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www.thevillagenews.co.za
20 May 2020
FROM THE EDITOR
Western Cape to be commended For two months now, we have become accustomed to waiting for the latest COVID-19 figures to be released every evening by the Minister of Health, Dr Zweli Mkhize.
The next edition of The Village NEWS will be available on 27 May 2020. The NEWS can be found at over 300 distribution points in the Overberg.
While many observers might be alarmed at the number of infections in the Western Cape (WC) compared to the rest of South Africa, this is actually positive news.
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De Waal Steyn
As of 17 May 2020, the WC had conducted 90 750 tests or 20% of the total number of tests that have been done nationwide. Simply put, since the WC comprises 10 – 11% of the
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This puts the WC on a par with South Korea (14 693), a country that has been globally praised for its testing response, and approaching the Netherlands (16 809) and Sweden (17 589).
To date, 96% of people who have contracted COVID-19 in the WC have recovered. This is significantly higher than the global recovery figure of 85% and even better than the recovery figures for Europe (82%) and
North America (81%). This means that residents are getting the care that is required and the province is geared up to deal with the increasing number of infections that are inevitable as the country opens up. People often praise the health care systems of countries in Europe and North America. But when it comes to COVID-19, the figures show that there is no better place to be than the Western Cape. Instead of being fearful, WC residents should be hopeful and reassured. This is the good NEWS - Ed
Tortoise sex, Wordplay and Lung food
CONTENT EDITOR
Raphael da Silva
Between 13 500 and 15 600 people per million population have been tested, a figure that will improve every day if the province maintains its average of 12 000 tests per week.
The World Health Organisation is clear. The more you test, the more cases you will find. But what is essential is not just testing randomly but strategically. The WC has adopted this thinking with its selective hotspot testing strategy, which will enable the government to make informed decisions based on meaningfully robust data.
total population, this means that the province is testing at twice the rate as the rest of the country.
By Murray Stewart murray.stewart49@gmail.com
doubles their chances of getting a leg over – or under, depending on the chat-up line. Emma, though, never has a headache.
I
ncrease your general knowledge and impress your friends by sharing these amazing facts they’ll remember forever, and maybe even thank you for. Older than time itself If you’re feeling anxious about getting old, spare a thought for Jonathan. At around 188 years and counting, he’s lived through two world wars, the Russian Revolution, the coronation of Queen Victoria, and the invention of the light bulb. On his birthday, motor cars were still half a century away, and he’s witnessed the inauguration of 39 American presidents, the completion of the Eiffel Tower and Eugene Terre’Blanche’s equestrian mishap. Born in the Seychelles, Jonathan lives these days on St. Helena Island, somewhere off Melkbosstrand. He is a giant tortoise – and the oldest known animal alive today. According to his personal vet, Jonathan’s “libido remains unflagging”, and he often mates with Emma, his equally high-spirited 80-year-old companion, and Fred. Don’t ask. Apparently tortoises swing both ways, which
But enough of this smut, and on to the oldest living thing in the world. Methuselah is over 4 600 years old and lives on the slopes of the White Mountains in California. She is a Bristlecone Pine, seeded before the foundation of Rome, and around the time the Pyramids were built. Scientists, through carbon dating, have analysed the rings of similarly aged, recently-dead trees, and by examining damaged or healthy cells and pollen trapped in the rings, they are able to pinpoint climatic conditions going back to around 6 500 BCE. These pines are in effect organic computers which record the changing conditions of life on this planet, and embedded COVID-19 spores of 2020 will be traceable for thousands of years. Charming thought. Words etc. Nickname: The early English word eke meant ‘also’ or ‘added’, so an extra name was known as an eke name, which over time became slurred into ‘a nickname’.
was France’s finance minister in the mid-18th century. His tight-fisted, penny-pinching attitude over court salaries proved so unpopular that he was soon given the boot. He continued with his miserly streak at home by using cheap black paper to make cut-out replicas of conventional decorations. This graduated into creating portraits of people using the same technique. In 1759 black ‘profile portraits’ and images became the rage at a Paris exhibition, and soon spread to England, dragging his name with it. Robot: Czech playwright Karel Capec invented the word in his dramatic work called R.U.R (Rossum’s Universal Robots). It was all about mechanical men being created, then exploited by the authorities to perform menial duties. The Czech term for a slave was robotnic, and the English translation was shortened to ‘robot’. Bacon bush Spekboom is a remarkable plant (Latin: Baconius Shrubulata). It is being cultivated mainly in the Eastern Cape and will hopefully spread throughout the country. It has the ability to remove carbon dioxide from the atmosphere, and
Silhouette: Etienne de Silhouette
hectare for hectare, a Spekboom thicket is ten times more effective than the Amazon rainforest. One hectare of Mother Nature’s Spekboom lungs converts between 5 and 10 tonnes of carbon per year. The plant thrives in poor soil and tolerates both drought and frost. It proliferates effortlessly. Snap off a branch, plant it, and soon it’ll take root and flourish, creating more snapoffs to plant. Spekboom leaves are thick, juicy and vaguely citrus flavoured – a favourite among elephants, black rhinos and kudus, apparently. Fortunately, humans can eat it too, and for centuries it has been a traditional treatment for exhaustion and lethargy – like an ancient forerunner to Red Bull, or cocaine. Anyway, the roots help consolidate and compact the earth, which prevents soil erosion after heavy downpours. This encourages healthier ground conditions, ideal for other shrubs and grasses, creating yumyums for the local wildlife. But most importantly, Spekboom acts as a sponge, converting CO2 back into the soil as plant food, so plough up your lawn and start planting.
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