Tannie Evita gets the jab at start of Western Cape’s rural rollout

Tannie Evita Bezuidenhout used to “praat kaktus” (speak cactus) but on Tuesday she used her sharp tongue to shout: “Vax us!”

Western Cape premier Alan Winde roped in Tannie Evita — alter-ego of entertainer Pieter-Dirk Uys — to kickstart the provincial Covid-19 vaccination rollout in rural towns.

The pair teamed up at Wesbank Community Hall in Malmesbury, where Tannie Evita, who lives down the road in Darling, pronounced herself “very relieved” after being vaccinated.

However, she acknowledged she was one of the lucky ones.

“I have a smart phone. I have a computer. I have internet. I have a car. I am 85 and I still drive myself,” she said.

“But many, many of my generation and younger don’t know how to register. If you know how and someone doesn’t, please help them to register. And if you don’t know, ask someone to help you.

"My son De Kock registered me. I couldn’t get the little blue letters on the screen to turn black. This is why we do need to be able to cope with walk-ins and information in all 11 languages.

“I was so pleased to hear premier Alan Winde and the Western Cape government responding to this obvious need to manage and allow walk-ins.”

Winde said he was a “very big fan” of Tannie Evita and thanked her “for once again leading from the front in our country” after playing an important role as “a powerful advocate for HIV awareness and education”.

By having the jab, said Winde, Evita was “helping to send an important message to residents across the province that the vaccine is safe and offers excellent protection against severe illness related to Covid-19 related death”.

Provincial health MEC Nomafrench Mbombo said Evita’s willingness to be vaccinated publicly would help to overcome vaccine hesitancy as the province aimed to double last week’s tally of 6,000 jabs a day.

“Once again, I appeal to people to spend six minutes of their time to register an elderly person. They can do this for free at one of our 75 access centres,” she said.

TimesLIVE