Photo: Gallo Images / Phill Magakoe

South Africa: Today’s latest news and headlines, Monday 13 December 2021

In the latest news in South Africa on Monday 13 December 2021, President Cyril Ramaphosa tested positive for COVID-19 on Sunday.

by Corné van Zyl

13-12-2021 05:30

in News

Photo: Gallo Images / Phill Magakoe

A lot can change overnight, or over the course of one weekend, but we’ll keep you in the know with the latest news stories and headlines in South Africa on Monday 13 December 2021.

President Cyril Ramaphosa tested positive for COVID-19 on Sunday after he started feeling unwell after leaving the State Memorial Service in honour of former Deputy President FW de Klerk in Cape Town. Meanwhile, South Africa recorded 18 035 new cases of COVID-19 in the last 24 hours, the National Institute for Communicable Diseases (NICD) has said on Sunday.

Despite the fact that Ramaphosa is weighing up more lockdown restrictions for South Africa, Pieter Streicher reckons no lockdown restrictions are required to manage the new variant.

Angelique Coetzee, a distinguished doctor with decades of experience, is adamant that this new strain is ‘much milder’ than previous ones. Coetzee shot to international fame last month, after she urged calm across the planet when Omicron was discovered.

TODAY’S LATEST NEWS IN SOUTH AFRICA, Monday 13 December

JUST IN: President Cyril Ramaphosa tests positive for COVID-19

Minister in the Presidency Mondli Gungubele said Ramaphosa is receiving treatment for mild COVID-19 symptoms.

“The President started feeling unwell after leaving the State Memorial Service in honour of former Deputy President FW de Klerk in Cape Town earlier today (Sunday),” he said.

Gungubele said Ramaphosa is in good spirits but is being monitored by the South African Military Health Service of the South African National Defence Force.

‘Lockdown restrictions NOT NEEDED for Omicron wave’ – SA expert

Pieter Streicher is a man putting his neck on the line. But his optimistic forecasts on the outcomes of the Omicron wave are also supported by SAMA, Netcare, Mediclinic, and other leading experts in South Africa. Streicher, however, is ready to go one step further – and he reckons no lockdown restrictions are required to manage the new variant.

Streicher’s latest COVID-19 model, published this weekend, shows that the spike in infections caused by Omicron has allegedlt peaked in Gauteng – a few days ahead of schedule.

The highly transmissible variant has been circulating in South Africa for the past five weeks, since the first case was found here in early November. Usually, after 14 to 21 days, high case rates are reflected by soaring hospital admissions and deaths. But, some 35 days since ‘patient zero’ was identified, the data has remained favourable.

COVID-19 latest: SA reports 18 035 new confirmed cases

South Africa recorded 18 035 new cases of COVID-19 in the last 24 hours, the National Institute for Communicable Diseases (NICD) has said on Sunday.

This brings the total number of laboratory-confirmed cases to 3 167 497. The increase of 18 035 new COVID-19 cases represents a 28.9 % positivity rate.

A further 21 COVID-19 related deaths have been reported, bringing total fatalities to 90 137 to date.

“The cumulative number of recoveries is 2 913 232.”

The majority of new cases are in Gauteng: 16 716, followed by the KwaZulu-Natal with 6 246 new cases, the Western Cape with 4 655 new cases, and North West with 2 346, and the Eastern Cape with 2 097 new cases in the provinces.

Children killed in fire while playing in parked vehicle

KwaZulu-Natal Social Development ME Nonhlanhla Khoza, has expressed her shock after two children were burnt to death in a fire this morning.

It is alleged that a five-year-old, Melokuhle and her seven-year-old sister, Hlelolwenkosi Madiya, died after a fire broke out in a stationary family vehicle that was parked at their home in Nqabeni village, in Harding, southern KwaZulu-Natal. The cause of the fire is still unclear at this stage.

Attempts to rescue the children from the raging inferno were not successful as the doors were jammed and could not be open.

Khoza expressed her condolences to the bereaved families who lost their children in the fire.

WATCH: Reeva Steenkamp’s parents speak out – ‘Sorry is NOT enough’

Reeva Steenkamp’s parents don’t think Oscar Pistorius is truly remorseful about killing their daughter and say they’re still hoping for the whole truth as to what really happened on that fateful Valentine’s Day in 2013.

June and Barry Steenkamp did an interview with the United Kingdon’s breakfast news programme Good Morning Britain last month – and they’re definitely not holding anything back.

REMINDER: Pistorius shot his then girlfriend, Steenkamp several times while she was in the bathroom behind a locked door at his Pretoria home in the wee hours of 14 February 2013. He maintains that he thought he was shooting at an intruder who had climbed in through the bathroom window. Pistorius was first convicted of culpable homicide in 2014. He initially received a five-year prison sentence as a result. The matter was then taken to the Supreme Court of Appeal. The court then overturned the High Court’s verdict and convicted him of murder.

Ramaphosa delivers De Klerk’s eulogy: The good, bad – and UGLY

President Cyril Ramaphosa’s eulogy of the late apartheid-era president FW De Klerk was undoubtedly a mix bag bag of sentiments – which for many, came as no surprise, given the controversial figure that he was.

Ramaphosa delivered the eulogy at De Klerk’s state memorial, which was held at Groote Kerk on Sunday morning, 12 December, a month after he succumbed to Mesothelioma, a form of cancer which affects the lining of the lungs.

The president stressed de Klerk’s role in the country achieving democracy, making reference to his speech in February 1990, where he announced the unbanning of political parties and the release of former president Nelson Mandela and other political prisoners.

“In taking this bold step, de Klerk heeded the call by Nelson Mandela who, while still incarcerated, told the apartheid rulers that the only way to resolve what he called the perpetual crisis in the country was through negotiations between the ANC and the National Party government,” Ramaphosa said.

Zuma hits out at ‘directionless’ Ramaphosa – in explosive book chapter

Grab the popcorn, because things are getting spicy between two giants of the ANC. Former President Jacob Zuma has taken an almighty swipe at his successor, branding Cyril Ramaphosa as a ‘directionless leader’.

The catty remarks were made in Msholozi’s new book, Jacob Zuma Speaks. The 79-year-old pulls no punches, in a publication where he hits out at the judiciary, and takes pot-shots at his political enemies.

Ramaphosa is certainly on uBaba’s naughty list, and there won’t be any Christmas cards exchanged between the pair this year. The two figures represent fiercely different factions of the ANC, and their personal battles are now spilling onto the published pages of autobiographies and memoirs alike.

Ramaphosa is accused of ‘not leading the ANC in any particular direction’.
The president gets an earful for ‘watering down’ the party’s NASREC resolutions.
Zuma questions what Ramaphosa has actually achieved during almost four years in office.
The former ANC leader also blasted various ‘commissions’ set up by Cyril.
According to Mr. Zuma, Ramaphosa has shown ‘no leadership’ on landlessness or poverty.