Limpopo Premier Stanley Mathabatha and Health MEC Dr Phophi Ramathuba, have on Friday launched the province’s COVID-19 vaccine roll-out programme at Mankweng Hospital, in the Capricorn District.
This follows the arrival of the Johnson & Johnson vaccine in the country on Tuesday, with President Cyril Ramaphosa, Health Minister Dr Zwelini Mkhize marking the official start of the vaccination programme in the country on Wednesday.
They joined healthcare workers at the Khayelitsha District Hospital where they were the first to receive the COVID-19 jab.
Mathabatha has described the launch as the last push towards the fight of the COVID-19, which he says will give birth to a new normal.
Mathabatha says it is crucial for health workers to be vaccinated in the first phase to save lives.
Dr Ramathuba says they will be vaccinating health workers in Mankweng Hospital throughout the weekend
“We are going to push and make sure that by the end of the week, all those vaccines that have been allocated, they are finished, and we will be waiting for the second batch” she says.
Limpopo currently has 61 260 COVID-19 cases and 1 785. It is hoped the vaccine will help South Africa, with the most cases and deaths on the continent, win the battle against the pandemic.
A 19-year-old woman was killed on Tuesday evening in Shongoane 2, Limpopo, allegedly by her boyfriend.
According to the police, the boyfriend reportedly approached the deceased soon after he returned from Burgersfort and confronted her about her pregnancy.
He later left with the deceased and her 18-month-old child.
Later that evening, the suspected confessed to have killed the young mother when he was asked about her whereabouts.
He, however, did not say where he left her body.
A search began on Wednesday morning where the hysterical cries of the baby caught the attention of the search party. The child was found next to the deceased’s body in an open yard in Marikana Village in Shongoane 2.
The 32-year-old suspect has been arrested and is due in court soon.
In 2020, President Cyril Ramaphosa declared GBV as a second pandemic as it rages on amid the fight against COVID-19.
On Thursday, he launched a private sector-led, multi-sectoral GBV and Femicide Fund. It is aimed at supporting the implementation of the National Strategic Plan and wider GBVF response in the country. Report from Waterberg FM news
The community of Ackerville in Emalahleni, Mpumalanga, bid a final farewell to one of its own on Sunday.
Minister in the Presidency, Jackson Mthembu, succumbed to COVID-19 on Thursday.
While the number of those attending the anti-apartheid activist’s burial was limited due to the country’s COVID-19 restrictions, which allow only up to 50 people, some residents braved the rain and lined-up the streets to see Mthembu’s funeral procession off.
The 62-year-old has touched the hearts of many South Africans as he still stayed in the township and his wife continued working as a nurse despite the Minister’s status, something described as rare in South Africa’s political landscape.
#JacksonMthembuFuneral A picture perfect duo. One high profile husband humble, honest man of integrity with his ordinary public servant wife standing in front of the humble home. I struggle to find such humility among many in our political leadership bench. Respect pic.twitter.com/VPpzcp0FvH
Politicians can learn a lot from Jackson Mthembu, & stop stealing to fund their expensive lives they can't afford in affluent suburbs. Even after being shot & wounded, he continued to live in his hometown modest house; no electric fence, no guard room.
President Cyril Ramaphosa delivered the eulogy in church.
He said Mthembu was a principled and humble man.
To him – Ramaphosa said – the Minister was more than a colleague and a comrade.
And now the stroke of death has taken the very one who has been our citadel, our rock and our tower of strength at this dreadful moment in our country’s history. #RIPJacksonMthembu 🕊
— Cyril Ramaphosa 🇿🇦 #StaySafe (@CyrilRamaphosa) January 24, 2021
Ramaphosa says the Minister’s death has left a void both in government and his political home, the governing African National Congress (ANC).
He was a student leader in the 70s and rose through the ranks of the ANC – serving as the national spokesperson of the party during the Mandela administration.
He went on to become the party’s Chief Whip in Parliament during the Zuma era and was appointed as the Minister in the Presidency after the 2019 general elections.
Most South Africans who have crossed paths with him have said they will remember him for his humility, sense of humour, professionalism and forthrightness.
When I saw Thuli, I remembered Mthembu's words in parliament. "Thuli my daughter, when a man wearing red overalls, red helmet and gumbots approaches you, run my daughter. Run for your life" J Mthembu. May his soul rest in peace #JacksonMthembuFuneralpic.twitter.com/Xe9q3JDty4
The Democratic Alliance (DA) has taken the government to court over its decision to close the beaches in the Garden Route District for the entirety of the festive season.
President Cyril Ramaphosa announced the strict measures on Sunday as part of the government’s efforts to fight the COVID-19 second wave that’s hit the country.
However, the official opposition believes the strict measures are unnecessary and will have dire consequences for jobs.
It filed papers in the Western Cape High Court and says it hopes the matter will be heard on Monday afternoon.
The move followed President Cyril Ramaphosa and Cooperative Governance Minister, Dr Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma’s, failure to meet the party’s deadline for it to justify the closure of the beaches.
“The fact that the national government has requested additional time to prepare a response to our letter requesting reasons for the decision to close the Garden Route’s beaches, only demonstrates that there were none to begin with. It would seem that any reasons now provided would be ex post facto manufactured,” the party says.
The DA believes that the closure of the beaches is not in line with the scientific advice available from medical experts and is impossible to enforce. “This regulation is also proving to be the final nail in the coffin for the Garden Route’s coastal economies which are nearing total collapse,” it says.
The DA is not just about saving lives but livelihoods too, alleging that businesses in the hospitality industry along the Garden Route are already reporting devastating and life-threatening losses to the value of hundreds of millions of rands.
“In the South African context, poverty can be far deadlier than the coronavirus, and in this instance, the national government is risking the livelihoods of thousands of South Africans unnecessarily. We cannot and will not allow this to happen.”
On Wednesday, the Western Cape reported 3 233 new COVID-19 cases. The cases had increased by 448 compared to the previous day.
