KRAAIFONTEIN
Woensdag, 26 Augustus 2020 | Tel: 021 910 6500 | e-pos: nuus@tygerburger.co.za
KRAAIFONTEIN: ‘SPIRIT OF UBUNTU EVER PRESENT’
Politics won’t steer us, says Can DESIRÉE RORKE
T
he ugly face of politics is threatening to taint the character of an extraordinary people-led movement; an informal group that was organised on social media to swiftly react to the sudden food crisis in Cape Town when the pandemic struck. Within weeks after the lockdown was announced, thousands of working-class families were left without an income and access to food. For the majority, assistance from the state was not immediately forthcoming and citizens took it upon themselves to feed the hungry in their own neighbourhoods. Thus, 150 different Community Action Network (Can) groups sprung up under the banner Cape Town Together. In Brackenfell and Kraaifontein, 70 volunteers joined in April and 40 community kitchens were set up in the area, that has since served 140 000 hot meals. However, emerging tensions between political affiliations and Can groups in other parts of the City are now casting shadows on the work of the local group. Lynn Hendricks, an administrator of Brackenfell/Kraaifontein Can and researcher at the faculty of medicine and health sciences as Stellenbosch University, last week expressed her sadness over the political tensions involving the Bonteheuwel and Rondebosch Can groups. Hendricks is adamant to keep politics out of the workings of the Brackenfell/Kraaifontein Can. Upheaval started two weeks ago, when the Bonteheuwel Joint-Peace Forum (BHJPF) and Rondebosch Can groups were accused by a City of Cape Town ward councillor of pushing “alternative” agendas by illegally “hijacking” a community hall to
convert into a community care centre as a Covid-19 isolation facility. In a social media posts, Bonteheuwel ward councillor Angus Mckenzie likened the groups to “sheep in wolves clothing”, and that their actions “were nothing short of disgusting”. On the other side of the spectrum, the BHJPF held that there was a need for such a facility in Bonteheuwel and that the centre was standing empty and derelict. According to Nadia Mayman of BH-JPF Can, the group negotiated and signed a lease agreement with the facility manager in May already and over the next two months started with renovations to the value of R60 000. They were told by the national government-owned facility manager that the centre would not be used for gatherings during the lockdown and was therefore available for use as a community care centre. After getting wind of this, Mckenzie halted the plans, tabling legal documents that indicated that the sub-let lease agreement was contractually illegal, and that the hall was already in use by other local residents including the disabled. Mckenzie said the building belonged to the Department of Public Works, and that no renovation work was permitted at the centre without the explicit permission of the department.
Saddened by tension Hendricks is worried that this incident could reflect negatively on the good work they do locally. “We must be careful to not let this distract from the good work that continues to be done in Brackenfell and Kraaifontein,” she told TygerBurger on Friday. V To page 2
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Duikmasker in hospitaal aangewend
Mediese werkers by die Tygerberg-hospitaal het met ’n innoverende idee vorendag gekom om hulself teen Covid-19-infeksie te beskerm. Die dokters dra deesdae duikmaskers wat glo beter beskerming bied, sê Laticia Pienaar, hospitaal-woordvoerder. Volgens Pienaar is die maskers aangepas om te verhoed dat hulle Covid-19 by siek pasiënte aansteek. “Gewoonlik word dié soort maskers in tropiese waters vir duik-ekspedisies gebruik. Dit bedek die hele gesig en seël dig om te verhoed dat water deurdring. Met die byvoeging van ’n asemhalingsfilter, waar die snorkel eintlik sou wees, word die dokters by die hospitaal volledig beskerm teen die inaseming van die virus terwyl hulle in hoogs aansteeklike omstandighede werk,” sê Pienaar. Dr. Lizelle van Wyk, ’n neonatoloog en pediater, duik gereeld en het die masker by ’n duik-kollege teëgekom. Die gemodifiseerde masker word nou tydens die behandeling van kinders wat moontlik Covid-19 het deur die pediaters gebruik. Op die foto dra dr. Lizelle van Wyk en prof. Pierre Goussard die nuwe maskers.