Monday 1 March 2021, 0145
Real News. Scrolla.Africa
Ramaphosa moves Mzansi to Level 1 Zukile Majova
President Cyril Ramaphosa has moved South Africa to Covid-19 Alert Level 1 following a steady decline in the number of new cases and active cases in the country.
The announcement right at the beginning of March gives hope to millions of Christians who missed the Holy Easter Weekend last night because of the outbreak of coronavirus.
The announcement in the latest Family Meeting means public gatherings, social and religious gatherings are allowed with venues allowed to cater for up to 50% of their maximum capacities.
The president said, "This coming Friday will mark exactly one year since the first case of coronavirus was reported in South Africa.
"Since then, more than one-and-a-half million people in South African have been infected and nearly 50,000 people have been reported to have died from the disease."
Ramaphosa also announced plans to inoculate millions of people before the end of 2021, with 67 000 nurses already vaccinated.
From next week, the number of sites to be used from vaccination will increase from 17 to 49 sites.
"Of the 49 sites, 32 will be at public hospitals and 17 sites in private hospitals.
"This includes sites in rural areas to improve access to rural healthcare workers."
The country has signed an agreement with Johnson & Johnson to secure 11 million doses.
"Of these doses, 2.8 million doses will be delivered in the second quarter and the rest spread throughout the year.
We have also secured 20 million doses from Pfizer, which will be delivered from the second quarter.
Additionally, we have secured 12 million vaccine doses from the COVAX facility and are in the process of finalising our dose allocation from the African Union."
The move to Covid-19 Alert Level 1 also has the following implications:
• Alcohol sales permitted. No alcohol may be sold during curfew.
• The wearing of cloth masks or similar covering the nose and mouth is still mandatory.
• Curfew is from midnight to 4am. Apart from permitted workers, no one should be outside their home during curfew.
• Gatherings are permitted. Indoor gatherings may not exceed 50% of venue capacity up to a maximum number of 100 people.
• Outdoor gatherings may not exceed 50% of the venue capacity up to a maximum of 250 people.
Picture source: @CyrilRamaphosa
Cop vs Cop as cop car is taken to the pound Kabelo Tlhabanelo
An eyewitness claims a cop warned the other cop that he was parking illegally, but he ignored the warning.
Now the detective from Selosesha in the Free State is threatening a traffic police department with a lawsuit after he found them busy impounding his police car.
The cop had allegedly parked the unmarked state car in such a way that he was blocking traffic in Charlotte Maxeke Road in the Bloemfontein CBD on Friday.
When he came out from performing his duties, he found the unmarked state Nissan NP300 in the process of being loaded on top of a Mangaung traffic truck for impoundment.
Scrolla.Africa spotted the cop who was speaking with someone he referred to as Colonel on the phone.
He said he will be suing the traffic department.
A traffic cop said: “This cop is working for the law, but he is not the law. He will now see how he will get back to his unit which is about 70 kilometres away.”
When a vehicle is impounded a fee of R1,400 is charged to release it. There is a R100 per day charge for storage. The cop will also be facing a R750 traffic fine for parking wrongly.
Witness Thabang Seekoe said: “I saw him being warned by a police officer in uniform, but he ignored him. It feels like the law is charging the law. But traffic won the fight and SAPS lost.” Police spokesman Brigadier Motantsi Makhele confirmed the car belonged to SAPS.
“A departmental investigation will be conducted. The motor vehicle is still with Mangaung Metro Law Enforcement.” Videos and photos showing the SAPS vehicle being impounded by Mangaung traffic after being caught parking wrongly.
Spotlight on police killings as six are murdered in a week Zukile Majova
The killing of six police officers in just one week has shifted the spotlight onto the growing number of incidents of police being ambushed while on patrol.
Police Minister Bheki Cele attended the funeral of Constable Royal Mfihloyakhe Ndlovu on Sunday in KwaXimba, KwaZulu- Natal.
Constable Ndlovu was killed while responding to a case of domestic violence in Chatsworths outside Durban. His total of 15 years and 23 days in the police service ended suddenly when the perpetrator shot him in the chest through a window on 18 February.
The attacker shot him in the upper body above his bulletproof vest, before being shot and killed by Ndlovu’s partner while trying to run away from the scene.
While attending the funeral, Cele received news that two police officers died under a hail of bullets on Sunday morning, when they were ambushed by unknown gunmen while on patrol in Bloekombos in the Western Cape.
Major General Thembisile Patekile, the Western Cape Provincial Commissioner, immediately launched a 72-hour large-scale manhunt using all resources available to the police.
The two members of Kraaifontein Police lost their lives around 01:25am in Phumla street in Bloekombos when their vehicle came under fire in an apparent ambush.
