Table of contents for DF-2021-04-23 in DFA News

Sandi Kwon Hoo SOL PLAATJE Municipality has approved an emergency deviation budget to provide meals for the White City families who were relocated to the Riverton Pleasure Resort after their homes in Roodepan were flooded by sewage. MJ B Beukes Catering CC was appointed as the service provider, who was “available immediately”, to cater for the affected families. The catering company has provided 42 meals to 18 persons per day, where the municipality was billed R157 164 for the provision and delivery of meals to Riverton as of March 4. It was indicated that the families had each been allocated chalets at the holiday resort and they were provided with three meals per day. According to council, six houses in Von Webber and Ravel streets in Roodepan were flooded with…

Sandi Kwon Hoo THE NATIONAL Education, Health and Allied Workers’ Union (Nehawu) in the Northern Cape has requested the newly established office of the Special Investigating Unit (SIU) in the Province to probe state departments for corruption and the looting of state resources. Nehawu provincial secretary Steffen Cornelius stated that they had requested the SIU to launch investigations into the Office of the Premier, the Department of Health, the Department of Education, the Department of Social Development, the Department of Sports, Arts and Culture, the Provincial Legislature, the Northern Cape Premier’s Education Trust Fund and the Kakamas Water Board. “These departments stand out as looting pots and corruption havens in the Province,” said Cornelius yesterday. He said that workers in the Province were convinced that public service officials continued to…

ANI Correspondent RESEARCHERS at Washington University School of Medicine in St Louis showed that Covid-19 survivors, including those not sick enough to be hospitalised, have an increased risk of death in the six months following diagnosis with the virus. The researchers also have catalogued the numerous diseases associated with Covid-19, providing a big-picture overview of the long-term complications of Covid-19; revealing the massive burden this disease is likely to place on the world's population in the coming years. The study, involving more than 87 000 Covid-19 patients and nearly five million control patients in a federal database, appears in the journal Nature. "Our study demonstrates that up to six months after diagnosis, the risk of death following even a mild case of Covid-19 is not trivial and increases with…

Sandi Kwon Hoo THE NORTHERN Cape Department of Health has expressed concern over the rapid increase in Covid-19 infections in the Province. An additional 260 people tested positive for Covid-19 in the Northern Cape as of April 21, bringing the total number of infections in the Province to 38 442 cases. The Minister of Health, Dr Zweli Mkhize, noted that the last time that more than 200 cases were reported in the Province was on January 28 during the second wave. “Clearly this shows the number of daily cases are increasing alarmingly, particularly in the Sol Plaatje and Nama Khoi local municipal areas,” said Mkhize. The Frances Baard District reported the highest number of cases (135), followed by Pixley ka Seme (49), Namakwa (38), ZF Mgcawu (22) and John Taolo…

Sihle Mavuso KHUSELA Diko, the spokesperson for President Cyril Ramaphosa who was put on ice after her late husband, Inkosi Thandisizwe Diko, scored a dodgy Covid-19 PPE tender, has challenged the ANC in Gauteng, saying she cannot be forced to step aside. Through her lawyers, Diko said there is nowhere in the ANC constitution where it says senior members must disclose the business interests of their spouses. As such, the povincial disciplinary committee (PDC) erred in finding her guilty and paving the path for her to be told to step aside. Political Professor from the University of the Western Cape, Bheki Mngomezulu, said Diko’s fight-back is a sign that when the April 30 deadline for ANC leaders to step aside kicks in, there would be challenges, fight-backs and possibly defiance.…

Sandi Kwon Hoo HELEN Bishop Home in Kimberley has not received funds from the Northern Cape Department of Health for the past seven months and the home has exhausted the funds it received from donors. Staff members are also concerned that they will not receive their salaries for the month. “We are struggling to take care of the 65 children that have special needs and disabilities at the home as there is a shortage of food and supplies,” said the staff members yesterday. “We were informed by management that for the past seven months the home has been utilising funds it has received from sponsors and the National Lottery to pay salaries and fund its running costs, but that these funds have since dried up. “If no funds are made…

Sandi Kwon Hoo THE ANC won the by-elections that were held in the Nama Khoi and Ga-Segonyana municipalities in the Northern Cape on Wednesday. ANC provincial secretary Deshi Ngxanga said the ANC received a majority of 54.26 percent, or 1 012 votes, in ward 2 in Nama Khoi. “In Ga-Segonyana Municipality the ANC received 1 329 votes, which represents 80.94 percent of the total votes that were cast. “Both by-elections were fiercely contested by political parties, but the electorate came out in their numbers to ensure an overwhelming victory for the ANC in the respective wards,” said Ngxanga. He acknowledged that the ANC still needed to improve on the challenges of poverty, unemployment and inequality. “The results are evident that the ANC remains the only beacon of hope for the…

Staff Reporter NEDBANK, in collaboration with Mastercard and Ukheshe, has launched Money Message, a payment platform that lets small and micro businesses conveniently receive secure in-chat payments from their customers via WhatsApp. The bank said it was the first of its kind in South Africa. “The solution will enable merchants to send an invoice requesting payment from any customer seamlessly through WhatsApp. Their customers, in turn, can quickly and seamlessly settle payment directly from the platform,” it said. How it works: the business owner sends a request-to-pay message to the customer, and, for first-time users, a notification is sent via SMS, prompting them to register for the service. The customer adds their name and surname and registers their card details to make the payment securely. This means customers could make…

