Is this SA’s coronavirus hideout?

South Africans to be repatriated in two weeks’ time from China’s Wuhan City, the epicentre of the coronavirus outbreak, could be quarantined at the Black Mountain Leisure and Conference Hotel in the heart of Maria Moroka Nature Reserve in Thaba Nchu in the Free State.

Though this was yet to be confirmed by the department of health, the strongest indication that the hotel, about 80km east of Bloemfontein, will be used for this purpose was from a communique that Monyatso Mahlatsi, the Free State provincial secretary of labour federation Congress of the SA Trade Unions (Cosatu), has sent out to members.

“…be informed that the students from Wuhan Province who are in the area affected by coronavirus area will be recalled and placed in Thaba Nchu for a period of 21 days under quarantine… The Black Mountain Hotel will be utilised for the purpose and the army will be deployed for the purpose,” he states in the message.

Last week, the Mail & Guardian reported that government plans to quarantine a number of South Africans who have been in China in Thaba Nchu, and that senior SA National Defence Force (SANDF) members visited Thaba Nchu to assess the area for coronavirus quarantine and screening.

In the message, Mahlatsi also directs the SA Commercial, Catering and Allied Workers Union (Saccawu) to “immediately dispatch comrades there to meet with management and ensure that our members are not negatively affected and that proper training and resources are availed for them during that period, should they be required to provide services”.

He confirmed sending out the message but said the provincial health department has refused to confirm or deny the hotel will be used.

“They are referring us to the [SANDF], which is actually like walking into a brick wall. Been communicating with the DOH even … but they are keeping the matter at arm’s length,” Mahlatsi said.

He said Saccawu did dispatch its officials to the hotel as directed by Cosatu, but management flatly denied any knowledge of the plans.

Peter Leonard, the hotel’s general manager, would not deny or confirm that the hotel has been chosen for the testing and quarantine, only uttering the word “no comment” repeatedly.

The health department’s spokesperson, Popo Maja, said they had no idea what Cosatu was talking about.

“Government will communicate once decisions have been firmed up,” he said.

The government’s plan, according to reports, was that the repatriates would land at the airport in Bloemfontein and then be taken to Thaba Nchu, but the concern was that the airport was a public space, therefore risky.

The Black Mountain Hotel, which according to its website boasts 118 en-suite rooms constructed in four levels, with private gardens or balconies, is only 6.7km away from an abandoned and derelict Thaba Nchu airport.

However, it is unlikely the airport will be used, given earlier reports which suggest the government will charter an aircraft (possibly from South African Airways). Aircraft capable of a flight from SA to China would be too big to land at the Thaba Nchu airport.

However, the SA Air Force facility at Bloemspruit (part of the Bloemfontein airport complex) does have runways long enough to accommodate intercontinential jets.

The Citizen has learnt from a reliable source that the 3 Military Hospital in Tempe, Bloemfontein, was being prepared as one of the venues for the coronavirus quarantine army base. Staff at the Tempe base were apparently not told where exactly this quarantine will be.

The SANDF officially confirmed yesterday it was part of a multidisciplinary team supporting the health department and international relations and cooperation department, as instructed by President Cyril Ramaphosa and Commander-in-Chief of the SANDF, to repatriate the South Africans from Wuhan.

“As at the present, there are approximately 151 citizens who are expected to be repatriated. Once all the logistics have been confirmed by the planners, who are busy with the planning of the operation, the repatriation process will then commence,” spokesperson Siphiwe Dlamini said in a statement.

– siphom@citizen.co.za

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