Table of contents for 2021-05-21 in DFA News

Sandi Kwon Hoo chief reporter COPE and the EFF in the Northern Cape have slammed politicians for “skipping the queue” after they received Covid-19 vaccinations at Harmony Home in Kimberley on Monday. Cope national chairperson Pakes Dikgetsi said yesterday that he had requested clarity on the matter from the MEC for Health, Maruping Lekwene, as, according to phase 2 of the vaccine roll-out, only persons 60 years and older and those with comorbidities qualify to be vaccinated. “I enquired about the criteria used as ANC members of the regional executive committee (REC) as well as DA members were seen receiving the vaccinations on Monday,” said Dikgetsi. He pointed out that politicians who were under the age of 50 and without any apparent comorbidities had essentially "jumped the queue". “This practise…

Dineo Faku STAFF WRITER DE BEERS, the world’s biggest diamond producer by volume, posted a 15.5 percent fall in the value of rough diamond sales during its fourth sales cycle as India’s deadly second wave of Covid-19 weighed heavily on demand. De Beers, an Anglo American plc subsidiary, said on Tuesday that the provisional value of global sight holder sales and auctions fell to $380 million (R5.3 billion) during the fourth sales cycle from $450m a cycle earlier. However the figure was significantly higher than $56m recorded during the fourth and fifth sales cycles of last year. De Beers chief executive Bruce Cleaver said the group continued to see robust diamond jewellery demand in key American and China consumer markets. “However, the scale of the second wave of Covid-19 in…

Sandi Kwon Hoo THE SOUTH African Weather Service has issued an alert for a high danger of veld fires and damaging winds in large parts of the Northern Cape as a cold front started to sweep through the country from last night. Rainfall and snow is expected in the Western Cape today followed by a drop in temperature around the country as well as frost in places. Temperatures are expected to plummet in Kimberley, where it will reach a low of one degree Celsius tomorrow and three degrees C tonight. Daytime temperatures will reach 16 degrees C today and 18 degrees C tomorrow. Warmer temperatures can be expected from Monday. An alert for high fire danger was issued on Wednesday in Kimberley, Postmasburg, De Aar, Griekwastad, Groblershoop, Prieska, Augrabies…

Benida Phillips THE SIGNIFICANT advance in the struggle for the survival of the N/uu language will be celebrated when the Northern Cape Department of Sport, Arts and Culture launches the first ever N/uu children’s book. The book, titled the Tortoise and Ostrich, will be launched on May 24, 2021 in Rosedale, Upington. Department spokesperson Conrad Fortune said the book is an illustrated story told by Katrina Esau, who is one of the oldest speakers of the N/uu language. “In 2020, Ouma Katrina Esau was honoured as a South African Living Human Legend. This accolade is bestowed upon individuals who have a high degree of knowledge and skills to perform or recreate specific elements of the intangible cultural heritage,” said Fortune. “The department will host the book launch in collaboration with…

Siyabonga Mkhwanazi staff writer JUSTICE Minister Ronald Lamola has finally tabled the Land Court Bill in Parliament after it was approved by Cabinet to address land-related matters. Lamola had said the Bill would ensure the permanent appointment of judges and other judicial officers to oversee land claims. This after the Land Claims Court has not been able to have full-time judges since it was established years ago, except for the judge president. Agriculture, Land Reform and Rural Development Minister Thoko Didiza had told Parliament a few months ago this has led to the delay in processing land claims. Some of the claims date back to 1998 during the first cut-off date for the claims. When the second phase was reopened in 2014, more than 120 000 new land claims were…

Benida Phillips GAME in Kimberley closed its doors for business yesterday following complaints by the SA Commercial, Catering and Allied Workers Union (Saccawu) that the store does not adhere to Covid-19 employment regulations. According to the provincial spokesperson of Saccawu, Anthony Kgobi, management at the store at the North Cape Mall had allegedly intimidated employees by threatening not to pay them should they not report for duty, despite one of the managers apparently testing positive for Covid-19. “The management at the store told employees that should they not report for work then they will not be paid. They said that the ‘no work, no pay’ policy will be implemented. Employees are now forced to work even though they know that they run the risk of contracting the virus.” Kgobi also…

