Coronavirus: ANC’s Luthuli House heeds president’s call, shuts down for deep clean

The ANC’s national headquarters has heeded calls made by President Cyril Ramaphosa to optimise hygiene and combat the spread of Covid-19.

The party told staffers in a meeting on Tuesday that it would shut down operations on Wednesday to allow for a deep clean at Luthuli House in Johannesburg. It would also introduce sanitisers and encourage people to wash their hands.

These are some of the measures proposed to fight against the pandemic that has affected countries around the globe and killed thousands.

The strain has affected 62 people so far in South Africa, with Ramaphosa declaring a national state of disaster and announcing stringent measures on Sunday to combat the spread of the virus.

This included travel bans, closure of schools and the closure of 35 land ports, as well as two seaports.

ANC general manager Febe Potgieter told News24 that the party was taking measures to ensure its staffers were protected.

“We have said people over the age of 60, because we have a lot of them, should work from home, and those with children of school-going age who are now suddenly on holiday should be allowed to work from home, because they wouldn’t have had time to arrange sitters and alternative caregivers,” she said.

“We want to make sure, in general, people understand how to protect themselves, [and] have been firm with people in saying, even if you have the flu or the cold, stay home, even if it’s not the corona, it’s better to stay home.”

She said the ANC was due to hold numerous meetings over how its structures could communicate and create awareness about the Covid-19 virus.

“We will look at details of the programmes, the information sheet for all our ANC branch executive committees with information on the pandemic, frequently asked questions and what to do when showing worrying symptoms,” Potgieter said..

She said the ANC was also looking to pamphlets, which the department of health was producing in all 11 official languages, to see if the governing party’s public representatives could also use those to communicate with citizens on the global pandemic.

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