DA KZN spokesperson on Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs (Cogta), Mbali Ntuli, briefs media her on candidacy in the upcoming DA leadership election in Rosebank, Johannesburg, 7 February 2020, for the DA leadership position against John Steenhuisen, the current interim leader, Western Cape leader Bonginkosi Madikizela, and Gauteng leader John Moodey. Picture: Nigel Sibanda
DA leadership hopeful Mbali Ntuli is the latest politician to announce she has tested positive for Covid-19.
Ntuli, who is a member of the KwaZulu-Natal legislature and former DA Youth leader tweeted on Tuesday that she had been infected.
She said she realised something was wrong last week when she started feeling sick.
“I never get sick but I woke up last week and couldn’t move off my bed, my chest felt like it had an elephant on top of it, and when my daughter came to hug me I couldn’t pick her up,” Ntuli said.
She described feeling aches and tingles all over her body, with her chest and back the most affected, as well as shivers from feeling cold.
The politician said after waiting it out for a day or so, initially assuming it could be a 24-hour bug, she realised she needed to get tested.
Never felt that sick before
President Cyril Ramaphosa said South Africa was in the midst of a “coronavirus storm” when he addressed the nation on Sunday evening, with a growing demand on healthcare facilities across the country.
Numerous public figures including three premiers – David Makhura of Gauteng, Alan Winde of the Western Cape and Professor Job Mokgoro of North West – have all tested positive, with the latter being hospitalised for a brief period last week.
North West Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs MEC Gordon Kegakilwe and the ANC’s KwaZulu-Natal spokesperson Ricardo Mthembu have both died after contracting the virus.
Ntuli said she waited more than three hours to be tested for Covid-19 at a private facility in KwaZulu-Natal, despite being the only one in the queue set up in the parking lot. She was given Panados and told to self-isolate.
Ntuli said she also used homemade concoctions to treat her symptoms, and that while she was feeling better, her chest remained tight and her eyes were sore.
She was also finally able to speak this week despite a sore throat.
“I am not exaggerating saying I have never felt that sick before. I still have some sniffles, but I am feeling like I am going to make it… I know so many people who have died personally, and personally I think I could have also died.”
Ntuli said while she remains in isolation, she would hold off on her DA election campaign a bit as she had no energy to fulfil certain tasks and conduct too many interviews.
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