Karima latest high profile casualty
Advisory committee chair admits he downplayed early Covid-19 alert
When Prof Salim Abdool Karim received an outbreak alert while hiking in the Drakensberg Mountains during a family vacation, little did he know that weeks later he’d be presenting a strategy to President Cyril Ramaphosa on how to fight the Covid-19 pandemic he had shrugged off.
In an interview with Sowetan this week ahead of the commemoration of the anniversary of the first case of Covid-19 being detected in SA, Karim said he had mistakenly downplayed the virus.
“I looked at it [the alert] and I thought it was SARS virus and the Chinese know how to deal with it. I didn’t worry about it. I didn’t take it seriously. I had no idea what was going to follow,” said the infectious diseases specialist.
Seven days later, while in his office at the Nelson Mandela Medical School in Durban, a colleague came to his office to show him the virus sequence on Twitter.
“We looked at it and that’s when I realised that this was going to be different. I don’t know why but it looked different. Shortly thereafter our colleagues from CDC (Centre for Disease Control) in China released a statement that there was a human-to-human transmission. By the end of January the WHO [World Health Organisation] declared it a pandemic of international concern,” said Karim.
He then pulled in his team and put a barrier in the middle of his laboratory, converting it for SARSCovid2 testing even though they did not have a patient to run tests on. The tests would have helped them learn the behaviour of the virus as well its symptoms.
“We were helped by our colleagues in Beijing. They sent us reagents and we set up the Covid testing. By mid-February we were ready but there are no cases. We started testing on patients that had respiratory diseases, fever and bronchitis. All results came negative,” Karim said.
On March 5, health minister Zweli Mkhize announced that the country had its first confirmed case, a man who was part of a group of 10 who had returned from Italy, which was one of the first countries to be hit by the virus.
“Up until then we were hoping that this virus would bypass us. We were naive. The main thing for me was that we didn’t really know that much about it. There is nobody in SA that studied coronaviruses. Every one of us is not an expert because we never studied Covid, we studied HIV or other viruses.”
Karim said he received a call from Mkhize’s office for a meeting on March 23 where he would be joined by about 50 other scientists. It was in that meeting where the Ministerial Advisory Committee
(MAC) was formed. He was appointed to chair the committee. At the time there were just under 1,000 cases but no deaths.
He was then asked to present a strategy to parliament, the president and later to the public. “This caused some confusion and it’s my fault, I caused it. People started thinking that the scientists knew what was going on and that we were in charge. We are not in charge, we just advise. The politicians make all the decisions. It has nothing to do with us. Our job is to look at the evidence, science and produce the best information we can. We are not in charge of anything,” Karim said.
One cause of the confusion, he said, was a claim that those who got infected would not be re-infected. He also conceded that the closing of borders was irrational.
As SA reached a grim milestone of recording over 50,000 Covid-19 deaths this week, relatives of some of the people who lost their lives to the virus spoke of their hurt and how their lives were cut short.
SA is the first country in the continent to pass the 50,000 coronavirus death rate.
The family of 65-year-old musician Olpha Selepe, who died in December, said her life was cut short after she had recorded and released her single Obani Lababantu, which she wanted to use to inspire people not to let their dreams to be limited by age.
The Amapiano artist, who was popularly known as Gee Six Five, took SA by storm a month before her death with the release of the song.
Her son Nhlakanipho Mbatha, 46, said: “With her project Obani Lababantu, her message was to let people know that you are not supposed to be limited by age in terms of whatever you want to do.”
Selepe, a former primary school principal and teacher, was pursuing a PhD in higher education at the University of KwaZulu-Natal at the time of her death.
A family member of Covid19 victim Charmaine Smit, a nurse at Bishop Lavis Clinic in Cape Town who died on Christmas Eve, said the 55year-old mother of five children wanted to continue caring for her community.
“She loved to help and give to people. She would give food to the community, and chips and sweets to the children,” said Carmelete Smit, 28.
Smit, who worked as a nurse for 15 years, had ambitions to travel the world. “She told me she wanted to go to China one day,” said Carmelete.
“She was in hospital and was fine. We spoke over the phone and she was even waving at me when we went to see her.”
Zimasa Hoho, a nurse at Chris Hani Baragwanath Academic Hospital in Soweto, lost her life in January.
