Sunday Sun 4/12/2020

• SPAZA shop owners say they are under pressure from residents in Tshikota, Louis Trichardt, to stay open beyond the trading hours stipulated by the national lockdown, GroundUp reported. Spaza shops may only trade from 7am to 5pm. Normally, they’re open from 6am to 9pm. “I have no problem in following government regulations, opening and closing times, but most of the time when I close residents queue to buy in my shop,” said Sharon Muleya. “When I deny them to buy they look cross. I feel they’ll break into my shop.” • SOME residents of Port Elizabeth threatened violent protests and to disrupt the Nelson Mandela Bay Municipality from distributing food parcels to informal traders, GroundUp reported. The informal traders lost two weeks of income due to the national lockdown…

BEING in the public eye attracts all kinds of attention. And Metro FM DJ Lerato Kganyago’s hubby, Thami Ndlala . . . HAS LEARNT THE HARD WAY THAT NOT ALL OF IT IS PLEASANT! This when he found himself staring down the barrel of a gun while allegedly trying to defend his girlfriend. The scary information is contained in an affidavit he deposed at the Sandton Police Station. According to the businessman (31), who recently got married to the 37-year-old DJ, the incident took place at an affluent hotel in Sandton, north of Jozi, on 24 January. The document states that Thami a requested a meeting with a guy known to him as Mpho at the Da Vinci Hotel. This after his girlfriend, who he didn’t mention by name, complained…

SCHOOL holidays may be scrapped in order to recover lost time. This as Basic Education Minister, Angie Motshekga, contemplates the best way to salvage the 2020 academic year. Even before the lockdown started last month, President Cyril Ramaphosa announced that schools would be closed early to deal with the Coronavirus outbreak. With the lockdown extended by an extra two weeks to end April, schools will have been closed for over six weeks. The minister’s spokesperson Elijah Mhlanga said the department was in support of Ramaphosa’s implementation of the lockdown to curb the spread of COVID-19. He said a team of experts was currently working on a plan on how schools would eventually be reopened. The team will also determine when some or all schools would reopen once the lockdown has…

WORLD Cup-winning Springbok rugby captain, Siya Kolisi, is leading a new team – dozens of mums who are breastfeeding premature newborn babies at Groote Schuur Hospital in Cape Town. In an interview with News24, the Bok skipper said: “The Newborns Trust is very close to my heart, and Rachel’s heart. “We, my wife Rachel and I, have been supporting them. Just visiting the babies and doing whatever we can. “We had a premature baby. So, we know how tough it is for parents of these kids. “Amy MacIver reached out to us, to let us know what they were struggling with.” Kolisi and Rachel activated their Kolisi Foundation to assist. – News24.com…

SHOWBIZ darling Minnie Dlamini-Jones has been given 10 000 litres of pure alcohol. This while Mzansi mourns the suspension of booze during the national lockdown. Minnie’s generous sponsor is a premium spirits producer, Diageo, responsible for the Johnnie Walker, J&B and Smirnoff brands, among others. But the star won’t be indulging in the fiery waters. Instead, the alcohol will be used to produce hand sanitisers. According to the Minnie Dlamini Foundation, the hand sanitisers will be donated to disadvantaged communities. Minnie, a Jaguar Land Rover ambassador, has also joined hands with Red Cross South Africa. This to donate food parcels to old-age homes and orphanages in disadvantaged communities, including Soweto and Daveyton. Explained Minnie: “Hunger is a daily battle in Mzansi. The lockdown period, although absolutely necessary, has shined a…

THE gospel fraternity has been hit hard by the Covid-19 crisis. Since lockdown regulations were introduced, many churches couldn’t gather for their annual pilgrimage this weekend. Two of KZN’s biggest gospel events, the Kufeziwe Gospel Celebration and Uvukile Gospel Music Festival, were also called off this weekend. Founder and event organiser of Uvukile Gospel Music Festival, Irvin Sihlophe, said they were forced to cancel the event. The ninth Uvukile Gospel Festival was set to take place at Port Shepstone. “We postponed the event initially but later realised we should cancel it because by the time we do the event it would have lost its relevance,” said Irvin. He said fortunately, they hadn’t made any deposits to gospel artists. “It takes R1,5 million to put together Uvukile Gospel Festival but we…