Weekend Argus Saturday Saturday, July 4, 2020

COVID-19 WORRIED Hospitals desperate for staff Health-care workers buckle under pressure TSHEGO LEPULE tshego.lepule@inl.co.za AYANDA NDAMANE African News Agency (ANA) HENK KRUGER African News Agency (ANA) HEALTH-CARE workers at key hospitals in the battle against the coronavirus are faltering under the pressure of staff shortages as the province pleads for R113 million in budget shortfalls. Some health workers warn increasing Covid-19 infections among staff are putting a strain on those who have to carry the load. The province is forced to make use of agency staff to cover the gaps. Provincial head of health, Keith Cloete, said the department was struggling to achieve the planned 135 critical care beds in the public sector mainly as a result of staff shortages linked to absenteeism from coronavirus infections, agency staff…

CORONAVIRUS Medics share experience at the coalface CHELSEA GEACH chelsea.geach@inl.co.za AS CAPE Town heads into what is likely the peak of Covid-19 infections, health-care workers are telling the public what it’s like inside the packed hospital wards. This week, Premier Alan Winde said the peak was flatter than originally expected, meaning there would likely be more deaths over a longer period of time, but the demand for hospital beds at its height would be lower than originally projected. “As a result, it is projected that 5450 beds will be needed at the ‘peak’ should this scenario hold. This is lower than both the original provisioning scenario from April (6304), and the previous calibration from May (7800).” But inside hospitals, both in the province and nationally, health-care workers are feeling the…

PROTEST Reverend takes fight with church to streets BULELWA PAYI bulelwa.payi@inl.co.za AN ANGLICAN priest has set up a tent outside the palatial official Bishopscourt residence of the church’s leader in an attempt to draw attention to her plight. Reverend June Major has also been on hunger strike since Wednesday, an action she said was to drive home the pain and “suffering” she had endured for more than 15 years. Major’s protest was two-pronged – to highlight gender-based violence and the impact of the loss of income – which she claimed was brought on by the church. “The church is not acknowledging its fault, which brought me to this position,” she said. Shortly after setting up the tent outside the entrance gate to Archbishop Thabo Makgoba’s residence, Major said Makgoba met…

JUDICIARY Virtual march in support of Mogoeng AMID the controversy surrounding Chief Justice Mogoeng Mogoeng’s statements on Israel, a virtual march was held yesterday in his support. Justice Mogoeng’s media spokesperson said they regarded the matter as “closed”. Religious leaders, opposition political parties and traditional leaders joined the South African Friends of Israel to express their support for Justice Mogoeng. Those who criticised Justice Mogoeng included former members of the judiciary and the Council for the Advancement of the South African Constitution, who said Mogoeng had compromised the integrity of the judiciary in a Jerusalem Post webinar alongside the South African Chief Rabbi Warren Goldstein. Mogoeng said South Africans and Africans at large had not cut diplomatic ties with colonisers yet they criticised Israel. “Did Israel take away our land…

PANDEMIC Insurance zombie problem Identity app launched to stop fraud SHAUN SMILLIE HENK KRUGER African News Agency ANA) THE walking dead wander among us; they live and breathe and try their damnedest to keep one step ahead of the law. These are no zombies – this is the nickname in the insurance industry for those people who either fake their own deaths or don’t know that someone has “killed” them off for financial gain. And with the economic fallout from the Covid-19 pandemic, the numbers of the walking dead appear to be increasing, as are other false insurance claims and scams. “We are seeing, across the board, people are faking retirement claims, disability claims, retrenchment, credit loss and life cover. And we’re seeing a variety of false death claims –…

ICYMI | IOL.CO.ZA EVICTED NAKED MAN ‘TACTICALLY’ UNDRESSED HIMSELF, SAYS MAYOR Law and order exist for the purpose of establishing justice and when they fail in this purpose they become the dangerously structured dams that block the flow of social progress.MARTIN LUTHER KING, JR African American minister and activist Mayor Dan Plato has accused the naked man who was violently evicted from his shack of “tactically” undressing himself before law enforcement officers approached his informal structure.…