Pretoria News Weekend Saturday, August 22, 2020

GREAT OUTDOORS Tourism venues inundated with booking requests after more restrictions eased SAKHILE NDLAZI sakhile.ndlazi@inl.co.za OUPA MOKOENA African News Agency (ANA) IT HAS been close on five long months since lockdown was introduced and South Africans cannot wait to be back in the great outdoors. Since the announcement by President Cyril Ramaphosa that nearly all restrictions on the country’s economy would be eased from Monday, residents have been planning family visits, meals and trips out. Among the most popular destinations are game reserves, hiking and biking parks and restaurants, which may now serve alcohol. SANParks has been inundated with booking requests since the ban on travel between provinces was lifted, and spokesperson Reynold Thakuli said the system had crashed at one point because of the high demand. “People just…

Hawks to swoop soon on alleged Covid-19 fund looters THE net is closing on those who have allegedly looted Covid-19 special funds, with the Hawks promising arrests by early next week. Hawks head Godfrey Lebeya told MPs yesterday that they had with 23 dockets related to alleged Covid-19 corruption and would be pouncing soon. This comes after South African Revenue Service head Edward Kieswetter also told parliamentarians some of the companies awarded tenders had not been registered to provide personal protective equipment (PPE). He revealed that 17 of the PPE tenders, valued at R1.2 billion, involved politically exposed people. The law enforcement agencies were briefing the Standing Committee on Public Accounts (Scopa) on PPE tenders following the announcement by President Cyril Ramaphosa that he had appointed an Inter-Ministerial Committee, chaired…

Eskom load shedding set to continue STAFF REPORTER SOUTH Africans should brace themselves for more load shedding as Eskom is expecting power cuts to continue until September next year. The past week saw stage 2 load shedding implemented on Tuesday when breakdowns added pressure to the national grid as a cold front swept across the country. It was scheduled to continue yesterday at stage 1, but in an update yesterday morning, Eskom said that after recovering three generation units – at Lethabo, Medupi and Kusile – supply constraints had eased sufficiently to allow for the suspension of load shedding. Initially, stage 1 was expected, but this was not necessary. Eskom spokesperson Sikonathi Mantshantsha told Independent Media that there was a plan to end load shedding, but it would take time.…

Infections top 600000 mark RAPULA MOATSHE SOUTH Africa has topped the 600000 mark in the number of confirmed Covid-19 cases since the first was reported on March 5. To date, the country has had 12618 deaths linked to the virus, with about 100000 active cases. By yesterday, Gauteng had recorded over 200000 cases and 3144 deaths. The recovery rate is 82%, and South Africa is believed to be over the first peak. The Gauteng Provincial Command Council gave a virtual media update yesterday. The city of Tshwane had 43368 confirmed cases, fewer than in Joburg and Ekurhuleni. Tshwane had also reported 740 deaths. Health Department chief operations officer Lesiba Malotana said: “As far as the numbers in the sub-districts, (figures) show while infections have been high, (they are no longer)…

COVID-19 Air travellers at very low risk WITH domestic leisure flights now allowed, many will be booking flights. According to a new report published in the journal JAMA Network Open, the chances of catching Covid-19 on a flight may be small, but passengers should still take precautions. The researchers assessed a commercial airline flight from Tel Aviv, Israel, to Frankfurt, Germany, with 102 passengers on board. It revealed that seven days before the flight, the group had contact with a hotel manager who later tested positive for Covid-19. A test was offered to all passengers who had been seated within two rows of the index cases and to those who were reportedly symptomatic. “We discovered two likely Sars-CoV-2 transmissions on this flight, with seven index cases,” said Dr Sandra Ciesek,…

SUCCESS Tuks sprinter on track for US university scholarship KEAGAN MITCHELL ACHIEVING in track and field is more than just winning medals but rather a journey to success for one of South Africa’s rising stars. Antoinette van der Merwe, 19, of Pretoria made her presence felt earlier this year when she clocked a personal best (PB) of 11.49 seconds in the 100m sprint at the Athletics Gauteng North Championships in Pretoria. This was the fastest time for the event by a junior female athlete in the country this year and the second fastest overall in the South African women’s section. Her stellar performances resulted in offers of no less than 95 full scholarships from US-based universities. “I am extremely excited and overwhelmed about the possibilities,” said the Hoërskool Eldoraigne matriculant…