Pretoria News Weekend Saturday, August 15, 2020

Artists unmask effects of Covid-19 VAL BOJE THOBILE MATHONSI African News Agency (ANA) A GROUP of 40 Pretoria artists has launched a virtual art exhibition titled Mask on! Mask off! Mask on! The idea for the project came during lockdown level 5, explained co-ordinator Jahni Wasserfall. She said she was talking to another artist at the end of April and they felt the need to collaborate with fellow artists to create awareness for the necessity of wearing a cloth mask, but also to hold up a mirror to society and the difficult time it was going through. The brief was: “2020 – the ‘year of the Mask’, love it, hate it, believe in it, or not – (it’s) a reality we are stuck with in this moment of time ...…

Catching their bus to ‘happiness’ SAMEER NAIK A YEAR ago, before Covid-19 and lock-down, Rheinholdt and Sonja van Niekerk bought an old double-decker bus. Today, inspired by the Netflix documentary Expedition Happiness, the Joburg couple and their four young children set off on their own cross-country journey on an expedition they are calling #4kidsandabus. Expedition Happiness follows a filmmaker, his musician girlfriend and their dog on a trip across North America in a refurbished school bus. The Van Niekerks say the pandemic and lockdown helped turn their dream into reality. Sonja was running her own preschool but she had to close it because most parents could not afford to pay the fees during lockdown. However, she said lockdown was not the reason for the trip: that had been in the…

Lockdown baby boom? WILL there be a surge in the number of babies born as a result of lockdown? With couples stuck at home together for weeks on end, some are suggesting that come Christmas/New Year, there could be a lot of births of a generation of “coronababies”. These would be babies who had been conceived from late March through Easter, when couples may normally have enjoyed a trip away but now had to spend more intimate time at home together. Some have likened what may happen from December through to mid-2021 to the baby boom after the World War I and II … although others warn that spending so much time together and constant reminders of social distancing may have the opposite effect and lead to a decline in…

Clamour for move to level 2 President to address nation on lockdown STAFF REPORTERS PRESIDENT Cyril Ramaphosa is expected to address the nation this weekend on further lifting lockdown regulations. Throughout the past week, a number of high level meetings have led to speculation that he is ready to announce a drop to level 2 while extending the State of Disaster – which expires tomorrow – by at least another month. Police Minister Bheki Cele confirmed the Cabinet was meeting today. However, whatever changes are coming, residents can be sure there will be very strict conditions attached and a warning that should the health situation deteriorate, rules may be reintroduced. Among the speculation is a lifting of the 10pm curfew, allowing road and air travel between provinces to boost…

SCHOLARSHIPS Varsity College launches R25m programme VARSITY College announced a R25 million academic scholarship programme, which will enable 250 top-performing matriculants to study at one of its campuses. Described as the largest such scheme of its kind in South Africa, it was launched on a video call by Varsity College managing director Louise Wiseman. Qualifying candidates will be able to register for any undergraduate course on offer at one of Varsity College’s eight campuses. Felicity Coughlan, director of the IIE, said there would be four different scholarships covering between 40% and 80% of tuition fees: the corporate scholarship, excellence scholarship, achiever scholarship and rising star scholarship. In all cases, high performance was a criteria but applicants should also have demonstrated leadership qualities at school and were required to write a…

RESEARCH What caused 350 elephants to die? Tuks veterinary experts help probe mass loss of life in Botswana in two months VAL BOJE PROFESSOR RUDI VAN AARDE VETERINARY scientists from South Africa and Pakistan have pooled their expertise in an effort to understand why more than 350 elephants in Botswana have died in just two months. A research team comprising Prof Rudi van Aarde and Prof Armanda Bastos of the University of Pretoria’s Department of Zoology and Entomology, Dr Roy Bengis, retired chief state vet of the Kruger National Park, and Assistant Professor Dr ShahanAzeem of the University of Veterinary and Animal Sciences in Lahore, Pakistan has been working to find the cause to ensure such a die-off does not affect other populations in Africa and Asia. The…