Sadtu general secretary Mugwena Maluleke says teachers must be allowed to leave schools from today, due to fears of coronavirus contagion.
Image: Robert Tshabalala
The country’s largest teacher union, the South African Democratic Teachers’ Union (Sadtu), has demanded that provincial education departments allow teachers to go on leave from 11am today instead of on Friday.

In a statement, Sadtu’s general secretary, Mugwena Maluleke, slammed the heads of provincial education departments for issuing circulars instructing teachers to remain at schools until Friday.

He said President Cyril Ramaphosa had pronounced that schools should close today.

”The confusion caused by the provincial circulars that schools close on March 20 is unacceptable. These circulars are insensitive and inconsiderate.”

He said Sadtu was not consulted on this critical issue, ”which deals with the health of workers in those schools”.

‘The HODs [head of departments] cannot overturn or vary the pronouncement by the president. The teachers and educatioHe said the HODs expect the same teachers to conduct extra classes ”which they always do but don’t care about their health”.

Maluleke demanded that the provincial education departments withdraw the circulars ”which undermine the president”, and allow schools to close at 11am today.

In a circular to schools, the Gauteng education department said teachers will remain at schools until Friday to ”finalise all outstanding administrative work”.

Members of schools’ senior management teams have been requested to provide pupils and parents with guidelines of curriculum topics, content and activities to be undertaken at home to make up for lost teaching time.

Activities will include the promotion of reading in support of the national campaign.

Schools were expected to provide learner material for reading and self-study, workbooks, textbooks and readers for use at home.

”This should include worksheets, tasks, projects and exercises,” according to the circular.

The Western Cape education department also instructed teachers to remain at schools until Friday ”to ensure that all administrative and other tasks are completed”.

Western Cape’s superintendent-general of education, Brian Schreuder, said in a circular that the arrangements were confirmed during a teleconference of all education MECs and heads of department with basic education minister, Angie Motshekga, on Monday morning.n support personnel in schools aren’t immune to the virus.”

Sixteen of the new infections are in Gauteng.
Image: 123RF/Jarun Ontakrai
The number of cases of Covid-19 in SA has risen to 116.

According to the health ministry, there has been an increase of 31 new cases since Tuesday night’s announcement of 85 cases.

“Today we have a further increase of six local transmission cases. As part of tracking and tracing, we have collated background information on how these patients were infected,” health minister Dr Zweli Mhkize said.

The majority of the new cases are in Gauteng, followed by the Western Cape.

The breakdown was provided as follows:

Gauteng:

A 25-year-old male who travelled to the UK;

A 45-year-old male who travelled to Austria;

A 52-year-old male who travelled to Austria and Italy;

A 49-year-old female who travelled to Austria and Italy;

A 35-year-old male who travelled to the UK and Netherlands;

A 34-year-old female who travelled to the UK;

A 30-year-old female who travelled to Switzerland and Austria;

A 36-year-old female who travelled to Switzerland and Austria;

A 30-year-old female who travelled to Italy;

A 35-year-old male who travelled to Italy;

A 34-year-old male who travelled to Italy;

A 37-year-old male who travelled to Finland and France;

A 20-year-old male with no international travel history;

A three-year-old male with no international travel history;

A 21-year-old female with no international travel history; and

A 71-year-old female with no international travel history.

KwaZulu-Natal:

A 59-year-old male who travelled to Austria and Italy;

A 54-year-old male who travelled to Italy; and

A 55-year-old male who travelled to Italy.

Mpumalanga:

A 64-year-old male who travelled to Italy; and

A 56-year-old female with no international travel history.

Western Cape:

A two-year-old male who travelled to New Zealand;

A 51-year-old male who travelled to Egypt an Dubai;

A 35-year-old female who travelled to Switzerland and Dubai;

A 27-year-old female who travelled to Switzerland and Dubai;

A 60-year-old male who travelled to Portugal and the UK;

A 51-year-old male who travelled to the UK;

A 54-year-old female who travelled to Portugal and the UK;

A 51-year-old male who travelled to the UK;

A 26-year-old female who travelled to the UK; and

A 68-year-old male with no international travel history.

Slindile Mhlongo, a South African living in China, took to Twitter on Tuesday to share how she was dealing with the pandemic.
Image: Twitter
A Twitter user’s thread on panicking during the Covid-19 pandemic has gone viral.

On Wednesday SA had 116 cases.As officials are tracing people who have come into contact with those who have tested positive, debate on dealing with the virus in SA has dominated social media.

Slindile Mhlongo, a South African living in China, took to Twitter on Tuesday to share how she is dealing with the pandemic.nstead of panicking, Mhlongo said she’s been practising social distancing for 58 days and it has helped her cope.