Benida Phillips staff reporter A 33-YEAR-old man was arrested after he handed himself over to the Northern Cape Hawks’ Serious Organised Crime office yesterday in connection with his alleged involvement in a cash-in-transit robbery that took place in Kuruman. Hawks provincial spokesperson Nomthandazo Mnisi said the incident occurred on April 28, 2021 at the Palm Gate complex in Kuruman. “It is alleged that a security guard, who is one of the suspects, was offloading cash from the armed vehicle when he was attacked by three armed men. The suspects managed to escape with an amount of R2.6 million,” said Mnisi. “The suspect (who handed himself in) will join his alleged accomplice, George Lethlogonolo Siupi, who is expected to appear in the Kuruman Magistrate’s Court on Friday, May 21 for his…

Sandi Kwon Hoo WHILE Sol Plaatje University (SPU) is currently under alert Level 3 after 13 positive Covid-19 cases were reported for the period May 3-16, the Luka Jantjie House has reopened after it was decontaminated. University vice-chancellor and principal Professor Andrew Crouch said Luka Jantjie House was forced to close after the Covid-19 cases, but has since reopened while the university continues to operate under alert Level 3. “Approximately 30 other staff members, who were close contacts, are in quarantine at home and two students are in the university isolation facility. We are therefore putting in place additional measures to ensure the effective control of the spread of the virus. Crouch said that while the country was currently on alert Level 1, the university would be placed at alert…

Sandi Kwon Hoo chief reporter THE PROVINCIAL head of Organised Crime, Brigadier Dick de Waal, 58, was remembered for his investigative skills, passion for his work and for leading by example during a memorial service that was held at the NG Kerk Harmonie in Kimberley yesterday. De Waal was the investigating officer in a number of high-profile cases, including the triple murder of the Steenkamp family on their farm near Griekwastad, the G4S security cash heist where R30 million went missing, the murder of Pofadder hotel owner Leon Brits and the kidnapping and murder of the Brand family in Hartswater. Deputy provincial commissioner Major-General Kholiswa Otola praised De Waal for his outstanding investigative skills. “Dick led from the front, there was no case or task that was too complicated for…

MAX VERSTAPPEN pushed back on Wednesday against suggestions he and Lewis Hamilton were sure to collide at some point, and that he had something to prove in the Formula One championship battle. McLaren boss Zak Brown said last week the rivalry could create a chance for his team because “it is just a matter of time until both are determined to not let up into turn one and neither come out”. Red Bull’s Verstappen and Mercedes’ seven-time world champion have gone wheel to wheel in all four races so far, with Hamilton winning three to the Dutch driver’s sole success. Hamilton told reporters ahead of the Monaco Grand Prix that he had done well to avoid incidents. “We’ve got 19 more (races) to go and we could connect, hopefully not,”…

Zodidi Dano STAFF WRITER CONTACT sports have been suspended at schools with immediate effect, the Department of Basic Education announced on Wednesday. “This is a decision made by the Council of Education Ministers that has taken a decision to suspend all contact sports in schools with immediate effect. “Non-contact sport training in schools can continue provided that all social distancing, hygiene and safety measures are observed and that there is no physical contact between participants during training,” the DBE said. The decision follows calls made by education experts and activists as a result of the looming third wave. The risk of the spread of Covid-19 is expected to increase due to the cold, wet weather. Education activist Hendrick Makaneta said: “The fact that some schools are now closed due to…

Sandi Kwon Hoo chief repoter NORTHERN Cape Director-General Justice Bekebeke will this weekend attend the funeral of Zuko, 64, – one of the Upington trialists who was charged for the death of a police constable. Fourteen out of the 26 trialists, including Bekebeke, were sentenced to death for the murder of Lucas “Jetta” Sethwala in Paballelo, Upington on November 13, 1985. Their sentences were overturned on appeal in 1991 following an international outcry. The accused were served with prison sentences and later released as political prisoners in the early 1990s. The spokesperson for the Northern Cape Department of Sport, Arts and Culture, Morapedi Sekhoane, said that Xabendlini’s death leaves only 13 of the original 26 trialists still alive. “Xabendlini’s passing on May 16 after a short illness leaves only 13…

Lance Fredericks HAVE you noticed the heated debate that has been raging on platforms everywhere? “Is the covid-19 vaccine the answer to all our problems, or is it the jab that will be the final nail in the coffin of mankind as a species?” Now, let me say that I am not writing this to change anyone’s already made-up mind. A long time ago I learned that it's not desirable to offer facts when someone already knows the "truth". I know people who are adamant that they will not allow themselves to be injected with an ‘experimental gene-altering cocktail’, while I also have friends who want to get the jab as soon as they possibly can. The sheer amount of information out there can make one’s head spin and the…