Author: The Free Stater

Staff Reporter Five police officers from Phuthaditjhaba in the Free State are expected to appear in court soon after they were arrested over the weekend for drinking while enforcing the national lockdown put in place by the government to help fight the spread of COVID-19. A police reservist from the town was also nabbed together with them. Community members are said to have tipped the police on Saturday afternoon that five officers believed to be from Namahadi police station were busy consuming alcohol at a nearby tavern while on duty. The tavern, by law, was supposed to be closed in…

Staff Reporter The Free State has seen 74 patients fully recovering from COVID-19, although the number of confirmed coronavirus cases in the province has now risen to 102, according to the latest statistics released this Sunday night. “The department is delighted about the number of patients that are recovering from COVID-19,” provincial health spokesperson Mondli Mvambi said in statement. “There is no cure yet for COVID-19, but we have seen 74 patients fully recovering and being released from health facilities to be with their families. “We are monitoring these patients regularly through our health professionals to ensure that they do…

Staff Reporter The Free State will now test all corpses for COVID-19 after an elderly man from Bloemfontein was only confirmed to have succumbed to the disease following a post-mortem examination. The case, according to provincial health spokesperson Mondli Mvambi, had prompted the province to subject all dead bodies to mandatory coronavirus tests before they can be released for burial in a bid to curb the spread of the virus. “The case of the 77-year-old male whose corpse was swabbed after he had died has prompted the department to swab all corpses in order to ensure that we know for…

Staff Reporter The University of the Free State (UFS) has cancelled examinations for the first semester which were set to start in May due to the national lockdown ordered by the government to help curb the spread of COVID-19. In a statement, the university said its academic programme for the first semester will be completed through online studies starting Monday, April 20, and that assignments will be used to assess learning as no examinations will be written. “The majority of the first-semester modules will be completed online . . . all assignments will be used to assess learning, with no…

Staff Reporter The Free State is one of the only two provinces not to record a single road fatality during the Easter weekend which claimed 28 lives elsewhere in South Africa. During the same period last year, 162 people were killed in crashes across the country. The Free State recorded four deaths in 2019. The latest statistics, released by Transport Minister Fikile Mbalula on Friday, mean there has been an 82 percent drop in deaths on South Africa’s roads this time round thanks to the nationwide lockdown imposed in a bid to curb the spread of COVID-19. “The Easter period…

Staff Reporter The Free State health department has rolled out a door-to-door COVID-19 screening exercise, as the province reached 100 confirmed cases of the coronavirus disease. Provincial health spokesperson Mondli Mvambi said the department was intensifying its mass screening exercise in an effort to curb the spread of the novel virus that causes the deadly respiratory illness. “This ongoing work of mass screening through door to door is aimed at intensifying efforts to flatten the curve and curb COVID-19 transmissions,” he said. Mvambi said in Mangaung the mass screening exercise would continue at Twin City Mall and Turflaagte behind the…

By Nthakoana Ngatane Lesotho’s Prime Minister Tom Thabane has deployed the army onto the streets to ‘restore law and order’, a day after the country’s Constitutional Court said he acted irrationally when he suspended parliament last month. Thabane said the reason was the coronavirus pandemic, but the court said the prime minister didn’t follow due process and the proclamation is null and void. MPs of his party, the All Basotho Convention and coalition partner the Basotho National Party challenged the suspension – also accusing Thabane of acting unilaterally. Last month he lost a National Assembly constitutional amendment vote that stripped…

Staff Reporter Unknown hackers interrupted an online video conference hosted by the Department of Women, Youth and Persons with Disabilities by posting pornographic images during the live session on Wednesday. Minister Maite Nkoana-Mashabane was expected to speak on the effects of COVID-19 on vulnerable members of society during the digital meeting. The department said the meeting had been made public to increase attendance on the video conferencing app Zoom but hackers then took control of the screen and displayed pornography. “We would like to unreservedly apologise for the incident where we had unsavoury characters getting into the scheduled Zoom meeting…

You have probably come across dream-come-true headlines of a 16-year-old Bloemfontein model, Tatum Macalagh, who graced the New York Fashion Week (NYFW) in February this year. And if you were wondering how the teen sensation has managed to set the runway abuzz at such a tender age, look no further than her mother.  Indeed, as the saying goes, the apple doesn’t fall far from the tree. A keen model herself in her youth, the 33-year-old Yolande Macalagh has not only inspired her daughter to become a model but has also set up a modelling academy where she is nurturing dozens…

Staff Reporter South Africa’s COVID-19 death toll has shot up to 34 after seven more people succumbed to the virus, Health Minister Zweli Mkhize has announced. Speaking at a press briefing on Wednesday, he also said the number of confirmed infections in the country had increased to 2 506, up by 91 from the previous day’s total. The Free State’s tally is at 97 cases, while the three provinces of Gauteng, the Western Cape and KwaZulu-Natal have continued to account for more than 70 percent of the country’s cases, with more than 2 000 cases between them. “It is with…