“I don’t have everything figured out, nor am I any less worried that when this pandemic first hit in a town four hours away from my location, but calming my nerves and monitoring what triggers my anxiety has carried me a long way.

“Stress manifests itself in the weirdest ways. If you fail to find a means to calm and ease your stress, you might fall sick and then you won’t be able to assess whether you’ve got a fever from stress or you’re actually sick and [might end up] endangering yourself or you loved ones. Focus on what is within your control.

President Cyril Ramaphosa is expected to brief the media after his meeting with opposition parties where they discussed a response plan to the coronavirus epidemic.On Sunday Ramaphosa announced that the government would implement a ban on foreigners visiting from high-risk countries – including Italy, Iran, South Korea, Spain, Germany, the US, the UK and China – effective from Wednesday.

As at Wednesday morning, the health department announced that SA had 116 registered Covid-19 cases.

The government has prohibited public gatherings of more than 100 people and postponed Human Rights Day commemorations.

As President Cyril Ramaphosa leads the country in its fight against COVID-19, there is a sense of wartime zeal and rhetoric from our leaders.

Sunday night’s broadcast address was a call to arms for the country, to do what needs to be done to #flattenthecurve of infections and ensure it doesn’t throttle the nation.

The enemy we are fighting is stealthy and silent.

On Monday, Health Minister Zweli Mkhize said South Africans should be ready to “go to war as means of combating the deadly coronavirus”.

“We need to move fast to reduce the speed in which it is happening. Hard combat means we have to turn ourselves into soldiers, ready to fight. Every South African should be a soldier,” Mkhize said. nstead of activating the inner Darwinian survival instinct in all of us to protect ourselves, we need to take care of the weakest in the herd.

It’s near impossible to fight that instinct which ensures survival of the fittest.

I have been wrestling with it internally and I know many others have to.

Those of us with means have been stockpiling and battening down the hatches to save ourselves. It has driven us into a frenzy of panic and insanity.

The shelves in my local Woolies are bare and it’s unjustifiable.

We must make sure we are acting for the right reasons.

Not just to ensure our own well-being but also to protect others.

We have to remember our shared humanity in this time of crisis. Make sure your staff are as prepared as you are with hand sanitiser and knowledge.

It’s a scary, confusing time and education is empowering.

We can’t afford to be turning on one another when we require cooperation the most.

In a statement this week, Secretary General of the United Nations António Guterres said that this is a time for “prudence, not panic”.

“Science, not stigma. Facts, not fear.”Even though the situation has been classified as a pandemic, it is one we can control. We can slow down transmissions, prevent infections and save lives.? But that will take unprecedented personal, national and international action.”

“Covid-19 is our common enemy. We must declare war on this virus.”

In a Facebook post that has gone viral, Dr. Christoforos Anagnostopoulos, an Honorary Senior Lecturer at Imperial College London reminds us that delaying this virus is now a public service.

“Delaying this virus is hard, but simple: try your best not to get it. You can achieve this by extreme measures of personal hygiene and moderate measures of social distancing.

“And remember this: democracies deal with emergencies by relying on personal responsibility and voluntary behavioural change. Take this responsibility seriously. And demonstrate leadership.

“It is a common misconception that leadership lies with government only. This is not true. Leadership is everywhere. Every employer, every manager, every teacher, every public servant, every parent is a leader.

“Everyone who makes decisions on behalf of other people is a leader. Every handshake is a decision. If you’re young and healthy and fall ill, you’ll most likely be OK.

“But the best way to protect the groups at risk, like the elderly and those with chronic conditions, is not to catch the virus yourself. Deny it the opportunity to use your body as a vector. Fight it.”

This is a shared responsibility for all of us.

In South Africa, we have a long and strong history of an active civic society.

This was at its most robust during the state capture period when organisations stepped into the breach when the country’s leadership failed us.

There are many ways we can be active and responsible citizens in the face of this stealthy enemy.

Wash your hands. Avoid large gatherings. Don’t travel.

Consider the elderly who are self-isolating and how you can help them. Already groups are popping up on social media sharing ideas for how to be kind and considerate to one another in this time of crisis.

Through it all try to remember your own sanity and be kind to yourself.

I’m feeling scared and anxious and confused too.

But this morning I took my kids for a long walk, keeping our distance from other humans, and then taught them about germs and soap using glitter and pepper.

Their resilience gave me perspective.

At the end of a notice sent out this weekend by Rabbi Kacev, the director of the South African Board of Jewish Education, he reminded us not to turn people into scapegoats and victims by blaming them in any way.

“Once this has come and gone all we will have left is the way in which we treated one another.”

This could not be more true.