• Health Minister Zweli Mkhize says there is a need for Gauteng to start ramping up screenings and testing for Covid-19. 
• Mkhize says cluster outbreaks were inevitable as the country moved to Level 3.
• The Western Cape and Eastern Cape are also being closely watched by the department, with senior managers being deployed to the Eastern Cape. 

Gauteng will emerge with the highest number of Covid-19 cases in the coming days, overtaking the Western Cape, Health Minister Zweli Mkhize said.

In a statement on Sunday, the minister announced that the latest cumulative number of cases in the country was 138 134, with 43 new deaths taking the total to 2 456. 

“We believe that within the coming days, Gauteng will emerge with the highest Covid-19 numbers. Factors contributing to this trend are inward migration, the large population (especially in metros like Johannesburg, Ekurhuleni and Tshwane), increased congregating which spurs cluster outbreaks, and the level to which people are able to adapt to new behaviours such as social distancing and the wearing of masks,” Mkhize said.

He said it was inevitable that there would be cluster outbreaks as infections spilt from communities into places where people were gathering, such as mines, factories, taxis and buses. 

GRAPHICS | Gauteng recording more Covid-19 cases a day than Western Cape has at any point

He said, when the country moved from lockdown level 4 to 3, there was a large inward movement of people as economic activities resumed. 

“The surge that has been witnessed in the past two weeks has developed due to speeding of infections carried in by members of the community as they moved back into the workplace,” he added. 

He said national government had been engaging with Gauteng Health MEC Bandile Masuku and the provincial department to ramp up capacity, adding that the testing backlog would be cleared in the next few days – which would mean the numbers would be based on shorter turnaround time.

Mkhize said in his daily update:

He said a rapid rise was starting to be seen in the cumulative number of positive cases, showing that, as expected, the country was approaching a surge during the winter months of July and August.

“It is anticipated that while every province will, unfortunately, witness an increase in their numbers, areas where there is high economic activity will experience an exponential rise – beginning with Gauteng and Western Cape and followed by Eastern Cape and KwaZulu-Natal.” 

A need to increase Covid-19 hospital beds in Gauteng had also been identified and the department would be assisting to ensure there was enough capacity to meet the rapidly rising demands. Gauteng is also being urged to strengthen its contact tracing and quarantine or isolation uptake.

Supplied Department of Health

Western Cape numbers have not yet surged as expected 

Touching on Western Cape, Mkhize said the department had received reports that  members of the public remained reluctant to subject themselves to quarantine and isolation, despite the government having secured the sites in various parts of the province.

He said they were concerned that this would help spread of infections, especially in households where it is not possible to isolate.

“Although there may be provisions for authorities to enforce law, it is important for members of the public to partner with government in its efforts. We remain committed to work together with civil society in an empowerment exercise that enables each individual to make the right decisions – decisions that allow people to protect themselves, protect the elderly, protect those with comorbidities and protect the poor and vulnerable.”

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Mkhize said, having compared the real numbers with those depicted in predictive models, the department had noticed that the Western Cape had not quite reached the surge expected by modellers.

“The consortium has accordingly reviewed their models, taking into account what has been observed in actual terms. Since we have cleared the testing backlog, the numbers attributable to those backlogged samples no longer play a role, and so the increase in new cases is reduced.” 

Senior managers deployed to Eastern Cape

Case management in the Eastern Cape had also come into the spotlight, Mkhize also noted.

He said all complaints via social media and news reports regarding situations in public health had been noted.

Experienced senior managers had also been deployed to assist the team of epidemiologists in the province to deal with overall health systems management and help with the ground response. 

Gauteng Education MEC Panyaza Lesufi

• AfriForum has filed a defamation suit against Gauteng Education MEC Panyaza Lesufi, after Lesufi allegedly claimed they were trying to “assassinate” him.
• In a tweet, Lesufi implied the court papers were linked to statements he made calling for the closure of Orania.
• AfriForum said the link between the defamantion suit and Lesufi’s Orania comments was a “blatant lie”.

AfriForum has filed papers in its defamation suit against Gauteng Education MEC Panyaza Lesufi following his televised claim in November that they were trying to “assassinate” him.

AfriForum threatened to sue Lesufi over the claims last year, and filed papers this week.

In a tweet on Saturday morning, Lesufi implied the court papers were prompted by his comments about Orania. Earlier this week, at a ceremony honouring late struggle stalwart Harry Gwala, Lesufi reportedly called for an end to the Afrikaner enclave, as it was neither a symbol of inclusivity nor democracy, according to TimesLive.

Posting a picture of the court papers, a copy of which News24 has in its possession, Lesufi tweeted: “My sin was to speak against #Orania like other previous attempts, this one will also fail. I hate racism with a passion but I am addicted to non-racialism.”

However, AfriForum CEO Kallie Kriel told News24 that the case was filed before Lesufi’s comments about Orania.

“He is thus blatantly lying by linking it to Orania, just as he lied when he created the assassination conspiracy theory,” said Kriel.

News24 attempted, via phone call and several text messages, to obtain comment from Lesufi and his spokesperson Steven Mabona on Saturday.

No response had been received at the time of publication. 

Assassination claims

The legal action revolves around comments broadcast during a media briefing in November last year, in which Lesufi claimed AfriForum has been following him, his children, and had been trying to assassinate him.

AfriForum head of policy and action Ernst Roets told News24 at the time that the organisation had done “none of the things” that Lesufi alleged.

The court papers, filed on 22 June this year, allege that Lesufi accused the organisation of “devious attempts to build an Afrikaans only university”, as well as that he said “non-racialism is foreign” to AfriForum, and that the organisation was “promoting racist tendencies”.

The defendant at all times knew that the reporters and representatives would publish that which the defendant would state at the media conference, AfriForum said in court papers.

“During his address, the defendant elected to digress from the subject matter of the media conference and out of context published the words and phrases regarding the first plaintiff.”

Alongside the allegation of an assassination plot, the papers claim Lesufi also implied the organisation was persecuting him and his family, and would be willing to “cause seriously bodily harm to the defendant and his family”.

According to a transcript of the press conference, attached to the AfriForum court papers, Lesufi said: “Now what have they been doing before? They have been following me, and they have been following my family. They have been following my children, and they have been trying to attack me, and they have been trying to assassinate me. They have been trying to go through all of my bank accounts.”

Lesufi was responding to a question about AfriForum, during which he also said the organisation abused the Constitution for racist tendencies, according to the transcript.

He said: 

AfriForum insists these allegations are both false and defamatory, and that the statements were made to willfully defame and injure the reputation of the organisation.

The suit calls for a public apology to be made at a media briefing called for that purpose.

The apology would require Lesufi to list the allegations made against the organisation, and for him to apologise in his personal capacity as well as in his role as Gauteng Education MEC.