There’s been a rapid rise of COVID-19 infections in recent weeks with the third wave fully engulfing South Africa and particularly hitting Gauteng hard. In his weekly address, President Cyril Ramaphosa urged citizens to work together to stem the spread of the virus and cited the alarming statistics facing us, “The number of daily new cases jumped from below 800 in early April to over 13 000 in the past week.” News24 editor, Adriaan Basson, writes that Gauteng should be in a Level 5 lockdown. On Sunday evening, Gauteng recorded a whopping 8 640 new cases while at the height of the second wave there just over 6 200 daily new cases reported in the province
Stuart Theobald writes in Business Day that the deal for the Takatso Consortium to acquire a 51 per cent stake in SAA is the best deal all parties can hope for given the precarious circumstances. Theobald delves into the exact or rather misleading details of the proposed acquisition. The secrecy or lack of transparency behind the deal may have been the only way for government to offload the airline argues Theobald. (Subscribe to read)
And in football news, with all the excitement and attention of the Euro 2020 competition and the South American equivalent, the Copa America, have we ever given serious thought as to what happens to African footballers after their glitzy European career ends? Academics, Christian Ungruhe and Sine Agergaard write a poignant piece for The Conversation illustrating that despite a few high-profile exceptions, little is known about the whereabouts of African football stars after their European club career ends.
Here’s a roundup of opinions online today:
Deep, systemic crisis signals the union form may have outlived its usefulness – Daily Maverick
No more excuses for land inertia – Mail & Guardian
The hypocrisy of Malema’s ‘march to save lives’ – Financial Mail
Musk is right in flagging insurance costs to protect directors from litigation – Business Day
Lies, damn lies, and fake news by anti-vaxxers – Fin24
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