Police spokesperson Colonel Andre Traut said: “Both members were killed on the scene and robbed of their official firearms.” The identities of the sergeant and the constable will be released at a later stage.
“The Hawks have been assigned to investigate the circumstances surrounding this heinous act against the State.” Another three off-duty police officers were also killed in KZN in the past week.
Denouncing cop killings, Cele said the police were a national asset and should be protected at all costs.
The South African Police Service has so far also lost over 590 police officers to the Covid-19 pandemic.
Cleaners want to be vaccinated alongside frontline workers Lungani Zungu
They clean hospital theatres, isolation wards and Covid-19 wards but cleaning staff are not classified as frontline staff in the government’s Covid-19 vaccine roll-out programme.
Thabani Cele, who is a cleaner at Prince Mshiyeni Memorial Hospital in Umlazi, has lambasted the government for not vaccinating them with the frontline healthcare workers.
He said their lives were also at risk as cleaners.
“By not vaccinating us with the nurses and doctors, the government is showing us that our lives don’t matter. This is like throwing us in a river full of crocodiles.”
The second batch of 80,000 vaccines from Johnson & Johnson arrived at OR Tambo International Airport on Saturday from Belgium.
But while many celebrated, Cele said he had nothing to be happy about.
“I can’t celebrate that I have to wake up every day and go to work where I can get infected and possibly die from Covid-19.
This is not correct. We must also be vaccinated,” said Cele.
He added: “We clean the hospital full of people with coronavirus, but we are not vaccinated. This is the government telling us that we don’t matter in the healthcare chain.”
More than 63,000 healthcare workers from government and private hospitals have been vaccinated through the Sisonke Programme, which has set up 18 vaccination sites.
Another cleaner, who did not want to be named, said he would have resigned if he didn't have a family to feed.
“I spent most of my time there, I see people dying from this pandemic every day. We clean the wards that these people are in.”
The cleaner pleaded with the government to also prioritise them.
He was at work when KZN Premier Sihle Zikalala went to Prince Mshiyeni hospital during the first vaccinations of the healthcare workers at the hospital two weeks ago.
“My heart sank when no one talked about also vaccinating the cleaners and the security guards who also face a high risk of getting infected.”
Close to 50,000 South Africans have died due to Covid-19 with more than 1,5 million infections recorded.
Picture source: @AFP
Is he the world’s richest bodyguard? Everson Luhanga
There was a time when Norman Chisale was the bodyguard of the former Malawi president Peter Mutharika. But there is now a good case to be made that he is the richest bodyguard in the world.
Malawian police have seized Chisale’s assets worth K1,7 billion (about R1,4 billion), 85 vehicles, a speed boat, and some K117 million (about R100 million) in cash.
Investigations are underway to establish if Chisale also owns two properties in Russia, three in South Africa and a mall in Zambia.
Some young Malawians say they would rather drop from school and join the gym and become a bodyguard to the president! Chisale was arrested by the Fiscal and Fraud Unit of the Malawi Police Service.
The unit seized assets worth billions.
According to reports from Malawian media houses, Chisale was taken to area 6 in Malawi’s capital, Lilongwe, where he was interrogated.
Police said that Chisale was also arrested in connection with the importation of hundreds of thousands of tons of cement without paying duties into the country.
Sources close to the investigation said police are also looking at a number of foreign properties which they suspect are owned by the bodyguard. Two properties in Russia, three in South Africa and a mall in Zambia.
In December 2020 Chisale’s old boss, former Malawian president Peter Mutharika, took the country's anti-corruption body to court in an attempt to have the Anti-Corruption Bureau unfreeze his bank accounts.
Senseless killing leaves Gqeberha residents in shock Mkhuseli Sizani
The senseless shooting of Phumla July on Friday morning has devastated the community of Zwide in Gqeberha, formerly Port Elizabeth.
A 62-year-old mother of three, Phumla was shot and killed next to her house after walking her 10-year-old grandson to Daniels Primary school.
The motive for the murder is not known.
Women looked on in disbelief while her body was lying in a pool of blood in Qeqe Street.
She was still dressed in her cleaner’s uniform.
Her shocked son Sakhiwo told Scrolla.Africa that his sister called him at 7am and told him their mother was dead.
He said their mother liked walking her grandson to school.
"She was coming back home to fetch her car to go to work at Empilweni Hospital where she worked since 2010 as a cleaner.
"She was a single parent and raised us with love,” said Sakhiwo.
“We don't know how we are going to explain her death to her grandchildren. She was loved by everyone and never had problems with people.”
He said she wanted to retire at 65 after paying off her second vehicle.
“Nothing was taken from her," he said.
