Author: The Free Stater

Staff Reporter The Free State provincial police headquarters in Bloemfontein has been closed to allow for decontamination after one official tested positive for the dreaded COVID-19. “Please be informed that Metpol Building at 126 Charlotte Maxeke Street in Bloemfontein housing SAPS Head Office personnel will be temporarily closed for decontamination,” said provincial police spokesperson Sam Makhele in a statement, adding this follows the detection of a positive COVID-19 case. Makhele said all staff housed at the Metpol Building will be working remotely while the building is being decontaminated. “The building will probably be reopened again for services on Monday, 13…

Burial sites around Gauteng have started preparing graves and assessing its capacity, in order to make provisions for any outcome as COVID-19 cases in the province increase sharply. Gauteng Health MEC Bandile Masuku visited the Honingnestkrans cemetery north of Pretoria on Wednesday to assess the state of readiness should the burial site be needed. City of Tshwane operations chief James Murphy told Masuku the Honingnestkrans cemetery has space for 24 000 single graves on the 30 hectare plot of land. Murphy further explained that single graves were currently being marked out and dug up, but that if the need arose,…

Staff Reporter Free State Treasury MEC Gadija Brown wants local businesspeople to diversify their portfolios and not limit themselves to chasing government contracts as it may not help their businesses grow. She said when presenting her supplementary provincial budget yesterday, urging local businesses to be innovative in order to remain viable and create employment. “I would like to advise the business community within the province that tenders are not a sustainable method of business growth,” Brown said. The MEC said business plans should be financed and approved against a sustainable business model and not be limited to the life of…

Staff Reporter The unbanning of alcohol sales at the beginning of last month has resulted in the Free State recording a significant rise in trauma cases at public hospitals, Health MEC Montseng Tsiu has said. According to the MEC, there has been a jump of nearly 2 000 trauma cases received at public hospitals between April, when alcohol sales were prohibited under the national lockdown, and the end of June, after the ban was lifted. She said in April, a total 5 378 cases were received across the province but the figure jumped to 6 294 in May and in…

Staff Reporter About 110 teachers in the Free State have contracted the coronavirus since the phased reopening of schools started early June, Education MEC Tate Makgoe said. He said this Tuesday in response to a question from Economic Freedom Fighters member of the provincial legislature, Malefane Johannes Msimanga, who wanted to know, among other things, how many learners and staff had been infected in the province since school restarted. “About 110 teachers, 51 learners, 12 office-based officials — including subject advisers and those based at district and province offices — and 21 non-teaching staff at the schools have been affected,”…

Staff Reporter The Comprehensive Agricultural Support (CASP) and the Ilima/Letsema grants will lose just under R50 million as more funds from this year’s provincial budget have been re-directed towards fighting the COVID-19 pandemic. The CASP grant has been reduced by about R32.8 million while that of Ilima/Letsema was cut by R17.1 million. The provincial supplementary budget states that the funds from the conditional grants have been reprioritised towards COVID-19 response measures. The adjustments are however expected to be temporary as agriculture and economic development will be reprioritised in the next financial year. CASP is aimed providing post-settlement support to targeted…

Staff Reporter The Free State economy is expected to contract by over nine percent this year as the devastating effects of the COVID-19 pandemic continue to set in, Finance MEC Gadija Brown has said. Presenting the provincial supplementary budget Tuesday, Gadija said the impact of the coronavirus outbreak on the local economy is anticipated to be severe. “Our provincial economy is projected to contract by 9.1 percent in 2020,” she said. “The impact of this will be detrimental on our people, particularly in our endeavour to fight and combat the triple challenges of poverty, unemployment and inequality.” The MEC said…

Staff Reporter The Bloemfontein Showgrounds could be converted into a makeshift 1 000-bed hospital to treat coronavirus patients. The Provincial Coronavirus Command Council, led by the Premier Sisi Ntombela, today visited the venue to assess how it could be used as a temporary hospital as the Free State prepares for the expected spike in COVID-19 cases. “As the country as a whole currently faces a spike in coronavirus cases, the premier has indicated that it remains the responsibility of government to be proactive in fighting the global pandemic, and put measures in places to curb the spread of the virus…

Staff Reporter The Free State departments of health and education have been allocated an additional R700 million to help address challenges presented by COVID-19 in the coming months. Presenting the province’s supplementary budget this Tuesday, Finance MEC Gadija Brown said the health department will receive a further R667.2 million to strictly spend on pandemic response measures. She said the education department will get a boost of R45.5 million to help prepare schools for the safe of return of learners who have been forced to stay home since mid-March as part of measures to curb the spread of the coronavirus. “We…

Staff Reporter Four members of the South African National Defence Force (SANDF) are expected to be charged with conspiracy to commit crime following their arrest at a gold mine in Welkom. According to the police, the four men, clad in military uniform and travelling in two white vehicles, forced their entry into the Kudu Mine Shaft premises claiming they had been deployed to the mine. However, security personnel at the mine called the police to report the suspicious “deployment”. “On arrival, the police questioned the men about their presence at the mine shaft, and they alleged that they were deployed…