, expected to arrive with the start of winter this June.

According to medical experts, the extent of the third wave of infections will depend on how successful the rollout of vaccinations is going to be, the inclination of the public to abide by social distancing and other public-health measures, and the extent to which new variants of the virus emerges.

South Africa launched the first phase of immunizations when it began administering the Covid-19 vaccine from Johnson & Johnson to frontline health-care workers in February. Medical Research Council president, professor Glenda Gray, says that the current Covid-19 vaccination rollout for healthcare workers forms part of a study and is not part of the government’s vaccination plan, which has been on hold since February.

Quartz Africa reports that, by the end of March, nearly 183,000 of an estimated 1.2 million such workers have received the injection, with the remainder expected to be vaccinated by the middle of April. People with health conditions and others at greatest risk from Covid-19 are planned to start being inoculated in May.

As far as South Africa’s economic recovery is concerned, Jeff Gable, chief economist and head of research at Absa, recently said that the South African economy will take three to four years to get back to where it was before the Covid-19 pandemic struck.  To put this in perspective, it took the economy only five quarters to get back to where it was before the global financial crisis in 2008/09. According to Gable it took five years to recover the jobs lost during that period.

In a recent article by Moneyweb, Gable said that only a few jobs were created in the South African economy in 2019, but 600 000 to 700 000 jobs were destroyed in the second quarter of 2020 and very few of those jobs have come back, with many sectors of the economy “really suffering”.

In this issue we highlight the keys to successful retirement planning, as planning for your retirement is an essential part of your holistic financial plan. With 2 April beingWorld Autism Awareness Day, we share important information regarding this growing developmental disorder and to pique your interest for a new experience once the world has gone back to normal, we provide an introduction to polo, the Sport of Kings.

Please be assured of our commitment to assisting you in achieving continued financial success and prosperity.

Enjoy this issue!

Best regards

Johann Joubert

Keys to successful retirement planning
Your retirement should be a time to slow down and enjoy the fruits of years of hard work and sacrifice.  Read more

Autism – breaking the silence
One in every 150 children has autism, an illness that affects numerous families from various backgrounds worldwide. Read more

The Sport of Kings
Eight riders on horseback thundering across a park the size of 12 rugby fields, chasing a small white ball, is exhilarating to behold. Read more