Weekend Argus Saturday Saturday, June 20, 2020

COVID - 19 Cape may need to dig mass graves Plans afoot for projected spike in deaths TSHEGO LEPULE tshego.lepule@inl.co.za BRENDAN MAGAAR African News Agency (ANA) ARMAND HOUGH African News Agency (ANA) MASS graves have been mooted as a solution to the projected 9 000-plus deaths from Covid-19 in the province. The Western Cape has the highest recorded deaths from the coronavirus in the country – 1 309 – as of yesterday. Just this week, 259 died from the virus. The provincial Cabinet has approved guidelines to manage Covid-19 deaths in the region to govern how funeral parlours and municipalities handle a high number of fatalities in a worst-case scenario. The Klipfontein sub-district in the Cape Town metro so far has the most deaths with 218, followed by Khayelitsha (190)…

GBV Activists seek justice for Robyn AMBER COURT AND CHELSEA GEACH THE scourge of gender-based violence is just one factor that has South Africa ranked amongst the least peaceful countries in the world. President Cyril Ramaphosa said 21 women and children were murdered in the past two weeks alone. The recently released Global Peace Index (GPI), ranked SA at 123 out of 163 countries for state of peace within the country, thanks to the high violent crime and homicide rate. The most peaceful country is Iceland, followed by New Zealand, Portugal, Austria and Denmark. The countries with the lowest-ranked GPI include Yemen, South Sudan, Iraq, Syria and lastly Afghanistan. As activists around the world turn their attention to police brutality and gender-based violence, South Africans mourned the senseless murders of…

Unions warn against avoiding pay raises TRADE unions representing the country’s more than 260 000 municipal workers have warned the government against using the Covid-19 pandemic to avoid increasing salaries by 6.25% next month. Cosatu affiliate the SA Municipal Workers’ Union (Samwu) said it was shocked by the move to invoke a clause of the 2018 agreement reached at the SA Local Government Bargaining Council (SALGBC) that allows municipalities to apply for an exemption if they are unable to honour it. Samwu said a number of municipalities were processing their 2020-21 budgets and had already approved the salary increases. “We do not expect any municipality to fall into this trap of pitting workers against their employers. Municipal workers will not sit idle when their conditions of service are illegally tampered…

VISITS BAN Prisoners threaten nudity, hunger strike THOUSANDS of prisoners across the country will go on “nudity and hunger” protest action, demanding President Cyril Ramaphosa lift the continuing ban on prison visits. This was revealed by prison rights activist Golden Miles Bhudu. The ban was imposed three months ago under level 5 lockdown as part of limiting the spread of Covid-19 within the prison population. SA Prisoners’ Organisation for Human Rights (Sapohr) spokesperson Bhudu said offenders were left disappointed when Ramaphosa this week announced a further relaxation of the Covid-19 regulations but left out the prison visits ban. Bhudu said he had written to Ramaphosa and Justice and Correctional Services Minister Ronald Lamola, asking them to indicate before June 17 when the ban on prison visits would be lifted, but…

TRANSPORT Face-off over R1bn taxi relief Santaco says government’s offer is ‘little’ SIYABONGA MKHWANAZI TRANSPORT Minister Fikile Mbalula faces a potential showdown with role-players in the taxi industry after they refused to accept his department’s R1.135 billion relief to help ease the impact of Covid-19. Yesterday, the South African National Taxi Council (Santaco) said the amount would not cover the financial losses suffered by the industry. The industry sought R20 000 per taxi, but Mbalula said the government would only offer a R5 000 once-off payment as the government could not afford paying out more than R1.135bn. “Others are saying R20 000 per taxi; it is not possible because if you calculate that, it is R10bn. Government does not have that,” he said. Government cannot go beyond the quantum of…

WEBINAR Danine getting connected with the youth AMBER COURT amber.court@inl.co.za TV PERSONALITY Danine Naidoo hopes to tackle the topic of how youth can be an integral part of South Africa for her Weekend Argus webinar this week. Titled What’s Youth Got to Do with It, Naidoo hopes to discuss issues facing the youth while taking questions about the “new normal”. She is well known for her previous role as a presenter on the Cape Town-filmed SABC2 youth magazine show Hectic Nine-9, but also has a fun entertainment presence on social media. The name for the webinar was inspired by Tina Turner and her hit song What’s Love Got to Do with It, which is a catchy way to start a conversation, said Naidoo. The 33-year-old entertainer and writer’s webinar will…