Sunday Sun 4/19/2020

• PRESIDENT Cyril Ramaphosa has rejected requests by Gauteng business owners to lift the country’s alcohol ban. Instead, the president’s lawyers suggested that eligible businesses apply for financial assistance from government. The Gauteng Liquor Forum represents about 20 000 tavern and shebeen owners in the province. In an 11 April letter sent to Ramaphosa, the group threatens to go to court to lift the ban. They request the president to resume the restricted trading hours in place before he instituted a national lockdown to curb new cases of the coronavirus. • TWO Potchefstroom traffic officials have been charged with corruption after allegedly receiving alcohol from a local bottle store. The two traffic officials from the JB Marks Local Municipality were seen getting liquor from the owner of Overland Bottle Store…

ANOTHER ANC heavyweight and Brand SA board member, Tebogo Mamorobela, has been caught with her hand in the cookie jar. A councillor at Makhado Municipality in Limpopo, she was bust with her accomplices for violating lockdown restrictions. This after a video of her dancing at a party with loads of booze and loud music blasting in the background went viral. The “dancing councillor”, also a member of the Vhembe District Executive Committee, and her accomplices were each released on R1 000 bail on Thursday. Following her arrest, the ruling ANC called for her suspension and a public apology. She’ll also miss a month’s salary payout. She joins a growing list of prominent ANC violators, including Minister of Communications Stella Ndabeni-Abrahams, who has since been sanctioned by President Cyril Ramaphosa after…

PRESIDENT Cyril Ramaphosa was told that his government needs to improve the efficiency of its unemployment relief fund and temporarily boost welfare payments to mitigate the fallout from the coronavirus outbreak at a meeting with labour and business. At a special meeting of the National Economic Development and Labour Council (Nedlac), labour union representatives told him a R40 billion fund to compensate temporarily laid-off workers is not being distributed fast enough and the 17 million people on welfare need more assistance. Nedlac includes representatives of government, labour and business. Labour unions and business have questioned the ability of the Unemployment Insurance Fund (UIF), an existing body that compensates people who lose their jobs from a pool of money built up from employer and employee contributions, to distribute the urgently needed…

UZALO actress Baby “Gabisile” Cele has had a rough week. And the police and military personnel made it worse . . . BY RAINING ON THE STAR’S PARADE! This by disrupting the funeral proceedings of the star’s relatives on Friday. According to the officials, the Celes had broken lockdown rules by allowing more than 150 people to attend the ceremony. The rules only allow for 50 mourners. As such, the burial was paused as officials instructed most of the attendees to go home, leaving only relatives to continue with the funeral. Asked for comment, police spokesperson Colonel Khephu Ndlovu from Bhekithemba Police Station confirmed the matter. Added Ndlovu: “As Africans, we really understood the family’s problem and that there are rituals the family needed to perform before the burial. “But…

ACTRESS Tina Jaxa has become the latest celebrity victim of shameless tsotsis. To swindle her out of cash, the crook allegedly used the former Isidingo star’s bank card. Last month, the veteran TV personality (49), who debuted in the SABC1 soapie Generations, opened a case of fraud at the Parkview Police Station. According to the police statement seen by the SunTeam, she only became aware of the fraud when she received SMSes on her phone alerting her of the transactions. Read the affidavit, in part: “Complainant alleged that on 28 September last year she was at home when she received a message on her cellphone concerning Bolt Rider, which was made without her knowledge or authorisation. “She contacted Bolt Rider and they told her they’d investigate the matter. While waiting…

SKEEM SAAM actor Charles “Big Boy” Maja’s funeral was nearly perfect. But drama followed when his elder brother Wilson was arrested for contravening lockdown regulations after mourners exceeded the required number of mourners. Wilson was arrested immediately after proceedings were concluded at the cemetery. He was taken to the Lebowakgomo Police Station, where he was slapped with a R5 000 fine. When the SunTeam asked Wilson for his comment about the fine, he said the family would deal with it after the funeral. The 53-year-old star, who died of a stroke attack last week Thursday, was buried at Kopermyn Village, Ga-Maja outside Polokwane, in Limpopo yesterday. The former Thobela FM’s Mahlakung radio drama actor was described as a man of many talents and a legend in the media industry. Limpopo…