Woman in hot water for false Covid-19 voice message

Mpumalanga police are investigating a case of spreading deceiving information about Covid-19 in terms of the Disaster Management Act after a woman alleged that a relative had the disease.

The small village of Matjhirini in Mpumalanga was gripped by Covid-19 panic last week when a woman became ill and hospitalised a few days after returning from Johannesburg where she works in a hotel.

Rumours that the woman was infected with Covid-19 and that she had been quarantined in the local hospital started spreading after a relative allegedly sent out voice notes warning those that came into close contact with the woman had to get tested.

“There was panic as people ran and called around to find out if any of their relatives or friends had been in contact with the [person]. All hell broke loose when more rumours started spreading that she had been to a wedding and another ceremony before falling ill,” said a resident who did not want to be named.

The saga resulted in the immediate members of the woman’s family also being stigmatised in a short space of time.

According to a neighbour, who cannot be named due to the sensitivity of the matter, it all started with an audio recording from one of the family members of the hospitalised woman.

“In the audio, the [relative] explains that [the woman, whose identity is known to Citizen] was granted a month’s leave a weak before and immediately travelled home” to the former KwaNdebele homeland, north East of Pretoria.

He said she arrived on a Friday and showed no signs of ill health until last week Thursday when she suddenly fell ill, rushed to a local clinic and then ultimately to the Philadelphia hospital in Dennilton.

“Then there was an audio message, purported to be from a relative, detailing how the patient had been quarantined and had tested positive for Covid-19. Then there was another audio, purported to be from the same person, correcting their earlier statement that the patient was actually not Covid-19 positive,” the neighbour said.

According to Mpumalanga provincial police spokesperson Brigadier Leonard Hlathi spreading false information about Covid-19 was a crime as per Section 27 (2) of the Disaster Management Act and was a punishable offence.

“We have registered a case, still looking for the suspect. She allegedly spread deceiving information about Covid-19,” he said.

On Friday night, a 36-year-old man was arrested for ridiculing efforts to lock down the nation, during a gathering of more than 100 people returning from a funeral and gathered at Temba Square in Hammanskraal playing music and drinking alcohol in public.

– siphom@citizen.co.za.

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