Ward councillor’s cousin’s death due to Covid-19 comes as wake-up call
Lapping highlights the importance of restrictions in the light of the extended lockdown
The death of ward councillor Simon Lapping’s cousin in Spain due to Covid-19, hit very close to home.
With this tragic news of a relative, Lapping wished to instill the need for every precaution to be taken.
“This disease can affect anyone. Don’t be fooled about it only affecting a select few. One thinks, ‘who do I know that has been affected around me?’ And the answer to most people in South Africa is nobody.
“I also had this thought until it has now hit home that we could be carrying this virus into our own home without being aware of it.”
He added that Covid-19 did not discriminate and pleaded with residents to adhere to the lockdown, no matter how harsh the rules are.
“It is for our own safety,” he said.
“In order to beat this virus, it needs to be isolated, so people must try to avoid contact and keep a safe distance from others under all circumstances.”
Luis Festus-Coetzee (80) died on April 9.
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His son, Luis Jr, wrote his father’s eulogy: “My father has died this holy Thursday, victim of the complications caused by Covid-19. We were lucky enough to accompany him in his final hours at Nostra Senyora del Remei Hospital.
“Thank you infinite to the medical team headed by Dr Marini. He went quiet.”
Festus-Coetzee was born in 1940 in Ulldecona, a small town in southern Catalonia. “As a young man he decided he wanted to marry a foreigner. And in those days he met my mother, Nina Coetzee, of South African origin and in no time they got married and had us all, Luis, Gerrit, Gideoni and Simon.
“His curious researcher soul led him to art, so he spent much of his free time to gather a collection of paintings and drawings by Catalan artists from the late [19th] and early [20th] century. He came to treasure about 40 000 works.
“This last year was very rich for him. For the first time he commissioned an exhibition in his native Ulldecona using paintings from his collection. He travelled to Uzbekistan and Japan, and a month before he died he celebrated his 80th birthday, receiving a great wave of love and recognition.”
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