Zweli Mkhize unable to reveal cost of repatriation mission

The government is unable to reveal how much it will cost taxpayers to house more than 120 South African citizens, who are being repatriated from Wuhan in China, at a quarantine site in Limpopo.

Speaking at an inter-ministerial briefing at the site – Protea Hotel’s The Ranch Resort – on Thursday night, Health Minister Zweli Mkhize said the amount would only be known once the repatriation mission concluded.

“We will not be able to give you that until we [are] done. Then we give you the statements,” the minister said.

However, he added that if it meant spending money to save South Africans, the country was ready to assist.

He reiterated that the mission was a humanitarian one. It was not that the citizens weren’t treated well in China but because they had raised concerns that they would rather be home while Wuhan, the epicentre of the virus, was under lockdown.

“We must never lose the fact that we are one family, one nation and belong together…

“Sometimes it will cost us money but at the end of the day, we will go back and say we did save one South African, whatever the cost was,” Mkhize said.

The minister added that there was also nothing wrong with China’s health system because the country had already treated hundreds of people. He pleaded with South Africans to welcome the group and avoid discriminating against them, saying they were not sick and would just be under observation.

He said the evacuation and quarantine mission was part of the country’s contribution towards fighting the virus, adding that the bigger fight awaiting the country was reducing the number of infections and ensuring that those who were infected were treated and that they recovered.

According to a letter President Cyril Ramaphosa sent to National Assembly Speaker Thandi Modise, the mission will cost R25 million, News24 previously reported.

On Tuesday, Ramaphosa met with the team at OR Tambo International Airport just before their chartered flight departed for the mission.

The group is expected to arrive back and settle at the lodge no later than Sunday, Mkhize said.

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