Neighbour Nozukile Daniel said: “Phumla was a pillar of this community. When we had no electricity she would buy for us and never ask for repayment.”
Nokuzile said she even gave them lifts when they couldn't find a jikeleza.
“Her killers have killed us. Government should bring back the death penalty.”
Captain Andre Beetge confirmed the incident.
"A murder case was opened. The motive of the killing is not known. No one has been arrested."
Mum’s quest for closure can begin Kabelo Tlhabanelo
“At last we can sleep peacefully.”
This is how Sellwane Tyumbo responded to the 20-year sentence of a man who killed her daughter.
Tshokolo Mohlafu, 35, was sentenced on Friday for the murder of heavily pregnant Liza Tyumbo, 23, from Reddersburg, Free State.
Tshokolo stabbed the mother of his unborn child to death on 29 February 2020.
Liza was eight-months pregnant when she was killed during an argument over mashonisa money.
The couple had been in a relationship for five years and they were expecting their second child. They owed a loan shark R2,800.
“My daughter told Tshokolo to pay the money so she could get her bank cards from the mashonisa,” said Sellwane.
“That caused an argument and Liza was stabbed to death. I’m happy he’s been taken away from society.”
Police spokesman Brigadier Motantsi Makhele urged people to stop giving their bank cards to loan sharks.
“By law, no one is allowed to keep a card even if someone owes them money,” said Makhele.
Free State NPA spokesman Phaladi Shuping confirmed that the High Court’s Free State Division sentenced Tshokolo Mohlafu to an effective 20-year imprisonment for the murder of his pregnant girlfriend. The 35-year-old from Mokoai Moletsane, Reddersburg, was sentenced to an additional 12 months of imprisonment for assault with intent to cause grievous bodily harm.
“Mohlafu accused Tyumbo of disrespecting him and stabbed her five times. Tyumbo was 35 weeks pregnant. Mohlafu ran away and was arrested a month later,” said Shuping.
Knife-wielding rooster kills owner Arthur Greene
A rooster, which had been fitted with a knife before an illegal cockfight, inflicted deadly wounds to its owner’s groin.
Thangulla Satish died of blood loss before getting to hospital.
Pictures of the rooster being detained at the police station have since gone viral on social media. The rooster was later transferred to a local farm in the southern Indian village of Lothunur.
The incident, which has made global headlines, has sparked a manhunt for the organisers of the cockfight.
Local police officer B Jeevan said: “We are searching for the other 15 people involved in organising the illegal fight. They could face charges of manslaughter, illegal betting and hosting a cockfight.”
Jeevan said the rooster will be kept safe for the time being.
“We may need to produce it before the court,” he said.
Despite being outlawed in India since 1960, the cruel sport is still common in the rural areas of Telangana, Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka and Odisha states – particularly around the Hindu festival of Sankranti.
Blades of up to 8cm are tied to the talons of the rooster before it is made to slice another cock to death while punters bet on the winner.
Thousands of roosters are killed every year in these battles.
Picture source: @timesofindia
TAKE A BOW, DAN CARTER Lucky Mdluli
“The best ever” is a debate best undertaken in the pub with huge amounts of beer and passion and senseless comparisons.
But nobody will deny that Dan Carter, now 39, is one of the greatest flyhalves in the history of the game – and his spectacular career statistics support that.
He has scored 1,598 test points with 29 tries, 293 conversions, 281 penalties, and eight drop goals in 112 tests. He has scored an average of over 14 points per game, which is the highest average for top-scoring test players.
Add to that, he was named the International Rugby Board player of the year in 2005 and 2012, and has won four Super Rugby titles with the Crusaders, six Tri-Nations and Rugby Championships with the All Blacks and was a member of the 2011 Rugby World Cup winning side.
But what the stats don’t count are the number of game- changing tackles and the brilliant line breaks that have had flanks and halfbacks floundering around in confusion.
(By comparison, South African flyhalf Morné Steyn is not, by anybody’s measure, a great tackler or line breaker, neither was the great Naas Botha. Handré Pollard’s ability to break the line when it mattered played an important role in the Springboks’ win at the 2019 World Cup.)
But then, there are two aspects to Dan Carter that the guys with the passion and the beer in the pub will all immediately agree with: Dan Carter was a natural, instinctive player, who, nine times out of 10 made the right decisions when it mattered - and perhaps his retirement decision at this time, is also the right decision when it matters.
It is also worth noting, that in a career of 20 years, there has never been even the slightest whiff of scandal. A true legend. Take a bow, please, Daniel William Carter.
Picture source: @RugbyLAD7
Rosko’s magnificent hat trick Lucky Mdluli
What a joy it was to witness Rosko Specman scoring three magnificent tries for Free State against Western Province in Cape Town on Saturday!