Hoho, 31, of Protea Glen in Soweto, was described as a happy and cheerful person who wanted to become a social worker. Her mother Zuziwe Hoho, who is also a nurse at
Baragwanath, said: “Since she was a nursing assistant, she wanted to upgrade herself to be a sister [nurse] and a social worker,” said Hoho.
Zuziwe said it was on Christmas Day when her daughter fell sick as she was preparing to go to work.
“I still find it hard to accept that she is no more,” she said.
Like a caterpillar that transforms into a blooming butterfly, beloved former child star Pabi Moloi has continuously captivated audiences throughout her kaleidoscopic threedecade career.
The 37-year-old television and radio maven’s showbiz trajectory started at the tender age of four doing commercials. By 11, she launched her presenting career on KTV.
Continuing to show off her versatility at 18, she transitioned into radio when she joined Highveld Stereo (now 94.7). This past Monday Moloi went through another rebirth as she was christened as the newest addition to The Morning Show on e.tv.
When I arrive at the revamped show’s new residence in Sandton, Johannesburg, I spy Moloi rocking a striped number and her signature teeny weeny ’fro. Nearby are her co-anchors William Lehong and Nelisiwe Nxumalo.
Early morning routines are nothing new for Moloi, having done breakfast shows at K-TV, YFM, Metro FM and Power FM. “I have a bit of the rhythm of a morning show, but I don’t know if a person ever gets used to such an early morning,” Moloi admits. “But I’m also a mom and these little ones like to wake up with the sun, so I think I have had the perfect training at home.”
The stakes have been raised high with Miss SA Shudufhadzo Musida, Afro-soul musician Musa Sukwene and gospel star Bucy Radebe as guests – all their interviews were pre-recorded. Live television is stressful, but Moloi is chilled and looks right at home.
During the news bulletin in the final hour there is a technical error and she graciously recovers from it. As her interview with Radebe airs she watches it on the in-studio monitor and marvels at her bright-hued manicure. I later learn she does her own nails.
“The last live show [Trending SA] I did was more physical comedy, improvisation and late night; which gave it a different energy and editorial content to what a morning show requires,” she says.
“So, it’s about flipping it around to say I’m also good at this. For example, doing a news bulletin on the show is a fantastic new challenge.”
Trending SA gave Moloi two of her career highlights. She joined the talk show in 2016 when she was six months pregnant. Another highlight was winning a South African Film and Television Award (Safta).
“I have had all transitions on camera. I carried my child on camera and that was magnificent. I did the show until very late in my pregnancy and then took some time off. I didn’t take a full three or four months because in our industry if you don’t work you don’t get paid.
“I have anxieties like everyone else – that working mom guilt and anxiety. The idea that as a black woman I must always be above and beyond everyone else in my sphere because I’m looked at with more of a critical eye.”
Born in Diepkloof, Soweto, Moloi started doing commercials at the age of four. After several auditions, she landed the M-Net K-TV gig that lasted nine years. Moloi loved performance art from a young age, studying musical theatre in high school. “I wasn’t doing netball at school, I was going to K-TV and doing recordings. If I wanted something expensive I’d get it myself. I think I bought my first cellphone.
“But I didn’t feel a huge responsibility to pay for the municipality bill at home. There were one or two times that I could see there were financial challenges at home and I’d help with school fees.”
About the same time that she left K-TV, Moloi entered a radio competition looking for the voice of Joburg. She won it and joined Highveld Stereo. After two years, she moved to Metro FM for two years before shifting to YFM for the same number of years. Moloi then returned to Highveld for five years and now has been on Power FM for seven years. Moloi calls transitioning into talk radio another highlight.
“The most difficult thing [moving from being a child star] was in my own mind censoring myself.
“When you are a child in these television spaces … you have to be child-friendly, more tame in the way you dress and speak in a way that is not offensive. It has taken me a long time to be more risqué and outspoken.”
On television, she has done All Access Mzansi to Out of the Box, Strictly Come Dancing and Presenter Search on 3.
“I have quit jobs, I’ve been fired… and I have ghosted. I’ve made all those kind of mistakes. You have to bump your head to get the lessons. Everything in this business is harsh. The lights, sound and mornings are harsh. I haven’t chosen an easy path.
“My career has brought me a lot of joy and the life that I have. I have travelled the world through my career. I have walked the Great Wall of China. I’ve sat down and had a meal with [the late former president] Nelson Mandela. I’ve had a spectacular time and what’s exciting is that there is more to do.”