Mona Monyane says reopening schools is a bad move.
Image: Instagram/Mona Monyane
Mona Monyane, Rami Chuene and Simphiwe Dana are among the famous faces who have called on the government to look at the dangers of sending children back to school during the Covid-19 pandemic.

President Cyril Ramaphosa announced on Sunday that several restrictions would be put in place to try to curb the spread of the coronavirus in SA, including the reinstatement of a curfew and ban on alcohol.

While the ban on the sale and distribution of alcohol has social media buzzing with opinions, several celebs said it was now time for the government to address the risk children face when returning to school.

“Now that we’ve sobered up, the issue with our children being back at school. Are we ever gonna address it? Everyone must stay home except students? OK,” Rami tweeted, calling for a discussion on the topic.

Dawn Thandeka King is not going anywhere.
Image: Via Dawn Thandeka King’s Instagram
Uzalo star Dawn Thandeka King has moved to squash claims that she is leaving the soapie, after recent reports claimed she was the latest big name to depart the show.

According to social media reports spread by several blogs, the star has a “dark cloud hanging” over her head and has allegedly been making writers’ job difficult because she apparently sometimes demands to change the storylines.

The show quickly cleared the air on the suggestion. When asked by a fan on Sunday if Dawn was leaving, the show denied her exit.Dawn denied the claims and said she had no idea where the rumour even came from.

“I have denied it. The show has denied it. We don’t know what else to say any more. Every week a different source writes the same story over and over again,” she said.

“I am not leaving the series. My storyline is growing stronger and stronger.”

She also responded to claims that she is “difficult” to work with, saying her work spoke for itself and did not need defending.

“I won’t defend my character. People who worked with me know what kind of person I am. I don’t know what the intention is. I respect my work. I respect my employers. I respect everyone I work with. I have worked on several projects and never had any issues.”

She said it was sad to see people try to bring the morale of an artist down with such rumours, when there were so many important issues going on in the industry and the world.

In a statement to TshisaLIVE, the production said Dawn was “an integral part” of the cast and “remains key in keeping the viewers glued to the screens.”

“She is nothing but a pleasure to work with, production is in good standing with Dawn, and we are mystified by this persistent narrative.”

‘Glee’ star Naya Rivera.
Image: Axelle/Bauer-Griffin/FilmMagic via Getty Images
US officials on Monday found the body of Glee actress Naya Rivera in the Californian lake where she drowned last week during a boat trip with her four-year-old son.

Rivera’s body was retrieved and an initial examination found no evidence of foul play or suicide, Ventura County Sheriff Bill Ayub told a press conference.

“We are confident the body we found is that of Naya Rivera,” said Ayub, pointing to the location, appearance, clothing and condition of the body.

Her body was being taken to a medical examiner’s office for a full autopsy and confirmation of her identity from dental records, though no other missing persons have been reported at Lake Piru, he added.

Rivera, 33, is believed to have accidentally drowned after renting the boat with her young son at the camping and recreational hotspot around an hour’s drive northwest of Los Angeles.She vanished on Wednesday afternoon, and a massive search involving divers, patrol boats and helicopters was launched after her sleeping son was spotted drifting alone in a boat on the lake.

The son later told investigators that Rivera had helped him into the boat before “he looked back and saw her disappear under the surface of the water,” said the sheriff.

Ayub pointed to the lake’s strong currents as a possible cause of a fatal accident.

“The idea perhaps being that the boat started drifting — it was unanchored — and that she mustered enough energy to get her son back onto the boat, but not enough to save herself,” he said.

The lake has been closed to the public since Wednesday, with around 100 personnel, including the US Coast Guard and rescuers from neighboring counties, joining the search.

Search teams used footage from video messaging calls Rivera made from the boat before her disappearance, as well as interviews with her son, to scour portions of the lake bed for her remains over six days, with no success.”We believe she was concealed within some of the shrubbery on the floor bed of the lake” before eventually floating to the surface due to natural decomposition, said Ayyub.

With less than 30 centimetres of visibility underwater in daylight, the recovery operation was a “complex search effort” even with use of sonar equipment, he said.

Rivera was best known for her role as high school cheerleader Santana Lopez in Glee.

She starred for six seasons in the wildly popular musical television series set in a US high school that ended in 2015.

The Glee cast has been struck by tragedy before.

Actor Mark Salling took his own life in 2018, weeks before being sentenced for possession of child pornography.

Canadian castmate Cory Monteith died in July 2013 of an overdose of drugs and alcohol.

Khanyi Mbau was shook to find out she’s engaged on Twitter.
Image: Khanyi Mbau via Instagram.
Nobody was more confused that Khanyi Mbau on Tuesday morning when she woke up to find her name trending because of a bizarre announcement about an engagement she had no idea had happened.

Tweeps have been toying with celebrities on the TL recently and Khanyi was the latest victim of their baseless tweets. It seemed to be a game that “past midnight” Twitter users are into, where they create a rumour and run with it.

Poor Khanyi was so confused.

“Woke up to this #KhanyiMbauGetsEngaged trending! What’s going on? How am I engaged? To whom? To what?” she asked.Khanyi never actually got a straight answer and even though the hashtag is topping the Twitter trends list, it is mainly because people are just as confused as Khanyi.

Mostly because Khanyi made a shocking announcement just last week that she and longtime boyfriend Tebogo recently called it quits. In an Instagram post Khanyi said she and Tebogo had failed to make their relationship work a second time around.

“A decade of dating someone comes with great joy and immense difficulty, that fighting to stay together is sometimes not enough. Some paths are meant to cross and certain seasons to pass,” she explained.

Lady Zamar won’t be silenced.
Image: Gallo Images / Dereck Green
Songstress Lady Zamar recently took to social media to slam abusive men and sexual predators.

In a series of tweets, the singer elaborated on why she believes being a woman in SA is an “extreme sport”, and said men need to do better to protect women and children.

“There are way too many abusive boyfriends, husbands, friends in this country. Every single day we’re fighting gender-based violence. If it’s not that, we’re terrorising victims for speaking out, protecting rapists or being rape apologists. ‘No’ means no and it won’t change.

“No-one wants to face the ugly truth that they probably know someone who has been raped or has raped. For years I couldn’t deal with the idea of rape. Women who have been violated are portrayed as broken or damaged goods because the stigma of speaking up about rape continues,” Lady Zamar tweeted.

The singer also spoke about how fear is used to imprison victims in abusive situations, and how abusers have mastered the skill of masking abuse with affectionate things.

“Fear is powerful. Make a woman feel afraid to leave because of anything and she won’t. Abusers know what they’re doing. They’re no mindless idiots wearing labels. They take their time to create the right environment of abuse and usually they are the most loved people to everyone else.”