Sevens lovers are known to wallow in the conviction (whether true or not) that the best 15s rugby players have played Sevens successfully. They insist that there is no place to hide on a Sevens field.
“If you had to play, for instance, Morné Steyn in a sevens match, which position would you let him play?” they chuckle, claiming that Sevens players have to tackle, attack, run, sidestep, pass the ball, chip and do other things, all at great speed – not automatically all the skills you would associate with Steyn.
And then, along comes Rosko Specman and scores three brilliant tries, employing all of his not inconsiderable skills to make many a Western Province player shake their heads in amazement and adding grist to the mill of the smirking Sevens lovers.
In fairness, it was a full 15-man effort by the Free State although they conceded way too many penalties.
The match, the first for the Province in the Cape Town Stadium after the sale of the Newlands stadium, ended in a nail-biting, 33-34 victory for the Cheetahs.
In other 2021 kick-off pools matches (preparing for the Rainbow Cup):
The Lions 32-28 New Nations Pumas.
Vodacom Bulls 85-10 EP Elephants.
Picture source: @jayjbotes
Eva sends Chilli Boys to the Nedbank quarters Sphiwe Masilela
Nigerian forwards Augustine Kwem and Eva Nga Bievenvenu each found the back of the net to send Chippa United into the quarter finals of the Nedbank Cup.
Bievenvenu scored in the last five minutes of extra time at the Nelson Mandela Bay on Sunday evening.
Cape Town City were all over Chippa in the opening 20 minutes but failed to capitalise on the numerous goal scoring opportunities that they created.
In the 27th minute Kwem beat the offside-trap to slot in a low drive into the back of the net – from a Maloisane Mokhele through-pass.
The Chilli Boys then quickly turned the tempo of the game in a bid to get the second goal and put the visitors on the back foot with fluid counter-attacking football.
Following a goalkeeper error, Mduduzi Mdantsane squandered a good opportunity as he blasted the ball onto Ayanda Mtshali.
City Coach Jan Olde Reikerink shuffled his team around and brought on three substitutes before the start of the second half.
It was a dull 45 minutes, showing little of the intensity of the first half.
However, in the 66th minute, City levelled matters through one of the substitutes – Nigerian international Abdul Ajagun – who blasted from close range after the Chilli Boys’ poor clearance.
In the 7th minute of extra time, Mokhele fired a powerful left- footed shot to force an acrobatic save from Peter Leewunburg.
City players looked to be struggling in the latter part of the second half of extra time and eventually Dan ‘Dance’ Malesela’s men emerged victorious.
The two teams will again lock-horns in the DStv premier league on Wednesday.
Orlando Pirates, Richards Bay, Pretoria Callies, Black Leopards and Tshakhuma Tsha Madzivhandila were amongst the other teams that progressed to the quarter finals.
Picture source: @ChippaUnitedFC
Downs send out strong warning Timmy T Maranda
Mamelodi Sundowns sent out a strong warning to the rest of Group B after a 5-1 win over Algerian side CR Belouzidad in their Total CAF Champions League match.
The victory for Sundowns – at Benjamin Mkapa Stadium in Dar- es-Salaam, Tanzania – consolidated their position on top of the Group B with six points from two matches, with seven goals scored and one goal conceded.
Algerian side CR Belouzidad was dealt a huge blow in the third minute with Keddad receiving his marching orders for handling the ball in a goal-line, resulting in a penalty.
Themba Zwane stepped up and broke the dead-lock for the Brazilians from the penalty spot, Mshishi sent the keeper the wrong way for an opener.
On the stroke of half-time, Amir Sayoud pulled one back going to the break. After a solo run down the left wing, Sayoud chipped Dennis Onyango to make it 1-1.
In the second half Peter Shalulile restored the lead for Mamelodi Sundowns, with a free header inside the box to make it 2-1 in the 48th minute.
Themba Zwane opened the floodgate when he completed his brace for the Brazillians in the 55th minute. A few minutes later Lebogang Maboe slotted the fourth goal.
Kermit Erusmas put the final nail in CR Belouzidad’s coffin after a superb cut back by Themba Zwane to make it 5-1.
Downs co-coach Manqoba Mngqithi said CR Belouzidad committed a big error by getting a red card early in the match and Downs was able to capitalise on that.
"I believe that had the defender allowed the goal to go in, they would still remain with a good number and be able to have a fighting chance in a game," said Mngqithi.
"But unfortunately, because we were numerically superior, I felt we took that to our heads. But after half-time chats we came with purpose and we stretched them," Mngqithi added.
In the next match Mamelodi Sundowns will face TP mazembe in Lumbumbashi.
Picture source: @Masandawana