Pretoria News is a local newspaper circulating in the Tshwane Metropolitan area. Pretoria News covers a range of local news, as well as national and international news, comment and analysis by experts, sport, entertainment and lifestyle.
Bonding with Belerian the bearded dragon CHELSEA NTULI chelsea.ntuli@inl.co.za THOBILE MATHONSI African News Agency (ANA) AN unusual pet is turning heads when taken for a walk through the streets of Pretoria by his owner, Emmanuel Leballo. The 5-year-old bearded dragon called Belerian is 44cm long from head to the tip of his tail, and has been Leballo’s companion since he bought it at just a few months old from a pet store in Sunnyside. “Belerian is a friendly guy and he loves all the attention he gets. What I like about him is that we are the same, we’re both chilled and I just feel like he matches my personality,” said Leballo, a student. Belerian is an omnivore and likes his veggies and salad as well as worms, which Leballo…
Eskom suspends bosses ESKOM has suspended the managers of two of its biggest generating plants, Kendal and Tutuka in Mpumalanga, as South Africa suffered record electricity outages this week. The power utility asked the acting managers of the plants to return to their original positions. “This action was taken because of sustained poor performance by these plants, which require investigation pending disciplinary action,” Eskom said. It said it was aware that the level of power failures were unacceptably high despite some of its units having returned to service. Spokesperson Sikonathi Mantshantsha said that while it was true that ageing infrastructure and a lack of maintenance made it susceptible to unpredictable breakdowns, the situation had been exacerbated by “serious issues of apathetic behaviour by some management staff”. For that reason the…
AG urges law to move on looters AUDITOR-GENERAL Kimi Makwetu wants law enforcement agencies to go after people implicated in the looting of Covid-19 funds after his team made damning findings on the looting of the funds. Makwetu told the standing committee on the auditor-general in Parliament yesterday it was now up to the National Prosecuting Authority, the Special Investigating Unit and the Hawks to follow up on some of the cases. He said out of the R500 billion set aside to deal with Covid-19, they were looking at the use of R147bn. In one investigation the auditor-general found that R800 000 of the Unemployment Insurance Fund was paid out to people who were dead, underage people or prisoners. This required action from law enforcement agencies, he said. “On the…
PUSH TO OPEN BORDERS Lockdown modelling, ‘second wave’ challenged SAKHILE NDLAZI sakhile.ndlazi@inl.co..za WHILE stakeholders in the tourism industry argue that there is no real evidence of a second wave of Covid-19 coming, and that international borders should be opened, the Department of Tourism is pushing “domestic travel” before international travel can resume. Speaking at a panel discussion hosted by the National Press Club (NPC) at the Maslow, Time Square, yesterday, Minister Mmamoloko Kubayi-Ngubane emphasised that local tourist attractions needed segmented marketing to attract citizens. She was speaking at the start of tourism month, and the road ahead after lockdown. She urged the local tourist industry to look into using segmented marketing (identifying and targeting a market segment), and creating attractive packages and specials to make up for their…
GETAWAY Social distancing with the Big Five IF YOU’RE looking for luxury in the bush within a 200km radius of home, the five-star Ivory Tree Game Lodge on the rim of the Pilanesberg Game Reserve could be the answer. Ivory Tree prides itself on its old-school safari lodge experience, with game drives in the Big Five reserve a focal point of its activities. The lodge has 60 air-conditioned en-suite double suites, standard through to luxurious, decorated in earthy tones. The central facility includes the reception, a stunning feature pool, two lounges, a dining room, bar, boma, curio shop, conference facility, open boma and the Amani bush spa. The common guest areas have been planned to ensure easy flow but are also Covid-19 compliant with enough space for social distancing and…
Sun City set to bounce back ANYONE who saw Sun International’s interim results for the period ending June 30 would know in detail the impact Covid-19 has had. But now the organisation, like others in the tourism and hospitality sector, is hoping to bounce back. This week saw the first local guests check into Sun City’s Palace and Soho hotels and the Vacation Club after the entire resort was closed five months ago, when the national lockdown was imposed. It has been a happy few days for Sun City general manager hospitality Julius Ramotse and all the resort managers who worked tirelessly across the property to introduce Covid-19 compliance measures and prepare for reopening. “It is the first time in the 40-year history of Sun City that we…
