Herman Mashaba cancels planned launch of The People’s Dialogue

Former Johannesburg mayor and founder of The People’s Dialogue Herman Mashaba has cancelled the launch of his party and all its events due to the outbreak of the deadly coronavirus.

Mashaba, who made a shock resignation as the DA’s Johannesburg mayor in October, which led to the ANC taking back the metro, said he was responding to a call by President Cyril Ramaphosa to prohibit gatherings of more than 100 people.

“Our country is facing a threat which requires of us all to be responsible in these very difficult times. This is why The People’s Dialogue is cancelling its events and focusing its efforts on helping the most vulnerable in our society,” he said.

Mashaba added that he believed South Africans would survive the coronavirus pandemic because of the country’s resilience and strength.

“Like before, we will prevail.”

South Africa now has 116 confirmed cases of Covid-19 – an increase of 31 new cases since Tuesday. Health Minister Zweli Mkhize made the announcement on Wednesday morning, adding that a further six local transmission cases had been reported.

These are patients who had not travelled overseas and were therefore infected locally.

“As part of tracking and tracing, we have collated background information on how these patients were infected. We will provide information to the public, so as to give a sense of how these local transmissions occur. We will, however, not disclose full details, as this information is subject to patient confidentiality, which we are bound by,” Mkhize said.

Gauteng has now recorded 16 new cases; KwaZulu-Natal three; Mpumalanga two; and the Western Cape 10.

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