Herman Gibbs What exactly is the problem at Kaizer Chiefs at the moment? Is it coach Gavin Hunt? Or is he being muzzled by the club? The glamour club suffered yet another disappointment on Wednesday night, this time going down 2-1 to Cape Time City at home. Chiefs fans are not a happy bunch, and the loss to City will only increase the pressure on Hunt. However, the coach is becoming increasingly vague about why the team is performing so poorly. When some of his comments are placed under the microscope, it raises suspicions of internal strife at the club. There is nothing strange about Hunt looking crestfallen after Chiefs were defeated by City. But it is alarming when he says he cannot divulge his thoughts on the team’s failures.…

Eshlin Vedan THOUGH their performance in the game was far from perfect, Golden Arrows coach Mandla Ncikazi was satisfied that his troops did what they needed to do to down SuperSport United 1-0 at the Lucas Moripe Stadium in Atteridgeville on Wednesday afternoon. The win took Abafana Bes'thende back to second place in the DSTV Premiership standings, usurping Kwa-Zulu Natal neighbours AmaZulu who played out to a 0-0 draw with leaders Mamelodi Sundowns. “I’m happy that we got over the line. It was not the best of games but we are now at that stage of the season where the quality of the game is affected by what is at stake and I think that today was one of those games. “We just wanted to get over the line. I…

Boipelo Mere THE SITUATION at Tlhwahalang High School in Jan Kempdorp is still calm following a move by parents to prevent the school principal from entering the school premises. Frustrated parents at the school had handed over a memorandum of concerns to the Northern Cape Department of Education on April 13. The principal is at home and is expected to submit a written report to the department regarding allegations against him. Parents have vowed to prevent the principal from entering the school premises. Northern Cape Department of Education spokesperson Geoffrey van der Merwe said the principal will remain at home until the matter has been resolved. Van der Merwe added that the Frances Baard district office of the Department of Education has had numerous engagements with parents to resolve the…

Staff Reporter PRESIDENT Cyril Ramaphosa on Wednesday evening announced that the local government elections will take place on October 27. This will be the sixth time under South Africa's democratic dispensation that voters will elect leadership and public representatives at metropolitan, district and local level. In recent weeks there have been calls by various quarters for local government elections to be postponed this year due to the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic. According to a statement issued by the presidency, the Minister of Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs, Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma, will follow the necessary legal process to proclaim the date and undertake other requirements. Ramaphosa urged eligible voters to ensure they were registered to participate in the upcoming elections. Furthermore, in January Ramaphosa signed a Proclamation on the Commencement of the Political…

Rudolph Nkgadima A NEW “triple-mutant”' (B.1.618) variant, which has been fuelling Covid-19 infections in India, has now spread to several other countries. In a recent press release, India’s health ministry said the variant has spread to the US, Germany, UK, Australia, and Germany. “It also has been found in Belgium, Ireland, Namibia, and New Zealand. Higher transmissibility of this variant is not established as yet,” read the statement. India now accounts for one in three new Covid-19 cases in the world. New cases there rose above 100 000 in early April, surpassing the previous peak in September last year. By April 19, in just two weeks, new cases had surged to more than 273 000 a day. According to scientists, a “triple mutation” means a combination of three different…

Neville Motlhabakwe Sports Reporter TJAART van der Walt, the 400-metre speed sensation from Hopetown Hoërskool in the Northern Cape, is lost to the province as he has signed up to race in the colours of the University of the Free State (Kovsies). The news was confirmed this week by his mother and part trainer Maryna van der Walt. Tjaart’s departure was a badly kept secret for the several months he had raced for Athletics Griqualand West (AGW). Maryna said: “We actually had an eye out for a bursary for him to pursue his studies and so decided on Kovsies. He went over to them shortly after appearing at Paarl.” Until about more than a fortnight ago Tjaart had donned the AGW colours during the province's appearance at the Athletics South…

Mihlali Baleka ORLANDO Pirates still fancy their chances of finishing in the top two in the Premiership standings and qualifying for the Caf Champions League next season, with coach Josef Zinnbauer saying his troops will fight until the very end. Pirates are third on the league standings with 38 points, three behind second-placed Golden Arrows who have played one game more. But with the league reaching its climax, Pirates have eight games to ensure that they finish in the top two. “In the moment, we don’t have enough points to say that we can go to the Champions League. But we have to fight with the game coming up on the weekend, because if we win the game, I think we have a chance to go to second,” Zinnbauer said.…

Mihlali Baleka MAMELODI Sundowns co-coach Manqoba Mngqithi made a sombre admission following his team’s draw with AmaZulu in the DStv Premiership on Wednesday, saying their players showed signs of fatigue due to their heavy schedule. But that shouldn't by any means be taken as admission of weakness or vulnerability by their opponents who are also chasing the league title. After all, they’ll know that Sundowns are well capable of upping the tempo during championship time. The Brazilians have won the league title for three seasons in a row. They juggled domestic and continental football where they had reached the knockout stage under the astute guidance of former coach Pitso Mosimane. Of course, fellow title hopefuls Golden Arrows and AmaZulu who are second and third on the log standings and six…