Author: The Free Stater

The African saxophone legend Manu Dibango has died in Paris after catching the coronavirus. Dibango, best known for his 1972 hit Soul Makossa, is one of the first global stars to die from COVID-19. The 86-year-old fused jazz and funk music with traditional sounds from his home country, Cameroon. He collaborated with numerous artists over a long career, including US pianist Herbie Hancock and Nigeria’s Afrobeat pioneer Fela Kuti. The Cameroonian musician filed a lawsuit in 2009 saying Michael Jackson had stolen a hook from his song, Soul Makossa, for two tracks on the world’s best-selling album, Thriller. Jackson settled…

Staff Reporter The government is working on a special fund to support companies that may fall into distress because of COVID-19. President Cyril Ramaphosa said consultations with different stakeholders were underway to find ways of assisting not just businesses but also individuals that will be affected by the effects of the coronavirus to the economy. “We are going to support people whose livelihoods will be affected,” Ramaphosa said in a televised national address in which he announced a 21-day lockdown starting Thursday. He said through the proposal employees will receive wage payments through the Temporary Employee Relief Scheme, which will…

Staff Reporter During the 21-day national lockdown announced by President Cyril Ramaphosa, South Africans will not be allowed to leave their homes, except under strictly controlled circumstances, such as to seek medical care, buy food, medicine and other supplies or collect a social grant. Also, all shops and businesses will be closed, except for pharmacies, laboratories, banks, essential financial and payment services, supermarkets, fuel stations and healthcare facilities. The army will be deployed to assist in implementing the measures, the president said in a national televised address on Monday night. “From midnight on Thursday, 26 March, until midnight on Thursday,…

Staff Reporter President Cyril Ramaphosa has announced a 21-day national lockdown with effect from midnight on Thursday this week in a bid to bring the COVID-19 pandemic under control. During this period all South Africans are to stay at home while most businesses will be closed. Only pharmacies, banks, fuel stations and grocers will remain open, the president said in a national televised address. The army will be deployed to assist in implementing the measures, he said. “From midnight on Thursday, 26 March, until midnight on Thursday, 16 April, all South Africans will have to stay at home,” Ramaphosa said,…

Staff Reporter South Africa’s confirmed cases of COVID-19 spiked overnight by 128 to 402, Health Minister Zweli Mkhize said in a statement Monday afternoon. This is the highest daily increase since the first case of the deadly coronavirus was reported in the country about 19 days ago. The Free State saw an overnight increase of four cases to 13. Mkhize confirmed that President Cyril Ramaphosa will address the country in the evening on measures to be undertaken to mitigate the impact of COVID-19. “We will thereafter engage the public to give further details and explanations on the results, including the…

Staff Reporter Two more people in the Free State have tested positive for COVID-19, bringing the total number in the province to nine. The figures were released by Health Minister Zweli Mkhize on Sunday night when he gave a national update in which he revealed 34 more people in the country had tested positive for the coronavirus, pushing the number to 274. “As of today, South Africa now has 274 confirmed cases of COVID-19,” Mkhize said in a statement. “This means there has been an increase of 34 from yesterday’s announcement.” The latest cases to be confirmed in the Free…

Staff Reporter Nine members of the Divine Restoration Ministries in Bloemfontein have shown COVID-19 symptoms, Free State Health MEC Montsheng Tsiu has revealed. She said her department’s tracing team screened 62 people from the church on Saturday morning and 53 were clear while nine required further testing. The members of the church, situated about 10km northeast of the city along Raymond Mahlaba Street, are believed to have contracted COVID-19 from five overseas visitors who have since tested positive for the coronavirus which causes flu-like symptoms. The five attended a conference at the church — founded by Prophet Elisée Yao —…

Staff Reporter Free State Health MEC Montseng Tsiu has unveiled two mobile COVID-19 screening buses at the Universitas Academic Hospital in Bloemfontein. In a statement released this morning, the provincial health department said the buses arrived on Friday night from Gauteng. “They are supplied by the National Health Laboratory Services to bolster the capacity of the Free State to screen the selected cases that have been exposed to COVID-19,” read part of the statement. One of the buses, according to the statement, will be handed over to Pelonomi Hospital for screening while the other one will be given to Universitas…

Staff Reporter The Free State’s popular arts and music event, the Mangaung African Cultural Festival (Macufe), set for October, has been cancelled as the province battles to contain the COVID-19 pandemic. Premier Sisi Ntombela told the media during a visit by Health Minister Zweli Mkhize in Bloemfontein today that all major events have been called off and their budgets will be channelled towards fighting the coronavirus outbreak. “We have decided that this year we are not going to have Macufe,” Ntombela said. The other major events cancelled include the Madeira Flower Festival which was to be held in Parys from…

Staff Reporter Free State health authorities have launched a massive exercise to trace members of a local church who could have made contact with five visitors from overseas who have since tested positive for COVID-19, Health Minister Zweli Mkhize said. Addressing a media briefing in Bloemfontein today, Mkhize said the five – two two from Texas in the United States, two from Israel and one from France – have since been quarantined at a bed-and-breakfast establishment in the province. Management and staff at the facility have also been quarantined. “We have set this weekend as a target to rush out…