AfriForum intervenes to let quarantined Grey College pupils go home

Civil rights organization AfriForum has said that it has learned that the 19 pupils of Grey College in Bloemfontein who had been quarantined by the state since Tuesday will now be left in the care of their parents and allowed to self-isolate.

“AfriForum sees this as a huge victory for the rights of the children and their parents, but also for all those who are exposed to abuses of the state at the time,” a statement on Thursday reads.

The organisation said this comes after its legal representative, Dr Willie Spies, on Wednesday sent “an urgent letter” to the minister of health, Dr Zweli Mkhize, and the minister of cooperative governance and traditional affairs, Dr Nkosazana Dlamini Zuma, demanding that the pupils should be allowed to self-isolate.

After a matric pupil who lives in the school hostel tested positive for Covid-19 on Tuesday, the 19 pupils who lives at the school’s boarding facility were moved by state officials to a guesthouse near the school to be quarantined.

“Their parents were informed that the children would ‘be the property of the state’ for the next 14 days and not be allowed to visit. In addition, where they were housed in single rooms, they were placed together in rooms in the guesthouse for three to four, which made it impossible to maintain social distances. They are therefore more at risk of becoming infected by the virus than by protecting them against it,” the organisation said in a statement.

AfriForum’s Carien Bloem said the actions of the state officials’ had “violated the rights of learners and parents against a court order of 3 June 2020 which states that self-isolation should be an option for people who are positive to the virus, or have been in contact with someone who has tested positive, if they prefer and have the ability to isolate themselves”.

“AfriForum is grateful that justice has triumphed and the learners are now safely returned to their parents’ care. We will immediately intervene in cases like this, because it is unacceptable for children to be abused as political toys, ” Bloem said.

(Compiled by Makhosandile Zulu)

For more news your way, download The Citizen’s app for iOS and Android.