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Workers in protective gear work at the Westpark Cemetery in Johannesburg.
Luba Lesolle, Gallo Images
- Forty-three people died of Covid-19-related illnesses as the death toll declined in recent days.
- Gauteng, whose head of the health department has resigned, accounts for the highest number of cases in the country with 32.5%.
- The total number of cases in the country is 677,833 and 90% have recovered.
Another 43 people with confirmed Covid-19 cases have died, Health Minister Zweli Mkhize said on Friday.
Three people were from the Eastern Cape, eight from KwaZulu-Natal, eight from Gauteng, eight from the Western Cape, seven from the Northern Cape, and nine from the Free State.
This brings the total number of deaths to 16,909.
READ HERE | Covid-19: Western Cape Prepares for Possible Second Wave
On Friday, Mkhize found himself in the spotlight for donations deposited into the ANC’s bank account when he was general treasurer of the party.
The donations were apparently made by donor Edwin Sodi, a defendant in an investigation into a R255 million asbestos audit in the Free State.
Mkhize denied suggestions that Sodi had paid him R6.5 million directly and his name was used as a reference in a donation to the party.
READ | Zweli Mkhize rejects rumors that he accepted money from the Free State accused of asbestos
On Friday, the head of the Gauteng Health Department, Professor Mkhululi Lukhele, resigned after being placed on preventive suspension.
His resignation came amid an investigation by the Special Investigation Unit into hiring to provide personal protective equipment and services during the pandemic.
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