South Africa’s liquor industry lost R20 billion in sales in the first nine weeks of the national lockdown, according to data analytics company Nielsen.

South African historians and psychologists agree lockdowns to prevent the spread of a disease typically end before the pandemic ends. This is because people’s social needs overtake the fear of the virus, and people start breaking lockdown regulations.

Hotspots are no longer a thing as lockdown Level 3 has mutated into its third version – without even a nod to public input. And that means the government’s much-touted Risk-Adjusted Strategy to lead South Africa through its Covid-19 public health crisis isn’t worth the paper it’s printed on.

RW Johnson reflects on whether we will take the Zimbabwe route, rather than the reformist one. A lesson from Gramsci We are at a strange

As American citizens, we live under the premises of freedom, life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. We are free to share our ideas, choose where to live, where to work, where to gather, and who to love without the fear of harm by others, the authorities or our own government.

There’s new evidence that a 2 000-year-old medicine might offer hope against a modern scourge: Covid-19.
The medication, called colchicine, is an anti-inflammatory taken as a pill. It’s long been prescribed for gout, a form of arthritis, and its history goes back centuries. The drug was first sourced from the autumn crocus flower.

South Africa’s restaurant sector is on its knees as the coronavirus crisis and stringent lockdown measures threaten the livelihoods of the 800,000 people employed in the industry.

With a wave of his presidential hand, the command was given: alcohol sales will once again be banned, with immediate effect. Minutes later, the new regulations were gazetted and came into force. South Africans now live in a dictatorship.

At a meeting of Parliament’s Tourism Portfolio Committee this week, the Minister of Tourism, Mmamoloko Kubayi-Ngubane, exposed herself by essentially admitting that she puts the interests of the ANC above the interests of South Africans. While discussing the regulations that are currently decimating the tourism sector, the Minister explained that there must be no ambiguity with regards her unequivocal support for Government.

People often ascribe all manner of sayings to the Chinese, and we have no way of knowing if it is true or not. We are told the Chinese say you can move in and commit murder when a house is on fire.

Thousands of workers in the South African liquor industry and its value chain are facing job losses after the government reintroduced a ban on alcohol sales just as business was picking up from a nine-week hiatus.

Using taxis could become ‘one of the single biggest ways people will be infected other than at home’, one of the medical experts said.

A huge part of your job remit when serving as president is to make decisions that are ultimately unpopular. However, Cyril Ramaphosa’s shock decision to reinstate the alcohol ban on Sunday leaves a very bitter taste in many mouths this evening – not least amongst his political rivals, who have been left seething.

LGBT+ youth are 2.5 times more likely to have made multiple suicide attempts in the last year if they have gone through ‘conversion therapy’.

The Liberty Fighters Network (LFN) said the lockdown was effectively over when a judge compelled Cogta Minister Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma to amend certain lockdown regulations, even though he granted her leave to appeal.

Health Minister Zweli Mkhize has clarified that scooters cannot be used as ambulances to transport patients.

The Special Investigating Unit has confirmed that it will be heading an inquiry into allegations of fraud and corruption relating to Covid-19 relief.

Linda de Jager has worked as a personal assistant for many years and during lockdown she saw the need for personal assistants to go virtual. This led her to found her company LDJ VA.

More than one million gravesites are being prepped in Pretoria as the province braces for an increase in COVID-19 deaths.