Limpopo COVID-19 council speaks out against GBV

The Limpopo COVID-19 Command Council has urged law enforcement and social workers to play their part in helping to prevent gender-based violence.

This comes after a recent spate of killings of young women, reportedly by their lovers.

“A young woman, aged 17, was laid to rest this morning in Mokopane after allegedly being killed by a 19-year-old boy,” the provincial government said on Wednesday.

According to reports, the Grade 12 learner from Ebenezer High School was discovered in a pool of blood on [3 September] after being stabbed several times.

The suspect has since been arrested for murder.

The Command Council has committed to continue to monitor these incidents and has offered to support those in distress. President Cyril Ramaphosa has described the incident of GBV as the “second pandemic” South Africa has to deal with in the face of the COVID-19 pandemic.

School absenteeism

Meanwhile, the Limpopo Department of Education says while schools are running smoothly after the recent recess to prevent the further spread of Coronavirus, it is still experiencing absenteeism due to the fear of contracting COVID-19, anxiety and other health challenges.

According to the provincial COVID-19 Command Council, all grades are attending classes, in line with the differentiated timetabling model adopted by schools.

Grade 12 learners are scheduled to sit for the National Senior Certificate preliminary exams from this month until the first week of October, while the finals are expected to be written from 5 November to 15 December.

“The department is busy communicating all these adjustments to parents, school governing bodies and schools,” said the council.

COVID-19

The council said it was pleased that the daily COVID-19 infection rate is steadily declining. As of Wednesday, there had been 13 900 cases, with 12 989 patients who have recovered.

Limpopo has 499 active cases and 257 deaths since the outbreak.

“We must clarify the fact that as a province, we did not register 43 deaths in the past 24 hours, as reported elsewhere. The province has actually registered one death in the past 24 hours,” the council said on Wednesday.

The National Department of Health registered 43 cumulative deaths on Monday, which happened over a period, the province clarified.

Meanwhile, the province said it recently received death statistics registered at Home Affairs for 2019, which show a decline from 16 638 to 15 265 this year.

“This is indeed a positive indication that our death rate as a province due to COVID-19 is still low,” the province added.

However, the province is pleading with the community not be complacent, as there is a possibility of a new wave of infections.