The extent of the criminal looting of funds meant for various COVID-19 relief programmes has been revealed by the Special Investigating Unit (SIU). Signed up by Cyril Ramaphosa to probe various accusations of corruption during the pandemic, their first lines of inquiry expose how deep the rot has set in.
Three months after a lockdown was grudgingly and belatedly imposed by Boris Johnson, and some of Britain’s beloved gay saunas are set to reopen as early as this week.
A new wave of carbon-offsetting platforms invites consumers to remove emissions instantly and permanently. Could travellers be the key to their success?
South Africa’s epidemiological models have proven to be wildly inaccurate. A new commentary by international modellers explains why Covid-19 models are a poor basis for decision-making, while South Africa’s own modellers try, but fail, to explain themselves.
‘Government keeps saying scientists are the ones making these decisions and that is part of our frustration’ – Prof Francois Venter
Scientists have been wondering why SA’s case fatality rates for Covid-19 are lower than those of its global counterparts, but now a major question is being asked: are our mortality statistics even accurate?
Covid-19 has brought ever-increasing evidence that the leadership South Africa needs to extricate us from the current massive crisis is not present – and not available. The deadly combination of corruption and incompetence is anything but diminished in the post-Zuma years, and no political force, whether inside or outside the ANC, looks capable of stopping it. This increases the pressure on President Cyril Ramaphosa to change course, and drop his reliance on consensus.
This totally indefensible government seems determined to destroy livelihoods with absurd regulations that makes absolutely no sense.
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Best Life logoHalf of CDC Coronavirus Test Kits Are Inaccurate, Study Finds
Coronavirus testing has been a hot-button issue since the beginning of the pandemic. First, there weren’t enough coronavirus tests to go around. Now, a new issue has emerged—just how accurate the tests people are getting actually are.
Wine farmers say the current ban on liquor sales is placing thousands of jobs in jeopardy, while there was no real prospect of alcohol abuse by patrons of wine farms, restaurants and hotels overburdening the health system.
It looks like this particular deal wasn’t ‘masked’ very well. President Ramaphosa and his spokesperson are yet to respond to these corruption allegations.
Breaking the institutions was the first step. The second step was to hijack the concepts of legality to pull the wool over citizens’ eyes.
The SIU is waiting on President Ramaphosa to sign a national proclamation which will allow investigators to consolidate all allegations of corruption.
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.
